Drona: the Pandavas’ tutor in martial arts in the Mahabharata
Drupada: father of Draupadi in the Mahabharata dualism: the philosophical view that god and the universe, including the worshiper, are of two different substances
Durga: “Hard to Get [to],” a goddess
Dvaita: dualism, a philosophical school, whose most famous proponent was Madhva
Dvapara Yuga: “The Age of the Deuce,” the third of the degenerating ages
Dyer, Major Reginald: British officer who gave the command for the massacre at Amritsar
Ekalavya: tribal (Nishada) prince who cut off his thumb at the request of Arjuna and Drona, in the Mahabharata
Ellamma: South Indian goddess with the body of a Brahmin woman and the head of a Dalit woman
Fs, the five: elements of Tantric ritual (fish, flesh, fermented grapes, frumentum, and fornication), see also Ms, the five
Faxian: Chinese visitor to India in 402 CE
Gandhari: wife of Dhritarashtra, mother of Duryodhana and his brothers, the enemies of the Pandavas, in the Mahabharata
Gandharvas : demigods, musicians, associated with fertility and horses; consorts of the Apsarases
Ganga: the Ganges River
Gargi: a feisty woman who interrogates sages in the Upanishads
Garuda: a mythical eagle, the mount of the god Vishnu
Gayatri: name of a meter; of a particularly holy verse in the Rig Veda; and of a goddess
Ghasidas : a Chamar who founded a branch of the Satnamis
Gita: short name of the Bhagavad Gita
Gonds : a tribal people
Gondwana: a mythical land thought to have been submerged long, long ago
Gugga (also spelled Guga): a folk god, said to have been a historical figure; famous for his flying black mare
guna: “quality,” term for the three strands of matter in Sankhya philosophy
Guru Nanak: founder of Sikhism, 1469-1539 CE
Hanuman: the monkey ally of Rama in the Ramayana
Harappa: ancient city in the Indus Valley, c. 2500 BCE
Harijan: “People of God” (Hari, Vishnu), Gandhi’s name for the Dalits
Indra: Veda king of the gods, god of rain, fertility, and war
Indrani: wife of the Vedic god Indra
itihasa: “that’s what happened,” history
Jabali: a Brahmin who argues for atheism in the Ramayana
Jagannatha: “Lord of the Universe,” the name of a form of Vishnu, especially in a temple in Puri, Orissa
Jainas : followers of the religion founded by the Jina, in the fifth century BCE
Jambu-dvipa: “the plum tree continent,” the ancient name for the subcontinent of India
Janaka: a king of Videha, father of Sita
Janashruti: a king in the Upanishads
Jara: “old age”; also the name of a hunter who kills the incarnate god Krishna
jati: “birth,” caste
Jina: Vardhamana Mahavira, founder of Jainism
jizya: tax levied by Muslim rulers on subjects who did not perform military service
Kabir: a poet, c. 1398-1448 CE, whose teachings bridged Hinduism and Islam
Kaikeyi: mother of Bharata in the Ramayana, who insisted that Rama be exiled
Kalamukhas : “Death Heads,” a sect of antinomian Shaivas
Kali (goddess): “Time” or “Doomsday,” goddess of sex and violence and much more
Kali Age (Yuga): the fourth and worst of the ages; the present age
Kalidasa: a Gupta poet, author of Shakuntala
Kalinga: the ancient name of Orissa
Kalki: the final avatar of Vishnu, a horse-headed warrior who will kill the barbarians
Kama-sutra: textbook of pleasure, composed by Vatsyayana, third century CE
Kamsa: king who devoted his life to the attempt to kill Krishna
Kannappar: Tamil saint who tore out his eyes for Shiva
Kanphata: “Pierced-Ear,” name of a sect of yogis
Kapala-mochana: “The Release of the Skull,” the shrine in Varanasi where the skull of Brahma fell from Shiva’s hand
Kapalikas : “Skull Bearers,” a sect of Shaivas who imitate Shiva’s wandering with Brahma’s skull
karma: action, or the fruits of action
Karna: illegitimate son of Kunti, raised by low-caste Charioteers, in the Mahabharata
kathenotheism: F. Max Müller’s term for the worship of one supreme god at a time
Kaula: “belonging to the family [kula],” name of a Tantric sect
Kausalya: mother of Rama, in the Ramayana
Kautilya: author of the Artha-shastra
kavya: poetry
Khandoba: Maharashtrian god associated with dogs
kliba: a sexually challenged man
Krishna: an incarnation of Vishnu, a hero of the Mahabharata who grew up among cowherds
Krita Yuga: the first, or Winning Age
Kshatriyas : the class of warriors and kings
Kshetrayya: a poet, 1622-1673 CE, who wrote poems to Krishna in Telugu
Kula: “the family,” name for a Tantric sect
Kumbhakarna: “Pot Ear,” a brother of Ravana, in the Ramayana
Kundalini: “the encircling,” name of a coiled spinal power energized through Tantric yoga
Kunti: a wife of Pandu, mother of the Pandavas and of Karna (all fathered by gods), in the Mahabharata
Kutsa: a son of Indra, in the Brahmanas
Lakshmana: brother of Rama, in the Ramayana
Lakshmi: goddess of fortune, wife of Vishnu and of earthly kings
Lakulisha: “Lord Holding a Club,” founder of the Pashupata sect of Shaivas
Lanka: a mythical island ruled by the ogre Ravana
Laukification: the process by which the Sanskritic tradition absorbs popular (laukika [“of the people,” loka]) traditions
left-hand: sinister or unclean, said by Hindus who think they are the right hand, about other Hindus, particularly certain Tantrics
Lemuria: mythical supercontinent said to have once connected India and Australia
linga: “sign,” a sign of sex, particularly the male sexual organ, more particularly the sexual organ of the god Shiva; also regarded as an abstract symbol of Shiva
Lingayat: a South Indian sect of Shaivas, also known as Virashaivas and Charanas
Lokayatas : Materialists, also called Charvakas
Ms, the five: the five elements of Tantric ritual (mansa, matsya, madya, mudra, maithuna). See also Fs, the five
Madhva: a philosopher, c. 1238-1317 CE, in Karnataka, exponent of the Dvaita (dualist) school
Madri: a wife of Pandu in the Mahabharata; mother of the twins Nakula and Sahadeva
Mahabharata: the longer of the two great Sanskrit epics, attributed to the sage Vyasa
Mahadevi: “the great goddess”
Mahadevyyakka: twelfth-century CE woman, Virashaiva saint and poet
Mahisha: “the buffalo,” a buffalo antigod killed by Durga
Mahisha-mardini: “buffalo crushing,” an epithet of Durga
maithuna: “pairing,” sexual coupling
Mallanna: a Maharashtrian god who often takes the form of a dog
Mandavya: a sage, unjustly impaled on a stake, in the Mahabharata
Manikkavacakar: nineth-century CE Shaiva poet, author of the Tiruvacakam
Mankanaka: a sage who danced too much
mamsa: flesh
Manu: a mythical sage, author of a dharma text
Marathas : a people of Maharashtra
Marathi: language of Maharashtra
mare Fire (Vadava-agni): submarine fire in the mouth of a mare
Mariamma: South Indian goddess with the head of a Brahmin woman and the body of a Dalit woman
Maricha: ogre ally of Ravana, who takes the form of a deer to delude Sita
Maruts : wind gods
matt: a Hindu theological school
Mauryas : a great dynasty, from 324 to 185 BCE
&nb
sp; Meru: the great mountain at the center of the world
Mimamsa: the philosophy of logic
Mirabai: Hindi poet and woman saint, devotee of Krishna, 1498-1597 CE
Mitra: “Friend,” a Vedic god closely linked with Varuna
mlecchas: barbarians
Mohenjo-Daro: a great city in the Indus Valley, c. 2500 BCE
moksha: Release, from the circle of transmigration
monism: doctrine that the universe is made of one divine substance
mrigas : wild beasts, in contrast with pashus, domesticated or sacrificial beasts; also a word for deer
Mrityu: death
Murukan: South Indian god identified with Skanda
Muttal Ravuttan: a Muslim horseman, a South Indian Hindu folk hero
nabob: name given to British rulers of India
Nachiketas : a boy who goes to the underworld and learns about death, in the Upanishads
Nakula: one of the twin sons of Madri, fathered by the Ashvins, in the Mahabharata
Nammalvar (“Our Alvar”): the last of the great Alvars, in the ninth century
Nanda: name of the cowherd who adopts Krishna, in the Puranas
Nandas : dynasty that preceded the Mauryas
Nandin: the bull of the god Shiva, sometimes his doorkeeper or son
Nantanar: in Tamil myth, a Pariah who went through fire to purify himself because he was not allowed to enter a temple
Nara-simha: “Man-Lion,” an avatar of Vishnu, savior of Prahlada
Nasatyas : a name of the Ashvins
Nastikas : “people who say, ‘It does not exist,’ ” atheists
nawab : name given to Muslim rulers under the British Raj
Nayakas : dynasty that ruled much of South India, from Mysore, through the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
Nayanmars : Tamil Shaiva saints (singular is “Nayanar”)
nir-guna: “without qualities,” the undifferentiated, abstract of the godhead
nirvana: “the blowing out of a flame,” release from the circle of transmigration
Nishadas : tribal peoples of ancient India
nondualism: the philosophical view, expounded by Shankara, that god and the universe are made of one substance
Nyaya: logic, a philosophical school
Orientalism: term coined by Edward Said to describe the attitude of Europeans toward “Orientals”
orthopraxy: an emphasis on “straight behavior” rather than “straight thinking” (orthodoxy)
Pahlavas : Sanskrit term for Parthians, the people whose empire occupied all of what is now Iran, Iraq, and Armenia
Pallavas : South Indian dynasty that ruled from Kanchipuram, north of the Cholas, Pandyas, and Cheras, from the fourth through the ninth century CE
Pandavas : the five sons of Pandu, in the Mahabharata , in order of birth: Yudhishthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula, and Sahadeva
pandit: a learned man
Pandu: father of the Pandavas, born pale, cursed to die if he begot legal sons
Pandyas : a South Indian dynasty that ruled the eastern part of the southernmost tip of India from the time of Ashoka to well into the sixteenth century
Panis : enemies of the Vedic people, accused of cattle theft
papa: evil
Parashurama: “Rama with an Ax,” an avatar of Vishnu
Pariah: Tamil word for a particular low caste of drummers, then extended to all the Dalit castes
Parsis : “Persians,” Zoroastrians
Parvati: “Daughter of the Mountain,” wife of Shiva
pasha: the “bond” that ties the individual soul (the pashu [“beast”]) to the god ( pati [“protector”]) in the Shaiva Siddhanta philosophy
pashu: domesticated or sacrificial beast
Pashupatas: followers of Shiva Pashupati, “Lord of Beasts,” antinomian and cynical
Pataliputra: city on the Ganges, the modern Patna
Periya Purana: a collection of stories about the Tamil Shaiva saints, by Cekkiyar, dated to the reign of the Chola king Kulottunka II, 1133-1150 CE
pitha: plinth or base of statue, particularly of a deity
Prahlada: a virtuous demon, saved from his wicked father by Vishnu in the form of the Man-Lion (Nara-simha)
Prajapati: “Lord of Creatures,” the creator in the Vedas
Prakrit: “natural,” the actual spoken languages of ancient India, in contrast with Sanskrit
prakriti: “nature,” more particularly matter in contrast with spirit (in Sankhya philosophy)
pralaya: dissolution or doomsday
pratiloma: “against the grain”; more literally, “against the hair,” said in particular of marriages in which the woman is of a higher caste than the man
Prithivi: “broad,” the earth
Prithu: the first king, who tamed the earth
puja: worship, particularly with flowers and fruits, also sometimes with incense and other offerings pukka: “ripe” or “cooked,” perfected
Pulkasa: name of one of the ancient Dalit castes
puram: in Sanskrit, a city or citadel; in Tamil, the public emotion, in contrast with akam
Puranas: compendiums of myth, ritual, and history, originally only in Sanskrit, later also in vernacular languages
purdah: the seclusion of women, particularly behind screens in a house or palace
Purohita: a family priest or royal chaplain
purusha: “male,” the Primeval Man in the Vedas; later, any male animal; in Sankhya philosophy, spirit, self, or person
purusha-arthas: the three (later four) goals of life for a man
purva paksha: “first wing,” statement of the opponent’s position at the start of an argument
Pushyamitra: founder of the Shunga dynasty in 185 BCE
Putana: a demoness who tried to kill Krishna
Qualified Nondualism: philosophy taught by Ramanuja, moderating the view that god and the worshiper are of the same substance
Radhakrishnan, Sarvepalli: philosopher, the first president of India, 1888-1975
Raikva: the first homeless person, in the Upanishads
Raj: short for rajyam [“kingdom”]; in particular, the British Raj, the British colonization of India
raja: king
rajas: emotion or passion, one of the three gunas, or qualities of matter
rajyam: kingdom
Rakshasas: ogres, demonic creatures on earth
Rama: a prince, an avatar of Vishnu, hero of the Ramayana
Ramanuja: a philosopher, exponent of Qualified Nondualism, from Tamil Nadu, c. 1056-1137 CE
Ramanujan, Attipat Krishnaswami: poet, linguist, scholar of Tamil, Telugu, and Kannada, 1929-1993
Ramayana: one of the two great ancient Sanskrit epics, the story of Rama, attributed to the poet Valmiki
Ram-raj (Hindi), Rama-rajya (Sanskrit): perfect reign of Rama
Ranke, Leopold von: a positivist German historian, 1795-1886
Ravana: an ogre (Rakshasa), ruler of the island of Lanka, enemy of Rama in the Ramayana
Rig Veda: the most ancient sacred text in India, composed c. 1500 BCE
rishi: a sage
Rishyashringa: a sage with a horn on his head, son of a sage and a female antelope
Rudra: “Howler,” a wild Vedic god, later a name of the Hindu god Shiva
sadharana dharma: religious law that applies to everyone in common. See also dharma
Sagara: a king whose sons dug out the ocean, which is also called sagara
sa-guna: “with qualities,” the differentiated, visualized aspect of the godhead
Sahadeva: one of the twin sons of Madri, fathered by the Ashvins, in the Mahabharata
sahib: “master,” honorific title given to British rulers in India during the Raj
Sama Veda: the Veda of hymns arranged for chanting
samkara: mixture, in particular the mixing together of classes and/or castes
samnyasa: renunciation
samsara: the circle of transmigration
> sanatana dharma: the eternal religious law. See also dharma
Sankhya: a dualistic philosophy, dating from the time of the Upanishads, that divides the universe into a male purusha (spirit, self, or person) and a female prakriti (matter, nature)
Sanskrit: the perfected or artificial language called the language of the gods; the language of the texts of ancient India
Sanskritization: process by which lower castes, imitating Brahmin ways of eating and dressing, raise their status
Santoshi Ma: goddess first worshiped in the 1960s, now extremely popular, largely as the result of a mythological film, Jai Santoshi Ma
Sarama: bitch of the god Indra in the Rig Veda, who found stolen cows and brought them back
Sarasvati River: once a river in the Punjab, dried up long ago
sati: a good woman, particularly a devoted wife. See also suttee
Sati: wife of the god Shiva, daughter of Daksha, who committed suicide
Satnamis: “Path of the True Name,” a sect, founded in the eastern Punjab in 1657, that worships gurus rather than gods
sattva: “truth, goodness,” one of the three gunas or qualities of matter in Sankhya philosophy
Satyavati: daughter of a fisherman, mother of Vyasa and other key figures in the Mahabharata
sepoy (from Turkish sipahi [“soldier”]): native troop serving the British in India
Shachi: the wife of the god Indra
Shaiva: pertaining to Shiva; a worshiper of Shiva
Shakas: Scythians
shakti: power, particularly female power, more particularly a goddess or the wife of a god
Shankara: a nondualist philosopher from Kerala, c. 788-820 CE
Shantanu: husband of Satyavati and of the Ganges River, father of Bhishma, in the Mahabharata
shastras: texts or textbooks, sciences
Shatrughna: one of Rama’s three brothers, in the Ramayana
Shattaris: Sufi sect
Shiva: the Great God (Mahadeva)
Shivaji: founder of the kingdom of Maharashtra, leader of resistance against the Mughals, 1630-1680 CE
Shrirangam: Vaishnava temple, also known as Tiruvarangam, in Trichi (Tiruchirappalli), on the Kaveri River, in Tamil Nadu; the seat of Ramanuja
Shudras: “servants,” the lowest of the four classes (varnas) of ancient Indian society
Shunahshepha: boy, in the Brahmanas, whose father tried to sell him to be sacrificed
Shungas: dynasty that ruled North India from 185 to 73 BCE
Shurapanakha: ogress (Rakshasi), sister of Ravana, mutilated by Lakshmana, in the Ramayana
The Hindus Page 89
