A Popilar Dictionary of Hinduism Karel Werner

24 A POPULAR DICTIONARY OF HINDUISM
‘forest books’; a category of Vedic literature (śruti), following the
and preceding the . They deal mainly with the cosmic
significance of the Vedic rituals, but contain also mythological and legendary
materials.
Arbuda a serpent-demon slain by Indra, probably an equivalent or another form
of .
Ardhanārī, Ardhanārīśa, Ardhanarīśvara the hermaphroditic form of Śiva as
half-man and half-woman, symbolizing for his followers his transcendental
wholeness in which opposites are integrated.
Arjuna (‘white’) the name of the third Pāndu prince in the Mhb, a son of Indra.
related to him the teachings of the BhG before the great war started on the
battlefield
when Arjuna hesitated to engage in the battle.
artha purpose, goal, sake; means, wealth, achievement, success; in the broad
sense: goal of life as embodied in the Hindu ethical system of four human aims
to be realized in the life of a person, namely (1) dharma (duty,
morality, religious observances), (2) artha in the narrow sense (wealth,
prosperity, reputation or fame), (3) kāma (sensory and aesthetic fulfilment) and
(4) (liberation, salvation).
Arthaśāstra a work ascribed to the brahmin Kautilya, the minister of
Chandragupta Maurya (cca 323–297 B.C.), on political theory and practice,
extolling law and order and centralized authority.
ārtī (vern.; Skt. āratī) ceremonial waving of a lamp (āratrika) in front of an
effigy of god as an offering of light during a pūjā.
a hill near , South India. The place was made widely known because
of who settled there. The āśram which grew up round him at the foot of the hill
still exists as a centre propagating his teachings.
ārya noble; Ārya(n): the designation which the IE tribes, who invaded India in
the second millennium B.C. creating the Vedic civilization, used for themselves
and which was once so used also by other IE nations (cf. Iran and Eire). It is
often used instead of the designation IE, sometimes, not quite appropriately, with
racial meaning.
Āryaman (Av. Airyaman) one of the Ādityas, representing the quality of
nobleness, hospitality, protection and generosity.
Ārya Samāj a Hindu reform movement founded in 1875 by Dayānanda (1824–
83) with the motto ‘Back to the Vedas’, but under the influence of some liberal
modern ideas, resulting from European type education introduced to India.
Although respecting caste distinctions, Dayānanda denied their religious status
and introduced the ‘rite of purification’ (śuddhi) for readmission into Hinduism
of converts to other religions. This developed into a wider śuddhi movement for
low caste and outcast communities, giving them equal status with higher caste
Hindus in religious matters, but it has not had a universal success, because of the
resistance of high caste Hindus.