West Bengal state. Founded as an East India Company trading post, it was India’s capital under the British Raj from 1773–1911.
The Dravidian-speaking tribe Bang/Banga that settled in the area around the year 1000 BCE. Other accounts speculate that the name is derived from Venga (Bôngo), which came from the Austric word “Bonga” meaning the Sun-god.
According to the Mahabharata, the Puranas and the Harivamsha, Vanga was one of the adopted sons of King Vali who founded the Vanga Kingdom. It was either under Magadh or under Kalinga Rules except few years under Pals. The earliest reference to “Vangala” (Bôngal) has been traced in the Nesari plates (805 CE) of Rashtrakuta Govinda III which speak of Dharmapala as the king of Vangala. The records of Rajendra Chola I of the Chola dynasty, who invaded Bengal in the 11th century, use the term Vangaladesa.
VEDIK GYAN
STORY OF KARTIKEYA
Kartikeya also known as Skanda, Kumara ,, Murugan and Subrahmanya, is the Hindu god of war. He is the son of Parvati and Shiva, brother of Ganesha,
Once Sati, the earlier incarnation of Mother Parvati was spending her time with the Lord. Her father Daksha Prajapati wanted to organize a huge Yajna.
Daksha was an ardent devotee of Lord Vishnu and never had any regard for Shiva whom he denounced as a mad chap and mendicant given to a wayward life.
When Sati wanted to attend the Yajna conducted by her father, Shiva forbade her plans. Sati felt miserable and found her way neglecting Shiva’s advice.
When all the gods had assembled there except Shiva, she did not receive a proper welcome which made her feel dishonoured. Therefore, not able to face her Lord who had already advised her not to go, she entered the sacrificial fire and gave up her body.
Subsequently, she was born in the house of Himavan, the ruler of mountains. She ardently worshipped Shiva and once again got married to him.
Since the gods had attended the Yajna to which Shiva was not invited, they had to suffer miseries in the hands of demons called Taraka and Surapadma.
They prayed for years to Lord Shiva to intervene in the matter and save them. Finally the Lord’s mercy gave way and he decided to give rise to a new manifestation of his power to kill the demons.
From Lord Shiva’s eyes came out six sparks. Since they were too hot to be borne by any other element in the creation, the task was given to Agni to carry them forward.
Even Agni could not bear the heat of the sparks and therefore left them in a lake called Saravana. In the lake, the six sparks took form as six divine children.
The exquisite charm of the children made Shiva and Parvati so happy and they asked the six Karthika sisters to take care of the babies. Sine the children was reared by Karthika sisters, later the name Karthikeya ensued.
Lord Shiva and Parvati came to the lake and Parvati embraced all the six children together and as a result they got one single body with six heads. This is the reason why Karthikeya is also called Shanmuka (six faced Lord).
Mother Parvati gifted him with the divine weapon called ‘Vel’ and Lord Karthikeya used the weapon to fight with the demons and put them to death.
Once he emerged victoriously, he was heralded by the gods in several terms and Indra, the King of gods gifted Karthikeya his daughter Devasena in marriage. The heavens and the worlds witnessed the marriage with celebrity. Karthikeya brought immortal fame to his parents by achieving a stupendous task with ease. Later he manifested in different ways to please his devotees.
LEARN Sanskrit-
धूमिका (Dhumika) : Fog
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Ch Narmada Naveen Kumar |
