Lakshmi

One word, two syllables, five letters with a strong meaning, value. Often misinterpreted as financial worth (cost, expense, profit), value instead defines as “the regard that something is held to deserve; the importance, worth, or usefulness of something” (Merriam-Webster). “Modern” American society, for example, continues to disregard women’s potential and, instead, reiterates the ideal woman: perfect wife, perfect mother, perfect daughter, perfect employee, and perfect body via social media…

Year 8 Religion Task 3 – Initiation Rituals-Natasha Ong PART A The Sacred Thread Ceremony, also known in Hindu as Upanayana, is a Hindu ceremony. In Hindu culture, a person in born twice, and the Scred Thread Ceremony represents a boy’s second birth. It can be performed on a boy on any odd-numbered year in his life, usually when he is 7 to 15 years old. The Sacred Thread ceremony is the initiation ritual when a boy becomes a man; and is only performed when the boy’s parents believe he is mature…

that hypersexualization leads to self-confidence issues, eating disorders, body shaming, and depression. This disturbing occurrence still happens everywhere but we just don’t notice it as much because it has been normalized. In the book Sold, Lakshmi is a 13 year old girl sold into prostitution and had to wear makeup and fancy clothing and look submissive to men. In a 2011 photo spread for French Vogue, models were adorned with exotic animal furs, body jewels, flushed red cheeks, and look…

his consort, he split himself in two from his forehead, mouth, thigh, or rib. Interestingly, Saraswati’s origin parallels the story of Athena, born from a forehead, and Eve, born from a rib. The goddess is a part of the trinity which consists of Lakshmi, Parvati, and herself. This trinity assists Brahma, Vishnu, and Mahesh to create and maintain the universe. The goddess…

come up with different ways of paying homage and offering their prayers to it. One of the simplest ways is to offer jal (water) at its roots every morning. Another way is to light a ghee diya or a lamp at the dusk. It is believed that the goddess Lakshmi resides under the tree every Saturday. Therefore, women offer their prayers to this tree and believe that their wishes and desires to conceive a son to be granted. They also tie a red thread or a red cloth on its branch as a form of ritual.…

Before my Grandma makes Pani Puri for my family, she makes sure we have all the ingredients. She recalls the recipe from memory, adding the ingredients without measuring tools, in what looks like a haphazard fashion. Her cooking can be best described in three words: delicious organized chaos. Just like my Grandma’s Pani Puri recipe, the Indian Community has a variety of ingredients, each with its unique properties and effects. While Hindu camp and the cultural events are rigidly structured and…

Introduction During a person’s life it is normal to be nervous and scared when faced with new and scary situation. There are some that have this feeling and face these trial every single day. These citizens could be living with a disorder that can hinder not only their social lives, but life in their career field and hinder how they live their lives. Social Anxiety Disorder as classified by the DSM-V is when the patient has a fear that is considered to be out of proportion to normality for any…

Hinduism and Life of Pi are closely connected, due to their incorporation of animals in both the book and the religion. Hinduism closely incorporates animals through their gods, while in Life of Pi, Pi has a close relationship with animals and talks about them a lot throughout the story. Some examples of this are: Animals in Hinduism are very important, Hindu gods use them as vehicles (Hindu Gods/Goddesses and Their Amazing Vehicles). In Life of Pi, the author notices many statues and pictures…

When going through a tough situation, family is usually there encouraging, helping through the chaos. Survival comes with having family,whether relatives or really close friends. Both Night and Sold have to do with survival and the importance of family. Night was written by Elie Wiesel and Sold was written by Patricia McCormick. By examining the novels Night and Sold we can see that most people that go through evil acts survive because of family,which is important because people could feel they…

Chapter 5- A work that I am familiar with that reflects Shakespeare is Brave New World, the Novel by Aldous Huxley. The author explores the ideas and boundary exploring ideas of the nature of humanity as Shakespeare does in The Tempest. Huxley's characters share similar characters to Shakespeare. John the savage has never seen “civilization”, much like Miranda from who has been on an island with only her father and two spirits. Chapter 6- One Biblical Allusion that Foster does not mention is…