Sanskrit Words beginning with S

Glossary of Hindu Terms with Meanings

Sadharana Dharma:

what is right in terms of the common duties and obligations to one's fellow human beings

Saguna:

manifest, referring to manifest aspects of Brahman

Saivites:

devotees of the deity Shiva

Sakara:

'with form', referring to the manifest aspects of Brahman

Sakti:

the female active energy in the universe

Samadhi:

absorption, bliss, trance

Sama Veda:

'Knowledge of Chants', one of the four Vedas

Samsara:

worldly life or reincarnation

Samskaras:

rituals and rites in one's life cycle

Sanatana Dharma:

what is right for the universe; it is also synonymous with Hinduism

Sankhya:

Vedic philosophy of cosmic principles

Sannyasin/Sannyasa:

person at the last of the four stages of life, the stage of the wandering ascetic, stage of life of renunciation and liberation

Sanskrit:

Vedic and mantric language

Santana Dharma:

the eternal teaching; traditional name for the Hindu religion

Santosi Ma:

a modern Hindu goddess of prosperity and wish-fulfilment

Saptapadi:

the seven steps taken by a couple during their marriage ceremony symbolizing seven different wishes for the future

Saraswati:

Goddess of speech, learning, knowledge and wisdom

Sari:

traditional dress for women consisting of a piece of material of five or six metres long which is draped around the body

Sat:

the Being, Truth and Reality associated with Brahman as opposed to the non-being (asat) of the phenomenal world

Sati:

voluntary burning of a widow on her husband's funeral pyre

Sati:

consort of the God Shiva, also called Uma

Sattva:

quality of truth or light; one of the three gunas  or qualities in existence, associated with the preserving God Vishnu and representing light and spiritual evolution

Sautrantika:

Buddhist philosophy of the momentariness of all things

Savitar:

Vedic Sun god as the guide of Yoga

Savitr:

Vedic solar deity

Shakti:

the power of consciousness and spiritual evolution

Shankara:

the great philsopher of non-dualistic Vedanta

Shiva:

form of the Hindu trinity governing destruction and transcendence

Shudras:

people of sensate values

Shunyavada:

Buddhist philosophy that everything is void

Sita:

the wife of Rama in the Hindu epic the Ramayana  and an avatar of the Goddess Lakshmi

Shiva:

one of the three trinities in Hinduism, the god of Destruction

Skanda:

the God of war

Smrti:

literally 'memory' or 'remembered': a category of sacred scriptures which contains much popular and devotional literature

So'ham:

natural mantric sound of the breath

Soma:

Vedic God of bliss or equated also with a potent hallucinogenic drink

Sraddha:

ceremonies for the deceased in the twelve days following cremation

Srauta:

official sacrificial ritual of the Vedic period

Sri/Shri:

the Goddess Lakshmi, consort of Lord Vishnu; also an honorific added before names as a mark of respect

Srotas:

channel systems used in Ayurvedic medicine

Sruti:

category of sacred scriptures which are 'heard' or cognized by the ancient seers

Sudra:

the fourth of the Hindu four classes, traditionally the servant class

Surya:

Vedic Sun God or god of the enlightened mind

Svadharma:

what is right for an individual

Back to Glossary Index: Alphabetic List of Terms