The Great Banyan Tree.


The Great Banyan Tree
The Great Banyan Tree


The Great Banyan Tree Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Botanical Garden near Kolkata.
It is over two hundred and fifty years old and covers about 14,500 square meters of land (3.5 acres) making it the widest tree in the world.

From a distance, the tree has the appearance of a forest, but what appear to be individual trees are actually aerial roots- around 3,600 of them.


The Great Banyan Tree
The Great Banyan Tree

Comments

Post a Comment

Engagements


Click to know more

Popular posts from this blog

NatyaShastra & Bhava-Rasa Theory of Bharata

Image
                                                  Nav Ras / The Nine Melows or Moods INTRODUCTION NatyaShastra and the Bhava-Rasa Theory of Bharata Muni emphasizes that the success of a performance is measured by whether or not the audience has a specific experience called RASA. Rasa is the internal enjoyment which is relished by the audience which are nine in number. HISTORY OF NATYASHASTRA  The Natyaśāstra, is the oldest surviving Indian compendium on the knowledge of performing arts. It primarily deals with theatre, dance & musical performance. The text, which now contains 6000 slokas, is believed to have been written during the period between 200 BCE and 200 CE by Sage Bharata. The NatyaShastra itself is based upon the much older Gandharva Veda (appendix to Sama Veda) which contained 36000slokas. However, its most complete exposition in drama, son...
Read more

SWASTIK Symbol Originated in the Harappan Period?

Image
SWASTIK symbol was found in Indus Valley.  It seems later it was adopted world over. The symbol of the true Swastika goes back over 11,000 years and is believed to have originated in the Harappan period and the culture of the Indus Valley Civilization. “We have found the most mature and geometrically ordered Swastika in the pre-Harappan times in the form of seals. We have also been able to trace the mention of the Swastika in the Vedas around the same time. These are scintillating findings that will help us announce that the Indian civilization is far more ancient than what is written in accepted history books, mostly by Europeans,” said Joy Sen, a faculty member at IIT-Kgp faculty and lead project. Indus Seal Subjects Spirituality     Bhagvad Gita    Bhagwad Puran    Buddhism   Krishna   Guru First & Earliest    Influence of Culture    Knowledge     History   Past Glories     Un...
Read more

Krishna & Balram : The Earliest Representation

Image
These coins seem to be the first known representations of Vedic deities on coins, and they display early Avatars of Vishnu: Balarama-Sankarshana with attributes consisting of the Gada mace and the plow, and Vasudeva-Krishna with the Vishnu attributes of the Shankha and the Sudarshana Chakra wheel. Agathocles Dikaios (meaning: "The Just") was a Greco-Bactrian/ Indo-Greek king, who reigned between around 190 and 180 BC. He might have been a son of Demetrius and one of his sub-kings in charge of the Paropamisade between Bactria and Indus-Ganges plains. He seems to be a Buddhist. Very little is known about him, apart from his extensive coinage. Agathocles issued an intriguing range of bilingual coinage, displaying what seem to be Buddhist as well as Hindu symbolism. Manufactured according to the Indian standard, using either Brahmi (ancient Indian script), Greek or Kharoshthi (ancient script used in Gandhar kingdom : present day Afghanistan & Pakistan), and displaying symbo...
Read more

Definition of Bhagvan or God.

Image
Who can be called Bhagvan? Maharishi  Parashara   was the author of many ancient Indian texts. He is accredited as the author of the first Purana, the Vishnu Purana, before his son Vyasa wrote it in its present form. He was the grandson of Vasishtha, the son of Śakti Maharṣi, and the father of Vyasa. ऐश्वर्यस्य समग्रस्य वीर्यस्य यशसः श्रियः। ज्ञान - वैराग्ययोश्चैव षण्णां भग इतीरणा॥ aiśvaryasya samagrasya vīryasya yaśasaḥ śriyaḥ  jñāna-vairāgyayoś caiva ṣaṇṇāṁ bhagam itīṅganā (Viṣṇu Purāṇa 6.5.47) The term ‘Bhagavan’ or God, is thus defined by Parasara Muni as one who is full in six opulences— 1.    who has unlimited strength 2.    fame 3.    wealth 4.    knowledge 5.    beauty and 6.    renunciation . Prashar Lake with blue and clear waters is held sacred to the sage Prashar and he is regarded to have meditated there.     *** At a dis...
Read more

Kitchen of Lord Jagannath

Image
  The Kitchen of Lord Jagannath, biggest in the World Sri Jagannath is the Lord of the Universe. His Kitchen is consid ered as the largest and the biggest Kitchen in the world. It is situated in the south-east direction of the outer compound of Srimandir. The length of the Kitchen is 150 feet, breadth is 100 feet and height is about 20 feet. It consists of 32 rooms with 250 earthen ovens within them. Around 600 cooks(Suaras) and 400 assistants serve here everyday and prepare food for the Lord. Devotees here believe that Mahalaxmi Herself comes to cook in the Kitchen while everyone else is serving Her. Chappan Bhog or Mahaprasad Mahaprasad is the term applied to the 56 food items offered to Lord Jagannath in the holy Temple of Puri, According to "Skanda Purana” Lord Jagannath redeems the devotees by permitting them to partake his Mahaprasad, to have His darshan and to worship him by observing rituals and by offering of gifts. Mahaprasad is treated here as ‘Anna Brahma’. The temple ...
Read more

The Earliest Known Chess Board & Dice

Image
      The Earliest Known Chess Board & Dice This ancient chess board was excavated from Lothal (Gujarat, India). It is the earliest known Chess board in the whole world. It dates back to c.2400 BC.   What follows is an excerpt from the published excavation report by the archaeologist SR Rao . . . "The close resemblance between various types of terracotta chessmen excavated from Lothal and modern Chessmen is remarkable.   It seems that the Indian game of Chaturanga (Chess) had its origin in one of the Harappan Games. Much valuable information about the various indoor games indulged in by the Harappans is available from the gamesmen, game-boards and dices found at the major Indus cities.   A game involving the use of dice was very popular in the Harappan and later times, especially in the time of the Mahabharata war. The Pandava prince is said to have lost everything including his kingdom in a game of dice. A...
Read more

Bhagavad Gita: Old Manuscripts Collections

Image
Pictures of the oldest surviving manuscripts of Bhagavad Gita that can be found in different museums and libraries around the world are presented here. The copies are from 15th Century CE onwards. World’s Largest Bhagavad Gita at ISKCON Temple, Delhi. Largest Bhagvad Gita   It weighs 800kg, 2m x 2.8m, has gems embedded on the cover. The book was printed in Milan, Italy, on YUPO synthetic paper, which is untearable and waterproof and can easily last 300-400 years. It is comprised of 670 pages & It includes all 700 Sanskrit verses, 18 full-page color illustrations, and the commentary of Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the founder of ISKCON.   15th Century The Digital Version of Pages 1, 2, 3, 4, 32, 79 This is the Oldest manuscript of the Bhagavad Gita, dated to 1492, original currently kept in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. Text of original inscribed on 83 palm leaves, both recto and verso. Images and English tra...
Read more

Hindi Language: Its Popularity and Spread

Image
 Hindi Language: Its Popularity and Spread Around the Globe     Hindi is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world, with about 600 million speakers. Hindi is actually spoken by more than 425 million people as a first language, and a significant number of 120 million speak Hindi as their second language? Hindi language stands tall as the fourth most-spoken language in the world after English, Spanish and Mandarin. Hindi is widely spoken in India but it isn't just limited to our country. There are many other destinations around the world, 20 to be precise, where Hindi has gained an official language status and several locals prefer conversing in it.   Countries Where Hindi is Understood Among the General Masses Here are some of the countries where Hindi is widely spoken, apart from India.   Nepal Nepal has a large Hindi-speaking population. About 80,000 Nepalese speak Hin...
Read more

Kurukshetra & Linga Parvata of Champasak, Laos.

Image
A Story of Forgotten Kurukshetra & Linga Parvata of Champasak Province, Laos - 1500 yrs ago & 1000 miles from India. HIGHLIGHTS     There is a mountain called LINGPARVAT with natural ‘linga’ (almost 10 meter high on top) in Champasak province, Laos.                                        Some 1500 years ago a King named Devanika decided to create a new TIRTH and named it 'New Kurukshetra' in this territory. The king himself states in an inscription that he was inspired by Bramha, Vishnu & Shiva.   Around 400 AD King Devanika built city Shreshthapur and also built A temple called Wat Phu.          Later it became the part of Khmer Empire of Kambuja Desa (modern Combodia) but the area retained same spiritual significance. A new city called Lingapuram was established nearby and a royal road directly linked this tirtha to new c...
Read more

What does Bhagvad Gita say on the ‘Caste system’?

Image
Bhagvad Gita says qualities and values decide the ‘ Varna’ of a person. There is absolutely no mention of birth or caste. Five verses on the subject are discussed here. Brahmanas are in Satv-gun 1.   चातुर्वर्ण्यं मया सृष्टं गुणकर्मविभागशः । तस्य कर्तारमपि मां विद्ध्यकर्तारमव्ययम् ॥ ४ - १३॥ Bg 4.13   —  According to the three modes of material nature and the work associated with them, the four divisions of human society are created by Me. And although I am the creator of this system, you should know that I am yet the non-doer, being unchangeable. What are the three modes of material nature? Before moving ahead we need to understand what the three mode of material nature are. Understanding the Satv, Rajas and Tamas Gun. Material nature consists of three modes. When eternal living entity (soul) comes in contact with nature, he becomes conditioned by these modes. These modes are Saatvik or Goodness, Rajsi...
Read more