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| Satī or suttee is the Hindu (See Hinduism entries) custom in which wives are immolated on the funeral pyres of their husbands. Satī (“good woman”) is also a name of the great Goddess (See Devī), who as the daughter of Brahmā's son Dakś (See Dakṣ) and a consort of Śiva (See Śiva), is an embodiment of the perfect Hindu wife. The Devībhāgavata Purāṇa (See Purāṇas) tells how Satīused the “fire of her yoga” (See Yoga) to reveal the dharma (See Dharma) of the practice of satī ( suttee). Satī was burned in the world-destroying fire of Śiva. Śiva took her out of the fire and Viṣṇu dismembered her with his arrows. Where each limb fell a devotional area for Śiva was established. |
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| In classical mythology, a common epithet of Śiva's consort (also known as Umā, and by a variety of other names), derived from her father's name (Parvata). A benevolent form of the Goddess (Devī), Pārvatī is depicted as a good wife and the devoted mother of her sons, Gaṇeśa and Skanda. A number of myths tell of her indefatigable pursuit of the god before their marriage. Iconographically, Pārvatī is most frequently depicted as a beautiful, two-armed woman, in the company of her husband or family; her vehicle (vāhana) is a lion. She is not usually worshipped independently. |
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An epithet of Lakṣmī, especially as that cosmic form of Devī who, in the Devī Mahātmya, for instance, embodies the guṇa of rajas.
"Great Goddess" is a term used to denote the Goddess or Devi that is the sum of all other Devis - an all encompassing Female Deity as the consort or complement to an all encompassing Male Deity (Deva) or the Ultimate Reality (Brahman) in Shaktism. |
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| Divine power or energy, personified as a feminine principle, and therefore either as a male god's consort (his active and immanent power), or as the ultimately independent, female absolute—the Goddess or Devī (also known as Śakti). The English term, Śāktism, designating the religious practice of those (the Śāktas) who worship the Goddess as the supreme deity |
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A name given to the most prominent, fierce form of Devī, especially in her role as the warrior goddess who destroys the buffalo demon, Mahiṣāsura (hence the epithet Mahiṣāsuramardiṇī, ‘crusher of the buffalo demon [Mahiṣa]’), although the two names—Durgā and Devī—are often used interchangeably. Durgā's defeat of the buffalo demon has its textual origin in the Devī Mahātmya, and its most notable ritual celebration in the annual Bengali Durgā Pūjā festival. In her most violent form, Durgā is often thought to be identical with Kālī.
Most important manifestation of Devi. |
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the main iconographic representation of Devi in which she is shown as the slayer of the buffalo demon. This myth is told is a number of variants.
This myth confronts brahmanical models of womanhood expressed in the Dharma Sastras where the nature of women is passive, unwarlike, and dependent on man |
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nature of women as presented in the Dharma Sastras. Says that women should be passive, unwarlike, and dependent on male authority.
Myth of buffalo demon challenges this conception as a woman does something no male could do in killing Mahisa |
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manifestation of the Goddess.
emaciated, blood-drinking violent form that haunts the cremation grounds.
Black or blue garlanded with severed heads, girdled with severed arms and a lolling tongue.
Dances on corpse of husband Siva
Example of paradox between her beauty and terror she can bring aka ambiguity of the goddess |
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| Appearing in the Ṛg Veda as the personification of the river (1), Sarasvatī is subsequently revered as the goddess of speech (vāc, or vāgdevī), poetry, music, and learning, and as the consort of Brahmā (whose haṃsa vāhana she shares). She has a particular association with the medium of traditional learning, Sanskrit, and therefore also with the Veda. (She is said to have been the inventor of the language, and of devanāgarī, one of the scripts in which it is written.) Iconographically, she is usually depicted as a fair young woman with four arms, holding or playing a vīṇā (lute); other insignia include a water pot, the Vedas in manuscript form, and a mālā. She may also hold, or be seated on, a lotus. |
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The pan-Indian goddess (strictly speaking, personification) of good fortune, prosperity, wealth, and beauty; she is the consort of Viṣṇu, and, according to Vaiṣṇava mythology, the mother of Kāma(deva). First appearing in late Vedic texts, the goddess Śrī (‘light’, ‘radiance’) is specifically associated with prosperity and the fertility of the land.
Sometimes she is shown with four arms, but more often with just two. Regarded as an entirely benevolent and auspicious form of the Goddess, because of her ability to grant wealth, Lakṣmī/Śrī is widely revered across India; among other festivals, she is closely associated with Divālī, which marks the beginning of the new financial year |
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sacred diagram
can serve as an aniconic form of the Goddess.
A type of sacred, and often complex, symbolic diagram, used, especially in Tantric ritual, as an aid to visualization and a way of manifesting the deity, or group of deities, represented at its centre |
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stylized female genitals
representing the Goddess and/or female power (śakti). The best known iconographic depiction is the near aniconic yoni which provides the pedestal (pīṭha) into which Śiva liṅgas are usually set, sometimes shaped as a spout, enabling water, and other substances used in the abhiṣeka of the liṅga, to drain away. The liṅga and yoni together (representing Śiva and his śakti) are taken to represent the undifferentiated unity of spirit (male) and matter (female) |
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| Tantra, a Tantric (see Tantrism) text, is almost always associated with the Hindu (see Hinduism entries) god Śiva (see Śiva, Śaiva) in connection with his śakti (see Śakti), the Goddess (see Devī), as a unified absolute. In certain Tantras and Śakta Upaniṣds (see Śaktism, Upaniṣads), it is the Goddess who is the primary object of worship as the personified Śakti. The word Tantra is also applied to texts, such as the Lakṣmī Tantra (see Lakṣmī) of the Paṇcarātra (see Paṇcarātra) devoted to Viṣṇu (see Vaiṣṇavas, Viṣṇu). Usually, however, Tantras are dialogues between Śiva and the Goddess. |
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matter/nature
he female of the two fundamental principles (the other being the male, puruṣa) which constitute reality. Invisible and unconscious, prakṛti in its unmanifest form (also known as pradhāna) is the ultimate cause of all material existence
An even more radical redefinition occurs in Śākta traditions, where śakti, the Goddess, and prakṛti are considered to be identical, a single active consciousness, in which puruṣa is subsumed.
In a theistic modification of this (in, for example, the Bhagavadgītā), prakṛti and its evolutes are said to comprise God's lower nature, while sentient beings (puruṣas) constitute his higher nature. |
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Krsna's favorite gopi
an erotic pairing which thereafter became the key component of Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava theology and practice, in so far as Caitanya, the Gosvāmīs, and numerous bhakti poets saw it as a template for the relationship between God (Bhagavān) and his devotees (bhaktas).
By identifying with Rādhā in her all-encompassing, secret, and intense, because conventionally adulterous, longing for Kṛṣṇa, on a register that stretches from separation (viraha) to (re)union, the devotee can aspire to experience a divine love (preman) concomitant with liberation. |
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The name by which the pan-Indian autumnal festival of Navarātri (Dasara) is known in Bengal, culminating in the blood sacrifices made to the goddess Durgā in her guise as the destroyer of the buffalo demon, Mahiṣāsura.
10 day festival. Buffalo sacrifices are rare because it has been prohibited by the Indian government since 1947
Only the goddess or one of her forms can accept the buffalo sacrifice, and the sacrifice in itself reflects social stratification as different castes offer different things |
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According to the Brahmanical tradition prescribed in the Gṛhyasūtras and Dharmaśāstra, a series of transformative rituals (also referred to as ‘rites of passage’, or ‘life-cycle rituals’) which should structure the entire lives of twice-born Vedic students and householders (gṛhastha). From an internal perspective, they have the dual purpose of removing impurities (e.g. those attending procreation and birth) and generating new qualities; the overall aim is to perfect the individual undergoing them and make him—in some cases her— fit (essentially in the ‘body’ or śarīra) for each new stage of life in accordance with dharma.
a way of defining (through inclusion and exclusion), reinforcing, and legitimizing social identity. |
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| Something characterized by, or related to, the ordinary custom of the world (loka). This distinguishes it from the ultramundane or alaukika, whether generally, or in the more specialized contexts of aesthetics and bhakti. |
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A generic term for a wide range of seasonal or cyclical celebratory occasions, ranging from village festivities, focused on local temples, to great pan-Indian festivals.
Village festivals are highly variegated, but in general they are performed collectively, with the intention of benefitting the whole village and reinforcing a sense of unity and solidarity among the local population |
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row of lamps’
A major pan-Indian festival celebrated around the day of the new moon in October–November (bridging the months of Āśvina and Kārttika), lasting from two to five days. Its name is derived from the characteristic lighting of rows of small oil lamps, placed in houses, temples, and on rivers to dispel the darkness on the night preceding the new moon.
he festival, especially the lighting of the lamps itself, is now most widely connected with the return of Rāma and Sītā to Ayodhyā at the end of their exile, and thus the restoration of divine order and light over demonic disorder and darkness. It is also closely associated with Lakṣmī, the auspicious goddess of wealth, |
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The name of a spring festival (vasantotsava), particularly popular in North and Central India, which is held on the last two days of the lunar month of Phālguna—February–March. Holī is characterized by a degree of social reversal and chaos before the start of the New Year. Its more obvious manifestations include the throwing of coloured powder and water, the shouting of risqué jokes and obscenities, consumption of bhang (bhaṅgā), and the lighting of bonfires
association with a demoness called Holikā. Various stories are told about her, all culminating in her eventual destruction, marking the end of evil, and/or the symbolic destruction of the old year. |
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| A flight of steps, leading to a river or tank, which as well as servicing a landing place, allows access for ritual purposes, such as a bathing (snāna). The ghāṭs leading into the Gaṅgā at Vārāṇasī are thought to be particularly sacred, each being its own tīrtha. |
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A mantra is a sacred formulaic phrase, verse, or sound, used in religious rituals, especially in those of India.
Verses used in liturgy which make up the collection of texts known as the Samhita
There is the notion that the mantra is given orally by the guru to the student. the guru empowers the mantra, gives the words energy, which parallels a deity in a temple being empowered |
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Seed syllable
sound unit based on Sanskrit phonology which when combined with others form meaningful phrases
most famous seed syllable is om |
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aphorisms in which orthodox darsanas have codified their teachings which are often condensed to be understood without the use of a commentary
"threads" |
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| commentary on the darsanas that form the exegetical expression of the tradition and in turn have sub-commentaries and glosses written on them. In commentaries debates between rival schools of thought can be found. |
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general translation for philosophy or theology.
a system of though expressed through a tradition of commentaries upon fundamental texts.
Assume the revelation of the Veda, claim to have liberation (moksa) as their purpose), are exegetical in nature, assume a transcendent reality and are concerned with ideas about the structure of the body.
comes from the root "to see" and can refer to orthodox and heterodox systems of approach to Vedic revelation |
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means of valid knowledge/cognition
The necessity of establishing what counted as a means of valid knowledge (pramāṇa) was considered an essential prerequisite by all darśanas.
There are usually 6 pramanas: perception, inference, verbal authority, analogy, presumption, and non-apprehension.
Different darsanas accept all or some of these as means of knowledge. |
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| absolute essence of the universe |
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| A term that can be used either as a reflexive pronoun (‘myself’, ‘yourself’, ‘itself’, etc.), or as a noun meaning ‘the self’ (sometimes translated as ‘soul’). In the early Upaniṣads ‘ātman’ is used in a wide variety of ways, perhaps most frequently to designate the living, breathing body; it is also sometimes equated with ‘prāṇa’ (‘breath’, ‘life-force’). The understanding of ātman as the eternal, unchanging essence of the person developed out of an increasing concern in Brahmanical literature to establish the nature of the ‘real’ (what is not subject to death and change), and to distinguish it from the ‘unreal’ |
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Hindu reform movements (restore greatness of ancient past, adopt rationalist elements from Xianity) instigated by a number of significant figures (particularly Ram Mohan Roy).
A religious and political movement which is closely related to the burgeoning of Indian nationalism which eventually led to ousting of British and establishment of India as secular state. |
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Left East India company to devote himself to religious and social reform.
Founded Brahmo Samaj society.
Essential belief was that God is a transcendent, immutable being who is the creator of the cosmos but cannot be known in his essence which is ineffable.
Advocated a tolerant position which maintains that all religions are essentially one.
Central vision was to restore and purify Hinduism by returning it to the teachings of the Upanisads and the Brahma Sutra, and to oppose idol worship.
Thought giving up icon worship was necessary to improve global moral standing on Hinduism.
Thought that reason leads to the discovery of universal moral codes |
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Movement founded in 1828 by Ram Roy, modeled on christian reform movements and met regularly. During the meetings, passages from the Upanisads would be read and sermons delivered.
Appealed to lower class Brahmans and emerging urban middle class, but not those at the popular village level. |
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Renouncer who wanted to seek truth beyond what he saw as superstition.
Became a reformer who advocated a return to a purer form of vedic religion whose focus is an eternal omnipotent impersonal God.
Wanted to move toward eternal law and away from icon worship.
Did not condemn the caste system but thought that class refers to individual difference in character/accomplishments.
Believed education should be available to both sexes. |
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"Noble/Aryan" society founded by Dayananda.
founded schools which taught Sanskrit and sought Hindu unity.
Not open to pluralist understanding of Hinduism, but advocates aggressive Hindu nationalism based upon a return to the ancient Vedas and being critical of traditions which have developed since then. |
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schools founded by Arya Samaj.
Still in existence throughout India, push for Hindu unity and vedic or Aryan culture. |
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Carried the philosophy that the divine exists within all beings regardless of social status. humans can achieve union with this which will promote love and social harmony.
Preached doctrine of unity at the World Parliament of Religions in 1893, and claimed that India need Christianity to send material support not missionaries to India.
First effective proponent of Hinduism as a world religion |
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Hindu mystic who declared the unity of all religions. Said that all religions are different paths to the One.
Priest of Kali
Attracted a number of middle class intellectuals |
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Reformer who joined the nationalist movement in 1915 and advocated for Indian independence through peaceful means.
Fundamental idea is that truth (satya), God who is the supreme being, and self are one in essence. Thus there should be harmony and non-violence (ahimsa) between people. Non-violence is manifestation of truth. |
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a word used by Gandhi to denote his movement for Indian nationhood born of Truth and Love or Non-violence.
Thought that satyagraha would lead to the welfare of all and is the practical expression of a higher reality through moral code and self-discipline.
Gandhi's followers were called satyagrahis as he expected higher standards of behavior including sexual renunciation |
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socio-political force to unite all Hindus against foreign influences advocated by the Arya Samaj.
Has also been taken up by more recent Hindu political groups. |
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man who assassinated Gandhi was from this extreme nationalist group.
Not a political party, but a powerful cultural organization to promote the interests of Hindus against those of Muslims, Christians and communists.
Wields lots of influence upon India's political and cultural life.
Dress in khaki and can been seen training in military fashion.
Its members can join other political parties. |
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Most important hindu nationalist political party.
Wishes to uphold the rights of Hindus and establish in India a Hindu value system as opposed to secularist values derived from the West and supported by the Congress party.
Has attracted wide support and runs on the platform of standing up for all Hindus and correcting social injustice. |
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is a centrist national political party in India with socialist leanings. It was formed to chiefly represent Bahujans (literally meaning "People in majority"), referring to people from the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Castes (OBC) as well as minorities. The party claims to be inspired by the philosophy of B. R. Ambedkar.
The BSP has recently been embroiled in controversy due to its leader, Mayawati's penchant for erecting her own statues along with her political mentor Kanshi Ram, and B.R. Ambedkar throughout the state of Uttar Pradesh mainly Lucknow which is the capital and Noida/Greater Noida which is her home town. |
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"army of Siva"
movement founded in bombay in 1966
Intention is to protect the rights of Maharastrian Hindus and to rid Maharashtra of foreign influence (Muslims and christians).
Responsible for communal rioting in Bombay following the demolishing of the mosque Babri Masjid in Ayodhya in 1992. |
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Mosque erected in Ayodhya in 128 by Barbur was demolished by estimated 100000 volunteers assembled by the call of the RSS and BJP.
One motive behind the destruction was the belief that Rama had been born on the exact spot where the mosque stood.
Seen as vengence for ancient muslim rulers destruction of hindu property |
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Idea that elements of Hindu culture (yoga, bhakti, gurus, some teachings, dance and music) have been exported to the West where they gained popularity which led to their popularity amond urban Hindus in India.
Aspect of the globalization of hinduism due to re-enculturation. |
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