India

  • Yama God of Death

    Yama or Yamarāja, also called Imra, is a god of death, the south direction and the underworld, belonging to an early stratum of Rigvedic Hindu deities. In Sanskrit, his name can be interpreted to mean “twin”. In the Zend-Avesta of Zoroastrianism, he is called “Yima”. According to the Vishnu Purana, his parents are the sun-god Surya and Sandhya. In Hinduism he is the twin brother of Yami, brother of Shraddhadeva_Manu and the step brother of Shani. He is sometimes depicted riding a buffalo. In Hinduism, Yama is the lokapala (“Guardian of the Directions”) of the south and the son of Brahma. He has two dogs with four legs and wide…

  • Noor Inayat Khan- The Spy Princess

    Noor Inayat Khan was a mass of contradictions.  She was a devout Muslim Sufi who believed in nonviolence and refused to tell a lie and disliked the British because of their involvement in India.  Described as a “dreamy” and “sensitive” person who spent time writing children’s stories, poetry and music, Noor was the last person who anyone would have thought could be a spy against the Nazis.  However, underneath that soft exterior was a spine of steel the Nazis could not break no matter how hard they tried. Noor Inayat Khan was born in the Kremlin in Moscow on January 2, 1914.  Her father was a musician and a Sufi…

  • Babur

    There was the blood of conquerors in his veins.  On his mother’s side, he was descended from the great Genghis Khan.  On his father’s side, the man who took on the Mongols and founded his own empire, Timurlane.  It made sense that this young man would found an empire of his own.  However, he was born far from it. Zahir al-Din Muhammad was born February 15, 1483 in the principality of Fergana, what is now Uzbekistan. Umar Shaykh Mīrzā,his father, was the ruler of Fergana, but died early when his young son was only eleven.  His death was reported as happening “”while tending pigeons in an ill-constructed dovecote that toppled…

  • Ancient Ghost Stories- Eastern Style

    We have discussed the similarities of how the afterlife and ghosts are viewed in the Western World in our previous post. There are also similarities that run through how these subjects are addressed in Eastern cultures, however, there are a few twists that mark them out as different. As in the West, the ghosts of ancestors could appear to their descendants to give warnings or advice. However, in China this was taken to another level as ancestor worship was widely practiced. The Chinese afterlife was a journey for the soul to cross a bridge over an abyss. There the soul was judged and if it was found worthy, it drank…

  • Ashoka

    The Mauryan dynasty of India united most of the Indian subcontinent with Chandragupta Maurya.  His grandson, Ashoka, inherited an empire which stretched from the Hindu Kush mountains to the modern state of Bangladesh in the east.  His father was Emperor Bindusara and one of his lower status wives, Subhadrangi.  Subhadrangi was only the daughter of a Brahmin, however, she was extremely beautiful.  The other wives in the women’s apartment grew jealous of her and contrived to keep her and the Emperor apart.  Finally, the two were united and Ashoka was born in 304 BCE.  The name “Ashoka” comes from his mother’s explanation on the birth of her son, “I am…