The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hindusim vol 2

Tuesday
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Tryambakeshvar in the form of a linga,
the pillar-shaped image that is his symbolic
form. The Tryambakeshvar linga is
one of the twelve jyotirlingas, a network
of sites deemed especially sacred to
Shiva and at which Shiva is uniquely
present. The charter myth for
Tryambakeshvar begins with the sage
Gautama, who unwisely hits an old cow
with a stick, killing it, and thus incurs
the sin of cow slaughter. Gautama is told
that to expiate his sin, he first has to
amass enough merit to bring the Ganges
down to earth, and after he has purified
himself by bathing (snana) in the
Ganges, he has to make and worship 10
million Shiva lingas formed from the
sand on its banks. Gautama undertakes
his penance (prayashchitta) diligently.
Upon worshiping the 10 millionth linga
he is rewarded by a vision of Shiva, who
grants his wish that both the Ganges and
Shiva will remain there forever—the former
in her form as the Godavari, the latter
as Tryambakeshvar.
Tuesday
(Mangalvar) The third day of the week,
presided over by the planet Mars
(Mangal). The planet Mars is deemed
inauspicious, both because of its red
color (reminiscent of blood) and
because of its associations with war and
disorder. Tuesday is widely considered
an unlucky day, and many people
abstain from certain kinds of activity on
it. Travel is particularly discouraged
unless absolutely necessary. Cutting the
hair and beard is also discouraged, and
in much of northern India, barbers take
Tuesday off. To counter the day’s potential
inauspiciousness, many people also
perform rites of protection, such as
worshiping strong protective deities
such as Hanuman—who is close
enough to human beings to understand
the problems they face, but divine
enough to be able to protect them.
Paradoxically, the literal meaning of the
name for Tuesday is the “auspicious”
(mangal) day. Giving it this euphemistic
name may simply be a bit of reverse
magic; that if one calls it the lucky day, it
may, in fact, turn out to be.
Tukaram
(1598–1650) Poet and saint in the
Varkari Panth, a religious community
centered on the worship of the god
Vithoba, at his temple at Pandharpur in
the modern state of Maharashtra.
According to tradition, Tukaram was a
shudra (in traditional Hinduism, there
are four main social groups, the shudras
being the lowest and least influential)
born in the small village of Dehu, where
his father was a petty merchant.
Tukaram continued in the family business,
which eventually failed because he
had little interest in worldly life. He
longed instead for the life of a renunciant,
in which he could completely
devote himself to God. As with many of
the other bhakti saints, he is reported to
have suffered considerable persecution
by traditionally minded brahmins, who
were uneasy about a person of his low
status gaining spiritual greatness. An
unlettered man, he is most famous for
the songs known as abhangs, which are
still widely sung in Maharashtra. He had
many disciples, including the poet-saint
Bahina Bai, and according to tradition,
he ended his life by being taken up to
heaven in a chariot of fire. For further
information see G. A. Deleury, The Cult
of Vithoba,1960; and Justin E. Abbott
(trans.), The Life of Tukaram, 1980.
Tulsi
A small shrublike plant commonly
denoted the “holy basil.” For devotees
(bhakta) of the god Vishnu, the tulsi
plant is a form of Vishnu’s wife Lakshmi,
who is cursed to take birth as a plant.
According to the story, Lakshmi sits with
Vishnu’s wives, the goddesses Ganga
and Saraswati. Ganga makes amorous
eyes at Vishnu, and when Saraswati
protests this indecency, a quarrel breaks
out. By the time it is over, Ganga and
Saraswati have cursed each other to be
born on earth as rivers. Vishnu has been