The book recounts the journey of Vivek ji and numerous others during the years 2022-23 along the revered banks of the Narmada river. The book is not just a travelogue of the author’s journey along the banks of the river, but also a documentation of the numerous ancient teerthas that are scattered along the holy banks of Narmada, which have been mostly forgotten by everyone. The teerthas are the starting point of the Narmada Parikrama, playing a crucial role in shaping this tradition. Vivek ji’s Narmada parikrama was a journey undertaken with the purpose of immersing oneself in the spiritual landscapes of the sacred Narmada river. However, it was the parikrama that ultimately uncovered and drew attention to the Teerthas.
In Narmad?parikram?. Circumambulation of the Narmad? River Jürgen Neuss offers a comprehensive study of the Narmad?parikram?, a singular Hindu pilgrimage, which comprises the complete circumambulation of the Central Indian river Narmad?.
Meandering Through Mountains And Valleys, The Narmada Twists And Turns Her Way Through Forest Fringes, Sculpting Boulders, Carving Deep Gorges And Creating Scenes Of Unsurpassed Beauty And Loveliness. Rich In History And Mythology, She Is India S Fifth Longest And The Most Sacred River After The Ganga. Award-Winning Artist And Writer Amrit Lal Vegad Has Been Capturing The Narmada On Canvas And In Print For Over A Quarter Of A Century. Narmada: River Of Beauty Details Vegad S Journeys On Foot Over A Period Of Eleven Years, Along The Riverbank From The Source Of The Narmada To Bharuch Where It Empties Into The Arabian Sea. The Geography Of The Narmada Valley Has Changed Since The Last Time The Author Traversed It, In 1987. Several Hundred Villages Have Been Submerged As A Result Of The Sardar Sarovar Project, As Well As Cultivable Land, Flora And Fauna. Using Exquisite Prose And Vivid Imagery, Vegad Has Captured The Beauty Of The Valley In Its Pristine Form. Alternating Between The Exciting And The Serene, His Account Mirrors The Narmada S Course From Source To Mouth. He Narrates His Encounters With The Villagers Who Live On The Banks Of The River, Their Easy Faith And Generous Hospitality, Hardworking Days And Restful Nights; His Nerve-Wracking Journey Through Bhil Country Where The Tribals Are Known To Loot Pilgrims; His Nighttime Adventure With A Pair Of Cobras, And Unexpected Run-In With A Colony Of Ants. Narmada: River Of Beauty Is Not Just About The River, But The Life That Thrives On The River. This Evocative Translation, Peppered With Sketches And Collages By The Author, Captures The Familiar Textures Of The Original, Making It A One-Of-A-Kind Travelogue About One Of The Most Magnificent River Valleys In India.
Rivers in India are commonly associated with certain worldly religious values: wealth, beauty, long life, good health, food, love, and the birth of children. However, these "domestic" values have been relatively neglected by Indologists, who have tended to view India and Hinduism through the prism of poverty, misery, asceticism, and themes of purity or pollution. Following recent scholarship by arguing that the earthly pursuits are equally vital to an understanding of popular Hinduism, Feldhaus examines the role of these ideals in the religious meanings of rivers in Maharashtra, a large region of western India. Drawing both on written religious texts and on a wide range of oral, iconographic, and ritual materials gathered in the course of field work in India, she shows that these values, which are usually associated with women or represented by goddesses, are an important motif in popular religious practices and oral traditions associated with the rivers of Maharashtra, and she presents the many different ways in which rivers are imagined, enshrined, worshipped, and feared.
Why is the tulsi considered sacred? What is the significance of namaste? Why do Hindus light a lamp before performing a ritual? Why is it forbidden to sleep facing the south? Why do Hindus chant 'shanti' three times after performing a rite? Millions of Hindus the world over grow up observing rites, rituals and religious practices that lie at the heart of Hinduism, but which they don't know the significance of. Often the age-old customs, whose relevance is lost to modern times, are dismissed as meaningless superstitions. The truth, however, is that these practices reveal the philosophical and scientific approach to life that has characterized Hindu thought since ancient times; it is important to revive their original meanings today. This handy book tells the fascinating stories and explains the science behind the Hindu rites and rituals that we sometimes follow blindly. It is essential reading for anyone interested in India's cultural tradition.
The Book Gives A Detailed Study Of The Physico-Chemical, Biological And Bacterio- Logical Assessment Of Water Pollution In The Largest West-Flowing Central Indian River.
We now live in the time of the Gaian hierophant. This is the one who reveals and shows us how to relate to the sacred aspects of Gaia, our planet. Who is this hierophant? Each of us, when we join the campaign with Gaia against the desecration of our natural environment. But first we have to discover what the Earth really is. The Earth's thousands of sacred sites hold a secret: they are functional parts of the planet's geomantic body, consciousness nodes in the Earth's subtle body. Each veils a Light temple, each once known widely and remembered in myth, and Welcome to Your Designer Planet! documents 165 different kinds. The Earth is not an accident of the cosmos, but was designed specifically for humans as an extended Mystery temple primed to support and enhance our greater awareness. And the designers intended that humans help maintain it. Want to help the ecosystem and modulate global warming and climate change? Plug yourself into the Earth's Light grid through your nearest sacred site and start helping. Earth Mysteries researcher Richard Leviton presents a working model of the Earth's geomantic reality based on 24 years of research. The world's myths are the doorway into this fantastic domain of the Earth's visionary geography, showing us where to go and what to do and even what kinds of spiritual beings to expect to see. The future of the Earth is in our hands. Here are some pages from its design manual showing us how to fine-tune our wonderful host planet.
This book examines the words and actions of people who live in regions in the state of Maharashtra in Western India to illustrate the idea that regions are not only created by humans, but given meaning through religious practices. By exploring the people living in the area of Maharashtra, Feldhaus draws some very interesting conclusions about how people differentiate one region from others, and how we use stories, rituals, and ceremonies to recreate their importance. Feldhaus discovers that religious meanings attached to regions do not necessarily have a political teleology. According to Feldhaus, 'There is also a chance, even now, that religious imagery can enrich the lives of individuals and small communities without engendering bloodshed and hatred'.
This handbook explores the diversity of religious practice in tribal cultures in India. It looks at the interactive spaces where the religious practices of tribes and other communities have changed and adapted through the years in contemporary India. Tribe as a social category emerged in India during the colonial period; this handbook departs from the conventional approaches to studying ‘tribal religion’ and analyses the intersections of spirituality, rituals, gender and identities within tribal religion through a crosscultural and pan-Indian perspective. Tribes in India follow various religious denominations including Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, and traditional indigenous faiths. The chapters in this volume provide insights into the cross-cultural religiosity of tribes via ethnographic accounts and the study of animism, life cycle rituals, ancestor worship, shrines and religious institutions, revivalism, religious identities, religious conversion, transcendental religious spaces and the space for gender, identity and politics within religious traditions. It also discusses conflicts, contestations, anxieties within and the politics of religious traditions and identities in India and how tribal communities and the state negotiate with these issues. This and its companion handbook, The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Readings on Tribe and Religions in India: Emerging Negotiations, provide a comprehensive look into the religious life and practices of a very diverse group of tribes in India. This book will be of interest to academics and researchers working in the fields of religion, anthropology, indigenous and tribal studies, social and cultural anthropology, sociology of culture, sociology of religion, development studies, history, political science, folkloristic, and colonialism.
