Category: Insights
Practical Vedic insight, remedies, and rituals.
Exalted and Debilitated: How Jyotisha Rates a Graha
Read almost any page about a rāśi and the word exalted will turn up, usually without explanation. It is worth setting out properly, because the dignity scheme is one of the few parts of Jyotiṣa that…
Diwali and Lakshmi Puja: What Is Observed and What Is Recited
Diwali — from Dīpāvalī, “a row of lamps” — is usually described as a festival. It is more accurately a sequence of five distinct observances on consecutive tithis, which happen to have been gathered…
Ram Navami: The Birth of Rama and What Is Recited
Ram Navami marks the birth of Rama, the prince of Ayodhya whose life is told in the Rāmāyaṇa and who is worshipped as an avatar — a descent into the world — of Vishnu. What makes it unusual among…
Maha Shivaratri: The Great Night and What Is Recited
Maha Shivaratri — “the great night of Shiva” — is the one major observance of the Hindu year that is deliberately nocturnal. Almost everything else in the festival calendar is done at sunrise or…
What Is a Panchang? The Five Limbs of the Day
Pañcāṅga means “five limbs” — pañca, five, and aṅga, limb. A panchang is not a calendar in the Western sense. It is a description of a moment in five independent measurements, and each limb answers a…
What Is a Tithi? The Lunar Day Explained
Almost every date in Hindu observance is given as a tithi rather than a calendar date. Ekadashi, Chaturthi, Amavasya, Purnima — these are tithis. Understanding what one actually is explains most of…
How to Read a Nakshatra: What the Terms Mean
Every one of AdiVeda’s twenty-seven nakshatra pages opens with the same block of data: span, ruling planet, deity, symbol, gana, animal, dosha, guiding power, dasha years. So does nearly every other…
Navratri: The Nine Nights, and What Is Recited
Navratri is nine nights given to the Goddess. That is the short answer, and most explanations stop there. The longer answer is more useful: the nine nights are not an anniversary of a single event,…
A Quiet Daily Ritual for Strengthening the Sun
The Sun is the centre of the Vedic chart in every sense. In Jyotiṣa (Vedic astrology) Surya is the natural significator — the karaka — of the atman, the self, and the lord of the daytime. It is also…
Choosing a Rudraksha: A Beginner’s Guide to the Mukhi Counts
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