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| Sanskrit-Prakrit term indicating pious devotion to a deity, through the worshiper’s personal communion with him/her. |
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| in Buddhism, preceding Sakyamuni Buddha, one of the lesser 'spiritual princes' on their way to Enlightenment who served as mediators for mortals on the Middle Path. |
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| religion originating in the 6th century BCE during the historical life of Sakyamuni Buddha (556-486 BCE; perhaps later, d. ca. 400 BCE), the Enlightened One. |
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| an umbrella term encompassing the Indic religious system; loosely comprised of sects dedicated to various deities, who in turn probably originated, both conceptually and iconographically, in pre-historic nature and fertility cults. All three of the major Indic religions entered the priestly phases of their histories during the 1st centuries BCE/CE. |
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| Skt. 'the Law', referring to set of beliefs/precepts that comprise a "religion," most commonly used to refer to Buddhism, though usable for all the Indic religions. |
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| one of the world's great religions, initiated during the lifetime of Muhammad Quraishi (ca. 570-632 CE), a native of Mecca in the Arabian peninsula. His departure from Mecca to the nearby city of Madina in 622 CE marks the beginning of the Islamic calendar, the Hijra. Islam has come to be a prominent socio-religious system with adherent communites from the Middle East to Southeast Asia, including Central Asia (along with western China), South Asia, Africa, Europe and north America. |
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| a religious system was initiated during the time of Vardhamana (599-527 BCE). Vardhamana is also known as Mahavira, and is considered the final jina, one of the 24 enlightened beings worshipped as the symbols of liberation from rebirth. |
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| parable-like stories of the Buddha's past lives, told in Buddhist textual sources and serving as the subjects of narrative reliefs gracing Buddhist architectural complexes. |
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| in Jainism, one of the 24 enlightened beings who are worshipped as the symbols of liberation from rebirth. |
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| one of the semi-divine manifestations of Vishnu, who came to be the object of personal devotion (bhakti) of Arjun, the Pandava warrior-hero of the Bhagavata-Gita. |
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| compiled ca. 400-500 BCE, this is an epic detailing inter-clan wars for spiritual edification and demonstration of philosohpical principles; two of its epic cycles are known as the Bhagvata-Gita and the Harivamsa. |
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| a common name for Buddhism, referring to its fundamental tenet of balanced living, so that the extremes of sensory indulgence and severe asceticism are avoided in order to strive for a balance between the two. |
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| a series of works elaborating on Brahmanical tenets and compiled during the first millennium CE; the Puranas are considered to be the premises for "modern Hinduism." |
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| The holy book of Islam, considered to be the word of Allah communicated directly to Muhammad (ca. 570-632 CE), and used as the basis for all Islamic theology and law. |
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| another epic work written around 400 BCE, also demonstrating righteous and virtuous behavior according to Hindu principles. Its protagonist is the semi-divine figure Rama, and his consort is Sita. |
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| dedicated to the god Shiva, this is another sect of what is broadly known as Hinduism; other sects include the Vaishnava sect, which worships the god Vishnu. |
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| commemorates the Final Extinguishment (parinirvana) of the Buddha; it consists of a hemispherical mound of earth usually housing a relic associated with the Enlightened One, surrounded by a railing (vedika) decorated with reliefs depicting scenes from the Buddha's past lives -- scenes called jatakas. Worship at a stupa site includes circumambulation. |
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| following the Vedas, these works were collected around the last centuries BCE, and forming the basis of the intellectual traditions of Brahmanical Hinduism thereafter. |
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| dedicated to the god Vishnu, a sect of a series of belief systems collected under the umbrella term 'Hinduism'. |
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| Skt. literally 'color'; commonly translated as 'caste' in English; there are technically four varnas according to Aryan beliefs, which came to be adopted into mainstream Brahmanism/Hinduism: Brahmins (priests); Ksatriyas (warriors); Vaisyas (merchants); Sudras (menials, laborers); and those 'without caste' (‘untouchables’) |
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| four works canonical in Hinduism, collected between 1500 and 600 BCE. These works are considered the beginnings of the codification of Hindu worship. |
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| a term encompassing the iconography and ritual practices of locally based Indic cults, centered on the worship of natural forces; iconography included numerous symbols of auspiciousness (flora and fauna, and motifs derived therefrom), and anthropomorphic renditions of nature spirits. The iconographic system of the Water Cosmology was never completely relinquished, even with the growing influence of the "priestly" religions (i.e. Brahmanism, Buddhism, Jainism); in fact, the latter incorporated iconographic elements and ritual concepts into their own visual systems. |
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Yaksha
3rd-2nd century BCE
Parkham, near Mathura (north India)
Stone |
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