Western influence was one of the main reasons behind the rise in incidents of rape in the country, Sankaracharya of Puri Swami Sri Nischalananda Saraswati said in Kolkata on Wednesday.
The Maha Kumbh began on Monday morning with lakhs of devotees as well as ascetics and religious leaders of various orders converging on the confluence of Ganga, Yamuna and the mythical river Saraswati in Allahabad for a holy dip on the occasion of Makar Sankranti.
Rediff.com takes a look at the grand preparations ahead of the mega festival, just 16 days away, as pilgrims and god-men have already started congregating at the holy site.
Rejecting an offer made by Odisha police, top Maoist leader Sabyasachi Panda on Saturday said he has no plan to surrender as being speculated.
Over 100 Carnatic musicians from all over Mumbai converged at the Sri Shanmukhananda Chandrasekharendra Saraswati auditorium on January 13 for a rendition of the Pancharatna Kritis of Saint Thyagaraja in chorus.
At least nine school students were killed and 20 injured when their bus collided with a truck in Hanumangarh district in Jaipur, Rajashthan on Tuesday morning.
Election Commission on Thursday slapped a notice on former Chief Minister and Gujarat Parivartan Party president Keshubhai Patel for violating election code of conduct while going to a polling booth with a pilot car.
The ashes of Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray were on Thursday immersed in the holy Sangam in Allahabad. Thackeray's ashes were brought to the city by Shiv Sena leaders from Maharashtra, who were joined by the party's local unit members.
Over two crore Hindu devotees took their cherished holy dip at the 'Sangam' in Allahabad on Sunday on 'Mauni Amavasya', widely believed to be the most auspicious of all days at the 55-day long Kumbh Mela.
If you're planning to visit Bali this year, you're on the right track; the recent TripAdvisor survey has listed it as a hot favourite vacation destination among Indian travellers.
West Bengal Bharatiya Janata Party leader Shyamapada Mondal waded into controversy by calling Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee a 'eunuch' and accused her of practicing politics of appeasement. "Today you cannot understand whether Mamata Banerjee is a female or a male... I'd say she has become a 'hijra' (eunuch)," he said.
Kanchi seer Jayendra Saraswati on Wednesday voiced his opposition to self-styled godman Nityananda's appointment as the head of the Madurai Adheenam.
There will be total of 51 seats going to polls spread across 7 states in the fifth phase.
Rediff.com takes a look at some stunning pictures of the previous Kumbh Mela festivities.
The eight-week-long festival is beginning from Monday, in which thousands of devotees will bathe at the Sangam -- the confluence of the Ganges, the Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati rivers.
US Marshals, still looking for him, suspect that Prakashanand Saraswati, known to his devotees as Swamiji, may have fled America in connivance with his close associates.
Images from the Sangam in Allahabad...
Is there no 'normal' background? Sure there is.
Mahant Nritya Gopal Das was elected president and Champat Rai general secretary of the Ram Temple trust at its first meeting in New Delhi on Wednesday.
The Indian 4x100m women's relay team broke the 18-year-old National record to finish in 4th position at the IAAF World Challenge in Beijing on Wednesday. The 4x100m women relay team comprising Dutee Chand, Srabani Nanda, HM Jyoti and Merlin Joseph clocked 44.03s to finish the race, breaking the 18-year-old record of 44.43s created by the quartet of Saraswati Dey, Rachita Mistry, EB Shyla and PT Usha on July 22, 1998 in Fukuoka, Japan.
The government on Wednesday named nine out of 15 members of the 'Shri Ram Janambhoomi Teertha Kshetra' trust constituted for the construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya as mandated by the Supreme Court. Here's all you need to know about the members of the trust who have been named so far.
Some speakers also blamed the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government.
The Indian American community in New Jersey, US, has been celebrating the festival with fervour since October 8.
Even as yoga guru Baba Ramdev vacated the hospital bed on Tuesday and went straight to address media persons, not many realised that another ascetic, who had been admitted to the same hospital, had lost his life after fasting for 114 days.
A 25-year quest by nearly 1,000 scholars to document and present one of the world's oldest living traditions came to fruition when the 'Encyclopedia of Hinduism' was unveiled in Columbia.
Madhu Jayanti's Rs 55-crore packet tea business so far is only in Maharashtra and Karnataka. After Eveready's tea business buyout, MJIL's tea production in India will increase from 2.4 million kg to 6.2 mkg and its income from branded tea sales will rise 53 per cent to Rs 198 crore this fiscal year itself. It will also be available in 14 states.
The bail was granted to Kanchi Sankaracharya Jayendra Saraswati in the Radhakrishnan assault case.
Denouncing the protest march in the Jawaharlal Nehru University against the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani on Friday said that the nation will never tolerate "insult" to mother India.
Tell us what you think of the Dharma Dansad's resolution, by posting your views below.
In an unprecedented move for the first time, President Pratibha Patil came to the aid of a whistleblower officer of the Haryana government, ordering it to drop a chargesheet filed against him.
Bharatiya Janata Party member of Parliament Varun Gandhi wed graphic designer Yamini Roy Chowdhury in a simple ceremony attended by a handful of people in a temple on the banks of the Ganga in Varanasi on Sunday.
Majority of Indians do not feel a serious need for financial planning.
Telangana supporters on Tuesday protested and burnt an effigy of Kanchi Sankaracharya Jayendra Saraswati for his comments disfavouring the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, following which the seer said his remarks had been 'distorted'.Students and leaders from Telangana, cutting across party lines, condemned the pontiff's remark. Telangana Rashtra Samiti leaders burnt his effigy outside a temple run by the Kanchi Peetham at Skandagiri in Secunderabad.
Here's a recap of the events from the past 24 hours.
The number of Padma awardees this year is 89, which includes seven recipients each for Padma Vibhushan and Padma Bhushan.
The Congress motormouth finds his guru in the way of his romance.
A residential school for girls founded by late Swami Laxmananda Saraswati in Kandhamal district has received a threat that its authorities would meet the same fate as the Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader who was killed in 2008.
A child was killed while 25 others were buried under the debris after the roof of a primary school collapsed following heavy rains in Kapkot area of Uttarakhand's Bageshwar district on Wednesday.
A United States jury on Wednesday sentenced an elderly Hindu religious leader to 14 years in prison and fined a $ 10,000 on each of 20 counts of molesting two girls who grew up on the ashram he founded and led in Central Texas.
In a statement, Hays County Sheriff's office said it was on the lookout for Prakashanand Saraswati, known to his devotees as Shree Swamiji and is head of the 200-acre Hindu ashram in Texas, after the arrest warrant was issued against him.
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