A Wisdom Archive on tonsure

Brahmanism - Maharashtrian sub-castes:. Chitpavan Brahmins, Deshastha Brahmins Karhade Brahmins, Brahmanism - South Indian brahmin sub-castes:. South Indian brahmins are divided into three distinct sects, depending on the philosophy of Vedanta that they adhere to. These are: The Smartha brahmins, who adhere to the Advaita Vedanta propounded by Sri Shankaracharya. They include the following communities- the Iyers of Tamil ...

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The pantheistic doctrine which forms the foundation of the Brahmanical system of belief found its most complete exposition in one of the six orthodox dersanas, or philosophical systems, the Vedanta philosophy. These systems are considered as orthodox inasmuch as they recognise the Veda as the revealed source of knowledge about the Universe, and never fail to claim the authority of the ancient seers for their own teachings, even though as in the case of Kapila, the founder of the materialistic Sankhya system, they involve the denial of so essential a dogmatic point as the exist ...

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In India and Nepal, Brahmins, being members of the highest caste, historically enjoyed high social status as being traditionally learned and many for their religious knowledge. The Vaishya were artisans and craftsmen and later connected with trade, the cultivation of the land and the breeding of cattle; while those of a Kshatriya consist in ruling and defending the people, administering justice, and the duties, of the military profession generally. Both share with the Brahman the privilege of reading the Veda, but only so far a ...

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The tendency towards a comprehension of the unity of the divine essence had resulted in some minds, as has been remarked before, in a kind of speculation of the origin of the universe. In the Brahminical literature we meet with this conception as a common element of speculation; and so far from its being considered incompatible with the existence of a universal spirit, Prajapati, the personal creator of the world, is generally allowed a prominent place in the pantheistic theories. Yet the state of theological speculation, reflected i ...

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In Scotland there is very little information. The intercourse with Ireland was considerable, and the few details that can be gathered from such sources as Adamnan's Life of St. Columba and the various relics of the Scoto-Northumbrian Church point to a general similarity with Ireland in the earlier period. Of the rite of the monastic order of the Culdees (Céli Dé or Goillidhe-Dé, servants of God, or possibly Cultores Dei) very little is known, but they certainly had ...

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Spelman and Wilkins put this synod at London in the time of St. Augustine, 603. Mansi makes its date the first year of Theodore of Tarsus, 668. It would seem by this that it was the formula that was at fault, and certainly in the time of Theodore the possibility of priests, presumably Celtic, having been invalidly baptized was considered. "Si quis presbiter ordinatus deprehendit se non esse baptizatus, baptizetur et ordinetur iterum et omnes quos prius baptizavit baptizentur", says the "Poenitentiale Theodori" (Lib. II, cap. iii, 13), and in ...

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The Britons adhered to the old Roman cycle of 84 years instead of the newer cycle of 19 years. They counted the third week of the moon, on the Sunday of which Easter must fall, from the 14th to the 20th instead of from the 15th to the 21st as the vernal equinox. Until 457, when the 532-year cycle of Victorius of Aquitaine was adopted at Rome, Britain agreed with Rome in its differing from Alexandria and the East. In 525 Rome altered its rule again to the 19-years cycle of Dionysius Exiguus, to conform to the Eastern usage, and from that time ...

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