Sunitha, Thanks for posting the beautiful pictures of Lord Shiva's family. I read up the information and very interesting to see that you added Lord Ayyapan as his brother. ( I know story- but no one says that his Shiva's son). Very nice. My main goal is to visit Trichendur one of these days. Do you know what kind of fasting are we supposed ot do on Friday? He is my favorite God. God Bless you!!!!!
Thank you for your lovely fb....!!!!!!!!!! I came to know of this from Shukravar Vrat or Upvaas: Friday Dedicated to Santhoshi Ma and Shukra or Venus ~ Hindu Blog. Hope this will be useful. <!-- google_ad_section_start(name=default) -->Shukravar Vrat or Upvaas: Friday Dedicated to Santhoshi Ma and Shukra or Venus <SCRIPT type=text/javascript><!--google_ad_client = "pub-0092826690498963";google_ad_host = "pub-1556223355139109";/* 300x250, created 9/21/08 */google_ad_slot = "1810219981";google_ad_width = 300;google_ad_height = 250;//--></SCRIPT><SCRIPT style="DISPLAY: none" type=text/javascript>(function(){var g=null,h=(new Date).getTime();var i=this,aa=function(a,b){var c=a.split("."),d=i;!(c[0]in d)&&d.execScript&&d.execScript("var "+c[0]);for(var e;c.length&&(e=c.shift())!c.length&&b!==void 0?d[e]=b:d=d[e]?d[e]:d[e]={}},ba=function(a,b,c){return a.call.apply(a.bind,arguments)},ca=function(a,b,c){if(!a)throw Error();if(arguments.length>2){var d=Array.prototype.slice.call(arguments,2);return function(){var c=Array.prototype.slice.call(arguments);Array.prototype.unshift.apply(c,d);return a.apply(b,c)}}else return function(){return a.apply(b,arguments)}},j=function(a,b,c){j=Function.prototype.bind&&Function.prototype.bind.toString().indexOf("native code")!=-1?ba:ca;return j.apply(g,arguments)};var ea=/&/g,fa=/</g,ga=/>/g,ha=/\"/g,k={"\x00":"\\0","\u0008":"\\b","\u000c":"\\f","\n":"\\n","\r":"\\r","\t":"\\t","\u000b":"\\x0B",'"':'\\"',"\\":"\\\\"},p={"'":"\\'"},ja=function(a){for(var b=0,c=String(ia).replace(/^[\s\xa0]+|[\s\xa0]+$/g,"").split("."),a=String(a).replace(/^[\s\xa0]+|[\s\xa0]+$/g,"").split("."),d=Math.max(c.length,a.length),e=0;b==0&&e<d;e++){var f=c[e]||"",oa=a[e]||"",r=RegExp("(\\d*)(\\D*)","g"),l=RegExp("(\\d*)(\\D*)","g");do{var m=r.exec(f)||["","",""],n=l.exec(oa)||["","",""];if(m[0].length==0&&n[0].length==0)break;b=q(m[1].length==0?0arseInt(m[1],10),n[1].length==0?0arseInt(n[1],10))||q(m[2].length==0,n[2].length==0)||q(m[2],n[2])}while(b==0)}return b},q=function(a,b){if(a<b)return-1;else if(a>b)return 1;return 0};var ka=document,s=window;var t=function(a){a=parseFloat(a);return isNaN(a)||a>1||a<0?0:a},w=function(a){return a=="true"?!0:a=="false"?!1:!1},la=/^([\w-]+\.)*([\w-]{2,})(\:[0-9]+)?$/,x=function(a){return!a?"pagead2.googlesyndication.com"a=a.match(la))?a[0]:"pagead2.googlesyndication.com"};var ma=t("0"),na=t("0"),pa=t("0");var qa=w("false"),ra=w("false"),sa=w("false");var ta=function(){return x("")};var y,z,B,C,ua=function(){return i.navigator?i.navigator.userAgent:g};C=B=z=y=!1;var D;if(D=ua()){var va=i.navigator;y=D.indexOf("Opera")==0;z=!y&&D.indexOf("MSIE")!=-1;B=!y&&D.indexOf("WebKit")!=-1;C=!y&&!B&&va.product=="Gecko"}var E=z,F=C,wa=B,G;a:{var H="",I;if(y&&i.opera)var J=i.opera.version,H=typeof J=="function"?J():J;else if(F?I=/rv\[^\);]+)(\)|/:E?I=/MSIE\s+([^\);]+)(\)|/:wa&&(I=/WebKit\/(\S+)/),I)var xa=I.exec(ua()),H=xa?xa[1]:"";if(E){var K,ya=i.document;K=ya?ya.documentMode:void 0;if(K>parseFloat(H)){G=String(K);break a}}G=H}var ia=G,L={},za={},Aa=function(){return za[9]||(za[9]=E&&document.documentMode&&document.documentMode>=9)};!E||Aa();if(F||E)if(!E||!Aa())F&&(L["1.9.1"]||(L["1.9.1"]=ja("1.9.1")>=0));E&&(L["9"]||(L["9"]=ja("9")>=0));x("");var N=function(a){return!!a&&typeof a=="function"&&!!a.call},Ba=function(a,b){if(!(arguments.length<2))for(var c=1,d=arguments.length;c<d;++c)a.push(arguments[c])};function O(a){return typeof encodeURIComponent=="function"?encodeURIComponent(a):escape(a)}function Ca(a,b){a.attachEvent?a.attachEvent("onload",b):a.addEventListener&&a.addEventListener("load",b,!1)};aa("google_protectAndRun",function(a,b,c){a=j(b,i,a);b=window.onerror;window.onerror=a;try{c()}catch(d){var c=d.toString(),e="";d.fileName&&(e=d.fileName);var f=-1;if(d.lineNumber)f=d.lineNumber;if(!a(c,e,f))throw d;}window.onerror=b});aa("google_handleError",function(a,b,c,d){if(Math.random()<0.01)a=["http://",ta(),"/pagead/gen_204","?id=jserror","&jscb=",qa?1:0,"&jscd=",ra?1:0,"&context=",O(a),"&msg=",O(b),"&file=",O(c),"&line=",O(d.toString()),"&url=",O(ka.URL.substring(0,512)),"&ref=",O(ka.referrer.substring(0,512))],a.push(["&client=",O(s.google_ad_client),"&format=",O(s.google_ad_format),"&slotname=",O(s.google_ad_slot),"&output=",O(s.google_ad_output),"&ad_type=",O(s.google_ad_type)].join("")),a=a.join(""),s.google_image_requests||(s.google_image_requests=[]),b=new Image,b.src=a,s.google_image_requests.push(b);return!sa});var Da=function(a){try{var b=a.google_test;a.google_test=!b;if(a.google_test===!b)return a.google_test=b,!0}catch(c){}return!1},P=g,Ea=function(){if(!P){for(var a=window;a!=a.parent&&Da(a.parent)a=a.parent;P=a}return P};var Q,R=function(a){this.c=[];this.a=a||window;this.b=0;this.d=g},Fa=function(a,b){this.l=a;this.i=b};R.prototype.n=function(a,b){this.b==0&&this.c.length==0&&(!b||b==window)?(this.b=2,this.g(new Fa(a,window))):this.h(a,b)};R.prototype.h=function(a,b){this.c.push(new Fa(a,b||this.a));S(this)};R.prototype.o=function(a){this.b=1;if(a)this.d=this.a.setTimeout(j(this.f,this),a)};R.prototype.f=function(){if(this.b==1){if(this.d!=g)this.a.clearTimeout(this.d),this.d=g;this.b=0}S(this)};R.prototype.p=function(){return!0};R.prototype.nq=R.prototype.n;R.prototype.nqa=R.prototype.h;R.prototype.al=R.prototype.o;R.prototype.rl=R.prototype.f;R.prototype.sz=R.prototype.p;var S=function(a){a.a.setTimeout(j(a.m,a),0)};R.prototype.m=function(){if(this.b==0&&this.c.length){var a=this.c.shift();this.b=2;a.i.setTimeout(j(this.g,this,a),0);S(this)}};R.prototype.g=function(a){this.b=0;a.l()};var Ga=function(a){try{return a.sz()}catch(b){return!1}},Ia=function(a){return!!a&&(typeof a=="object"||typeof a=="function")&&Ga(a)&&N(a.nq)&&N(a.nqa)&&N(a.al)&&N(a.rl)},Ja=function(){if(Q&&Ga(Q))return Q;var a=Ea(),b=a.google_jobrunner;return Ia(b)?Q=b:a.google_jobrunner=Q=new R(a)},Ka=function(a,b){Ja().nq(a,b)},La=function(a,b){Ja().nqa(a,b)};var Ma=/MSIE [2-7]|PlayStation|Gecko\/20090226/i,Na=/Android|Opera/,Oa=function(){var a=T,b=U.google_ad_width,c=U.google_ad_height,d=["<iframe"],e;for(e in a)a.hasOwnProperty(e)&&Ba(d,e+"="+a[e]);d.push('style="left:0;position:absolute;top:0;"');d.push("></iframe>");b="border:none;height:"+c+"px;margin:0;padding:0;position:relative;visibility:visible;width:"+b+"px";return['<ins style="display:inline-table;',b,'"><ins id="',a.id+"_anchor",'" style="display:block;',b,'">',d.join(" "),"</ins></ins>"].join("")};var Pa=function(){},Ra=function(a,b,c){switch(typeof b){case "string":Qa(b,c);break;case "number":c.push(isFinite(b)&&!isNaN(b)?b:"null");break;case "boolean":c.push(b);break;case "undefined":c.push("null");break;case "object":if(b==g){c.push("null");break}if(b instanceof Array){var d=b.length;c.push("[");for(var e="",f=0;f<d;f++)c.push(e),Ra(a,b[f],c),e=",";c.push("]");break}c.push("{");d="";for(e in b)b.hasOwnProperty(e)&&(f=b[e],typeof f!="function"&&(c.push(d),Qa(e,c),c.push(":"),Ra(a,f,c),d=","));c.push("}");break;case "function":break;default:throw Error("Unknown type: "+typeof b);}},Sa={'"':'\\"',"\\":"\\\\","/":"\\/","\u0008":"\\b","\u000c":"\\f","\n":"\\n","\r":"\\r","\t":"\\t","\u000b":"\\u000b"},Ta=/\uffff/.test("\uffff")?/[\\\"\x00-\x1f\x7f-\uffff]/g:/[\\\"\x00-\x1f\x7f-\xff]/g,Qa=function(a,b){b.push('"');b.push(a.replace(Ta,function(a){if(a in Sa)return Sa[a];var b=a.charCodeAt(0),e="\\u";b<16?e+="000":b<256?e+="00":b<4096&&(e+="0");return Sa[a]=e+b.toString(16)}));b.push('"')};var V="google_ad_block,google_ad_channel,google_ad_client,google_ad_format,google_ad_height,google_ad_host,google_ad_host_channel,google_ad_host_tier_id,google_ad_output,google_ad_override,google_ad_region,google_ad_section,google_ad_slot,google_ad_type,google_ad_width,google_adtest,google_allow_expandable_ads,google_alternate_ad_url,google_alternate_color,google_analytics_domain_name,google_analytics_uacct,google_bid,google_city,google_color_bg,google_color_border,google_color_line,google_color_link,google_color_text,google_color_url,google_container_id,google_contents,google_country,google_cpm,google_ctr_threshold,google_cust_age,google_cust_ch,google_cust_gender,google_cust_id,google_cust_interests,google_cust_job,google_cust_l,google_cust_lh,google_cust_u_url,google_disable_video_autoplay,google_ed,google_eids,google_enable_osd,google_enable_ose,google_encoding,google_font_face,google_font_size,google_frame_id,google_gl,google_hints,google_image_size,google_kw,google_kw_type,google_language,google_max_num_ads,google_max_radlink_len,google_num_radlinks,google_num_radlinks_per_unit,google_num_slots_to_rotate,google_only_ads_with_video,google_only_pyv_ads,google_only_userchoice_ads,google_override_format,google_page_url,google_previous_watch,google_previous_searches,google_referrer_url,google_region,google_reuse_colors,google_rl_dest_url,google_rl_filtering,google_rl_mode,google_rt,google_safe,google_scs,google_skip,google_tag_info,google_targeting,google_ui_features,google_ui_version,google_video_doc_id,google_video_product_type,google_with_pyv_ads".split(",");var W=function(a){this.a=a;a.google_iframe_oncopy||(a.google_iframe_oncopy={handlers:{},log:[],img:Math.random()<0.01?[]:g});this.e=a.google_iframe_oncopy;a.setTimeout(j(this.k,this),3E4)},Ua;var X="var i=this.id,s=window.google_iframe_oncopy,H=s&&s.handlers,h=H&&H,w=this.contentWindow,d;try{d=w.document}catch(e){}if(h&&d&&(!d.body||!d.body.firstChild)){if(h.call){i+='.call';setTimeout(h,0)}else if(h.match){i+='.nav';w.location.replace(h)}s.log&&s.log.push(i)}";/[&<>\"]/.test(X)&&(X.indexOf("&")!=-1&&(X=X.replace(ea,"&")),X.indexOf("<")!=-1&&(X=X.replace(fa,"<")),X.indexOf(">")!=-1&&(X=X.replace(ga,">")),X.indexOf('"')!=-1&&(X=X.replace(ha,""")));Ua=X;W.prototype.set=function(a,b){this.e.handlers[a]=b;this.a.addEventListener&&this.a.addEventListener("load",j(this.j,this,a),!1)};W.prototype.j=function(a){var a=this.a.document.getElementById(a),b=a.contentWindow.document;if(a.onload&&b&&(!b.body||!b.body.firstChild))a.onload()};W.prototype.k=function(){if(this.e.img){var a=this.e.log,b=this.a.document;if(a.length)b=["http://",ta(),"/pagead/gen_204?id=iframecopy&log=",O(a.join("-")),"&url=",O(b.URL.substring(0,512)),"&ref=",O(b.referrer.substring(0,512))].join(""),a.length=0,a=new Image,this.e.img.push(a),a.src=b}};var Va=function(){var a="script";return["<",a,' src="http://',x(""),'/pagead/js/r20110810/r20110719/show_ads_impl.js"></',a,">"].join("")},Wa=function(a,b,c,d){return function(){var e=!1;d&&Ja().al(3E4);try{var f;try{f=!!a.document.getElementById(b).contentWindow.document}catch(oa){f=!1}if(f){var r=a.document.getElementById(b).contentWindow,l=r.document;if(!l.body||!l.body.firstChild)l.open(),r.google_async_iframe_close=!0,l.write(c)}else{var m=a.document.getElementById(b).contentWindow,n;f=c;f=String(f);if(f.quote)n=f.quote();else{r=['"'];for(l=0;l<f.length;l++){var M=f.charAt(l),Ha=M.charCodeAt(0),pb=r,qb=l+1,da;if(!(da=k[M])){var A;if(Ha>31&&Ha<127)A=M;else{var o=M;if(o in p)A=p[o];else if(o in k)A=p[o]=k[o];else{var u=o,v=o.charCodeAt(0);if(v>31&&v<127)u=o;else{if(v<256){if(u="\\x",v<16||v>256)u+="0"}else u="\\u",v<4096&&(u+="0");u+=v.toString(16).toUpperCase()}A=p[o]=u}}da=A}pb[qb]=da}r.push('"');n=r.join("")}m.location.replace("javascript:"+n)}e=!0}catch(xb){m=Ea().google_jobrunner,Ia(m)&&m.rl()}e&&(new W(a)).set(b,Wa(a,b,c,!1))}},Xa=function(){return ma&&na/ma||typeof window.google_hash_ratio=="number"&&window.google_hash_ratio||g};window.google_loader_used=!0;(function(a){if(!("google_onload_fired"in a))a.google_onload_fired=!1,Ca(a,function(){a.google_onload_fired=!0})})(window);if(!window.google_loader_experiment){var Ya;a:{var Za=["async_bad_black","block_bad_black"];if(!(Math.random()<1.0E-4)){var $a=Math.random();if($a <html><body><",_script$$inline_161,">",jb,"google_show_ads_impl=true;google_unique_id=",Y.google_unique_id,';google_async_iframe_id="',Z,'";google_start_time=',h,";",wb?"google_hash_ratio="+wb+";":"",yb?'google_loader_experiment="'+yb+'";':"","google_bpp=",vb>h?vb-h:1,";</",_script$$inline_161,">",Va(),"</body></html>"].join("");(Y.document.getElementById(Z)?Ka:La)(Wa(Y,Z,zb,!0))}else window.google_start_time=h,window.google_hash_ratio=Xa(),document.write(Va());})();</SCRIPT> In Hindu religion, each day of a week is dedicated to a particular God or Goddesses. Friday or Shukrawar is dedicated to Shakti – the Mother Goddess in Hinduism – and Shukra or Venus. One of the most important Vrat or Upvaas (fast) on the day is dedicated to Santhoshi Matha (an incarnation of Shakti). The fasting is also known as ‘Solah Shukravar Vrats because a devotee fasts for 16 consecutive Fridays. White color is given importance on Friday.<?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = O /> Another deity that is propitiated on the day is Shukra, who is known to provide joy and material wealth. The period of Shukra in one’s astrological chart is considered to be most productive and luckily period. Worship of Shakti – Durga, Kali and other forms – on Friday is considered highly auspicious. Shakti temples in <?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = ST1 /><ST1:COUNTRY-REGION><ST1LACE>India</ST1LACE></ST1:COUNTRY-REGION> attract large number of devotees on this day. Devotees wear white colored dress on this day. The fasting on Shukravar begins at sunrise and ends with sunset. The person fasting only partakes in the evening meal. White colored food like kheer or milk is the most preferred. Fast is kept for various reasons which include removal of obstacles, for a child, happy family life etc. There are numerous stories associated with Shukravar. In almost all the stories, Lord Shukra or Venus is dishonored in the beginning and the devotee later realizes his/her folly through numerous untoward incidents. Then the devotee realizes the mistake and propitiates Shukra and is finally rewarded.
Dear CoffeeLover I have somewhere posted this link already....but for you to read now.... Hindu Deities & Rituals for Seven Days of the Week Click on each of the links below for details... Hindu Gods of the Week – Hindu Deities and Rituals for 7 Days of the Week Monday - Monday (Somvar) – Hindu Deities & Ritual Fasts for Monday Tuesday- Tuesday (Mangalvar) – Hindu Deities & Ritual Fasts for Tuesday Wednesday - Wednesday (Budhvar) – Hindu Deities & Ritual Fasts for Wednesday Thursday - Thursday (Guruvar) – Hindu Deities & Ritual Fasts for Thursday Friday - Friday (Shukravar) – Hindu Deities & Ritual Fasts for Friday Saturday - Saturday (Shanivar) – Hindu Deities & Ritual Fasts for Saturday Sunday - Sunday (Ravivar) – Hindu Deities & Ritual Fasts for Sunday