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107-519: Santoshi Mata ( Hindi : संतोषी माता ) or Santoshi Maa ( संतोषी माँ ) is a Hindu goddess , who is venerated as "the Mother of Satisfaction", the meaning of her name. Santoshi Mata is particularly worshipped by women of North India and Nepal . A vrata (ritual fast) called the Santoshi Maa vrata is performed by women on 16 consecutive Fridays to win the goddess' favour. Santoshi Maa existed before

214-452: A chirathu also known as a diya , clarified butter wicks, bells, flowers, incense sticks, cones, roli or kumkum (a red powder with turmeric mixed in applied to the forehead), rice, tilakam, chandanam (sandal sticks), idols, and samagri havanam are some common items utilized in puja. In Hinduism, puja is a sattvik work. Puja varies according to the sect, region, occasion, deity honored, and steps followed. In formal Nigama ceremonies,

321-419: A Vedic puja, according to Wade Wheelock, is: Indra-Agni, slayers of Vrtra with the beautiful thunderbolt, prosper us with new gifts; O Indra, bring treasures with your right hand; O Agni grant the enjoyments of a good household; Give [us] vigour, wealth in cattle, and possession of good horses. – ÄsvSü The purpose of the requests are to burn the past karmas to be able to experience oneness with

428-496: A bowl of raw sugar and roasted chickpeas ( gur-chana ). The devotee wakes up early morning, remembering the Goddess. Only one meal is taken during the fast day, and devotees avoid eating bitter or sour food and serving these to others, as sour or bitter food is somewhat addictive and hinders satisfaction. When the wish is granted, a devotee must then organize an udyapan ("bringing to conclusion") ceremony, where eight boys are to be served

535-573: A core vocabulary of native Prakrit and Sanskrit-derived words. However, Hindi is written in the Devanagari script and contains more direct tatsama Sanskrit -derived words than Urdu, whereas Urdu is written in the Perso-Arabic script and uses more Arabic and Persian loanwords compared to Hindi. Because of this, as well as the fact that the two registers share an identical grammar, a consensus of linguists consider them to be two standardised forms of

642-468: A daily puja done in the home, or occasional temple ceremonies and annual festivals. In other cases, puja is held to mark a few lifetime events such as the birth of a baby, house entering ceremony or grihapravesh , first rice-eating ceremony or annaprasana , wedding , sacred thread ceremony or upanayana ceremony for the Brahmins or to begin a new venture. The two main areas where puja is performed are in

749-484: A festive meal. In this type of worship, the devotee has to follow other strictures such as avoiding quarrels and hurting anyone. By means of this vrata one can live with harmony because the bad habits in human life like ignoring faith in God, stating falsehoods, behaving arrogantly, etc., can be removed. This vrata teaches the devotee to spread love, sympathy and happiness. There are many temples throughout India and abroad where

856-584: A fire may be lit in honor of the god Agni , without an idol or image present. In contrast, in Agama ceremonies, an idol or icon or image of a deity is present. In both ceremonies, a lamp (Diya) or incense stick may be lit while a prayer is chanted or a hymn is sung. Puja is typically performed by a Hindu worshiper alone, though sometimes in the presence of a priest who is well-versed in complex rituals and hymns. In temples and priest-assisted events puja , food, fruits, and sweets may be included as sacrificial offerings to

963-446: A form of "praise, worship, invocation". The Grhyasutras use puj in the context of rites, as does Sanskrit scholar Pāṇini. However, none of these texts imply puja as a form of devotional prayer worship. According to Natalia Lidova, puja is unlikely to be of Indo-Aryan and Vedic origin because it lacks a Sanskrit root and it also lacks cognate parallels in other Indo-European languages. Its root are probably Dravidian in origin, but

1070-460: A house of worship, the temple. J. A. B. van Buitenen states that "puja" emerged from yajna rituals, linking it to the Pravargya Vedic rite. The Rigveda in hymn 8.17 uses the word "Sachipujanayam" (शाचिपूजनायं) in the twelfth verse, where it is an epithet for god Indra in a context of vocative singular "praise". The ancient scholar and Vedic text commentator Sāyana explains the term as

1177-616: A larger amount are still used in Urdu poetry written in the Devanagari script. Many words borrowed from Persian in turn were loanwords from Arabic (e.g. muśkil "difficult", havā "air", x(a)yāl "thought", kitāb "book"). Hindi also makes extensive use of loan translation ( calqueing ) and occasionally phono-semantic matching of English . Many Hindustani words were derived from Portuguese due to interaction with colonists and missionaries: Puja (Hinduism) Traditional Puja ( Sanskrit : पूजा , romanized :  pūjā )

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1284-449: A larger and already well-integrated culture of the Goddess. Her new devotees could immediately recognize many of her characteristic moods and attributes, and feel them deeply, because she shared them with other goddesses long since familiar to them. Santoshi Mata's iconography took elements from the familiar form of the Hindu goddesses. Santoshi Mata's characteristic posture standing or sitting on

1391-529: A literary language in the 19th century. Earliest examples could be found as Prēm Sāgar by Lallu Lal , Batiyāl Pachīsī of Sadal Misra, and Rānī Kētakī Kī Kahānī of Insha Allah Khan which were published in Devanagari script during the early 19th century. John Gilchrist was principally known for his study of the Hindustani language , which was adopted as the lingua franca of northern India (including what

1498-448: A little-known "new" goddess to the pan-Indian Hindu pantheon. The screenings of the film were accompanied by religious rituals by the audience. Some of the audience entered the theatre barefoot, as in a Hindu temple, and small shrines and temples dedicated to the goddess, started springing up all over North India. The film attained cult status and years after its release, special matinee Friday screenings were organized for women, who observed

1605-483: A lotus mirrored that of the goddess Lakshmi (Shri). The weapons she held—the sword and the trident—are traditional attributes of the goddess Durga . The story of Santoshi Mata and Satyavati from Jai Santoshi Maa borrows from older Hindu legends like those of sati Anusuya , who humbled the pride of the jealous goddess triad and of an ardent devotee—of the goddess Manasa —who has to face opposition from her family and other goddesses to worship her patron Manasa. There

1712-475: A means for Hindu communities outside India to gather, socialize, discover new friends and sometimes discuss ways to address social discrimination of Hindus. For example, Marion O'Callaghan reports that the Hindu diaspora brought as indentured laborers to Trinidad by the British colonial government, suffered discriminatory laws that did not recognize traditional Hindu marriages or inheritance rights of children from

1819-523: A medium of expression for all the elements of the composite culture of India and to secure its enrichment by assimilating without interfering with its genius, the forms, style and expressions used in Hindustani and in the other languages of India specified in the Eighth Schedule, and by drawing, wherever necessary or desirable, for its vocabulary, primarily on Sanskrit and secondarily on other languages. It

1926-410: A part of the process of Sanskritisation , new words are coined using Sanskrit components to be used as replacements for supposedly foreign vocabulary. Usually these neologisms are calques of English words already adopted into spoken Hindi. Some terms such as dūrbhāṣ "telephone", literally "far-speech" and dūrdarśan "television", literally "far-sight" have even gained some currency in formal Hindi in

2033-544: A second language. A Hindi proponent, Indian-born Paramananda Jha , was elected vice-president of Nepal. He took his oath of office in Hindi in July 2008. This created protests in the streets for 5 days; students burnt his effigies, and there was a general strike in 22 districts. Nepal Supreme Court ruled in 2009 that his oath in Hindi was invalid and he was kept "inactive" as vice-president. An "angry" Jha said, "I cannot be compelled to take

2140-443: A sister. Although Ganesha initially refuses, upon the repeated pleas of his sons, his two wives Riddhi and Siddhi , his sister and the divine sage Narada , Ganesha creates Santoshi Mata through two flames rising from his wives' breasts. Narada declares that this mind-born daughter of Ganesha will always fulfil everyone’s desires and, thus, would be called Santoshi Maa, the Mother of Happiness or Satisfaction. The film then shifts from

2247-569: A standardised form of Hindustani separate from Urdu took form. In 1881, Bihar accepted Hindi as its sole official language, replacing Urdu, and thus became the first state of India to adopt Hindi. However, in 2014, Urdu was accorded second official language status in the state. After independence, the Government of India instituted the following conventions: On 14 September 1949, the Constituent Assembly of India adopted Hindi written in

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2354-429: A temple puja , there is often less active participation, with the priest acting on behalf of others. A full home or temple puja can include several traditional upacaras or "attendances". The following is an example puja ; these steps may vary according to region, tradition, setting, or time particularly in ways the deity is hosted. In this example, the deity is invited as a guest, the devotee hosts and takes care of

2461-404: A traditional Hindu marriage, nor did the non-Hindu majority government allow pyre cremation or construction of crematorium. These Hindu rituals were considered pagan and uncivilized. Pujas offered a way for Hindus to meet, socially organize and petition their human rights. Over time, pujas became as much a social and community recreational event as a religious event. Although pujā is accepted as

2568-584: A valid religious activity by Hindus at large, it has long been criticised by Mīmāṃsā thinkers. The foundational work of this school was the Karmamīmāṃsāsūtra or "Aphorisms for Enquiry into the Act," composed by Jaimini . The earliest surviving commentary was by Śabara who lived around the end of the fourth century. Śabara's commentary, known as Śabarabhāṣya held pride of place in Mīmāṃsā in that Sabara's understanding

2675-458: Is mutually intelligible with standard Urdu , another recognised register of Hindustani, as both Hindi and Urdu share a core vocabulary base derived from Prakrit (a descendant of Sanskrit). Hindi is also spoken, to a lesser extent, in other parts of India (usually in a simplified or pidginised variety such as Bazaar Hindustani or Haflong Hindi ). Outside India, several other languages are recognised officially as "Hindi" but do not refer to

2782-516: Is a Hindu festival celebrated on the first lunar day of the bright fortnight of the month of Kartika, typically falling on the fourth day of Diwali. During this festival, devotees honor Govardhan Hill and express gratitude to Lord Krishna by preparing and offering a diverse array of vegetarian foods. For followers of Vaishnavism, Govardhan Puja commemorates the event described in the Bhagavata Purana where Lord Krishna lifted Govardhan Hill to shield

2889-417: Is a brief intercessionary puja on behalf of an individual that can be undertaken after the main puja. A quick puja has the same structure as acts people would ordinarily perform for a quick reception, hospitality and affectionate interaction with a beloved guest. First the deity is greeted, acknowledged by name and welcomed, sometimes with a diya or lighted incense stick. The devotee proceeds to connect with

2996-642: Is a standard register of the Hindustani language; additionally, Indian media are widely viewed in Pakistan. A sizeable population in Afghanistan , especially in Kabul , can also speak and understand Hindi-Urdu due to the popularity and influence of Bollywood films, songs and actors in the region. Hindi is also spoken by a large population of Madheshis (people having roots in north-India but having migrated to Nepal over hundreds of years) of Nepal . Apart from this, Hindi

3103-403: Is a worship ritual performed by Hindus to offer devotional homage and prayer to one or more deities, to host and honour a guest, or to spiritually celebrate an event. It may honour or celebrate the presence of special guests, or their memories after they die. The word puja is roughly translated into English as 'reverence, honour, homage, adoration, or worship'. Puja (পুজো / পুজা in bangla),

3210-425: Is an explicit confirmation to the new goddess' incorporation in the Hindu pantheon. Hindi language Modern Standard Hindi ( आधुनिक मानक हिन्दी , Ādhunik Mānak Hindī ), commonly referred to as Hindi , is the standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in Devanagari script . It is the official language of India alongside English and the lingua franca of North India . Hindi

3317-601: Is an obligation for Balinese Hindus, the prayers and hymns are derived from the Vedas. A family typically offers prayers every day, with Kewangen and other offerings. Kewangen means aromatic, and it is made from leaves and flowers in form of auspicious Vedic symbols. Balinese use kewangen to worship the divine, both in form of Purusha (soul) and Pradana (body). As with India, Balinese make offerings, including symbolic inclusion of fire, incense and mantras . Pūjā in Hinduism has served as

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3424-409: Is an official language of Gujarat , along with Gujarati . It acts as an additional official language of West Bengal in blocks and sub-divisions with more than 10% of the population speaking Hindi. Similarly, Hindi is accorded the status of official language in the following Union Territories : Delhi , Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu . Although there

3531-542: Is based on the language that was spoken in the Ganges-Yamuna Doab ( Delhi , Meerut and Saharanpur ) called Khariboli ; the vernacular of Delhi and the surrounding region came to replace earlier prestige languages such as Awadhi and Braj . Standard Hindi was developed by supplanting foreign loanwords from the Hindustani language and replacing them with Sanskrit words, though Standard Hindi does continue to possess several Persian loanwords. Modern Hindi became

3638-408: Is blamed for this misfortune. But, finally when Satyavati prays to the goddess, the goddess appears before Satyavati and restores the boys and their mothers. Satyavati's kin then ask for the goddess' forgiveness. Ultimately, the goddess triad also repent and say that they were just testing Satyavati's devotion. Narada finally asks the goddess triad, their husbands and Ganesha to bless Santoshi Mata. This

3745-623: Is borrowed from Sanskrit as tatsam borrowings, especially in technical and academic fields. The formal Hindi standard, from which much of the Persian, Arabic and English vocabulary has been replaced by neologisms compounding tatsam words, is called Śuddh Hindi (pure Hindi), and is viewed as a more prestigious dialect over other more colloquial forms of Hindi. Excessive use of tatsam words sometimes creates problems for native speakers. They may have Sanskrit consonant clusters which do not exist in Hindustani, causing difficulties in pronunciation. As

3852-455: Is commonly used to specifically refer the modern literary Hindi language, as opposed to colloquial and regional varieties that are also referred to as Hindi in a wider sense . Like other Indo-Aryan languages, Hindi is a direct descendant of an early form of Vedic Sanskrit , through Shauraseni Prakrit and Śauraseni Apabhraṃśa (from Sanskrit apabhraṃśa "corrupt"), which emerged in the 7th century CE. The sound changes that characterised

3959-547: Is considered a Sanskritised register of the Hindustani language , which itself is based primarily on the Khariboli dialect of Delhi and neighbouring areas. It is an official language in nine states and three union territories and an additional official language in three other states. Hindi is also one of the 22 scheduled languages of the Republic of India . Apart from the script and formal vocabulary, standard Hindi

4066-452: Is described as her father in the film and other devotee literature. The film Jai Santoshi Maa links the birth of Santoshi Mata to the festival of Raksha Bandhan , where a sister ties a rakhi (a type of string bracelet) on her brother's wrist and, in return, the brother gifts his sister sweets, gifts and a promise of eternal protection. When Ganesha's sister, Manasa , celebrates the festival with him, his sons ask Ganesha to grant them also

4173-624: Is mirror to a hand with bangles, What is Persian to a literate. The emergence of Modern Standard Hindi in the 19th century went along with the Sanskritisation of its vocabulary, leading to a marginalisation of Persian vocabulary in Hindi, which continued after Partition when the Indian government co-opted the policy of Sanskritisation. However, many Persian words (e.g. bas "enough", khud "self") have remained entrenched in Standard Hindi, and

4280-500: Is more elaborate than the domestic versions and typically done several times a day. They are also performed by a temple priest, or pujari . In addition, the temple deity (patron god or goddess) is considered a resident rather than a guest, so the puja is modified to reflect that; for example the deity is "awakened" rather than "invoked" in the morning. Temple pujas vary widely from region to region and for different sects, with devotional hymns sung at Vaishnava temples for example. At

4387-597: Is no specification of a national language in the constitution, it is a widely held belief that Hindi is the national language of India. This is often a source of friction and contentious debate. In 2010, the Gujarat High Court clarified that Hindi is not the national language of India because the constitution does not mention it as such. Outside Asia , the Awadhi language (an Eastern Hindi dialect) with influence from Bhojpuri , Bihari languages , Fijian and English

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4494-513: Is now present-day Pakistan ) by British colonists and indigenous people. He compiled and authored An English-Hindustani Dictionary , A Grammar of the Hindoostanee Language , The Oriental Linguist , and many more. His lexicon of Hindustani was published in the Perso-Arabic script , Nāgarī script , and in Roman transliteration .In the late 19th century, a movement to further develop Hindi as

4601-713: Is spoken by the large Indian diaspora which hails from, or has its origin from the "Hindi Belt" of India. A substantially large North Indian diaspora lives in countries like the United States of America , the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates , Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Suriname, South Africa, Fiji and Mauritius , where it is natively spoken at home and among their own Hindustani-speaking communities. Outside India, Hindi speakers are 8 million in Nepal ; 863,077 in

4708-523: Is spoken in Fiji. It is an official language in Fiji as per the 1997 Constitution of Fiji, where it referred to it as "Hindustani"; however, in the 2013 Constitution of Fiji , it is simply called " Fiji Hindi " as the official language. It is spoken by 380,000 people in Fiji. Hindi is spoken as a first language by about 77,569 people in Nepal according to the 2011 Nepal census , and further by 1,225,950 people as

4815-854: Is the dominant form of Hindi online. In an analysis of YouTube comments, Palakodety et al., identified that 52% of comments were in Romanised Hindi, 46% in English, and 1% in Devanagari Hindi. Traditionally, Hindi words are divided into five principal categories according to their etymology: Hindi has naturally inherited a large portion of its vocabulary from Shauraseni Prakrit , in the form of tadbhava words. This process usually involves compensatory lengthening of vowels preceding consonant clusters in Prakrit, e.g. Sanskrit tīkṣṇa > Prakrit tikkha > Hindi tīkhā . Much of Standard Hindi's vocabulary

4922-566: Is written in the Devanagari script, an abugida . Devanagari consists of 11 vowels and 33 consonants and is written from left to right. Unlike Sanskrit, Devanagari is not entirely phonetic for Hindi, especially failing to mark schwa deletion in spoken Standard Hindi. The Government of India uses Hunterian transliteration as its official system of writing Hindi in the Latin script. Various other systems also exist, such as IAST , ITRANS and ISO 15919 . Romanised Hindi , also called Hinglish ,

5029-483: The 2011 census of India . The term Hindī originally was used to refer to inhabitants of the Indo-Gangetic Plain . It was borrowed from Classical Persian هندی Hindī ( Iranian Persian pronunciation: Hendi ), meaning ' of or belonging to Hind (India) ' (hence, ' Indian ' ). Another name Hindavī ( हिन्दवी ) or Hinduī ( हिन्दुई ) (from Persian هندوی  'of or belonging to

5136-483: The Dravidian languages . Two possible Malayalam roots may be pūSa 'to smear with something' or pūcey "to do with flowers" (from pū 'flower' and cey 'to do'). Tamil roots have also been suggested: pūsai 'to smear with something' or pūcey "to do with flowers" (from pū 'flower' and cey 'to do') or similar Telugu roots pūjēi (from pū 'flower' and cēyi 'to do'). According to

5243-575: The Hindi Belt ), as well as an official language of the Government of India, along with English. In Northeast India a pidgin known as Haflong Hindi has developed as a lingua franca for the people living in Haflong , Assam who speak other languages natively. In Arunachal Pradesh , Hindi emerged as a lingua franca among locals who speak over 50 dialects natively. Hindi is quite easy to understand for many Pakistanis , who speak Urdu, which, like Hindi,

5350-531: The Hindu epics or the Puranic scriptures, Jai Santoshi Maa was based on a popular pamphlet about the vrata katha (legend of the ritual fast) of Santoshi Mata's Friday vrata. The vrata katha is as follows: An old woman had seven sons, the youngest of whom was irresponsible. So, she served him the leftovers of his brother's meals as his daily meal. The wife of the youngest son learned of this and told her husband, who left

5457-573: The Lal Sagar Lake ( Santoshi ), on whose banks the temple is situated. However, Lal Sagar ki Mata unlike the vegetarian Santoshi Mata, was offered animal sacrifices. With rising popularity of the film, Santoshi Mata images and shrine were incorporated in Hindu temples and in some cases, ( The idol in this temple is swayambhu )Santoshi Mata was installed as the presiding deity like in Jodhpur, deposing other goddesses from that status. The Santoshi Maa vrata

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5564-592: The Shiva Purana , puja is derived from cognate of two Sanskrit words puh and jayate , puh meaning 'achievement of fruits of enjoyment' while jayate refers to 'something to be born'. Hence puja refers to the rite by which one attains fruits of enjoyment of things like good ideas and knowledge. According to scholars, one of the earliest mentions of pūjā is in the Grihya Sutras , which provide rules for domestic rites. These sutras, dated to be about 500 BC, use

5671-460: The Smṛti literatures as valid sources of authority), Śabara concluded that the gods are neither corporeal nor sentient and thus unable to enjoy offerings or own property. For this he appealed to empirical observation, noting that offerings do not decrease in size when given to the gods; any decrease is simply due to exposure to the air. Likewise he argued that substances are offered to gods not according to

5778-814: The United States of America ; 450,170 in Mauritius; 380,000 in Fiji; 250,292 in South Africa; 150,000 in Suriname; 100,000 in Uganda ; 45,800 in the United Kingdom; 20,000 in New Zealand ; 20,000 in Germany ; 26,000 in Trinidad and Tobago; 3,000 in Singapore . Linguistically , Hindi and Urdu are two registers of the same language and are mutually intelligible. Both Hindi and Urdu share

5885-399: The udyapan ceremony of the vrata, the in-laws plotted against the wife and served sour food to the eight boys, offending Santoshi Mata. As a consequence, her husband was arrested. The wife re-performed the vrata and the udyapan . Her husband was released from prison and she soon bore a son. Once, the goddess visited the family, in a terrifying form; while the in-laws fled, the wife recognized

5992-612: The 50th birthday of Beohar Rajendra Simha on 14 September 1949, the efforts came to fruition following the adoption of Hindi as the official language. Now, it is celebrated as Hindi Day . Part XVII of the Indian Constitution deals with the official language of the Indian Union. Under Article 343, the official languages of the Union have been prescribed, which includes Hindi in Devanagari script and English: (1) The official language of

6099-450: The Brahman through the help of the deity. It is a form of bhakti Yoga whose final result aims to be the consciousness of god through homage to god. Nevertheless, even with this evolved theoretical spiritual significance, many people use puja as vehicle to petition desires and appeals, such as for good health of one's child, speedy recovery from illness, success in venture envisioned or such. In

6206-623: The Devanagari script as the official language of the Republic of India replacing the previous usage of Hindustani in the Perso-Arabic script in the British Indian Empire . To this end, several stalwarts rallied and lobbied pan-India in favour of Hindi, most notably Beohar Rajendra Simha along with Hazari Prasad Dwivedi , Kaka Kalelkar , Maithili Sharan Gupt and Seth Govind Das who even debated in Parliament on this issue. As such, on

6313-516: The Friday vrata by Satyavati, Santoshi Mata appears in Birju's dream and reminds him of his wife. Birju returns home a rich man and establishes a separate household with Satyavati. At the udayan ceremony, Satyavati's sisters-in-law mix sour food in the ritual meal, to be served to eight boys. Santoshi Mata punishes the sisters-in-law by crippling them and their sons, who have the ritual meal, fall dead. Satyavati

6420-402: The Hindi heartland. Persian borrowings reached a heyday in the 17th century, pervading all aspects of life. Even grammatical constructs, namely the izafat , were assimilated into Hindi. The status of Persian language then and thus its influence, is also visible in Hindi proverbs : हाथ कंगन को आरसी क्या, पढ़े लिखे को फ़ारसी क्या। Hāth kaṅgan ko ārsī kyā, Paṛhe likhe ko Fārsī kyā. What

6527-456: The Hindu Trinity of gods, Brahma , Vishnu and Shiva respectively, towards the "new" goddess Santoshi Mata. The goddess triad unleash their wrath on Satyavati. Like the vrata katha , Birju leaves to make a fortune. The goddess triad spread the rumour that Birju is dead and the lone "widow", Satyavati, is tormented by her sisters-in-law. Birju forgets about Satyavati, but on the fulfilment of

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6634-457: The Hindu goddess Durga and celebrates her victory over the demon Mahishasura . The festival spans ten days, with the last five being the most significant. During this time, elaborate rituals are performed both in homes and public spaces, including the construction of temporary structures called pandals. Durga Puja features scripture recitations, performances, feasting, gift-giving, and public processions known as melā. It holds great significance in

6741-563: The Hindu/Indian people') was often used in the past, for example by Amir Khusrau in his poetry. The terms Hindi and Hindu trace back to Old Persian which derived these names from the Sanskrit name Sindhu ( सिन्धु ), referring to the Indus River . The Greek cognates of the same terms are Indus (for the river) and India (for the land of the river). The term Modern Standard Hindi

6848-530: The Official Languages Act of 1963, which provided for the continued use of English indefinitely for all official purposes, although the constitutional directive for the Union Government to encourage the spread of Hindi was retained and has strongly influenced its policies. Article 344 (2b) stipulates that the official language commission shall be constituted every ten years to recommend steps for

6955-542: The President may, during the said period, by order authorise the use of the Hindi language in addition to the English language and of the Devanagari form of numerals in addition to the international form of Indian numerals for any of the official purposes of the Union. Article 351 of the Indian constitution states: It shall be the duty of the Union to promote the spread of the Hindi language, to develop it so that it may serve as

7062-483: The Shaktism tradition of Hinduism and coincides with Navaratri and Dussehra celebrations observed by other Hindu traditions. The festival celebrates not only the triumph of good over evil but also serves as a harvest festival, honoring Durga as the motherly power behind life and creation. Durga Puja involves the worship of various deities, including Lakshmi, Saraswati, Ganesha, and Kartikeya, alongside Durga. It culminates with

7169-480: The Standard Hindi language described here and instead descend from other nearby languages, such as Awadhi and Bhojpuri . Such languages include Fiji Hindi , which has an official status in Fiji , and Caribbean Hindustani , which is spoken in Suriname , Trinidad and Tobago , and Guyana . Hindi is the fourth most-spoken first language in the world, after Mandarin, Spanish and English. If counted together with

7276-460: The Union shall be Hindi in Devanagari script. The form of numerals to be used for the official purposes of the Union shall be the international form of Indian numerals. (2) Notwithstanding anything in clause (1), for a period of fifteen years from the commencement of this Constitution, the English language shall continue to be used for all the official purposes of the Union for which it was being used immediately before such commencement: Provided that

7383-416: The bollywood film came, as per some sources. Her prayer initially spread through word of mouth, vrata -pamphlet literature, and poster art. Her vrata was gaining popularity with North Indian women. However, it was the 1975 Bollywood film Jai Santoshi Maa ("Victory to Santoshi Maa")—narrating the story of the goddess and her ardent devotee Satyavati—which propelled this then little-known "new" goddess to

7490-609: The ceremony or deity, which, after the prayers, becomes prasadam – food shared by all gathered. Both Nigama and Agama puja are practised in Hinduism in India. In the Hinduism of Bali , Indonesia, Agama puja is most prevalent inside homes and in temples. Puja is sometimes called Sembahyang in Indonesia. Puja ’पूजा’ in Sanskrit means to "honour, respect; homage, worship, adoration; hospitable reception or showing honour or homage in

7597-466: The choice left to the Hindu. As a historical practice, pūjā in Hinduism, has been modelled on the idea of hosting a deity, or important person, as an honoured and dearest guest in the best way one can, given one's resources, and receiving their happiness and blessing in return. Paul Thieme suggests from passages in the Rāmāyaṇa that the word pūjā referred to the hospitable reception of guests and that

7704-505: The deity are brought together. This ritual puja process, in different parts of India, is considered to be liberating, releasing, purifying and a form of Yoga of spirit and emotions. Puja in Hinduism sometimes involves themes beyond idols or images. Even persons, places, rivers, concrete objects or anything is seen as manifestations of divine reality by some Hindus. The access to the divine is not limited to renunciatory meditation as in yoga school of Hinduism or idols in bhakti school. For some

7811-509: The deity as an honored guest, hymns and food are offered to the deity, after an expression of love and respect the host takes leave and with affection expresses good bye to the deity. Indologist Jan Gonda has identified 16 steps (shodasha upachara) that are common in all varieties of puja: Sometimes additional steps are included: There are variations in this puja method such as: The structure of elaborate puja also varies significantly between temples, regions, and occasions. Archana puja

7918-546: The divine is everywhere, without limit to its form, and a puja to these manifestations signifies the same spiritual meaning to those who choose to offer a prayer to persons, places, rivers, concrete objects or anything else. Durga Puja , also known as Durgotsava or Sharodotsav, is an annual festival celebrated in the Indian subcontinent, particularly in Bengal, Assam, and other eastern Indian states as well as in Bangladesh. It honors

8025-421: The evidence for this alternative hypothesis is also largely missing possibly because devotional worship is not as ancient as Hinduism. Collins states that the roots may be "pu" (flower) and "ge" (make), or a form of "making flower sacrifice". However, this proposal is problematic because "pu" comes from an Indo-European root, while "ge" from Dravidian. Charpentier suggests the origin of the word puja may lie in

8132-402: The goddess and worshipped her. Then the in-laws asked forgiveness of the goddess and the whole family was blessed by the goddess. A. K. Ramanujan calls this tale with nameless characters as "the most interior kind of folktales: those generally told by women within domestic spaces." The vrata katha also does not associate the goddess with Ganesha —the god of obstacle removal and beginnings, who

8239-636: The goddess' Friday vrata (ritual fast) and engaged in her worship. The success of this low-budget film and media reports of the "sudden emergence of a modern celluloid goddess " resulted in scholarly interest in Santoshi Mata. Santoshi Mata emerged in the early 1960s with the establishment of five widely spread temples in North India. Her iconography also was crystallized in this period and slowly spread through poster art. Her cult spread among women through word of mouth, pamphlet literature, and poster art. It

8346-401: The gods welcomed in temple-homes and offered things that pleased them. Copper-plate charters recording grants of lands to temples show that this religious practice was actively encouraged from the mid-4th century. In the earliest texts describing Vedic puja, the significance of puja was to host the priest so that he could make direct requests to the gods. An example petition prayer made during

8453-434: The heavenly abode of Ganesha to the earth, where the story of the goddess' devotee Satyavati is told. Satyavati prays to the goddess, to get her married to Birju. After her wish is granted, she undertakes a pilgrimage of the temples of Santoshi Mata with her husband. The mischievous Narada incites the jealousy of the goddess triad, Saraswati , Lakshmi and Parvati (Ganesha's mother, thus Santoshi Mata's grandmother), wives of

8560-656: The heights of devotional fervour. With the rising popularity of the film, Santoshi Mata entered the pan-Indian Hindu pantheon and her images and shrines were incorporated in Hindu temples. While the film portrayed the goddess to be the daughter of the popular Hindu god Ganesha and related her to the Raksha Bandhan festival, it had no basis in Sanatan ( Hindu ) scriptures. She was a gramdevi and Kuladevi of some people in rajasthan (people claimed this on social media platforms ). The 1975 film Jai Santoshi Maa elevated Santoshi Mata,

8667-607: The home and at temples to mark certain stages of life, events or some festivals such as Durga Puja , Kali Puja , Janmashtami , and Lakshmi Puja . Puja is not mandatory in Hinduism. It may be a routine daily affair for some Hindus, a periodic ritual for some, and rare for other Hindus. In some temples, various pujas may be performed daily at various times of the day; in other temples, they may be occasional. All significant Indian holidays, including Rakhi , Diwali , Holi , Karva Chauth , Ganesh Chaturthi , Janmashtami , and Navaratri , have rituals known as puja . For example,

8774-430: The house to seek his fortune. He acquired work with a merchant and became wealthy, but forgot about his wife. His wife was tormented by her in-laws in the absence of her husband. One day, she learned of the sixteen-week Santoshi Maa vrata and performed it. As a result, Santoshi Mata appeared in her husband's dream and informed him of his wife's plight. He returned home wealthy and set up a separate household with his wife. In

8881-667: The immersion of clay sculptures of the goddess into rivers or water bodies, symbolizing her return to the divine cosmos. In the case of great spiritual masters, there is also a custom to perform puja for a living person especially at Guru Purnima . Gurus are sometimes chosen as objects of puja and honoured as living gods or seen as the embodiment of specific deities. Gurus are sometimes adorned with symbolic clothes, garlands and other ornaments, and celebrated with incense, washing and anointing their feet, giving them fruits, food and drink and meditating at their feet, asking for their blessing. Govardhan Puja , also known as Annakut or Annakoot,

8988-531: The last 125 years, there are no academic studies of any of them – of their use in South Africa, their evolution and current decline. Hindi is adopted as the third official court language in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi . As a result of this status, the Indian workforce in UAE can file their complaints to the labour courts in the country in their own mother-tongue. Hindi is the lingua franca of northern India (which contains

9095-404: The loving offering of light, flowers, and water or food to the divine, is the essential ritual of Hinduism. For the worshipper, the divine is visible in the image, and the divinity sees the worshipper. The interaction between human and deity, between human and guru , is called a Darshanam . In Hindu practice, puja is done on a variety of occasions, frequencies, and settings. It may include

9202-400: The mutually intelligible Urdu, it is the third most-spoken language in the world, after Mandarin and English. According to reports of Ethnologue (2022, 25th edition) Hindi is the third most-spoken language in the world including first and second language speakers. Hindi is the fastest growing language of India , followed by Kashmiri , Meitei , Gujarati and Bengali according to

9309-641: The oath now in Nepali. I might rather take it in English." Hindi is a protected language in South Africa . According to the Constitution of South Africa , the Pan South African Language Board must promote and ensure respect for Hindi along with other languages. According to a doctoral dissertation by Rajend Mesthrie in 1985, although Hindi and other Indian languages have existed in South Africa for

9416-408: The occasion, needs, and personal preferences. In Hinduism of Bali Indonesia, puja is sometimes called Sembahyang . The word originates from two words in old Javanese: sembah and hyang. Sembah means to respect and bow down; Hyang means divine, God or Sang Hyang Widhi Wasa , holy man, and ancestors. So to pray means to respect, bow down, surrender to the divine and ancestors. Sembahyang (puja)

9523-569: The official language of the imperial court during the reign of Shah Jahan . It is recorded that Emperor Aurangzeb spoke in Hindvi . The Hindustani vernacular became an expression of Indian national unity during the Indian Independence movement , and continues to be spoken as the common language of the people of the northern Indian subcontinent, which is reflected in the Hindustani vocabulary of Bollywood films and songs. Standard Hindi

9630-483: The place of the English borrowings (ṭeli)fon and ṭīvī . Hindi also features significant Persian influence, standardised from spoken Hindustani . Early borrowings, beginning in the mid-12th century, were specific to Islam (e.g. Muhammad , Islām ) and so Persian was simply an intermediary for Arabic. Later, under the Delhi Sultanate and Mughal Empire , Persian became the primary administrative language in

9737-539: The principal deity is Mata Santoshi. North India: Harinagar, Delhi (NCR) South India: Jai Nagar, Trichy (Tamil Nadu) East India: Chakradharpur (Jharkhand) West India (first ever temple): Lall Sagar, Jodhpur (Rajasthan) - Shri Santoshi Mata Mandir, Jodhpur, Rajasthan. There is also a famous Shri Santoshi Mata temple in Dombivli (west) near Mumbai. Central India (second temple): Shri Santoshi Mata Mandir, Guna, MP. Unlike other Indian mythological films which were based on

9844-522: The progressive use of Hindi language and impose restrictions on the use of the English language by the union government. In practice, the official language commissions are constantly endeavouring to promote Hindi but not imposing restrictions on English in official use by the union government. At the state level, Hindi is the official language of the following Indian states: Bihar , Chhattisgarh , Haryana , Himachal Pradesh , Jharkhand , Madhya Pradesh , Rajasthan , Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand . Hindi

9951-495: The same language, Hindustani or Hindi-Urdu. Hindi is the most commonly used scheduled language in India and is one of the two official languages of the union , the other being English. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan and is one of 22 scheduled languages of India , also having official status in Uttar Pradesh , Jammu and Kashmir , Delhi , Telangana , Andhra Pradesh and Bihar . Hindi

10058-436: The spiritual manifestation by meditating (a form of darshan ), or chanting hymns and mantras, then personal prayers follow. After the prayer is finished, the spiritual visitor as the guest is affectionately thanked and greeted goodbye. A quick meditative puja is sometimes offered by some Hindus without an idol or image. According to Chris Fuller , an anthropologist, Hindu texts allow flexibility and abbreviated puja according to

10165-403: The structure and practice of puja, the mantras and rituals focus on spirituality, and any petitions and appeals are tacked only to the end of the puja. Zimmer relates puja to yantras , with the rituals helping the devotee focus on the spiritual concepts. Puja in Hinduism, writes Zimmer, is a path and process of transformation of consciousness, where the devotee and the spiritual significance of

10272-611: The term puja to describe the hospitality to honour priests who were invited to one's home to lead rituals for departed ancestors. As with vedic times, the general concept of puja remained the same, but expanded to welcoming the deity along with the deity's spiritual essence as one's honored guest. The Puranic corpus of literature, dating from about 6th century CE, contain extensive outline on how to perform deity puja ( deva pūjā ). Deity puja thus melds Vedic rites with devotion to deity in its ritual form. As with many others aspects of Hinduism, both Vedic puja and devotional deity puja continued,

10379-526: The things offered to guests could be offered to the gods and their dwellings. The rituals in question were the "five great sacrifices" or pañcamahāyajña recorded in the Gṛhyasūtra texts (for this literature, see Kalpa ). The development of pūjā thus emerged from Vedic domestic traditions and was carried into the temple environment by analogy: just as important guests had long been welcomed in well-to-do homes and offered things that pleased them, so too were

10486-471: The transition from Middle Indo-Aryan to Hindi are: During the period of Delhi Sultanate in medieval India , which covered most of today's north India, eastern Pakistan, southern Nepal and Bangladesh and which resulted in the contact of Hindu and Muslim cultures , the Sanskrit and Prakrit base of Old Hindi became enriched with loanwords from Persian , evolving into the present form of Hindustani. Hindi achieved prominence in India after it became

10593-412: The villagers of Vrindavan from heavy rainfall. This act symbolizes divine protection for devotees who wholly rely on God for refuge. To mark this occasion, devotees present a symbolic "mountain of food" representing Govardhan Hill as an offering to God, reaffirming their faith and devotion. Govardhan Puja is widely observed by various Hindu denominations across India and beyond. Temple ( Mandir ) pūjā

10700-405: The wishes of the gods, but that "what is vouched for by direct perception is that the things are used according to the wishes of the temple servants ( pratyakṣāt pramāṇāt devatāparicārakāṇām abhiprāyaḥ ). In the course of his discussion, Śabara's asserted that "there is no relation between the case of guests and the sacrificial act." This incidental remark provided sound historical proof that pūjā

10807-462: The written vrata katha (legend related to the vrata). Even though the script of the film Jai Santoshi Maa has no scriptural basis, scholars cite Santoshi Mata's cult as evidence of Ganesha's continuing evolution as a popular deity. The Santoshi Mata vrata or devotional fast is to be observed on 16 successive Fridays or until one's wish is fulfilled. The devotee should perform a puja (worship) of Santoshi Mata and offer her flowers, incense and

10914-481: Was built on analogy with atithi , the ancient Vedic tradition of welcoming guests. What Śabara was maintaining was that this analogy was not valid. While the Mīmāṃsakas continued to maintain this interpretation for centuries, their defeat in debate at the hands of Śaṅkarācārya led to theirs being a minority view. Mīmāṃsakas flourished even into the 17th century, as evidenced by the commentaries of Nīlakaṇṭha . Puja

11021-555: Was envisioned that Hindi would become the sole working language of the Union Government by 1965 (per directives in Article 344 (2) and Article 351), with state governments being free to function in the language of their own choice. However, widespread resistance to the imposition of Hindi on non-native speakers, especially in South India (such as those in Tamil Nadu ) led to the passage of

11128-446: Was gaining popularity among women in North India in the 1960s, a decade before the release of the film Jai Santoshi Maa . The fact that Santoshi Mata expected the inexpensive raw sugar and roasted chickpeas—associated with the "non-elite"—as offerings in her vrata and her benevolent nature made her popular with the masses. The film was instrumental in spreading the Santoshi Mata worship to the illiterate, who until then could not have known

11235-464: Was nothing "new" about Santoshi Mata, rather she was just another model of the prototype Hindu Divine Mother. One could identify Santoshi Mata with the lion-riding goddess, Sheravali. Although a temple dedicated to Santoshi Mata existed in Jodhpur, Rajasthan , before the release of the film Jai Santoshi Maa , before 1967, the temple was dedicated to the goddess also known as Lal Sagar ki Mata—The Mother of

11342-532: Was taken as definitive by all later writers. In his chapter entitled Devatādikaraṇa (9: 1: 5: 6–9), Śabara examined the popular understanding of the gods and attempted to refute the belief that they have material bodies, are able to eat the offerings made to them, and are capable of being pleased and so able to reward worshippers. Basing himself on the Vedas (he refused to accept the Mahābhārata , Purāṇa texts or even

11449-474: Was the wife of Vijay Sharma, the director of Jai Santoshi Maa , who urged her husband to "spread the goddess's message". As her film brought her to life, Santoshi Ma quickly became one of the most important and widely worshiped goddesses in India, taking her place in poster-art form in the altar rooms of millions of Hindu homes. [...] Yet it is hard to conceive that Santoshi Ma could have granted such instant satisfaction to so many people had she not been part of

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