Adi-Ananta-Sesha |
Serpent of time |
Aditi |
Mother of the devas |
Adya |
Primal mother-goddess |
Agni |
God of fire |
akshaya |
Inexhaustible |
Akupara |
Turtle who forms the foundation of the universe |
amrita |
Nectar of immortality; ambrosia |
apsaras |
Divine damsels; celestial courtesans |
artha |
Material weath; principle of economics and politics |
asana |
Postures that redirect the energies of the body for mystical and occult purposes |
asuras |
Netherworld spirits; eternal enemies of the devas |
banyan |
Fig tree (Ficus religiosa) |
Devotion, a type of yoga |
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Brahma |
God of creation |
brahmacharya |
Continence |
Brahman |
Impersonal unmanifest directive principle of the cosmos; spirit; pure consciousness; ultimate divine |
brahmana |
Priest; highest caste in the Hindu caste heirarchy |
Brahmanas |
Ritual manuals |
Buddha |
Title of Sakyamuni Siddhartha Gautama, the founder of Buddhism |
buddha |
Enlightened one |
Buddhism |
Path of the enlightened; non-Hindu monastic order that originated in India |
devas |
Keepers of light and order; guardians of fertility; usually described as gods |
dharma |
Worldly obligations; laws that maintain order and stability in society and the cosmos |
gandharvas |
Celestial musicians; masculine aspects of Nature’s sensuality and fertility |
garbha |
Womb |
garbhadhana |
Conception |
grihastha |
Householder |
Indra |
Leader of the devas |
Itihasas |
Epics containing legendary history: Ramayana, Mahabharata, and Harivamsa |
Jainism |
Path of the true conquerors; non-Hindu monastic religion that evolved in India |
Ancient name for India that means “rose-apple continent” |
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Jatakas |
Stories of the Buddha in his previous life |
kalasha |
Pot |
Kama |
God of love and lust |
kama |
Pleasure; sex |
kanya |
Prepubescent girl |
karma |
Actions that generate reactions and fetter the soul to the cycle of life |
katha |
Story; folktale |
Krishna |
Incarnation of Vishnu; a cowherd-god who herds all beings to the path of dharma |
kshatriya |
Warrior; nobleman |
Kubera |
Leader of the yakshas; guardian of gold and gems |
kumbha |
Jar |
kumari |
Single woman; virgin |
Laxmi |
Goddess of wealth, fortune, beauty, prosperity |
linga |
Aniconic phallic stone |
lingam |
Penis |
lokapala |
Guardians of the directions |
lokas |
Celestial realms |
Mahabharata |
A long epic culminating in a great battle won by the righteous Pandavas over the Kauravas |
Mandara |
Central mountain of the Hindu world, sometimes identified as Mount Kailas; abode of Shiva; axis of space |
Mirage; illusory nature of the world; delusion |
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Meru |
Another name for Mandara |
moksha |
Release from the cycle of rebirths |
nagas |
Subterranean serpent beings |
Parvati |
Princess of the mountains; consort of Shiva |
patra |
Vessel |
pipal |
Fig tree (Ficus indica) |
pitris |
Ancestors; forefathers |
prakriti |
Nature; material reality; feminine being |
pranayama |
Breath control |
Puranas |
Chronicles of gods, kings, and sages |
purna |
Overflowing |
purusha |
Masculine being; spiritual reality |
rakshasas |
Wild forest spirits; barbarians |
Ramayana |
Epic of Rama, supreme upholder of dharma |
rasa |
Sap of life |
Rati |
Goddess of erotica |
rishi |
Sage; seer; hermit; one who performs tapasya; often married, though prefers celibacy |
ritu |
Nature’s cycle |
rudraksha |
Sacred beads of the Shaiva |
samadhi |
Release from material reality |
Cycle of life; material world |
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samskara |
Rite of passage |
Sandhya |
Goddess of twilight |
sanyasa |
renunciation |
sanyasi |
Ascetic; hermit; monk |
Sarasvati |
Goddess of knowledge and the arts |
Sati |
Shiva’s first wife who, unable to withstand her husband’s humiliation by her father, killed herself |
sati |
Chaste wife |
Shakti |
Goddess of energy |
shakti |
Power |
Shaiva |
Related to Shiva |
Shiva |
God of destruction and transcendence |
shudra |
Serf; laborer; lowest caste in the Hindu social hierarchy |
siddhi |
Power to manipulate the forces of Nature |
simanta |
Hair-parting ceremony in the seventh month of pregnancy |
tala |
Nether region |
Tantra |
Occult sciences of Hinduism |
tapas |
Heat born of continence |
tapasya |
Austerities that generate tapas |
Tirthankara |
Jain pathfinder who leads one out of samsara |
tulsi |
Sacred basil plant |
Philosophical treatises |
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Ushas |
Goddess of dawn |
Vaishnava |
Related to Vishnu |
vaishya |
Merchant; moneyed person; third highest caste of the Hindu caste heirarchy |
vanaprastha |
Retirement |
Varuna |
God of the sea |
Vayu |
God of the wind |
Vedanta |
Philosophical school of Hinduism that represents the acme of the Vedas |
Vedas |
Holiest books of Hinduism, containing mystical and occult hymns |
Vishnu |
God who sustains the universe |
vrata |
Ritual vow involving fasting and all-night vigil taken for material and spiritual benefit |
yagna |
Ancient Vedic rite seeking to invoke and appease the gods |
yakshas |
Mysterious forest spirits who guard treasures |
yoga |
Practice of mind-body control for mystical and occult ends |
yogini |
Virgin attendants of the goddess |
yoni |
Female generative organ; womb; vulva |