Bolton Hindu Forum, The Bolton Hub, Bold Street, Bolton BL1 1LS, 01204 546124,
pm@boltonhinduforum.org.uk

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING (AGM)

 NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the AGM of the  Bolton Hindu Forum  will be held at  The Friend’s Meeting House, Bolton on 2^nd May 2013 at 7pm.

Anyone who wish to attend should come through your own Samaj.

RAMNAVMI

Ramnavami is one of the most important festivals of the Hindus, particularly the Vaishnava sect of the Hindus. On this auspicious day, devotees repeat the name of Rama with every breath and vow to lead a righteous life. People pray to attain the final beatitude of life through intense devotion towards Rama and invoke him for his blessings and protection.

Ramnavami

Birthday of Lord Rama

Ramnavami or the birthday of Lord Rama falls on the 9th day of the bright fortnight of the month of Chaitra (March-April).

The Ramayana is undoubtedly the most popular and timeless Indian epic read and loved by all. The term ‘Ramayana’, literally means “the march (ayana) of Rama” in search of human values. As a literary work, it combines “the inner bliss of Vedic literature with the outer richness of delightfully profound story telling.”

This story of Shri Rama by the great sage Valmiki is referred to as the Adi Kavya or original epic. About the Valmiki Ramayana, Swami Vivekananda has said: “No language can be purer, none chaster, none more beautiful, and at the same time simpler, than the language in which the great poet has depicted the life of Rama.”

The Seven ‘Kandas’ or Sections

The epic poem is composed of rhyming couplets called ‘slokas’, in high Sanskrit, employing a complex meter called ‘anustup’. These verses are grouped into individual chapters or cantos called ‘sargas’, wherein a specific event or intent is told. The ‘sargas’ are again grouped into books called ‘kandas’. The seven ‘kandas’ of Ramayana are: Bal Kanda, the boyhood section; Ayodhya Kanda, Rama’s life in Ayodhya, until his banishment; Aranya Kanda, Rama’s life in the forest and Sita’s abduction by Ravana; Kishkindha Kanda, Rama’s stay at Kishkindha, the capital of his monkey ally, Sugriva; Sundara Kanda, Rama’s passage to Sri Lanka; Yuddha Kanda or Lanka Kanda, Rama’s battle with Ravana, the recovery of Sita, and return to Ayodhya; and Uttara Kanda, the section narrating Rama’s life in Ayodhya as king, the birth of his two sons, Sita’s test of innocence and return to her mother, and Rama’s demise or ‘jala samadhi’ (water-tomb).