Concepts
Ideas, doctrines and schools of philosophy.
A
- AhimsaAhimsa is the principle of non-harm to living beings, central to Jain ethics and important in…
- AjivikaThe Ajivikas were an ascetic order of ancient India holding that everything is determined by…
- AjnanaAjnana was the sceptical current among the shramana movements, holding that knowledge of meta…
- AnattaAnatta is the Buddhist doctrine that no permanent, independent self is to be found in or behi…
- AnekantavadaAnekantavada is the Jain doctrine that reality has many aspects, that any single statement ab…
- The anuṣṭubh and the first verseThe anuṣṭubh or śloka is the thirty-two-syllable verse in which the Rāmāyaṇa is composed, and…
- The Aryan questionThe Aryan question concerns how Indo-Aryan languages came to be spoken in South Asia, and is…
- Astika and nastikaAstika and nastika are the terms by which Indian philosophical schools were sorted into ortho…
- The astrasThe astras of the Rāmāyaṇa are weapons belonging to particular gods, invoked and recalled by…
B
- Bhakti movementThe Bhakti movement was a devotional current in Hinduism, emerging in Tamil Nadu by the 6th c…
- BodhisattvaA bodhisattva is a being on the path to full buddhahood, and in Mahayana Buddhism one who vow…
- Boons and curses in the RāmāyaṇaBoons and curses are the machinery of the Rāmāyaṇa's plot: a promise that cannot be revoked,…
- Brahma KamalBrahma Kamal is the common name for Saussurea obvallata, a rare, night-blooming high-altitude…
- BuddhismBuddhism is a religious and philosophical tradition founded in northern India in the 5th cent…
C
- Cannabis in the HimalayaCannabis in the Himalaya refers to the wild and cultivated Cannabis populations native to the…
- Cemetery H cultureThe Cemetery H culture is the late and post-urban phase in the Punjab, named for a burial gro…
- Charter ActsThe Charter Acts were a series of British parliamentary statutes, passed roughly every twenty…
- CharvakaCharvaka is the materialist school of Indian philosophy, which accepted only perception as a…
D
- DashavataraDashavatara ("ten avatars") is the standard Vaishnava list of Vishnu's ten principal incarnat…
- Dating the RāmāyaṇaThe Rāmāyaṇa has no securely fixed date;
- Denominations of HinduismShaivism, Vaishnavism, Shaktism, and Smartism are the four major devotional traditions (sampr…
- Dependent originationDependent origination is the Buddhist doctrine that phenomena arise in dependence on conditio…
- Devi, devata, Brahman and yajnaDevi, deva/devata, Bhagavan, Ishvara, Brahman, and Atman are core Sanskrit terms in Hindu the…
- Dharma-saṅkaṭa in the RāmāyaṇaDharma-saṅkaṭa is a conflict of obligations with no clean exit, and the Rāmāyaṇa is largely b…
- DigambaraThe Digambara are one of the two principal Jain orders, holding that a fully advanced mendica…
- Doctrine of LapseThe Doctrine of Lapse was a policy applied by the East India Company under Governor-General L…
F
- The fall of IndraThe fall of Indra is a Puranic myth, told most fully in the Bhagavata Purana and Vishnu Puran…
- Four Noble TruthsThe Four Noble Truths are the framework of the Buddha's teaching — that there is suffering, t…
- The fourteen yearsThe fourteen years of Rāma's exile in the Rāmāyaṇa are counted exactly by everyone in the poe…
G
H
- Hanumān and the invention of bhaktiHanumān's service to Rāma in the Rāmāyaṇa became the model on which North Indian devotion bui…
- Hindu civilization in IndonesiaThe Hindu–Buddhist civilization that shaped the Indonesian archipelago from roughly the 4th t…
- HinduismHinduism is the world's oldest continuously practiced major religious tradition and the domin…
- Hinduism: basic beliefsA survey of the beliefs shared, in varying form, across most Hindu traditions: the doctrines…
- Hinduism: frequently asked questionsA reference set of commonly asked questions about Hindu belief, deities, sacred texts, ritual…
I
- Ik OnkarIk Onkar is the opening phrase of Sikh scripture, asserting one indivisible divine reality, a…
- India and Rome comparedA comparative framework used by historians of the ancient world to pair successive Indian emp…
- Indian martial artsIndian martial arts are a family of combat systems native to the Indian subcontinent, ranging…
- Indian Ocean trade in medieval IndiaIndian Ocean trade in medieval India refers to the maritime commercial networks, dominated on…
- IndosphereThe Indosphere is the vast zone of cultural, religious, linguistic, and artistic influence ra…
- Indus city planningIndus cities were laid out on a broadly regular plan with oriented streets, standardised bric…
- Indus scriptThe Indus script is the writing system of the Indus civilization, surviving in several thousa…
- Indus trade with MesopotamiaThe Indus civilization traded with Mesopotamia by sea and land, and is generally identified w…
- Indus Valley Civilization: Hindu perspectivesIndus Valley Civilization: Hindu perspectives surveys the interpretive tradition, both schola…
- Indus water and drainageThe Indus cities were served by wells, bathing platforms and covered street drains on a scale…
- Indus weights and measuresThe Indus civilization used a standardised system of cubical stone weights following a binary…
J
- Jain cosmologyJain cosmology describes an uncreated, eternal universe of fixed shape, occupied by graded wo…
- Jain karmaIn Jain doctrine karma is not a moral principle but a subtle physical substance that adheres…
- JainismJainism is an Indian religion holding that every living thing possesses an eternal soul bound…
- Jati, varna and gotraJati, varna, and gotra are three distinct traditional frameworks for social classification an…
- Jiva and ajivaJiva and ajiva are the two fundamental categories of Jain ontology, the sentient and the inse…
- JyotishaJyotisha is the traditional Indian science of astronomy and astrology, one of the six Vedanga…
K
L
M
- MahayanaMahayana is the branch of Buddhism that took the bodhisattva's vow to liberate all beings as…
- Maryāda-puruṣottamaMaryāda-puruṣottama — the supreme person who keeps within limits — is the epithet by which Rā…
- Miri-PiriMiri-Piri is the Sikh doctrine that temporal and spiritual authority belong together, express…
N
- Names for IndiaIndia has been known by a range of names across history and languages — including Bharata, Hi…
- NirvanaNirvana is the goal of Buddhist practice, the extinction of craving, aversion and delusion an…
- NiyatiNiyati is the principle of unalterable fate that governed Ajivika doctrine, holding that ever…
- Noble Eightfold PathThe Noble Eightfold Path is the fourth of the Buddha's Four Noble Truths, setting out eight f…
P
- Pancha BhutaThe Pancha Bhutas, the five great elements of earth, water, fire, air, and space, are the fou…
- Permanent SettlementThe Permanent Settlement was a land revenue system introduced in 1793 by Governor-General Lor…
- PinākaPināka is the bow of Śiva in the Rāmāyaṇa, kept by the kings of Videha, which no suitor could…
- PunditPandit, from the Sanskrit paṇḍita meaning "learned," is a title for a scholar or expert that…
- The Puṣpaka vimānaThe Puṣpaka is the flying chariot of the Rāmāyaṇa, made for Kubera and seized by Rāvaṇa, whic…
R
- The rākṣasasThe rākṣasas are the people of Laṅkā in the Rāmāyaṇa — night-ranging, shape-shifting, flesh-e…
- Rāma-rājyaRāma-rājya is the reign of Rāma described at the end of the Rāmāyaṇa — a kingdom without want…
- The Rāmāyaṇa in culture and religionThe Rāmāyaṇa has shaped Indian religion, literature, art and performance more thoroughly than…
- Recensions of the RāmāyaṇaThe Rāmāyaṇa survives in three broad regional recensions whose manuscripts differ substantial…
- Religious persecution under the MughalsReligious persecution under the Mughals refers to episodes of temple destruction, discriminat…
S
- Sacred animals in HinduismSacred animals in Hinduism are creatures accorded ritual reverence or mythological significan…
- Samudra ManthanaSamudra Manthana, the churning of the cosmic ocean of milk, is a Puranic myth in which devas…
- Sanatana DharmaSanātana Dharma ("eternal law" or "eternal duty") is a Sanskrit term used, especially since t…
- SanghaThe sangha is the Buddhist monastic community, the third of the three refuges, and the instit…
- Sarasvati river debateThe Sarasvati debate concerns whether the river praised in the Rigveda is the now-dry Ghaggar…
- Schools of Hindu philosophyThe six orthodox schools of Hindu philosophy - Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Samkhya, Yoga, Mimamsa and…
- Science in ancient IndiaA survey of scientific and technical achievement in ancient and early medieval India, across…
- SevaSeva is selfless service in Sikh teaching, treated not as charity offered from above but as a…
- ShramanaShramana was the general term for the wandering renouncers of early India who rejected Vedic…
- SikhismSikhism is the monotheistic religion founded in fifteenth-century Punjab by Guru Nanak, devel…
- Sītā's ordeal and the epic's own doubtsSītā's treatment after the war — the public repudiation, the fire, the banishment and her fin…
- The six teachersThe six teachers are the rival contemporaries of the Buddha whose doctrines are set out and d…
- Subhas Chandra Bose and the freedom struggleThis entry examines the long-running historiographical debate over how much credit Subhas Cha…
- SvetambaraThe Svetambara are one of the two principal Jain orders, whose mendicants wear white cloth, w…
- SwastikaThe swastika is an equilateral hooked cross, one of the oldest continuously used symbols in h…
- SyadvadaSyadvada is the Jain method of qualifying every assertion with the particle syat, "in some re…
- Syncretism in Indian religionsSyncretism in Indian religions refers to the historical blending of doctrines, deities, saint…
T
- Taj Mahal origin controversyThe Taj Mahal origin controversy refers to a set of disputed and, in several cases, discredit…
- TandavaTandava is the cosmic dance of the Hindu god Shiva, performed in both fierce, destructive for…
- TheravadaTheravada is the Buddhist school dominant in Sri Lanka and mainland Southeast Asia, the only…
- TirthankaraA tirthankara is, in Jain belief, a liberated teacher who establishes the ford across the oce…
V
W
- WaheguruWaheguru is the name of God in Sikh usage, and the word most commonly repeated in the practic…
- Warfare in ancient IndiaWarfare in ancient India spans the tribal conflicts described in the Rigveda and the epics th…
- Wootz steelWootz steel is a high-carbon crucible steel developed in South India by the mid-first millenn…