Question Why did Hanuman fight with Lord Rama? Answer As far as I know, this story has no scriptural basis; it may just be folklore. The story as I remember it goes roughly as follows: the king of Kashi was once in Ayodhya, perhaps during the coronation of Rama, and he insulted the short-tempered sage Vishwamitra who was there at the time. Vishwamitra was furious and he told Rama that he wanted the king's head at his feet by sunset....
Question How many people listened to the Bhagavad Gita in the Mahabharata along with Arjuna? Answer The following is given for thought which is based on Vyasa Bharata, 1) Bhagavad Gita to Arjuna, by boon to Sanjaya and Dhritarashtra: Nobody talked on Bhagavad Gita at any other time except by Arjuna who wanted to hear again but the request was rejected by Lord Krishna! (Mahabharata, Book 14: Aswamedha Parva, Chapter 16, Anugita Parva)....
Question What is the significance of Bel leaves in Shiva worship? Answer The reason that the leaves of the Bilva tree are used in the worship of Shiva is that the Bilva tree emerged from the sweat of Shiva's wife Parvati, as described in the this excerpt from the Nagara Khanda of the Skanda Purana: The splendid Daughter of the Mountain; the goddess [Parvati] became tired due to her sports. Drops of sweat appeared on her forehead ....
Question Why is Lord Hanuman known as “Pavan putra Hanuman”? Answer It was because, Vayu god had impregnated Anjana through his mind. Hence, Hanuman, although was born from Anjana and Kesari, is also known as Pavan-putra (son of wind): मनसा अस्मि गतो यत् त्वाम् परिष्वज्य यशस्विनि | वीर्यवान् बुद्धि संपन्नः पुत्रः तव भविष्यति || [VRM - 4.66.18] Meaning By which reason I embraced you and impregnate myself within you through my mind, by that reason you are impregnated in a super sensory manner, thereby you will beget a valiant son endowed with intellect...
Question How did Goddess Sita protect herself in Ravana’s palace? Answer Ravana was not able to force himself on Sita due to a curse he had received years earlier, as described in this excerpt from the Uttara Kanda of the Ramayana. Ravana and his army were once camped on mount Kailash, preparing to attack Devaloka (the kingdom of the gods), when he saw the Apsara (nymph) Rambha and was enchanted by her beauty....
Question What is the meaning of the word “Shiva”? Answer The meaning of the name Shiva is "Auspicious, Pure" Shiva is a male Sanskrit name that refers to the third aspect of god, called in the Vedas. If pronounced with a long final vowel "a", Shiva is a female name; a name of the goddess Parvati, Uma and Lakshmi. It can also be described as "The god staying in a state blissful, enjoying in its own self eternally, without any flaws....
Question Why is Mohini not one of the Dashavatara of lord Vishnu? Answer Lord Vishnu has many types of avataras. In fact, His avatars are innumerable: O brāhmaṇas, the incarnations of the Lord are innumerable, like rivulets flowing from inexhaustible sources of water. [SB - 1.3.26] But these ten are only the prominent ones; especially because they take place on this material plane, our earth. avatarati it avatara - so those are called avataras because they descend to earth and take up material bodies of transcendental nature....
Question Why isn’t Lord Ayyappa an avatar of Lord Mahavishnu? Answer The difference between a descended avatāra and a foolish embodied being (dehī) is that avatāra does not forget his spiritual identity in the process and maintains a strong connection with the spiritual plane. E.g. in the Kurukšētra battle Krišna was hit by all kinds of divine weapons, including one that Arjuna could not possibly deflect, but Krišna did not suffer....
Question Does Hinduism forbid sexual intercourse before marriage? Answer TL;DR: May or may not be permitted for Kshatriyas, but forbidden for everyone else, and not encouraged for Kshatriyas either. Technically there is no such thing as premarital intercourse in Hinduism. Whenever two people consummate a relationship, regardless of the circumstances, it is usually classified as a marriage of one sort or another. It's even considered a marriage if the woman doesn't consent, like if she's drugged or unconscious....
Question In which veda(s) is Ayurveda included? Answer Ayurveda is treated as Upaveda of Rigveda and Antharveda.1 The Charanavyuha mentions Āyurveda as Upavedas of Rigveda. But Sushruta and Bhavaprakasha mention Ayurveda as an upaveda of the Atharvaveda. 2 So Ayurveda is treated as upveda of Rigveda or Atharveda. Note: “The question: In which veda(s) is Ayurveda included?” is licensed by Stack Exchange Inc (https://hinduism.stackexchange.com/); user contributions licensed under CC BY-SA.
Question If Radha and Krishna aren’t married, why do we worship Them together, like Sita-Rama? Answer Besides the Brahma Vaivarta Purana mentioned in the other answer, the 39th Chapter of the 9th Book of Devi Bhagavatam also mentions the origin of both Radha and Lakshmi from Krishna: 4-33. Nârâyana said :-- Of old, in the beginning of the Prâkritik Creation, from the left side of Krisna, the Supreme Spirit, appeared in the Râsamandalam (the Figure Dance) a Devî....
Question What are the exact ten avatars of Vishnu? Answer This isn't a proper answer, but then again I don't think there can be a proper answer. The notion of Dasavatharam isn't a notion that's found in Hindu scriptures; there are countless avatarams of Vishnu found in Hindu scriptures, such as the approximately twenty-four avatarams of Vishnu found in the Srimad Bhagavatam, and different people have made different lists of what they think the "...
Question At what age was Lord Krishna killed by the hunter? Answer Krishna lived for 125 years; in the Srimad Bhagavatam, Brahma tells Krishna that it's time for his life on earth to end: O Supreme Personality of Godhead, O my Lord, You have descended into the Yadu dynasty, and thus You have spent one hundred twenty-five autumns with Your devotees. There's another popular way to calculate his age: the Matsya Purana apparently contains a reference to Krishna being 89 years old during the Mahabharata War (see here), and the Mausala Parva of the Mahabharata says that Krishna died 36 years after the war, which adds up to 125 years total....
Question What is the panchang to be used when generating a horoscope? Answer Note that I'm basing my answer on largely on this site and this site, both of which use the Drik Panchangam, so that might bias the arguments somewhat. The Vakya Panchgangam system, as used for instance in the famous Pambu Panchangam and the Sri Rangam Panchangam, originates in an ancient astrological work called the Surya Siddhanta. The Surya Siddhanta covers many topics in astrology, but most notably it has a section with a collection of simple mnemonic devices that describe how to determine the location of the heavenly bodies like the Sun and Moon, based on trigonometric calculations that were quite advanced for its time....
Question Did mountains use to have wings? Answer As Sundarkandnirnay - 2 says Mainak parvat had wings. Earlier all the mountains had wings. They out of pride, started flying in the air and settling down at their will. This caused inconvenience to the people at large. Hence Indra cut the wings of all the mountains. But Mainak, the golden parvat, 100 yojana in width, took shelter of vayu and then consequently was saved and allowed to stay in lavan samudra....