water to drip out from the pot through a
small hole.
Ghatotkacha
In the Mahabharata, the later of the
two great Hindu epics, Ghatotkacha is
a son of Bhima, one of the five
Pandavabrothers who are the epic’s
protagonists. Ghatotkacha’s mother is
a rakshasi(female demon) named
Hidambi; Bhima’s carnal relations with
a nonhuman being are one sign of his
earthy and unsophisticated personali-
ty. As the offspring of a rakshasi and
the strongest Pandava, Ghatotkacha is
a massive physical specimen. He is a
staunch ally to the Pandavas all his life
and fights valiantly on their behalf dur-
ing the war between the Pandavas and
their cousins the Kauravas, destroying
large parts of the Kaurava army. He
fights several times with the hero
Karna, but is finally killed when Karna
uses a magic weapon known as
Vaijayanti Shakti.
Ghora
(“terrifying”) Term used to refer to
Hindu deitiesin their frightful, terrify-
ing, and powerful aspects, as opposed to
their benevolent (saumya) manifesta-
tions. This distinction is particularly
applicable to the god Shivaand the
forms of the Goddess, both of whom can
appear in either form, and devotees
(bhakta) can focus their worship on
either aspect.
Ghosts
Popular Hindu culture generally accepts
the existence of ghosts and spirits, par-
ticularly of people who have died a vio-
lent or untimely death. Despite the
virtually universal belief in reincarna-
tion (samsara), it is generally accepted
that the spirits of people who have died
such deaths linger near where they lived
during their lives. Ghosts will usually
reveal themselves through disturbances,
misfortunes, or by appearing to family
members in visions or dreams. The family
will then take measures to appease
the spirit. Sometimes this is done by
sponsoring rituals or ceremonies. Other
times a family may prepare a shrine for
the ghost to inhabit. Such ghosts are
usually believed to have unsatisfied
desires—either they died prior to getting
married or having children, or they
started major enterprises they were
unable to finish. People who have lived
long lives and fulfilled all the major
human goals will not become ghosts.Ghrneshvar
(“Lord of Compassion”) One of the
twelve jyotirlingas, a group of images of
the god Shivathat are deemed particu-
larly holy and powerful. Shiva is believed
to be uniquely present at these places.
This particular jyotirlinga is located in
the village of Velur in the state of
Maharashtra, and is also known as
Dhushmeshvar. This site is unusual
because the form of Shiva that resides
here is known by two different names
and has no unequivocal charter myth.
At none of the other jyotirlingas is there
any doubt about the presiding deity’s
form or how it came to be there. This
indicates that Ghrneshvar is a minor
site, perhaps one simply filling out
the catalog of the jyotirlingas to get
the number up to twelve. Despite
this apparent lack of importance,
Ghrneshvar is arguably the most-visited
of the jyotirlingas. It is only a few
miles from the world famous cave
temples at Elloraand is a regular stop
on the local tourist circuit. The temple is
fairly small but is well kept and very
impressive. Male visitors are required to
remove their shirts before entering
Shiva’s presence.Giri Dashanami
One of the ten divisions of the
Dashanami Sanyasis, renunciant ascetics
who are devotees (bhakta) of Shiva. The
Dashanamis were supposedly estab-
lished by the ninth-century philosopher
Shankaracharya, in an effort to createGiri Dashanami