The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (880 page)

 
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Grail, The Holy
,
or Sangreale

(perhaps Old Fr., from Lat.,
gradale
, ‘dish’). The legendary subject of several romances in the late Middle Ages. In some versions, (principally the
Estoire dou Graal or Joseph
of Robert de Boron,
c.
1200) the sacred object is the chalice or dish used at the
Last Supper
which passed into the possession of
Joseph of Arimathea
. The origin of the whole cycle of legends is obscure; it is not even clear whether the Christian elements are primary. In the 13th cent. it reinforced the ecclesiastical propaganda of
Glastonbury
Abbey and later on was coupled with the legend of
Prester John
.

 
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Grail Foundation
.

A movement started in the 1920s by the German-born Oskar Ernst Bernhardt (1875–1941), later known as Abd-ru-shin (also as Son of Light). After undergoing a ‘conversion’ experience in 1919, Abd-ru-Shin, who claimed to be in a previous life (in the time of Moses) a prince of an Arabian tribe, began his mission, which was in essence to develop people's knowledge of creation as the means to resolving the problems of humanity. To this end
The Grail Message
, part of a series of public lectures, was published in 1923, to be followed by
In the Light of Truth
, consisting of 3 vols. of Abd-ru-Shin's lectures delivered between 1923 and 1937.

 
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(Skt., ‘local deity’). An image set up on the boundary of an Indian village to ward off evil. They also serve as guardians against disease. They are usually female (cf. the frightening aspects of
K
l
and
Durg
), but some are male (e.g. Iyenar among the Tamils).

 
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