Lakshmi (/ˈlʌkʃmi/; Sanskrit: लक्ष्मी, IAST: Lakṣmī, sometimes spelled Laxmi, lit. 'she who leads to one's goal'), also known as Shri (Sanskrit: श्री, IAST: Śrī, lit. 'Noble'), is one of the principal goddesses in Hinduism, revered as the goddess of wealth, fortune, prosperity, beauty, fertility, royal power, and abundance. She along with Parvati and Sarasvati, form the trinity of goddesses called the Tridevi.

Lakshmi has been a central figure in Hindu tradition since pre-Buddhist times (1500 to 500 BCE) and remains one of the most widely worshipped goddesses in the Hindu pantheon. Although she does not appear in the earliest Vedic literature, the personification of the term shri—auspiciousness, glory, and high rank, often associated with kingship—eventually led to the development of Sri-Lakshmi as a goddess in later Vedic texts, particularly the Shri Suktam. Her importance grew significantly during the late epic period (around 400 CE), when she became particularly associated with the preserver god Vishnu as his consort. In this role, Lakshmi is seen as the ideal Hindu wife, exemplifying loyalty and devotion to her husband. Whenever Vishnu descended on the earth as an avatar, Lakshmi accompanied him as consort, for example, as Sita and Radha or Rukmini as consorts of Vishnu's avatars Rama and Krishna, respectively. (Full article...)

A matha (/mʌt/; Sanskrit: मठ, maṭha), also written as math, muth, mutth, mutt, or mut, is a Sanskrit word that means 'institute or college', and it also refers to a monastery in Hinduism. An alternative term for such a monastery is adheenam. The earliest epigraphical evidence for mathas related to Hindu-temples comes from the 7th to 10th century CE.

The most famous Advaita Vedanta mathas or peethams, which came to be affiliated with the Advaita tradition in the 14th century, are Govardhanmaṭha Pīṭhaṃ at Puri, Odisha; Śārada Pīṭhaṃ at Sringeri, Karnataka; Kalika Pīṭhaṃ at Dvāraka, Gujarat; Jyotirmaṭha Pīṭhaṃ at Badari, Uttarakhand; and Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham at Kanchi, Tamil Nadu. (Full article...)

Kali (/ˈkɑːliː/; Sanskrit: काली, IAST: Kālī), also called Kalika, is a major goddess in Hinduism, primarily associated with time, death and destruction. Kali is also connected with transcendental knowledge and is the first of the ten Mahavidyas, a group of goddesses who provide liberating knowledge. Of the numerous Hindu goddesses, Kali is held as the most famous. She is the preeminent deity in the Hindu tantric tradition and the Kalikula worship tradition, and is a central figure in the goddess-centric sects of Hinduism as well as in Shaivism. Kali is chiefly worshipped as the Divine Mother, Mother of the Universe, and Divine feminine energy.

The origins of Kali can be traced to the pre-Vedic and Vedic era goddess worship traditions in the Indian subcontinent. Etymologically the term Kali refers to one who governs time or is black. The first major appearance of Kali in the Sanskrit literature was in the sixth-century CE text Devi Mahatmya. Kali appears in many stories, with the most popular one being when she manifests as personification of goddess Durga's rage to defeat the demon Raktabija. The terrifying iconography of Kali makes her a unique figure among the goddesses and symbolises her embracement and embodiment of the grim worldly realities of blood, death and destruction. (Full article...)

Dwarka () is a town and municipality of Devbhumi Dwarka district in the state of Gujarat. It is located on the western shore of the Okhamandal Peninsula on the right bank of the Gomti river at the mouth of the Gulf of Kutch facing the Arabian Sea.

Dwarka has the Dwarkadhish Temple dedicated to Krishna, which is one of four sacred Hindu pilgrimage sites called the Chardham founded by Adi Shankaracharya at the four corners of the country. The Dwarkadhish Temple was established as a monastic center and forms part of the Dwarka temple complex. Dwarka is also one of the seven most ancient religious cities (Sapta Puri) in India. (Full article...)

Matsya (Sanskrit: मत्स्य, lit. 'fish') is the fish avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu. Often described as the first of Vishnu's ten primary avatars, Matsya is described to have rescued the first man, Manu, from a great deluge. Matsya may be depicted as a giant fish, often golden in color, or anthropomorphically with the torso of Vishnu connected to the rear half of a fish.

The earliest account of Matsya is found in the Shatapatha Brahmana, where Matsya is not associated with any particular deity. The fish-saviour later merges with the identity of Brahma in post-Vedic era, and still later, becomes regarded with Vishnu. The legends associated with Matsya expand, evolve, and vary in Hindu texts. These legends have embedded symbolism, where a small fish with Manu's protection grows to become a big fish, and the fish saves the man who would be the progenitor of the next race of mankind. In later versions, Matsya slays a demon named Hayagriva who steals the Vedas, and thus is lauded as the saviour of the scriptures. (Full article...)

The Babri Masjid, a 16th-century mosque in the Indian city of Ayodhya, was destroyed on 6 December 1992 by a large group of activists of the Vishva Hindu Parishad and allied organisations. The mosque had been the subject of a lengthy socio-political dispute, and was targeted after a political rally organised by Hindu nationalist organisations turned violent.

In Hindu tradition, the city of Ayodhya is the birthplace of Rama. In the 16th century a Mughal commander, Mir Baqi, had built a mosque, known as the Babri Masjid at a site identified by some Hindus as Ram Janmabhoomi, or the birthplace of Rama. The Archaeological Survey of India states that the mosque was built on land where a non-Islamic structure had previously existed. In the 1980s, the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) began a campaign for the construction of a temple dedicated to Rama at the site, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as its political voice. Several rallies and marches were held as a part of this movement, including the Ram Rath Yatra led by L. K. Advani. (Full article...)

Banai (Marathi: बाणाई Bāṇāi, sometimes बानाई), also known as Banu (Bāṇu, बानू) and Banu-bai (Bāṇu-bāī, बानू-बाई), is a Hindu goddess and the second wife of Khandoba, a form of the god Shiva worshipped in the Deccan – predominantly in the Indian states of Maharashtra and Karnataka. Khandoba is portrayed as a king of Jejuri, where his chief temple stands. Some traditions do not give her the status of a legal wife and treat her as a concubine of Khandoba.

While scriptures related to Khandoba do not mention Banai, she is a central subject of folk songs. Banai is considered a Dhangar, a sheep herding caste, and is sometimes regarded to be of celestial origin. Oral traditions chiefly discuss the tale of her marriage to Khandoba and her conflicts with his first wife Mhalsa. Banai is an antithesis of Mhalsa; together they complete the god. Banai is generally depicted with Khandoba and often is also accompanied by Mhalsa. (Full article...)

Swaminarayan Akshardham is a Hindu temple and spiritual-cultural campus in Delhi, India. The temple is close to the border with Noida. Also referred to as Akshardham Temple or Akshardham Delhi, the complex displays millennia of traditional and modern Hindu culture, spirituality, and architecture. Inspired by Yogiji Maharaj and created by Pramukh Swami Maharaj, it was constructed by BAPS. It is the world's second-largest BAPS Hindu temple, following Akshardham, New Jersey, in the United States.

The temple was officially opened on 6 November 2005 by Pramukh Swami Maharaj in the presence of A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, Manmohan Singh, L.K Advani and B.L Joshi. The temple, at the centre of the complex, was built according to the Vastu shastra and Pancharatra shastra. (Full article...)

Yoga (UK: /ˈjəʊɡə/, US: /ˈjoʊɡə/; Sanskrit: योग 'yoga' [joːɡɐ] ^ⓘ; lit. 'yoke' or 'union') is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines that originated in ancient India, aimed at controlling body and mind to attain various salvation goals, as practiced in the Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist traditions.

Yoga may have pre-Vedic origins, but is first attested in the early first millennium BCE. It developed as various traditions in the eastern Ganges basin drew from a common body of practices, including Vedic elements. Yoga-like practices are mentioned in the Rigveda and a number of early Upanishads, but systematic yoga concepts emerge during the fifth and sixth centuries BCE in ancient India's ascetic and Śramaṇa movements, including Jainism and Buddhism. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, the classical text on Hindu yoga, samkhya-based but influenced by Buddhism, dates to the early centuries of the Common Era. Hatha yoga texts began to emerge between the ninth and 11th centuries, originating in tantra. (Full article...)

The Trimurti (/t̪ɾimʊɾt̪iː/) is the trinity of supreme divinity in Hinduism, in which the cosmic functions of creation, preservation, and destruction are personified as a triad of deities. Typically, the designations are that of Brahma the creator, Vishnu the preserver, and Shiva the destroyer. The Om symbol of Hinduism is considered to have an allusion to Trimurti, where the A, U, and M phonemes of the word are considered to indicate creation, preservation and destruction, adding up to represent Brahman. The Tridevi is the trinity of goddess consorts for the Trimurti. (Full article...)

Swami Vivekananda (12 January 1863 – 4 July 1902), born Narendranath Datta was an Indian Hindu monk, philosopher, author, religious teacher, and the chief disciple of the Indian mystic Ramakrishna. He was a key figure in the introduction of Vedanta and Yoga to the Western world. He is credited with raising interfaith awareness and bringing Hinduism to the status of a major world religion in the late nineteenth century.

Born into an aristocratic Bengali Kayastha family in Calcutta, Vivekananda was inclined from a young age towards religion and spirituality. At the age of 18 he met Ramakrishna, later becoming a devoted follower and sannyasin (renunciate). After the death of Ramakrishna, Vivekananda toured the Indian subcontinent as a wandering monk and acquired first-hand knowledge of the often terrible living conditions of Indian people in then British India. In 1893 he traveled to the United States where he participated in the Parliament of Religions in Chicago. Here he delivered a famous speech beginning with the words: "Sisters and brothers of America ..." introducing the ancient Hindu religious tradition to Americans and speaking forcefully about the essential unity of all spiritual paths, and the necessity of embracing tolerance and renouncing fanaticism. The speech made an extraordinary impression. One American newspaper described him as "an orator by divine right and undoubtedly the greatest figure at the Parliament". (Full article...)

Advaita Vedanta (/ʌdˈvaɪtə vɛˈdɑːntə/; Sanskrit: अद्वैत वेदान्त, IAST: Advaita Vedānta) is a Hindu tradition of textual exegesis and philosophy which states that jivatman, the individual experiencing self, is ultimately pure awareness mistakenly identified with body and the senses, and non-different ("na aparah") from Ātman/Brahman, the highest Self or Reality. The term Advaita literally means "non-secondness", but is usually rendered as "nonduality", referring to the Oneness of Brahman, the only real Existent, and often equated with monism.

Advaita Vedanta is a Hindu sādhanā, a path of spiritual discipline and experience, and states that moksha (liberation from 'suffering' and rebirth) is attained through knowledge of Brahman, recognizing the illusoriness of the phenomenal world and disidentification from the body-mind complex and the notion of 'doership', and acquiring vidyā (knowledge) of one's true identity as Atman/Brahman, self-luminous (svayam prakāśa) awareness or Witness-consciousness. This knowledge is acquired through Upanishadic statements such as tat tvam asi, "that['s how] you are," which destroy the ignorance (avidyā) regarding one's true identity by revealing that (jiv)Ātman is non-different from immortal Brahman. (Full article...)

Narendra Damodardas Modi (born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician who has served as the prime minister of India since 2014. Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the member of parliament (MP) for Varanasi. He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a right-wing Hindu nationalist paramilitary volunteer organisation. He is the longest-serving prime minister outside the Indian National Congress.

Modi was born and raised in Vadnagar in northeastern Gujarat, where he completed his secondary education. He was introduced to the RSS at the age of eight. At the age of 18, he was married to Jashodaben Modi, whom he abandoned soon after, only publicly acknowledging her four decades later when legally required to do so. Modi became a full-time worker for the RSS in Gujarat in 1971. The RSS assigned him to the BJP in 1985 and he rose through the party hierarchy, becoming general secretary in 1998. In 2001, Modi was appointed chief minister of Gujarat and elected to the legislative assembly soon after. His administration is considered complicit in the 2002 Gujarat riots, and has been criticised for its management of the crisis. According to official records, a little over 1,000 people were killed, three-quarters of whom were Muslim; independent sources estimated 2,000 deaths, mostly Muslim. A Special Investigation Team appointed by the Supreme Court of India in 2012 found no evidence to initiate prosecution proceedings against him. While his policies as chief minister were credited for encouraging economic growth, his administration was criticised for failing to significantly improve health, poverty and education indices in the state. (Full article...)

Abhay Charanaravinda Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (IAST: Abhaya Caraṇāravinda Bhaktivedānta Svāmī Prabhupāda; Bengali: অভয় চরণারবিন্দ ভক্তিবেদান্ত স্বামী প্রভুপাদ) (1 September 1896 – 14 November 1977) was a spiritual, philosophical, and religious teacher from India who spread the Hare Krishna mantra and the teachings of "Krishna consciousness" to the world. Born as Abhay Charan De and later legally named Abhay Charanaravinda Bhaktivedanta Swami, he is often referred to as "Bhaktivedanta Swami", "Srila Prabhupada", or simply "Prabhupada".

To carry out an order received in his youth from his spiritual teacher to spread "Krishna consciousness" in English, in his old age, at 69, he journeyed in 1965 from Kolkata to New York City on a cargo ship, taking with him little more than a few trunks of books. He knew no one in America, but he chanted Hare Krishna in a park in New York City, gave classes, and in 1966, with the help of some early students, established the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), which now has centers throughout the world. (Full article...)

Krishna (/ˈkrɪʃnə/; Sanskrit: कृष्ण, IAST: Kṛṣṇa [ˈkr̩ʂɳɐ]) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme God in his own right. He is the god of protection, compassion, tenderness, and love; and is widely revered among Hindu divinities. Krishna's birthday is celebrated every year by Hindus on Krishna Janmashtami according to the lunisolar Hindu calendar, which falls in late August or early September of the Gregorian calendar.

The anecdotes and narratives of Krishna's life are generally titled as Krishna Līlā. He is a central figure in the Mahabharata, the Bhagavata Purana, the Brahma Vaivarta Purana, and the Bhagavad Gita, and is mentioned in many Hindu philosophical, theological, and mythological texts. They portray him in various perspectives: as a god-child, a prankster, a model lover, a divine hero, and the universal supreme being. His iconography reflects these legends and shows him in different stages of his life, such as an infant eating butter, a young boy playing a flute, a young boy with Radha or surrounded by female devotees, or a friendly charioteer giving counsel to Arjuna. (Full article...)

Nome (born January 23, 1955) is a spiritual teacher at Society of Abidance in Truth, known by the acronym SAT, which established and maintains a temple for nondual Self-knowledge in California. He expounds the teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi and Advaita Vedanta. He, along with Dr. H. Ramamoorthy, translated into English the essential and classic work of Advaita Vedanta, "Ribhu Gita", which was highly recommended by Sri Ramana Maharshi. The English translation has been published by Society of Abidance in Truth and has since then been re-published by Sri Ramanasramam (Tiruvannamalai, India) and translated into Hindi, Italian, Korean and German. (Full article...)

Sivaya Subramuniyaswami (born Robert Hansen; January 5, 1927 – November 12, 2001) was an American Hindu religious leader known as Gurudeva by his followers. Subramuniyaswami was born in Oakland, California and adopted Hinduism as a young man. He was the 162nd head of the self claimed Nandinatha Sampradaya's Kailasa Parampara and Guru at Kauai's Hindu Monastery which is a 382-acre (155 ha) temple-monastery complex on Hawaii's Garden Island.

In 1947, at the age of 20, he journeyed to India and Sri Lanka and in 1949, was initiated into sannyasa by the renowned siddha yogi and worshiper of Lord Shiva, Jnanaguru Yogaswami of Jaffna, Sri Lanka who was regarded as one of the 20th century's remarkable mystics. In the 1970s he established a Hindu monastery in Kauai, Hawaii and founded the magazine Hinduism Today. In 1985, he created the festival of Pancha Ganapati as a Hindu alternative to December holidays like Christmas. He was one of Shaivism's Gurus, the founder and leader of the Saiva Siddhanta Church. (Full article...)