The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism (2 Vol Set)

of alchemy, with the Hindu school known as dhatuvada. The reported dif- ference is that the latter relied solely on the consumpt ...

mission is to provide leadership for a renascent Hindu India. Most of its members will never advance beyond the local level, but ...

town where Krishna is said to have lived as a child, and spent the rest of his life sublimating that attraction through his devo ...

Rati (“pleasure,” particularly sexual pleasure) The wife of Kama, god of love. Rati is both Kama’s wife and his ally, reflecting ...

Rama’s wife Sita. Although his wife Mandodariand his brothers rebuke him for this act and advise him to return Sita and make pea ...

February), celebrated as the birthday of the medieval bhaktipoet-saint Ravidas, born near Benares. Ravidas’s birth into the unto ...

Reincarnation One of the fundamental assumptions of Indian religious life. See samsara Religious Duty See dharma. Religious Law ...

government jobs or places in institu- tions of higher learning, which admit people from disadvantaged communi- ties under much l ...

The Rg Veda’s tenth and final book differs sharply from the preceding ones. Its language is closer to classical Sanskrit, and it ...

their sacrifices undisturbed. Another story names this as the place where Rama does penance (prayashchitta) for killing the demo ...

people to wear talismans or amulets, which are believed to protect the wearer. Another common protective measure is to carry iro ...

model for others to use. For further con- sideration see Robert D. Baird (ed.), Religion in Modern India, 1998. Rta In the Vedas ...

Rudranath is one of the Panchkedar, a network of five sacred sites spread throughout the Garhwal region; the other four sites ar ...

S Sabarmati Northern Indian river that rises in the Aravalli Hillsin the state of Rajasthan, and flows south to the Gulf of Camb ...

rite of expiation (prayashchitta); and after eclipsesor other highly inauspi- cious times. For further information see Pandurang ...

material cause of the universe. The energy for creation comes from the creative and dynamic power of the dyad’s female principle ...

in the province of Sindh province, now in Pakistan. Sadhya (“to be proved”) Element in the accept- ed form of an inference (anum ...

different name—in this case, sagara (“ocean”). Upon initiation, new mem- bers are given this name as a surname to their new asce ...

course of the spine and connected by three vertical channels. Each of these chakras has important symbolic associ- ations—with d ...

Sakha (“companion”) Bhava The third of the five modes of devotion to the Supreme Being that were most prominently expressed by R ...