birth of a daughter can be cause for as
much rejoicing as that of a son.
Sopashraya
(“using a support”) One of the sitting
postures (asana) described in commen-
taries to the Yoga Sutrasof Patanjali,
the foundational text for the practice of
yoga. The name of this posture derives
from a wooden support used by the
sitter to keep erect, often portrayed as
a crutch-shaped prop under the chin.
Soratha
Metrical form in northern Indian devo-
tional (bhakti) poetry, made up of two
lines of twenty-four metric beats, divided
unevenly after the eleventh beat. The
metric pattern for the first line is 6+4+1,
with the pattern for the second line
being 6+4+3. The soratha is thus an
inversion of the metrical form doha.
Although the soratha was a common
poetic form, the doha was far more pop-
ular and widely used.
South Africa
One of the countries with significant
Hindu diaspora populations. This is
particularly true in Natal province,
where Hindus were first brought as
indentured agricultural laborers, but
there is a significant Hindu presence in
other parts of the country as well. South
Africa is best known as the place where
Mohandas K. Gandhi first developed
and refined his program of nonviolent
resistance, or satyagraha, which he
employed in the service of the Indian
community there. In contemporary
times the South African Hindu commu-
nity, as with many Hindu diaspora com-
munities, has loosened religious ties to
India, and is in the process of forming a
Hindu religious life in another geo-
graphical setting.
Space
One of the five elementsin traditional
Indian cosmology, the others being
earth, fire, water, and wind. Akashaor
“space” is not conceived in the sense of
“outer space,” but rather the space
between or within visible objects on
earth. For example, an “empty” pitcher
was not actually empty, but was filled
with space, until it was displaced by
some fluid. This elemental sense of
space was thus something closer to what
might be considered the “atmosphere,”
and was actually seen as having fluidlike
properties. In some philosophical
schools, each of the elements is paired
with one of the five senses; here akasha
is associated with hearing, since it
is believed to convey the sound from
place to place.Sphota
(“disclosure”) Crucial element in the
theory of language propounded by
Bhartrhari(7th c.). Bhartrhari was the
founder of the Grammarians, a philo-
sophical school that conceived of
Brahman, the Supreme Reality, as being
manifested in sound, particularly the
sound of the spoken word. According to
this theory, a verbal utterance had three
elements: the sound or sounds pro-
duced by the speaker and heard by the
listener; a phonological pattern, of
which that utterance is an instance; and
finally the sphota, which was expressed
by the sounds and signified the object of
that utterance. According to Bhartrhari,
sphota had to be postulated to explain
how words could carry meaning. They
do so because they are connected to the
sphota, which designated a particular
object, and in producing the sounds the
speaker expressed that sphota.Sri Lanka
Island nation off the southeastern coast
of India, formerly known as Ceylon.
Local tradition claims that Sri Lanka was
the place at which the biblical Adam
alighted from paradise. Yet despite the
island’s idyllic natural beauty, its human
geography has been far more troubled.
Since 1981 the nation has been in theSopashraya