27 February 2014

Greetings on Mahashivaratri

 

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Today is Maha Shivratri (the 'Great Night of Shiva'). It  is a Hindu festival celebrated every year in reverence of Lord Shiva all over the country. Greetings to all the readers on this festive occasion.

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Mahashivaratri also marks the night when Lord Shiv performed the 'Tandava', the cosmic dance.According to another legend of Samudra manthan, Shiv saved the world from the disastrous effects of a poison that emerged as a by product of churning of sea (Samudra manthan), by consuming whole of it. Shiv could arrest the poison in his throat by his Yogic powers and it could not go down his body. His neck turned blue due to effect of poison on his throat and thenceforth he is also called as Neela Kantha or The blue Throated.

Unusual Flora – Plants of the Botanical Garden of Meise stamps from Belgium

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Bpost issued a sheet of 5 stamps from the series “Unusual flora” featuring some plants of the Botanical Garden of Meise.

The Botanical Garden of Meise is one of the largest botanical gardens in the world with an extensive collection of living plants in addition to a herbarium of over 3 million specimens. The current garden was established in 1958 after it moved from the center of Brussels. Researchers at the garden conduct research particularly on Belgian and African plants.

The Botanic Garden contains about 18,000 plant species – about 6% of all known plant species of the world. Half are in greenhouses, the other half, including cultivated and indigenous plants, are outdoors. The gardens are grouped around the castle and lake of the Bouchout domain.

The mission statement of the Botanic garden of Meise specifies the increasing and spreading “the knowledge of plants” and contributions to “the conservation of biodiversity.”

The plants featured on stamps are: Titan arum (Amorphophallus), Pebble plant (Lithops), Monkey cups (Nepenthes), Ant-house plant (Myrmecodia) and Jade wine (Strongylodon).

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