Wikipedia Trails: From Krishna to Kalpa

Krishna
I wanted to read more about Krishna after watching Krishna Epified this week. I specifically wanted to read more about Radha, the woman he wishes to marry in the epified videos.

Radha
Radha is associated with the original goddess, also known as Shakti. She is considered to be more important than Krishna by some of the followers Vaishnavism. She represents the incarnation of love for Vishnu, and together with Krishna, they represent absolute truth.

Radha by Raja Ravi Varma (Web Source)

Rasa lila
After reading the article about Radha, I read the article about Rasa lila, also known as Rasa dance or the "Dance of Divine Love." Radha is said to be the most important gopika in Rasa lila, as the goddess who dances with Krishna.

Kalpa
After reading about Rasa lila, I read about Kalpa, also known as one "Night of Brahma," which is how long Krishna stretches the Rasa lila and is about 4.32 billion years.

Wikipedia Trails: From Mohini to Narasimha

Mohini
I wanted to learn more about Mohini after my reading this week. So, I found Mohini's wikipedia article and read more about Vishnu's only female avatar. Her description was much different on wikipedia than the videos I watched by Pattanaik and most notably described Mohini's other form, Mahalasa.

Mohini on a swing by Raja Ravi Varma (Web Source)

Mahalasa
Mohini's article led me to an article on Mahalasa, the consort of Shiva's avatar, Khandoba. Mahalasa is very interesting and is explained as partially Mohini (and therefore Vishnu) and partially Parvati (as the consort of Shiva). Mahalasa seems to reinforce the interconnected nature of Hinduism, as many other deities seem to also do.

Kuladevata
After reading Mahalasa's article, I read Kuladevata's article. Kuladevata is known as the family goddess, or a specific goddess that a family or clan worships. Different families or clans from different regions have different Kuladevatas, often based on the beliefs or traditions of that region.

Narasimha
After I read about Kuladevatas, I read about Narasimha, the Kuludevata of a group of the Konkani people. Narasimha is an avatar of Vishnu.

Wikipedia Trails: From Durga to Dattatreya

Durga
I looked up Durga because she was in the Epified Krishna reading I did this week.

Durga (Web Source)

Renuka
After I read about Durga, I read about Renuka, who is one of Durga's reincarnations.

Parashurama
Renuka's page then led me to Parashurama, who is the sixth avatar of Vishnu. He is also the son that beheaded Renuka, at his father's command, after she lusted after a Gandharva. I find this interesting because this resembles other stories in which conflicts regarding devotion of one of the goddesses of the Tridevi to one of the gods of the Trimuti.

Dattatreya
Parashurama's page then led me to Dattatreya, considered by some to be a deity and by others as a monk. He is said to be either an avatar of Vishnu, or even the entire Trimurti.

Wikipedia Trails: From Kali to Shakti

Kali
I wanted to look more into Kali because I came across her in my reading from earlier this week on Shiva. I found out that she is considered the consort of Shiva and is like the primary creator that the feminine deity, Devi, is considered. It almost seems like she makes up a part of the larger whole.

Shaktism
In the Kali wikipedia article, I found a section on Shaktism, which is tradition within Hinduism that reveres the feminine essence, Devi, as the supreme power.

Forms of Devi (Web Source)

Devi-Bhagavata Purana
The Shaktism wikipedia article led me to an article on this text which also reveres Devi as the supreme power or primary creator.

Shakti
Then I found this article on Shakti, which explained that she is essentially the same as Kali and is represented in her avatar form by Parvati.
 

Wikipedia Trails: From Draupadi to Drona

Draupadi

I read a little more about Draupadi after watching the epified videos this week and was led to the article on the Upapandavas.

Draupadi in Virata's palace, by Raja Ravi Varma (Web Source)

Upapandavas
The Upapandavas were the five sons that Draupadi had by each of the five Pandava brothers she married. They were killed in battle by Ashwatthama.

Ashwatthama
Ashwatthama was the son of Drona.

Drona
Drona was the teacher for most of the key players in the Kurukshetra War.

Wikipedia Trails: From Karna to Anrita

Karna
After finishing the third part of the epified version of The Mahabharata, I looked up Karna on wikipedia to learn a little more. I learned that in one of the versions of Karna's death, the goddess of Dharma was protecting him from Arjuna's arrows. This led me to the next article on Dharma.

Arjuna Killing Karna (Web Source)

Dharma
I knew already that the concept of Dharma was fairly complex, but I had thought of it as someone acting in accordance with their fate. However, there is no one word that actually can serve as a translation for the concept of Dharma. I also found a new word, Adharma.

Adharma
I found the words used to define Adharma very interesting because they were not exactly the opposite of fate. Instead, it meant something more along the lines of evil or wrong. It just reminds me that different cultures have different opinions regarding fate.

Anrita
After reading the article about Adharma, I read about Anrita, a son of the god Adharma. I found it really interesting that each of these concepts was personified as a deity. 

Wikipedia Trails: From Krishna to Jyotirlinga

Krishna
I was reading the online reading guide this week for Narayan's Mahabharata, when I noticed that Krishna, one of Vishnu's avatars, made an appearance. I was curious to learn more about Krishna, since my storybook really tries to tie different stories together throughout time. As I was reading this article, I noticed that one of his wives while he was Krishna, was Lakshmana, another name for his previous love, Sita.

Hindu Calendar
After reading about Krishna, I came across a link to the article on the Hindu Calendar. I think the way that different cultures organize time is fascinating and so I wanted to see some of the differences between my concept of how to organize time within a year and how Hindu culture organizes time.

Hindu Calendar (Web Source)

Maha Shivaratari
After looking at the Hindu Calendar article, I found this article about Maha Shivaratari, a festival celebrated in Shiva's honor during the winter season. During this festival, some religious devotees take a pilgrimage to Jyotirlingams, which led me to the next article.

Jyotirlinga
Jyotirlingams are shrines devoted to Shiva, and translates to The Radiant Sign of the Almighty Shiva.

Wikipedia Trail: From Saraswati to Brahman

Saraswati
I was initially interested in learning more about Saraswati because I was considering the Hindu Trinity as the topic for my Storybook Project. I was specifically interested in the love story she has with Brahma. So...I clicked on Tridevi next.

Tridevi
I wanted to look into this article because I wanted to see if there were any more connections between Saraswati, Lakshmi, and Parvati that I had not yet considered. I found a really interesting image while looking at the article and I could really see myself using this image in my storybook later on.

 

Tridevi (Wikimedia)

Brahma
After reading about the Trinity, I clicked on Brahma, Saraswati's significant other. I didn't find as much as I would have liked on his romance with Saraswati, but I did find a lot of interesting factoids about Brahma and all the various ways I had seen his name before. It was interesting to see the different ways in which his name was used to create new words or represent different ideas.

Brahman
The last article that I clicked on was Brahman. I was hoping to learn more about the differentiation between Brahma and Brahman and found out that Brahman actually refers to the "highest Universal Principle" or the "Ultimate Reality". I thought this could be an interesting idea to pair with Maya which is an alternate reality.