| A | B |
|---|
| Brahmins | priest |
| kshamyas | chiefs and warriors |
| vaishyas | merchants,bankers |
| shudras | laborers |
| yajna | primary worship form;sacrifice |
| agni | god of fire |
| sruti | that which is heard |
| the vedas | oldest sacred text; basic source of hindu worldview |
| Veda Rig | oldest and most important; 1,000 + hymns |
| veda yajur | sacrificial recitation |
| veda sama | hymn collection |
| veda atharva | home rituals, popular prayers,spells and incantation |
| diwali(divali) | festival of lights |
| puja | worship |
| avatar | spirit of vishnu in human form |
| bhagavad gita | song of god |
| bindi | dot wore on head of girls |
| varuna | sky and water god, king of vedic gods |
| rta | natural order |
| SEMITIC | religion of the middle east |
| holi | the return of spring; colored water, in honor of krishna |
| ganges | its water can wash away illness or sin |
| retiree/recluse | goes to the forest and retires in nature |
| puja | show respect for brahmin |
| reincarnation | coming back through the life cycle |
| tilak | boys line on head |
| guru | spiritual teacher |
| samsara | cycle of life death and rebirth |
| brahman | an unchanging ultimate reality |
| vishnu | the preserver of the universe |
| brahma | the creator |
| rama | best of all kings,respected for purity and his love for his wife |
| sita | model for all women,ramas wife; kidnapped by ravanna |
| krishna | perhaps most popular of avatars; some dwell on innocence and charm as a child , pure love for a milk maid named radha |
| shiva | the destroyer or liberator |
| parvati | beautiful and gentle wife of shiva, matches the compassionate side of shiva's nature |
| durga | the inaccessible, slays demons with a sword |
| kali | destroyer of devil |
| lakshmi | goddess of wealth and good fortune |
| ganesha | son of shiva and parvati, thought to remove obstacles ; shiva gave him elephant head |
| saraswati | goddess of learning, wife of brahma |
| indra | the god of rain,storms, and battle |
| mahabharata | has over 100,00 verses and is probably world's longest poem |
| moksha | release from cycle of rebirth and suffering |
| samsara | cycle of life, death, and rebirth |
| karma | a persons actions good or bad |
| hanuman | the monkey god |
| upanishads | consist of philosophical discussions which teach about Brahman and the various ways to achieve moksha |
| varnas | four ancient social groups |
| jatis | caste |
| ashramas | four stages of life |
| dharma | the duty or particular way of behaving which govern's a persons life |
| samskaras | rituals and celebrations |
| namakarana | the ceremony were the baby is named |
| upanayana | hindu boy coming of age ceremony |
| yoga | involves extreme self-discipline, and the performance of complex physical and mental exercises |
| asanas | types of yoga |
| aryan | nomads who had horses |
| karma yoga | discipline of action; people fulfill there dharmas, for example by working hard to help others |
| bhakati yoga | the discipline of devotion. it means offering whole hearted love and prayer to chosen deity |
| jnana yoga | is the discipline of knowledge. this yoga involves study and meditation |
| yatras | pilgrimage |
| kumbh mela | most sacred of all Hindu pilgrimages takes place every 12 years |
| murti | statue of god |
| Brahmin priest | places the offerings before the deity to be blessed |
| dipavali | "lights" |
| diyas | clay lamps |
| shivarti | shiva's festival |
| dasshera | rembers rams victory over the giant ravana |
| navarati | nine day festival between september and october during which hindus worship different aspects of the great mother goddess, devi |
| am/om | first of all sounds |
| sanatana dharma | eternal teaching or eternal law |
| smriti | rembered |
| jiva | individual living being |
| neti neti | "not this, not that" |
| raja yoga | learning to control the body and the mind by rigorous physical excercises and routines, combined with meditation |
| brahman | one supreme source; can be called by many names, thought of in many forms, and worshiped in many ways |
| sanyassa | wandering holy one |
| artha | the desire for success |
| kalki | going to come in riding on a white horse and destroy the wicked; at the end of present day |
