Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism

Räm(a)däs(a) 150 death and Räma’s merging with Vi•æu. The Rämäyaæa, both in its original as well as in vernacular recreations su ...

chariot and taken in procession through a town. Ratï (‘desire’, ‘lust’) Personified as wife of Käma, the god of love, and a daug ...

and author of the standard work L’Inde classique(three volumes). renouncer/renunciation See SAMNYÄSA/SAMNYÄSI; TYÄGA/TYÄGI. reve ...

rivers Rivers played a great role in early Vedic religion, where they were hymned as life giving. The SAPTASINDHU, the seven riv ...

best known accomplishment is his suc- cessful struggle for the abolition of SATÏ, the burning alive of a widow on her husband’s ...

Rukminï Kø•æa’s principal queen in DVÄRAKA, mother of PRADYUMNA(1) as well as nine other sons and a daughter, called Carumatï. R ...

Ÿäbara (first century BCE) (‘one who lives in the mountains’, ‘savage’) A celebrated MÏMÄßSAKAand author of the Ÿäbarabhäsya, a ...

157 sad-äcära sacrifice (yajña) The central act of Vedic religion, con- sidered indispensable for the continua- tion of the worl ...

Sadä-ÿiva 158 Sadä-ÿiva The form in which Ÿiva exercises his fivefold activities of attraction (anugra- ha), concealment (tirobh ...

karma, mäyä and aæava, ‘atomicity’, reduced consciousness). To gain free- dom one must practise knowledge (vidyä), ritual (kriyä ...

Ÿäkafläyana 160 Ÿäkafläyana An ancient grammarian who lived before YÄSKAand PÄŒINÏ. ÿäkhä (1) (‘branch’) With reference to the V ...

161 sa™dhyä hand Ÿäktism involves the use of the five ‘ms’, the transgression of ordinary morality in secret forms of worship. ( ...

Sa™dhyäbhä•a (‘twilight language’) Compositions with double meaning, used by Tantrikas; their ‘surface’ mean- ing is accessible ...

163 Saögam holder and forest dweller. Usually the formal entry into samnyäsa is preceded by a period of instruction in the parti ...

Saögam 164 Saögam (2), also Cankam An early period of Tamil literature (c. 1st century BCE). Ÿaökara (1) (‘auspicious’) Name of ...

sant (2) Specific name for a group of late medieval religious poets and teachers, belonging to various denominations, Hindus (e. ...

Sarasvatï 166 language and the Devanägarï script, patroness of the arts and sciences, usu- ally represented as seated on a lotus ...

Ÿatäk•ï (‘hundred-eyed’) A name of the Goddess (DEVÏ). Ÿata-rudriya (‘[invocation of] Rudra with a hundred [names]’) A text in t ...

sat-putra-märga (‘the way of the true son’) The second stage of devotion according to ŸAIVA SIDDHÄNTA, consisting of preparing a ...

169 self ‘Hindutva’, in which he advocated a distinction between Hinduism as a reli- gion (Hindu dharma), divided into many saƒp ...