Dictionary

Sikhs ( or ; Punjabi: ਸਿੱਖ, sikkh, [sɪkkʰ]) are people who adhere to Sikhism, a monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak The term Sikh has its origin in the word śiṣya (शिष्य), meaning ‘disciple’ or ‘student’ Male Sikhs generally have Singh (’lion/King’) as their middle or last name, though not all Singhs are necessarily Sikhs; likewise, female Sikhs have Kaur (‘princess’) as their middle or last name...

Sikhism () or Sikhi (Punjabi: ਸਿੱਖੀ Sikkhī, [ˈsɪkʰiː], from ਸਿੱਖ, Sikh, ‘disciple’, ‘seeker’, or ’learner’) is an Indian philosophy practice that originated in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent around the end of the 15th century CE It is the most recently founded major organized faiths, and stands at fifth-largest worldwide with about 25–30 million adherents (known as Sikhs) as of the early 21st century Sikhism developed from the spiritual teachings of Guru Nanak (1469–1539), the faith’s first guru,of the nine Sikh gurus who succeeded him...

Sita (Sanskrit: सीता; IAST: Sītā), also spelt Seeta is a Hindu goddess and the female protagonist of the Hindu epic, Ramayana She is the consort of Rama, the avatar of the god Vishnu and is regarded as a form of Vishnu’s wife Lakshmi She is also the chief goddess of Rama-centric Hindu traditions Sita is known for her dedication, self-sacrifice, courage, and purity Described as the daughter of Bhūmi (the earth), Sita is brought up as the adopted daughter of King Janaka of Videha...

Smarta Tradition (Sanskrit: स्मार्त) is a movement in Hinduism that developed and expanded with the Puranas genre of literature, It reflects a synthesis of four philosophical strands, namely Mimamsa, Advaita, Yoga, and theism The Smarta tradition rejects theistic sectarianism, and is notable for the domestic worship of five shrines with five deities, all treated as equal – Shiva, Vishnu, Surya, Ganesh, and Shakti The Smarta Tradition contrasted with the older Shrauta Tradition, which was based on elaborate rituals and rites...

Smriti (Sanskrit: स्मृति, IAST: Smṛti), literally “that which is remembered” are a body of Hindu texts usually attributed to an author, traditionally written down, in contrast to Śrutis (the Vedic literature) considered authorless, that were transmitted verbally across the generations and fixed Smriti is a derivative secondary work and is considered less authoritative than Sruti in Hinduism, except in the Mimamsa school of Hindu philosophy The authority of smriti accepted by orthodox schools, is derived from that of shruti, on which it is based...

Sravana may refer to: Shravana, a Hindu nakshatra as used in Hindu astronomy Shraavana, the fifth month of the Hindu calendar

Shri (; Devanagari: श्री, ISO: Śrī, Sanskrit pronunciation: [ɕriː], Non-Sanskrit pronunciation: [sriː]), also transliterated as Shree, Sri, or Sree, is a Sanskrit term denoting resplendence, wealth and prosperity, primarily used as an honorific The word is widely used in South and Southeast Asian languages such as Malay (including Indonesian and Malaysian), Javanese, Balinese, Sinhala (ශ්‍රී), Thai, Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Nepali, Malayalam, Kannada, Sanskrit, Pali, Khmer, and also among Philippine languages...

The Bhagavata Purana (Sanskrit: भागवतपुराण; IAST: Bhāgavata Purāṇa), also known as the Srimad Bhagavatam, Srimad Bhagavata Mahapurana or simply Bhagavata, is one of Hinduism’s eighteen great Puranas (Mahapuranas) Composed in Sanskrit and available in almost all Indian languages, it promotes bhakti (devotion) to Krishna, integrating themes from the Advaita (monism) philosophy of Adi Shankara, the Vishishtadvaita (qualified monism) of Ramanujacharya and the Dvaita (dualism) of Madhvacharya The Bhagavata Purana, like other puranas, discusses a wide range of topics including cosmology, astronomy, genealogy, geography, legend, music, dance, yoga and culture...

The Shrimad Bhagavad Gita (; Sanskrit: श्रीमद्भगवद्गीता, romanized: śrīmadbhagavadgītā, lit ‘The Song by God’;), often referred to as the Gita (IAST: gītā), is a 700-verse Hindu scripture that is part of the epic Mahabharata (chapters 23–40 of book 6 of the Mahabharata called the Bhishma Parva), dated to the second half of the first millennium BCE and is typical of the Hindu synthesis It is considered to be one of the holy scriptures for Hinduism...

Stotra (Sanskrit: स्तोत्र) or stotram (स्तोत्रम्) is a Sanskrit word that means “ode, eulogy or a hymn of praise " It is a literary genre of Indian religious texts designed to be melodically sung, in contrast to a shastra which is composed to be recited A stotra can be a prayer, a description, or a conversation, but always with a poetic structure It may be a simple poem expressing praise and personal devotion to a deity for example, or poems with embedded spiritual and philosophical doctrines...

A subtle body is a “quasi material” aspect of the human body, being neither solely physical nor solely spiritual, according to various esoteric, occult, and mystical teachings This contrasts with the mind–body dualism that has dominated Western thought The subtle body is important in the Taoism of China and Dharmic religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, mainly in the branches which focus on tantra and yoga, where it is known as the Sūkṣma-śarīra (Sanskrit: सूक्ष्म शरीर)...

Sukha (Sanskrit: सुख) means happiness, pleasure, ease, joy or bliss, in Sanskrit and Pali Among the early scriptures, ‘sukha’ is set up as a contrast to ‘preya’ (प्रेय) meaning a transient pleasure, whereas the pleasure of ‘sukha’ has an authentic state happiness within a being that is lasting In the Pāli Canon, the term is used in the context of describing laic pursuits and meditation

Śūnyatā (Sanskrit: शून्यता, romanized: śūnyatā; Pali: suññatā) pronounced in English as (shoon-ya-ta), translated most often as emptiness, vacuity, and sometimes voidness, is a Buddhist concept which has multiple meanings depending on its doctrinal context It is either an ontological feature of reality, a meditative state, or a phenomenological analysis of experience In Theravāda Buddhism, Suññatā often refers to the non-self (Pāli: anattā, Sanskrit: anātman) nature of the five aggregates of experience and the six sense spheres...

Śūnyatā (Sanskrit: शून्यता, romanized: śūnyatā; Pali: suññatā) pronounced in English as (shoon-ya-ta), translated most often as emptiness, vacuity, and sometimes voidness, is a Buddhist concept which has multiple meanings depending on its doctrinal context It is either an ontological feature of reality, a meditative state, or a phenomenological analysis of experience In Theravāda Buddhism, Suññatā often refers to the non-self (Pāli: anattā, Sanskrit: anātman) nature of the five aggregates of experience and the six sense spheres...

The Sushruta Samhita (सुश्रुतसंहिता, IAST: Suśrutasaṃhitā, literally “Suśruta’s Compendium”) is an ancient Sanskrit text on medicine and surgery, and one of the most important such treatises on this subject to survive from the ancient world The Compendium of Suśruta is one of the foundational texts of Ayurveda (Indian traditional medicine), alongside the Charaka-Saṃhitā, the Bheḷa-Saṃhitā, and the medical portions of the Bower Manuscript It is one of the two foundational Hindu texts on the medical profession that have survived from ancient India...