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Mehendi - History

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Introduction           The art of applying henna in hands and feet is known as Mehendi. This is a popular art in these modern days. In the 12th century mughals brought Mehendi(Lawsonia inermis) the small small tropical shrubs to India. In the 17th century in India the barber's wife was usually employed for applying henna on women.           Mehendi play a vital role in the Hindu wedding which includes various religious rites before and during the nuptials.  Mehendi or henna is derived from the sanskrit word mendhika. The origin can be from Egypt because it was one of the art forms in Egypt. It has the evidence that it has been found that henna was used to stain the fingers and toes of pharaohs earlier to mummification. The egyptians believed that body art ensured their recognition into the afterlife and therefore used Mehendi to identify them.             The henna used for Mehendi comes from a bush which is grown in the Africa and India,in the middle east and other ho

IMAGES OF THE GODDESS GAYATRI MAA

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        The goddess gayatri  often sits on a lotus flower and appears with five heads and five pairs of hands representing the incarnations of the goddesses as parvati,saraswati etc.

Gayatri Mantra - History

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History The Gayatri Mantra has been chronicled in the Rig Veda, which was written in Sanskrit about 6000 years ago. Seems like many centuries before the mantra may have been chanted. This mantra- Rig Veda Samhita was composed by sage Vishwamitra. He composed most of the poems in the third section of the Rig Veda. The word "Gayatri" itself explains the reason for the existence of this mantra. It has its origin in the Sanskrit phrase Gayandam Triyate iti,  which rescues the chanter from all adverse situations that may lead to mortality. The Gayatri mantra is composed of a metre consisting of 24 syllabes- generally arranged in a triplet of eight syllables each. Therefore, this particular meter (tripadhi) is also known as the Gayatri meter or "Gayatri Chhanda".  Mantra "OM BUHR, BHUVA, SWAHA OM TAT SAVITUR VARENYAM BHARGO DEVASYA DHEEMAHI DHIYO YONAHA PRACHODAYAT" Meaning of Mantra  "we meditate on that most adorable, desirable and enc