Abhinavagupta: philosopher of Kashmir Shaivism, 975-1025 CE
Aditi: “Infinity,” name of a Vedic goddess of creation, mother of the Adityas, solar gods
Adivasis : “Original inhabitants,” indigenous inhabitants of India, tribal peoples
Advaita: nondualism, a philosophical school, propounded by Shankara
Agastya: a mythical sage said to have brought Sanskrit south to the Tamil land and also established Tamil there
Agni: Vedic god of fire (ignis)
agrahara: “taking the field,” a grant of temple land to Brahmins
ahimsa: nonviolence, literally “a lack of the desire to harm”
akam: word used in Tamil poetry for the interior world, the world of love
Akbar: Mughal emperor, 1556-1605, noted for his religious pluralism
Alvars : Tamil Vaishnava saints
Amba: “Mother,” name of a woman in the Mahabharata who was reborn as a man; also the name of a goddess
Ambalika: “Dear Little Mother,” name of the mother of Pandu in the Mahabharata
Ambika: “Little Mother,” name of the mother of Dhritarashtra in the Mahabharata
apad-dharma: the permissive religious law that prevails in time of emergency
Apala: a woman who pressed soma in her mouth for the god Indra in the Rig Veda
Appar: one of the first three Tamil Nayanmar saints, sixth to eighth century
Apsarases : “Gliding in the Waters,” celestial nymphs and courtesans
Arjuna: one of the five sons of Pandu in the Mahabharata, fathered by the god Indra
Artha-shastra: textbook of political science
Arya Samaj: a religious movement founded by Dayananda Sarasvati in Bengal in 1875
Aryas : “nobles,” name by which the Vedic people referred to themselves
Ashoka: Mauryan emperor, 265-232 BCE, author of the first surviving writing in India, edicts in stone
ashrama: a hermitage; also a stage or way of life (there are four: chaste student, householder, forest dweller, renouncer)
Ashvaghosha: a first century CE poet, author of a life of the Buddha
Ashvins : “Horsemen,” twin half horse gods, sons of Saranyu and the sun
Asuras : antigods, enemies of the gods in heaven; originally, the older gods
Atharva Veda: the fourth Veda, largely devoted to magic spells
atman: the self, the individual soul, identical with the world soul (atman or brahman)
Aurangzeb : a Mughal emperor, 1658-1707 CE, noted for his chauvinism
avatar: a “descent” of a god, particularly an incarnation of the god Vishnu
Avesta: the sacred text of the ancient Iranians
Ayur-veda: the Veda of long life, the science of medicine
Babur: the first Mughal emperor, 1483-1530
Backward Castes: one of many names for the lowest and most oppressed castes
Bali: a demon undone by his generosity to the god Vishnu, who had become incarnate as a dwarf
Bana: a poet in the court of Harsha, author of a biography of Harsha
banyan: a sacred tree that puts down multiple roots
Basava: a Brahmin who founded the Virashaiva movement, c. 1106-1167 CE
Bhagavad Gita: a philosophical text, spoken by the god Krishna to the prince Arjuna, in the Mahabharata
Bhagavan: a name of god, Vishnu or Shiva
Bhagavata: a worshiper of the gods Vishnu or Shiva
Bhagiratha: a sage who brought the Ganges down to earth from the Milky Way
bhakta: devotee of a god
bhakti: passionate devotion to a god who returns that love
Bharata: younger brother of Rama; also the name of the son of Shakuntala and Dushyanta and an ancient name of India
Bharata-varsha: the land of India
Bhil, Bhilla: name of a tribal people
Bhima: one of the five sons of Pandu in the Mahabharata , fathered by the god Vayu, the wind
Bhishma: celibate son of Satyavati in the Mahabharata
Bhrigu: a powerful sage
Brahma: a god, responsible for the task of creation
brahman: the divine substance of the universe
Brahmanas : texts, from c. 800 to 600 BCE, explaining the Vedic rituals
Brahmin: the highest of the four classes, the class from which Vedic priests must come
Brahmo Samaj: a reform movement founded by Rammohun Roy in 1828
bride-price: a reverse dowry, paid by the groom to the family of the bride
Buddhification: casting a non-Buddhist as a Buddhist
Campantar: one of the first three Tamil Nayanmar saints, sixth to eighth century
Cankam: (from Sanskrit sangham): early Tamil literary assembly
Chaitanya: Bengali saint, 1486-1533 CE
Chamars : a Dalit caste, leatherworkers
Chandalas : a Dalit caste, workers in cremation grounds
Chandidas : a fourteenth-century CE Bengali poet
Chandika: “The Fierce,” a name of the Goddess
Chandra Gupta I : founder of the Gupta Empire in 324 CE
Chandragupta Maurya: founder of the Mauryan Empire in 324 BCE
Charaka: author of a medical textbook
Charioteers (Sutas): a caste of charioteers and bards
Charvakas : Materialists, regarded as the paradigmatic heretics; also called Lokayatas
Cheras : an ancient South Indian kingdom
Cholas : an ancient South Indian kingdom
Clive, Robert: governor of Bengal from 1755-1760 ; chancellor from 1765
Cuntarar: one of the first three Tamil Nayanmar saints, sixth to eighth century
Dadhyanch: a Vedic sage whose head was replaced with a horse head
Daksha: a Vedic patriarch, father of Sati, who foolishly refused to invite the god Shiva to his sacrifice
Dalit: preferred contemporary word, derived from the Marathi/Hindi word for “oppressed,” for the lowest castes, formerly known as Untouchables
Dalitification: the process by which castes claim to be Dalits; the reverse of Sanskritization
darshan: “seeing,” the exchange of powerful gazes between god and worshiper, or king and subject
Dasa: “slave,” the word that the Vedic Aryas applied to their enemies
Dasyu: another word for “slave”
Deshification: the process by which the Sanskritic tradition absorbs local traditions
Devaki: royal mother of Krishna
dhamma: Pali for the Sanskrit term dharma; Buddhist law, and Ashokan law
dharma: religious law, justice, righteousness. See also sadharana, sanatana
dog cooker shva-paka: ancient term of opprobrium for Dalit castes
Draupadi: wife of the five Pandava brothers, heroine of the Mahabharata, later a goddess
Dravida: Sanskrit word for South India
Dravidian: a language group from South India that includes Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam
Drona: the Pandavas’ tutor in martial arts in the Mahabharata
Drupada: father of Draupadi in the Mahabharata dualism: the philosophical view that god and the universe, including the worshiper, are of two different substances
Durga: “Hard to Get [to],” a goddess
Dvaita: dualism, a philosophical school, whose most famous proponent was Madhva
Dvapara Yuga: “The Age of the Deuce,” the third of the degenerating ages
Dyer, Major Reginald: British officer who gave the command for the massacre at Amritsar
Ekalavya: tribal (Nishada) prince who cut off his thumb at the request of Arjuna and Drona, in the Mahabharata
Ellamma: South Indian goddess with the body of a Brahmin woman and the head of a Dalit woman
Fs, the five: elements of Tantric ritual (fish, flesh, fermented grapes, frumentum, and fornication), see also Ms, the five
Faxian: Chinese visitor to India in 402 CE
Gandhari: wife of Dhritarashtra, mother of Duryodhana and his brothers, the enemies of the Pandavas, in the Mahabharata
Gandharvas : demigods, musicians, associated with fertility and horses; consorts of the Apsarases
Ganga: the Ganges River
Gargi: a feisty woman who interrogates sages in the Upanishads
Garuda: a mythical eagle, the mount of the god Vishnu
Gayatri: name of a meter; of a particularly holy verse in the Rig Veda; and of a goddess
Ghasidas : a Chamar who founded a branch of the Satnamis
Gita: short name of the Bhagavad Gita
Gonds : a tribal people
Gondwana: a mythical land thought to have been submerged long, long ago
Gugga (also spelled Guga): a folk god, said to have been a historical figure; famous for his flying black mare
guna: “quality,” term for the three strands of matter in Sankhya philosophy
Guru Nanak: founder of Sikhism, 1469-1539 CE
Hanuman: the monkey ally of Rama in the Ramayana
Harappa: ancient city in the Indus Valley, c. 2500 BCE
Harijan: “People of God” (Hari, Vishnu), Gandhi’s name for the Dalits
Indra: Veda king of the gods, god of rain, fertility, and war
Indrani: wife of the Vedic god Indra
itihasa: “that’s what happened,” history
Jabali: a Brahmin who argues for atheism in the Ramayana
Jagannatha: “Lord of the Universe,” the name of a form of Vishnu, especially in a temple in Puri, Orissa
Jainas : followers of the religion founded by the Jina, in the fifth century BCE
Jambu-dvipa: “the plum tree continent,” the ancient name for the subcontinent of India
Janaka: a king of Videha, father of Sita
Janashruti: a king in the Upanishads
Jara: “old age”; also the name of a hunter who kills the incarnate god Krishna
jati: “birth,” caste
Jina: Vardhamana Mahavira, founder of Jainism
jizya: tax levied by Muslim rulers on subjects who did not perform military service
Kabir: a poet, c. 1398-1448 CE, whose teachings bridged Hinduism and Islam
Kaikeyi: mother of Bharata in the Ramayana, who insisted that Rama be exiled
Kalamukhas : “Death Heads,” a sect of antinomian Shaivas
Kali (goddess): “Time” or “Doomsday,” goddess of sex and violence and much more
Kali Age (Yuga): the fourth and worst of the ages; the present age
Kalidasa: a Gupta poet, author of Shakuntala
Kalinga: the ancient name of Orissa
Kalki: the final avatar of Vishnu, a horse-headed warrior who will kill the barbarians
Kama-sutra: textbook of pleasure, composed by Vatsyayana, third century CE
Kamsa: king who devoted his life to the attempt to kill Krishna
Kannappar: Tamil saint who tore out his eyes for Shiva
Kanphata: “Pierced-Ear,” name of a sect of yogis
Kapala-mochana: “The Release of the Skull,” the shrine in Varanasi where the skull of Brahma fell from Shiva’s hand
Kapalikas : “Skull Bearers,” a sect of Shaivas who imitate Shiva’s wandering with Brahma’s skull
karma: action, or the fruits of action
Karna: illegitimate son of Kunti, raised by low-caste Charioteers, in the Mahabharata
kathenotheism: F. Max Müller’s term for the worship of one supreme god at a time
Kaula: “belonging to the family [kula],” name of a Tantric sect
Kausalya: mother of Rama, in the Ramayana
Kautilya: author of the Artha-shastra
kavya: poetry
Khandoba: Maharashtrian god associated with dogs
kliba: a sexually challenged man
Krishna: an incarnation of Vishnu, a hero of the Mahabharata who grew up among cowherds
Krita Yuga: the first, or Winning Age
Kshatriyas : the class of warriors and kings
Kshetrayya: a poet, 1622-1673 CE, who wrote poems to Krishna in Telugu
Kula: “the family,” name for a Tantric sect
Kumbhakarna: “Pot Ear,” a brother of Ravana, in the Ramayana
Kundalini: “the encircling,” name of a coiled spinal power energized through Tantric yoga
Kunti: a wife of Pandu, mother of the Pandavas and of Karna (all fathered by gods), in the Mahabharata
Kutsa: a son of Indra, in the Brahmanas
Lakshmana: brother of Rama, in the Ramayana
Lakshmi: goddess of fortune, wife of Vishnu and of earthly kings
Lakulisha: “Lord Holding a Club,” founder of the Pashupata sect of Shaivas
Lanka: a mythical island ruled by the ogre Ravana
Laukification: the process by which the Sanskritic tradition absorbs popular (laukika [“of the people,” loka]) traditions
left-hand: sinister or unclean, said by Hindus who think they are the right hand, about other Hindus, particularly certain Tantrics
Lemuria: mythical supercontinent said to have once connected India and Australia
linga: “sign,” a sign of sex, particularly the male sexual organ, more particularly the sexual organ of the god Shiva; also regarded as an abstract symbol of Shiva
Lingayat: a South Indian sect of Shaivas, also known as Virashaivas and Charanas
Lokayatas : Materialists, also called Charvakas
Ms, the five: the five elements of Tantric ritual (mansa, matsya, madya, mudra, maithuna). See also Fs, the five
Madhva: a philosopher, c. 1238-1317 CE, in Karnataka, exponent of the Dvaita (dualist) school
Madri: a wife of Pandu in the Mahabharata; mother of the twins Nakula and Sahadeva
Mahabharata: the longer of the two great Sanskrit epics, attributed to the sage Vyasa
Mahadevi: “the great goddess”
Mahadevyyakka: twelfth-century CE woman, Virashaiva saint and poet
Mahisha: “the buffalo,” a buffalo antigod killed by Durga
Mahisha-mardini: “buffalo crushing,” an epithet of Durga
maithuna: “pairing,” sexual coupling
Mallanna: a Maharashtrian god who often takes the form of a dog
Mandavya: a sage, unjustly impaled on a stake, in the Mahabharata
Manikkavacakar: nineth-century CE Shaiva poet, author of the Tiruvacakam
Mankanaka: a sage who danced too much
mamsa: flesh
Manu: a mythical sage, author of a dharma text
Marathas : a people of Maharashtra
Marathi: language of Maharashtra
mare Fire (Vadava-agni): submarine fire in the mouth of a mare
Mariamma: South Indian goddess with the head of a Brahmin woman and the body of a Dalit woman
Maricha: ogre ally of Ravana, who takes the form of a deer to delude Sita
Maruts : wind gods
matt: a Hindu theological school
Mauryas : a great dynasty, from 324 to 185 BCE
Meru: the great mountain at the center of the world
Mimamsa: the philosophy of logic
Mirabai: Hindi poet and woman saint, devotee of Krishna, 1498-1597 CE
Mitra: “Friend,” a Vedic god closely linked with Varuna
mlecchas: barbarians
Mohenjo-Daro: a great city in the Indus Valley, c. 2500 BCE
moksha: Release, from the circle of transmigration
monism: doctrine that the universe is made of one divine substance
mrigas : wild beasts, in contrast with pashus, domesticated or sacrificial beasts; also a word for deer
Mrityu: death
Murukan: South Indian god identified with Skanda
Muttal Ravuttan: a Muslim horseman, a South Indian Hindu folk hero
nabob: name given to British rulers of India
Nachiketas : a boy who goes to the underworld and learns about death, in the Upanishads
Nakula: one of the twin sons of Madri, fathered by the Ashvins, in the Mahabharata
Nammalvar (“Our Alvar”): the last of the great Alvars, in the ninth century
Nanda: name of the cowherd who adopts Krishna, in the Puranas
Nandas : dynasty that preceded the Mauryas
Nandin: the bull of the god Shiva, sometimes his doorkeeper or son
Nantanar: in Tamil myth, a Pariah who went through fire to purify himself because he was not allowed to enter a temple
Nara-simha: “Man-Lion,” an avatar of Vishnu, savior of Prahlada
Nasatyas : a name of the Ashvins
Nastikas : “people who say, ‘It does not exist,’ ” atheists
nawab : name given to Muslim rulers under the British Raj
Nayakas : dynasty that ruled much of South India, from Mysore, through the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
Nayanmars : Tamil Shaiva saints (singular is “Nayanar”)
nir-guna: “without qualities,” the undifferentiated, abstract of the godhead
nirvana: “the blowing out of a flame,” release from the circle of transmigration
Nishadas : tribal peoples of ancient India
nondualism: the philosophical view, expounded by Shankara, that god and the universe are made of one substance
Nyaya: logic, a philosophical school
Orientalism: term coined by Edward Said to describe the attitude of Europeans toward “Orientals”
orthopraxy: an emphasis on “straight behavior” rather than “straight thinking” (orthodoxy)
Pahlavas : Sanskrit term for Parthians, the people whose empire occupied all of what is now Iran, Iraq, and Armenia
Pallavas : South Indian dynasty that ruled from Kanchipuram, north of the Cholas, Pandyas, and Cheras, from the fourth through the ninth century CE
Pandavas : the five sons of Pandu, in the Mahabharata , in order of birth: Yudhishthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula, and Sahadeva
pandit: a learned man
Pandu: father of the Pandavas, born pale, cursed to die if he begot legal sons
Pandyas : a South Indian dynasty that ruled the eastern part of the southernmost tip of India from the time of Ashoka to well into the sixteenth century
Panis : enemies of the Vedic people, accused of cattle theft
papa: evil
Parashurama: “Rama with an Ax,” an avatar of Vishnu
Pariah: Tamil word for a particular low caste of drummers, then extended to all the Dalit castes
Parsis : “Persians,” Zoroastrians
Parvati: “Daughter of the Mountain,” wife of Shiva
pasha: the “bond” that ties the individual soul (the pashu [“beast”]) to the god ( pati [“protector”]) in the Shaiva Siddhanta philosophy
pashu: domesticated or sacrificial beast
Pashupatas: followers of Shiva Pashupati, “Lord of Beasts,” antinomian and cynical
Pataliputra: city on the Ganges, the modern Patna
Periya Purana: a collection of stories about the Tamil Shaiva saints, by Cekkiyar, dated to the reign of the Chola king Kulottunka II, 1133-1150 CE
pitha: plinth or base of statue, particularly of a deity
Prahlada: a virtuous demon, saved from his wicked father by Vishnu in the form of the Man-Lion (Nara-simha)
Prajapati: “Lord of Creatures,” the creator in the Vedas
Prakrit: “natural,” the actual spoken languages of ancient India, in contrast with Sanskrit
prakriti: “nature,” more particularly matter in contrast with spirit (in Sankhya philosophy)
pralaya: dissolution or doomsday
pratiloma: “against the grain”; more literally, “against the hair,” said in particular of marriages in which the woman is of a higher caste than the man
Prithivi: “broad,” the earth
Prithu: the first king, who tamed the earth
puja: worship, particularly with flowers and fruits, also sometimes with incense and other offerings pukka: “ripe” or “cooked,” perfected
Pulkasa: name of one of the ancient Dalit castes
puram: in Sanskrit, a city or citadel; in Tamil, the public emotion, in contrast with akam
Puranas: compendiums of myth, ritual, and history, originally only in Sanskrit, later also in vernacular languages
purdah: the seclusion of women, particularly behind screens in a house or palace
Purohita: a family priest or royal chaplain
purusha: “male,” the Primeval Man in the Vedas; later, any male animal; in Sankhya philosophy, spirit, self, or person
purusha-arthas: the three (later four) goals of life for a man
purva paksha: “first wing,” statement of the opponent’s position at the start of an argument
Pushyamitra: founder of the Shunga dynasty in 185 BCE
Putana: a demoness who tried to kill Krishna
Qualified Nondualism: philosophy taught by Ramanuja, moderating the view that god and the worshiper are of the same substance
Radhakrishnan, Sarvepalli: philosopher, the first president of India, 1888-1975
Raikva: the first homeless person, in the Upanishads
Raj: short for rajyam [“kingdom”]; in particular, the British Raj, the British colonization of India
raja: king
rajas: emotion or passion, one of the three gunas, or qualities of matter
rajyam: kingdom
Rakshasas: ogres, demonic creatures on earth
Rama: a prince, an avatar of Vishnu, hero of the Ramayana
Ramanuja: a philosopher, exponent of Qualified Nondualism, from Tamil Nadu, c. 1056-1137 CE
Ramanujan, Attipat Krishnaswami: poet, linguist, scholar of Tamil, Telugu, and Kannada, 1929-1993
Ramayana: one of the two great ancient Sanskrit epics, the story of Rama, attributed to the poet Valmiki
Ram-raj (Hindi), Rama-rajya (Sanskrit): perfect reign of Rama
Ranke, Leopold von: a positivist German historian, 1795-1886
Ravana: an ogre (Rakshasa), ruler of the island of Lanka, enemy of Rama in the Ramayana
Rig Veda: the most ancient sacred text in India, composed c. 1500 BCE
rishi: a sage
Rishyashringa: a sage with a horn on his head, son of a sage and a female antelope
Rudra: “Howler,” a wild Vedic god, later a name of the Hindu god Shiva
sadharana dharma: religious law that applies to everyone in common. See also dharma
Sagara: a king whose sons dug out the ocean, which is also called sagara
sa-guna: “with qualities,” the differentiated, visualized aspect of the godhead
Sahadeva: one of the twin sons of Madri, fathered by the Ashvins, in the Mahabharata
sahib: “master,” honorific title given to British rulers in India during the Raj
Sama Veda: the Veda of hymns arranged for chanting
samkara: mixture, in particular the mixing together of classes and/or castes
samnyasa: renunciation
samsara: the circle of transmigration
sanatana dharma: the eternal religious law. See also dharma
Sankhya: a dualistic philosophy, dating from the time of the Upanishads, that divides the universe into a male purusha (spirit, self, or person) and a female prakriti (matter, nature)
Sanskrit: the perfected or artificial language called the language of the gods; the language of the texts of ancient India
Sanskritization: process by which lower castes, imitating Brahmin ways of eating and dressing, raise their status
Santoshi Ma: goddess first worshiped in the 1960s, now extremely popular, largely as the result of a mythological film, Jai Santoshi Ma
Sarama: bitch of the god Indra in the Rig Veda, who found stolen cows and brought them back
Sarasvati River: once a river in the Punjab, dried up long ago
sati: a good woman, particularly a devoted wife. See also suttee
Sati: wife of the god Shiva, daughter of Daksha, who committed suicide
Satnamis: “Path of the True Name,” a sect, founded in the eastern Punjab in 1657, that worships gurus rather than gods
sattva: “truth, goodness,” one of the three gunas or qualities of matter in Sankhya philosophy
Satyavati: daughter of a fisherman, mother of Vyasa and other key figures in the Mahabharata
sepoy (from Turkish sipahi [“soldier”]): native troop serving the British in India
Shachi: the wife of the god Indra
Shaiva: pertaining to Shiva; a worshiper of Shiva
Shakas: Scythians
shakti: power, particularly female power, more particularly a goddess or the wife of a god
Shankara: a nondualist philosopher from Kerala, c. 788-820 CE
Shantanu: husband of Satyavati and of the Ganges River, father of Bhishma, in the Mahabharata
shastras: texts or textbooks, sciences
Shatrughna: one of Rama’s three brothers, in the Ramayana
Shattaris: Sufi sect
Shiva: the Great God (Mahadeva)
Shivaji: founder of the kingdom of Maharashtra, leader of resistance against the Mughals, 1630-1680 CE
Shrirangam: Vaishnava temple, also known as Tiruvarangam, in Trichi (Tiruchirappalli), on the Kaveri River, in Tamil Nadu; the seat of Ramanuja
Shudras: “servants,” the lowest of the four classes (varnas) of ancient Indian society
Shunahshepha: boy, in the Brahmanas, whose father tried to sell him to be sacrificed
Shungas: dynasty that ruled North India from 185 to 73 BCE
Shurapanakha: ogress (Rakshasi), sister of Ravana, mutilated by Lakshmana, in the Ramayana
Shvetaketu: a sage, in the Upanishads
Sikhs: followers of the religion founded by Guru Nanak, 1469-1539, in the Punjab
Sindhu: “river,” Greek and Persian word later used as the basis of the word for the people who lived east of the Indus, the Hindus
Sita: an incarnate goddess, the wife of Rama, in the Ramayana
Skanda: a son of Shiva, general of the gods, identified with Murukan in South India
Skull Bearers. See Kapalikas.
soma: a plant pressed to yield a hallucinogenic fluid, offered to the gods in the Vedas; also a name of the moon
Somanatha (Somnath): a great temple to Shiva, and the city around it, in southwest Gujarat
Sri Lanka: present-day name of the island previously known as Ceylon or Serendip but probably not Lanka
stupas: Buddhist relic mounds
Sufism: a mystical branch of Islam
Sugriva: a monkey king befriended by Rama in the Ramayana
Sukeshin: ogre (Rakshasa) devoted to Shiva, in the Puranas
Surya: the sun, a Vedic god
Sushruta: author of a medical text
Sutas: “Charioteers,” name of a caste of charioteers and improvisational bards, in ancient India
suttee (from Sanskrit sati): the burning of a woman on the pyre of her dead husband; also, the woman who does this
sva-dharma: one’s own particular dharma, in contrast with general (sadharana dharma)
svayambhu: “self-existent” or “self-created,” an epithet of Prajapati and of several other mythical creators; also applied to lingas and other religious symbols that appear in nature, without human agency
Swaminarayan: founder of the Satsangi sect, 1780-1830 CE
tamas: “darkness,” one of the three qualities or gunas of matter, according to Sankhya philosophy
Tamil: Dravidian language of South India
Tantra: form of Hinduism (also of Buddhism), and the texts and practices of those traditions
tapas: internal heat, generated through rigid self-control of the senses and violent yogic practices
Tej Singh: historical figure, the son of the commander of the fort of Senji under Aurangzeb; also a hero of Hindi folklore
Thapar, Romila: India’s greatest living historian of the ancient period
Thompson, Stith: author of a detailed index of the themes in folklore, 1885-1976 CE
Thugs (from the Sanskrit sthaga [“thief,” “rogue”]): members of a gang of assassins who worshiped Kali and terrorized the British in India
Tirumal: Tamil name of Vishnu
Tiruvacakam: “the sacred word”: a poem in praise of Shiva, composed by Manikkavacakar, c. 800 CE
Treta Yuga: “the Trey,” the second of the four degenerating ages (Yugas)
Trimurti: “triple form,” the trinity of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva
Trishanku: king who tried in vain to get to heaven and remains stuck halfway there
trivarga: “triple path,” the three goals of human life ( purusha-arthas)
Tukaram: antinomian poet saint in Maharashtra, 1608-1649 CE
Tulsidas: poet, author of the Hindi Ramcharitmanas , 1532-1623 CE
Tvastri: Vedic architect, blacksmith, and artisan of the gods
twice born (dvi-ja): name of the three higher classes (varnas) of Hindu society, reborn on their initiation
ulama: conservative ruling body of Islam
Ulupi: a cobra woman married by Arjuna, in the Mahabharata
Upanishads: Sanskrit philosophical texts, from c. 500 BCE
Vaishnava: pertaining to Vishnu; a worshiper of Vishnu
Vaishyas: the third of the four classes (varnas) of ancient Indian society
Valin: monkey falsely accused of usurping his brother’s throne, unfairly killed by Rama, in the Ramayana
Valmiki: author of the Ramayana and, within it, guardian and tutor of Rama’s twin sons
Vama: “left-hand,” said of the more antinomian aspects of Hinduism, particularly of Tantrism
Varanasi: name of Kashi, Benares
varna: “color,” any of the four social classes of ancient India
varna-ashrama-dharma: the religious law pertaining to social class (varna) and stage of life (ashrama), often used as a description of Hinduism
varna-samkara: the mixture of classes, miscegenation
Varuna: Vedic god of the sky, the waters, and the moral law
vasana: “perfume,” the memory traces left by former lives
Vasudeva: the cowherd who adopts the infant Krishna and raises him, in the Puranas
Vatsyayana: author of the Kama-sutra
Vayu: god of the wind
Veda: “knowledge,” one of the three (or four) most ancient sacred texts; also used to denote all four Vedas plus the Brahmanas and Upanishads
Vedanta: “end of the Veda,” a term for the Upanishads and for the later philosophy based on the Upanishads
Vedantic: pertaining to the Vedanta
Vessantara Jataka: Buddhist text that tells the story of a king, Vessantara, who lost everything he had
Vibhishana: an ogre, the moralistic brother of Ravana, in the Ramayana
Vidura: a son of Vyasa born of a servant girl; an incarnation of dharma
viraha: separation, particularly the emotional agony of separation from a lover or from a beloved god
Virashaiva: a sect of Shaivas, also called Lingayats, founded by Basava c. 1106-1167 CE
Virochana: an antigod, father of Bali
Vishnu: a great god
Vitthal: a Maharashtrian god
Vithoba: a Maharashtrian god
Vivekananda: a holy man, one of the founders of the Vedanta movement, who brought Hinduism to Chicago in 1893 CE
Vritra: an antigod, Indra’s great enemy, in the Vedas
Vyasa: a sage, author of the Mahabharata and of Pandu, Dhritarashtra, and Vidura
Xuan Zang: Chinese visitor to India in the seventh century CE
Yajur Veda: the third Veda, arranged for the sacrifice
Yakshas, Yakshinis : forest and tree spirits, beautiful, able to confer fertility but sometimes malicious
Yashoda: the cowherd woman who adopted Krishna, in the Puranas
Yavakri: a sage who was killed because he raped a Brahmin’s wife, in the Brahmanas and the Mahabharata
Yavanas: “Ionians,” a Sanskrit word first for Greeks, then for any foreigners
yoni: the womb, the partner of the linga
Yudhishthira: oldest son of Pandu, begotten by Dharma
Yuga: an age, one of four periods of time in which everything degenerates
zenana: the part of a house or palace where women are secluded
Zoroastrians: members of a religion derived from the Iranian Avesta, involving the worship of fire