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Ranganathaswamy Temple, Srirangapatna Taluk, Mandya District, Karnataka

[indicgal]

#freehindutemples #my temple is my temple none of your temple

Also ,in the most non ironical way ,I'd like to ask about the hashtag that you have in your bio #freehindutemples . Have they(bangladeshis) captured temples?

#freehindutemples isn't related to Bangladesh.

#freehindutemples is a kind of campaign to request the Indian government, both, state and central to stop exercise control on the “revenue” and land of the Hindu temples.

As you know, The Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Act 1951, (which was passed without any voting taking lace, btw) enables the state governments to exercise their control on the funds and lands of the temples. Almost immediately, this act came into effect and the then Andhra Pradesh government took 34,000 temples under it’s control.

Currently, over 19,000 important temples are directly managed by the governments. Imagine if there are 19,000 important temples, how many peripheral temples are being managed by the government officials.

Only in Tamil Nadu, in 12,000 temples not even a single Puja has taken place; 34,000 temples are running on less than ₹ 10,000 per annum funds; 37,000 temples, due to lack of funds, can employ only one person that performs the Puja, is incharge of the maintenance, works as the security guard etc.

63 million people in Tamil Nadu alone don’t have the right to manage their places of worship.

Only 18% of the “revenue” generated from the Hindu temples is used in the temple activities, rest 82% of it is used for all the diverse purposes that has nothing to do with the temples.

Tirupati Balaji Temple, that is probably the richest one in India gets only 7% of the 35,000 crore of the “revenue” generated and no one knows how is the government appropriating the rest 93%.

The silver ingots worth 90 crore, found under the Emar Mutt in 2011 are now in the state treasury without the Mutt retaining an ounce of it.

Almost 50,000 temples only in Karnataka have been shut down since 1947 solely due to the lack of funds.

As India is a secular nation, and so, the government should not be involved with any religious activities; including the management and the economic affairs of the temples.

A secular state is an idea pertaining to secularity, whereby a state is or purports to be officially neutral in matters of religion, supporting neither religion nor irreligion.

See, no matter how much your father or mother earns, they don’t become revenue. Do they? No. It’s degrading and disrespectful, right!

Similarly, our temples are not revenues. Our temples are cultural, educational and welfare/charitable centers but not revenue generating machine for the government.

If anyone wanna support it, give a missed call on 83000 83000 or put on #freehindutemples and #freeTNtemples on your social media handles.

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A version of the Ramayana that I listened to went like this:

When Devi Sita was still a baby, she was playing with a ball that fell near the bow. Sita crawled up the bow, lifted and pushed it to once side with one hand and retrieved the ball like it was no big deal.

That's right- baby Sita handled a dhanush of Shiva himself that grown warrior-men failed to lift in her swayamvar.

And we say that Sita was meek and submissive.

It's funny how everyone knows about the task that King Janak had set for Sita's Swayamvar—that the suitor will have to lift and string the Pinaka—but very conveniently forgets why he had set this task.

Sita could lift Pinaka with one hand. Janak wanted his daughter's spouse to be her equal.

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Rajasthani Architecture 🦋🍁

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The Darkest Pujo- Note on the recent violence against the Hindus of Bangladesh

TW: graphic images

While we, on this side of the border, spent a joyous Dusshera and Durga Pujo, our brothers and sisters in Bangladesh spent days filled with terror.

What happened during Durga Pujo, 2021?

The trouble started from late-September when several Durga Protima (vigraha or image of Ma Durga) were vandalised by extremists in Chittagong, Dhaka and other places.

Then, the Durga pratima was prevented from being worshipped in the historic Shankhnidhi Puja Mantap. The Devi had to be worshipped on the streets and only after protests was a temporary space granted.

While further attacks on the pandals continued, Bangladeshi Hindus faced a far more vicious attack. At Comilla, a nasty rumour was spread that the Quran was desecrated in one of the pandals. Exploiting the rumour and using it as an excuse, the puja mantap at Comilla was savagely attacked with the images of the Gods being vandalised brutally. The Bangladeshi Hindu community had to guard their pandals and mantaps against such attack. The attacks were pre-planned and in some mandapas, bombs were recovered, indicating that the safety of the community was now endangered.

The worse was yet to come. The Bengali Hindus, like in 1947, were once again attacked in Naokhali. Reports indicate that at least 4 Hindus have been killed in the attack on them. One person's body was recovered from a pond in Naokhali. Several more have been injured.

The attacks are still continuing. Only yesterday, an ISKCON temple in Naokhali was attacked and the sculpture of Shri Prabhupada was disfigured.

It is worth mentioning that attacks and vandalism of Durga Mandapas are almost routine in Bangladesh during Pujo. It has been said that the Islamist extremist group, Jamaat-e-Islami are behind this violence. The Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami was a political party (has since been banned from contesting elections) which has the express goal of creating an Islamic state with Sharia law is implemented. The organization was responsible for the 2013 violence when more than 50 Hindu Temples were set on fire and more than a thousand Hindu businesses were torched. The leader of the organization has even asked for the expulsion of Hindus and other minorities of Bangladesh.

The worst part? The attacks on Hindus have not garnered the necessary international attention and condemnation that it should. It is unacceptable that the community is exposed to such grave danger for merely exercising their right to celebrate their festival.

While Sheikh Hasina has assured protection, the attacks continue and the PM has blamed the situation in India for the violence faced by Bangladeshi Hindus. This is an unacceptable answer and is tantamount to shirking from acknowledging the fanatic problem that Bangladesh suffers from. India's Ministry of External Affairs has expressed concerns about the violence but the appropriate action should be to notify the CAA rules and provide asylum to the community.

My heart goes out to the Bengali Hindu community has routinely suffered from religiously motivated hatred. The community has borne severe intergenerational trauma and yet, they remain firm in the worship of our Gods and Goddesses. The only fitting way in which the rest of us can help them is to acknowledge and pay attention to this burning issue.

Spread the word!

In solidarity!

May Durga protect all!

Read more at:

https://www.indiatoday.in/world/story/mob-durga-puja-pandals-vandalised-bangladesh-dhaka-1864698-2021-10-14

https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/bangladesh-on-edge-after-durga-puja-violence-security-tightened-101634276449027.html

https://www.thedailystar.net/news/bangladesh/news/body-recovered-pond-noakhalis-begumganj-2199616

ISKCON Bangladesh's Twitter handle: https://twitter.com/IskconBDH

Bangladesh Hindu Unity Council: https://twitter.com/UnityCouncilBD?s=20

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Mysuru Dasara

(because its that time of the year when my Mysuru heritage is on steroids)

Long, long ago, the buffalo Asura Mahisha, intoxicated with power and arrogance, waged war with the Gods themselves. Indra, the King of the Devas charged into battle but was pushed into the mountains after being defeated by Mahisha.

As the Gods all sat huddled, they regretted the boon that Mahisha had obtained- the boon was that no man could ever kill Mahisha.

But there, then and there, when all hopes of defeating adharma seemed to have lost, the Devi herself manifested. She, the One with Righteous Anger had taken upon Herself to defeat the shape-shifting Demon-King.

If no man could ever defeat Mahisha, what of it! She, the Shakti, the One who nurtures this world, she would kill him.

Onwards! She moves into war, head-to-head with Mahishasur, with a ferocious Lion by Her side. A fierce battle commenced. Nine Days and Nine Nights went by. On the tenth day, She slays the head of the Buffalo Demon. Dharma had returned to the realms of the Earth.

Ever since, perched on the top of the Hills of Mahisuru- the city that was the domain of Mahisha- she protects the city she liberated and ensures that the order of Dharma never falters again. The hills were now named after Her- Chamundi.

Every year, a joyous citizenry marks the defeat of good over evil by observing the Navratri and express their gratitude to the Goddess on the day of Vijayadashami.

Since the time of the Vijayanagara Empire (~15th century), the Wodeyars, the royal family of Mysuru, commemorate Dasara through an elaborate khaas durbaar, preserving their promise to Chamundeshwari to honour her every year. Intense pujas are conducted at the Chamundi Temple, the streets of Mysuru reverberate with echoes of traditional songs and dances. Much to the delight of all, the jumbo savari or the procession of elephants carries the image of the Devi on the magnificent golden howdah.

As dusk pours into the city, the Palace, the temples and several important monuments light up.

But the illumination of the city, or indeed a hundred thousand cities, can be no match to the radiance of Chamundi's fierce smile.

Dasarahabbada shubhasheyagalu!

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Bijoya

Shubho Bijoya !

The darkness might envelope the world but the light of Her victory will always pierce through it.

And

Happy Dussehra !

@callonpeevesie @lovechildofamyrosagina @travalerray @woolf-and-other-muses @your-favourite-skittles @cosmicdreams1111 @jo-lovesmusic @jugn00 @gandharvika @thebengalurubisexual @the-slythering-raven @sagegreendyke @gulaabee @shaonharryandpannisim @salt-n-caramel @stardustandoblivion

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Autorickshaw gothic

- You wait for an auto by the side of the road, you wait and vehicles whizz past, a blur of silver, black, red - some yellow and black that never halt. Your outstretched hand, aches, but you’re unable to pull it back. How long has it been? You’re not sure…but the sun is still up so it musn’t have been long right?

- You never catch sight of an auto if you’re deliberately looking. Out of the corner of your eyes, you see a yellow-black blur, but when you turn, its gone as is the familiar droning noise.

- You’re sure autos come in more colours, not just yellow-black, yellow-green combinations. Nobody seems to spot the red ones, the ones that seem to flicker in and out of existence or the ones that seem to forever remain in the shadows.

- Auto drivers, always know how to get to your destination, sometimes, they even know where exactly you need to go before you get on.

- You’re wary of the way the autorickshaw driver asks for his money, some poor uncle had agreed to a ‘deal’ and had come back, petrified and vacant, blubbering about red eyes and menacing smiles.

- You doze off midway to your destination, and when you wake, the smile in the mirrors is distorted and you’ve never seen this road before.

- Your auto driver may not always have a reflection. Don’t check if its true.

- He launches into a story about himself and as you listen, you realise that the syllables sound rough, guttural, other. He flicks his tongue out and you find yourself oddly mesmerized by his tale.

- You touch the top of an auto, the yellow canvas, once, and it feels like you’re touching someone’s face or hand. Don’t think too much about it.

- The wind rushes past your face and you hear whispers and murmurs and screams, but the auto is going too fast for you to decide which direction they’re from, or if they’re even coming from outside.

- There’s always a group of autos in that corner, y'know the one in which the shadows seem to stretch a tad too long, and there isn’t a peep, not even from crows. Don’t approach them, nobody does for a reason.

- Don’t hire autos during the night, your friends say, and when questioned why, don’t answer. The distant, vague look in their eyes sends a shiver down your spine.

- You watch the auto as it recedes into the distance after dropping you and the hairs on the back of your neck prickle as you take in the utter silence, and observe the trees bending away from it.

Please feel free to add more!

[indicgal]

If you think Hinduphobia/Hindumisia isn't real, it doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

Shout out to @chaoticaindica for bringing this up.

Cases Of Hinduphobia Observe A Steep Rise As DGH Conference Boasts It's Successful Conduction

Hinduphobia is a reality!

Branded Hinduphobic organisation, "Dismantling Global Hindutva" gaining support from 49 universities and 60 departments across the globe including prestigious Ivy League Universities including Harvard, Stanford, and Princeton, is essentially working towards spreading false, misleading and ill-judged narratives and hatred targeting Hinduism, Hindutva and RSS.

As this organisation celebrates the success of DGH Conference (10-12 September, 2021), the Hindus, especially in America, have experienced increased hatred and prejudice from their non Hindu American counterparts.

these signs have popped up in the city of Atlanta targeting the Hindu community living there.

Here are some testimonies of Hindus living in America on facing hatred because they weren't white and their practices differ from those of the Abrahamic faith.

https://www.firstpost.com/india/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-hindu-on-campus-in-the-time-and-age-of-dismantling-global-hindutva-9955851.html

https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/03/26/growing-asian-american-racism-wasnt-foreign-me-not-much-has-changed

https://www.atlantamagazine.com/list/race-atlanta/racism-isnt-always-look-like-racism/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dotbusters

https://theprint.in/opinion/hinduphobia-is-a-reality-scholars-at-dismantling-global-hindutva-conference-must-know/728983/

Tagging my bandhus because the world needs to see this and rectify their mistakes @balladofableedingpoet2112 @lavender7 @ataphya @the-fascist-brainrot @thebengalurubisexual @suvarnarekha @indicgal @satyanandasvarupini @crimsondreamingidiot @draupadiwasthebaddestbich @hinduism101 @hinducosmos @gulaabee @thestral-queen-rules @ashlinncovere

[indicgal]

The fire of Asamai

Once upon a time, in a land not so far away, lived a community who worshipped the same Gods and celebrated the same festivals as you and I do. They built holy temples and massive forts, forged dynasties that ruled vast masses of land. They maintained their bond with their original homeland- India, even whilst staying true to their Afghan soil.

The Hindus of Afghanistan, however, slowly lost power. They were expelled from their homes in the charming Gandhara. They were looted, enslaved, converted and slaughtered- but they still persisted.

More recently, the Taliban's rule from 1996-2001 was especially dark. They were once again evicted from their lands, their women were harassed to the extent that they would not venture outside their homes. Hindu institutions were shut down and children were surreptitiously taught the Bhagvad Gita at their homes. Sometimes, they were even killed. In a horrible throwback to Nazi Germany, Hindus and Sikhs were mandated to wear yellow clothing for easy identification.

Even through all this and so much more, the Hindus of Afghanistan kept alive their faith. The Asamai Temple, at the foot of the hills Koh-i-Asamai in Kabul, is a shrine dedicated to Devi Asha, literally meaning the Goddess of Hope. At the temple burns the 'Akhand Jyoti' or the Eternal Flame of Asamai which is said to be aflame since 4,000 years. The Hindu community, along with their Sikh brothers and sisters (together called Hindki) came together regularly to offer their prayers to the Goddess for centuries together. This worship- to keep aflame the Fire of Asamai- persisted even as the two communities began to flee Afghanistan- some to India, some to other countries- as they saw Islamists take over the country they once very much belonged to.

Today, there is just one Hindu in Afghanistan.

Raja Ram, the priest of the Hindu Temple at Ghazni remains, clinging on to this faith, having lost everything but his devotion to the Gods. In a land that has now been divided between the "believers" and the "non-believers", the quiet courage and firm devotion of that priest is an act of valiant resistance.

But this resistance is an ancient one, displayed by our own ancestors as they resolutely built Somnath every time Ghazni raided it. It is a resistance that after the Delhi and the Madurai Sultanate, the Vijayanagara Kings liberated Madurai and rebuilt the glorious Meenakshi Amman Kovil. It is the resistance that the Goan Hindus showed as they faced the wrath of the Goan Inquisition. It is that resistance that Kashmiri Pandits show, even after being ethnically cleansed. This has happened before, this will happen again.

But the resistance takes its toll. A lot of our heritage has been lost, civilizational memory has been forgotten, too much blood has been spilt. And today, the Hindu character of Afghanistan, along with the Sikhi and the Buddhist elements, is on the verge of a complete wipeout. One lone priest stands between the Taliban and their goal.

The fire of Asamai may now die out.

At this sombre junction of our history, it is our duty as Indian Hindus to preserve their memory, educate ourselves about our Hindu brethren in other lands, pray for the safety of Raja Ram and others like him and to help out refugees in India or elsewhere in any way possible. And importantly, it is time we learn to check our effing privilege.

Every time we shit on our festivals and Gods, we must remind ourselves to be modest; people have died for the right to religious worship that we take for granted.

And someday, somehow, even if the physical fire of Asamai is extinguished, and her temple is reduced to rubble, may we gather the strength to rekindle the Fire. Until then, we must let it burn in our hearts.

Read more: https://gandhara.rferl.org/a/ghazni-residents-mourn-the-loss-of-hindu-sikh-neighbors-/30854326.html

https://rajatmitra.co.in/the-last-hindu-of-afghanistan/

https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/neighbours/story/20011217-afghanistan-hindu-sikh-families-retain-cultural-practices-under-hostile-taliban-regime-774879-2001-12-17

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Imagine wearing these jewels.

The pearl and ruby earrings that enhances the redness of your Benarasi saree.

As your graceful, bangled hands gather jasmine flowers from your garden to offer it your kula devta, the butterflies abandon the flowers, mistaking your flower-patterned ring to be some exquisite flower.

And when you smile quietly at this, the diamonds in your nath nosering slightly shines in the sun- reflecting your inner radiance to the wide world.

Imagine wearing these jewels.

Source: Christie's

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Daydreaming about Peter Brook's 'Mahabharata' (1989), because why shouldn't I?

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Poetry In Stone! 800-1000 years old hypnotizing marble temples of medieval Western India.

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The Day of Massacre at Nalanda

Bakhtiyar and his men play buzkashi in my alleys today monks are being burnt alive; and those who try to escape are beheaded.

Dharmagunj — the nine-storied library has burst into flames smoke and ash from burning books  have turned the day into night.

The sun has disappeared from the sky today and even my bricks bleed sacred chants that once purified Magadha  have turned into shrieks of a falling humanity.

The light of the world is fading today to face ravages of time alone abandoned, scorned, forgotten or perhaps to be reborn into many Nalandas.

~Abhay K.

Nalanda, now a tiny district in Bihar, India, was once a thriving Buddhist university, with students and scholars from all around the world flocking to its haloed walls.

But around 1200 CE, invaders led by Bhaktiyar Khilji raided Nalanda, burning down the university, its grand libraries, and monasteries. It is said that the university burnt for three whole months. Buddhist and Hindu monks and scholars were brutally killed.

A fount of Indic knowledge had fallen and never recovered.

We weep at its ruins.

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Maharani Jind Kaur by George Richmond, 1862

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Read Through The Independence Day

​The Golden Threshold - Sarojini Naidu

India Divided - Rajendra Prasad

Bhavani Bharti* - Shri Aurobindo

​Unhappy India - Lala Lajpat Rai

Annihilation of Caste - BR Ambedkar

The Indian War Of Independence, 1857 - Vinayak Damodar Savarkar

Pakistan, Or, The Partition Of India - Dr. B.R Ambedkar

Anandamath - BankimChandra Chattopadhyay

Tales From Prison Life - Shri Aurobindo

India's Rebirth : Out Of The Ruins Of The West - Shri Aurobindo

My Transportation For Life - Vinayak Damodar Savarkar

Kim - Rudyard Kipling

A Flight Of Pigeons - Ruskin Bond

Todo Kara Todo (तोडो कारा तोडो) - Narendra Kohli

Hindu-Pad-Padashahi - Vinayak Damodar Savarkar

Desh Ki Hatya ('देश की हत्या) - Gurudutt

The Tragic Story Of Partition (और देश बँट गया) - H. V Sheshadri

Foundations Of Indian Culture - Shri Aurobindo

Bharat-Bharati - Maithili Sharan Gupt

Young India; an interpretation and a history of the nationalist movement from within - Lala Lajpat Rai

Story Of INA - S. A Ayer

Tarunai Ke Sapne - Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose

An Indian Pilgrim - Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose

My India: The India Eternal - Swami Vivekananda

To The Youth Of India - Swami Vivekananda

* Bhavani Bharti by Shri Aurobindo is not really a book but a poem. However, it's excellence is unmatched and hence, here it is! today also marks the birthday of Shri Aurobindo Ghosh and a great personality like him deserves to be celebrated not only on his birthday but all year round.

May we cherish and protect our freedom as long as we live. JAI HIND!

[indicgal]

Shiva Mandala, phauba painting, Nepal