Naropa Festival.

the annual week long Buddhist carnival Naropa festival, which was held near the Hemis Monastery. The Hemis Monastery is 11th-century world-famous monastary in Ladakh

Ladakhi Shondol dance has created history by breaking into Guinness book of world records as the largest Ladakhi dance. - royal dance of Ladakh

Naropa Festival: 'Kumbh of Himalayas'

themed ‘Environmental sustainability of Ladakh and the Himalayan region’

Naropa (11th century saint)was an Indian Scholar-Saint, who heralded the beginning of a rich tradition in Buddhist philosophy. His teachings of the Six Yogas of Naropa are one of the fundamental pillars of Vajrayana Buddhist tradition. It is also believed that Naropa was the gatekeeper of Nalanda University and posed questions on theology and philosophy to people who came for admission before deciding whether they deserved entrance or not.

Highlights of the Festival : The rare public display of six bone ornaments and the unfurling of the ancient silk ‘Thangka’ of Buddha Amitabha, the largest silk brocade in the Himalayas.

Note: A Thangka is a silk painting usually depicting a Buddhist deity, scene, or mandala on embroidery. A thangka is not flat like a painting but rather is a multi-tiered creation, typically consisting of three layers.

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Shramana tradition

Shramana means “seeker, one who performs acts of austerity, ascetic”. Shramana is a wandering monk in certain austere traditions of ancient India, including Jainism, Buddhism, and ajvika religion. The Shramana tradition gave rise to Jainism and Buddhism. The Shramanas adopted a path that is alternate to the Vedic rituals to achieve salvation, while renouncing domestic life. The Shramana tradition was responsible for the related concepts of saṃsāra (the cycle of birth and death) and moksha (liberation from that cycle). The Shramanas typically engaged three types of activities like austerities, meditation, and associated theories. Śramaṇas held a view of samsara as full of suffering (Dukka). They practiced Ahimsa and rigorous ascetism. They believed in Karma and Moksa and viewed rebirth as undesirable.

Barak River - surma - meghna

The Barak River is a 900-kilometre-long (560 mi) [1] [2] river flowing through the states of Manipur , Nagaland , Mizoram and Assam in India and into the Bay of Bengal via Bangladesh . Of the 900 km, 524 km is in India, 31 km on Indo – Bangladesh border and the rest is in Bangladesh. The navigable portion of Barak River in India, the 121 km stretch between Lakhipur and Bhanga has been declared as National Waterway 16, (NW-16) in the year 2016. [3] [4] The principal tributaries of the Barak are all in India and are the River Sonai (Tuirial River), the Jiri, the Tlawng (Dhaleswari / Katakal), the Longai, and the Madhura. Tipaimukh Dam is a proposed embankment dam on the Barak River. Flows into Bangladesh as the Surma river, and becomes the Meghna river before the Ganga - Brahmaputra river system. The Padma River joins it and flows into the Bay of Bengal as the Meghna river. The proposed Tipaimukh Dam on the Barak River in northeast India

Woods dispatch

Charles Wood was a British Liberal politician and Member of Parliament. He served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1846 to 1852. Later he became the President of the Board of Control of the East India Company. • In 1854 he sent the “Wood’s dispatch” to the Governor General Lord Dalhousie. • Following are the recommendations of Woods dispatch ▪ Establish Universities at Calcutta, Bombay and Madras with departments of English, Arabic, Sanskrit, Persian, Law and Civil engineering. ▪ Grant-in-aid system to encourage private enterprises. ▪ Promote women education by establishing girl schools. ▪ Encourage professional education –medical, law and engineering ▪ Establishment of teacher training schools in each of the provinces English as well as Indian languages should be used as media of instruction and Promote mass education by establishing colleges,

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