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agnicayana
The most complicated and atypical of the śrauta sacrifices; nearly one third of the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa (where it is associated with the ṛṣi Śāṇḍilya) is devoted to its exposition. Agnicayana probably ...
Ahalyā
The wife of the ṛṣi Gautamā. She committed adultery with Indra, the King of the Heavenly region. When Gautamā discovered her infidelity, he cursed her and, in some versions, made ...
Aṅgiras
1 The name of a famous Vedic seer (ṛṣi) and priest. Many of the hymns of the Ṛg Veda are attributed to Aṅgiras, or to the poets of the Aṅgirasa clans named after him. He is renowned as a great ...
Atharvan
1 The reputed author of the Atharva Veda, a famous Vedic seer (ṛṣi) and priest, who, as the son of Brahmā, is said to have been the first to use fire and to offer soma.2 By extension, the name of ...
Atri
The name of a legendary Vedic ṛṣi. A number of Vedic hymns and a law code (the Atrismṛti) are attributed to him. He is said to have been the purohita of the early Āryans, and through his connection ...
Bharadvāja
A legendary Vedic seer (ṛṣi) and priest, who subsequently appears in the Epics and Purāṇas, where he is said to have been the son of Bṛhaspati and the father of Drona.
Bhṛṅgi
A ṛṣi exclusively devoted to Śiva. His neglect of Pārvatī led her to weaken him to the point where he could no longer stand, whereupon Śiva strengthened him with a third leg, equipped with which he ...
Bṛhaspati
(Skt., bṛh, ‘prayer’, + pati, ‘Lord’).1 A Vedic god who embodies, not a natural phenomenon, but reason and moral judgement.2 A Hindu teacher of materialism: see CĀRVĀKA.
Cārvāka
One of the unorthodox schools of Hindu thought, characterized by a generally sceptical and materialistic reaction to the Vedas. Carvaka bears a resemblance both to Greek scepticism and to early ...
Cyavana
The name of a legendary Vedic ṛṣi, said to be a Bhārgava. Married as an old man to the youthful Sukanyā, he is the subject of various Epic and Purāṇic myths, notably one in which he is rejuvenated by ...
Dadhyac
The name of a Vedic ṛṣi, the son of Atharvan, and the subject of a number of myths, including one in which the Aśvins protect him from Indra's wrath by giving him a horse's head.
Dakṣa
In the Ṛg Veda, Dakṣa appears as the male principle of creation or creative energy. This role is modified and personified in Epic and Purāṇic mythology, where Dakṣa is said to be (a) Prajāpati, ...
Dattātreya
A Hindu sage or god-figure. In the Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa, Dattātreya appears as an antinomian sage. In other purāṇas he is listed among the avatāras of Viṣṇu. Iconography depicts him with three heads, ...
debt
Debt of honour a debt that is not legally recoverable, especially a sum lost in gambling.See also death pays all debts, national debt, out of debt, out of danger.
Dhruva
The pole star, which, according to Vaiṣṇava mythology, was raised there by Viṣṇu as a reward for the ṛṣi Dhruva's great austerities.
Dīrghatamas
(Skt., ‘long darkness’).A Ṛg Vedic ṛṣi. Dīrghatamas or Dirghatapas (‘long austerity’) is traditionally known as the author of Ṛg Veda 1. 140 and 1. 164, one of the most philosophical and obscure ...
Droṇa
A protagonist in several key episodes in the first half of the Mahābhārata. A great brahmin warrior (the son of the ṛṣi Bharadvāja), Droṇa is the teacher of both the Kauravas and the Pāṇḍavas, ...
Durvāsas
A legendary brahmin ṛṣi, the son of Atri and Anasūyā, notorious in Purāṇic and Epic myth for his short temper. The best known episodes involving him include his cursing of Indra, which leads ...
