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The idea of Ardhanarishvara (A Sanskrit term for half female and half male spiritual manifestation of the Hindu God Shiva) offers a fascinating investigation of gender dichotomy and its cohesion within the divine. This paper, "Ardhanarishvara as a Humanistic Construct of Hindu Philosophy: A Paradigm Shift beyond Spirituality" examines metaphorically, the mythological androgynous composite of Shiva and his consort Parvati from a humanistic angle. The present research explores this unusual depiction of divinities from allegorical, biological and social viewpoints. Ardhanarishvara, although a Hindu divine concept, finds parallels in Greek, Christian, Chinese and Japanese philosophies. Taking all such studies into consideration, the paper attempts to establish a shift from the existing popular notion of Shiva's spiritualism to a more relatable idea of humanism, thus establishing Shiva as a deity with humanistic attributes. The paper correlates the theories of Humanism to the idea of Ardhanarishvara and consequently, presents the latter as, not only a spiritual belief, but also an earthly ideology and thus very relevant to the mundane realities of human beings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata have been an integral part of the Indian cultural tradition. Since centuries, they have been told and reinterpreted several times and handed down from one generation to another. The Ramayana is based on the morals such as the triumph of goodness over evil, obedience, brotherhood, love, compassion, sacrifice - all looped into the thread of Indian cultural tradition with an emphasizes on the value of dharma. However, there are some female characters that have been left on the margin in this epic and have been portrayed as upholders of male honour. They are devoid of the proper attention for their roles and sacrifices they deserve. Kavita Kane in her novel, Sita's Sister has revisited the Ramayana from the daring and unwavering Urmila's (Laxmana's wife) perspective - a marginalized character who has never received the responsiveness she is worthy of. Kane has given voice to the muted character of Urmila. The present paper studies the contemporary relevance of Sita's Sister from feministrevisionist myth-making point of view. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gita Mehta, in her fiction and non-fiction, has dealt with the contradictions of the old and the new as a noteworthy factor of Indian culture. Scholars appear to believe that the factors of tradition and modernity are not negating to each other, as some earlier thinkers used to consider The ambivalence oj these contrasting factors is productive and, in fact, societydraws strength from the both for its progression. Taking into consideration the interpretation of scholars on the features of tradition, modernity modernization and westernization, the present paper is an attempt to explore the dual strings of the Indian ritualistic past and its modern rationalistic present, their interaction and their impact on the Indian culture. For this study, Mehta's fiction Raj is being taken into consideration as it deconstructs the philosophy of tradition and modernity as two separate water tight compartment and show cases them as Compromising. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The safety of dobutamine stress echocardiography (DSE) has been demonstrated in multiple studies with a major complication rate of <1%. Specifically, ventricular tachycardia during DSE has a reported incidence of 0.3%, and has been bound to be of no prognostic significance in patients without obstructive coronary artery disease. We report a unique case of fatal pheochromocytoma crisis precipitated by DSE in a patient with heretofore unknown adrenal disease. We are once again reminded that no diagnostic modality is absolutely without risk; however, minimal they might be. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]