Latest posts
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Who Is the Father of Lord Krishna? Vasudeva, Nanda and a Third Answer
Quick Answer: Krishna has 2 fathers. Vasudeva, a Yadava nobleman of the line of Shurasena, is his biological father, and Nanda of Gokula is the man who raised him. His mother is Devaki and his foster mother is Yashoda.…
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Was Radha Older Than Krishna? What the Puranas Actually Say
Quick Answer: No. Not one Purana, epic or classical Sanskrit poem says Radha was older than Krishna. The popular numbers, 5 years older and 11 years older, appear in no scripture at all. The only two ages the texts give…
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Who Is the Mother of Lord Jagannath? What the Texts Actually Say
Quick Answer: Lord Jagannath has two mothers as Krishna: Devaki, who gave birth to him in Kamsa's prison, and Yashoda, who raised him in Gokul. The Bhagavata Purana keeps both and ranks neither. As the wooden deity of…
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Who Is the Sarathi of Nandighosh Rath? Matali, Not Daruka
Quick Answer: The sarathi of Nandighosh, Lord Jagannath's chariot, is Matali. Both the Shree Jagannatha Temple Administration and the Government of Odisha's official Rath Jatra portal say so. Daruka is the sarathi of…
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Hariyali Teej Story: Parvati's Penance and the 108 Lives Myth
Quick Answer: Parvati did not take 108 births to win Shiva. The Shiva Purana's Parvati Khanda (Rudra Samhita, chapter 22) gives her 1 lifetime and 3,000 years of penance, standing on one leg in bark clothes. Hariyali…
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How Many Wives Did Krishna Have? What the Bhagavata Says
Quick Answer: Krishna had 8 principal queens and 16,100 other wives, 16,108 in total. The eight queens are Rukmini, Satyabhama, Jambavati, Kalindi, Mitravinda, Nagnajiti, Bhadra and Lakshmana. The rest were women he…
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Who Was Lord Hanuman's Father? Kesari, Vayu and Shiva
Quick Answer: Hanuman has 2 fathers, Kesari and Vayu. Kesari, the vanara chief, is his kshetraja father, the legal and social one. Vayu, the wind god, is his aurasa father, the one who begot him. His mother is Anjana.…
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How Many Avatars of Lord Shiva Are There? What the Shiva Purana Actually Says
Quick Answer: The number usually given is 19, and the Shiva Purana does have a chapter titled "The nineteen incarnations of Siva". But it lists Tridhama, Kali, Gautama, Vedashiras, Gokarna, Shikhandin, Sveta,…
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Why Lord Jagannath Has Big Eyes: What the Texts Actually Say
Quick Answer: Lord Jagannath's big eyes come from the carved wooden form at Puri, not from scripture. No text describes them. The Skanda Purana calls him "lotus-eyed", the ordinary Vishnu epithet, and says nothing about…
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Why Jagannath Has No Hands: What the Texts Actually Say
Quick Answer: Lord Jagannath has no carved hands or feet because the wooden form at Puri is older than the stories told to explain it. Puri's own temple administration says the deity began as Nila Madhava, a tribal…