Angkor
The capital of the ancient kingdom of Khmer in NW Cambodia, noted for its temples, especially the Angkor Wat (mid 12th century); the site was rediscovered in 1860.
Bhadrākālī
A form of Durgā sprung from Devī's wrath when her husband Śiva had been insulted by Dakṣa.
Bhagavān
(Skt.; Pāli, Bhagavant).Reverential title used of the Buddha in sūtras.variously translated as ‘Lord’, ‘Master’, ‘Blessed One’, etc.
Bhārat Mātā
The name given to the geographical land of India conceived as a goddess. Apparently first appearing in this form in mid-19th century Bengal, by the early 20th century she had become a pan-Indian ...
Brahma
One of the three central Hindu deities, also known in Buddhism where he is respected but relegated to a lesser position of importance.
Brahman
In the Upanishads the ground of all being; that in virtue of which everything else exists; the ultimate reality, which makes possible time, space, and the natural order. As in Parmenides, this is an ...
Cāmuṇḍā
One of the saptamātṛkās, a popular and terrible manifestation of the Goddess (Devī), who, according to the Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa, sprang as Kālī from the forehead of the goddess Ambikā (Durgā) in order ...
Caṇḍī
A name given to the form that the Goddess (Devī/Durgā) takes to destroy Mahiṣāsura the buffalo demon. See also Durgā.
Catal Hüyük
The mound of Catal Hüyük in central Anatolia, about fifty kilometers southeast of Konya, lies on a river entering a wide plain once covered by a lake, reduced now to ...
Comparative mythology
To study comparative mythology is to study myth as a philological, religious, psychological, or philosophical phenomenon, usually by way by way of explicit or implicit comparisons of mythologies or ...
dakṣinācāra
A form of Tantric pūjā in which Devī is worshipped in a ‘pure’ or Vedic way, without material recourse to the ‘five Ms’ (pañca-makāra) associated with ‘left-handed’ (vāmācāra) worship, which are ...
Deity concept
Deities are metaphors for— cultural dreams of—our ultimate progenitors, and psychology has taught us how important our mental depictions and memories of our parents are to any real understanding of ...
deva
Used generically to designate the supernatural and celestial beings, or ‘gods’, praised and invoked in the Ṛg Veda as a component part of the sacrificial ritual. Conventionally 33 in number, like ...
Devī Mahātmya
The earliest and best-known Sanskrit text consistently glorifying Devī as the supreme and autonomous creator, preserver, and destroyer of the universe. Probably composed in the 6th century ce, the ...
Devībhāgavata Purāṇa
Traditionally classified as one of the upapurāṇas (Minor Purāṇas), it celebrates Devī as the highest independent principle in the universe (nirguṇa brahman), and recounts various myths associated ...
Devnārāyaṇ
Devnarayan is the hero of the epic named for him in Rajasthan in the northwest of India. The hero is also in a sense a god. Performed by and for ...
Draupadī
Also called Kṛṣṇā, the heroine of the Mahābhārata, princess of Pāñcāla. Born from a sacrificial altar, she is said to be an incarnation of the Goddess Śrī (Prosperity). Outside the Mahābhārata, ...
Durgā
In Hindu mythology, a fierce goddess, wife of Shiva, often identified with Kali. She is usually depicted riding a tiger or lion and slaying the buffalo demon, and with eight or ten arms.
