The Mahabharata is written in eighteen parvas (chapters or books) which are: Adi-parva - Introduction, birth and upbringing of the princes. (Adi = first). Sabha-parva - Life at the court, the game of dice, and the exile of the Pandavas. Maya Danava erects the palace and court (sabha), at Indraprastha. Aranyaka-parva (also Vanaparva, Aranyaparva) - The twelve years in exile in the forest (aranya). Virata-parva - The year in exile spent at the court of Virata. ...

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Mahabharata, Mahabharata - Scope, Mahabharata - Background and history, Mahabharata - The central story, Mahabharata - The books, Mahabharata - Jaimini's version, Mahabharata - In modern times, Mahabharata - Another Viewpoint

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The core story of the work is that of a dynastic struggle for the throne of Hastinapura, the kingdom ruled by the Kuru clan. The two collateral branches of the family that participate in the struggle are the Kauravas, the elder branch of the family, and the Pandavas, the younger branch. The struggle culminates leading to the Great battle of Kurukshetra, and the Pandavas are ultimately victorious. The Mahabharata itself ends with the death of Krishna, and the subsequent end of his dynasty, and ascent of the Pandava brothers to Heaven. ...

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Mahabharata, Mahabharata - Scope, Mahabharata - Background and history, Mahabharata - The central story, Mahabharata - The books, Mahabharata - Jaimini's version, Mahabharata - In modern times, Mahabharata - Another Viewpoint

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With its vast philosophical depth and sheer magnitude, a consummate embodiment of the ethos of not only grand India but of Hinduism and Vedic tradition, the Mahabharata's scope and grandeur is best summarized by one quotation from the beginning of its first parva (section): "What is found here, may be found elsewhere. What is not found here, will not be found elsewhere." In its scope, the Mahabharata is more than simply a story of kings and princes, sages and wisemen, demons and gods; its author, Vyasa, says that one of its aim ...

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Mahabharata, Mahabharata - Scope, Mahabharata - Background and history, Mahabharata - The central story, Mahabharata - The books, Mahabharata - Jaimini's version, Mahabharata - In modern times, Mahabharata - Another Viewpoint

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Between 1919 and 1966, the scholars at the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune, compared the various manuscripts of the epic from India and abroad and produced a Critical Edition of the Mahabharata. This is the text that is usually used in current Mahabharata studies for reference. In the late 1980s, the Mahabharata (IMDb entry) was televised and shown on India's national TV (Doordarshan). Directed by B. R. Chopra, it was immensely popular, so much so that streets were deserted when it was telecast and even Cabinet meetings w ...

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Mahabharata, Mahabharata - Scope, Mahabharata - Background and history, Mahabharata - The central story, Mahabharata - The books, Mahabharata - Jaimini's version, Mahabharata - In modern times, Mahabharata - Another Viewpoint

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Purva-mimamsa - the philosophy established by Maharsi Jaimini, also known as jaimini-darsana. To thoroughly examine a topic and arrive at a conclusion is known as mimamsa. Mimamsa comes from the verbal root man, to think, reflect, or consider. Because in his book, Maharsi Jaimini has established the correct interpretation of the Vedic statements and how they may be decided through logical analysis, this book is known as mimamsa-grantha. The Vedas have two divisions: purva-kansa (the first part) , dealing with Vedic karma; and uttara-kansa (the latter part) , dealing with the Upanisads or Vedanta. Since Jaimini’s book deals with an analysis of the first part of the Vedas, it is called purva-mimamsa. As Jaimini’s philosophy deals exclusively with an analysis of Vedic karma, it is also known as karma-mimamsa.

Jaimini has minutely examined how Vedic ritualistic karma is to be performed and what its results are. He has accepted the Vedas as apauruseya (not created by any man) , beginningless, and eternal. His philosophy is established on the basis of the Vedas. However, he has given prominence only to Vedic karma. He states that the jivas are meant to performVedic karma only. By proper performance of Vedic karma, one can obtain parama-purusartha, the supreme goal, which in his opinion refers to the attainment of the celestial planets.

In Jaimini’s view, the visible world is anadi, without beginning, and it does not undergo destruction. Consequently, there is no need for an omniscient and omnipotent Isvara to carry out the creation, maintenance, and destruction of the world. Jaimini accepts the existence of pious and sinful karma. According to his doctrine, karma automatically yields the results of its own actions. Therefore, there is no need for an Isvara to award the results of karma.

(See also: Purva-mimamsa, Bhakti, Bhakti Yoga, Bhakti Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

Mimamsaka - a philosopher. One who adheres to the mimamsa philosophical doctrine of which there are two divisions. This usually refers to those who follow the karma-mimamsa of Jaimini.

(See also: Mimamsaka, Bhakti, Bhakti Yoga, Bhakti Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

Purva Mimsamsa:

Purva Mimsamsa (Puurva Meemaamsa). A text by Jaimini on the early school of Mimamsa philosophy.

(See also: Purva Mimsamsa, Hinduism, Hinduism Dictionary, Sanskrit Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

Mimamsa

“Systematic study” of the meaning of the Vedas. The earlier Mimamsa (Purva-mimamsa), which explains the ritual meaning of the Vedas, was taught by Vyasadeva’s disciple Jaimini. The second Mimamsa (Uttara-mimamsa), which explains the Absolute Truth, was taught in the Vedanta-sutra by Vyasa Himself.

(See also: Mimamsa, Bhakti, Bhakti Yoga, Bhakti Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

Karma-vadins (Sanskrit) Karma-preachers; applied to the followers of the Karma-Mima-nsa-Darsana, one name of the Purva-Mima-nsa school founded by Jaimini, which taught a merely critical interpretation of the text of the Veda.

(See also: Karma-vadins, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Mimamsa - a philosophical doctrine which has two divisions:

(1) purva or karma-mimamsa founded by Jaimini, which advocates that by carrying out the ritualistic karma of the Vedas, one can attain the celestial planets, and

(2) uttara-mimamsa founded by Badarayana Vyasadeva, which deals with the nature of brahma. (See purvamimamsa and uttara-mimamsa).

(See also: Mimamsa, Bhakti, Bhakti Yoga, Bhakti Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

Hindu tradition regards the Vedas as uncreated, eternal and being revealed to sages (Rishis). The hymns of the Rig-Veda Samhita are believed to have been collected and arranged by Paila under the supervision of Vyasa. Others were chanted during religious and social ceremonies and were compiled by Vaishampayana under the title Yajus mantra Samhita (see Yajur-Veda). Jaimini is said to have collected hymns that were set to music and melody — 'Saman' (see Sama-Veda). The fourth collec ...

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Vedas, Vedas - Organization, Vedas - Position and compilation, Vedas - Study, Vedas - Religious views: Monism Monotheism Henotheism and Polytheism, Vedas - Cosmogony

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Mimansa (Sanskrit) [from the verbal root man to think]

Profound thought, profound consideration; one of the six Darsanas or Hindu schools of philosophy. There are two Mimansas, the older or Purva-mimansa, founded by Jaimini, and the younger or Uttara-mimansa founded by Vyasa. The older is commonly known as the Mimansa, and the younger as the Vedanta.

While the Uttara-mimansa is usually considered by European Orientalists to be the later in time, it contains the philosophic key to the entire system and in other senses may be called the theosophy of the Vedas. The word vedanta itself means "end of the Veda," in the sense of being its philosophical explication or completion.

(See also: Mimansa, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Purva-mimansa (Sanskrit) [from purva prior + mimansa profound or striving thought or meditation from the verbal root man to think]

Inquiry into the first portion of the Veda -- the matra portion; the fifth of the six Darsanas or schools of Hindu philosophy. The school of philosophy in our days considered to be chiefly concerned with the correct interpretation of the Vedic texts; hence sometimes called the First Vedantic School.

Jaimini is reputed to be its founder, as well as the author of the Mimansa-darsana, the sutras or aphorisms which constitute its chief doctrinal authority. This school is also sometimes termed Karma-mimansa because of the doctrine advocated that by its teaching one can be more or less freed from the making of new karma.

The more advanced portion of the Mimansa is called the Vedanta, which is the present-day theosophy of Hindustan. The Vedanta, also called the Uttara-mimansa, is attributed to Vyasa, the arranger of the Vedas, as its founder.

(See also: Purva-mimansa, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

shad darshana: (Sanskrit) "Six views or insights; six philosophies."

Among the hundreds of Hindu darshanas known through history are six classical philosophical systems: Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Sankhya, Yoga, Mimamsa and Vedanta.

Each was tersely formulated in sutra form by its "founder," and elaborated in extensive commentaries by other writers. They are understood as varied attempts at describing Truth and the path to it. Elements of each form part of the Hindu fabric today.

-       Nyaya: "System, rule; logic." A system of logical realism, founded sometime around 300 bce by Gautama, known for its systems of logic and epistemology and concerned with the means of acquiring right knowledge. Its tools of enquiry and rules for argumentation were adopted by all schools of Hinduism.

-       Vaisheshika: "Distinctionism." From "vishesha," differences. Philosophy founded by Kanada (ca 300 bce) teaching that liberation is to be attained through understanding the nature of existence, which is classified in nine basic realities (dravyas): earth, water, light, air, ether, time, space, soul and mind. Nyaya and Vaisheshika are viewed as a complementary pair, with Nyaya emphasizing logic, and Vaisheshika analyzing the nature of the world.

-       Sankhya: "Enumeration, reckoning." A philosophy founded by the sage Kapila (ca 500 bce), author of the Sankhya Sutras. Sankhya is primarily concerned with "categories of existence," tattvas, which it understands as 25 in number. The first two are the unmanifest purusha and the manifest primal nature, prakriti - the male-female polarity, viewed as the foundation of all existence. Prakriti, out of which all things evolve, is the unity of the three gunas: sattva, rajas and tamas. Sankhya and Yoga are considered an inseparable pair whose principles permeate all of Hinduism.

-       See: prakriti, purusha.

-       Yoga: "Yoking; joining." Ancient tradition of philosophy and practice codified by Patanjali (ca 200 bce) in the Yoga Sutras. It is also known as raja yoga, "king of yogas," or ashtanga yoga, "eight-limbed yoga." Its object is to achieve, at will, the cessation of all fluctuations of consciousness, and the attainment of Self Realization. Yoga is wholly dedicated to putting the high philosophy of Hinduism into practice, to achieve personal transformation through transcendental experience, samadhi.

-       See: yoga.

-       Mimamsa: "Inquiry" (or Purva, "early," Mimamsa). Founded by Jaimini (ca 200 bce), author of the Mimamsa Sutras, who taught the correct performance of Vedic rites as the means to salvation.

-       Vedanta (or Uttara "later" Mimamsa): "End (or culmination) of the Vedas." For Vedanta, the main basis is the Upanishads and Aranyakas (the "end," anta, of the Vedas), rather than the hymns and ritual portions of the Vedas. The teaching of Vedanta is that there is one Absolute Reality, Brahman. Man is one with Brahman, and the object of life is to realize that truth through right knowledge, intuition and personal experience. The Vedanta Sutras (or Brahma Sutras) were composed by Rishi Badarayana (ca 400 bce).

See: Brahma Sutra, padartha, tattva, Vedanta, yoga.

(See also: Shad darshana, Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

Even in the 19th century several theorists had criticised the use of the term "primitive [i.e. primal] Aryans" to refer to the earliest speakers of Indo-European languages, wherever they may have originated. They argued that the word should only describe the cultures in which the term "Arya" was used – those that occupied Iran and northern India. The tribal name of the earliest speakers is unknown, hence the term Proto-Indo-Europeans is now used. Such writers stated that equation of the Indo-Iranians with northern European invaders was unj ...

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Aryan invasion theory, Aryan invasion theory - Origin of the theory, Aryan invasion theory - Racial aspects of the theory, Aryan invasion theory - Role in Imperialism and Nazism, Aryan invasion theory - Later developments, Aryan invasion theory - Political and religious issues, Aryan invasion theory - Modern Theory, Aryan invasion theory - Literature

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The theory arose from the discovery by William Jones that Sanskrit was related to the classical European languages Latin and Greek, and to Avestan, the ancient language of Iran. Jones surmised that all four languages derived from a common source "which perhaps no longer exists". For Jones, writing in the 1790s, this discovery was consistent with the biblical account of the origins of the tribe of Japheth, one of the sons of Noah, who was thought to have been the ancestor of the European peoples, and to have migrated from Mount Ararat into Eu ...

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Aryan invasion theory, Aryan invasion theory - Origin of the theory, Aryan invasion theory - Racial aspects of the theory, Aryan invasion theory - Role in Imperialism and Nazism, Aryan invasion theory - Later developments, Aryan invasion theory - Political and religious issues, Aryan invasion theory - Modern Theory, Aryan invasion theory - Literature

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The theory that the original Aryans were northern Europeans who had migrated into India was used by some British imperialists as an ideological justification for British control of India, on the grounds that the founders of Indian culture were of the same race as the Anglo-Saxon invaders who established the British Raj. The theory provided an argument for an alliance between the British and the Indian ruling classes. However some Indian nationalists also took the view that the Aryans had originated outside India. In The Arctic Home in the ...

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Aryan invasion theory, Aryan invasion theory - Origin of the theory, Aryan invasion theory - Racial aspects of the theory, Aryan invasion theory - Role in Imperialism and Nazism, Aryan invasion theory - Later developments, Aryan invasion theory - Political and religious issues, Aryan invasion theory - Modern Theory, Aryan invasion theory - Literature

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While the classical "Aryan invasion" scenario – the idea that a wave of Vedic Aryan invaders were the cause of the Indus Valley Civilization's destruction – has fallen out of favor, the majority of archaeologists would not dispute that the Sanskrit language and Hindu religion have some external sources in addition to internal ones. Sanskrit and other Indic languages are clearly related to the Iranian languages which historically have occupied much of Central Asia. However, even as early as the Rig-Veda (1500-1200 BCE), Sanskrit contains ...

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Aryan invasion theory, Aryan invasion theory - Origin of the theory, Aryan invasion theory - Racial aspects of the theory, Aryan invasion theory - Role in Imperialism and Nazism, Aryan invasion theory - Later developments, Aryan invasion theory - Political and religious issues, Aryan invasion theory - Modern Theory, Aryan invasion theory - Literature

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Because of the view that the Aryans were the ancestors of Europeans it was assumed by many scholars that they must have been "white" caucasians. Interpretations were made of the Vedic scriptures to support this view. The Varna (caste) system associates the high-caste Brahmins with the colour white and the low-caste Shudras with the colour black. Hence it was argued that the higher castes were white-skinned invaders, who had subordinated dark-skinned natives. The derogatory application of the word "anasa" (noseless) to the Dasa, the enemies o ...

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Aryan invasion theory, Aryan invasion theory - Origin of the theory, Aryan invasion theory - Racial aspects of the theory, Aryan invasion theory - Role in Imperialism and Nazism, Aryan invasion theory - Later developments, Aryan invasion theory - Political and religious issues, Aryan invasion theory - Modern Theory, Aryan invasion theory - Literature

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In modern India, the discussion of Indo-Aryan migration is charged politically and religiously. Supporters of migration are faced with several accusations. The major one is that the British Raj and European Indologists from the 19th century to the present day promoted the Aryan Invasion hypothesis in support of Eurocentric notions of white supremacy. Assertions that the highly advanced proto-Hindu Vedic culture could not have had its roo ...

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Aryan invasion theory, Aryan invasion theory - Origin of the theory, Aryan invasion theory - Racial aspects of the theory, Aryan invasion theory - Role in Imperialism and Nazism, Aryan invasion theory - Later developments, Aryan invasion theory - Political and religious issues, Aryan invasion theory - Modern Theory, Aryan invasion theory - Literature

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This is a sitemap for Theosophy - J . Click on a link and you will find multiple definitions and articles related to the word.

J - Letter J, Jabal, Jabalas, Jachin, Jacob, Jacob Boehme, Jacobites, Jacques Aymar, Jacques Cazotte, Jacques Coeur, Jadar-Christna, Jadoo, Jadoogar, Jadookhana, Jadoowalla, jadu, Jadu, jadugar, jadukhana, Jadupati, jaduwala, Jaduwala, Jagaddhatr, Jagaddhatri, Jagad-Yoni, Jagad-yoni, Jagannatha, Jagan-Natha, Jagat, Jagrat, Jagrata, Jah, Ja-Heva, Jah-Havah, Jah-Hovah, Jahnavi, Jahva Alhim, Jah-Veh, Jaimini, Jaina Cross, Jaina Gross, Jainas, Jains, Jakin, Jakob, Jakob Bohme, Jala, Jalarupa, Jamadar, Jamblichus, Jambu-dvipa, Jambu-dwipa, James Bassantin, Jamin, Jam-pe-yang, Janaka, Jana-loka, Janardana, Janarddana, Janarloka, Jangama, Jang-Chhub, Jang-khog bhang-khog, Janman, Janmotsar, Janna, Janus, Jao-Jehovah, Japa, Japheth, Jara-marana, Jaras, Jasher, Jata, Jataka, Jatayu, Jati, Java Aleim, Jave, Javidan Khirad, Javo, Jaya, Jayas, Jean AimŽ de Chavigny, Jean Chiffilet, Jean Collemann, Jean M Charcot, Jebal Djudi, Jebel Djudi, Jebel Judi, Jehoshua, Jehovah Nissi, Jehovah-Tzabaoth, Jehovists, Jen-nang, Jeroboam, JŽrome Cardan, Jerusalem, Jeshida, Jeshu ben-Panthera, Jesirah, Jesod, Jesus, Jetavaniya, Jethro, Jettatore, Jetzira, Jetzirah, Jevo, Jhana, Jhana Bhaskara, JHVH, Jigten Gonpo, Jigten gonpo, Jinn, Jinnee, Jinni, Jinshnu, Jishnu, jisnu, Jiva, Jiva-bhava, Jivanmukta, Jivanu, Jivatma, Jivatman, Jivatmas, Jnana Bhaskara, Jnana Sakti, Jnana Yoga, Jnana-darsana-suddhi, Jnana-devas, Jnana-kanda, Jnanam, Jnana-sakti, Jnana-vidya, Jnanendriya, Jnanendriyas, Jnanesvari, Jnanin, Jnata, Jneya, Job, Jod, Jod-hevah, Jod-he-vau-he, John, John Cremer, John the Baptist, John the Divine, John the Evangelist, Jol, Jonah, Jonas, Jord, Jordan, Joseph, Joseph Francis Borri, Joshua, Josue, Jotun, Jotunheim, Jotunn, Jotuns, Jove, Jubal yubal, Juda, Judah, Judas, Juggernaut, Jul, Juno, Jupiter, Jurassic Period, Jurbo-Adonai, Justinian, Jyotis, jyotisa, Jyotisha, Jyotisham, Jyotsna,

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