In this section,
I am providing general information - combination of a glossary, listing
of great personalities, locations & geographical landmarks, history
- in general any subject related to India. I have gathered the information
from various sources - books, magazines, internet, word of mouth.
General
information about India - I
 Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic
divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's
surface. It is bounded by Asia- including India (after which the ocean
is named) on the north, on the west by Africa, on the east by Australia,
and on the south by the Southern Ocean.
Among the few large rivers flowing into the Indian Ocean are the
Zambezi, Shatt al-Arab, Indus, Ganges, Brahmaputra, Jubba and Irrawaddy
River.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Ocean
Four critically important access waterways are the Suez Canal (Egypt),
Bab el Mandeb (Djibouti-Yemen), Strait of Hormuz (Iran-Oman), and Strait
of Malacca (Indonesia-Malaysia).
It includes Andaman Sea, Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal, Flores Sea,
Great Australian Bight, Gulf of Aden, Gulf of Oman, Java Sea, Mozambique
Channel, Persian Gulf, Red Sea, Savu Sea, Strait of Malacca, Timor Sea,
and other tributary water bodies.
http://geography.about.com/library/cia/blcindian.htm
The Indian Ocean is bounded by Iran, Pakistan, India, and
Bangladesh to the north; the Malay Peninsula, the Sunda Islands of
Indonesia, and Australia to the east; Antarctica to the south; and
Africa and the Arabian Peninsula to the west. In the southwest it joins
the Atlantic Ocean south of the southern tip of Africa, and to the east
and southeast its waters mingle with those of the Pacific.
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/285876/Indian-Ocean
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Itihasas
Itihasa literally
means history in Sanskrit.
The
Friendly Treatises and the Commanding Treatises: There are four books
under this heading: The Valmiki-Ramayana, the Yogavasishtha, The Mahabharata
and the Harivamsa. These embody all that is in the Vedas, but only in a
simpler manner. These are called the Suhrit-Samhitas or the Friendly Treatises,
while the Vedas are called the Prabhu-Samhitas or the Commanding Treatises
with great authority. These works explain the great universal truths in
the form of historical narratives, stories and dialogues
Source: Excerpt from "All About Hinduism"
by Sri Swami Sivananda - http://www.experiencefestival.com/a/Itihasas/id/22610
Read
this article for Comparison & contrast between Itihasas and Puranas
- http://veda.sakthifoundation.org/itihasas.htm
A
proper interpretation of the Itihasas and the Puranas would be to regard
them as the works of gifted seers, who availed themselves of certain ancient
or recent historical and religious traditions and wove those traditions
into narratives, anecdotes, episodes and homilies, these works reflecting
and reproducing certain attitudes towards life. In truth, there are a body
of writings which are popular expositions of inherited truths and messages,
their avowed purpose being to diffuse their purport amongst the people
at large. Thus, the Ramayana furnishes pictures of kings who led a spiritual
life and of ascetics who played a great part in the affairs of nations.
Difficult situations are pictured, whose impact on several human souls
is brilliantly analysed. Dharma, as the chief factor for the shaping of
human life, is the underlying motive of the Ramayana and its many episodes.
The Mahabharata is not only a picture of a great internecine struggle illustrating
the conflict of human motives and human attributes but a repertoire of
comprehensive secular and religious learning. It is not simply a great
poem but also a manual of ethics, politics and morality. It can well be
asserted that the Ramayana and the Mahabharata have throughout been the
foundations of Hindu ethics and beliefs.
Source: Excerpt from the article
"Religious and Literature articles" - http://sriramadesikan.com/religious-and-literature-articles/
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