śravaṇa
listening to the recitation of religious texts.
Śrī
fortune; proper name of Viṣṇu’s consort; Sir.
śrīvatsa
mark on Viṣṇu’s body signifying Lakṣmī’s presence.
śṛṅgāra
feeling of erotic love.
sṛṣṭi
creation; emanation.
śruti
what has been revealed and heard, “scripture.”
Sthala Purāṇa
collection of legends about a holy place
sthūla
gross, material.
stithi
maintenance (of the world).
stotra
hymn in praise of God.
śubha
auspicious.
śuddha
pure.
śuddhi
ritual of purification (for readmission into caste).
sūkṣma
subtle.
sūkta
Vedic hymn.
śūnya
zero; nothing; emptiness.
sura
divine being.
surā
intoxicating drink.
sūrya
sun.
sūta
bard; charioteer.
sūtra
aphoristic textbook; thread.
svadharma
one’s own duties.
svādhyāya
study of Vedic texts.
svahā
invocation at offering to
devas
.
svāmī
Lord; today usually “Reverend.”
svarga
heaven.
syayambhu
being of itself; name for Supreme Being.
Śyāma
black; name of Kṛṣṇa.
tamas
darkness; dullness; one of the three
gums
.
tantra
loom; system of practices; main branch of Hinduism.
tapas
heat; energy.
tapasvī
ascetic; one who has accumulated much merit through self-mortification.
tarka
logics; debate.
tattva
principle; nature; reality; element.
tejas
splendor; light; heat.
ṭīkā
subcommentary.
tilaka
mark on forehead.
tirobhāva
disappearance.
ṭippaṇi
gloss.
tīrtha
fording place; place of pilgrimage (on holy river).
tīrthayātra
pilgrimage.
tiru
(Tamil) holy; e.g.,
tiru-kural
is the Tamilveda.
tithi
moon day.
traividyā
knowledge of the three
Vedas
.
tretāyuga
third world age.
trilocana
three-eyed; name of Śiva.
triloka
the three worlds.
trimārga
literally, “three ways”; the collective name for the paths of works, devotion, knowledge.
tripuṇḍra
Śiva’s trident; sign of the forehead.
tristhalī
the three most important places of pilgrimage, viz. Prāyāga (Allahabad), KasI (Benares), and Gaya.
trivarga
the triad of
dharma, artha, kama
.
tulasī
a small tree (holy basil), sacred to Viṣṇu.
turīya
the fourth; designation of highest stage of consciousness.
turyātīta
beyond the fourth; highest stage in some Hindu schools who claim to transcend the Vedāntic
turiya
.
tyāgi
renouncer; ascetic.
udāhāraṇa
example, illustration; part of Nyāya syllogism.
udbhava
appearance.
udaṃbara
Indian fig-tree, sacred to Śiva.
udyama
exertion; rising or lifting up.
upadeśa
advice; religious instruction.
upādhi
attribute; title; deceit.
Upa-Gitā
“lesser Gītā.”
Upamāna
analogy.
upamśū
prayer uttered in a whisper.
upanayana
initiation; investiture with sacred thread.
upāṅga
auxiliary sciences or texts to Vedāṅgas.
Upaniṣad
class of authoritative scriptures; secret doctrine.
Upa-Purāṇa
lesser
Purāṇa
.
upāśana
worship.
upavāsa
(religious) fasting.
vācya śakti
power of speech.
vāhana
conveyance.
vaicitriya
manifoldness; distraction.
vaidhi-bhakti
devotion expressing itself through ritual worship.
vaidika dharma
“Vedic religion,” self-designation of Hinduism.
Vaikuṇṭha
Viṣṇu’s heaven.
vairāgi(nī)
ascetic (fem.).
vairāgya
renunciation.
Vaiśeṣika
name of a philosophical system.
vaiśya
member of third caste; businessman, artisan.
vajra
diamond; thunderbolt.
vāk
voice; word.
vālmīka
an ant’s hill.
vāmācāra
left-handed way (in Tantra).
vāmana
dwarf; one of the
avatāras
of Viṣṇu.
vaṃśa
genealogy.
vānaprastha
forest dweller; third stage in a Brahmin’s life.
varāha
boar; one of the
avatāras
of Viṣṇu.
varṇāśramadharma
social system of Hinduism based on a partition into four classes and four stages of life.
vātsalya
love toward a child, one of the stages of
bhakti
.
vāyu
wind; wind god.
veda
knowledge; sacred knowledge: revelation; scripture.
vedāṇga
limb of
Veda;
auxiliary sciences.
vedānta
end of
Veda; Upaniṣads;
name of a system.
vedī
altar for vedic sacrifices.
vibhava
emanation.
vibhūti
supernatural power.
videha
without a body.
vidhi
ritual.
vidyā
knowledge.
vijñānāmāyā
made of knowledge.
vinaya
discipline.
vipra
Brahmin.
vīra
hero.
virajā
purity; name of river separating the world of mortals from Viṣṇu’s heaven.
virāṭ
first product of Brahman; universe.
vīrya
heroism.
viṣāda
despair.
vīseṣa
propriety.
viśiṣṭa
qualification.
viśva-rūpa
all form; Kṛṣṇa appearing as cosmic person.
vitarka
debate; logical argument.
viveka
descrimination.
vrata
vow; celebration.
vratya
mendicant; class of people; Supreme Being.
vṛddhi
growth.
vṛtti
being; condition; fluctuation; activity, means of subsistence.
vyākaraṇa
grammar.
vyakta
manifest; revealed.
vyāpāra
function.
Vyāsa
arranger; proper name of Vedic sage credited with the compilation of the
Vedas
, the
Mahābhārata
and the
Purāṇas
.
vyavabāra
livelihood; the world of senses.
vyūha
part; special manifestation of Viṣṇu.
yajña
Vedic sacrifice.
yajñopavita
sacred thread.
yajus
rites.
yakṣa
goblin; tree-spirit.
yama
god of the netherworld; restraint (yoga).
yantra
machine; meditational devīce.
yati
wandering ascetic.
yatidharma
rules for ascetics.
yātrā
pilgrimage.
yoga
yoke; name of a system.
yojana
“mile” (either four, five, or nine miles).
yoni
source; womb.
yuga
world era.
ABBREVIATIONS USED IN NOTES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY
ABORI
Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Institute
(Poona)
CHI
The Cultural Heritage of India
(H. Bhattacharyya, general ed.)
HASA
Historical Atlas of South Asia
(J. Schwarzberg, ed., 2nd ed.)
HCIP
The History and Culture of the Indian People
(R. C. Majumdar, general ed.)
HDhS
History of Dharmaśāstra
(P. V. Kane)
HIL
A History of Indian Literature
(Jan Gonda, ed.)
HIPh
History of Indian Philosophy
(S. N. Dasgupta)
HOS
Harvard Oriental Series
HR
History of Religion
(Chicago)
IFR
Indian and Foreign Review
JAAR
Journal of the American Academy of Religion
JAOS
Journal of the American Oriental Society
(New Haven)
JAS
Journal of the Asian Society
(Ann Arbor)
JBRS
Journal of the Bihar Research Society
(Patna)
JIPH
Journal of Indian Philosophy
JOIB
Journal of the Oriental Institute
(Baroda)
JRAS
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society
JVS
Journal of Vaiṣṇava Studies
KSBCCV
Kuppuswami Sastri Birth Centenary Commemoration Volume
(Madras: Kuppuswami Research Institute)
RS
Religion and Society
(Bangalore/Delhi)
SBE
Sacred Books of the East
(Clarendon Press, Oxford)
SBH
Sacred Books of the Hindus
(Allahabad: Panini Office)
WZKSA
Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde südasiens
ZMDG
Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft
ZRGG
Zeitschrift für Religions- und Geistesgeschichte
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The Poet Saints of Mahārāṣṭṛa
, 12 vols. Poona: Scottish Mission Industries, 1926–41.
Agni Purāṇa, M
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Agrawal, D. P. “The Technology of the Indus Civilization.” In
Indian Archeology, New Perspectives,
R. K. Sharma, ed. Delhi: Agam Kala Prakashan, 1982, 83–91.
Agrawala, V. S.
India as known to Pāṇini
, Varanasi: Prithvi Prakasan, 1963 (2nd edn).
——
Matsya-Purāṇa: A Study
. Varanasi: All-India Kashiraj Trust, 1963.
—— “Mother Earth.” In
Nehru Abhinandan Granth.
Calcutta: Nehru Abhinandan Granth Committee, 1949, 490ff.
Aiyer, V. G. Ramakrishna.
The Economy of a South Indian Temple
. Annamalai: Annamalai University, 1946.
Ali, S. M.
The Geography of the Purāṇas
. New Delhi: People’s Publishing House, 1966.
Allchin, B. and R. Allchin.
The Rise of Civilization in India and Pakistan
. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982.
Altekar, A. D. “Hinduism, A Static Structure or a Dynamic Force?” In
Nehru Abhinandan Granth
. Calcutta, 1949, 421–25.
——
The Position of Women in Hindu Civilization from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day
. Benares: Motilal Banarsidass, 1956.
——
State and Government in Ancient India
, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1962 (4th edn).
Śri Anandamurti.
Ānandamārga
. Anandanagar: private publication, 1967 (2nd edn). Anderson, L. M.