Index of Proper Nouns

A Dialogue, editorial title of an unfinished piece published under this title in CWSA Vol.2, “Collected Poems” because, says the volume’s “Note on t ...
A. E., Pen name of George William Russell (1867-1935), poet & mystic; a leading figure in the Irish nationalist movement & the renascence of Ir ...
A Jacobite’s Epitaph, poem by Macaulay.
Aacrity/ Acrity, brother of Bhishmuc, & king of Saurāshtra; he is described as equal to Parashurāma in military skill & courage.
Aaron, first high priest of Israelites whom he & his brother Moses led out of Egypt.
Abbassid(e), Arabic family descended from Abbas, uncle of Prophet Mahomad. In 669 the Omayyad clan unseated the 5th caliph Hasan, elder son of the 4t ...
Abdul Baha
Abdulla Pacha, probably Abdullah Pasha (1846–1937) also known as Abdullah Kölemen, an Ottoman general in the First Balkan War (q.v.), notable as the Ot ...
Abdullah, Emir in Sri Aurobindo’s Khālid of the Sea, refers perhaps to the historical Abdullah ibn Ali, uncle of Caliph Al Mansur, who vied for th ...
Abercrombie, Lascelles, (1881-1938) English poet & critic.
Abhay Singh
Abhimanyu, son of Arjūna & Subhadrā, hence also called Arjūni.
Abhirs, hill tribe along the Indus. Nepal’s earlier rulers were Abhirs & Kirātas.
Absalom, (c.1020 BC) favourite son of David, king of Israel & Judah; he revolted against his father & drove him into flight. Dryden made allegori ...
Acamas, a Greek warrior in the Iliad. When Diomedes (q.v.) went to Troy to ask for the return of Helen, Acamas accompanied him.
Achaemenian, of Achaemenian Empire of a Persian dynasty that ruled 559-330 BC.
Achaia/ Achaea, ancient Greece. Its natives prior to the Dorian (q.v.) invasion (c.1000 BC) were known as Achaians.
Āchārya Dr. Prānkrishna, (1861-1936) a physician who joined politics after the partition of Bengal in 1905; he promoted Swadeshi crafts & education.
Acherontian, waters Acheron, a river of Thesprotia in south Epirus (q.v.) flowed underground at some points, hence considered to lead to Hades.
Achilleid, or Achilleis, Books I, VIII, & XI to XXII of the Iliad.
Achilles, son of Peleus & Thetis & one of the foremost Greek warriors in the Trojan War. When still a child, his mother had, hearing a prophecy th ...
Achitophel, adviser of King David of Israel, he joined Absalom’s revolt.
Achyuta, ‘the unfallen’, epithet of Sri Krishna.
Acirrous, cohort of Diomedes & a resident of Troezen (q.v.).
Acrisius, king of Argolis, his daughter Danaë gave birth to Perseus.
Acropolis, an elevated fortified part of a city. The Acropolis of Athens was adorned with great architectural & sculptural monuments.
Acrur, uncle of Sri Krishna who brought him & Balarāma from Gokul to Mathurā, as ordered by Kansa.
Adams, John, (1735-1826) a leader in America’s War of Independence, was elected its first Vice-President & then President (1797-1801).
Addison, Joseph, (1672-1719) English essayist, poet, dramatist; M.P. 1708-19.
Adhwara Yajna, yajña of the Path leading to the Divine, esp. the Soma sacrifice.
Aditi, “the infinite undivided consciousness of God”, personification of the Infinite & “the infinite Mother of the gods”. [SABCL Vol.11:32]
Ādityas/ Aditians/ Ᾱdityāh, sons of Adīti; the Solar gods born in Truth, their home, & descended into the lower planes as the guardians & increasers of the Truth in ...
Admetus, king of the Pherae in Thessaly & husband of Alcestes (q.v.), whom Apollo when he was banished from Olympus, served as a shepherd.
Adonais, Shelley’s elegy on the occasion of the death of Keats.
Adrianople, Europeanised name of Edirne, a city in European Turkey at the junction of the Tunca & Maritsa Rivers near the borders of Greece & Bulgar ...
Advisory Council of Notables/ Board of Notables, The original Council of India was established by the British Parliament’s Charter Act of 1833 for the Gov.-Gen. of the East India Compan ...
Advocate, English bi-weekly published from Lucknow, founded by Rai Bahadur Gangāprasād Varmā in 1888 & edited by R.N. Varmā.
Adya Shakti, is the Supreme Consciousness & Power above the universe & it is by her that all the Gods are manifested, & even the supramental Ishwara ...
Aeacid(s), son(s) of Aeacus who was a son of Zeus & Aegina. Peleus (q.v.), father of Achilles, was one of the Aeacids.
Aegean, arm of the Mediterranean Sea, between Greece & Asia Minor.
Aegisthus, son of Thyestes. He survived the murder of his brothers, killed his uncle Atreus (q.v.), became the lover of Clytemnestra (q.v.) & helpe ...
Aeneas, Trojan prince, son of Anchises & Aphrodite who, after the fall of Troy escaped to Italy with his aged father; his descendants founded Rome.
Aeneid, unfinished Latin epic by Virgil on the origins of Rome. The adventures of the Aeneas are its theme.
Aeolia, or Aeolis, on NW Coast of Asia Minor settled by Aeolians after fall of Troy.
Aeolus, (1) king of Magnesia in Thessaly, son of Helen, & father of Sisyphus (q.v.). He founded the Aeolian branch of his tribe. (2) In Homer, c ...
Aeschylus, (c.524-455 BC) Athenian poet considered inventor of Greek tragedy.
Aeson, father of Jason, driven out from his kingdom by his brother Pelian. In one legend he died while Jason was seeking the Golden Fleece; in ...
Aethiopes, in Homer, a dark-skinned race living by the stream Oceanus (cf. Ethiope).
Aetna/ Etna, active volcano on the coast of Sicily, highest in Europe. Its eruptions are believed to be caused by the giant Enceladus (q.v.).
Aetolia, region of ancient Greece.
Afrasiab, Afrasiyab (d.1624 /25), Iraqi governor of Basra.
Aftab, journal of Delhi started in 1906 by Syed Haider Reza. In a group photograph taken at Surat in December 1907, he sat beside Tilak & Sri A ...
Aga Khan, Title of the spiritual head the Bōrāh/ Khōjā Ismailian sect of Shia Mahomedans in India, East Africa & Central Asia. They are descendant ...
Agamedes, king of Orchomenus in Boeotia, in ancient Greece. [Cf. Ajamida]
Agamemnon, eldest son of Atreus (q.v.), brother of Menelaus; king of Mycenae (q.v.) & Argos (q.v.), led the Greek armies in the Trojan War.
Agarkar, Gopal Ganesh (1856-95); agreed with B.G. Tilak & V.K. Chiplunkar that the education system stipulated by the Minute on Education crafted ...
Agastya, Vedic sage, author of many hymns in the Rig Veda. “Agastya had been for years driving deep into the earth, the abyss of the subconscient ...
Agathon, (445-400 BC) Athenian tragic poet whose first success came at the festival in honour of Dionysus. Plato made that success the occasion f ...
Agesilaus, Agesilaus II (444-360 BC), king of Sparta (400-360 BC); though admired by contemporaries, notably Xenophon, his rule saw the ruin of Sparta.
Aglaia, one of the three Graces (q.v.), daughters of Zeus & Eurynome who personified beauty & charm; often associated with the Muses: Dionysus, ...
Agnayi, wife of Agni; daughter of Narmadā & Nīla, king of Mahismatipura on the banks of Narmadā. Her maiden name was Sudarshanā.
Agni / Agnidevata
Agni Purana, dictated by Agni to Rishi Vasishtha, one of the major eighteen Puranas, it is devoted to the Great God Shiva.
Agnimitra, son & successor of Pushyamitra who the founder of the Śuṅga dynasty (q.v.). During his father’s reign he was the viceroy in the Narmada ...
Agra, city on the river Yamuna or Jamunā, best known as the site of Taj Mahal. It was conquered in the first battle of Pāṇīpat 21 Apr.1526 by ...
Agrippa, Marcus Vipsanius (63-12 BC) adoptive son of Julius Caesar & companion of Octavian (later Augustus Caesar). In the struggle for power, af ...
Ahalyā, in Rāmāyana, the dedicated wife of Rishi Gautama. Indra, infatuated with her beauty, came disguised as Gautama, when the sage was away & ...
Ahmedabad
Ahrimān/ Āngra Manyu, the Destructive Spirit in the Avestā, the sacred book of the Zoroastrian religion. One of the two Primeval Powers, he is the Lord of Dar ...
Ahura Mazda/ Ahura Mazda/ Ormuzd, Lord of Wisdom in the Avestā, the sacred book of the Zoroastrian religion. One of the two Primeval Powers, he is the Supreme God, the cr ...
Ain-i-Akbari, in Persian by Abu-l-Fazl (1551-1602), Akbar’s friend, private secretary & adviser, is a survey of the achievements of Akbar’s economic & ...
Airāvata/ Irāvath, in Vishnu Purana the son of Irāvati, granddaughter of Rishi Kashyapa, he emerged as a white elephant from the cosmic Ocean of Milk when ...
Aitareya Upanishad, an Upanishad of the Rig Veda.
Aiyar, Krishnaswami, Moderate lawyer-politician appointed Judge of Madras High Court in 1909.
Aiyar, Subramaniya, G. Subramania Iyer (1855-1916), Moderate leader, jurist, & social reformer, who in 1878 founded The Hindu in collaboration with a few cl ...
Aiyar, T. Paramasiva, a geologist whose The Riks interprets the Vedas in geological terms & the Rishis who composed them as topographical formations of the time.
Aiyar, V.V.S., Varahaneri Venkatesa Subramanya Iyer (1881-1925), an authority on Kamban & Valluvar, he was a successful writer considered the originato ...
Aja, in Kālidāsa’s Raghuvamsha, a king who was chosen as husband by Indumati, sister of king Bhōja of Vidarbha.
Ajamede, puruvamshi Ajamida was great-grandson of the legendary king Bhārata, who was the son of Pururavas.
Ajatashatr(o)u, in Brihadāranyaka Upanishad, king of Kāshi who, though a Kshatriya instructed the Brāhmaṇa Gārgya (q.v.) as to the real nature of the Se ...
Ajax, (1) son of Oïleus & leader of the forces from Locris in the Trojan War hence called the Locrian Ajax or Ajax the Lesser. (2) Son of Tela ...
Ajmere, Ajmer capital of a former kingdom in Rājputāna. 1956, Ajmere became a part of the ‘Rajasthan’ state of the Socialist Secular Republic of ...
Ājwā, gigantic reservoir, c.12 miles from Baroda city, built in 1890-91 & opened Sayāji Sarovar on 29th March 1892 by Sayājirao. It was rename ...
Akashic records
Akbar, (1542-1605), exemplary grandson of Babur (an exemplary descendant of Taimur Lang & Chenghiz Khan), he was the 3rd Emperor of Mughal Hind ...
Akenside, Mark (1721-70) English poet best known The Pleasures of Imagination.
Aksha, eldest son of Rāvaṇa, slain in battle by Hanuman
Alaka/ Ullaca, capital of Kubera, half-brother of Rāvaṇa, king of Gāndharvas & Yakshas on Mt. Sumeru.
Alaric, Alaric I (370-410), chief of the Visigoths (a Germanic tribe) from AD 395; his army sacked Rome in August 410.
Alastor, or The Spirit of Solitude a poem by P.B. Shelley
Albert Einstein
Alcaeus, (c.620-580 BC) Greek lyric poet, contemporary of Sappho.
Alcestes, Alcestis daughter of Pelias & wife of Admetus, king of the Pherae in Thessaly. When Admetus was dying, she offered to die in his stead; ...
Alcibiades, (450-404 BC.), politician & military commander who provoked the bitter political antagonisms in Athens that were the main cause of Athen ...
Alexander, (356-323 BC), son of Philip II, king of Macedonia (376-323). In 333 & 331 Alexander defeated king of Persia, the last of the line of Dar ...
Alfieri, Vittorio Cone (1749-1803), Italian tragic poet whose lyrics & dramas helped revive the national spirit of Italy & so earned the title of ...
Alfred, Alfred the Great (849-899), Anglo-Saxon king (877-899) of Wessex, England, who repulsed the invading Danes, & promoted a great revival o ...
Alice Bailey
Alipore/ Alipur, a suburb of South Kolkata & headquarters of South 24-Parganas district of West Bengal. It was at Alipore that Warren Hastings built the ...
Allahabad, Since 1193, when it was captured by Sultan Mohammad Ghori of Delhi, Prayāga became a property of foreign invaders & masters. Seeing the ...
Allen, affair in Nov-Dec 1907, there was an attempt to kill B.C. Allen, who had just handed over charge of the office of District Magistrate of ...
Alwars, literally “those immersed in God”, were Tamil Vaishnava mystic-poets who sang praises of Vishnu as they travelled from one place to anot ...
Amara, Amarakosha (‘deathless dictionary’ or ‘dictionary by Amara’) by Amar Singh.
Amaravati/ Amraoti, ‘city of immortals’. Amravati is derived from Um(b)rāvati the corrupted form of Udumbrāvati the Sanskrit name given after the city’s anc ...
Ambegavkar, Ambegaonkar from Ambé (popular form of goddess Amba) is a surname of the Chandraseniya Kāyastha Prabhu community, a sub-caste of Kshatri ...
Amber, Ambér, capital of Kachwaha Rajputs ruling Rājputāna in 12th cent. The Rāṇā of Amber joined the national army formed by Rāṇā Saṇga (q.v.) ...
Amir Abdur Rahman, Abd-ul-Rahman Khan (1844-1901): Son of Afzal Khan, & grandson of the Amir Dost Muhammad: confirmed by his uncle Sher Ali, in 1863, in go ...
Amir Ali, Justice Sayyid Amir Ali (1849-1928), the first Indian to be appointed a judge of the Privy Council in England. Founder of the London br ...
Amitābha Buddha, the Buddha of Infinite Light, as he has vowed not to cross over into the Nothingness of Nirvana until a single creature is bound in sorr ...
Amours de voyage, a long poem of Clough (q.v.), based on a visit to Italy in 1849. It is written in elegiac couplets in hexameter & was published posthumo ...
Amphitrite, wife of Poseidon (q.v.) & mother of Triton, she was a Nereid (q.v.).
Amreli, originally Amaravalli, the Gaikwāds made it the administrative centre of Amreli, one of their five prānts. By 1892, it was one of the el ...
Amrita
Amrita Bazar Patrika, started in 1868 by Shishir Ghose & his brothers as a Bengali weekly in their village Amrita Bazar in Jessore, the next year it added col ...
Amritsar, is the site bestowed on the 4th Guru Ramdas in 1677 by Akbar that grew into the holiest city of the Sikhs. The Montague-Chelmsford (Mont ...
An Enemy of the People, play by Henrik Ibsen on sewage contamination.
Anabaptist, Protestant sect of German origin (1521), it rejects infant baptism, & seeks to establish of a Christian communism.
Anacreon, (582-485 BC), lyric poet of Greece; only fragments of his poetry survive.
Anadhrishty, son of Vriddhakshema, one of seven Yādava generals.
Anak, ancestor of Anakims, giants inhabiting Hebron & its vicinity at the time of the conquest of Canaan.
Anand
Ānanda Mīmāṁsā, literally “inquiry into the nature of bliss”.
Anandagiri, annotator of Ādi Shankarāchārya, who preached monistic Vedanta.
Ānandamath, by Bankim Chandra Chatterji (1882). “In Bengal the growth of literature made the greatest contribution to the development of national & ...
Anandarao, eldest of the three Jādhav brothers Sri Aurobindo knew when he was in Baroda. They were relatives of Sayājirao. See Khāserao & Madhavrao.
Ananias, member of the Christian Church at Jerusalem; he & his wife Sapphira were struck dead for misrepresenting the amount of their gifts to th ...
Ananke, personification of Compelling Necessity or Ultimate Fate to which even the gods must yield. She was sister of Themis (q.v.).
Ananta, Śeṣa Nāga, the Great Snake with a thousand hoods on which the earth stands; the Energy of the Infinite in Space-Time. Traditionally, Lor ...
Anasūya, (1) Anasūya, wife of Rishi Gautama, Yogini with spiritual & occult powers. (2) In Kālidāsa’s Abhijñāna Śākuntalam, friend of Shakuntalā.
Anathema Maranatha, Christian decree of excommunication: anathema ‘accursed’ in Greek, + Maranatha Aramaic for “The Lord is at hand” or “Come, Lord”.
Anatole France
Anaximander, (610-547 BC) Greek thinker.
Anaximenes, of Miletus (c.545 BC), Greek naturalist who taught that the single substance of the universe was Air; all other elements were produced b ...
Anchises, a Trojan prince. His liaison with Aphrodite on Mt. Ida resulted in the birth of Aeneas. Though forbidden to speak of it, he boasted of i ...
Ancient Mariner, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Coleridge.
Ancient Wisdom, a book on Theosophy by Annie Besant.
Andal, Tamil Vaishnava saint (c.8th cent.), putative daughter of Periya-Alwār (q.v.); popularly remembered for her Tiruppāvai.
Andhra Keshari, nationalist weekly published from Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh.
André Malraux
Andromeda, poem in hexameter by Charles Kingsley.
Aṇgah, kingdom donated by Duryodhana to Karṇa. The region comprising present Bengal is considered to have been part of Karṇa’s kingdom.
Aṇgirā, one of the six sons of Brahmā; father of Bhrihaspati.
Aṇgiras(a), one of the Prajāpatis; mentioned in all the Vedas, esp. Atharva Veda, which was dictated to him & Atharvān. His wife Sūrūpā gave birth t ...
Aniruddha, son of Pradyumna & grandson of Sri Krishna; his marriage to Usha, the daughter of the Asura king Bāṇāsura the most formidable enemy of h ...
Aṇjanā, wife of Vāyu, God of the Wind, hence her son Hanumān is called Āṇjaneya.
Annadamangal, principal poetic work of Bharatachandra.
Annam, An Nam or Trung Kỳ means “Pacified South” in Sino-Vietnamese, derived from the Chinese Ānnán. The region was seized by the French by 188 ...
Annapurna, the Supreme Mother’s aspect of Giver of Anna (food).
Dr. Annie Besant
Anousuya
Antaeus, son of Poseidon, who derived fresh strength whenever he touched the earth (Gaea, his mother). Antaeus compelled all strangers who passed ...
Antariksha/ Antariksha(m), the Mid-Region, between Heaven & Earth; the plane of the Gāndharvas, Apsarās, & Yakshas.
Antenor, a counsellor of Troy who, during the siege, hosted the Greek envoys & advised his king to return of Helen to them. This was seen by Troj ...
Antenorid, descendants of Antenor.
Antichrist/ Antéchrist, antagonist of Christ, expected to spread universal evil before the end of the world but finally to be conquered by Christ in his second ...
Antigone, daughter of Oedipus. She followed her father in banishment & disgrace. After her brothers, Eteocles & Polynices, were killed in the war ...
Antigonus, Antigonus I Monophthalmus (382-301 BC), Macedonian general under Alexander, who founded the Macedonian dynasty of the Antigonids. A bril ...
Antioch, ancient capital of Syria; a fraction of it survives as Antioch in SE Turkey.
Antiochus, Antiochus III, king of Syria (223-187 BC).
Antonin Raymond
Antony & Cleopatra, tragedy by Shakespeare.
Anu, in the Veda, a devotee of Indra, for whom he made a chariot, mentioned as an enemy of Sudas (q.v.).
Anushilan Samiti, started by Satish Chandra Bose in 1902 with P. Mitra) as it head, in Calcutta & Dacca as an association for lāthi-play & physical cultur ...
Anwar, probably Enver Pāshā (1881-1922), Ottoman general & commander-in-chief, a hero of the 1908 Young Turk Revolution; one of the triumvirate ...
Apaya, river flowing between Dhrishadvati & Saraswati, identified with the Ganga as Āpagā or as a tributary of the Saraswati which flowed past ...
Apelles, Hellenistic Greek painter regarded as the greatest of his time.
Aphrodite, Olympian goddess of love, beauty, & fertility; in Homer daughter of Zeus & Dione in Homer. The story of Aphrodite rising from the sea is ...
Apis, classical Greek form of Hape or Hapi, the sacred Egyptian bull worshipped at Memphis; protector of the sign ‘Jar’ in the European zodiac.
Apollo, son of Zeus & Leto; god of light, music, poetry, prophecy, medicine, pastoral pursuits & archery; his chief oracle was at Delphi. In lat ...
Apollo Bunder, pier built in an area reclaimed by the British administration around 1900 in order to build the Gateway of India designed to welcome Kin ...
Apollonius of Rhodes, Apollonius Rhodius (b.295 BC), Greek poet & grammarian of Alexandra & Rhodes, who wrote the Argonautica, an epic in four books, a Homeri ...
Appian Way, highway from Rome to Greece & the East, built in 312 BC under Appius Claudius Caccus.
Apte, Vāmana Shivaram (1858-92), lexicographer of Sanskrit, who wrote or compiled as many as six books, including dictionaries that are still ...
Apuliam, of Apulia (also known as Puglia), a coastal region of south Italy.
Arab/ Arabia, Prior to the rise of Muhammad & the unification of the tribes of Arabia under Islam, Arabs followed a pre-Islamic Arab polytheism, lived ...
Arabia, poem by Walter de la Mare.
Arabian Nights, The Arabian Nights Entertainment.
Arācan, the ancient kingdom was visited by merchants from southern India long before Alexandrian geographer Ptolemy arrived in 1st century CE & ...
Arachne, girl whom Athene turned into a spider for having challenged her to a trial of skill in weaving; hence Greek for all arthropods, i.e. spi ...
Aramaean, Aramaeans were a confederacy of tribes that spoke a North Semitic language & occupied Aram (11-8th cent BC) a large region in northern S ...
Aranyaka(s), Brāhmaṇas or expositions of the Vedas linking them to the Upanishads. They explain the inner meaning of the yajña performed by rishis.
Aranyani, goddess of the wilderness & desert (Sutras 1-6, Rig-Veda, Mandala X).
Ararat, Mountain on which Noah’s Ark came to rest at the end of the Flood; an extinct volcano in east Turkey with two peaks, Great Ararat & Litt ...
Arcadia/ Arcady, region of ancient Greece in Peloponnesus Mountains.
Archer, William, (1856-1924), a Scottish critic, born in Perth. He became a leader-writer on the Edinburgh Evening News in 1875 & obtained an M.A. at Uni ...
Archimedes, (287-212 BC), Greek mathematician, physicist, & inventor. To illustrate the principle of the lever he is said to have told King Hiero, “ ...
Arctic Home (in the Vedas), published in 1903 by Lōkamānya Tilak, the first manuscript of which says his preface, was written at the end of 1898. It propounded the ...
Ardhoday(a) Yog(a), concurrence of a particular day in the month of Pauśa or Māgha (Dec-Jan-Feb) with the constellation Shrāvaṇa that takes place in the day ...
Areopagus, hill NW of Acropolis of Athens, meeting place of the earliest aristocratic council of the city. The name was later extended to denote th ...
Ares, son of Zeus & Hera, god of war, lover of Aphrodite, father of the Amazon queen Penthesilea, he favoured the Trojans. He is identified as ...
Arethuse, poetic form of Arethusa, the nymph loved by the river-god Alpheus. She fled his attentions but Alpheus pursued & caught her; whence the ...
Argolis, region of ancient Greece in NE Peloponnesus, including Argive plain & cities of Argos & Mycenae. Argive denotes Grecian or Greek.
Argos, ancient Greek city in Peloponnesus, at the foot of the Mycenaean & classical acropolis called Larissa, in southern part of the Argive pl ...
Argus, or Panoptes; people of ancient Argos traced their origin to him. He became the 100-eyed guardian of Io, the princess of Argos after she ...
Ariosto, Ludovico (1474-1533), Italian epic & lyric poet & playwright.
Aristides, (died c.468 BC), Athenian statesman & general, called Aristides the Just.
Aristophanes, (448-388 BC), Athenian poet & writer of comedy.
Ārjuni, Abhimanyu as son of Arjūna. Arjūna means the White One
Armageddon, battlefield where, at the end of world history, the kings of the Earth allied under demoniac leadership will wage war on the forces of God.
Armand Roider
Armstrong, John (1709-79), physician, author of The Art of Preserving Health.
Arnold, Matthew, (1822-88), English poet, critic who tackled literature, theology, history, art, science, & politics.
Artemis, daughter of Zeus & Leto & twin sister of Apollo; a virgin huntress sometimes identified with the moon. In Sri Aurobindo’s Ilion she is a ...
Artha-shastra, In 1905 a copy of the Artha-shāstra in Sanskrit, written on palm leaves, was presented by a Tamil Brahmin from Thanjavur to the newly op ...
Arthur, Arthur I (1187-1203?), Duke of Brittany, grandson of King Henry II of England. In Shakespeare’s tragedy King John, he is Duke of Brittan ...
Arundhati, wife of Vasishtha, a sati or epitome of conjugal excellence.
Arya Samaj, a social-reform body founded by Swami Dayānanda Saraswati in 1875 to re-establish the Vedas as a living religious scripture. He rejected ...
Āryabhatta, (476-550), astronomer & mathematician, Father of Algebra.
Aryaman, in Vedas, one of the four powers of the Truth of Surya; he represents the immortal puissance of the clear-discerning aspiration & endeav ...
Āryavarta/ Āryabhumi/ Āryaland/ Āryasthān, regions from the Himalayas to Kanyā Kumari, the immortal nation of the strong, great & lofty spirited Arya(n)s. “The sub-continent of I ...
Ascent to Earth of the Daughter of Hades, poem by George Meredith.
Ashe, Robert William d’Escourt (1872-1911) born in Denegal, Ireland, studied at Dublin High School; 40th of 61 who passed ICS Entrance Exam in ...
Ashōka/ Asoca/ Aśoka, (ruled c.273 to c.232 BC). The successor of Chandragupta Maurya was his son Bindusāra Amitraghāta (destroyer of enemies). Tradition cred ...
Ashwala, (Uswal) Hotri priest of Janaka, king of Videha, who appears as an authority in the Brihadāranyaka Upanishad.
As(h)wamedha, ‘Horse-Sacrifice’, performed to establish supreme sovereignty over all earth. Symbolically, it is the offering one’s vital with all its ...
Ashwamedha (Bharata), Vedic Rishi, a descendant of Bharat, the king of the Chandra Vamsha dynasty after whom the Aryavarta became Bhāratavarsha.
As(h)wattha/ Aśvattha/ Uswuttha, fig-tree which symbolises cosmic manifestation.
As(h)watthama/ Ashwatthāma, son of Drōṇa, & one of Duryodhana’s generals. He was cursed to live forever for having murdered the sleeping sons of the Pandavas.
As(h)wins/ Uswins, ‘Riders on the Steed of Life’, the twin gods of Vedas. They are beneficent powers of Truth whose special function is to perfect the nerv ...
Asita, descendant of Rishi Kashyapa, also called Devala or Asita Devala.
Asius, Trojan warrior, son of Dymas & brother of Hecuba.
Aspasia, mistress of Pericles, renowned for her learning, wit, & beauty.
Aspromonte, mountainous region in south Italy, 25 kilometres from Reggio. Here, in 1862, Garibaldi leading a volunteer corps against Rome, suffered ...
Asquith, Lord Herbert Henry (1852-1928); Liberal M.P. (1886-1918, 1920-24); Prime Minister (1908-16), responsible for the Parliament Act of 1911 ...
Assam, The precise origin of the term Assam is not known, but western/westernised scholars prefer the Tai term A-Cham & the Bodo term Ha-Sam. A ...
Astarte/ Ashtaroth/ Ashtoreth, Jewish goddess of moon, fertility, beauty, love.
Asura, a being of the mentalised vital plane; the intellectualised but unregenerate Ego. It is the sixth type from below of the ten forms of co ...
Aśwalayana, founder of a Śākhā of the Rig Veda.
Aswapati/ Aswapathy, Lord of the Horse, i.e. Tapasyā.
Ate, daughter of Zeus who cast her from his Olympus. She was a personification of the rash temper which leads men to folly & misfortune. In G ...
Athanasian Creed, Christian profession of faith, also known as the Quicunque vult, a Latin exposition of orthodox teaching on the Trinity & the incarnatio ...
Atharva Veda, also called Atharvān (Ātharvana), after its creator.
Atharvān/ Atharvā, eldest son of Lord Brahma & seer of the Atharva Veda. His descendants, Atharvāns, are often associated with Āṇgirasas.
Athene/ Pallas (Athene)/ Athena, sprang, unmothered, from the forehead of Zeus, goddess of reason & skill, the arts of peace & war, & guardian of cities, esp. Athens, s ...
Atlanta in Calydon, drama by Swinburne in lyrical Greek form with choruses.
Atreus, king of Mycenae (q.v.); suffering from the curse laid on his father Pelops (q.v.), he brought an even greater curse (see Thyestean) upon ...
Atri, ‘eater’ or ‘traveller’, one of the Prajāpatis, he composed many Vedic hymns, esp. those composed in praise of Agni, Indra, the Ashwins, ...
Atrides/ Atridae/ Atreids, descendants of Atreus, esp. Agamemnon & Menelaus.
Attica, in ancient Greece, a triangular area around Athens.
Attila, king of Huns (c.433-53) who shattered the decadent Roman Empire.
Attis, poem by Catullus (q.v.) in which Attis emasculates himself in order to become a priest of Cybele (q.v.), Mother of Gods, then regrets. A ...
Auddalaki Āruni, descendant of Uddālaka Āruni. Āruni is the patronymic normally referring to Uddālaka whose mother was the revered yogini Arūṇā Aupaveśi.
Augustan, The Augustan Age (43BC–18AD) was a most illustrious period in Latin literary history. “Augustan Age” is applied to 18th century England ...
Augustus Caesar, (63 BC to 14 AD) grandson of Julius Caesar’s sister & first Caesar (Roman Emperor). Born Gaius Octavius, he became, on adoption by the J ...
Aulis, landlocked harbour on the east coast of Boeotia from where the Greek fleet sailed to Troy, after Agamemnon killed his daughter Iphigenia ...
Aundh Commission, appointed by Govt. in 1907 to shore up its charge against the Prince of Aundh (in Bombay Presidency) of killing his chief minister. Unde ...
Aurangzeb(e), (1618-1707), 6th Mogul Emperor (1659-1707), 3rd son of Shah-Jahan, he named himself Ālamgīr (conqueror of the world). He initiated his G ...
Austin, Alfred, (1835-1913), succeeded Tennyson as poet laureate as he wrote in praise of English & Italian countrysides.
Austria, currently a land-locked federal republic in central Europe. Before World War I (1914-19) it was with Hungary an empire & one of the grea ...
Austro-Italian, Sri Aurobindo: “[A] feeling or a thought, Nationalism, Democracy, the aspiration towards liberty, cannot be estimated in the terms of co ...
Auto-de-fé, “act of faith” in Portuguese, a ceremony or festival during which the sentences upon those brought before the Spanish Inquisition (16th- ...
Automedon, son of Diores, drove Achilles’ chariot hitched to the immortal horses Balius & Xanthus.
Avachuri, gloss or short commentary in Sanskrit on Kumarasambhavam.
Avant(h)i(e)/ Avanty/ Avunthie, also Avaṇtikā; ancient kingdom corresponding roughly to present western Mālwā (q.v.) in Madhya Pradesh. In 600 BC its capital was Mahish ...
Avelion or Avalon, in Arthurian legend, a place in “Isle of the Blessed” of the Celts, where King Arthur was conveyed for the healing of his wounds after h ...
Avernus, entrance to Hades, a lake on whose banks dwelt Homer’s Cimmerians.
Avesta, sacred Book of Zoroastrianism containing its cosmogony, law, liturgy, & the teachings of Zoroaster. Zend-Avesta is a commentary. Their v ...
Avvai, Awaiyār, Tamil saint-poet; like Ᾱndāla (q.v.) pre-6th cent.
Aylmer, Rose, daughter of Lord Aylmer, whose lover Landor (q.v.) wrote the elegy Rose Aylmer. Exiled to Calcutta, she died at the age of twenty.
Ayodhya, capital of Koshala, the kingdom founded by Ikshvāku of the Sūrya Vamsha.
Ᾱyush, first-born son of Pururavas & Urvashi, in Kālidāsa’s Vikramorvasīyam.
Azrael, in Koran, angel of death, who severs soul from body.
Dr. Agarwal

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Baal, the most important god in the pantheon Canaanites; the Old Testament speaks frequently of the Baal of a given place or refers to Baalim ...
Babel, the Tower of Babel; ancient multi-ethnic Babylonian city & tower “with its top in the heavens” to reunite humanity with its Creator. The ...
Bacchae, tragedy by the Greek poet Euripides in 5th cent BC, on the Pentheus story.
Bacchus, Roman god of wine, identified with Dionysus (q.v.). He was also a god of vegetation & fertility, & the protector of vines. [Cf. Soma]
Bach, Johann Sebastian (1685-1750), principal figure of the Baroque Age of European music.
Bacon, Francis (1561-1626), English lawyer, courtier, statesman, philosopher, writer, best-known for his Essays.
Bactria, region between Hindukūsh & Amu Darya or Oxus; its capital was Bactra, ancient Vahlika & Balkh [s/a Ashōka]
Bāgdī, mid-6th century it was one of the five divisions of Gauḍa (see Bengal). Later its natives, who became mainly fishermen, palanquin-bearer ...
Baghdad, city of ancient Mesopotamia on the Tigris, closest to Euphrates. From 5th millennium BC, it was a nodal point of desert travel & trade, ...
Baha Ullah
Bahadur Shah, (1) Bahadur Shah I, 7th Moghul Emperor (1707-12). (2) Bahadur Shah (1775-1862), 19th & last Moghul emperor (1837-1857): a philosopher-po ...
Baha’ism, founded in 1862 by “Bahā’-Ullāh” (born Mīrzā Hosayn’-Alī Nūrī, 1817-92), sprang from Persia’s Shi’ite Shaikhism & Bābism. The former, wh ...
Bāhuka, alias of King Nala while in disguise as a trainer of horses & charioteer at the court of Ṛtuparṇa, the king of Ayodhya.
Baidyanath, The Boidyonātha dhāma at Deoghar claims to be Paralyām Vaidyanātham, fifth of the twelve in Dwādasha Jyotirlingam Stotram. However, the ...
Baital Pachisi, Betal-Panchvimśati (1847) by Īśvara Chandra Vidyāsāgara, based on Shiva Das Bhatt’s Vaitala-Pancha-vimsaka, was the first prose work of ...
Bāji Prabhou, one of the longer poems by Sri Aurobindo, based on the historical incident of the heroic self-sacrifice of a fearless general of Shivaji ...
Bāji Rao, Bāji Rao I (18Aug1700–28Apr1740) was eldest son & successor of Bālāji Vishwanath Bhat. Bālāji, one of eight ministers of Chhatrapati Sha ...
Baker, Sir Edward, (1857-1913), educated at Christ’s College, Finchley: passed ICS & went out to Bengal 1878 as Under Secretary to the Governor of Bengal & ...
Bālabhārat, Bāla Bhāratam, English monthly edited by Subramania Bhārati in which he published his patriotic songs & poems, scriptural hymns & philos ...
Balarām(a)/ Rām(a), The Puranas, which identify him with Lord Vishnu’s Seshanāga, speak of him as the fiery tempered Lakshmaṇa, younger brother of Sri Rāma, ...
Balfour, A.J., Arthur James (1848-1930), British politician who dominated Britain’s Conservative Party for 50 years, was Prime Minister (1902-5) & Fore ...
Bali, principled king of the Asūras, who after obtaining the boon of lordship over the three worlds, held a Yajña. After which, as required by ...
Balkans, The Balkan Peninsula comprised all of Albania, continental Greece, Bulgaria, European Turkey, most of Yugoslavia, & south-eastern Rumani ...
Balkh, ancient Bactra, capital of Bactria. As capital of Khorasan under the Abbassides & Samanids, it was a noted centre of Islamic learning.
Balkis, Queen of Sheba (see Sheban).
Ballad of the White Horse, poem by G.K. Chesterton.
Balzac, Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850), French novelist; he converted what had been styled romance into a record of human experience.
Bana, Bāṇabhaṭṭa was the court-poet of King Harshavardhana of the Pushyabhūti dynasty of Thāneshwar & Kanauj. His work Harsha-charita, written ...
Bande Mataram, (1) nationalist English daily started in August 1906 by Bepin Chandra Pal with Sri Aurobindo as its joint editor. By year-end Sri Aurobi ...
Bande Mataram/ Vande Mātaram, ‘Hymn to the Mother’, was composed by Bankim Chandra Chatterji in 1876 at Chinsurah (q.v.) as a hymn to his native Bengal. In 1882 he in ...
Bandopadhyaya, Basant Kumar, (b. c.1883), a revolutionary of Chandernagore, who, in an interview with undertrial prisoners in Alipore Jail, passed to them the revolv ...
Bandopadhyaya, Jitendralal, one of four persons representing the Nationalist Party on the committee formed at the Hooghly Provincial Conference in 1909 to bring abo ...
Banerjee, Kali Charan, (1847-1907) literally ‘by Grace of Kāli’s Feet’: born in a Brahmin family: obtained his M.A. & B.L. at Calcutta University: converted to ...
Banerjee, Panchcowri, (1866-1923), journalist & stylist in Bengali prose, a master of Sanskrit, Hindi, Urdu, Persian, & English. He was connected with Bangabā ...
Banerji, Ashwini, (1866-1945), barrister at the Calcutta High Court, & leader of mill hands, he is considered as the founder of the Labour movement in Bengal.
Banerji, Hemchandra, (1838-1903), educated in his village & at the Hindu College, Calcutta: entered Govt. Service in the Military Auditor General’s office: o ...
Banerji, Jatin, Jatindra Nath Banerjee (Nirālamba Swami) (1877–1930). Jatindra was born at Channa village in Burdwan district. His father, Kāli Charan B ...
Banerji, Shyamakanta, his stunning physical strength & extraordinary calm, courage, & self-confidence created the legend of wild & ferocious animals crouching ...
Banerji, Surendranath, (1848-1925) Sir S.N. Bannerjea educated at Doreton College, Calcutta: B.A. 1868: ICS entrance exam (1869) & went up to Univ. College, L ...
Banerji, Upen(dranath), (1879-1950), revolutionary of Chandernagore & one of Sri Aurobindo’s associates (sub-editor) on the Bande Mataram staff. Master of Benga ...
Banga Lakshmi (Cotton) Mill, established by Byomkesh Chakravarti (q.v.), along with others of the Indian Association in 1906 to meet the demand for Swadeshi cloth.
Bangabāsi School/ Bangabāsi College, the School was founded in 1886 by G.C. Bose & Bhupal Chandra Bose, with the former as principal, on Scott’s Lane (q.v.) near Sealdah rai ...
Bangadars(h)an, Bengali monthly founded in 1872, under the editorship of Bankim Chandra; a literary journal & review, it serialized some of Bankim’s lat ...
Banquet, The Banquet or The Symposium, title of a dialogue by Plato in which Socrates, Aristophanes, Alcibiades, & others discuss the nature of l ...
Bāpat Case, F.A.H. Elliot (d.1910), an ICS officer of Bombay presidency, was appointed principal tutor to 12-year old Sayājirao to groom him into a ...
Bāppā, Bāppā Rāwal was born Prince Kālbhoj (c.713-810) at Eklingji (q.v.), Mewār. He became the 8th ruler (c.734-53) of the Guhilot or Gehlot R ...
Baptista, Joseph, (1864-1930), a barrister of Bombay & one of the leaders of Tilak’s nationalist party. In 1919, on behalf of the Socialist Democratic Par ...
Barabbas, in Christian mythology, a robber & murderer named Barabbas (‘son of the master’ in Aramaic) was held in jail by the Roman authorities of ...
Barbary, name originates from the Berbers, chief & oldest known inhabitants of the region, & for centuries stood for pirates who preyed upon Medi ...
Barcelona, capital of Barcelona province in North-Eastern Spain, a major Mediterranean port, & the second largest city of Spain. It was repeatedly ...
Bardoli, town in Surat district of Gujarat. The Khilafat Agitation, having led to riots & massacres, was put down by the British Govt. in Novembe ...
Barhaspathas, descendants of Rishi Bhrihaspati.
Barin
Barisal, town & district which pioneered the anti-partition movement in 1905. To suppress the growing nationalism in Bengal, Curzon created East ...
Barley
Barmecide, In The Arabian Nights in the story “Barber’s Sixth Brother” a Barmecide prince invites a hungry beggar to a banquet & serves a successio ...
Barmeky, or Barmeki, son of Barmak; here it refers to Jā’far bin Barmak
Barnesville, subdivisional officer of Jamalpur was transferred after he had executed to a ‘T’ Lt-Gov. Bampfylde Fuller’s wishes to actively promote & ...
Barnum, Phineas Taylor (1810-91), American showman famed for innovative forms of public amusements like museums, concerts, & circus.
Baroda, Ankotakka (present-day Akota), a settlement on the western bank of Vishwāmitri, burgeoned into a vital commercial centre in Vallabhipur ...
Baroda College, Sri Aurobindo began working in this College (then affiliated to Bombay University) in 1897 while continuing with his other official duti ...
Baron
Barrack Room Ballads, by Rudyard Kipling.
Bartamān Rananīti, booklet published in 1907 by Abinash Bhattacharya dealing with military data of some European countries.
Basanti, Chakravarti, Sri Aurobindo’s cousin, daughter of Krishna Kumar Mitra, the first person to receive a letter written by Sri Aurobindo in B ...
Bassora, Basra, a port-city of Iraq, was a centre of Arabic literature, poetry, science, commerce, & finance in 8th & 9th centuries [s/a Abbasside].
Bāsumati, Bengali weekly started in 1896 by Upendra Nath Mukherji. In 1914, he founded the Dainik Bāsumati, a Bengali daily.
Basuto, a tribe of Basutoland (a plateau in the Drakensberg range in South Africa) which was used by British invaders to block the advancing Boe ...
Battala, woodcut relief prints produced in the Battala region of Calcutta. Although woodblock printing on fabrics has been in India for centuries ...
Baudelaire, Charles Pierre (1821-67), French poet whose theories were a source of the European symbolist movement.
Bauls, Bengali sannyāsis (comprising Hindu & Muslim Sufis) known for the spontaneity of their mystical verse.
Baxter, Richard (1615-91), Presbyterian preacher.
Bayard, Pierre Terrail, seigneur de Bayard (d.1524), French military hero, called le chevalier sans peur et sans reproche, the knight without fe ...
Beachcroft, Sir Charles Porten (1871-1927); son of an ICS man he entered Rugby School, Warwickshire. Founded in 1567, Rugby is one of the 10 origina ...
Beatrice, Beatrice Portinari (1260-90), believed to be the Beatrice of Dante’s Divina commedia (The Divine Comedy) & Vita nuova (The New Life).
Beatrice Joanna, of The Changeling by Thomas Middleton & William Rowley.
Beattie, James (1735-1803); his The Minstrel was one of the earliest poems of the Romantic Movement.
Beau Brummel/ Brummell, George Bryan (1778-1840), an English playboy.
Beautiful White Devil, see Vittoria Corombona.
Bedlam, a hospital in 1330, handed over to the City of London in 1547 as a mental asylum; the term is colloquial for pandemonium.
Beecham, Sir Thomas, (1879-1961), English conductor who championed the music of Frederick Delius & used his personal fortune for the improvement of orchestra ...
Beelzebub, Lord of Flies, an epithet of Satan known as Prince of Devils.
Beethoven, Ludwig van (1770-1827), German musician & composer considered one of the greatest in the history of Western music. He was the first majo ...
Begbie, Harold, (1871-1929), didactic English journalist & novelist.
Belial, epithet for evil or subversive person in Old Testament.
Bell, Beatson, Sir Nicholson Dodd Beatson Bell (1867-1936): entered the ICS in 1896, served in Bengal & Assam: Chief Commissioner in Assam (1918-21).
Bellerophon, Greek hero originally named Hipponus, an ancestor of Sarpedon & a native of Ephyre (Corinth), who rode the immortal winged horse Pegasus ...
Belloc, H., Joseph-Pierre Hilaire Belloc (1870-1953), French-born poet, historian, essayist, & novelist, one of the most versatile of popular Englis ...
Bellona, Roman goddess of war.
Belphegor, Syrian god who symbolised the Sun; Israelites also paid homage to him. Sri Aurobindo’s uses the term for a transfiguring spiritual light.
Belshazzar, (died c.539 BC); co-regent of Babylon at whose feast the words Mene, Mene, Tekel, & Parsin appeared on the wall. The prophet Daniel (q.v ...
Belton, English commander of the army of Mulai Hamid, the Sultan of Morocco; he resigned in protest against Hamid’s barbaric treatment of politi ...
Belvedere, former viceregal mansion in South Calcutta, presently housing Govt. of India’s National Library. ‘Belvedere’ is Italian for “beautiful v ...
Ben Jonson, (1572-1637), Elizabethan poet & dramatist, & critic.
Benares (Hindu) College/ Central Hindu College, “Warren Hastings encouraged the revival of Indian learning & to him we owe,” says Dr. R.C. Majumdar, “the foundation of the Calcutta Mad ...
Benares, spelling before 1937 of Banaras, the popularised form of Vārānasi. Most of the district currently known as Vārānasi was acquired by Gang ...
Bengal, is the anglicised form of Bānglā evolved from the Bengali Baṇga of the Sanskrit Vaṇga which denoted Eastern & Central Bengal in the age ...
Bengalee, English weekly started in 1862 & edited by Girish Chandra Ghose. Dr. K.D. Ghose, Sri Aurobindo’s father, used to mail copies of this pap ...
Benjamin
Benoy (Bhūshan), (1867-1947), eldest brother of Sri Aurobindo, known as Beno in the family circle; he failed at the entrance test for St. Paul’s, & in 18 ...
Bent, author of Life of Garibaldi.
Bentham, Jeremy (1748-1831), English economist & political theorist whose inventions of ‘scientific solutions to social problems’, founded the Ut ...
Bentinck, Lord William (Henry Cavendish) (1774-1839), entered the Army 1791, saw service in Netherlands & Italy: Governor of Madras 1803-07 but he ...
Ber, J.M., In Dec.1912, he talked “about Mantras” to some spiritual seekers in Paris.
Berber, a north African tribe inhabiting the region from Sahara to the Mediterranean & from Egypt to the Atlantic coast, whose civilisation is d ...
Bergson, Henri (1859-1941), French philosopher, exponent of process philosophy. His works won him the 1927 Nobel Prize for Literature.
Berkeley, George (1685-1753), Irish intellectual & exponent of immaterialism.
Berlioz, Hector
Berni,, Francesco (1497/98-1535), Italian poet & translator, important for his Tuscan version of Boiardo’s epic poem Orlando innamorato & for th ...
Besant Annie, (1847-1933) born in London to Mr William Page Wood: educated privately in England, Germany & France: married Rev. Frank Besant, 1867, di ...
Beulah, in Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, a land of rest at end of life’s journey.
Bhadracar, king & people oppressed by Jarāsandha fled their kingdom.
Bhaga, Lord of Enjoyment, classed among the Ādityas & the Vishwadevas (q.v.). He is one of the four powers of the Truth of Surya, & represents ...
Bhāga Dutt, king of Pragjyotishpur (Kāmarūpa); in the Mahabharata war he sided with the Kauravas, & was killed by Arjūna.
Bhagalpur, a town just south of Ganga, in Bhāgalpūr district, Bihar. It was the place Dr K.D. Ghose was first sent by the Govt.’s Medical Departmen ...
Bhagavad Purana, made up of 18,000 shlokas in 12 skandhas or books; its 10th book narrates in detail the events of Krishna’s life.
Bhagawan Das, (1869-1958), scholar & educationist of Benaras, founder-member of the Central Hindu College, Varanasi, connected with Kāshi Vidyapeeth, ...
Bhagirath(a)/ Bhagiruth/ Bhogiratha, descendant of the Vedic King Sāgara of the Ikshvākū Kūla which ruled the kingdom of Koshala from Ayodhyā, whose saga is found in several ...
Bhāgirathie, a headstream of the holy Gungā which is also the name of its tributary in West Bengal forming western boundary of Gungā delta.
Bhao, Sadāshiv Rao was a first cousin (bhāo) of Bālāji Bāji Rao (son of Bāji Rao I), the 3rd Peshwa, & one of his generals. In 1747, Ahmed Sha ...
Bhao Girdi, may mean “Bhao & Gardī”, i.e., Sadāshiv Rao Bhāo & Ibrahim Khan Gardī who commanded a large train of artillery maintained by Bhāo; or th ...
Bharat/ Bharuth, a Rishi whose Nāṭya-Shāstra, treatise on dramatic arts, is still the basic manual for dancers & actors.
Bharat Dharma Mahāmandala, a duly registered association of Hindus formed at Mathura in 1902. In the December 1903 Session of the Congress, Sir Subramania Ᾱyyar & ...
Bhārat Mitra, nationalist Hindi daily published by Bal Mukund Gupta & Ambika Prasad Bajpai; suppressed by the Press Act of 1910.
Bhārata, the epic written by Vyāsa, later enlarged into the Mahābhārata.
Bharat(a)/ Bharath, son of Dasharatha & Kaikeyi; he ruled Ayodhya as an agent of his elder brother Rama, during the latter’s 14-year exile.
Bharat(a)/ Bharutha, son of Dushyanta & Shakuntalā & one of the greatest Chandra-Vamshi rulers; his empire became known as Bhāratavarsha & his descendants Bh ...
Bharatachandra Raya, (1712-60), the first writer of power & elegance in Bengali, a court poet of Raja Krishnachandra of Nadia (Bengal), who bestowed on him t ...
Bhārathī, Suddhānanda, (1893-1990), a yogi, a prolific writer & distinguished poet in Tamil & other languages. He practised yoga first under Raman Maharshi & t ...
Bharati, Bengali monthly started in 1878 & edited by Dvijendranath Tagore.
Bharavi, 7th century classical Sanskrit poet; some consider him, just on the strength of his Kirāta-arjūniya, almost the peer of Kālidāsa.
Bhārgava (the Vidarbhan), descendant of Bhrigu, he came to Rishi Pippalāda from Vidarbha in search of knowledge.
Bhartrihari, Some researchers ascribe c.450-510, some c.570, & some c.651, as the period he lived in, while some believe there were two Bhartriharis: ...
Bhāsha, the earliest known dramatist, believed to have written thirteen plays, of which critics consider Svapna-vasavadatta the best.
Bhāskara, There were two Bhāskaras recognized for their significant contributions in astronomy field. The first, a contemporary of Brahmagupta, wa ...
Bhaskaracharya
Bhāskarānanda, Swami, (1833-99) was born in the village in Kanpur, Rajasthan; at eight he learnt the elements of Sanskrit & completed his study on Panini at s ...
Bhatkhande, Vishnu Narayan (1875-1936), modernised the science of Hindustani music. The Mādhava Music College of Gwalior & Marris College of Music i ...
Bhatpara, an ancient seat of Sanskrit learning running several traditional Sanskrit schools or tols; it is a town in 24-Parganas east of the Hooghly.
Bhatta, Nagoji, commentator on Chandi or Chandipātha, a 700-stanzed Tantric invocation & celebration of Goddess Durgā’s victories over the Asūras.
Bhattacharjee, Basanta, printer & publisher of Yugantar, who in September 1907 was sentenced to 2 years’ rigorous imprisonment & fined Rs.1000.
Bhattacharya, Abinash Chandra, (1882-1962) published Bartamān Rananīti (modern method of warfare), Mukti kon Pothe (Which Way Freedom?), & other books. In his reminisc ...
Bhatti, Bhattikāvya or Rāvana-Vadha, a narrative poem of 22 cantos, written by Bhatti with the object of illustrating the rules & principles of ...
Bhavabhuti, (c.700), dramatist, poet & author of three of the best extant dramas, Vīra-Charita, Uttara Rāma-Charita, & Mālati Mādhava. These plays, ...
Bhawani Mandir, a brochure written by Sri Aurobindo around 1902-05) for his brother Barindra to circulate among patriotic Indians willing to dedicate th ...
Bheel(s)/ Bhils, a hill-tribe referred to as Nishādhas in Vedic literature. In feudal times, many were employed in various capacities because of their kn ...
Bhis(h)ma, Bhīṣma was in reality Prabhāsa, the youngest of the eight Vāsūs (q.v.). Once, when they visited Maharshi Vasishtha’s ashram with their w ...
Bhishmuc/ Bheeshmuc, king of Vidarbha in the Bhōja dynasty of Chandra-Vamsha & his daughter Rukminie married Sri Krishna.
Bhōja(s), (1) proper name borne by several princes of Kanauj & Mālavā; (2) the royal designation applicable to the monarchs of the southern mid-re ...
Bhonsle, dynasty founded by Chhatrapati Shivaji – a leading power in Marāthā Confederacy. Sri Aurobindo uses ‘Bhonsle’ an epithet of Bāji Prabhou ...
Bhopatkar, Bhāskara Balwant (1874-1949), lawyer of Poona, who in 1905 started Bhālā, a Marathi weekly, in support of nationalism. The High Court of ...
Bhrig(o)u (Vāruni), a Vedic Rishi & one of the Prajāpatis; “the most august & venerable name in Vedic literature” [SABCL 27:152]. As son of Varuna, Bhrigu b ...
Bhrigu (Samhita), a voluminous work on astrology by Rishi Bhrigu. It is said to contain several thousand horoscopes depicting all possible relative positi ...
Bhrigūs, semi-divine beings connected with Agni; producers or nourishers of Fire. In their work they are associated with the Āṇgirasas, Atharvāns ...
Bhūr/ Bhū/ Bhū(r)loka, the material world, symbolically the physical consciousness. It is the lowest of the seven worlds of Purāṇas, & one of the three vyāhṛti ...
Bhuriśrava(s), son of Sōma Datta & an ally of the Kauravas.
Bhūvar/ Bhūvah/ Bhūvarloka, the world of various becomings – symbolically the intermediate dynamic vital & nervous consciousness. It is the second lowest of the sev ...
Bijoli, Bengali political weekly edited by Nalinikanta Sarkar & Barindra Kumar Ghose, published from Calcutta; it appeared from 1920 to 1924.
Bijoy/ Bejoy/ Bijoy Kumar Nag, (1892-1935) born at Rajshahi in 1892: arrested in 1908 in the Alipore Bomb Case: acquitted at the Sessions Court in 1909: accompanied Sr ...
Billingsgate, oldest of London’s markets, by the River Thames at the north end of London Bridge. Since 16th century, a fish market – hence “Billingsga ...
Bilwamangal, a well-known Vaishnava saint of South India, son of a devout Brahmin, Ramdas. He had received a devotional education from his father. Bu ...
Binyon, Laurence, Robert Laurence Binyon (1869-1943) was born in Lancaster, Lancashire. He took up drawing & painting seriously when still at St. Paul’s S ...
Bipāsha, Vipāshā, one of the five rivers of Panjab, now called the Beas.
Biren, Roy, a spy who had infiltrated Sri Aurobindo’s household as a servant of Nāgen Nag, a cousin of Bijoy Nag who had come with Sri Aurobind ...
Birkbeck, George, (1776-1841), English physician who pioneered schools for workmen. In 1823, he helped found the London Mechanic’s Institution of which he ...
Birkenhead, Frederick Edwin Smith, 1st Earl of Birkenhead (1872-1930), a very successful English lawyer, orator, & statesman who was Secretary of St ...
Birley, District Magistrate of 24-Parganas who committed the accused in the Alipore Bomb Case to the Sessions Court.
Birrell Augustine, (1850-1933), English Chief Secretary for Ireland (1907-16), dismissed for failing to prevent Irish nationalists’ Easter Week revolt in D ...
Bis(h)abriksha, (Poison-Tree) a Bengali novel (1873) by Bankim Chandra.
Bismarck, Otto von, (1815-98), first chancellor of the German Empire.
Bitōṣtā, Bengali accent of Vitastā, the ancient river which flows through Kashmir & Punjab.
Black Hundred(s), ‘League of the Russian People’, organization of anti-Semitic groups formed during the 1905 revolution with off-the-record approval of th ...
Blake, William, (1757-1827), English poet, painter, engraver, & visionary.
Blancpain, Marc
Blavatsky, Madame, Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831-91), born at Ekaterinoslav: daughter of Col. Peter Hahn of a noble family of Mecklenburg, settled in Rus ...
Bloomfield Murder Case, Early in August Justices Mitter & Fletcher) of the Calcutta High Court annulled the death sentences pronounced by the Sessions judge on ...
Blotton, character in Dickens’ The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club.
Blunt, Wilfrid, W. Scawen Blunt (1840-1922), English poet whose sympathy for weak & oppressed led him to champion Indian, Egyptian, & Irish home rule.
Boadicea, poem in galliambics by Tennyson. Boadicea or Boudicca was an English queen who died in the year 60 while leading a revolt against Roman ...
Boccaccio, Giovanni (1313-75), Italian poet & novelist, author of the Decameron.
Bodas-Ghose Committee, a provincial conference convened by (Mahādev Rajaram?) Bodas & Sri Aurobindo in 1908 after the Moderates split Congress at Surat, to dev ...
Bodhisattva, In the Mahayana School, Buddhists or saints, who have qualified themselves to attain Nirvana in this life but voluntarily forego that st ...
Boeotian, of Boeotia, a district of ancient Greece, with a distinctive military, artistic, & political history. It lay north of Attica. The Atheni ...
Boer(s), name applied to South Africans of Dutch or Huguenot descent, especially to early settlers of the Transvaal & the Orange Free State. Impe ...
Boiardo, Matteo Maria, Conte Boiardo (1441-94), Italian poet writing in Latin & Italian.
Boithorini(e)/ Bhogavat(h)ie, Vaitarini, the river to be crossed, before Pātāla-lōkas can be entered; “the Ganges of the dead”, in the Pātāla-lōkas; “the river doloro ...
Bolingbroke, Henry St. John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke (1678-1751), prominent in the reign of Queen Anne (1702-14); later a major propagandist in oppo ...
Bomba, King, Ferdinand II, Bourbon king of Naples (1830-59), called “Bomba” on account of his bombardment of Messina in 1848.
Bombay, On the morning of 6th February 1893, as soon as S.S. Carthage (that brought Sri Aurobindo back to India) entered the Aura of his motherl ...
Bombay Chronicle, English daily founded in 1913 by Pherozshah Mehta as an organ of the Moderates & edited by B.G. Horniman.
Bombay University, The first Indian Universities were created in 1857 by Charles John Canning (1812-62), then Gov.-Gen. of India under the East India Compa ...
Bonnerji, Umesh Chandra, Bonnerjee Woomesh Chandra (1844-1906) an anglicised barrister of Calcutta High Court & vocal advocate of British connection, hence the f ...
Book of Job, in Old Testament Job attempts to understand the sufferings that engulf him. The discourses consist of three cycles of speeches, in each ...
Booth, ‘General’, William Booth (1829-1912), English religious leader, founder & first ‘general’ of the Salvation Army charged with salvaging the souls of ...
Borderers, a tragedy by Wordsworth composed in 1795-96.
Borgia, Caesar, Cesare Borgia (c.1476-1507), Italian soldier & politician, & his father, Pope Alexander VI, enhanced the political power of the papacy. ...
Bose, Anandamohan, (1847-1906), graduate of Presidency College, Calcutta with First Class First in mathematics (1867) & first Indian ‘wrangler’ of Cambridg ...
Bose/ Basu, Bhupen(dranath), (1859-1924), advocated boycott of British goods during the anti-Partition campaign: 1914, president of INC session at Madras: 1915, join ...
Bose, Bhupal Chandra, (1861-1937) entered Govt. service in 1888: agricultural officer for 28 years in Bengal & Assam: collaborated with his friend Girish Chan ...
Bose, Debabrata/ Devabrata Bose/ Devavrata, (c.1879-1918), member ‘Yugantar’ revolutionary group, a real editor/ columnist of the Yugantar, he was a master of Bengali prose. After ...
Bose, Dr., Sir Jagadish Chandra (1858-1937), born in Dacca district, educated at St. Xavier’s College, Calcutta, graduated with Honours from Cambri ...
Bose, G.C./ Girish Bose/ Girish Babu, Girish Chandra Bose (1853-1939), friend of Sri Aurobindo’s father-in-law Bhupal Chandra Bose, his relations with Bhupal Babu since 1883 ...
Bose, Jogendra/ Boromama, eldest son of Rajnarayan Bose; maternal uncle of Sri Aurobindo, addressed by him as Boromama.
Bose, Nandalal, (1882-1966), disciple of Abanindranath Tagore, exceptional artist & teacher at Santiniketan, founder of School of New Calcutta Art, & de ...
Bose, Premtosh, (d. 1912), promoter of Jamalpur’s Union of Railway Workmen, he donated most of his property to fund Bengal’s Swadeshi & revolutionary mo ...
Bose, Rajnarayan, (1826-99) Sri Aurobindo’s maternal grandfather. To turn the anglicised English educated Bengalis towards their own culture & customs, he ...
Bose, Rāshbehari, (1885-1945), the only front-rank Indian revolutionary whom the police force of the British Empire could never capture. Educated at Duple ...
Bose, Sailen(dra), (c.1888-1977), sentenced to 3 months’ rigorous imprisonment in the Yugantar case in 1907. In the Manicktolla Conspiracy case in 1909 he ...
Bose, Satyendra, (1882-1908), son of a younger brother of Rajnarayan Bose. A native of Midnapore, heading its group of National Volunteers, he was also a ...
Bose, Sudhira, (1889-1920) sister of Debabrata Bose, & classmate of Mrinālini Devi, with whom she lived in close intimacy till Mrinālini’s death in 191 ...
Bossuet, Jacques-Benigne (1627-1704), French bishop, spokesman for Rights of the French Church against papal authority, chiefly remembered for hi ...
Boswell, James (1740-95), Scottish biographer for his Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.
Botha, General, Louis Botha (1862-1919), soldier & first prime minister of the Union of South Africa, a staunch advocate of reconciliation between Boers ...
Bothie (of Tober-na- Veduolic), poem in hexameters, one of the major works of Arthur Clough (q.v.), originally called The Bothie of Toper-na-Fuosich (1848). In spite of ...
Botticelli, Sandro (1445-1510), one of the greatest of early Renaissance Florentine painters whose “Birth of Venus” & “Primavera” express to modern ...
Boutros Pasha, Butrus Ghali, a Coptic premier of Egypt, killed in 1910 few days after the General Assembly quashed his bill to extend Suez Canal Co.’s ...
Bradlaugh, Charles (1833-91), English social reformer, secularist, & Liberal M.P., who attended the 1889 Congress Session at Bombay. Since its ince ...
Bradlaugh Hall, in Lahore
Bradley, Francis Herbert (1846-1924), English philosopher of the Idealist school which based its doctrines on Hegel.
Brahma, the Eternal’s Personality of Existence, the Power of the Divine that stands behind formation & the creation. “Brahmā, Vishnu, & Shiva, a ...
Brahmacharya, Sri Aurobindo: The sex-energy utilised by Nature for the purpose of reproduction is in its real nature a fundamental energy of Life. It ...
Brahmalōka/ Brahman-world, the first of the eight lōkas or regions of material existence recognised by the Sāṅkhya & Vedanta schools of philosophy. It is, says Sri ...
Brahmanas, commentaries on the Vedas.
Brahmanaspati, Lord of the divine Word, the Creator by the Word.
Brahmasutras/ Vedanta Sutras, by Bādarāyana or Vyāsa, consists of 555 Sutras, aphorisms.
Brahmavarta, the vast land (including the region later known as Kurukshetra) that in the Vedic times lay between the sacred rivers Saraswati & Drishd ...
Brahma Samaj / Brahmo Samaj, a religion founded by Raja Rammohan Roy in 1828 which spread throughout Bengal. It rejected the Vedas & Hindu forms of worship & caste s ...
Braja, Vraja-bhumi (dominated by living reminders of the lives of Sri Krishna & Radha) covering an area of about 3,800 sq. km. comprises places ...
Brajendra Kishore, B.K. Roy Choudhury (1884?-1957), a prominent zamindar of Gauripore in Mymensingh district, promoted the Swadeshi movement by helping som ...
Brasidas, (d.422 BC), Spartan officer generally considered the only commander of genius produced by Sparta during the Archidamian War (431-21 BC), ...
Brati-Samiti, association of national volunteers at Faridpur; banned in January 1909.
Breci, Italian regicide. The judge of his case, instead of ordering him to be hanged, gave him seven years’ solitary imprisonment. Within a yea ...
Briareus, or Aegaeon, one of the three 100-armed & 50-headed sons of Uranus & Ge.
Bridges, Robert, (1844-1930), English poet laureate from 1913 (s/a Binyon), he was noted for his technical mastery of prosody & for his sponsorship of th ...
Bright, John, John (1811-89), English parliamentarian.
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, ascribed to Rishi Yajñavalkya, belongs to the Kāṇvī branch of Vājasaneyi Brāhmaṇa of Shukla Yajur Veda.
Bṛihadratha, a Rishi of the Rig Veda.
Brihaspati/ Brihuspathy/ Brihuspati, (1) In Vedas Bhrihaspati is also called Brāhmaṇaspati; (2) In Puranas, he is the Guru of Indra & the gods; (3) a planet.
Brinda, a dootī (feminine of doota, envoy or messenger) who re-unites lovers.
Briseis, daughter of Briseus, a Trojan leader of Lyrnessus; Achilles sacked his town, killed him & carried off his daughter making her his slave. ...
Bristow Tragedy, poem by Chatterton, hero to the Romantic & Pre-Raphaelite poets.
Broceliande, the Forest of Broceliande in Brittany, France. Only a little of this vast forest now remains as the Forest of Paimpont.
Broderick, William St. John Fremantle (1856-1942), eldest son of 3rd Viscount Middleton, made 1st Earl of Middleton: educated at Eton & Balliol Col ...
Bromius, Bromios, “the roaring god”, an epithet of Dionysus.
Bronson, a barrister who abused Bengalis in their agitation against Ilbert Bill. Lalmohan Ghose (q.v.) retaliated in a speech at Dacca; as a resu ...
Brontës, three English sisters, all writers: Charlotte (1816-55), novelist; Emily Jane (1818-48), novelist & poet; & Anne (1820-49), novelist; th ...
Brooke, Rupert, (1887-1915) Rupert Chawner or Chaucer; he went to a prep school in Rugby at Hillbrow & Rugby. His thesis John Webster & the Elizabethan ...
Brotteaux, an unabashed scoffer in Anatole France’s Les Dieux ont soif.
Browning/ Mrs Browning, Robert (1812-89) was a great poet noted for his dramatic monologue & psychological portraiture. The reputation of his wife Elizabeth Bar ...
Browning, Oscar, (1837-1923), Lecturer in history at Cambridge. A clever conversationalist, he entertained largely & showed kindness to innumerable young ...
Bruce, Robert the Bruce, or Robert I (1274-1329), king of Scotland (1306-29). Discouraged after his defeat at Methven, he took refuge in wild c ...
Brumaire, second month in French Republican Calendar. The coup d’état of 18-19 Brumaire (November 9-10, 1799) established the Consulate under Napo ...
Brummagem, colloquial form of Birmingham, England; name given to a counterfeit coin first made in Birmingham. Hence the term is applied to anything ...
Bruno, Giordano, (1548-1600), Italian astronomer, mathematician, philosopher. Frightened by the truth of his pronouncements the Inquisition (q.v.) burnt ...
Bryan, William Jennings (1860-1925), American Democrat opposed to imperialism became Secretary of State (1913-1915), after thrice failing to be ...
Buckingham, George Villiers (1628-87), politician, poet, playwright, chief author of The Rehearsal, a satire on heroic drama, directed in later vers ...
Budaricāshram/ Budaricayshwur, respectively, the place Badrināth & its presiding Deity Badri-Nārāyana (Lord Vishnu’s dual form of Nara-Nārāyaṇa). Badrināth is situated ...
Buddha/ Gautama Buddha, (c.563-c.483 BC) Sri Aurobindo: “Buddhahood according to the doctrine of the Buddhists… is the soul awakened from its mundane individual ...
Buddha Gaya, Bōdh Gaya, a village in the Gaya district. Here, meditating under a Bōdhi or Bo (Peepal) tree, Gautama attained Buddhahood.
Buddhism, a religion & philosophy that repudiates the authority of the Vedas & the existence of a soul or God, & in which rebirth & karma cease wh ...
Budha, (1) a planet named after Budha, the son of god Soma (the Moon) by Tāra, wife of Bhrihaspati. (2) Author of a hymn the Rig-Veda.
Bug, a tributary of the Vistula, rising in western Ukrainian. For about 125 miles of its course she forms the international frontier between ...
Bunyan, John (1628-88), English preacher, author of The Pilgrim’s Progress.
Burke, Edmund (1729-97), educated at Ballitore & Trinity College, Dublin 1743-8: founded the Annual Register 1759: Private Secretary to Lord Ro ...
Burma, now Myanmar. By 2nd century Bhāratavarsha had developed important trading relations with the Far East which they called Suvarṇa-bhūmi. H ...
Burns, Robert, Robert (1759-96), national poet of Scotland.
Burton, Captain Sir Richard Francis (1821-90), English explorer, soldier, linguist, diplomat, spy: educated on the continent without system & Tr ...
Bushido, Code of Warriors of the Samurais of Japan. In mid-19th century it was made the basis of ethical training for the whole country.
Bushman, member of a nomadic tribe in the Kalahari Desert in south-western Africa.
Byner, Hans
Byshak, Gaurdas, (1826-99), Deputy Magistrate of Calcutta. Intimate friend of Madhusudan Dutt, he associated with several literary, cultural, & social or ...
Byzantine Empire, Eastern counterpart & successor to the Roman Empire of the West, also called the Eastern Empire & the East Roman Empire. It was named af ...
Dr. Bisht

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Cabbala, esoteric system of interpretation of Hebrew Scriptures based on the occult meaning of every word, letter, number, & even their accent. I ...
Cacoostha, Kakut-stha, one sitting on the kakut, hump, of a bull; in Vishnu Purana a cognomen of Puranjaya, king of Ayodhya, who rode on a bull (a ...
Cadmeian Thebes, Thebes was founded by Cadmus, son of Agenor, king of Tyre. He was led to the site of the city by a cow while searching for his sister Eu ...
Caesar
Caesar & Cleopatra, play (1899) by George Bernard Shaw.
Caillaux, Joseph (-Marie-Auguste) (1863-1944), French fiscal expert & pacifist: finance minister in the cabinets of 1899 & 1906: premier in 1911: ...
Cain, eldest son of Adam & Eve, a tiller of the soil. Enraged when God accepted his brother Abel’s offering in preference to his, he murdered ...
Calcutta, When the British began exploring the areas outside their settlements of Fort William (commenced in 1757) & Dalhousie Square, Gov.-Gen. W ...
Calcutta University, “Although the beginnings of English education on a sound basis are to be traced to the momentous decision of 1835 (see Macaulay), the ev ...
Calderón, Pedro Calderόn de la Barca (1600
Caledonian, native of ancient Scotland. Caledonia is still used to mean all of Scotland.
Caligula, (12-41 AD) nick-name of Gaius Caesar, son of Germanicus Caesar. He was known as Caligula after he succeeded Tiberius as Roman emperor (3 ...
Calindie/ Kālindi, a name of the Yamunā.
Callimachus, (c.305-c.240 BC), Greek poet & scholar of the Alexandrian school.
Calmeth, Gaston, editor of Le Figaro. He led the press campaign against Caillaux (q.v.). When Calmette threatened to publish love letters between ...
Calvary, hill outside Jerusalem where Christ was crucified for all citizens to witness.
Calvin, John (1509-64), French theologian, a most important Protestant reformer. Calvinism has three different meanings: (a) theology of John Ca ...
Calypso, nymph of Ogygia, the island on which she entertained Odysseus who, after enjoying her for seven years, spurned her offer to make him imm ...
Cambria, ancient name of Wales.
Cambridge, municipal borough, county seat of Cambridgeshire in England, on the Cam (or Granta) River. The term is also used for the University of C ...
Campbell, Thomas (1777-1844), English poet, best known for sentimental & martial lyrics.
Campbell-Bannerman, Sir Henry, (1836-1908), leader of the Liberal party in 1895, & prime minister from 1905 to 1908 (s/a Morley).
Camus, Albert
Canaan, the Promised Land of Israelites between the Jordan, the Dead Sea, & the Mediterranean to which the Hebrews were led & settled.
Candida, heroine of Bernard Shaw’s first play.
Canea, capital of Crete, a port on the Gulf of Canea.
Cannae, village in Apulia where Hannibal defeated the Romans in 216 BC.
Canterbury, borough in county of Kent. Originally the Durovernum of the Romans & the Cantwaraburh (fort of the Kentish militia), it grew into the re ...
Canute, (c.995-1035), king of England, Denmark & Norway.
Capet(s), surname of Frankish & French kings “of the third race” (the first & second “races” being the Merovingians & the Carolingians). The Capet ...
Capitol, summit of the Capitoline hill on which stood the temple of Jupiter where victorious generals were carried in triumph to render thanks to ...
Caprera, island off NE coast of Sardinia where Garibaldi lived & died.
Captive Lady, the only English poem written by Madhusudan Dutt.
Caracalla, Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (Emperor of Rome 211-17), nephew, son-in-law & adopted son of Emperor Antoninus Pius. An able general noted fo ...
Carbonari, members of a secret society advocating political freedom spread over Italy, Spain, & France in early 19th cent., which probably began in ...
Carcotaka, a giant snake, offspring of Rishi Kashyapa & Kadru.
Cardinal Newman, John Henry Newman (1801-90), English theologian & writer.
Cardinal Tisserant
Caria, region in SW Asia Minor; in the Trojan War, the Carians were allies of Troy.
Caribbee, a native of the Caribbean islands.
Carlyle, Thomas (1795-1881), British essayist, historian, social reformer famous for his On Heroes, Hero-Worship, & the Heroic in History, & The ...
Carlyle Circular, dated Darjeeling 10 October 1905, issued only to magistrates & collectors over the signature of R.W. Carlyle, officiating Chief Secretar ...
Carnduff, Justice, H.W.C. Carnduff, a judge of the Special Bench Appeal Court in the Alipore Bomb Case (1909). In the judgement there was a difference of o ...
Carnot, Sādi, Marie-Francois-Sādi Carnot (1837-94), 4th president (1887-94) of 3rd Republic of France. He was assassinated by an Italian anarchist.
Carolean, poets belonging to the age of Charles I of England (1625-42).
Carpenter, Edward (1844-1929), English author & poet.
Carr, author of The Philosophy of Benedetto Croce.
Carranza, Venustiano (1859-1920), son of a landowner, he took up local & state politics in 1877. In 1910, he joined the struggle of Francisco Made ...
Cartesian, of or relating to Cartesianism, traditions & attitudes derived from the rationalistic mind/matter dualism of Rene Descartes (1596-1650), ...
Cartier Bresson
Cassandra, Trojan princess, daughter of Priam & Hecuba. She was loved by Apollo but deceived him. In retaliation he turned her to a curse the gift ...
Cassiope, poetic form of Cassiopeia, the Ethiopian queen who offended sea nymphs by boasting about her own or her daughter’s beauty.
Cassius, Gaius Cassius Longinus, chief conspirator Caesar’s murder; later he committed suicide.
Castiglione, Baldassare (1478-1529), Italian humanist, known for his dialogue Il Cortegiaflo which influenced Surrey, Wyatt, Philip Sidney, & Edmund ...
Castile, kingdom in Spain, divided into Old Castile in north, & New Castile in south.
Castor & Pollux/ Kastor/ Polydeuces/ Poludeukes, twin heroes called the Dioscuri. In a dispute between them, Pollux, an outstanding boxer, killed Castor, noted for training horses, but ...
Catherine
Catherine(s), Catherine I (1684?-1727), empress & czarina (1725-27); Catherine II or Catherine the Great (1729-96), empress & czarina (1762-96).
Catholic(ism)/ Catholic Christianity, the term ‘catholic’ (Greek katholikos, universal) has been appropriated by the Roman Christian Church since 2nd century to distinguish i ...
Cato, (1) Marcus Porcius Cato (234-149 BC), Cato the Elder; Roman statesman & orator, sent to Carthage, he returned stern with disapproval of ...
Catullus, Gaius Valerius (c.84-c.54 BC), intensely emotional Roman poet whose expressions of love & hatred are considered the finest lyric poetry ...
Catur-vyūha
Cauvery, Kāveri, Dakshīna Ganga, one of the seven sacred rivers; she rises in Western Ghats, flows 400 miles eastward passing Thanjavur & enters ...
Cavour, Camillo Benso, conte di Cavour (1810-61), premier of Sardinia (1852-59, 1860-61), he was the main force behind the unification of Italy ...
Cayshie, a son of Dānu, who was defeated by Indra & also by Lord Vishnu.
Cecil, Algernon, (Edgar Algernon) Robert Gascoigne-Cecil (1864-1958), 1st Viscount Cecil of Chelwood, British statesman, winner of the 1937 Nobel Peace P ...
Cellini, Benvenuto (1500-71), Florentine goldsmith & sculptor, famed for his autobiography.
Cenci, a drama by Shelley, written in 1820.
Centaur(s), beings having the upper part of a human being & the lower part of a horse, living in the woods or mountains of Elis, Arcadia, & Thessaly.
Cerberus, three headed dog with a mane & a tail of snakes, who guards the entrance to Hades. Greeks bury honey cakes with their dead to placate Ce ...
Cervantes, Miguel de Cervantes (Saavedra) (1547-1616), creator of Don Quixote.
Cestus, Aphrodite’s girdle which gave whoever wore it the power to awaken love.
Chaitanya Charitāmrita, biography of Sri Chaitanya (c.1581) by Krishnadas Kaviraj.
Chaitanya/ Gaurānga, (1485/6-1533/4), born at Nadia was called Nimai Pandit. His mode of worshipping Sri Krishna with song & dance moulded Bengali Vaishnavism.
Chaka, Shaka/ Tshaka (c.1787-1828), founded the Zulu Empire in South Africa.
Chakkarai, V., Chetty, was with Doraiswami, Bhārati, V. Sastrulu (see Tilak) & other young nationalists in Madras Presidency were fired by Sri Aurobind ...
Chakrabarti/ ~borty/ ~varty/ ~varti Shyamsundar/ Shyam Sundar/ Shyam Babu/ Sham Babu/ S.S.
Chakravarti, Byomkesh, (1855-1929) barrister, joined first phase of Swadeshi movement. Hemendranath Das Gupta: “The regular trial of the famous Alipore Bomb Co ...
Chakravarti, Suresh (Chandra) / Moni, (c.1885
Chalcidice, peninsula of Greece projecting into Aegean Sea from Macedonia, & ending in the three promontories of Pallone, Sithonia & Acte.
Chaldea, name is derived from the people who invaded the southernmost portion of the valley of the Tigris & Euphrates in the 11th cent. BC; hence ...
Chālukyas, ruled large parts of southern & central India between 6th & 12th centuries. Some historians accept their claim to be Chandravanshi Kshat ...
Chamber of Deputies, lower legislative chamber or 2nd house of National Parliament in France, Italy, &c. The first French Chamber of Deputies was established ...
Champaklal
Chāmunda, the fierce form of Pārvati; she arose from a clump of Pārvati’s matted hair which she flung to the ground in order to destroy the Asura- ...
Chanakya, as son of Chaṇak, was the cognomen of Vishnugupta. Chaṇak, the most renowned scholar of his time, esp. in the sciences of politics & eco ...
Chand/ Candarāya, (d.1601), one of twelve Bengali zamindars who were brilliant naval commanders. He did not submit to Akbar & remained independent all his ...
Chandannagar/ Chandernagore, town on the Hooghly, 30km upriver from Calcutta. Seized in 1673 by the French; snatched by the English in 1757; restored to France in 18 ...
Chandavarkar, Justice, Sir Narayan Ganesh Chandavarkar (1855-1923), educated at Elphinstone College, Bombay (where he was a class-fellow of Tilak): a successfu ...
Chandi, Chandipātha, the Tantric scripture forming an episode of the Mārkandeya Purana. It is a poem of 700 stanzas celebrating the goddess Durg ...
Chandi Bhāva, the force of Mahākāli manifest in the temperament.
Chandidas, (14th-15th cent.), Bengali poet & singer whose songs about washerwoman Rami was/is a source of inspiration to Bengal’s Vaishnava & Sahaj ...
Chāndod, c.30 miles south of Baroda, is on the northern bank of Narmadā. Not far from there is the temple-town Karṇāḷi. In 1905 Sri Aurobindo & K ...
Chandpur, river port in Comilla, Bengal, on the east bank of the Meghna.
Chandra/ Chundra, the moon as a planet, or as a god: Devatā of Smṛti or Prajñā. The physical & psychological effects of the solar system (including the mo ...
Chandra Vamsha, (1) the lineage or race of Kshatriyas who worship Chandra taken as a symbol of Swar (q.v.). It is divided into two great kūlas – the Yād ...
Chandrābali/ Chundrā, a Gopi who participates in Sri Krishna’s mystic Rāsaleela.
Chandrabhāgā/ Chundrobhāgā, one of the five rivers of Aryavarta perverted to Chenab of pāñchā-aab (origin of name Punjāb).
Chandragupta Maurya, (reigned c.321-c.298 BC), was the founder of the Maurya dynasty. According to tradition the title Maurya is derived from Murā, the mothe ...
Chandralōka, the world of the god Chandra or Sōma; it is 3rd of the eight lōkas or spiritual planes of Swar (q.v.) where the gods dwell; at their sum ...
Chandrayān, (vow) a one-month fast in which the quantity of food taken increases & decreases with waxing & waning moon: beginning with one morsel on ...
Chandulal Shah
Chapman, George (1559?-1634), English dramatist & poet, translated Iliad & Odyssey.
Charaka, Charaka-Saṁhitā deals with pathological & medical aspects of Ayurveda.
Chārana, a celestial singer
Charlemagne, Charles the Great or Charles I (c.742-814), Frankish king (768-814); he conquered nearly all Christian lands of Western Europe & ruled a ...
Charles I, (1600-49), king of Great Britain & Ireland (1625-49), provoked a war that led to his execution.
Charles II/ Charles Stuart, (1630-85), king of Great Britain & Ireland (1660-85).
Charles V, (1500-58), as Charles I, king of Spain (1516-56); as Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1519-56) when he tried to realise the hope of the Ca ...
Charudeshna, son of Sri Krishna & Rukminie.
Charvak(a), advocated total rejection of the spiritual truths & experiences recorded in the Vedas such as immortality of the soul, its transmigratio ...
Charybdis, daughter of Poseidon & Gaea; thrown into the sea off Sicily by Zeus where, by swallowing & spewing water, she created a whirlpool.
Chatalja/ Chataldja/ Tchataldja, also spelt Çatalca, a city in Turkey west of Istanbul. The First Battle of Çatalca was one of the heaviest battles of the First Balkan W ...
Chateaubriand, François René, vicomte de (1768-1848), French diplomat, writer & founder of French romanticism. His memoirs are his most enduring work.
Chatterjee (ji), Rāmānanda
Chatterjee, Satish Chandra, (1873-1938) organized along with Ashwini Kumar Dutt the Swadeshi movement in Barisal; & also the Barisal branch of Anushilan Samiti. One ...
Chatterji, Amar, Amarendranath (1880-1957); around 1906-07, he was sent by Upendranath Banerjee to meet Sri Aurobindo at his residence in 23, Scott’s Lan ...
Chatterji, Baidyanath, assistant doctor of the Alipur Jail hospital, “a personification of charity & philanthropy” in Sri Aurobindo’s words. In a way all-in-al ...
Chatterjee, Bejoy
Chatterji/ Chattopadhyay(a)/ Bankim Chandra, (1838-94) Sri Aurobindo called him “the Rishi of modern Bengal”. [1] Buckland: (a) Chatterji, Bankim Chandra: Bengali novelist & prose w ...
Chatterji/ Chattopadhyaya, Sarat Chandra, (1876-1938) Bengali novelist & short story writer; his popularity surpassed that of any other Bengali writer especially through his work ...
Chatterton, Thomas (1752-70), English poet of Gothic literary revival; precursor of the Romantic Movement.
Chattopadhyay, Harindranath/ Harin, (1898-1990), playwright, poet, actor, & musician, he used English as if it were his mother tongue.
Chattopadhyay Mrinalini/ Mlle Chattopadhyay, (1883?-1968), younger sister of Harin & editor of Shama’a. Cooperating with her revolutionary elder brother, Virendra Nath, she supporte ...
Chaucer, Geoffrey (c.1342/43-1400), his Canterbury Tales made him the most important English poet before Shakespeare.
Chaudhuri, Ashutosh, (Sir) (1860-1924), son of Dewan Ramdev Chaudhuri of Natore, zamindar of Haripur: took, simultaneously, Presidency College’s B.A. & MA. D ...
Chaudhuri, Rambhuj Datta, (1866-1923), son of Chaudhury Radha Kishan Dutt, Rambhuj was born in Kanjrur (now in Pakistan), graduated from F.C. College Lahore, obta ...
Chedi/ Chedis/ Chedies, ancient kingdom between the Yamuna & the Narmada; its most infamous king was Shishupāla, a cousin of Sri Krishna. Later Chedi was one of ...
Cheiro, Count Louis Hamon an Englishman famous his books on palmistry & other methods of fortune-telling. Though he correctly predicted the date ...
Chénier, André-Marie de Chenier (1762
Cheops, Khufu (c.2900 BC), king of ancient Egypt for 23 years. He was the founder of the Fourth dynasty & is famous as the builder of the Great ...
Cherā(s), ancient Dravidian dynasty of Tamil origin, who ruled parts of the present-day states of Tamil Nadu (Kongu Nadu) & Kerala in India. Toget ...
Chersonese/ Chersonesus, Greek for peninsula applied to several regions.
Cherubim & Seraphim, celestial winged beings with human, animal, or birdlike characteristics depicted in Jewish, Christian, & Islamic literature. They act as ...
Chesterton, Gilbert Keith (1874-1936), English critic & writer who used the weapon of paradox to probe the profound ambiguities of Christian theolog ...
Chetti, Shanker, a respectable businessman at whose house Sri Aurobindo spent the first six months of his stay in Pondicherry (April to October 1910). Th ...
Chhandogya, (Upanishad) an Upanishad of the Sama-Veda. It seems to be the most ancient of the extant Upanishads.
Chhaya
Childe Harold, Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage: A Ramaunt by Byron is a narrative poem describing the different places in Europe & their associations in his ...
Chiliānwāla, where the Sikhs put up a heroic fight against the Indo-British army’s second invasion of their native land in c.1848.
Chimera, fire
Chinmoy
Chitnavis, Sir Gangādhara Rao Madhavrao (1863-1929): leader of Prabhu community: Hon. Magistrate: President of Nagpur District Council 1888, & of N ...
Chitore, Chittodgadh was, from 7th century the capital of the steadfast Sūryavanshi Rāṇās of Mewār (q.v.) until 1568 when Udaya Singh II, shooed ...
Chitralekha, a companion of Urvasie in Kālidāsa’s Vikramorvasīyam.
Chitrāngadā, When the Pandavas were in exile Arjūna visited ancient Maṇipura (q.v.), where, he met princess Chitrāngadā & married her after agreeing ...
Chitraratha, king of the Gāndharvas.
Chitta/ Chittaranjan/ Chitta Das/ Das, C.R., (1870-1925) was the eldest son & 2nd of Bhuban Mohan Das’s eight children. Inspired by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, early in life he came ...
Chittagong, archaeological surveys showed the region has been inhabited since Neolithic times; historical records indicate it was dominated by the C ...
Chokha Mela, (died 1332 or 1338), poet-saint of South India settled Maharashtra. One of the earliest followers of Marathi saint Jñānadeva, he constan ...
Cholā(s), natives of Cholā Mandalam, a Tamil kingdom (c.600BC–f1200 AD). Cholā Mandalam, the kingdom of Cholās, extended along the western coast o ...
Chosroes, Choshroe I (d.579), king of Persia (531-79), the greatest of the Sassanid or Sasānian monarchs, surnamed “the Just”, was a great reforme ...
General Choudhary
Choudhuri/ Chowdhuri, Jogesh Chandra, (1864-1951), barrister turned politician with “an instinct for the need of the moment”, he founded the Palli Samāj, & was the first to s ...
Chouhan(s), a clan of Rajputs who ruled for several centuries in Sāmbhar in Rājputāna, with Ajmer as their capital.
Christ in Hades, narrative poem in blank verse by Stephen Phillips.
Christ, Jesus, Jesus is Greek for the original Hebrew Joshua meaning Saviour, & Christ from the Greek Christos translation of the Hebrew Messiah. The m ...
Christendom, communities dominated by any sect of Christianity.
Christian, a character in John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress.
Christianity, “Christ came into the world to purify, not to fulfil. He himself foreknew the failure of his mission & the necessity of his return with ...
Christine, Sister, Christine Greenstidel (b.1866) of Detroit, worked for time in the Sister Nivedita School, Calcutta.
Chryses, in Iliad, a priest of Apollo, on the island of Sminthus. His daughter Chryseis was kidnapped by Achilles & awarded to Agamemnon as his s ...
Chunda Mahāsegn, Chunda Pradyōta Mahāsena, a contemporary of Bimbisāra & Ajātashatru of Magadha, ruled Avunthie during the time of the Buddha from his ca ...
Churchill, Charles (1731-64) English poet & satirist who wrote in heroic couplets.
Cicero, Marcus Tullius (106-43 BC); greatest of Roman orators, he was scholar, lawyer, writer, & staunch upholder of republican principles durin ...
Cichaka, Kīchaka, brother-in-law of King Virāṭa & the commander of his forces. He tried to outrage the modesty of Draupadi, who was staying in di ...
Cid, Le Cid tragicomedy by Corneille, considered by many as the beginning of modern French drama. The probable date of its first performance ...
Cimmerian, “thick”, “gloomy”; people originally living north of the Caucasus & the Sea of Azov, driven out by the Scythians over the Caucasus & int ...
Cineas, friend of Pyrrhus, who advised him not to fight the Romans.
Circe, daughter of Helios (the Sun) who changed Odysseus’s companions into swine, but he forced her to break the spell.
Civil & Military Gazette/ C.M. Gazette, a full-throated Anglo-Indian rag of Lahore which poured vitriol & ridicule upon educated Indians; after petitions & prayers piled up at ...
Clarence, George Plantagenet (1449-78), Duke of Clarence, revolted against his brother King Edward IV who tried conciliation by making him Earl of ...
Clarke, (1) Reginald Clarke, the commissioner of police, Calcutta, who arrested Sri Aurobindo on 2 May 1908. (2) A govt. officer who, in 1907, d ...
Clarke, Sir George/ Sydenham, (1848-1933) (1) Sir George Sydenham Clarke, 1st Baron Sydenham of Combe (1848-1933): educated at Repton & Rossall schools, Haileybury Co ...
Claudio, character in Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure.
Claudius, epithet of the descendants of Attus Clausus, renowned for licence, cruelty, pride, & genius.
Cleisthenes, (c.570-508 BC), founder of Athenian democracy, made himself by 506 BC the undisputed ruler of the city. He reorganised the social & poli ...
Cleon, (d.422 BC), uneducated son of a tanner, became the leader of Athenian democracy in 429 BC after the death of his political enemy Pericles.
Clive, Robert (1725-74) Governor of Bengal: educated at Lostock, Market Drayton, Merchant Taylors’ & Hempstead: reached Madras as a ‘writer’ in ...
Cloten, in Shakespeare’s Cymbeline son of the Queen of Britain by a former husband
Clough, Arthur Hugh (1819-61), English poet whose work reflects the perplexity & religious doubt of mid-19th century England. He was a friend of ...
Cluses, town in Haute Savoie in the French département in the Alps.
Clymene, wife of Merops, king of Ethiopia, who bore Apollo’s son Phaethon.
Clytemnestra/ Clytaemnestra, half-sister of Helen. She married Agamemnon & bore him three children. But when Agamemnon was fighting in the Trojan War, she fell in lo ...
Cnossos, an ancient city of Crete located on the north coast near modern Candia.
Coan/ Cos, Latin of Kos, a Greek island in the Aegean Sea, SW of Turkey.
Cocānada, Kākināda, a seaport & H.Q. of East Godāvari district, Madras. It was here that the Dec.1923 INC Session was held under presidentship of ...
Cocytus, river of wailing, tributary of Acheron (see Acherontian waters) in Hades.
Codlin, in Dickens’ Old Curiosity Shop Codlin & Short travel with a Punch & Judy show. Codlin suspects little Nell & her grandfather have run aw ...
Colan, character in Chesterton’s The Ballad of the White Horse.
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor (1772-1834), leading English Romantic poet, author of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, & one of the most profound literary ...
Collins, William (1721-59), English lyricist whose odes adhered to neoclassical forms but they were Romantic in theme & feeling. Though his liter ...
Colmar, capital of Haut-Rhin department, NE France, bordering the German frontier. It was annexed twice by Germany: from 1871 to 1919 & again du ...
Commander Peary, Robert Edwin Peary (1856-1920), American naval officer & explorer, he ‘discovered’ of North Pole on 6 April 1909.
Comte, Auguste (1798-1857), founder of Positivism – a system of thought & knowledge claiming to provide a basis for political organization in i ...
Comudica, Kumūdikā, Bakulavalikā’s friend in Kālidāsa’s Mālavikāgnimitram.
Comus, a poetic masque by Milton; Comus a Greek god of mirth, depicted as a winged youth bearing a torch & a drinking cup.
Confucius, Kong Fu-Tse (551-479 BC), Chinese philosopher; Confucianism has been the substance of learning, the source of values, & the social code ...
Connaught, one of the five ancient kingdoms of western & north-western Ireland.
Conquest of Happiness, book by Bertrand Russell.
Conrad, Joseph (1857-1924), Polish-born English novelist & short-story writer.
Conservative Party, heir, & in some measure the continuation, of the old Tory Party.\
Constable, John (1776-1837), English painter; famous for his landscapes.
Constance, Arthur’s mother in Shakespeare’s play King John.
Constantine, (288?-337), Roman emperor who converted to Christianity, turned his empire into a Christian Western & Byzantine medieval state, & ordere ...
Constantinople, (renamed Istanbul in 1930) capital of the Byzantine Empire, built on seven hills, it had an almost inconceivable wealth of artistic & li ...
Convention & Revolt in Poetry, by Livingstone Lowes
Coochbehar, Maharaja Sir Nripendra Bhoop Bahadur, a year younger than Sayājirao, was installed on his throne in 1883 (Sayājirao in 1881): appointed ...
Coontybhoj, Kūntibhōja, adoptive father of Kūnti.
Coral Mill(s), textile mill located at Tuticorin & run with British capital. In 1908 there was a strike at the mill organised by the nationalists led b ...
Corneille, Pierre (1606-84), called Father of French classical tragedy.
Corobhus, Karabha, a vassal of Jarāsandha.
Cortes, Hernan or Hernando Cortez (1485-1547), Spanish conquistador; he captured Mexico for Spain, obliterating an ancient & far more cultured c ...
Cotton, Henry, Sir Henry John Stedman Cotton (1845-1915), son of J.J. Cotton of Madras Civil Service: educated at Magdalen College School, Brighton Col ...
Cotton, James/ J.S., James Sutherland Cotton (1847-1918), younger brother of Sir Henry Cotton, born in India at Coonoor: educated at Magdalen College School, ...
Coué, Emile (1857-1926), French pharmacist & psychotherapist who helped curing by optimistic autosuggestions such as: “Day by day, in every wa ...
Court of Cassation, Court of Appeal of European countries other than England.
Courtship of Miles Standish, poem (1858) by Longfellow.
Cousins, James H., (1873-1956), Irish poet, theosophist, social worker, & educationist & prolific writer, best known for his New Ways in English Literature ...
Coventry, city & borough in Warwickshire 1888-1974, thereafter metropolitan county of West Midlands. The phrase “send to Coventry”, meaning “ostra ...
Cowell, Professor, Edward Byles Cowell (1826-1903): educated at Ipswich: attracted to William Jones’ works studied Persian: went to Magdalen Hall, Oxford, ...
Cowper, William (1731-1800), one of the most widely read English poets of his day. In his sympathy with commonplace phenomena, his concern for t ...
Cowsambie, Kauśāmbi, an ancient city near Prayāga.
Cowshalyā, princess of Koshala, chief queen of Dasharatha.
C.R. Das
Creon, brother of Jocasta, regent of Thebes, after banishment of Oedipus.
Creüsa, daughter of Priam & Hecuba, wife of Aeneas, mother of Ascanius.
Cripps, Stafford, Sir (Richard) Stafford Cripps (1889-1952), like Nehru, a socialist democrat to the core whom, in 1940 Churchill appointed him ambassador ...
Critānta, who ends all things & at last himself shall end, an epithet of Lord Yama.
Critavurm, Kritavarma, who accompanied Ashwatthāmā to make the murderous night attack upon the camp of the Pāndavas.
Croce, Benedetto, (1866-1952), Italian historian, humanist, critic, & philosopher.
Cromwell, Oliver (1599-1658), Lord Protector of England, Scotland, & Ireland (1653-58), he led parliamentary forces in the English Civil War.
Cronion, epithet of Zeus, as son of Cronos.
Cronos/ Cronus, Kronos, the youngest of the twelve gigantic primeval children of Ouranos & Gaea (Heaven & Earth). He ruled the world after overthrowing ...
Crouncharundhara, a pass in the Himalayas opened by Parashurāma with his arrows to make a passage from Kailāsa southwards. But Vāyu Purana attributes the ...
Cuckoo, To the Cuckoo by Wordsworth.
Cunning Old Fury, character in Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
Curie, Marie and Pierre
Cursetji, private secretary of Nawab Salimullah of Dacca. He was involved in the Comilla incident of 1907. The ICS (British India) Officers List m ...
Curtius, Marcus Curtius. In 362 BC a deep chasm opened in the Roman Forum. The seers declared that the pit would never close until Rome’s most va ...
Curzon-Wyllie, Sir William, William Hutt-Curzon Wyllie (1848-1909): joined Indian Army, 1866-80: Military Secretary to Governor of Madras 1881: Resident in Nepal, 1 ...
Cushān / Cushānian, Kushān or Yueh-chih, one of the three foreign tribes that invaded Indian & supplanted the Greeks – the other two were Śaka or Scythian, ...
Cybele, a Greek-Roman Mother of the Gods, who usually appears with mural crown & veil, seated on a throne or in a chariot, & accompanied by two ...
Cyclades, 24-island group of the Greek archipelago in the Aegean Sea, SE of Attica.
Cyclopes, one-eyed giants descended from Uranus & Gaea. Some of them were shepherds, like Polyphemus, who captured Odysseus, others worked in the ...
Cymbeline, leading character in Shakespeare’s comedy Cymbeline based on Cunobelinus the British king c. 1st century who resisted the Romans.
Cymric, of Cymru, Wales in the Welsh language.
Cynthia, or Cynthius, names of Artemis (Diana) & Apollo, derived from Cynthus, a mountain in their native Delos.
Cyprian/ Cypris, Aphrodite, from her sanctuaries in Cyprus (at Paphos & Amathus).
Cyrene, Greek colony on the coast of Libya, founded c. 632 BC
Cythera/ Cytherea, Aphrodite who landed on Cythera, an island off Peloponnesus, after her birth in the sea.
Czar Nicholas, Nicholas II of Russia (1868-1918), he & his family were executed by the Bolsheviks in 1918.
Çakya-muni

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David-Neel, Alexandra
D. Swami, Sayānapūram Doraiswami Iyer (1882-1976) was born at Kālahasti, the fourth child of Vidyanātha Iyer who was in the administrative service ...
Dabhoi, c.20 miles SE of Baroda city (s/a Gaekwad, Bājirao I)
Dadaists, followers of Dadaism, a nihilistic movement in arts in Zurich, Berlin, Cologne, Hannover, Paris, & New York in early 20th century. The t ...
Dadhīchi
Daedalus, Greek architect & sculptor who built the labyrinth for King Minos of Crete. Falling out of favour with Minos, he made wings for himself ...
Dagon, god of crop fertility, worshipped extensively throughout the ancient Near East as early as c.2500 BC. He was the father of the god Baal.
Daily Express, British newspaper, founded in 1900.
Daily Mail, British newspaper, founded in 1896 by Alfred Charles William Harmsworth (see Harmsworth Trust)
Daily News, London daily committed to glorify British rule in India. H.W. Nevinson visited India in 1907-8 as its special correspondent.
Daitya(s), descendants of Prajāpati Kashyapa & Dīti [s/a Adīti & Dānu].
Daksha, in the Vedas, master of the works of unerring discernment; in the Puranas, one of the Prajāpatis, father of Dānu, Dīti, & Sati.
Dakshina, goddess of divine Discernment.
Dakshīna Mārga, the right-hand path as opposed to Vāma Mārga, one of the two forms of worship in the Tantra. Its followers are known as Dakshīnāchāris.
Dakshineshwar, temple of Kāli, on the Gungā, where Sri Ramakrishna lived & worshipped.
Dalai Lama
Daley, Honorary Captain F. J. Daley, the doctor in charge of the Alipore Jail hospital. He was of Irish stock & inherited many of the qualities ...
Damayanti, princess of Vidarbha, in Nala & Damayanti in of Mahābhārata.
Dambhodbhove, king whose Dambha bhāva (conceit) led him to claim greater prowess than Nara-Nārāyaṇa.
Damocles, courtier of Dionysius (405-367 BC) of Syracuse. When Damocles lionised his riches & power in inflated terms, Dionysius gave a banquet in ...
Danaan, descendant of Danaus, here it refers to the men of Argos.
Danaë, daughter of Acrisius (q.v.), a wife of Zeus, & the mother of Perseus.
Dānava(s), descendants of Prajāpati Kashyapa & Dānu.
Dane, Sir Louis, Louis William (1856-1946): ICS, arrived in India 1876, served in Panjab as Pvt Secretary to Lt-Gov. 1872-82: Officiating Registrar of th ...
Daniel, In the Old Testament, an upright judge, & a person of infallible wisdom; thence the proverb “A Daniel comes to judgement”.
D’Annunzio, Gabriele (1863-1938), Italian poet, novelist, dramatist, short-story writer, journalist, military hero, & political leader.
Dante, (Alighieri) (1265-1321), Italian poet famous for his Divina Commedia.
Danton, Georges(-Jacques) (1759-94), a leading figure of the French Revolution. He has been branded “most complex & controversial” & “both a de ...
Danu, in Veda, the divided consciousness, mother of Vritra & Dānavas.
Daphne, daughter of the river god Peneus in Thessaly. She attracted the love of Apollo, who pursued her in the beautiful Vale of Tempe. When she ...
Darbhanga, refers to both the “ruling prince” & his “state” (as the British Octopus contemptibly called its toothless feudatories & their “kingdoms ...
Dardanid, descendants of Dardanus, son of Zeus by Electra, daughter of Atlas. Dardanus married Teucer’s daughter becoming the ancestor of the Hous ...
Darius (Hystaspes), Darius I or Darius the Great (522-486 BC), also called Dariavaush & Darius Hystāspes (after his father Hystāspes or Vishtāspa whom he su ...
Darjeeling, properly Dorji-ling Tibetan for “the place of the mystic Lama Dorji” that for ages remained a heavenly sanctuary of sacred mountains thi ...
Darshana(s), common term for Sāṅkhya, Yoga, Nyāya, Vaiśeshika, Mīmāṁsā & Vedānta.
Darwin/ Darwinian/ Darwinism, Charles (Robert) (1809-82), English naturalist renowned for his analyses of his notes on the species of flora, fauna (including non-whit ...
Darwin, Erasmus, (1731-1802) a physician & free thinker whose radical opinions his grandsons Charles Darwin & Francis Galton developed into bigoted premises.
Das, Hem(chandra), Hemchandra Kanungo (1871-1951), one of the pioneer leaders of the secret revolutionary organization & a principal co-accused with Sri Au ...
Das, Madhusudan, (1848-1934) lawyer of Cuttack, & member of INC till 1911.
Dāsabodha, 7th century Adwaita Vedanta spiritual text originally composed in Marāthi; dāsa-bodha means ‘advice to the disciple’. It was orally narr ...
Dasarath(a)/ Dasharath/ Dussaruth(a), Surya-vamshi king of Ayodhya, descendant of Ikshvāku. His happiness was at its height, on the eve of the coronation of Sri Rāmachandra s ...
Dasarhan, Dashārha, descendant Yadu, the first son of Yayāti. His descendants were called Dāshārha among whom Sri Krishna.
Dashagwa(s), Ten-rayed, Vedic Rishis, descendants of Aṇgiras.
Dasyus, adversaries of the seekers of Light & the Truth. There are two main branches of the Dasyus: the Pānis & the Vritras.
Datta
Dattātreya, an ansha of Brahma, Vishnu & Shiva, born as son of Rishi Atri & Anasūya, he lives in the freedom of the Infinite even while acting on al ...
Daudet, Alphonse-Marie Leon (1867-1942), French journalist & novelist, the most potent polemicist, his reputation rests largely upon his journal ...
David, Joseph; one of Sri Aurobindo’s earliest friends in Pondicherry, David was later elected Mayor of Pondicherry.
Dayānanda Anglo-Vedic College, of Lahore, founded in 1888 by some followers of Swami Dayānanda with the object of propagating the ideas of the Arya Samāj without disca ...
Dayānanda Thakur, (1881-1937), founder of Arunachal Mission at Silchar (Assam).
De Gaulle
De la Mare, Walter, (1873-1956), English poet & novelist whose writings show a delight in imaginative excursions & the purely fantastic. Much of his poetry ...
Debou
Decameron, collection of a hundred tales by Boccaccio (q.v.) reflecting not only the eternal foolishness of man but also fascinating details of Ita ...
Deep Narayan Singh, (1875-1935), a zamindar of Bihar, regarded as a paragon of aestheticism, elegance & refinement, held various offices in the Congress.
Deesa, city situated in Banāskānthā district, north Gujarat, c.30 miles from southern Rajasthan & c.95 miles NW of Idar, full of religious & hi ...
Defoe, Daniel, (1660-1731), author of Robinson Crusoe & other such works.
Deidamia, daughter of Lycomedes, king of Scyros, & mother of Neoptolemus by Achilles.
Deiphobus, son of Priam & Hecuba.
Delian, of Delos, a small island off Greece in the southern Aegean, regarded as the centre of the Cyclades Islands. Leto gave birth to Apollo & ...
Delphi, on Mt. Parnassus in central Greece is the sacred site of the most important temple to Apollo. It is where the Pythia (see Pythian & Pyth ...
Demeter, goddess of corn, fruitfulness, & the harvest. She is daughter of Cronus & Rhea, & sister of Zeus. Zeus & Demeter had a daughter, Perseph ...
Demitrius, Demetrius I Poliorcetes (336-283 BC), of Macedonia.
Demiurge, in Plato’s Timaeus “creator of the world”. It was later adopted by the Gnostics to distinguish the creator of the material universe from ...
Demosthenes, (384-322 BC), considered greatest of Greek orators, he roused Athens to oppose Philip of Macedon & later, his son Alexander.
Denshawi, refers to the Dinshawäy Incident: a clash between villagers & Limey rakes on a pigeon-shooting spree at Dinshawäy, Egypt, in 1906. The r ...
Descartes
Deshasevak, a Marathi paper edited by Achyutrao Kolhātkar (q.v.), which published reports of speeches delivered by Sri Aurobindo at Nagpur.
Desher Kotha, by S.G. Deuskar (q.v.), detailing exploitation by the Octopus.
Deshpande, perhaps Dr. Yashwantrao Khusala Deshpande (b.1884).
Deshpande, Bāji (Prabhu), (c. 1618-1660), a lieutenant of Shivaji, famous for his heroic self-sacrifice while holding the narrow pass of Rangāna for two hours wit ...
Deshpande/ Keshavrao/ K.G. Deshpande, Keshavrao Ganesh (1869-1939), a close friend of Sri Aurobindo since their Cambridge days. After returning from England as a barrister, f ...
Despair on the Staircase, poem written by Sri Aurobindo in October 1939. “Cats, too, were along with us,” wrote Pujalal, an Ashramite since August 1926, “bright r ...
Deuskar, Sakhārām Ganesh, a Mahārāshtrian writer whose family had lived long in Bengal. An able writer in Bengali, he was author of Desher Katha, ...
Deussen, Paul (1845-1919), born at Oberdreis near Coblenz: studied at Bonn, Tübingen & Berlin: Sanskrit under Lassen & Gildemeister, classical ph ...
Devachan, in Theosophy a state intermediate between two earth-lives, into which the Ego enters after the separation from Kāmarupa (the subjective ...
Devagiri, When “the nation began to crumble under the shock of new ideas & new forces & the centre of gravity shifted [from Ujjayini] southwards t ...
Devaki, wife of Vāsudeva, mother of Sri Krishna, daughter of Devaka, brother of King Ugrasena of Mathura, & cousin of Ugrasena’s Asuric son Kansa.
Devala, son of Pratyūṣa, one of the eight Vāsūs.
Deva(s), Mahābhārata speaks of Prajāpati Kashyapa’s sons by Adīti as Devas, gods. The seventh type from below of the ten forms of consciousness i ...
Devashravas (Bharata), Vedic seer, descendant of Bharata.
Devavāta (Bharata), Vedic seer, descendant of King Bharata; father of Srinjaya.
Devibhāgavata, Puranic scripture devoted to the worship of Pārvati.
Dewas, formerly the joint capital of princely states of Dewas Senior & Dewas Junior, (now in Madhya Pradesh). In the 1930s its rulers stayed fo ...
Dey, Mukul, trained under Abanindranath Tagore at Santiniketan (1905-11), then worked there as a member of the staff, retaining his guru’s style wit ...
Dhammapada
Dhananjaya/ Dhanunjoy, conqueror of riches, a title especially of Arjūna.
Dhanwantari/ Dhunwuntari, divine physician of the gods. When the Devas & Dānavas churned the waters of the divine Ocean of Milk, he emerged from it with the pitch ...
Dhār, Vishnu Narayan, (1864-1916), a Moderate of U.P., bent on reforming only Hinduism as it alone prevented the modernisation. Mehta-Gokhale graciously made ...
Dhārinie, queen of Vidisha in Kālidāsa’s play Mālavikāgnimitram.
Dharma, Tamil magazine brought out from Pondicherry around 1911 by V.V.S. Aiyar. It was allowed free circulation in British India.
Dharmatattwa, collection of essays by Bankim Chandra, containing his ideas of a many-sided Karmayoga. Some of them were serialised in the monthly Nava ...
Dhārtarās(h)trās/ Dhārtarās(h)trians, the hundred sons of Dhṛitarāṣtra.
Dhātri, epithet of Durga, denoting her power of creating life & preserving health.
Dhaumya, & his younger brother of Devala (q.v.), were priests of the Pāndavas.
Dhingrā, Madanlal, (c.1883-1909) A Punjabi Kshatriya, he went to London with a B.A. in engineering & like most Indian students of the day, stayed at India ...
Dhrishtaketou, king of the Kekayas & an ally of the Pāndavas.
Dhristadyoumna, son of the Pāñchāla king Dhrupad, & brother of Draupadi, born to kill Drōṇa, his father’s friend-turned enemy.
Dhṛitarāṣṭra/ Vaichitravīrya, Dhṛitarāṣṭra is Vaichitravīrya, being a son of Vichitravīrya (both are mentioned in the Kāṭhaka recension of the Yajur Veda). He was bor ...
Dhrūva, “constant, immovable, fixed”. In Vishnu Purana & Bhāgavata Purana Dhrūva is born a son of King Utthānapāda (second of two sons of Manu) ...
Dhūmraksha/ Dhoomraksha, a Rākshasa in Pātāla slain by Hanuman.
Dhyāni Buddha, meditative Buddha, described in Mahāyāna & Vajrayāna (Tantric) Buddhism to denote a group of five Buddhas, usually identified as Vairoch ...
Dian(ā), Roman woodland goddess, worshipped especially by women & children. She was later identified with Greek moon-goddess Artemis.
Dickens, Charles (John Huffam) (1812-70); popular English novelist.
Dickinson, Lowes, Goldsworthy L. Dickinson (1862-1932), educated at King’s College & later a Fellow there, he wrote on international relations in a libera ...
Dilip Kumar Roy
Dimitri Manowilski
Dindayāl, Din Dayāl Bose of 24-Parganas, a co-accused of Sri Aurobindo in the Alipore Bomb Case. He was acquitted by the Sessions Court.
Dingaan, also spelt Dingane (d.1840), Zulu chief from 1828 to 1840. After instigating the murder of his half-brother, chief Chaka, Dingaan ruled ...
Diogenes, a writer in The Statesman. The original Diogenes (c.412-323 BC), a Greek philosopher, was considered the originator & archetype of the C ...
Diomedes, son of Tydeus & Deipyle; he brought eighty Argive ships to Troy & was one of the most respected Greek leaders in the Trojan War.
Dionaean, epithet of Aphrodite from her mother Dione, original consort of Zeus.
Dionysus, Greek god of fertility & wine; also called Bacchus. He was intimately connected with the Eleusian Mysteries (q.v.), & was patron of chor ...
Dioskouroi, The twin heroes Castor & Pollux in Greek, were referred to as the Dioscuri in Roman. In Homer they are sons of Leda & King Tyndareus of ...
Dirce, Queen of Thebes, & wife of Lycus. Amphion & Zethus punished her for her cruelty to their mother, Antilope, by tying her to the horns of ...
Dīrghatamas (Auchathya), Vedic Rishi, son of Uchathya. Born blind he obtained sight by worshipping Agni.
Dis, Roman god of the underworld, equivalent to the Greek Pluto or Hades.
Diti, mother of the Daityas, goddess or personification of Divided Consciousness.
Divina Commedia, Dante’s epic written (c.1310-14); the Divina was added by a later generation of his admirers. Divided into three major sections – Infern ...
Divodāsa, pious liberal king in Rig-Veda, for whom the Vedic Indra demolished the airborne castles of the Asura Shambara (q.v.).
Dodona, oracle in the mountains of Epirus (q.v.), sacred to Zeus & Dione. Priests interpreted the words of the oracle from the sound of a holy s ...
Dodsley, Robert (1703-64), English author, editor, bookseller & publisher, associated with publishing works of Samuel Johnson, Pope, Grey, & Oliv ...
Dolopes, Greek tribe of Aetolia & Epirus, reduced to vassalage by the Thessalians.
Dolores, a lyric by Swinburne published.
Don Juan, epic-satire by Byron (1819-24).
Don Quixote, hero of Don Quixote (de la Mancha), by Cervantes Saavedra (1547-1616), Spanish novelist, dramatist & poet.
Dongurh, Marathi pronunciation Dungarpur a hillside town c.70km west of Idar & c.160km SW of Chittodgadh. It was the capital of Dungarpur kingdom ...
Donne, John, (1572-1631) dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral, lead poet of English Metaphysical School, his poems & sermons were marked by passion & wit.
Dorian Gray, hero of Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray.
Dorian(s), one of ancient races of Greece, originally settled in the Peloponnesus (q.v.), expanded to Crete & spread colonies to Italy, Sicily, & A ...
Doumergue, Gaston (1863-1937), 12th president of France’s Third Republic.
Dr. Ambedkar, Bhimrao Rāmji (1891-1956) was born to Marathi Mahar (one of the untouchable castes) parents in Mhow (20 miles SE of Indore) who moved to ...
Dr Bhandārkar, Sir Rama Krishna Gopal (1837-1925); educated at Ratnāgiri & Elphinstone College, Bombay (M.A., 1866): Dakshīna Fellow there & Dekkan Col ...
Dr Cook, Frederick Albert (1865-1940), surgeon on the Peary Arctic expedition (1891-92).
Dr Coomaraswamy, A.K., Ananda Kentish (1877-1947), historian & exponent of Indian art.
Dr. Evans-Wentz, W.Y., of Jesus College, Oxford; wrote The Tibetan Book of the Dead, Tibet’s Great Yogi Milarepa, Tibetan Yoga & Secret Doctrines, & The Tibeta ...
Dr Gough, probably, Archibald Edward Gough, author of The Philosophy of the Upanishads & Ancient Indian Metaphysics, 2nd Edition in 1891. An Islam ...
Dr Munje, Balkrishna Shivaram Munje (1872-1948) of Nagpur, one of Khaparde’s most prominent lieutenants in the early days of Nationalist agitation ...
Dr Price, Richard (1723-91), English theologian & political theorist: supported the French Revolution for which Burke censured him in his Reflecti ...
Dr Primrose, hero of Goldsmith’s Vicar of Wakefield (1766).
Dr Ziauddin, Ziauddin Ahmad (1878-1947): taught mathematics at M.A.O. College, Aligarh (U.P.), first pro-vice-chancellor (1920-28) & vice-chancellor ...
Draconian, Dracso or Dracon (c.7th cent. BC) Athenian lawgiver, who introduced (c.621 BC) laws prescribing death for almost all criminal offences. ...
Dravidian(s), Sanjeev Sanyal: The theory of Aryan invasion had to be drastically revised when the remains of the sophisticated Harappan civilisation w ...
Drishdāwati, the river forming one of the boundaries of Brahmavarta which flowed into the sacred Saraswati. The two are mentioned in Rig-Veda along w ...
Drōṇa, was born (according to Mahābhārata) from the semen of Rishi Bharadwāja in a droṇa (vessel made of leaves), hence named Droṇa. In his fat ...
Droupadie/ Draupadi/ Draupady, daughter of Drupada, king of Pāñchāla, one of the Pañcakanyāḥ (see Ahalyā). Her other names were Krūshnā (dark, like her cousin Sri Kris ...
Druids, of Celtic Britain & Gaul & probably of all Celtics of Europe (see Celts), were highly advanced in occult & spiritual knowledge & practic ...
Drūpad(a), king of Pāñchāla, father of Pāñchāli, Draupadi.
Dryden, John (1631-1700), English poet, dramatist, translator, & critic. The later 17th century is sometimes termed “the age of Dryden”.
Dublin, capital of the Irish Republic.
Duchess of Malfi, chief character in a tragic play of the same name by John Webster. As a result of her marriage to a commoner, she is imprisoned by her b ...
Dufferin, Lord Frederick Temple Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 1st Marquis of Dufferin & Ava (1826-1902), replaced Ripon as Viceroy-cum-Gov.-Gen. (188 ...
Duhshāsana, infamous for dragging Draupadi in King Dhṛitarāṣṭra court in front of him all his ministers & courtiers, failing to strip her, & being k ...
Duke of Wellington, Arthur Wellesley (1769-1842): 4th son of the 1st Earl of Mornington & younger brother of Marquess Richard Colley (see above): educated a ...
Dumas, Alexander, Alexandre (Davy de la Pailleterie) Dumas, also called Dumas Père, (1802-70), novelist & dramatist, best known for The Three Musketeers.
Dundac, Dandakāranya, a forest lying mainly between the Godāvari & Narmadā. In the age of the Rāmāyana the forest was immediately south Yamunā.
Duntvaccar, Dantavakra, king of Karūṣa (see Karoosh), born of a demon. He was defeated in the Mahabharata battle by Sahadeva, the youngest of the Pā ...
Dupleix College, of Chandernagore, where Charu Chander Ray was professor.
Durandhar, M.V., (1871-1944), artist, author & publisher.
Durant, Will, William James (1885-1981), his The Story of Philosophy & The Story of Civilization, established him as a writer of popular philosophy & ...
Durazzo, Italian for Durres, Serbo-Croatian Drac, seaport of Albania on the Adriatic coast. It was held by the Turks from 1501 until their defeat ...
Durgesh Nandini, Bankim Chandra’s first novel, written in 1862-64 & published in 1865, features a Rajput hero & a Bengali heroine; with it was born the B ...
Durvāsā, son of Atri & Anasūya. An ansha of Shiva, noted for his impulsive fury, & many fell or suffered under his curse.
Duryodhan(a), the eldest son of King Dhṛitarāṣṭra.
Dushyanta, descendant of Puru [see Pururavas]; he married Shakuntalā; it is after their son Bharata that the country is named Bhārata. Dushyanta is ...
Dutt, Bhupen(dranath), (1880-1961) youngest brother of Swami Vivekananda. During the search of the office of the Yugāntar, he declared himself the editor, thou ...
Dutt, Charu Chandra, (1877-1952), ICS, began career as magistrate & then as judge in Bombay. Sri Aurobindo met him in 1904. After retiring in 1925 he stayed ...
Dutt, Hirendranath, (1868-1942), a solicitor.
Dutt, K.B., President of INC at Midnapore in December 1907.
Dutt, (Michael) Madh(o)usudan, (1824-73), Bengali poet & dramatist, the first great poet of modern Bengali literature. A dynamic, erratic person, he learnt Greek, Lati ...
Dutt, Okhay Kumar, (1821-86) journalist, social reformer, educationist, pioneer of Bengali prose. Born in Burdwan district: educated in his village school, ...
Dutt, Toru, Tarulata Dutt (1856-77), a cousin of Romesh Dutt, youngest daughter of Govinda Chandra Dutt, a convert to Christianity, who took her & h ...
Dutta, name given by Sri Aurobindo & the Mother to Dorothy Hodgson (1884-1948). She joined the Mother in 1915 & came with her to Pondicherry in ...
Dutt(a), Aswini (Kumar)/ Ashwini Babu, (1856-1923) Nationalist leader of Barisal district; professor of English literature & of law; founded the Brajamohan Institute (see Chat ...
Dutt(a), Ramesh/ Romesh Chandra, (1848-1909), son of Ishān Chandra Dutt: educated at Hare’s School, Presidency College, Calcutta, University College, London: passed ICS ...
Dvīpāntara, Andamans (dwipa island+antara group).
Dwāpara (Yuga), traditionally, 3rd of the four Yugas in which righteousness is diminished by half. Sri Krishna manifested in the last Dwāpara.
Dwār(a)kā, having been Sri Krishna’s capital, it was mandatory for the progenitor of the Socialist Secular Republic to downgrade that communalist c ...
Dyau(s)/ Dyauh/ Dyuloka, heaven; the highest of the three cosmic regions spoken of by the Rishis. Also the plane of the pure mental consciousness, of which Swar, ...
Dyaushpita, in the Vedas, the king of heaven [cf. Zeus]. The father of Usha, the goddess of Dawn is called Dyau-pitri, heavenly father, the Earth as ...
Dyer, John (1699-1757), Welshman chiefly remembered as the author of Grongar Hill (1726), a short descriptive & meditative poem on which the c ...
Dyuman
Dyumat(h)sena, “Lord of the Shining Hosts” ― “the Divine Mind here fallen blind, losing its celestial kingdom of vision”. [SABCL 26:265]. He was the fa ...

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Ecbatana, now officially named Hamadan, a city at the foot of Mt. Elvend (or Alvand) & northeast of Behistun, in west-central Iran. The Greeks cal ...
Eckart
Eddington, Sir Arthur Stanley (1882-1944), British astronomer, physicist & mathematician. He was a pioneer in the fields of relativity, cosmology, ...
Edur, Idar is c.60-70 km west of Dongurh, c.90 km SE of Deesa, c.200 km SW of Chitore, c.300 kms north of Baroda, & c.40 km NE of Vijāpur, & c ...
Edward II, historical play by Marlowe. Edward II was king of England (1307-27).
Edward IV, (1442-83), descendant of Edward III, king of England (1461-83) but spent 1470-71 in exile. He revived English monarchy, sea power, & for ...
Edward VII, (1841-1910), King of Great Britain & Ireland & Emperor of India from 1901, gave his name to the Edwardian period in dress & English lite ...
Einstein, Albert (1879-1955), born in Germany of Jewish parents, theoretical physicist, best known for the formulation of the relativity theory. H ...
Elegy, (An) Elegy (Written) in a Country Churchyard, by Thomas Gray.
Elements of Politics, by Henry Sidgwick.
Eleusinian Mysteries, holy religious rites of Greece held at Eleusis; they dealt with the legends of Demeter, Kore (Persephone), & Dionysus.
Eleusis, city of Attica in Greece, NW of Athens, at the mouth of the river Cephisus.
Elgar, Sir Edward (William) (1857-1934) stimulated a renaissance in English music.
Elinourse & Juga, collection of poems by Chatterton
Eliot, Thomas Steams (1888-1965), American-English poet, playwright, critic, leader of the modernist movement in poetry.
Eliot, George, Mary Ann Evans (1819-80), Victorian novelist who developed the method of psychological analysis that is characteristic of modem fiction.
Elizabeth, Elizabeth I of England (1533
Elizabeth I
Ella, an interlude, poem by Chatterton.
Ellis, Havelock, Henry H. Ellis (1859-1939), English writer, physician & sexologist.
Elsass-Lothringen, German equivalent of Alsace-Lorraine (q.v.).
Elysium/ Elysian, or Elysian Plain/ Fields, the pre-Hellenic paradise for heroes favoured by the gods; in Virgil part of Hades & a happy abode for the rig ...
Emerson, Ralph Waldo (1803-82), American lecturer, poet, essayist, leading exponent of New England Transcendentalism.
Emile Zola
Emmett, Robert Emmet (1778-1803), Irish patriot evoked as hero of Irish lost causes. In July 1803 he started a march on Dublin Castle. The rebel ...
Empedocles, (c.490-430 BC), Greek philosopher, statesman, poet, & physiologist.
Empire, Anglo-Indian evening paper of Calcutta, contemporary of Bande Mataram.
Enceladus, hundred-armed son of Uranus & Ge, hurled down by Athene & held under Mount Aetna which quakes when he stirs & erupts when he breathes.
Endymion, king of Elis; Selene, goddess of Moon, bore him 50 daughters.
Enghien, Louis-Antoine-Henri de Bourbon
Englishman, Anglo-Indian daily issued from Hare Street, Calcutta, founded in 1821 by J. H. Stocqueter under the title of The John Bull in the East, ...
Enna, in central Sicily was the site of the rape of Persephone (Kore). See Demeter.
Ennius, Quintus (239-169 BC), Latin epic poet, dramatist & satirist, father of Latin poetry. Virgil, Lucretius & Ovid borrowed freely from Ennius.
Ennosigaios, ‘earth-shaker’, Poseidon; who, by striking the earth with his trident, creates earthquakes, chasms, valleys, springs & river-beds.
Enoch Arden, collection of poems by Tennyson.
Eoan, of/ from Eos, goddess of Dawn.
Epeus, (1) Greek who built the Wooden Horse in Trojan War; (2) son of Endymion.
Ephesian, Heraclitus as native of Ephesus, city in Asia Minor.
Epictetus, (c.55-c.135), Phrygian Stoic philosopher remembered for the religious tone of his teachings, which commended him to numerous early Chris ...
Epicurus, (341-270 BC), Greek author of an ethical philosophy of simple pleasure, friendship, & retirement. Schools of his philosophy survived up ...
Epigoni, sons of the Seven (Heroes) Against Thebes. Ten years after the fathers of the Seven died at Thebes, & long before the Trojan War, the He ...
Epipsychidion, Shelley’s poem (1821), inspired by Emila Viviani (known as Pisa); it is part spiritual autobiography, part praise of ideal love.
Epirus, ancient province of Greece, on the Ionian Sea; derivative: Epirote
Erasmus, Desiderius (c. 1466-1536): Roman Catholic Dutch priest; scholar of the northern humanist Renaissance he wrote in Latin with keen, often ...
Eratosthenes, of Cyrene (c.276-194 BC): Greek scholar & poet; he wrote on literature, theatre, mathematics, astronomy, geography, & philosophy. He is ...
Erebus, Greek for Primeval Darkness, sprung from Chaos; it is that part of the underworld, regarded as the abode of the Erinnyes (q.v.), through ...
Erin, poetic name of Ireland, from Eire, its Gaelic name which was adopted in 1937 by the Irish Free State, a republic comprising 26 counties ...
Erinny(e)s, Greek goddesses of retribution, three winged maidens with snakes in their hair, who pursued criminals, drove them mad, & tormented them ...
Eros, Greek god of Love, known as the son of Aphrodite & Ares, originally portrayed as a beautiful winged youth armed with bow & arrows, he te ...
Erse, Scots/Scottish Gaelic, offshoot of the Irish language, & member of the Goidelic group of Celtic languages which are spoken in NW Scotlan ...
Eryx, ancient city in Sicily, famed for its temple to Aphrodite.
Esarhaddon, Esar-Haddon (680-669 BC), a most powerful king of ancient Assyria.
Esau, elder of the twin sons of Isaac [s/a Jacob].
Esperanto, fake language, designed like Volapuk as an international language, created in 1887 by Ludwik Zamenhof, Polish oculist.
Essay on Criticism, best known of Alexander Pope’s satirical verses that include The Rape of the Lock & The Dunciad [s/a Shakespeare]. He attracted the noti ...
Essence of Vedanta, English translation of Vedantasāra, by Sadānanda (q.v.). It is one of the best known epitomes of Shankarāchārya’s Adwaita.
Essene, Jewish brotherhood in pre-Christ Israel that considered monastic life the ideal way to practice the Laws God gave to Moses; they believe ...
Ethiope, poetic form of Ethiopian, native of Ethiopia (ancient Abyssinia). The name Abyssinia, although never official, was formerly widely appli ...
Etruscan, native of ancient Etruria, now forming Tuscany & part of Umbria.
Eucken, Rudolf Christoph (1846-1926), popular German idealist philosopher, interpreter of Aristotle, & author of works in ethics & religion. His ...
Eugene, of Savoy (1663-1736), Austrian general, greatest strategist of his time, hence major influence on rulers & generals like Frederick II th ...
Euhemeros, or Euhemerus, Euhemeros, Evemerus (c.300 BC), established the tradition of seeking an actual historical basis for extra-terrestrial bein ...
Eumachus, a wealthy Trojan, brother of Creusa (q.v.).
Euphrosyne, ‘cheerfulness, mirth, merriment’, daughter of Zeus & Eurynome; one of the three Graces, the other two being Aglaia & Thalia. They are pe ...
Euripides, (c.484-406 BC), youngest of three greatest Athenian tragic poets (the other two being Aeschylus & Sophocles).
Europe, “If we consider the past of humanity so far as it is known to us, we find that the interesting periods of human life, the scenes in whic ...
European Enlightenment, Webster’s Dictionary: Enlightenment: A philosophic movement of the 18th century marked by questioning of traditional doctrines & values, ...
Eurotas, (now Iris), river in south Peloponnesus. Sparta was on its banks.
Eurydice, a nymph, wife of Orpheus.
Euxine, Greek name for the Black Sea.
Evangeline, narrative poem (1847) by Longfellow about British expulsion of the French Acadians from Nova Scotia.
Expansion of England, by Sir John Robert Seeley published in 1883.
Ezekiel, The Book of Ezekiel, one of the major prophetical books of the Old Testament. The priest Ezekiel received his prophetic call in the fift ...
Ezra, Pound, (1885-1972), American poet, critic, editor, & translator, considered one of the foremost American literary figures of the 20th century. ...

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Fabian Society, founded in 1883-84 in London, having as its goal the establishment of a democratic socialist state in Great Britain. Its name derives fr ...
Faerie Queene/ Faery Queen, by Edmund Spenser (1590-96), a masterpiece in six books giving allegorical expression to his moral, political, & religious opinions. The ...
Fafnir, in Nibelungenlied (q.v.) is a dragon-son of the magician Hreidmar. He guarded the gold paid in atonement for the death of Otr. He was sl ...
Fairbanks, Douglas, Douglas Elton Ulman (1883-1939), American actor-producer.
Fairclough, H.R., Henry Rushton (1862-1938), American philologist: edited & translated numerous Greek & Latin texts: professor Classical literature, Lelan ...
Falstaff, Sir John, in Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor & King Henry IV.
Fascism, term first used in 1919 by Mussolini to define his political attitude & mass movement in Italy; it reached its zenith in Hitler’s Nazi G ...
Fatehpur-Sikri, Sikri was a rocky locality 23 miles west of Agra where the famous Muslim saint Sheikh Salim Chisti had resided. Akbar converted it into ...
Fate(s)/ Moirai, the three daughters of Zeus & Themis; they control human destiny: Clotho spins the thread of life, Lachesis measures its length, & Atro ...
Father Damien, (1840-89), Belgian missionary who converted Hawaiian lepers. “Love is the turning of the Self from its false self in the mind or body to ...
Faustus, The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus (1593) by Marlowe, based on a German legend of a learned doctor who surrendered his soul to the d ...
Fear, a poem, poem in free verse by Evelyn Scott, published in American journal Poetry & quoted in Shama’a, it was reviewed by Sri Aurobindo.
Federation (Hall) Ground, was a site at 294 Upper Circular Road, Calcutta, purchased in 1905-06 to build an assembly hall symbolising the union between East & Wes ...
Felix, Antonius (c.60 AD), Roman procurator of Judea, Samaria, Galilee, & Peraea. He jailed St. Paul for preaching Christian Righteousness & La ...
Fenian, Irish fighters led by Finn MacCumhaill; Fenianism, from Fiann or Feinne, was a movement to expel the British from Ireland.
Fenwick, one of those kicked out from the Labour Party in 1909 for opposing the Fabian Society which had begun to control it.
Ferdinand, probably Ferdinand II of Aragon (1452-1516) who united Spanish states into a Catholic nation, & led its expansion into Europe. (S/a Neth ...
Fergusson, (1) Robert (1750-74), Scottish lyric poet, one of the leading figures of the 18th-century revival of Scots vernacular writing & the chie ...
Fergusson College, Seeing how the education system, controlled & directed by the Govt. & Christian Missionaries was perverting India’s future generations, ...
Feringhee, firangee derives from frangi, Turkish term for ‘Franks’, the first Europeans that Turks, the first Asians, ‘discovered’. Frank was then ...
Festus, Porcius, a just Roman procurator (60-62) of Judaea. Finding St Paul in prison, he gave him a fair hearing before King Agrippa & then sen ...
Fichte, Johann Gottlieb (1762-1814), German philosopher & transcendental Idealist.
Fielding, Henry, (1707-54), English novelist & playwright famed for his Tom Jones. He & Samuel Richardson are considered founders of English novel.
Fifine at the Fair, poem by Robert Browning
Firdausi, (c.935-c.1020/26), principal Persian poet, author of the Shāh-nāmāh (Book of Kings), the Persian national epic.
Fitzgerald, (1) Lord Edward Fitz-Gerald (1763-98), Irish hero, one of the leaders in the uprising of 1798 against British rule. (2) Edward Fitzgeral ...
Flaubert, Gustave (1821-80), French novelist, a pioneer of the Realist school of French literature.
Flaubert, Gustave
Fleet Street, centre of journalism in London, named after the Fleet River.
Fletcher, Justice, of Calcutta High Court, along with Justice Shāradā Charan Mitter (q.v.), passed the inhuman judgement in the Bloomfield Murder Case (q.v ...
Ford, Henry (1863-1947) rectified factory production with assembly-line methods.
Fort William, built during 1696-1715 to protect the British in Calcutta, was relocated to east bank of the Hugly, where it still stands, an altar of P ...
Fowler, Sir Henry Hartley (1830-1911), educated at Woodhouse Grove School & St. Saviour’s Grammar School: Under Secretary Home Dept. 1884-5: Fin ...
Fowler(s), brothers Henry Watson & Frank George collaborated on the abridgment of the Oxford English Dictionary (1911), & The King’s English (1906).
France, Anatole, Jacques Anatole Thibault (1844-1924), French writer, an ironic, sceptical, & urbane critic; he was awarded the 1921 Nobel Prize for lite ...
Francios B
Francis Joseph, Francis Joseph I (1830-1916), emperor of Austria from 1848, & king of Hungary from 1867, became the symbol of Austrian unity. His polici ...
Franco, Francisco Franco (Bahamonde) (1892-1975). The Spanish Civil War began on July 17, 1936, when a group of right-wing officers led by Gene ...
Franco-German war, usually called the Franco-Prussian War (19 July 1870-10 May 1871), marked the end of French hegemony in continental Europe & the foundat ...
Francois I, (or Francis) of France (1494-1547), king of France (1515-47).
Francoise
Frangistan, land of Franks which became land of Feringhees.
Frankenstein, refers to Frankenstein or to Modern Prometheus, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley in 1818. Frankenstein is a young Swiss student who create ...
Frank(s), the Germanic tribes settled along the Rhine. After 2nd century they invaded Roman provinces, the Netherlands & Gaul.
Fraser, Sir Andrew, Henderson Leith Fraser (1848-1919): ICS 1871: Officiating Secretary Home Dept., GoI, 1898-9: Chief Commissioner C.P., 1899: hinted at th ...
Frazer, Robert Watson (1854-1921), graduate of Trinity College, Dublin: entered Madras Civil Service 1877, retired 1886: Lecturer, University Ex ...
Free Hindustan, monthly published & managed by Tarak Nath Das between 1908 & 1910; an imitation of the Indian Sociologist in general get-up & also in st ...
French revolution, (1789-1815), considered the first of modern revolutions following which by a series of wars; French rule extended through most of Europe ...
Freya, or Freyja, the Norse goddess of Love & Beauty; sister of Frey.
Friend of India, journal started by Joshua Marshman (1768-1837) & his son John Clark (1794-1877) at Serampur in 1818. Joshua was a master of a Baptist sc ...
Fuller, Sir Bampfylde, (1854-1935): ICS 1875: Commissioner of Settlements central Provinces 1885: Secretary, Govt. of India, Revenue & Agriculture Dept. 1901-2 ...
Furies/ Fury, Roman name of the Greek Erinnyes (q.v.).

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Gabriel, an archangel, Guardian Angel, in Judaism, he is in Christianity & Islam an Angel or Messenger of God.
Gades, Roman name of oldest extant urban settlement in Spain, on a promontory south of the Baetis (Guadalquivir) estuary near the Pillars of He ...
Gaebele, Jean Henri Frederic (1860-1936) settled in Pondicherry in 1884. Senator of Upper House of France, Mayor of Pondicherry (1899 & 1908-28), ...
Gaekwad (Gaikwar/ Gaekwar), gae-kaiwāri, one who fights for cow-protection, pseudonym of a Maratha Kshatriya clan of Bhare, a village in Haveli Tāluk of Pune. Aroun ...
Galen, (129-c.199 BC), Greek physician, founded Europe’s experimental physiology.
Galilean, native of Galilee (northern Palestine), epithet of Jesus, also used for his apostles.
Galileo, Galileo Galilei (1564-1642), Italian astronomer, mathematician, physicist, he proved that the earth revolves round the sun, not vice ver ...
Gallican, ancient church of Gaul or France; also belonging to the French Roman Catholic school following Bossuet & claiming partial autonomy. The ...
Gallio, Junius Annaeus (c.5BC-65AD), who dismissed charges against St Paul.
Gallo-Lombard, French-Lombard (see Lombardy)
Gandhamadan, Mount Meru of Ilāvarta which bears a forest of its pristine fragrance (gandh). Gandhamadan divides Ilāvarta from Bhadrasva, to the east ...
Gāndhāran Buddha, The Gāndhāra School of sculptures has attained a celebrity beyond its merits. There was a time when European scholars considered it as t ...
Gāndhāra(s), the kingdom of Gāndhāra straddled the river Indus. To the west of the river lay its constituency of Pushkalāvatī or Purūshapūra, abode o ...
Gāndhāri, an incarnation of Mati, goddess of Wisdom. The Mahābhārata often refers to her as Gāndhāra-rāja-dūhita, as she was the only princess of ...
Gandharvas, in the Veda, Lord of hosts of Delight; in Puranas, musicians of Heaven. In Sri Aurobindo’s words, “beautiful, brave & melodious beings, ...
Gāndharvi, in the Veda, a personified power that holds the rays of the Sun of Truth.
Gandhi, Indira
Gandhi, Mahatma
Gāndiva, the divine bow given to Arjūna by Lord Agni with two inexhaustible quivers.
Ganen Maharaj, Ganen Tagore (18847-1941), manager of Ramakrishna Mission’s Udbodhan office & its publications who, in 1909-10, as a link between Sri Au ...
Ganga Math/ Ganganath, hill-temple on the Narmada, about three & a half miles from Chāndod near the ashram of Swami Brahmānanda.
Gangoly, O.C., Ordhendra Cumar Gangoly (1881-1974), as secretary of the Indian Society of Oriental Arts, he edited the Society’s journal Rupam. Honoure ...
Ganpatram
Gārgi, daughter of Vachaknu & wife of Yajñavalkya; her dialogues with the Rishi appear in 6th & 8th Brāhmaṇas of the 3rd chapter of Brihadārany ...
Gārgya, (descendant of Rishi Gārgi) the patronymic of Bālāki, who is mentioned in the second varhs’a (list of teachers) in the Brihadāranyaka Up ...
Garibaldi, Giuseppe (1807-82), Italian patriot & soldier, a leading figure in the Risorgimento, the period (1815-70) of Italian national unification.
Gāros, an indigenous people who call themselves Achik Mande or simply Achik (soil) or Mande (people). Emigrants of Tibotgre (Tibet) around 400 ...
Garth, Sir Richard, (1820-1903), son of Rev. Richard Garth: Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court 1875-86: knighted 1875: Privy Councillor 1889: wrote A few ...
Garūda/ Garooda, syena in the Vedas & in later texts Garūda the vāhāna (vehicle) of Lord Vishnu, he symbolises the Vedas. His five forms Satya, Suparna, ...
Gath, ancient Philistine city of Palestine, on the borders of Judah. It was the home of the biblical giant Goliath & a refuge for the David wh ...
Gathina Kaushika, Vedic Rishi, son of Kushika, believed to be father of Vishwāmitra who therefore is known as Gathina Vishwāmitra.
Gauḍa, see Bengal.
Gaudapada, 7th century commentator on some Upanishads & Sānkhyakarikal.
Gaul, ancient designation for the land south & west of the Rhine, west of the Alps & north of the Pyrenees, i.e. what is presently France, Bel ...
Gaupāyanas / Laupāyanas, four Rishi-sons of Gopa, authors of Rig-Vedic verses.
Gaurāṅga, Gaurāṅga, brilliantly white-bodied, epithet of Sri Chaitanya.
Gauri, a name of Pārvati.
Gauri Pinto
Gautama, believed to a Saptarishi of the present Manvantara & author of Gautama Dharma Sutra, he was the father of Nodha, Vāmadeva & Shatānanda. ...
Gavis(h)thira, ‘steadfast in the Light’, a descendant of Atri.
Gawain, nephew of King Arthur, who was a model of knightly perfection.
Gayakawādā, Karandikar: Learning that the Gaikwād of Baroda proposed to dispose of his property situated in the heart of the city of Pune, Tilak had ...
General Delarey, J. H. De la Rey (1847-1914), Boer commander in Anglo-Boer War.
Genesis, relates the genesis of Israel & its people in Old Testament. For Christian missionaries, scholars & laity “Genesis narrates the primeval ...
George, George William Frederick (1738-1820), King of Great Britain & Ireland (1760-1820), a controversial & often unpopular figure.
Georgian, work of an assortment of British poets of early 20th century, mostly minor poets writing conventional lyric verse of late Romantic chara ...
Georgics, didactic poem of 2,188 hexameter lines in four books by Virgil.
Germanicus, Germanicus Caesar (15BC-19AD), popular Roman general.
Gethsemane, olive grove near east of Jerusalem.
Ghadge, Tārā Bai, daughter of Khanderao Gaekwād & Mahārāni Jamnābai she was born in July 1871. She had been taking carriage allowance without keeping any ...
Ghatotkacha, son of Bhīma & Hidimbā, who saved Arjūna by fighting so devastatingly that Duryodhana ordered Karṇa to kill him with Indra’s inescapable ...
Ghōra, descendant of Aṇgiras, mentioned as a teacher in the Kauṣītakī Brāhmaṇa & in the Chhandogya Upanishad, where he is the teacher of Krishn ...
Ghose, A.K., Ashwini Kumar Ghose (b.1880), leader of the Bengali labour movement.
Ghose, Barindra Kumar/ Barin, (1880-1959), Sri Aurobindo’s younger brother, born at Croydon, England. He passed the entrance examination from Deoghar School & First Y ...
Ghose, Biren, (b.1840) joined Barindra’s group at the Manicktolla Garden; tried with them in the Alipore Bomb Trial & convicted, he was acquitted at t ...
Ghose, Hemendra Prasad, (1876-1962), employed on the editorial staff of Bande Mataram; he later worked for various journals while continuing with Bāsumati.
Ghose, Kali Prasanna, (1843-1910), scholar of Bengali, Sanskrit, English, European history, psychology: editor of Bāndhava: conferred titles Rai Bahadur & Vid ...
Ghose, K.D., Dr Krishna Dhan Ghose (1844-92), father of Sri Aurobindo, was a successful & popular physician in the Bengal Civil Medical Service. Manm ...
Ghose, Lalmoha(u)n, (1849-1909), brother of the Manmohan in whose house Sri Aurobindo was born; he was a barrister of Calcutta High Court. Since 1882, the B ...
Ghose, Manmohan, (1844-96), born in an old Kāyastha family in Vikrampur, district Dacca: son of Ram Lochan Ghose, a Subordinate Judge & friend of Raja Ra ...
Ghose, Motilal, (1847-1922), an influential journalist, neither Moderate nor Nationalist. Although educated at home & without university qualifications, ...
Ghose, N.N., Nāgendra Nath Ghose (1854-1909), principal of Metropolitan College, Calcutta, & editor of the weekly Indian Nation.
Ghose, Rash Behari, (1845-1921), lawyer of Calcutta High Court, stooge of Pherozshah & Gokhale made president of the Congress sessions at Surat & Madras in ...
Ghose, Shishir, of Jessore, arrested at the Manicktolla Garden & tried in the Alipore Bomb Case. The sentence of transportation for 10 years by the Sess ...
Ghose, Shishir Kumar, (1840-1911), prominent as editor of Amrita Bazar Patrika (1868-93), he later spread Vaishnavism as editor of Hindu Spiritual Magazine.
Ghoshal, Saralā, (Devi) (9 Sept.1872–18 Aug.1945), daughter of Jānakinātha Ghosal (one of the earliest secretaries of the Bengal Congress) & Swarnakumari ...
Gibbon, Edward (1737-94), English historian, whose major work was The History of the Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire (1776-88).
Gifford, William (1756-1826), first editor of The Quarterly Review of London.
Gilbert, Sir William Schwenk (1836-1911), playwright & humourist, collaborated with Arthur Sullivan (q.v.) in the “Savoy Operas”.
Giri, V. V.
Gispati Kāvyatirtha, (d.1926), an associate of Kali Prasanna Kāvya-vishārada, he started the Calcutta Sanskrit Sahitya Parishad. In 1909, he accompanied Sri ...
Bhagavad Gita, “The secret of action, so we might summarise the message of the Gita, the word of the divine Teacher, is one with the secret of all life ...
Gita-rahasya, Srimad Bhagavadgita Rahasya/ Karmayoga Shāstra written by Tilak in exile (1908-14), published in 1915 & translated into many languages.
Gitānjali, collection of Rabindranath’s Bengali songs, translated by him into English; he was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1913.
Gladstone, William Ewart (1809-98) who dominated the Liberal Party of England from 1868 till 1894 was prime minister four times, 1868-74, 1880-85, ...
Gnossus, Cnossus or Knossus, city of ancient Crete near its north coast.
Godāvarie, Dakshīna Gungā, second longest river after Gungā, she rises at Nāshik beside the temple to Triambakeshwara Shiva built over one of the t ...
Godiva, Lady Godiva (c.1040-80), Anglo-Saxon gentlewoman famous for her legendary ride while nude through Coventry, Warwickshire. She was wife o ...
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von (1749-1832), poet, thinker, dramatist, novelist, & scientist.
Gokhale, Gopal Krishna, (1866-1915); (1) S.L. Karandikar: Gokhale was born in a Maratha Brahmin family at Kolhapur. In 1882, when Tilak (1856-1920) was on trial ...
Golāb Bano case, Extracts from The Methods of the Indian Police in the 20th Century (1910) by Justice Frederic Mackarness, M.A. (Oxford), Barrister at La ...
Golāb Singh, (d.1857) led the negotiations of the Treaty of Lahore (1846), by which Kashmir with its dependencies was ceded to the British who handed ...
Goldsmith, Oliver (17307-74), British poet, essayist, dramatist & novelist.
Goloka, Gō is spiritual light. Gōlōka is the spiritual plane of the light of the divine consciousness created by Sri Krishna. Vishnu’s Vaikuntha ...
Gonds, an aboriginal tribe which currently are found in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, & Orissa; they are said to exceed three mi ...
Gordian, ‘Gordian knot’ a proverbial term for a problem solvable only by drastic action. When on his march through Anatolia, Macedonian Alexander ...
Gorgias, Gorgias of Leontini (c. 483-c. 376 BC), Greek sophist & rhetorician, formulator of a nihilistic philosophy. His three propositions were: ...
Gorgon, Homer spoke of a single Gorgon – a monster of the underworld. The Greek poet Hesiod increased the number to three – Sthens (the Mighty), ...
Gorhe Sakhārām Dādāji, (1833-1910) member of Abhinava Bhārat (see Sāvarkar) unit of Nāshik; the sentence of Rigorous Imprisonment killed him in jail.
Gorst, Sir Eldon, John Eldon Gorst (1835-1916): Under Secretary of State for India 1886-91: Financial Secretary to the Treasury 1891-2: Vice-President of ...
Gosse, Sir Edmund (1849-1928), translator, literary historian, introduced Ibsen & other continental writers to English readers.
Goswami, Bijoy, (1841-99), Yogi & social reformer: guru of Satish Mukherji & other Bengali political workers & leaders. As a student he had joined the B ...
Goswami, Srish, (1891-1958) disciple of Sri Aurobindo from 1922; ran the Arya Publishing House, Calcutta, in 1930s; spent his last two years in Pondiche ...
Gotama (Rāhugaṇa), Vedic Rishi, connected with Aṇgirāsa. As a descendant of Rāhugaṇa, he wrote one hymn of the Rig-Veda, & is mentioned in the Shatapatha B ...
Gould, Jay, (1836-92), American capitalist, made his millions as railroad mogul.
Govinda, “who makes us attain Light or World of Light” – Sri Krishna.
Govinda-das, (1537-1612), Vaishnava poet of Mādhava Padāvali & Karṇāmrita.
Govind(a) (Singh), Guru/ Guru Govinda, (1666-1708), the tenth & last Guru of the Sikhs, who succeeded his father Tegh Bahadur in 1675. His sayings were later collected & forme ...
Gracchus, Tiberius, Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus (c.163-133 BC), Roman social reformer. He stood for the tribunal of the people in 133 BC as an avowed refor ...
Graces, three daughters of Zeus & Eurynome: Euphrosyne (Joyfulness), Aglaia (Brightness), & Thalia (Bloom). They were personifications of beauty ...
Graiae, three daughters of Phorcys & Ceto, & sisters of the Gorgons, born grey-haired from birth with only one eye & one tooth between them. Per ...
Grammarian’s Funeral, poem by Browning.
Grand Monarque, Louis XIV of France (1638-1715), symbol of absolute monarchy.
Grand Trunk Road, constructed (1540-45) by Sher Shah extending about 3000 miles from Sonārgaon in eastern Bengal to Sindhu; the Moghul viceroy of Bengal e ...
Gray, Thomas (1716-71), famous for his An Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, finished after years of revision in 1750.
Greece
Greece/ Greek/ Grecian, By 327-26 BCE, Greece & India had been in more or less close contact with each other. The philosophy of Pythagoras, who taught the doctr ...
Green, probably, Matthew Green (1696-1737), author of The Spleen, a poem in praise of the simple contemplative life as a cure for boredom.
Grey, the counsel for the prosecution in the Patiala Case (c. 1910), which was really aimed at destroying the Arya Samāj.
Grey, Sir Edward, (1862-1933), 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon: Foreign Secretary (1905-16), his comment on the World War I became proverbial: “The lamps ar ...
Grihya Sutras, scriptures dealing with the rules for the conduct of domestic rites & the personal sacraments, extending from birth to marriage.
Guadalajara, is 40 miles NE of Madrid. The Battle of Guadalajara took place between 8th & 23rd March 1937. It saw the People’s Republican Army (EPR) ...
Gudakesha, ‘master or conqueror of sleep or lethargy’ epithet of Arjūna.
Gudrun, sister of Gunner & wife of Sigurd & after Sigurd’s death, of Atli.
Guhā, Anāth Bandhu, (1847-1927), nationalist lawyer & leader of Mymensingh.
Guhā, Manoranjan, Thākurtā (1858-1919), prominent leader of anti-Partition movement in 1905-06 in Barisal, Calcutta, etc., & gave financial support to Bar ...
Guhaka/ Guhyaka, king of Nishādhas or Bhils, who helped exiled Lord Rāma.
Gujarat, The name is said to be derived from the Gurjara-Pratihāras (q.v.) who settled in the region in early 5th century. By 8th century their k ...
Gujarāti, an English journal published from Bombay by the Moderates.
Gujāria, Gojāria, now an important town in Mehsāna district of Gujarat, was in Sri Aurobindo’s time a village in Vijāpur Tālukā, c.22km SW of Vij ...
Gungōtri / Gungotry, Gaumukh; located at 3100 meters above sea level, it is the source of the Bhāgirathie that meets Alacanandā, another headstream of the Gu ...
Gupta, Īśvara Chandra, (1812-59), the first literary historian & critic of Bengali literature. He assembled young talents around him, thus paving the way for a ...
Gupta, K.G., Krishna Gobind Gupta, ICS, appointed in 1871 as magistrate & collector, Secretary to Board of Revenue in May 1890, Commissioner of Excis ...
Gupta, Mahendranath, (1854-1932) a disciple of Sri Ramakrishna better known as “M” & next only to Swami Vivekananda. He recorded in Bengali The Gospel of Sri ...
Gupta(s), a dynasty that reigned from Magadha an empire extending over northern, central, & western India from the early 4th to the late 5th cent ...
Gustave Moreau
Gwalior, kingdom & its capital ruled by the Sindhias from 1771 up to 1947. Legend has a prince named Suraj Sen of Kachwāha clan who, losing his w ...

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Habibullah, Amir Habibullah Khan (1872-1919) of Afghanistan (then a British protectorate) who maintained ‘satisfactory relations’ with British India ...
Hades, (1) a son of Cronus & Rhea, who won the lordship of the nether world when his brother Zeus of the sky, & Poseidon of the sea. He is also ...
Hafiz, Shams-ul-Din (c.1320-90), Persian mystic & poet.
Haider Ali, (1722-82) son of Fatah Muhammad, a military commander & jāgirdār of Budikota in Mysore: by 1755 military governor of Dindigul, a Mysore ...
Haihayas, a tribe in the Vindhyās made up of five sub-tribes. They invaded the region between Gungā & Yamunā & took the city of Kāshi [s/a Kārtavi ...
Haimāvati, Pārvati, as daughter of Hīmavat or Himālaya.
Hāldār, Haridas, (1864-1935), a nationalist physician friend of Brahmabāndhab Upādhyāya, B.C. Pal, & Sri Aurobindo. For a time edited C.R. Das’ Nārāyaṇa.
Hall, Edward (c. 1498-1547), English chronicler, his Chronicle glorifies the Tudors & the social life under Henry VIII. Shakespeare used it fo ...
Hamadryad, Greek nymph of the trees, living & dying with the tree she inhabits.
Hamilton, Lord George Francis (1845-1927): Under Secretary of State for India under Disraeli 1874-8: Vice President of Council 1878-80: First Lord ...
Hamlet, hero of Shakespeare’s Hamlet – the story created in ancient Germanic times.
Hampden, John (1594-1643), English parliamentary leader; his challenge to King Charles I over ship-money (a tax historically imposed only in mari ...
Hans Andersen, (1805-75), Danish poet & novelist world-famous for his fairy tales.
Hansa, Kaushika & his brother Dimbhuk were friends & ministers of Jarāsandha.
Hara-Gauri/ Haragauri, biune body of Shiva & Pārvati [s/a Swami Vivekananda]
Hardie, Keir, James Keir Hardie (1856-1915), Scottish labour leader, first to represent the working classes in Parliament as an independent (1892); fi ...
Hardy, Thomas (1840-1928), English novelist; after his novels were denounced as indecent & immoral, he became one of the foremost poets.
Hare, Sir Lancelot, (1851-1922), served in Bengal & Assam from 1873; member Viceroy’s Council, 1905-06; Lt. Gov. Bengal, 1906; Lt. Gov. East Bengal & Assam, ...
Haridrumata (the Gautama), Rishi Haridrumata, son of Haridrumata the descendant of Rishi Gotama. He was the guru of Satyakāma Jabāla.
Haris(h)Chandra, 28th Sūryavanshi king; he is acclaimed for his piety, justice, & fidelity to his word with which he passed the ordeals Vishwāmitra put h ...
Harkissen Lal, (1864-1937), barrister of Dera Ismail Khan in Punjab, & Lahore from 1913, he floated, promoted or organized various companies, banks, & ...
Harmsworth Trust; Harmsworth & Company, owned or established by Alfred C.W. Harmsworth (1865-1922), who, with his brother, formed the world’s largest newspaper empire – Daily M ...
Harnām Singh, Sir, Kuṇwar (prince) of Kapurthāla (b.1851), son of Raja Sir Raṇadhīr Singh Bahadur of Kapurthāla (1831-70). Raṇadhīr Singh succeeded his fat ...
Haroun al-Rashid, Arabic härōōn-äl-räshëd means Aaron the Just. Born at Reyy near Tehran, in 766, he was the third son of the third Abbasid caliph, Mohamm ...
Harpies, daughters of Electra, the sea nymph, & Thaumas, they were born with woman’s head & body, & bird’s wings & claws. Ministers of divine ven ...
Harris, F., Frank Harris (1856-1931), British-American journalist known for his autobiography. His biography of Shaw came out in 1931.
Harrison, Frederic, (1831-1923), president of English Positivist Committee.
Harry Truman
Harsha/Sriharsha, Harshavardhana (c.590-647) was the second son of his father, Prabhākarvardhana, king of Thāneshwar (in Eastern Punjab)…. The dominant po ...
Harvey, Gabriel (1545?-1630), poet, university don, & friend of Edmund Spenser.
Hassan Imam, Syed Hasan Imam (1871 -1933), nationalist Muslim of U.P.: Staunch constitutionalist: presided over 1918 Special Session of INC at Bombay ...
Hastings Street, in Calcutta, connecting Dalhousie Square & Strand Road was named, not after Warren Hastings, but Francis Rawdon, First Marquis of Hastin ...
Hastings, Warren, (1732-1818), employee of East India Co. started at Calcutta 1750: to Kasimbazar 1753: Member Council there, imprisoned at Murshidabad 17 ...
Hatha Yoga
Hathayoga Pradīpikā, by Svātmarāma.
Havell, E.B. Havell (1861-1934) came to India in 1884 to take charge of Govt. School of Art, Madras, & worked as its superintendent up to 1892. ...
Hayagrīva, in one form of Buddhism a fierce protective deity, usually with a horse’s head in its hair; in another, a god of fire who assists Bodhis ...
Hebe, goddess of youth, daughter of Zeus & Hera, the cup-bearer of the Olympian gods & personal attendant of Hera.
Hecate, moon-goddess, daughter of the Titan Coeus. She is Persephone’s attendant in the Underworld, where she has the power to conjure up phanto ...
Hector, eldest of the 19 children of King Priam & Queen Hecuba of Troy.
Hegel, G.W. Friedrich (1770-1831) what he wrote on ethics, aesthetics, history, & religion influenced Existentialism, Marxism, Positivism, & An ...
Heine, Heinrich Heine (1797-1856), German poet & author whose lyrics, ballads, & essays dwelt on German literature, politics & philosophy.
Helenus, a warrior & prophet son of Priam king of Troy.
Helios/ Haelios, son of the Titans Hyperion & Theia. He leaves his palace in the east on a golden chariot drawn by four immortal horses to traverse to hi ...
Hellas, or Ellas, originally confined to Phthia, in Thessaly, it stands for all Greece.
Hellene(s), traced their descent to Hellen, grandson of Prometheus. The term “Hellenism” stands for Greek idiom or construction, nationality & cultu ...
Helots, term of a class of serfs in ancient Sparta; used for all serfs.
Helps, Sir Arthur, (1813-75), English writer popular for his Friends in Council series (1847-59), dialogues on ethics, dramas, a novel, & Brevia (short ess ...
Henry Ford
Henry IV, (1553-1610), first Bourbon king of France (1589-1610).
Henry the Eighth, (1491-1547), ruled (1509-47) when English Reformation began.
Hephaestus/ Hephaistos, son of Zeus; a lame craftsmen he made Zeus’ thunderbolts, Achilles’ armour & Agamemnon’s sceptre, & married Charis & Aphrodite.
Hera, daughter of the Titans Cronus & Rhea; wife & sister of Zeus to whom she bore Hephaestus & Ares. She & Zeus worked for Troy’s destruction ...
Heraclidae, descendants of Heracles; a name especially used for Hyllus & his descendants, the leaders of the Dorian invasion of the Peloponnesus.
Heraclitus, (c.535-c.475 B.C), Greek philosopher of Ephesus. Sri Aurobindo: Heraclitus’ account of the cosmos is an evolution & involution out of hi ...
Herbert, William, (1580-1630), 3rd Earl of Pembroke, English patron of letters.
Hercules, Latin for Heracles the mightiest & most popular of Greek heroes; son of Zeus & Alemene. He was given twelve great labours after accompli ...
Hermes, son of Zeus & Maia, messenger of Zeus & conductor of souls to Hades; god of commerce & trade, cheats & thieves, gamblers, athletic conte ...
Hernani, a tragedy by Victor Hugo.
Herod, (c.73-04 B.C), governor of Galilee under the Romans, he obtained the title of King of Judaea in 37 BC. His descendants ruling Palestine ...
Heroides, ‘Heroines’ refers to Ovid’s Epistulae Heroidum, Letters from Heroines.
Herpe, sword of Athene, the goddess of Wisdom.
Herreros, Hereros or Ovahereros, a tribe of Bantu Negroes of Namibia.
Herschel, After William Herschel (1738-1822) English astronomer discovered Uranus (q.v.) in March 1781 it was for some time called Herschel, thoug ...
Hertha, title of one of Swinburne’s “Songs before Sunrise” which calls for emancipation of the soul under the influence of Hertha, earth-goddess ...
Hesiod, Greek poet, first to incorporate a set of instructions poetically. His most famous poem contains advice for his brother & maxims for far ...
Hesper(us), father of the Hesperides (nymphs). In a garden on the enchanted island in the western sea, he guards a tree which bears golden apples, & ...
Hildebrand, Ildebrando (1020-85) an Italian priest installed as Pope in 1073, under name Gregory VII. He enforced his Church’s edicts with unanswera ...
Himalaya(s)/ Himalay/ Himaloy/ Himavan, Himādri or Tushārādri in Sanskrit.
Hindu Marriages (Validity) Bill, See Patel, Viṭhalbhai.
Hindu Patriot, loyalist English weekly founded in 1853 by Girish Chunder Ghosh & edited by him. Later it was edited by Hurrish Chunder Mukherji assiste ...
Hindu Punch, journal edited by Bhide, a lawyer of Poona. It had to stop publication in 1909 as the result of a defamation suit filed against it by Go ...
Hindu Sabhā, Unlike the Congress, the League fulfilled its role to the hilt & the pleased British added to its armoury a separate Muslim electorate u ...
Hindu Spiritual Magazine, started & edited by Shishir Kumar Ghose (q.v.) after his conversion to Vaishnavism in 1893.
Hindustan, launched by Rambhuj Dutt (q.v.), & edited by Lālā Dinānāth (q.v.).
Hindustan Standard, English daily of Calcutta founded in 1937 by Satyendranath Majumdar & edited by Dhirendranath Sen.
Hippias, Major & Minor are two of Plato’s shorter dialogues, depicting Hippias of Elis, a Sophist philosopher (c.5th cent. BC). Hippias Minor dea ...
Hippocrates, (c.460-c.377 BC), Greek physician.
Hippocrene, fountain on Mount Helicon in Boeotia (q.v.) sacred to the Muses, having been produced by the stroke of a hoof of Pegasus (q.v.).
Hippogriff, or Hippogryph having a horse’s body & hind & a griffin’s head & wings.
Hiranyagarbha, The Golden Womb, the Golden Egg is the source of the manifested Cosmos in Vedic philosophy as well as an avatar of Vishnu in the Bhāgava ...
Hiranyakashipou
Hiranyakashipu, an Asura who for his tapasyā had been granted lordship of the three worlds by Shiva, persecuted even his son Prahlāda for worshipping Vi ...
Hitabādi, Bengali nationalist daily of Calcutta, edited by Panchcowri Banerjee (q.v.).
Hitaishi, nationalist journal from Barisal. It 1905 it urged Swadeshis to adopt the successful Chinese boycott of American goods against British g ...
Hitler
Hitopadesha, ethical tales & fables by Narayana in 12th century from Panchatantra.
Hittites, ancient people living in Asia Minor & Syria from c.2000 to 1200 BC.
Hobbs, Sir John Berry, known as Jack Hobbs (1882-1963). He retired from international cricket in 1934 & in 1953 he became the first cricketer t ...
Hobhouse, Charles Edward Henry (1862-1941): Under-Secretary of State for India (1907-08): Financial Secretary to the Treasury (1908-11).
Hofer, Andreas (1767-1810), Austrian patriot & Tyrolese general, he fought Napoleonic France & Bavaria for two years; he was captured & execute ...
Hohenzollerns, German dynasty ruling Brandenburg (1415-1918), Prussia (1525-1918), & Germany (1871-1918).
Hohlenberg
Holdich, Sir Thomas, (b.1843) Royal Engineers 1862: Brevet-Colonel 1891: served in Bhutan expedition 1865: Afghan war 1878-80: Tirah expedition 1879-8: on sp ...
Holinshed, Raphael (d.c.1580). His Chronicles of England, Scotland, & Ireland was a source book for Shakespeare & many other Elizabethan dramatists.
Holkar, family name of the Maratha rulers of Indore. The state was founded by Malharrao Holkar (1728-64). He was succeeded by Tukojirao (d.1797) ...
Holland, formerly a part of the Holy Roman Empire, it was the chief member of the United Provinces of the Netherlands from 1579 to 1795.
Holy Alliance, term originally for 19th century European alliance ostensibly formed for conserving religion, justice & peace, but used for repressing p ...
Holy Office, In 1908 when the Inquisition became an organ of papal government the word Inquisition was dropped & the Congregation charged with mainta ...
Home Rule (Movement), Irish movement to secure internal autonomy for Ireland within the British Empire. The Home Government Association, calling for an Irish ...
Home Ruler(s) or Home Rule Party, members of the Indian Home Rule Society founded in London in February 1905 by Shyamji Krishnavarma with the object of securing Home Rule ...
Homer, principal figure of ancient Greek literature, & the First European poet. Legends about Homer were numerous in ancient times. He was said ...
Hooghly/ Hughly/ Hugly, district on the Hooghly River is c.20 miles north of Calcutta. In c.1859, Sir William James Herschel discovered that fingerprints remain ...
Hooshka, The territories in the Indus valley & western India from southern Afghanistan downwards was styled Scythia by Greeks in 1st & 2nd centur ...
Hopkins, Gerald Manley, (1844-89) Victorian poet, unappreciated in his lifetime.
Horace, (65-08 BC); after the death of Virgil, he was the chief literary figure in Rome. He represents par excellence the spirit of the Augustan ...
Horu Thakur, Harekrishna Deerghangi (1738-1813), renowned Kaviāl – title of versifiers or poets of Bengal who compose & recite poems impromptu. He le ...
Hound of Heaven, by Francis Thompson, it depicts God’s pursuit of human souls.
Housman, A.E., Alfred Edward Housman (1859-1936), English poet & classical scholar whose lyrics express a Romantic pessimism in a spare, simple style.
Hriday(a), nephew & personal attendant of Sri Ramakrishna.
Hrishikesh Dasgupta
Hrishikesh(a), “master of the senses”, an epithet of Sri Krishna.
Hu Shu
Hubris, Hybris, Greek for overweening presumption suggesting impious disregard of the limits governing men’s actions in an orderly universe. In ...
Huerta, Victoriano Huerta (1854-1916), Mexican general & president (1913-14). He served under Porfirio Diaz, & after the successful revolution o ...
Hugo, Victor, Victor Marie Vicomte Hugo (1802-85), French poet, dramatist & novelist, a towering figure in 19th-century French literature, who had gre ...
Hull, when known as Kingston-on-Hull, a county borough on the shores of river Humber, Hull was one of the chief outlets for the industrial Yor ...
Hume, David (1711-76), English philosopher, historian, economist, & essayist who conceived of philosophy as the inductive, experimental scienc ...
Hume/ Allan Hume/ A.O. Hume, Allan Octavian (1829-1912), educated at Haileybury College set up in 1805 by East India Co for nominees to its ICS: member ICS (1849-82) ...
Hun(a), The Huns were a race of fierce barbarians who issued from the steppes of Central Asia & in the 4th century spread its devastating hordes ...
Huta
Hutashan/ Hutaashon, ‘the spiritual energy’ of Agni.
Huxley, (1) Thomas Henry (1825-95), British scientist renowned for his defence of Darwinism which he accepted with some reservations. (2) Aldous ...
Hybla, Hybla Minor, city on east coast of Sicily, mentioned frequently by ancient poets for its honey, its ‘golden milk’.
Hydari, Sir Akbar
Hymn to the Naiads, one of the later works (1746) of Akenside.
Hymns to the Goddess, translation of hymns, mostly from Tantra, by Arthur & Ellen Avalon (q.v.), published in 1913 by Ganesh & Co. (Madras) Ltd.
Hypatia, (c.370-415) beautiful eloquent Alexandrian Neo-platonic woman philosopher & mathematician; murdered by Alexandria’s Archbishop’s monks.
Hyperion, son of Uranus & Gaea; father of Helios (q.v.), Selene (moon-goddess), & Eos (dawn-goddess). ‘Hyperion’ is also an epithet of the Sun him ...

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Iago, Othello’s ‘Ancient’, a villain in Shakespeare’s play “Othello, the Moor of Venice”.
Ibbetson, Sir Denzil, Denzil Charles Jelf (1847-1908): educated at St. Peter’s College Adelaide, South Australia, & St. John’s College, Cambridge: entered ICS ...
Iblis, the Devil in Islam.
Ibn Batata, Ibn Battutah (1304-1368/69), medieval Arab traveller, author of one of the famous travel books in history, the Rihlah.
Ibsen, Henrik (Johan) (1828-1906), Norwegian poet & playwright.
Icelandic Sagas, heroic prose narratives of great families of Iceland in 930-1030; far in advance of any medieval literature in their realism, their cont ...
Ichalgurh, a fortress, built c.1452 by early Paramāra kings; it is c.80 km NW of Edur & c.11kms north of Mount Abu whose Guru Shikhar peak rises to ...
Ida, mountain SE of Troy, a seat of Zeus, who directed the Trojan War from there.
Idas, son of Aphareus, & twin brother of Lynceus. He was in love with Marpessa, whom he carried off in a chariot given him by Poseidon. The tw ...
Idomeneus, king Crete one of Helen’s suitors; led his contingent to the Trojan War.
Ijjat Pasha, cf. Middat Pasha in Abdul-Hamid; & Abdullah Pasha.
Ikshvākū/ Ikshwacou/ Ixvaacou/ Ixvacou, son of Manu Vaivasvata, who was son of Vivasvata, the Sun. Ikshvākū founded the Ikshvākū Kūla of Surya-vamshis that reigned from Ayodhyā ...
Ila, in the Veda, goddess of revelation, “the strong primal Word of Truth who gives us its active vision” [SABCL 11:32]; one of the five powe ...
Ilbert Bill, drafted in 1883 by Courtenay Peregrine Ilbert on the orders of Liberal Viceroy Ripon, being Law Member of Ripon’s Supreme Council (1882- ...
Iliad, Homer’s epic in 24 books. It tells the story of the quarrel of Achilles & Agamemnon over Briseis (q.v.) resulting in Achilles’s wrath & ...
Ilian, a descendant of Chandra-deva & Ilā (q.v.), i.e. a Chandra-vamshi; hence the race is more commonly known as (Lunar Dynasty).
Ilion or Ilium, Troy as the city of Ilus (q.v.)
Illyrian, of Illyria, a large, vaguely defined region north of Greece.
Ilus, Trojan king, son of Dardanus (in another version, of Tros) & ancestor of Priam. He was one of the chief builders of Troy, which was name ...
Imam, (ǐmäm’ Arabic term: though used of the leader in the Friday prayer in the mosque, is also a synonym for caliph. In this use it is applie ...
Independent, a Pondicherry paper whose sub-editor (c.1913) was R.S. Sharma (q.v.)
Independent Labour Party, British party founded in 1893. See Labour (Party).
Independent(s), sect of English Christians in 16th & 17th centuries who wished to separate from the Church of England & form independent local churches ...
India, Sanyal: It appears that most of the earth’s land mass was joined together a billion years ago in a supercontinent called Rodinia…. Rodin ...
India House, a mess-cum-lodge established in 1905 by Shyamji Krishnavarma (q.v.) who had settled in London in 1897, where he saw Indian students faci ...
India Office/ IO, situated in Westminster, housed the offices of the Secretary of State for India (he held the rank of a Cabinet minister), who ruled toda ...
Indian Civil Service/ ICS, In 1805 the E.I. Co. established East India College at Haileybury, London, to train nominees chosen by the Company’s directors to serve ...
Indian Daily News, English daily of Calcutta, founded in 1864, & later purchased & edited by James Wilson. Sri Aurobindo called it the “Anglo-Indian Sir Or ...
Indian Field, edited by Kishori Chand Mitra (q.v.) during the early days of Bankim’s literary career. N.N. Sen (q.v.) was also on the staff for some time.
Indian Majlis, (Urdu majlis=assembly). Since Rammohan Roy, some Indians & Englishmen lobbied in England for administrative reforms in India. In 1873, a ...
Indian Mirror, (1) English daily of Calcutta; “a Government journal masking under the disguise of an Indian daily” [SABCL 1:180]. It was founded in 186 ...
Indian Nation, English weekly edited by N.N. Ghose.
Indian National Congress/ INC/ Congress Party, The struggle for independence had four distinct phases. The first was an impotent rage, on the part of certain classes & communities…whi ...
Indian) Patriot, English daily of Madras, edited (c.1909) by C. Karunakara Menon.
Indian People, English bi-weekly of Imperial Press, Allahabad started in 1907.
Indian Review, English monthly started in 1889, published by G.A. Natesan & Co., Madras.
Indian Social Reformer, English weekly founded in 1890 & published from Pune; primarily devoted to social reform, it continued to be published till April 1953.
Indian Sociologist, four-page monthly started in January 1905 in London by Shyamji Krishṇavarmā (SK), Japan snatched Port Arthur from Russia. The next month ...
Indian World, English monthly of Calcutta started in 1905, edited by Prithwish Roy.
Indra Vadan
Indrajit, during Rāvana’s assault on Swarga, his eldest son Meghanāda captured Indra. Brahma gave him the title Indra-jeet (defeater of Indra) whe ...
Indraprastha, capital of the Pāndavas.
Indrasen, charioteer of the Pāndavas who was sent to Dwārkā to bring Krishna to Indraprastha on the occasion of emperor Yudhishthīra’s Rājasūya Ya ...
Indraswarup,, Paramahamsa, Sri Aurobindo attended his discourse at the Gaekwād’s palace in Baroda.
Indu (Prakāsh), English-Marathi weekly founded in 1862 under the editorship of R.D. Ranade, then a professor at Elphinstone College. Later the editorshi ...
Indumati, sister of Bhōja, the king of Vidarbha, who chose Prince Aja for her husband at her svayamvara. She was killed when Nārada’s garland fell ...
Ingres, Jean Auguste Dominique
Inquisition, The Roman Catholic ecclesiastical court founded in the 13th century under Pope Innocent III best remembered for its innocent devilish se ...
Ionians, inhabited the south of Greece before the Dorian invasion drove many of them across the Aegean to the central part of the west coast of A ...
Iravatie/ Iravathi, or Parushni a sacred river of Āryavarta corrupted by hostile rulers to Ravi; (2) a character in Kālidāsa’s Mālavikāgnimitram.
Isabella, poem by Keats published shortly before his death in 1821.
Isaie, French spelling of Isaiah, after whom is name the biblical Book of Isaiah which contributed significantly to Jewish & Christian religiou ...
Isha (Upanishad) or Vājasaneyi, or Ishavas(h)yopaishad,, last in Shukla Yajurveda.
Ishān, an epithet of Shiva, he is the guardian of the northeast quarter.
Ishit Patel
Ishmaelite, descendant of Ishmael, the outcast son of Abraham & Hagar in Genesis in the Old Testament. Ishmaelites were nomadic tribes some of which ...
Ishwara-Shakti
Isis, (1) one of the most important goddesses of ancient Egypt, whose worship, originating under the New Empire (c.1700-1100 BC), spread throu ...
Isis Unveiled, principal two-volume work (1877) of Mme Blavatsky, the text-book for Theosophists; it is a compilation of mysticism, stories & archaeolo ...
Islam, lit. submission to, having peace with, God; a religion founded by Prophet Mahomad. Although there have been many sects & movements in Is ...
Isles of the Blest, islands in the Western Ocean; the Druids & hence the Celts believe that it is in these islands that souls of favoured mortals are receiv ...
Israel, denotes both the Jewish state & the people who are descendants of Jacob. In the Old Testament, the term “Kingdom of Israel” is used to d ...
Ithaca, centre of the island-kingdom of Odysseus in the Ionian Sea.
Ito, Prince (Hirobumi), (1841-1909), Japanese statesman, the outstanding figure in the modernization of Japan. He was assassinated by a Korean in 1909.
Ivans, (1) Ivan the Great, Ivan III (1440-1505), Grand Duke of Moscow (1462-1505); (2) Ivan the Terrible, Ivan IV (1530-84), Grand Duke of Mosc ...
Iyer, N.P. Subramania, astrologer of Thanjavur famous for his Kālaprakaśikā (q.v.)

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J.C.B.
Jaafar (Bin Barmak), (767–803) son of Yaḥyā ibn Khalid al-Barmaki (d. 805) who had been a tutor & aide of Haroun-al Rashid & later the most powerful man in t ...
Jabāla, mother of Satyakāma Jabāla
Jack the Ripper, murderer of prostitutes in London’s East End in November 1888.
Jackson, District Magistrate of Nāshik who was shot dead on 21 December 1909 as he had committed Ganesh Sāvarkar for a trial which resulted in Ga ...
Jacob, younger of the twin sons of Isaac & Rebekah, later named Israel, the progenitor of the people of Israel. Esau was the older son. In Gen ...
Jacobins, the political group of the French Revolution formed in 1798, they led the Revolutionary government from mid-1793 to mid-1794 (see Robesp ...
Jadabharata, King Bharata was greatly attached to a fawn in his last moments. After his death, therefore, he had to take birth as a deer. On leaving ...
Jagai & Madhai, Jagannāth & Mādhava, two brothers appointed Kotwāls (commanding officer) of Nadia, who indulged in rape, kidnapping & murder until conve ...
Jagat S(h)eth, banker of the world a title conferred on Fatehchand, a very rich banker of Bengal, by the Emperor of Delhi c.1723. The House of Fatehcha ...
Jāhnavie, epithet of Ganga; when her flow disturbed his tapasyā, sage Jahnu drank her up. Made to realise the catastrophe, he let her out from his ...
Jai Singh, (d.1667) Raja of Amber who sold himself to Shah Jahan on whose orders he hunted the emperor’s sons Shuja & then Dara with distinction, f ...
Jaimini, disciple of Vyāsa. He authored the Purva-Mīmāṁsā.
Jainism, religion founded by Mahāvira on the principles taught by the 23rdTirthankara Parshvanāth. It accepts Karma & Rebirth but rejects the aut ...
Jamādagni (Bhārgava), Vedic Rishi, a descendant of Bhrigu, son of Richikā & Satyavati, & the father of Parashurāma.
James Kidd
James, W(illiam), (1842-1910), American psychologist, author of Principles of Psychology.
Jamnābai, (1853-98), foster-mother of Sayājirao III, she proved an ideal foster-mother & a popular queen. The state hospital was named after her.
Janaka
Janak(a)/ Janac/ Junak/ Videh, king of Videha, contemporary of Swetaketu, & other great sages. Yajñavalkya was his guru & he himself a yogi of stature.
Janaloka, lowest of the three cosmic worlds; ‘world of creative delight’.
Janamejaya/ Janamejoya/ Janmejoya, great-grandson of Arjūna. When his father, Parikshit was bitten to death by Tuxuc (q.v.), he performed an Nāga-Yajña.
Janārdan(a), one adored by people & turned to in distress, epithet of Sri Krishna.
Janashruti, a wealthy & generous Shudra who was directed by two swans to approach Raikwa, a yogi, for knowledge.
Janina, more often known as Ioannina; a city on Lake Ioannina in Epirus, Greece.
Janmabhumi, weekly of South India; when, in 1920, it described him as an enthusiastic Gandhian, Sri Aurobindo contradicted this in the Standard Bearer.
Janus, Roman god source of the January, the 1st month of the Gregorian calendar; as god of war & peace he is usually represented with a double- ...
Japan
Japhet, Japheth, youngest of Noah’s three sons. The phrase “cultured son of Japheth” distinguishes a Christian from a Hamite (q.v.) or a Semi ...
Jarad-drashta, Sanskrit form of Zoroaster
Jarāsandha(a), in Mahabharata, king of Magadha. His father Bŗihadratha gave this name to him because he, having originally been born in two halves to h ...
Jarat-karu/ Joruthcaru, Rishi of Yāyāvar’s family, he married a sister of Vāsuki
Jaratkarṇa, ‘old ear’, Vedic Rishi Sarpa Airāvata (author of Rig-Veda, X.76).
Jashwant Rai, founder of Punjabee at Lahore in 1904; prosecuted in 1906.
Jatāyu, son of Garūda; he died while fighting Rāvana who was carrying away Sītā.
Jat(s), also known as Ahirs, were a traditionally agricultural community in Northern India. The community saw radical social changes when Hindu ...
Jaures, probably Jean Leon Jaures (1859-1914), French Socialist leader & writer. He was assassinated.
Java, (1) in Rāmāyana, father of the Rākshasa Virādha & husband of Shatahrada. (2) Indonesian island in the Malaya Archipelago, east of Sumatr ...
Jaxartes, river of central Asia (now called Syr Darya) flowing west into the Aral Sea.
Jayā, Jayāvati, companion of Pārvati, who charged her to bring up her first son Skandha in her heavenly abode where Asūras sent to kill him, c ...
Jayadeva, poet of Gita-Govinda, lyrics on the early life & love of Krishna as Govinda (the cowherd), & Radha. Jayadeva graced the court of King La ...
Jayadrath(a), in Mahābhārata king of Sindhu, an ally of the Kauravas. He was one of the six generals of Duryodhana who cornered Arjunā’s son & fatally ...
Jayanta, son of Indra, born of Paulomie or Sachi.
Jayaswal, Kashi Prasad (1871-1937), a pioneer in diverse fields of Indology. His main field of activity, however, was research in Indian history & ...
Jean Christophe, a ten-volume novel (1904-12 in French; English translation, 1910-13) by Romain Rolland, appraising contemporary French & German civilisa ...
Jean Valjean, hero of Victor Hugo’s novel Les Miserables.
Jeanne d'Arc
Jeans, Sir James, Sir James (Hopwood) Jeans (1877-1946), English mathematician, physicist, & astronomer.
Jeffreys, George Jeffreys (1648-89), 1st Baron of Wem: Lord Chancellor: hated for the judicial murder of Algernon Sidney & the brutal trials of Ri ...
Jehangir, Jahangir (Jahan = universe) (1569-1627), born of a Rajput wife of Akbar & Salim, he rebelled against Akbar in 1601 but was pardoned in 1 ...
Jehovah, corrupt form of “Yahweh”, the God of Old Testament.
Jenghiz/ Jenghis, Jenghiz Khan (1167?-1227), Mongol conqueror, originally named Temuchin. His wars were marked by ruthless carnage, which is why the empir ...
Jenkins, Sir Lawrence, Lawrence Hugh (1858-1928): called to the bar 1883: Puisne Judge of Calcutta High Court 1896-9: Chief Justice of Bombay High Court 1899-1 ...
Jericho, a city of Palestine, in the Jordan valley 5 miles north of the Dead Sea. Destroyed & rebuilt several times in its history, its archaeolo ...
Jerimadeth, Jerahmeel/ Jerimoth/ Yarmouth/ Yeramedi a city of ancient Palestine.
Jesuit, a soldier of Christ, member of the Society of Jesus founded in 1533 by Saint Ignatius Loyola who saved the souls of Indian pagans throug ...
Jesus Christ
Jeunesse Sportive de l'Ashram de Sri Aurobindo (J.S.A.S.A.)
Jew, a Jehudi, native of Judah, either a member of the tribe of Judah, or a native of the subsequent kingdom of Judah. The Jewish people as a ...
Jew of Malta, the chief character (Barabbas) of Marlowe’s blank-verse play “The Jew of Malta”, produced about 1592 but not published until 1633.
Jews (Israelites)
Kennedy
Jinnah, Mohammad Ali (1876-1948) In 1892, like C.R. Das & other Indian students Jinnah too was elated at the election of Naoroji on a Liberal ti ...
Jñanadas, (b.1530), Vaishnava Bengali writer of lyrics Mathura & Murali-siksa.
Joachim, Joachim of Fiore (c.1130/35-1201/2), Italian mystic, biblical commentator, philosopher of history, & founder of a monastic order.
Joad, Cyril Edwin Mitchinson (1891-1953), English author & teacher.
Joan of Arc / Jeanne d’Arc, (c.1412-31), saint & greatest national heroine of France. She led the resistance to the English & Burgundians in the second period of th ...
Jogesh (Chandra), See Chowdhuri, Jogesh (Chandra)
John Bull, image of England & English character by Scottish mathematician & physician John Arbuthnot (1667-1735) first in a series then as History ...
Johnson, Samuel (1709-84), English poet, essayist, critic, journalist, lexicographer.
Johnson, Lionel, Lionel Pigot Johnson (1867-1902), English poet & critic; a reader for the publishing house to whom Sri Aurobindo’s poem “Urvasie” was sent.
Jonaraja, (c.1389-1459), poet, scholar, historian, astronomer, & physician of Kashmir who, asked by the ruler composed Rājataraṅginī, an account o ...
Jones, Dr. Stanley, Christian missionary, author of The Christ of the Indian Road.
Jones, Sir William, (1746-94), youngest son of William Jones the mathematician: educated at Harrow for more than 10 years: Scholar of University College, Ox ...
Josephine, (1763-1814), consort of Napoleon who had the marriage annulled in 1809.
Jouveau-Dubreuil, Nolini: “In those days [1910-14] in the Collège de France in Pondicherry, a French professor…engaged in research in ancient history & ar ...
Joyce, James Augustine (1882-1941), Irish novelist best known for his Ulysses.
Judah, was one of the twelve tribes of Israel that comprised the Jewish people, it produced the great kings Saul, David, & Solomon (c.1020-922 ...
Judah, Lion of, title of Haile Selassie of Ethiopia (see Sahavas).
Judaism, the Jewish religion.
Judas (Iscariot), (died c.AD 30), one of the twelve Apostles of Christ, he was their treasurer. The Gospel of Christ that he wrote was discovered in the 2 ...
Judea, Graeco-Roman name of Judah, then a part of Roman Palestine; the others were Galilee, Samaria, &, east of the river Jordan, Peraea. In th ...
Juggernaut, corrupt spelling of Jagannāth. Based on an occasional accident or two, false reports that devotees threw themselves under the wheels of ...
Jules Romain
Julian, the Apostate (331/332-363), last Roman emperor (361-63) to attempt to replace Christianity by a revived polytheism of the Graeco-Roman P ...
Julian Emperors, the emperors of Rome who followed after Julius Caesar.
Julia’s Bureau, agency established by W.T. Stead (q.v.) for communicant spirits.
Julius Caesar, Gaius Julius Caesar (100-44 BC), Roman statesman & general, excelling in war, politics, statesmanship, letters, oratory, & social graces ...
Juno, chief Roman goddess; the name is used for “woman of stately beauty”.
Jupiter/ Jove, Roman God identified with Greek Zeus. In Shelley’s lyrical drama Prometheus Unbound, he represents the tyranny of kings & evil institutions.
Justice Prinsep, Henry Thoby (b.1836): educated at Harrow & Haileybury (see I.C.S.): arrived in India 1855: Asst. Magistrate Midnapur during the Mutiny & ...
Juvenal, Decimus Junius Juvenalis (b. AD 55), powerful of Roman satiric poet.
Jyotin
Jyotishtoma, Vedic ceremony consisting originally of three, & later of four, five or seven subdivisions; viz. Agni-stoma, Ukthya, Atiratra, or in add ...

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Kabandhi (Katyāyana), a Rishi, son of Kātya & a disciple of Pippalāda.
Kabir, (1440-1518) a saint & mystic poet.
Kabyle, Kabyles are tribesmen, predominantly agricultural, of Kabylia region of Algeria. Muslims known for their fierce resistance to invader-ru ...
Kādambari, novel by Bāṇabhaṭṭa (q.v.). It is a prose romance, involving a narrative within a narrative related to a king by a parrot. Kādambari is ...
Kadi, was a fortified town which, around 1730, was captured by Pilāji Gaekwad from the Mogul governor of Gujarat. Since he was to be succeeded ...
Kaikeyi(e)/ Kaikayi(e)/ Kekayie, youngest of the three queens of King Dasharatha she acted as his charioteer in a war. For this courageous act the king granted her three ...
Kailas(a)/ Coilas(a), one of the highest & most rugged mountains of the Himalayan range, located in the south-western part of China. It is holy both to the Hi ...
Kaiser, a German title, equivalent to emperor, derived from the Roman title Caesar, & first associated with the Germans from AD 962, when their ...
Kaitabh(a), he & his twin Madhu sprang from the ear of Vishnu while he was asleep at the end of a Kalpa (a day of Brahma = 4320 million years of mor ...
Kaithal, subdivision of the British-Indian Punjab; a town in Karnal, Haryana.
Kaivalya Upanishad, an Upanishad of the Krishna (Dark) Yajurveda.
Kakshivan/ Kakshiwan, Vedic Rishi, son of Dīrghatamas & Ushij (q.v.); connected with the worship of the Ashwins; he also authored several hymns in the Rig-Veda.
Kāl, Marathi weekly started by S.M. Parānjape in 1898, prosecuted by the Octopus for sedition & stifled 1910 by a demand of Rs 10,000 as secu ...
Kālahasti, a town in north-eastern Chittoor district (see Tiruvannamalai).
Kālaprakaśikā, treatise by N.P. Subramania Iyer on how to select the astrologically right time for any undertaking. It was printed & published (1917) a ...
Kalevala/ Kalewala, Finnish national epic (1835), compiled by Elias Lonnrot from old ballads, lyrics, & incantations of deeds of three gigantic semi-divine ...
Kalhaṇa, Kalhaṇa was born in Kashmir in Parihaspura, now in Bārāmullah district. Commissioned by the king, between 1148 & 1150 he produced Rājata ...
Kali
Kāli/ Kalihood/ Kalibhava/ Kalidarshana/ Bala-Kali/ Chandi/ Chandibhava.
Kāli the Mother, essays on the Divine Mother written by Sister Nivedita in 1897. An article written by the manager of the Publication Dept. of Sri Ramakr ...
Kalidasa, Many works are attributed to him; esp. the dramas Abhijñāna Śākuntalam, Vikramorvasīyam & Mālavikāgnimitram, & three epics Raghuvamsam, ...
Kalinga, medieval kingdom (most of present Odishā & part of Madhya Pradesh).
Kali(yuga), the last of the four Yugas (ages) in which the righteousness which was complete in the Satya Yuga, remains to the extent of one-fourth o ...
Kalki, destroyer of foulness, destroyer of darkness, or destroyer of ignorance. By extension, he will complete the current cycle of evolution, ...
Kalyan
Kama(deva)/ Cama/ Kandarpa/ Madan/ Modon/ Monmuth, the god of Love; his wife Rati is the goddess of Love. They managed to incite amorous thoughts in Shiva about Pārvati when he was engage ...
Kāmadhuk, Kāmadhenu, the divine cow that emerged from the heavenly ocean as one of those supernatural gifts produced at the churning of the Ocean ...
Kamala
Kamalā Kānta; Kamalākānter Daptar, novel by Bankim Chandra in three parts: Kamala Kanter Daptar, Kamala Kanter Patra, & Kamala Kanter Jobanabandi.
Kāmaloka, Theosophical term for a subjective & invisible plane, where the disembodied personalities, the astral forms called Kāmarūpa (see Devacha ...
Kamban, Tamil mystic, author of Kamban Rāmāyana, which he named Rāmanātaka.
Kanada, founder of the Vaiśeshika school of Indian philosophy.
Kanai(lal), Kanailal Dutta (1888-1908), he & Satyen Bose (q.v.), killed Noren Gossain in Alipore (q.v.) Jail on Aug 31, 1908. He was executed on 10 ...
Kanchanjungha/ Kunchenjunga, Kanchenjunga, world’s third highest mountain peak at 28,208 ft. on the border of Sikkim & Nepal (also see Darjeeling).
Kanchi, Kānchipūram was one of the seven sacred cities of Bhāratavarsha. What professional historians claim to be is the first historical record ...
Kandahar/ Candahar, capital of unified Afghanistan since 1747; it is also the capital of the province of Kandahar in south-eastern Afghanistan. Its earlier ...
Kandarpa, epithet of Kāmadeva.
Kane, Hari Balkrishna, (b.c1890), a revolutionary of Yeotmal, Maharashtra, arrested in the Alipore Bomb Case, he was alleged to have been sent by G.S. Khaparde ...
Kansa/ Kamsa, son of Ugrasena king of Mathura & cousin of Devaki.
Kant, Immanuel (1724-1804), German metaphysician.
Kaṇwa/ Kaṇwa Ghaura, ancient Rishi repeatedly referred to in the Rig-Veda & later scriptures, he is sometimes counted as one of the Sapta-Rishis. His sons & ...
Kapāla Kundalā/ Kōpalakūndalā, 2nd novel (1866) of Bankim Chandra Chatterji.
Kapila, Vedic Rishi who founded the Sāṅkhya Yoga, propounding Dwaita-vada. Vyāsa’s Yogasutra-bhāshya holds Kapila to be a Brahma-Jñani. Brahma P ...
Karachi, “The first annual session of the Muslim League was held at Karachi on 29 Dec.1907. The choice of the site was an indication of the new n ...
Karan, Debdās, editor of Medini Bāndhab, Midnapur. During his evidence in the Al-pore Bomb Case, his mention of Drōṇa misled Norton, & the questions & ...
Dr. Karan Singh
Kari, father of the saint Nammalwar (q.v.), a tributary of Madurai’s Pāndyan kings.
Karmayogi, a Tamil cultural monthly published from Pondicherry & edited by Subramania Bharati for about two years. Later, Govindarājulu was registe ...
Karmayogin, a Bengali paper organized by Amar Chatterjee & published from Uttarpāra, a suburban town near Calcutta.
Karṇa/ Curna, first son of Kūnti he was an ansha of Surya born before her marriage with Pāndu from her karṇa (ear) with impregnable armour & divine ea ...
Kārtavirya/ Cartoveriya/ Cartoverya, Haihaya Arj(o)una, son of Kārtavirya, king of the Haihayas. By the grace of Dattātreya, Arjūna Kārtavirya obtained many boons including a thousand arms. In ...
Kartikeya, name given to Skandha, Pārvati’s first son, born to kill the Asura Tādaka (see Jayā). Known also as Kumar(a), in the South he is called ...
Kashi(e), an ancient region of India comprising what is now Vārānasi one of the most important hubs of Shaivism. (Isn’t it named after Rishi Kashy ...
Kashirāj, king of Kāshi, maternal grandfather of Dhṛitarāṣṭra & Pāṅdu. In the Mahābhārata war, he sided with the Pāndavas.
Kashiram, Kāshiram Das 16th century Bengali poet; his rendering of Mahabharata# & Krittibas’ Ramayana$ influence the cultural life of Bengal.
Kashmir/ Cashmere, According to the Puranas the entire region known as Kashmir was a vast lake that was drained by Prajāpati Kashyapa who is one of the gre ...
Kashyapa, a Vedic Rishi who is mentioned only once in the Rig-Veda, but is a common figure in the later Saṁhitās. According to Sri Aurobindo, the ...
Katha (Upanishad), an Upanishad of the Krishna (Dark) Yajur-Veda.
Kathasaritsagara, Ocean of the Rivers of Tales, popular tales in Sanskrit verse by Somadeva Bhatta between 1063 & 1081.
Kaurav(a)(s), descendant(s) of Kuru. It is a patronymic applied especially to the hundred sons of Dhṛitarāṣṭra, more correctly called Dhārtarāstrāh or ...
Kaushitaki, Kauṣītakī an Upanishad of the Rig-Veda.
Kaustubha/ Kaustubh, jewel which emerged from the waters as a result of the churning of the Milky Ocean, & is worn by Vishnu (or Krishna) on his chest.
Kaviputra, writer & dramatist, mentioned in Kālidāsa’s Mālavikāgnimitram.
Kāyastha, Kshatriyas of Bengal, the most famous of them were Raja Pratāpāditya of Jessore, Raja Kandarpa-Narayan of Chandradwipa & Kedar Rai of Vi ...
Kayshic, a kingdom in Mahabharata conquered by Bhishmuc of Vidarbha.
Keats, John (1795-1821), considered one of the greatest of 19th century lyricists, for his vivid imagery, sensuous appeal, & rich classical themes.
Kedar, Kedar Roy (d.1603), brother of Chand Roy (see Chand). He did not submit to the Moghuls, & was finally killed by Moghuls led by Raja Mān ...
Keerat, Kirāṭa in Mahabharata, an ancient Indian territory.
Kelkar, N. C ., N. C. Narasimha Chintamani Kelkar (1872-1947), nationalist leader of Pune, was Tilak’s disciple & colleague. In 1897-1919, he edited Mah ...
Keltic, religious beliefs & practices of the Kelts or Celts presided over by Druids (q.v.) are believed to be similar to those of ancient Indian ...
Kemp, F.E. Kemp, deputy superintendent of police, Barisal, under whose command the police cudgelled & lāthi-charged the procession of delegate ...
Kena (Upanishad)/ Talavakāra, an Upanishad of the Sāma Veda.
Kepler, Johannes (1571-1630), German astronomer who discovered that the earth & the other planets travel around the Sun in elliptical orbits.
Keshab Press, Keshab Printing Works owned by Keshab Chandra Sengupta. It occasionally printed forms or issues for Yugantar including “Sonar Bangla”.
Keshav(a), epithet of Sri Krishna for having killed the Asura Keśī.
Khaled of the Sea – An Arabic Romance, one of the longer poems of Sri Aurobindo introduced in SABCL thus: “An early work, conceived in twelve cantos with a Prologue & Epilogue ...
Khalsa, the military theocracy of the Sikhs. It is a democratic institution in which a new direction & form was given to Sikhism by Guru Govind ...
Khāndav, forest on Yamuna given by Dhṛitarāṣṭra to the Pandavas, when he divided his kingdom among his sons & nephews. On the site of the forest ...
Khāndesh, a fertile region in the valley of the Tāpti north of Nāshik. In 1382 it was taken over by one of the countless groups of roving jihadi r ...
Khāparde, Ganesh Srikrishna (1854-1938), a nationalist lawyer, scholar, orator, & social worker of Amraoti.
Kharé, Dāji Abāji Kharé (1856-1916), distinguished lawyer, a secretary of the Congress (1909-13). He went to England to appeal against Tilak’s ...
Khare, Waman Sakhārām/ Baba Saheb Khare, (1866-1928), lawyer of Nāshik: arrested & acquitted in the Bande Mataram Case (1906-07); Sri Aurobindo stayed at his house when he visit ...
Khārwar, is a community which traced its origin to Sūryavanshis who migrated from Rohtas. A group of them claim descent from the dynasty called K ...
Khāserao, Rao Bahadur K. B. Jādhav(a), Khāserao Bhagawantrao Jādhav (1864-1924), the second of three brothers – younger than Anandarao & older than Madhavrao who were distant ...
Khedive, a title (Viceroy of Egypt) accorded to Ismail Pasha by the Turkish Government in 1867. His successors also enjoyed this title. It was re ...
Khesias, Khāsias, like the Gurkhās & Bhutiyās are people with strong Mongolian features (beardless, yellow skinned, snub-nosed, with flat faces & ...
Khilafat agitation, Karandikar: The uprising of 1857 taught not a few lessons to the foreign rulers.... All martial races except the Sikhs & Gurkhās were ex ...
Khōjā(s), caste of Hindus who were converted to Islam in the 14th century. Found in India & East Africa, Khōjās are mostly traders.
Khorassan, Khurasan or Khorasan, a region now of north-eastern Iran, bounded on the north by U.S.S.R. (now Commonwealth of Independent States), & o ...
Khotan, a town of Sinkiang, China: a centre Buddhism.
Khrushchev
Khulna, town in Khulna district, Bengal, now in Bangladesh.
Kidnapped, one of the best-known works of R.L. Stevenson published in 1886.
King Alfonso, Alphonso XIII (1886-1941), king of Spain (1886-1931); seeking to enhance his power at the expense of Parliament he hastened his own depo ...
King George, George V; George Frederick Ernest Albert (1865-1936), King of Great Britain & Ireland (1910-36). After his coronation (1911) he visited ...
King Henry, applicable to any for the four Henry’s in Shakespeare’s plays.
King Henry VI, king of England from 1422-61 & 1470-71, also a character in Shakespeare’s play King Henry VI in three parts, belonging to the first grou ...
King James/ James VI/ James I, (1566-1625), son of Mary Queen of Scots, became King James VI of Scotland from 1567 when his mother was forced to abdicate, only to be e ...
King Kashyapa, Kashyapa I of Ceylon who built a fortress at Sigiriya.
King Lear, a tragedy by Shakespeare, considered his most pessimistic work.
King Log, a term for ‘a fainéant ruler’ in the fable of Jupiter & the frogs.
King Marutta/ Maroutta, descendant of Manu Vaivaswata, who performed the first Ashwamedha yajña, & became known as a Chakravarti(n) Rājā, Emperor Etymologically ...
Kingdom of God, poem by Francis Thompson.
King’s College, Founded in 1441, it was the 7th college recognised by the residential University of Cambridge (q.v.) &, by the end of the 19th century, ...
Kingsford, D.H. Kingsford (1872-1937), joined ICS in 1894, was Chief Presidency Magistrate of Calcutta from August 1904 to March 1908, when he was ...
Kingsley, Charles (1819-75), one of the first Anglican churchmen to support Darwin’s theory; his writings influenced social development in Britain.
Kinnar(a); Kinnari(e), semi-divine beings like the Gāndharvas (q.v.), masters in applied arts dwelling in the paradise of Kubera (q.v.) on Kailas.
Kipling, Rudyard, (1865-1936), son of Rev. Joseph Kipling, Principal of Mayo School of Art & Curator Central Museum, Lahore (1875-93). Rudyard became Asst ...
Kirath(a); Kirathie, forest & mountain people.
Kirtimukha, an attendant of Shiva born out of his Jatā (matted hair). His devotion & valour earned him the boon: No one could meet the Lord without ...
Kishore Gandhi
KK Birla
Kolhapur/ Kolahpur, capital of the former princely state of Kolhapur, & also seat of the British Residency for the Deccan states in India. In 1949 Kolhapur ...
Kolhātkar, Achyutrao, Achyutrao Balwant Kolhātkar (1879-1931), a versatile litterateur & a popular journalist who introduced a new style in Marathi writing. H ...
Koraish/ Koreish, also transliterated as Kuraish or Quraysh, the ruling tribe of Mecca at the time of the birth of the Prophet Mohammad. There were in it ...
Koran/ Quran, the sacred book of Islam revealed to Prophet Mahomed (c.570-632) in separate revelations over the major portion of his life at Mecca & M ...
Koshala/ Coshala, a kingdom on the Sarayu River, having Ayodhya for its capital.
Kripa/ Cripa, adopted son of Shāntanu (see Bhīṣma). Powerful warrior & minister of Hastināpūra, too desired just reconciliation with Yudhishthira yet, ...
Sri Krishna
Krishna and Radha
Krishnacharit(ra), `The Life of Krishna by Bankim Chandra published in 1892.
Krishnaprem, spiritual name of Ronald Nixon (c.1898-1965), an Irishman initiated into sanyāsa in 1928 by Yashodā Mai. He set up an Ashram named Uttar ...
Krishnaswami, V. Krishnaswamy Iyer (1863-1911): closely associated with Gokhale, he attended every Congress session from 1889: nominated on the Senate ...
Krishnavarma, Shyamji, (1857-1930) born in Māndavi, Cutch, joined Wilson High School in Mumbai & in 1875 he married the sister of his classmate who was the son ...
Krita Yuga, is “the age of accomplishment”; “the Age when the law of the Truth is accomplished”.
Krittibas, Krittivāsa Ojhā Mukhati (b.1346), distinguished classical writer who helped to make the Bengali language a literary instrument.
Kruger, Paul, Paul Stephanus Johannes Paulus (1825-1904), South African Transvaal farmer, soldier, & statesman, noted in South African history as the ...
Kubla Khan, poetic fragment by Coleridge.
Kumar(a)Sambhava(m), one of the six recognized epic poems in Sanskrit literature, in seventeen cantos. The epic’s theme is the marriage of Lord Shiva & Uma ( ...
Kumbhakarṇa, 2nd brother of Rāvaṇa (q.v.). A slip of tongue changed the boon he asked of Brahma into sleep for six months at a time with wakefulness ...
Kūntibhoja/ Coontybhoj, in Mahabharata, king of the people called Kūnti. He was the adoptive father of Kūnti(e).
Kunti(e)/ Coonty/ County, in Mahabharata, Prithā, daughter of the Yādava prince Surasena, was renamed Kūnti when he was adopted by Kūntibhōja, her father’s childl ...
Kūral/ Kurral, by the Tamil poet-saint Tiruvalluvar, it propounds an Sāṅkhya philosophy in 1,330 poetical aphorisms on three subjects: wealth, pleasure ...
Kuropatkin, Aleksey Nikolayevich Kropotkin (1848-1921), Russian general.
Kuruhur, small town in Tirunelveli, birthplace of poet-saint Nammalwar.
Kurukshetra, ‘the field of the Kurus’, a plain where the great battle between the Kauravas & the Pandavas was fought. The site of the battle has been ...
Kuru(s), King Kuru was the ancestor both of Dhṛitarāṣtra & Pāndu, but the patronymic “Kaurava” is generally applied to the sons of Dhṛitarāṣṭra.
Kushasthaly, ancient city identical with or standing on the same spot as Dwārkā. It was the capital of Raiwata.
Kushikas, Vedic Rishis, descendants of Kushika. Vishwāmitra was the most important of them. The Kushikas are repeatedly referred to in the third M ...
Kuthumi, in Vishnu Purana & Vāyu Purana, a disciple of Paushyamji, who belonged to Vyāsa’s Sāmavedic School.
Kuthumi/ Kutthumi, one of the Theosophical Masters or Mahatmas (q.v.).
Kutsa, “the sattwic or purified & light-filled soul”. When Indra takes him in his chariot to his palace, & when the chariot reached the end of ...
Kuvera/ Kubera, king of the Yakshas & the god of wealth. Driven away from Lanka, his original capital, by half-brother Rāvaṇa, Kubera built a golden cit ...
Kyd, Thomas Kyd/ Kid, (1558-94), English dramatist, exponent of ‘tragedy of blood’.

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La Defense de l’occident, by Henri Massis.
Lacedaemon, Laconia in Peloponnesus, of which Sparta was the capital.
Lachhima, queen of king Shiva Singh Rupnaraian in the songs of Vidyāpati.
Lady of Shallot, poem by Tennyson.
Lady of the Lake, Vivian, mistress of Merlin (a magician & seer, helper of King Arthur), she lived in a castle surrounded by a lake.
Laertes, king of Ithaca & father of Odysseus.
Laïs/ Lais, Sicilian courtesan, taken to Corinth in the Athenian expedition to Sicily.
Lajpat (Rai), Lālā Lajpat Rai (1865-1928), ‘Punjab-Kesari’ or ‘Sher-e-Punjab’, outspoken in his advocacy of anti-British nationalism in the Congress p ...
Lakshmibai, (1835-58), the Rani of Jhansi, played a prominent role in the first war of independence & fought alongside the Maratha general Tātyā Top ...
Lal Bahadur Shastri
Lālā Dinānāth, (b.1878) Arya Samajist of advanced views, belonging to Gujranwala, Punjab. He was editor of the nationalist journal Hindustan. In 1907, ...
Lālā Hansrāj, (1864-1938), Arya Samāj leader, principal of DAV College, Lahore; his appeal for any cause he made his own was always fully met, in men ...
Lālā Munshiram, later Swami Shraddhānanda (1856-1926), Arya Samāj leader of Punjab: founded Gurukūla Kāngri (near Hardwar), which later acquired the sta ...
Lālā Murlidhar, (d.1920), poet & politician of Ambālā. An advocate by profession, the Govt. conferred on him the title of Rai Bahadur.
Lalji-bhai Hindocha
Lamb Charles, (1775-1834), English writer known for his Essays of Elia.
Lamia, poem by Keats in which Lamia is a witch destroyed by the sage Apollonius.
Lamprecht, Karl Gottfried (1856-1915), German historian, the first to put forward a psychological theory of history & social development which depa ...
Landor, Walter Savage (1775-1864), English author & poet.
Lao-Tse
Laocoon, Trojan prince, brother of Anchises & priest of Apollo or Poseidon.
Laodamia, poem by Wordsworth.
Laomedon, king of Troy, father of Priam. He employed Apollo & Poseidon to build the walls of Troy, but cheated them on their payment, so Poseidon ...
LaoTse, Lao-Tse/ Lao-tzu (Lao=old), founder of Taoism. He, like Confucius, simply laid down a system of moral & social behaviour.
Lares, originally Roman deities of cultivated fields worshipped at crossroads. Over time they became both household gods, worshipped as centre ...
Larissa, Larissa Cremaste, an ancient town in Phthia said to be the home of Achilles.
Latona, Roman form of the Greek Leto (q.v.)
Lawrence, D.H., David Herbert (1885-1930), English short-story writer, poet, essayist, & one of the most inspired novelists of his times. He attempted t ...
Lays of Ancient Rome, Lays of Ancient Rome, a book of poems by T.B. Macaulay (q.v.).
Le Cygne, French sonnet by Mallarmé.
Le Roi s’amuse, play (1832) by Victor Hugo.
Le Tombeau d’Edgar Poe, sonnet by Mallarmé.
Leadbeater, Charles Webster (1847-1934), a Church of England clergyman who became a leading figure in Theosophical Society & right-hand man of Mrs B ...
Leakat Hussain, Maulvi/ Liakat (Hossain), (b.1852) prominent political figure of Bengal; foremost among Muslim leaders antagonistic to the British Divide & Rule. Active in the ag ...
Lecky, William E. Hartpole (1838-1903), British historian of rationalism & morals.
Leconte de Lisle, Charles-Marie-René (1818-94), French poet, leader of the Parnassians; acknowledged as the foremost French poet (1865-95) apart from Hugo.
Lee-Warner, Sir William (1846-1914): joined ICS 1869: acting Director of Public Instruction, Bombay, 1885: Political Agent in Kolhapur, 1886: Secret ...
Legende des Siecles, collection (1859) of metaphysical epics by Victor Hugo.
Leigh, Austen, Provost, King’s College, Cambridge, 1889 to 1905.
Lele, (1) Vishnu Bhāskara Lele (1876-1938) a Mahārāshtrian yogi under whose guidance Sri Aurobindo achieved complete silence of the mind & imm ...
Lemaire, Jean (b.1856), French politician, the Governor of Pondicherry (1904), a member (for Pondicherry) of Lower Chamber of France (1906).
Lemnian, of Lemnos, an island in the north
Lemuria, hypothetical prehistoric continent in the Indian Ocean invented by P.L. Sclator as home of the lemur (a monkey-like animal); he claimed ...
Lenin
Leonardo da Vinci, (1452-1519), Italian painter, sculptor, architect & engineer. His notebooks reveal a spirit of scientific inquiry into the workings of t ...
Leopardi, Giacomo (1798-1837), Italian poet, scholar, & philosopher.
Les Dieux ont soif, novel (1912) by Anatole France. The English translation, The Gods are Athirst, came out in 1913.
Les Miserables, famous French novel (1862) by Victor Hugo.
Lesbia, used by Roman poet Catullus in his most memorable poems to address his beloved, probably Claudia. The name recalls Sappho of Lesbos.
Lethe, the river in Hades that produces forgetfulness. Both the dead, upon arrival there, & the reincarnating souls, going to the world of the ...
Lethebridge, Sir Roper, (1840-1919): called to the bar at Inner Temple 1880: in the Bengal Educational Dept. 1868-76: Fellow of Calcutta University: editor Calc ...
Leto, loved by Zeus, whose queen Hera sent Python (see Pythoness) to persecute her during her pregnancy. Leto wandered about the earth until Z ...
Letters of D.H. Lawrence, (1932) edited by Aldous Huxley.
Levi/Levite, Levi was the 3rd son of Jacob & his first wife, Leah. He was the ancestor of the Levites, the Jewish priestly class. In Apostle St Luke’ ...
Liaquat Ali
Libanius, with Themistius, leading educationist of Greece. Libanius was a famous rhetorician who conducted a school in his native Antioch.
Liberator, journal edited & published from Paris by Edward Holton James. More than half of its inaugural issue (c.1910) was devoted to India. Shyam ...
Light Brigade, The allusion is to an English cavalry brigade in the Crimean War, whose heroism was made famous by Tennyson in his poem The Charge of th ...
Limber Horses, poem in The New Statesman & the Nationaa, perhaps in 1932.
L’Inde où j’ai vecu, L’Inde où j’ai vecu: Avant et après indépendence, a book by Madame David Néel (q.v.), published in 1951.
Listeners, poem by Walter de la Mare.
Literary History of India, by Robert Watson Frazer [cf. History of Indian Literature]
Little Brothers of the Poor, an association of Barisal Brajamohan College, Bengal, started by Aswini Kumar Dutt; it inspired the Swadesh Bāndhab Samiti.
Livy, one of the three great Roman historians (other two were Sallust & Tacitus). He wrote a history of Rome, a classic in his own lifetime, & ...
Lloyd George, David (1863-1945), 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, British prime minister (1916-22), who dominated the British political scene in the l ...
Locke, John, (1632-1704) laid the epistemological foundations of modern science.
Lodge, Sir Oliver, Sir Oliver Joseph (1851-1940), English physicist. After 1910 he became prominent in psychic research, believing strongly in the possibil ...
Lokarahasya, collection of 18 articles by Bankim Chandra in his Bangadarshan.
Lolita, Lalita (1) an apsarā of Swarga; (2) a companion of Radha in Vrindāvana.
Lomaharshana, father of Suta (q.v.) & member of the court of Yudhishthira. He was the first who first chanted the Puranas.
Lombardy, region of northern Italy, extending from the Swiss border to the Po & from the Ticino to the Minico River. Lombards were an ancient Germ ...
London Times, The Times of London, started by John Walter in 1785 under the name Daily Universal Register, & designated The Times in 1788. In 1906 the ...
Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth (1807-82), a popular of American poet, a professor of modern languages, having command of some ten languages.
Lopamudrā, the sage Agastya created her from the most graceful parts of different animals (the eyes of a deer etc.) & secretly introduced her into ...
Lord Beaconsfield, Benjamin Disraeli (1804-81), novelist, Prime Minister (1868, 1874-80).
Lord Byron, George Gordon, 6th Baron of Byron (1788-1824), poet & satirist whose ironic despair & aspirations for political liberty made a symbol of ...
Lord Cromer, Evelyn Baring (1841-1917), 1st Earl of Cromer: educated at Ordnance School Carshalton & Royal Military Academy, Woolwich & entered the R ...
Lord, Curzon, George Nathaniel, First Baron (Marquis) of Kedleston (1859-1925, Grand Master of the Star of India, Grand Master of Indian Empire, Privy ...
Lord Hardinge, Charles (1858-1944), 1st Baron of Penthurst, was Viceroy (1910-16). His grandfather Henry Hardinge (1785-1856)…as Gov.-Gen of India (188 ...
Lord Harris, George Robert Canning (1851-1932), 4th Baron Harris: Under Secretary of State for India 1885-6: Under Secretary for War 1888-9: while Go ...
Lord Kesteven, John Henry Trollope (1851-1915), 2nd Baron Kesteven.
Lord Kimberley, Wodehouse, John (1826-1902), succeeded his grandfather as 3rd Baron, created First Earl of Kimberley in 1866: educated at Eton & Christ ...
Lord Kitchener, Horatio Herbert (1850-1916), 1st Earl Kitchener of Khartoum: son of Lt-Colonel H.H. Kitchener: entered Royal Engineers 1871: Maj.-Genera ...
Lord Lansdowne, Henry Charles Keith Petty-Fitzmaurice (1845-1927): Under Secretary for War 1872-4, for India 1880: Viceroy & Gov.-General of India 1888- ...
Lord Minto, Gilbert John Murray Kynynmond Elliot (1845-1914), 4th Earl of Minto (1891-1914): Eton & Trinity College, Cambridge: Scots Guards 1857-70 ...
Lord Reay, Donald James Mackay (1839-1921): born in Netherlands: member of the 2nd Chamber of the State’s General, Netherlands 1871-5: naturalized ...
Lord Ripon, George Frederick Samuel Robinson (1827-1909), succeeded his father as 2nd Earl of Ripon 1859: M.P. of Gladstone’s Labour Party in charge ...
Lord Somers, John Somers (1651-1716), English jurist & statesman who presided over the framing of the Declaration of Rights.
Lorenzo di Medici, Lorenzo il Magnifico (1449-92), Italian merchant, politician, patron of arts & literature, a reputable scholar & poet, & virtual ruler o ...
Loti, Pierre, pen-name of Louis-Marie-Julien Viauc (1850-1923) whose novels were popular due to their accurate & exotic descriptions, & Romantic pessi ...
Lotus-Eaters, a poem by Tennyson that first came out in 1832.
Louis IX, (1214-70), King of France (1226-70), canonized as St. Louis. The most popular of the Capetian monarchs of medieval history, in 1248 he l ...
Louis Napoleon, Bonaparte, or Napoleon III (1808-73), Emperor of France (1852-70) who gave France two decades of prosperity & revived its prestige in Eu ...
Lowes, Livingstone, wrote Convention & Revolt in Poetry, & The Road to Xanadu.
Loxias, epithet of Apollo as interpreter of Zeus’ will.
Loyola, Saint Ignatius (1491-1556) of Spain; an influential figure in the Counter-Reformation of the 16th century, the founder of the Society o ...
Lucan, Marcus Annaeus Lucanus (39-65), Latin poet; a Republican patriot who was forced to kill himself when his part in a plot against Emperor ...
Lucifer, originally the planet Venus as the morning star, personified as a male figure bearing a torch – Latin lucifer (lux, light; ferro, to bea ...
Lucknow, an important city of U.P., on the River Gomati, is the capital of the state of Uttar Pradesh, formerly known as the United Provinces of ...
Lucrece, The Rape of Lucrece, Shakespeare’s poem dedicated to Henry Wriothesley.
Lucretius, (1) (c.99-55 BC), Latin poet & philosopher whose De Rerum Natura sets arguments based on philosophies of Democritus & Epicurus. (2) Cent ...
Ludwig, (1) Ludwig I, King of Bavaria (1825-48), patron of the arts, who transformed Munich into the artistic centre of Germany. (2) Ludwig II, ...
Lule Burgas, See Abdulla Pacha
Luther, Martin, (1483-1546) German biblical scholar, linguist, founder of Protestant Reformation. His socio-religious concepts laid a new basis for Germ ...
Lyceum Club, created by Aristotle in a grove sacred to Apollo Lyceius.
Lycia, a hilly coastal region of Caria (q.v.). Sarpedon led the Lycians in Trojan War.
Lycidas, pastoral elegy by John Milton.
Lycomedes, king of Scyros; in his court Achilles was sent by his mother Thetis to hide to prevent his being of slain in Trojan War as ordained by t ...
Lycurgus, reformer of Sparta’s constitution, govt., & social system, to establish a machine of war which would preclude trouble from the helots & ...
Lyrical Ballads, a collection of poems by Wordsworth & Coleridge.
Lysander, (d.395 BC), military & political leader: won the final victory for Sparta in the Peloponnesian War & wielded great power throughout Gree ...

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Macaulay, Colman Patrick Louis (1848-1890): ICS: Financial Secretary to Govt. of Bengal & Member of the Legislative Council: went to Peking 1885: ...
Macbeth, King of Scotland (1040-57)
MacDonald, Ramsay, James Ramsay (1866-1937), son of a labourer, began his career at the age of 18 as a clerk on 12/6d a week. Ten years later he joined the ...
MacDonnell, Sir Antony, Antony Patrick (1844-1925): joined ICS in Lower Bengal 1865: Revenue Secretary to Govt. of Bengal: Secretary to Govt. of India, Home Dep ...
Macedon(ia), Macedon was an ancient country north of Thessaly & bordering on the north-western Aegean, not originally a part of Greece.
Machiavelli, Nicolo (1469-1527), Italian writer, statesman, Florentine patriot, political theorist, author of Il principe (see Prince, the) which adv ...
Mackarness, a Liberal who in 1909 introduced a bill in the British Parliament to amend the Regulation of 1818 & safeguard the liberties of the subje ...
Mackenzie, Alexander, (1842-1902): ICS 1862: appointed to Bengal Secretariat: wrote history of Govt.’s relations with tribes on N.E. frontier of Bengal: Finan ...
Macmillan’s Magazine, published 1859-1907. Prof. Cowell (q.v.), reviewed Bankim Chandra’s Durgesh Nandini in it in 1862-64, & published it in 1865.
Macpherson, James (1736-96) Scottish poet, who contributed to Gaelic studies.
Madame Bovary, chief character in Gustave Flaubert’s French novel of same name.
Madame Gaebele, Yvonne Robert Gaebele (1888-1974?), wife of Jean Henri’s son Robert, & a devotee of Mother who gave her the name Suvratā (who upholds he ...
Madanlal
Madgodkar, Govind Dinānāth Madgavkar [so spelt in ICS record; Madgodkar in Light to Superlight ed. A.C. Dutta; Madgaokar in CWSA]: educated in Bomb ...
Madhavrao/ Lieutenant Madhavrao Jādhav, Madhavrao Bhagawantrao Jādhav (b.1873), Sri Aurobindo’s most intimate friend at Baroda. He & his elder brother, Khāserao, agreed with hi ...
Madh(o)u, one of the two Daitya brothers slain by Sri Krishna.
Madhura-Kavi, poet-saint, disciple of Nammalwar, one of the twelve Alwārs.
Madhva/ Madhwa, (c.1199-1278), Vaishnava saint, greatest exponent Dwaita-vada.
Madhyamikā
Madra, kingdom of Mādra; Sāvitri’s father Ashwapati was a king of Mādra.
Madras Mail, English daily started by a Brit in 1868; patronized by Anglo-Indians.
Madras Standard, English daily; in 1915 Mrs Besant bought & named it New India.
Madras Times, English daily started in 1860; merged later in Madras Mail.
Madravatie, in Mahabharata, princess of Mādra, second wife of Pāndu, & mother of Nakula & Sahadeva. She was also known as Mādri(e).
Madrid, became the capital of Spain in 1561, in the reign of Philip II, & developed rapidly in 18th century under the Bourbon kings. At the begi ...
Madura, Madurai was capital of the Pāṇdyās in 1st century. The Arthaśāstra mentions its fine textile products & its pearls which is why in 1311 ...
Maecenas, Gaius Cilnius (c.70-78 BC), diplomat, counsellor to the Roman emperor Augustus Caesar, whose loyalty gave him considerable influence in ...
Maeonides, of Maeonia, ancient name for Lydia. Homer was said to be a Maeonide, either because he may have been born there or may have been a son ...
Maeterlinck, Maurice Polydore-Marie-Bernard (1862-1949), Belgian symbolist poet & playwright, he wrote in French & won the 1911 Nobel Prize in litera ...
Magadh(a), a kingdom which finds mention from the Vedic to the Puranic texts [see SABCL 3:190-91 & 8:41, 52, 57]. Magadha is believed to have been ...
Maggie
Magha, ancient Sanskrit poet, son of Dattaka, & author of Shishupāla-vadha.
Māghavahan, a king, an ardently devoted to the Jarāsandha.
Māghavan, an epithet of Indra.
Magi, pl. of Magus, priestly class of ancient Media & Persia, having occult powers.
Magna Charta, (Magna Carta), a document guaranteeing personal & political liberty to his subjects, issued by King John at Runnymede in 1215 under thre ...
Magre, Maurice
Mahabharata, by Vyāsa; presently comprises a lakh shlokas in 18 Parvas.
Mahaffy, Robert Pentland (d.1943), contemporary of Sri Aurobindo at Cambridge, he passed the Historical Tripos in the first class. After working ...
Mahakali
Mahalakshmi
Mahānirvāṇa Tantra, translation & commentary on this work was brought out by Arthur Avalon in 1913 under this title.
Maharaja Ganpatrao, eldest of three son of Sayājirao II succeeded his father in 1847; his brother Khanderao who succeeded him in 1856 sided with the Paramou ...
Mahar(loka)/ Mahas, world of Truth discovered, according to the Taittiriya Upanishad, by Rishi Mahachamasya as the fourth Vyāhṛtis; world of Vastness; world ...
Mahasaraswati
Mahashakti
Mahatmas, in Theosophy, the Masters who live chiefly in Tibet; they are perfected men whose task it is to watch over humanity & guide it on the pa ...
Mahāvidyās, goddesses of the Tantra system; they are ten in number: Kali, Tara, Śodaśhi, Bhuvanesvari, Bhairavi, Chinnamasta, Dhumavati, Bagalāmukhi ...
Mahavira, (c.599-527 BC) born as Vardhamana he founded Jainism, & became known as Mahāvira, the last of the 24 Tirthankaras of that spiritual system.
Mahāvishnu, occurs in Ramotaratapani Upanishad where it has been used in the sense of Param Brahman. In its primal sense, it is the great Agni in wh ...
Mahayana, Greater Vehicle, one of the two major Buddhist traditions; it is the form most adhered to in China, Korea, Japan & Tibet. It emerged in ...
Mahdi/ Mehdi, (mä’dē Arabic for “rightly guided one”). In Islamic eschatology, he is a messianic deliverer of Islam who will arise before the end of t ...
Mahendra, a mountain range of South India, it runs from Gondwānā to Orissa.
Mahesh yogi
Maheshwari
Mahi, (1) in the Veda, the goddess of the Vast Truth (Mahas); she represents the vast Word that brings us all things out of the divine source. ...
Mahmud of Ghazni, (971–1030) (1) also known as Mahmūd-i Zābulī, was the most prominent ruler of the Ghaznavid Empire. He conquered the eastern Iranian pla ...
Mahmud Shevket Pasha, (1856–1913) was an Ottoman general & statesman. He was born in Baghdad, where he finished his primary education before going on to the M ...
Mahomed
Mahomed Reza Khan, was appointed in 1765 at the instance of the Calcutta Council of the East India Co. the Deputy Nawab of Bengal on the death of Nawab Mir ...
Mahopanishad, an Upanishad belonging to the Saṃvāda.
Mahratta/ Maratha, No people saw through the deeply laid designs of the European adventurers, especially the English traders as did the Mahrattas, right fr ...
Mahuvā, a Tālukā in formerly of Baroda State. It is a port on the Gulf of Kutch.
Mainak/ Mainaac/ Mainac, in Mahabharata a mountain north of Kailāsa. Personified, he is the son of Himavat (Himālaya) & Mena. When Indra clipped the wings of the ...
Maitrayani Upanishad, an Upanishad of the Sama-Veda.
Maitreya, Akshaya Kumar, (1861-1930), a lawyer of Rajshahi (Bengal), authored books on Indian history in Bengali. He came into the limelight with the publication ...
Majumdar, Ambika Charan/ Mazumdar/ Ambica Charan, (1850-1922) His father, Radha Madhab Mazumdar, being a wealthy zamindar, Ambica graduated from the Scottish Church College of Calcutta ...
Majumdar, Ram(achandra)/ Mazumdar Ramchandra/ Ram(a)Chandra, a young man on the staff of Sri Aurobindo’s papers Karmayogin & Dharma. He informed Sri Aurobindo of his impending arrest in February 19 ...
Makers of Italy a, book by Marriot.
Malabar, region on the west coast of India from Goa to the southern tip of the peninsula at Kanyākumari, now part of Kerala. The Moplahs of Malab ...
Mālābāri, B.M., Bahraini Merwānji (1853-1912): educated at Surat: taught in the Parsi Proprietary School: social reformer & poet, famous for his service ...
Māl(a)va, The mountain territory just above the Takshashilā was occupied by the kingdoms of Uraśā & Abhisāra. To its south-east lay the twin kingd ...
Mālaviya, Madan Mohan, (1861-1946), prominent educationist & social reformer, thrice president of the Hindu Mahāsabhā. He also presided over two annual session ...
Mallarmé, Stéphane (1842-98), French poet, a master of the evocative use of the French language, & a major influence on the Symbolist movement.
Mallas, Mallas were one of the sixteen great nations that, shortly before the rise of Buddhism, occupied the territories from Kabul valley to th ...
Mallinath, a Sanskrit poet & author of commentaries on several of the great classical poems, e.g. Raghuvamsha, Meghadutam, Shishupāla-vadha.
Malory, Sir Thomas (c.1470), English writer famous as author of Morte d’Arthur, the first prose account in English of the rise & fall of King Ar ...
Malplaquet, village in northern France where in the War of the Spanish Succession in 1709, Marlborough & Eugene of Savoy won a costly victory over t ...
Malsar, Malsāḍ, on the banks of Narmada where a saint named Mādhavadas lived.
Malsure, Tānāji, Shivaji’s boyhood friend, who had a duel with Udaya Bhān of Kondāna Fort in which both were killed. Tānāji’s brother Suryāji took over t ...
Malvolio, a steward in Shakespeare’s comedy Twelfth Night.
Mamatā, wife of the Rishi Uchathya & the mother of Dīrghatamas.
Mān Singh, of the Tanwar dynasty of the Rājputs of Gwalior, ruled from 1486 to 1517. A brilliant general, until the end of his life, Raja Mān Singh ...
Mānava Dharmashāstra, laws of conduct of the mental being in Manusmriti.
Manchester, was the nucleus of the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester, England. “Great Britain regarded India as an agricultural reservoir & ...
Mandalay, a city on the Irrawaddy River, former capital (now chief town) of Upper Burma, & headquarters of Mandalay district & division. Tilak was ...
Mandār(a), an ancient mountain between Bhāgalpūr & Dumka, composed of one single structure unaffected by winds or weather. This proves its scriptur ...
Māndavya, a Brahma-rishi in Mahabharata. For killing a moth he was condemned by Yama to be impaled upon a shūli (stake). When he was put there, he ...
Mandhātā, son of Yuvanashva, of the race of Ikshwāku, & author of a hymn in the Rig-Veda. In Mahabharata, he conquers the whole earth in a single day.
Māndukya Upanishad, belongs to the Atharva-Veda.
Mānekwādā, Prof Mānekrao (née Gajānan Yashwant) had started a gymnasium in mid-19th century to continue the age-old Maratha tradition of training y ...
Maṇgaḷ, name in Indian astronomy of the fourth major planet from the sun, revolving in an orbit outside that of the earth. From the earth, it is ...
Mani-bhai
Manichaeism, a dualistic religion founded in the 3rd century by Mani, a Persian who had a vision in his early youth & came forward as a prophet inspi ...
Manicktala/ Maniktala/ Manicktolla, a locality in eastern Calcutta, formerly considered a suburb of the city. The property of Sri Aurobindo, the ‘garden’ in which Barindra ...
Manindranath/ Mani Naik, follower & disciple of Motilal Roy. He played a major role in Barindra’s revolutionary work as bomb-maker. He made the bomb thrown at Lo ...
Manipur/ Monipur(a), (maṇi jewel + pūra city) in the Mahābhārata is where Arjūna meets & subsequently marries Chitrāngadā, daughter of king Chitravāhana.
Manipushpaca, the conch-shell of Sahadeva, youngest of the Pandavas.
Manmohan (Ghose), (1869-1924), known in the family as Mano, was just eight or nine, when his elder brother Beno (Benoy Bhūshan) & his younger brother, Aur ...
Manorajan
Mantharā, in Ramayana, a petty-minded hunch-back, princess Kaikeyi’s ayah who managed Kaikeyi’s mind resulting in the death of King Dasharatha, a ...
Mantuan, Virgil who was born near Mantua, capital of Mantua, Lombardy, Italy.
Manubhai, former secretary of Sayājirao, who when Dewan created the Bāpat Case.
Manu(s)/ Manu Vaivaswata/ Manou, Manu (man the thinker, the mental being) from which came the Vedic word manyamānāh, the thinkers of the word, & manyu, temperament, emot ...
Mara, in Buddhism, the Evil One who tempts men to indulge their passions.
Maratha Confederacy, was created in 1730s by the 2nd Peshwa Bāji Rao I during the reign of Chhatrapati Shahu, the grandson of Shivaji. It became a necessity, ...
Marconi, Guglielmo (1874-1937), Italian physicist & electrical engineer who developed the use of radio waves as a practical means of communicatio ...
Maricar
Marichi, a Prajāpati; chief of Maruts, he married Kala, mother of Rishi Kashyapa.
Mariolatry, worship of the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus Christ.
Mark Antony, Marcus Antonius (82-30 BC), associate of Julius Caesar, famed as lover & ally of Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt.
Mārkandeya Purana, narrated by Rishi Mārkandeya, son of Rishi Mrikandu, in about 9,000 verses; Chandipātha is an episode of this Purana.
Marlboro, John Churchill (1650-1722), 1st Duke of Marlborough, English general & statesman, one of the great military commanders of history.
Marlowe, Christopher (1564-93), English dramatist & poet. Among the Elizabethan dramatists, he was second only to Shakespeare.
Marpessa, (1) daughter of Euenus, son of Ares. Idas, who was an Argonaut, won Marpessa as his bride, but she was carried off by Apollo. Zeus inter ...
Marriage laws, There are eight legally recognisable types of marriage. The bride is given the maximum property inheritance rights when the parents sele ...
Marriot, author of Makers of Italy.
Marriot, Charles, contributed an article on the work of J.D. Ferguson (q.v.), to the 2nd No. of the magazine Shama’a, which was reviewed by Sri Aurobindo ...
Mars, Roman deity, later god of War. In literature & art he is hardly distinguished from the Greek Aries. Fourth major planet from the sun, re ...
Marsyas, the piper of Celaena in Phrygia, who challenged Apollo to a musical contest. It was agreed that the victor should treat the loser as he ...
Mārtanda, the eighth son of Adīti, the mother of the gods, whom she casts away from her, & became the black, dark, lost, or hidden Sun.
Martineau, Governor of Pondicherry (July 1910-June 1911); a supporter of Bluysen in the election to the French Chamber in 1914, & himself a candida ...
Martund, Mārtanda (an epithet of Shiva) Rajput prince belonging to the Ghelote clan to which also belonged Mahārāṇā Pratāp of Chittodgadh [s/a Mewār]
Martyaloka, Bhūr lōka as the world of mortals.
Maruts, the storm-gods, who hold a very prominent place in the Vedas & are represented as friends & allies of Indra. The Maruts are Life-Powers ...
Marwaris, or Mārwādi was a term originally used for everyone who belonged to Mārwād as well as their language. Over time that term became restrict ...
Mary, Queen of Scots, Mary Stuart (1542-87), controversial Scottish queen, who was put to death by her cousin Queen Elizabeth I of England, who considered Mar ...
Mary/ Virgin Mary/ the Virgin, Mother of Jesus, worshipped in the Catholic Christian Church since the apostolic age, & a favourite subject in art, music & literature. ...
Masefield, John (1878-1967), playwright & novelist; 15th poet laureate of England.
Maskelyne, John Nevil (1839-1917), English magician who influenced the development of European magic. Trained as a watchmaker, he became famous in ...
Masonic, the Masonic Fraternity, an oath-bound fraternal order, originally deriving from the medieval fraternity of operative stonemasons. It has ...
Massis, Henri, (1886-1970), editor-in-chief of Revue universelle (founded in April 1920) & author of La défense de 1’Occident.
Master of Elibank, A.W.C. Oliphant Murray (1870-1920), ‘Master’ is a title given to certain Scottish peers. Liberal M.P. (1900-12): Undersecretary of State ...
Mātaris(h)wan / Mātarisvan, Vedic Vāyu (q.v.); as Prāṇa, he extends himself in Matter & vivifies it; he brought down / produced Agni for the Bhrigus’ Yajñas.
Mathura/ Mothura, on the right bank of the Yamuna, was connected with the life of Sri Krishna along with Gōkula & Vrindāvana, hence became centres of his ...
Matsya(s), King Virāṭa’s capital Mahābhārata, its people were called Matsyas, & he himself was styled Matsya.
Matteo
Maurois, André, pen-name of Emile Herzog (1885-1967), French biographer, novelist & essayist. His Ariel (1923), life of Shelley, established his ...
Mayo, Richard Southwell Bourke (1822-72), 6th Earl of Mayo: got his degree of LL.D at Trinity College, Dublin: to Russia 1845, wrote St. Peter ...
Mayo, Miss, Katherine Mayo (1867-1940): American political writer. Supporting the claim that America belonged to descendants of white Anglo-Saxons o ...
Mazarin
Mazarul Haq, (1866-1930), presided over 1915 Bombay session of Muslim League.
Mazzini, Giuseppe (1805-72), Italian revolutionary, thinker, writer, an outstanding figure of Risorgimento (1815-70), the period of national unif ...
McNeill, Swift, John Gordon Swift McNeill (1849-1926) Irish politician, jurist, Prof. of Law, M.P. 1887-1919, & an authority on Parliamentary procedure.
McTaggart, John McTaggart Ellis (1866-1925), British Hegelian philosopher.
Mecca, birthplace of Prophet Mahomed & currently capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia, it is located 45 miles inland from the Red Sea por ...
Medea, princess of Colchis, famous for her knowledge of sorcery. She is the chief figure in plays by Euripides, Seneca, Corneille & others.
Mede(s), native(s) of Media, the north-western part of ancient Iran.
Medh(y)atithi Kaṇwa, Vedic Rishi author of many hymns.
Medusa, most famous of the three Gorgon sisters. When a most beautiful woman, she offended Athena who changed her hair into snakes & made her fa ...
Megasthenes, (c.350– c.290 BC) a Greek explorer historian of Asia Minor, whom, around 302 BC, Seleucus I Nikator sent him as his ambassador to Chandr ...
Meges, nephew of Odysseus, he commanded the Epean contingent against Troy.
Meghaduta(m) / Meghadut, lyric by Kālidāsa.
Meghnad-Badh, Bengali epic poem (1861) by Michael Madhusudan.
Mehsāna, c.39 kms north of Kadi, c.42km east of Vijāpur, & c.24km NW of Gujāria. Mehsāna replaced Kadi as the HQ of that prānt of Baroda State af ...
Mehta, Sir Pherozshah, Pherozshah Merwānji (1845-1915): B.A. 1864: called to the bar 1868; Municipal Commissioner of Bombay Corporation 1873, & its Chairman 18 ...
Melanchthon, Philipp (1497-1560), humanist, reformer, theologian & educator; author of the Confession of Augsburg of the Lutheran Church. Though he h ...
Meleager, epigrammatist of Gadara (now Jordan); he compiled the first Greek Anthology of epigrams, containing poems, his own & of fifty other poets.
Memphis, capital of Lower Egypt, & centre of the Old Kingdom (c. 2686-2160 BC). It was south of the Nile Delta, near modern Cairo.
Mena, Queen of Himavat or Himalaya, mother of Umā (Pārvati), & Mainak.
Menaka/ Menaca, apsarā sent to seduce the sage Vishwāmitra; succeeding in this mission she became the mother of Shakuntalā.
Menander, (342-292 BC), Athenian dramatist considered the supreme poet of Greek New Comedy, the last flowering of Athenian stage comedy.
Menelaus, younger brother of Agamemnon, king of Sparta & husband of Helen. Menelaus led the Spartan contingent against Troy.
Menelik, Menelik II (1844-1913), emperor of Abyssinia (Ethiopia). He expanded the empire almost to its present borders & also modernised it.
Menes, first ruler of the first dynasty of unified Egypt; he joined Upper & Lower Egypt in a centralized monarchy. Tradition attributes to him ...
Mentana, village in Italy where French & papal forces defeated Garibaldi 1867.
Meredith, George, (1828-1909), English poet & novelist, he did not receive wide recognition until the publication of Diana of the Crossways (1885).
Meriones, Greek chieftain of Crete who joined Idomeneus in Trojan War.
Meru/ Uttara Meru, also called Sumeru. In ancient India, Meru was the centre of the seven continents [see India], around it revolved all the planets, & on ...
Messalina, Valeria (c. 22-48), third wife of the Roman emperor Claudius I, notorious for licentious behaviour & instigating murderous court intrigu ...
Messiah, one who would be sent by God to restore Israel & reign righteously. ‘Christ’ is Greek for Messiah. The common idea of Jesus’ time was th ...
Metternich, Clemens Wenzel Nepomuk Lothar (1773-1859), Fürst von Metternich, Austrian statesman, a champion of conservative principles. The period 1 ...
Mewār, Mewāḍ covers the present Rajasthan State’s districts of Bhilwāra, Chittodgadh, Rajsamand, Udaipur, Jhālawar’s Pirwāra tehsil, present Ma ...
Mexican war, after the overthrow of the dictator Porfirio Diaz in 1910, Mexico came under the grip of a civil war. Francisco Madero, who had led the ...
Michael, Grand Duke Michael Romanov was anointed Czar when his brother ‘abdicated’ at the ‘request’ of top-ranking generals in 1917, apparently o ...
Michelangelo/ Angelo / Michael Angelo, Di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (1475-1564), Italian painter, sculptor, architect, & poet of the European Renaissance.
Michele
Mikado, See Shinto.
Mill, John Stuart (1806-73), English philosopher, political economist, & exponent of Utilitarianism (inherited from Jeremy Bentham), whose wor ...
Milton, John (1608-74), English poet, whose 19 English & five Italian sonnets are considered greatest ever written, but his Paradise Lost has ma ...
Mime Antique, a kind of farcical drama among Greeks & Romans, characterized by mimicry of familiar types of character.
Mimnermus, (c.630 BC), Greek elegiac poet of Colophon. Only fragments of his poetry survive. His love poems are marked by tenderness & melancholy s ...
Minerva, Roman goddess of handicrafts, the professions, the arts, & later, of war; commonly identified with the Greek Athena.
Minos, a just king of Crete, son of Zeus & Europa. Idomeneus was his grandson.
Mir Jāfar / Mirzafar, (1691-1765), Jāfar Ali Khan was brought up in the family of Aliverdi Khan the Nawab Nazim of Bengal, Bihar & Orissa: Aliverdi inveigled ...
Mirabai, was born in Chittodgadh (see Chitore); her integral surrender to Lord Krishna was epitomized by her final disappearance in His temple in ...
Mirabeau, Honoré Gabriel Victor Riqueti (1749-91), Comte de Mirabeau, French revolutionist & statesman, one of the greatest figures in the Nationa ...
Miriam, original name of Christianity’s Virgin Mary.
Misracayshie, an apsarā.
Mithila, also called Videha after King Vidhia who ruled over it. The name Mithila was sometimes also applied to the capital of the country.
Mithra, Zoroastrian war-god born of a rock & armed at birth with a knife & a torch; he later became known as the creator of life, the giver of r ...
Mitra, one of the Ādityas; associated with Vedic Varuna, he is the all-embracing harmony of the Truth, the Friend of all beings, & therefore, t ...
Mitra, Dinabandhu, Rai Bahadur (1830-73): educated at Hare School & the Hindu College, while still a student contributed Bengali articles to Vidyasāgar’s S ...
Mitra, Dwarakānath, (1833-74): son of a Law Agent practising in the Hugli Courts: educated at Hugli & Presidency Colleges: Fellow of Calcutta University: j ...
Mitra, Kishori Chand, (1822-73): educated at Hare School & the Hindu College: Assistant Secretary to the Asiatic Society of William Jones: Deputy Magistrate 1 ...
Mitra, Kumudini, (1878-1943) daughter of Krishna Kumar Mitra; after her marriage with Probodh Chandra Basu-Mullik, known as Kumudini Basu. She was the ed ...
Mitra/ Mitter, Krishna Kumar, (1852-1937), Sri Aurobindo’s Mesho (mother’s sister’s husband). He was the editor of Sanjibani, & a prominent leader in the anti-partiti ...
Mitra, P., Pramathanath Mitra (1853-1910), a well-known barrister who practised at the Calcutta High Court & made his mark in the field of criminal ...
Mitra, Rajendra Lal, (1822-91): Scholar & antiquarian: belonged to a respectable Śūdra family: educated in Calcutta at English schools & Calcutta Medical Col ...
Mitter, Justice Saroda Charan, (1848-1917): B.A. & M.A. at Calcutta Univ.: Premchand Roychand Scholar 1871: Bachelor of Law 1873: practised in Calcutta High Court 1874 ...
Mnemosyne, Greek personification of memory (from which comes the science of Mnemonics). Daughter of Uranus & Gaea & mother of the nine Muses by Zeus.
Modern Love, cycle of poems (1862) by George Meredith.
Moghul/ Mogul/ Mughal, Arabic & Persian form of Mongol. It is conventionally used to describe the Muslim dynasty that ruled the larger part of India from the e ...
Moitra, Herambachandra, (1857-1938), principal of City College, Calcutta for about 30 years. Calcutta University awarded him the Griffith Memorial Prize for his ...
Moliere, pseudonym of Jean Baptiste Poquelin (1622-73), French dramatist, actor, & master of comedy. He was eventually acclaimed as one of the gr ...
Moloch, Canaanite god of fire, to whom children were offered in sacrifice.
Moloy, a mountain range in southern part of the Western Ghats. It abounds in sandal trees.
Mommsen, Theodor (1817-1903), German historian, his History of Rome (1854-56), earned him the 1902 Nobel Prize for Literature.
Momus, or Momos, ancient god of fault-finding; in Hesiod as the son of Nyx, Night.
Mona
Mona Pinto
Monarch of the Glen, a prominent species of deer in Scotland.
Monastir, also known as Bitola; southernmost city of Macedonia, Yugoslavia, a few miles from the Greek frontier. It is a Greek-founded settlement ...
Monet
Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms, proposed in 1918 jointly by Secretary of State Edwin Montagu, Viceroy Chelmsford. They provided for an elected majority in all legislatu ...
Moor, in English usage Moroccans & sometimes former Muslims of Spain, of mixed Arab, Spanish, & Berber origins, who subsequently settled in No ...
Moore, Arthur Moore was one of the editors of the Statesman of Calcutta.
Morley, John/ Honest John/ Archangel John, (1838-1923) known in English history as Archangel of English Liberalism for Britain: failed in election to Parliament from the Blackburn ...
Mormons, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, founded in 1830 by Joseph Smith in New York, on the basis of the Book of Mormon.
Morning Leader, British journal published during 1907.
Morpheus, Greek god: son of Sleep & a creature of the Night: brought dreams of human forms; his brothers, Ikelos & Phobetor brought dreams of beas ...
Morris, William, (1834-96), English designer, craftsman, poet, & socialist; he revolutionized Victorian taste.
Morte d’Arthur, a poem by Tennyson, published in his collection Poems (1842).
Moses, (14th -13th cent BC) the greatest lawgiver of Israel, he led his people out of bondage in Egypt to the edge of Canaan. God promulgated t ...
Moslem League, All-India Muslim League, an organization for protecting, upholding & promoting the political interests of Indian Muslims, founded in 190 ...
Moulvi Dedar Bux/ Buksh, attended the Bengal Provincial Conference of INC at Hooghly in September 1909 & moved the resolution for continuation of the boycott of ...
Mount Oeta, a triangular outlier of the Pindus Mountains in central Greece. Oïleus epithet of Locrian Ajax, son of Oileus, a legendary Locrian king.
Mr Garth, son of Sir Richard, member of Anglo-Indian Defence Association.
Mr & Mrs Drewett, In June 1879, Dr. Ghose took his family to England to admit his sons to an English school in England. He could do this on the assurance ...
Mr Pickwick, main character of Dickens’ The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club (1836-37); in a Pickwickian sense refers to words or epithets usua ...
Mridu
Mrigalanch(h)an, epithet of Chandra for bearing stains/spots like a Mriga (deer).
Mrinalinee/ Mrinalini, Bankim Chandra’s novel set in the first Muslim invasion of Bengal.
Mrinalini Devi, (1887-1918) was born in Meherpore, a village near Jessore. She was married to Sri Aurobindo on 30 April 1901. According to her father, s ...
Mritunjay
Mrityunjaya, ‘death-conquering’ epithet of Lord Shiva.
Mrs Kama, Bhikhāiji Rustomji Cāmā (1861-1936), a well-known, wealthy Parsi lady who left for London around 1902 where came in contact with patriot ...
Mrs Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797-1851), second wife of P.B. Shelley; she is best known for her Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus ( ...
Mudgala, Vedic Rishi, name borne by several sages. There is one in Mahabharata.
Mudholkar, Rao Bahadur Raghūnath Narasimha (1857-1921), “the leading Moderate politician of the Berars (q.v.)... one of the chief opponents of the ...
Mudrārākshasa, ‘Seal of Rākshasa’, Sanskrit play by Vishakhadatta (c.320-510).
Mughdabodh, Sanskrit grammar by Bōpadeva towards the end of the 13th century.
Mukāndaram, (Chakravarti) (b.1547), Bengali poet for whose Kavikankan Chandi (Chandimangal), Bengalis honour him with the title of “Kavikankan”.
Mukherji, Justice, one of those admitted in 1907 by Morley to his Advisory Council of Notables, a high-paying dove-cote for confirmed loyalists.
Mukherji, Satish (Chandra), (1865-1948) was appointed translator of Calcutta High Court by Justice Dwārkā Nath Mitra, a leading believer in the Religion of Humanity ...
Mukherji, S(h)ambhunath, Shambhu Chandra Mukherji (1839-94): educated at the Oriental Seminary & the Hindu Metropolitan College: joined the Hindu Patriot as sub- ...
Mukherji, U.N., Upendra Nath Mukherji (1868-1919), journalist, & publisher of books on religion, including Hindu Somājer Itihāsh, works of Kālidāsa, etc ...
Mukūnda, the Deliverer, epithet of Vishnu & Krishna.
Mulhausen, German spelling of Mulhouse, an industrial town of NE France on the plain of Alsace between the Vosges & the Jura Mountains. It passed t ...
Müller, Max, Friedrich Maximilian (1823-1900): son of Wilhelm Müller: born at Dessau: educated at Leipzig Ph.D. 1843: translated Hitōpadesha, 1843: s ...
Mullick, Nirod, cousin of Subodh Chandra Mullick (q.v.) who like him was the principal financial supporter of Bande Mataram.
Mullick, S.K., Probably Dr. Sarat Kumar Mullick (1870-1924), the first to demand a Bengali company in the Bengal Regiment & the Bengal Territorial Force.
Mulli(c)k, Subodh (Chandra), (1879-1920), one of Sri Aurobindo’s staunchest friends & closest colleagues in political as well as revolutionary work for which he earn ...
Mullik, Manmatha Chandra, (1853-1922), barrister of Calcutta, related to Raja Subodh Chandra. Married an Englishwoman in 1899: settled in England: contested twice ...
Mundaka Upanishad, an Upanishad of Atharva-Veda.
Mundaquinie (Mandakini), an arm of the Ganga flowing through Kedārnāth, Garhwal. Sri Aurobindo called it “the Ganges of the gods, in heaven”. [SABCL 27: 159]
Munro, William (1818-80): entered the 39th Regiment 1834: spent many years in India: fought at Maharajpur, Dec.1843, severely wounded: fought i ...
Murari, one who killed the demon Mura, epithet of Sri Krishna.
Murry, Middleton, John Middleton Murry (1889-1957), his romantic & biographical approach to literature defied prevalent tendencies among fellow British cr ...
Muruland, in Mahābhārata, an ancient country ruled by Bhāga Datta.
Musset, Louis-Charles-Alfred de Musset (1810-57), one of the most distinguished poets & playwrights of the French Romantic movement.
Musset, Alfred de
Mussolini, Benito (Amilcare Andrea) (1883-1945), Italian prime minister (1922-43), the first of Europe’s Fascist dictators. He ruled Italy for more ...
Mustafa Kamil (Pasha), (1874-1908) son of an Egyptian army officer: trained as a lawyer at the French law school in Cairo & the Law Faculty at the University o ...
My Master as I Saw Him, The Master as I Saw Him by Sister Nivedita (q.v$.).
Mycenae, Greek city in Argolis, six miles from Argos & nine from the sea: one of the chief centres of the Aegean world in later 2nd millennium BC ...
Myrmidon(s), Greek tribe of Thessaly which colonized the island of Aegina; Zeus had turned them into men from ants to repopulate Aegina, his son Aeac ...
Myrtilla, shrub with shiny evergreen leaves & white scented flowers sacred to Venus.
Mysian, of Mysia in NW Asia Minor, facing Lesbos; it was not a political unit.

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Nabha, the ruler & his state (situated fourteen miles NW of Patiala) which, with Jind & Patiālā, formed the Phulkian princely states created in ...
Nachiketas/ Nachicatus, son of Vaja-shravasa Gautama; his dialogue with Yama occurs in the Katha Upanishad.
Nadir (Shah), (1688-1747), Shah of Iran (1736-47) invaded India in 1739 & advanced up to Delhi, & ordered a plunder & massacre of its citizens.
Nag, Hardayāl, (1853-1942) of Chandpur, Bengal, a Moderate & Gandhian leader.
Nag Mahashaya, Durga Charan Nag (1846-99), a prominent disciple of Sri Ramakrishna. He was an embodiment of humility & self-sacrifice.
Nāgānanda, Sanskrit drama written Harshavardhana, depicting the self-sacrifice of Jimutavāhana to save the life of a Naga named Sankhachuda.
Nāgas, see Ananta
Nāgen, Nāgen Nag, a cousin of Bijoy Kumar Nag. On his doctor’s advice, he came to Pondicherry sometime in 1913, & stayed with his cousin in Sri ...
Nagendra(nath), Nāgendra Nath Gupta, one of the two innocent Kaviraj brothers to whose house Ullāskar had removed a packet of bombs without telling them ...
Nahusha, son of Ayus & father of Yayāti. By sacrifices, austere self-restraint, & valour he acquired sovereignty of the three worlds. He then bec ...
Naiad(s), daughter(s) of Zeus; they preside over freshwater streams, lakes, wells & fountains as water nymphs.
Naidu, Sarojini, (1879-1949), Gandhian politician, poet, writer, & orator.
Naimisha, Naimisharanya, a forest near river Gomati where the Mahabharata was recited by the sage Sauti to assembled Rishis including Saunaka.
Nais, a Greek river goddess.
Naka, son of Mudgala.
Nala/ Nul, king of Nishādhas & husband of Damayanti. Naladamayanti, the legend of their romance forms “Nalopakhyanam” in the Mahabharata.
Nālandā, Buddhist monastic centre (5th–7th centuries), believed to have been an open university. Located north of Rājagriha, the original name of ...
Nalodaya, Sanskrit poem by Kālidāsa, it describes the restoration King Nala.
Namasudra, caste of cultivators & boatmen in Bengal, formerly known as Chandālas.
Nammalwar, Vaishnava saint poet of South India, considered greatest of the Alwārs.
Namuchi, in Rig-Veda, a demon associated with Vritra. He personifies man’s weaknesses & is slain by Indra with the foam of water. The legend of N ...
Nana Fadnavis, (1742-1800) was the name under which Bālāji Janārdan became known. By 1740, when Bāji Rao I died, the great Mahratta Confederacy that he ...
Nanak, founder of the Sikh religion was born in 1469 in a Khatri family of Talwandi near Lahore. He considered all men as equal before God & pr ...
Nanak Charit, biography of Nanak in Bengali by Krishna Kumar Mitra.
Nandas, a dynasty founded c.362 by Mahāpadma who belonged to a rich & very powerful family which with a low origin. It ruled Magadha in northern ...
Nandi, Ashok, Ashok Chandra Nandi (d.1909), a yogi & bhakta, contracted tuberculosis due to exposure & neglect as undertrial prisoner in Alipore Bomb ...
Nandini Satpathy
Naoroji, Dadabhai/ Nowroji, (1825-1917), son of Parsi priest, educated at Elphinstone College, Bombay: Prof there of Mathematics & Natural Philosophy 1854: when he ...
Napoleon
Nara-Narayana, “expresses the relation of God in man to man in God” [SABCL: 13:11] A legend about their incarnations as Sri Krishna & Arjūna goes thus: ...
Narac/ Naraka, the condition of misery in the subtle body; Hell; a place of torture to which the souls of the wicked are sent. Authorities vary greatly ...
Narada, one of the Prajāpatis, Nārada Muni, is depicted as carrying a Veena & singing the glories of Vishnu in his forms of Nārāyaṇa & Hari. He ...
Narasingha/ Man-lion, fourth of the ten Avatāras of Vishnu in this Chaturyuga. He killed Hiranyakashipu & saved his son Prahlāda from his persecution. Since t ...
Narayan Jyotishi, Narayan Chandra Jyotir-bhusan Bhattacharya, astrologer who predicted, without any reference to a horoscope, some events in Sri Aurobindo ...
Narayana, one of the two Rishi brothers who performed austerities at Budaricāshram. Urvasie was produced by the sage Nārāyaṇa by thumping on his t ...
Narmada/ Narbada/ Nurmada, one of the seven holy rivers of India; it rises in the Maikhala Range, Madhya Pradesh, & flows into the Gulf of Khambhāt in Gujarat.
Nasata, father of the Vedic gods Nāsatyas or Ashwins.
Nāshik, on the banks of the holy Godavari (q.v.) is one of twelve sacred cities containing the Jyotirlinga; it hosts Kumbha Melas. On 24th & 25t ...
Nāshik Wrata, Marathi nationalist paper published from Nāshik
Nassau, Frederick Henry (1584-1647), prince of Orange, & count of Nassau, general, politician, & Stadtholder (chief executor of Holland). He led ...
Nata
National Council of Education, Taking privilege leave from Baroda College, Sri Aurobindo went to Bengal on March 2, 1906. He was present at the founding of the Nationa ...
Natus/ Natu Brothers, “two prominent Poona Brahmins arrested in 1897 & deported under suspicion of being behind the murders of Rand (q.v.) & Ayerst in Poona.
Nava Shakti/ Nabasakti, Bengali daily started in May 1907 with a certain Manmohan Ghose as printer & publisher. It was conducted & owned by Manoranjan Guhā Thāk ...
Navagwas, Nine-rayed Vedic Rishis, descendants of Aṇgiras, who sacrificed for nine months. They are often associated with the Dashagwas (ten-rayed ...
Navajata
Navakishan, Navakrishna Deb (1733-97): born in Gobindapur: father died while he was still young: at 18 he was Persian Munshi to Warren Hastings: he ...
Nawab Sayyed Mohammed, (d.1919) a wealthy nationalist, descendant of Tippu (see Haider Ali); he presided over the 1913 Congress at Karachi.
Nayak, Bengali daily of Calcutta, edited by Panchcowri Banerji. It was one of the two most popular dailies; the other was Sandhyā, edited by Br ...
Nazarene, Jesus Christ as born in or from Nazareth.
Neaera, name of various nymphs in classical poetry. It appears in Milton’s Lycidas.
Nehru, Jawaharlal
Neleus, son of Poseidon & the father of Nestor.
Nelson, Horatio Nelson (1758-1805), 1st Viscount Nelson, British naval commander who defeated Revolutionary & Napoleonic France in the battle of ...
Nemesis, personified law & order, Greek goddess of Fate & Punishment.
Neoptolemus, son of Achilles & Deidamia. In Homer’s Iliad, he is sent for by the Greeks after Achilles’ death, as his presence is necessary, accordin ...
Neptune, Roman god of fertility, later times identified with Poseidon, god of the sea. (2) The planet named Neptune was discovered in 1846.
Nereid(s), daughters of the sea-god Nereus & of Doris: They preside over the Ocean, & protect sailors in distress in the form of nymphs.
Nereus, a kindly god of the Ocean, son of Pontus & Gaea.
Nero, Nero Claudius Caesar was the title of Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus as the 5th Roman emperor (54-68). His fervent admiration of Greek cult ...
Nestor, son of Neleus; an aged statesman & counsellor, he was the lord of West Messenia, his home being Pylos.
Nevinson, Henry Wood Nevinson (1856-1941), an active journalist from 1897 to 1930 was a special correspondent of the Daily News of London. Prior t ...
New English School, Seeing how the education system, controlled & directed by the Govt. & Christian Missionaries was perverting India’s future generations, ...
New India, (1) English weekly started by Bepin Chandra Pal in 1904; (2) In July 1915, Annie Besant, proprietor, publisher, printer & editor of the ...
New Ways in English Literature, essays by James Cousins [Ganesh & Co., Madras, 1917]
Newton, Sir Isaac (1642-1727), English physicist & mathematician, best known for his formulation of the Law of Gravitation & of the Laws of Motion.
Nibelungenlied, title of a Middle High German epic written c. 1200 by an unknown Austrian. Nibclungen, an evil family possesses a magic hoard of accurse ...
Nicias, (d.413 BC), Athenian statesman who opposed Cleon after Pericles’ death.
Nidah, ‘Restrainers or Censurers’; considered Stronger than Vritras.
Nidhu Babu, Rām Nidhi Gupta (1741-1839), writer of musical verse & light melodies, introduced Hindustani Tappa in Bengal. A collection of his songs ...
Nietzsche, Friedrich (1844-1900), German classical scholar, philosopher, & critic.
Night Thoughts/ Night’s Thoughts, The Complaint: or Night Thoughts on Life, Death & Immortality (1742-45), monologue by Edward Young, in nine parts or “Nights”.
Nightingale, Florence, (1820-1910), born at Florence; founded an institute for nursing as a profession for women. Her genius for administration was displayed i ...
Nīla Rudra Upanishad, belonging to the Atharvaveda.
Nilakantha, commentator on Mahābhārata, Devibhāgavata & other works.
Nineteenth Century, monthly review founded in 1877 by Sir J.T. Knowles. When the 19th century ended, the review added to its old title “And After”.
Nirāpada, Nirāpada Roy, accused in Alipore Bomb Trial; sentenced to transportation for 10 years by the Sessions Court, which High Court reduced to ...
Nirod
Nirukta, one of the Vedāṇgas. The term means etymology & glossary. It is devoted to the explanation of difficult Vedic words. The only work of th ...
Nishādha, mentioned in the Mahābhārata: its ruler was Virasena, father of Nala.
Nishkriti, Bengali novel by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyaya.
Nitishataka, a century of Sanskrit epigrams on morality by Bhartrihari. Sri Aurobindo freely rendered it into English verse, entitling his translatio ...
Nivedita, fille de l’Inde, biography in French by Lizelle Raymond (Paris in 1945).
Nivedita, Sister, name given to Miss Margaret Noble (1867-1911) by Swami Vivekananda. An Irishwoman, she was the closest European disciple of the Swami. S ...
No Compromise, “Sri Aurobindo held up always the slogan of 'no compromise' or, as he now put it in his Open Letter to his countrymen published in the K ...
Noailles, Comtesse, de Anna Elisabeth de Brancovan (1876-1933), Rumanian noble who wrote French poetry & a number of short stories, a novel, & an autobiogr ...
Nodha (Gautama), a Vedic Rishi, descendant of Gautama & Kakshivan.
Nolini
Nolini Sen
Nolinie, an apsarā.
Northbrook Hall, public hall in Dhaka, named after Thomas George Baring Northbrook (1826-1904): Private Secretary successively to Mr Labouchere (Lord Tau ...
Norton, Pattabhi Sitāramayyā: Mr Eardley Norton…was the son of John Bruce Norton who was a well-known public man in South India & whose portrait ...
Nripendra
Nrsimhottaratāpanīya / Nrsimhatālīya, an Upanishad belonging to Atharva-Veda.
Nyaya, one of the six Darshanas, Science of Logic, by Rishi Gautama.

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Oates, Titus, (1649-1705), English politician whose claim of Roman Catholics plotting to seize power strengthened the anti-Catholic Whig Party. In 168 ...
Ochterlony, Sir David (1758-1825), born & educated in USA, joined East India Co.’s Bengal Army in 1777. In 1781-3, he served in Col. T.D. Pearse’s r ...
O’Connell, Daniel (1775-1847), first of the great 19th century Irish M.P.s; he brought about the Emancipation Act of 1829 by which Roman Catholics ...
Octavia, called Octavia Minor (69-11 BC); she married Mark Antony in 40 BC, when he was ruling the Roman Empire. At first this marriage helped to ...
Ode, Odes of William Collins published in 1747.
Ode on Spring, one of the earliest poems of Thomas Gray written c.1742.
Ode on (the Pleasure Arising from) Vicissitude, one of Gray’s last poems.
Ode on the Popular Superstitions of the Highlands, by William Collins written in 1749 & published posthumously.
Ode to Duty, by Wordsworth included in his Poems in Two Volumes (1807).
Ode to Evening, one of the best-known odes of Collins, published in 1747.
Ode to Liberty, by Collins published in 1747.
Odin, Norsemen’s name of the chief Germanic god Wotan: host of dead heroes & patron of poetry; though also the god of war he was less interest ...
O’Donnell, C.J., M.P., aggrieved at the open partisanship of British officials towards Muslims during the Swadeshi movement, asked in the House of Common ...
Odysseus, (Ulysses in Latin) son & successor of Laertes the king of Ithaca, famed for his strategy & wise counsel, led his contingent in the Troja ...
Odyssey, Greek epic by Homer in 24 books. It describes the ten years of adventures of Odysseus after the Trojan War before returning home to Ithaca.
Oedipus, son of King Laius of Thebes & his queen Jocasta. Since it was foretold he would murder his father, he was left on a mountain. Found & br ...
Oenone, by Tennyson in which Oenone is a fountain nymph of Mt. Ida.
Okakura Kakuzo, (1862-1913), Japanese art critic, interested in Asian reawakening & solidarity. In India he stayed at Belur Math. His manuscript dealing ...
Oliver Twist, hero of Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens.
Olympian, all gods & goddesses living on Olympus, the mountain at the east end of the range forming the northern boundary of Thessaly & Greece proper.
Olynthian, of Olynthus, Greek city on the peninsula of Chalcidice.
Omar (Khayyam), (c.1048-1122), Persian poet, mathematician, astrologer, was called Khayyam (tent-maker) probably because of his father’s occupation. He ...
On regulations & taxes, The Arthaśāstra discusses a mixed economy, where private enterprise & state enterprise frequently competed side by side, in agriculture, ...
On War & Peace, One can lose a war as easily as one can win it. War is inherently unpredictable. War is also expensive. Avoid war. Try Upāya (four strat ...
Onan, of On (Heliopolis), ancient city of Egypt, noted for worship of Helios (q.v.).
O’Neill, Turlough, Sir Turlough Luineach O’Neill (1530-95), Earl of Clanconnell. Though pledged to England he maintained his predecessor’s sympathy with Sc ...
Onward, English fortnightly of Calcutta [see SABCL 26:387 & 22:185-89].
Ooty, Udhagamandalam, administrative headquarters of Nilgiri district in Tamil Nadu. It is situated in the Nilgiri Hills at about 7,500 ft. ab ...
Ophelia, In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, daughter of Polonius.
Orcades, Latin name of Orkney (q.v.).
Orcus, Roman for Greek Dis, god of Hades.
Oread(s), Greek nymph(s) of mountain caves & tops; close to Artemis, the huntress, with whom they play & dance.
Orestes, only son of Clytemnestra & Agamemnon. When a child, his father was murdered by Clytemnestra & her lover Aegisthus, & he was exiled. He r ...
Orion, The Orion or Researches into the Antiquity of the Vedas was originally written by Tilak as an essay & submitted to the Ninth Oriental Co ...
Orkney, Orkney Islands or Orkneys, Scottish county consisting of over 70 islands.
Ormuz, Hormuz, island off South Iran, in the Strait of Hormuz between the Persian Gulf & the Gulf of Oman. The town of Hormuz on the mainland h ...
Orontes, a river formed in the valley of El Bika in Lebanon; it flows through Syria & Turkey into the Mediterranean.
Orpheus, Thracian bard, referred to as “inventor of music”. The music of his lyre charmed the wild beasts, the trees, & the rocks. He married the ...
Osbourne, Lloyd, (1868-1947), American writer who collaborated with Stevenson (q.v.) in the writing of The Wrong Box, The Wrecker, & Ebb Tide.
Oscan(s), Italic tribe that first settled Pompeii & Herculaneum in Campania, Italy.
Ossa, a mountain of NE Thessaly in Greece (see Pelion).
Ossian, Scottish Gaelic name for Oisin, an Irish warrior-poet called Ossian. MacPherson (q.v.) produced two epics, Fingal & Tremor, purporting t ...
Ottoman, (from Arabic Uthman) Ottomans were the successors of Osman I (1259-1326), the ruler of a Turkmen principality in NW Anatolia, who is reg ...
Ouranos, Greek sky-god.
Ouspensky, Peter Demianovitch (1878-1947), Russian philosopher, influential disciple of Gurdjieff. He broke away from Gurdjieff in 1924.
Ovid, Publius Ovidius Naso (43 BC- AD 17), Roman poet who influenced the imaginative interpretation of the classics of his time & its technica ...
Oxus, river (now Amu Darya) in central & eastern Asia, flowing from the Pamir Plateau to the Aral Sea. Sri Aurobindo’s phrase “the Oxus of the ...
Oyomei, (1472-1529), Japanese name of the Chinese scholar-official whose idealistic interpretation of Neo-Confucianism influenced philosophical ...

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Padma
Padma Purana, describes the Yuga when creation was a golden padma, lotus
Padmanābha, (1878-1970), South Indian statesman & social reformer.
Padmini
Pal, Bepin (Chandra), (1858-1932) born in Sylhet, now in Bangladesh, began his career as a journalist. Perhaps, his excellent command over English & his impre ...
Pal, Kristo Das, (1838-84), “Educated at the Oriental Seminary & Metropolitan College, Calcutta: appointed Assistant Secretary to the British Indian Asso ...
Paladin, any of 12 Peers of Charlemagne’s court, of whom Count Palatine was chief.
Palit, T., Sir Tārak Nath Palit (1831-1914), a highly successful barrister of Calcutta who made munificent donations for the spread of the knowledg ...
Palladium, the statue of Pallas Athene sent down by Zeus from Olympus as the guardian of Troy to Dardanus king of Troy or to his descendant Ilus (q ...
Pallava(s), The Pallavas were the first well-known dynasty in the history of South India; they gained prominence in the 4th century after the fall o ...
Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded, first novel of Samuel Richardson.
Pan, Greek god of fertility, was worshipped principally in Arcadia.
Panchadasi, book in verse on Vedanta by Vidyāranya.
Pāñchajanya, an Asura who lived in a conch-shell; as he kidnapped his guru Sandipani’s son, Sri Krishna killed him & blew the conch on battlefields.
Pāñchāla, Shatapatha Brāhmaṇa suggests that Pāñcāla was the later name of the Krivi clan who, according to in Rigvedic times lived on the bank of ...
Pāñchāli Śapatham, “Draupadi’s Vow” by Subramania Bharati – an epic in two parts, respectively comprising two cantos of 204 verses & three cantos of 104 ve ...
Panchatantra, animal fables for children in prose & verse by Vishnu Sharma.
Pandemian, an epithet of Aphrodite as native of Pandemos & goddess of all the people for her role in conjugal life (s/a Uranian for Aphrodite Urania).
Pānd(o)u, Pāndu, with a whitish-yellow skin due to pāndu-rōga, jaundice (from French jaune, yellow). Pāṇdu succeeded his father Vichitravīrya as t ...
Pāndyā(s), In Saṇgam lexicon the word Pāndyā means old country in contrast with Cholā meaning new country, Cherā meaning hill country & Pallava mea ...
Panini, author of Paṇiniyām or Ashtādhyāyi, the oldest known grammar of Sanskrit. He received a large portion of his work by direct inspiration ...
Pāṇīpat, town in Karnal district of Punjab (now in Haryana state), 56 miles north of Delhi. It had been the scene of three momentous battles, eac ...
Pānis, lords of the lower sense-mentality who steal from us the rays of the illumined consciousness, the brilliant herds of the sun, & pen them ...
Pannyre aux talons d’or, poem by the French poet Albert Samain.
Pansies, poem by D. H. Lawrence.
Pantheos, Greek for all gods; the Godhead as cosmic spirit.
Paolo
Paphia, epithet of Aphrodite, who had a sanctuary at Paphos.
Paphian marriage, Paphia (Aphrodite) was the wife of Hephaestus, but she loved Ares to whom she bore Eros & Anteros. She also gave her favours to Anchises.
Paphlagonia, mountainous region of Asia Minor, between Bithynia & Pontus on the Black Sea coast. In the Trojan War the Paphlagonians were allies of Troy.
Paphos, in SW Cyprus was the centre of the worship of Astarte or Aphrodite.
Paracelsus, Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim (1493-1541); Swiss physician, alchemist, & chemist: wrote many medical & occult ...
Paradise Lost, Milton’s epic in blank verse. Published in 1667, its theme is the fall of man & it is dominated by the fallen archangel Lucifer.
Paradise Regained, Milton’s epic in blank-verse, sequel to Paradise Lost; it deals with the temptation of Christ in the desert by Satan.
Parameshti, epithet of the Great Gods.
Parāsara, Vedic Rishi, father of Vyāsa, author of Parāsara Dharma-Saṁhitā & eight treatises on various branches of knowledge.
Paras(h)urāma (Rām(a) of the Axe), son of Jamādagni (q.v.) was the 6th Avatāra Lord Vishnu. Because his mother was kidnapped by a Kshatriya king & he had to kill her on th ...
Pariah, once referred to the Paraiyan (literally & perhaps originally drummers, beating on skin drums), a Tamil caste employed as labourers & se ...
Parichaya, Bengali monthly started around 1920; edited by Pramatha Chowdhuri.
Parikshit, son of Abhimanyu & Uttara & father of Janamejaya. He succeeded Yudhishthīra as emperor of Hastināpura; as a result of a curse he died of ...
Parjanya, Vedic god of Rain; also an Aditya, & god of the constellation Kumbha.
Parmānanda, Bhai Parmānanda (1874-1947) was dismissed by DAV College (Lahore) in 1910 when was charged him with possessing incriminating documents & ...
Parnassians, 19th-century French poets headed by Leconte de Lisle, who in reaction to the imprecisions of the Romantics, contributed to the anthology ...
Parnassus, mountain in Phocis (Greece), sacred to Apollo, Dionysus, & the Muses.
Parnell, Charles Stewart, (1846-91), nationalist leader who united Irish patriots, & promoted boycott as a means of bringing pressure on landlords & land agents. ...
Parthasārathi, S. Parthasārathi Aiyangar (1880-1929), younger brother of Mandāyam S. Srinivāsāchariyār (see Srinivasa); born & brought up in the spirit ...
Parthenon, temple dedicated to the Pallas Athene, on the Acropolis at Athens, the masterpiece of Greek architecture built between 447 & 432 BC unde ...
Parthia, ancient country of West Asia, southeast of the Caspian Sea. In 250 BC Parthians overthrowing Seleucidae, founded the Pārthian empire whi ...
Parushni, see Irāvatie.
Pārvati/ Gauri/ Haimāvati/ Umā, As daughter of Parvat (king of mountains) she is Pārvati, as daughter of king Hīmavan or Hīmavat or Himālayās (Hīma, snow, + ālaya, abod ...
Pascal Blaise, (1623-62) French mathematician, physicist, & philosopher; he devised the theory of probabilities. His ideas influenced Rousseau, Bergson ...
Pas(h)u, the lowest of the ten forms of consciousness in the evolutionary scale of man. In this stage mind is concentrated entirely on the Annam ...
Pas(h)upati, Paśupati is Lord of all wild life; it is with his help as Pramathanātha that Mahākāli effects the most crucial turning-points of evoluti ...
Passage to India, Whitman’s poem first published in his Leaves of Grass in 1871.
Pastorals, by Pope (q.v.) written when he was sixteen; & published in 1709.
Patala, nethermost of the seven regions below the earth ruled by Vāsuki.
Pātan, refers to Siddhpur-Pātaṇ once capital of Hindu Gujarat; part of Sayājirao’s Baroda State. It is about 70 miles NNW of Ahmedabad.
Patanjali, contemporary of King Pushyamitra (q.v.); though many of the compositions mentioned by Patanjali existed long before the Mauryas, some of ...
Patel, Viṭhalbhai Jhaverbhai Patel (1873-1933), elder brother of Vallabhbhai (Sardar Patel). In 1905, he went to England & studied at the Middl ...
Pater, Walter Horatio (1839-94), English critic & essayist, known for his painstakingly fastidious style. His highly personal criticisms of pai ...
Pathān, Pashtu-speaking tribes of south-eastern Afghanistan & north-western Pakistan. The Pathāns on the frontiers of India belong to various tr ...
Patiālā, is about 125 miles to the northwest of Delhi. With Jind & Nabha, Patiālā formed the Phulkian princely states created in 1763 after the c ...
Patmore, Coventry, (1823-96), English poet who appreciated metaphysical poetry.
Patmos, smallest (22 sq. miles) of the original twelve Greek islands in the Aegean Sea off the coast of Asia Minor. St John wrote his Gospel & R ...
Pattison, Mark, (1813-84), English scholar devoted to devotional literature.
Patwardhan, Anna Saheb, (1847-1917), “Maharshi of Poona”, guru of Lokamāṇya Tilak; he presided over the meeting held on Tilak’s premises, the Gayakawādā (q.v.), ...
Paulomie, daughter of Puloman & wife of Indra.
Pausanias, (d.470/465 BC) son of Sparta’s King Cleombrotus I of the Agiad royal family (see Agis), & nephew of King Leomidas (see Lemnian). In the ...
Pavitra (P. B. St.Hilaire)
Pāwaka, epithet of Agni, the purifying Fire.
Pax Britannica, Hyndman’s Report: “The Brit Empire in India is the most striking example in the history of the world of the domination of a vast territo ...
Payoshini, the sacred river that rises in the Vindhyās & flows southward.
Pecksniff, hypocrite in Dickens’ Martin Chuzzlewit; commonly used for hypocrites.
Pedro
Peele, George (1556-96), English dramatist & clergyman experimented with many forms of theatrical art: pastoral, history, melodrama, tragedy, f ...
Pegasus, winged horse, offspring of Poseidon & Medusa, companion of Bellerophon. The spring Hippocrene, sacred to the Muses, was made by a print ...
Pehlava/ Pahlava, people of Pārthian origin who came to India in the 1st cent. BC & established some kingdoms in northwest India in cooperation with the Ś ...
Peitho, “Persuasion” Greek goddess, daughter of Oceanus, attendant of Aphrodite.
Pelasgian, Pelasgians inhabited the Aegean area & were assimilated by the Achaians.
Peleid/ Pelides, epithets of Achilles as son of Peleus & the sea-nymph Thetis (q.v.).
Peleus, was son of Aeacus the king of Myrmidons (q.v.).
Pelion, mountain of Thessaly, near the Aegean coast, on which lived the centaurs; the giants Aloidae who also lived there once piled Pelion on O ...
Pellico, Silvio, (1789-1854), Italian dramatist whose Le mie prigioni (my memoirs as a political prisoner), inspired widespread sympathy for the Risorgim ...
Pelops, son of Tantalus. In childhood he was killed & cooked by his father, who served his flesh to the gods to see if they could tell it was no ...
Penal Code, Indian, (1) Buckland: Peacock, Sir Barnes (1810-90): practised as a special pleader: called to the bar at the Inner Temple 1836: Q.C. & Bencher ...
Penates, Di Penates, household gods of Romans & other Latinos. Associated with other deities of the house, such as Vesta & the Lares (q.v.), they ...
Peneus, a river in the Peloponnesus, emptying into the Ionian Sea. (See Daphne)
Pentateuch, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy of Old Testament.
Pentaur, an ancient Egyptian poet who wrote on the conquests of Rameses (q.v.).
Pentecostal, of Pentecost, major Christian festival celebrated on the Sunday that falls on the 50th day after Easter to commemorate the descent of th ...
Penthesilea, queen of the Amazon & daughter of Ares. She came to the aid of the Trojans in the last year of the war after Hector was killed & gave th ...
Percy,Thomas, (1729-1811), whose collection of ballads etc. (see Reliques) awakened widespread interest in English & Scottish traditional songs.
Père Goriot, hero of the French novel Le Père Goriot, a masterpiece of Balzac.
Peri, Persian supernatural female comparable to apsarā or fairy.
Pericles, (c.495-429 BC), Athenian statesman who brought democracy to its height & nearly established Athens as the leading power in Greece; he al ...
Perigune, a daughter of Sinnis (q.v.).
Permanent Settlement, a colonial system of land tenure & revenue collection introduced in 1793 by Cornwallis (1738-1805, Gov.-Gen. 1786-93 & Jul–Oct.1805) aga ...
Persepolis, ceremonial capital of the Persian Empire under Darius & his successors. The administrative capitals were elsewhere – notably at Susa & B ...
Perseus, son of Zeus & Danaë.
Persian Eclogues, by Collins (q.v.) when 17, inspired by Pope’s Pastorals (q.v.).
Peshawar, originally it was part of Gāndhāra & known as Puruṣapura. Zend Avesta knew it then as Vaēkərəta, the 7th most beautiful place on earth c ...
Pestalozzi, Johann Heinrich (1746-1827), Swiss educational reformer who was among the first to stress the need for better popular education. His the ...
Petain
Peter the Great, Peter I (1672-1725), the first emperor (1721-25) & Czar (1682-1725) Russia. His capital St. Petersburg remained the capital of the Russi ...
Peters, Probably the following rulers (emperors & czars) of Russia are meant: Peter I or Peter the Great (1672-1725), emperor (1721-25) & Czar ( ...
Petrarch, Francesco (1304-74), Italian scholar, humanist, & poet whose poems to Laura inspired a Renaissance of lyric poetry in Italy, France, Spa ...
Pfleiderer, Otto (1839-1908), German Protestant theologian & religious historian.
Phaethon, son of Helios (Sun-god), who, ignoring his father’s warning, drove the Sun-Chariot across the heavens, the horses bolted from the course ...
Pharaohs, literarily great house/ royal palace of ancient Egyptian kings, it began to be used as a title of respect & later added to the king’s pe ...
Pharisee(s), one of the two great Jewish religious parties that arose within the synagogue. The opponents were the Sadducees (q.v.).
Pharnabazus, (5th-4th cent. BC), a Persian satrap of Dascylium, under Darius II & Artaxerxes II; he was governor of Hellespont & an outstanding milit ...
Pharsalia, Greek district of Thessaly surrounding the city of Pharsalus.
Pharsalus, city in Thessaly (Greece); site of a battle where Caesar defeated Pompey.
Phelps, Myron, of the New York Bar. In June 1907 he addressed a letter to the Indians, pointing to the necessity of more organised propaganda for the I ...
Phidias/ Pheidias, (c.500-c.432 BC), Greek sculptor, considered Greece’s greatest.
Philip, (1) Philip II (382-336 BC), king of Macedon (359-336 BC). He unified his nation & made it supreme in Greece, laying the foundations for ...
Phillips, Stephen, (1864-1915): he prepared for the civil service, but in 1885 joined his cousin F.R. Benson’s dramatic company at Wolverhampton & played v ...
Philo, Philo Judaeus, Alexandrian Jewish philosopher whose doctrines also influenced Christian religious writings.
Philoctetes, king of the Malians of Mt. Oeta. He was a friend of Hercules & inherited his bow & poisoned arrows. On the way to the Trojan War, he was ...
Phineus, the blind & aged king whom the Argonauts (a band of fifty heroes sent to fetch the Golden Fleece in the ship “Argo”) met at the entrance ...
Phocian, of Phocis, region in Greece comprising the valleys of middle Cephissus & Crisa, which are linked loosely by passes over the southern spu ...
Phoebus, Apollo as Sun-god. He took on many aspects of the older sun-god Helios.
Phrygia, ancient region which included varying portions of the central plateau & western flank of Asia Minor. In Greek literature the Phrygians a ...
Phryne, nickname of Athenian courtesan Muesarete charged with impiety. She was defended by Hyperides, one of her lovers who secured her acquitta ...
Phthia, district & town of Thessaly, the realm of Achilles who is hence a Phthian.
Pictish, of Picts, a Scottish clan who forged its own kingdom before uniting in AD 843 with the rest of Scotland.
Piedmont, a major battlefield in the Italian Wars (16th cent.), the wars of Louis XIV, & the French Revolutionary Wars. The dukes of Savoy, who in ...
Pierre, Gaston, supporter of Lemaire in the 1914 election to the French Chamber. He came to Pondicherry as a judge, later resigned & soon became ...
Pillai, Chidambaram, V.O.C. Pillai (1872-1936) nationalist pleader of Tuticorin who galvanised the local merchants to launch the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Co ...
Pināka, the bow of the Shiva.
Pindi Das, (1886-1969) a journalist who started an Urdu weekly The India from Gujranwala, Punjab in 1907. A special feature of the journal was the ...
Pioneer, English daily newspaper (tri-weekly from 1865 to 1869), founded in 1865 by George Alien. Originally published from Allahabad, it was shi ...
Pippa, of Pippa Passes, poetic drama by Robert Browning; Pippa is an Italian girl of Asolo, whose songs as she passes through streets on New Ye ...
Pippalāda, Rishi mentioned in the Prashna Upanishad.
Pisgah, mountain ridge in Jordan from which Moses viewed the Promised Land.
Pis(h) ācha, the third type from below in the ten forms of earthly consciousness on the evolutionary scale. The Pishāchic mind is concentrated on the ...
Pisistratus, (c.605-527 BC), Greek statesman, tyrant of Athens.
Pitrilōka, loka of the Pitris (Fathers): Rishis, Prajāpatis, & ancestors; it is the second of the eight lōkas or worlds of material existence recog ...
Pizarro, Francisco (c. 1475-1541), Spanish conqueror of the Inca Empire of Peru.
Planck, Max (Karl Ernst Ludwig) (1858-1947), German theoretical physicist who originated the quantum theory. He was awarded the 1918 Nobel Prize ...
Plantagenet, royal house of England (1154-1485), descendants of Geoffrey, Count of Anjou & the Empress Matilda, daughter of the English king Henry I.
Plassey, village in Nadia district of Bengal. It was the scene of the decisive victory of Robert Clive (q.v.) over Nawab Sirāj-ud-Daulah on 23 Ju ...
Plataea, ancient city in southern Boetia (Greece), below the modern village of Plataiai. It was the site of a Greek victory during the Greco-Pers ...
Plato, (c. 428-348/347 BC), 2nd of the Great Trio of ancient Greeks – Socrates, Plato, & Aristotle – who laid the philosophical foundations of ...
Pleasures of Imagination, epic by Akenside in blank verse derived from Milton’s & modelled on Virgil & Horace.
Pliny, Pliny the Younger (61/62-c.113), Roman administrator who left a collection of private letters in ten books intimately illustrating publi ...
Plotinus, (c.205-270), native of Egypt, who transformed a revival of Platonism in the Roman Empire into Neo-Platonism which influenced Islamic & E ...
Plutarch, Greek essayist & biographer whose works influenced the essay, biography, & historical writing in Europe. The English translation of his ...
Pluto/Plutus, Greek god of Hades (Romans renamed Pluto to Orcus of Dis). Since ploutos is Greek for Riches or Wealth, ancient Greeks commonly used Had ...
Pocock, Edward Pocock(e) (1604-91), English Orientalist.
Poerio,, Carlo (1803-67), younger of two Italian brothers distinguished for their services to Liberalism in the Italian Risorgimento. Poerio was ...
Poincaré/ Pé, Raymond Poincaré (1860-1934): born in Bar-le-Duc, France 1860: elected deputy for the French district of Meuse 1887; by 1895, he was cho ...
Polak, Graham Polak & his wife lived in Gandhi’s house in South Africa.
Polonius, courtier in Shakespeare’s Hamlet given to offering unwelcome advice.
Polydamas, son of Panthous, noted for his sage advice.
Polyxena, daughter of Priam & Hecuba. After the fall of Troy, Achilles’ ghost claimed her as his prize & she was sacrificed on his tomb.
Pompey, Gracus Pompeius Magnus (106-48 BC), statesman & general of the late Roman Republic. An associate & later opponent of Julius Caesar who d ...
Pondicherry, In the 9th century “Pallava kings extended their patronage to educational institutions at Kāṅchī & Bāhur. Bāhur had a College where prov ...
Pontic, of Pontus, on the Black Sea coast in NE Asia Minor. “Pontic waters” therefore means Pontus Euxinus or Black Sea.
Pontius Pilate, Roman procurator of Judaea (c.26-36/37) who condemned Jesus Christ to be crucified. Various legends stressing Pilate’s efforts to releas ...
Poona, Puṇe was made the capital of his kingdom by Shivaji & his son & successor Shambhāji. It was under the first three Peshwas, Bālāji Vishwa ...
Pope, Alexander (1688-1744) was born in London, his education was affected by the recently enacted Test Acts, which banned Catholics from teac ...
Poseidon, the sea-god. He bore the trident, & when he shook it he caused storms & earthquakes. A brother of Zeus, he was a son of the Titans Cronu ...
Pound, Ezra, Ezra (Loomis) Pound (1885-1972), American poet & critic.
Poundra, Pouṇḍra, kingdom conquered by Pāndu father of the Pandavas.
Poundrian Vāsudeva, Pauṇḍraka Vāsudeva, king of Puṇḍra & an ally of Jarāsandha. He claimed to be a descendant Vasudeva & assumed Sri Krishna’s style & insig ...
Pourujit/ Kuntivardhan Purujit, son of Kūntibhōja & brother of Kūnti. He was killed by Droṇāchārya in the Mahabharata battle.
Prabāsi, illustrated monthly of Calcutta, edited by Rāmānanda Chatterji. Started in 1901, it was distinguished for its editorials & views & wealt ...
Prabhāsa-Pātan, or Sōmanātha Pātaṇ or Deva Pātaṇ, a town on southern shore of Gujarat near Verāval, in Gīr-Sōmanātha district, is considered a triveni-s ...
Prabuddha Bharat, Awakened India, an English monthly journal started by Swami Vivekananda in 1896 at Calcutta. It is a journal of the Ramakrishna Order, & ...
Pradyōta, see Chunda Mahāsegn.
Pradyumna, son of Sri Krishna by Rukminie, said to be a reincarnation of Kāmadeva. “Symbolically, Pradyumna is the third Power of the Chaturvyuha, ...
Prahlada, son of the Asura king Hiranyakashipu; while yet a boy he became an ardent devotee of Vishnu. This enraged his father, who tried to get h ...
Prajapati
Prakrit, one of the languages that represented a departure from the fixed form of Sanskrit. They began as vernacular dialects & eventually develo ...
Pramadvura, in Mahabharata, wife of Ruru, mother of the Rishi Sunaka.
Pramathanātha, ‘master of the Pramathas’ epithet of Shiva.
Pramatha(s), the fourth type from below of the ten forms of consciousness in the evolutionary scale of man. The Pramatha mind is concentrated on the ...
Pramatheshwari, epithet of Pārvati for Shiva is Pramatheshwara.
Pramati, son of Rishi Chyavana, who fathered Ruaru or Ruru by an Apsarā.
Pramod Kumar
Pranab
Prāpthie, Prāpti daughter of Jarāsandha, & younger sister of Sahadeva. She & her sister Asti (see Ustie) were wives of Kansa.
Prashna Upanishad, “Upanishad of the Questions”, an Upanishad of Atharva Veda.
Pratāp Singh, (Mahārāṇā) (1545?-97), son of the coward Rāṇā Udaya Singh II & his Chauhan queen, but a worthy grandson of Rāṇā Saṇga. He ruled Mewār ...
Pratāpāditya, (1564-1612?) landlord of Jessore, Khulna, & 24-Parganas who refused to pay tribute to Akbar & defeated a Moghul army, but was later capt ...
Pratiśthāna, is situated at the confluence of Yamunā & Gungā.
Praxiteles, sculptor of Athens (370-330 BC), greatest of the Attic sculptors & artists.
Prayer of Columbus, one of the most notable poems of Walt Whitman.
Premānand/ Premānund, (c.1636-1734) Gujarati poet. At fifteen he became a disciple of Guru Rāmacharan, learned Sanskrit & Urdu in which he composed his first ...
Presidency College, the inevitable official name of what was opened at Calcutta in 1817, by Rammohan Roy & David Hare under the name Hindu College.
Preta, spirit of the dead who denied their funeral rites may become a bhūta.
Priam, last Trojan king, a son of Laomedon & father of Hector & Paris.
Prince of Darkness, an epithet of Satan.
Prince of Edur, is based on the historical personalities of Bāppā, Curran (q.v.), Toramāna (q.v.), & Hooshka (q.v.). Sri Aurobindo had acquired some ide ...
Prince of Mathura, “This fragment, related in theme to Prince of Edur, was written a few years later, probably in 1909 or 1910” [CWSA Vol.03-04, p.1005] be ...
Prince Paradox, See Treneth
Prior, Matthew, (1664-1721) English epigrammatist.
Prishni, in Vedas & Puranas, Earth, mother of Maruts; in Vedas also used for cow.
Prithivi, in Vishnu Purana she is the daughter of Prithu, the Giver of Life.
Prithvish Babu, Prithwish Chandra Roy (1870-1928), a writer who became a leader of Bengali Moderates hence associated with Gokhale, Watcha, & S.N. Baner ...
Priyamvada, companion of Shakuṇtalā in Kālidāsa’s Abhijñāna Śākuntalam.
Procrustean, “tending to produce uniformity by violent methods”. The ogre Procrustes kept iron beds on which he compelled his victims to lie, stretch ...
Prof. Geddes, Sir Patric Geddes (1854-1932), Scottish biologist, sociologist, town planner, & professor at Edinburgh, London, Aberdeen, St. Andrew’s, ...
Prof. Haeckel, Ernst (Heinrich) Haeckel (1834-1919), German zoologist & evolutionist, proponent of Darwinism who offered new theories of the descent of ...
Prof Sorley, William Ritchie (1855-1935), professor of logic & philosophy, moral sciences (veiled Christian Catechism), etc. He always thought & wrot ...
Progress of Poesy, Pindaric ode by Thomas Gray.
Prometheus, created humans from clay, stole fire from Olympus & taught men the use of it & various arts. Zeus chained him to a ledge high up in the ...
Prometheus Unbound, one of Shelley’s masterpieces.
Prophet Mahomed/ Mahomet/ Mo(u)hamma(e)d, Abū al-Qāsim Muhammad (Arabic for praised) ibn Abd Allāh ibn Abd al-Muttalib ibn Hashim (his clan) (c.570-632), the sole Prophet of Isla ...
Propontis, Greek for ‘fore-sea’; enlightened Europeans renamed it Sea of Marmora.
Protestantism/ Protestant Christianity, the third major branch of Christianity, after the Catholic & Orthodox, characterized by its doctrines of justification by grace through ...
Proteus, prophet & shepherd of the sea’s flocks, he avoided predicting events. Those who wished to consult him had first to surprise & bind him d ...
Prothero, George Walter (1848-1922), member of the faculty of King’s College, Cambridge: Fellow, 1872-96; Tutor, 1876-94; Senior Proctor, 1888-89. ...
Prothoënor, Theban prince & a leader of the Boeotians in the Trojan War.
Proyaga/ Prayāga, formed by prefix pra & root yaga (yajña), Prayāga is situated on an inland peninsula, though since a long time Prayāga has been touched ...
Psalms, of Old Testament begin the third section of the biblical canon known as the Writings. In its present form, the collection consists of 15 ...
Ptolemy, astronomer, geographer, & mathematician of Alexandria in 2nd cent. BC; he held Earth to be stationary; 14 rulers of Egypt (323-30 BC) we ...
Pulomā, the Asuric wife of Bhrigu, the mother of Rishi Chyavana.
Puloman, father of Sachi, the wife of Indra.
Punjab/ Panjab Pāṅchanāda, Bhattacharya: “the land of the five rivers…all tributaries of the Indus. It is connected with the trans-Himālayan countries in the NW by ...
Punjabee, nationalist journal started in 1904 at Lahore by Lālā Jashwant Rai with K.K. Athavale as editor. Both were ‘convicted’ for sedition in 1 ...
Puranas, constitute, according to the Upanishads, the fifth Veda; the Smṛti considers them commentaries on the Vedas. Traditionally a Purana trea ...
Purani, A. B.
Puritan, member of the reform movement in Church of England that sought to ‘purify’ the Church from remnants of Roman Catholic “popery” retained ...
Purōchana, was sent by Duryodhana to build a palace of wax for the Pandavas & kill them by setting fire to it in the night. Informed by his spies, ...
Purōhita Swami, facilitated Y.B. Yeats’ English of the Upanishads.
Purudansas/ Purudansha, “Manifold in activity”, an epithet of the Ashwins.
Purukutsa, son of Māndhātā & ancestor of Trishanku. In Rig-Veda, the tapasyā of Purukutsa & his wife Narmada in the forest of Kurukshetra led to th ...
Pururavas/ Pururavus, A Rig-Vedic hymn (X: 95) contains a dialogue between him & Urvasie. In later literature he is a son of Budha & Ilā, grandson of the Chan ...
Purusha-Sūkta/ Purushasukta, the Rig-Vedic hymn in which the four Varṇas (fourfold division of society still found throughout the world) are first mentioned.
Pūrvamimānsa, one of the six Darshanas founded by Jaimini. Commonly known as the Mimāṁsā, it emphasizes the value of Vedic rites.
Pushan, in Vedas ‘the increaser’, ‘the nourisher’. In later scriptures he is Surya.
Pushyamitra, founded the Śuṅga dynasty (c.185 BC). Commander-in-chief of Bṛihadratha, the last & least successful Maurya emperor, whom he was constra ...
Putanā, daughter of Bali the Asura reigning Pātāla. She was deputed by Kansa of Mathura to kill his nephew Krishna by suckling him; he suckled h ...
Pylos, name of three places in the Peloponnesus. It lay at the north end of Navarino Bay of the Ionian Sea, & was ruled by Nestor. In Sri Aurob ...
Pyrrhic victory, a futile military success, like that of Pyrrhus (319-272 BC), the king of Hellenistic Epirus. The heavy losses suffered by him in his vi ...
Pyrrhus, an alternative name for Neoptolemus (q.v.), the son of Achilles.
Pythagoras, (c.582-c.507 BC), Greek philosopher & mathematician; he founded of the Pythagorean brotherhood that formulated principles that contribut ...
Pythian, of Pytho (original name of Delphi) as also of Pythia, the medium & oracular prophetess of Apollo at Delphi.
Pythoness, Python was a dragon who guarded Delphi & was killed by Apollo when he established his oracle there.

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QTacitus, Cornelius (c.56-c.120), Roman orator, historian, & prose stylists in Latin.
Queen Anne, (1665-1714) of England, Scotland, Ireland, & later Great Britain.
Queen Mab, a poem of Shelley in which he set forth more completely & violently than before or later his belief in man’s degradation by priestcraft, ...
Queen Mary, Victoria Mary of Teck (1867-1953), consort of King George V of Great Britain & Northern Ireland, crowned with him in 1911.
Queen’s Proclamation of 1858, And we, reposing especial trust & confidence in the loyalty, ability, & judgement of our right trusty & well-beloved cousin & councillor ...

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Rabelais, François (c.1483-1553), French writer, physician, humanist; author of a comic & satirical masterpiece, Gargantua & Pantagruel.
Rachel, King Herod, in whose reign Jesus was born, had many children killed hoping to kill Jesus among them. The Bible says that this was the fu ...
Racine, Jean Baptiste (1639-99), French dramatist & poet, a master of tragedy.
Radha, “personification of the absolute love for the Divine, total & integral in all parts of the being from the highest spiritual to the physi ...
Radhakrishnan, Sarvapalli Rādhākrishnan (1888-1975); his public career began when Nehru appointed him the second Indian ambassador to the U.S.S.R. in 1 ...
Ragh(o)u, a king of the Sūryavanshi dynasty; son of king Dilip of Ayodhya. His descendants are known as Raghus of whom the most popularly known is ...
Raghunandan, contemporary of Sri Chaitanya, popular as Smārta Bhattācharya. His Dharmashāstra shaped devout Bengali Hindus’ beliefs. [See Bharat Dhar ...
Raghuvamsha, an epic poem in Sanskrit by Kālidāsa, containing nineteen cantos & based on the history of kings of the Ikshvākū family in general.
Rāhu, counted as one of the navagrahas though not an astronomical body causes eclipses & meteors. He is usually paired with Ketu. Rāhu kāla, t ...
Rai, Rāyī, a popular form of Radha in Bihar’s Maithili-speaking people.
Raigurh, the fortress built by Shivaji where he was anointed Chhatrapati in 1674.
Raikwa, the sage in Chhandogya Upanishad who, when Janashruti came to him for spiritual knowledge, was sitting under a cart, & became known as R ...
Raja of Bhaowal
Raja Ravivarma, (1848-1906) being the scion of the loyal royal family of Travancore trained in English style of painting, he won gold medals & diplomas ...
Raja Rukmangad’s Ekādashi, Rukmangad was a son of Shalya, king of Mādra. Ekādashi is the fast observed on the eleventh day after new-moon or full-moon.
Rajagopalachari
Raj(a)suya, Yajña performed by a Rāja after conquering or winning over fealty of neighbouring kings to announce himself a Chakravartin.
Rajayoga, book in English by Swami Vivekananda with the subtitle Conquering the Internal Nature. The first part includes his lectures in New York; ...
Rajput/ Rajpoot, Sri Aurobindo: “The struggle between the Church & the monarchical State is one of the most important & vital features of the history of ...
Rajputana, original Rājputāna lay in the north-western part of Bhāratavarsha on both sides of the Aravalli Range (see ‘India’). A large part of it ...
Rajsingh, the Rāṇā of Mewār during the reigns of Shah Jahan & Aurangzeb. Like many Rajput kings who succumbed to Akbar’s ruse of forcing those he ...
Rajsinha, Bankim Chandra’s historical novel depicting Rajput heroism & Muslim oppression. He enlarged its 1st edition (1881), almost fourfold in i ...
Raktabīj, Asura who obtained the boon that every drop of his blood shed in battle would produce a clone of himself. He was finally killed when Cha ...
Rama, 7th Avatar of Vishnu born as eldest son of King Dasharatha of Koshala: “When the divine Consciousness & Power, taking upon itself the hu ...
Rama Jamādagnya, Parashurāma (Rāma of the Axe) son of Rishi Jamādagni.
Ram(a)das, Samartha Rāmadās (1608-81) born on Rāmanavamī to Suryāji Pant & Rāṇubai who worshipped Surya Surya-vamshi Lord Rama, he was named Nārāya ...
Ramakrishna Paramhansa, Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa (1 Feb. 1836-16 Aug. 1886). Sri Aurobindo received three crucial Akashic messages from him. In 1912, he wrot ...
Ramakrishna Mission, religious body founded by Swami Vivekananda in 1897 to spread the teaching of Sri Ramakrishna & to improve the social condition of India ...
Rāmalingam, (1823-74), poet-saint of South India; he developed an eclectic mystical philosophy & wrote Tamil prose of epic grandeur.
Ramamurti, a modern Bhimsen, whose feats of physical prowess & endurance made him a celebrity. He is standing in the middle behind Sri Aurobindo & ...
Ramana Maharshi, Bhagawan Sri Ramaṇā (1879-1950) of Arunāchalam in Tiruvannamalai. “Among the popular pilgrimage centres in South India are the pancha-bh ...
Rāmānuja(m), (c.1017- c.1137), leading opponent of Absolute Monism (Adwaita) taught by Shankarāchārya, he preached Vishistadvaita or Qualified Monism ...
Ramatirtha, Swami Rāmatirtha (1873-1906), known for the highly personal & poetic manner in which he illustrated the divine nature of man through Pra ...
Ramdas, (1884-1963), Vaishnava Bhakta of South India, a devotee of Rama. He established the Ananda Ashram in Kanhangad, Kerala. His wrote In que ...
Rameses, Ramses or Ramesses, name of several kings of ancient Egypt of the XIX & XX dynasties; the most notable of them was Rameses II (1292-1225 ...
Ramprasad, Rāma Prasād Sen (1718/23-75), Bengali poet-saint, a devotee of Mother Kali. He rendered the romantic story of Vidyā & Sundar.
Rāṇā Curran, In 1893, when Sri Aurobindo joined Baroda State Service & had to learn Gujarati as one of the official languages, the only Gujarati hist ...
Ranade, Mahādev Govind, (1842-1901), son of an officer of the Princely State of Kolhapur & a distinguished graduate of Elphinstone College, Bombay M.A., LLB: jo ...
Ranade, R.D., Rāmachandra Dattātreya Ranade (1886-1957) of Ferguson College, Poona, was a great scholar & philosopher. Afterwards he was Emeritus Prof ...
Rand, W.C. Rand, ICS, Collector of Poona, appointed Special Officer on plague duty in Poona in February 1897, was shot along with his military ...
Kodailam V. Rangaswamy Iyengar / K.V.R., Kodailam V. Rangaswamy Iyengar, the zamindar of Kodailam, who bore the cost of the book Yogic Sadhan, seems to have promised financial h ...
Ranjit Singh, (1780-1839), Maharaja of Punjab. He created a Sikh kingdom extending from Peshawar to the Sutlej & from Kashmir to Sind in the teeth of ...
Rape of the Lock, is the most famous poem of Alexander Pope. A two-canto version appeared in 1712 & immediately made Pope famous as a poet. A long humorou ...
Raphael, Raffaello Santi (1483-1520), one of the masters of the Italian High Renaissance style. He was the youngest of the three great artists of ...
Rāshtra Mat, a Marathi daily of Bombay, edited (c. 1904) by Haribhai Modak. The paper gained great popularity as the organ of the Nationalist Party l ...
Rasul, Maulvi Abdur Rasul (1872-1917), a nationalist Muslim leader of Bengal under whose guidance the popular agitation against the Partition ...
Rathi/ Ruthie, Rati, daughter of Daksha, wife of Kāmadeva.
Rathitara, descendant of Nabhaga & son of Prishadashva.
Rāthore(s), more commonly Rāthod a Rajput clan belonging to the Sūrya Vamsha (q.v.) &, over the centuries conquered & ruled over several regions, ma ...
Ravana, was one of the two chief dwara-pālas of Lord Vishnu who were cursed by Rishi Durvāsā to be born in Mrityuloka (the world of Death, our e ...
Ravindra
Ray, Charu Chandra, (b.1867), professor & sub-director of Dupleix College, Chandernagore. In the searches at Manicktolla Garden & other places in Bengal in ...
Ray, Dr. P.C., Sir Prafulla Chandra Ray (1861-1944), first Palit Professor of Chemistry (1916-36) in Calcutta University. He inspired a generation of s ...
Raymond, Antonin Raymond, a Czech architect who had worked in Japan & U.S.A., & had collaborated with the famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright. He ...
Rebecca, one of the heroines of Sir Walter Scott’s famous novel Ivanhoe.
Reddy, Sir Cattamanchi Rāmalingam, educationist, scholar, poet & critic in Telugu. He held top-level educational responsibilities in Mysore, Madras & Andhra universities, ...
Redmond, John (Edward) (1856-1918), an Irish Nationalist Party leader who devoted his life to negotiating Home Rule for Ireland.
Rees, John David (1854-1922): entered Madras Civil Service 1875: Private Secretary to three successive Governors of Madras, 1878-88; Govt. tra ...
Reich, The German Empire of 1871-1918 was often called the Second Reich; on the same reasoning Adolf Hitler referred to Nazi Germany as the Thi ...
Reliques, Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, anthology of ballads, sonnets, historical songs, & metrical romances published in 1765 by Thomas Per ...
Renaissance/ Renascence, the revival of art & letters of Europe, under the influence of its classical models, which began in Italy in the 14th century & covered ...
Renan, Ernest, (1823-92), French historian & critic; best-known for his Life of Jesus.
Renoncants, Indian residents of the French settlements in India, they could be full French citizens only after “renouncing their personal status und ...
Republic, best known of Plato’s dialogues; there justice is discussed by Socrates & others, especially in the context of an ideal state.
Retaliation, unfinished poem by Goldsmith – humorous critical epitaphs on David Garrick, Reynolds, Burke, & other friends responding to their epitaph ...
Rev. Andrews, Charles Freer (1871-1940), English by birth, he made India his adopted home. Apart from being a professor at St Stephen’s College, Delhi ...
Revaty, daughter of King Raiwata & wife of Balarāma.
Review of Reviews, British magazine founded by W.T. Stead, published 1890-1936.
Rhadamanthus, king of Crete, son of Zeus & Europa. He was rewarded for his exemplary sense of justice by being made one of the three judges of Hades.
Rhesus, a Thracian ally of Priam in the Trojan War.
Ribhus, in Rig-Veda, Ribhū or Ribhukshan, Vibhū or Vibhva, & Vaja, the three sons of Sudhanwan (q.v.), are human powers who by the work of sacri ...
Richard, (1) Duke of Gloucester, later King Richard III in Shakespeare’s Richard III; (2) a name mentioned in The Courtship of Miles Standish by ...
Richard Feverel, The Ordeal of Richard Feverel, a novel by George Meredith.
Richard II, (1367-1400), King of England (1377-99)
Richard III, by Shakespeare, the background of which is the conflict between the rival houses of York & Lancaster, known as the Wars of the Roses. Th ...
Richardson, Samuel (1689-1761), English novelist, started the epistolary technique.
Richelieu, Armand-Jean du Plessis, cardinal et Duc de Richelieu (1585-1642), chief minister to King Louis XIII of France. Using both ecclesiastical ...
Richmond, Henry, Earl of Richmond, later Henry VII, in Shakespeare’s Richard III.
Riddle of the Universe, title of the English translation (first published in 1929) done by Joseph McCabe, of a German book (1899) written by Prof. Ernst Haeckel.
Rig-veda, The first of the four Vedas. Two others, the Yajur & Sama, are merely different arrangements of its hymns for special purposes. The hymn ...
Rijuta
Riksha, a Rishi of the Rig-Veda (8.68.15); his son is mentioned elsewhere as Arksa.
Rimbaud, (Jean-Nicolas-) Arthur (1854-91), French poet & adventurer whose small poetic output had an incalculable influence on the Symbolist move ...
Rip Van Winkle, hero of Washington Irving’s Rip Van Winkle (1819-20). The story is based on a legend of Catskill Mountains about a man who slept for twe ...
Rishabchand
Rishabha, a Rākshasa in the form of a bull, he was slain by Bṛihadratha of the Mahabharata period who built the Magadhan empire [see SABCL 3:190-91].
Rishabha Vaishwamitra, son of Vishwāmitra, mentioned in Aitareya Brāhmaṇa.
Risley Circular, issued in 1907 by Sir Herbert Risley to root out Bengal’s Swadeshi movement & cut it away from students enrolled in Govt. establishments.
Risley, Sir Herbert, Herbert Hope (1851-1911): admitted to ICS & posted in Bengal 1873: Secretary, Govt. of Bengal 1891: Member Legislative Council 1892-3: a ...
Rita
Robespierre, Maximilien-Francois-Marie-Isidore de Robespierre (1758-94; Jacobin leader & one of the leading figures of French Revolution & author of ...
Rodin, Auguste, (1840-1917), French sculptor revered as new Michelangelo.
Roger Anger
Roger Bacon, (1220-92), thinker, reformer, zealous in experimental science.
Rohinie, (1) daughter of Prajāpati Daksha; wife of Chandra (q.v.), & the Nakshatra, the fourth lunar constellation. (2) Wife of Vāsudeva & mother ...
Rolland, Romain, (1866-1944), French novelist, playwright, essayist, biographer; known for his novel Jean-Christophe; awarded 1915 Nobel Prize for litera ...
Romain, Joules
Romains, Jules, Louis-Henri-Jean Farigoule (1885-1972), French novelist, dramatist, & poet, founder of the literary movement known as Unanimisme, & auth ...
Roodhra, or Rudra is the Vedic prototype of the Puranic Shiva.
Rosalind, daughter of the banished Duke in Shakespeare’s comedy As You Like It.
Rosamund, Rosamond Clifford (c. 1140c. 1176), a mistress of Henry II of England, who was known as “Fair Rosamond”. The best-known stories tell how ...
Rosebery, Archibald Philip Primrose (1847-1929), Earl Rosebery, Prime Minister (1894-95).
Rosicrucian, member of a brotherhood possessing esoteric wisdom. Rosicrucianism combines elements of occultism with a variety of religious beliefs & ...
Rossetti, Dante Gabriel (1828-82), English poet, painter, founder of Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood devoted to “truth to nature” & romanticizing the M ...
Röth, Rudolf von Röth (1821-95), educated at Tübingen under Heinrich Ewald: studied at Paris under Burnouf: worked on Vedic & Zend Avestan Mss ...
Rouen, on the Seine; Joan of Arc, imprisoned here in a tower, was burnt here at the stake on the Place du Vieux Marche in May 1431 by English c ...
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques (1712-78), his treatises & novels inspired leaders of the French Revolution & Romantic generation: Kant, Goethe, Robespierr ...
Roy, Ananda Chandra/ Ananda Babu, (1844-1935) of the Dacca Bar, he was a leader in the anti-Partition movement of 1905-06 & the Swadeshi movement.
Roy Chaudhury, Girijā Shankar, (1885-1965) published hypercritical articles on Sri Aurobindo, Swami Vivekananda, & Sister Nivedita.
Roy, Dinendra Kumar, stayed with Sri Aurobindo at Baroda in 1898-99 solely to familiarise him with the Bengali language. In 1923, he published his reminiscen ...
Roy, Dwijendralal, (1863-1913), a playwright, he wrote a variety of plays: musical, historical, devotional, comic, & romantic etc. Being a government serva ...
Roy, P.C., Perhaps Pratap Chandra Rai (or Roi) (1841-95), who, over twelve years brought out an English translation of Mahabharata in 11 volumes. T ...
Roy, (Raja) Rammohan, (1772-1833): son of Rāmākānta Roy, manager of some estates of the Maharaja of Burdwan: studied Persian & Arabic at Patna & Sanskrit at B ...
Roy, Sasankajiban, attended Bengal Provincial Conference at Hooghly in September 1909, he seconded the resolution regarding boycott of foreign goods.
Rubaiyat, The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam by Omar Khayyam exalting sensual pleasure, translated into English by Edward FitzGerald & first published i ...
Rudra(s), Rudra is Vedic Shiva; the Rudras are also identified with the Maruts.
Ruins of Rome, a didactic poem by John Dyer.
Rukminie/ Rookminnie, daughter of Bhishmaka, king of Vidarbha. She married Sri Krishna & gave birth to Pradyumna.
Runnymede, meadow in Surrey, on the south bank of Thames, 20 miles west of London. Here in 1215, King John granted the Magna C(h)arta, the most imp ...
Ruru/ Ruaru, grandson of Maharshi Chyavana & son of Pramati, born of an Apsarā named Ghritasi. The story of Ruru & his wife Pramadvara is told in the ...
Ruskin, John (1819-1900), English author & critic who championed Gothic Revival in architecture & decorative arts & influenced public taste in a ...
Russell, Bertrand, Bertrand Arthur William (1872-1970), logician & philosopher.
Ruth, in Old Testament, a Moabite widow. Her fidelity to her Jewish mother-in-law (Naomi) is told in a little story. The idyll is one of the p ...
V. Ramaswamy Aiyangar, V. Rāmaswamy Iyengar, later known as Vā-Rā in the Tamil literary world, came from Tanjore to stay with Sri Aurobindo for some time; he r ...

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Dr. Sanyal
Dr. Satyavrata
Sabines, ancient Italic tribe in hilly region east of the Tiber.
Sacred Books of the East, series of translations of Oriental, i.e., non-European & non-Christian religious works edited by Max Müller from 1875, published in 51 v ...
Sadā, Wodiyār, a Tamil Christian supervisor of the jail at Pondicherry around 1914. Sri Aurobindo attended his marriage & accepted his daughte ...
Sadānanda, Sadānanda Yogindra Saraswati, author of Vedanta-sāra. He belonged to the ‘Saraswat’ order, one of the ten orders of Sannyasins of Shanka ...
Sadducee, Jewish priestly sect which thrived for about two centuries before the Second Temple of Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 BC. They accepted o ...
Sadghana-loka, the occult world of dense existence.
Sadhyadeva, third highest of the ten forms of consciousness in the evolutionary scale of man; the Supreme Rākshasa, who raises Mind to the Ananda.
Sādi, Muslih-ud-Din Sādi, 13th century Persian mystic writer of Gulistan & Bustaan.
Sāgar Sangit, Bengali poems by C.R. Das; translated by Sri Aurobindo as Songs of the Sea. “The first book of poems published by Das was Malancha, a bo ...
Sahadeva, son of Jarāsandha. He had two younger sisters, Asti & Prāpti (see Ustie & Prāpti), who were married to Kansa king of Mathura.
Sahajanya, apsarā of Swarga, companion of Urvasie in Kālidāsa’s Vikramorvasīyam.
Sahana Devi
Saint Augustine, (1) (354-430), Bishop of Hippo, whose Confessions is considered a classic of Christian mysticism & his influence on Christianity as seco ...
Saint Bartholomew, one of the apostles charged with baptizing the damned souls of North India. Bartholomew is the patronymic of the common name Nathanael.
St. Francis Xavier
Saint Saens, Camille
Saintsbury, George Edward Bateman (1845-1933), English historian & critic.
Śākya(s)/ Çakyas, a clan of Sūryavanshis (descendants of Ikshwāku) living in the Nepalese Terai in 6th cent. BC. Their king, Suddhodana of Kapilāvastu, wa ...
Salamis, island in the Saronic Gulf of the Aegean Sea, part of Attica, Greece; also a port town of this island, west of the city of Piraeus (q.v. ...
Salimullah, Nawab/ Sallimullahi(sm), the Nawab (of Dacca) Nawab Khwajah Salimullah: succeeded his father as head of family of the Nawabs of Dacca in Dec. 1901: was a Deput ...
Sāma-Veda/ Samans, the third Veda. Its Samhita contains 1875 mantric verses are called Sāmans. They are mantras of divine Ananda, “the word of calm & harmo ...
Samain, Albert, (1858-1900), French poet classed as a symbolist.
Samba, a son of Sri Krishna by Jāmbavati, daughter of Jāmbuvant, King of Bears who fought beside Lord Rama against Rāvaṇa. Jāmbavati became the ...
Sambara/ Shambara, a Dasyu who fought against King Divodāsa of Kashi. He was defeated & his many cities were destroyed by Indra.
Samitiṅjay, one of the seven great heroes of the Yādavas of Dwārakā.
Sammer, Francis Sammer, a young Czech who worked in the Ashram as resident architect of Golconde, assistant to Antonin Raymond. He was in the As ...
Samnite, Roman name of tribes inhabiting the mountains of south-central Italy.
Samson, Israelite hero portrayed in an epic narrative in the Old Testament’s Book of Judges. Hebrew tradition sometimes designates him the last ...
Samson Agonistes, Milton’s tragedy, modelled on classic Greek tragedy.
Samudragupta, emperor (c.330-80) in the period of imperial Guptās (320-510); considered the epitome of the ideal king of a golden age.
Samurai, noblest warrior caste of Japan. After 1868 they also became great statesmen, generals, & businessmen – their nobility & patriotism built ...
Sanatkumar, chief of the four Kumaras or mind-born sons of Brahma (see Prajāpati).
Sanatsujātiya, Sanatkumār’s guidance to Dhṛitarāṣṭra in Mahābhārata.
Sand, George, Amandine-Aurore-Lucie Dupin, Baronne Dudevant (1804-76), French Romantic novelist & playwright. Much of her work was autobiographic.
Sandhyā, evening newspaper started on 16 December 1904, edited by Brahmabāndhav Upādhyāya, prosecuted for sedition in August 1907. After his deat ...
Sanga, Raṇa / Sangram Singh, popularly known as Rāṇā Saṅga, was ruler of Mewār (1508-29). Grandson of legendary Sisodia Rāṇā Kumbha, he succeeded his father Rāṇā Rai ...
Sangbād Prabhākar, started & edited by Ishwara Chandra Gupta (q.v.) as a weekly in 1831 as a weekly; he revived it in 1836 as a tri-weekly; & a daily in 1839.
Sanjibani/ Sanjivani, organ of the Sādhāran Brahmo Samāj of Calcutta, edited by Sri Aurobindo’s uncle Krishna Kumar Mitra from his house at 6, College Square.
Sankhya, one of the six schools of Yoga founded Kapila Muni (q.v.). It is the abstract & analytical realisation of the truth.
Sankhya Karika(s), verses on Sāṅkhya by Ishwara Krishna.
Sanskrit Research, Anglo-Sanskrit quarterly journal started by the Sanskrit Academy of India, Bangalore, under the editorship of Pandit Lingeca Mahābhāgawa ...
Santa Catarina, Spanish form of St. Catherine, used as an exclamation.
Santayana, George, (1863-1952), American philosopher, poet, critic, humanist.
Sapphira, wife of Ananias, a member of the church at Jerusalem. A legend finds the couple struck dead for misrepresenting the amount of their gift ...
Sappho, of Lesbos, greatest of early Greek lyricists. Plato called her the tenth Muse.
Saracen, name or Arabs & Moslems of the Syro-Arabian deserts in the time of the Crusades. Also in Europe’s Middle Ages for Muslim enemies of Chri ...
Sūradāsa
Sarajevo, city in Bosnia, Yugoslavia. The Austro-Hungarian Empire annexed Bosnia & Herzegovina in 1908 inciting a resistance movement that led Bos ...
Sarala Devi Choudhurani
Sarama, the Vedic Hound (Intuition) who pursues & recovers the cows (Spiritual Light) stolen by the Pānis (anti-Divine powers).
Sarameya, two dogs, messengers of Yama, mentioned in the tenth Mandala of the Rig-Veda, without reference to Saramā being their mother.
Saraswati(e)/ Saruswathi, Vedic goddess of Inspiration. In Puranas, she accompanies Brahma as the goddess of speech, poetry, learning, arts & crafts. (2) The rive ...
Sarat Maharaj, (1865-1927), Sarat Chandra Chakravarti, renamed Sāradānanda on taking up Sanyāsa; joined Barānagar Math, 1887; worked for New York’s Ved ...
Sarayu, tributary of Ganga, flows by Ayodhya through the kingdom of Koshala.
Sardesai,, Govind Sakhārām; when he was in Sayājirao’s service, he & Sri Aurobindo were taken to work for the Gaekwad during his sojourn in Kashmir ...
Sarojini/ Saro, (1877-1957) the only sister of Sri Aurobindo. In 1879, Dr Ghose took his family to England; in 1880 Swarnalata returned to India with he ...
Sarpedon, commander of Lycian contingent of Priam’s allies. He was the son of Zeus & Laodamia, daughter of Bellerophon. Slain by Patroclus, his bo ...
Sati, a form of Ᾱdya Shakti was born as the youngest of the three daughters of Prajāpati Daksha; the other two were Danu & Diti. She was led t ...
Satprem
Saturnia(n), of the Golden Age when human life was innocently happy & spontaneously harmonious; Roman tradition placed it in the reign of Saturn, the ...
Satya Loka, highest of the seven Lōkas; also highest of the three supreme worlds of Puranic cosmology; also world of the highest truth of being.
Satyadeva, highest of the ten forms of consciousness in the evolutionary scale of man; the Supreme Deva who raises the mind to Sat.
Satyakāma Jabāla, Chhandogya Upanishad’s 4th Khanda relates how Satyakāma, sent by his guru Rishi Haridrumata Gautama to live the forest tending to 400 co ...
Satyakarma
Sātyaki(e), son of Satyaka, also known as Yuyudhāna & Dāruka (q.v.), he was one of the seven Vrishnis (see Vrishny) of the Yādava Kula & charioteer ...
Satyr, Greek creature with horse’s ears & tail, represented by Romans, with goat’s ears, tail, legs, budding horns, bestial in desires, lustful ...
Saubala, see Gāndhāri
Saul, first king of Israel (c.1021-1000 BC).
Saurāshṭra, an ancient region of west Gujarat popularly called Sōrath. It bore the brunt of many invading barbarians from its west & north & survive ...
Saurin, Saurin Bose, Mrinālini’s cousin, came to Pondicherry in September 1911 & was given charge of the Arya Office & the “Aryan Stores” opened ...
Sāvarkar, Ganesh Damodar, (1879-1945) eldest of four children of a Chitpāvan Brahmin couple of Bhagur, near Nāshik in Maharashtra, hence addressed as Bābārao. Aft ...
Sāvarkar, Vināyak Damodar, (1883-1966) younger brother of Ganesh Sāvarkar. In May 1906, sent by Tilak to England where & Krishnavarma Sardarsingh Rāṇā granted him ...
Savitr, in the Veda the Creator in conjunction with Surya (sometimes with other gods) but also independently. Sayāna considered Savitr the risin ...
Savyasāchin, epithet of Arjūna, meaning ambidextrous bowman.
Sayājirao III, (1863-1939), Mahārāja of/ The Gaikwād of Baroda (1875-1939). The Gaikwāds were a Marāthā clan settled in the village of Bhare, Haveli Tā ...
Sayana, brother of Madhavāchārya, prime minister of Vijayanagara. Over a 100 scholarly works, commentaries on the Saṁhitās & Brāhmaṇas of the Ve ...
Schiller, Johann Christoph Friedrich von (1759-1805): German poet, dramatist, historian, & philosopher; one of the founders of modern German liter ...
Schlegel, Friedrich von (1772-1829): German philosopher, critic, & writer, most prominent of the founders of the Romantic school. He studied Sansk ...
Schopenhauer, Arthur (1788-1860): German philosopher, his metaphysical doctrine prepared the way for Existential Philosophy & Freudian psychology.
Scott, Sir Walter (1771-1832), first great Scottish novelist & poet: inventor of the historical novel (see Rebecca) & one of the most popular n ...
Scott’s Lane, a lane in central Calcutta near Sealdah where Sri Aurobindo lived from February to April 1908 (at No. 23). The Scott whose fame dignifie ...
Scylla & Charybdis, Scylla was the daughter of Phorcys & Hecate. Her rival Amphitrite turned her into a monster; she seized & devoured mariners caught in th ...
Scyros, Island in Aegean ruled by Lycomedes. Thetis, knowing her son Achilles would die fighting in Troy, had got Lycomedes to marry his daughte ...
Scythia, land of a people famed for archers mounted on horses, masters in elusive desert tactics. The term Scythian covers tribes like Śakas (q.v ...
Sea-Drift, collection of poems by Walt Whitman.
Seasons, (1) Kālidāsa’s lyric Ritusamhāram (The Garland of the Seasons); & (2) the long four-part poem by James Thomson published in 1726 (Winter ...
Seeley, Sir John Robert (1834-95), professor of history at Cambridge, 1869-95. A proponent of British imperialism his The Expansion of England c ...
Sehra
Seleucid(ae), a dynasty founded by Seleucus, that governed Syria (c.312-64 BC).
Seleucus, or Seleukos Nikator (358/354–281 BC) was a general of Alexander of Macedon on whose death (323BC) he obtained the kingdom of Babylonia i ...
Self-help, by Samuel Smiles; collection of lectures on self-improvement given to young men in Leeds. One of the book’s admirers was the young Louis ...
Semites, descendants of Shem, the oldest son of Noah; represented by peoples of the Middle East, namely, Babylonians, Assyrians, Aramaeans, Canaa ...
Sen, Baikunthanath/ Baikuntha Babu, (1843-1921), a lawyer of Berhampur, a prominent Moderate of Murshidabad.
Sen, Birendrachandra/ Birendra, (1894-1970), a revolutionary of Sylhet. In the Alipore Bomb Case Beachcroft sentenced him transportation for life, but on appeal the Hig ...
Sen Gupta, Naresh Chandra, (1882-1964), professor of law at Dacca University & later at Calcutta University; author of about 60 books. Active in the anti-Partition ...
Sen, Hemchandra, (born c. 1883), elder brother of Birendrachandra Sen; a co-accused in the Alipore Bomb Trial, he was acquitted by Beachcroft.
Sen, Kāmini, (1864-1933), daughter of Chandi Charan Sen; greatest woman poet of Bengal, two her longer poems, Mahāshvetā & Puṇḍarīka, became very pop ...
Sen, Keshab/Keshav Chandra, (1838-84): grandson of Ram Kamal Sen, the Diwan of the Calcutta Mint & a Secretary of the Asiatic Socy of Bengal: educated at Hindu, Met ...
Sen, Narendra Nath, (1843-1911): educated privately & at the Hindu College, Calcutta: joined the staff of the Indian Field edited by Kishori Chand Mitra: be ...
Sen, Nobin/ Nabin Sen/ Nobin, (1847-1909), regarded as one of the best epic poets of his time, his outstanding creation is his autobiography Amar Jibon in five volumes.
Sen, Prabodh, (1897-1986), gold-medallist M.A. of Calcutta University: professor of Bengali literature at Vishwa Bharati University 1942-62: principal ...
Sen, Sachindra, of Dacca. A good singer, he was in Alipore Jail as an accused in the Alipore Bomb Trial but was acquitted by the Sessions Court.
Sen, Saroda Charan, a teacher in Jessore Zilla School; he was arrested on 29 August 1907 as manager of Sandhyā.
Sennacherib, king of Assyria (704-681 BC), he rebuilt the Assyrian capital, Nineveh.
Senor (Francisco) Ferrer, Francisco Ferrer Guardia (1859-1909), Spanish educator & politician executed for taking part in the violent uprising in Barcelona in 1909.
Shah Jahan, lit. Lord of the World, (1592-1666), he was the second son of Jehangir & the fifth Moghul emperor of India (1628-58). “Hindu rulers had ...
Shahnameh, Shāhanāmeh chronology of all the kings of Persia written by Persian poet Firdausi in 1010 AD for Mahmud of Ghazni; it contains nearly 60 ...
Shaibya Satyakāma, descendant of the Rishi Shibi (q.v.), he was king of the kingdom called Shibi. He was father-in-law of Yudhishthira.
S(h)aka(s), nomads from central Asia who began to invade India in waves from 2nd cent. BC. They were encountered & repulsed by King Vikramāditya of ...
Shakespeare, William (1564-1616), Ben Jonson had prophecised that he “was not of an age, but for all time”. The majority of scholars accept 38 plays, ...
Shakuntalā/ Shacoontala/ Shacountala/ Shacuntala, was daughter of Vishwāmitra by the Apsarā Menaka; found abandoned in a forest she was brought up by Rishi Kaṇwa in his hermitage as his ...
Shalwa, a country & its king.
Shama’a, English quarterly magazine of art, literature, & philosophy edited by Mrinalini Chattopadhyaya & published from Madras.
Shankarāchārya/ Shankar(a), (c.788-820) At the time which just preceded the incarnation of Ādi (the first) Shankarāchārya, the primary menace to Dharma was the chao ...
Shanks, Edward, an English poet of the early 20th century.
Shanti-Sechan, ceremonial crowning of Surendranath Banerji: “a floral chaplet was placed on his head while Brahmins blew conches & recited Vedic mantra ...
Sharabha, a Rishi of the Vedic period
Shāradā(mani) Devi, Shāradeshwari Devi (1853-1920), consort of Sri Ramakrishna.
Śhāraṅgarava, disciple of the sage Kaṇwa in Kālidāsa’s Abhijñāna Śākuntalam.
Sharma, R.S., a spy sent by Madras British whom Sri Aurobindo turned away because he saw through him, managed to rip-off Motilal Roy. [SABCL 27: 431 + ...
Sharmishthā, Michael Madhusudan’s comedy based on an episode in Mahābhārata.
Śhatadrū/ Shotodrou, the name of a sacred river of Aryavarta, corrupted to Sutlej.
Shatahrida, in Ramayana, mother of the Rākshasa Virādha.
Shatrūghna, in Ramayana twin-brother of Lakshmaṇa.
Shaunaka, of the Bhrigu gōtra; son of Śunaka & Kūlapati of Naimisha (q.v.).
Shauri, descendant of Śūrasena (q.v.) father of Vasudeva (father of Vāsudeva i.e. Sri Krishna). Hence ‘Shauri’ is epithet of both Vasudeva & Vās ...
Shaw, Bernard, George (1856-1950) British playwright whose prefaces to his plays best express his passion for social reform. In 1925, he got Nobel Priz ...
Shela, Shailā, an apsarā.
Shelley, Percy Bysshe, (1792-1822), English poet & thinker.
Shepherd’s Week, mock classical poems in pastoral setting, by John Gay (see Pope Alexander).
Sheridan, Richard Brinsley (Butler) (1751-1816), British playwright & politician noted for his comedies of manners, especially The School for Scandal.
Sheva (Shiva) Ekling, the battle cry of the historical Bāppā & his men. The first grand temple of Eklingji near Udaipur was built by Bāppā Rāwal in 734 AD, 1 ...
Shiah, or Shia, one of the two major branches of Islam distinguished from the majority Sunni. It validates the authority of Ali, son-in-law of ...
Shikhandi, in Mahābhārata, a son of King Drupada. Born as a girl & named Sikhandini whose sex was later on changed by the Yaksha Sthunakarṇa as she ...
Shimla, Shimla, a hill-station in the lower Himalayas, capital of present India’s Himachal Pradesh. From 1865 to 1939 it served as British India ...
Shini, Yādava descendant of Devamidha, great grandfather of Sri Krishna.
Shintoism, Shinto (the way of the Kami) is the state religion of Japan that was first used in the 6th century C.E., although the roots of the relig ...
Shishupāl(a), son of Damaghosha (king of Chedi) & his queen Śrutaśrava (a cousin of Krishna) was born with three eyes & four arms which implied an Asu ...
Shiv(a)/ Hara/ Mahādev(a)/ Maheshwara/ Rudra/ Shankara, While popular belief has him residing on Mount Kailās in the Himalayas which Kālidāsa called “the massed laughter of Shiva”, for Sri Aur ...
Shivādry/ Shivālak / Sivālik / Siwālik, Shiva+alik ‘Shiva’s Head’, Shiva+alak means ‘Shiva’s Hair or Stresses’. These hills form the southernmost belt of the Himalayan foothill ...
Shivaji, (1627/30-80) Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was born in at Shivneri, a hill fort near Pune. Since his father Shāhāji Raje Bhonsle, employed ...
Shivi, Shibi, son of Ushinara, king of the country also called Ushinara, near Gāndhāra (q.v.). King Shibi was renowned for his charity & as pro ...
Shogun, title dating back of 794 AD meant general of imperial Japanese armies; it was assumed by military dictators who ruled of Japan from the ...
Shrichand, (1494-1543), son of Guru Nanak, & founder of the Udāsi sect of Sikhism.
S(h)ruti, “learning by hearing”, “revealed scripture” refers to Vedas, Brāhmaṇas, Araṇyakas, & Upanishads. (See Smṛti)
Shuka(deva), son of Vyāsa. He narrated Bhāgavata to Parikshit emperor of Hastināpura.
Shūmbha, & his brother of Nishūmbha, performed great tapasyā & obtained boons of invincibility from Shiva. When they turned on the gods, Durga ki ...
Shunahshepa (Ᾱjīgarti) / Sunahshepa, a Rishi with the patronymic Ᾱjīgarti. In the Aitareya Brāhmaṇa, King Harishchandra had promised to Varuṇa the sacrifice of his son Rohit ...
Shūrase(g)na, father of Vasudeva (Krishna’s father) & Kūnti, mother of Pandavas [s/a Shauri].
Shushna, Asura associated with Vritra; personification of impure & ineffective force.
Shwetashwatara, name of the Vedic Rishi to whom is attributed the Shwetashwatara Upanishad of the Kṛṣṇa (Black) Yajur-Veda.
Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee
Shyāmsundara, ‘the beautiful dark one’, epithet of Sri Krishna.
Sibyl, poem by George Russell (see A.E.).
Siddha(deva), second of the three highest types of the ten forms of consciousness in the evolutionary scale of man; the supreme Asura, who raises mind ...
Sidgwick, Henry (1838-1900), known for his ethical theory based on Utilitarianism. He was also a founder of the Society for Psychical Research.
Sidhpur, Siddhapur, a town c.70 miles north of Ahmedabad, is popularly known as Siddhapur-Pātaṇ as if a twin of the city of Pātaṇ (the ancient ca ...
Sidney, Sir Philip, (1554-86), English courtier & poet. The ideal gentleman of his age, a master of social graces, an idealistic politician, a military lea ...
Sidon, ancient city on the coast of Phoenicia (now Lebanon).
Sieyès, Emmanuel-Joseph (1748-1836), his concept of popular sovereignty guided the French bourgeoisie in their struggle against the monarchy & n ...
Sigurd, Icelandic form of Siegfried, the Germanic hero who killed Fafnir.
Sikhism/ Sikhs, a non-sectarian monotheistic religion founded by Guru Nanak. The Sikhs accept the Ādi Grantha as their one canonical scripture & their ...
Silvius Craciunas
Simmonides, of Ceos (c. 556-468? BC), Greek lyric poet & epigrammatist.
Simon de Montfort, (c. 1208-65), Earl of Leicester; Anglo-Norman politician who led the opposition to Henry III, instigated the Barons’ War (1263-67), & es ...
Sindh, the valley of River Sindhu below its confluence with Vitastā (native name of Jhelum). It witnessed the birth & collapse of a pre-histori ...
Singhal, named Simhala-dweepa, island of Simhas (lions), by king Vijaya (q.v.) one of its conquerors. Rāvana was called Lankesh (lord of Sri Lanka).
Sinis, of Corinth robbed then bound his victim to two pine trees which he had tied down; when released the trees straightened up tearing the vi ...
Sinn Fein, ‘Irish Ireland’, nationalist struggle started by Arthur Griffith (1872-1922).
Sinnet, Alfred Percy (b.1840): journalist, editor of Hong-Kong Daily Press 1865-8: editor of Pioneer, India 1872: converted to theosophy in 1879 ...
Sir Ali Imam, (1869-1932) of Patna, Bihar; he joined the Muslim League in 1908. Since he supported Govt. of India Act of 1909, decreeing separate elec ...
Sir C.V. Raman, Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman (1888-1970), recipient of 1930 Nobel Prize for physics, 1958 Lenin Prize for peace, & other international a ...
Sir Edwin Arnold, (1832-1904), English poet, best known for his The Light of Asia, a blank verse epic on the life of the Buddha.
Sir Harvey, Adamson (1852-1929): Judicial Commissioner, Upper Burma 1900-03; Additional Member, Viceroy’s Council 1903-05; Chief Judge, Burma 1905; ...
Sir Patrick Spense, hero of a Scottish ballad written in 16th century by an unknown poet. Spense was a Scottish nobleman put in charge of a ship by the king.
Sir Philip Sidney
Sircar Mahendra, (1882-1954): Secretary & Vice-President of Bengal Branch of British Medical Association, at first he denounced Homeopathy but in 1867 de ...
Sirdar Ajīt Singh, (d.1947) led the nationalist movement in Punjab against increase of land-revenue & irrigation rules, & founded the Indian Patriots’ Asso ...
Sirdar Rajmachikar, & his brother who started an umbrella factory.
Sirish, Srishchandra Ghosh of Chandernagore; he smuggled revolvers into Alipore Jail to kill Noren Gossain. In February-March 1910, Srish assist ...
Sisyphus, son of Aeolus & king of Corinth. He insulted Zeus who condemned him to push a huge stone up a steep hill in Tartarus & begin again when ...
Sītā, adopted daughter of Janaka, king of Videha (or Mithīla), hence also known as Jānaki, Vaidehi, & Maithili. She is one of the Pañcakanyāḥ ...
Sitaram, (1) Sitaram Roy (b.1757/58), zamindar of East Bengal who, challenging the authority of the Nawab of Bengal, declared himself king. The N ...
Six Oxford Thinkers, book by Algernon Cecil.
Skylark, To a Skylark, (1) poem by Wordsworth (2) poem by Shelley.
Slaying of Shishupāla, English translation of Sanskrit epic of same name.
Slough of Despond, first used by Bunyan in his The Pilgrim’s Progress.
S.M. Paranjape, Shivaram Mahādev Paranjape (1864-1929): scholar, author, orator, professor of Sanskrit at Maharashtra College, Pune, started & edited tw ...
Smart, Christopher (1722-71), English poet of “A Song to David”.
Smiles, Samuel, Samuel (1812-1904), Scottish advocate of material progress based on individual enterprise, expounded in his book Self-Help.
Smith, Adam, (1723-90), Scottish economist, known for his An Inquiry into the Nature & Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
Smith, Joseph, (1805-44), progenitor of Mormons, he founded their Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints.
Smith, Vincent, (b.1848), Irishman; ICS: posted in India, 1871: NW Frontier Province, Oudh, the Settlement Dept. & subordinate posts until he became Mag ...
Smṛti(s), elaborate, interpret, & codify Shrutis, i.e., Vedas, but being derivative are considered less authoritative than Shruti (the Revealed Wo ...
Social reform, Sri Aurobindo: Reform is not an excellent thing in itself as many Europeanised intellects imagine; neither is it always safe & good to s ...
Socinian, doctrine of 16th century Italian theologians Laelius & Faustus Socinus; it denied divinity of Jesus, the Trinity, etc. & explained sin ...
Socrates, (c. 470-399 BC), first of the great trio of ancient Greeks, the other two being Plato & Aristotle. He wrote nothing himself. His life & ...
Soham Gita, by Shyamakanta Banerji who took the name Soham Swami.
Sohrāb & Rūstum, epic by Matthew Arnold, based on Firdausi’s Shah-nāmeh.
Solomon, (c.972-c.932BC), son of David, he was the greatest king of Israel.
Soma, in Veda, husband of Indu & Vena (Delight & Immortality), he represented & animated the Sōma-juice. In Puranas he is the god Chandra, son ...
Somadeva, Bhatta of Kashmir, writer or compiler of Kathāsaritsāgara.
Sōmadutta, of Kuru-Vamsha, son of Vahlika & grandson of Pratipa.
Somaka, in Veda, son of Sahadeva; in Mahabharata, grandfather of Drupada.
Sonar Bangla, a pamphlet written in 1906 by Bāsudeb Bhattacharjee, sub-editor of Sandhyā, exhorting Bengalis to unite against the Govt. It was printed ...
Songad, Songadh-Vyārā is now a village in Bhavnagar district of Gujarat in the hills of the Sahyādri, linking south-west Gujarat to Khāndesh (q. ...
Songs of the Sea, Sāgar Sangit collection of C.R. Das’s poems translated by Sri Aurobindo around 1912, & first published in 1923.
Sonnets, of Shakespeare (1609), a collection of 154 sonnets.
Sophists, Greek lecturers, writers, & teachers in 5th-4th centuries BC, most of whom travelled about teaching young men in return for fees. They p ...
Sophocles, (c.497-406 BC), one of the three great tragic playwrights of classical Greece. He wrote some 123 dramas, only seven of which have survived.
Soul of India, a book (1911) by Bipin Chandra Pal.
South Indian Bronzes, O.C. Gangoly, issued by Indian Society of Oriental Arts, Calcutta.
Southey, Robert (1774-1843), English poet & writer, associated with Coleridge & Wordsworth, though his poetry has little in common with theirs.
Spain, In 1516, Habsburg dynasty unified a number of disparate predecessor kingdoms & expanded their empire to the Americas. The Spanish Empire ...
Spectator, a London daily published by Sir Richard Steele & Joseph Addison from Mar. 1711 to Dec.1712; revived by Addison in 1714. It adopted a fic ...
Speight,, Thomas, English editor of editions of Chaucer’s works (1598 & 1602).
Spencer, Herbert, (1820-1903), English philosopher; he insisted on a synthesis of knowledge from scientific observation of biological & social phenomena.
Spender, Stephen, Stephen Harold (1909-95), English poet & critic, his poems expressed the politically conscience-stricken leftist “new writing” of that p ...
Spenser, Edmund (1552/53-99), English poet, his allegorical The Faerie Queene – in what became known as the Spenserian stanza – glorified England ...
Sphinx, (1) of Thebes, has a woman’s head & a lion’s body; she proposed the riddle “What walks on four feet in the morning, on two at noon, & on ...
Spinoza, Benedict de (1632-77), Dutch rationalist who formulated the metaphysical systems of Western philosophy.
Squire, J.C., Sir John (Collins) Squire (1884-1958): English journalist, playwright, & poet of the Georgian school of pastoral poetry; an influential ...
Sri Ranganātha, Lord Vishnu; installed in the temple at Srirangam.
Srinivasa/ Achari, Mandāyam Srinivāsāchariyār, publisher of Tamil nationalist papers India, Vijaya, Karmayoga, & Bāla Bhārati, with his elder brother Tirum ...
Srinjaya, son of Devavāta & father of King Sahadeva of Pāñchāla.
Srivatsa, sacred symbol over the heart of Lord Vishnu.
S.S. Mauretania, Mauretania was a Roman enclave in NW Africa. [S.S. = Steam Ship]
St. Francis (of Assisi), (1182?-1226), founder of order called the Franciscans.
St. Jean/ St. John, wrote fourth Gospel, three epistles, & the Revelation.
St John, variously called St. John the Evangelist, St. John the Divine, & Beloved Disciple. In his exile on Patmos Island, he is said to have wri ...
St. Joseph, in New Testament, a carpenter of Nazareth; Christ’s earthly father.
St. Paul
St. Paul/ Saul of Tarsus, (d.67?) Saul of Tarsus (q.v.) was a Jewish tent-maker who regarded Jesus a threat to Pharisaic Judaism (see Pharisees); encouraged by S ...
St. Paul’s (School), founded in 1509 by John Colet, Dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, it opened in the Cathedral’s churchyard, primarily for the local lo ...
St. Peter, (died c. 64), Peter, from the Greek petros & Latin petrus; his original name was Simeon, but Jesus gave him the nickname Cephas, “Rock”. ...
St. Teresa, of Avila, (1515-82), Spanish Roman Catholic nun originally named Teresa de Cepeda y Ahumada: originator of the Carmelite Reform that res ...
Stair Siddhar, saw Sri Aurobindo early in 1914. In April Siddhar left Pondicherry for Bengal, where he associated with Shyam Sundar Chakravarti, Liaqua ...
Stalin
Standard Bearer, monthly started by the Prabartak Saṇgha at Chandernagore in 1920.
Stead, W.T., William Thomas (1849-1912): English journalist, one of the founders of sensational journalism. He started the Review of Reviews & simila ...
Stephenson, George (1781-1848), English engineer, chief inventor of the railroad locomotive. He also found the principle on which Davy’s Safety Lamp ...
Stevenson, Robert Louis (1850-94): British essayist, critic, poet, & novelist.
Sthenelus, friend of Diomedes; he led an Argive contingent in the Trojan War.
stoics, philosopher(s) of the school founded at Athens c. 308 BC by Zeno: it held virtue as highest good, concentrated on ethics, & inculcated c ...
Stuart(s), a dynasty whose senior branch inherited the Scottish crown in 1371 & the English crown in 1603. To it belonged James I & II, Charles I & ...
Subramaniya, S(h)iva, (1884-1925), a close associate of V.O.C. Pillai (q.v.), he too was a nationalist in the Tilak school of politics. He had probably accomp ...
Sudas, Vedic king whose court was graced by Rishis Vasishtha & Vishwāmitra.
Śuddhi Samāj, worked for the readmission of Hindus converted to other religions.
Sudhanwan, the ancestor of the Ribhūs when considered powers of Light who have descended into Matter. In Brihadāranyaka he is a descendant of Angir ...
Sudhiranjan, Samvād-Sadhuranjan, Bengali paper of Īśvarachandra Gupta in 1847.
Suffragette(s), derived from suffrage, the right to vote. In the early part of the 19th century when the Women’s Suffrage Movement in England started an ...
Sufism, Tasawwuf, the inner mystical dimension of Islam, emerged among the Shi’ites as a reaction against the worldliness of the early Umayyad C ...
Sūgriva/ Sūgrive, ‘one with a strong neck’, brother of Vāli, king of the Vānaras of Kishkīndā (now in Karnataka).
Sujata
Śukra-Niti, political & administrative doctrine by Shukrāchārya, son of Bhrigu & guru of the Asūras & Rākshasas.
Sukumar, Mitra, Sri Aurobindo’s cousin who organised his passage to Pondicherry.
Sullan, of or enacted by Lucius Cornelius Sulla (Felix) (138-78 BC): Roman general & dictator who carried out notable constitutional reforms in ...
Sullivan, Sir Arthur (Seymour) (1842-1900): Irish composer who, with William Schwenk Gilbert (q.v.), created a distinctive comic operetta. Gilbert ...
Sully-Prudhomme, Rene
Sultan Abdul-Hamid, Abd-ul-Hamid II (1842-1918), was the 34th & last Sultan (1876-1909) of the Ottoman Empire to exert effective control over the fracturing ...
Sun Yat-sen, (1866-1925), led in the overthrow of the Manchu dynasty (1911). He headed the Chinese Kuomintang (Nationalist Party) & was provisional p ...
Sunaaman, Sunāman or Sunāmā, son of Ugrasena & brother of Kansa.
Sunil
Suprabhāt, illustrated literary periodical started in July 1907 & edited till 1914 by Kumudini Mitra, daughter of Sri Aurobindo’s uncle Krishna Kum ...
Surat, is believed to have been founded by a Brahmin named Gopi, who named the area Surajpur or Suryāpur. A Greek writer relates how in the rei ...
Surath Raja, a Chandra-vamshi king who fostered the worship of Durga.
Surendra
Surmishthā, daughter of Vrishaparvā, second wife of Yayāti; mother of Puru.
Surya, in the Vedic Trinity, he governs the Sky, Agni the earth, & Indra the heavens. In later scriptures his chariot is driven by Aruṇ, Dawn; ...
Sūrya-lōka, the world of Sūrya taken as a symbol of Vijńāna, the spiritual plane of revelatory Knowledge or Intuition.
Sūrya Vamsha, the lineage or race of Kshatriyas who worship Sūrya as representing vijńāna the plane of revelatory Knowledge or Intuition. Two great kū ...
Sushil Kumar, Sen/Sengupta (1892-1915): Sushil (Chandra) was sentenced by the magistrate Kingsford to 15 stripes for assaulting S.L. Huey in a fracas ...
Sūta, Loma-haṛshana after his father: learned Mahabharata & Puranas from Vyāsa.
Swadesh, a Moderate Congress journal published around 1907.
Swadesh Bāndhab Samiti, association of Barisal grown out of the Ashwini Kumar’s “Little Brothers of the Poor”; suppressed in January 1909.
Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company, See V.O. Chidambaram Pillai.
Swami Brahmānanda, believed to have been Bhao Sadāshiv Rao (q.v.) who after the battle at Pāṇīpat (q.v.) in 1761, roamed around the country & finally settl ...
Swami Dayānanda (Saraswati), (1824-83): born in a Shaivite Brahmin family in Morvi Kāṭhiāwād: studied Sanskrit & Vedas at Kāshi, took up sanyāsa & settled on the Nar ...
Swami Sakaria, Sakāriā Bābā, a Yogi who spent part of his life in a town called Chharodi, on the way to Gungānath (q.v.). Barindra, when he was his dis ...
Swamy Brahmanand
Swamy Neelakantha Mahadev
Swamy Ramalingam
Swar/ Swaralōka/ svah/ Svar/ Swah, the luminous world of the Divine Mind, the special realm of Indra; the world of Light; the third (from below) of the seven worlds of the ...
Swarāj, English fortnightly started in England in February 1909 by B.C. Pal & G.S. Khaparde. But a few months later, its distributing agent G.B. ...
Swarājya, a nationalist Urdu journal of Allahabad. In 1908, in the wake of the bombing in Muzaffarpur, its editor Shanti Narayan was sentenced in ...
Swarna Kumari, sister of Rabindranath Tagore; first woman to write Bengali novels, she edited Bharati & wrote books for children.
Swedenborg, Emanuel (1688-1772), scientist & theologian. His Christian tracts created Swedenborgian societies which became the Church of the New Jer ...
Swedish lady
Swetaketu, son of Arūṇi Uddālaka of Gautama gōtra; he realised the Self by learning the full import of Tattvamasi “Thou art That” from his father.
Swetas(h)watara Upanishad, attached to the Krishna Yajur-Veda.
Swift, Jonathan, Jonathan (1667-1745), Dublin-born poet, wit, critic, churchman, political pamphleteer; best known for his 'Gulliver’s Travels' (1726).
Swinburne, Algernon Charles (1837-1909), English poet & critic, symbol of mid-Victorian poetic revolt.
Świtrā, the White Mother: her son Shwaiterya is mentioned in the Rig-Veda.
Sybil, one of the Greek women who acted as mediums of the oracles & prophecies of Olympian gods. Nine Sibylline books were offered to Tarquiniu ...
Syed Hyder Reza, leader of a section of the Muslims who opposed to separate representation of Muslims on Govt. councils because it was a wedge to set Mus ...
Symposium, Plato’s dialogue in which banquet guests present their ideas on love.
Synge, J.M., John Millington (1871-1909), leading Irish poet & dramatist in Irish literary Renaissance, he portrayed the life of Aran Islands & weste ...

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Tagore, Abanindranath, (1871-1951): son of Gunendranath, great-grandson of Dwarakānath. Artist & litterateur, he re-established the old Indian system of art & ...
Tagore, Debendranath, (1817-1905) eldest son of Dwārkā Nath Tagore & father of Rabindranath. In 1839, he founded the Tattwabodhini Sabhā & joined Rammohan Roy ...
Tagore, Rabindranath, (1861-1941), founded Vishwa Bharati at Santiniketan in 1901: wrote fifty dramas, hundred books of verse, forty volumes of fiction, & sev ...
Tagore, Rajah Jyotindra Mohan, (1831-1908): eldest son of Horu Kumar Tagore: composed Bengali dramas: Hony Secretary of the British Indian Association & its President ...
Tai Maharaj Case, Tai Maharaj was the widow of Sirdar Baba Maharaj of Poona, who, before his death, appointed Tilak, Khaparde, & some others, trustees of ...
Tailanga Swami, (1608-1888), noted for his enormous build & longevity (280 years), but more for his remarkable yogic powers & the miracles he performed ...
Taine, Hippolyte (-Adolphe) (1828-93), French thinker, critic, historian, exponent of 19th cent. French Positivism which applies scientific met ...
Taj Mahal, mausoleum built by Emperor Shah Jahan for his beloved queen Mumtaz Mahal (Arjumand Bāno Begum) on Yamuna in Agra. It took 22 years to bu ...
Takhti-Suleman/ Seat of Solomon, a hill in Kashmir, overlooking the Dal Lake in the city of Srinagar, whose original name was first Persianised & then Anglicised by the ...
Talavakara, Rishi mentioned in 9th chapter of Talavakāra Brāhmaṇa of Sama-Veda.
Talthybius, herald of Agamemnon.
Talwār, Madan Talwār, “Madan’s Sword”; journal named after Madan Lal Dhingrā (q.v.). The first number datelined Berlin, November 29th, 1909, was ...
Tamburlaine Tamburlaine the Great,, two-part romantic tragedy by Christopher Marlowe, based on Timur-i-lang (Tamerlane).
Tamerlane, corrupted form of Timur-i-lang (1336-1405), a Turk jihadi best known for the barbaric conquests of his dynasty, invaded India in 1398, o ...
Tantalus, son of Zeus & father of Pelops & Niobe. He was admitted to the table & council of the gods, & for his insolent behaviour was condemned t ...
Tantrasāra, a treatise on Tantra written by Maheshvarāchārya Abhinava Gupta.
Tao, the One – Being & Non-Being, Beginning & End, the Way, the Road to Heaven.
Taoism, founded in 6th century by Lao-tzu, it is a major religio-philosophical tradition of China, typified by positive, active attitude toward ...
Tapas/ Tapoloka, world of infinite Will or conscious Force; second of the three supreme worlds of the Puranas.
Tāpti, popularly Tāpi, it rises in Garwilghar Hills & flows into the Gulf of Khambhāt.
Tārak, an Asura whose austerities gave him the strength to challenge the Devas, & for whose destruction Pārvati’s son Skanda / Kartikeya was born.
Tarquin, seven kings of this name ruled Rome before 509 BC, probably the legendary of Etruscan dynasty; two of them are permitted by scholars to ...
Tarsus, on river Cydnus was capital of Cilicia, birthplace of St Paul (q.v.).
Tartar(s), collective name for Turks, Cossacks, etc., of central Asia or Siberia; they overran parts of Asia & Europe under Mongol leadership in 13 ...
Tartarus, sunless abyss below Hades where the Titans were confined; or the place of punishment in Hades. In Homer’s lliad it is the very lowest re ...
Tasso, Torquato (1544-95), Italian poet famed as author of Jerusalem Delivered.
Tata, J.N., Jamsetji Nasarwānji (1839-1904): born at Navasāri, Gujarat: educated at the Elphinstone College: a successful & philanthropic industrial ...
Tatler, tri-weekly English periodical, chiefly written by Sir Richard Steele with contributions by Joseph Addison, published 1709-11. It also di ...
Tayābji, Badruddin Tayābji (1844-1906): The sarcastic ‘Tyabji Bose’ used by Sri Aurobindo refers to the illogical reaction of Indian loyalists & ...
Tehmi
Telang, Kāshināth, (1850-93): a Saraswat Gond Brahman of Thana, Bombay named Kāshināth Triambakrao: adopted by his father’s elder brother: educated at Elph ...
Tempe, Vale of Tempe, between southern Olympus & northern Ossa Massifs of northeast Thessaly; sacred to Apollo & extolled by many poets includi ...
Temps, Le Temps, liberal evening daily founded in 1861 by A. Nefftzer at Paris, later shifted to Lyons: played an essential role in the Third R ...
Ten Thousand, refers to the retreat of Ten Thousand Greek patriots under Clearchus after the battle of Cunaxa. They marched some 1,300 miles from Sard ...
Tennyson, Lord Alfred (1809-92), chief representative of the Victorian Age, appointed poet laureate in 1850.
Teresa, Saint
Terpander, (c.647 BC), Greek poet & musician of Lesbos, an island in the Aegean Sea, he sang to the accompaniment of the “Kithara”, a seven-stringe ...
Tertullian, Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus (c.160-220), Christian (Carthaginian) theologian: initiator of Latin theological words & phrases ...
Teucer, (1) the son of Scamander of Crete by the nymph Idaea, & father-in-law of Dardanus; (2) son of Telamon by Hesione, daughter of the Trojan ...
Thackeray, William Makepeace (1811-63), English Victorian novelist whose work, during his lifetime & for long afterward, was considered equal or su ...
Thamyris, Thracian poet singer, rival of Apollo in love for the beautiful youth Hyacinthus. Apollo told the Muses that Thamyris boasted he could s ...
The As(h)ram, of Sri Aurobindo & the Mother: Sri Aurobindo: My Yoga is done not for myself who need nothing & do not need salvation or anything else ...
The Bard, Pindaric ode by Thomas Gray) based on a tradition current in Wales; namely, when Edward I of England conquered Wales, ordered that all t ...
The Bengal National College & School, Calcutta, was set up in Calcutta by the National Council of Education on 14 August 1906 with Sri Aurobindo as principal & an elaborate s ...
The Bible, the main written source of the life history of Jesus Christ is divided into two parts: the Old Testament & New Testament. The first, com ...
The Cabinet Mission, constituted by the ministry of Atlee arrived in India on 23rd 1946: it proposed a Union of India embracing both British India & the prin ...
The Dance of Life, book by Havelock Ellis.
The Deliverance, D.K. Roy’s translation of Sarat Chandra’s novel Nishkriti.
The Deserted Village, poem of Oliver Goldsmith.
The East India Charter, royal charter issued on December 31,1600, under the name of the Governor & Company of Merchants of London trading with the East Indies, ...
The East India Company, was established in London in 1600 as a joint-stock company of English merchants, who received, by a series of charters, exclusive rights ...
The Elohim, Hebrew name of God.
The Eve of St. Agnes, poem by John Keats based on a legend that maidens were allowed to have a sight of their future husbands on the eve of St. Agnes’ feast day.
The Feast of Youth, first collection of poems (1918) by Harindranath Chattopadhyay.
The Ghost, perhaps Blake’s The Ghost of Abel, a short dramatic dialogue (1822).
The Great Gods, “are in origin & essence permanent Emanations of the Divine put forth from the Supreme by the Transcendent Mother, the Ādya Shakti; in t ...
The Great Illusion, the best-known work of Sir Norman Angell.
The Hollow Men, poem by American-English poet Thomas Steams Eliot.
The House of Brut – Fragment of a Drama, editorial title of a untitled unfinished piece published in SABCL Vol. 7, “Collected Plays”, pp.881-88. The same piece is published in C ...
The Independent, English journal launched by Motilal Nehru at Lucknow in 1919 ‘to support the cause of Indian nationalism’. Motilal had joined the Congre ...
The Jātakas, a vast literature written in Pāli which describes the previous incarnations of Buddha & of the social & political condition in his times.
The Kesari, Marathi weekly started by Tilak, G.G. Agarkar, & V.K. Chiplunkar, it first appeared on 4th January 1881. They had begun by starting the ...
The Lark Ascending, poem by George Meredith.
The Mahratta/ Maratha, See The Kesari
The Man Who Dreamed of Faeryland, poem by Yeats.
The Manchester Guardian, a daily published by John Russell Scott.
The Maurya(s), Chandragupta Maurya received Megāsthenes as an ambassador of Macedonia. His son Bindusāra was eager to secure the services of a Greek so ...
The Modern Review, English monthly magazine founded by Rāmānanda Chatterjee (q.v.) in 1907 at Allahabad. In 1908 it was shifted to Calcutta. Old volumes of ...
The Mother to Her Son, one of the longer poems of Sri Aurobindo based on a passage in the Udyoga-parva of the Mahābhārata, containing the conversation of Vidul ...
The Muses, daughters of Zeus & Mnemosyne who preside over Arts & Sciences. Their worship spread from Thracia & Pieria into Boetia, where they dwelt ...
The Mutiny, Karandikar: Though British rule had been established in many parts of India by 1835, the only uniformity to which the conquered territor ...
The Name & Nature of Poetry, by A.E Housman (1933), containing his Leslie Stephen Lecture given at Cambridge University.
The Netherlands, also called Holland, a kingdom in north-western Europe, bounded by the North Sea in the north & west, by Belgium in the south, & by Germ ...
The New Statesman & (the) Nation, English weekly issued from London.
The Orient, Orient Illustrated Weekly of Calcutta started probably in 1936.
The Passions, an Ode for Music, one of the odes of Collins.
The Peshwas, Chhatrapati Shivaji was succeeded by his son Shambhāji (1680-89), then his second son Rajaram (d.1700), then Shambhāji’s son Shivaji-II ...
The Philosophy of Benedetto Croce, by Carr, published in 1917.
The Pilgrim’s Progress, in two parts, by John Bunyan (q.v.): progress a devout Christian through life, once almost as popular as the Bible.
The Prince, English of a book in Italian Il principe (1532), Machiavelli’s best-known work. It has made his name a symbol of political immorality.
The Princess, narrative poem by Tennyson interspersed songs.
The Prophecy of Famine, poem by Charles Churchill, published in 1763.
The Reformation, the religious revolution that took place in the Western Christian Church in the 16th century. Its greatest leaders were Martin Luther & ...
The (Reign of) Terror, or “The Terror” denotes the first French Revolution from March or June or September, 1793 to July 1794, when the ruling faction ruthless ...
The Revolt of Islam, a poem by P.B. Shelley. Originally published in December 1817 under the title Laon & .Cythna in the form of a history of an ideal revolu ...
The Riks, a “brilliant & astonishing” work on the Veda by T. Paramasiva Aiyar (q.v.).
The Roman Catholic Church, headed by the Pope (Bishop of Rome), it traces its origin to the Apostles of Jesus Christ in the 1st century.
The Rosciad, poem (1761) by Charles Churchill.
The Sacrifice of the Sikh, translation of the Bengali Sikher Balidan by Kumudini Mitra. It was intended to teach the lesson of martyrdom to young Bengal.
The Secret Services, dedicates many chapters on the need, methods & goals of the secret service & how to build then use a network of spies that work for the ...
The Shadowy Waters, play (1900) by W. B. Yeats.
The Siege of Mathura, CWSA’s Vol.10-11 (Record of Yoga)’s “Undated or partly dated Script, 1912-13”, notes on p.1291: “The literary Karma falls under three he ...
The Sindhu, (Sanskrit for Ocean), is the broadest & one of the longest of the sacred rivers in Ᾱryavarta or Bhāratavarsha. Rising in a spring in the ...
The Statesman, a daily of Calcutta started by Robert Knight in 1875. In 1877 it was merged with the Friend of India under the title The Friend of India ...
The Stolen Child, poem by Yeats.
The Sunday Times, weekly of Madras, founded in 1928 by M.S. Kāmath who later edited it. From 1941 it was edited by P.A. Prabhu.
The Swaraj Party, In 1922 C.R. Das was elected president of the Congress at Gaya. He, Motilal Nehru, N.C. Kelkar, Ajmal Khan & Viṭhalbhai Patel (q.v.), se ...
The Tagores, Buckland: (1) Dwārkā Nath (1794-1846): 2nd son of Ram Mani Tagore: established 1834 the firm of Carr. Tagore & Co.: helped found the Uni ...
The Tantra(s), a yogic system devoted to the many aspects of Shakti. The Shāktas are divided into two: Dakshīnāchāris (right-handed) & Vāmāchāris (left ...
The Times, poem by Charles Churchill, published in 1764.
The Times Literary Supplement, to The Times (London), initiated in 1902.
The Times of India, so renamed in 1861, it was founded in 1838 as Bombay Times. On 2nd Feb.1885, P.M. Mehta quoted Dufferin’s “No man...whatever his occupat ...
The Traveller, one of the best known poems of Oliver Goldsmith, published in 1764.
The Vanity of Human Wishes, a didactic poem by Samuel Johnson.
The Vision, an English monthly magazine issued from Anandashram (Kanhangad, Kerala). Started in 1933, it contains the teachings of Swami Ramdas.
The Web of Indian Life, book by Sister Nivedita, first published in 1904.
The Wind & the Whirlwind, poem by Wilfrid Blunt addressed to England, some verses of which express the basic motive of the Nationalist movement in India.
The Witch of Atlas, poem in ottava rima by Shelley.
The World, a London newspaper founded in 1787.
The Yuga(s), Sri Aurobindo: When in His cosmic circling movement He establishes some stable worldwide harmony, that is man’s Satya Yuga. When harmony ...
Thea, Greek goddess.
Themis, ‘the fixed or firm one’; personifies law & justice.
Themistoclean, relating to Themistocles (c.524-460 BC): Athenian politician & naval strategist, creator of Athenian sea-power, & the chief saviour of G ...
Theocritus, (c.310-250 BC), Alexandrian Greek poet, the creator of pastoral poetry.
Theon
Theon, Max
Theosophical Society, founded in New York by Blavatsky & H.S. Olcott in 1875. In 1886, its headquarters were moved to Ādyār, Madras. Its objects are: to form ...
Theramenes, Athenian politician & general who died in 404/403 BC.
Thermopylae, a narrow pass in Greece, nine miles SSE of Lamia, between the cliffs of Mt. Oeta & the impassable morass on the shore of the Malic Gulf. ...
Thessalian, of Thessaly: situated north of Boeotia, south of Macedonia & on the Aegean Sea, Thessaly was almost walled in by mountains, including Pi ...
Thetis, mother of Achilles. She was loved by Zeus & Poseidon, but because it was destined that her son would be greater than his father they mar ...
Thomas Alva Edison, (1847-1931), American inventor & a genius of technology. He held over a thousand U.S. & foreign patents, including those on the incandes ...
Thompson, Francis, (1859-1907), a Catholic English poet of the Aesthetic movement of the 1890s, he wrote The Hound of Heaven.
Thomson, James (1700-48), British poet famous for Seasons which foreshadowed some of the attitudes of the Romantic movement. He also wrote a few ...
Thor, Norse god of Thunder, hence of might & war: eldest & strongest of the sons of Odin. His chariot wheels made the thunder. Armed with his ...
Thrace, region east of Macedonia, on the Aegean & the Black Sea & extending north to the Danube. In the Trojan War, Thracians fought under Rhesu ...
Thucydides, Athenian historian, considered greatest of Greek historians: wrote the History of the Peloponnesian War, between Athens & Sparta.
Thule, Greek & Roman name for the most northerly land in the world as they knew then; a land which Pytheas heard of & perhaps reached c.300 BC ...
Thyestean, relating to Thyestes, son of Pelops & brother of Atreus. Thyestes seduced his own daughter unknowingly & had by her a son, Aegisthus. In ...
Tiberius, Tiberius Claudius Nero Caesar Augustus (42 BC-37AD): second Roman emperor (AD 14-37), who greatly strengthened the institution of the pr ...
Tiglath-pileser, Tiglath-pileser I, king of Assyria (ruled 1115-1077 BC), defeated the Babylonians, expelled the Mushki invaders from Assyrian Armenia, & ...
Tilak (Lokamāṇya) Bāl Gangādhar, (1856-1920); Pārvatibai, wife of Gangādhar Shāstri (b.1846), who though frail in health after three daughters, had worshipped Suryadeva ...
Tilottama, an apsarā.
Tilottamasambad, (1860), Bengali narrative poem by Michael Madhusudan.
Timon of Athens, play suspected to be by Shakespeare & some others.
Tintoretto, Jacopo Robusti (1518-94), one of the greatest Mannerist painters of the Venetian school & of the Renaissance; famed for executing with a ...
Tiresias, blind prophet of Thebes. He obtained his prophetic powers either by Athene who had blinded him when he saw her bathing; or by Zeus in co ...
Tiruvalluvar, a Tamil yogi who wrote Tirukkural (see Kural).
Tiruvaymoli, ‘The Sacred Utterance’” by Nammalwar, it has over thousand verses.
Tirynthian, epithet of Diomedes, who came from Tiryns.
Tishya, occurs twice in the Rig-Veda as a star (see Pushya); in Sayāna Tishya is the Sun later it became the name of a lunar mansion.
Titan(ess), twelve primordial children of Uranus (Heaven) & Gaea (Earth): Oceanus, Coeus, Crius, Hyperion, Iapetos, Theia, Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, ...
Titian, Tiziano Vecellio (1488/90-1576), painter of the Venetian school, one of the greatest artists of the Renaissance.
Tolstoy, Leo (Lev) Nikolayevich Tolstoi (1828-1910), Russian novelist & philosopher. Moral & social elements play a great role in his later works ...
Tommy Atkins, name used in the specimen form given in British Army regulations from 1815, to be filled up by the prospective recruit.
Toramāna, Toramāna was a leader of the Huns that invaded south Rajasthan from west Asia & established himself in Mālwā around 500 AD, & extended h ...
Torquemada, Tomas de (1420-98), first Grand Inquisitor in Spain: his name is synonymous with the Inquisition’s horror, religious bigotry, & cruel fa ...
Tory, Tory & Whig were names used to denote two opposing political parties in England in 18th century. They were introduced as terms of abuse ...
Totā Puri, Nāga sannyasi who initiated Sri Ramakrishna into Sanyāsa. The latter used to refer to him as Nengta, naked. Totāpuri was a great Vedanti ...
Tower of Silence, or Dokhma: a round structure with a well in the middle, & on the boundaries three rows meant for the bodies of dead adults & children. T ...
Townsend, Meredith, (b.1831): studied with the Orientalist Professor E.B. Cowell at Ipswich Grammar School: in 1848 joined the Friend of India Meredith star ...
Toy Cart, translation of Mricchakaṭika in ten acts composed in 1st & 2nd century King Shudraka, supposed to be the oldest extant Sanskrit drama. ( ...
Trasadasyu, author of Rig-Vedic hymns. Sri Aurobindo renders the name as ‘the disperser of the destroyers’, ‘the scatterers of the dividers’, ‘the T ...
Trasadasyu (Paurukutsa), mentioned in Rig-Veda as king of the Purus. He was the son of Purukutsa by his wife Purukutsani, born to her at a time of great distress.
Treitschke, Heinrich von (1834-96), German historian & political writer whose advocacy of power politics, influential at home, led to distrust of Ge ...
Treta, second of the four Yugas, when sacrifice commenced & righteousness decreased by one-fourth; men adhered to truth, & were devoted to righ ...
Tribune, English daily founded in 1881 at Lahore. Under the editorship of Nāgendra Nath Gupta (1911) & Kālinath Roy (1917), the paper regained it ...
Trigartas, Arjūna defeated the Trigartas for the success of the Rājasūya yajña performed by Yudhishthīra; his brother Nakula also once did the same ...
Tripour/ Tripura, Tripurāsura name of the Asura Bāṇa, because he received as a gift three cities (Tripura) from Shiva, Brahma & Vishnu. He was slain by Shiva.
Trishanku/ Trishuncou, (1) a Rishi in the Taittiriya Upanishad (2) Satyavrata, a Sūrya-vamshi king, for being guilty of three great sins. Rishi Vishwāmitra (q. ...
Trishira, a three-headed demon.
Trita Aptya, a god or Rishi of the third plane, full of luminous mental kingdoms unknown to the physical mind; Aptya from his origin in Āpah (water).
Triton(s), Triton, son of Poseidon, was a sea creature with a body whose upper half was like a human’s & the lower fishlike. Later Greek literature ...
Tritsuraj, epithet of Sudas (q.v.), king of Tritsus (q.v.)
Tritsus, “Those who seek to pass beyond” mentioned in the Veda. In Sayāna they are “priests who were Vasishtha’s disciples”. Vasishtha is said to ...
Triumph of Life, poem by P. B. Shelley on which he was working at the time of his accidental death.
Triveṇi, the confluence at Prayāga of Ganga, Saraswati & Yamuna.
Troas/ Troad, the confederacy of several allied independent cities of which Troy was the chief. They were harried by the Greeks for the first nine yea ...
Troezen, town in Argolis (q.v.), near the eastern tip of the Peloponnesus.
Troilus, son of Hecuba & Priam.
Tros, early Trojan prince, son of Erichthanius, grandson of Dardanus after whom were name the region of the Troad & the Trojans.
Troy, situated a few miles south of the entrance to the Hellespont (Dardanelles) on a mound commanding the triangular plateau between the rive ...
Tudors, Welsh dynasty that ruled England from 1485 to 1603, represented by Henry VII, Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary I, & Elizabeth I.
Tughlak, Mahomad, In 1320, Tughluq, founded the Tughluq dynasty by murdering the Sultan of Delhi; Timur-i-lang ended that dynasty in 1398. 1325, Ghiyas-ud ...
Tugra, a king, a protégé of the Ashwins. He sent his son Bhujyu with a large army to conquer his enemies in Dvīpāntara. Their boats which could ...
Tukaram, (1607-49), poet-saint of Mahārāshṭra. His devotional songs, addressed to Viṭhala (Lord Vishnu), greatly influenced Shivaji.
Tulsidas, (1532/43-1623) wrote his Rāmacharita-mānasa in Awadhi the popular language of his time. It is his version of Vālmiki’s Rāmāyana.
Tunstall, historical character in Scott’s poem Marmion.
Turner,, Joseph Mallord William (1775-1851), English landscapist, who left over 19,000 water colours, drawings, & oils to posterity.
Tuxuc, Takshaka, son of Kadru, chief of snakes [s/a Parikshit].
Twashtri, among Rig-Vedic gods, he is “the Fashioner of things” [SABCL 10:438]; among Puranic gods he is Viśvakarmā.
Tydeus, father of Diomedes & son of Oeneus, king of Calydon in Aetolia. He was one of the leaders in the Greek invasion of Thebes.
Tydides, Diomedes, being a son of Tydeus.
Tyndarid/ Tyndaris, Helen as foster-daughter of Tyndareus king of Lacedaemon.
Tyrrhenian, Greek for the Latin “Etruscan”, meaning (native) of Etruria. Tyrrhenoi masters of iron-working raised Etruria’s art of bronze-working to ...

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U Thant
Ubhayabhārati, a Kashmiri Shaivite Panditā was wife of Maṇḍana Miśra. In the Shankara-Vijaya she is chosen to adjudicate a śāstrārtha between her husba ...
Ucchaishravas/ Ucchaisravus, archetypal horse; it arose from the churning of the Kshirasāgara by the Sūras & Asūras or Devas & Dānavas. The Supreme Trinity gave it t ...
Udaipur, was founded in 1560 by Rāṇā Udai Singh (1529-72) of Mewād. It became his capital after a vindictive Akbar reduced Chittodgadh to rubble ...
Udayana/Vatsa Udayana, king of Kauśāmbi on the river Jumnā (in the Vatsa region) in the time of Buddha. A scion of the Chandravanshi Bharata race, his supremac ...
Udbodhan, Bengali monthly of Ramakrishna Mission.
Uddhava, the scholarly disciple of Sri Krishna.
Ugrashravas, the Rishi who enlarged the original Mahābhārata.
Ujjayini(e)/ Ujjayin, capital of the kingdom of Avanti (later known as Mālwā); it is one of the seven holy cities of India, being the site of periodical Kumbh ...
Ullas(kar), Ullāskar Datta (1885-I965), a member of the Yugantar group; in the Alipore Bomb Case he was sentenced to death, but on appeal the senten ...
Uloupie, daughter of Kauravya, king of the Nāgas (snakes), with whom Arjūna contracted a kind of marriage. She was nurse to her step-son, Babruvā ...
Ultima Thule, ultime (farthest) unknown region. See also Thule.
Ulysses, Latin of Odysseus.
Uma Haimavati, Pārvati as the Supreme Nature from whom the whole cosmic action takes its birth. The earliest known mention of the name is in the Kena U ...
Undhak, Andhaka, son of Yudhajit of the Yādava race, brother of Vrishni.
Upadhyay(a) Brahma(o)bāndhab, (1861-1907), Bhawani Charan Bandhopādhyāya. He was a leader of the Swadeshi movement, & started the Bengali daily Sandhyā in 1904. In 19 ...
Upendra, Upa-Indra, younger Indra, in the Vedas is actually the supreme Lord Vishnu: “He is not inferior; he only subordinates himself, pretendin ...
Uranian, Aphrodite as daughter of Uranus; Uranian alludes to Aphrodite’s aspect of the pure & heavenly love. [Cf. Pandemian]
Uranus, (1) son of Gaea, goddess of the Earth, he was the god of the Skies, the first ruler of the Universe; he was father of the Titans, the Cy ...
Urdu, Urdu, a Turkī word meaning “camp”, was originally a camp language of Mohammedan invaders who later settled in India, hence made up of wo ...
Urmila
Urvasie, the most beautiful of the celestial nymphs, born from the thigh of Nārāyaṇa; heroine of Kālidāsa’s play Vikramorvasīyam.
Usha, (1) in the Veda, the daughter of Heaven & sister of the Ādityas; the divine Dawn, the bringer of illumination; also called Ahānā & Dyōta ...
Ushana/ Ushanas (Kāvya), son of Kavi; a Vedic Rishi ‘of the heavenward desire that is born from the seer-knowledge’ [SABCL 10:232], he is associated with Kutsa & ...
Ushanas, greatest among the seer-poets of ancient India.
Ushij, in Rig-Veda, the mother of Kakshīvān (q.v.); in Puranas, the king of Kalinga asked his Queen to submit to Rishi Dīrghatamas so he could ...
Ushinars, people dwelling in Kashi (a kingdom in the Madhya Desha – see India), their king’s name was Ushinara.
Ustie, Asti was daughter of Jarāsaṇdha & wife of Kansa; (see Prāpthie).
Uttara Mīmāṁsā, one of the six Darshanas, or systems of orthodox Hindu philosophy, it is attributed to Badarāyanācharya (Veda Vyāsa), & is more commonly ...
Uttarpāra, a suburban town near Calcutta, where Sri Aurobindo delivered his famous speech on 30 May 1909, three & a half weeks after his acquittal ...

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Dr. Venkatraman
Dr. Vyas
Swami Vivekananda, (1863-1902) born Narendra Nath Dutta
V Krishna Menon
Vach, in Rig-Veda; in Sri Aurobindo’s words: “the Goddess Speech eldest born of the world”; “the mother of the Vedas”; Vach is the expressive ...
Vaidehie, Sītā daughter of Videha (q.v.)
Vaidyuta Agni, Agni as Vidyuta (electricity).
Vaishampaian(a), teacher of the Krishna Yajur-Veda, disciple Veda Vyāsa; afterwards recited to the Mahabharata to Janamejaya.
Vaisheshikā, one of the six Darshanas, written by the sage Kanada
Vaja(s), ‘Plenitude’, youngest of the three Ribhūs.
Vajasaneyi, Isha Upanishad, being part of Vājasaneyi Samhita of Shukla Yajur-Veda.
Vājashravasa, descendant of Vajashravas; patronymic of Nachiketas.
Vala, in Veda, the chief of the Pānis.
Valahan, epithet of Indra as slayer of Vala.
Valarus, sent by Penthesilea to slay Achilles & his men who were coming to the rescue of the Hellenes. He was killed by Echemus & Ascanius.
Valéry, Paul Ambrose (1871-1945), French poet, essayist & critic, whose work is notable for the range & subtlety of its views & sensibility of i ...
Vāli/Bali, king of the Vānaras of Kishkīndā; in the second duel with his younger brother Sūgriva, he was killed by Lord Rama.
Valkyries, maidens who served the god Odin & were sent by him to the battlefields to choose the slain who were worthy of a place in Valhalla, the S ...
Vallabha Swami, probably Swami Vallabhācharya. His followers in Bombay & Gujarat & their leaders are called the Epicureans of India.
Vallabhācharya, (1479-1531) founded the Vaishnava sect known as the Pushṭi-Mārga (Way of Divine Grace).
Valmiki
Valois, from 1328 to 1589, the Valois kings continued the work of unifying France & centralizing royal power begun under their predecessors, the ...
Vāma Mārga, left-hand path of the Tantra; the worship of Shakti, esp. as Kāli.
Vamana, son of Kashyapa & Adīti, he was the Dwarf-Incarnation of Vishnu. Bali, the most outstanding king of Asūras, had by his Tapasyā acquired ...
Vānara, the second type from below of the ten forms of consciousness in the evolutionary scale. The Vānara is not the animal Ape, but man with t ...
Vandal, singular of Vandalii, the Germanic race from South Baltic between the rivers Vistula & Oder that, in 4th-5th centuries, ravaged Gaul, Sp ...
Vanga (Vāngah), Vānga, one of the five divisions of Gauḍa made by Vallalasena, who ruled from 1159 to 1179 (see Bengal).
Varāha, third of the ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu. To recover the earth which had been dragged down to the bottom of the ocean by a demon nam ...
Varāhmihira, (505-87), one of the Nava-Ratnas Vikramāditya of Ujjain, he was astrologer, astronomer, & mathematician. His Virāṭa Samhita covers all a ...
Vārshneya, epithet of Sri Krishna, as a descendant of Vrishny.
Vartabaha, a nationalist journal published from Rangpur (q.v.).
Varūṇa/ Varouṇa, (1) In Vedas, he represents the Ethereal Purity & Oceanic Wideness of the Infinite Truth; later he is one of the Ᾱdityas; in Puranas he ...
Vasantasenā/ Vasuntsenā, heroine of Mricchakaṭika (Toy Cart q.v.) by King Shudraka (see Mālavas).
Vāsavaduttā, heroine of Bhāśa’s play Swapna-Vāsavadutta, in which Darśaka, son & successor of Ajātaśatru (king of Magadha) is a brother-in-law of Uda ...
Vaschid, Dr.
Vasishtha
Vasis(h)tha (Maitravāruni), Vasishtha is one of the Prajāpatis. A hymn of Rig-Veda represents him to have sprung from Mitra & Varuna, hence his patronymic Maitra Vā ...
Vasudeva, son of Surasena of the chandravamshi Yādava kūla; brother of Kūnti the mother of the Pandavas & father of Krishna.
Vāsuki(e)/ Vāsuquie, king of the Nāgas. He was used by the gods & Asūras as a rope wound round the mountain Mandāra at the churning of the Ocean.
Vāsuluxmie, sister of Queen Dhārinie in Kālidāsa’s Mālavikāgnimitram.
Vāsu(s), eight godheads named thus in Vishnu Purana: Āpah (water), Dhrūva (pole-star), Sōma (moon), Dhava or Dharā (earth), Anīla (wind), Anala ( ...
Vatel, a French cook, famous in the time of Louis XIV.
Vauban, Sébastien le Prêtre de Vauban (1633-1707), French military engineer who revolutionized siege-craft & defensive fortification in the cont ...
Vāyu / Vaiou, the God of Wind; the master of Life; inspirer of that Breath or Dynamic energy called Prāṇa, which is represented in man by the vital & ...
Vega, Lope Felix de Vega Carpio (1562-1635), an outstanding dramatist of the Spanish Golden Age.
Velasquez, Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velazquez (1599-1660), painter of the Spanish school.
Vena, in Vedas, Vena is mental delight of existence, creator of the sense-mind (s/a Sōma).
Venus, Roman goddess of vegetation later identified with Aphrodite, the goddess of love, beauty & fertility.
Venus & Adonis, one of the two narrative poems ascribed to Shakespeare
Venus Anadyomene, Sri Aurobindo’s term for Goddess Vārunie who sprang up from the Milky Ocean somewhat like Aphrodite also known as Anadyomene.
Venus Ourania, Ourania is the Greek form of Uranian which Uranian was a title of Aphrodite who, according to Hesiod; sprang from the seed of Uranus, th ...
Verlaine, Paul (1844-96), French lyric poet of later 19th cent., who gained notice with his Parnassian poetry, & became a well-known in Bohemian l ...
Vibhishan(a), second brother of Rāvaṇa. When Rāvaṇa threw him out of Lanka for requesting him to return Sītā to Rāma who was an Avatāra, he surrendere ...
Vibhū or Vibhwa, the Pervading/ the Self-diffusing; in the Veda, one of the three Ribhūs, the second in the order of their birth.
Vichitravīrya, the second son of Shāntanu, the king of Hastināpūra & father of Bhīṣma) by Satyavati. He succeeded to the throne when his elder brother ...
Victor Amadeus, Victor Amadeus II (1666-1732), Duke of Savoy, the first king of Sardinia-Piedmont who established the foundation for the future Italian ...
Victor Emmanuel, probably Victor Emmanuel II (1820-78), Italian king of Sardinia-Piedmont & first king of united Italy (1861-78).
Victoria, (1819-1901), Queen of England from 1837 & Empress of India from 1876.
Vicurna/ Vikarṇa, youngest of Dhṛitarāṣṭra’s 100 sons. In the War, he joined the Pāndavas in protest against the insults & injustice meted out by his fath ...
Vidarbha, kingdom in Mahārāshṭra later renamed Berar.
Videha, ‘bodiless’, epithet of King Nimi, who had shed the body-ego. His successors also carried the same epithet – thus king Janaka was Videhi ...
Vidisha, mentioned in Mahabharata & Ramayana, lay north-east of the Mālwā plateau. 1500 years of foreign domination corrupted Vidisha to Bhīlshā ...
Vidula, the historical queen of Sauvira described in the Udyoga-parva of the Mahābhārata. She reproached her son Sanjaya for deserting the battl ...
Vidura, son of Veda Vyāsa by a maid-servant of king Shāntanu’s queen Satyavatie (see Vichitravīrya). She, unlike Ambikā & Ambālikā, had not only ...
Vidyādhar(a), is used for Gāndharvas, Kinnaras, Yakshas, etc., inhabiting the regions between the earth & the sky & generally of benevolent dispositio ...
Vidyāpati/ Bidyapati, (1360-1475?) of Mithila: Padāvali the collection of his poems written in Maithili bears affinities to Hindi & Bengali.
Vidyāranya, (14th century) the name by which Mādhavāchārya (q.v.) was known after he became a Shankarite sannyasi. As chief counsellor to the kings ...
Vidyāsāgara,, Īśvara Chandra (1820-91) laboured like a Titan to create a new Bengali language & a new Bengali society. He is considered the father of ...
Vijāpur, was one of the eight tālukās of Kadi covering an area of 346 square miles of an exceedingly well-wooded plain with a light & sandy soil, ...
Vijaya, (1) in Kālidāsa’s Kumarasambhavam, a friend of Goddess Pārvati. (2) Some scholar(s) believe that the 6th century fresco in Ajanta caves ...
Vijayanagar(a), “When the country falling from its old pure moral ideality & heroic intellectualism, weakened in fibre & sank towards hedonism & materia ...
Vijnanabhikshu, a siddha of Sāṅkhya Yoga school of Kashi, perhaps its last Āchārya. He wrote commentaries on Sāṅkhya, Yoga & Vedanta.
Vijńāna(loka)/ Vijńānam, the Truth-plane, the supramental world; the Mahar(loka).
Viking(s), 9th-11th century Scandinavian warriors or Norsemen (q.v.) on the coasts of Europe & the British Isles gave to that period the name ‘the ...
Vikramaditya, Prof. S. Bhattacharya: Sun of Prowess is a title assumed by various ancient Indian kings. Tradition associates the title with a king of ...
Vikramorvasie, Kālidāsa’s play Vikramorvasīyam; second of his three extant dramas.
Villa, Francisco (‘Poncho’) (1878-1923), guerrilla leader of Mexico. In 1909 he joined Francisco Madero’s uprising against dictator Porfirio Di ...
Villars, Claude-Louis-Hector, duc de Villars (1653-1734), marshal of France, the last great general of Louis XIV, his most successful commander i ...
Vincent de Paul
Vincent, Sir Howard, Charles Edward (1849-1908); he was elected to Parliament as a Conservative in 1885 & retained the seat until his death.
Vinobha Bhave
Viola, character in Shakespeare’s romantic comedy Twelfth Night.
Virādha, in Ramayana, a Rākshasa who attacked Rama in the Dandaka forest.
Virāngana Kāvya, twenty-one Bengali epistolary poems by M. Madhusudan Dutt.
Virasena/ Verosegn, in Kālidāsa’s Mālavikāgnimitram, brother of Queen Dhārinie.
Virāt / Virât/ Virat (Purusha) / Virat Vaisvanara, the Universal or Cosmic Soul; “God practical”; Lord of Waking-Life, who governs, preserves & maintains the sensible creation which Hiraṇ ...
Virāt(a), king of Matsya, where the Pandavas took refuge in their year of Ajñāta-vāsa. Virāṭa fought on their side in the war & was killed by Droṇ ...
Virgil, Publius Vergilius Maro (70-19 BC) Roman poet, author of Aeneid.
Viriathus, (d.139 BC), leader of a Lusitanian rebel movement around 130 BC, in the Roman province of Farther Spain; he inflicted a series of severe ...
Vishn(o)u, “Brahma, Vishnu, & Shiva, are only three Powers & Personalities of the One Cosmic Godhead…. All three are often spoken of as creating th ...
Vishnu Purana, is one of the eighteen Mahā Purāṇas. It was the one he went through carefully, Sri Aurobindo said in an evening talk with disciples, for ...
Vishnuchitta, Vaishnava saint-poet of South India. The foremost among the Alwārs, he is generally known as Périyalwār (“Great Alwār”).
Vishvakarman, “doing or wroughting all”. A personification of the creative power of Twashtri (q.v.), in Rāmāyana, he builds the city of Lanka. He reve ...
Vishwadevas/ Viswadevas/ Visve Devah/ Visvadevas, the All-gods or all the gods; the universal collectivity of the divine powers.
Vis(h)wamitra, born a Kshatriya, son of King Kushika or Kusinabha; by intense tapasyā he realised the Brahman & became one of the seven great Brahma-Ri ...
Visnagar, a town in Baroda State, c.20 km NE of Mehsāna, c.20km NW of Vijāpur (q.v.), & c.20km north of Gojāria. All three are now part of the Meh ...
Viṭhobā, an incarnation of Vishnu who is the Ishta-Devatā of the Varkari sect of Mahārāshṭra & Karṇātaka. Tukārām the most famous poet-saint of t ...
Vittoria Corombona, The White Devil of Vittoria Corombona a tragedy by J. Webster based on some events in Italy in 1581-85. Vittoria, tried for adultery & m ...
Vivas(w)vān, “the bright one”, epithet of the Sūrya Deva.
Vivekacudāmaṇi, spiritually & ethically inspiring verses by Ādi Shankarāchārya.
Volapuk, a language invented in 1880 by Johann Martin Schleyer, a German cleric. Its grammar made it difficult to learn & it lost out to its more ...
Volsungsaga, heroic saga of the Volsungs, descendants of Volsi, a legendary Icelandic king, based on earlier poetic data & probably compiled in 12th ...
Voltaire, Francois-Marie-Arouet de Voltaire (1694-1778), French philosopher known for his crusade against tyranny, bigotry, & cruelty, & his wit, ...
Voronoff, Serge (1866-1951), French surgeon & pathologist, specialist in transplantation of animal glands for thyroid deficiency & rejuvenation.
Vredenburg, E., wrote an article to Rupam (q.v.) on pictorial tradition in Indian art.
Vricōdar, ‘Wolf-belly’, epithet of Bhīma, referring to his capacity to eat.
Vriddha Kshātra, king of Sindhu & the father of Jayadratha.
Vrikas, ‘the tearers’/ ‘wolves’ in Veda; occult enemies of human progress.
Vrindāvana/ Brindaban/ Brindabon/ Brindavan(a), The name Vrindāvana is derived from Vrinda, another name for the sacred Tulsi (basil) plant. It was named after Vrinda Devi, one of Kris ...
Vrishny, descendant of Yadu & ancestor of the Vrishnis or Vārshneyas.
Vrishoparvan/ Vrishopurvan, son of Rishi Kashyapa & Danu. He had a daughter named Surmishthā
Vrishtahavya, a Vedic Rishi whose sons were the Upastutas.
Vritra/ Ahi Vritra/ Vritras, in Veda, the Coverer who holds back the Light & the Waters, it hides from us our full powers & activities. Vritra, the Serpent (Ahi), is ...
Vulcan, Roman God of fire, particularly in its destructive aspects as volcanoes or conflagrations. Poetically he is given all the attributes of ...
Vuthsa/ Udaian/ Udayan, Udayan (6th cent. BC) was king of Vatsa & was commonly called Vatsa rāja. He was a direct descendant of the Pandavas, & his capital was ...
V. V. Giri
Vyārā, now a small tribal town c.20 km east of Baroda at the foot of the hill on which was built the strategically located fort of Songadh (q.v.).
Vyasa / Veda Vyasa / Krishna Dvypaiana Vyāsa, The term Vyāsa means “an arranger”; Veda Vyāsa is the sage who compiled the Vedas. A son of Rishi Parāsara & Satyavati, he was known Kri ...

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Wagner, Wilhelm Richard (1813-83), German dramatist whose operatic creations represented a new art form on dramatic, musical, & verbal levels. H ...
Wallace, Sir William (c.1270-1305), one of Scotland’s greatest national heroes, leader of the Scottish resistance forces during the first years o ...
Waller, Edmund (1606-87), English poet whose adoption of smooth, regular versification in place of argumentative structure & dramatic immediacy ...
Walpole, Horace, (1717-97), 4th Earl of Oxford; writer, connoisseur, & collector, perhaps the most assiduous letter-writer in the English language.
Warton, Thomas (1728-90), poet laureate (1785), wrote History of English Poetry.
Wa(t)cha, D.E., Dinshaw Edulji (1844-1936): educated at Elphinstone College, Bombay: a close associate of Sir Pherozshah Mehta: made joint Hony General ...
watson, Sir John William (1858-1935), English writer of lyrical & political verse.
Wavell, Archibald Percival Wavell (1883-1950), 1st Earl Wavell, British field marshal, was Viceroy of India from 1943 to 1947. On October 1943, ...
Weber, Albrecht Friedrich (1825-1901) born at Breslau: studied at Bonn & Berlin 1848: member of Berlin Academy of Sciences 1857: edited the Whi ...
Webster, (1) John (c.1580-1625), English playwright whose The White Devil & The Duchess of Malfi, are said to be the greatest English tragedies o ...
Wedderburn, Sir William, (1838-1918): educated at Hofwyl, Worksop, Loretto, & Edinburg Univ.: entered the Bombay Civil Service 1860 & retired 1887: served as Dis ...
Wellesley, Marquess Richard Colley, (1760-1842), eldest son of 1st Earl of Mornington: educated (sic) at Trim, Harrow, Eton & Christ Church (Oxford ...
Wells, H. G.
Westminster, officially City of Westminster; one of the 32 boroughs of Greater London, in the heart of London’s West End. The term is also used for W ...
White Lodge(s), In Theosophy, the Brotherhood of the White Lodge is the hierarchy of adepts who watch over & guide the evolution of humanity, & who have ...
Whitman, Walter (1819-92), American journalist, essayist, & poet; his Leaves of Grass made him a revolutionary figure in American literature.
Why I am not a Christian, by Bertrand Russell, published in 1927.
Wilberforce, William (1759-1833), English politician & philanthropist prominent from 1787 in the struggle to abolish slave trade & slavery itself in ...
Wilde, Oscar Fingal O’Flaherty Wills (1854-1900), Irish-born British wit, poet, & dramatist, best known for his The Importance of Being Earnest ...
Wildlife & forests, Forests must be protected & the state treasury used to feed animals such as horses & elephants that are too old for work, sick or injure ...
Wilhelm II, Kaiser, Friedrich Wilhelm Victor Albert (1859-1941), last German emperor & King of Prussia (1888-1918), regarded as prime instigator of World War I.
Wilkes, John, (1727-97), popular London journalist & M.P., regarded as champion of liberty & victim of persecution having been repeatedly expelled fro ...
Wilson, President, Thomas Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924), President of the USA (1913-21), noted for his high-minded & sometimes inflexible idealism.
Wilson, Prof., Horace Hayman (1786-1860): arrived in Calcutta 1808 in the medical service of the E.I. Co.: at once attached to the Mint at Calcutta for ...
Windsor Forest, pastoral poem by Alexander Pope, combining descriptions of English countryside & field sports with historical, literary, & political pas ...
Wizard of Oz, The
Wolf, Leonard, Leonard Sidney Woolf (1880-1969), English writer, publisher, political worker, journalist, & internationalist; best known for his autobi ...
Wolfe,, James (1727-59), British soldier who was given the command of an expedition against Quebec which he himself had urged. He took 5,000 men ...
Woodburn, Sir John, (1843-1902): born at Bārrāckpore, joined ICS came to India Dec.1863: served in N.W. Province & Oudh in minor appointments until he becam ...
Woodroffe, Sir John, British judge in India, a scholar of Tantric philosophy, is best known under his pen-name Arthur Avalon. He translated a number of Tantr ...
Woolf, Virginia, Adeline Virginia (1882-1941), English novelist & a most distinguished critic of her time. She was the wife of Leonard Woolf.
Worcester, Battle of Worcester (1651), between Oliver Cromwell & King Charles II of England, which ended in the complete rout of the king.
Wordsworth, William, (1770-1850), leader English Romantic movement, described himself as a “worshipper of Nature”, is often referred to as “Nature’s priest”. ...
Wotan, or Odin (q.v.), a principal war-god of Scandinavian religion.
Wrecker, The Wrecker, novel jointly written by R.L. Stevenson & Lloyd Osbourne.
Wriothesley, Henry, (1573-1624), 3rd Earl of Southampton, a patron of Shakespeare, who dedicated to him his principal poems Venus & Adonis & The Rape of Luc ...

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Xanthippe, Socrates’ pugnacious nagging wife [as were Tukārām’s & Narasimha Mehta’s].
Xanthus, the river Scamander (q.v.), in Homer, the god of that river.

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Y. Subbārao, wrote on the originality of Shankara’s philosophy in the October 1915 number of Sanskrit Research.
Yādavas, descendants of Yadu. Yādava is used as an epithet of Krishna, who was born in the Yadu line. Under him the Yādavas established a kingdom ...
Yadu, (1) in Veda, adorer of Indra & enemy of Sudāsa; (2) first son of Yayāti of the Chandra-Vamshi race & founder the Yādava dynasty.
Yajñavalkya, Vedic Rishi author of Shukla (White) Yajur-Veda, Shatapatha Brāhmaṇa, the Brihad Aranyaka (with its Upanishad) & the Yajñavalkya-Smṛti.
Yajur (Veda), has two Saṁhitās commonly known as the Krishna & the Shukla; each of their mantras is called a Yajus.
Yaksha(s)/ Yuksha, attendant(s) of Kuvera, god of Wealth.
Yalentina V. Tereshkova
Yama / Dharma / Critanta / Kṛtanta, an aspect of Surya & the Lord of Truth.
Yami, daughter of Surya, & twin-sister of Yama.
Yam(o)una/ Jamouna/ Jamuna/ Jumna/ Kālindi/ Calindie, Yamunā rises in Himalayas near Jamnotri & joins the Ganga near Allahabad, she is personifies Yami.
Yanaon, Yanam, since 1954 one of the four constituents of Union Territory of Pondicherry. It is situated on the principal mouth of river Godāvari.
Yaska, author of the Nirukta, the oldest known but not the first commentator on Vedic hymns, for he refers to earlier commentators.
Yātudhāna, sons of Kashyapa & Sūras. His descendants are called Yātudhānas.
Yavan(a), In the Puranas Yavanas are descendants of Turvāśa, son of King Yayāti by Devayāni, daughter of Shukrāchārya, the high priest of the Asūr ...
Yayāti, son of Nahūsha, 5th king of the Chandravamsha. He had two wives, Devayāni & Sharmishthā (q.v.). The former gave birth to Yadu & the latt ...
Yeats, William Butler (1865-1939), Irish poet, playwright, & nationalist politician
Yildiz Palace, Yildiz Kiosk (Pavilion) palace of Ottoman Sultans of Turkey. It is located north of Pera on the Bosporus. The sultans shifted their resi ...
Yoga-Sutras, popular name of Yoga Darśnam by Patanjali
Yoga-Vasishtha, or Vasishtha Ramayana, a dialogue between Brahmarshi Vasishtha & his pupil Lord Rama on the way to obtain happiness & liberation.
Young Edward, (1683-1765), English poet & dramatist, author of Night Thoughts.
Young Italy, Italian journal Glovine Italia, published by Mazzini in 1832-34, it was also the name of the movement he founded.
Young Turks, the Young Turk movement brought together various intellectuals & dissidents, many living in exile & officers in the army, especially tho ...
Younghusband, Sir Francis, Francis Edward (1863-1942), joined 1st Dragoon Guards 1882, Indian Staff Corps 1889: travelled through Manchuria via Long White Mountain ...
Yudhāmanyu, prince of Pāñchāla (q.v.), Draupadi’s, he fought for the Pandavas..
Yudhishthīra/ Yudhishthere/ Yudhisthere/ Yudhisthir(a), eldest of the five Pāndavas, also called Dharmarāj as he was conceived by Kūnti because she invoked Lord of Dharma (by the mantra grante ...
Yugantar, the name Sri Aurobindo gave to the Bengali weekly started under his inspiration in March 1906 by Barindra, Abinash Bhattacharya & others ...
Yuvanas(h)wa, king of the Suryavamsha (q.v.), father of Māndhātā (q.v.).
Yvonne

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Zarathustra, (c.628-c.551 BC), Persian religious teacher & reformer; he received a vision from Ahura Mazda, the Wise Lord, who appointed him to preac ...
Zephyr, Greek god of the westerly winds. He is a gentle bringer of peace.
Zeus, son of Cronos, whom he overthrew. He decrees all that shall be, subject only to the mysterious power of Ananke. Lord of the heavens, he ...
Zobeidah, or Zubaidah (d.831), wife of Harun-al-Rashid.
Zola, Emile, Zola-Edouard-Charles-Antoine (1840-1902), French novelist & critic.
Zollverein, German customs union, founded in 1834; it created a free-trade area throughout much of Germany & was a key step towards German reunifica ...
Zones, Joe, probably, Joe Gans (1874-1910), a Negro boxer known as “Old Master”.
Zoroastrian, adherent of the religion founded by Zarathustra, followers of Avesta or Zend-Avesta. Practically wiped out by Mohammedanism in Persia, i ...
Zuleikha, Potiphar’s wife who tempted Joseph. Some call her Rail, but the name by which she is best known is Zoleikha.