A Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism Klaus K Klostermaie

119 month
(devotees), and she is one of the
favourite saints of northern India. (See
also ANfiÄL.)
miracle
An essential ingredient especially of
popular Hinduism. Apart from the
siddhis (miraculous powers, e.g. making
oneself small like an atom or big like a
mountain) ascribed to famous YOGIS
(and obtainable through methodic
Siddha Yoga) every temple, big and
small, boasts of miracles that happened
to worshippers, from cures from incurable
diseases to manifestations of life by
the mürtis (IMAGES), which are reported
to have drunk the milk offered to them
or to exude healing substances, or to
show signs of menses etc. The epics and
the Puräæas, especially the Sthäla
Puräæas are full of stories of miracles
and many Hindus also today claim to
have witnessed miraculous events,
which they report in religious magazines
such as Kalyän. A contemporary
GURU such as SATHYA SAI BABA is credited
with miraculous powers: he has brought
healing to many and is miraculously producing
all kinds of objects, as reported in
many books.
Mitäk•arä
A commentary by Vijñäneÿvara (fl.
second half of 11th century CE) on the
Yäjñavalkyasmøti which enjoyed great
authority all over India.
Mithilä
Capital city of Videha, in today’s northern
Bihär, the country over which King
JANAKA ruled.
mithyä (‘false’, ‘unreal’)
Description of the visible world from
the standpoint of ADVAITA VEDÄNTA:
brahma satyam, jagad mithyä (‘brahman
is real, the world is false’).
Mitra (‘friend’)
A name of the SUN. In the Vedas Mitra
is usually associated with VARUŒA as
guardian of morality: Mitra rules the
day, and Varuæa the night.
mleccha (‘barbarian’)
People who do not speak Sanskrit and
do not observe the rules of life of the
Äryans; a foreigner, an outcast.
moha (‘delusion’)
One of the ‘three gates to hell’, to be
avoided by a religious person. (See also
LOBHA, KRODHA.)
mok•a
See LIBERATION.
Monier-Williams, Monier
(1819–99)
Eminent lexicographer. Born in
Bombay, he was the Boden Professor of
Sanskrit at Oxford, founder of the
Indian Institute at the University of
Oxford (1883), compiler of a major
Sanskrit dictionary, and the author of
several scholarly works and translations.
month
Hindus use a lunar–solar CALENDAR,
and their months do not coincide with
those used in the Gregorian calendar.
The year begins in spring with the
month Caitra (March–April), followed
by Vai•äkha (April–May), Jyai•flha (May–
June), Ä•äõha (June–July), Ÿrävana
(July–August), Bhädra (August–September),
Äÿvina (September– October), Kärttika
(October–November), Märgaÿïr•a
(November–December), Pau•a (December–
January), Mägha (January–February),
Phälguna (February–March). All the
Hindu FESTIVALS are calculated according
to this CALENDAR.