Swara Yoga

  

Swara Yoga is the science of realization of cosmic consciousness by the special awareness or observation and controlling or manipulating the flow of breathes through the nostrils. The word ‘Swara’ is a Sanskrit word, which means sound or musical note, also means the continuous flow of air through one nostril. Tantric traditions like Surya Tantra, Ganpatya Tantra and Vaishnava Tantra also provides knowledge about Swara yoga.

Swara Yoga is involves the systematic study of the breath flow through the nostrils or the Swara that is also related to the prevailing phases of the moon, time of the day and the direction. Swara Yoga is not like Pranayama or other breathing related yoga. In Swara yoga, the breath is associated with the activities or phases or positions of the sun, moon, planets, seasons, time of day and with the physical and mental states of the individual and these subtle reactions determine the mode of action accordingly. For example, in moon phases one can check the flow of breath through his/ her nostrils before getting out of the bed and floor should be touched first with the corresponding foot and the first step should be made with that foot. It is the simple practice that brings success in everything that happens in that particular day, the first foot to touch the ground will get the prevailing ‘successful’ flow of energy from the cosmos.

Origin of Swara Yoga
Swara yoga is a Tantric Science that originates from the Agama Shastras and from Shaiva Tantra, where Lord Shiva is the Guru and Shakti is the disciple. Swara Yoga is the ancient science that existed before the Vedic period, over 10,000 years ago. It was the secret science, only available for the selected few and was confined between kings and dedicated saints. The ancient saints and sages intuitively received the knowledge from the divine and kept it secret between them.

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Gharanas of Kathak

  

The word "Gharana" literally means "House" and it implies the house of the teacher. It is linked to the very ancient concept of the Guru-Shishya-Parampara (linage of teacher or disciple) but with some interesting modern twists.

The Gharanas of Kathak are as follows:

Lucknow Gharana
This gharana of Kathak actually developed in the courts of the Nawab of Oudh in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. It particularly gives importance to grace, elegance and natural expressions in the dance. Abhinaya or expressional acting, especially improvised, plays a very strong role in this style, and Birju Maharaj, Shambhu Maharaj and Lachhu Maharaj were all famed for the naturalness of and innovativeness of their abhinaya.

Jaipur Gharana
Jaipur Gharana developed in the courts of the Kachchwaha kings of Jaipur in Rajasthan. The significance is placed on the more technical aspects of dance, such as complex and powerful footwork, multiple spins, and complicated compositions in different talas. There is also a greater incorporation of compositions from the Pakhawaj, such as, Parans.

Banaras Gharana
The Banaras Gharana was developed by Janakiprasad. It is characterized by the exclusive use of the Natwari or Dance bols, which are different from the tabla and the Pakhawaj bols. There are differences in the Thaat and Tatkaar, and Chakkars are kept at a minimum but are often taken from both the right- and the left-hand sides with equal confidence. There is also a greater use of the floor. Though the style developed in Varanasi, today it flourishes in Bikaner.

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Music of Kerala

  

Music of Kerala has its origin in the primitive dances and plays, developed by the ancient people in conciliation with the deities of the hills and forests. Lyrical and spiritual ragas and talas of Carnatic music predominates the Keralite gharana. In addition, Kerala has its own native music system, sopanam, which is a sorrowful and bit-by-bit rendition of raga-based songs. It forms the background music in dance drama Kathakali.

The other traditional music of Kerala also consists of melam performed with the help of instrument known as the chenda. Panchavadyam is a differing type of percussion ensemble consisting of 5 types of percussion instruments. The rulers of the land managed to be skilful in music, in spite of their martial preoccupations.

History of Music of Kerala
The early recorded history of the music of Kerala is the Edakal, which comprises of 3 types of composition, which are listed as follows:

• Classical songs known as Naadan Paattu.
• Manipravalam of the Sanskrit tradition, which permitted a generous interspersing of Sanskrit with Malayalam.
• The folk song rich in native elements.

To the late 20th century, the Malayalam poetry varies in degrees of the fusion of the 3 different strands. The oldest examples of Pattu are Ramacharitam and Vaishikatantram, both belonging to the 12th century.

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FM Radio Stations in India

  

FM Radios in India have brought about an easy and portable way of entertainment across the country. With the passage of time, FM radio channels have become an intimate mode of entertainment and recreation. Almost every household of India is well acquainted with the idea of FM assures its coverage in almost all the corners of the nation.

The first FM broadcasting in India was in the year 1977 at Madras. In the mid 90's, when India first experimented with private FM broadcasts, the small tourist destination of Goa was the fifth place in this country of one billion where private players got FM slots. The other four centres were the big metro cities: Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai. These were followed by stations in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Jaipur and Lucknow.

Times FM
Times FM began its operations in 1993 in Ahmedabad. Until 1993, All India Radio a government undertaking was the only radio broadcaster in India. The government then took the initiative to privatize the radio broadcasting sector. It sold airtime blocks on its FM channels in Indore, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Vizag and Goa to private operators, who developed their own program content.

Radio City Bangalore
Radio City Bangalore is India's first private FM radio station and was started on July 3, 2001. It launched with presenters such as Rohit Barker, Darius Sunawala, Jonzie Kurian and Suresh Venkat.

Air FM Rainbow
Air FM Rainbow is a national radio station run by All India Radio is a national radio station, heard all across India. This government owned enterprise, features Hindi and regional language songs and occasional English songs along with hourly news bulletins in English, regional language and also in Hindi. The channel plays various genres of music and its preferred list contains variety of songs from all regions of the nation. AIR FM Rainbow plays ghazals, soundtracks as well as English songs, which is a rare occurrence in Indian radio channels. Rainbow is one of very few Indian radio channels which play the Western Music and the western music slots are highly popular with listeners. It has many western music programmes like Take off, Time Out, Live wire Plus, Wicked Hour, Matchless music hours, Footloose, You asked for it, Radio pet house, just for you and many other classical music shows. Almost all the radio jockeys on private FM channels once started with FM Rainbow.

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Charaka Samhita, Ayurveda

  

Charaka Samhita is the Ayurvedic text obtained from the ancient Indian tradition written by the great Ayurvedic physician Charaka. It is said to be the oldest of the three ancient treaties of Ayurveda. Charaka Samhita has relevance in the modern day practice of Ayurvedic medicine. Charaka Samhita and Sushruta Samhita are famous worldwide as an important source of old Ayurveda practice. Thus this book helps to gather an idea of the ancient medicinal practice.

Source of Charaka Samhita
The text Charaka Samhita is written in Sanskrit. The term ‘Charaka’ means ‘wandering scholars’ or ‘wandering physicians’ and ‘Samhita’ denotes ‘collected’ or ‘compendium’. The original source of Charaka Samhita is the Agnivesha Tantra based on the teaching of Punarvasu. It is thought that Charaka has edited this work and in later times another Ayurvedic Scholar Dridhabala extended the Charaka Samhita further more. The Charaka Samhita was most probably written in Mauryan era (around 3rd century BC).

Context of Charaka Samhita
The text contains eight sections having 120 chapters in total. The eight sections are Sutra Sthana (General principles), Nidana Sthana (Pathology), Vimana Sthana (Specific determination), Sarira Sthana (Anatomy), Indriya Sthana (Sensory organ based prognosis), Cikitsa Sthana (Therapeutics), Kalpa Sthana (Pharmaceutics and toxicology) and Siddhi Sthana (Success in treatment).

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Tourism in Daman and Diu

  

Tourism in Daman and Diu is concentrated with the colonial architectures and here the society is totally influenced by the Portuguese culture. There are a number of places of leisure tourism in Daman. These range from places of historical interest, such as forts of later Mughal and Portuguese era, to gardens, sea beaches to the eco tourism areas, Jain temples and Hindu temples.

Temples of Daman and Diu
Somnath Mahadev Temple, Gangeshwar temple and Cave Temple at Nagoa Beach are the popular temples in Daman and Diu.

Fort of Moti Daman
Fort of Moti Daman is a massive fort that runs around the settlement like a girdle. Dating back to 1559 AD, Fort of Moti Daman encompasses a space of about 30,000 square meters. With a total of ten bastions and two gateways, the fort is protected by a moat on the land side and also connects the river to the sea. It is basically polygonal in plan with projections at regular intervals of about 500 feet and carrying splayed angular bastions. The inscription above the southern (land) gate mentions that this gate along with the bastions adjacent to it was completed in 1581 A.D. after the Mughal invasion in Akbar's reign. The inscription on the Northern (sea) gate gives the date of 1593 A.D. for the completion of the fort wall. A large number of Portuguese gentry and their families resided within the fort.

Fort of Nani Daman
Fort of Nani Daman is a small fort with high stone walls encloses an area of 12,250 sq. meters. The most conspicuous part of Nani Daman Fort is the giant gateway facing the river with a large statue of St. Jerome and two giant human figures, on either side of the gateway. The imposing church of Our Lady of the Sea is the principal building within the Fort.

Nani Daman
Nani Daman offers some wonderful sites to the city and the water body. The Gandhi Park near Nani Daman jetty, Nani Daman Fort and the church inside and the fishing jetty where boats are anchored to name a few. The tourist crosses over to Moti Daman through the Damanganga River and there one can see the light house, gardens, historic monuments and the medieval churches.

Kadaiya Lake Garden
Kadaiya Lake Garden is offering a variety of cuisine and it is popular place for hangout. The fountains and beautiful boats add to the remarkable greenery which can be seen in every direction. The garden is also a famous spot for many film shootings. There are number of adventure sports that can be enjoyed at Mirasol Water Park situated within the Kadaiya Lake Garden.

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Billiards Tournaments in India

  

Billiards tournaments in India have played a crucial role in augmenting the popularity of the game. India has enjoyed considerable success in the game of billiards. The game came to India during the first half of the twentieth century and is organized by the Billiards and Snooker Federation of India (BSFI), at the moment. The BSFI and several other state Billiards associations in India are working relentlessly for the well being of the game in India and they are organising a number of tournaments every year. The main objective behind organising the Billiards tournaments in India is to spread the game all over the country and also to bring up new talents to represent India in various international events.

Attributes of Billiards Tournaments in India
Billiards tournaments in India are organised at various levels like senior, junior, sub-junior etc and they are organised at both the state and national level. Apart from that, the BSFI and the other Billiards associations also play host to several international Billiards tournaments including the World Championships in India. The tournaments are mainly held in the major cities like Kolkata, Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai etc and players from all over the country take part in them. The organisers of the Billiards tournaments in India follow the rules and regulations identified by the BSFI while organising the tournaments.

Significance of Billiards Tournaments in India
The billiards tournaments in India have so far proved to be quite fruitful for billiards in India. These tournaments may well be the cause of India's international presence in billiards. Players like Wilson Jones, Michael Ferreira, Geet Sethi, Pankaj Advani etc. honed their skills and excellence in these tournaments.

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Vedic Astrology

  

Vedic Astrology is an ancient Indian science explaining movements of the planet and its positions with regards to time and effect on all entities on earth. Astrology is a Vedanga - a part of Vedas. Understanding of astrology was in its infancy in the Vedic period. It included gathering knowledge on the planets, their movements and their location. Earlier Vedic astrology was only based on the planetary movements but later on it included zodiac signs also.

There are 27 constellations made up of 12 zodiac signs, 9 planets and 12 houses. Depending on when a person is born, the 12 signs are distributed among the 12 houses and 9 planets are placed in various houses. The visual representation of the signs and planets is called a horoscope chart. Vedic Astrology is inferring the meaning of these arrangements.

Types of Vedic Astrology
Vedic Astrology (Jyotisha) has Siddhanta, Samhita and Hora as its three main branches:

Siddhanta: Siddhanta implies Astronomy and its application to astrology. It provides planetary calculations from the beginning of Creation. Siddhanta is used only for creating Tantra and Karana texts for practical purposes.

Samhita: Samhita refers to ordinary astrology. It predicts important events related to countries such as political events, war, earthquakes, meteorology, financial positions, election, Vastu Shastra and so on.

Hora: Hora covers predictive astrology. It has predictions based on individual horoscope. It contains selection of favourable time to start an activity to get maximum fulfilment.

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Jharkhand Cuisine

  

Jharkhandi cuisine encompasses the cuisine of the Indian state of Jharkhand. Staple food of Jharkhand are rice, dal, vegetable and tubers. Common meals often consist of vegetables that are cooked in various ways, such as curried, fried, roasted and boiled. Traditional dishes of Jharkhand may not be available at restaurants. Some dish preparations may be mild with a low oil and spice content, although pickles and festive dishes may have such characteristics. Jharkhand cuisine is visible in the tribal villages or weddings.

Features of Jharkhand Cuisine
Jharkhandi cuisine is traditional and combination of various localities in Jharkhand Region. Most of the Dishes of Jharkhand are traditional and some are adopted from mixed culture of adjoining areas. However, the Famous cuisines of Jharkhand, used in all the seasons are Rice, Roti, Daal, Tarkari and sweets, and much more. The food of Jharkhand is generally very light on the stomach and easy to digest. The native folks of Jharkhand have absorbed this fact very well, as showed by the food habits of Jharkhand people

. Various Delicacies of Jharkhand
The staple diet of Jharkhand includes Urad Dal, Rahar Dal, Rice Marua Roti, Chilka Roti and Kanda. Kanda is the name for sweet potatoes which are eaten boiled with tea as breakfast. Other items used are: Konhra phool, Barri, Phutkal, Joki - Moringa oleifera, Saakhin, Khukhri and Sandhna. Sandhna are the bamboo shoots. They are cut into small size and made into a pulp which is added to as well as made into pickles. Jack fruits, Gourd, White pumpkin, Flat Beans, Long beans, Lady Finger are used in the dishes.

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