desire to ignore and to deny the reality
of death, in Benares it is paraded in
full view—not to distress or depress
people, but to make them confront this
reality. Awareness of death has tradition-
ally been considered a great spur to
religious life. Since Benares is also one
of the Seven Sacred Cities, death
within the city also carries the hope of
ultimate liberation.
Manikkavachakar
(9th c.) Tamil poet-saint who was a
devotee (bhakta) of the god Shivaand
the author of the Tiruvachakam(“holy
utterances”). He is considered the fourth
great figure in the Tamil Shaivite tradi-
tion, along with the Nayanar poet-
saints, Appar, Sambandar, and
Sundaramurtti. Manikkavachakar’s
hymns bear witness to the intensity of
his individual religious experience and
are seen as the culmination of the earlier
devotional (bhakti) tradition. These
hymns are also the basis for the devel-
opment of the Shaiva Siddhantaphilo-
sophical school, making him a pivotal
figure in southern Indian Shaivism. For
further information see Glenn Yocum,
Hymns to the Dancing Siva, 1982.
Manimegalai
Tamil epicpoem which was written as a
sequel to “The Jeweled Anklet”
(Shilappadigaram), connecting its
characters with those of the earlier play.
The story focuses on a young woman
named Manimegalai who, although
wooed by the local prince, becomes a
Buddhist nun. Manimegalai has numer-
ous debates with people from compet-
ing religious traditions, thus giving a
picture of sixth century southern Indian
religious life.
Manipura Chakra
In many schools of yoga, and in the
secret ritually-based religious practice
known as tantra, the manipura chakra is
one of the six psychic centers (chakras)
believed to exist in the subtle body. The
subtle body is an alternate physiological
system, existing on a different plane of
reality than gross matter, but corre-
sponding to the material body. The six
psychic centers are visualized as multi-
petaled lotus flowers running roughly
along the spine, connected by three ver-
tical channels. Each of the chakras has
symbolic associations with various
human capacities, different subtle ele-
ments (tanmatras), and different seed
syllables (bijaksharas) formed from the
letters of the Sanskritalphabet, encom-
passing all sacred sound. Above and
below these centers are the bodily
abodes of Shiva(awareness) and Shakti
(power), the two divine principles
through which the entire universe has
come into being. The underlying
assumption behind the concept of the
subtle body is the homology of macro-
cosm and microcosm, an essential
Hindu idea since the time of the mysti-
cal texts known as the Upanishads.
The six chakras are traditionally enu-
merated starting from the bottom; the
manipura chakra is the third. It is visual-
ized as a ten-petaled lotus, located in
the region of the navel. The petals each
contain a seed, in this case the conso-
nants from retroflex “dha” to “pha.” The
manipura chakra is identified as the
bodily seat for the subtle element of fire,
the power of which is believed to bring
about digestion. For further information
see Arthur Avalon (Sir John Woodroffe),
Shakti and Shakta, 1978; and Philip S.
Rawson, The Art of Tantra, 1973.Manipuri
One of the classical danceforms of
India; some of the others are
Bharatanatyam, Orissi, Kuchipudi,
Kathak, and Kathakali. Like much of
traditional Indian culture, classical
dance shows strong regional identifica-
tion; Manipuri is found only in the state
of Manipur, nestled between Burma and
Assamin eastern India. Developed in
the eighteenth century, Manipuri
reflects the importance of Vaishnava
devotionalism. One of the principalManikkavachakar