Naisthika
(“fixed”) A person who takes a vow to
remain a perpetual religious student
(brahmacharin), keeping lifelong vows
of celibacy, austerity, study, and service
to his or her religious preceptor (guru).
Naivedya
(“to be presented”) The thirteenth of the
sixteen traditional upacharas (“offer-
ings”) given to a deityas part of worship.
To treat the deity as an honored guest, a
person may offer food. The food is often
returned to the worshipers as prasad, the
sanctified food bearing the deity’s grace.
The offering may be done in various ways,
but the underlying motive for all the
upacharas is to show one’s love for the
deity and attend to the deity’s needs.
Naiyayika
Term for a follower of the Nyayaand
Vaisheshikaphilosophical schools, two of
the six schoolsin Hindu philosophy. After
the early centuries of the common era, the
Nyaya and Vaisheshika schools merged, as
did the Samkhyaand Yoga schoolsand
theMimamsaand Vedanta schools. The
term Naiyayika is used to denote a follower
of the combined Nyaya-Vaisheshika
school of philosophy.
Nakshatra
In Indian astrology (jyotisha), a nakshatra
is one of the twenty-seven signs in the
lunar zodiac. In a single lunar monththe
moonmoves through each of the twenty-
seven lunar houses. The territory for these
lunar houses is divided equally through-
out the solar zodiac—with 2.25 lunar
houses for each of the twelve solar signs.
The nakshatras are important in Indian
astrology, partly because they change
quite rapidly, but also because the charac-
ter and qualities associated with each
nakshatra are believed to color the time
period in which they fall. One group of five
nakshatras, the Panchak Nakshatra, is
considered extremely inauspicious; many
activities will be curtailed until this period
has passed. Certain nakshatras are judged
to be incompatible with certain everyday
activities, which should be avoided during
that time. Hindus who pay attention to
astrology are keenly aware of the passage
of time and the quality of each moment.Nakula
In the Mahabharata, the later of the
two great Hindu epics, Nakula is the
fourth of the five Pandava brothers,
the epic’s antagonists. Nakula’s mother,
Madri, is the younger wife of King Pandu.
None of the Pandava brothers are actually
Pandu’s sons, since he has been cursed to
die the moment he holds his wife in
amorous embrace. Instead, they are mag-
ically created through the effect of a
mantragiven to Madri’s co-wife, Kunti, by
the sage Durvasas. The mantra gives the
woman who recites it the power to call
down any of the gods to conceive a son
who will be as powerful as the god himself.
With Pandu’s blessing Kunti teaches the
mantra to Madri. She meditates on the
Ashvins, the divine twins who are the
physicians of the gods. Thus, she bears
twins. As the sons of the physicians of the
gods, both Nakula and Sahadeva are
skilled healers of animalsand human
beings. Although Nakula and Sahadeva
are among the five Pandava brothers, they
are less important to the Mahabharata
than their three elder siblings.Nala
In Hindu mythology, the King of
Nishadas and the husband of Damayanti.
The story of Nala andDamayanti appears
as a story within the Mahabharata, the
later of the two great Hindu epics. It is
recounted to the five Pandavabrothers,
the epic’s protagonists, during their twelve
year exile in the forest, as a way to keep up
their spirits by telling how others have
transcended misfortune.
When Damayanti is old enough to
marry, her father sends invitations to the
kings of the earth, announcing her
svayamvara, a rite in which Damayanti
will choose her husband. The kings of
the earth come to the svayamvara to
seek her hand, as do the gods (devas)Naisthika