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Definitions Flashcards

Terms related to Hinduism (58 cards)

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1
Q

Glossary

What is an acharya?

A

The leading teacher of a sect or the head of a monastery

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2
Q

Glossary

What is advaita?

A

Shankara’s school of philosophy, which holds that there is only one ultimate reality, the indescribable Brahman, with which the Atman or self is identical

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3
Q

Glossary

Who were the Alvars?

A

The twelve devotional poets in South India whose works are central to the bhakti tradition

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4
Q

Glossary

What is artha?

A

Wealth an power; one of the three classical aims in life

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5
Q

Glossary

What are ashramas?

A

Four stages in the life of an upper-class male: student, householder, forest dweller and ascetic

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6
Q

Glossary

What is Atman?

A

The individual self, held by Upanishadic and Vedantic thought to be identical with Brahman, the world-soul

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7
Q

Glossary

What is an avatara?

A

A ‘descent’ or incarnation of a deity in earthly form.

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8
Q

Glossary

What is Ayurveda?

A

A system of traditional medicine, understood as a teaching transmitted from the sages

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9
Q

Glossary

What is the Bhagavad Gita?

A

A section of the Mahabharata epic recounting a conversation between Krishna and the warrior Arjuna, in which Krishna explains the nature of God and the human soul

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10
Q

Glossary

What is bhakti?

A

Loving devotion to a deity seen asa gracious being who enters the world for the benefit of humans

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11
Q

Glossary

Who is Brahma?

A

A creator god; not to be confused with Brahman

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12
Q

Glossary

What is Brahman?

A

The world-soul, sometimes understood in impersonal terms

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13
Q

Glossary

What are the Brahmanas?

A

Texts regarding ritual

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14
Q

Glossary

What is a brahmin?

A

A member of the priestly class

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15
Q

Glossary

What is darshana?

A

Seeing and being seen by the deity in a temple or by a holy teacher; the experience of beholding with faith

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16
Q

Glossary

What is Deepavali (Divali)?

A

The festival of light in October-November, when lamps are lit

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17
Q

Glossary

What is devanagari?

A

The alphabet used to write Sanskrit and northern Indian vernacular languages such as Hindi and Bengali

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18
Q

Glossary

What is dharma?

A

Religious and social duty, including both righteousness and faith

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19
Q

Glossary

What is a guru?

A

A spiritual teacher

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20
Q

Glossary

What is Holi?

A

A spring festival celebrated by throwing brightly coloured water or powder

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21
Q

Glossary

What is jnana?

A

Knowledge; along with action and devotion, one of the three avenues to liberation explained in the Bhagavad Gita

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22
Q

Glossary

What is kama?

A

Sensual (not merely sexual) pleasure; one of the three classical aims of life

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23
Q

Glossary

What is karma?

A

Action, good and bad, as it is believed to determine the quality of rebirth in future lives

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24
Q

Glossary

Who are the kshatrya?

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A

The warrior class in ancient Hindu society

25
# Glossary What is a linga?
A conical or cylindrical stone column, sometimes considered phallic, symbolic of the god Shiva
26
# Glossary What is the Mahabharata?
A very long epic poem, one section of which is the Bhagavad Gita
27
# Glossary What is a mantra?
An expression of one or more syllables, chanted repeatedly as a focus of concentration in devotion
28
# Glossary What is moksha?
Liberation from the cycle of birth and death; one of the three classical aims in life
29
# Glossary What is a murti?
A form or personification in which divinity is manifested
30
# Glossary What is Navaratri?
'Nine nights'; an autumn festival honouring the Goddess
31
# Glossary What is om?
A syllable chanted in meditation, interpreted as representing ultimate reality, or the universe, or the relationship of the devotee to the deity
32
# Glossary What is prasada?
A gift from the deity, especially food that has been presented to the god's temple image, blessed and returned to the devotee
33
# Glossary What is puja?
Ritual household worship of the deity, commonly involving oil lamps, incense, prayers, and food offerings
34
# Glossary What are the Puranas?
'Old tales', stories about deities that became important after the Vedic period
35
# Glossary What is the Ramayana?
An epic recounting the life of Lord Rama, an incarnation of the god Vishnu
36
# Glossary What is a rishi?
A seer, the composers of the ancient Vedic hymns are viewed as rishis
37
# Glossary What is a sadhu?
A holy man
38
# Glossary What is a samnyasin?
A religious ascetic; one who has reached the fourth of the classical stages of life for Hindu males after student, householder and forest dweller
39
# Glossary What is samsara?
The continuing cycle of rebirths
40
# Glossary What is sati?
The self-sacrifice of a widow who throws herself onto her deceased husband's funeral pyre
41
# Glossary What is shruti?
'What is heard'; The sacred literature of the Vedic and Upanishadic periods, recited orally by the brahmin priests for many centuries before being written down
42
# Glossary What is shudra?
A member of the lowest of the four major classes, usually translated as 'servant', though some groups of the shudra class could be quite prosperous
43
# Glossary What is smrti?
'What is remembered', a body of ancient Hindu literature, including the epics, Puranas, and law code, formed after the shruti and passed down in written tradition
44
# Glossary What is tantra?
An esoteric school outside the Vedic and brahmanical tradition, which emerged around the fifth century and centered on a number of controversial practices, some of them sexual
45
# Glossary What is a tilaka?
A dot or mork on the forehead made with coloured powder
46
# Glossary What is upanayana?
The initiation ofa young brahmin by into ritual responsibility, in which he is given a cord to wear over his shoulder and a mantra to recite and is sent to beg for food for the day
47
# Glossary What are the Upanishads?
Philosophical texts in the form of reported conversations on the theory of Vedic ritual and the nature of knowledge, composed around the 6th century BCE
48
# Glossary What is a vaishya?
A member of the third or mercantile class in the ancient fourfold class structure
49
# Glossary What are the Vedas?
The four collections of hymns and ritual texts that constitute the oldest and most highly respected Hindu sacred literature
50
# Glossary What is yoga?
A practice and discipline that may involve a philosophical system and mental concentration as well as physical postures and exercises
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54
What is Bharata?
The name of India according to the insiders, before outsider's named the region India
55
what is a pativrata?
a faithful wife
56
What is an ista-devata?
a chosen deity
57
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RLGA01 (3 decks)

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