Dictionary

Devī (; Sanskrit: देवी) is the Sanskrit word for ‘goddess’; the masculine form is deva Devi and deva mean ‘heavenly, divine, anything of excellence’, and are also gender-specific terms for a deity in Hinduism The concept and reverence for goddesses appears in the Vedas, which were composed around the 3rd millennium BC However, they do not play a vital role in that era Goddesses such as Lakshmi, Parvati, Durga, Saraswati, Sita, Radha and Kali have continued to be revered in the modern era...

The Devi Bhagavata Purana (Sanskrit: दवी भागवतपराणम्, Devī Bhāgavatapurāṇam), also known as the Devi Bhagavatam, Bhagavata Purana, Srimad Bhagavatam and Srimad Devi Bhagavatam is a Sanskrit text and one of the eighteen major Puranas of Hinduism The text is considered a Mahapurana for Devi worshippers The purana consists of twelve cantos (sections) with 318 chapters Along with Devi Mahatmya, it is one of the most important works in Shaktism, a tradition within Hinduism that reveres Devi or Shakti (Goddess) as the primordial creator of the universe and the Brahman (ultimate truth and reality)...

The Devi Mahatmya or Devi Mahatmyam (Sanskrit: देवीमाहात्म्यम्, romanized: devīmāhātmyam, lit ‘Glory of the Goddess’) is a Hindu philosophical text describing the Goddess as the supreme power and creator of the universe It is part of the Markandeya Purana Devi Mahatmyam is also known as the Durgā Saptashatī (दुर्गासप्तशती) or Shri Chandi (श्री चण्डी) The text contains 700 verses arranged into 13 chapters Along with Devi-Bhagavata Purana and Shakta Upanishads such as the Devi Upanishad, it is one of the most important texts of Shaktism (goddess) tradition within Hinduism...

Dharma (; Sanskrit: धर्म, romanized: dharma, pronounced [dʱɐrmɐ] (listen); Pali: dhamma; Tamil: aṟam) is a key concept with multiple meanings in Indian religions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism and others Although there is no direct single-word translation for dharma in Western languages, it is commonly translated as “righteousness”, “merit” or “religious and moral duties” governing individual conduct In Hinduism, dharma is one of the four components of the Puruṣārtha, the aims of life, and signifies behaviours that are considered to be in accord with Ṛta, the order that makes life and universe possible...

Kalpa (Sanskrit: कल्प) means “proper, fit” and is one of the six disciplines of the Vedānga, or ancillary science connected with the Vedas – the scriptures of Hinduism This field of study is focused on the procedures and ceremonies associated with Vedic ritual practice The major texts of Kalpa Vedanga are called Kalpa Sutras in Hinduism The scope of these texts includes Vedic rituals, rites of passage rituals associated with major life events such as birth, wedding and death in family, as well as personal conduct and proper duties in the life of an individual...

Dharmadhatu (Sanskrit) is the ‘dimension’, ‘realm’ or ‘sphere’ (dhātu) of the Dharma or Absolute Reality

The dharmakāya (Sanskrit: धर्म काय, “truth body” or “reality body”, Chinese: 法身; pinyin: fǎshēn, Tibetan: ཆོས་སྐུ་, Wylie: chos sku, rdzogs sku) is one of the three bodies (trikāya) of a buddha in Mahāyāna Buddhism The dharmakāya constitutes the unmanifested, “inconceivable” (acintya) aspect of a buddha out of which buddhas arise and to which they return after their dissolution Buddhas are manifestations of the dharmakāya called the nirmāṇakāya, “transformation body” The Dhammakāya tradition of Thailand and the Tathāgatagarbha sūtras of the ancient Indian tradition view the dharmakāya as the ātman (true self) of the Buddha present within all beings

Dharmaśāstra (Sanskrit: धर्मशास्त्र) is a genre of Sanskrit texts on law and conduct, and refers to the treatises (śāstras) on dharma There are many Dharmashastras, variously estimated to be 18 to about 100, with different and conflicting points of view Each of these texts exist in many different versions, and each is rooted in Dharmasutra texts dated to 1st millennium BCE that emerged from Kalpa (Vedanga) studies in the Vedic era...

Tathātā (; Sanskrit romanised: tathātā; Pali romanised: tathatā) is a Buddhist term variously translated as “thusness” or “suchness” and meaning the true, concrete essence or nature of things before ideas or words about them It is a central concept in Mahayana Buddhism, having a particular significance in Chan Buddhism as well The synonym dharmatā is also often used While alive the Buddha referred to himself as the Tathāgata, which can mean either “One who has thus come” or “One who has thus gone”, and can also be interpreted as “One who has arrived at suchness”

Diksha (Sanskrit: दीक्षा in Devanagari) also spelled diksa, deeksha or deeksa in common usage, translated as a “preparation or consecration for a religious ceremony”, is giving of a mantra or an initiation by the guru (in Guru–shishya tradition) of Indian religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism Diksa is given in a one-to-one ceremony, and typically includes the taking on of a serious spiritual discipline The word is derived from the Sanskrit root dā (“to give”) plus kṣi (“to destroy”) or alternately from the verb root dīkṣ (“to consecrate”)...

Dinacharya (Sanskrit: दिनचर्या “daily-routine”) is a concept in Ayurvedic medicine that looks at the cycles of nature and bases daily activities around these cycles Ayurveda contends that routines help establish balance and that understanding daily cycles is useful for promoting health Dinacharya says that each day, two cycles of change occur, that correlate with the Ayurvedic concept of dosha Routines covered by dinacharya include: waking time, elimination, hygiene, massage, exercise, bathing, meditation and prayer, meals, study, work, relaxation and sleeping

In Hinduism, Diti (Sanskrit: दिति) is the Mother of Asuras and supporter of Asuric attributes She is mother of both the Marutas and the Asuras (Daityas) with the sage Kashyapa She is said to have wanted to have a son who would be more powerful than Indra She is said to have killed her previous children because they tried to murder her Diti used black magic to keep herself pregnant for one year...

The Divine Mother is a concept in yogic and Hindu philosophy that refers to the feminine aspect of the primal creator of the universe, or the spiritual spark of all life. In Hinduism, the Divine Mother may also be used as a term to refer to several of the supreme goddesses, including Adi Parashakti and Bhagavathi. Sri Aurobindo, in his teachings about Integral yoga, particularly emphasized the significance of the Divine Mother....

Diwali (English: ; Deepavali (IAST: dīpāvalī) or Divali; related to Jain Diwali, Bandi Chhor Divas, Tihar, Swanti, Sohrai and Bandna) is a festival of lights and one of the major festivals celebrated by Hindus, Jains, and Sikhs The festival usually lasts five days and is celebrated during the Hindu lunisolar month Kartika (between mid-October and mid-November) One of the most popular festivals of Hinduism, Diwali symbolizes the spiritual “victory of light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance”...

Dravya (Sanskrit: द्रव्य) means substance or entity According to the Jain philosophy, the universe is made up of six eternal substances: sentient beings or souls (jīva), non-sentient substance or matter (pudgala), principle of motion (dharma), the principle of rest (adharma), space (ākāśa) and time (kāla) The latter five are united as the ajiva (the non-living) As per the Sanskrit etymology, dravya means substances or entity, but it may also mean real or fundamental categories...