Mandaleshvar
(“Lord of the Region”) Term of respect
for the ascetics chosen to head the Naga
class of the Dashanami Sanyasis in
their disputations with Christian mis-
sionaries. The Dashanami Nagas are
groups of renunciant ascetics who are
devotees (bhakta) of Shivaand who for-
merly made their living as traders and
mercenary soldiers. Their rough-and-
ready qualities made them effective sol-
diers but gave them little preparation for
formal argument. The Mandaleshvars
were chosen by the Nagas from among
the more learned Paramahamsa
ascetics, providing a more coherent and
telling opposition to Christian mission-
aries. An ascetic who becomes a
Mandaleshvar becomes the spiritual
adviser and the teacher of the
Dashanami Naga members of the
akhara, who deem him a spiritual
preceptor as much as their own gurus.
Mandana Mishra
(early 9th c.) Founder of the Bhamati
school of Advaita Vedanta, who is tradi-
tionally held to be a contemporary of
Shankaracharya, the Advaita school’s
greatest figure. The Advaita school
upholds a philosophical theory known
as monism—the belief that a single
Ultimate Reality lies behind all things,
which are merely differing forms of that
reality. Advaita proponents claim that
reality is non-dual (advaita)—all things
are nothing but the formless, unquali-
fied Brahman(the highest reality in the
universe), despite the appearance of dif-
ference and diversity. For the Advaitins,
the assumption of diversity is a funda-
mental misunderstanding of the ulti-
mate nature of things, a manifestation
of avidya. Although often translated as
“ignorance,” avidya is better understood
as the lack of genuine understanding
that ultimately causes human beings to
be trapped in karmic bondage, reincar-
nation (samsara), and suffering.
Mandana suggests the vivarta (“illu-
sory manifestation”) causal relationship
to show how the unchanging Brahman
is connected with the world as it is per-
ceived. The concept of superimposition
(adhyasa) shows how humans project a
mistaken understanding onto the cor-
rect understanding. For example, a
piece of rope is mistaken for a snake.
Although this judgment is erroneous,
one is actually perceiving something
real, in this case the rope, but “superim-
posing” a different and mistaken identity
on it, thus “transforming” it into some-
thing it is not. In the same way, it is
argued, human consciousness begins
with the existent reality (Brahman),
which is actually there, but superimposes
onto it something which is not (the
judgment of a diverse world).
Mandana also differed from
Shankaracharya on several points, pos-
ing problems for his later followers. One
of these judgments was that the locus of
ignorance was in the Self, since it was
absurd to conceive of Brahman as sub-
ject to ignorance; another was that there
were multiple Selves, since the libera-
tion of one person did not cause the lib-
eration of all. Mandana’s comments
presuppose the existence of a common
(if illusory) world, upon which he felt
called to render a judgment; he ended
up describing it as anirvachaniya—“that
which cannot be described.” In his
analysis, Mandana also distinguished
between two kinds of ignorance—a pri-
mal “covering” that keeps one from per-
ceiving the truth, and a “projective”
ignorance through which human beings
actively obscure things.Mandapa
(“pavilion”) The mandapa is an architec-
tural feature found in the Khajuraho
variation of the Nagara architectural
style. Usually found in northern India,
the Nagara style emphasizes verticality,
with the whole temple building culmi-
nating in a single highest point. In the
Khajuraho style, the entire structure
gradually leads up to the central tower,
as foothills lead up to the mountains,
with the peak of this central tower
directly over the temple’s primaryMandapa