Arcadia Public Library

People around the world celebrate different festivals of lights, and Diwali is one of them. This festival is an important part of life for Hindus in India and other countries, and its traditions are beautiful and meaningful. Includes a story about Rama and Sita.

The Balinese Huindu faith express their devotion through music, dance and processions of beauty, but they do not take their faith lightly. The legends, ceremonies, songs, dances, sacred beliefs, and everyday life of Australia's Aboriginal Anangu and Tiwi tribes are explored. These indigenous people see the landscape as the living embodiment of their creation myths and stories from the Dream. Bali: Island of 1,000 temples -- Australia: Dreamtime....

Swayam is chosen to be his uncle's markundi during his elaborate wedding ceremony, and details the work that goes into preparing for an Indian wedding.

"Banaras, Varanasi, Kashi: India's holy city on the banks of the Ganges has many names but holds one ultimate promise for Hindus. It is the place where pilgrims come for a good death, to be released from the cycle of reincarnation by purifying fire. As the dutiful manager of a death hostel in Kashi, Pramesh welcomes the dying and assists families bound for the funeral pyres that burn constantly on the ghats. The soul is gone, the body is burnt, the...

"In Why I Am a Hindu, one of India's finest public intellectuals gives us a profound book about one of the world's oldest and greatest religions. Starting with a close examination of his own belief in Hinduism, he ranges far and wide in his study of the faith. He talks about the Great Souls of Hinduism, Adi Shankara, Patanjali, Ramanuja, Swami Vivekananda, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and many others who made major contributions to the essence of Hinduism"--...

"In Tamil Nadu, India, a boy is born with blue skin. His father sets up an ashram, and the family makes a living off of the pilgrims who seek the child's blessings and miracles, believing young Kalki to be tenth human incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu. Kalki is confronted with three trials in his tenth year-tests of his power that will prove his divine status and, his father tells him, spread his fame worldwide. Over the next decade, as the story...