* dacoit—a thief, particularly an armed robber.

* dahi—yogurt.

* daihika—the bodily necessities of life.

* daikon radish—this large white radish is commonly grown in Japan. It is eaten cooked or raw, and is also grated and pickled. Pickled daikon radish is called Takuwan and is eaten as a condiment with savouries such as Japanese Rice Balls (Onigiri).

* dainya—meekness, vyabhicāri-bhāva.

Daityarāja—” King of the demons,” an epithet of Bali.

daityas—Demons descended from the children of Diti, a wife of Kaśyapa.

* Daityas—demons; a race of demons descending from Diti.

* daiva-varṇāśrama—the social system given by God for the upliftment of mankind. See also: varṇāśrama.

* daivī māyā—the Lord’s divine deluding potency, the material energy.

* daivī prakṛti—see: yogamāyā.

Dakṣa—One of the main Prajāpatis, the forefathers of the various species of life. He was a mind-born son of Brahmā. Of his sixteen daughters, thirteen married Kaśyapa, and the youngest, Satī, married Lord Śiva.

* Dakṣa—one of the sons of Brahmā and a chief progenitor of universal population.

* Dākṣāyaṇī—Satī, daughter of Dakṣa and wife of Lord Śiva.

* Dākṣāyaṇī—a name of Sati

* Dakṣiṇā—right-wing group of gopīs, who cannot tolerate womanly anger.

* dakṣiṇā—a disciple’s gift to his spiritual master upon initiation, collected by begging and given as a token of gratitude.

dāl—Any of several varieties of pulses and beans used in soups and other preparations in Indian cooking.

* dal—the name for any type of dried bean lentil, or pea in India. It is also the name for thick gravy-like or thin soup-like dishes prepared from these beans, lentils, or peas. Most raw dal in India is split. (brown lentils, yellow and green split peas, whole mung beans, arhar dal, chana dal, green split peas, and urad dal).

* Dālbhya Muni—an ancient sage and grammarian.

* dama—controlling the senses and not deviating from the Lord’s service.

* Damayantī—the queen of King Nala who burnt a hunter to ashes by her curse when he attempted to molest her.

Dāmodara—Kṛṣṇa who was “bound by the waist” by His mother Yaśodā as a punishment for stealing butter.

* Dāmodara—a name for Śrī Kṛṣṇa meaning “one who is tied around the waist with rope.” This name refers to the Lord's pastime of allowing mother Yaśodā to bind Him.

* dāna—charity, one of the six duties of a brāhmaṇa.

Dānavas—Demons descended from the children of Danu, a wife of Kaśyapa.

* Dānavas—the sons born to Kasyapa Prajapati by his wife danu; a race of demons.

daṇḍa—A staff carried by Vaiṣṇava sannyāsīs.

* daṇḍa—a staff carried by those in the renounced order of life, sannyāsīs.

* Daṇḍa-bhaṅga-līlā—the pastime of Lord Nityānanda breaking the staff of Lord Caitanya.

daṇḍavat—Prostration of one’s body on the ground as an expression of respect.

* daṇḍavats— respectful prostrated obeisances offered to an elevated personality, such as one's spiritual master or the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The word literally means “like a pole.”; falling flat like a rod.

Dantavakra—A king who attacked Kṛṣṇa to avenge the death of a demonic friend, Śālva, but whom Kṛṣṇa easily killed.

* dārī sannyāsī—a bogus tantric sannyāsī who keeps women.

* Daridra-nārāyaṇa—“poor Nārāyaṇa,” an offensive term used by Māyāvādīs to equate poor men with the Supreme Lord.

darśana— “Viewing,” an auspicious audience with a Deity or holy person.

* darśana—the act of seeing and being seen by the Deity in the temple or by a spiritually advanced person. A verbal noun meaning the act of beholding or seeing. It also translates as 'audience~. When one goes to the temple of the Lord to have His audience and to behold Him, one is said to have the Lord's darśana.

Dāru-brahman—The Absolute Truth manifest in a wooden form.

* Dāruka—the charioteer of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa.

* darwaza—door, gateway.

dāsa—lit., “servant” (masculine). An appellation which along with a name of Kṛṣṇa or one of His devotees is given to a devotee at the time of initiation.

* dāsa—servant; term used as addition to the name of a newly initiated disciple, meaning servant of Kṛṣṇa.

* daśa-vidhā-saṁskāra—ten Vedic rituals performed one by one, from the time of conception until death, for the purification of human beings.

* Daśamī—the day before Ekādaśi, when one prepares to observe the sacred fast.

Daśaratha—The father of Lord Rāmacandra. Having promised two boons to one of his wives, he was bound to his word when she demanded that Rāma be exiled to the forest and her son enthroned instead. Daśaratha granted her request but soon died from the anguish of separation from Rāma.

* Daśaratha—the father of Lord Rāmacandra.

* Daśārha—the founder of one branch of the Yadu clan.

Daśāśvamedha-ghāṭa—The sacred bathing place at Prayāga where the Deity Mādhava is worshiped. At this place Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu instructed Rūpa Gosvāmī.

* Daśāvatāra-stotra—the introduction to Jayadeva Gosvāmī’s Gītā-govinda.

* dasendriya—the ten sense organs: ear, eye, tongue, nose, skin, hands, legs, speech, anus and genitals.

Dāsī—Feminine variation of dāsa.

* dāsya—the devotional process of rendering service to the Lord.

dāsya-rasa—The mood of servitude, one of the five direct devotional relationships with the Supreme Lord.

* dāsya-rasa—the servitor relationship with the Lord.

* dāsya-rati—See: dāsya-rasa

* dasyu-dharma—the occupational duty of rogues and thieves.

Dattātreya—An incarnation of Lord Viṣṇu who appeared as one of the sons of Atri Muni. His instructions to King Yayāti are recorded in the Eleventh Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, chapters 7-9.

* Dattātreya—a combined incarnation of Brahmā, Viṣṇu, and Śiva of the Supreme Lord who appeared as the son of Anusuyā by Atri Muni to teach the path of mystic yoga.

* dāvānala—a forest fire; often refers to the self-kindled fire of material existence.

* Dayitā-patis—leaders of the dayitās; they come from the brāhmaṇa caste.

* Dayitās—servants who carry the Deity of Lord Jagannātha to His chariot.

* dehin—When yogurt is drained of its whey content, the resultant thickened, rather solid cheesy residue is called yogurt cheese, or dehin in Indian cuisine.

* Deity of the Lord—the authorized form of Kṛṣṇa worshiped in temples.

demigods—Finite living beings empowered with vast intelligence and influence for administration of the material universe on behalf of the Supreme Lord.

* demigods—universal controllers and residents of the higher planets.

* demons—impious beings who do not follow the instructions of the Lord.

desire tree—A tree able to yield any desire. It grows in the kingdom of God, and in a lesser form in Indra’s heaven.

* deul—In Orissan temples it corresponds to the vimana or towered sanctum. It is a cubical inner apartment where the main Deity is located. with tower over it

* deva—a demigod or godly person.

* deva-dāsīs—professional dancing and singing girls trained to dramatize Vaiṣṇava ideology; they are called māhārīs in Orissa.

* deva-gaṇa—a type of demigod.

deva-māyā—The external energy of the Lord.

* Devadatta—the conch of Arjuna which was obtained by Maya Dānava from Varuṇa.

Devahūti—The daughter of Svāyambhuva Manu, wife of the sage Kardama, and mother of the Supreme Lord’s incarnation Kapiladeva. Lord Kapila taught Devahūti the science of pure devotional service through a study of the elements of creation.

* Devahūti—the daughter of Svāyambhuva Manu who was the wife of Kardama Muni and the mother of the Lord’s incarnation Lord Kapila.

Devakī—The wife of Vasudeva and mother of Kṛṣṇa.

* Devaki—the mother of Lord Kṛṣṇa. She was the daughter of King Devaka and a wife of Vasudeva's. When Kṛṣṇa appears in the material world, He first sends some of His devotees to act as His father, mother, etc.

 Devakī-nandana—Kṛṣṇa “the darling son of Devakī.”

* Devakī-nandana—Kṛṣṇa, the joy and darling son of Devakī.

* Devala—an ancient authority on the Vedas.

* Devāpi—the brother of Mahārāja Śantanu.

* Devarṣi—a title meaning “sage among the demigods.”; usually refers to Nārada Muni.

devarṣis—Sages among the demigods.

devas—The demigods who reside in Svarga, led by Indra. They rule the universe and administer the necessities of life for its inhabitants.

* Devaśayanī—the Ekādaśī that occurs when the demigods go to sleep.

devī— “The goddess,” Durgā, Lord Śiva’s consort.

* devī-dhāma—the material world, under the control of the goddess Devī, or Durgā.

* devotional service—the process of worshiping Lord Kṛṣṇa by dedicating one’s thoughts, words and actions to Him with love.

* Devotthānī—the Ekādaśī that occurs when the demigods awaken from sleep.

dhāma—A domain where the Supreme Lord personally resides and enjoys eternal pastimes with His loving devotees; abode.

* dhāma—abode, place of residence; usually refers to the Lord’s abodes.

* Dhanañjaya—a name for Arjuna meaning “he who attains great wealth by conquest.” This name refers to Arjuna's collecting vast wealth for Yudhiṣṭhira~s Rājasūya sacrifice.

* dhania—see: coriander

* Dhanur Veda—a Vedic treatise on the science of warfare.

Dhanvantarī—The incarnation of Viṣṇu who appeared from the churning of the Ocean of Milk and then delivered to the demigods the nectar of immortality. He is the first teacher of the Ayur-veda, the Vedic medical science.

* Dhanvantari—the incarnation of the Supreme Lord who is the father of medical science.

* Dharā-maṇḍala—the earth planet.

dhāraṇā—Fixed mental concentration, the seventh of the eight steps in the yoga method of Patañjali. When dhyāna, meditation, is more deeply focused it becomes dhāraṇā.

* dhāraṇā—fixed concentration, prior to full meditation (dhyāna).

Dharaṇī-devī—The presiding goddess of the earth. Also called Bhūmi.

dharma— “Religious principles,” or, more properly, individual duty. In another sense, dharma is the inseparable nature of a thing that distinguishes it, like the heat of fire or the sweetness of sugar.

* dharma—religious principles; one's natural occupation. The capacity to render service, which is the essential quality of a living being. The occupational eternal duty of the living entity, regarded as inseparable from the soul himself.

* dharma-dhvajī—a hypocrite, especially one who accepts sannyāsa but again becomes agitated by senses.

* dharma-kalaṅka—See: dharma-dhvajī.

dharma-śāstras—The scriptures, supplementary to the Vedas, that teach the proper behavior for civilized human society. Some dharma-śāstras are in the form of concise codes (sūtras), and others in the form of common verse. Best known of this second group is the Manu-smṛti (Manu-saṁhitā).

* Dharma-śāstras—religious scriptures that prescribe regulations of social organization and religion.

Dharma-vyādha—A certain righteous brāhmaṇa who by a curse became a hunter.

* dharmaḥ kaitavaḥ—cheating religions.

* dharmakṣetra—a holy place of pilgrimage.

* dharmānvekṣamāṇah—strictly according to religious principles.

* Dharmaputra—another name for King Yudhiṣṭhira.

Dharmarāja— “King of religious principles,” an epithet of Yama (the Lord of Death) and his son Yudhiṣṭhira. Yama enforces the principles of religion by punishing all transgressors, and Yudhiṣṭhira was famous for performing all his personal duties without deviation.

* Dharmarāja—a name for Yudhiṣṭhira, the first son of Pāṇḍu, or for Yamarāja, the lord of death. It means “the king of religiosity.”

* dharmaśālā—buildings usually found in holy places in India which provide free or cheap rooming for pilgrims and mendicants.

* dharmī—one who abides by Vedic law, or religious principles.

* Dhaumya—the younger brother of Devala, and the priest of the Pāṇḍavas.

Dhenuka—(-asura) A demon sent by Kaṁsa to kill Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma. He and other demons took the forms of donkeys and seized control of the Tāalavana (forest of palm trees) in Vraja. Balarāma killed him.

* Dhenukāsura—a mystic demon who took the form of a donkey and was killed by Kṛṣṇa.

dhīra—Steady, sober.

* dhīra—one who is undisturbed by the material energy in all circumstances; ecstasy of sober love for Kṛṣṇa.

* dhobi—a man who washes clothes.

dhoti—A single long piece of cloth, usually of cotton or silk, that is the standard garment worn on the lower part of the body by men of Vedic culture.

* dhoti—a long cotton cloth, traditionally worn by lndian men, that covers the lower half of the body.

Dhṛṣṭadyumna—The son of Drupada. Both he and his twin sister, Draupadī, were born to help destroy the Kuru dynasty. In the Battle of Kurukṣetra he killed Droṇa, the military teacher of the Kuru princes.

* Dhṛṣṭadyumna—the fire born son of King Drupada, who arranged the military phalanx of the Pāṇḍavas on the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra, and the brother of Draupadī. He was born to kill Droṇa, and did so by severing his head. He was later killed by Aśvatthāmā while awaking from sleep.

* Dhṛṣṭaketu—the son of Śiśupāla. He took the side of the Pāṇḍavas during the Kurukṣetra war and was killed by Droṇa.

Dhṛtarāṣṭra—The grand of the Pāṇḍavas. His attempt to usurp their kingdom resulted in the Kurukṣetra war.

* Dhṛtarāṣṭra—the father of the Kauravas. He was born of the union of Vyāsa and Ambikā. He was born blind because Ambikā closed her eyes during conception, out of fear of the sage. He was reputed to have the strength of ten thousand elephants. The uncle of the Pāṇḍavas whose attempt to usurp their kingdom for the sake of his own sons resulted in the Kurukṣetra war. Bhagavad-gītā was related to Dhṛtarāṣṭra by his secretary as it was being spoken on the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra.

* dhṛti—perseverance or endurance; forbearance, a vyabhicāri-bhāva.

* dhrupad—a musical style that means ‘fixed verse’.

* Dhruva Mahārāja—a great devotee who at the age of five performed severe austerities and realized the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He received an entire planet, the Pole Star.

Dhruva—The younger son of Uttānapāda, and grandson of Svāyambhuva Manu, and great-grandson of Brahmā. Insulted by his stepmother, Dhruva left home at the age of five and achieved perfection in six months. Lord Vāsudeva gave Dhruva his own spiritual planet at the top of the universe, called Dhruvaloka or the polestar.

* Dhruvaloka—the polestar, which is a spiritual planet within the material universe and is presided over by Dhruva Mahārāja.

* dhūmāyitā—the stage exhibited by a devotee when only one or two transformations are slightly present and it is possible to conceal them.

* dhūpa-ārati—ceremony of offering incense and a flower to the Deity.

dhustura—The thorn-apple, a powerful intoxicant that induces temporary insanity.

* dhvajastambha—flagstaff

dhyāna—The yogic practice of meditation.

* dhyāna—meditational yoga.

* dīkṣā—spiritual initiation.

dīkṣā-guru—The spiritual master who connects one with the Supreme Lord through initiation. A disciple has only one dīkṣā-guru but may also have any number of śikṣā-gurus, instructing spiritual masters.

* dīkṣā-guru—the spiritual master who initiates according to the regulations of the śāstras.

* Dilīpa—the son of Aṁśumān and father of Bhagiratha. He was born in the sun dynasty and was an ancestor of Lord Rāmacandra's.

* dill—a medium-sized herb with small feathery leaves and yellow flowers. Dill (Anethum graveolens) is related to anise, caraway, coriander, cumin, fennel, and parsley. Dill seeds are oval, tan, and light in weight, with a clean odour faintly reminiscent of caraway—pungent and pleasantly aromatic. They are most frequently used as a condiment, either whole or ground, especially in pickling cucumbers, and in breads. In France, dill seeds are used extensively in pastries and sauces, while in India they are used intraditional medicines. The feathery fresh herb known as ‘dill weed’ is excellent in potato salads. It can be obtained dried. Fresh dill is available at quality produce markets or greengrocers, and dried dill weed and dill seeds can be obtained from health food stores specialty shops, or well-stocked supermarkets.

* dīpta—the stage exhibited by a devotee when four of five ecstatic symptoms are manifest.

Diti—A wife of Kaśyapa and the mother of the demons Hiraṇyākṣa and Hiraṇyakaṣipu.

* Diti—a wife of Kaśyapa Muni, and the mother of the demons Hiraṇyākṣa and Hiraṇyakaśipu.

* Divya Desam temples—108 important Viṣṇu temples sung about by the 12 Alwar devotees of Tamil Nadu.

divyonmāda—Transcendental madness in separation from Kṛṣṇa.

* divyonmāda—transcendental madness in separation from Kṛṣṇa.

* Diwan-i-am—Hall of Public Audience

* Diwan-i-khas—Hall of Private Audience.

* Dola-yātrā—the swing festival of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa.

* dosa—one of the three constituents of the body, according to Ayurveda. They are kapha (mucus), pitta (bile), and vāyu (air) .

* dosas—a very large, thin pancake. made of fermented rice flour. They are often wrapped round a spiced potato filling and are then called masala dosa.

Draupadī—The daughter of Drupada and wife of all five Pāṇḍavas. Both she and her twin brother, Dhṛṣṭadyumna, were born to help destroy the Kuru dynasty. An attempt to disrobe her in a royal assembly doomed the Kurus to annihilation.

* Draupadī—the daughter of King Drupada, and wife of the Pāṇḍavas. She was born from a sacrificial fire to be the wife of Arjuna. She was won by Arjuna at her svayaṁvara. She was a great devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa.

* Dravida—South India.

* draviḍa-rāja—devotional service or a person eligible to act in devotional service.

dṛdha-vrata—A determined vow.

* dṛḍha-vrata—firm determination.

Droṇa Vasu—A resident of heaven, one of the eight Vasus, who is an empowered expansion of Kṛṣṇa’s eternal father Nanda. Droṇa descended to the earth and merged into Nanda’s body to join Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes.

Droṇa—(-ācārya) A powerful brāhmaṇa who became expert in military arts. He was the military guru of both the Pāṇḍavas and the Kurus.

* Droṇācārya—the martial preceptor of the Pāṇḍavas and the Kauravas. The military teacher of Arjuna and the other Pāṇḍavas and the commander-in-chief of the Kurus, who was obliged to fight the Pāṇḍavas on the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra. He was the son of the great sage Bharadvāja. He wife was Kāpī, and his son was Aśvatthāmā. He was killed by Dhṛṣṭadyumna during the great Kurukṣetra war.

* Drupada—the King of Pāñcāla, and the father of Draupadī and Dhṛṣṭadyumna. He was involved in a quarrel with Droṇa over half his kingdom. He engaged a sage name Yāja in a sacrifice to get a son who could kill Droṇa and a daughter who could marry Arjuna. Thus Dhṛṣṭadyumna and Draupadī were born. In the battle of Kurukṣetra he was killed by Droṇa.

* dugdha—milk.

* Duḥśalā—the only daughter of Dhṛtarāṣṭra and Gāndhārī. She was married to Jayadratha.

* Duḥśala—one of the one hundred sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra. He was killed by Bhīma. (Droṇa Parva in Mahābhārata)

* duḥsaṅga—bad association.

Duḥśāsana—The second of Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s one hundred sons. Duhśāsana, Śakuni, and Karṇa were the inner circle of advisers to Duryodhana and incited him to commit grievous wrongs against the Pāṇḍavas. Bhīma killed Duhśāsana in the Kurukṣetra battle.

* Duḥśāsana—one of the one hundred sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra. He was killed by Bhīma. (Droṇa Parva in Mahābhārata)

* Durādhāra—one of the one hundred sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra. He was killed by Bhīma. (Droṇa Parva in Mahābhārata)

* durbar—royal court, meeting place.

* Durdharṣaṇa—one of the one hundred sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra. He was killed by Bhīma. (Droṇa Parva in Mahābhārata)

Durgā—Lord Śiva’s eternal consort, of many names and forms, who joins him in his incarnations. She is the creator and controller of the material world.

* Durgā—Lord Śiva 's wife in a fierce form, riding a tiger. The goddess is empowered by the Supreme Lord to preside over the material nature and bewilder the souls situated there into misconceiving themselves to be their material bodies and enjoyers and controllers of the mundane creation. She is very powerful, superseded only by Lord Viṣṇu Himself, and is the external manifestation of the Lord~s internal potency, Yoga-māyā. Once a fallen soul takes to the path of God consciousness, she continues to offer various material allurements so as to test his sincerity and determination to serve the Lord. Once the Lord accepts the struggling soul she can no longer influence that soul and it is thus liberated.

* Durgā-maṇḍapa—the place in a house where mother Durgā is worshiped.

* durgā-śakti—the material energy.

* Durjaya—one of the one hundred sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra. He was killed by Bhīma. (Droṇa Parva in Mahābhārata)

* Durmarṣaṇa—one of the one hundred sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra. He was killed by Bhīma. (Droṇa Parva in Mahābhārata)

* Durmukha—one of the one hundred sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra. He was killed by Bhīma. (Droṇa Parva in Mahābhārata)

* Durvāsā Muni—a partial incarnation of Lord Śiva, a powerful mystic yogī, famous for his fearful curses. He is known for being easily angered. He granted a benediction to Kuntī that she could call any demigod and conceive children. Duryodhana once pleased Durvāsā and asked for a benediction that he and his thousands of disciples would visit Yudhiṣṭhira at a time when Draupadī had already eaten from her copper pot. The idea was that Durvāsā would become angry and curse the Pāṇḍavas. The plan back fired because Lord Kṛṣṇa saved the situation. (Vana Parva in Mahābhārata)

Durvāsā—A powerful sage, a partial incarnation of Lord Śiva, born as one of the three sons of Atri and Anasuya. He is famous for his angry temperament and his readiness to curse anyone who dissatisfies him.

* Durvigāha—one of the one hundred sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra. He was killed by Bhīma. (Droṇa Parva in Mahābhārata)

* Durvimocana—one of the one hundred sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra. He was killed by Bhīma. (Droṇa Parva in Mahābhārata)

* Durvirocana—one of the one hundred sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra. He was killed by Bhīma. (Droṇa Parva in Mahābhārata)

* Durviṣaha—one of the one hundred sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra. He was killed by Bhīma. (Droṇa Parva in Mahābhārata)

Duryodhana—The eldest son of Dhṛtarāṣṭra and chief rival of the Pāṇḍavas. He made many attempts to cheat the Pāṇḍavas of their right to the Kuru throne. After arrogantly ignoring the good advice of Bhishma, Drona, and Kṛṣṇa he perished with his ninety-nine brothers in the Kurukñetra battle.

* Duryodhana—the first born and chief of the evil-minded one hundred sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra, and chief rival of the Pāṇḍavas. He was a wicked asura by birth. He became envious of the Pāṇḍavas and tried in many ways to kill them. It was for the sake of establishing Duryodhana as king of the world that the Kurus fought the Battle of Kurukṣetra. He was killed by Bhīma when the later broke his thighs on the last day of the battle of Kurukṣetra.

* Duṣkarṇa—one of the one hundred sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra. He was killed by Bhīma. (Droṇa Parva in Mahābhārata)

* duṣkṛtam—miscreants who do not surrender to Kṛṣṇa.

* duṣkṛtī—a miscreant.

Duṣkṛtina—An evildoer.

* Duṣparājaya—one of the one hundred sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra. He was killed by Bhīma. (Śalya Parva in Mahābhārata)

* Duṣpradharṣaṇa—one of the one hundred sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra. He was killed by Bhīma. (Śalya Parva in Mahābhārata)

* duṣṭa-damana-śakti—the power to cut down rogues and demons.

Dvādaśī—The twelfth day after the full moon and the new moon.

* Dvādaśī—the twelfth day after the full or new moon, thus the day after Ekādaśī, when one breaks one's fast by eating grains.

Dvaipāyana Vyāsa—The empowered editor of the Vedas. A different Vyāsa appears at the end of each Dvāpara age, when understanding of the Vedas becomes helplessly confused. The current Vyāsa, Kṛṣṇa Dvaipāyana, is an incarnation of the Supreme Lord. The Vedānta-sūtra and Mahābhārata are his personal compositions, and the culmination of his literary effort is the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

* Dvaipāyana—See: Vyāsadeva

* Dvaitādvaita-vāda—the Vedānta philosophy taught by Nimbarkācārya. This philosophy posits a simultaneous oneness and difference between the tiny spirit souls and the Supreme Lord. Later, Lord Caitanya gave further development to this idea as acintya-bhedābheda-vāda.

* Dvaitavana—a forest where the Pāṇḍavas lived during their exile in the forest.

Dvāpara—(-yuga) The third of four repeating ages that form the basic cycles of universal time. During its 864,000 years, the mode of passion becomes dominant. The latest Dvāpara-yuga ended about five thousand years ago, at the time of the avatāras of Kṛṣṇa and Dvaipāyana Vyāsa and the Battle of Kurukṣetra.

* Dvāpara-yuga—the third age of the cycle of a mahā-yuga. It lasts more than 864,000 years.

* dvāra—the doors of the body, such as the eyes and ears.

Dvārakā—(-purī, Dvāravati) The eternal abode in which Kṛṣṇa fully displays the opulence of God. While descended on earth, Kṛṣṇa resettled the entire population of Mathurā in the city of Dvārakā, which He manifested by constructing it on the coast of the western Ānarta province.

* Dvārakā—the island kingdom of Lord Kṛṣṇa, lying off India’s west coast, where He performed pastimes five thousand years ago. The capital city of the Yadus. Lord Kṛṣṇa had this city built to protect the Yadus from the attacks by the demons. It is an island situated off the eastern part of India, which is now known as Gujarat. When Lord Kṛṣṇa left this world, the ocean enveloped the whole city.

Dvārakā-vāsīs—The residents of Dvārakā.

* Dvārakādhīśa—the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, Lord of the city of Dvārakā.

* Dvi-parārdha—the duration of Brahmā’s life, 311 trillion 411 billion years.

dvija—A member of one of the three classes brāhmaṇas, kṣatriyas, and vaiśyas who are “twice-born” by dint of sacred-thread initiation by a spiritual master. The term is especially used in reference to brāhmaṇas.

* dvija—a brāhmaṇa, or twice-born person.

Dvija-bandhu—Unworthy son of a brāhmaṇa.

* dvija-bandhu—See: brahma-bandhu

* dvija-bandhus—unworthy sons of the twice-born.

* dvīpa—island; planet.

* Dvivida gorilla—a huge, apelike demon killed by Lord Balarāma.

Dvivida—A powerful gorilla, once an associate of Jāmbavān in the service of Lord Rāmacandra. Dvivida offended Lord Rāma’s brother Lakṣmaṇa, and because of this and the bad effect of his own brother’s association, Dvivida turned demonic. Thus in a later age he disturbed Lord Balarāma and the Lord’s consorts. Balarāma then killed him.

* Dwarapala—the doorkeeper sculptures by the doorways of Hindu and Buddhist temples.