The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism (2 Vol Set)

states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh. It was in the Satavahana domains that the first c ...

Daksha why he has excluded her hus- band, Daksha responds with a stream of abuse, excoriating Shiva as worthless and despicable. ...

relationships, if one can understand how these relationships work, they can be manipulated to one’s advantage. The dis- advantag ...

associate with fellow devotees (bhakta). The word covers an enormous range of activities and contexts, from an informal gatherin ...

since any misfortune he brings will last for fourteen years—a figure doubtless drawn from the fourteen years of Saturn’s orbit. ...

Satyavati In Hindu mythology, the mother of the sage Vyasa. Satyavati is born in an unusual way. Her mother, a celestial nymph w ...

sentenced to life imprisonment in the Andaman Islands but was released because of political pressure in 1924, although he was ba ...

According to the dharma literature, a twice-born man was one born into the brahmin, kshatriya, or vaishyacom- munities, who was ...

Shishira (late winter) in Magh and Phalgun. In actual practice, there are three major seasons, at least in northern India: the h ...

Self-Revealing Knowledge In Indian philosophy, the notion that certain things, such as knowledge, are self-revealing and do not ...

included the western part of the state of Bihar. The Senas were originally vassals of the Pala dynastybut became inde- pendent i ...

ideal of a decentralized village economy. This economic model had political and cultural symbolism, since it was independent of ...

This pilgrimage is most often taken by men, since, according to the charter myth, the site is forbidden to women of childbearing ...

Shaiva Nagas Pashupatas. All three of these were communities of renunciant ascetics, perhaps to accord with the example set by t ...

subject to imperfections, although here too his power is their ultimate source. The only path to liberation is devotion to Shiva ...

Shakra An epithet of the god Indra. See Indra. Shakta Worshiper of the Goddessin any of her myriad forms. The name itself is der ...

filled with pity, takes a form with one hundred eyes, because of which one of her epithets is Shatakshi (“hundred eyes”). From e ...

Shalagram Black stone containing an ammonite, the spiral-shaped fossil shell of a prehis- toric sea creature. The shalagram is p ...

Shankara has intensely positive con- notations, yet the verb shank, from which this name is almost certainly derived, has associ ...

to help his hearers destroy their illusions and gain final liberation of the soul (moksha). Given this underlying goal and his a ...