From Dictionary of Hindu Lore and Legend The creator of the universe and sustainer of the world, according to late–Vedic and subsequent traditions. Brahma is a member of the trimurti, the triad consisting of Brahma, Shiva and Vishnu.
From Dictionary of Hindu Lore and Legend One of the aspects of Devi, Durga is a deity in which various village goddesses and supernatural beings connected to forests and mountains eventually coalesced.
From Bloomsbury Dictionary of Myth Indra's names. Indra was the chief god of the Aryan people who invaded India in the seventeenth century BCE, and he held his position at the centre of Indian religious myth for over 1000 years. He was the Thunderer, wielder of the Thunderstone and god of rain.
From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia In Hindu mythology, the goddess of destruction and creation. She is the wife of Shiva. Kali feeds herself on blood, but produces life and destroys ignorance.
From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia Hindu goddess of wealth, beauty, and good fortune, consort of Vishnu, and mother of the world; her festival is Diwali.
From Dictionary of Hindu Lore and Legend Originally a minor Vedic deity, personifying solar energy, described as encompassing the whole universe in three strides, Vishnu acquired new attributes and slowly became one of the most important Hindu deities, along with Shiva and Brahma.
Classical Sanskrit epic of India, probably composed between 200 B.C. and A.D. 200. The Mahabharata, comprising more than 90,000 couplets, usually of 32 syllables, is the longest single poem in world literature.
From Dictionary of Hindu Lore and Legend
A collection of ancient myths concerning the creation of the world, its destruction and re–creation, and the genealogies of the gods and the patriarchs.
Classical Sanskrit epic of India, probably composed in the 3d cent. B.C. Based on numerous legends, it is traditionally the work of Valmiki, one of the minor characters.
From The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy A group of ancient Hindu philosophical texts, or the esoteric sacred doctrines contained in them. ‘Upanishad’ includes the notion of the student “sitting near” the guru.
From The Columbia Encyclopedia
The Ajivikas were an ascetic, atheistic, anti-Brahmanical community whose pessimistic doctrines are related to those of Jainism.
From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia Tamil (southern Indian) sage. Following an early experience in which he believed he was dying, he gained a deep insight into the nature of the self and of the spirit which transcends the body.
From The Essentials of Philosophy and Ethics Sankara was born at Kalati, Kerala in southern India. He became a philosopher-monk, teaching the Hindu VEDANTA philosophy, which emphasises the realisation of a supposed fundamental reality.
From The Columbia Encyclopedia Hindu mystic, major exponent of Vedanta philosophy. He was born of a well-to-do family in Calcutta (now Kolkata), and his given name was Narendra Nath Datta.
Major river of India and Bangladesh; length 2,510 km/1,560 mi. It drains a fertile and densely populated basin, approximately a quarter of the total area of India, and is the most sacred river for Hindus.
From Bloomsbury Dictionary of Myth Mount Meru (or Sumeru), in Hindu and Buddhist myth, was the home of the gods. It was a lotus-shaped mountain, built of gold and so vast that only Brahma could comprehend it.
From Dictionary of Hindu Lore and Legend One of the most famous and the wealthiest Vaishnava places of pilgrimage, Tirumala (Chittoor district, Andhra Pradesh) is part of a small range of seven hills.
State of north India, bordered by Nepal and Uttarakhand to the northeast, with Madhya Pradesh to the south, Haryana, Delhi, and Rajasthan to the west, and Bihar in the east.
From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia City in Uttar Pradesh, India, one of the seven holy cities of Hinduism, on the River Ganges; population (2001 est) 1,211,700. There are 1,500 golden shrines, and a 5 km/3 mi frontage to the Ganges with sacred stairways (ghats) for purification by bathing.
Hindu culture began about 4000 bce on the Indian subcontinent; today some 900 million followers worldwide practice Hindu traditions, or the “Vedic dispensation.”
[Skt.,=union], general term for spiritual disciplines in Hinduism, Buddhism, and throughout S Asia that are directed toward attaining higher consciousness.
Hindu festival that commemorates a 12-year celestial battle between gods and demons, over a pitcher (kumbh) containing the sacred nectar of immortality (amrit).
From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide In Hinduism, festival in October/November celebrating Lakshmi, goddess of light and wealth, as well as the New Year and the story of the Rāmāyana.
