India of My Dreams

Glossary

• Adivasis : Original inhabitants of the country.
• Ahimsa : Non-violence; love.
• Ashram, Ashrama : A place of spiritual retirement; hermitage; one of the four stages of life according to Hinduism.
• Avatar : Incarnation of God.
• Babul : A tree, a twig of which is used as a tooth brush.
• Bania : Member of the trader caste of Hindus.
• Bhangi : Scavenger.
• Bhogabhumi : Land of enjoyment.
• Bigha : 3,025 square yards of land.
• Brahmachari : A celibate; one who leads a life of self-restraint.
• Brahmacharya : Celibacy; life of self-restraint.
• Brahmana : Member of the priestly caste among Hindus.
• Chaitanya : Bengali religious reformer of the 15th century who preached devotion to God.
• Chakki : Grinding wheel.
• Chapati : Thin, flat, unleavened bread.
• Charkha : Spinning wheel.
• Dada : Hindu religious reformer of the 16th century A.D. who rejected the claim of both the Vedas and koran to be revealed scriptures. He had a large following in Northern India, his followers being known as Dadupanthis .
• Damayanti : Princess of Vidarbha and wife of prince Nala of Naishadha, the constancy of whose devetion to each other forms the theme of a well-known episode in the Pranas.
• Daridranarayana : God in the form of the poor .
• Dayananda : Swami Dayananda Sarasvati, founder of Arya Samaj.
• Dharma : Religion; duty; law of one's way .
• Draupadi : Wife of Pandava brothers, heroes of the epic Mahabharata .
• Duragraha : Obstinately sticking to a wrong resolve; the opposite of Satyagraha .
• Duryodhan : Evil-minded Kaurava prince whose refusal to yield to his cousins, the Pandavas, their just share in the kingdom led to the Mahabharata war .
• Fakir : A Muslim ascetic.
• Ganja : Flower of Indian hemp which has an intoxicating effect when smoked with tobacco.
• Ghanchi : Oil-presser.
• Ghani : Oil press of indigenous type.
• Gopal : Cowherd; one of the names of Krishna .
• Goonda : Hooligan.
• Goondasim Hooliganism.
• Goseva Sangh : Association for the welfare of cattle.
• Gur : Jaggery; molasses derived from palm or sugar-cane juice.
• Guru : Teacher; preceptor; religious leader.
• Guru Govind Singh : The tenth Guru of the Sikhs.
• Harijan : lit. a man of God; a name which Gandhiji gave to the 'untouchable'.
• Harijan : English weekly journal conducted by Gandhiji.
• Hartal : Temporary suspension of business by a large number of people as a mark of protest or mourning.
• Himsa : Violence.
• Ishopanishad : One of the major Upanishads which inculcates renunciation of the desire for the fruits of one's action.
• Janaka : An ancient king of Videha who was a great philosopher.
• Jaggery : Molasses produced from palm or sugarcane juice.
• Kabir : Poet-saint of northern India who lived in the 15th century A. D. and who preached the essential unity of the Godhead and the harmony or religions..
• Kachrapatti : Municipal scavenging department.
• Kama : Carnal love .
• Karmabhumi : Land of duty.
• Khaddar, Khadi : Hand-spun and hand-woven cloth.
• Khuda-I Khidmatgar : lit. servant of God; one who works in the spirit of unselfish service of fellowmen; an Association of workers founded by Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, the "Frontier Gandhi".
• Kisan : A peasant.
• Koran : Book of Revelation of Islam.
• Krishna : Central figure of the epic, Mahabharata, who is venerated by Hindus as God incarnate.
• Kshatriya : Member of warrior caste among Hindus.
• Kumbha Mela : A Hindu fair held every twelfth year at the time of a certain planetary conjunction when the pious take a purificatory bath in some sacred rivers.
• Lakh : 1,00,000.
• Mahabharata : Hindu epic of about 1,00,000 verses, the central theme of which is the great war between the Pandavas and their cousins the Kauravas, who were rival claimants to the throne of Hastinapur (ancient Delhi).
• Mahatma : A high souled person.
• Mantra : A sacred text or formula.
• Nanak- Guru Nanak : Founder of Sikhism, who was born in 1469 and died in 1538 or 1539 A. D..
• Nai Talim : lit. new education i.e. Pre-Basic, Basic and Post-Basic.
• Nira : Freshly drawn unfermented juice of the palm tree.
• Panch : lit. five .
• Panchayat : A village council of five or more elders.
• Pariah : An 'untouchable'.
• Pinjrapole : An institution for sheltering aged and crippled animals, including cows .
• Poorna : Full.
• Pratap : Mahatma Pratapsinha, ruler of Udaipur in Rajputana who valiantly fought against the Moghul Emperor Akbar in defence of his kingdom .
• Raj : Kingdom .
• Rama : Hero of the epic, Ramayana, who is regarded as an incarnation of God by Hindus.
• Ramakrishna : Bengali saint (1836-86 A. D.) who taught the oneness of the Godhead and the basic harmony of all religions. The Ramakrishna Mission is named after him..
• Ramanama : lit. name of Rama, or God.
• Ramarajya : lit. Kingdom of Rama; ideal social order.
• Ramayana : Hindu epic which relates the story of the abduction of Sita, wife of Ram, prince of Ayodhya, by Ravana, demon king of Lanka, and her rescue by rama after the destruction of the demon.
• Rashtrabhasha : National language.
• Ravana : Demon-king of lanka who was destroyed by Rama, prince of Ayodhya, for abduction Sita, his wife.
• Rishi : Seer.
• Roti : Flat, unleavened bread.
• Ryot : A peasant.
• Sadavarta : Place where alms or food is distributed free to the poor.
• Sama Veda : One of the four Vedas.
• Samurai : Feudal barons of Japan.
• Sangh : Association.
• Sarvodaya : Welfare of all.
• Satyagraha : lit. clinging to truth; civil or non-violent resistance.
• Satyagrahi : Civil or non-violent resister.
• Shankara : Hindu philosopher of the 8th century A. D. who was an exponent of Advaita or absolute Nondualsim Shankara.
• Shanti dal : Peace brigade Shankara.
• Shastra : Scripture.
• Shuddhi : lit. purification; conversion, especially reconversion, to Hindu religion.
• Shudra : Member of the menial caste among Hindus.
• Sipahee : A soldier of the lowest rank in the Indian army during the British regime.
• Sita : Wife of Rama, the hero of the epic, Ramayana.
• Smritis : Ancient Hindu law books.
• Sudama : An extremely poor class-mate of Krishna.
• Swaraj : Self-government.
• Swadeshi : lit. of indigenous make; principle of using only articles of indigenous make.
• Tabligh : Propaganda and conversion to Islam .
• Tadgud : Jaggery prepared from palm juice.
• Tadi : See toddy.
• Tapasya : Penance; religious austerity.
• Tilak : A mark of auspiciousness on the forehead with consecrate paste or powder.
• Tiruwallwar : Author of Kural, one of the earliest Tamil classic which is generally assigned to the 2nd century A. D..
• Toddy : Juice of the palm tree which becomes intoxicating when it has fermented.
• Tukaram : Poet saint of Maharashtra who lived in the 17th century A. D.
• Tulsidas : Hindi poet-saint of northern India, who lived in the 16th century A. D. and whose work, Ramacharitamansa, is held in the highest veneration by all Hindus.
• Upanishads : Ancient philosophical treatises which are believed by Hindus to contain revealed truth.
• Vaid, Vaidya : A practitioner of indigenous medicine.
• Vaishya : Member of the cultivator and mercantile caste among Hindus .
• Varna : A class; a caste .
• Varnashram : Ancient Hindu social order based on the four Ashramas or stages in life, (Brahmacharya, Grihastha, Vanaprashtha and Sanyas) and the four occupational divisions (Brhmana, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra).
• Vedas : Oldest scriptures of Hindus which are believed to embody revealed truth and which are divided into four books, Rig Veda, Sama Veda, Yajur Veda and Atharva Veda .
• Vidura : Righteous minded uncle of the Kaurava and Pandava princes of the epic, Mahabharata .
• Yajna : Sacrifice.
• Zamindar : Landlord .
• Zamindari : Landlordism