The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism (2 Vol Set)

because they were intended to facilitate its use. These six were guides to proper articulation and pronunciation (shik- sha), me ...

to the Advaita Vedanta school, Vivekananda’s major emphasis. The society’s tone has been nontheistic, nonritual, and rationalist ...

the pillar-shaped image that is his symbolic form, and the Ghrneshvar linga is one of the twelve jyotirlingas, a network of site ...

sanctuary, which has its roots in the rock-cut caves (chaityas) first sculpted by the Buddhists. This sort of roof is midway bet ...

talcum powder. This is still done today, particularly by ascetics who usually use the ash from a dhuni or smoldering ascetic fir ...

Vidyapati (ca. 1400) Brahmincourt poet in the Hindu kingdom of Mithilain northern Bihar. Although Vidyapati wrote works in Sansk ...

common area in the large center space. The design was adapted into the earliest forms of the Hindu temples, such as those at Aih ...

the major differences between the two was in matters of inheritance. The Mitakshara stresses inheritance by survivorship, in whi ...

brahmins. These priesthoods are inter- mediaries between the deity and the vil- lagers, usually communicating with the deities t ...

large hollow gourd projecting from the back, which further amplifies the sound. The vina is one of the classical musical instrum ...

and seen as a place at the margins of civilized society. As the goddess who dwells in that place, Vindhyavasini is equally margi ...

The Theories of Error in Indian Philosophy, 1978; and Karl H. Potter (ed.), Presup- positions of India’s Philosophies, 1972. Vir ...

Viramamunivar Pseudonym of Father Constanzio Beschi (1680–1747), an Italian Jesuit who lived in Tamil Nadufor thirty-six years. ...

Vishakhadatta (6th c.) Sanskrit dramatist whose only surviving work is the play Mudrarakshasa(“Rakshasa’s Ring”). The play is of ...

from God to make devotion possible; liberation is seen not as loss of identity, but as eternal communion with God. For further i ...

usually because of a demongrown dis- proportionately strong. There are ten generally reckoned avatars. The first four are in non ...

ascetics. (The Rudra Sampraday is one of the four branches, “sampraday,” of the Bairagi Nagaascetics, who are devo- tees (bhakta ...

actions, first in Tamil Nadu, but later extending throughout the entire nation. The VHP’s renewed activity corresponded with a m ...

the use of military chariots. Vishvakarma, on the other hand, has much more wide-ranging skills, and this would seem to indicate ...

temple and Aurangzeb’s mosque made for delicate relations between the Hindu and Muslim communities, and like many northern India ...