By Karel Werner
A multi-purpose reference paintings which may still develop into an quintessential significant other for anyone who comes into contact with Hinduism. incorporates a dictionary of Sanskrit and vernacular phrases; a thesaurus of phrases and ideas; and a survey of the ancient improvement of Hinduism.
Read or Download A Popular Dictionary of Hinduism (Popular Dictionaries of Religion) PDF
Best hinduism books
Myth = Mithya: Decoding Hindu Mythology
Submit 12 months observe: First released in 2006
------------------------
A deciphering of Hindu mythology Hindus have one God. in addition they have 330 million gods: male gods; woman gods; own gods; kinfolk gods; family gods; village gods; gods of area and time; gods for particular castes and specific professions; gods who dwell in timber; in animals; in minerals; in geometrical styles and in man-made items. Then there are a complete host of demons. yet no satan.
In this groundbreaking booklet Dr Devdutt Pattanaik; one in all India's hottest mythologists; seeks a solution to those obvious paradoxes and unravels an inherited fact approximately lifestyles and dying; nature and tradition; perfection and threat. He retells sacred Hindu tales and decodes Hindu symbols and rituals; utilizing a special variety of observation; illustrations and diagrams. we find why the villainous Kauravas went to heaven and the virtuous Pandavas (all other than Yudhishtira) have been despatched to hell; why Rama regardless of leaving behind the blameless Sita continues to be the version king; why the blood-drinking Kali is one other type of the milk-giving Gauri; and why Shiva wrenched off the 5th head of Brahma.
Constructed over generations; Hindu myths function home windows to the soul; and supply an figuring out of the area round us. the purpose isn't really to outgrow fantasy; yet to be enriched and empowered by way of its historic; powerful and nonetheless suitable language.
Anandamath, or The Sacred Brotherhood
It is a translation of a traditionally very important Bengali novel. released in 1882, Chatterji's Anandamath helped create the ambience and the symbolism for the nationalist circulation resulting in Indian independence in 1947. It comprises the well-known hymn Vande Mataram ("I revere the Mother"), which has develop into India's legitimate nationwide tune.
Abhinavagupta: A Trident of Wisdom
This can be a lengthy statement on a quick Tantra. some of the most authoritative and honored texts in Kashmir Shaivism, it offers with the character of final fact and with equipment of recognition concentrating on the idea and perform of Mantra. Abhinavagupta provides his metaphysics of language, of the realm (Vak), and its relation to realization.
Myths of the Asanas: The Stories at the Heart of the Yoga Tradition
Practitioners world wide gain the actual advantages of yoga, assuming poses and regularly calling them via their Sanskrit names. whereas many understand that hanumanasana is termed for the deity Hanuman, few comprehend why this can be the case. in the back of every one asana and its corresponding hobbies is an old tale a few god, sage, or sacred animal, very similar to Aesop’s fables or eu folktales.
- Hindi Structures: Intermediate Level, with Drills, Exercises, and Key
- Vedic Voices: Intimate Narratives of a Living Andhra Tradition
- Chinnamasta: The Aweful Buddhist and Hindu Tantric Goddess
- Sri Sarada Devi, the holy mother;: Her life and conversations
- Hindu Narratives on Human Rights
- The Secret Śaṅkara: On Multivocality and Truth in Śaṅkara’s Teaching
Extra resources for A Popular Dictionary of Hinduism (Popular Dictionaries of Religion)
Sample text
Dhyāna meditation, contemplation; mental absorption; the seventh limb of yoga of Patañjali. (‘clad in space’) a naked mendicant; a Jain monk of the naked sect. Digambara a title of Śiva, who frequently went about naked when practising asceticism. Dikpāla see Lokapāla. initiation. In the early times of Brāhmanism the term referred to a special set of rituals which included a symbolic sacrifice of the sacrificer’s mortal body and aimed at creating for him an immortal body in a kind of second birth.
He accepted many formal and historical features of the Hindu tradition, such as reverence for the cow and the principle of the caste system—with modifications, particularly in that he rejected the limitations imposed on the untouchables, whom he called Harijans (children of God). He fought, without lasting success, for their integration into Hindu society. g. Jesus, whose Sermon on the Mount he greatly admired. g. Max Müller, Tolstoy, Ruskin and Thoreau, and combined them with ideas from the BhG (which, incidentally, he first read in Sir Edwin Arnold’s translation).
When he reached the position of a minister of state, he persecuted , Jains and Buddhists, making converts for his new faith. The reaction of orthodoxy to his reforms got him into trouble and he died amidst some confusion. Bath (snāna) is an act of bodily and spiritual purification and a ritual obligation for Hindus and is best taken in flowing water (which perhaps explains the Indian custom of pouring water over oneself when washing in the domestic setting). It is often accompanied by oblation and other rituals and finished with total immersion (majjana) if possible.
