Pala period
12th century
Bangladesh or India (Bengal)
Black stone
This is an extremely rare representation of Shiva as Mrityunjaya, the destroyer of death and disease. He is shown deep in meditation in yogic form, as indicated by his interlocked legs...
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Audio discussion:
The dating of Adi Shankaracharya
The dating of Adi Shankaracharya is a vital piece of Indian history. Did he live during 788 - 820CE? Or did he live during 509 - 477 BCE? If the latter is correct, then Buddha's lifetime gets pushed back further, making the Indian civilisation e...
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A sandstone figural relief of Surya
Central India, 10th/11th Century
The solar deity standing in a frontal hieratic pose with both hands raised and holding a stylized blossoms, a small figure of his consort standing between his boots and accompanied by his two sons Shani and Yama standing on the...
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Sarasvati, goddess of speech, learning, and the arts, is revered by Hindus, Jains, and Buddhists alike. Associated especially with music and knowledge, she plays the vina (a stringed instrument) and holds a palm-leaf manuscript. Here, she a...
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Arjuna as a Victor
Abdur Rahman Chughtai
Watercolor on paper
Abdur Rahman Chughtai is remembered today as possibly the most distinguished Pakistani artist of the 20th century. His work draws from a shared South Asian cultural heritage, and he was one of the few Pakistani artists to be recognize...
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Article:
Vedic Cosmology: Integrating God and Physics
By Mauricio Garrido, Ph.D.
Physicist and Hindu Monk
Huffington Post - March 2014
In 2012, CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, called for a debate between scientists, philosophers and theologians to find common ground between...
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New Book:
The Presence of Siva
By Stella Kramrisch
Published by Princeton University Press - 1992
One of the three great gods of Hinduism, Siva is a living god. The most sacred and most ancient book of India, The Rg Veda, evokes his presence in its hymns; Vedic myths, rituals, and even astronomy...
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A bronze sculpture of a seated figure of the Hindu god Siva. He has four arms and carries a parasu (axe) in his proper right rear hand, a mrga (deer) in his proper left rear hand, a naga (cobra) in his proper left fore hand and he holds his proper rig...
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Hanuman Bearing the Mountaintop with Medicinal Herbs
ca. 1800
India (Rajasthan)
Ink and opaque watercolor on cloth
This devotional image of Hanuman celebrates his most famous heroic feat—carrying the Mount Sanjeevini to Rama and Lakshmana, who, gravely wounded in combat, were in desperate need o...
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Watercolour of Europeans being entertained by dancers and musicians in a splendid Indian house during Durga puja by William Prinsep (1794-1874) dating from the 1830s-1840s.
The subject matter and treatment is rather unlike Prinsep's normal style, and it is possible that this is based on another...
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Watercolour depicting a Durga Puja, by Sevak Ram (c.1770-c.1830) in the Patna style, c.1809.
Durga is a form of the Great Goddess Devi; she is considered to be one in a variety of personalities of the Hindu goddess. She is most well known as the goddess who killed the Buffalo Demon Mahisha. The ...
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Uma is a mother goddess, and she is depicted here as turning toward her consort, the Hindu god Shiva, a companion sculpture from which this image of Uma has been separated. The grace and femininity of this solid-cast fig...
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Digital Book :
Saundarya Lahari
The Ocean of Beauty of Sri Sankara Bhagatvatpada
English translation by Pandit S.Subrahmanya Sastri and T.R.Srinivasa Ayyangar
Published by The Theosophical Publishing House, Madras - 1937
Digital Rare Book :
The Brahmans, Theists and Muslims of India.
Studies of Goddess-Worship in Bengal, Caste, Brahmaism and Social Reform, with Descriptive Sketches of Curious Festivals, Ceremonies, and Faquirs.
By John Campbell Oman
Published by T. Fisher Unwin, London - 1907