The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hindusim vol 2
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Prashna (“Question”) Upanishad<br />
Brahmo Samaj, who attempted to<br />
remake the tradition wholesale by<br />
giving it a strong, quasi-monotheistic<br />
emphasis, a quality heavily influenced<br />
by European missionaries. <strong>The</strong><br />
Prarthana Samaj lost its steam by<br />
the early 1920s, when social reform<br />
associations became absorbed into the<br />
Indian National Congress.<br />
Prasad<br />
(“favor”) Prasad is food or drink that has<br />
been <strong>of</strong>fered to a deity as part <strong>of</strong> normal<br />
worship and, having been sanctified by<br />
the deity’s power, is later distributed to<br />
worshipers as a symbol <strong>of</strong> the deity’s<br />
grace. In this process, the deity is<br />
believed to have “consumed” part <strong>of</strong> the<br />
food <strong>of</strong>fering, and thus—in keeping<br />
with everyday ideas about the contaminating<br />
power <strong>of</strong> saliva—to have<br />
“imprinted” the food with its substance.<br />
Since this substance has been “charged”<br />
with divine presence, it is given to devotees<br />
(bhakta) as an emblem <strong>of</strong> the<br />
deity’s grace, and worshipers consume it<br />
in the belief that this sanctifies them. Its<br />
sacred qualities mean that prasad is<br />
treated differently than regular food: It<br />
cannot be refused and can never be<br />
thrown away. If one cannot eat it, the<br />
favored method <strong>of</strong> disposal is to feed it<br />
to a cow. See also jutha.<br />
Prashasta (“Approved”) Marriages<br />
In the dharma literature, or the texts on<br />
religious duty, these are the four<br />
approved forms <strong>of</strong> marriage: the<br />
Brahma marriage, the Daiva marriage,<br />
the Arsha marriage, and the Prajapatya<br />
marriage. <strong>The</strong>se forms are deemed commendable<br />
because in each case the<br />
father <strong>of</strong> the bride is responsible for<br />
arranging the marriage: In the Brahma<br />
form the bride is given as a gift without<br />
conditions, in the Daiva she is given as a<br />
sacrificial fee, in the Arsha she is given in<br />
exchange for a pair <strong>of</strong> cattle for sacrifice,<br />
and in the Prajapatya she is given with<br />
the condition that the husband and wife<br />
perform their duties together. <strong>The</strong><br />
Brahma is the only one <strong>of</strong> these four<br />
practiced in modern India and is the<br />
idealized form <strong>of</strong> marriage. See also<br />
marriage, eight classical forms.<br />
Prashastapada<br />
(5th c.) Author <strong>of</strong> the Padarthadharmasangraha.This<br />
text is the most influential<br />
commentary on Kanada’s Vaisheshika<br />
Sutras, the founding text <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Vaisheshika school, one <strong>of</strong> the six<br />
schools <strong>of</strong> traditional Hindu philosophy.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Vaisheshika school was atomistic,<br />
believing that all things were made<br />
up <strong>of</strong> a few basic constituent substances:<br />
the five elements (earth, fire,<br />
water, wind, and akasha) along with<br />
space, time, mind, and individual selves<br />
(atman). <strong>The</strong> five elements combined to<br />
form the things in the world, though<br />
selves were considered ultimately different<br />
from matter.<br />
Prashna (“Question”) Upanishad<br />
One <strong>of</strong> the later and more developed<br />
upanishads, the speculative religious<br />
texts that form the latest stratum <strong>of</strong> the<br />
oldest Hindu sacred texts, the Vedas. As<br />
with most <strong>of</strong> the upanishads, the Prashna<br />
Upanishad’s underlying concern is to<br />
investigate ultimate questions, in particular<br />
the nature <strong>of</strong> the Self (atman).<br />
Considered one <strong>of</strong> the later upanishads,<br />
the Prashna Upanishad is similar to the<br />
earliest upanishads, the Brhadaranyaka<br />
and the Chandogya, but is far shorter, and<br />
the text is much more focused. Like the<br />
older upanishads, the Prashna is written<br />
as a dialogue. It takes the form <strong>of</strong> a conversation<br />
between the sage Pippalada and<br />
six questioners. In each section (called a<br />
prashna in the text) one <strong>of</strong> the hearers asks<br />
a question, to which Pippalada replies.<br />
<strong>The</strong> six sections all have different themes:<br />
the nature <strong>of</strong> time, prana as the most<br />
important human power, the nature <strong>of</strong> life<br />
after death, sleep, meditation, the sound<br />
Om, and the nature <strong>of</strong> the Self. In this<br />
way, it uses the older dialogue form to<br />
advance a far more developed and<br />
cohesive philosophical perspective.<br />
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