Nine Lives (48 page)

Authors: William Dalrymple

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BOOK: Nine Lives

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Tablighi Jamaat	A missionary group of the Islamic reform movement, with theological beliefs similar to the Deobandis and Wahhabis, and with a particular emphasis on textual and ritual rectitude and orthodoxy.
Talib	A student – hence Taliban, the student army that emerged from the madrasas.
Thakur	A gentleman landowner or squire.
Tamasha	A spectacle.
Tanti	An amulet of knotted chord (in Rajasthan).
Tantra	An esoteric form of Hinduism and Buddhism aiming at gaining access to the energy of the Godhead, then concentrating and internalising that power in the body of the devotee. In Hindu Tantra Shakti is usually the main deity worshipped, and the universe is regarded as result of the divine play of Shakti and Shiva . Tantrics defy convention and reverse most of the strictures and taboos of orthodox religiosity.
Tapasya	Ascetic penance, self-testing and deprivation; voluntary austerity.
Ta’wiz	A Sufi charm or amulet, usually containing verses from the Koran.
Thangka	A Buddhist painted or embroidered prayer banner, usually hung in a monastery or a family altar, and occasionally carried by monks in ceremonial processions.
Thali	A tray or large plate.
Thevaram	Lit. ‘Garland of God’ – a multi-volume collection of Tamil devotional Shaivite hymns and poetry.
Theyyam	The possession dance of northern Kerala. A theyyam performer is called a theyyamkkaran.
Thottam	Ritualistic songs appropriate for the theyyam dance of northern Kerala.
Thukpa	Tibetan noodle soup.
Tilak	The sacred mark on the centre of a Hindu forehead.
Tirthankara	Literally ‘Ford-maker’. The Jains believe these heroic ascetic figures, also known as Jinas or ‘liberators’, have shown the way to Nirvana, making a spiritual ford through the rivers of suffering, and across the wild oceans of existence and rebirth, so as to create a crossing place between samsara – the illusory physical world – and liberation.
Tirtha	A crossing place or ford; hence a sacred place, a place where you can cross from the world of men to the world of the gods.
Toddy	Keralan and Goan firewater, brewed from fermented coconut juice.
Tulsi	Indian basil, holy to many Hindus.
Upanishads	The collection of Hindu scriptures, dating from 1000 BC to the medieval period, which form the core teachings of Vedanta.
’Urs	Annual festival held in Sufi shrines to commemorate the death of a saint.
Vaishnavite	A follower of the Hindu god Vishnu or his associated avatars, principally Rama or Krishna.
Vajra	A short metal weapon symbolising a thunderbolt and representing spiritual power in Buddhist art .
Vedanta	A group of ancient Hindu philosophical traditions concerned with the self-realisation by which one can understand the ultimate nature of reality.
Vibhuti	The white ash powder smeared on the body of Shiva; and hence also his devotees among the sadhus .
Vimana	The pyramid-shaped tower of Tamil temples.
Wahhabi	The reformed and puritanical form of Islam, first propagated by Ibn Abd al-Wahhab in Medina in the eighteenth century, which aimed to strip Islam of all non-Muslim accretions, most notably idolatry and the cult of saints. Wahhabism is now the state religion in Saudi Arabia. Saudi oil wealth has been used to propagate its missionary activity, through which Wahhabism has developed considerable influence in the Islamic world through the funding of newspapers, television stations, printing presses, madrasas and mosques .
Yakshi	Female Hindu fertility nymphs, often associated with sacred trees and pools. In Kerala they are believed to be malevolent and to have the appetites and proclivities associated with vampires in Europe.
Yantra	A symbol or geometric figure, in paint or coloured sand. They are used in various mystical traditions in Hinduism and Buddhism to balance the mind or focus it on spiritual concepts. Tantrics believe that the act of wearing, depicting, enacting or concentrating on a yantra is held to have spiritual or astrological or magical benefits.
Yatra	A pilgrim.
Yatri	Traveller or pilgrim.
Zamindar	Landholder.

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