Nayanars (or Nayanmars), saints from Southern India, were mostly responsible for development of Śaivism in the Middle Ages. Of the schools today, many Śaivite sects are in Kashmir and Northern India, with Lingayats and Virasaivas from Southern India. The Saiva Siddhanta is a major Śaivite theory developed in Southern India. Śiva's life is often depicted in short stage dramas to help his devotees (particularly nayanmars) better understand his aspects. This is greatly explained in the Thiruvilayadalpuram. This form is especi ...

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Shiva, Shiva - Shivalingas, Shiva - Introduction, Shiva - Consorts and the Burning of Kamadeva, Shiva - Other Legends, Shiva - The Sons of Shiva, Shiva - Attributes of Lord Shiva, Shiva - Other Forms and Legends, Shiva - Schools and Views of Śivaism, Shiva - Origin Theories, Shiva - Names of Śiva

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Śiva does not occur in the Vedic hymns as the name of a god, but as an adjective in the sense of "kind", or "auspicious". One of his synonyms, however, is the name of a Vedic deity, the attributes and nature of which show a good deal of similarity to the post-Vedic Rudra, the god of the roaring storm, usually portrayed in accordance with the element he represents, as a fierce, destructive deity, terrible as a wild beast, whose fearful arrows cause death and disease to men and cattle. He is also called Bapardin (wearing his hair spirally bra ...

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Shiva, Shiva - Shivalingas, Shiva - Introduction, Shiva - Consorts and the Burning of Kamadeva, Shiva - Other Legends, Shiva - The Sons of Shiva, Shiva - Attributes of Lord Shiva, Shiva - Other Forms and Legends, Shiva - Schools and Views of Śivaism, Shiva - Origin Theories, Shiva - Names of Śiva

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Islamic Sufism is regarded by some as being influenced by eastern philosophies (Indian and Persian) and has Pantheistic doctrines within its many varieties. Pantheism - Other religions. There are elements of pantheism in Theosophy, some forms of Buddhism, and Taoism along with many varying denominations and individuals within and without denominations. Many Unitarian Universali ...

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Pantheism, Pantheism - History, Pantheism - Varieties of pantheism, Pantheism - Methods of explanation, Pantheism - Debate, Pantheism - Related concepts, Pantheism - Panentheism, Pantheism - Cosmotheism, Pantheism - Pantheistic concepts in religion, Pantheism - Hinduism, Pantheism - Ayyavazhi, Pantheism - Judaism, Pantheism - Christian, Pantheism - Islam, Pantheism - Other religions, Pantheism - Quotations

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As the legend goes, one day after the war was over, Ashoka ventured out to roam the city and all he could see were burnt houses and scattered corpses. This sight made him sick and he cried the famous quotation, "What have I done?" The brutality of the conquest led him to adopt Buddhism and he used his position to propagate the relatively new philosophy to new heights, as far as ancient Rome and Egypt. From that point Ashoka, who had been described as "the cruel Ashoka" (Chandashoka), started to be described as "the pious Ashoka" (D ...

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Ashoka, Ashoka - Historical sources, Ashoka - Early life, Ashoka - Rise to power, Ashoka - Conversion to Buddhism, Ashoka - Death and legacy, Ashoka - Ashoka and Buddhist Kingship, Ashoka - Ashoka in popular culture, Ashoka - Sources

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Emperor Ashoka ruled for an estimated forty years, and after his death, the Maurya dynasty lasted just fifty more years. Ashoka had many wives and children, but their names are lost to time. Mahinda and Sanghamitta were twins born by his first wife, Devi, in the city of Ujjain. He had entrusted to them the job of making his state religion, Buddhism, more popular across the known and the unknown world. Mahinda and Sanghamitta went into Sri Lanka and converted the King, the Queen and their people to Buddhism. So they were naturally not the one ...

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Ashoka, Ashoka - Historical sources, Ashoka - Early life, Ashoka - Rise to power, Ashoka - Conversion to Buddhism, Ashoka - Death and legacy, Ashoka - Ashoka and Buddhist Kingship, Ashoka - Ashoka in popular culture, Ashoka - Sources

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Main article: Bengali script Bangla is written in the Bangla alphasyllabary (also called syllabic alphabet or abugida), a Brahmic script similar to the Devanagari alphasyllabary used for Hindi, Sanskrit, and many other Indic languages. The Bangla alphasyllabary is a cursive script with 12 vowel characters and 52 consonant characters. As in all alphasyllabaries, every consonant in the Bangla script can come with what is called an "embedded" or "inherent" vowel sound. For example, the simple letter ম can represent ...

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Bengali language, Bengali language - Script, Bengali language - Phonetics, Bengali language - Phonology, Bengali language - Stress, Bengali language - Intonation, Bengali language - Vowel Length, Bengali language - Consonant Clusters, Bengali language - Syntax, Bengali language - Morphology, Bengali language - Nouns, Bengali language - Verbs, Bengali language - Vocabulary, Bengali language - Variation in dialects, Bengali language - Literary forms, Bengali language - Regional variations, Bengali language - Lexical variations, Bengali language - Bangla literature, Bengali language - History, Bengali language - The Fight for Bangla

Read more here: » Bengali language: Encyclopedia II - Bengali language - Script

The phonemic inventory of Bangla consists of 29 consonants and 14 vowels, including the seven nasalized vowels. An approximate phonetic scheme is set out below in IPA. ...

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Bengali language, Bengali language - Script, Bengali language - Phonetics, Bengali language - Phonology, Bengali language - Stress, Bengali language - Intonation, Bengali language - Vowel Length, Bengali language - Consonant Clusters, Bengali language - Syntax, Bengali language - Morphology, Bengali language - Nouns, Bengali language - Verbs, Bengali language - Vocabulary, Bengali language - Variation in dialects, Bengali language - Literary forms, Bengali language - Regional variations, Bengali language - Lexical variations, Bengali language - Bangla literature, Bengali language - History, Bengali language - The Fight for Bangla

Read more here: » Bengali language: Encyclopedia II - Bengali language - Phonetics

Swami Sivananda, in his book, All about Hinduism, noted that "Brahma represents the creative aspect; Vishnu, the preservative aspect; and Siva, the destructive aspect of Paramatman. These functions are akin to wearing different garbs on different occasions. For example, when you do the function of a judge, you put on one kind of dress. At home you wear another kind of dress. When you do worship in the temple, you wear another kind of dress. You exhibit different kinds of temperament on different occasions. Even so, the Lord does the f ...

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Trimurti, Trimurti - Symbolizations, Trimurti - Change of the Hindu Trinity, Trimurti - Other uses

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Born as he was during a social upheaval in Bengal in particular and India in general, Ramakrishna and his movement was an important part of the direction that Hinduism and Indian nationalism took in the coming years. Ramakrishna - On Hinduism. Hinduism faced a huge intellectual challenge in the 19th century, from Westerners and Indians alike. The Hindu practice of idol worship came under intense pressure specially in Bengal, then the center of British India, and was declared intellectually unsustainable. R ...

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Ramakrishna, Ramakrishna - Biography, Ramakrishna - Childhood, Ramakrishna - Career as priest, Ramakrishna - Initiation, Ramakrishna - Married life, Ramakrishna - Later life, Ramakrishna - Religious Perspectives, Ramakrishna - Teachings, Ramakrishna - Reception, Ramakrishna - Ramakrshna's Impact, Ramakrishna - On Hinduism, Ramakrishna - On Indian Nationalism, Ramakrishna - Vivekananda and the Ramakrishna Math, Ramakrishna - Quotations

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In his seminal "History of the Shakta Religion," N. N. Bhattacharyya explained that "[those] who worship the Supreme Deity exclusively as a Female Principle are called Shakta. The Shaktas conceive their Great Goddess as the personification of primordial energy and the source of all divine and cosmic evolution. She is identified with the Supreme Being, conceived as the Source and the Spring as well as the Controller of all the forces and potentialities of Nature. Nowhere in the religious history of the world do we come across suc ...

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Shaktism, Shaktism - Philosophy, Shaktism - Origin and History, Shaktism - Roots in Hinduism, Shaktism - Worship, Shaktism - Shakta Upanishads, Shaktism - See Also

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This form of Hinduism is strongly associated with Vedanta, Samkhya and Tantra Hindu philosophies and is ultimately monist, though there is a rich tradition of Bhakti yoga associated with it. The feminine energy (Shakti) is considered to be the motive force behind all action and existence in the phenomenal cosmos in Hinduism. The cosmos itself is Brahman, the concept of the unchanging, infinite, immanent and transcendent reality that is the Divine Ground of all being, the "world soul". Masculine potentiality is actualized by feminine dynamism, embodied in multitudinous g ...

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Shaktism, Shaktism - Philosophy, Shaktism - Origin and History, Shaktism - Roots in Hinduism, Shaktism - Worship, Shaktism - Shakta Upanishads, Shaktism - See Also

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For the purposes of consistent transliteration, the following Romanization scheme is used throughout this article along with other Wikipedia articles related to the Bengali language. The tables below correspond to the IPA transcriptions used above. Bengali language - Stress. Bangla words are virtually all trochaic; the primary stress falls on the initial syllable of the word, while secondary stress often falls on all odd-numbered syllables thereafter, giving strings such as [shô-ho-See also:

Bengali language, Bengali language - Script, Bengali language - Phonetics, Bengali language - Phonology, Bengali language - Stress, Bengali language - Intonation, Bengali language - Vowel Length, Bengali language - Consonant Clusters, Bengali language - Syntax, Bengali language - Morphology, Bengali language - Nouns, Bengali language - Verbs, Bengali language - Vocabulary, Bengali language - Variation in dialects, Bengali language - Literary forms, Bengali language - Regional variations, Bengali language - Lexical variations, Bengali language - Bangla literature, Bengali language - History, Bengali language - The Fight for Bangla

Read more here: » Bengali language: Encyclopedia II - Bengali language - Phonology

Main article: Bengali grammar As a Head-Final language, Bangla follows Subject Object Verb word order, although word order variation is highly common. Bangla makes use of postpositions, instead of English-style prepositions. Determiners follow the noun, while numerals, adjectives, and possessors precede the noun. Yes-no questions do not require any change to the basic word order; instead, the low (L) tone of the final syllable in the utterance is replaced with a falling (HL) tone. Additionally optional particles (e.g. [-ki], [-na], etc.) are often encliticize ...

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Bengali language, Bengali language - Script, Bengali language - Phonetics, Bengali language - Phonology, Bengali language - Stress, Bengali language - Intonation, Bengali language - Vowel Length, Bengali language - Consonant Clusters, Bengali language - Syntax, Bengali language - Morphology, Bengali language - Nouns, Bengali language - Verbs, Bengali language - Vocabulary, Bengali language - Variation in dialects, Bengali language - Literary forms, Bengali language - Regional variations, Bengali language - Lexical variations, Bengali language - Bangla literature, Bengali language - History, Bengali language - The Fight for Bangla

Read more here: » Bengali language: Encyclopedia II - Bengali language - Syntax

Hindu ethics are related to Hindu beliefs, such as reincarnation, which is a way of expressing the need for reciprocity, as one may end up in someone else's shoes "in a future life". Charges of fatalism are primarily misunderstandings of the role of karma in Hinduism. Intention is seen as very important, and thus selfless action for the benefit of others without thought for oneself is a cardinal rule in Hinduism, known as the doctrine of karma yoga. This aspect of service is combined with an understanding that someone else's unfortunate situ ...

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Ethics in religion, Ethics in religion - Ethics in the Bible, Ethics in religion - Jewish ethics, Ethics in religion - Christian ethics, Ethics in religion - Hindu ethics, Ethics in religion - Buddhist ethics, Ethics in religion - Chinese traditional ethics, Ethics in religion - Islamic ethics, Ethics in religion - Shinto ethics, Ethics in religion - Animist ethics

Read more here: » Ethics in religion: Encyclopedia II - Ethics in religion - Hindu ethics

Buddhism's ethical foundation for laypeople is the Pancasila: no killing, stealing, lying, sexual misconduct, or intoxicants. (Some Mahayana followers add further items such as gambling.) That is, in becoming a Buddhist--or affirming one's commitment to Buddhism--a layperson is encouraged to vow to abstain from these negative actions, in order to avoid accumulating negative karma. Buddhist monks an ...

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Ethics in religion, Ethics in religion - Ethics in the Bible, Ethics in religion - Jewish ethics, Ethics in religion - Christian ethics, Ethics in religion - Hindu ethics, Ethics in religion - Buddhist ethics, Ethics in religion - Chinese traditional ethics, Ethics in religion - Islamic ethics, Ethics in religion - Shinto ethics, Ethics in religion - Animist ethics

Read more here: » Ethics in religion: Encyclopedia II - Ethics in religion - Buddhist ethics

Chinese traditional systems of thought are both varied and mixed, so it's difficult to point to a single, central structure to Chinese ethics. In addition, there is always the question of whether beliefs form behaviour, or behavior forms beliefs — in other words, whether an ethical system is something that people try to follow, or just a description of what they do. However, this being said, it is nonetheless true th ...

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Ethics in religion, Ethics in religion - Ethics in the Bible, Ethics in religion - Jewish ethics, Ethics in religion - Christian ethics, Ethics in religion - Hindu ethics, Ethics in religion - Buddhist ethics, Ethics in religion - Chinese traditional ethics, Ethics in religion - Islamic ethics, Ethics in religion - Shinto ethics, Ethics in religion - Animist ethics

Read more here: » Ethics in religion: Encyclopedia II - Ethics in religion - Chinese traditional ethics

Islam is monoetheistic and emphasizes submission to Allah (God). It sees all of natural law, including that revealed by science, as an aspect of that law. Indeed, everything in the universe "is Muslim" but does not necessarily know it. This tradition informed and spurred the development of most, late medieval science in the West. Muhammad founded a tradition of ethics built on knowledge. Later Muslim thinkers developed this with the investigation of alternatives, the "ijtihad". Early Muslim philosophy applied it with decreasing dilige ...

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Ethics in religion, Ethics in religion - Ethics in the Bible, Ethics in religion - Jewish ethics, Ethics in religion - Christian ethics, Ethics in religion - Hindu ethics, Ethics in religion - Buddhist ethics, Ethics in religion - Chinese traditional ethics, Ethics in religion - Islamic ethics, Ethics in religion - Shinto ethics, Ethics in religion - Animist ethics

Read more here: » Ethics in religion: Encyclopedia II - Ethics in religion - Islamic ethics

The leader of the bhakti movement focusing on the Lord as Rama was Ramananda. Very little is known about him, but he is believed to have lived in the first half of the 15th century. He taught that Lord Rama is the supreme Lord, and that salvation could be attained only through love for and devotion to him, and through the repetition of his sacred name. Ramananda's ashram in Varanasi became a powerful centre of religious influence, from which his ideas spread far and wide among all classes of Indians. One of the reasons for his great p ...

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Bhakti movement, Bhakti movement - Origins, Bhakti movement - Rama bhakti, Bhakti movement - Vaishnava bhakti, Bhakti movement - Influences, Bhakti movement - Bibliography

Read more here: » Bhakti movement: Encyclopedia II - Bhakti movement - Rama bhakti

The term "goddess" has recently found an ever more popular and secular use to describe female sex appeal the males succumb to. Young single ladies (see Bridget Jones) want to feel like a goddess. Extremely desirable actresses, singers, sportswomen and other lady celebrities are often described by Sunday press as sex goddesses (see Marilyn Monroe, Elle MacPherson, Kylie Minogue, Anna Kournikova, etc.) Several TV advertisements promptly took advantage of this trend (e.g. Gillette Venus ladies' razors). The ...

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Goddess, Goddess - Ancient Near East, Goddess - Egypt, Goddess - Mesopotamia, Goddess - Arabia, Goddess - Indo-European religion, Goddess - Hinduism, Goddess - Graeco-Roman religion, Goddess - Celtic religion, Goddess - Germanic religion, Goddess - Abrahamic religions, Goddess - Judaism, Goddess - Christianity, Goddess - Islam, Goddess - New religious movements, Goddess - Wicca and Neopaganism, Goddess - Religious feminism, Goddess - Secular use

Read more here: » Goddess: Encyclopedia II - Goddess - Secular use

There is no grammatical gender in Bangla. Adjectival morphology is light, while nouns and verbs are highly inflected. Bengali language - Nouns. Nouns and pronouns are inflected for case, including nominative, objective, genitive (possessive), and locative. The case marking pattern for each noun being inflected depends on the noun's degree of animacy. When a definite article such as -ţa (singular) or -gula (plural) is added, as in the table above, nouns are also inflected for number. Plural ver ...

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Bengali language, Bengali language - Script, Bengali language - Phonetics, Bengali language - Phonology, Bengali language - Stress, Bengali language - Intonation, Bengali language - Vowel Length, Bengali language - Consonant Clusters, Bengali language - Syntax, Bengali language - Morphology, Bengali language - Nouns, Bengali language - Verbs, Bengali language - Vocabulary, Bengali language - Variation in dialects, Bengali language - Literary forms, Bengali language - Regional variations, Bengali language - Lexical variations, Bengali language - Bangla literature, Bengali language - History, Bengali language - The Fight for Bangla

Read more here: » Bengali language: Encyclopedia II - Bengali language - Morphology

The typical Bangla dictionary lists 75,000 separate words, of which 50,000 (67%) are considered tôtshôm (direct borrowings from Sanskrit), 21,100 (28%) are tôdbhôb (native Bangla vocabulary), and the rest being foreign (primarily English, Arabic, Farsi, Turkish, Portuguese, and French) borrowings and indigenous (non-Bangla) words. However, these figures do not take into account the fact that a huge chunk of these words are archaic or highly technical, minimizing their actual usage. The vocabulary used in modern liter ...

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Bengali language, Bengali language - Script, Bengali language - Phonetics, Bengali language - Phonology, Bengali language - Stress, Bengali language - Intonation, Bengali language - Vowel Length, Bengali language - Consonant Clusters, Bengali language - Syntax, Bengali language - Morphology, Bengali language - Nouns, Bengali language - Verbs, Bengali language - Vocabulary, Bengali language - Variation in dialects, Bengali language - Literary forms, Bengali language - Regional variations, Bengali language - Lexical variations, Bengali language - Bangla literature, Bengali language - History, Bengali language - The Fight for Bangla

Read more here: » Bengali language: Encyclopedia II - Bengali language - Vocabulary

The first evidence of Bangla literature is Charyapada or Charyageeti, buddhist hymns or dohas from the 8th century. Possibly the most prolific writer in Bangla is Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore. Tagore dominated both the Bengali and Indian philosophical and literary scene for decades. His 2,000 Rabindrasangeets play a pivotal part in defining Bengali culture, both in West Bengal and Bangladesh. He is the author of the national anthems of both India and Bangladesh, both composed in Bangla. Other notable Bangla works of his are Gitanjali, a book of poems for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Litera ...

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Bengali language, Bengali language - Script, Bengali language - Phonetics, Bengali language - Phonology, Bengali language - Stress, Bengali language - Intonation, Bengali language - Vowel Length, Bengali language - Consonant Clusters, Bengali language - Syntax, Bengali language - Morphology, Bengali language - Nouns, Bengali language - Verbs, Bengali language - Vocabulary, Bengali language - Variation in dialects, Bengali language - Literary forms, Bengali language - Regional variations, Bengali language - Lexical variations, Bengali language - Bangla literature, Bengali language - History, Bengali language - The Fight for Bangla

Read more here: » Bengali language: Encyclopedia II - Bengali language - Bangla literature