historical detail. Bana was a careful
observer, and the detailed descriptions
in the Harshacharitagive significant
information about courtly and everyday
life in his times.
Hartalika Teej
Hindu women’sfestival also known as
Teej. See Teej.
Haryana
Modern Indian state that surrounds
Delhi, the nation’s capital, in every
direction but the east. Haryana is one of
the so-called linguistic states formed
after Indian independence, to unite
people with a common language and
culture (in this case, Hindi) under one
state government. Haryana was created
in 1966, from the Hindi-speaking
regions of the former Punjabstate. It
has traditionally been an important
agricultural region, since the land is fer-
tile and productive, but more recently it
has also benefited from the attempt to
create “satellite cities” around Delhi, in
order to spread out the development in
the capital region. These efforts have
greatly raised the land values in the
areas closest to the capital. Aside from
this localized land boom, Haryana is a
largely rural state.
Haryana’s major religious sites,
which are right next to one another, are
Kurukshetraand Thanesar. The former
is cited as the battleground for the war
described in the epic Mahabharata; the
latter is named as the place that the god
Shivawas worshiped by the Pandavas,
the Mahabharata’s protagonists.
From a true historical perspective,
the level plains around the town of
Panipat have seen three decisive battles
that influenced the course of Indian his-
tory. In 1526, Babar, a central Asian
monarch who had been displaced from
his own homeland in Afghanistan,
crushed the Lodis to end the Lodi
dynasty and establish his own Moghul
dynasty. In 1556 Babar’s grandson
Akbardecimated the Sur dynasty, which
had temporarily occupied the Moghul
capitals at Delhi and Agra, and thus
reestablished Moghul rule. In 1761 an
invading Afghan army defeated the
Marathas, ending the period of Maratha
territorial expansion. For more informa-
tion, an accessible reference is Christine
Nivin et al., India. 8th ed., Lonely
Planet, 1998.Hashish
See charas.Hasta
(“hand”) In Indian dance, sculpture,
and ritual, a hasta is a particular hand
position. In some cases, this hand posi-
tion may have symbolic meaning, as in
varada hasta or the “gift-giving” ges-
ture; in other cases the hasta’s name
may simply describe the shape of the
hand, as in kataka hasta, in which the
tips of the fingers are loosely joined to
the thumb. In the context of dance, all
of these gestures have been given multi-
ple symbolic meanings, and the dancer
can use these gestures to tell a story
through her gestures.
There is some overlap in meaning
between the words hasta and mudra
(“seal”), which are both used to describe
hand gestures, and the two are some-
times used interchangeably. Of the two,
mudras tend to be more strictly defined,
and to be far more stylized than hastas.
They stress the positions of the fingers,
rather than of the entire hand; the fin-
gers are always in very specific posi-
tions. Mudras always have very specific
symbolic meanings.Hastinapur
Archeological site about sixty miles
northeast of Delhi. This site has yielded
pottery and other artifacts believed to
be from the ninth to sixth centuries
B.C.E., which would make them contem-
porary with the latest parts of the Vedas,
the earliest Hindu religious texts. In the
Mahabharata, the later of the two great
Hindu epics, Hastinapur is the capital ofHastinapur