Social Science Questions & Answers

Navratri Customs: Navratri is a very important and popular festival of India. It comes twice on a year, once around March-April and the second time, around September-October. The nine days and nights of Navratri are entirely devoted to Mother Goddess. Throughout this period, fasts, strictly vegetarian diets, japa (chanting mantras in honor of the Goddess Shakti), religious hymns, prayer, meditation …

What are Pooja rituals done daily during Navratri? Navratri, the festival of nights, lasts for 9 days with three days each devoted to worship of Maa Durga, the Goddess of Valor, Maa Lakshmi, the Goddess of Wealth and Maa Saraswati, the Goddess of Knowledge. During the nine days of Navratri, feasting and fasting take precedence over all normal daily activities …

Navratri is divided into sets of three days to adore different aspects of the supreme goddess. On the first three days, the Mother is invoked as powerful force called Goddess Durga in order to destroy all our impurities, vices and defects. Why Navratri has Nine Nights & Days? The next three days, the Mother is adored as a giver of …

Lord Ganesha Elephant Head? Story – 1 Shiva and Parvati How did Lord Ganesha obtain his Elephant Head? story is probably the one taken from the Shiva Purana. Once, while his mother Parvati wanted to bathe, there were no attendants around to guard her and stop anyone from accidentally entering the house. Hence she created a boy’s idol out of …

Is Lord Ganesha Married or Celibate? It is interesting to note how, according to tradition, Ganesha was generated by his mother Parvati without the intervention of her husband Shiva. Shiva, in fact, being eternal (Sadashiva), did not feel any need to have children. So Ganesha was born out of the exclusively female desire of Parvati to procreate. Consequently, the relationship …

The festival of Janmashtami has many rituals and customs associated with it. The ceremony of Janmashtami is very simple with the chanting of mantras as the priest bathes the idol with Ganga jal (holy water), milk, ghee, oil and honey. All these ingredients are poured from a conch shell. Once this Janmashtami ritual is over, the devotees break their day …

Celebrate Janmashtami in Mathura: The Janmashtami celebrations differ in different parts of India. The true colors of this festival are seen in Mathura, the birthplace of Lord Krishna. This is the place where the parents of Lord Krishna lived in the captivity of the evil Kansa and where he as a young boy came and vanquished his maternal uncle Kansa …

Tigers are carnivores and a carnivore’s basic diet consists of raw meat. Their dentition (teeth) and digestive system are developed to process animal proteins and not plant matter. How much does a tiger eat? Tigers have very big appetites indeed. A full-grown tiger may eat as much as one fifth of its own body weight at one sitting. If a …

An Amur tiger (Panthera tigris altaica) lives in the Siberian plateau covered with snow, while the Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris) lives in marshes and grasslands of the Indian subcontinent. The Amur tiger is fatter than the Bengal tiger. It also has more fur than its Bengal cousin. Owing to its weight, the Amur tiger can’t run faster than the Bengal …

Tigers are found in amazingly diverse habitats: rain forests, grasslands, savannas and even mangrove swamps. Unfortunately, 93% of historical tiger lands have disappeared primarily because of expanding human activity. Saving tigers means saving forests that are vital to the health of the planet. You can help by taking action to save tiger forests. Where do tigers live? You probably know that …