acintyabhedābheda (“unthinkable difference and nondifference”), 117
adharma (unrighteousness, injustice), 25, 124
Aditi (mother of the Ādityas and the gods), 255
adraṣṭakam (experience without witness), 175, 280. See also dṛś
adṛṣṭa (things unseen), 24. See also dṛś
Advaita Vedānta (Vedantic school or doctrine of nondualism), 115, 117, 175–77. See also Vedānta
Agamemnon, 246
agamyāgamanam (intercourse with a forbidden woman), 33
Agni (the god of fire), 92
Ahalyā (wife of the sage Gautama; queen of Indradyumna), 226–27, 309
ahaṃkāra (ego), 120, 224–25, 235, 273, 291
aiśvarya (the awesome), 113
ajātivāda (“leap philosophies”; enlightenment doctrines, according to Karl Potter), 177
akam (Tamil term for the personal, inner world), 124–26. See also puram
Akrūra (Kṛṣṇa’s paternal uncle), 181–82
alaukika (“not of this world”; uncommon), 174
Alexander the Great, 171
Allen, Woody, 250–51
Aniruddha (lover of Usa, son of Pradyumna), 64–74, 98, 239, 289, 323
anubhāva (authority, belief, intention), 152
anumāṇa (inference), 173
apīti (doomsday), 16
Apollo, 84
Apollonius of Tyana, 294–95
Apsaras (a water nymph), 170, 268, 276
Arjuna (the third Pāṇḍava prince, protégé of Kṛṣṇa), 109–13, 141, 156–57, 256, 276
Arnold, Thomas, 128
Arundhatī (the wife of Vasiṣṭha), 101
asat (the unreal, negation, nonbeing), 18, 116–17, 125
Aśoka (a Buddhist emperor), 35–37, 147, 327
aśubha (inauspicious), 20
Asura (an opponent of the gods), 269
Aśvaghoṣa, 307
ātman (self, soul), 15, 116, 121, 129, 224–25, 255, 280. See also jīva
Atreya, B. L., 121
Augustine, Saint, bishop of Hippo, 248, 300
avidyā (ignorance, nescience), 149, 280, 290
Āyurveda (sacred science of medicine), 17
Bach, Johann Sebastian, 252
bahiṣkṛta (“outside”; outsider), 149
Balarāma (the brother of Kṛṣṇa), 181–82
Bāṇa (a demon king, the father of Uṣā), 65–66, 69–71
Barth, John, 245
Bellerophon, 38, 194, 277, 327
Benares (Vārāṇasī, the city of Śiva), 271
Berger, Peter, 175
Berkeley, Bishop, 248, 250, 280
Berlin, Isaiah, 158
bhakti (devotion), 11, 83, 107, 113, 145–46, 157, 225
Bharata (a brother of Rāma), 27, 30–31
bhedābheda (“difference and nondifference”), 117
bhikṣu (a mendicant; a Buddhist monk), 151–52
bhrama (mistake), 45, 82, 114, 116–17, 177–78, 185–86, 191, 194, 196–97, 205, 263, 269, 283, 287, 302; bhrānti (error), 154, 262; bhrāntimaya (erroneous perception), 182; sambhrama (confusion), 144, 186; vibhrama (perturbation, agitation), 104–5, 231, 262
bhrānti. See bhrama
bhrāntimaya. See bhrama
Bhṛgu (a great sage, the father of Sukra), 90–91, 280, 308
Bhūta (a “has-been”; a ghost), 162
Bismarck, Otto von, 47
Black, Max, 283
Bleuler, Eugen, 54
bodhisattva (Mahāyāna Buddhist saint), 182
Bodhisattva, The. See Gautama, the Buddha
Borges, Jorge Luis, 245
Born, Max, 268
Boyle, Robert, 289
Brahmā (the creator god), 83, 94, 105, 108, 124, 148–49, 207–9, 216, 232, 240, 256, 258, 290, 308, 316
brahman (Godhead), 12, 15, 22, 59, 114, 116, 121, 125, 177, 180, 188, 203, 225, 237, 244, 255, 261, 272, 280
Brāhman (the silent priest of Vedic sacrifice), 143
Bruner, J. S., 194
Buddhism, 20–21, 24–25, 35–37, 54, 57, 63–64, 115–16, 149–59, 223, 225, 229, 231, 244–45, 254, 262, 270–72, 275, 280, 292, 306–8, 324
Caillois, Roger, 14, 73–74, 76–77, 190, 194
Caṇḍāla (“Untouchable”), 7, 103, 133, 143, 168
Caraka (supposed author of an Indian medical text), 24–25
Carroll, Lewis, 229, 248–51, 253
Carstairs, G. M., 59
Cārvāka (a materialist school), 116
Cervantes, Miguel de, 288
Chaucer, Geoffrey, 62
chāyā (“shadow”; double), 89
Chrétien de Troyes, 189
Chuang Tsu, 250
Citralekhā (“sketcher of pictures”; nymph and confidante of Uṣā), 65–71, 73, 239, 289
Coward, Noel, 103
Cūḍālā (a queen), 160, 280–82, 309, 323
Ḍākiṇī (a witch), 161
Dakṣa (a son of Brahmā), 255
Dali, Salvador, 287
Dante Alighieri, 288
Daśaratha (the human father of Rāma), 140, 173, 232, 234
Dasgupta, Surendranath, 188
Dement, William, 44, 48–49, 51–52, 202
DeSaussure, Ferdinand, 258
dharma (righteousness, justice, social duty, steadfastness), 25, 67, 70, 106, 128, 141, 144, 255; Dharma (dharma deified), 143, 145
dīkṣā (ritual consecration, initiation), 156
Dīrghadṛśa (“Far-Sight”; a monk), 232
Dīrghatapas (“Long Asceticism”; an ascetic), 209
doṣa (a humor of the body), 25
dṛś (to see), 16; dṛṣtānta (simile, example), 174, 261; dṛṣṭi-sṛṣṭivādins (“those who argue that seeing precedes creating”), 121
duḥkha (suffering, misery), 148–49
Dumont, Louis, 139
Duncan, Isadora, 8
Durvāsas (an irascible sage), 281
Duṣyanta (a king, the husband of Śakuntalā), 284
Dvārakā (Kṛṣṇa’s capital), 65, 69–70, 271
Eck, Diana, 203
Einstein, Albert, 8, 196, 205, 267
Eisenbud, Jules, 75–76
Eluard, Paul, 287
Epimenides, the Cretan, 252
Ernst, Max, 295
Escher, M. C., 252–54, 286, 289
Evans-Wentz, W. Y., 268
Festinger, Leon, 180, 191, 195
Feyerabend, Paul, 60, 192, 197, 201–2
Fields, W. C., 268
Freud, Sigmund, 7, 9, 23, 33, 37, 40, 42–53, 72, 74, 78, 165, 187, 199–201, 221, 224
Gādhi (a brahmin), 40, 132, 134–40, 145, 156–57, 159, 161–67, 172, 178–83, 185–88, 193, 198–99, 202, 206, 216–17, 225–27, 234, 238, 243–44, 257, 260, 267, 274, 278–80, 288, 291, 295, 308, 327
Gālava (a son of Viśvāmitra; an Indian king), 105, 164
Galileo, 196
Gamow, George, 131
Gamwell, Franklin, 329
Gandharva (celestial musician, demigod), 32, 229, 268–69, 272–78, 282, 294, 297
Gandharva marriage (“common-law marriage”), 69, 71, 276
Gandharva-nagara. See city in the Index of Subjects
Ganges (Gaṇgā, the holy river of the Hindus), 87–88, 106, 210, 215, 220
garbha-gṛha (“womb-house”; inner sanctum of a Hindu temple), 242
Gardner, Martin, 248
Gargī (a learned woman), 203, 205
Garuḍa (the bird on whom Viṣṇu rides), 66
Gauḍāpada (a philosopher of the Advaita Vedānta school), 115
Gautama, the Buddha, 37, 149–57, 159, 161–62, 182, 271–72, 275
Gautama (a great sage), 226–27
Gautama (a Nyāya philosopher), 276
Gavala (name of Gādhi as Untouchable king of the Kīras), 134–35, 137–38, 159, 164, 278
Glasenapp, Helmuth von, 136, 267
Gombrich, Ernst, 8, 11, 50–52, 138, 194, 202, 279–80, 282–83, 287, 292, 298
Gombrich, Richard, 146
Gonda, Jan, 118
Gopā (the wife of Gautama, the Buddha), 154–55
Goudriaan, Teun, 161
Graham, A. C., 306
Gregory, R. L., 194
Hallpike, Christopher, 57
Hamlet, prince of Denmark, 302
Hammerstein, Oscar, II, 132
Handelman, Don, 205
Hanuman (the monkey who helped Rāma win back Sītā), 29–30, 94–96, 167, 222, 319
Harijan. See Caṇḍāla
Hariścandra (a king, the son of Triśanku), 106, 132, 142–46, 148, 156, 160, 164, 209, 237, 268
helā (art, sport), 102
Helen of Troy, 320–21
Hera, 84
Himālaya (a great mountain or range), 153, 161
Hoban, Russell, 251
Hoerauf, Eugene, 204
Hoffmann, E. T. A., 189
Hofstadter, Douglas, 8, 202, 252–54, 259
Hughes, Patrick, 242
Huizinga, Johan, 119
Hume, David, 9
Indra (king of the gods), 17, 91, 104, 106–7, 142, 145–147, 213, 226, 265, 269–70, 290
Indradyumna (a king), 226
Jackson, Hughlings, 49
Jacob, G. A., 265–66
jananī (“progenitrix”; mother), 264
jayā (“wife”), 255
Jina (China? northern country of the monk who dreams Jivata, Rudra, etc.), 231–32
jīva (individual life, transmigrating soul), 215. See also àtman
Jīvaṭa (name of a man dreamt by a monk in Jina), 207–9, 211–18, 220, 230, 243, 257
John the Divine, Saint, 277
Johnson, Samuel, 248
Jūjaka (a brahmin), 146–47
Jung, C. G., 17, 21, 53, 74, 80, 245
Kabīr (an Indian mystic poet), 161, 165
Kaikeyī (the mother of Bharata and wife of Daśaratha), 97
Kailāsa (the holy mountain of Śiva), 275
Kakar, Sudhir, 78
kal (Hindi term for time; tomorrow, yesterday), 229
Kāla (the god of death and time), 91. See also Yama
Kālī (the “black goddess”), 94
Kālidāsa (an Indian playwright), 284
kalpa (a fantastic duration of time, 1,000 yugas), 161
Kāma (kāma deified, the god of erotic love), 68–69, 100–101, 229
Kampaṉ (traditional author of the Tamil Rāmāyaṇa), 28, 92–93
Kanauj (an Indian kingdom), 210–11
Kaṇṭhaka (horse of Gautama, the Buddha), 156
Karkaṭī (an ogress), 161–62, 308
karma (directed activity and its effects), 106, 214–21, 224, 226–27, 229–31, 236, 239–40, 268, 290, 298
Karṇa (Kuru prince), 31
Kārtavīrya (a prince killed by Paraśurāma), 31, 33–35
Kashmir, 5, 26, 115, 167, 171, 289, 291, 308, 318
Katañja (name of Gādhi as an Untouchable), 134–35, 137, 186, 202, 226
Kausalyā (the mother of Rāma and wife of Daśaratha), 97
Kekulé von Stradonitz, August, 242
Kepler, Johannis, 328
Kern, Jerome, 132
Kipling, Rudyard, 71–72, 74, 316
Kīras (people ruled by Gādhi as Gavala), 134–35, 186, 198, 267
Kirāṭa (Untouchable hunter), 87–88
Knechtges, David, 307
krodha (anger, hatred), 25
Kṛṣṇa (an avatar of Viṣṇu), 31–32, 65–66, 69–71, 83–84, 99–100, 109–11, 113, 141, 157, 181–82, 213, 255–57, 271
Kuhn, Thomas, 8, 175, 191–92, 195–98, 201
Kunāla (son of Aśoka), 35–37, 147
Kurus (enemies of the Pāṇḍavas), 31–32, 128
Lakhindar (hero of Bengali folklore), 284
lakṣaṇa (symbol, quality, characteristic), 18, 117
Lakṣmaṇa (younger brother and companion of Rāma), 29, 31, 92–95, 97, 319
Lakṣmaṇa (son of Tārāvaloka), 148
Lakṣmī (the wife of Viṣṇu), 81, 148
Laṅkā (Rāvana’s island kingdom), 27–29, 92–96, 141, 271, 273, 297
laukika mārga (that which follows common practice), 180
Lavaṇa (a king, the grandson of Hariścandra), 40, 132–46, 149, 156–73, 178–88, 191, 193–94, 198–99, 206, 211, 216, 222, 225–27, 230, 234, 239, 243–44, 257, 260, 277, 279, 281–92, 295, 298, 305, 307–8, 325
Lear, King, 158
LeGuin, Ursula, 245
Le Vine, Robert, 54–57
Lévi-Strauss, Claude, 303
Lieh-tzu, 306–7
līlā (“play”; creative sport of a supreme god), 213, 230, 295
Līlā (name of two Indian queens, the wives of Padma and Vidūratha), 73, 98, 101–3, 108, 160, 182–83, 228, 240, 308–9, 323
Lokāloka (“World-non-World”; the mountain encircling the terrestrial disk), 204–5, 235, 241
Luckmann, Thomas, 175
mā (“to make”; verbal root of māyā), 117
Macaulay, Thomas, 203
MacDonell, Arthur A., 118
Maddī (the wife of Vessantara), 146–47, 155; Madrī (the Hindu Maddī, wife of King Tārāvaloka), 148
mādhurya (the intimate, sweet), 113
Mādhyāmika (a Buddhist school), 115
Madrī. See Maddī
Mahāyāna (the Buddhist “greater vehicle”), 16, 231
Mahī-Rāvaṇa (“Rāvaṇa of the Earth”; a shadow of the demon Ravana), 94, 319, 323
Malaya (city of Malayavatī), 63
Malayadhvaja (a king), 272
Malayavatī (an Indian princess), 63–64, 74–75, 98, 244, 247, 257, 276
mānasapratyakṣa (“mental perception” in Buddhist philosophy), 174
maṇḍala (a circle; circular diagram), 189
Mandara (a sacred mountain), 91
Mantharā (hunchbacked female slave of Kaikeyī), 97
mantra (“instrument of thought”; a sacred or liturgical formula), 285
Manu (father of the human race, the son of Vivasvan), 124
Māra (the “Evil One” of Buddhism), 161
Mārkaṇḍeya (a great sage), 109, 111–14, 163–64, 195, 255, 257
Marriott, McKim, 22
mātṛ (“mother”), 118. See also mā
Matsyagarbha (a son of Hanuman and the demoness Timiti), 95–96
māyā (illusion), 92–93, 101, 114, 116–20, 125, 129–30, 161–62, 168, 177–78, 185–86, 192, 194, 196–97, 205, 213, 226, 233, 256, 259, 269–71, 273, 279–80, 287, 289–90, 293, 299–300, 302, 304
Maya (māyā personified; the architect of the Triple City), 270–71
Māyāśakti (“Illusion of Power”; name of a double of Śiva’s wife), 93, 300
Māyāvatī (“Mistress of Illusion”; wife of Śambara and lover of Pradyumna), 98–101, 222, 239, 290
Mayilirāvaṇaṉ (“Peacock Rāvaṇa”; a shadow of the demon Rāvaṇa in Tamil tradition), 94–96, 271
māykai (Tamil term for “illusions,” tricks), 96
Meru (central sacred mountain of the terrestrial disk), 154, 204, 241, 270, 297
Mīmāṃsā (a school of orthodox Hindu philosophy), 116
minoti (“construct,” from the verbal root mi), 16
Mithila (a town in north India), 293
Mitra, Vihrī Lāla, 160
moha (delusion), 25, 82, 145, 151, 283
mokṣa (release, liberation), 11–12, 20, 22, 82–84, 90, 113–14, 116, 118–20, 125, 128, 145–46, 148–49, 155–58, 161–62, 172, 178, 199, 211, 225–26, 238, 242, 270, 274, 276, 278, 299–300; mukti, 211
Moses, 262
Mu (king of Chou), 305–7
muhūrta (moment, instant), 136, 149
muktā (pearl), 211
mukti. See mokṣa
Naciketas (a boy who discussed immortality with Yama), 314
Nāgārjuna (a Mādhyāmika philosopher), 115–16, 157
Nārada (a son of Brahma; a messenger between gods and humans), 65, 81–89, 96–100, 119, 123, 136–37, 141, 157, 162, 166–67, 185, 195, 215, 227, 263, 266, 272, 280–82, 308–9, 318
naraka (hell), 121
Narayan, R. K., 167
Nash, Leonard, 298
neti neti (“not thus, not thus”; apophatic characterization of the absolute), 261
Newton, Isaac, 9
nimeṣa (“twinkling”; an instant), 222
Nirṛti (“Destruction”; guardian of the southwest quarter), 272
nirvāṇa (“extinction”; highest bliss, in Buddhist traditions), 116, 148–49, 156–58, 237, 244
nirvikalpa (“free from imagination”), 237
Odatis (daughter of the Persian king Omartes), 62
Oedipus, 36
O’Flaherty, Michael, 298
O’Hara, John, 266
Orpheus, 314
Orwell, George, 124
Padma (a king, the husband of Līlā), 101–3, 240, 308–9, 323
Pāṇḍavas (enemies of the Kurus), 31–32, 128, 132
pāṇḍit (a learned person), 169–70
paramārthika (the highest level of being, according to Śankara), 125, 182
Paraśurāma (“Rāma with the axe,” an avatar of Viṣṇu), 32–35
Parikṣit (a king), 284
parokṣa (“out of sight”; invisible), 175
Pārvatī (the wife of Śiva), 66–67, 69, 71, 93
pātāla (the netherworld), 161
Patroclus, 246
Pāvana (a son of Dīrghatapas), 209–10, 309
Philostratus, 294–95
Pirandello, Luigi, 245
Piśāca (a ghoul, flesh-eating ogre), 106–7, 235
Pitāmaha (“the Grandfather”; a name of the god Brahmā), 255. See also Brahmā
Plato, 7, 9, 11, 37–41, 44, 47, 49, 129, 165, 196, 248, 252, 278, 292, 294, 296, 298, 314
Polanyi, Michael, 8, 54, 190–91, 196–97, 295–96
Polycrates, 223
Popper, Karl, 8, 123, 180, 190, 193, 196, 198, 200–202, 298
Poseidon, 38
Potter, Karl, 173, 175, 177, 188, 298
pracchannabauddha (“closet Buddhist”), 141
Pradyumna (the father of Aniruddha and son of Kṛṣṇa and Rukminī), 64–65, 68, 99–101, 222, 239, 323
prākṛta (normal, natural), 67
prakṛti (nature), 83
pramāṇa (proof of knowledge, authority), 173–74, 179–80, 261, 325
Praśastapāda (a Vaiśesika philosopher), 25
prātibhāsika (“reflected image”; illusory reality, according to Sankara), 125, 138, 185, 188, 195, 279
pratyakṣa (direct perception), 173–75, 180
preta (ghost), 23
Proust, Marcel, 298
pūjā (worship, adoration, honoring), 11
Pulinda (tribal hunter), 209–10
Pulkasa (Untouchable people), 34, 134, 144, 146
Puṃtīrtha (“Male-Ford”; lake in which Nārada recovers his male person), 82
punarjanma (rebirth), 121
Puṇya (a son of Dīrghatapas), 209, 309
puram (Tamil term for the social, outer world), 124–26. See also akam
Purañjana (“City-Person”; a king), 215, 272–73
Puruṣa (the primeval man, original source and soul of the universe), 255
Rādhā (female cowherd beloved by Kṛṣṇa), 83
rāga (Indian musical theme), 229
Rājaśekhara (author of the Karpūramañjarī), 210
Rāma (a king, the son of Daśaratha, regarded as an avatar of Viṣṇu), 27–31, 85–86, 92–97, 128, 130–31, 140–42, 149, 156, 158, 166, 173, 183–85, 199, 202, 211–12, 225–26, 231–36, 238, 240, 243, 262, 264, 271, 280–82, 297, 319
Rāma (son of Tārāvaloka), 148
Rāmānuja (Vaisnava reformer, the founder of the Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedantic school), 176
Ramanujan, A. K., 130, 223, 258
Rao, Guru Jada Appa, 168
Rati (“sexual passion”; the wife of Kāma), 69, 99–101, 321
Rāvaṇa (a demon king), 27–29, 34, 92–98, 101, 236, 238, 271–72, 284, 319
Ray, Satyajit, 325
Ricoeur, Paul, 131
ṛṣi (a patriarchal sage, singer of sacred hymns), 176
Rudra (“howler” or “ruddy one”; a name of Śiva; the Vedic antecedent of Śiva), 15, 90, 183, 207, 209, 211–18, 220, 230–32, 234, 240, 243–44, 252, 257–58, 280, 330
Rukminī (the wife of Kṛṣṇa), 99–100
Rushdie, Salman, 224, 229, 260, 318, 324, 329
Russell, Bertrand, 191, 249, 251
Rycroft, Charles, 77
śabda (verbal authority, authoritative word), 173–75, 261
Sachs, Hans, 46
Sāgaradatta (a merchant), 210
Śaila (a teacher), 210
sākṣāt (visibly, evidently), 63
Śakti (a name of Śiva’s wife, the personification of Śiva’s active energy), 93–94, 300
Śakuntalā (queen of Duṣyanta), 222, 284
Śākyamuni, 149. See also Gautama, the Buddha
Samanga (a river), 91
Śambara (a demon magician, the husband of Māyāvatī), 99–101, 290–91, 309
sambhrama. See bhrama
saṃsāra (the world of rebirth and involvement), 11–12, 20–21, 34, 82–84, 90–91, 113–14, 116, 118–20, 125, 139, 145, 148, 155–58, 161–62, 172, 178, 199, 214–15, 224–26, 236, 238, 242, 262, 269, 271, 274, 276, 278, 290, 299–301
Śankara (Advaita Vedānta philosopher), 17, 115, 125–26, 141, 175, 188, 228, 263, 272
santa (good man, saint), 34
śānti (peace), 225
saprakāśa (self-evident), 181
Sarasvatī (the goddess of speech, the wife of Brahmā), 73, 101–2, 160, 182
sarga. See sṛj
Sartre, Jean-Paul, 280
Sarvāstivādin (Buddhist realist school), 35
śāstra (Hindu lawbook), 172
sat (the real, being), 18, 117; satya (real, true), 211
Śatakaṇṭharāvaṇa (“Rāvaṇa of the Hundred Necks”; a shadow of the demon Rāvaṇa in Tamil tradition), 96
Satyavrata (former name of Triśanku), 105–6, 160
Saubhāgyasundarī (name of Nārada when he is transformed into a woman), 81, 85–89, 96
Sāyaṇa (fourteenth-century commentator on the Veda), 255
Schliemann, Heinrich, 278
Schweder, Richard, 54–57
Shakespeare, William, 131, 266, 302
Shlemiel, of Chelm, 122–23, 298, 327
Shulman, David, 53, 93, 96, 105, 120, 156
siddha (“completed, accomplished, perfected”; magician, one possessed of siddhis), 237
Siddhattha, Prince. See Gautama, the Buddha
siddhi (“perfection”; supernatural power or faculty), 161
Sindh (the country around the Indus River), 133, 156, 170–71
Sindhu (a king, the slayer of Vidūratha), 102
Singer, Isaac Bashevis, 122
Sītā (the wife of Rāma), 27–31, 86, 92–99, 101, 130, 271, 284, 297
Śiva (god of ascetics, of the liṅga, and of cosmic destruction), 66–71, 93, 242, 256, 258, 268–69, 271, 275, 330
Soma (the ambrosial offering to the gods), 304
Sravaṇa (alternate name for Lavaṇa), 168. See also Lavaṇa
Śrī (a name of the wife of Viṣṇu), 93
sṛj (“to emit”), 16; sarga (“emission”; projection), 16; sṛṣṭi (“emission”; creation), 108, 121
śruti (“that which has been heard”; revelation), 173
Steinberg, Saul, 252
Strauss, Richard, 99
śubha (“auspicious”), 20
Śuddhodana (the mortal father of the Buddha), 152–55
Śuka (son of Vyāsa), 90–91
Sukra (son of Bhṛgu), 90–91, 308
śūnya (“empty”), 59, 117; śūnyatā (“emptiness”), 245
Śūrpanakhā (ogress sister of Rāvaṇa), 92–94, 97
Suvarṇa-dvīpa (“Golden Isle”; Serendip, Śri Laṅkā, Laṅkā), 297
svapna (sleep, dream), 14, 16, 67–68, 264, 325
svarga (heaven), 121
Takṣaśilā (a city in India [Bactria]), 35–36
Tāladhvaja (a king, the husband of Saubhāgyasundarī), 81, 84–87, 89, 97, 136, 141, 266
tapas (heat-producing religious austerities), 107
Tārāvaloka (a king), 148, 156. See also Vessantara
tarka (argument, disputation), 173–74
tattva (truth, essence), 291
Teiresias, 84
Theravādin (Buddhist “Way of the Elders”), 35
Thyestes, 165
Tibet, 25–27, 53, 89, 97, 116, 150–51, 231, 275, 285, 287
Timiti (demoness mother of Matsyagarbha), 95
Tiṣyarakṣitā (queen of Aśoka), 35–37, 327
Tolstoy, Leo, 316–17
Trijaṭā (an ogress), 27–29, 31
Triśanku (a king whose name–“Triple Sting”–was given to him by Vasiṣṭha), 40, 103–8, 145, 156, 159–60, 164, 229, 234, 237
Tulasī Dās (author of the Rām Carit Mānas), 262
Turandot, 64
turīya (the “fourth state” of spirit, catalepsy), 18
upāya (Buddhist term for “skill in means”), 187
Uṣā (the daughter of Bāṇa and lover of Aniruddha), 64–74, 98, 276, 289
vaid (Āyurvedic physician), 17
Vaiśākha (April–May in the Hindu calendar), 67
Vaiśeṣika (a division of the Nyāya philosophical school), 25
vaiśvānara (“common to all men”), 39
Vajrāyudha (a king of Kanauj), 210
vakrokti (“crooked speech”; indirect mode of expression), 259
Vālmīki (traditional author of the Sanskrit Rāmāyaṇa and Yogavāsiṣṭha), 27, 30, 92, 94–98, 131, 141, 217, 240, 243–44, 303
vandhyā (“barren woman”), 264
varṇa (“color”; one of the four social classes), 153, 217
vāsanā (karmic memory trace), 75, 220, 222, 267, 290–91. See also déjà-vu (Index of Subjects); karma
Vasiṣṭha (a great sage), 92, 101, 103–4, 106–7, 128, 131, 140–42, 148–49, 164, 166, 173–75, 179, 183–84, 211–12, 214, 217, 225, 227, 230–40, 243–44, 254, 258, 264, 280–82, 290, 292, 303, 308–9
vastu (really existing thing, object), 117
Vasubandhu (a Mādhyāmika philosopher), 115
Vedānta (a Hindu philosophical school), 75, 86, 113, 118, 186, 225, 283–84, 306–7. See also Advaita Vedānta
Velázquez, Diego, 251
Vessantara (a Buddhist king), 37, 146–48, 155–56
Vibhīṣaṇa (good brother of the demon Rāvaṇa who joined forces with Rāma), 94–95, 97
vibhrama. See bhrama
Vidarbha (country in which Purañjana was reborn as a princess), 272
Vidūratha (a king, the husband of Līlā), 101–2
Vidyādhara (a celestial magician), 148, 235
Vikramāditya (a king), 63–65, 74–75, 88, 98, 162, 244, 247, 257, 278
vilakṣaṇa (“characterization”). See lakṣaṇa
Vināyaka (a goblin), 22
Vindhyas (a low range of hills separating north India from the Deccan plateau), 163
Virāj (a demiurge, often identified with Puruṣa, Brahmā, etc.), 255
Vīraśaiva (a Śaivite sect), 121, 277
Viṣṇu (“the Pervader”; a supreme god of Hinduism), 15, 81–87, 93–94, 99, 109, 111–14, 118, 134–35, 141, 153, 163, 167, 169, 182, 186, 195, 198, 213, 223, 255–56, 258, 266, 270, 280, 291–92
Viśvakarman (the architect of the gods), 124, 270
Viśvāmitra (a great sage), 103–8, 140–41, 143–44, 164, 173, 227, 234–35
Vivasvan (a name of the god of the sun; the father of Yama and Manu), 256
Vṛndā (Kṛṣṇa’s hometown), 83
Vyāsa (a great sage, author and compiler, the father of Śuka), 90
vyavahāra (consensus; vyavahārika, empirical reality, according to Śankara), 125, 188, 193, 267
Wayman, Alex, 26
Wheatley, Paul, 269
Winnicott, David, 59
Wordsworth, William, 58
Yājñavalkya (a great sage), 203
Yakṣinī (a female demigod, supernatural creature), 161
Yama (the god of death), 144. See also Kāla
yantra (a cosmic diagram), 285
Yāska (author of the Nirukta), 255
Yaśodā (the mortal mother of Kṛṣṇa), 109–14, 255
yati (an ascetic renouncer), 230
Yavana (a Greek or other foreigner), 170–71, 325
Yayāti (a king), 229
yoga (abstract meditation; an Indian technique and philosophy), 92, 228, 230, 235, 300
Yogācāra (a Buddhist school), 115
yogin (one who practices yoga), 58, 78, 98, 161, 175, 179, 181, 228, 230–31, 289, 292; yoginī (a female yogin), 289
Yudhiṣṭhira (eldest of the Pāndava princes), 32, 141, 268
yuga (aeon), 166
Zairivairi (a Persian noble), 62
Zimmer, Heinrich, 81