Glossary

Note: As I edit and post each chapter this glossary will expand to include new words. If you find a non-English word used in the text which is not in the glossary, please comment so that I can add it. Also, this glossary defines these words as they are used in the imagined world of this novel, and the definitions are not necessarily intended to reflect how the original Mahabharata uses them, or what they mean in a historical context.

amrit: the nectar of agelessness; drink of the shining gods.

Andhaka: one of the Yadava clans based in the coastal city of Dwaraka. Allied with the Vrishni and Bhoja Yadavas.

apsara: female beings who live in the heavenly worlds beyond the stars. They are known for their incredible, unearthly beauty.

ashram: a retreat for spiritual contemplation, instruction, and ritual secluded from society, usually in the forests or remote mountains. In general an ashram will be presided over by a guru and his family. Elderly people who have passed on their duties to their children are often expected to retire from society and take up residence in an ashram to prepare for their great journey.

asura: immensely powerful beings constantly at war with the shining gods. Both the gods and the asuras emerged from Brahma, the Grandfather Shaper, and were initially the same, but over time they diverged into two factions.

Bhoja: one of the Yadava clans based in the coastal city of Dwaraka. Allied with the Vrishni and Andhaka Yadavas.

Brahman: the unifying principle of all that exists and does not exist, the perennial source of creation. Indescribable, but said to have three qualities: pure existence, pure awareness, and absolute bliss.

brahmana: the priestly class, dependent on the ruling kshatriya families for their livelihood. Their principal responsibilities are the oral transmission of the Vedas, officiating at sacrifices, and serving as teachers for high-status children. In ancient times the role of brahmana was attained by merit, but by the end of the third eon the power and prestige associated with priesthood made brahmana fathers loth to teach anyone but their own offspring, and the position became hereditary. Also used to refer generally to an especially virtuous or wise person.

chakora: a rare bird who eats only moonlight.

dharma: virtue, morality, law, and duty. The role which an individual being must play in order to maintain societal and cosmic stability. Dharma varies between individuals and situations based on location, social status, age, family, and inner inclination.

dhoti: a men’s garment consisting of a single seamless length of cloth wrapped or tied around the waist to cover the lower body.

Dwapara: the third of the four yugas or cosmic eons. During Dwapara Yuga only half of the dharma present in the first eon remains. Greed, anger, envy, and lust are increasingly the controlling factors in human life. Social structures once based on merit calcify and become hereditary. The action of Sacrifice the World takes place near the end of the Dwapara Yuga.

Gandhara: an arid and mountainous kingdom far to the North-West of Kuru. The Kuru queen Gandhari, mother of the Kauravas, was the daughter of the king of Gandhara.

gandharva: a fairy people who inhabit hidden forests, remote mountains, and the star-worlds of the shining gods. They are known for their mastery of music and dance.

ghee: clarified butter used in cooking and as an offering to the sacred fire.

guru: a teacher, especially though not exclusively a religious preceptor. For the student a guru is held with the utmost reverence and often worshiped as a god in human form.

jaya: a celebratory exclamation meaning “victory!”

Kali: the fourth and final yuga or cosmic eon. During Kali Yuga the world and humanity slowly degrade toward a state of complete chaos. Social order decays and ultimately falls apart. Greed is in complete control of almost every human mind. In the latter millennia of Kali Yuga the Earth becomes so polluted that she ceases to grow food and the sacred rivers all dry up. The human lifespan shrinks to a couple decades and diseases run rampant. Finally, just before all species are entirely wiped out, Vishnu incarnates as Kalki to purify the Earth and restart the cycle with Krita Yuga. Kali is also the name of an asura embodying chaos, as well as the worst possible throw in a game of dice.

karma: action and reaction. Every action performed by any being is a karma. The law of karma, which is the ultimate governing force of the universe, is that every being will eventually experience the consequences of all their karmas, if not in their current lifetime then in a future birth.

Kaunteya: “son of Kunti.” An epithet given to the three eldest Pandava brothers—Yudhisthira, Arjuna, and Bhima.

Kaurava: “descendant of Kuru.” An epithet applied to the new generation of House Kuru, and specifically to the hundred sons of Dhritarashtra and Gandhari.

Krita: the first of the four yugas or cosmic eons, also known as Satya. During the Krita Yuga the world is in complete balance and harmony. Humans live for thousands of years and communicate telepathically. Dharma is complete and perfect; there is no need for social classes, castes, Vedas, rituals, economies, or agriculture. Krita also refers to the best possible throw in a game of dice.

kshatriya: the ruling nobility, comprising many families bound by shifting ties of marriage, friendship, conquest, and tribute. The kshatriya families are tasked with making sure that peace and order are maintained in their kingdoms, as well as fighting to protect or expand their domains.

kund: a fire pit used for sacrificial rituals, made from earthen bricks and constructed according to very precise geometry.

Kuru: an ancient noble kshatriya family who trace their descent back to the Moon. As is the case with all kshatriya houses, the kingdom of the Kurus is also named Kuru.

mantra: a spell, incantation, ritual formula, or the name of a divine being. Mantras have a wide range of powers and potencies. The subtle weapons used by the most elite kshatriyas are often summoned by means of a mantra. Mantras are also used to invoke the gods in ritual.

Matsya: a noble kshatriya family and the kingdom ruled by that family, to the West of Kuru.

muni: a sage, ascetic, or very wise person.

naga: a race of beings who live deep under the Earth in a world of their own called Patala. They are related to, and sometimes synonymous with, snakes, yet they are also shapeshifters and have many divine and mysterious powers.

Panchala: a noble kshatriya family and the kingdom ruled by that family, which borders Kuru to the South. Draupadi was the princess of House Panchala.

Pandava: “son of Pandu.” An epithet given to the five brothers Yudhisthira, Arjuna, Bhima, Nakula, and Sahadeva.

Radheya: “son of Radha.” An epithet of Karna.

rajas: one of the three qualities which constitute the entire created universe. Rajas is the quality of activity and expansion. It is characterized by energy, agitation, passion, heat, and motion.

rakshasa: a shapeshifting race of nocturnal hunters. They are mostly feared and avoided by humans, since many of them have a taste for human flesh. They largely keep aloof from all but their own species. Legend has it that there were once huge cities and kingdoms of rakshasas, but by the end of the third eon they have been reduced to a hidden people sniffing after warm blood by night.

rishi: a seer. One who can, by means of meditation, know the past, present, and future, travel to any place in any world, and hear the vibration of the cosmos itself. It was the rishis who first heard and transmitted the Vedas to humanity. They have the power to curse and bless even the gods.

rishika: a female seer. There are fewer rishikas than rishis, but have the same enormous powers as their male counterparts.

sattva: one of the three qualities which constitute the entire created universe. Sattva is the quality of balance between the other two qualities, rajas and tamas, and is characterized by truth, luminosity, harmony, wisdom, and tranquility.

Satya: the eon of truth, the first of the four yugas. For the full definition see Krita above.

shudra: laborers and servants; they are tasked with working to support and serve. Though they are the most numerous of the four varnas, they are also considered inferior by a large majority of the three upper castes.

suta: a hereditary caste in service to the noble kshatriya houses. The main duties of the sutas are maintaining the bardic oral tradition of praise songs and royal lineage lore and driving the chariots of the kshatriyas in battle.

tamas: one of the three qualities which constitute the entire created universe. Tamas is the entropic quality of inertia and decay. It is characterized by chaos, darkness, heaviness, sloth, and ignorance.

Treta: the second of the four yugas or cosmic eons. During Treta Yuga dharma is reduced by one quarter and the perfection of the first eon begins to decay. Human lifespans shorten, physical speech becomes the primary mode of communication, and social hierarchies, economies and rituals are instituted to maintain order. It was during the Treta Yuga that Vishnu incarnated as Parashurama to massacre the kshatriyas, who had grown arrogant and brutal, and later as Prince Rama to vanquish a rakshasa king and establish a ten thousand year reign of peace and abundance.

vaishya: the class of merchants, craftspeople, artisans, and farmers. They are responsible for the economic life of their home kingdoms. Their trades are typically passed down on a hereditary basis.

varna: the division of society into four separate castes (brahmana, kshatriya, vaishya, and shudra) with separate responsibilities. In ancient times these four categories were based on merit and natural aptitude, the boundaries between them were fluid, and each was held in esteem for their role in the collective, but by the end of the third eon they had mostly transitioned to hereditary distinctions marred by increasing discrimination.

Veda: the word translates literally as “knowledge.” Refers to a vast body of liturgy, history, and philosophy which the brahmanas maintain through oral transmission. The Vedas have no author; they were heard by rishis in the depths of meditation.

veena: a stringed instrument.

Vrishni: one of the Yadava clans based in the coastal city of Dwaraka. Allied with the Andhaka and Bhoja Yadavas.

Yadava: a collection of kshatriya clans said to be descended from the cowherd king Yadu. Several Yadava families form a confederacy ruled by King Ugrasena Vrishni and based in the coastal city of Dwaraka.

yoga: a term denoting union between the individual self and the Supreme Reality, God, or pure conscious awareness, as well as the various processes and practices used to attain that goal.

yogi: one who is engaged in yoga; an ascetic.

yuga: an extremely long period of time; an eon. There are four yugas during which the world moves progressively from a state of total balance and harmony to a state of abject decay and chaos. Once the degradation has reached its nadir, at the end of the fourth yuga, the world returns to the first yuga, the eon of truth. This cycle is beginningless, endless, and infinite.