Thirumalai Murugan Kovil
#Panpoli
#TamilNaduTemples 🚩

Thirumalai Murugan Temple is located in Tenkasi district of Tamil Nadu. Muruga is worshipped as Thirumalai kumarasamy. Temple is situated near Kerala border and known to be where Shri Murugan gave darshan to Rishi Agasthiar

Devi is worshipped in the temple as Thirumalai Kaali amman

Sthala Puranam says that, there was a priest named Poovanbhattar of Thirumalai Kaali amman. Murugar appeared in a dream of the bhattar and said to find a Vigraham, lying in particular place which is of Thirumalaikumaran

Bhattar conveyed the news to the Pandalam Raja and they went to find out the vigraham. Surprisingly ants showed the way to find the Vigraham. Thus Murugan vigraham was found and Prathista was done here. There is a lake with pure water on the top of the hill

which is said to be created by Agasthiyar. It is believed that kannaki of
Chilapathikaram visited here before going to Kerala. Sapthamathrukkal also worshipped Murugan here. Kanthashashti Thiruvizha is very famous here.

Om Muruga
Muruganukku Harohara
🙏🕉🙏

Did you know?

Suniti Choudhary & Shanti Ghosh were amongst the youngest freedom fighters&revolutionaries India ever had.

Born on 22May1917 in Comilla distt of West Bengal(present Bangladesh)to a middle class family,Suniti was influenced by freedom movement at a very young age.

More specifically she was influenced with the freedom fighters and revolutionaries. She was inspired by the revolutionary activities of Ullaskar Dutta who was also a revolutionary from Comilla. She studied in 'Faizunnissa Balika Vidyalaya' where she met Prafulla Nalini Brahma.

Prafulla had a great influence on her. She also gifted Suniti with the books on revolutionary material which were banned by the British.Prafulla also recruited her to the 'Jugantar Party'. The women wing of the party 'Tripura Zilla Chhatri Sangha' was joined by her later.

Later Suniti became the Major of District Volunteer Corps and led the women parade in honour of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose who came to town to address the student organisation. On being asked about the role of women in the revolutionary activities, Netaji immediately said...

...,'I would be pleased to see the women leading from the front'.
In the annual conference of 'Tripura Zilla Chhatri Sangha' held on 6May1931,she was chosen as Captain of Women's Volunteer Corps.She became custodian of firearms&incharge of training female members of organisation.

ECONOMIC DESTRUCTION OF INDIA UNDER THE BRITISH RULE

A 🧵

In 1800 CE, India amounted to a whopping 20% of the total world manufacturing output!

But more importantly the balance of trade went into the Indian economy in the form of goods in

1/8

exchange or bullion and helped Indian people’s standard of living. It had second most powerful economy, the wages and productivity throughout all the sections of society were high. It had a simple, inexpensive education system suited for its needs.

2/8

But, by the year 1900 , India had become synonymous with poverty, its exports accounted for mere 1.7% of the total world trade , and more than 30 million (more than 10 % of India's population) died of starvation in the British rule.

3/8

After 1818 when British became the major power in India Indian manufacturing output rapidly declined while British
increased.

See the attached image of table given by Paul Kennedy in his book ‘The Rise and Fall of Great Powers’

4/8

During the same period per capita levels of industrialization (relative to UK in 1900 =
100 scale) is given by Paul Kennedy in the following table.

5/8

All Key points of free straddle webinar are summarized by @Scaliuminvest team.
Points Covered
1. When to initiate straddle
2. How to decide initial SL
3. How to trail SL
4. How to do adjustments in trending market

Thanks to @jitendrajain @yogeshnanda1 and @yogeeswarpal for this.

Chakkulathukavu Bhagavathy Kshetram
#Alappuzha
#KeralaTemples 🚩

Chakkulathukavu Kshetram is located in Alappuzha District of Kerala.  Chakkulathukavu Amma is Durga Devi in the concept of Vanadurga.

Sthala Puranam says that, Prathista of Vigraham was done by Narada Muni.

A hunter who went to cut wood in the forest tried to kill a snake which attacked him. Later, he saw the same snake near a pond. Hunter attacked it again which was lying on a snake pit. Suddenly the pit burst and water flowed from it.
A Rishi appeared in front of the

astonished hunter and told hunter's family that inside the pit there is a Devi Vigraham. Saying so the Rishi took Vigraham and did Prathista. He asked the hunter's family to do pooja and disappeared.

That night,  the hunter had a dream and he understood that the rishi who came

was Narada Muni. Chakkulathukavu Pongala is very famous.
Story behind this is, The hunter and his family used to make food in mud pots while living in forest. One day, they could not make any Naivedyam. It is said that the vessels

which he used to make Naivedyam was filled with food.  Hunter and his family believed that it was Devi, herself who prepared the food. In this memory Pongala is celebrated here.

Chakkulathukavilamme Sharanam
🙏🕉🙏

Varahi Amman, Madurai, Tamilnadu

Vaarahi is one of the Saivite Shakti deities with the group of goddesses known as SAPTAMATAS.
They are: Brahmi, Maheshwari, Kaumari, Vaishnavi, Vaarahi, Mahendri and Chamundi. 1/n

They are the Shakti (female) equivalents of their male counterparts. Vaarahi is the Shakti of Bhairavar who is one of the Amsam of Bhairavar.Created from the boar avatara of Vishnu, Vaarahi is often associated with Goddess Kamala (one of the Mahavidyas). 2/n

She is also called Dandini (Lady Commander of the forces of the Mother-Goddess, symbolizing the might of SriVidya). As Vaarahi ("hog-faced" or "the great consumer") she destroys evil forces that obstructs the devotees' progress, paralyses the enemies 3/n

and led the devotees ultimately to SriVidyas. She is also called Panchami). With Kurukalla, she is accorded the parental status to Sri-Chakra (Lalita Tripura-Sundari). While Kurukalla represents the full moon, Vaarahi represents the new-moon. 4/4

Jai Maa Varahi 🙏

Tag for 📷 credit

Did you know?
Ahilyabai Holkar was one of India's
greatest women rulers of all time.

Ahilyabai was Born on May 31,1725 in the village of Chondi,Jamkhed distt,Maharashtra to a man named Mankoji Shinde,who was the Patil(Chief) of a village and a member of proud Dhangar Community.

Despite the fact that girls' education was a farther dream in those days, Ahilyabai was homeschooled by her father.
Ahilya didn't belong to any royal family but in a twist of fate she is still remembered as one of the most revered Queen in the history.

While they were living their humdrum lives, one day Malhar Rao Holkar, commander of the Peshwa Bajirao & Lord of the Malwa stopped in Chondi on his way to Pune, where he couldn't help but notice a young 8yrs old Ahilyabai in the temple service feeding the poor & hungry.

He was so impressed by the sheer innocence&beauty with simplicity character of Ahilyabai dat he asked her hand in marriage for his son Khanderao Holkar.Just like that she got married to Khanderao in 1733 at a tender age of 8&became a bride of esteemed Maratha community of Holkars

But destiny had something else in store for her as her husband died in the Battle of Kumbher in 1754 leaving her widow at 29.Distressed Ahilyabai was to commit Sati when her father-in-law Malhar Rao refused to let it happen.

Chennimalai Murugan Kovil
#Erode
#TamilNaduTemples 🚩

Chennimalai Murugan Temple is located  near Perunthurai in Erode District. Murugan is worshipped here as Dandayudapani. Temple is situated on the banks of Noyyal river also called Kanchima Nadhi. Temple is situated in a hill

Sthala Puranam says that, there lived a Landlord who had many cows in his farm. One among them was a Black Cow, which didn't give milk. Land lord observed that evening time, when all the cows came back after grazing, this cow used to go to a particular spot and gave all  the milk

by itself. He decided to dig the spot where the cow gave its milk

On digging a beautiful Vigraham of Murugan was found, but lower portion was very rough. So he called a great sculptor to soften it. Everyone was shocked to see that on the first chisel the vigraham bleeded.

Land lord realized that Murugan wanted the Vigraham the way it was.

Thus Prathishta was done on Chennimalai hill. It is believed that Sivalaya Chola got relieved from his Brahmahatti Dosha here. Kanda Shasti Kavacham was first offered here.

Muruganukku Haro Hara
🙏🕉🙏

Adi Kumbeswarar Kovil
#Kumbakonam
#TamilNaduTemples 🚩

Adi Kumbeswarar Temple is located in Kumbakonam District of Tamil Nadu. Paramashiva is Adi Kumbeswarar and Paravathi Devi  as Mangalambigai Amman. Temple is one among the Paadal Petra Shiva Sthalams.

Sthala Puranam says that, during Maha Pralaya, Bhrama Deva filled a Kumbha ( pot) with sand from sacred places and Amritam to revive the creation. This Kumbha was floating and Kumbakonam is the place where it stopped. Paramashiva came as Kirathamoorthy and pierced the pot with

an arrow and Amritham flowed here. Amritham mixed with sand and became Shivalingam which is Kumbeswarar.

Amritam is believed to have fallen in Mahamagha kulam and the Potramarai
kulam( temple pond).

Mahamagham festival which is held every 12 years is related to this temple. Shivalingam is narrow at top and broad at bottom. It is because of this temple, the city got it's name Kumbakonam

Om Nama Shivaya
🙏🕉🙏

MA VINDHYAVASINI, MIRZAPUR (UP)
#bharatmandir

Vindhyachal is the only place in the world where all the three forms of Devi-Lakshmi, Kali and Saraswati have specific mandirs dedicated to them.
All Shaktipeeth have body parts of Sati but in Vindhyachal, Devi resides herself.

When Sri Vishnu took birth as Krishna to Devaki- Vasudev, at the same time a girl was born to Yashoda-Nand.
The infants were inter-changed and Kansa tried to kill the girl. The girl escaped from his hands and took the form of Devi.
She, then, made Vindhyachal mountain her abode.

The war between Devi Durga and Mahishasur is said to have occurred at Vindhyachal. Ma Vindhyavasini is also called Mahishasur Mardini.
Vindhyachal is unique because Devi is worshipped as per tenets of Vaam maarg as also Dakshina Maarg of Shakti cult of our Dharma.
@GunduHuDuGa

Nearby, there is Ashtbhuja Mandir dedicated to Mahasaraswati and Kali Khoh Mandir dedicated to Ma Kali.
Bhaktas visit these three Mandirs in one journey to complete the ritual pilgrimage called Trilokan Parikrama.

Sri Yaganti Uma Maheshwari Temple is dedicated to Bhagwan Shiva and is located in the Kurnool distt of Andhra Pradesh. Temple houses combined idol of Shiva and Mata Parvati.
It's believed that Sage Agastya wanted to build a temple for Venkateswara here.

But the Idol couldn't be installed as its toenail was broken.Agastya got upset&performed Tapaa. Shiva appeared to him&told him dat site is suitable for a Shiva temple as the region resembled Kailasha. Rishi then requested Shiva to grant him combined Idol of Shiva&Mata Parvati.

Bhagwan Shiv gifted him the Idol as he wished.
Yaganti Temple is one of the most famous temples of Shiva in Andhra Pradesh.Temple dates back to 5th-6th centuries with the contributions from the Kingdoms of Pallavas, Cholas, Chalukyas.

However, some of the major and valuable contributions came from Vijaynagara Kings Harihara and Bukka Raya who completed the construction of quite a lot of structures in and around the temple during the 15th century.
Main idols in the temple are of Shiva, Parvati and Nandi.

Size of Nandi sitting in front of the temple is believed to be growing continuously due to which the temple staff had to remove one pillar.
Temple has caves in &around the vicinity named on Rishi Agastya and Bhagwan Venkateswara.
The temple has a small Pushkarini in the premises.

#Guruvayur_Krishna_Bhakthi  🕉
#Guruvayur
#Storytime
Beautiful Story of Guruvayurappan

Poonathanam Namboothiri was a great devotee of Guruvayurappan. One day Poonthanam was going to Guruvayur Kshetram. It was night time and eventhough Namboothiri was tired he continued to walk

Suddenly some thieves came and blocked his way. Poonthanam cried for Shri Krishna to help. Thieves snatched all valuables from him, but Namboothiri holding his Bhaghavatam book called Shri Krishna to help. That time a man came in a horse back and fought with thieves and protected

Namboothiri. Poonthanam thanked Krishna for helping him from danger and said to the man that "Shri Krishna has send you here and I don't know how to thank you".  The man smiled and told that he is Mangattachan, minister of  samoodhiris. Poonthanam once again thanked him and

gave his ring to Mangattachan as a token of thanks and continued his journey. He reached Guruvayur early morning for Nirmalya Darshan. Temple poojari came near him and told that Guruvayurappan came in his dreams and asked to hand over the ring to poonthanam.

When he opened Kshetra Nada poonthanam was surprised to see his ring on Guruvayurappan, which he gifted to Mangattachan. He understood that it was Guruvayurappan who came as Mangattachan to protect him. This is how Bhagwan treat his devotees.

Hare Krishna
🙏🕉🙏

Bhoga Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy Temple
#Devarayanadurga
#Karnatakatemples 🚩

Bhoga Yoga Narasimha Swamy Temple, Devarayanadurga is located near Tumkur of Karnataka. There are two temples are here for Narasimha Swamy, one is at the base of the hill which is Bhoga Narasimhar and 👇

the other on the top of  hill which is Yoga Narasimhar.

Bhoga Narasimha swamy Temple Prathista is said to be done by Maharshi Durvasa who did tapasya here. While doing tapasya Muni wished to bath in river Ganga and decided to travel to Ganga river bank,

At that time Ganga Devi appeared here and said she will remain here in the temple pond.

Yoga Narasimha swamy Prathista is believed to be done by Bhrama Deva who did tapasya here for many years.

Narasimhar appeared with Lakshmi Devi here to give darshan to Bhrama Deva here.

उग्रं वीरं महाविष्णुं ज्वलन्तं सर्वतोमुखम्।
नृसिंहं भीषणं भद्रं मृत्युमृत्युं नमाम्यहम् ॥

Om Shri Narasimha Murthaye Namah
🙏🕉🙏

Krishna & Paarijaata apaharana #sculpture #story #Thread

Parijata tree was in Indraloka which was one of gifts he received from churning of Ocean to obtain Amrit.

This beautiful #sculpture depicts Indra Dev chasing Shri Krishna for stealing parijatha tree branch from Indralok

📸- sculpture on outer walls of Hoysaleswara temple, Halebeedu,Karnataka

Krishna has 4hands with Shankha,Chakra,Mace&Lotus holding Satyabhama tightly,mounted on Garuda. Garuda has a beautifully carved Parijata tree trunk in left hand& a weapon in his right hand, attacking Indra.

Other side is Indra,riding on Airavata.Indra can be seen attacking Krishna with his Vajrayutham.Airavata is charging towards Garuda.Wife of Indra can be seen in pillion seat.Just look at the Detailing of Garuda & Airavat sculptures.

So what led Krishna to steal parijatha tree👇

Narada Rishi once returning from Indralok collected few Parijatha flowers&reached Dwaraka.There he met Bhagwan Krishna&gave the heavenly flowers to him.Narada explained the greatness of Parijatha flowers & also said that these flowers must be given to the most loved ones.

Despite knowing Satyabhama’s anger,Krishna gave it to Rukmani Devi.Narada Rishi then went to palace of Satyabhama. He narrated whole incident that had happened.Satyabhama turned furious on hearing that Krishna gave Parijatha to Rukmini.Then Satyabhama shows her anger to Krishna.

AGAMA SHASTRA:THE SCIENCE BEHIND THE MARVELS OF HINDU ARCHITECTURE

Agama Shastra is a Sanskrit word that means the manual for worship, temple building, rituals etc in Hindu Tradition.From Sanskrit,agama means handed down by tradition and Shastra means a commentary or treatise.

Therefore, Agama Shastra is a collection of ideas that drafts the rules for worship, temple construction, spirituality and rituals. It has been a guideline for many Hindus from ancient times. It's a collection of Sanskrit, Tamil and Grantha scriptures that mostly contains...

...methods of temple construction, idol creation, philosophical doctrines and meditative practices. It came into being after years of assimiliation and from a variety of sources. Some parts of it are pre-vedic while some are post-vedic.

Hindu Temples are not just temples, they are the pride and identity of Hindus. They are the symbols of Hindu unity and their religious aspirations. Temples are the places of spiritual healing and are our connection with the creator almighty.

Temples are the priceless treasure of our History, Heritage ,Art & Architecture. Architecture that mesmerises and spell bounds you. And Agama Shastra is that very text which is responsible for such a mesmerising and spell binding quality and beauty of our Hindu Temples.

Sri Devi Karumariamman mandir, Chennai, Tamilnadu

Sri Devi Karumariamman mandir is in Thiruverkadu, a suburb of Chennai. It is said that God Muruga came here and obtained the 'Vel' (spear) from His mother, Goddess Karumari (an avatar of Parvathi) 1/n

to fight the demon Suran and hence this place was called as 'Vel kadu' and became as Verkadu. As per legend Devi Karumariamman once disguised as a soothsayer visited Bhagwan Surya, the Sun God, to predict His future. 2/n

Not realising that the soothsayer is none other than Sakthi Matha, Surya ignored Her. Angered by his indifference, Devi Karumariamman immediately retreated. Bhagwan Surya lost His glory and the earth plunged into darkness. 3/n

Bhagwan Surya then realised His folly and pleaded forgiveness from Devi Karumariamman. In order to pacify mother Karumariamman, Suryadev said that His rays would fall on Her directly twice in a year and touch her feet. (in the month of Panguni (March- April) & during (Sep - Oct)

Mother Karumari Amman is worshipped here in two forms.A swayambu (self manifested) with only head visible above the ground and another one in a graceful sitting posture with all Parasakthi features,with four arms holding skull, sword, trishul, udukkai (damru). 5/n

Thrikkur Mahadeva Kshetram
#Thrissur
#Keralatemples 🚩

Thrikkur Mahadeva Temple is located in Thrissur District of Kerala. Garbagriham is within a cave on a hillock. Paramashiva is Swayambhoo here. Upadevas are Parvathi Devi and Ganapathi.

Sthala Puranam says that👇

Prathista of Vigraham was done by Agni Deva. It is also believed that in this temple, Agni resides with Paramashiva. Therefore Ezhunallath is not done on rainy days or cloudy overcast situations.

It is also believed that this temple was first found by a cowherd. A man had been

searching for his cow that went grazing and thus came to this cave. He found the cow in the cave along with the Shivalingam. He immediately informed this to a Namboothiri who started doing poojas. Trikkur Mahadeva Kshetram gives relief to those who are suffering from Asthma and

Other breathing difficulties. Kayar Vazhipaadu(The Rope Offering) is  offered to Paramshiva. Kayar Vazhipadu is said to have divine powers to heal Asthma. Dhaara is also very important here.

Om Nama Shivaya
🙏🕉🙏

#guruvayur_krishna_bhakthi  🕉
#story
#guruvayur

There lived a poor old man who wished to worship Guruvayurappan. He reached Guruvayur and did pratakshinam of temple but couldn't enter inside as temple door was closed. So with hunger and tiredness he slept there itself.

Early morning after bathing, he wore the same torn dress and decided to worship Guruvayurappan. He was not allowed inside the temple because of his dressings. With sadness and hunger he sat there. At that time a small kid came near him and gave paal payasam and banana. Old man

asked the boy who he was,  and the boy replied that he was staying there only and went away. After having food, he tried to enter temple again but still he was not allowed.

That night the old man had a dream, the boy whom is saw in the morning was Shri Krishna himself.

He woke up and went for bathing. At that time  he saw the same boy and told about his dream.

The boy Laughed and asked " Is that how you saw me". The old man understood that the boy in the dream was Sri Krishna himself. With utmost devotion old man fell at Shri Krishna's feet.

Krishna asked the man to stay at Guruvayur itself and disappeared.

That time temple poojari came to the pond enquiring the old man. He too had a dream that when temple opens the next day old man should be infront of temple wearing new dress. He handed over new dress to the

Srimad Ramayanam - thAyar greeting rAvanA, different meanings of a single slokA

Vedas are considered apauruSEyam, not made by humans, and therefore cannot be interpreted in any manner. The vEdanta sUtra bASyam has been done by Sri Adi Sankara, Swami Ramanuja and Sri Madhwa 1

On the other hand, itihAsAs and purunAs are made by riSis, but the greatness is that they wrote without diluting the meaning of vEdAs (or Upanishads).

There is lot in them that are dependent on bhakti, which is subjected to bhAvam (or experience). AcAryAs have relished these 2

experiences in Srimad Ramayanam, and one such instance is in Sundara Kandam where thAyAr greets rAvanA when she visits her and places a grass between her and him. She also smiles at his arrogance

The slokA is

तृणमन्तरतः कृत्वा प्रत्युवाच शुचिस्मिता
3

There are bursts of bhAvam for one such slokA.

1) Thayar is used to wearing a veil (gOSA niyamanam) and, hence placed a grass between them.

2) When a person comes to see another person in their place, it’s customary to offer them a seat. As she does not have one, she places
4

grass

3) She’s insinuating that the strength and the valour he displayed is equivalent to that of a grass, meaning nothing.

4) The wealth or the grandeur he displayed pales into insignificance as She was Mahalakshmi, who is the abode of all the wealth in the universe.
5

Srimad Ramayanam - nuances of certain episodes

In my earlier articles, I have mentioned how Srimad Ramayanam is a guide to brahma vidya. This means that there must be nuances in certain episodes.

Whilst there are many are strewn all over the epic, I would like to cover two 1

such instances from Ayodhya Kandam.

Scene 1: Rama is about to be sent to the forest, and King Dasaradha’s minister, Sumantra comes to fetch Rama.

Valmiki says in the following verse

Anuliptam parErDyEna candanEna parantapam

அநுலிப்தம் பரார்த்தேன சந்தனென பரண்தபம் 2

Upon entering Rama’s palace, Sumantra is overwhelmed with grand view of Rama on a swing with Sita standing beside him. Rama’s hair was being dried with Sita had applied ground sandalwood paste applied liberally on his chest and she was also using a fan at the same time. 3

As the fan dried the paste on Rama’s chest, it was being replenished by Sita thayar.

The nuance is that Sita, being Mahalakshmi, knows the upcoming events and Rama would get angry at the loss of Sita. The nuance is that in order to maintain His composure and cool His 4

heart, she had applied sandalwood paste.

Scene 2:

King Dasaradha had informed Rama about people of Ayodhya had unanimously agreed to former being crowned a prince.

Sage Vasista informed Rama to follow austerity practices before the function. Therefore, Rama had spent 5