Compiled by london swaminathan
Date: 21 March 2016
Post No. 2652
Time uploaded in London :– 18-40
(Thanks for the Pictures; they are taken from various sources)
DON’T REBLOG IT AT LEAST FOR A WEEK! DON’T USE THE PICTURES; THEY ARE COPYRIGHTED BY SOMEONE.
(for old articles go to tamilandvedas.com OR swamiindology.blogspot.com)
Prince Harry was given a traditional Nepalese welcome yesterday in Kathmandu, Capital of Nepal. Five Virgins, known as Pancha Kanya gave him the welcome by garlanding him. Till recently, Nepal was a Hindu Kingdom. Now they have dropped that claim when they framed a new constitution. Governments may change, constitutions may change. But people’s belief remains the same.
Hindu women remember Five Great Women every day in the morning. They recite a sloka/couplet in Sanskrit that contains the five names. This couplet itself is very significant because it explodes the Aryan- Dravidian myth to pieces. Though our scriptures clearly say that the Asuras or Rakshasas are cousins of Devas, jaundice eyed foreigners deliberately write that they belong to different races. This sloka also is a proof to show that good people are praised and remembered, irrespective of Rakshasa or Deva or Monkey race.
Five women praised in the Sanskrit couplet are Ahalya (wife of a seer, Gautama),Draupadi (Wife of Panadava brothers), Sita (wife of Rama), Tara (Wife of Monkey King Vali) and Mandodari (wife of Demon king Ravana).
All the five were featured in the great Hindu epics Mahabharata and Ramayana.
In Nepal the Panchakanya are virgins or not married; but the above five were married. But here the virgin stands for their virgin minds – ever pure! For them sex was an act used for procreation and not for sexual gratification. That is why every Hindu woman remember them every morning. Those who don’t recite such a couplet also know the stories of five women and their contribution to Hindu culture.
Traditional Sanskrit couplet, part of Pratasmaran (Morning Prayer) runs like this:
Ahalyaa, Draupadii, Seetaa, Taaraa, Mandodari tathaa
Panchakanyaah smaren nityam sarva mahaapaataka nasanam
Meaning:
By remembering the Five Pure Women Ahalya, Draupadi, Sita, Tara and Mandodari all the great sins are wiped out or destroyed.
This sloka explains all that Hindu women stand for. Draupadi fought for her rights. Sita was ready to undergo all the hardships that her husband went for. Tara established her right by making her son Angada the next king of Kishkinda. Ahalya , a sinner, was reformed and proved that every sinner has a future. Mandodari, a chaste woman, but married to a demon Ravana advised him to send back Sita to Rama.
Report from Nepal according to London Newspapers:
Prince Harry’s visit to Nepal began with a ceremony signifying luck and purity – a welcome from five virgins.
The young women greeted their special guest with gifts of flowers and placed a garland around his neck.
He was given flowers by Ujala Maharjan, 18, Alisha Awale, 18, Reju Maharjan, 19, and Nafisa Dangol, 17, before Maiya Maharjan, 25, put a garland or orange flowers around his neck.
The group of five young women – a lucky number in Nepalese culture – with their status as virgins representing purity, greeted their special guest with gifts of flowers and placed a garland of marigolds around his neck.
Harry was left in awe of the magnificent Hanuman Dhoka Palace complex, named in honour of the monkey god, Hanuman, with its impressive galleried courtyards, featuring beautiful carvings.
Much of the monument was built by King Pratap Malla in the 17th century but a 1934 earthquake which struck Nepal destroyed a large amount of the structure.
The prince lit a large candle, or lamp, in a metal cup and handed it to a priest guarding the icon at the 600-year-old Golden Temple. The offering of a burning lamp symbolises the impermanence of life.
When he arrived Harry was greeted by the temple’s chief abbot, 94-year-old Turtha Raj Shakya, who gave him a gift of an orange holy scarf decorated with eight auspicious symbols of Buddhism.
Already wearing a garland of orange flowers given to him by the five young women, the prince said: “Orange is the colour of the day.”
Golden Temple of Nepal
He was then taken into the tiny main courtyard of the temple, no bigger than half a tennis court, in which stood a large pagoda-style shrine as well as the shrine of the Buddha – covered in gold leaf, giving the temple its name.
As the prince stooped through a low doorway to enter the courtyard, he looked around him and said “Wow”.
Local conservationist Anil Chitraker showed him around the building, explaining the significance of prayer wheels, bronze statues of monkeys and elephants that relate to stories told by the Buddha, and the importance of the temple itself, which serves as a religious and community hub for 5,000 people.
After lighting the lamp, the prince gave it to Sujan Shakya, 32, one of two priests guarding the shrine of the Buddha.
The chief priest, or baphaca, in the temple is 10-year-old Sumit Shakya, who is serving one month as guardian of the shrine. Tradition dictates that the job must always be done by a boy aged under 12, who must not leave the temple for the month that he is in charge.
The temple was built in 1409 on the site of a 12th century Buddhist monastery, and only survived last year’s earthquake because of just-completed work to replace all of its rotting wooden beams.
Mr Chitraker said of the lamp-lighting ceremony: “In the Buddhist tradition, all this knowledge needs to spread, so when you light one lamp with the other lamp it symbolises how knowledge and wisdom spreads around the world.
“The butter that is being used to fuel the lamp ultimately runs out so it also symbolises the impermanence of life.”
He went on: “The earthquake was devastating, so between the palace he has seen and the Golden Temple, it shows how a 2,600-year-old institution established by Buddha comes to life when there is a disaster.
“The people pooled their food, they pooled their fuel, they cooked for 800 people at the same time and they took care of their houses. Five days after the earthquake some people were already moving back into their houses.”
–subham-
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