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Showing posts from July 27, 2014


Ekadasi Food – What can be eaten on Ekadashi?

Ekadasi, or Ekadashi, is an important Upvaas (fast) dedicated to Lord Vishnu. Millions of Hindu devotees observe Ekadasi, which is considered highly auspicious by Lord Vishnu devotees. The traditional approach is to abstain from food completely on the day. But nowadays a complete fast is not possible for many people. Such people consume certain food items on the Ekadasi day and observe only a partial fast. It is believed that demon Mura found a dwelling place in the rice and Lord Vishnu appeared in the form of Ekadasi to annihilate Mura. Therefore devotees who fast on the Ekadashi day avoid food made from grains. Many devotees due to several reasons – like health and job commitments – observe partial fast on the day. Such people avoid non-vegetarian and food items made from beans, pulses and grains, especially rice. The most preferred Ekadasi fasting food in western parts of India is Sabudana Khichadi with potatoes and ground nut - but no onion and garlic. The foo

Lakhamandal Shiva Temple on Naugaon – Barkot Route in Dehradun in Uttarakhand

Lakhamandal Temple is famous for its unique architecture and hundreds of granite murtis of Hindu gods and goddess. The main shrine is dedicated to Shiva. Legend has it that Kauravas had conspired to kill Pandavas by burning them in the house of lac here. The temple is located on the Naugaon – Barkot Route and is around 70 km from Dehradun. Legend has it that a cow from a nearby region used to swim the river and go into the forest and return after a couple of hours. When the king of region was informed about the unique event, he asked his soldiers to follow the cow. The soldiers found that the cow was pay obeisance to a Shivling. This led to the discovery of the Shivling. The temple is a classic example of Katyuri architecture. The main Shivling in the temple is surrounded by several black granite murtis of Hindu gods and goddesses. There are beautiful black granite murtis of Ganesha, Shiva, Parvati, Kartik, Krishna , Vishnu, Navgrahas, Vishwakarma, Mata Anjani,