The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hindusim vol 2

Pitha
tributaries of the Ganges, the Pindara is
considered sacred along its length, but
this region is so mountainous and so
thinly settled that Karnaprayag is the
river’s only noteworthy spot.
Pingala Nadi
One of the vertical channels (nadi) in
the traditional conception of the subtle
body. The subtle body is an alternate
physiological system believed to exist on
a different plane than gross matter, but
with certain correspondences to the
material body. It is visualized as a set of
six psychic centers (chakras) running
roughly along the course of the spine,
connected by three parallel vertical
channels. Above and below these centers
are the bodily abodes of the two
divine principles, Shiva (awareness) and
Shakti (power), the latter as the latent
spiritual energy known as kundalini. In
this model of the subtle body, the pingala
nadi is the vertical channel on the
right side of the body. As with the rest of
the subtle body, the pingala nadi has
certain symbolic correspondences; in
particular, it is identified with the sun
and is thus visualized as being a tawny
red in color.
Pipa
(15th c.?) Poet-saint in the Sant religious
community. The name Sant is an
umbrella term for a group of central and
northern Indian poet-saints who share
several general tendencies: focus on
individualized, interior religion leading
to a personal experience of the divine;
disdain for external ritual, particularly
image worship; faith in the power of
repeating one’s patron deity’s name; and
the tendency to ignore conventional
caste distinctions.
According to tradition, Pipa was born
into a Rajput royal family in the Malwa
region but eventually renounced his
throne and went to Benares to become a
disciple of the poet-saint Ramananda.
The hagiographer Nabhadas reports
that Pipa was a disciple of the powerful
goddess Bhavani (an epithet of Parvati),
showing the breadth of the Sant tradition.
A few of Pipa’s verses have been
preserved in the Adigranth, the sacred
text of the Sikh community, and in their
language and religious thrust the verses
are consistent with these traditions.
Pipal
Common name for Ficus religiosa, the
fig-tree also known as the ashvattha,
which has a long history of being considered
a sacred tree. See ashvattha.
Pippalada
In Hindu traditional lore, one of the
ancient sages in the Atharva Veda, one
of the oldest Hindu religious texts.
Pippalada is also mentioned in the
Prashna Upanishad, one of the speculative
religious texts that forms the latest
part of the Vedas, as a religious teacher
who instructs sages such as Sukesha,
Kashyapa, and Bhargava. Pippalada
supposedly gets his name from his
fondness for Pippali fruits, the fruit
of the Ficus religiosa, the sacred pipal
(ashvattha).
Pitambara
(“clothed in yellow”) Epithet of the god
Krishna, because of his penchant for
wearing yellow garments. See Krishna.
Pitavasana
(“yellow-clad”) Epithet of the god
Krishna, because of his penchant for
wearing yellow garments. See Krishna.
Pitha
(“bench”) In its widest meaning, the
base or foundation of any object. It can
denote the material base or foundation
upon which the image of a deity is
placed. In some cases the foundation
becomes an integral part of the image
itself, as in the linga, the pillar-shaped
object that is the symbol of the god
Shiva. The form of the linga, an upright
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