India Behind The Lens (News Centre)

Q. What is Makara Jyothi ?

Commonly people think of it as a star and it is celebrated in Sabarimala as Makara Vilakku.

This very word  Makara Jyothi has 2 words – Makara and Jyothi. What is Makara? In the sky, we have 12 Rasis or Zodiac signs or constellations. The Sun is in one rasi for a month and transits through to the next rasi in the next mo..

It starts with Dhanteras on the 13^th phase, also known as Dhanvantari Trayodasi, a day of paying obeisance to prosperity, today celebrated by acquiring gold or other forms of wealth.

Dhan Teras or Dhan Trayodasi  – the name itself suggests prosperity. Dhan means wealth..

What is different about 2013?

June 2013 has been a month that will be etched in the minds and hills of the Himalaya for the large scale devastation wrought about in the valleys of Kedarnath.

The Himalayas are known to be earthquake prone. But this devastation was not due to an earthquake but floods due to a cloudburst.

The pilgrim towns in the Himalayas that have be..

Ugadi is the New Year in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Maharashtra. In Maharashtra it is also known as Gudi Padva. This is celebrated on the first day after the new moon, which occurs closest to the vernal equinox. Since it is based on the moon it marks the New Year in a Chandramana calendar. Chandra is for moon and m..

Indian thought and practices over time immemorial have commemorated certain days and festivals as ways and means for people to understand, remember and reunite with the Universe and the divinities of the Universe. Among the Indian pantheon of divinities, few are historical (like  Rama and Krishna) and many others are Tattva, principles, essence in nature like the Shiva Tattva.

S..

Almost everyone living in India today has gone through the experience, of having to fill buckets with water, just so that, after the municipal supply of water has stopped flowing, one still has water available for the rest of the day. Those who did not store, have literally paid the price by having to buy water.

The same holds good for the land. Unless the rain water is collect..

India is a vast land with an ancient culture. It has a range of colourful festivals. Navaratri is one among these festivals. This festival is not celebrated for a day, but for nine nights as the term Navaratri suggests.

While the period and date of festival is common across the land, it is celebrated in different ways across the land, but i..

The Hari couple are conceptualizers and founders of Bharath Gyan, a research initiative, engaged in collating the knowledge of India and its pan global ties through the ages, from a scientific, rational and integrated perspective.
 
In times when the gap between traditional knowledge of India and the manner in which knowledge is assimilated by the present generation, seems ..