Social Science Questions & Answers

According to another legend, once Brahma and Vishnu, two other deities of the holy Trinity, had an argument as to their supremacy. Brahma being the Creator declared himself to be more revered, while Vishnu, the Preserver, pronounced that he commanded more respect. Just then a colossal ‘lingam’, known as Jyotirlinga, blanketed in flames, appeared before them. Both Brahma and Vishnu …

Lord Shiva is the supreme God among five important deities of Hindu religion. He is therefore also termed as ‘Mahadev’. People address him by hundreds of names and ‘Neelkanth’ is one of them. According to the religious scriptures, during churning of the milky ocean, the poison or ‘Halahal’ also came out of the ocean which terrified the Gods and Demons. …

Lord Shiva is the deity of destruction and the dark forces. So, the dark night is naturally dear to him. The night is the time of the predators when they set out to enactnightly destruction of life. The dark forces set out to torment the world in the form of ghosts, spirits and shadow. The dark nights of the descending …

All hurricanes are given names. Just to help us identify storms and track them as they move across the ocean. Remember, there can be more than one hurricane at a time and without naming them, we could get confused and which storm we’re talking about. For hundreds of years, hurricanes in the West Indies were named after the particular saint’s …

Chinese New Year, Lunar New Year or Spring Festival is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. It is often inaccurately called “Lunar New Year”, because – as part of the lunisolar Chinese calendar – the date is partially determined based on lunar phase. The festival traditionally begins on the first day of the first month in the Chinese …

God tells us in the Quran that we shall not kill ourselves, that life is sacred, and that we shall not aggress. If an enemy aggressive and fights us, we can defend ourselves but we have no excuse to fight them if they decide to refrain. Also, we must not kill another believer; so before we strike we have to …

The Nice Carnival has been held annually since the 14th century, 12 days before the Christian festival of Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, and which occurs 40 days before Easter (excluding Sundays). During this period, various performances and festivities succeed one another on a 2-km stretch of the town. Floats, cavalcades, masked balls, floral processions, confetti showers and …

Sikhism teaches a belief in one divine essence having no one particular shape or form, which is manifest in every one of the countless myriads of forms of existence. Sikhism is against worshiping images and icons as a focal point for any aspect of the divine, and does not relate to any hierarchy of demi gods or goddesses.

The Sikh scripture, Guru Granth Sahib, makes references to demons mentioned in Vedic legends primarily for illustrative purposes. There is no belief system in Sikhism which focuses on demons or devils. Sikh teachings center on ego and its effect on the soul. Indulging in unbridled egoism may render a soul subject to demonic influences and the realms of darkness which …

Worldwide, there are 25,800,000 (25.8 million) Sikhs, but around 75% of Sikhs live in the Indian state of Punjab, where they are close to 59.9% of the population. Large communities of Sikhs live in the neighboring states, and large communities of Sikhs can be found across India. However, Sikhs are only about 2% of the Indian population.