Brainscape's Knowledge GenomeTM

Browse over 1 million classes created by top students, professors, publishers, and experts.


See full index

RLGA01 > Definitions > Flashcards

Definitions Flashcards

Terms related to Hinduism

1
Q

Glossary

What is an acharya?

A

The leading teacher of a sect or the head of a monastery

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

Glossary

What is advaita?

A

Shankara’s school of philosophy, which holds that there is only one ultimate reality, the indescribable Brahman, with which the Atman or self is identical

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

Glossary

Who were the Alvars?

A

The twelve devotional poets in South India whose works are central to the bhakti tradition

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

Glossary

What is artha?

A

Wealth an power; one of the three classical aims in life

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

Glossary

What are ashramas?

A

Four stages in the life of an upper-class male: student, householder, forest dweller and ascetic

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

Glossary

What is Atman?

A

The individual self, held by Upanishadic and Vedantic thought to be identical with Brahman, the world-soul

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

Glossary

What is an avatara?

A

A ‘descent’ or incarnation of a deity in earthly form.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

Glossary

What is Ayurveda?

A

A system of traditional medicine, understood as a teaching transmitted from the sages

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

Glossary

What is the Bhagavad Gita?

A

A section of the Mahabharata epic recounting a conversation between Krishna and the warrior Arjuna, in which Krishna explains the nature of God and the human soul

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

Glossary

What is bhakti?

A

Loving devotion to a deity seen asa gracious being who enters the world for the benefit of humans

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

Glossary

Who is Brahma?

A

A creator god; not to be confused with Brahman

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

Glossary

What is Brahman?

A

The world-soul, sometimes understood in impersonal terms

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

Glossary

What are the Brahmanas?

A

Texts regarding ritual

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

Glossary

What is a brahmin?

A

A member of the priestly class

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

Glossary

What is darshana?

A

Seeing and being seen by the deity in a temple or by a holy teacher; the experience of beholding with faith

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

Glossary

What is Deepavali (Divali)?

A

The festival of light in October-November, when lamps are lit

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

Glossary

What is devanagari?

A

The alphabet used to write Sanskrit and northern Indian vernacular languages such as Hindi and Bengali

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q

Glossary

What is dharma?

A

Religious and social duty, including both righteousness and faith

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
19
Q

Glossary

What is a guru?

A

A spiritual teacher

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
20
Q

Glossary

What is Holi?

A

A spring festival celebrated by throwing brightly coloured water or powder

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
21
Q

Glossary

What is jnana?

A

Knowledge; along with action and devotion, one of the three avenues to liberation explained in the Bhagavad Gita

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
22
Q

Glossary

What is kama?

A

Sensual (not merely sexual) pleasure; one of the three classical aims of life

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
23
Q

Glossary

What is karma?

A

Action, good and bad, as it is believed to determine the quality of rebirth in future lives

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
24
Q

Glossary

Who are the kshatrya?

A

The warrior class in ancient Hindu society

25
Q

Glossary

What is a linga?

A

A conical or cylindrical stone column, sometimes considered phallic, symbolic of the god Shiva

26
Q

Glossary

What is the Mahabharata?

A

A very long epic poem, one section of which is the Bhagavad Gita

27
Q

Glossary

What is a mantra?

A

An expression of one or more syllables, chanted repeatedly as a focus of concentration in devotion

28
Q

Glossary

What is moksha?

A

Liberation from the cycle of birth and death; one of the three classical aims in life

29
Q

Glossary

What is a murti?

A

A form or personification in which divinity is manifested

30
Q

Glossary

What is Navaratri?

A

‘Nine nights’; an autumn festival honouring the Goddess

31
Q

Glossary

What is om?

A

A syllable chanted in meditation, interpreted as representing ultimate reality, or the universe, or the relationship of the devotee to the deity

32
Q

Glossary

What is prasada?

A

A gift from the deity, especially food that has been presented to the god’s temple image, blessed and returned to the devotee

33
Q

Glossary

What is puja?

A

Ritual household worship of the deity, commonly involving oil lamps, incense, prayers, and food offerings

34
Q

Glossary

What are the Puranas?

A

‘Old tales’, stories about deities that became important after the Vedic period

35
Q

Glossary

What is the Ramayana?

A

An epic recounting the life of Lord Rama, an incarnation of the god Vishnu

36
Q

Glossary

What is a rishi?

A

A seer, the composers of the ancient Vedic hymns are viewed as rishis

37
Q

Glossary

What is a sadhu?

A

A holy man

38
Q

Glossary

What is a samnyasin?

A

A religious ascetic; one who has reached the fourth of the classical stages of life for Hindu males after student, householder and forest dweller

39
Q

Glossary

What is samsara?

A

The continuing cycle of rebirths

40
Q

Glossary

What is sati?

A

The self-sacrifice of a widow who throws herself onto her deceased husband’s funeral pyre

41
Q

Glossary

What is shruti?

A

‘What is heard’; The sacred literature of the Vedic and Upanishadic periods, recited orally by the brahmin priests for many centuries before being written down

42
Q

Glossary

What is shudra?

A

A member of the lowest of the four major classes, usually translated as ‘servant’, though some groups of the shudra class could be quite prosperous

43
Q

Glossary

What is smrti?

A

‘What is remembered’, a body of ancient Hindu literature, including the epics, Puranas, and law code, formed after the shruti and passed down in written tradition

44
Q

Glossary

What is tantra?

A

An esoteric school outside the Vedic and brahmanical tradition, which emerged around the fifth century and centered on a number of controversial practices, some of them sexual

45
Q

Glossary

What is a tilaka?

A

A dot or mork on the forehead made with coloured powder

46
Q

Glossary

What is upanayana?

A

The initiation ofa young brahmin by into ritual responsibility, in which he is given a cord to wear over his shoulder and a mantra to recite and is sent to beg for food for the day

47
Q

Glossary

What are the Upanishads?

A

Philosophical texts in the form of reported conversations on the theory of Vedic ritual and the nature of knowledge, composed around the 6th century BCE

48
Q

Glossary

What is a vaishya?

A

A member of the third or mercantile class in the ancient fourfold class structure

49
Q

Glossary

What are the Vedas?

A

The four collections of hymns and ritual texts that constitute the oldest and most highly respected Hindu sacred literature

50
Q

Glossary

What is yoga?

A

A practice and discipline that may involve a philosophical system and mental concentration as well as physical postures and exercises

51
Q
A
52
Q
A
53
Q
A
54
Q

What is Bharata?

A

The name of India according to the insiders, before outsider’s named the region India

55
Q

what is a pativrata?

A

a faithful wife

56
Q

What is an ista-devata?

A

a chosen deity

57
Q
A
58
Q
A

RLGA01 (3 decks)

Brainscape helps you reach your goals faster, through stronger study habits.
© 2024 Bold Learning Solutions. Terms and Conditions