The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism (2 Vol Set)

Vishnu himself, and begins to sing Vishnu’s praises. The fish then informs Manu that the destruction of the world is imminent—fi ...

also correlated with the phonetic elements of the sacred sound Om. Om symbolizes the four states of consciousness and is the sum ...

G Gada (“club”) In Hindu iconography, one of the identifying objects carried by the god Vishnu, along with the conch shell (shan ...

matched that neither can best the other. After the battle has raged for a thousand years the god Vishnuappears, kills the crocod ...

Gana (“host”) In Hindu mythology, a collec- tive term for a group of minor gods who are the god Shiva’sservants and attendants. ...

wife. Although Sanskritliterary sources are replete with Gandharva marriages— perhaps the most famous being the marriage of King ...

Gandhi, Mohandas K. Mohandas K. Gandhi in 1931. ...

Among his critics were B. R. Ambedkar, who felt that Gandhi had used the untouchables as pawns in negotiations with the British ...

as “Lord of Obstacles” (Vighneshvar), who has the power both to remove and to bestow difficulties, depending on whether or not a ...

of this festival in Maharashtra, particu- larly the processions to immerse the images in the sea, became an important theater to ...

Gangaikondacholapuran Temple town in the eastern part of Tamil Nadu, about forty-five miles north and east of the city of Tanjor ...

holy, and one gains great religious merit by seeing it, drinking from it, touching it, or merely by thinking about it. It is als ...

Ganika (“harlot”) In Hindu mythology, a figure who serves as an example of the boundless power of God’s graceand the ease with w ...

districts of Garhwal, TehriGarhwal, Dehra Dun, Chamoli, and Uttarkashi. The Garhwal region contains all the major tributaries of ...

proponent of Advaita Vedanta, one of the six schools of classical Hindu philosophy, despite Gaudapada’s simi- larities to certai ...

Gaurava (“[needless] complexity”) In Indian logic, one of the faults to be avoided in constructing and pursuing an argu- ment. A ...

Kashyapa, Bharadvaja, Vasishtha, Bhrgu, Atri, and Vishvamitra. All brah- minsare believed to be descended from these seven sages ...

has exclusive hereditary rights to serve all the pilgrims whose ancestral homes lie in a particular region or regions, regardles ...

water to drip out from the pot through a small hole. Ghatotkacha In the Mahabharata, the later of the two great Hindu epics, Gha ...

a corps of learned men who could help to revitalize Hindu life. Each of the divi- sions is designated by a different name—in thi ...