Temples & Pilgrimage
200 Deities Pilgrimage to Mandi for Mahasivaratri
Join our reporter for the little-known, week-long celebration of Mahasivaratri in the Himalayan foothills, attended by …
Topic
Hindu Priesthood
25 articles
Spiritual Life
Guardians of South Indian Saivism
Four monastic centers serve Siva in South India and manage temple wealth By Kay Koppedrayer, PhD The fertile kaveri rive…
Spiritual Life
Siamese Brahmins Assist the King
For 800 years Hindu priests have guided Thailand’s royal court rituals By Hurditya Deva, Thailand Among the indian…
Spiritual Life
The Sweet Nectar of Madurai
From the grand Meenakshi citadel to hundreds of roadside shrines, explore the historic streets of this deeply devout Sou…
Temples & Pilgrimage
Embers of Devotion
A Rishi’s Reflections about One of History’s Oldest Forms of Worship The following is a selection of verses from Rishi […
Temples & Pilgrimage
The Ancient Agamas Have Solutions for Modern Issues in Temple Administration
These detailed manuals cover everything from how to build temples to the worship rituals and every aspect of practical m…
Temples & Pilgrimage
Our 2020 Hindus of the Year
Chidambaram’s Dikshitar priests have faithfully served the temple for over two millennia By Choodie Shivaram, Bengaluru …
Hindu Priesthood
Training Priests for Our 21st-Century Hindu World
SPEACIAL FEATURE An unusual school dedicated to training new generations of Saivite Hindu priests is situated in a shelt…
Hindu Priesthood
Kerala: Facing and Fixing a Shortage of Priests
MADHURAJ Adopting the vocation: Students of the Thantravidhya Gurukulam at Paravur, under the leadership of Rakesh Thant…
Hindu Priesthood
Opinion: Adi Saiva Priests and Funeral Rites
There are two classes of brahmins–adi saivas (siva vipras or Sivabrahmins) and the common brahmins (samanya vipras…
Hindu Priesthood
Priesthood: Meet Kerala’s 13-Year-Old Priestess
BY G.K. NAIR Ever since Jyothsna can remember, she’s been hearing verses from the Thantra scriptures of Kerala. Th…
Hindu Priesthood
Priestly Patriarch
The priestly profession has been greatly reduced in stature in the last two hundred years by the forces of secularizatio…
Hindu Priesthood
ANCIENT INITIATION
By Chantal Boulanger When visiting the great Saiva temples of Tamil Nadu, pilgrims cannot enter the sanctum sanctorum. T…
Hindu Priesthood
Congress’ Hindu Blessing
On September 14 India’s Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee gave his first-ever address to a joint session of the …
Temples & Pilgrimage
Edmonton Triumph
It’s cold, really cold–that’s an equatorial-dwelling Sri Lankan Tamil’s first and everlasting im…
Temples & Pilgrimage
What Future the Priesthood?
By Sivakamisundari Shanmugasundaram My father and I, along with my four-year-old daughter, arrived at the Kalikambal Tem…
Temples & Pilgrimage
These Are Priests, Have No Drought
The Washington Post, one of America’s most prestigious newspapers, was unhesitating in giving credit where credit …
Temples & Pilgrimage
The Moving Finger Writes…
By Dev Raj Agarwal The dull and time-worn face of Gomti Ben has suddenly come to life, and I can […]
Temples & Pilgrimage
On Different Shores
By Archana Dongre Dozens of temples have sprouted in US cities over the last 15 years. Trustees sought learned priests […
Hindu Priesthood
Trinidad Pundit Power
By ANIL MAHABIR My ambition is to be a good pundit like my great-grandfather, my grandfather and my father,” 19-ye…
Opinion
Rescuing Our Vedic Pundits
BY DR. S . YEGNASUBRAMANIAN Now that the Ati Rudra Maha Yajna at the Sringeri Sadhana Center in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvani…
Temples & Pilgrimage
Vedas, USA
FOR ELEVEN DAYS IN AUGUST, DIVINE Vedic chants resounded through the tranquil Poconos mountains of Pennsylvania. The Ati…
Temples & Pilgrimage
The Colonial Genesis of Anti-Brahminism
Ram Swarup, New Delhi, is a leading thinker in the contemporary dynamics of Hindu renaissance ideology. Here he recounts…
Temples & Pilgrimage
Shamans’ Quest
By Ian Baker If we sing our pilgrimage songs here,” the old shaman stated, “the Gods will come into our [&he…
Hindu Priesthood
Women Priestesses
By V.L. MANJUL, PUNE The City of Pune, in Western India, has not only been a prominent cultural center, but […]