Suttapiṭaka
, one of the Three Baskets of the Buddha’s discourses, was divided
Mohenjo-daro
A city in the Indus valley; center of the eponymous civilization, which flourished between 2500 and 1700
B.C.
Mohin
ī
Enchantress, She who deceives; celestial courtesan, female manifestation of Vi
ṣ
ṇ
u
Moon
Soma; one of the ratnas, “gems,” that appeared during the churning of the ocean
Mother of the Universe
P
ā
rvat
ī
Mountain Girl
P
ā
rvat
ī
M
ṛ
ga
Antelope; name of the constellation Orion
M
ṛ
tyu
Death; sometimes male, sometimes female
muhūrta
A unit of time, equivalent to about forty-eight minutes
mūlādhāra
First of the
cakras
, “wheels.” through which Dev
ī
Ku
ṇ
ḍ
al
ī
n
ī
ascends the body: situated at the base of the spine
Mural
ī
K
ṛ
ṣ
ṇ
a’s flute
N
ā
gas
Snakes; name of the sons of Kadr
ū
and Vinat
ā
and of all snakes
Nak
ṣ
atras
Houses of the Moon
Nakula
One of the five P
ā
ṇ
ḍ
avas. twin brother of Sahadeva, whose parents were N
ā
satya, one of the A
ś
vins, and M
ā
dr
ī
P
ā
ṇ
ḍ
u’s second wife
Nanda
Herdsman, K
ṛ
ṣ
ṇ
a’s adoptive father
Nanda
Brother of the Buddha
Ś
ā
kyamuni
Nandin
The bull that
Ś
iva rides
Nara
Man from whom the waters,
n
ā
ras
, are born; a
ṛṣi
, brother of N
ā
r
ā
ya
ṇ
a; appears as Arjuna in the
Mahābhārata
N
ā
rada
A
ṛṣi
, son of Brahm
ā
N
ā
r
ā
ya
ṇ
a
He who moves in the waters; dwelling place of man; epithet of Vi
ṣ
ṇ
u; a
ṛṣi
, brother of Nara
N
ā
ṭ
ya
ś
ā
stra
Treatise on the Theater, attributed to Bharata; the first and most important Indian text on the theater, sometimes considered a Fifth Veda
Naw
ā
b J
ā
far Kh
ā
n
Ruler at whose court in Bengal in 1717 a dispute took place between supporters of
srakīyā
love and
parakīyā
love in the cult of K
ṛ
ṣ
ṇ
a and R
ā
dh
ā
neṣṭṛ
Priest who leads the wives of the king in the
aśramedha
Neumann
Karl Eugen Neumann, 1865–1915, seholar of Buddhism
Night
Ratri
N
ī
laka
ṇ
ṭ
ha
The Blue-Necked One: epithet of
Ś
iva: refers to the stain that appeared on the god’s neck after he drank K
ā
lak
ū
ṭ
a
n
ī
pa
Nauclea cadamba
, a tree of scented, orange-colored flowers
Nir
ṛ
ti
Dissolution
nire
ā
ṇ
a
Extinction
Ni
ṣ
ā
das
Population of India; according to the
Lau’s of Manu
, 10.8, “a Ni
ṣ
ā
da is born from a brahman and the daughter of a
śūdra
[the lowest caste]”
Noble Ones
Ā
ryas
ṇ
yagrodha
Ficus indica
, the banyan tree
Nymph
Apsaras
Oldenberg
Hermann Oldenberg, indologist. 1854–1920
Olympus
Seat of the Greek gods
Omniform
Vi
ś
var
ū
pa: epithet of Tva
ṣ
ṭ
ṛ
and of his son Tri
ś
iras
One-and-more
Aṇguttaranikāya
; a group of discourses made up of one or more lines; name of one of the sections into which the
Suttapiṭaka
, one of the Three Baskets of the Buddha’s discourses, is divided
Order
The Buddhist community (
saṅgha
)
Order
Ṛta
Orion
A constellation between Gemini and Taurus; Praj
ā
pati in the sky
Orissa
A region of northeastern India
O
ṣ
adhiprastha
A city in the Him
ā
laya, birthplace of P
ā
rvat
ī
pālāgalī
Daughter of the Herald; fourth in rank of the king’s wives, of a lower caste than the others
P
ā
ñ
c
ā
las
People who share a border with the Kuru people
Pañcaviṃśa Brāhmaṇa
The twenty-five-chapter Br
ā
hma
ṇ
a: similar in theme to the
Jaiminīya Brāhmaṇa
P
ā
ṇ
ḍ
avas
The five brothers born of Kunt
ī
and M
ā
dr
ī
, and held to be the sons of P
ā
ṇ
ḍ
u, cousins of the Kauravas, desceudants of the lunar dynasty
P
ā
ṇ
ḍ
u
Son of Vy
ā
sa and Amb
ā
lik
ā
, putative father of the five P
ā
ṇ
ḍ
avas
P
ā
ṇ
ini
The greatest Indian grammarian, who lived around 500
B.C.
in
Ś
al
ā
tura in northwest India
parakīyā
Another’s woman; the object of an adulterous, illegitimate love
parakīyādharma
Law of the illegitimate one
Par
ī
k
ṣ
it
Son of Abhimanyu and Uttar
ā
, father of Janamejaya
pāriplara