a vow of celibacy, particularly a lifelong
vow. In the Hindu tradition, celibacy is
important not only for removing one
from enjoying the pleasures of the flesh
but because on a more basic level,
semen is considered the concentrated
essence of a man’s vital energies.
Expending semen is necessary for pro-
creation, but otherwise it should be
retained, as a way to conserve one’s vital
forces. In popular belief, when a man
has been celibate for a certain time, the
semen is drawn upward to the brain,
where it nourishes one’s intellectual
and spiritual faculties.
Urushringa
Architectural detail in the temple archi-
tectureof Khajuraho, one of the major
forms of the northern Indian Nagara
style. The Nagara style’s primary feature
is a shikhara, or tower. This primary
shikhara is often surrounded by smaller,
subsidiary towers, to lead the eye up to
the highest point, which is directly over
the image of the temple’s primary deity.
The urushringas are turrets built on the
sides of these towers, whose shape repli-
cates that of the tallest central tower and
that serve to draw the eye upward to the
highest tower.
Urvashi
In Hindu mythology, a particular celes-
tial nymph (apsara) who is most famous
for her association with King Pururavas.
Urvashi comes to stay with Pururavas
under several conditions, including that
she should never see him naked. When
she has been gone from heavenfor a
while, the god Indranotices her absence
and schemes to get her back. One night
he sends several minor deitiesto steal
two lambs of which Urvashi is very fond,
and when Pururavas leaps up to regain
them, a flash of lightning reveals him
naked, and Urvashi leaves him. They are
separate for some time but are eventually
reunited—in some accounts for good,
and in others for only one night a year.
Ushas
In the Vedas, the oldest and most
authoritative Hindu religious texts,
Ushas is a goddess associated and
sometimes identified with the dawn.
She is described as lighting the path for
the sunand driving away the darkness
and evil; her presence is thus associated
with the regularity of the cosmic order.
Ushas is most notable not for what she
does—she is a minor deity, mentioned
in only a handful of the Vedic hymns—
but because she is one of the few god-
desses in the Vedas. The virtual absence
of female divinities in the Vedas is one of
the factors behind the notion that the
great Goddess, one of the three major
deities in later religious life, has her
roots in indigenous goddess worship.
For more information on Ushas and all
the goddesses of Hinduism, see David R.
Kinsley, Hindu Goddesses, 1986.Utkala
Northern Indian brahmin group that
makes up one of the five northern brah-
min communities (Pancha Gauda); the
other four are the Kanaujias, the
Maithilas, the Gaudas, and the
Saraswats. Utkala brahmins are found
only in the coastal regions of Orissa, on
the Bay of Bengal, but their ritual con-
trol over the pilgrimage sites there, par-
ticularly the city of Puri, have helped
them remain a significant group.Utkutikasana
Sitting posture (asana) in yogapractice
in which the legs are contracted, with
the soles of the feet pressed against each
other and the outer part of the feet and
legs flat on the ground. This posture is
the one in which images of the deities
are portrayed in Hindu iconography,
and it seems to be the position called
samasthana in the commentaries to the
Yoga Sutras. This position is also
notable because it appears to be por-
trayed on one of the seals from the
Indus Valley civilization; the figure in
this position is the mysterious hornedUtkutikasana