Guru Purnima Holiday Today: Are Schools And Banks Open In Your State?
Guru Purnima, a festival rich in cultural and spiritual meaning, is celebrated by Hindus, Buddhists, and Jains across India. It is a day dedicated to honouring teachers, mentors, and spiritual guides.
Though Guru Purnima holds great significance, especially in northern states, it has not been declared a national public holiday. The festival is officially observed as a holiday only in specific states or institutions.
In states like Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, and Uttarakhand, schools may remain closed on Guru Purnima. However, the decision rests solely with the respective state governments.
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News18
20 hours ago
- News18
Amid Chhangur Baba's Shock, These UP Muslim Women Defy Norms To Marry Lovers In Temple
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Indian Express
2 days ago
- Indian Express
Funeral practices across faiths and regions in India
Different cultures imagine the afterlife differently and so have different funeral practices. Typically, those who believe in one life place bodies in tombs and mark burial sites with gravestones. Likewise, those who believe in rebirth merge the body with nature: through fire, water or even exposure to wild animals. In Assam, the Ahom kings, who came from China via Southeast Asia in the 13th century, used to bury the dead in mounds known as Moidams. Sometimes, even attendants or other people were buried along with the kings. This changed after they became Hindus and started following the practice of cremation. As per the Hindu customs, the bones were then cast into a river to facilitate rebirth. Thus, a shift in funeral practices reveals a shift in culture. In prehistoric times, pots were integral to burial. In primary burials, ancient people used to bury the dead within pots. In secondary burials, pots would contain bones collected after cremation. Tamil Sangam poetry even refers to a widow asking a potter to create a large pot for her deceased husband. Prehistoric burial sites also have 'cist', pits lined with stones, typically found in South India. In the Harappan civilization, there was cremation but many communities buried the dead. Burial sites have been found in Harappa where people with very minimal burial goods like beads and some pots. In Dholavira, there are burial mounds with no bodies, perhaps raised in memory of those who died while travelling to distant lands. Megaliths in the Deccan region are related to burial sites of the Iron Age (1000 BC). Megalithic culture is typical of South Indian culture at the time Vedic culture thrived in Ganga-Yamuna river basin. At the burial sites, the shrine would be made of two vertical stones over which a capstone is placed horizontally (called dolmens). Under the structure, bones and food items were kept to remember the dead. The Vedas refer to both cremation and burial practices. Cremation is mentioned in both the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Dasharatha is cremated. Ravana is cremated. Kauravas are cremated. Post-funeral rituals involved feeding the dead, the Pitr. Funerals are typically in upper caste communities, who can afford firewood. Many lower caste communities continue to follow pre-Vedic burial practices. Burials are often done in fields owned by the family to indicate ownership and proprietorship. In many parts of India, people were buried in the seated position, especially if they belonged to a religious community. It was believed that people who belonged to a religious community would not be reborn. In many Hindu monasteries, the saint would be buried in a seated position, and tulsi would be planted above it in a specially designed pot. In the case of Jain monks, often a tree would be planted on the grave or a stupa would be built on top of it. The building of stupas over the bones of cremated monks was a practice which was even followed by the Buddhists. In fact, Buddhists were reviled by the Vedic people as worshippers of bones. Buddhist sites of burial of body or bones were called Stupas while Hindu and Jain sites were called Samadhis. Sepulchre shrines were built, where the site of burial or the site of cremation would be marked by a temple with an image of the Shivling placed on it. This was practiced by a few Chola kings. In Rajasthan, Gujarat and many parts of India, hero stones marked the spot where a warrior died protecting the village from raiders or wild animals. Sati stones marked spots where women immolated themselves on their husbands' funeral pyre. Nishidhi stones in Karnataka mark sites where Jain sages fasted to death. Tomb building began with the arrival of Islamic culture in India after the 10th century AD. But tomb building is not an Arabic practice. Rather, it comes from Central Asia. The Arabs buried the dead, and ancient Zoroastrians (Persians) exposed their dead to the elements and wild birds like vultures. The central Asian tribes, who had embraced Islam, liked to build tombs and began the construction of monumental tombs in India. Therefore, after the 10th century, we find in India the tombs of Khiljis, Tuglaqs, Lodis and Suris, followed by the famous Mughal monuments – the most famous being the Taj Mahal. Sufi saints' burial sites also became places of pilgrimage. Observing this Muslim practice, many Rajputs began building cupolas and pavilions at the site of royal cremation. These were the Chattris. Some are even found in Maharashtra and Gujarat. This was a practice that became popular from the 13th century to the 19th century. Even today, sites where political leaders are cremated are marked with 'samadhis'. This was against the Vedic belief that no trace of the dead should be kept in order to facilitate rebirth. There are tribal communities such as the Monpa in Northeast India where the bodies are cut into 108 pieces and the pieces are thrown into rivers to be consumed by fish. Thus, the study of the funeral monuments across India offers insights into the diverse religious practices and beliefs in the country. Why did the Ahom kings in Assam, who used to bury the dead in mounds known as Moidams, change this practice? What are hero stones, sati stones, and nishidhi stones, and what do they commemorate? How have funerary practices been shaped by caste, class, and accessibility—such as the use of firewood for cremation? What does the evolution of funerary architecture reveal about India's interaction with Persian, Central Asian, and indigenous traditions? The study of the funeral monuments across India offers insights into the diverse religious practices and beliefs in the country. Comment. (Devdutt Pattanaik is a renowned mythologist who writes on art, culture and heritage.) Share your thoughts and ideas on UPSC Special articles with Subscribe to our UPSC newsletter and stay updated with the news cues from the past week. Stay updated with the latest UPSC articles by joining our Telegram channel – IndianExpress UPSC Hub, and follow us on Instagram and X.
The Hindu
2 days ago
- The Hindu
Shiva the teacher: how Shaivism challenges Buddhism through the interplay of ideas and the role of women
Most texts describe Buddhism as a reaction to Vedic ritualism, but they fail to discuss how Shaivism was a response to Buddhism. Vedic ritualism advocated material success through the grace of divine beings. Buddhism, on the other hand, taught that an obsession with material things and cravings leads to suffering. The Buddha promoted the monastic path, which became highly popular. Shaivism, however, challenges this monastic approach. The primary story of Shiva is that of an ascetic who sits atop a stone mountain but who eventually becomes a householder, with wife and children. Buddhism was the journey of householder to hermit. Shaivism was the journey of hermit to householder. Shiva's first wife is Sati, the daughter of a Brahmin priest. His second wife is Parvati, the daughter of a king of the mountains. This story highlights the importance of marriage, women, and household life, directly challenging the Buddha's narrative of a man who abandons his kingdom, family, wife, and son in the quest for tranquillity and wisdom. Fighting death Most people overlook this interplay of ideas countering each other over time. If Vedic ritual practices were challenged by the Buddha's inward-looking path, that path was, in turn, challenged by the more socially engaged approach of Shaivism. It is no coincidence that the silhouette of a stupa resembles a Shiva linga. However, there is one crucial difference. The Buddha was imagined as rising to higher levels, beyond the realm of the 33 Vedic gods, to a new heaven far above. The bump on his head was interpreted as a kind of spiritual fire rising upwards. In contrast, water is constantly poured over the Shiva linga, drawing him down to the earthly realm. While Buddhists looked to the Buddha's realm far above or focused on inner journeys, Shaivism emphasised looking at the earth, symbolised by the river flowing down. The Buddha was initially reluctant to teach his doctrine to the world and was persuaded to do so by Indra and Brahma. Shiva, on the other hand, imparts his knowledge when questioned by Parvati. Shiva as a teacher is visualised as Lakulisha in North India. He sits cross-legged, much like the Buddha, but holds a staff. In South India, the highly tantrik (occult) image of Lakulisha is more subdued by bhakti (affection). He is depicted as Dakshinamurthy, the sage who sits atop a mountain under a banyan tree, facing south, teaching how to transcend death, surrounded by sages. Death is something that bothered Buddha too. It was what made him turn away from society. But guided by Shiva, sages like Agastya travel south, the land of ancestors and Yama (symbolically). They fight death by marrying and establishing a household. Agastya marries Lopamudra. He earns a living by engaging with Devas and Asuras. He thus is taught about life. Of wisdom and desire It is the conversation between Shiva and Shakti that contains wisdom, not just that of the Buddha alone. Ironically, it is the inclusion of women that challenges the Buddhist path, despite one of the unique features of Buddhist monasteries being the inclusion of women as nuns, alongside many female patrons. Theri-gatha is the oldest collection of poems written by Buddhist nuns, who find solace outside the household, free from gendered roles. The body is thus rejected, though gender politics never left the Buddhist monastery. The leaders were always male. Same is true of Jainism, where there are more nuns than monks, but the leader is always male. Shiva's wisdom is made relevant by the goddess. It emerges as answers to her questions. Without a student, a teacher's knowledge is useless. She feeds him, he converses with her, and when he is absent, she wields her sickle to save the gods from demons. That being said, while Shaivism includes the goddess, it did not grant significant status to lay women, who were confined to the household. Women become holy when they renounce home and become nuns. But men are holy both as householders and hermits. There are challenges to this model though. It manifests in the form of goddesses like Tripurasundari, shown seated on a throne held up by male gods. She carries symbols of Kama, the god of desire. Wisdom is not the end of desire. It stems from desire itself — providing pleasure to the other, rather than receiving it for the self. The writer is the author of 50 books on mythology, art and culture.
