Parashurama, (Sanskrit: “Rama with the Ax”) one of the 10 avatars (incarnations) of the Hindu god Vishnu. The Mahabharata and the Puranas record that Parashurama was born to the Brahman sage Jamadagni and the princess Renuka, a member of the Kshatriya class. When Jamadagni suspected Renuka of an unchaste thought, he ordered Parashurama to cut off her head, which the obedient son did. Later, to avenge the murder of his father by a Kshatriya, he killed all the male Kshatriyas on earth 21 successive times (for, each time, their wives survived and gave birth to new generations) and filled five
Shiva, (Sanskrit: “Auspicious One”) also spelled Śiwa or Śiva, one of the main deities of Hinduism, whom Shaivites worship as the supreme god. Among his common epithets are Shambhu (“Benign”), Shankara (“Beneficent”), Mahesha (“Great Lord”), and Mahadeva (“Great God”). Shiva is represented in a variety of forms: in a pacific mood with his consort Parvati and son Skanda, as the cosmic dancer (Nataraja), as a naked ascetic, as a mendicant beggar, as a yogi, as a Dalit (formerly called untouchable) accompanied by a dog (Bhairava), and as the androgynous union of Shiva and his consort in one body, half-male and
On the northwest coast of Borneo, overlooking the South China Sea and bordering Malaysia, lies a small Islamic sultanate also known as the "Abode of Peace." It is Brunei, a small but very wealthy state-thanks to oil-and famous for the luxurious and affluent life of its sultan. For