Glossary
| Abhimanyu | Son of Arjuna and Subhadrā; marries Uttarā, this page, this page, this page | |
| Aciravatī | River in the Bihar region, this page | |
| adharma | Disorder, illegality, illegitimacy, violation of dharma, this page | |
| adhvaryu | Chief priest of proceedings, one of four basic kinds of officiants in the sacrifice of the soma; the others are the hotṛ, the udgātṛ, and the brahmán. The priest who, more than any other, performs the liturgical actions: he moves around continually, handles the sacrificial implements, cooks the oblations, tends the fire. “The adhvaryu is the eye of the sacrifice” (Brhad Āraṇyaka Upaniṣad, 3.1.4), this page–this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page | |
| Āḍi | A demon hostile to Śiva, this page | |
| Aditi | Boundless, She who loosens bonds; mother of the Ādityas through her union with Kaśyapa, this page, this page, this page, this page | |
| Ādityas | The twelve sons of Aditi and Kaśyapa: Viṣṇu, Indra, Vivasvat, Mitra, Varuṇa, Pūṣan, Tvaṣṭṛ, Bhaga, Aryaman, Dhātṛ, Savitṛ, Aṃśa, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page | |
| Agastya | A ṛṣi born with Vasiṣṭha from the bowl where Mitra’s and Varuṇa’s sperm fell; sometimes considered one of the Saptarṣis, husband of Lopāmudrā, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page | |
| Age of the Losing Throw | Kaliyuga. this page | |
| Agni | Fire, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page–this page, this page, this page, this page, this page–this page, this page, this page, this page | |
| agnīdh | He who lights the fire; an officiant who tends the fire, this page, this page, this page | |
| agnihotra | Offering to the fire; the simplest and most important of the solemn rites. The head of every family of the three upper castes must offer this sacrifice all his life, morning and evening, shortly before the rising of the sun or the appearance of the first star, this page, this page, this page agre | |
| agre | Forward; Agni’s secret name, this page | |
| Ahalyā | Unplowable One; wife of the ṛṣi Gotama, this page–this page | |
| aham | I, this page | |
| āhavanīya | Fire into which one pours the offering; one of the three sacrificial fires, together with the gārhapatya, “belonging to the sacrificer,” a domestic fire, and the dakṣiṇāgni, “fire of the south.” The āhavanīya is lit with a flame taken from the gārhapatya, this page | |
| ahiṃsā | Not to wound; nonviolence toward living beings. A lizard defined it as “the supreme law of all creatures that breathe” (Mahābhārata, 1.11.12), this page | |
| Airāvata | Born of the ocean; a white elephant ridden by Indra, this page, this page, this page | |
| Ajita Keśakambalin | Philosopher who lived at the time of the Buddha, this page, this page | |
| Akūpāra | Cosmic turtle, immersed in the waters, this page | |
| Alakanandā | River that rises in the Himālaya and flows into the Ganges, this page | |
| Albertine | A character in Proust’s Recherche, this page, this page | |
| Aldebaran | A star in the Taurus constellation; it corresponds to Rohinī, this page, this page, this page | |
| All-gods | Viśve Devas, this page | |
| amāgadho māgadhavākyaḥ | Man-not-from-the-Magadha called man-from-the-Magadha, this page | |
| Amarāvatī | Indra’s celestial city, this page | |
| Ambā | A princess of Kāśī, carried off by Bhīsṃa with her sisters, Ambikā and Ambālikā, this page, this page | |
| amba | Mother, this page | |
| Ambālikā | A princess of Kāśī, marries Vicitravīrya, mother of Pāṇḍu through her union with Vyāsa, this page, this page | |
| ambalika | An affectionate form of amba, “mother,” this page | |
| ambhas | Water, billow, this page | |
| Ambikā | A princess of Kāśī, marries Vicitravīrya, mother of Dhrtarāṣṭra through her union with Vyāsa, this page, this page | |
| ambikā | An affectionate form of amba, “mother,” this page | |
| Āmrapālī | Guardian of the Mango Trees, courtesan of Vaiśālī, this page–this page | |
| Āmravaṇa | Park of the Mango Trees, one of the Buddha’s favorite parks, this page | |
| amṛta | Immortal; liquid of eternal life, drunk by the gods, which surfaces during the churning of the ocean (amṛtamanthana) and coincides with the substance that men call soma, this page, this page, this page–this page, this page, this page | |
| Aṃśa | Portion; one of the Ādityas, this page, this page | |
| aṃśa | Portion. The gods can descend into certain human beings with a part of themselves. Thus, of the Pāṇḍava brothers, Bhīma has a portion of Vāyu, Yudhiṣṭhira of Dharma, Arjuna of Indra, Nakula and Sahadeva of the Aśvins, this page, this page, this page | |
| ānanda | Joy, beatitude, this page, this page | |
| Ānanda | Joy; Buddha’s cousin, this page, this page–this page | |
| Ānandavardhana | A poet and writer of treatises, author of the Dhvanyāloka, “The Light of Poetical Suggestion,” perhaps the most important Indian work of literary criticism; lived in Kashmir in the ninth century A.D., this page, this page | |
| Ananta | Infinite; another name of the snake Śeṣa, this page | |
| ananta | Infinite, without limit, this page | |
| Anasūyā | Without envy; daughter of Dakṣa and Vīriṇī, wife of Atri, this page | |
| anattā | Non-Self; a Pāli term of Buddhist doctrine (equivalent to the Sanskrit anātman) that denies the existence of a Self, ātman, this page | |
| Andrée | A character in Proust’s Recherche, this page | |
| Aṅgiras | A group of ṛṣis, their guide is also called Aṅgiras, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page | |
| anirukta | Inexpressible, unexpressed, implicit; describes those verses and rites in which the divinity of whom one is speaking is not named; also describes formulas that are murmured or pronounced mentally, this page | |
| Annapūrṇā | Full of food; a peak in the Himālaya, this page | |
| Antelope | MṚga, name of the constellation Orion, this page | |
| Antelope Park | MṚgadāva, park of the king of Vārāṇasī, this page | |
| Anumati | Consent; daughter of Aṅgiras; also the fifteenth day of the lunar cycle, when the gods look favorably on sacrificial offerings, this page | |
| Anuruddha | A Buddhist monk present at the Council of Rājagṛha, this page | |
| Anyataḥplakṣā | A pond in Kurukṣetra where Urvaśī appears with her following of Apsaras, this page, this page | |
| āpah | Waters, from āp-, “to pervade,” this page | |
| aparimita | Boundless, this page | |
| apauruṣeya | Not from man; of nonhuman origin, this page, this page | |
| Apollo | Son of Zeus and Leto, twin brother of Artemis, this page | |
| Apsaras | Flowing in the waters; celestial nymphs, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page–this page, this page, this page, this page, this page–this page, this page, this page, this page | |
| apuṃścalū puṃścalūvākyā | “Not-whore called whore,” this page | |
| araṇī | A twig of aśvattha with which the ritual fire is kindled and with which Purūravas first unleashed fire in the world, this page, this page | |
| Aratī | Dissatisfaction; a daughter of Māra, this page, this page | |
| Archer | Śarva; one of Rudra’s names, this page–this page, this page–this page, this page, this page | |
| arhat | Worthy; the fourth level of sanctity in Buddhist terminology; refers to those who have freed themselves from karman. this page, this page | |
| Arjuna | White One; one of the Pāṇḍavas, born of the union between Indra and Kuntī, first wife of Pāṇḍu, his putative father, this page, this page–this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page–this page, this page, this page–this page, this page–this page | |
| arka | Brilliant; Asclepias gigantica; a hymn of praise; the mystic name of the holy fire in the agnicayana and the aśvamedha, this page | |
| Artabhaga | A brahmanic master, contemporary with Yājnavalkya, this page | |
| Artemis | Daughter of Zeus and Leto, twin sister of Apollo, this page | |
| Aruna | Son of Kaśyapa and Vinatā, Sūrya’s charioteer, this page–this page | |
| Arundhatī | One of the Kṛttikās, wife of Vasiṣṭha, this page | |
| Aryaman | One of the Ādityas, an ancestor of the Āryas, this page, this page | |
| Āryas | Noble Ones; used by the Vedic texts to refer to members of the three upper castes, this page, this page–this page, this page | |
| as- | To gain, this page | |
| Aśani | Flash (of lightning); one of Rudra’s names, this page | |
| asat | That which is not (a-sat), the unmanifest, this page, this page | |
| āśrama | Hermitage, this page, this page | |
| Asuras | Gods, the first-born sons of Prajāpati; when they oppose the Devas, the gods par excellence, they become antigods, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page–this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page | |
| aśva | Horse, this page, this page, this page | |
| Aśvajit | One of the first five companions of the Buddha, this page, this page | |
| Aśvala | Priest (hotṛ) of King Janaka, this page | |
| aśvamedha | Sacrifice of the horse, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page | |
| aśvattha | Ficus religiosa, peepul tree, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page–this page, this page | |
| Aśvins | Divine twins, sons of Vivasvat and Saraṇyū, this page, this page, this page–this page, this page, this page, this page–this page, this page, this page, this page | |
| atirikta | Overflowing, this page | |
| ātman | Self, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page–this page, this page, this page, this page | |
| Ritual bath, this page | Devourer; one of the Saptarṣis, to whom are attributed a number of the hymns of the fifth maṇḍala of the Ṛg Veda and one hymn of the tenth maṇḍala, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page–this page, this page, this page, this page–this page, this page–99 avabhṛtha | Atri |
| avatāra | Descent; a periodic apparition, under a different form on each occasion, of Viṣṇu upon earth. The most widely accepted list gives the ten main avatāras as follows: Matsya, Kūrma, Varāha, Narasiṃha, Vāmana, Paraśurāma, Rāmacandra, Kṛṣṇa, Buddha, Kalkin, this page, this page, this page, this page–this page, this page–this page, this page | |
| Avimukta | Cremation ground in Kāśī, this page | |
| Awakened One | The Buddha, this page | |
| Awakening One | The brahman, according to the Maitri Upaniṣad, 6.this page, this page | |
| Āyus | Life’s duration; son of Purūravas and Urvaśī, this page, this page | |
| Badarī | A place of pilgrimage, sacred to Viṣṇu, in the upper Ganges valley on the slopes of the Himālaya, this page | |
| Bad Creation | Creation of Ahriman in Avestic theology, this page | |
| Bahuśruta | He who has heard much; epithet of Ānanda, this page | |
| Balbec | A seaside town where certain episodes of Proust’s Recherche take place, this page | |
| Balzac | Honoré de Balzac, 1799–1850, this page | |
| bandhu | Connection, this page, this page, this page, this page | |
| Banyan Park | Nyagrodhārāma, a park in Kapilavastu, this page | |
| Baudhāyana | Traditionally recognized as the founder of the school of the “black” Yajur Veda (Taittirīya school), author of numerous Sūtras, this page | |
| Bear | Ursa major; ṛkṣāh; residence of the Saptarṣis, this page, this page, this page | |
| Bengal | A region in northeast India, this page | |
| Betelgeuse | A star in the constellation Orion, this page | |
| Bhaga | Dispenser of riches; one of the Ādityas, brother of Uṣas, this page, this page, this page | |
| Bhairava | The Tremendous One; epithet of Śiva, this page | |
| bhakti | Devotion, this page, this page, this page | |
| bhaṇgā | Cannabis indica, this page | |
| Bharadvāja | One of the Saptarṣis, to whom are attributed a number of hymns of the sixth, ninth, and tenth maṇdala of the Ṛg Veda, this page, this page, this page, this page–this page | |
| Bharata | Author of the Nātyaśāstra; may have lived in the third or fourth century A.D., this page | |
| Bhārhut | Place in Madhya Pradesh holy to Buddhism, this page | |
| Bhāruṇḍa | Mythical birds who live in Uttarakuru, this page | |
| Bhava | Existence; one of Rudra’s names, this page | |
| bheda | Lesion, fracture, difference, this page | |
| Bhīma | One of the Pāṇḍavas, born of the union between Vāyu and Kuntī, first wife of Pāṇḍu, his putative father, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page | |
| Bhisma | Terrible; son of Śamtanu and Gaṇga, this page–this page | |
| BhṚgu | A ṛṣi, head of one of the clans founded by a ṛṣi, this page, this page | |
| Bhūmi | Earth; śakti of Viṣṇu, this page | |
| Bībhatsu | He-who-feels-repugnance; epithet of Arjuna, this page | |
| Bihar | Region in east India, bounded by Bengal, Orissa, and Nepal, this page | |
| bilva | Aegle marmelos, tree sacred to Śiva, this page | |
| Bindusaras | Lake of Drops; formed from drops of Gaṇgā fallen to earth, this page | |
| Black One | Kālī, this page | |
| Black One | Kṛṣṇa; also an epithet of Śiva, this page | |
| Blessed One | Epithet of the Buddha, this page | |
| Boar | Varāha; the third avatāra of Viṣṇu, this page | |
| bodháyantī | The Awakening One, this page | |
| Bodhgayā | The name of the place (near Gayā) where the awakening (bodhi) of the Buddha took place, this page | |
| bodhi | Awakening, this page, this page, this page, this page | |
| Bodhisattva | A being destined to the awakening; the name used for those destined to become Buddhas as well as for those who have chosen not to reach the state of Buddha immediately, out of compassion for other beings. Before achieving awakening, Siddhārtha Gautama is a Bodhisattva, this page, this page, this page, this page–this page, this page, this page, this page | |
| Born-in-a-reed-marsh | Śaravaṇodbhava, this page | |
| Boy | Kumāra; one of the names of Rudra, this page | |
| Brahmā | All the unresolved disputes that revolve around the term brahman can equally well be applied to the meaning of this name. His antecedent is Prajāpati, this page, this page, this page–this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page | |
| brahmacārin | He who behaves according to brahman; the name of those in the first stage of human life, that of a pupil under the guidance of a guru, characterized by chastity and the observance of special rules, this page | |
| Brahmāhatyā | Fury of the Brahmanicide; a girl who pursues those who have killed a brahman, this page, this page–this page | |
| brahman | The St. Petersburg Dictionary (Böhtlingk-Roth) offers seven meanings in the following order: prayer, magic formula, sacred discourse, sacred knowledge, sacred way of life, the absolute, the caste of the brahmans. The debates over this word have gone on since the beginning of Indological studies. Each of the seven meanings has its supporters, who believe it to be prevalent. Numerous hybrid meanings have also been proposed, as have further translations, for example, “ connective energy compressed in enigmas” (Renou); “power of language” (Staal); “powerful word” (Kramrisch); “link between life and death” (Heesterman). A whole literary genre, the Brāhmanas, was given over to the interpretation of brahman. In the Atharva Veda, 10.8.37, we read: “He who knows the thread of the thread knows the great essence of brahman,” this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page | |
| Brāhmaṇas | Prose texts of ritual exegesis, written between 800 and 600 B.C., this page | |
| brahmodya | A dispute through enigmas, this page, this page | |
| Bṛhaspati | Lord of the sacred discourse; the chief priest, purohita, of the Devas, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page | |
| Brilliant | Vivasvat, this page | |
| Buddha | Awakened; the Buddha Śākyamuni, Siddhārtha Gautama, son of Śuddhodana and Māyā; according to Viṣṇuite tradition, the ninth avatāra of Viṣṇu. The dates of his life are still a matter of controversy, but usually considered as straddling the sixth and fifth centuries B.C., this page–this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page–this page, this page–this page | |
| Buddha Kāśyapa | The Buddha who precedes the Buddha Śākyamuni, this page | |
| Buddha Maitreya | The Buddha of the future, who appears after the Buddha Śākyamuni, this page | |
| Buddha Śākyamuni | Siddhārtha Gautama, the Buddha, this page | |
| Buyanstā | Avestic demon of morning-time inertia, this page | |
| cakra | Wheel; in Tantrism, the name of the centers through which Devī Kuṇḍalinī ascends; also referred to as lotuses (padmas). Their number varies with the traditions; in the hatha yoga there are seven, this page | |
| Cape Comorin | Southernmost extremity of the Indian subcontinent, this page | |
| Castle, The | Franz Kafka’s novel, this page | |
| Celestials | The Devas, the Apsaras, and the Gandharvas, this page, this page | |
| chandas | Meter, this page, this page | |
| Chāndogya Upaniṣad | Together with the Bṛhad Āraṇyaka, the oldest and most important of the Upaniṣads, this page | |
| Chāyā | Shadow; another name for Saraṇyū, this page–this page | |
| cit- | To think intensely, this page | |
| citi | Brick, this page | |
| Citrasena | A Gandharva and music and dance master in Indra’s heaven, this page, this page | |
| Coomaraswamy | Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, indologist, 1877–1947, this page | |
| Cow of Desires | Kāmadhenu, magic cow possessed by Vasiṣṭha; one of the gems, ratnas, that appeared during the churning of the ocean, this page | |
| Cows | Go; a term in the language of enigmas: cows have twenty-one secret names, this page, this page, this page, this page–this page | |
| Craftsman | Tvaṣṭṛ, this page, this page–this page, this page | |
| Creator | Brahmā, this page | |
| Cyavana | A ṛṣi of the BhṚgu clan, this page–this page, this page–this page, this page | |
| Dadhikrāvan | In the Ṛg Veda, the name of a regal horse, this page | |
| Dadhyañc | Son of the primordial priest Atharvan; knows the pravargya, a ceremony incorporated in the cult of the soma, this page–this page, this page | |
| Daityas | Sons of Kaśyapa and Diti, enemies of the Devas, this page | |
| daiva | Fate, this page | |
| Dakṣa | Skillful (dexter); born from Brahmā’s right thumb. Also “Dakṣa was generated by Aditi and Aditi was generated by Dakṣa” (Ṛg Veda, 10.72.4); father of Satī, this page, this page–this page, this page–this page, this page–this page, this page | |
| dakṣiṇā | Ritual fee, this page | |
| Dānavas | Demonic beings, enemies of the Devas, sons of Kaśyapa and Danu, this page, this page | |
| Danu | Daughter of Dakṣa, wife of Kaśyapa, mother of the Dānavas, this page | |
| darbha | Grass frequently used in sacrifices, this page | |
| darśana | Vision, this page | |
| Daughter | Uṣas, this page | |
| Daughter of the Mountain | Pārvatī, this page | |
| Daughter of the Sun | Sūryā, daughter of Sūrya, this page, this page | |
| Dawn | Uṣas, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page | |
| Dawns | uṣ saḥ this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page |
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| Dead Egg | Mārtāṇḍa, this page | |
| Death | Mṛtyu, this page–this page, this page–this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page–this page | |
| Delphi | Sanctuary of Apollo, this page | |
| Desire | Kāma, this page, this page, this page | |
| Devas | Gods, younger brothers of the Asuras, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page–this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page | |
| Devavrata | One who observes a divine vow; the first name of Bhīṣma, this page | |
| Devī | The Goddess, of whom Pārvatī and Satī are manifestations, this page, this page, this page | |
| Devī Kuṇḍalinī | Twisted Goddess; śakti, the “power” of Śiva coiled around the base of the spine, this page | |
| Devourer | Agni, this page | |
| dexter | Able; Dakṣa, this page | |
| Dhanvantari | Physician of the gods; one of the ratnas, “gems,” that appear during the churning of the ocean, this page | |
| Dhanyā | Fortunate; sister of Menā, this page | |
| Dharma | Law; the god who fathers Yudhiṣṭhira with Kuntī; name of the dog of Yudhiṣṭhira, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page | |
| dharma | Law, order; in the Buddhist lexicon also means “element”, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page–this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page | |
| Dharmasūtras | Ancient works of jurisprudence attributed to various founders of the Vedic schools, this page | |
| Dhātṛ | Ruler; one of the Ādityas, this page, this page | |
| Dhenuka | Full of cows; a place of pilgrimage in India, this page | |
| Dhiṣaṇā | Hymn, prayer, intelligence; the cup that contains the soma; also the goddess who brings wealth and fortune, this page | |
| Dhrtarāṣṭra | Blind son of Vyāsa and Ambikā, father of the Kauravas, this page, this page, this page | |
| dhvani | Poetic suggestion, this page | |
| dīkṣita | Initiate; one who submits himself to the rites of the dīkṣā, “consecration,” this page | |
| Dinkas | A Nilotic tribe, this page | |
| Dīrghatamas Māmateya | Long Darkness, son of Mamatā; the ṛṣi to whom hymns this page–this page of the first book of the Ṛg Veda are attributed, this page–this page | |
| Disorder | Adharma, this page | |
| Diti | Limit; daughter of Dakṣa, wife of Kaśyapa, mother of the Daityas, this page | |
| Draupadī | Daughter of Drupada, king of the Pañcālas, born from the sacrificial fire, marries the five Pāṇḍava brothers, this page, this page–this page, this page, this page, this page, this page–this page | |
| Droṇa | Master of arms of both the Pāṇḍavas and the Kauravas, born of the seed of Bharadvāja, father of Aśvatthāman, an ally of the Kauravas, this page | |
| Drupada | King of the Pañcālas, father of Draupadī, this page | |
| Duṇḍu | Name of an Apsaras, this page | |
| Durvāsas | A brahman and ṛṣi, a portion (aṃśa) of Śiva, this page–this page, this page | |
| Dusk | Sandhyā, this page | |
| dvāpara | When playing dice the throw that gives a remainder of two. In the sequence of the yugas, it follows the kṛtayuga and the tretāyuga, and comes before the kaliyuga, this page | |
| Dvārakā | City where Kṛṣṇa reigns, on the northeastern coast of India, this page–this page | |
| dvitīya | Second, this page | |
| Dwarf | Vāmana, the fifth avatāra of Viṣṇu, this page | |
| Earth | Prthivī, this page | |
| Elephant | Airāvata, one of the ratnas “gems,” that appeared during the churning of the ocean, this page | |
| Eleusis | Place of the eponymous mysteries, this page | |
| Enchantress | Mohinī, this page | |
| Everything | Sarva; one of the names of Rudra, this page | |
| Evil of Death | Pāpmā mṛtyuḥ, this page | |
| Existence | Bhava; one of the names of Rudra, this page | |
| Extreme | Uttarā, this page | |
| Eye of the Pond | Hradecaksus, this page | |
| Father | Prajāpati, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page | |
| Father Time | Prajāpati, this page | |
| Fénelon | French theologian, 1651–1715, this page | |
| Fifth Veda | One of the definitions of the Mahābhārata, this page | |
| Agni, this page, this page | Fire | |
| Forest of Cedars | Devadāruvana; a place inhabited by ṛṣis and their wives, on the slopes of the Himālaya, this page–this page, this page, this page, this page | |
| Forest of Khāṇḍava | A forest near Indraprastha; or Sugar Candy Forest, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page | |
| Forest of Naimiṣa | Naimisāraṇya; the forest where Ugraśravas recited the Mahābhārata for the first time, this page | |
| Four Vedas | The Ṛg Veda, Sama Veda, Yajur Veda, and Atharva Veda, this page | |
| Fury of the Brahmanicide | Brahmahatyā, this page | |
| Gaṇas | Genies who follow Śiva, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page | |
| Gandhamādana | A mountain east of the Himālaya, this page | |
| Gāndhārī | Wife of Dhṛtarāṣtṛa, mother of the Kauravas, this page | |
| Gandharvas | Celestial demons, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page–this page, this page, this page, this page | |
| Gandhi | Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, 1869–1948, this page | |
| Gāṇḍīva | A prodigious bow, given to Arjuna by Agni, this page, this page | |
| Gaṇeśa | Lord of the Troops; son of Pārvatī; has an elephant’s head, this page–this page, this page, this page | |
| Gaṇgā | Sister of Pārvatī; the river Ganges, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page–this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page | |
| Gārgī | Woman theologian of the Kuru-Pañcālas, this page–this page | |
| gārhapatya | Belonging to the sacrificer; domestic fire; one of the three sacrificial fires. It is from the circular gārhapatya that one takes the flame to light the āhavanīya, this page, this page | |
| Garuḍa | Immense eagle, son of Kaśyapa and Vinatā, this page–this page, this page–this page, this page | |
| Gaurī | Name of an Apsaras, this page | |
| Gautama | Name of the clan into which the Buddha was born, this page–this page, this page | |
| Gavāṃpati | A ṛṣi contemporary with the Buddha, this page | |
| Gayā | A place in the Bihar region near which the awakening of the Buddha occurred, this page | |
| Gāyatrī | Daughter of Brahmā | |
| gāyatrī | A Vedic meter made up of three lines of eight syllables, this page, this page, this page, this page | |
| Geldner | K. F. Geldner, indologist, 1853–1929, this page | |
| Gemini | A constellation between Canis Major and Orion, this page | |
| Genie | Yakṣa, this page | |
| Genies | Ones who drink words; Rāksasas, this page | |
| Genies | Following Śiva: Gaṇas, this page, this page, this page, this page | |
| Ghṛtācī | Name of an Apsaras, this page | |
| Gilda | The protagonist of Gilda by Charles Vidor, 1946, this page | |
| Goddess | Devī, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page | |
| Gokula | A village near Mathurā, this page, this page, this page | |
| Good Creation | Creation of Ohrmazd, in Avestic theology, this page | |
| Gopā | Wife of Siddhārtha Gautama, the Buddha, this page, this page | |
| gopī | Cow girl, this page, this page–this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page | |
| Gotama | Or Gautama; one of the Saptarṣis, author of hymns this page–93 of the first maṇḍala of the Ṛg Veda, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page–this page | |
| Grace-Done-to-Antelopes | Became the name of King Vārāṇasī’s Antelope Park after the Buddha, in one of his earlier lives, passed through it in the form of an antelope, this page | |
| grāma | Village; temporary settlement of nomad shepherds, this page, this page | |
| grāvastut | Praiser of stones; officiant in the rite of the soma, this page | |
| Great Bear | Or Great Chariot; a northern constellation of seven stars, this page–this page, this page | |
| Great Black One | Mahākāla; epithet of Śiva, this page | |
| gṛhapati | Leader, guide of the officiants who takes the place of the sacrificer, yajamāna, in the sattra, this page, this page | |
| Gṛtsamada | A ṛṣi attributed with the authorship of the second maṇḍala of the Ṛg Veda, this page | |
| Guardian of the Mango Trees | Āmrapālī, this page | |
| Guardians | Phúlakes; to whom Plato entrusts control of the city, this page, this page | |
| Guṇgū | The new moon, this page | |
| Harappa | With Mohenjo-daro, one of the two main centers of civilization in the Indus valley, which flourished between 2500 and 1700 B.C., this page | |
| Hastināpura | A city of the Pāṇḍavas and the Kauravas, near the present Delhi, this page | |
| Head of the Antelope | Mārgaśīrsa; month corresponding to November-December, this page | |
| Hegel | G. W. F. Hegel, 1770–1831, this page | |
| He-who-came-thus | Tathāgata, the Buddha, this page, this page, this page | |
| He-who-feels-repugnance | Bībhatsu; epithet of Arjuna, this page | |
| He-who-has-the-blue-neck | Nīlakaṇtha; epithet of Śiva, this page | |
| He-who-holds-the-bowl | Kapālin; epithet of Śiva, this page | |
| Himālaya | Himavat, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page | |
| Himavat | Himālaya; father of Pārvatī, this page–this page, this page, this page, this page | |
| hiṃs- | To wound, this page | |
| Hindukush | A mountainous region between Afghanistan and the west of India (Pakistan and Kashmir), this page | |
| Hipparchus | Hipparchus of Nicea, second century B.C., astronomer who identified and described the precession of the equinoxes, this page | |
| Hoffmann | Karl Hoffmann, indologist, 1915–, this page | |
| hotṛ | He who pours the oblation; one of the four main officiating priests, whose duty is to recite hymns and ritual formulas, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page | |
| Hradecakṣus | Eye of the Pond; one of the six Apsaras who escort Urvaśī, this page | |
| hṛdyá samudrá | The ocean of the heart, this page | |
| Hrī | Modesty, this page | |
| I | Aham, this page | |
| idam | This, this page, this page | |
| idarṇ sarvam | All this, this page, this page | |
| India | The Island of the Jambū, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page | |
| Indo-Aryans | Āryas, this page | |
| Indra | King of the Devas and one of the Ādityas, this page, this page–this page, this page–this page, this page–this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page–this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page–this page, this page, this page, this page, this page | |
| Indrānī | Indra’s wife, this page | |
| Indraprastha | A city of the Pāṇḍavas, corresponds to the present Delhi, this page, this page | |
| Indus | Sindhu, this page, this page | |
| Iran | Ērānscar;ahr, “Land of the Āryas,” this page | |
| Īśāna | Lord; one of the names of Rudra, this page | |
| Island of the Jambu | Jambudvīpa; ancient name of the Indian subcontinent, this page, this page, this page, this page | |
| iva | “In a certain sense”; “so to speak.” “The particle iva stresses indetermination, evokes latent values” (L. Renou and L. Silburn, “Nírukta and ánirukta,” in L. Sarup Memorial Volume, Hoshiarpur, 1954, this page), this page | |
| jagatī | A Vedic meter made up of three lines of twelve syllables, this page, this page, this page | |
| Jamadagni | Devouring fire; a ṛṣi, descendant of BhṚgu, according to some traditions, one of the Saptarṣis; introduced the virāj meter, this page, this page, this page–this page, this page–this page, this page, this page | |
| jambū | Rose-apple tree, Eugenia jambos; Island of the Jambū, Jambūdvīpa, is the ancient name of India, this page | |
| Janaka | Generator; king of Videha, this page | |
| Janamejaya | One who makes men tremble; son of Parīkṣit, this page–this page, this page | |
| Janapadakalyāṇī | The beauty of the land; girl betrothed to Ānanda (or, according to some, to Nanda), this page, this page | |
| jaráyantī | Awakening, making one grow old, this page | |
| Javā | Maid of Pārvatī, this page | |
| Jayadratha | One who has victorious chariots; king of Sindhu, ally of the Kauravas against the Pāṇḍavas, this page, this page | |
| Jena | City in Germany, this page | |
| Jetavana | One of the Buddha’s favorite parks, this page | |
| Jina Mahāvīra | A spiritual master at the time of the Buddha, founder of Jainism, this page | |
| K. | Josef K. in The Trial and K. in The Castle, novels by Franz Kafka, this page | |
| ka | Who? Secret name of Prajāpati, this page, this page, this page, this page–this page, this page, this page | |
| Kadrū | Daughter of Dakṣa, sister of Vinatā, mother of a thousand Nāgas; according to the Śatapatha Brāhmana, 3.2.4.this page, she and Vinatā were māyās, “magic forms,” evoked by the Devas to win the soma, this page, this page, this page–this page | |
| Kafka | Franz Kafka, 1883–1924, this page | |
| Kailāsa | A mountain in western Tibet on whose slopes the Indus, the Ganges, and the Brahmāputra rivers all flow, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page | |
| Kakuda Kātyāyana | A philosopher at the time of the Buddha, this page | |
| Kāla | Time; one of the names of Śiva, this page, this page | |
| Kālakūta | The poison of the world, drunk by Śiva during the churning of the ocean, this page | |
| Kālandakanivāpa | Offered to the squirrels; one of the Buddha’s favorite parks, this page | |
| Kalāvatī | Sister of Menā, this page | |
| kali | When playing dice the losing throw, “the dog’s throw,” which gives a remainder of one; in the sequence of the yugas, it comes after the kṛtayuga, the tretāyuga, and the dvāparayuga, this page | |
| Kālī | Black One, Dark One; an epithet of Devī, and hence of Pārvatī, this page | |
| Kālidāsa | An Indian poet and playwright who lived between the fourth and fifth centuries A.D., this page | |
| kaliyuga | Age of the Losing Throw, this page, this page, this page | |
| kalpa | A cosmic cycle corresponding to a day of Brahmā; divided into four aeons, yugas, it ends with the pralaya, “dissolution,” also known as the “night of Brahmā”, this page, this page | |
| Kāma | Desire, son of Brahmā, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page | |
| kāma | Desire, this page | |
| Kāmarūpa | Form of desire; ancient name of Assam, this page | |
| Kāñcī | A city in Tamil Nadu, this page, this page | |
| kapāla | Bowl, this page | |
| Kapālin | He-who-holds-the-bowl; epithet of Śiva, this page | |
| Kapilavastu | The Buddha’s birthplace; presumably corresponds to Piprāwā, in Uttar Pradesh, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page | |
| Kārapacava | A bend in the Sarasvatī River, this page | |
| Karkoṭaka | Name of a Snake, son of Kadrū, this page | |
| karman | Action; initially, sacrificial action, this page, this page, this page | |
| Karṇa | Son of Sūrya and Kuntī abandoned at birth, adopted by Adhiratha and Rādhā, this page | |
| kārṣāpana | A coin of the Bihar, this page | |
| Kārttika | Month of the Kṛttikās, the Pleiades; October-November, this page | |
| kásā mádhumatī | Honey whip; used by the Aśvins, this page | |
| Kāśī | The Splendid; ancient name of Vārāṇasī (Benares), this page, this page, this page, this page | |
| Kaśyapa | Turtle; one of the Saptarṣis. He always has two wives—either Aditi and Diti or Kadrū and Vinatā. Or he marries thirteen of Dakṣa’s daughters, including Aditi, Diti, Kadrū, and Vinatā, this page, this page–this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page | |
| Kaṭha Upaniṣad | An upaniṣad almost entirely in verse; contains the instructions given by Yama to a young brahman, Naciketas, this page | |
| Kātyāyanī | Epithet of Durgā, the Inaccessible One; manifestation of Devī, this page | |
| Kātyāyanī | Wife of Yājñavalkya, this page–this page | |
| Kauravas | Descendants of Kuru; the name usually used for the hundred sons of Dhrtarāstra and Gāndhārī, cousins of the Pāṇḍavas, this page, this page–this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page | |
| Kauśikī | River in Bihar, frequently called Kosi, this page | |
| Kaustubha | Gem that appeared during the churning of the ocean, this page | |
| kavi | Poet, this page | |
| Kāvya Uśanas | Chief priest of the Asuras, this page | |
| Khyāti | Daughter of Dakṣa and Vīrinī, this page | |
| Kosala | A principality of the Bihar region, this page, this page | |
| Kratu | Will; a ṛṣi of the second list, this page, this page | |
| Kṛśā Gautamī | Companion of the Buddha in his youth; in Pāli: Kisā Gotamī, this page | |
| Kṛśānu | A footless archer, guardian of the soma, this page | |
| Kṛṣṇa | Black One, Dark One; Obscure One; son of Vasudeva and Devakī, adopted by Nanda and Yaśodā; eighth avatāra of Viṣṇu, this page, this page–this page, this page–this page, this page–this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page–this page, this page, this page, this page–this page, this page–this page, this page, this page, this page | |
| Kṛṣṇa | Black One; epithet of Draupadī, this page | |
| krta | A winning throw when playing dice; a number divisible by four, leaving no remainder; name of the perfect age, this page | |
| kṛtakṛtya | He who has done what must be done, this page | |
| Kṛttikās | The Pleiades, the wives of the Saptarṣis; six of them carry Skanda in their wombs and give birth to him, this page, this page | |
| Kṣamā | Daughter of Dakṣa and Vīrinī, this page | |
| kṣatriya | Warrior; noble; the second of the four castes, this page, this page, this page | |
| Kumāra | Boy; one of the names of Rudra, this page | |
| kumāraka | Boy, this page | |
| Kumbhayoni | He whose womb was a pot; epithet of Vasiṣṭha, born together with Agastya from the sperm simultaneously squirted into a pot by Mitra and Varuṇa upon seeing Urvaśī, this page | |
| Kuntī | Adopted daughter of Kuntibhoja; mother of Karṇa by Sūrya; wife of Pāṇḍu, mother of Yudhiṣṭhira by Dharma, Bhīma by Vāyu, and Arjuna by Indra, this page, this page, this page, this page–this page, this page | |
| Kuntibhoja | King of the Kuntī and the Bhoja peoples; adoptive father of Kuntī, this page | |
| Kūrma | Turtle; second avatāra of Viṣṇu, this page | |
| Kurukṣetra | Field of the Kurus; about a hundred and fifty kilometers north of Delhi; place where the gods made sacrifices; site of the battle between the Pāṇḍavas and the Kauravas narrated in the Mahābhārata, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page, this page | |
| Kuru-Pañcālas | Collective name of the Kuru and Pañcāla peoples, who settled in the “middle region” (madhyadeśa), brahmanic par excellence, in the northwestern part of the Ganges plain. The territory of the Kurus was the Kurukṣetra, this page | |
| Kurus | Inhabitants of the Kuru-Pañcāla region, this page, this page | |
| Kuśinagara | Capital of the Malla people; in a wood near Kuśinagara the complete extinction (parinirvāṇa) of the Buddha took place, this page, this page | |
| Lake of Drops | Bindusaras, this page | |
| lakṣaṇa | Token of perfection; the Buddha has thirty-two lakṣaṇas that distinguish his body from those of other beings, this page | |
| Lakṣmī | Consort and śakti of Visṇu, this page | |
| Last | Uttarā, this page–this page | |
| Law | Dharma, this page, this page, this page, this page–this page, this page, this page, this page–this page, this page, this page, this page | |
| Laws of Manu | Manusmrti; according to tradition, a text in which the ṛṣi BhṚgu described the institutions of the sacred law as proclaimed by Manu; believed to have been written down between the second century B.C. and the second century A.D., this page, this page | |
| Licchavis | The dominant clan in the city of Vaiśah, this page–this page | |
| līlā | Game, this page | |
| liṇga | Sign, token, phallus, this page, this page, this page | |
| Locke | John Locke, 1632–1704, this page | |
| Long | Dīghanikāya, “group of long [discourses]”; name of one of the five sections into which the Suttapiṭaka, one of the Three Baskets of the Buddha’s discourses, is divided, this page | |
| Long Discourses | The doctrine of the Buddha expounded in long treatises, this page | |
| Lopāmudrā | Wife of Agastya, this page–this page | |
| Lord of the Animals | Śiva, this page, this page–this page |