Ācārya
A teacher established in and transmitting a particular discipline or tradition.
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Sanskrit glossary
Concise orientation—not a substitute for the fuller meanings developed in texts and commentaries.
Āgama
Authoritative Shaiva, Vaishnava and Shakta traditions concerning theology, mantra, yoga and temple worship.
Ātman
Self; its precise meaning and relation to Brahman differs among philosophical schools.
Bhakti
Devotion, participation or loving orientation toward the divine.
Brahman
Ultimate reality in the Upanishadic and Vedantic traditions.
Darśana
A philosophical viewpoint or disciplined seeing; also a classical system of thought.
Dharma
Order, duty, ethics, teaching and right conduct, understood according to context.
Guru
A venerable teacher whose qualifications and role vary by lineage.
Itihāsa
The traditional epic category containing the Ramayana and Mahabharata.
Japa
Repeated or murmured recitation of a mantra or divine name.
Jñāna
Knowledge, especially liberating or discriminative spiritual knowledge.
Karma
Action and its consequences; also ritual action in Vedic contexts.
Mantra
A sacred utterance transmitted through textual and oral practice.
Mokṣa
Liberation from bondage and rebirth, understood differently by each tradition.
Purāṇa
Layered narratives about creation, genealogies, deities, pilgrimage, devotion and dharma.
Sampradāya
A transmitted teaching lineage, community or interpretive tradition.
Saṃsāra
The continuing cycle of conditioned existence, death and rebirth.
Śāstra
An authoritative treatise or disciplined body of teaching.
Smṛti
That which is remembered: a category including epics, Puranas and dharma literature.
Śruti
That which is heard: the authoritative Vedic corpus.
Upaniṣad
Vedic texts examining Self, reality, consciousness, death and liberation.
Veda
The Rig, Sama, Yajur and Atharva Vedic corpora and their textual layers.
Yoga
Discipline, integration or contemplative method; not limited to physical postures.
Yajña
Vedic sacrifice or offering, also interpreted in internal and devotional forms.