Bar, the. The region between the Beas and Ravi rivers.
Bhagavat. The ‘Blessed’ or ‘Adored’. It refers to those involved in the popular spiritual practice of adoration of God.
Brahma. In the cosmic cycle of creation, preservation and destruction, Brahma is the creator god. Vishnu and Shiva are respectively the preserver and destroyer gods.
Buddha. In the classical language of India, ‘the Enlightened’. A general term as well as specific reference to Siddhartha Gotama, the historical Buddha.
Chatrik. Also known as the ‘rain bird’ because of its call which heralds the rains.
Dharmaraja. God of Judgement.
Dhru. Indian sage and pole star. Also Dhruva.
Five beloved ones. The first five initiates into the Khalsa. Also the five Khalsa Sikhs who conduct initiation ceremonies.
Five elements. Water, fire, earth, air and ether.
Forty who obtained liberation. Forty Sikhs who deserted Guru Gobind Singh but later returned, died in battle and were forgiven by the Guru and declared to have attained liberation.
Four and forty. See Four princes and Forty who obtained liberation.
Four elements. Earth, air, fire, water.
Four princes. The four martyred sons of Guru Gobind Singh.
Four goals of life. Dharma (morality), artha (material gain), kama (sensual pleasure) and moksha (ultimate release).
Four sources of life. Blood and/or sperm, egg, sweat and earth, traditionally believed to be the progenitors of new life.
Fourteen worlds. One of the Indian cosmologies for referring to the entire universe.
Gopi. Cowherd girl. Usually associated with the Indian god Krishna who danced with and made love to them. The gopis are understood to represent all humanity.
Gunas. See Three gunas.
Gurudwara. Literally, a door, dwara, to ultimate enlightenment, guru. It refers to the building which enshrines the Guru Granth and is also the centre of community life. Also spelt gurdwara. For further details, see ‘From Guru Nanak to the Guru Granth’, pp. 31–3.
Kateb. Scriptures of the Middle East.
Khalsa. The Sikh Order of Purity, open to women and men, constituted by Guru Gobind Singh in 1699; see pp. 28-9.
Khalsaji. Respectful address to the Khalsa.
Koel. Indian cuckoo. Its cry is believed to stimulate tender yearning in the hearer.
Krishna. An avatar of the god Vishnu, and one of the most popular figures in the Indian pantheon. The lover and playmate of humanity.
Laxmi. Goddess of fortune and prosperity and consort of Vishnu, god of preservation.
Nankana Sahib. Birthplace of Guru Nanak, now in Pakistan.
Nath. Member of the ascetic tradition of India which espoused Hatha-yoga, a tantric system of rigorous bodily purification exercises, as the means to spiritual liberation.
Nine treasures. Categorization embracing all the treasures in the world.
Parvati. The mother goddess. Also known as Shakti, Durga and Kali, the latter two with particular reference to the dark, destructive aspect of feminine power. She is the consort of Shiva the destroyer god and, like him, is associated with the Himalayas.
Pir. Muslim holy teacher.
Pundit. Hindu religious scholar.
Puranas. Hindu tales and legends.
Qadi. Judge in Islamic law court.
Qur’an. Sacred text of Islam.
Rag. The different melodic frameworks which are used in Indian music as the basis of improvisation. Different rags are associated with particular times of the day, seasons and moods.
Rahim. The Compassionate One. One of the ninety-nine Names of Allah.
Rama. An avatar of the god Vishnu and one of the great warrior kings of Indian folk history, the hero of the much-loved epic, the Ramayana. Rama represents ideal man in roles such as father, son, brother, husband, king. His wife is Sita, the ideal woman (see below).
Ravana. The demon opponent of Rama in the Ramayana.
Sachi’s husband. Indra, the sky god.
Shakti. Mother goddess, feminine power. See Parvati.
Shastras. Hindu sacred writings.
Shiva. In the cosmic cycle of creation, preservation and destruction, Shiva is the destroyer god. Brahma and Vishnu are respectively the creator and preserver gods.
Siddha. ‘Perfect One’. Specifically a famed group of eighty-four tantric saints but also used as a more general term.
Sita. An avatar of the goddess Laxmi, consort of Vishnu. As Sita she is the wife of Rama and represents the ideal woman in roles such as wife, mother, daughter.
Six doctrines, six philosophies, six traditional schools. Six schools of orthodox Indian thought, recognized by the brahmins as roads to salvation. They respectively espoused: (1) the essential oneness of all existence; (2) Vedic rituals; (3) logic; (4) an atomized universe of soul, mind, time and space; (5) a dualistic atheistic universe in which the spirit is entangled in matter; and (6) a dualistic world in which physical discipline and meditation on an immortal god lead to repatriation in the spiritual realm. In practical terms these schools form a general pool of philosophy which informs a multitude of cults and traditions.
Sixty-eight pilgrimage sites. Categorization used to signify all pilgrimage sites.
Smritis. Hindu sacred writings with particular reference to those that are ‘remembered’ as opposed to ‘heard’ or revealed.
Swayamvara rites. Ceremony in which a girl chooses her husband from a number of assembled suitors.
Takhts. The five seats of Sikh temporal authority. They are the Akal Takht in Amritsar, Patna Sahib in Bihar, Kcshgarh in Anandpur, Hazur Sahib in Nander near Hyderabad, and Damdama Sahib near Bhatinda. Sikhs see them as places from which decisions are made about their faith.
Ten directions. The eight compass points plus up and down.
Ten gifts. Categorization used to signify the divine gifts of existence.
Three gunas. The three natures or qualities of which all existence partakes to varying degrees: sattva, peace and light, represented by white; rajas, activity and passion, represented by red; and tamas, inertia and ignorance, represented by black. The ways in which these combine determines a person’s personality.
Three strands. See Three gunas.
Three worlds. Heaven, earth and underworld.
Vaishnavite. Followers of the god Vishnu, one of the most popular Hindu traditions.
Vishnu. In the cosmic cycle of creation, preservation and destruction, Vishnu is the preserver god. Brahma and Shiva are respectively the creator and destroyer gods.
Vedas. The ancient and foundational scriptures of Hinduism.
Yogi. Spiritual practitioner. Related to the English word ‘yoke’, with connotations of both work and union.