being continuous identity; the idea of
reincarnation (samsara) commensurate
with one’s deeds; the concept that some
single unifying power lies behind the
world’s apparent diversity; and the con-
viction that this can be attained only
through individual realization, usually
described as a flash of mystic insight. As
texts carrying the religious authority of
the Vedas, the Upanishads were also
extremely important in the develop-
ment of Hindu philosophical schools,
particularly Advaita Vedanta, which
shares this overriding emphasis on
inner realization. For information on the
Upanishads themselves, see Robert
Ernest Hume (trans.), Thirteen Principal
Upanisads, 1965. See also philosophy.
Upasaka
(“servant”) A person engaged in
upasana—that is, having an intent focus
on serving and worshiping a deity.
Upasana
(“service”) General term denoting reli-
gious practice or spiritual discipline as a
whole. Aside from the explicit notion of
serving the deity(or guru), the word
also connotes an intent focus on the
part of the performer—not so much the
particular things one is doing, but the
overall attitude of care and attention
with which one does them.
Upavasa
General term denoting fasting, which
is sometimes performed as a pre-
scribed action for particular religious
observances such as festivals and vows
(vrats), and which is also done as
a means of expiating one’s sins.
Although upavasa can refer to total
abstinence from food and drink, it
usually entails modification of one’s
diet. In some cases, as on the festival of
Shivaratri, such “fasting” entails
abstaining from cooked grains, which
are considered such an essential ele-
ment in a meal that in parts of India
the word rice is also used to mean
“food.” In other cases one will abstain
from certain types of food, such as for
the Santoshi Ma Vrat, in which the per-
son must not eat anything containing
sour or bitter flavors.
When fasting is performed as expia-
tion (prayashchitta), the prescriptions
are usually concerned with the amount
of food eaten rather than the particular
type. The best-known rite of this kind is
the chandrayana, a penitential rite last-
ing for one lunar monthin which the
penitent’s food consumption mirrors
the monthly course of the moon. The
performer begins by eating fourteen
mouthfuls of food on the first day
of the waning moon, then one less
mouthful on each successive day, with
a complete fast on the new moonday.
On each successive day during the
waxing moon, the penitent eats one
more mouthful, finishing at fifteen on
the day of the full moon.Upendra
(“junior Indra”) Epithet of the god
Vishnu. It is first used in some late
hymns in the Vedas, the earliest Hindu
religious texts, in which Vishnu is por-
trayed as a subordinate and companion
of the storm-god Indra, who is the pri-
mary Vedic deity. The epithet continues
to be used later despite Indra’s eclipse as
a significant deity, and thus its literal
meaning is no longer true. See Vishnu.Upside-Down Language
Term designating the type of utterances
known as ulatbamsi, so called because
these utterances intentionally describe
things contrary to the way they are in
the “normal” world. See ulatbamsi.Urdhvabahu
(“[one whose] arm is upraised”) Name
for a person practicing a particularly
severe form of physical mortification, in
which one or both arms are kept contin-
ually raised. After some time the mus-
cles atrophy, and the arms cannot be
lowered again. Although urdhvabahu isUrdhvabahu