In northern India Skanda is consid-
ered a member of Shiva’s household,
and although his power is acknowl-
edged, he is generally not a primary
object of worship. In southern India
Skanda has been identified with
Murugan, a regional deity associated
primarily with the hunt, but also with
war. In this atmosphere he has taken on
a much greater role, particularly in
Tamil Nadu, and has assumed the man-
tle of a philosopher and exponent of the
Shaiva Siddhantaschool.
Smallpox
In traditional Hindu belief, smallpox
was personified as the goddess Shitala
(“Cool One,” a euphemism), and the
fever and skin eruptions accompanying
the disease were interpreted as signs of
possessionby this goddess. In the time
since the World Health Organization has
declared smallpox officially eradicated,
in some regions Shitala has been identi-
fied with tuberculosis. See Shitala.
Smara
(“memory”) Epithet of the god Kama,
the deification of desire, reflecting the
importance of memory in generating
and maintaining desire. See Kama.
Smarana
(“remembering”) One of the standard
religious practices mentioned in lists
of religiously meritorious actions.
Smarana is most often associated with
deitiesbut is also mentioned in con-
junction with sacred sites (tirthas), one’s
spiritual teacher (guru), or even particu-
lar acts of worship. This practice
involves thinking constantly upon the
deity, person, place, or object, and in the
case of a deity this often involves mental
recitation of the deity’s name. The pri-
mary emphasis in this practice is to cre-
ate habitual behavioral patterns that,
over the long term, will have beneficial
effects on one’s character.
Smarta
Name for a particular group of brahmins
distinguished not by region or family,
but by the religious texts that they hold
most authoritative. For the Smartas, the
most authoritative texts are the texts
known as the smrtis—either the texts
themselves or commentaries and com-
pilations based on them. The smrtis or
“remembered” texts were a class of liter-
ature that, although deemed important,
were considered less authoritative than
the shrutisor “heard” texts. In brief, the
shrutis denoted the Vedas, the oldest
and most authoritative Hindu religious
texts, whereas the smrtis included the
dharma literature, the Bhagavad Gita,
the Mahabharata, and Ramayana, and
the collection known as the puranas.
The Smartas thus stand in contrast with
sectarian brahmins, whether Shaiva
(devotees of Shiva) or Vaishnava (devo-
tees of Vishnu), for whom their particu-
lar sectarian scriptures have the highest
religious authority. Smarta brahmins
can therefore claim to be following the
oldest and best established religious
texts and thus in some way to be the
most orthodox. Since Smartas are dis-
tinguished by their authoritative texts
and practice rather than by the deity
they worship, individual Smartas may
worship different Hindu deities, and
many do. Yet particularly in southern
India, many Smartas perform the pan-
chayatana puja to the five divine
forms—Vishnu, Shiva, Surya, Ganesh,
and the Goddess—which is intended to
show the ultimate unity behind the dif-
fering manifestations of divinity.Smrti
(“[that which is] remembered”) An
important class of Hindu religious liter-
ature that, despite its sacrality, is
deemed less authoritative than the
other major category, shruti. According
to tradition, the shruti (“heard”) texts
were not composed by human beings
but are based in the primordial vibra-
tions of the cosmos itself. The ancient
sages, whose faculties of perception hadSmallpox