status, it is not surprising that the
deities would have some “servants”
guarding theirs door and restricting
access to them, in the same way as their
human counterparts.
Dvija
(“twice-born”) Name for a member of
the three “twice-born” groups in Indian
society, that is, a brahmin (highest in
status), kshatriya (second in status to
brahmins), or vaishya (third in status to
brahmins). This name exists because
these groups are ritually eligible to
receive the adolescent religious initia-
tioncalled upanayana, which is often
described as the “second birth.” See
twice-born.
Dvipas
According to traditional mythic geogra-
phy, the visible world is composed of a
series of seven concentric dvipas, a word
that literally means “islands,” but can be
translated to “landmasses.” All but one
of these are named after particular
plants. At the center is Jambu(“Rose-
apple”) dvipa, followed by Plaksha(“fig-
tree”) dvipa, Salmala(“silk-cotton tree”)
dvipa, Kusha (“kusha grass”) dvipa,
Krauncha (“curlew”) dvipa, Shaka
(“Teak”) dvipa, and at the outermost
edge, Pushkara (“blue lotus”) dvipa.
Each of these lands is separated from its
neighbors by one of the seven oceans
(the saptasindhu), with each ocean
composed of a different substance. The
innermost ocean, as experience shows,
is composed of salt water, the ones
beyond this are of sugar cane juice,
wine, ghee, yogurt, milk, and sweet
water, respectively. At the center of
Jambudvipa (and thus the world) is
Mount Meru, which is compared to the
central calyx of a lotus, and is surrounded
by the dvipas as its petals. The physical
world is thus seen as a symmetrical
whole, with the land of India (in the
southern part of Jambudvipa) posi-
tioned at the symbolic center.
Dwara
(“door” or “gateway”) Among the
Bairagis, renunciant ascetics who are
devotees (bhakta) of the god Vishnu,
the word dwarais used to denote a
branch or subsect of a particular order.
Each dwara is named after its ascetic
founder, who was himself usually a
noted disciple of the larger order’s
founder. For example, the Nimbarki
ascetics are one of the four estab-
lished orders among the militant
Vaishnava ascetics known as the
chatuh-sampradayi Nagas, along with
the Ramanandis, the Vishnuswamis,
and the Madhva Gaudiya (Brahma sam-
praday) ascetics. The Nimbarkis them-
selves are divided into nine dwaras, or
subsects, each named after the dwara’s
founder. The division of ascetics by
means of dwaras is another means of
subdividing ascetic orders, and creating
even more sharply defined ascetic iden-
tities and loyalties.DwaraDvarapala, or gatekeeper, statue at the entrance of
the Brhadeshvar Temple in Thanjavur. These statues
depict minor deities that protect the space inside.