Abhanga

Devotional metrical poetry in Marathi

Acharya

Teacher.

Advaita

Hindu philosophy of Monism or Non-dualism

Advaitavadins

Believers in Advaita

Agiari

Zoroastrian fire-temple

Ahimsa

Non-violence; in its positive aspect - love for all living things

Allah

Muslim name of God

Aman

Freedom from desire of respect

Amanitvam

Humility

Aparigraha

Non-possession

Arati

Blessing with lights

Ardhangana

Woman; the better half

Ashram

Abode of spiritual teacher; place for disciplined community living; stage of life

Asoka

Indian monarch of 3rd century B.C. famed for his renunciation of empire and conquest and for his rock-edicts embodying Buddhist dharma

Asthis

Burned bones collected from a funeral fire

Asuri Sampat

Mind's propensities leading to evil & darkness

Atman

Soul

Atishudra

One lower than the shudra, the fourth caste at the bottom of Hindu social herarchy; ‘untouchable’

Avatar

Literally’ a ‘descent’: incarnation of a deity, especially of Vishnu in the Hindu Trinity

Bansi

Bamboo flute as of the divine cowherd, Sri Krishna

Bapu, Bapuji

Father, term of affection used for Gandhi

Bardoli

Gujarat village, connected with the Civil Disobedience Movement

Bhagwadgita

(see ‘The Gita’)

Bhakta

A devotee

Bhakti

Devotion

Brahma

The Supreme

Bhangi

Scavenger, sweeper

Bharat Mata

Mother India

Bibhishan

Brother of Ravana, in the Ramayana, known for his wise counsel

Bhogabhumi

Land of enjoyment

Boodan Yajna

Land gift`

Brahma

Hindu name of God the Creator, one of the Trinity

Brahmachari

A celibate; one who observes Brahmacharya

Brahmacharya

Celibacy; code of conduct involving strict observance of chastity or continence in the pursuit of learning, philosophy and God Member of the first of the four castes, whose first duty is the study and teaching of the Vedas and the performance of sacrifices and other religious rituals

Buddha

The Founder of Buddhism, b. about 563, d. about483 B.C.; also known as Gautama, Siddhartha, Sakyamuni, etc

Chaddar

Shawl

Chaintanya

Bengali religious reformer of the 15th century A.D., WHO IS WORSHIPPED BY HIS FOLLOWERS as an incarnation of Sri Krishna

Chakki

Grinding wheel or mill

Chapati

Thin flat cakes made of flour; unleavened bread

Charkha

Spinning wheel

Charvaka

Materialist school of thought known by the name of its preacher

Chitta

Enlivened mind

Dal

Dal

Daivi Sampad

Divine-higher propensities of mind leading to man's upliftment

Dandi March

March undertaken by Gandhiji from March 12 to April 5, 1930, from his Sabarmati Ashram to the coastal village of Dandi , about 100 miles distant, with a view to breaking the Salt Law by picking up natural salt from the sea-shore. His arrest at Dandi was followed by a country-wide movement of Civil Disobedience famous as the Salt Satyagraha

Damayanti

Damayanti

Daridranarayana

God in the form of the poor and the destitute

Darshan

The vision of the sanctity

Dasharatha

King of Ayodhya, father of Rama, in the Ramayana

Daya

Compassion

Devanagri

The alphabet usually employed in writing Sanskrit, as well as various vernacular languages of central, western, and northern India

Dayanand

Swami Dayanand Saraswati (1824-83), founder of the Arya Samaj

Dharma

Religion; law of one’s being; righteousness; Hindu code of religion and morals or religious and moral duty

Dharmaja

One born from a sense of duty

Dharmayuddha

War fought for a righteous end by righteous means and methods

Dheds

A community in Gujarat traditionally treated as ‘untouchable’

Dhoti

The long cloth worn by Indians from the waist

Dhurna

‘Sit-down’ strike; an early and crude form of Satyagraha

Dnyandev

Boy poet-saint of Maharashtra of the 13th century A.D., AUTHOR OF DYANESWARI, A Marathi commentary on the Gita; also spelt as Dnyaneshwar or JNANESHWAR

Draupadi

Consort of the Pandava PRINCES, IN THE Mahabharata

Dublas

A backward shudra community of Gujarat

Duryodhana

Head of the Kaurava Princes, in the Mahabharata

Dwadasha Mantra

The sacred verse of 12 syllables dedicated to Lord Krishna

Dyer

British General who fired on an unarmed assembly in Jallianwala Bagh, Amritsar on April 13, 1919, killing over 400 people

Forecaster

Founder of religious system known as Zoroastrianism. He is also known as Zoroastrianism. He is also known as       Zarathustra or Zerdusht. The Parsis of India, who are emigrants from Persia, are followers of this prophet.

Ganga

The Sacred river Ganges of Northern India

Ganja

Narcotic from the flower of Indian hemp

Gayatri

Consecrated Vedic mantra of immense potency 

Ghani

Village oil mill

Gita

The ‘Song Celestial’; a Hindu scriptural work in Sanskrit verse, composed some centuries before the Christian era, in which Sri Krishna sums up the essence of Hindu religion and philosophy

Ghee

Clarified bitter

Gokhale

Gopal Krishna Gokhale (1866-1915), Indian politician, member of the Servants of  India Society,whom Gandhiji acknowledged as his political guru

Goonda

A rowdy or hooligan

Goondaism

Rowdyism

Gopal

Cowherd; a name of Sri Krishna

Gur

Jaggery, indigenous form of sugar molasses

Guru

Teacher; preceptor

Gurudev

A reverential term for guru, guru hailed as god

Goseva

Service of the cattle; cow-protection

Gram Panchayat

Village tribune or 'council of five'

Gramseva

Village service

Gram sevak

Person employed in village service

Granth Saheb

The sacred book of the Sikhs

Hakim

Practitioner of indigenous form of medicine

Hanuman

The ‘Monkey-God’ who serves Rama in the Ramayana

Harijans

Literally, children of god

Hartal

Strike, suspension of normal business

Hooghli

Westernmost branch of the River Ganges in the banks of which Calcutta is situated

Ishopanishad

One of the major Upanishads

Jainism

Ancient Indian religion, one of the cardinal principles of which is non-violence

Jains

Followers of Jainism

Janak

Philosopher-king of Videha, foster-father of Sita, in the Ramayana

Jay Rama

Glory to Rama

Kabir

Poet-saint of northern India, who lived in the 15th century A.D. and who in his devotional songs, dwelt on the  essential  oneness of the  Godhead and the harmony between Hinduism and Islam

Kamaja

One born of lust

Karmabhumi

Land of duty

Karmayogi

One who has devoted his life to action in the selfless service of others

Khaddar, khadi

Hand-spun and hand-woven cloth

Khilafat

The Caliph is the spiritual leader of  Muslims. The khilafat refers to his office

Kisan

Peasant

Koran

Muslim scripture

Krishna

Divine hero and central figure of the epic, Mahabharata, who is worshipped by the Hindus as the 8th incarnation of God.

Kshatriya

Member of the second (warrior) caste among Hindus

Kukri

Curved knife or sword

Lathis

Wooden pole, usually iron-tipped

Lila, leela

Divine play or sport; the creation is often explained by the Vaishnavas as the leela of God, a conception that introduces elements of spontaneity and freedom into the universe

Lok Sevak Sangh

Society or association for the service of the people

Mahabharata

The Hindu epic having for its theme the story of the great war between the Pandavas and the Kauravas, princes of the Lunar race who were cousins, rival claimants to the throne of Hastinapur, (ancient Delhi)

Mahatma

Great soul, title given to Gandhiji

Mahavir

24th Tirthankar or Prophet of Jainism (b. about 540, d. about 468 B.C.) who is popularly regarded as its greatest promulgator, originally named Vridhamana

Mahayajna

The great sacrifice or ritual of propitiation

Mantra, Mantram

Sacred or magical incantation

Manushya

Man

Maulana

Title of respect given to learned Muslims

Maulvi

Religious teacher

Maya

Illusion; in Hindu philosophy Maya is the divine power which has created the cosmos

Meerabai

Rajput princess of the 16th century A.D., who was a great devotee of Sri Krishna and who composed and sang innumerable songs in the praise of Him which have since become popular all over India

Moksha

Liberation from earthly bondage

Muni

Sage; ancient seer

Nai Talim

Literally, ‘new education’, name given to basic or craft education

Namaskar

The Indian salute with folded hands

Namaz

Founder of Sikhism (b. 1469—d. 1538 or 1539 A.D.)

Nirvana

Salvation, Buddhist equivalent of ‘moksha’

Pancha, Panchayat

The five; the communal tribune or ‘council of five’

Panchayat Raj

Rule of the Panchayat

Pandavas

The five brothers, princes of the Lunar Race, who were the victors in the Mahabharata  war

Pandit

Scholars

Pinjrapoles

Institutions for looking after old and disabled cattle

Poorna Swaraj

Full-self-government or complete independence

Prahlad

Son of Hiranyakashipu, a mythological demon-king; Prahlad’s worship of Vishnu led to persecution by his father who was ultimately slain by Narasimha, the ‘Man-Lion’ avatar of Vishnu

Pritam

Pritamdas, Gujarati poet of the 16thcentury A.D., who composed numerous devotional songs

Raj

Kingdom, rule, regime

Rajachandra

Raychandbhai  Jain saint and philosopher, contemporary of Gandhiji, whom the latter acknowledged as his spiritual guru. He died in 1900.

Ram, Rama

Hero of the epic, Ramayana, who is regarded as an ideal man and king, and worshipped as the 7th incarnation of God

Ramakrishna

Bengali saint (1836-86 A.D.) who was the guru of Swami Vivekananda and who taught the oneness of the Godhead and the basic harmony of all religions. The Ramakrishna Mission is named after him

Ramanama

Literally, kingdom of Rama; and ideal system of government

Ramayana

The Hindu epic narrating the story of the abduction of Sita, wife of Rama; prince of Ayodhya, by Ravana, demon-king of Lanka (Ceylon), and her rescue after the conquest of Lanka by the armies led by Rama  and the death of Ravana at the hands of Rama

Ramdhun

A song made up of repetitions of God's name

Ramji Mandir

Rama’s temple

Ravana

The demon-king of Lanka, whose abduction of Sita, led to his destruction at Rama’s hands, in the Ramayana

Sadavrat

Charity

Sadhu

Ecstasy, and by extension the place where a great

Sahadharmini

Wife

Samadhi

Ascetic

Samagra Gramseva

All-round village service

Samskaras

Innate tendencies inherited from past life; religious customs

Sanatanist

Faithful follower of ancient Vedic religion

Sannyas

Abandonment of all worldly ties with view to fixing the mind on the Supreme Being

Sannyasi

One who has taken to sannyas

Sarvodaya

Welfare of all

Satvika

Tending of truth

Satya

Truth

Satyagraha

Nonviolence Civil Disobedience or Recourse to truth-force or soul-force or passive resistance 

Satyagrahi

One who practices Satyagraha

Savitri

Wife of Satyavan who, according to legend, reclaimed his life from the God of Death

Shankara

Hindu philosopher of the 8th century A.D., who was one of the foremost exponents of Non-dualism of the Vedanta school of philosophy

Shastras

The Hindu Scriptures

Shloka

Metrical verse or composition

Shudra

Member of the fourth or menial caste among Hindus

Sita

Wife of Rama

Smritis

The Codes, bases on recollection of the Shastras

Sthitaprajna

Literally, ‘one of steadfast mind’; a soul unaffected by extremes of joy and sorrow

Sudama

The indigent boyhood friend and associate of Sri Krishna, whom the latter honours, in the Bhagavata

Surdas

Blind Hindi poet of northern India who lived in the 16th century A.D.; his poetical work, Sursagar, narrating the story of Krishna, is immensely popular with Hindi-speaking Hindus

Swadeshi

Belonging to or made in one’s country

Swaraj

Self-rule

Swargarohan Parva

The name of the last of the eighteen sections of the epic Mahabharata which describes how, when Yudhisthira, the eldest of the five Pandava brothers , retired to the Himalayas, towards the close of his life, and lost his wife and four brothers one after another , Indra appeared in his chariot to take him in the flesh to his (INDRA’S) Swarga, i.e., his heaven where mortals after death enjoy the results of their good deeds on earth.

Tadgud

Jaggery prepared from the juice of palmyra fruit

Tapascharya

Penance

Tilaks

Caste-marks on the forehead

Tonga

Two-wheeled horse-driven cart

Tukaram

Poet-saint of Maharashtra who lived in the 17th century A.D. and who composed thousands of devotional songs

Tulsidas

Hindi poet of Maharashtra who lived in the 17th century A.D. AND who composed,  among other works, Ramacharitamanasa, (lit. The Holy Pool of the Life of Rama), retelling the epic story of the highest veneration by all Hindi-speaking Hindus

Upanishadh

Ancient Hindu philosophical treaties, appended to the Vedas and regarded as equally authoritative as the Vedas

Urdu

Language based on Persian and Sanskritic dialects of North India

Vaidyas

Practitioners of Ayurveda system or indigenous medicine

Vaishnava

A votary of the cult of Vishnu

Vaishyas

Members of the third (cultivator and mercantile) class among Hindus

Vakil

Lawyer

Valmiki

First of Sanskrit poets and author of the Hindu epic, Ramayana

Varna

Color; one of the four divisions of the Hindu society (i.e., Brahman, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra) based on hereditary occupations

Varnashram

Four-fold divisions of Hindu society

Vedanta

A system of philosophy springing from the Upanishads

Vedas

Most ancient Hindu scriptures, composed of hymns to various deities. There are four collections of theses hymns, known as Rigveda, Samaveda, Yajurveda and Atharveda

Vidyapith

Vidyapith

Vidura

The low-born but ‘wise one ‘ in the  Mahabharata honoured by Sri Krishna

Yajna

Ritual or religious sacrifice

Yoga

Hindu system  of contemplation for effecting union of the human soul with the Supreme Being

Yogi

One who practises yoga

Yudhishthira

Eldest of the Pandava Princes, celebrated for his right conduct

Zamindar

Landholder

Zend Avesta

Zoroastrian scriptures