Akbar the Great

Emperor Akbar, also known as Akbar the Great or Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbar, was the third emperor of the Mughal Empire, after Babur and Humayun. He was the son of Nasiruddin Humayun and succeeded him as the emperor in the year 1556, when he was only 13 years old. One of the most successful emperors of the Mughal Empire, Akbar also made significant contribution in the field of art. Apart from commencing a large collection of literature, he also commissioned a number of splendid buildings during his reign. This biography of King Akbar will provide you more information on his life history:Early LifeAkbar was born on 15th October 1542, to Emperor Humayun and his recently wedded wife, Hamida Banu Begum. The Rajput Fortress of Umarkot in Sind, where Humayun and Hamida were taking refuge, became the birthplace of this great emperor. In 1540, Humayun was forced into exile by Afghan leader Sher Shah and Akbar spent his childhood in Afghanistan, at his uncle Askari's place. His youth was spent in running and fighting, rather than learning to read and write. However, this could never impair his interest in art, architecture, music and literature. Humayun recaptured Delhi in the year 1555, with the help of his Persian ally Shah Tahmasp. However, a few months after his victory, he met with an accident and died. On 14th February 1556, Akbar succeeded the throne, in the midst of a war waged by Sikandar Shah for the Mughal throne. Early RuleThe first battle fought by Akbar was against Sikandar Shah Suri of Punjab. However, when Akbar was busy leading assault against Sikandar Shah, Hemu, a Hindu warrior, launched an attack on Delhi, which was then under the regency of Tardi Beg Khan. Tardi fled from the city and Hemu claimed the capital. On the advice of his general, Bairam, Akbar launched an attack on Delhi and reclaimed the city. On 5th November 1556, 'Akbar the Great' fought the Second Battle of Panipat against General Hemu. Following soon after was the battle with Sikandar Shah at Mankot. In 1557, Adil Shah, who was the brother of Sikandar, died in a battle in Bengal. Along with fighting against the other rulers, Akbar also solidified his support by revoking the jizya tax on non-Muslims. At the same time, he started wooing the favor of the powerful Rajput caste, at times by marrying Rajput princesses. He expanded the Mughal Empire by including Malwa, Gujarat, Bengal, Kabul, Kashmir and Kandesh, amongst others. In no time, the rule of Akbar was firmly established over the entire Hindustan (India). Final YearsAkbar was greatly troubled in the last few years of his life due to the misdemeanors of his sons. Especially his third son, Salim, was frequently in rebellion against his father. The last conquest of Akbar comprised of Asirgarh, a fort in the Deccan. Thereafter, he faced the rebellion of his son and breathed his last on 12th October 1605. His body was entombed in a magnificent mausoleum at Sikandra city, near Agra. NavratnasAkbar's court had Navaratnas (Nine Jewels), meaning a group of nine extraordinary people. They included:
Abul Fazel (Akbars's chief advisor and author of Akbarnama)
Faizi (Akbar's poet laureate)
Mian Tansen (a Hindu singer who converted to Islam)
Birbal (a noble known for his wittiness)
Raja Todar Mal (Akbar's finance minister)
Raja Man Singh (trusted general of Akbar)
Abdul Rahim Khan-I-Khana (a noble and a renowned poet)
Fakir Aziao-Din
Mullah Do Piaza

Chardham : Kedarnath

Kedarnath is a sacred town situated in the state of Uttarakhand of India. It can even be called as one of the remotest Char Dham sites as it is located amidst the snow-capped mountains of Himalayas, near the river Mandakini. Nestled in the Rudraprayag district, the main attractions here is the Kedarnath Temple, which is a popular Hindu shrine and pilgrimage, attracting devotees from all over the world. The travel and tourism scope here is strengthened by factors like natural beauty and religious zest. The Kedarnath Temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva and is deemed to have been built by Adi Sankaracharya. The glory of the temple can be attributed to the fact that it is one of the twelve jyotirlingas (Lord Shiva shrines), present in the country. The temple remains open only for a period of six months, due to heavy snowfall in the winter months. Testing the fervor and dedication of the pilgrims, the temple is not directly reachable by road.The only way being, a 14 km trek path from Gaurikund. The present temple stands adjacent to the initial temple built by the Pandavas. According to historical data, Pandavas after winning the battle of Mahabharata, felt guilty of killing their own brothers. They came here in search of Lord Shiva, who kept hiding himself. Finally Bhima, the strongest Pandava brother recognized him. Lord Shiva, who was disguised as a bull, escaped leaving behind his hind part. This led to the construction of the temple here. The present Kedarnath Temple has been built by huge slabs of gray stones, standing undeterred with all its glory and majesty. The divine peace and tranquility of the place leaves the devotees completely mesmerized. The haunting environment and secluded surroundings compel all the visitors to feel the inner connection with the Almighty. Thus, Kedarnath is considered a must visit place amongst pilgrims, before leaving this world.

Photos of Krishna

Names of Krishna

The word krsna in language Sanskrit means "black", "dark" or "dark-blue",which in the modern day Hindi is Kala and was used to describe someone with a dark skin. Shri Krishna is portrayed in dark blue colour in most paintings and idols.Krishna also means the "all attractive one".Lord Krishna is known by many other names and titles, which reflect his many qualities, phases in life and forms. There are 108 names and titles of Krishna from the Gaudiya Vaishnavism tradition. They can be found at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_titles_and_names_of_Krishna . It is believed that Krishna has well over 1000 names. Some of the more popular names are:1. Krishna - The Supereme all-attractive form of Godhead.2. Parthasarathi - The chariteer of Arjuna.3. Vasudeva - The son of Vasudeva.4. Devakinanadana - The son of Mother Devaki.5. Nandanandana - The son of Nanda Maharaja.6. Yashodanandana - The son of Mother Yashoda.7. Madhusudhana - The of the demon Madhu.8. Narayana - The shelter of all human beings.9. Govinda - The giver of pleasure to cows and senses.10. Keshava - The killer of kesi demon.11. Madhava - The husband of the Goddess of Fortune.12. Ranchor - The one who flied from fighting.13. Janardhana - The maintainer of all living entities.14. Lakshmipathi - The husband of Goddess Lakshmi.15. Hrishikesa - The owner of all senses.16. Mukunda - The Giver of liberation.17. Damodara - One who was bound by ropes through His belly.18. Hari - He takes away all distress.19. Acyuta - One who never falls down.20. Ajita - The unconquerable.21. Yogeshwara - master of mystic powers.22. Jagatpati - The master of the cosmic manifestation.23. Yadunandana - The son of Yadu dynasty.24. Brahmanaya-deva - He is worshipped by all brahmins.25. Jananivasa - He is present in everyone's heart.26. Vamana - The drawf-incarination, who taught a lesson to King Bali.27. Trinayana - The seer of the three worlds.28. Shripati - The husband of the Goddess of Fortune Laksmi.29. Sankarshan - The Supreme shelter and attractor all living entities.This list is presently incomplete. You can help by contributing. Simply click "edit Names of Krishna" and add to the names. Hare Krishna.

Mahabharata

The longest Sanskrit epic ever written, Mahabharata has a collection of more than 74,000 verses, divided into 18 books। The Mahabharata story is much revered in India and basically among the Hindus। The Mahabharata contains the Bhagawad Gita, the famous gospel of duty that was taught to the great warrior, Arjuna by Lord Krishna. The Mahabharata dwells on the aspect of the important goals of a human being in his mortal life. The epic aims at making people realize the relation between the individual and the society and how they both are inter dependent on each other. Read on further a summary of Mahabharata, the greatest epic ever. The epic revolves around the struggle for the throne of the kingdom of Hastinapura. The struggle is between two branches of the same family, the Kauravas and Pandavas. The Kauravas were collectively the hundred sons of the blind king Dhritarashtra and the Pandavas were the five sons of Pandu, who died of a curse. The five brothers named Yudhisthira (eldest son), Arjuna, Bheema, Nakula and Sahdeva were always obedient and dutiful, which made them the most loved in the kingdom. Each of the Pandavas had a special virtue in them that made them stand apart from the rest of the world. This made the Kauravas hate them and they planned many devious ways to get rid of them. As time went by, the Pandavas got married and shared a common wife named Draupadi. The Kauravas got even more enraged and challenged the Pandavas to a game of gamble. The Pandavas lost and were banished from the kingdom for an exile of 12 years. There was a condition that if they were recognized by the end of 12 years, they would have to begin from scratch. One of the most important and dramatic character in this epic is Lord Krishna. He was the sole advisor, guide and true friend of the Pandavas and helped them in each and every difficulty in their exile. He is said to be the incarnation of God, who came to earth in human form to relieve the world of evil people and restore faith in his devotees. During the great battle of Kurukshetra fought between the Kauravas and the Pandavas, Lord Krishna took upon himself the duty of driving Arjuna's chariot. He imparted the valuable and practical lessons of the Bhagawad Gita, a text of the conversation between Lord Krishna and Arjuna, where Lord Krishna shows Arjuna a glimpse of his majestic divine form. The Pandavas won the battle and ruled over Hastinapura for a number of years. It is said that Dhritarashtra and his wife retired into the forest to lead a stress-free life of an ascetic and Krishna left after around thirty six years after the battle took place. When the Pandavas realized that it was time to leave this earth, they all set out on a journey towards the North on foot. It is said that the gates of heaven opened on the northern horizon. One by one they dropped dead, until Yudhisthira finally reached the gates of heaven to be united once again with his brothers and wife.

The story of Rama

RAMAYANA is the story of RAMA(the ideal of virtuousness)। The story of Rama is full of stories of how an ideal man is supposed to behave, how an ideal king is supposed to perform etc। The life story of Rama, which is written in the epic Ramayana is briefly presented below:

Once upon a time in the king called Dasaratha, who used to rule the province of Ayodhya. Being issueless, he decided to peform a huge sacrifice for begetting a son. As a result of this, he was given a fruit to be given to his wives to bear a son. King Dasaratha divided it equally between Kausalya, the eldest wife, and Kaikeyi, his favourite queen. But both Kausalya and Kaikeyi were fond of the queen Sumitra. So they each gave halg of their portions to Sumitra and in turn the queens gave birth to four princes, Kausalya to the eldest Rama, Kaikeyi to the second Bharat, and Sumitra having gotten two shares, to younger Laxman and Shatrugna. All four princes grew up in the tutelage of sages and turned out into fine warriors. Laxman was very attached to Rama since childhood.
During their travels with sage Vishwamitra, once they came to Mithila, where king Janaka had pronounced a swayamvar(groom hunt ceremony) for his daughter Sita. Sita was Laxmi incarnate into this world, and was destined to marry Rama. The condition at the swayamvar, was that whoever could lift the heavy bow, which was presented to him by Shiva, could win the hand of Sita in marriage. One by one, the kings who came for the swayamvar failed in their attempts. When Rama went and lifted the bow, it lifted easily. Hence Rama was wed to Sita in Mithila and they returned to Ayodhya a happy family.
But happiness was not to last long. From an early incident in life of King Dasaratha, he had once been given the gift of life by his favourte queen Kaikeyi, who saved his life from a tiger. Then he had granted her two boons to be granted to her. But at that time Kaikeyi took a rain check on the boons and was reminded now by her evil servant maid Manthara, who incited her to use the boons to get her son Bharat the throne instead of Lord Rama. Her mind poisoned by evil Manthara, asked King Dasrath of two boons - (1). Bharat to be made the king and (2). Rama to be banished to the forest for fourteen years. Dasratha died shortly after Rama left for the forest.
Rama, heeding on the words of his Dad, left for the forest soon after that with his wife Sita and his favourite brother Laxman accompanied him too to the forest. Bharat, who was away at a relatives house, came to learn of this and went to the forest and requested his brother Rama to come back. But Rama refused to go back on the promise of his Dad. Then Bharat took the slippers of Rama and placed them on the throne and ruled virtually at Ayodhya till Lord Rama's return from the banishment.
There are lots of exciting tales durng the fourteen years of banishment of Rama. They went through different forests, different ashrams(hermitages) of various rishis, and lived on the fruits from the forest. During these years they fought a lot of wars with asuras (demons) to save the sages, and help the sages in carrying on their prayer which was being constantly disturbed by the asuras. The high point of their Vanvaas(banishment) was the long war fought with the king of the asuras, Ravana.
Ravana's sister, Surpanakha was enamored by Rama's beauty when she saw him once passing by the forest of panchavati,near Nasik, and wanted to marry Rama. Rama refused her and asked her to go to Laxman. Laxman too refused and this angered her. She thought of Sita as the main reason behind this and tried to harm Sita upon which Laxman cut off her nose and ears.
Angered, she went back and came again with her brother Khara to fight Rama. But Rama and Laxmana defeated and killed Khara too. she then fled and took refuge of Ravana, the mighty king of asuras, who was given the boon of immunity by Lord Shiva, from the gods,asuras and all creatures except human beings whom he thought to be too menial. Hence Lord Vishnu had to incarnate as a human to kill Ravana. Ravana had his desire for Sita for a long time. And in the rage of the moment, decided upon a plan to abduct Sita.
With the help of his uncle Maricha, who was a magician he set out. Maricha disguised himself as a beautiful deer and wandered near the whereabouts of Rama and Sita and laxman. On seeing the beautiful deer, Sita was attracted to the deer and asked Rama to go after it. Rama then left Laxman in gaurd of Sita, and then went after Maricha in the form of the deer. After a while, Laxman and Sita heard the cries of Rama for help. It was a ruse by Maricha to distract Laxman and Sita. Sita was worried and requested Laxman to go and see what the matter was. But at the same time Laxman did not want to leave Sita alone. On much insistence by Sita, he then made a line and asked her not to cross the line, popularly called as "Laxman Rekha", in modern days to represent limits of decent behavior and moral conduct. He advised that she should not cross the Laxman Rekha or else she could be in danger.
Soon after he left, Ravana who was waiting for this opportunity, came disguised as a beggar and asked for a donation from Sita. Sita went inside to get some grains to donate to the beggar. As she stepped outside she told the beggar to come and get it as she could not cross the Laxman Rekha. The beggar acted as if offended and Sita, thus crossed the line to give him alms, and Ravana, against her wishes dragged her into a chariot and took her to his home town of Lanka against her wishes. As she was going along the way she dropped her jewels so that Rama could trace her route.
Rama and Laxmana, on returning were very depressed on not finding Sita when they returned. They went miles and miles in search of Sita. They came ultimately to the kingdom of Kishkindha. This was then ruled by the monkey king Bali, who had banished his brother Sugreeva. Rama and Laxmana reached the hill where the banished Sugreeva and his friend Hanuman were living. Hanuman at once fell at the feet of Lord Rama and showed him the jewels which Sita had thrown at them when on the way to Lanka. Rama helped Sugreeva overthrow his brother Bali out of Kishkindha and become the king. In return, Rama got the entire army of monkeys of Sugreevas including Hanuman to help him out in the search for Sita.
Hanuman, while searching wide and afar, happened to cross over to Lanka across the sea and recognised Sita there. He then passed on the message of having found Sita to Rama. Rama then declared war on Ravana to get Sita back. Vibhishana, who was the brother of Rama, came over to Rama's side and became Rama'a devotee. The monkey army led by Sugreeva and Hanuman, formed a huge bridge across from mainland to Lanka. Then Rama got along with his army to Lanka and staged a full fledged war.
Ravana was defeated in the end and Rama brought back Sita to his home and then in the process their Vanvaas(banishment period) was over and they came back to rule Ayodhya as a righteous king and spread Ram-Rajya(ideal rule) in Ayodhya.
There are stories of Sita's banishment and her giving birth to Lava and Kusa later in life in the ashram of Valmiki. These form the part called Uttar Ramayana, which is considered a sequel to the main Ramayana.

Taj Mahal Story

Taj Mahal Story
The story of Taj Mahal reflects the intensity of love. The fairy tale began when walking through the bazaar of Agra prince qhurram saw a girl. The girl was exceptionally beautiful. It was a love at first sight for both of them. After five years, on an auspicious day they were married and from that moment began the great epic of love. The End of the Fairy Tale In 1631 Shah Jahan set up to berahanpur with his troops to subdue a rebellion, accompanied by Mumtaz Mahal Unfortunately during childbirth she suffered some complications and died. According to legend before dieing she extracted a promise from Shah Jahan that he would build a mausoleum as a tribute to their love. The story of Taj Mahal begins Shah Jahan was obsessed to fulfill his wife's last wish. He invited the architects and artisans all over the world and planned for the building with absolute perfection. Taj Mahal was structured in Persian style combined with carvings of artisans called from Afghanistan and the garden designers from Kashmir. It took 22years to complete the Taj Mahal, a memento of love with the perfection of art. The carvings of Taj Mahal were decorated with very precious gemstones. The story of Taj Mahal is unique in itself. It is an evidence that how the emotions and feelings are important to human life. The story of Taj Mahal is an example of devotion and faith. The story of Taj Mahal is a love story not found in papers but stands in the structural form. The story of Taj Mahal is rare. Shah Jahan, "The King of The World" Prince qhurram was the fifth son of emperor Jahangir. He was the man of extraordinary brilliance, a great diplomat, a warrior and a lover of art. Once Jahangir wrote, "In art, in reason, in battle there is no comparison between him and my other children". In the honor of his numerous victories Jahangir entitled him as "Shah Jahan", "The King of the World". After Jahangir's death all his sons quarreled for the thrown, after fighting for years Shah Jahan killed all his brothers under suspicious circumstances and became the emperor, besides him stood his queen, comrade and confidante. Mumtaz Mahal "The chosen one of the palace" Shah Jahan titled her "Mumtaz Mahal", "The chosen one of the palace". A rare found combination of beauty and brain. She was her husband's best friend and confidante. She would counsel him in the diplomatic matters. She too was a great lover of art.