Glossary
GLOSSARY
A MARAVATI: The City of Immortals, and the capital of swarga, heaven.
A MRIT: The golden nectar that appeared during the Churning of the Oceans, which gives celestials their immortality.
A PSARA: A celestial dancer of Lord Indra’s court and heaven.
A SURA: A creature of the hellish realm, akin to a demon.
C HURNING OF THE O CEANS: An ancient event where the oceans were churned by creatures of both heaven and hell, in order to release amrit. Other substances emerged from this churning too.
D EVA: A male deity, though collectively this often is gender neutral.
D EVI: A female deity.
G ANDHARVA: A celestial musician.
G ODDESS VS GODDESS: Goddess (capitalized) usually refers to the one power of the feminine energy, Shakti, as she is known; goddess (lowercase) is an individual representation of that power.
H ALAHALA: The most dangerous poison that exists, which appeared during the Churning of the Oceans.
K ALPAVRIKSH: A wish-fulfilling tree that grows in Lord Indra’s garden.
L INGAM: A representation of Lord Shiva, which is similar to a cylindrical shaft sitting inside an oval-shaped basin.
M AHASABHA: A sage’s gathering, where decisions about yogis and hermitages are made.
M ANTRA: Chants of great power, consecrated through meditation.
M UDRA: A dance sigil that mimics different shapes and unleashes an apsara’s magic.
N ARAKA: The hellish realm.
P RAKRITI: Nature in its most fundamental essence.
P RANA: Magic of the universe. All magic can be traced to prana, and mortal yogis yoke this directly through a process called tapasya. Immortals only have access to it through elemental deities such as Lord Indra, who harnesses it to provide it to the rest of the population of Amaravati.
R AKSHASA: A creature of the hellish realm, akin to a monster.
R ISHI: A yogi of great power, a sage. This is a self-proclaimed title, though assessed by other sages.
S OMA: A celestial alcohol.
S WARGA: Indra’s heaven.
T APASVIN: One who does tapasya. Also refers to the kind of magic that tapasya unleashes.
T APASYA: Arduous meditation that yogis undertake, which allows them to access the power of the universal prana.
T HUMRI: A village in the mortal realm.
V AJRA: Lord Indra’s lightning bolt, a weapon of great power.
V AJRAYUDH: A cosmic event that occurs every thousand years or so, when the beings of heaven grow weaker.
V EDAS: Ancient texts that discuss rituals, philosophy, and a variety of spiritual knowledge.
Y OGI: A practitioner of yoga, one who often undertakes arduous meditation in order to gain enlightenment.