sanctuary, which has its roots in the
rock-cut caves (chaityas) first sculpted
by the Buddhists. This sort of roof is
midway between the Nagara towers and
the Dravida horizontal tiers, just as the
Deccan was the intermediate region
between the two.
Vetala
In Hindu mythology, one of the classes
of malevolent spirits that can be sub-
sumed under the general rubric of
demons. Vetalas are usually described as
eatinghuman flesh and are sometimes
said to haunt battlefields to get their fill.
Vibhishana
In the Ramayana, the earlier of the
two great Indian epics, Vibhishana is
the youngest brother of Ravana, the
demonking of Lanka. In their youth
Vibhishana, Ravana, and their third
brother, Kumbhakarna, have per-
formed harsh physical asceticism
(tapas) to gain boons from the gods.
Whereas his brothers have chosen
boons designed to advance their mili-
tary ability and glory, Vibhishana asks
that he remain righteous in times of
danger, and this quality marks his life.
When Ravana holds a council of war
preceding the battle with Rama’s
army, Vibhishana is the only one to
vote against battle and instead advises
Ravana to return Rama’s kidnapped
wife, Sita, and to beg Rama’s pardon.
For these words, Ravana expells his
brother from the city, and Vibhishana
goes over to Rama’s army, where he
fights valiantly throughout the war.
After the death of Ravana, Rama
crowns Vibhishana the king of Lanka,
as a reward for his fidelity and his
virtue. Vibhishana is a perfect example
of the fact that demons(in this case
the type of demons known as rak-
shasas) are not inherently evil in
Indian mythology. They are powerful
beings who may clash with gods and
men, but they have many virtues as
well. In the Ramcharitmanas, the ver-
nacular retelling of the Ramayana
written by the poet-saint Tulsidas
(1532–1623?), Vibhishana is portrayed
as a great devotee (bhakta) of Rama, in
keeping with the emphasis of Tulsidas
on the primacy of devotion over all
other forms of religious life.Vibhuti
(“power”) Name for the sacred ash with
which devotees (bhakta) of the god
Shivamark their bodies, usually with
three horizontal lines (tripundra).
According to one interpretation, the
three lines represent the three prongs of
Shiva’s trident, according to another,
they symbolize Shiva’s third eye. Ash is
associated with Shiva in several different
contexts. On one hand, he is said to
smear his body with ashes from the cre-
mation ground, which indicates his lack
of concern for all conventional distinc-
tions between purity and impurity
(ashaucha); the ash could also symbol-
ize Shiva’s destruction of Kama, the god
of love, who is burned to ash by Shiva’s
third eye. In earlier times vibhuti was
made from wood ash that had been sifted
through cloth until it was as fine asVetala
A pilgrim in Benares wears vibhuti markings,
which consist of three horizontal lines and
identify him as a devotee of the god Shiva.