The art and architecture of India - Buddhist, Hindu, Jain (Art Ebook)

12 ' GLOSSARY
in number, from the paradise of Indra to the highest
heaven of Brahma.
Devald. A divinity.
Devi. Consort of Siva in her benevolent form.
Dhdrdni. A magical prayer or collection of mystic
syllables for casting spells in Vajrayana Buddhism.
Dharmacakra. The Wheel of the Law, emblem of the
Buddhist Dharma or Law, derived from an ancient
solar symbol and intended to suggest domination of
all
by the Buddha's Law, as the sun dominates all
space and time.
Dharmacakra mudrd. Gesture of teaching or turning
the Wheel of the Law. The right hand is held before
the chest with the tips of the thumb and index finger
joined to touch one of the fingers of the left hand,
which is turned palm inwards.
Dharmakdya. In the Trikaya doctrine the abstract
body of the Law, conceived as an invisible essence
permeating and animating the Universe.
Dhdtu. Relics.
Dhoti. A skirt such as is worn by modern Hindus.
Dhydna. Yoga meditation; visualization of a mental
image.
Dhydna Buddha. One of the Buddhas of the Four
Directions and the Zenith in Mahayana Buddhism.
Dhydna mudrd. Gesture or pose of meditation. The
hands rest in the lap, the right above the left with all
fingers extended.
Dohada. Longing of budding plants for the touch of
foot or mouth, used to describe the quickening embrace
of a yakshi and her tree and the motif of the
woman-and-tree itself.
Drdvida. Southern or Dravidian style of architecture.
Durgd. Consort of Siva in her terrible form.
Dvdrapdla. Door guardian.
Gaja. Elephant.
Gajasimha. Monster; part lion, part elephant.
Ganas. Demigods, attendants of Siva, usually represented
as obese dwarfs.
Gandhdrvas. Divinities of the sky and air, the musicians
of the gods.
Gahgd. Goddess of the River Ganges.
Garbhagriha. Sanctuary, inner room of a temple.
Garuda. Mythical sunbird; part man, part bird; the
emblem and vehicle of Visnu.
Gavaksa. A blind window or niche in the shape of the
chaitya-arch, used as an antefix on sikhara towers
and on the cornices of Vesara temples.
Ghats. Mountains, or steps on a river bank as on the
Ganges at Benares.
Gopis. Milkmaids, the special loves of Visnu.
Gopuras. Towers surmounting gates of South Indian
temple enclosures.
Guna. Chief property or characteristic of all created
things ;
goodness, passion, and darkness.
Guru. A spiritual preceptor who initiates a Brahmin
youth prior to his investiture.
Harhsa. Goose, emblem of Brahma, and in Buddhism
of the flight of Buddhist doctrine to all realms.
Harmtkd. Pavilion. Railed balcony surmounting dome
of stupa.
Htnaydna. Small vehicle. Early Buddhism with emphasis
on the doctrine, rather than on the worship of
the Buddha.
Js'vara. Supreme deity, lord.
Jagamohan. In Orissan architecture an enclosed porch
preceding the sanctuary, used as an assembly hall.
Jfainism. A sect founded by Mahavira in the sixth
century B.C. preaching a rigid asceticism and solicitude
for all life as a means of escaping the cycle of
transmigration.
Jfdtakas. 'Birth stories.' Tales of previous incarnations
of the Buddha in either human or animal form.
jfina. See Tirthdmkara.
Kalas'a. Rain vase, container of elixir of life, finial of
Hindu temples.
Kalpa. An incalculable cycle of time, sometimes described
as a day of Brahma. At the close of each day
or kalpa the world is destroyed by Siva, and at the
dawn of the next it is recreated with the re-birth of
Brahma from the navel of Vishnu.
Kanjur. Local name of a soft limestone used at Taxila.
Karma. The idea of retribution in the life cycle, whereby
acts in previous existences lead to inevitable
results in the shape of good or bad incarnations in
later lives.
Kinnaras. Fabulous beings, half man, half bird.
Celestial musicians.
Kirttimukha. Grotesque mask.
Kongokai Mandara. See Vajradhdtu Mandala.
Krsna (Krishna). The Black One. Incarnation of
Visnu. Hero of the Mahabharata.
Ksatriya. The princely or warrior caste in Hinduism.
Ksetra. The 'field' or paradise of one of the Dhyani
Buddhas of the Four Directions.
Kuvera. Chief of the yakshas and guardian of the
north.
Laksand. One of the thirty-two superior marks distinguishing
the anatomy of a Buddha; symbol,
attribute.
Laksmi. Goddess of fortune.