A Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism Klaus K Klostermaie

175 Ÿrïkaæflha
by Rajendra Prasad, president of India,
in 1951.
son
A son was considered essential to the
continuation a family line, and his birth
was an occasion of joy. A married
woman without a son was considered
unlucky and only a son was entitled to
light the funeral pyres of his parents,
ensuring a good afterlife. In recent years
it has often happened that pregnant
women, after learning about the sex of
the future child, would abort female
foetuses. FEMALE INFANTICIDE – by
drowning, poisoning, starvation, exposure
– was quite frequent.
Sontheimer, Günther-Dietz
(1934–92)
Scholar of Sanskrit, Hindi, Marathi and
Hindu law. He was professor of the
history of Indian religion and philosophy
at the Süd-Asien Institut Heidelberg
(Germany), author of The Concept of
Daya and The Joint Hindu Family,
studies of tribal deities (Khandobha) of
Mahärä•flra, and producer of several
films on tribal religions.
soul
See ÄTMAN; SELF.
Spaæõaÿästra
One of the two branches of KASHMIR
ŸAIVISM.
sphofla (‘boil’)
A term used by grammarians and
philosophers of language, such as
BHARTØHARI, to illustrate the sudden
appearance of the meaning of a WORD
after the individual letters have been
enunciated. Also identified with the
cause of the world, BRAHMAN. (See also
ŸABDA.)
spirit
See SELF.
ÿraddhä
See FAITH.
ÿräddha, also antye•fli,
møtyu-saskära
The last rites, the whole complex ritual
(sometimes lasting a full year) required
after the death especially of a brahmin.
ÿrauta (1)
Belonging to ŸRUTI.
ÿrauta (2)
One of the VEDÄ¢GAS, dealing with
ceremonial occasions: the Kalpasütras
or Ÿrautasütras contain the ritual for
(public) SACRIFICES.
ÿravaæa (‘listening’)
The first of the three steps in MEDITATION.
Ÿrï (‘good luck’, ‘fortune’, ‘prosperity’)
A name for Vi•æu’s consort (LAKÆMÏ).
The Sanskrit sign ÿrï is used as an auspicious
emblem on the covers of books,
the front of houses, and added as a honorific
to names of eminent persons or
books. In ordinary life today used as the
equivalent to ‘Mister’.
Ÿrï-bhä•ya
The title of RÄMÄNUJA’s commentary on
the BRAHMASÜTRA.
Ÿrïkaæflha (13th century)
An exponent of Ÿiva-viÿi•flädvaita,
author of the Ÿrïkaæflhabhä•ya, commented
upon by Appaya Dïk•ita, a
16th-century Advaitin who belonged to
the so-called Bhämatï-school. (See also
VIŸIÆfiÄDVAITA.)