Kailashanand Giri Maharaj of Niranjani Akhara, along with Laurene Powell Jobs, wife of late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, visited the Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh on Saturday.
The three-member judicial commission appointed by the Uttar Pradesh government to investigate the Maha Kumbh stampede has a month to complete its probe but plans to accelerate the process. The commission members, led by retired judge Harsh Kumar, will soon visit Prayagraj, the site of the tragedy. The stampede, which occurred on Wednesday during the auspicious Mauni Amavasya, resulted in at least 30 deaths and 60 injuries.
A record number of devotees are expected to take part in the first 'Amrit Snan' of the Maha Kumbh Mela on Tuesday, coinciding with Makar Sankranti. The event is significant as it marks the participation of the 'Akharas' and is also the first 'snan' after the grand Pran Pratishtha of Lord Ram Lalla in Ayodhya. The Uttar Pradesh government anticipates a total of 35 crore devotees visiting Prayagraj during the Kumbh Mela.
A Hindu religious congregation at a International Society for Krishna Consciousness temple in Bangladesh was attacked by unidentified gunmen who hurled bombs and fired gunshots at the worshippers, injuring two people in the second such incident in the same area in less than a week.
The grand dedication ceremony of Akshardham in Robbinsville, New Jersey was conducted on Sunday in the presence of Mahant Swami Maharaj following a nine-day celebration that commenced on September 30.
With this, the number of suits filed in the Krishna Janmabhoomi-Shahi Idgah case, in different courts of Mathura, has gone up to 15.
Some more glimpses of Lord Ganesha as The God Of New Beginnings arrives in different localities of Mumbai.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi visited Poonch in Jammu and Kashmir, offering condolences to families affected by cross-border shelling and encouraging students who lost two classmates to the violence. During an hour-long visit, Gandhi met with students at the convent school that lost the twins, and visited families whose homes were damaged in the shelling.
The deadly stampede at the Maha Kumbh, leading to the deaths of at least 30 people, resonated in both Houses of Parliament on Monday, with Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge and other Opposition leaders demanding a list of the deceased.
What should be made out of the Madras high court order involving non-Hindus' entry into Hindu temples, when many non-Hindus are among the hundreds of thousands that have been worshipping at these temples for generations, asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Uttar Pradesh government has deployed two senior IAS officers, who were part of the team that successfully conducted the 2019 Ardh Kumbh, to oversee the smooth conduct of the Maha Kumbh Mela in the wake of the recent stampede that left at least 30 pilgrims dead. The officers, Ashish Goyal and Bhanu Chandra Goswami, have extensive experience in administration in Prayagraj, including crowd management and inter-agency coordination. They will join Mela Adhikari Vijay Kiran Anand, forming a trio that was part of the mega fair six years ago. The government has also deployed additional senior police officers to strengthen security and crowd management ahead of Basant Panchami, one of the key bathing days of the festival, on February 3.
Political battle over 'Pujari Granthi Samman Yojna' announced by Aam Aadmi Party supremo Arvind Kejriwal intensified on Tuesday, as he launched registration process for the scheme at a temple in Kashmiri Gate in New Delhi.
Several families continue their desperate search for their loved ones.
A three-member judicial commission set up by the Uttar Pradesh government to investigate the Maha Kumbh stampede will visit the site on Friday. The commission, headed by retired Allahabad High Court judge Harsh Kumar, has a month to complete its investigation but will try to expedite it. The commission members will also interact with media and examine the causes and circumstances surrounding the incident, focusing on understanding the causes and proposing preventive measures for the future.
The 'deliberate attack' on a Hindu temple in Canada sparked strong condemnation in India on Monday, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking the Canadian government to ensure justice and uphold the rule of law.
The Allahabad high court on Friday did not give any immediate relief to the Gyanvapi Masjid committee which had challenged the order of the Varanasi court allowing Hindu prayers in a cellar of the mosque.
The upcoming Delhi Assembly elections have turned into a fierce battleground of slogans, one-liners, and AI-generated memes between the three main contenders: AAP, BJP, and Congress. From the AAP branding the BJP as the "Bharatiya Jhootha Party" (Indian Liar Party) to Prime Minister Narendra Modi calling the AAP "AAP-Daa" (disaster), the war of words has taken center stage. With the poll results set to be announced on February 8, the elections are being viewed as a referendum on the AAP's governance model, which emphasizes free welfare schemes. The ruling party faces stiff competition from a resurgent BJP that is seeking to return to power in the capital after a gap of more than 25 years. The Congress, although a long shot, hopes to regain its lost ground.
The revised budget for 2024-25 shows a sharp rise in the allocations, particularly for major irrigation projects and the Namami Gange Mission-II.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday inaugurated Abu Dhabi's first Hindu stone temple amid devotional chants and in the presence of spiritual leaders of the Swaminarayan sect.
Zafar Ali, the president of the Shahi Jama Masjid committee in Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh, was arrested on Sunday in connection with the violence that erupted in November 2022 over a court-ordered survey of the mosque. Ali's brother alleged that the arrest was intended to prevent him from submitting his testimony before a judicial commission investigating the violence. The mosque has been at the center of a controversy after a petition claimed it was the site of an ancient Hindu temple. The violence resulted in four deaths and several injuries.
'You have to separate the concept of India as a nation State which is very young and the Upanishadic wisdom which is timeless.'
The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the civil court in Varanasi to not proceed with hearing the Gyanvapi case till it takes up the matter on Friday.
A Hindu body has moved the Supreme Court challenging a provision in the 1991 law that provides for maintaining the "religious character" of holy structures as it existed on August 15, 1947, in a bid to open the litigation route to reclaim disputed religious sites other than the Ram Janambhoomi in Ayodhya. The petition, which has challenged Section 4 of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, assumes significance in the case of Kashi and Mathura, where two disputed mosques stand.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the murder.
The cultural richness that began from a narrow bank of the Yamuna has continued for over 7 centuries. And you literally go underground for as little at Rs 50 to see it!
Tension has been brewing in Sambhal since November 19 when the court-ordered survey of the Shahi Jama Masjid was carried out following claims that a Harihar temple previously stood at the site.
Prayagraj is a must-visit place in 2025, but in January and February you can't miss the Maha Kumbh, a spectacular event like no other.
Sunak is in India along with his wife Akshata Murthy to attend the two-day G20 Summit.
The plea filed by the Hindu side has stated that the cellar's roof is very old and weak.
These Muslim women are poor and illiterate but, with the devotion they display as they create handmade earthen stoves for Chhath, they strengthen the social fabric, says M I Khan.
'While suppression of information is acceptable for the government, the Opposition's efforts at pinning the government and its leaders is labeled anti-national,' points out Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
Devotees across India on Thursday welcomed their most beloved and venerated deity -- Lord Ganesh -- into their homes and community pandals, kickstarting the ten-day Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations with zeal and devotion.
Eleven people died during a havan at Beleshwar Mahadev Jhulelal temple in Madhya Pradesh's Indore after they fell into a well as its cover caved-in under the weight of a huge crowd, while three others got fatally electrocuted during a Ram Navami procession in Rajasthan's Kota.
The Akhil Bharatiya Kinnar Akhara is the 14th akhara at the Maha Kumbh.
The photocopies have to be verified by the district judge, the high court said.
30,000 volunteers lit 2.5 million diyas in Ayodhya.
A group of people set fire to an ISKCON temple in Dhaka district in Bangladesh in the early hours of Saturday.
A bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud, Surya Kant, and P S Narasimha said that it is posting for October first week hearing on the appeal of Gyanvapi mosque committee's plea against the Allahabad high court order upholding the appointment of court commissioner to survey the site.
He said that Chief Minister MK Stalin has been implementing a number of initiatives through the HR&CE department since the DMK came to power in 2021.
The mood was full of gaiety and devotion, with chants of 'Ganpati Bappa Morya' reverberating across Maharashtra.