129 terms
A
- Acharyaआचार्यAn acharya is a preceptor, a teacher of formal disciplines who instructs by conduct as much as by instruction.
- Adharmaअधर्मAdharma is the negation of dharma: conduct that violates order, duty and right relation, whether by open wrongdoing or by silent complicity.
- Agni Parikshaअग्निपरीक्षाAn agni pariksha is a trial by fire, an ordeal in which fire is asked to confirm a person's purity or truthfulness by refusing to harm them.
- Agnihotraअग्निहोत्रThe agnihotra is the daily fire offering that a householder maintains morning and evening, the smallest and most constant of the Vedic rites.
- AhimsaअहिंसाAhimsa is non-injury, which the Mahabharata calls the highest dharma while telling the story of the most destructive war it can imagine.
- Akshauhiniअक्षौहिणीAn akshauhini is the epic's standard army unit, specified as 21,870 chariots, 21,870 elephants, 65,610 horse and 109,350 foot, in the ratio of one chariot to one elephant to three horse to five foot.
- Akshaya Patraअक्षयपात्रThe Akshaya Patra is the inexhaustible vessel given to Yudhishthira by Surya so that the exiled Pandavas can feed the brahmins who follow them into the forest.
- AmritaअमृतAmrita is the nectar of immortality, raised from the ocean when gods and asuras churned it using Mount Mandara as a stick and the serpent Vasuki as a rope.
- Apad Dharmaआपद्धर्मApad dharma is the dharma of emergencies, the conduct permitted when normal rules would mean destruction: a brahmin may take up arms, a king may deceive, a starving man may eat what is forbidden.
- Apsaraअप्सरस्Apsaras are celestial dancers of Indra's court, sent down to break the austerities of sages whose accumulated power is starting to alarm the gods.
- Arthaअर्थArtha is prosperity, power and the material means of life, the second of the four legitimate human aims.
- Ashramaआश्रमThe four ashramas are the stages of a life lived in order: brahmacharya as a celibate student, grihastha as a householder, vanaprastha as a forest dweller, and sannyasa as a wandering renunciant.
- Ashvamedhaअश्वमेधThe Ashvamedha is the horse sacrifice, in which a consecrated stallion is released to wander for a year while an army follows it, fighting any king who dares to stop it, before it is brought back and...
- Astraअस्त्रAn astra is a celestial weapon, an ordinary missile charged by mantra with the power of a presiding deity, as distinct from a shastra which is a weapon wielded by hand.
- AsuraअसुरThe asuras are the older siblings and rivals of the gods, often translated as demons though they are neither uniformly wicked nor weak.
- AtirathiअतिरथीAn atirathi is a warrior rated above the maharathi, capable of engaging twelve maharathis or an unlimited number of ordinary soldiers at once.
- Atmanआत्मन्Atman is the self, understood not as personality or body but as the unchanging awareness that underlies both.
- AvataraअवतारAn avatara is a descent, the taking of embodied form by a god in order to restore an order that has slipped.
B
- Bhaktiभक्तिBhakti is devotion, a relationship of love and surrender to the divine that the Mahabharata treats as available to everyone, including those excluded from ritual and learning.
- Bhakti Yogaभक्तियोगBhakti yoga is the path of loving devotion, in which the self is offered to a personal god rather than dissolved into an impersonal absolute.
- Brahmacharyaब्रह्मचर्यBrahmacharya is the first stage of life, spent as a celibate student in a teacher's house, and by extension the discipline of celibacy itself.
- Brahmanब्रह्मन्Brahman is the absolute, the single reality from which everything arises and into which everything returns, without form, limit or second.
- Brahmanaब्राह्मणA brahmana is a member of the priestly and scholarly class, whose work is study, teaching and sacrifice and whose person is meant to be inviolable.
- Brahmastraब्रह्मास्त्रThe Brahmastra is the weapon of Brahma, the most destructive of the celestial missiles, capable of annihilating an army and blighting the land it falls on for years.
C
- Chakravartinचक्रवर्तिन्A chakravartin is a universal sovereign, a king whose chariot wheel rolls unopposed to the horizons and to whom other kings pay tribute.
- Chakravyuhaचक्रव्यूहThe chakravyuha is a wheel or spiral formation of concentric rotating rings, considered almost impossible to break and harder still to leave.
D
- DaivaदैवDaiva is fate or destiny, the portion of what happens that no effort can alter, and the Mahabharata sets it in permanent argument with purushakara, human effort.
- DanaदानDana is giving, treated by the Mahabharata as the most reliably meritorious act available to anyone and analysed at length in the Anushasana Parva by proportion, recipient, time and spirit.
- DevaदेवThe devas are the gods, powerful but not omnipotent beings who hold offices rather than absolute rank, so that Indra is a title as much as a name.
- Devavrataदेवव्रतDevavrata, meaning one whose vow is divine, is Bhishma's birth name, given to the son of Shantanu and the river goddess Ganga.
- Dhananjayaधनञ्जयDhananjaya means winner of wealth, a name Arjuna earned by the campaign of conquest that brought tribute from every direction for Yudhishthira's Rajasuya.
- Dhanurvedaधनुर्वेदDhanurveda is the science of archery and, more broadly, the whole discipline of arms, taught as a formal body of knowledge with mantras, postures and grades of mastery.
- Dharmaधर्मDharma is the central and most contested word in the Mahabharata, meaning at once cosmic order, moral law, social duty and the particular obligation that falls on one person in one situation.
- Dharma Yuddhaधर्मयुद्धDharma yuddha is righteous war fought under agreed rules: combat ceases at sunset, equals fight equals, no one strikes the unarmed, the fleeing or a charioteer, and no blow lands below the waist in a...
- Dvapara Yugaद्वापरयुगThe Dvapara Yuga is the third age, with dharma standing on two legs, and it is the age in which the Mahabharata itself takes place.
G
- GadaगदाThe gada is the mace, a heavy club that is the weapon of enormously strong fighters and the specialism of Bhima, Duryodhana, Balarama and Jarasandha.
- Gandharvaगन्धर्वGandharvas are celestial musicians, skilled in illusion and in arms, who move between the worlds and often instruct or humble mortals who wander too confidently.
- Gandivaगाण्डीवThe Gandiva is Arjuna's bow, made by Brahma, held in turn by gods and kings, and given to Arjuna by Varuna through Agni at the burning of the Khandava forest along with two inexhaustible quivers.
- Govindaगोविन्दGovinda means finder or protector of cows, a name Krishna earns among the cowherds of Vrindavan and keeps for the rest of his life.
- Grihasthaगृहस्थThe grihastha is the householder, the second stage of life, in which a person marries, raises children, earns, gives and maintains the household fire.
- GudakeshaगुडाकेशGudakesha means conqueror of sleep, a name for Arjuna that records his ability to practise archery in the dark and to stay awake through what would exhaust anyone else.
- GunasगुणThe three gunas are the strands out of which all of nature is woven: sattva, which is clarity and balance; rajas, which is drive and restlessness; and tamas, which is inertia and darkness.
- GuruगुरुA guru is a teacher, and in the Mahabharata the relationship is treated as heavier than kinship, which is precisely why the epic keeps breaking it.
- Guru Dakshinaगुरुदक्षिणाGuru dakshina is the fee a student offers the teacher at the end of training, traditionally whatever the teacher asks rather than a fixed sum.
I
J
- Janardanaजनार्दनJanardana is a name of Krishna usually read as one who stirs or agitates people, and sometimes as the refuge whom people petition.
- Jnana Yogaज्ञानयोगJnana yoga is the path of knowledge, in which liberation comes from discriminating the eternal self from everything that merely appears to be the self.
K
- Kali YugaकलियुगThe Kali Yuga is the fourth and darkest age, when dharma stands on a single leg and people are short-lived, quarrelsome and ruled by appetite.
- Kalpaकल्पA kalpa is a day of Brahma, a span of a thousand cycles of the four yugas, at the end of which the worlds dissolve and are made again.
- KamaकामKama covers desire in its full range, from sexual love to appetite and ambition, and is the third of the four aims of life.
- Karmaकर्मKarma means action, and by extension the moral residue an action leaves behind, which ripens into consequence in this life or a later one.
- Karma Yogaकर्मयोगKarma yoga is the path of liberation through action rather than away from it, offered in the Bhagavad Gita to a warrior who would rather walk off the field.
- Kaunteyaकौन्तेयKaunteya means son of Kunti, and covers Yudhishthira, Bhima and Arjuna, the three Pandavas she bore, as against the twins born to Madri.
- KauravaकौरवKaurava strictly means a descendant of Kuru and therefore covers Pandavas and Dhritarashtra's sons alike, but usage in the epic narrows it to Duryodhana's hundred brothers and their party.
- Kavacha and Kundalaकवच कुण्डलThe kavacha and kundala are the golden armour and earrings that Karna is born with, fused to his body as a gift of his father Surya and making him invulnerable while he wears them.
- KeshavaकेशवKeshava is a name of Krishna, read either as the one with beautiful hair or as the slayer of the horse demon Keshi.
- Kshatriyaक्षत्रियA kshatriya is a member of the ruling and warrior class, whose dharma is to protect, to govern and to fight without turning away.
- Kshetrajaक्षेत्रजA kshetraja is a son born of the field, meaning a child fathered by someone other than the husband but legally belonging to the husband's line.
M
- MadhusudanaमधुसूदनMadhusudana means slayer of Madhu, a demon born with his brother Kaitabha from the sleep of Vishnu at the beginning of a cosmic cycle.
- MaharathiमहारथीA maharathi is a great chariot warrior, rated in the epic's own accounting as able to fight ten thousand archers at once while commanding weapons, formations and troops.
- Mantraमन्त्रA mantra is a formula of sound whose correct utterance produces an effect, whether in a sacrifice, in the summoning of a deity or in the launching of a celestial weapon.
- MayaमायाMaya is the power by which what is one appears as many, and by which the world presents itself as solid, separate and permanent when it is none of those things.
- Mokshaमोक्षMoksha is liberation, the release of the self from the cycle of birth, death and rebirth, and the fourth and highest of the four aims of human life.
N
- NagaनागThe nagas are serpent beings who live in a jewelled world beneath the earth and waters, capable of human form, marriage and enmity with human kings.
- Narayanastraनारायणास्त्रThe Narayanastra is Vishnu's weapon, which multiplies into millions of missiles and grows stronger the harder it is resisted.
- Nishkama Karmaनिष्काम कर्मNishkama karma is action performed without craving for its fruit, the central practical teaching of the Bhagavad Gita.
- NiyogaनियोगNiyoga is the practice by which a widow or the wife of an impotent man bears children by an appointed proxy, usually a brother-in-law or a brahmin, so that a lineage does not fail.
P
- Panchaliपाञ्चालीPanchali means the woman of Panchala, and is one of Draupadi's common names alongside Krishnaa for her dark colouring and Yajnaseni for her birth from the sacrificial fire.
- PapaपापPapa is demerit or sin, the residue left by harmful and false action, which must be worked off through suffering, expiation or rebirth.
- Parthaपार्थPartha means son of Pritha, Pritha being Kunti's given name, and although it can apply to any of her three sons it belongs in practice to Arjuna.
- Parvaपर्वA parva is a book or major division of the Mahabharata, of which there are eighteen, from the Adi Parva of beginnings to the Svargarohana Parva of the ascent to heaven.
- Pashupatastraपाशुपतास्त्रThe Pashupata is Shiva's own weapon, discharged by mind, eye, word or bow, and said to be able to destroy creation itself.
- Pativrataपतिव्रताA pativrata is a wife wholly devoted to her husband, and in the Mahabharata such devotion is treated as a source of literal power rather than only of praise.
- PitamahaपितामहPitamaha means grandfather, and in the Mahabharata it belongs above all to Bhishma, who is grandfather to neither side by blood but stands as the elder of the whole house.
- PitriपितृThe pitris are the ancestors, who depend on their descendants for the offerings that sustain them and who therefore have a direct interest in the continuation of a line.
- Pralayaप्रलयPralaya is the dissolution of the world at the end of a cosmic cycle, when the oceans rise, the sun burns everything dry and creation is drawn back into its source to rest.
- Prayashchittaप्रायश्चित्तPrayashchitta is expiation, the prescribed penance by which the stain of a wrong action is worked off.
- Prayopaveshaप्रायोपवेशPrayopavesha is the practice of sitting down to fast until death, undertaken either as a religious end to life or as an ultimate form of protest and pressure.
- Punyaपुण्यPunya is merit, the positive store built by giving, truthfulness, pilgrimage and right conduct, which ripens into good fortune here or a better birth hereafter.
- Purusharthaपुरुषार्थThe purusharthas are the four legitimate aims of a human life: dharma, artha, kama and moksha, in that order of authority.
R
- RadheyaराधेयRadheya means son of Radha, the charioteer's wife who raised the infant Karna after he was found floating in a basket on the river.
- Raja Dharmaराजधर्मRaja dharma is the dharma of kings, covering protection of subjects, the use of punishment, taxation, alliance and war.
- RajasuyaराजसूयThe Rajasuya is the royal consecration sacrifice by which a king claims paramountcy over other kings, who must be defeated or persuaded to attend and bring tribute.
- Rakshasaराक्षसRakshasas are night-roaming beings of great strength and shifting shape, strongest after dark, and traditionally hostile to sacrifice and settlement.
- RathiरथीA rathi is a chariot warrior of the basic grade, reckoned able to fight five thousand soldiers at once; below him is the ardharathi or half warrior, and above him the maharathi and atirathi.
- RishiऋषिA rishi is a seer, one who has heard or seen sacred truth directly rather than learned it, and whose accumulated austerity gives real power over events.
S
- Samsaptakaसंशप्तकThe samsaptakas are warriors sworn together to conquer or die, a suicide corps who take an oath before the fire that they will not return alive from the field.
- SamsaraसंसारSamsara is the wheel of repeated birth, death and rebirth in which every embodied being turns, driven by karma and sustained by ignorance of the self.
- SanjivaniसंजीवनीThe Sanjivani is the science of reviving the dead, held exclusively by Shukracharya, teacher of the asuras, which is why their armies could fight forever while the gods' dead stayed dead.
- Sankhyaसांख्यSankhya is the analytical system that divides reality into conscious spirit and unconscious nature, and explains bondage as the mistake of identifying one with the other.
- Sannyasaसंन्यासSannyasa is complete renunciation, the fourth stage of life, in which a person abandons home, fire, possessions and social role to wander in search of liberation.
- SarathiसारथिA sarathi is a charioteer, responsible for reading the field, positioning the warrior and keeping him alive, and in the Mahabharata the role carries far more weight than its low social standing...
- Sarpa Satraसर्पसत्रThe sarpa satra is the snake sacrifice performed by King Janamejaya to avenge his father Parikshit, who was killed by the naga Takshaka.
- SatiसतीSati refers both to a virtuous wife and to the practice in which a widow dies on her husband's pyre.
- Satyaसत्यSatya is truth, both as accurate speech and as fidelity between word and reality, and it is the virtue the Mahabharata guards most jealously and complicates most often.
- Satya Yugaसत्ययुगThe Satya Yuga, also called the Krita Yuga, is the first and longest of the four ages, when dharma stands on all four legs and truth needs no enforcement.
- Satyakriyaसत्यक्रियाA satyakriya, or act of truth, is a solemn declaration of something one has never violated, uttered in order to compel reality to respond.
- Shankhaशङ्खA shankha is a conch, blown to open a battle, to announce a great warrior and to consecrate a rite, and every major figure at Kurukshetra owns a named one.
- ShapaशापA shapa is a curse, speech charged with accumulated austerity that binds its target until an appointed release.
- Shlokaश्लोकA shloka is the standard verse of the Sanskrit epics, a couplet of thirty two syllables in which almost the whole Mahabharata is composed.
- Shraddhaश्राद्धShraddha is the rite performed for the dead, offering water and food so that the departed are sustained among the ancestors.
- Shudraशूद्रA shudra is a member of the class assigned to service, excluded in the orthodox scheme from Vedic study and sacrifice.
- Sthitaprajnaस्थितप्रज्ञA sthitaprajna is one of steady wisdom, the ideal person described in the second chapter of the Bhagavad Gita when Arjuna asks how such a person walks, speaks and sits.
- Stri Dharmaस्त्रीधर्मStri dharma is the body of duties assigned to women, covering marriage, household, ritual participation and conduct in widowhood.
- Sudarshana Chakraसुदर्शन चक्रThe Sudarshana Chakra is Krishna's spinning discus, given to him by Agni at Khandava, which returns to his hand after every throw and is never used lightly.
- SutaसूतA suta is a charioteer and bard, a mixed-birth class whose members drove warriors into battle and preserved the genealogies and stories of kings.
- Svayamvaraस्वयंवरA svayamvara is a self-choice marriage, in which a princess selects her husband from assembled suitors, often after a test of skill set by her father.
- Syamantakaस्यमन्तकThe Syamantaka is a jewel given by the sun that produces gold daily for a virtuous owner and destroys an unworthy one.
T
- Tapasतपस्Tapas is heat generated by austerity, the accumulated power of fasting, standing in the sun, holding a posture or keeping a vow for years.
- Tirtha Yatraतीर्थयात्राA tirtha is a ford, a crossing place where a river can be forded and, by extension, where the distance between worlds is thin; a tirtha yatra is a pilgrimage among them.
- Treta Yugaत्रेतायुगThe Treta Yuga is the second age, in which dharma stands on three legs and sacrifice becomes the central means of maintaining order.
V
- Vairagyaवैराग्यVairagya is dispassion, the fading of appetite for objects that experience has shown to be unable to satisfy.
- Vaishnavastraवैष्णवास्त्रThe Vaishnavastra is an infallible weapon of Vishnu that cannot miss and cannot be countered, given by the god to a select few.
- Vaishyaवैश्यA vaishya is a member of the productive class of farmers, herders and traders, on whose work the other classes depend.
- Vanaprasthaवानप्रस्थVanaprastha is the third stage of life, in which a householder hands over the household and withdraws to the forest to live simply and turn toward release.
- VaraवरA vara is a boon, granted by a god or a gratified sage and generally as binding on the giver as a curse is on the receiver.
- Varnaवर्णVarna is the fourfold division of society into brahmana, kshatriya, vaishya and shudra, presented in the Bhagavad Gita as arising from qualities and actions rather than from birth alone.
- Vasavi Shaktiवासवी शक्तिThe Vasavi Shakti is the infallible spear Indra gives Karna in exchange for the golden armour and earrings he was born wearing, on the condition that it can be used once and then returns to its giver.
- VasudevaवासुदेवVasudeva means son of Vasudeva, and is the most common patronymic for Krishna, distinguished from his father's name only by a lengthened first vowel.
- VedaवेदThe Vedas are the oldest layer of Sanskrit sacred literature, four collections of hymn, chant and formula whose authority the Mahabharata assumes throughout.
- Vrataव्रतA vrata is a vow, a self-imposed and publicly binding undertaking that generates power through the discipline of keeping it.
- VrikodaraवृकोदरVrikodara means wolf-bellied, and belongs to Bhima, whose appetite and strength are both prodigious and whose hunger is a running feature of the epic.
- Vyuhaव्यूहA vyuha is a battle formation, arranged each morning by the commander and named for the shape it takes: the needle, the eagle, the crocodile, the crescent, the lotus.
Y
- Yajnaयज्ञA yajna is a sacrifice, an offering made into consecrated fire with recited formulas, and the central public act of Vedic religion.
- Yakshaयक्षYakshas are nature spirits attached to trees, lakes and hidden treasure, attendants of Kubera the lord of wealth, and generally guardians rather than aggressors.
- YogaयोगYoga means yoking, and in the Mahabharata it names both the discipline that harnesses mind and senses and the union that discipline aims at.
- YugaयुगA yuga is one of the four great ages through which the world declines and is renewed, running from the perfect Satya Yuga to the degraded Kali Yuga before the cycle begins again.
- YuvarajaयुवराजThe yuvaraja is the crown prince, the heir formally installed to succeed and to share the burden of rule while the king still lives.