the Kauravas, a group of one hundred
brothers who are the epic’s antagonists.
Although the name of the site and the
place named in the epic matches, noth-
ing has been found to provide a connec-
tion between these two.
Hatha Yoga
System of religious discipline (yoga)
based on a series of bodily postures
known as asanas. Practicing this yoga is
widely believed to provide various phys-
ical benefits, including increased bodily
flexibility and the ability to heal chronic
ailments. Yet in the Yoga Sutraswritten
by Patanjali, the earliest systematic
treatment of yoga, these asanas are only
one part of an eight-step program that
also includes such practices as breath-
ing exercises and meditation. The pur-
pose of hatha yoga is to train and
strengthen the body so that the practi-
tioner can sit comfortably in medita-
tion. Although Hatha yoga’s emphasis is
on the body, it assumes a spiritual and
religious context that in contemporary
times has often been either evaded or
ignored—leading some Hindus to dis-
parage such yoga as simply a technique
to develop better sexual control.
A more esoteric meaning of hatha
yoga comes from the Nathpanthi
ascetics, who understand hatha yoga as
referring to processes in the subtle
body. The subtle body is an alternate
physiological system believed to reside
on a different plane of existence than
the actual body, but with certain corre-
spondences to the actual body. It is visu-
alized as a set of six psychic centers
(chakras) running roughly along the
course of the spine; above and below
these centers are found the two divine
principles, Shiva (awareness) and
Shakti(power), the latter as the latent
spiritual energy known as kundalini.
The aspirant aims to combine kundalini
with the Shiva principle at the crown of
the head; through this union, the physi-
cal body will become immortal.
According to the Nathpanthis, the
phoneme harefers to the sun, a symbol
for Shakti, and the phoneme thato the
moon, which is a symbol of Shiva. Hatha
yoga is interpreted as the union of the
sun and moon—that is, these two cen-
ters of power are believed to exist in the
subtle body.Heavens
In Hinduism, there are believed to be
many additional planes of existence
besides the visible earthly realm. These
other planes of existence include the
heavens, which are realms of reward,
pleasure, and enjoyment. Beings are
born in heaven as a reward for their past
good deeds, and the life of the gods liv-
ing in these heavens is invariably
described as long and pleasurable. Yet
heaven is not permanent, and when
one’s karmic merit is exhausted and
one’s stay in heaven is done, one
inevitably descends from heaven to take
birth in a lower form.
In general, heaven is viewed as a dis-
traction to serious religious life. Birth in
heaven comes only through accumulat-
ing and expending an enormous
amount of religious merit generated by
past good deeds, and thus is a tremen-
dous drain on one’s accumulated spiri-
tual resources. Furthermore, once one
has been born in heaven, life is so easy
and carefree that people generally feel
no inclination to engage in religious life.
For both reasons, life in heaven is con-
sidered a goal to which people should
not aspire.Hedgewar, Dr. K.B.
(1889–1940) Founder and first
supreme leader (sarsanghchalak) of
the Rashtriya Svayamsevak Sangh
(RSS), which he formed in the central
Indian city of Nagpurin 1925. The RSS
is a conservative Hindu organization
formed for the express purpose of
providing leadership for a revitalized
Hindu India; for most of its history it
has characterized its mission as cul-
tural, rather than religious or political.Hatha Yoga