Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism

ghï

Clarified butter, an ingredient of many

SACRIFICESand PÜJÄS, such as the Vedic

sacrifice homa, in which ghï is thrown

into fire.

Gho•ä

Daughter of the ø•i (sage) Kak•ïvat. She

was afflicted with leprosy, but the

AŸVINS cured her late in life, and

bestowed beauty and youth on her so

that she could marry.

ghosts

See BHÜTA; PRETA.

gifts

See DÄNA.

Giridhara

(‘the upholder of the mountain’)

Epithet of Kø•æa, who held Mount

Govardhan up high in order to protect

the shepherds of Vraja from torrential

rains sent by Indra.

Girijä (‘mountain-born’)

A name of DEVÏ.

gïtä (‘song’)

A religio-philosophical text in the form

of an epic poem. The best known is the

Bhagavadgïtä, which is found as an

insert in the sixth book of the

Mahäbhärata. Other well-known gïtäs

are the Upagïtä, also found in the

Mahäbhärata, and the Bhrämaragïtä.

Gïta-govinda

Famous poem by JÄYADEVA, celebrating

the love of Kø•æa and the GOPÏS, influen-

tial for the development of GAU¥ÏYA

VAIÆŒAVISM.

Gïtä-rahasya (‘secret of the Gïtä’)

A work by B. G. TILAKinterpreting the

Bhagavadgïtäas a ‘Gospel of action.’

Glasenapp, Helmut von

(1891–1963)

German Indologist and scholar of

religion, who taught mainly at

Königsberg and Tübingen, and promoted

the knowledge of Indian religions, espe-

cially Hinduism, through many scholar-

ly and popular works: Der Hinduismus

(1930); Die Religionen Indiens(1943);

Die Philosophie der Inder(1949); Das

Indienbild deutscher Denker(1960).

go

See COW.

goat (aja)

The most frequently used animal for

Vedic SACRIFICES. Goats are still offered

to KÄLÏ(2) on a regular basis. Aja also

means ‘unborn’, and many interesting

speculations make use of the double

meaning of the word.

God and gods

Many outsiders are fascinated to learn

that Hindus worship 330 million (thirty-

three crores) gods. There is no record of

the names of all of these, of course, and

the figure serves to indicate that the

number of higher powers is unimagin-

ably high. There are lists of gods that go

into the hundreds and there are litanies

of names of major gods, such as Ÿiva or

Vi•æu, that enumerate a thousand

names.

The English word God/gods stands

for a great many Hindu (Sanskrit) terms

that have clearly differentiated mean-

ings. The most commonly used word is

DEVAor devatä, generically applicable

to all higher powers and also liberally

used by Hindus when addressing an

important human being, who is hon-

oured by the title ‘Deva’. Devais every-

thing that reveals something unusual or

uncommon, that exercises power and

influence, or that is helpful or harmful.

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