The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hindusim vol 2

Samkhya
Appar, Sambandar actively opposed the
unorthodox sects of the times, particularly
the Jains, whom he reviles in his
poems. The depth of his hatred can be
seen in a well-established tradition
that, after converting the king of
Madurai, of the Pandya dynasty, from
Jainism to Shaivism, Sambandar was
instrumental in having eight thousand
Jain ascetics executed by impalement.
The collected hymns of the three most
important Nayanars—Appar, Sambandar,
and Sundaramurtti—comprise the
Devaram, the most sacred of the Tamil
Shaivite texts. See also Shaiva.
Samharakrama
(“destruction method”) Ritual in the
Shrividya school of the secretive religious
practice known as tantra. This ritual
uses the shrichakra, a symbolic diagram
used in worship. The adept’s ritual
journey starts at the outer edges of the
shrichakra, which represents the apparently
“real” everyday world, and gradually
moves toward the center, where a
single point (bindu) represents absolute
unity. This process is called “destruction”
because the ritual process systematically
deconstructs the notion of the
dualistic world and destroys the notion
of a Self that is separate from the
Absolute Reality. For further information
see Douglas Renfrew Brooks, The
Secret of the Three Cities, 1990.
Samhita
(“collection”) The most archaic textual
layer in the Vedas, comprising hymns to
the Vedic deities, benedictions, prayers,
spells, and litanies. The term indicates
that this group of texts is a collection of
various things important, not only for
their cognitive meaning, but for their
power as mantra (sacred sound). The
samhitas were chanted during rites of
sacrifice and remain the oldest living
part of the Hindu tradition. Following
the samhitas are the three later textual
levels: the Brahmanas, which are
essentially manuals detailing correct
performance of the sacrifice, and the
Aranyakas and the Upanishads, which
ask speculative questions about the
power behind the sacrifice.
Samkalpa
(“intention”) Important ritual sequence
at the beginning of many religious rites
in which the person performing the rite
states his or her identity, the time and
place at which the action is being performed,
the performer’s intention to
carry out this particular ritual act,
and the benefits desired from the action.
The samkalpa is important as the
formal commitment to perform the
stated action. For ritual actions that
promise several different possible
benefits—for example, birth in heaven
or final liberation—performing the
samkalpa is believed to give one the
result one desires.
Samkhya
(“enumeration”) One of the six schools
of traditional Hindu philosophy, whose
founding text is the Samkhyakarikas,
written by Ishvarakrishna in the third
century B.C.E. Samkhya espouses an
atheistic philosophical dualism positing
two fundamental principles as the
source of all things. The first of these is
called purusha (“person”), which is conscious,
but completely inactive and
unchanging. It is seen as a passive witness
to the transformations going on
around it. As the source of consciousness,
purusha is ultimately identified
with an individual’s true and eternal
Self. Purusha is inferred as plural, given
the plurality of conscious beings, combined
with the fact that one person can
gain enlightenment while all the rest
remain in bondage.
The other fundamental principle is
prakrti, (“nature”), which provides the
object to the purusha’s subject. Prakrti is
better conceived of as force or power
rather than a specific material object.
Prakrti contains within it forces with three
different primordial qualities (gunas):
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