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Annamācārya
(1408–1503)A South Indian poet-saint of the Śrī Vaiṣṇava tradition. He is said to have composed more than 32 000 songs in Telugu in praise of Veṅkaṭeśvara—Viṣṇu as ‘Lord of Veṅkaṭa Hill’ (Tirupati). ...
Baladeva
1 See Balarāma.2 (18th century ce) The founder of a Vedānta sampradāya. His Govindabhāṣya belongs to the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava tradition; it characterizes the relationship between the devotee and Kṛṣṇa as ...
Brahma Kumari
A Hindu-oriented movement composed in the main of unmarried women and founded in Hyderabad in 1937 by the one-time Sind diamond merchant, Dadi LeKray. Women are clearly the spiritual and ...
dīkṣa
A consecration undergone by an individual that both marks and facilitates the passage from one state of being, or stage of life, to another. Underlying this is the understanding that the ‘one who has ...
Dvaita Vedānta
One of the four major Vaiṣṇava sampradāyas, a theistic school of Vedānta founded by Madhva. It is dualistic in so far as it maintains, in contrast to Śaṅkara's Advaita Vedānta and Rāmānuja's ...
Dvaitādvaita
One of the four major Vaiṣṇava sampradāyas, a theistic school of Vedānta, founded by Nimbārka in the 11th or 12th century ce. Its teaching is also sometimes characterized as propounding bhedābheda ...
Gorakṣa Gorakhnāth
A Hindu yogin of c.10/11 cent. ce, of the Nātha tantra cult, which claimed magical and occult powers through the practice of yoga. He is said by some to have ...
guru
A Hindu spiritual teacher. Also, each of the ten first leaders of the Sikh religion. The word comes from Sanskrit meaning ‘weighty, grave’, hence ‘elder, teacher’.
Hitaharivaṃśa
(1502–1553)A North Indian Vaiṣṇaiva bhakti poet who was the founder of the Rādhavallabhī sampradāya. Born into a brahmin family near Mathurā, he moved in his thirties to Vṛndāvana where, in 1535, he ...
Jayadeva Pakṣadhara
(15th century ce)The founder of a Navya Nyāya sampradāya in the tradition of Gaṅgeśa.
Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja
(b. 1531?)A North Indian Vaiṣṇaiva bhakti poet who succeeded his father, Hitaharivaṃśa, as head of the Rādhavallabhī sampradāya after the latter's death. His main work is Karṇānanda (‘Delight of the ...
Madhva
(1197/9?–1276, alt. 1238–1317)The founder of the Vaiṣṇava, Dvaita Vedānta sampradāya. Hagiographies claim that he was born in Udipi (Udupi) in Karnataka, but later travelled around India, teaching ...
mantra
1 A synonym for the Vedic Saṃhitā texts (ṛc, yajus, and sāman), recited as an essential component of Brahmanical ritual (yajña); this portion of the Veda is distinguished from the prose explanations, ...
Matsyendranāth(a)
c.9th–13th centuries ce)The legendary second Nāth (second only to Śiva), said to be the founder of the Yoginī Kaula sect. Although an elusive figure historically (according to a text attributed to ...
Meykaṇṭār
12th–13th century ce)The first systematic Śaiva Siddhānta theologian; author of the influential Civañāṉapōtam (Śivajñānabodham) (‘Treatise on Śiva Knowledge’) (c.1223 ce), a twelve-verse sūtra text ...
Nāth Siddhas
Followers of a North Indian Śaiva Siddha tradition made up of groups of largely itinerant Tantric practitioners, including the Kānphaṭa yogīs and the Gorakhnāthīs. They are popularly referred to as ...
Nāthdvāra
A town in southern Rajasthan which is the major tīrtha and ritual centre for the Vaiṣṇava Vallabha Puṣṭimārga sampradāya. The focus of attention is the image of Kṛṣṇa as Śrī Nāthjī (in the havelī of ...
Nimbārka
(11th/12th cent. ce).Indian philosopher of the near-dvaita (Bhedābheda) Vedānta tradition, and founder of the Vaiṣṇava sect devoted to Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa; followers are known as Nimbārkas. Nimbārka's own ...
Nimbārkī
A member of the Nimbārka or Sanakādi sampradāya, a Vaiṣṇava bhakti tradition claiming the Dvaitādvaitin, Nimbārka as its founder. The early history of the sampradāya is not clear, but it appears to ...
