Showing posts with label Culture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Culture. Show all posts

Friday, 18 September 2015

Kalaripayattu

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Why in news?
  • To promote and give due acknowledgement and importance to sports having regional spread,Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has recognised the Indian Kalarippayattu Federation as Regional Sports Federation.
What is it?

  • Kalaripayattu is a martial art which originated as a style in Kerala during 3rd century BC to the 2nd century AD. 
  • The word kalari first appears in Sangam literature to describe both a battlefield and combat arena.
  • kalaripayattuOne of the oldest fighting system in existence.
  • Kerala and TN

Tuesday, 8 September 2015

Cultural Monuments | Destruction and Significance

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  • Why in news?
    • Last month’s horrific destruction of the archaeological site of Palmyra by the Islamic State (IS) is the latest example of ideologically driven vandalism meant to shock those who care about great human cultural achievement. Like their ransacking of the Mosul museum and the sites of Nineveh this spring, and the Taliban’s destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas in 2001, the stated goal of such destruction is to eradicate idolatry seen as blasphemous to a particular religious perspective. But the real aim is to grab attention and destroy something that the global community deems valuable — because they can.

Monday, 31 August 2015

161st birth anniversary of Sree Narayana Guru

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About Sree Narayana Guru
  • 1854 – 1928 - social reformer. 
  • credited with transforming the social fabric of Kerala and changing the beliefs of keralites in ways unimaginable at that point in time.
  • born into an Ezhava family in an era when people from such communities (Avarnas) faced social injustice in the caste-ridden society of Kerala.
  • led a reform movement in Kerala

Monday, 3 August 2015

Geographical Indication (GI)

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  • Geographical indication (GI) of goods is a sign used for products that originate either from 
    • a particular country or 
    • a specific location in a country . 
  • Typically , these products are manufactured by using traditional knowledge of communities
  • The registration is valid for 10 years, after which it can be renewed.
    • After registration, any producer in the location fulfilling the required conditions can apply to become an authorised user. Any infringement of the GI is punishable

How is a GI different from a trade mark?

Sunday, 2 August 2015

YOGA | Meaning, Types

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Yoga is a discipline to improve or develop one’s inherent power in a balanced manner. It offers the means to attain complete self-realisation. The literal meaning of the Sanskrit word Yoga is ’Yoke’. Yoga can therefore be defined as a means of uniting the individual spirit with the universal spirit of God. According to Maharishi Patanjali, Yoga is the suppression of modifications of the mind.

TYPES OF YOGA
Japa Yoga

Friday, 24 July 2015

Tuesday, 14 July 2015

Pushkaralu Festival in India

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Why in news?
  • Celebration and Stampede
What is it
  • Pushkaram festival is dedicated to worshiping of rivers.
  • It is also known as Pushkaralu (in Telugu), Pushkara or Pushkar.
  • It is celebrated at shrines along the banks of 12 major sacred rivers in India, in the form of ancestor worship, spiritual discourses, devotional music and cultural programmes. 
  • Maha Godavari Pushkaralu:
    • The celebration happens annually, once in 12 years along each river. so the turn of the river comes after 144 years.
    • Godavari Pushkaralu is being celebrated in July 2015

Kamakhya Temple | History, Bordeuri, Doloi

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Why in news?
The Supreme Court last week restored the administration of Guwahati’s Kamakhya temple to the Bordeuri Samaj, families of priests who had run the temple since time immemorial until 1998 — when the Kamakhya Debuttar Board was formed. 
Source: Wikipedia


 About the temple:

Saturday, 11 July 2015

Friday, 3 July 2015

Lion of Al-Lat destroyed

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Why in news?

  • Destroyed by IS
  • IS’s version of Islam considers statues and grave markers to be idolatrous, and the group has destroyed antiquities and heritage sites in territory under its control in Syria and Iraq. The head of UNESCO (Irina Bokova) has urged a campaign against IS’s “culture cleansing.”
Details about Al-Lat

Thursday, 2 July 2015

Saturday, 27 June 2015

Pandit Vithal Rao dead

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Ghazal singer S. Vitthal Rao Photo: Nagara Gopal
  • Ghazal singer and Sufi Kalam maestro from Hyderabad and one of the last court musicians of Nizams
  • Vithal Rao had started performing at the age of seven on All India Radio and had performed in the court of Nizam ruler Mir Osman Ali Khan in 1943
  • Ghazals in hindi and Urdu

Oraon tribe

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Why in news?
Women belonging to the Oraon tribe — one of the poorest in Chhattisgarh — here now run pig farms and brick kilns, work as masons, contractors and suppliers in various departments, run the Collectorate canteen and supervise its parking area, and, in a first for the state, drive auto-rickshaws.
Oraon Tribe

Tuesday, 23 June 2015

Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR)

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Why in news?

  • Member Secretary of ICHR Gopinath Ravindran has quit the prestigious organisation midway through his term. The resignation comes amid growing perception of his differences with the council chairperson and his concerns regarding the functioning of the council.
  • Close on the heels of the resignation of Sabyasachi Bhattacharya, Chief Editor of Indian

Saturday, 20 June 2015

Sri Anandpur Sahib

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Why in news?

  • Prime Minister greeted the people on the 350th Foundation Day of Sri Anandpur Sahib. 
  • Chief Minister of Punjab dedicated the 81 feet high ‘Khanda’, installed at Sri Anandpur Sahib to the humanity. 
    • The Khanda symbolizes the glorious legacy and rich cultural heritage of this holy city of bliss on its 350th foundation day. 
Source: Wikipedia

More about Sri Anandpur Sahib 

Friday, 19 June 2015

Dhirio

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Why in news?
After Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar’s statement in Chennai about the Centre’s intention to lift the ban on ‘Jallikattu’, a popular bull taming sport in Tamil Nadu, Goans want the Union government to have a relook at a similar sport, ‘Dhirio’, famous in Goa, which was banned for infliction of pain and suffering on bulls.
Source: Sharmila Coutinho, Times of India
Details about Dhirio:

Monday, 8 June 2015

Parthasarthy Temple in Chennai yields more history

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 An inscription of the Chola emperor Rajendra I was recently discovered at the famous Sri Parthasarathy Swamy temple at Triplicane, Tamil Nadu.
  • A mural depicting the Kurukshetra war, a row of horse-drawn chariots and fiercely moustachioed charioteers, all battle-ready discovered.
Parthasarathy Swamy temple:

Kadapa airport to be named after Annamayya

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Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu recently said that he would get the Kadapa airport named after the saint-poet, Tallapaka Annamacharya.
About Tallapaka Annamacharya:
  • 15th-century Hindu saint and is the earliest known Indian musician to compose songs called sankirtanas in praise of the god Venkateswara, a form of Vishnu.