Ganika
(“harlot”) In Hindu mythology, a figure
who serves as an example of the
boundless power of God’s graceand
the ease with which one can be saved
by even unconscious devotion. Ganika
is a notorious prostitute who devotes
little time or attention to religious life.
Her only pious act is to teach her pet
parrot to repeat the name of the god
Vishnu, and in trying to teach it she
repeats the divine name over and over
again. This continual repetition of the
name is enough to gain Vishnu’s grace.
Upon Ganika’s death, Vishnu’s ser-
vants rescue her from the minions of
Death and convey her to his celestial
realm, Vaikuntha.
Ganpatya
Sectarian Hindus who worshipthe god
Ganesh as their primary deity. Most
Hindus pay considerable homage to
Ganesh, in part because his status as
“Lord of Obstacles” (Vighneshvar) gives
him power to help or hinder human
endeavors. However, he is usually wor-
shiped as a secondary deity. The
Ganpatyas, in contrast, venerate Ganesh
as their primary deity and worship no
other deities. Most of the Ganpatyas live
in the state of Maharashtra, where a
network of shrines centered around the
city of Pune and the nearby village of
Chinchvad serves as their sacred center.
The Ganpatya sect was founded by the
sixteenth-century figure Moraya Gosavi,
whose spiritual initiationcame through
a series of visions of Ganesh. One of his
visions revealed that partial incarna-
tions of Ganesh would be born in
Moraya’s family for seven generations.
For further information see Paul
Courtright, Ganesa, 1985.
Garbhadhana Samskara
The first of the sixteen traditional
life-cycle ceremonies (samskaras)
performed at important moments
throughout one’s life. The Garbhadhana
Samskara was performed to ensure the
conception of a child. This rite was per-
formed on a specific dayfollowing the
onset of the wife’s menstrual period,
although different sources specify dif-
ferent days. Although part of this rite
obviously involved sexual intercourse
between husband and wife, as a whole it
was meant to create a sacred context for
the act of procreation.Garbhagrha
(“womb-house”) In traditional Hindu
architecture, the garbhagrha is the
inner sanctum of a temple, which con-
tains the image of the temple’s primary
deity. In the Nagaraarchitectural style
found in northern and eastern India—in
which the whole temple building culmi-
nates in one highest point—the garbha-
grha was located directly below the
summit of the highest tower (shikhara).
In the Dravidastyle found in southern
India—in which the temples are shorter,
but tend to sprawl over vast areas—the
garbhagrha’s location is marked by a
tower higher than the rest of the roof.Garhmukteshvar
Sacred site (tirtha) on the GangesRiver
in the Ghaziabad district of the state of
Uttar Pradeshabout sixty miles due
east of Delhi. Garhmukteshvar’s primary
temple is dedicated to the god Shivain
his form as the “Lord of Liberation”
(mukteshvar), but the site’s major
importance comes from its location on
the Ganges as a place for bathing
(snana) and performing memorial rites
(shraddhas) for the dead. Large crowds
gather there to bathe on festival days,
particularly on Kartik Purnima, the full
moonin the lunar monthof Kartik
(October–November).Garhwal
In the most technical sense, Garhwal is
the name of a particular hill district in
the northern Indian state of Uttar
Pradesh. Garhwal is more commonly
used as the name for a cultural region in
the Uttar Pradesh hills, made up of theGarhwal