Word origins

• makaraAn aquatic monster in Hindu mythology.
• MaheshwariA female given name from Sanskrit commonly used in India.
• nibbanaSynonym of nirvana.
• PiyushA male given name.
• ArnabA male given name from Sanskrit or Bengali, meaning “sea”.
• AtriA legendary bard and scholar, one of nine Prajapatis, a son of Brahma, said to be ancestor of some Brahmins. Atri is one of the Saptarishi (Seven Great Sages) in the seventh, i.e. the present Manvantara.
• VrindavanA city in Uttar Pradesh, India.
• SarasvatiThe Hindu goddess of eloquence, learning of knowledge and the arts.
• MauryaA surname from Sanskrit.
• Kishanan epithet of Krishna, eighth avatar of Vishnu.
• murtiA sacred image of a deity.
• AnantapurA city and district of Andhra Pradesh, India.
• jagatThe material or physical world as subjectively experienced.
• shungaA style of Japanese erotic art
• konkanA rugged section of the western coastline of India, including the districts of Maharashtra and Goa.
• AmravatiA city in Maharashtra, India.
• SomnathName of a Hindu temple in Gujarat, India. It is the first among the twelve jyotirlinga shrines of Lord Shiva.
• tattvaAn element or aspect of reality conceived as an aspect of deity, forming the basis of human experience.
• SamathaA female given name from Sanskrit.
• mathaA monastic or similar religious establishment in Hinduism and Jainism, usually more formal and hierarchical than an ashram.
• pretaA hungry ghost (a supernatural being in Buddhist folklore, the spirit of a greedy person whose divine retribution is never to be sated)
• AnusaraA modern form of Hatha yoga that emphasizes a set of universal principles of alignment.
• DamodarAn epithet of Shri Krishna.
• KushanA member of an ancient Central Asian tribe; later, a member of the ruling dynasty and people of the Kushan Empire.
• SrihariName of Hindu god Vishnu.
• SarayuName of a river in North India that flows through Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.
• jatakaAny of a large number of Indian tales concerning the previous lives of Gautama Buddha.
• PanchalA kingdom in northwestern part of ancient India during the Mahajanapadas era.
• Satyanarayanaepithet of Narayana.
• ShrimatiA title of respect used before female names, Mrs.
• NiyogiA surname.
• tirthaA site of pilgrimage.
• satguruIn Hinduism and Buddhism, a great teacher; a supremely wise guide.
• NyayaOne of the six orthodox or astika schools of Hindu philosophy — specifically the school of logic.
• KawiA literary and prose language based on Old Javanese with a large number of Sanskrit loanwords, and used on the islands of Java, Bali, and Lombok.
• padparadschaA rare pinkish-orange variety of corundum.
• pramanameans of knowledge
• shikhaThe long lock of hair left on the shaved head of an orthodox Hindu, especially a Brahmin or temple priest.
• PingaliA surname.
• RigvedaAn ancient Indian Veda and sacred collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns dedicated to the gods (devas), composed between 1700–1100 B.C.E.
• NatarajaThe dancing posture of the Hindu god Shiva, who performs his divine dance as a part of his activities of creation and destruction.
• SaikatA male given name from Bengali used in India.
• SuryanarayanaEpithet of Narayana.
• haorA marshy wetland ecosystem in the northeastern part of Bangladesh, mainly in the Sylhet Division, physically a bowl- or saucer-shaped depression that forms large water bodies during the monsoon floods.
• RadhakrishnaA male given name from Sanskrit.
• sunyataEmptiness, the absence of an intrinsic essence or nature which is stable and separable from other things.
• PanchamiThe fifth day (tithi) of the lunar fortnight (paksha) in the Hindu calendar.
• SrimatiA Gandharva maid in Ramayana.
• SamkhyaOne of the six schools of classical Indian philosophy.
• ShaivismA sect comprising the worshippers of the god Shiva.
• RanganathA male given name from Sanskrit commonly used in India.
• bumiputraa citizen of Malaysia having indigenous Malayan or Borneo ancestry.
• AnimeshA male given name from Sanskrit, used by Hindus.
• SrikakulamA district and town in Andhra Pradesh, India.
• TungaName of a river in South India, joins with Bhadra forming Tungabhadra.
• paramahamsaA Hindu spiritual teacher who has become enlightened.
• LavanyaA female given name from Sanskrit commonly used in India.
• amalaA thick paste made from yam or cassava flour, eaten chiefly in Yoruba cuisine.
• paramitaperfection or culmination of certain virtues
• MaghaA month of the Hindu calendar, corresponding with the Gregorian January/February.
• vanaspatiAny plant that bears fruits but no evident flowers.
• KassapaThe name of the 27th of 27 named Buddhas immediately preceding Gautama.
• omkarThe symbol ॐ that represents the syllable “om” or “aum”.
• AgastyaOne of the Saptarishis (seven sages), a revered Vedic sage and the author of Agastya Samhita.
• abhayamudraA Buddhist gesture of reassurance and safety, in which the right hand is held upright, and the palm is facing outwards.
• AbhishiktA male given name from Sanskrit, of Indian usage.
• adhisthanaAn initiation or blessing in Vajrayana schools such as Tibetan Buddhism and Shingon Buddhism.
• adigarThe head man of a rural village.
• AdvaitismThe "non-dualist" school of Vedanta founded by the 8th-century Indian philosopher Sankaracharya.
• AjishA male given name from Malayalam used in India.
• Akhand BharatUndivided India; a proposed superstate where the other countries of South Asia are joined into India.
• AlakanandaName of the river Ganges (of earth), when it flows through devaloka.
• amalakaA segmented or notched stone disk, usually with ridges on the rim, that sits on the top of a Hindu temple's shikhara or main tower.
• AmavasyaA new moon in the Hindu calendar.
• AnantagiriA hill range in the Eastern ghats.
• AngadaSon of Vali, King of Kishkindha in Ramayana.
• AnirvanA male given name from Sanskrit. One of the common Hindu names for boys.
• AnjaneyuluA male given name from Sanskrit, used commonly in India.
• AnshA male given name from Sanskrit used in India.
• antevasinA disciple dwelling in or near the house of the teacher.
• ardhamandapaA half-open entrance porch on a Hindu temple.
• AstadiggajaA term applied to the eight male elephants standing guard over the eight zones.
• ayanamsaThe amount of precession.
• BadhwarA Kshatriya Haryana Jat surname
• BhadrapadaThe sixth month in the lunar calendar.
• BhaiksukiAn ancient writing system used to write Buddhist texts in Sanskrit.
• bhoosaThe husks and straw of various kinds of corn, recovered from threshing and used to feed cattle.
• bhumiOne of the ten hierarchically arranged stages through which bodhisattva passes to the path to awakening in the Mahayana tradition.
• BidpaiA wise philosopher in traditional fables.
• BodhipathapradīpaAn 11th-century Buddhist text, A Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment, written by Atiśa.
• chaityaA Buddhist or Jain shrine including a stupa.
• champacA type of Asian tree with fragrant blossoms, Magnolia champaca
• champacachampac; Magnolia champaca; a large evergreen tree in the Magnoliaceae family.
• CharukesiThe 26th melakarta rāgam in the 72 melakarta rāgam system of Carnatic music.
• CharviA female given name from Sanskrit.
• DibyenduA male given name from Sanskrit or Bengali, meaning “divine moon”.
• DigambaraOne of the two main branches of Jainism (the other being the Svetambara), in which the ascetics wear no clothes.
• doolally tapCamp fever; by extension, madness, eccentricity.
• gilli-dandaA game played in several Asian countries, in which a large stick is used to hit a small oval-shaped piece of wood. It is played much like tipcat, baseball, and cricket.
• HamirA male given name from Sanskrit used in India.