Sanskrit Terms

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samsara

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"cycle" or "going around." The round of repeated death, rebirth, redeath, etc., from which so many people seek "release."

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ayodhya

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site of Rama's kingdom in the Ramayana. Also a site of the demolition of the Babri Mosque.

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svadharma

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"own dharma" or "self-dharma" - the dharma which is considered proper or appropriate to an individual person.

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yoga

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"discipline." Its meaning can include any different means of religious expression surveyed in the Bhagavad Gita (Vedic rites, jnana, bhakti, etc.) For the Bhagavad Gita, this is because all of these, if done correctly, require the discipline to "sacrifice" one's self-interest, and to focus instead simply on the action, without concern for its fruits.

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purusha

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"person." In the Rig Veda, we find an account of its sacrifice, with the various parts of the victim's body constituting the various parts of society. In Samkhya philosophy, this term comes to refer to something like the "person" within us, i.e. the soul or spirit.

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Aryan

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"venerable," "worthy," or "respectable." An epithet used by the narrators of the Rig Veda to refer to themselves. Often problematically understood by scholars in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as though it had been referring to a racial group.

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dharma

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a complex and multivalent term which, in the context of our discussion of Hinduism, most basically means something like duty. Etymologically, it means "that which upholds the world."

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varna

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"color." This word refers to the broadest division of "castes." The hierarchical relations between these four groups is clearly expressed in Rig Veda 10.90, the hymn concerning the sacrifice of a person into various parts.

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Brahmin

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The first of the four Varnas. This is the caste of "priests" (brahmins) and, while they are not necessarily (or even very often) the most economically or politically powerful caste around, they are at least counted as the most ritually pure.

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Hindu

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Derivation of an Arabic word; originally it meant "Indian." The word was not used by anyone in India as a term of self-description until the 19th century, and then it was largely due to British imperial interests that the term became widely used.

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Vishnu

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one of the principal gods of modern Hinduism, whose devotees typically worship him under the name of Rama and Krishna. Thus, important texts for this god's devotees include the Ramayana and the Bhagavad Gita.

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kshatriya

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the second highest of the four varnas, this represents the "warrior" caste.

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avatara

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"descent," "manifestation," or "emanation." Specifically, the descent of a deity to earth in a form other than his or her divine form.

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Mahabharata

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one of the two main epics of India (the other being the Ramayana), which comprises the Bhagavad Gita as one of its "chapters."

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moksha

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"release" or "liberation" - specifically, release from samsara.

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Shaivite (Shaiva, adj.)

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A devotee of Siva.

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Shiva

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The theistic Svetasvatara Upanisad, insofar as it refers to God as "Rudra" (a popular epithet for this God), is later claimed by devotees as a warrant for their claim that this is the highest god. Known as the god of creation and destruction, he is often depicted as wearing the skin of a leopard, as Lord Nataraj dancing in a circle of fire, or as a linga.

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soma

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a probably intoxicating substance referred to in the Rig Veda, and thought by some contemporary scholars to have been a hallucinogenic mushroom. It figures prominently in the ritual sacrifices of the earliest Vedic literature, and, judging from the many hymns describing its effects, seems to have given its takers a sense of security and invulnerability.

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prakriti

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"nature." In Samkhya philosophy, this is one of the two main components of the world.

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shruti

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that which is "heard;" this term particularly has the sense of revelation - that is, the most authoritative branch of the scriptural tradition. Specifically, this term refers to all of the Vedic literature- from the earliest through the Vedanta.

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sudra

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The lowest of the four varnas, and the only one that doesn't count as "twice-born" (which means, among other things, that the privilege of study of the Veda is denied to them). Often characterized as the "servant" class.

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Upanishads

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a group of texts whose composition was first associated with wandering sramanas, who had renounced (were critical of) the orthodox rites of the earlier, Vedic religion. Despite their frequent criticisms and revisions of the earlier tradition, however, there is much continuity between the early Vedas and this text, which is also classified as "revelation."

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Vaishnavite (Vaishnava, adj.)

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A devotee of Visnu.

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Brahmanism

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a term used by many early scholars of Indian religion, used chiefly in order to distinguish Vedic religion (i.e., the religion of the Vedas and the Upanishads) from the later, allegedly more corrupt and degenerate forms of modern "Hinduism." Not to be confused with the first of the four varnas.

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vaishya

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the third of the four varnas, often characterized as the "merchant" class, and still thought of as "twice-born."

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smriti

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"that which is remembered," but particularly in the sense of tradition. This is how scriptures that are not classified as "revelation" are classified. This category basically includes all of the literature of the Hindu tradition except for the Vedic literature (the Rig Veda up through the Upanishads).

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karma

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"action." In the context of Vedic religion, this is basically restricted to ritual action- i.e., to the actions performed in the context of Vedic sacrifice. In the Upanishads, there develops the idea that all actions (and not simply ritual actions) have religiously significant consequences.

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Veda

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one of the central textual genres of the Hindu tradition. Narrowly, it refers to the group of four "books" which have this term in their title. More broadly, however, it is also used to refer to the whole body of literature spawned by these earliest collections.

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Krishna

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one of the principal avataras of Vishnu, and one of the heroes of the Mahabharata.

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bhakti

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"devotion." One of the principal ways of religious expression in Hinduism, particularly in the modern period (i.e., since approximately 1500 A.D.)

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mantra

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Language that is intrinsically powerful, just by virtue of its pronunciation, and independent of what (if anything) it means. The basic idea for this is that language not only refers to or describes reality; it can function to bring about some reality.

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atma (or atman)

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"self." A key word in the Upanishads, many texts in which are chiefly concerned to suggest that the individual self is identical with absolute reality.

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Nastika

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Literally, one who says "it isn't." This sometimes gets translated as "atheist," but it's really not theism that is denied by those whom the tradition labels this way; rather, this is the term typically used of those who deny the validity of the Vedas, making this the complement to the term Vaidika.