The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism (2 Vol Set)

Salmala (“Silk-Cotton Tree”) Dvipa In traditional mythic geography, the third of the seven concentric landmasses (dvipas) making ...

Samavaya (“inherence”) Fundamental category in the worldview of the Nyaya- Vaisheshika philosophical school. This school conceiv ...

Appar, Sambandar actively opposed the unorthodox sects of the times, particu- larly the Jains, whom he reviles in his poems. The ...

sattva tends toward the good, rajas towards activity or passion, and tamas towards darkness and decay. In the pri- mal prakrti t ...

Charles A. Moore (eds.), A Sourcebook in Indian Philosophy, 1957; and Gerald Larson and Ram Shankar Bhattacharya (eds.), Samkhya ...

Samskara (“making perfect”) Collective name for the various life-cycle ceremonies in Hindu society. Although status in Indian so ...

action of samskaras. This process of transformation begins before birth, with the three prenatal samskaras, and continues to dea ...

the Ram Lila alternates between con- temporary and archaic text. Samyama (“inner discipline”) In the ashtanga yogafirst codified ...

the maintenance and fulfillment of this order, including common religious duties (sadharana dharma), religious duties stemming f ...

Sandhya (“union”) Morning and evening twilight, the two transitional times between day and night and thus, metaphorically, the t ...

Sanjna In Hindu mythology, the daughter of Vishvakarma, workman and architect for the gods. Sanjna has been married to Surya, th ...

through the normal process of language learning. In a religious context Sanskrit has primarily been the province of brahmins, se ...

came from very low caste communities. It is certainly true that devotees of low social status would have been forbidden even to ...

concrete benefits for assiduous devotion is an attractive option. See also Santoshi Ma Vrat. Santoshi Ma Vrat Religious observan ...

reduced agricultural revenue and by British-sponsored changes in land own- ership patterns, in which officials in the East India ...

central moment comes when the departed’s pinda is divided into three parts, one part is mixed with each of the other three pinda ...

in a sacred river, although with the advent of better transportation this is sometimes now performed before the twelfth day rite ...

Saraswati Goddessassociated with art, aesthetics, learning, sacred speech, and wisdom. Saraswati is the patron deityof culture i ...

of a purified mind), a vina (musical instrument), and a rosary (associated with religious rites, and particularly with the repet ...

Athens in 20 B.C.E. In Athens, Sarmano- chegas, tired of a life of bondage on earth, committed religious suicideby burning himse ...