The Crazy Horse Memorial is the world's largest mountain sculpture in progress. It is in the Black Hills of South Dakota, USA. The statue depicts Crazy Horse, a famous Lakota warrior. Korczak Ziolkowski started the project in 1948 at the request of Chief Henry Standing Bear and other Native American elders. The statue is meant to be a memorial to the spirit of Crazy Horse as well as the Native American people.
Ziolkowski believed in individual initiative and private enterprise, and as such, never accepted government funding. He continued to work on the memorial until his death in 1982.
Ziolkowski's wife and family have continued to work the Crazy Horse Memorial. Completion of the project is currently unknown because of several factors including weather, the availability of financing and the challenges of the mountain engineering.
The face of Crazy Horse was completed and dedicated in 1998. Work on the memorial continues today and current plans include blocking out the face of the horse itself.
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Dwarka
Dwarka (with other spelling as Dvarka) was a city of Ancient India. The city was one of seven holy cities of the Hindus. It is also one of the four most important places of pilgrimage for the Hindus. Hindus call such four places as Dhams. Dwarka is located in the western part of India in Gujarat state. During the birth day of Krishna, and the Hindu festivals of Holi and Divali, thousands of Hindus visit the place.
In Ancient India, the place was the capital of the kingdom ruled by Krishna and his clan of the yadavas. Soon after the death of Krishna, the city went below the sea.
Ramayana
The Ramayana is an ancient Sanskrit epic about Rama and Sita. It is one of the two most important ancient epics of India, the first one being the ancient Mahabharata. The epic was originally written by sage (rishi) Valmiki of Ancient India. The book has about 96,000 verses and is divided into seven parts.
The story of the Ramayana is about Prince Rama who has been exiled from his kingdom of Ayodhya. He goes on to kill king Ravana of Lanka in a long battle to get back his wife Sita.
7 Different versions of the book are available. It has been translated into all the major languages of the world.
The different parts of the Ramayana are also called books. These seven parts or books are noted below:
There are different views about the time the Ramayana was written. Some people believe that it was written 2,500 years ago. Others think that it was written around 1,800 years ago. All agree that the book is very old and was written before the Mahabharata.
The Ramayana is still very popular today. Every autumn the "Ramlila" ("Rama play") is performed at the festival of Dassehra. A huge model of Ravana is set alight. This symbolizes the triumph of light over darkness. It is also believed that he turned in to Krishna and also many more things are believed.
A Tamil version of the book was written between the 9th and 10th centuries. The writer of this book was Kamban. This version is known as Iramavataram, which means coming of Rama. In the 16th century, Tulasidas wrote a Hindi version of Ramayana. This was named Ramacharitmanasa. Over many centuries, the story of Rama reached places in other countries like Indonesia and Malaysia. The Ramayana has been translated into most of the major languages of the world.
The Ramayana was used in Ancient India for the teaching of young children. It was mainly used for acting out their religious beliefs so that their children knew that they were to worship the main Hindu beliefs that were: Brahman, Multiples Gods, Dharma, Samsara, and Karma.
Mahabharata
The "Mahabharata", that is, the great Bharata, is one of the two most important ancient epics of India, the other being the "Ramayana". The "Mahabharata" was compiled in Ancient India. One of the "rishis" (Indian sages) named Vyasa is believed to have composed the work. The legend states that God Ganesha wrote the "Mahabharata" while Vyasa dictated the same in the city of Rourkela in Odisha State. It is possibly one of the longest work of its kind in the world. The epic contains about 110,000 "shloka" (couplets) in eighteen sections. These sections deal with a number of topics such as a number of aspects of Hinduism, Hindu mythology, ethics, and the Hindu way of life. There is also a nineteenth section named "Harivamsha". The Bhagavadgita, a dialogue between Krishna and Arjuna, is a part of the "Mahabharata".
Sage Vyasa taught this epic to his son Suka and his students Vaisampayana and others. King Janamejaya, the son of Parikshit and grandson of the heroes of the epic, performed a great sacrifice ("yajna"). The epic was retold by Vaisampayana to Janamejaya at the advice of Vyasa. Later on, the other sage Suta retold the "Mahabharata" similar to Vaisampayana to Janamejaya, to Saunaka and others, during a sacrifice performed by Saunaka in Naimisaranya, which is near Sitapur in Uttar Pradesh.
Noted below are few words about the eighteen sections of the "Mahabharata". In "Mahabharata", these sections are called "parvan". A "parvan" means a book. The names of all "parvas" or books of the "Mahabharata" are noted below.
Kunti wants to fulfil her maternal expectations, but she has no man. She recollects the moment when her first son Karna was conceived from an arcane "mantra" which had given her once. Surya, the Sun God, appeared to her then. Thus, Kunti remembers her secret "mantra" and gives birth to the three sons – Yudhistra, Bhima and Arjuna. Yudhisthira’s father was god Yama, Bhima’s father was god Vayu, and Arjuna's father was Indra.
Madri, the second wife of Pandu, gave birth to two other sons - the twins, whose fathers were Ashwins (divine twins). Madri's sons are Nakula and Sahadeva.
These all are called the five Pandavas.
In the year 1932, The "Bhandarkar oriental research institute" located in Pune, needed money for the compilation and publication of the Holy Mahabharata and a guest house. A formal request was made to the seventh Nizam of Hyderabad State, Mir Osman Ali Khan who in no time released a farman to donate Rs.1000 per year for a period of 11 years.
Whereas, Rs. 50,000 was offered for the guest which is known as "Nizam guest house".
Hajj
The Hajj (; "" "pilgrimage") is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, the most holy city of the Muslims, and a Fard or mandatory religious duty for Muslims that must be carried out at least once in their lifetime by all adult Muslims who are physically and financially capable of undertaking the journey, and can support their family during their absence. It is one of the five pillars of Islam, alongside Shahadah, Salat, Zakat, and Sawm. The Hajj is the largest annual gathering of people in the world. The state of being physically and financially capable of performing the Hajj is called "istita'ah", and a Muslim who fulfills this condition is called a "mustati". The Hajj is a demonstration of the solidarity of the Muslim people, and their submission to God (Allah). The word Hajj means "to intend a journey", which connotes both the outward act of a journey and the inward act of intentions.
The pilgrimage occurs from the 8th to 12th (or in some cases 13th) of Dhu al-Hijjah, the last month of the Islamic calendar. Because the Islamic calendar is lunar and the Islamic year is about eleven days shorter than the Gregorian year, the Gregorian date of Hajj changes from year to year. Ihram is the name given to the special spiritual state in which pilgrims wear two white sheets of seamless cloth and abstain from certain actions.