A Popilar Dictionary of Hinduism Karel Werner

40 A POPULAR DICTIONARY OF HINDUISM
deha body; dehi (‘one who has a body’): one of the designations for the
individual ātman or individual ‘soul’ (jīvātman).
deva, (cf. Lat. deus) god; a category of beings inhabiting the celestial planes of
existence (devaloka), with a hierarchical structure which is not rigidly
determined, so that the status and function of individual gods may undergo many
variations; the expression is also often used for nature spirits, living in trees and
other natural habitats.
devadāsī (‘slave of god’) female temple dancer. The training in temple dancing
and erotic arts, which often went with it, started at the age of seven or eight. The
dancer was then married to the god of the temple or to the pīpal tree in the
temple precinct. The marriage itself was consummated by the priest or on a stone
. Temple dancers often also bestowed sexual favours on pilgrims for the
benefit of the temple finances. The tradition of temple dancers was discontinued
towards the end of the last century.
Devakī the mother of , regarded sometimes as an incarnation of Aditi.
devaloka the world of gods ruled by Indra; heaven.
devanāgarī (the script ‘of the city of the gods’) the Sanskrit script developed
from an earlier form called brāhmī. It is used also for Hindī and some other
modern Indian languages.
an accomplished seer or sage who can dwell in celestial abodes in the
company of gods.
devatā deity; applied mainly to lower household and sylvan gods and spirits of
the elements.
devayāna the mystical ‘way of the gods’ travelled after death by humans who
strive for the highest spiritual goal. They are supposed to reach immortality via
the solar sphere and the Brahmaloka. The passage through its several stages,
described in some , represents a symbolical progress to salvation.
devī goddess; Devī: the great Goddess of the Śākta tradition, i.e. of the cult of the
feminine principle which is embodied in many female deities when they are
conceived as dominant figures, the most prominent being the figures of Durgā
and Kālī. She is also identified with (nature) and as such appears in folk
representations both in the form of the benign and caring mother of creation and
in her aspect of a terrifying and bloodthirsty goddess bringing catastrophes.
Dhanur Veda the art of archery (an Upaveda).
(holding) concentration; fixing attention on one object; the sixth limb
of Patañjali’s eightfold yoga.
a composite mantra; a charm; a protective spell in the form of a spoken
formula.
the earth; the Earth goddess.
dharma righteousness, virtue, integrity; discipline; duty, caste duty; reality,
truth, cosmic law; āśrama dharma: primary pursuit and duty appropriate to the
stage of life (āśrama) one is in (a somewhat artificial Brahminic attempt to
combine the scheme of four āśramas with that of four
): (1) the
discipline of learning (brahmacarya) from and serving one’s teacher as a disciple