The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism (2 Vol Set)

the supreme divine power. It has this name because the text is 700 verses long, and Durga is one of the common names designating ...

to curse anyone who makes him angry. One victim of his wrath is the maiden Shakuntala, who in her reverie on her newfound love w ...

Another rift grows when the Pandavas contest the right of Duryodhana’s friend Karnato take part in an archery match, claiming th ...

Dussehra (variant of Dashahara, “ten days”) Festival celebrated on the tenth dayof the bright (waxing) half of the lunar monthof ...

Meghanada (an epithet of Indrajit) on the night of Dussehra, and these effigies often contain fireworks to enhance their pyrotec ...

both of these come from God and depend on Him for their continuing existence. In this dualism, Madhva dif- fers sharply from the ...

status, it is not surprising that the deities would have some “servants” guarding theirs door and restricting access to them, in ...

Dwaraka Sacred city (tirtha) on the western coast of Gujarat, on the shore of the Arabian Sea. In mythic terms, Dwaraka is most ...

E Earth In Hindu mythology, Earth is considered a goddess. The notion that India is a sacred land is one of the most deeply root ...

dangerous times. As in many other cul- tures, Indian astronomers were able to figure out the motion of the moon, and thus could ...

lunar month of Ashvin, Rambha Ekadashi and Devotthayan Ekadashi during the lunar month of Kartik, Utpanna Ekadashi and Mokshada ...

leveled by devotion. In short poems known as bharudshe speaks in a variety of voices, including those of untouch- ables, Muslims ...

and female known as Ardhanarishvara. The central image, and by far the most famous, is the three-headed, eighteen- foot-tall ima ...

renunciation, Hindu culture has also fostered considerable eroticism, which has a recognized place in everyday life. One example ...

best-known is the Kama Sutra. Sexual pleasure was seen as an established part of human life, which did not have to be hidden, an ...

an inner world of subjective experience and the objective outer world, which it argues are not true aspects of the real, or esse ...

F Fables See Panchatantra. Fallacies In defining the parameters for what is and is not a valid argument, certain types of argume ...

brother (sala), which in modern times often serves as a term of abuse. Fani, Muhsin (ca. mid-17th c.) Traditionally thought to b ...

on the calendar—but far fewer people celebrate any particular festival as a reli- gious holiday. Finally, some holidays are so s ...

Feticide This refers to selective abortion of female fetuses, which was made possi- ble by the advent of reliable prenatal sex d ...