austerities
See ASCETICISM; ATONEMENT; TAPAS.ävähana
Invitation to the deity to appear for worship.avatära (‘descent’)
Mostly used in connection with the bod-
ily appearances of VIÆŒU. The most
famous of Vi•æu’s avatärasare RÄMA
and KØÆŒA, around whom major branch-
es of Hindu religion have developed.
Among the daÿävatäras(ten descents),
the number most frequently employed,
are the tortoise, the boar, the fish and the
man-lion, as well as the BUDDHA. The
future and last avatärais to be KALKI,
who will bring to an end the present KALI
YUGA. In the BHAGAVAD-GÏTÄ Kø•æa
explains the reasons for God’s descent:
‘Whenever DHARMAhas become weak
and ADHARMAhas waxed strong I am
descending to destroy the wicked and to
relieve the good.’ Avatärashave ‘appar-
ent bodies’, not real bodies; they are not
really born and do not really die. Many
schools of Hinduism rule out the possibil-
ity of avatäras. It is, however, not infre-
quent even today, for Hindus to regard a
living GURUas an avatäraof the godhead.avidyä (‘ignorance’)
The native lack of knowledge of one’s
real nature, the root cause of involve-
ment in the cycle of birth and rebirth.
All Indian religions consider avidyäthe
ultimate reason for suffering and strive
to teach VIDYÄ(wisdom). The Upani•ads
consider Vedic rituals avidyäbecause of
their ineffectiveness to liberate from
rebirth; ŸA¢KARA(2) identifies PRAKØTI
(nature) with avidyä, since it it is the
very opposite to spirit. RÄMÄNUJAsees
avidyäin the ‘forgetfulness’ of depen-dence on Vi•æu. Avidyämanifests itself
in egotism, attachment, aversion and
clinging to physical life and enjoyment.avyakta (‘unmanifest’)
The condition of reality before individ-
uation by means of näma-rüpa(‘name
and form’) and after the reabsorption of
all individuality in PRALAYA(universal
dissolution).Ayodhyä (‘Free from strife’)
City in eastern Uttar Pradesh (popula-
tion c. 50,000), one of the seven ancient
holy cities of India, the others being
Väräæasï, Mathurä, Hardwar, Dväraka,
Käñcïpura and Ujjainï. It has been asso-
ciated since antiquity with Räma’s capi-
tal. A place of pilgrimage and of monas-
tic Hindu establishments, it gained
notoriety through the demolition of the
Babri Masjid by Hindu activists in
December 1992, which provoked the
worst Hindu–Muslim rioting since inde-
pendence all over India as well as in
Pakistan and Bangladesh.äyurveda (‘life knowledge’)
The system of indigenous Indian medi-
cine. The main texts are Suÿruta Saƒhitä
and Caraka Saƒhitä, offering systemat-
ic diagnosis and treatment for a great
many diseases. Since its medications are
largely herbal, ayurvedahas increasingly
found adherents in the West. In India it
is officially promoted as a parallel to
modern Western medicine.
The underlying assumption of
ayurvedais that all sickness is due to an
imbalance of the three bodily humours
(trido•a): vafla (wind), pitta (bile),
kapha(phlegm) and that by changing a
patient’s diet, habits and thoughts the
proper balance can be re-established.33 äyurvedaEncyclo - Letter A 10/2/03 9:37 am Page 33