Wrong On So Many Levels

Man, US of A really loves their j¡hadists. The world really supports Pakistani terrorists after all they've done. 

Pakistani terrorist admitting that they are training terrorism in terror camps. Water is wet.

Guys please you don't understand that they're innocent people 14 crore as a compensation is so necessary for all the 14 family members he lost what would he do now. Those 14 were his future terrorists now he will need to find new ones and train them and that needs money. 14 crore is so less. Have you looked at the Pakistani economy. I think he'd need more. Let's be supportive guys.

The Pakistan government reportedly promised to pay rupees 14 crore($1.7 million) compensation to terrorist Masood Azhar, the chief of Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist organisation, due to 14 of Azhar's family members perishing in the Indian airstrikes of terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan.

Newsflash, Hindus have a divine feminine, and no she's not just pretty pretty as Lakshmi, or pure and simple as Saraswati, she's also rage and destruction like Kali and Durga. If you don't believe in this, you're a misogynist, because why will you see only a masculine figure as God?

And what about transwomen? To feel more close to womanhood, they wear churi, payal, and bindi too. Are you telling me that's wrong?

Hindu traditions and festivals just enslave women and reinforce patriarchal practices, karwa chauth for example, a festival where a married woman has to fast and stay famished for whole 24 hours, NO water and food and some of them don’t even swallow their own saliva and why? for the long life and well being of her husband. Husbands are placed on a pedestal in hinduism, he is more revered than god sometimes while reducing women to obedient and self sacrificing caretakers . It reinforces the idea that a woman’s purpose revolves around a man’s needs, his health, his happiness, his survival while her own identity and agency is considered as irrelevant. In this religion women’s existence will always be tied to men and are expected to embrace such misogynistic ideals or else she’ll be labelled as a “too westernised housewife” or other names they love calling when you go against the system

I have been a little overwhelmed from writing and reading so much about the attacks. I had just started to catch up with what was happening in Bengal and this happened. And I had to let it out. Had to speak up. Had to educate myself on what happened.

But today I took a break

|| श्री गणेशाय नमः ||

Welcome to Awadh ke Maati! This is my journey back to my roots, celebrating the rich culture, language, and art of Awadh and Uttar Pradesh. As someone who has faced challenges embracing my regional identity, I created this space to reclaim and honor the beauty of Awadhi heritage.

Whether you're from Awadh and disconnected from your roots or simply curious about the Awadhi culture, this is a place to explore and connect.

I’d love for you to be part of this journey. Together, let’s keep our heritage alive.

So I just found this out about Shiv Charcha. So "charcha" here doesn't just mean discussion. It could be a simple gathering in the name of Shiv. Where bhajans and kirtans are performed to praise the deity. Which was exactly what was happening yesterday.

We have a family from UP doing "Shiv charcha" today and I can't get enough of it🥰😇

They've called all families in our society who are from UP and everyone's singing bhajans and kirtans in bhojpuri and awadhi. By everyone, I mean, it's all the women. My mother's also there. And hearing it all feels so good. It is because it's quite rare that this kind of event happens. And yeah connecting to the language is an added benefit here.

Does anyone know what a "Shiv charcha" is though?

And this is what our culture is. Imagine if we were just allowed to worship our gods and follow our culture and traditions in peace.

our ancestors were such simple people. gave up their land in exchange for the deity staying in their village for a day

चैती गीत

Let's talk about Chaiti (चैती)

It is a folk song genre sung in Awadhi and Bhojpuri in eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Nepal and neighbouring areas.

Chaiti is specifically sung during the month of चैत्र—or as we call it in Awadhi, चैत—where it gets its name from. The most important aspect of a chaiti for me is the usage of रामा. I have never heard of a chaiti without it.

There are devotional songs—especially sung during राम नवमी and चैत्र नवरात्र. There are songs about the season itself—the koel’s call, the flowers that blossom in spring, and mango trees, the changing weather. And then there are the songs of yearning (बिरहा), sung by a बिरहन, a woman in longing. Why? Because spring is here, but the one she wants to experience it with is not.

Like this one here by the brilliant Girija Devi ji -

I have been thinking about this and realised that we don't actually have a deva or devi for beauty. People think it is Mata Lakshmi but it's not true. None of her Ashtalakshmi forms also have her represent beauty. Mata

The sibling pairs have different skin colours — Vishnu-Parvati are dark skinned, Shiv-Saraswati are fair skinned, Brahma-Lakshmi are golden skinned — and all of them are called beautiful.

So where does this concept of beauty even come from? That fair is beautiful and dark skinned is not? Does it come from the west? From goddesses like Aphrodite, Venus or Freya? Or were they also made to represent beauty in the modern world to suit white people's beauty standards?