Hinduism

Onam is the most popular festival of the Kerala region of India, falling at the lush time of harvest and welcoming back to Kerala the ancient legendary king Bali, who was a virtuous king, even though he was defeated by Vishnu in the form of his Vamana...

Holi is a Hindu springtime festival, marked by rituals of revelry including “playing” with colored powder which celebrants throw on one another. In some temples Krishna participates by throwing the colors on his devotees. Holi falls on the first day of...

The hilltop temple of Sri Venkatesvara at Tirupati in southern Andhra Pradesh is one of the most popular of all Hindu pilgrimage destinations. Several million Hindus come to Tirupati every year and the Tirupati Tirumalai Devasthanams has lent its support...

In Hinduism, an avatara is the “descent” of a deity upon earth, an incarnation, especially of Vishnu, whose avataras include Krishna and Rama.

A pandit is a teacher, a scholar, a learned person.

The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), often referred to as the Hare Krishna movement, was founded by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (1896-1977) who brought his tradition of devotion to Krishna to the United States in 1965...

In the religious traditions of India, an upadhyaya is a teacher or preceptor.

In the Hindu tradition, Ayyappa is popular pilgrimage deity of the mountain-top shrine of Sabarimalai Kerala, said to be a son of Vishnu and Shiva.

Parvati is the “mountain born” goddess, daughter of the Himalayas, the spouse of Shiva.

Jagannatha is Krishna as “Lord of the Universe,” especially as he is present in the simple, saucer-eyed wooden form worshipped in the pilgrimage town of Puri in the Indian state of Orissa and beloved by worshippers of Krishna both in India and the West...