‘Govardhan Hill should be world heritage site’

• ‘Govardhan Hill should be world heritage site’

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  • American landscape experts, who are drawing up a conservation plan for Mount Govardhan — significant in Hindu mythology — feel the hill deserves to be recognised as a world heritage site.
    “Goverdhan hill is unique in the world, visited by more than ten million people annually. However, its ecosystem is in a shambles, the water bodies have been destroyed and the green cover almost disappeared,” Amita Sinha of the Department of Landscape Architecture, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, US, told IANS.

    Sinha and her team have completed a weeklong study of Goverdhan hill, which Lord Krishna is believed to have lifted on his little finger to protect residents from the wrath of Indra the god of rain.

  • Mathura

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Hampi Festival: celebrating a great Hindu empire

• Hampi Festival: celebrating a great Hindu empire

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  • This month, the centuries-old temples of Hampi, in southern India, are celebrating the 500th anniversary of the Vijayanagara empire with a traditional festival of folk culture and elephants, brimming with life and colour.
  

  • Hampi, a small village, now, in the southern state of Karnataka, was the epicenter of this powerful alliance of Hindu villages whose combined military efficiency stopped the advance of the Muslims, then masters of most of the north of the subcontinent. Literature and the arts flourished in the Vijayanagara empire, which became immensely rich through trade in textiles, gemstones, spices and all the variety of merchandise the princes and regents had brought from the Indian seaports and as far afield as China.

    Evidence of this vast wealth is to be found in the ruins of hundreds of temples that are scattered in a 15 kilometre radius of the village of Hampi. Some 20 years ago, UNESCO granted the area the status of World Heritage Site.

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P Parameswaran writes to Dr Singh National anthem insulted at PM functions

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  • By S Chandrasekhar
  • First it was the turn of ‘Vande Matharam’. Now ‘Jana Gana Mana’ is being targeted.
    
    The Prime Minister Dr. Man Mohan Singh was in Thiruvananthapuram on January 3 to inaugurate the 97th Indian Science Congress. Leading Indian Scientists from all over the globe, International Scientists and Nobel Prize Winners attended the inaugural meet. The Prime Minister also attended two other functions including that of Kerala Pradesh Congress.
    
    But in all the three functions, the National Anthem was neither played nor sung. As per protocol the National Anthem is necessarily played at the end of functions attended by President, Vice President, Prime Minister, Chief Ministers, Governor etc. As per media reports the ‘PMO’ had directed the function organisers not to play the national Anthem, since it was not getting due respect in many ceremonies!
  • RSS ideologue and Bharateeya Vicharam Kendram Director Padmasri P. Parameswaran has sent a letter to the PM stating that the move was shocking to any person with national esteem and feelings.
    
    "It is difficult to comprehend that the audience comprising of national leaders, prominent citizens, scientists from all over the globe and elite citizens of Kerala will not give consideration and importance to the National Anthem. This is an insult to National Anthem and citizens at large. I join lakhs of Keralites and patriots to record strong protest in this breach of tradition," he wrote.
    

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Finale of Vishwa Mangal Gou Gram Yatra in Nagpur on Jan 17

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  • From Virag Pachpore in Nagpur
  • The historic Vishwa Mangal Gou Gram Yatra, which began its itinerary from Kurukshetra on the auspicious Vijaydashami day, will culminate in Nagpur on January 17, 2010. The Yatra under the inspiring leadership of Shri Raghaveshwara Bharati Swamiji, will be arriving at Nagpur on January 16, 2010 and halt at historic Reshambag grounds.
    
    Giving this information Shri Balkrishna Bharatia, President of the Vidarbha Yatra Samiti said that the concluding function would be attended and addressed by Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev, Sri Sri Ravishankar Guruji of Art of Living, Dr Pranav Pandya of Gayatri Parivar, RSS Sarsanghachalak Shri Mohan Bhagwat, Swami Dayanand Saraswati and many other dignitaries.

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Sanskrit is second official language in Uttarakhand

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  • By Ravindra Saini
  • It is a great irony that in India, 18 states have made Urdu their second official language under the appeasement policy but for the first time the Uttarakhand government took the right decision by declaring Sanskrit the second official language. -KS Sudarshan, former RSS Sarsanghachalak

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