Sanjna
In Hindu mythology, the daughter of
Vishvakarma, workman and architect
for the gods. Sanjna has been married to
Surya, the Sun, but finds his dazzling
radiance too much to bear. To help his
daughter adjust to her husband,
Vishvakarma trims off some bits of the
sun with his divine tools, removing
enough of his radiance that Samjna can
bear to be with him. The trimmed-off
parts of the sun are used to build the
Pushpak Viman, an aerial car, as well as
the god Vishnu’sdiscus (chakra), the
god Shiva’strident, and various other
divine weapons.
Sankalpa
Spoken ritual performed before a reli-
gious act. The person about to perform
the act identifies himself by name, tells
the location of the act, and gives the
lunar calendardate and time. He goes
on to describe the religious act and what
benefits he wants to receive as a result.
Sankalpa is done before rituals such as
suicideand doing morning pujato the
Ganges. See samkalpa.
Sankarshana
(“dragging away”) Epithet of the god
Krishna’sbrother Balarama, referring
to Balarama’s unusual prenatal devel-
opment—he is conceived by Krishna’s
mother Devakibut is magically trans-
ferred into the womb of her co-wife
Rohini. This is done to protect him
from harm, since Devaki’s wicked
uncle Kamsa has already killed her
first seven children, and will certainly
do the same if she carries Balarama to
term. See Balarama.
Sankat Mochan
(“freeing from distress”) Epithet of a partic-
ular form of the monkey-god Hanuman,
whose main temple is on the southern part
of Benares. Sankat Mochan has been an
increasingly popular form of Hanuman
since the 1970s. As with all manifestations
of Hanuman, Sankat Mochan is consid-
ered a strong protective deity, with the
power to rescue his devotees (bhakta)
from all kinds of trouble and misfortune.Sankat Mochan
(2) A temple in the southern part of
Benaresdedicated to the monkey-god
Hanumanin his form as Sankat Mochan.
The temple does not have a long history
but first became famous in the nineteenth
century through some Ramanandiascetics
living there, whose piety drew visitors to
the spot. In modern times, the temple
has become popular because the image
of Hanuman is believed to be very pow-
erful, but also accessible—qualities that
lead petitioners to come with requests
and leave with the assurance that help
is forthcoming.Sankranti
(“transition”) The transition of a celestial
body (sun, moon, or planet) from one
sign of the zodiacto another. Such tran-
sitions can give the celestial bodies or
the time in question positive or negative
qualities. The most important of these
celestial bodies is the sun, whose two
directional transitions—northward at
Makara Sankranti, and southward at
Karka Sankranti—define more and less
auspicious times for the entire year.Sanskrit
(“perfected”) For much of Indian history,
Sanskrit was the language of the cultural
and religious elite. Even in the twentieth
century, it is still the language with the
highest religious status. Its name reflects
the religious conviction that it was the
perfect language—the language of the
gods. Sanskrit was essentially fixed in the
fourth century B.C.E. by the grammarian
Paniniin his Ashtadhyayi. Since it has
not changed from Panini’s time, Sanskrit
is no longer considered a “natural”
language. Even in Panini’s time, Sanskrit
would have been a person’s second
language, learned by conscious study
after acquiring a grammatically simpler
mother tongue (one of the Prakrits)Sanskrit