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This voluminous work, a store house of information about the Epics, Puranas and allied literature, was originally composed and published in Malayalam. It constituted the results of the author's devoted study and research extending over fourteen years. This English version of the same is to meet the growing demand of scholars interested in the study of Puranas. This stupendous work, in the form of an exhaustive descriptive index, covers the vast and varied field of ancient Indian culture in all aspects-history geography, religion, philosophy, myths, beliefs and practices as depicted in the Epics and Puranas. The work is planned on scientific lines. The material compiled is arranged systematically. Citations have been inserted in support of stated facts; at places they have been substituted by reference. Obsolete and obscure words, denoting objects such as a particular tree or plant have been explained by their scientific or vernacular equivalents. All modern critical apparatus has been utilized in the preparation of this comprehensive work.
The Apocalypse of Enoch and Bhuśunda The Apocalypse of Enoch and Bhuśunda challenges the underlying assumptions of the classical roots of civilization by restoring the original context of creation mythology. In this second volume of A Chronology of the Primeval Gods and the Western Sunrise, ancient myths from multiple geographies are correlated to spikes in cosmic rays over the past 120,000 years – as documented in ice core data. The chronology and content of these myths tell us that the primary forces behind these cataclysms were the most ancient gods - hyper-nova at the Galactic Center associated with Sgr A*(The Dragon), Sgr West (The Beast) and Sgr East (Hiranyâksha and Hiranyakas'ipu), with secondary supernova seen as the birth of new, destructive gods. Ancient myth has documented the cataclysmic destruction of the world on at least twenty occasions with four major geo-polar migrations, which has resulted in a shift of the earth’s equator on at least one occasion. Multiple myths are shown to represent a view of the sky that can only be seen from the Antarctic region. Multiple versions of the myths of Orion are analyzed, showing clear linkages between the Vedic myth of Trisanku, the Book of Genesis, Senmut's Tomb, and the myths of Prajāpati Daksa representing the oldest version of the Orion myth – older than Trishanku and Genesis by 20,000 years! The stunning conclusion explains how the “Watchers” of Enoch were the Vedic descendants of Ila and Iksvaku. These descendants of the seventh Manu had been observing and recording the stars as a source of cataclysm for at least 15,000 years prior to Enoch, thus allowing Enoch to prophesize a ‘new heaven.’ That prophecy became the foundation for St John’s Book of Revelations, which is shown to be a description of a series of cataclysms attributed to Sgr West. The book offers a new theory for explaining geo-polar migration. That theory suggests small shifts in the location of the earth’s center of gravity underlie each migration, but that there are multiple causes for the shifts.
The Encyclopedia of Hinduism contains over 900 entries reflecting recent advances in scholarship which have raised new theoretical and methodological issues as well as identifying new areas of study which have not been addressed previously. The debate over the term 'Hinduism' in the light of post-Orientalist critiques is just one example of how once standard academic frameworks have been called into question. Entries range from 150-word definitions of terms and concepts to 5,000-word in-depth investigations of major topics. The Encyclopedia covers all aspects of Hinduism but departs from other works in including more ethnographic and contemporary material in contrast to an exclusively textual and historical approach. It includes a broad range of subject matter such as: historical developments (among them nineteenth and twentieth century reform and revival); geographical distribution (especially the diaspora); major and minor movements; philosophies and theologies; scriptures; deities; temples and sacred sites; pilgrimages; festivals; rites of passage; worship; religious arts (sculpture, architecture, music, dance, etc.); religious sciences (e.g. astrology); biographies of leading figures; local and regional traditions; caste and untouchability; feminism and women's religion; nationalism and the Hindu radical right; and new religious movements. The history of study and the role of important scholars past and present are also discussed. Accessibility to all levels of reader has been a priority and no previous knowledge is assumed. However, the in-depth larger entries and the design of the work in line with the latest scholarly advances means that the volume will be of considerable interest to specialists. The whole is cross-referenced and bibliographies attach to the larger entries. There is a full index.
Beginning in the fifth century A.D., various Indian mystics began to innovate a body of techniques with which to render themselves immortal. These people called themselves Siddhas, a term formerly reserved for a class of demigods, revered by Hindus and Buddhists alike, who were known to inhabit mountaintops or the atmospheric regions. Over the following five to eight hundred years, three types of Hindu Siddha orders emerged, each with its own specialized body of practice. These were the Siddha Kaula, whose adherents sought bodily immortality through erotico-mystical practices; the Rasa Siddhas, medieval India's alchemists, who sought to transmute their flesh-and-blood bodies into immortal bodies through the ingestion of the mineral equivalents of the sexual fluids of the god Siva and his consort, the Goddess; and the Nath Siddhas, whose practice of hatha yoga projected the sexual and laboratory practices of the Siddha Kaula and Rasa Siddhas upon the internal grid of the subtle body. For India's medieval Siddhas, these three conjoined types of practice led directly to bodily immortality, supernatural powers, and self-divinization; in a word, to the exalted status of the semidivine Siddhas of the older popular cults. In The Alchemical Body, David Gordon White excavates and centers within its broader Indian context this lost tradition of the medieval Siddhas. Working from a body of previously unexplored alchemical sources, he demonstrates for the first time that the medieval disciplines of Hindu alchemy and hatha yoga were practiced by one and the same people, and that they can only be understood when viewed together. Human sexual fluids and the structures of the subtle body aremicrocosmic equivalents of the substances and apparatus manipulated by the alchemist in his laboratory. With these insights, White opens the way to a new and more comprehensive understanding of the entire sweep of medieval Indian mysticism, within the broader context of south Asian Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Islam. This book is an essential reference for anyone interested in Indian yoga, alchemy, and the medieval beginnings of science.
This book offers new translations of the Tiruppavai and Nacciyar Tirumoli, composed by the ninth-century Tamil mystic and poetess Kotai. Two of the most significant compositions by a female mystic, the Tiruppavai and Nacciyar Tirumoli give expression to her powerful experiences through the use of a vibrant and bold sensuality, in which Visnu is her awesome, mesmerizing, and sometimes cruel lover. Kotai's poetry is characterized by a richness of language in which words are imbued with polyvalence and even the most mundane experiences are infused with the spirit of the divine. Her Tiruppavai and Nacciyar Tirumoli are garlands of words, redolent with meanings waiting to be discovered. Today Kotai is revered as a goddess, and as a testament to the enduring relevance of her poetry, her Tiruppavai and Nacciyar Tirumoli continue to be celebrated in South Indian ritual, music, dance, and the visual arts. This book aims to capture the lyricism, beauty, and power of Kotai's original works. In addition, detailed notes based on traditional commentaries, and discussions of the ritual and performative lives of the Tiruppavai and Nacciyar Tirumoli highlight the importance of this ninth-century poet and her two poems over the past one thousand years.
Manu said that a woman’s dharma is to be mother, daughter, sister and wife in service of men, regardless of the caste. In modern times we call this patriarchy. In the Veda, the need to control and favour hierarchy, is an expression of an anxious mind. Hindu, Buddhist and Jain lore is full of tales where women do not let men define their dharma. In modern times we call this feminism. In the Veda, the acceptance of a woman's choice is an expression of a wise and secure mind. While in Western myth, patriarchy is traditional and feminism is progressive, in Indian myth both patriarchy and feminism have always co-existed, in eternal tension, through endless cycles of rebirth. Liberation thus is not a foreign idea. It has always been here. You have heard tales of patriarchy. This book tells you the other tales—the ones they don’t tell you.