Orissa

Orissa is an eastern state belonging to the Indian sub-continent. The city of Bhubaneswar (temple city of India) is the state capital.

During the medieval times, the state corresponding roughly with now-a-days Orissa passed under the various names such as: Utkala, Kalinga, and Odra (Udra) Desa. The state boundaries varied from time to time and were sometimes much larger. These land names are associated with peoples. The Okkala or Utkala, the Kalinga, and the Odra or Oddaka were mentioned in literature as tribes. Ancient Greeks knew the latter two as Kalingai and Oretes. Eventually the names got identified with the territories. The land was inhabited by semi-Hinduized tribes (shabaras) in the hinterland, a group of farming Brahmins (halua brahmuna) who practised invincible Tantra method near Jajpur area (the place of Goddess Biraja), and people of other castes and trades as well. For centuries before and after the birth of Christ, Kalinga was a formidable political power, extending from the Ganga river to the Godavari river. Approximately between the 11th and 16th centuries the name was twisted; the name Odra Desa was gradually transformed into Uddisa, Udisa, or Odisa, which in English became Orissa. The language of Odisa came to be known as Oriya.

Kalinga was already famous at the dawn of Indian history. Buddhist sources refer to the rule of King Brahmadutta in Kalinga at the time of the Buddha's death. In the 4th century BC the first Indian empire builder, Mahapadma Nanda, conquered Kalinga, but the Nanda rule was short-lived. In 260 BC the Mauryan emperor Ashoka invaded Kalinga and fought one of the greatest and most bloody wars of ancient history. He then renounced war, became a Buddhist, and preached peace and non-violence in and outside India. In the 1st century BC the Kalinga emperor Kharavela conquered vast territories that collectively came to be called the Kalinga empire.

Kalinga became a maritime power beginning in the 1st century AD, and its overseas activities culminated in the 8th century with the establishment of the Shailendra empire in Java. Orissa was ruled during the 8th, 9th, and 10th centuries by the powerful Bhauma-Kara dynasty and in the 10th and 11th centuries by the Soma dynasty. The Lingaraj temple at Bhubaneshwar, the greatest Shiva monument of India, was initiated by the king Yayati.

Medieval Orissa enjoyed a golden age under the Ganga Dynasty. Its founder, Anantavarma Chodagangadeva (1078-1147), ruled from the Ganges to the Godavari with "Cuttack" city as the state capital. He began the construction of the temple of Jagannaatha (Lord of the Universe) at Puri. Narasimhadeva 1 (1238-64) built the Sun Temple (Surya Mandira) of Konarka, one of the finest and best creations of Hindu architecture all over the world. In the 13th and 14th centuries, when much of India was overrun by the Muslims, independent Orissa remained a citadel of Hindu religion, philosophy, art, and architecture. The "Veera Kalinga Putras" (brave sons of Kalinga) were the last to give up, till it was conquered by betraying.

The Gangas were succeeded by the Surya dynasty. Its first king, Kapilendradeva (1435-66), won territories from his Muslim neighbours and greatly expanded the Orissa kingdom. His successor, Purushottamadeva, maintained these gains with difficulty. The next and the last Surya king, Prataparudradeva, became a disciple of the naamayogi avataar Chaitanya mahaprabhu, the great medieval saint, and became a pacifist. After his death (1540) Orissa's power declined, and in 1568, when King Mukundadeva was killed by his own countrymen, Orissa lost its independence to the Afghan rulers of Bengal.

The Mughal emperor Akbar conquered Orissa from the Afghans in 1590-92. When the Mughal Empire fell in 1761, part of Orissa remained under the Bengal nawaabs, but the greater part was snatched by the Marathas. The Bengal sector came under British rule in 1757 after the Battle of Plassey; the Maratha sector was conquered by the British in 1803. Although after 1803 the British controlled the entire Oriya-speaking area, it continued to be administered as two units. It was not until April 1, 1936, that the British heeded calls for unification on a linguistic basis and constituted Orissa as a separate province; 26 Oriya princely states, however, remained outside the provincial administration. After the independence of India in 1947, all these princely states except Saraikela and Kharsawan (which merged with Bihar) became part of Orissa.

Geography:

The state can be broadly divided into four natural divisions: (1) the northern plateau, (2) the eastern ghats, (3) the central tract, and (4) the coastal plains. The northern plateau (in the northern part of the state) is an extension of the forest-covered, lightly settled, and mineral-rich Chot-Nagpur plateau centred in southern Bihar. The eastern ghats, extending roughly parallel to the coast, are remnants of a very ancient line of hills in eastern peninsular India; rising to heights of 3,600 feet (1,100 metres), the eastern ghats are forest-covered, provide a home for a variety of wildlife, and are populated by several tribal groups. The central tract comprises a series of plateaus and basins occupying the inland area west and north of the Eastern Ghats; the plateau areas provide scant resources, but several of the basins--notably the Kalahandi, Balangir, Hirakud, and Jharsuguda--have the soil and the irrigation facilities to support local agriculture. The coastal plains are formed of alluvial soils deposited by the many rivers flowing to the Bay of Bengal; locally the area is known as the Baleshwar Coastal Plain to the northeast, the Mahanadi delta in the centre, and the Chilika Plain to the southwest. The coastal plains are heavily populated, have extensive irrigation, and are devoted almost entirely to the growing of rice during the rainy season.

The main rivers are the Subarnarekha, Burabalang, Baitarani, Brahmani, Mahanadi, Rushikulya, and Vamsadhara. Notable mountain ranges are the Mahendra Hill (Giri; rising to 4,924 feet [1,501 metres]), the Malaya Hill (3,894 feet [1,187 metres]), and the Megasini (3,822 feet [1,165 metres]). Orissa's Chilika Lake is the biggest saltwater lagoon in India.€€€

(See also: Orissa , Hinduism, Yoga, Body Mind and Soul)

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Lotus Sect

A Buddhist sect founded by the great Master Hui Yuan about 390 A.D. at his monastery on Mount Lu in Kiangsi Province in China.

The Lotus Sect believes in and honors Amitabha Buddha and declares that, through the chanting of his name and by purifying and finally ridding oneself of desire, one can be reborn in the Pure Land. There one is born of a lotus, and, depending on one's degree of purification and practice, one is born into one of the nine grades of the lotus: upper superior, middle superior, lower superior, etc.

 (See also: Lotus Sect , Buddhism, Body Mind and Soul)

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mandala

A district, a subdivision of a province.

(See also: mandala , Bhakti, Bhakti Yoga, Bhakti Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

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Jagannatha:

Jagannatha: "Lord of the Universe". A deity of Krishna worshiped all over India for thousands of years, especially in the province of Orissa, where there is a great temple of Lord Jagannatha at Puri. His brother is Balarama and His sister is Subhadra. Each year at Puri, during the gigantic Ratha-yatra festival, millions of pilgrims from all over India come to worship Lord Jagannatha, Balarama and Subhadra, as the deities ride in procession on three huge carts. Lord Caitanya, who spent the last eighteen years of His life at Jagannatha Puri, used to dance and chant in ecstasy before the Deity of Lord Jagannatha during the yearly Ratha-yatra festival.

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Daniel daniyye'l (Hebrew) The Book of Daniel in the Old Testament has twelve chapters, the first six a historical narrative, the last six prophetic. According to the former, Daniel flourished about 600 B.C., was taken captive with the other Jews to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar, and became a Magus. His skill in interpreting dreams procured him favor and the governorship of the province of Babylon. Later he became the first president of the whole Medo-Persian empire. Scholarship, however, finds difficulties in reconciling biblical data with information from other sources.

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Mathura (Sanskrit) The birthplace of Krishna, situated in the province of Agra on the right bank of the Yamuna River.

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Pradesika - regional, territorial, provincial. This comes from the word pradesa, a province. When it is used in reference to particular statements of the Vedas, it means that which is limited to a particular context, or that which defines only a partial aspect of a concept. This is in contrast to mahavakyas which are statements defining the underlying essence of the entire Vedas (see mahavakya in this Glossary).

(See also: Pradesika , Bhakti, Bhakti Yoga, Bhakti Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

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Surasena

A great Yadava king, father of Vasudeva and Kunti. The province of Surasena, which includes the Mathura district, is named after him.

(See also: Surasena , Bhakti, Bhakti Yoga, Bhakti Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

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Karma Yoga Lesson IV

Karma is Thought, actually, says the Gita; Mind and Manas; Thought a constant function in the universe; The greater being of man; Power of Thought; Facing Thought; The cloud; Formation of Thoughts; Letting thoughts pass on; The use of Aumn in calming.

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Relation between Hinduism and Zoroastrianism

Like the Rigvedic Aryans, the ancient Iranians worshipped gods like Mitra, Vayu, Verutraghna. They also wore the sacred thread and worshipped fire. They had a social organization that was in some ways similar to the Vedic occupation based social system. 

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The United Provinces of Central America (UPCA) was a country that existed in Central America from July 1823 to approximately 1840. It was intended to be a federal republic modeled after the USA. The coat of arms on the nation's flag from 1823–1824 referred to the federation as the Provincias Unidas del Centro de América ("United Provinces of Central America") but its 1824 constitution, coat of arms and flag called it the "Federal Republic of Central America" (República Federal de Centroamérica / Centro América). It is also sometime ...

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Central American liberals had high hopes for the federal republic, which they believed would evolve into a modern, democratic nation, enriched by trade crossing through it between the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans. These aspirations are reflected in the emblems of the federal republic: The flag shows a white band between two blue stripes, representing the land between two oceans. The coat of arms shows five mountains (one for each state) between two oceans, su ...

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Guangzhou is the capital of Guangdong Province in southern China. Its international name was formerly Canton City or simply Canton, after a French language transliteration of the name of the city in Cantonese. It is a port on the Pearl River, which is navigable to the South China Sea. As of the 2000 census, the population of the city was 9.94 million making it the most populous city in the province and fifth most populous in China. Guangzhou - Name. The Chinese abbreviation of Guangzhou is Sui ...

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Geography is the study of the locational and spatial variation of both natural and human phenomena on Earth. The word derives from the Greek words Ge (γη) or Gaea (γεια), both meaning "Earth", and graphein (γραφειν) meaning "to describe" and "to write". Modern geography is a diverse discipline that draws influence from almost every other arena of knowledge. Geographers engage with other disciplines according to their particular research interests and, while subjects ...

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Cantonese generally refers to people or things associated with Guangdong Province, Hong Kong or Macau in China. Cantonese people: people residing in, or with ancestry in, Guangdong and environs Many people of Cantonese descent reside in Canada, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, UK, Ireland and the United States, and other places, part of the Chinese overseas diaspora. The Cantonese language: the native speech of many Cantonese people and residents of Guandong, Hong Kong, ...

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Biodiesel is fuel made from renewable resources such as vegetable oils or animal fats. It is biodegradable and non-toxic, and has significantly fewer emissions than petroleum-based diesel (petro-diesel) when burned. Biodiesel functions in current diesel engines, and is a possible candidate to replace fossil fuels as the world's primary transport energy source. With a flash point of 150 °C, Biodiesel is classified as a non-flammable liquid by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. This property makes a vehicle fuele ...

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The Rev. Dr. Sun Myung Moon (born January 6, 1920) is the founder of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, first established as the Unification Church on May 1, 1954, in Seoul, South Korea. With his wife Hak Ja Han, he is co-leader of the Unification Movement. Rev. Moon's followers regard him and his wife as "the True Parents of humankind" and hail him as the Messiah. Sun Myung Moon - Name and forms of address. The Hanja for "Moon" (문, 文), the reverend's surname, means "word" or "truth" ...

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Ba is a Province of Fiji, occupying the north-western sector of Viti Levu, Fiji's largest island. It is one of fourteen Provinces in the nation, and one of eight based in Viti Levu. It is Fiji's most populous Province, with a population of 192,197 - more than a quarter of the nation's total - at the 1996 census, the last to date. It covers a land area of 2634 square kilometres, the second largest of any Province. Ba Province includes the Towns and Districts of Ba, Madrogo, Nadi, Nawaka, Tavua, and Vuda. The City of Lautoka and the Mamaluca and Yasawa archipelagos, off the weste ...

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Ammolite is a rare and valuable opal-like organic gemstone found primarily along the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains of the United States and Canada. It is made of the fossilized shells of ammonites, which in turn are composed primarily of aragonite, the same mineral that makes up nacreous pearls. It is one of the three biogenic gemstones, the other two being amber and pearl.1 In 1981, ammolite was given official gemstone status by the World Jewellery Confederation, the same year commercial mining of ammolite began. In 2004 it was designated th ...

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Edirne is a city in Thrace, the westernmost part of Turkey, close to the borders with Greece and Bulgaria. It has a population of 119,298 (2000 census). The city was known in English until after the First World War as Adrianople (see below, and also List of traditional Greek place names). The city was founded eponymously by the Roman Emperor Hadrian on the site of a previous Thracian settlement known as Uskadama, Uskudama or Uskodama. Conquered by the Ottoman Empire in 1362, the city served as the Ottoman capital from 1365 until 1453. Edirne is the capital of Edirne Province and ...

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