Sumadera (須磨寺) is a unique #temple full of iconographic #arts, at the western end of Kōbe (神戸). Perhaps because it's not in Kyōto or Nara, there is little information available online about Sumadera, even in #Japanese. It was founded in 886 and has its own branch of Kūkai's #Shingon#Buddhism: Sumadera-ha (真言宗須磨寺派). It is internationally active, and a place for #religious practices rather than an outdoor museum. By the same token, it's free to enter.
Suma appears in ancient waka poetry (和歌) of 5-7-5-7-7 syllables, and is associated with the Heike Monogatari (平家物語). I was determined to go, despite the rain, because I'd read an article clarifying wabi and sabi with a #waka coincidentally about Suma. The first photos show Sumadera's exchanges with #Nepal resulting in a display of Tibetan #Buddhist and #Hindu#iconography. Although there was light rain on the beach at first, later up at Sumadera the day turned bright.
This is the legendary Devprayag - one of the 5 Prayags - called Panch (5) Prayags (confluences) of devbhoomi Uttarakhand, India. The two differently coloured rivers are Alaknanda and Bhagirathi, which join together to give birth to River Ganga (it's not called Ganges!). This is where the lifeline of North India and Hindus takes birth, at the holy site of Devprayag.
Captured by me on Pixel 7 Pro. #uttarakhand#india#hindu#ganga#river#gangariver#devprayag#holy#sanatandharma#nature#scenic
Riding a Blue Ram, he is looking out for the Sun or the Moon which he will devour to replace his head which was cut off by the #Hindu God #Vishnu for eating His food and thus causing #SolarEclipse2024 & Lunar eclipse some other time.
Holi festival celebrated by Hindus around the world – in pictures
'Holi is the Hindu festival of colours and is celebrated to mark the start of spring in India, Nepal, other South Asian countries and across the diaspora. Celebrants rejoice by throwing coloured powders at one another on the street.'
Does this look like fun, or does this look like fun?
After posting publicly on #SocialMedia since 2007, today I reached a milestone: a rando on the internet asserted that I was a #Dalit (i.e. “an untouchable” of the #Hindu#caste system).
"India has implemented a controversial citizenship law that has been widely criticized for excluding Muslims, a minority community whose concerns have heightened under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government."
AP reports: "Critics argue that the law is further evidence that Modi’s government is trying to reshape the country into a Hindu state and marginalize its 200 million Muslims."
Badami Chalukya was the foremost period of the #ChalukyaDynasty, a #Hindu family lineage that ruled large parts of southern & central #India between 6th & 12th centuries AD.
Three blind men touch an elephant in three different places, such as a leg, trunk, or tusk. Each therefore reaches a very different conclusion (e.g., it's a tree) as to what the phenomenon is.
Interpretation: We cannot very well see things or people as a whole. Even the perspectives in #academia come from different disciplines. Different people looking at a multifaceted individual can each draw a very different image of the person.
Three animals cross a river, and each reaches the other shore. The rabbit swims along the surface, the horse occasionally hits bottom, but the elephant touches bottom all the way.
Interpretation: This is a parable of enlightenment or individual differences in wisdom. People can only understand things to their own depth. They might therefore avoid a person who is too heavy like the elephant. Just sayin"!
Students pour water on each other as they take a holy bath during a ceremony organised to resemble the annual month-long Hindu religious festival of Magh Mela, held during the Hindu month of Magh, in Ahmedabad, India. REUTERS/Amit Dave
Today in Labor History December 25, 1927: B. R. Ambedkar and his followers burned copies of the Manusmriti to protest its treatment of Dalit people (formerly known as untouchables). Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar was an Indian jurist, economist and social reformer who fought discrimination against Dalits. He later renounced Hinduism and inspired the Dalit Buddhist movement. The Manusmṛiti or Laws of Manu, is thought to be the first Hindu legal text and constitution.