Hindu Perspectives Dialogue Education Hindu Practices THIS CD

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Hindu Practices Hindu practices generally involve seeking awareness of God and sometimes also seeking blessings from Devas.

Hindu Practices Hinduism has a developed system of symbolism and iconography to represent the sacred in art, architecture, literature and worship.

Hindu Practices Mantras are invocations, praise and prayers that through their meaning, sound, and chanting style help a devotee focus the mind on holy thoughts or express devotion to God/the deities.

Hindu Practices Rituals The vast majority of Hindus engage in religious rituals on a daily basis.

Hindu Practices Rituals Occasions like birth, marriage, and death involve what are often elaborate sets of religious customs.

Hindu Practices Pilgrimage Following pilgrimage sites are most famous amongst Hindu devotees: Char Dham (Famous Four Pilgrimage sites): Kumbh Mela: Old Holy cities as per Puranic Texts; Major Temple cities: Shakti Peethas:

Hindu Practices Pilgrimage While there are different yet similar pilgrimage routes in different parts of India, all are respected equally well, according to the universality of Hinduism.

Hindu Practices Festivals Hindu festivals are considered as symbolic rituals that beautifully weave individual and social life to dharma.

Hindu Practices Festivals The festivals typically celebrate events from Hindu mythology, often coinciding with seasonal changes.

Hindu Practices The Festival of Ganesh Chaturthi, also known as Vinayaka Chaturthi is the Hindu festival of Ganesha.

Hindu Practices The Festival of Ganesh Chaturthi The festival is observed in the Hindu calendar month of Bhaadrapada. The date usually falls between 19 August and 15 September.

Hindu Practices The Festival of Ganesh Chaturthi While celebrated all over India, it is most elaborate in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Goa.

Hindu Practices The Festival of Ganesh Chaturthi- The Legend Traditional stories tell that Lord Ganesha was created by goddess Parvati, consort of Lord Shiva. Parvati created Ganesha out of sandalwood paste that she used for her bath and breathed life into the figure. She then set him to stand guard at her door while she bathed. However, while she bathed, Lord Shiva returned and as Ganesha didn't know him, he didn't allow him to enter. Lord Shiva became enraged and severed the head of the child and entered his house. After realizing that he had beheaded his own son, Lord Shiva fixed the head of an elephant (in some versions, Airavata, the vehicle of the god Indra) in place of Ganesha's head. In this way, Lord Ganesha came to be depicted as the elephant-headed God

Hindu Practices The Festival of Ganesh Chaturthi Two to three months prior to Ganesh Chaturthi, artistic plaster of paris(originally clay)models of Lord Ganesha are made for sale by specially skilled artisans.

Hindu Practices The Festival of Ganesh Chaturthi The priest, usually clad in red or white dhoti and uttariyam (Shawl), then symbolically invokes life into the statue by chanting mantras.

Hindu Practices The Festival of Ganesh Chaturthi Ganesha is worshiped for 10 days from Bhadrapada Shudha Chaturthi to the Ananta Chaturdashi.

Hindu Practices The Festival of Ganesh Chaturthi The main sweet dish during the festival is the modak (modak in Marathi, modakam/ kudumu in Telugu, modaka in Kannada and modagam in Tamil).

The Festival of Ganesh Chaturthi Hindu Practices In Andhra, Kudumu (Rice flour dumplings stuffed with coconut and jaggery mixture), Vundrallu (steamed coarsely grounded rice flour balls), Panakam (jaggery, black pepper and cardamom flavored drink), Vadapappu (soaked and moong lentils), Chalividi (cooked rice flour and jaggery mixture) etc. . are offered to Ganesha along with Modakams.

Hindu Practices The Festival of Ganesh Chaturthi In Andhra, Clay Ganesh is usually worshiped at homes along with plaster of paris Ganesha.

Hindu Practices The Festival of Ganesh Chaturthi Public celebrations of the festival are hugely popular, with local communities (mandalas) vying with each other to put up the biggest statue & the best pandal.

Hindu Practices The Festival of Ganesh Chaturthi Today, the Ganesh Festival is not only a popular festival, it has become a very critical and important economic activity for Mumbai, Hyderabad, Vishakhapatnam, Bangalore and Chennai.

Hindu Practices The Festival of Ganesh Chaturthi This festival has managed to reestablish the unity among the Indians during British Era.

• • • Bibliography # Amulya Mohapatra; Bijaya Mohapatra (1 December 1995). Hinduism: Analytical Study. Mittal Publications. ISBN 978 -81 -7099 -388 -9. http: //books. google. com/books? id=vpi. U 9 m 7 T_t. QC. Retrieved 10 November 2011. # Flood, Gavin D. (2002). The Blackwell companion to Hinduism. Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 6– 7. ISBN 9780631215356. http: //books. google. com/books? id=q. Sfne. Q 0 YYY 8 C&pg=PR 6. # Fuller, C. J. (2004), The Camphor Flame: Popular Hinduism and Society in India, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, pp. 67, ISBN 9780691120485 # Friedrichs, Kurt (1994). "Sarasvatī". In Schuhmacher, Stephan; Woerner, Gert. The Encyclopedia of Eastern Philosophy and Religion: Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Zen. Boston: Shambala. p. 306. ISBN 0877739803. "The goddess of. . . scholarship. . . She is also the patron of the arts, especially of music. " # Humes, Cynthia. "Maharishi Mahesh Yogi: Beyond the TM Technique". In Gurus in America, ed. Cynthia Humes and Thomas Forsthoefel. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2005. # Kent, Alexandra. Divinity and Diversity: A Hindu Revitalization Movement in Malaysia. University of Hawaii Press, 2005. (ISBN 8791114896) # Lindsay Jones, ed (2005). Gale Encyclopedia of Religion. 11. Thompson Gale. pp. 7493– 7495. ISBN 0 -02 -865980 -5. # ^ Sadhu Mukundcharandas. Hindu Rites and Rituals. 4 th edition. Amdavad: Swaminarayan Aksharpith, 2007. # Wikipedia- Hindu Practices- http: //en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Hinduism#Practices