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Pilgrimage : Tirthayatra

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                                                            Pilgrimage :      Tirthayatra   Pilgrimage to holy places is a practice common to all religions. Followers of every religion look upon certain places specially sacred and they cherish the desire to visit those places at least once in their life. Jerusalem is sacred to both, the Jews and Christian. A devout Christians finds his love for Christ greatly deepened , as all incidents in the life of Christ come alive to him when he visits Jerusalem . Similarly Macca and Madina, two places where prophet Mohammed spent major part of   his life, are sacred to Muslims. It has been laid down in the holy Koran that every Muslim must perform Haj-pilgrimage to Mecca and Madina atleast once in his life. Buddhists from all over the world visit Gaya , Sarnath, Kushinagar and Lumbini. When a Buddhist   goes to Gaya and looks at the sacred, peepal   tree under which Siddharth Gautam attained bodhi   i.e.enlightenment, hence he is called th
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ANTEYSHTHI: THE HINDU FUNERAL RITES

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ANTYESHTI – The Funeral Rites The last sacrament of the Hindus is Antyeshti or the funeral rites. Like the phenomenon of death, rites and customs connected with the disposal of the dead body are also universal. Man consciously realizes that death is an inevitable end of every human being. As such it is but natural that every actual occurrence of death should provide an occasion for the living to react to this fact by appropriate behavior. After death, a sentiment of dread is created in the survivors. There is a belief that even the deceased continues to have some kind of interest in the family property and relatives whom he is unwilling to quit. It is also believed that although after death the man is alienated from the survivors, he may cause some harm to them. In the formal farewell given to him he is requested to depart and is provided with all the articles considered necessary for a traveler, so that he could complete his journey comfortably to the next world. As the P
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TWELVE KINDS OF SONS

For perpetuating the family-line and offering panda (a ball or lump of boiled rice) to the dead ancestors at obsequies ceremonies or Shraddha and - a son is necessary According to Hindu belief a man is born with three debts- rina trayaee i.e. Devarina, ‘debts to the deities’ , Rishirina ‘debts to the Rishis, the seers, sages and Pitririna, ‘debt to the ‘dead ancestors; The first of these can be discharged by performing Yajna, i.e. sacrifices, worship and prayers to gods and charities. The second is discharged by study and teaching and the third by procreating children to perpetuate the family line. Among the children a son was considered necessary. Manu, Yajnavalkya, Devala etc. who are main lawgivers have recognized as many as twelve kinds of sons. 1.Aurasa : Literally one produced by the breast i.e. fathered by husband in his duly married wife. 2.Putrikaputra : Putrika in the traditional Hindu Law books ha been used as a technical word for a girl who has no brother. In the absence
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Message from Mr. B P Singh Governor of Sikkim

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MYTHOLOGY OF AVATARA

Avatara literally means descent, especially of a deity from the heaven and its appearance on the earth, but generally it indicates incarnation of Vishnu to protest the righteous and punish the wicked. The origin of the concept of avatara has been traced in the Vedic literature. The Shatapatha Brahmana refers to the deified form of fish(Matsya), tortoise(Kurma) and dwarf (Vamana). It is said that having assumed the form of Tortoise Prajapati created offspring and in the form of a boar he lifted the earth from the waters. The Taittiriya Brahmana repeats the story relating to boar lifting earth from water. It also alludes to Narsimha or Man-lion, Reference to deified fish is found in the Shatapatha Brahmana which relates to the legend of the great deluge. In the Shatapatha and Taittiriya Brahmins the Avataras of fish, tortoise and boar are represented as the manifestations of Prajapati Brahma. However in later mythologies these Avataras have been specifically related to Vishnu. The great
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