Culture

Rabindranath Tagore's family name was actually Banerjee. Being Brahmins, the Tagore family's ancestors were referred to as 'Thakurmashai' or 'Holy Sir'. During the British rule, this name stuck and they began to be recognised as Thakur and eventually the family name got anglicised to Tagore.

In 1984, Indira Gandhi was not allowed to enter the temple of Lord Jagannath at Puri because she had married a Parsi, Feroze Gandhi.

Jawaharlal Nehru was a lapsed Hindu, who never entered a temple in adult life.

The 1998 series of Indonesian 20000 rupiah notes contain an image of Ganesha on the left along with that of former president, Sukarno.

Some Indian languages have chosen to name the planet Uranus, Prajapati, after the Hindu/Vedic Creator persona. Some prefer the term Harshal, an Indianisation of Herschel. Uranus was discovered by William Herschel in 1781 and named after the Greek god of the sky, father of the Titans, and grandfather of the Greek pantheon.

Some Indian languages have chosen to name the planet Neptune, Varun, after the Hindu/Vedic god of water/rain/ocean. Neptune was discovered in 1846 and named after the Roman god of the sea.

Many Indian languages have chosen to name the "planet" Pluto, Yama, after the Hindu god of death. Pluto was discovered in 1930 and named after the Greek god of the underworld/afterlife.

In Sanskrit, madana tends to mean intoxicating or passionate and is synonymous with the god of love, Kama. Madanankushaha & madanayudham mean penis and vulva respectively.

The alien warrior race in the Bruce Willis film, The Fifth Element, are called the Mangalores.