Glossary

All terms are Sanskrit in origin unless otherwise noted by (U) Urdu, (T) Tamil, (AV) Avestan, or (A) Arabic.

abhinaya (abhi-naya) performance of a mood (rasa) in dance or drama (see also: rasa, raga, tala, mudra).

abhiseka (abhi-sheka) “anointing,” refers to the act of pouring of water upon temple icons; other liquids may also be used, e.g., ghee or honey; this is usually the first ritual performed on an icon each day. It may also refer to the inauguration of a king.

acarya (a-charya) teacher, usually in the sense of a guru.

adhvaryu priest associated with the Yajur Veda, the prose Veda which gives detailed explanations of Vedic rituals.

advaita (a-dvaita) “non-dualism”; concept often associated with forms of Vedanta philosophy (see also: dvaita).

agama (a-gama) ritual manual; different agamas are used by various sects (e.g., Saivagamas, Paricaratragamas, Vaikanasagamas).

ahimsa (a-himsa) Jain concept of non-violence or harmlessness; abstention from injury to living things.

ajlva (a-jiva) “non-life entity”; important concept in Jainism (see also: jiva). ajlvika (a-jivika) materialist; name of a heterodox philosophical movement. akam (T) poetic term from cankam poetry of Tamil Nadu; refers to the world of home, and is characterized by love (see also: puram).

alamkara “ornamentation” or embellishment, particularly used in language as a literary technique, e.g., metaphors, plays on words, similes, puns.

alaya-vijnana (a-laya-vi-janana) “storehouse consciousness”; Mahayana Buddhist term, especially associated with the Yogacara school of Buddhism.

anatman (an-atman) “no-self’; opposite or negation of atman; a fundamental concept in early Buddhism.

anatta “no-self’; Pali spelling of anatman.

anava (T) ego.

anda egg.

anitya impermanence; used especially in Four Noble Truths of Buddhism to describe the nature of reality; implies that there is no logic to the succession inherent in karma.

annaprasana Hindu ceremony involving the first feeding of solids to an infant of six months.

anpu (T) love of god toward a human being.

anumana (anu-mana) perception by analogy (taught by Sankara). aparigraha (a-parigraha) “non-possession,” one of the five Jain vows. arati worship involving the waving of lamps before a deity. arcana (arch-ana) ritual offering or gift-giving.

arhat “perfected person,” refers to the ideal person in Theravada Buddhist sects. (Pali: arhant.)

artha statecraft; aim/goal of life; wealth; one of the four purusarthas or goals of humankind (see also: kama, dharma, and moksa).

arthavada (artha-vada) “explanation of the purpose; praise,” expositions of the acts of rituals, e.g., Brahmanas.

arul (T) grace or mercy; occurs when a deity possesses an individual as a sign of the deity’s favor.

asana “seat”; refers to yogic postures.

asha (AV) in Zoroastrianism, the force or path of righteousness, with emphasis on good thoughts, words, and deeds.

ashraf (A) an individual who claims to be and is accepted as a descendant of Muhammad through his daughter, Fatima.

asrama (ashram) stage of life; monastery; stage in a brahman’s life.

asteya non-stealing; one of the precepts ofJainism.

astika believing or pious (see also: ndstika). asura demon, particularly in Vedic mythology. asvamedha (ashva-medha) horse sacrifice.

atman “self’; literally, “breath” or “life” (see also: anatman).

avaidika anyone who is not a follower of the Vedas, e.g., “heterodox” groups like the Buddhists, Jains, and Ajlvikas (see also: vaidika).

avatara incarnation of a deity; literally, “one who crosses down,” that is, one who comes to earth.

avidya ignorance.

bandha that which binds together; in Jainism, the process which binds together jlvas and afivas.

bhakta one who is devoted to a deity or guru; hence, a devotee.

bhakti devotion to and “participation” in or with a deity.

bheda to divide; in statecraft, becoming an ally of one’s enemies’ enemy; division, separation, splitting.

bodhisattva enlightened person in Mahayana Buddhism who vows not to attain final enlightenment until all sentient beings have become enlightened; thus, a bodhisattva is viewed as exceedingly compassionate (see also: arhat).

brahmacarya religious study or the religious studentship of a brahman youth, passed in celibacy, being the first stage in the religious life of a brahman.

brahmadeya abode of brahmans.

brahman supreme essence of the universe in Hindu cosmology.

brahmana (also brahman) priestly class; highest of the four classes (see also: ksatriya, vaisya, sudra).

buddhi intellect, wisdom, insight.

caitya (chaitya) uppermost feature of a Buddhist stupa, symbolizing the Buddha’s having transcended the cosmos.

cakra (chakra) literally, “wheel” (see also: cakravartin); a physio-psychical center, of which there are seven in classical yoga.

cakravartin (chakra-vartin) “turner of the wheel”; in Buddhism, one who sets in motion the wheel of dharma.

cankam (T) (sangam) from Sanskrit sangha, meaning “assembly”; poems that are arranged into two main categories, the interior or akam, relating to love and family life, and the exterior or puram, relating to war and kings. cit (chit) intellect, senses, mind.

civam (T) (sivam) formless or aniconic reality (see linga); term used in Saiva Siddhanta.

civan (T) (sivan) formed or active deity; term used in Saiva Siddhanta. dachma (AV) in Zoroastrianism, a tower-like structure on which dead bodies

are exposed, also known as the “tower of silence.”

daeva (AV) in Zoroastrianism, a demon.

dana gift, giving; “bribing” as a means of statecraft (artha).

danda “club,” as in a weapon; refers to the policy whereby one defeats one’s enemy through battle.

dar al-harb (A) “world of hostility”; in Islam refers to lands not under the guidance of God’s law.

dar al-islam (A) “world of peace”; in Islam refers to lands under the guidance of God’s law (see shan‘a).

darsana (darshana) sight, vision; act of seeing and being seen by a deity, usually through an encounter with an iconic representation of the deity, particularly when the icon is filled with “power”; also means “viewpoint,” as in philosophical viewpoint.

deva deity (see also: dein).

devandgari script used in writing Sanskrit; literally, “city [writing] of the gods.”

devapuja act of giving honor to a deity (deva); often performed to an icon through the giving of flowers, incense, fruit, etc. (see also: puja).

devaputra son of god or the gods; a title given to kings.

devi goddess (see also: devci).

dhamma Pali word for dharma.

dharana focus or concentration; associated with yogic or meditative practice. dharma that which upholds the universe; righteousness; law; proper way of acting; order as opposed to chaos; probably the term that most closely resembles the Western notion of “religion” (see also: rta).

dhimmi (A) “protected” persons; according to Islamic teaching, dhimmi are the non-Muslim members of an Islamic society who must pay tax (jizyah); in return, they are protected.

dhyana concentration; meditation without objects.

digambara literally, “sky-clad”; refers to Jain ascetics.

diksa (diksha) initiation.

duhkha misfortune, suffering, unhappiness; the first of the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism is that life is characterized by duhkha.

dvaita dualism (see also: advaita).

garbhagrha (garbha-griha) womb-house; the area of the temple in which the icon resides.

ghazal (U) a Persian lyric poem; rarely of more than a dozen couplets and in the same meter.

gopura large entryways to South Indian temples, especially seen in temples built from the eleventh-twelfth centuries onward. (Tamil: kopueiiiii.)

grhastya (griha-sta) householder stage of life (see also: brahmacarya, vanaprastha, samnydsi).

grhya (grih-ya) “household”; type of ritual performed in one’s home, often by a brahman priest.

guna quality; Samkhya teaches that three strands (sattva, rajas, tamas) are the fundamental elements of which the universe is composed.

guru teacher; also guru in Sikh context.

hadith (A) commentaries on things said or deeds undertaken by the Prophet Muhammad.

hajj (A) pilgrimage to Mecca; one of the Five Pillars of Islam is pilgrimage to Mecca, which should be done at least once during one’s lifetime (also hadj j).

hiranyagarbha golden seed/womb; refers to the creation myth in which the sun appears to be rising out of the water as it reflects off the water at dawn, as if the water were a golden seed/womb.

hoama (AV) also homa; name of a plant with medicinal and spiritual properties; also refers to the name of the spiritual being presiding over the hoama plant.

hotr (hotri) Vedic priest who pours libations into the sacrificial fire and chants hymns from the RgVeda; literally, “one who offers sacrifice.”

huzUr (P) “sacral presence” of Allah in the courts of the Islamic sultanates. ‘id (A) “festival” or “day.”

‘id al adha (A) “festival of the sacrifice”; commemorates the day on which the Prophet Ibrahim tried to fulfill Allah’s command to sacrifice his son Ishmael, but was prevented from doing so by an angel.

‘id al fitr (A) “festival of the breaking of the fast.” It is a time of celebration and rejoicing for it officially brings the observance of fasting during Ramadan to a close.

ijma‘ (A) consensus of legal scholars regarding a particular moral or ethical issue, it is one of the four sources of Sunni Muslim jurisprudence (also idjma ’).

imam (A) individual interpreter of the Qur‘an, especially in Shiite Islam; often the imam is both a religious and political figure.

isvara (ishvara) lord; a personal deity found in some forms of yoga.

itihasa history; literally, “thus it was”; the Mahabharata is referred to as itihasa literature.

jamrat (A) the three stone pillars which symbolically represent the locations where the devil attempted to tempt the Prophet Ibrahim away from the path of Allah; pilgrims symbolically stone these pillars.

jihad (A) “striving” to carry out the will of Allah.

jiva life-entities, associated with Jainism (see also: ajiva).

jizyah (A) the tax paid by non-Muslims (dhimmis) in exchange for protection. jnana knowledge, wisdom; one of the principal means of ascertaining how one ought to live in order to live in accordance with dharma; a means of attaining moksa (see also: dharma, moksa).

ka‘ba (A) sacred stone that is in the center of the Grand Mosque of Mecca, toward which Muslims face in prayer and to which they make pilgrimage.

kaliyuga the last of the four cyclical time periods in Hindu cosmology. kima aesthetics; life of culture, e.g., literature, arts; love (i.e., Kamasutra);

one of the four goals/aims of humankind (purusirthas).

karma action; especially important in Buddhism, Jainism, and other ethical, action-oriented systems.

kathak North Indian style of classical dance, characterized by rhythmic footwork.

kevalajndna in Jainism, knowledge isolated from karmic obstruction; infinite knowledge; omniscience; knowledge involving awareness of every existent thing in all its qualities and modes.

ksatriya warrior class, previously known as rajanyas; second of four-fold class scheme (see also: brahman, vaisya, sidra).

laksarcana praising by 1,000 names; a type of ritual performed to temple icons.

langar communal kitchen in Sikhism.

laya yoga ethical yoga.

lila literally, “play”; the view espoused by Natyasastra, a text which

elaborates upon aesthetics, that is, drama, music, art; associated generally with Krsna, particularly in his childhood, and his playful mischievousness; the world is seen as a “play” that one enters into joyfully.

linga aniconic representation of the deity Siva; literally, “mark” or “auspicious mark.”

mahakavya type of poetry; literally, “great poem.” maharaja great king.

manas mind; in its widest sense, mind as the seat of intellectual operations and of emotions.

mandala circle, cycle; in literature, refers to cycles or chapters of a particular work; also, used in meditation practice as a visual aid.

mandapa part of the Hindu temple; pavilion. (Tamil: mantapam.)

mantra syllable, word, or group of words which have some special significance, often sacred in nature; used in meditation, chanting, and temple ritual.

marga path; a particular means or way by which one lives a “religious” life, or a path leading to release or liberation (moksa); for Buddhists, the Eightfold Path that leads to the cessation (nirodha) of suffering (duhkha). mastabhisekam (mast-abhi-shekam) head anointing ceremony (see abhiseka). matha monastery or solitary hut of an ascetic or student. (Tamil: matam.) matsya nyaya literally, the “law of the fishes”; since big fish swallow smaller fish, powerful rulers will “swallow” weak rulers.

maya the measured world; illusion.

mleccha (mlekkh-a) foreigner or barbarian.

moksa “liberation” or “release” from the vicissitudes of dharmic existence, for example; the goal of a religious path; one of the four purusarthas or “goals” of the human (see also: kama, artha, dharma).

mudra specific hand pose, each with a different meaning; used in art, dance, and iconography.

mulamantra “primal insight”; usually given to a disciple by a guru.

muzuri (A) an Islamic emperor who is perceived to be a representative of Allah.

naksatra constellation; twenty-seven through which the moon passes each month.

nama name; nama and rupa, together, designate an entity that has “name and form,” as opposed to merely an abstract or conceptual existence.

namaz (U) Urdu for salat, the Islamic canonical prayer. The means given by Allah for mankind to make contact with him. It is a worship of the whole person; heart, mind, tongue, and body. It is the second of the Five Pillars of Islam.

nastika atheist, or non-believer (see also: iistika).

nirguna without qualities or form; deities tend to be worshiped either as having qualities (see also: saguna) or not having qualities, i.e., spirit.

nirodha cessation (of duhkha), which is the third of the Four Noble Truths; also, according to Yoga philosophy, the “cessation/suppression of the transformations of awareness” is yoga.

nirvana literally, the “blowing out” of the “flame” of existence, as in a candle; the goal of early forms of Buddhism; the cessation of thirst; a change in consciousness, not a place. (Pali: nibbana.)

niyama “commission”; appropriate actions, according to ethical yoga (laya); (see also yama).

om Sanskrit sacred syllable which becomes, among other things, equated with the totality of the universe.

paca (T) The “bonds” of existence, according to Saiva Siddhanta thought (see also: anava, maya, karma, andpacu).

pacu (T) “soul” or “cow”; takes the form to which it adheres; Saiva Siddhanta term (see also: paca).

paksa (paksha) fifteen days.

Pali language of early Buddhist canon; actually, the designation of the corpus of early Buddhist literature, which later became the name of the language in which that corpus was written.

pantha “path” (see also: margn).

paramdtman the “One”; supreme itman, emphasized by Sankara. pati lord; also, husband.

pir folk hero in some sects of Shiite Islam; pirs are worshiped at cemeteries after death.

pitrloka (pitri loka) heaven; literally, “world of the fathers” in Vedas. prajna (prajana) “wisdom” or “perfection”; especially important in

Mahayana schools of Buddhism; in Yogacara philosophy, the ten perfections become personified.

prakara “world”; concrete manifestation of brahman.

prakrti (prakriti) original, natural form or condition; matter, female (see also: purusa).

pranapratistha consecration of an icon; literally, breathing life into an icon.

pranayama breath control; literally “suspension of breath.” prapatti surrender (as to a deity).

prasada favor or grace; symbolized by the offering of camphor, food, etc. to devotees after such items have been “blessed” by the deity.

pratitya-samutpada chain of dependent causation or co-arising in early Buddhism.

pratyahara control of the senses; sense perceptions of the world, which tend to cause illusory images of reality.

pucca literally, ripe or complete.

pudgala person; notion posed by the Vatsiputrlya Buddhists as being similar to, but not the same as, skandhas.

puja honor, respect, or hospitality given to a deity, guru, king, or icon; the

ritual activity of offering honor.

pujari priest; in Jainism, temple “servant.”

puram (T) Tamil poetic orientation that refers to city life and the social order (see also: akam).

purana literary form, primarily mythological texts retelling the activities or lives of the gods.

purdah (A) veiling or covering of Islamic women in public; a symbol of “purity.”

purusa man, male, spirit (see also: prakrti).

raga “tune”; color; redness; passion, vehement desire, love, affection. rajanya “kings” who later became ksatriyas.

rajaraja “king of kings.”

rajas one of three strands/qualities of which the universe is comprised (see also: sattva, tamas).

rajasuya ritual coronation of a king.

raja yoga the “king” of yogas, it is concerned directly with the mind.

rasa flavor, taste, or essence; become “moods” through which the body can become congruent with the cosmos, i.e., through the arts.

rta (rita) “cosmic order”; in the Vedas, it is the god Varuna who maintains rta; (see also: dharma).

rupa form or beauty.

sabda (shabda) sound, word, voice, or noise; also a philosophical means of knowing through inner-understanding taught by Sankara.

saguna with qualities/form/attributes.

sakta (shakta) follower of sakti cult.

sakti (shakti) power, ability; female active energy of a deity.

samadhi trance; highest level of concentration in yoga; in Jainism, “release” which occurs when the jlvas predominate over ajivas.

saman “conciliation” or “appeasement”; strategy of artha.

Samkhya number or enumeration by categories; a way of wisdom, according to the Gita; name of a philosophical school of yoga.

samnyasi (sam-nyasi) ascetic; final stage of the Four Stages of Life (asramas). samsara eternal cyclicality of life processes; “flow” or “flux” of life;

transmigration, perpetual succession of births, cycle of existence with all its sorrows.

samskara “rite of passage” marked by ritual activity.

samskrta (sanskrit) sacred language used by learned classes; language of sacred texts.

samudaya arising (of duhkha), which is the second of the Four Noble Truths. sanatana dharma “eternal dharma”; modern, indigenous term used for the Western concept of “religion.”

sangat “brotherhood” in Sikhism; refers to the notion of equality. sankirtana singing or chanting the name of the divine.

sastra (shastra) texts which explain or elaborate upon particular topics.

sat-chit-ananda being/truth-knowledge/intellect-bliss; the ultimate goal, i.e., knowing/being the truth brings about bliss; term often associated with Vedanta philosophies.

sati ideal woman/wife; later, the practice of widow burning on a funeral pyre.

sattva one of three strands/qualities (guna) of which the universe is comprised (see also: rajas, tamas).

satya truth.

savikalpa knowing the One, according to Sankara.

shari‘a (A) the “law” of Islam in accord with the Qu‘ran, qiyas, sunna, and ijma

sikhara (shikara) part of Hindu temple architecture; literally, “pointed, peak, or pinnacle.”

silpa (shilpa) art of appearance; Silpasast.ras are manuals describingjust how to create, for example, iconography and temple architecture.

sivaratri literally, “the great night of Siva,” celebrated on the moonless night of the month of Phalguna (the fourteenth day in the dark half ).

skandha “aggregates” or “bundles” of senses which constituted the person in early Buddhism.

sloka (shloka) verse; type of Sanskrit meter that is prevalent in epic literature, consisting of two lines of text, sixteen syllables each.

soma fire ritual of early Aryans; “intoxicating” drink that gives power; probably the sap of a plant.

sraddha Hindu funeral ritual.

srama (shrama) weariness, exercise, religious, or studious effort.

sramana (shramana) ascetic, renouncer; name usually applied only to non­Vedic ascetics, e.g., Buddhists and Jains.

srauta (shrauta) public ritual.

sruti (shruti) “that which is heard”; refers to Vedas, as opposed to smrti literature which is “remembered” and, therefore, not necessarily “revealed/heard.”

sthalapurana history of a temple or place, usually written from an insider’s perspective. (Tamil: talapumna).

stupa dome-like mound which is an aniconic representation of the Buddha. sudra member of the fourth or servile class.

sunna normative traditions regarding the words and actions of Muhammad (see also hadith).

s'unyata (shunyata) emptiness, voidness; Mahayana Buddhist term,

especially important in Nagarjuna’s philosophy.

sutra compilation of aphorisms and/or couplets, often in poetic language; literally, “thread” or “string.”

svabhava having being or existence on one’s own.

svarupa having its own form.

svayambhu self-existent, independent, as an icon which appears of its own accord.

svetambara (shvet-ambara) “white-clad” Jain ascetics (see also: digambara). tala meter or beat of music.

talapurdna stories/myths about specific temples or places; especially developed during the twelfth to fifteenth centuries in South India.

tali a saffron-dyed string placed around the neck as part of the wedding ritual.

tamas one of the three strands/qualities (gunas) of which the universe is comprised (see also: sattva, rajas).

tantra name given to oral, then written, texts in which the human body is homologized to the cosmos; used for personal bhakti.

tantri an adherent of tantra.

tapas heat generated through ascetic practices; homologized to heat of the Vedic sacrificial fire and its messenger (Agni) to the gods.

tatalai (T) “head and foot”; the activity in which a devotee places his/her head to the foot of a guru/deity.

tathagata the “thus-gone-one” (namely, the Buddha).

tathagatagarbha “the womb of the thus-gone-one”; Buddhist teaching that the essence of the Buddha lives on in all human beings.

tat tvam asi “that thou art”; saying in Chandogya Upanisad that refers to the realization of one’s atman as being of the same essence as the cosmic brahman.

tejas majesty, glory, prestige.

taka argument/apologetic in which one viewpoint (darsana) is defended over and against another view.

tartha crossing place; sacred place.

tirtharikara in Jainism, “one who has crossed the ford”; that is, one of twenty- four in a line of “heroes/leaders” who have “crossed over” from this world to one characterized by pure “jivic” existence (see also: jiva and ajlva). tithi lunar day.

tratara “he who presides over all kings.”

trsna (trishna) “thirst” (for things which are actually impermanent, according to early Buddhism); fundamental human problem. (Pali: tanha.)

turiya the perception of non-duality; the highest stage of consciousness, according to Sankara’s Vedanta.

udgatr name for priests and priestesses who sang/chanted hymns of the Sama Veda

‘ulama‘ (A) scholars and/or clergy who are qualified to offer moral guidance to individuals and at times to Islamic society at large.

‘urs (A) wedding or ajoyous occasion signifying the meeting of two beings; in Sufism, the passing of a saint, seen as the ultimate unification with God the Beloved; also, the anniversary of same.

vac speech; also, name of a goddess.

vaidika orthodox; one who traces one’s lineage to the Vedic period; of, or relating to, the Vedas.

vaisya maintainers of the social order; third of four-fold class structure. vanaprastha “seeker”; literally, “forest” or “going forth to the forest”; third of the Four Stages of Life (asramas).

varna color or class, as in the four-fold class structure of brahman, ksatriya, vaisya, and sndrn.

varnasrama dharma system formulated by brahmans that describes one’s “position” in society according to one’s class (varna), life-stage (asrama), and proper mode of acting (dharma).

vastra ritual dressing of an icon.

vaastupurusamandala a geometric design combining space and the human body, which is then placed horizontally onto the temple floor; symbolic of the homologization between the human body and the cosmos.

vidhi rules for ritual.

vihara Buddhist monastery.

vimana the “tower” in South Indian Hindu temple architecture.

vinaya rules; one of the “baskets” of the Buddhist Tripitika (“three baskets”), or Theravada Buddhist canon, that elaborates rules for monastic life.

virya heroism; strength.

vrata penance in consequence of a vow.

vyavahara the manifold, phenomenal world (emphasized by Ramanujan). yaksa (yaksha) yaksi attendant of the Buddha; dwarf-like figures found on entries to stupa grounds.

yama restraint (e.g., non-stealing, celibacy); associated with ethical yoga (laya).

yantra a ritual map that is geographically expressed; a diagram for ritual/ meditation.

yasna (AV) the Zoroastrian ritual invocation of fire; corresponds to the Hindu ritual of yagna.

yoga discipline; also, specific “schools of yoga” (e.g., raja, laya, hatha, karma, samkhya, and classical).

yogin one who practices the discipline of yoga.

yuga a cycle of time; presently we are in the kaliyuga, the cycle of decline before the next cycle of creativity.