The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hindusim vol 2

Seven Sacred Cities
616
ideal of a decentralized village economy.
This economic model had political
and cultural symbolism, since it was
independent of the industrialized economy
run by the British and intended to
counterbalance it by providing a model
of an economy based on indigenous
“Hindu” values.
Seven Sacred Cities
Seven sacred cities (tirthas) spread
throughout the Indian subcontinent
in which death is traditionally
believed to bring final liberation of the
soul (moksha). The seven cities are
Ayodhya, Mathura, Haridwar,
Benares, Kanchipuram, Ujjain, and
Dwaraka.
Shabara
In the Purva Mimamsa school of
Hindu philosophy Shabara was the
author of the earliest and most famous
commentary on Jaimini’s Mimamsa
Sutras, the school’s founding text. The
commentary is called Shabarabhashya.
The date of the text is highly
uncertain, and estimates range from
the first century B.C.E. to the fourth or
sixth century C.E. As often happens,
later commentators have accepted
Shabara’s commentary as part of the
text itself and commented on it as well
as on the original sutras.
Shabarabhashya
(“Shabara’s commentary”) Extensive
commentary on the Mimamsa Sutras
of Jaimini, the founding text of the
Purva Mimamsa school of philosophy.
The date of the text is uncertain.
It is believed to have been written by
Shabara in either the first century
B.C.E., or the fourth or sixth century
C.E. As often happens, later commentators
have accepted Shabara’s commentary
as part of the text itself and
commented on it as well as on the
original sutras.
Shabari
In the Ramayana, the earlier of the
two great Indian epics, a tribal woman
who is a sincere devotee (bhakta) of
the god Rama. Shabari belongs to a
group known as the Shabaras, and so
her name conveys a sense of anonymity,
since it is simply the feminine form
of the group’s name. Rama and
Lakshmana stop for some time at
Shabari’s dwelling during their search
for Rama’s kidnapped wife Sita.
Although as a tribal she has very low
social status, Rama graciously receives
her hospitality as a reward for the
devotion with which it is given. In the
Ramcharitmanas, the vernacular
retelling of the Ramayana written by
the poet-saint Tulsidas (1532–1623?),
Shabari tastes each fruit before she
gives it to Rama, to be sure that he will
get only the very sweetest—an act that
violates one of the most pervasive ritual
taboos barring the exchange of any
food that has come into contact with
saliva, and particularly from lower to
higher status people. Yet in the story
Rama eats the fruits very happily
because of the love with which they
are given. The message in this episode
is consistent with a primary theme in
the Ramcharitmanas, namely, the
power of devotion to override or overturn
conventional social norms. Soon
after Rama and Lakshmana’s visit,
Shabari dies a happy death.
Shabari Malai
Temple and sacred site (tirtha) in the
hills of the southern state of Kerala,
about seventy miles north of Trivandrum.
Shabari Malai is renowned for the
temple to Aiyappa, a regional divinity
who has been assimilated into the larger
pantheon as the son of the gods Vishnu
and Shiva; he is born when Vishnu takes
the form of the enchantress Mohini.
Shabari Malai’s annual month-long pilgrimage
occurs from the middle of
December to the middle of January, with
the exact dates determined by astrological
calculations.