Since Brahmanis believed to be the
locus of all things, Vivarana Advaitins
conclude that ignorance must also be a
part of Brahman. However, they try to
maintain Brahman’s integrity by invok-
ing a theory of reflectionismto explain
the apparent difference between Self
and Brahman, even though they are ulti-
mately identical. Just as an image
appearing in a mirror is based on the
original but different from it, so human
Selves are identical with Brahman but
appear to be separate. The basic posi-
tion of the Vivarana school is an uncom-
promising affirmation of Brahman as
the sole “reality,” in which anything that
exists must belong to it.
Prakrit
(“formed”) Collective term for the gram-
matically simpler vernacular languages
that developed from Sanskritthrough
the natural process of linguistic change.
The existence of Prakrits is evident as
early as the fifth century B.C.E., at which
time several different dialects are spo-
ken. The Prakrits were contrasted with
Sanskrit (“perfected”), the language of
temple, court, and other elite contexts,
which was subject to strict grammatical
canons and did not change. Even those
fluent in Sanskrit would have learned it
as a second language—as a static,
learned language, it is inherently artifi-
cial—and would have spoken in Prakrit
with lower status people (such as ser-
vants, commoners, and most women).
Despite its “lower” status, Prakrits are
vitally important historically: They were
the languages for royal inscriptionsup
to the Gupta era (ca. 350–550), and one
of the Prakrits, Pali, is famous as the lan-
guage for the Theravada Buddhist
canon. See also Gupta dynasty.
Prakrti
(“nature”) One of the two fundamental
principles in the Samkhyaschool, the
other being purusha (“person”).
Samkhya espouses an atheistic philo-
sophical dualism, in which purusha and
prakrti—roughly, spirit and nature—are
the source of all things. Prakrti is better
conceived of as force or power rather
than a specific material object. It con-
tains within it three different forces with
three different qualities (guna): sattva
tends toward the good, rajastowards
activity or passion, and tamastowards
darkness and decay. In the primal
prakrti these forces are in perfect equi-
librium, each perfectly balancing the
others, but when prakrti’s equilibrium
is disturbed, it sets in motion a pattern
of evolutionthat creates both the exte-
rior physical world and the interior
psychological world. All of these evo-
lutes—material or psychic—have a dif-
fering balance of the three gunas,
which ultimately determines their
character as wholesome, active, or
unwholesome. For further information
see Gerald Larson and Ram Shankar
Bhattacharya (eds.), Samkhya, 1987;
and Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and
Charles A. Moore (eds.), A Sourcebook in
Indian Philosophy, 1957.Pralaya
In Hindu mythology, the dissolution of
the universe that comes at the end of the
kalpaor Day of Brahma. Pralaya is con-
sidered the “night” of Brahma, and lasts
for the same amount of time as the day
(by one estimate, 4.32 billion years). The
approach of this “night” is preceded by
the destruction of the earth, first by fire,
and then by torrential rains that trans-
form the entire planet into one vast
ocean. During this time the only living
thing is the god Vishnu, who reclines on
the back of his serpent vehicle Shesha,
deep in a yogic trance. When the time
again comes for creation, a lotus sprouts
from his navel, which opens to reveal
Brahma, and the world begins anew.Pramana
In Indian philosophy, a means by
which human beings can gain true and
accurate knowledge, generally classified
as one of three types: PerceptionPrakrit