the maintenance and fulfillment of this
order, including common religious
duties (sadharana dharma), religious
duties stemming from social status
(varna dharma) and stage of life(ash-
rama dharma), and individualized reli-
gious duty (svadharma). In more recent
times, the term has been used
by Hindus to identify the religious
tradition known to the outside world
as “Hinduism.”
Sanatana Sampraday
Another name for the Nimbarkireli-
gious community. The philosopher
Nimbarkawas the community’s histori-
cal founder, but, according to the
Nimbarkis, the actual founder was the
god Vishnuhimself. One of Vishnu’s dis-
ciples was named Sanatana (“eternal”),
hence the name of the sampraday.
Sanatkumara
In Hindu mythology, one of four sages
born of the god Brahmawho are par-
adigms of asceticism; the other three
are Sanaka, Sanandana, and
Sanatana. When Brahma emanates
these four sages, he commands them
to begin the work of creation, but they
are so detached from worldly con-
cerns that they refuse to do so. They
are celibate their entire lives, study
the Vedasfrom childhood, and always
travel together
Sandarshana (“expositing”) Mudra
In Indian dance, sculpture, and ritual, a
particular symbolic hand gesture
(mudra), in which the tips of the thumb
and index finger are touching, with the
rest of the fingers extended and the
palm facing the viewer. This is the hand
gesture used to signify explanation or
exposition, and for this reason it is also
known as the vyakhyana(“teaching”)
mudra. Since the teaching gesture indi-
cates a person of higher spiritual attain-
ment, it is also known as the chit (“con-
sciousness”) mudra.
Sandhabhasha
Symbolic language used in tantra, a
secret, ritually based religious prac-
tice. The literal translation of the term
is disputed; it is often translated as
“twilight language” because of its
shadowy and mysterious character,
but Agehananda Bharati is emphatic
that the term means “intentional lan-
guage.” The elements of tantric wor-
shipand practice are described in a
coded language drawn from the parts
and functions of the human body con-
sidered private by most standards.
Such coded discourse is used to hide
the tradition’s essentials from nonini-
tiates and also to project the speakers
into an altered understanding. For
noninitiates, such language reinforces
the general conception of tantric prac-
titioners as completely debased.
Douglas R. Brooks reports in The
Secret of the Three Cities, 1990, that
although widely used in Buddhist
tantra, Sandhabhasha is less common
among Hindus, who for their coded
language favor using common words
with contextually technical meanings.
For further information see Swami
Agehananda. Bharati, The Tantric
Tradition, 1977; Appendix A in Linda
Hess and Shukdev Singh (trans.), The
Bijak of Kabir, 1983; and Douglas
Renfrew Brooks, The Secret of the Three
Cities, 1990.Sandhi
(“junction”) In classical Sanskritgram-
mar, a term for the euphonic (harmonic)
combination of words. In general this is
done by modifying the final phoneme of
one word, based on the initial phoneme
of the following word, to facilitate a
smooth verbal transition between the
two. An example is the compound word
sacchidananda, which designates the
three essential aspects of the ultimate
unqualified Brahman, and is formed
from the words sat(“being”), chit(“con-
sciousness”) and ananda(“bliss”).Sandhi