Manglam's River Valley

24/05/2023

Every year, National Brother's Day is celebrated on May 24 to signify the importance of a brother and his role in our lives. Brothers are a blessing.

22/05/2023

During the late 18th century (known as the Dark Age), Bengali society was burdened with several wicked rituals and regulations. Extensive rituals and rigid moral codes were imposed, which were mostly adapted and translated wrongly from ancient cultures. Child marriage, polygamy, and Sati were common practices that harmed women in society.

The Sati Pratha was the evilest of these traditions. The ritual involved widows self-immolating at their husband’s funeral pyre. While the tradition in its original form gave women the option to participate, it eventually developed into a necessary custom, especially for Brahmin and higher caste families.

Young girls were married to much older men in exchange for a dowry so that these men could gain the karmic rewards of their wives’ Sati sacrifice. Much of the time, the women did not volunteer to be exposed to such crimes and had to be forced or even drugged into submission.

Raja Ram Mohan Roy opposed this barbaric practice and spoke out against it. He spoke frankly and presented his ideas to the East India Company’s higher-ups.

20/05/2023

Manglam's

RIVER VALLEY

life by the river

09/05/2023

Rabindranath Tagore was a man of exceptional literary and artistic accomplishments. He played a leading role in Indian cultural renaissance and came to be recognized as one of the architects of modern India.

09/05/2023

Tagore is renowned for his contribution to the field of Bengali literature and politics. His poems, shorts stories, songs, plays, and novels are still revered and analysed in different fields of art. He was the first non-European to receive the Nobel Prize in 1913 for his contribution to world literature.

05/05/2023

Although the date and time of Lord Buddha’s birth and death are uncertain, the assumptions are that he lived between 6th and 4th century BC. He was born as Prince Siddhartha in Lumbini, Nepal. According to legends, he was prophesied to become a great king or a great sage, much before his birth. Grown up with princely luxury, Siddhartha remained shielded from the hardships of human life till he was in his late 20s. Upon encountering sickness, old age and death, the 29-year-old prince decided to leave his royal palace and set out on a quest to find an answer to the cause of all suffering.

Over the next few years, he investigated many different teachings but could not find liberation until one night he went into deep meditation and woke up with all the answers that he had been seeking. This is how at the age of 35, Siddhartha Gautama became the Buddha or the Awakened One. For the remaining of his life, he preached the Dharma to lead other people along the path of Enlightenment. Gautama Buddha breathed his last at the age of 80 in Kushinagar, Uttar Pradesh.

It is said that all three important events in the life of Gautama Buddha – his birth, enlightenment and salvation – fall on the same day of the year. Owing to this happenstance, the day holds immense value in Buddhism. The decision to celebrate Buddha’s birth anniversary on the first full moon day of Vaisakha was taken by the World Fellowship of Buddhists in May, 1960.

05/05/2023

The whole world celebrates Buddha Purnima to mark the birth anniversary of Gautama Buddha. This year, Buddha Purnima will be celebrated on Friday. Gautama Budhha is the person behind the origin of Buddhism, which teaches about the art of balancing between greed and austerity and detaching from worldly pleasures to walk on the path of enlightenment. He is known to travel across North India to teach about the ultimate path to enlightenment. Buddha Purnima is celebrated widely among people living in countries like India, Nepal, Bhutan, Burma, Thailand, Tibet, China, Korea, Vietnam, Mongolia, Cambodia, etc.

02/05/2023

The View from our Project Manglam's River Valley

02/05/2023