The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hindusim vol 2

Vedanta Sutras
to the Advaita Vedanta school,
Vivekananda’s major emphasis. The
society’s tone has been nontheistic,
nonritual, and rationalist; its constituency
has been drawn from liberals
and intellectuals, such as the writer
Aldous Huxley.
Vedanta Sutras
Text ascribed to the sage Badarayana in
the third to fifth century B.C.E. Along
with the Upanishads and the Bhagavad
Gita, the Vedanta Sutras is one of the
three traditional sources for the Vedanta
school, one of the six schools of
traditional Hindu philosophy. The text
itself is a collection of 555 brief aphorisms
(sutras), which are so terse that
they presuppose a commentary. The
sutras focus particularly on the ideas
about Brahman, hence their other
common name, the Brahma Sutra. In
content, the first section describes the
nature of Absolute Reality, the second
responds to objections and criticizes
other positions, the third details
the means to acquire knowledge, and
the fourth describes the benefits of
such knowledge.
Vedarambha (“beginning of Veda
[study]”) Samskara
Traditionally, the twelfth of the lifecycle
ceremonies (samskaras). In this
ceremony, a newly initiated brahmacharin—a
young man who had
entered the celibate student phase of
life—would commence to study the
Vedas, the oldest Hindu religious texts.
This rite is not mentioned in the earliest
texts in the dharma literature, perhaps
under the assumption that Veda study
would commence at an appropriate
time, after learning had commenced
with the earlier vidyarambha samskara.
Vegetarianism
A dietary practice that carries extremely
high status among Hindu people, probably
because of its associations with
strict brahmin practice; even people
who are nonvegetarian themselves will
commonly think of a vegetarian diet as
“purer.” Strict vegetarians eat no flesh or
eggs, but milk and milk products are
always eaten and are considered pure
and health-giving, probably because
they come from the cow. Those people
who keep the strictest diets will also
often refrain from onions and garlic,
which are considered to excite the passions.
This religious commitment to
vegetarianism by a certain part of the
population, and the general status given
to “pure” vegetarian food, are both
responsible for the great variety of vegetarian
cooking found in Indian culture.
Despite the higher status given to a vegetarian
diet, most modern Hindus are
not vegetarian—a recent poll of urban
Hindus found that only about 25 percent
were pure vegetarian, although the
number may be higher in villages, which
tend to be more traditional.
Vellala
The landlord community throughout
much of traditional Tamil Nadu.
Although technically the Vellalas were of
shudra status, their control over the
land gave them considerable influence
and prestige in the region. The Vellala
community was the source for many of
the Alvars, a group of twelve poet-saints
whose stress on passionate devotion
(bhakti) to the god Vishnu transformed
and revitalized Hindu religious life. Most
of the Alvars’ influence undoubtedly
stemmed from the strength of their religious
devotion, but this was undoubtedly
reinforced by Vellala status as a landholding
community.
Velur
Village in the Aurangabad district of the
state of Maharashtra, a few miles from
the cave temples at Ellora. Velur is
famous as the site for the temple to the
god Shiva in his form as Ghrneshvar,
the “Lord of Compassion.” Shiva is present
at this temple in the form of a linga,
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