Festival of colours celebrated in city. Children pose with water guns during Holi celebrations in Karachi.
–Photo by AFP KARACHI: The colours will wash off in three to four days, but the joyful memories created by members of the Hindu community at the Holi festival celebrated here on Tuesday should provide enough happiness for a whole year. The vendors selling colour powder, plastic spray and squeeze bottles, water guns and pistols just inside the open Shri Swaminarayan Mandir gates here were doing a roaring trade as were the ones selling rose garlands, dried coconut, popcorn, incense sticks and chunris. “The flowers, coconut, popcorn and incense is for pooja, but the colour and other stuff is for the fun that is to follow,” said Anil Kumar, one of the vendors, as temple bells rang in the background. “Two hundred and fifty grams of colour powder is for Rs100,” announced Suresh Kumar standing behind his cart.
Vaishnava Jan to - Riyaaz Qawwali. India Culture. Please support our site by enabling javascript to view ads.
NEW DELHI, India — Just a stone's throw from New Delhi's Commonwealth Games Village, a mammoth Hindu temple testifies to a simple truth: When builders can give laborers a sense of ownership and encourage them to take pride in their work, India's notorious problems getting things done disappear. Constructed by expert craftsmen using ancient methods, the 140-foot high, nine-domed Akshardham temple was built entirely from white marble and pink sandstone — without the support of steel.
Vaishnavism and homosexuality. Approximately two-thirds of all Hindus are Vaishnavas and, like other world religions, Vaishnava sects have recently been called upon to address traditional positions on homosexuality and gender differences.
For readers who are unfamiliar with Vaishnavism, the faith is essentially monotheistic; adherents worship a supreme, transcendent God with unlimited names such as Vishnu, Krishna, Rama, Narayana, etc. They follow scriptural texts known as the Vedas and are typically vegetarian. Recent expressions of the faith, such as Chaitanya’s sixteenth-century Hare Krishna movement, de-emphasize the Hindu caste system to preach all-inclusiveness and special mercy to the fallen souls. The historical approach to homosexuality within Vaishnava Hinduism is quite opposite from that of the Abrahamic faiths. Hindu anger at yoga studios.