कार्तिक पूर्णिमा की शुभ कामनाएँ! - Greetings on Kartik Purnima!

Greetings on Kartik Purnima!

Today is Kartik Purnima - the Hindu festival of holy bath (snaan), charity (daan) and religious fervor. Read about its origin, significance and customs on my blog:

https://rahultiwaryuniverse.blogspot.com/2019/11/festivals-greetings-on-kartik-purnima.html

Hindu Temple Celebrates 30 years of faith, culture in Toledo, United States

The Hindu Temple of Toledo has always been a hub of both faith and culture. So it makes sense that it would incorporate both in a celebration of its 30th anniversary on Saturday.

“The temple is religious, it’s our place of worship,” Lakshmi Dalwalla, this year’s temple president, said. “But more than that, since we are so far away from our home country of India, it’s also a place for social activities, not just religious activities. It’s social, cultural, spiritual — it’s almost like a one-stop shop for everything for our Indian families here.”

“It’s everything under one roof,” she said. “It satisfies all our needs.”

The anniversary events this weekend are set to reflect that multi-faceted role, beginning with ritual chants, prayers and offerings and continuing into a secular celebration of Indian Independence Day.

More:

https://www.toledoblade.com/news/religion/2019/08/17/hindu-temple-of-toledo-celebrates-30-years-of-faith-and-culture/stories/20190817005

Hindu Temple launches Jatayu Army for protection of Women in Hyderabad

The famous Chilkur Balaji shrine in Hyderabad on Tuesday symbolically launched a programme to form a 'Jatayu Army' on the temple premises to prevent atrocities on women and girls.

'Jatayu' is the divine giant eagle that dies while fighting Ravana to prevent him from abducting Goddess Sita in the mythological epic Ramayana.

Special rituals were performed on sacred threads that were tied on the wrists of women and girls in the shrine, which marked the symbolic launch of 'Jatayu Sena'an army for protection of girls and women, Chilkur Balaji temple head priest, C S Rangarajan said.

Several male devotees took oath to serve as members of the Jatayu sena, he said.

"Men can join to become members of the Jatayu sena and they need to be proactive in preventing crimes against girls and women," he said.

More:

https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/hyderabad-temple-launches-jatayu-army-for-protection-of-girls-women-1580503-2019-08-13

Rainwater harvesting structures being spruced up in Hindu Temples

Hindu temples in the city are gearing up for the monsoon to store water in their tanks. For this purpose, both modern and ancient rainwater harvesting structures are being cleaned, desilted and even new ones are set up.

Temple tanks help recharge groundwater in the localities they are situated.

At Saidapet’s Karaneeswarar Temple, new channels that are wider than what was constructed earlier have been laid to the tank. “If the channels are wider, they will carry more water. When the tank dried in March-April, we cleaned up the bed. We made a small pit inside the tank and put the fish there. And now after two spells of rain, there is quite a bit of water and the fish are fine,” said a temple official.

https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/rainwater-harvesting-structures-being-spruced-up-in-temples/article29037376.ece

Devotees Throng to Pashupati Nath Temple in Nepal

Detailed news:

https://www.aninews.in/news/world/asia/nepal-devotees-flock-to-pashupatinath-temple-on-shravans-last-monday20190812140806/

भारत में नयी सभ्यता की खोज के लिए पहुंची लन्दन की टीम

Kumbh Mela: Economic Benefits

Here is a very good articles explaining the economic benefits due to Kumbh Mela:

Why the Kumbh Mela is an economic blessing 

Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the apex trade body, expects the 2019 Kumbh Mela to generate business worth ₹1,20,000 crores. While the government expenditure on the festival is ₹4,200 crore.

The CII also says that the festival will create 600,000 jobs. In hospitality alone 250,000 people will receive work through the festival and hundreds of thousands more in tour operations and airlines, local transport and logistics, as formal and informal guides, and in emergency and ancillary support systems. Around 85,000 jobs will come from medical tourism and eco-tourism related to the festival alone.

But this is not new. In 2013, when the Kumbh Mela was last held, it created an estimated 100,000 jobs directly in the arrangements of the festival and an equal amount in the wider economy. Local authorities estimated that the impact of the Kumbh Mela is about 15 to 20 times the amount of money spent organising it.

In 2013, the local administration had raked in $2.2 billion on an investment of around $220 million.

https://www.fortuneindia.com/polemicist/why-the-kumbh-mela-is-an-economic-blessing/102900