Glossary Terms

| Term (EN) | Definition | Exam Relevance |
|-----------|-----------|------------|----------------|
| Advaita | Non-dualism: Brahman alone is real; Atman = Brahman; world is maya | Shankaracharya school — Vedanta sub-school; standard exam comparison |
| Agama | Jain canonical scriptural texts in Ardhamagadhi Prakrit | Jain scripture — contrasted with Buddhist Tripitaka |
| Ahimsa | Non-violence — absolute principle in Jainism; also central to Buddhism and Gandhi | Most frequently tested Jain concept |
| Alvar | One of 12 Tamil Vaishnava poet-saints (6th–9th century CE) who composed Nalayira Divya Prabandham | Tamil Bhakti — directly tested in 2023 RPSC |
| Anatta | "No-self" — Buddhist doctrine that there is no permanent, unchanging self | Core Buddhist doctrine — distinguishes from Jain jiva concept |
| Anekantavada | Jain doctrine of many-sidedness: reality cannot be fully captured from any single perspective | Jain epistemology — directly distinguishable from dogmatic schools |
| Bhakti | Devotional love for a personal God — the defining spiritual practice of the Bhakti movement | Most broadly tested concept in this topic |
| Bodhisattva | Mahayana Buddhist ideal: one who delays personal Nirvana to save all beings | Mahayana Buddhism — distinguishes it from Hinayana |
| Charvaka | Ancient Indian materialist school: only perception valid; no soul/God/afterlife | Nastika (heterodox) school — contrasted with Vedic schools |
| Dargah | Shrine built over a Sufi saint's tomb; centre of community devotion | Sufi culture — Ajmer dargah most tested example |
| Dvaita | Madhva's pure dualism: God and souls are eternally distinct, never identical | Vedanta sub-school — contrasted with Advaita |
| Fana | Sufi concept of annihilation of ego in divine love | Sufism — central mystical concept |
| Khanqah | Sufi hospice/monastery where disciples receive training from their Sheikh | Sufi institutional vocabulary |
| Nayanmars | 63 Tamil Shaivite saints (6th–9th century); composed Tevaram | Tamil Bhakti — directly tested in 2021 and 2023 RPSC |
| Nirguna | Devotion to God without attributes/form — Kabir, Nanak tradition | Contrasted with Saguna (God with attributes) Bhakti |
| Nirvana | Buddhist liberation: extinction of craving and cessation of rebirth | Core Buddhism concept — distinguish from Jain Moksha |
| Prakriti | Primal matter in Samkhya philosophy — the active principle, opposed to Purusha | Samkhya darshana — frequently paired with Purusha |
| Pratityasamutpada | Buddhist "dependent origination": all phenomena arise in dependence on conditions | Core Buddhist ontology |
| Purusha | Pure consciousness/spirit in Samkhya — passive, unchanging, multiple | Samkhya darshana — Purusha-Prakriti dualism |
| Qawwali | Sufi devotional music tradition — ecstatic group singing at dargahs | Sufi culture; Amir Khusrau credited with its development |
| Saguna | Devotion to God with attributes/form (Rama, Krishna) — Tulsidas, Surdas tradition | Contrasted with Nirguna; the dominant Bhakti stream |
| Sama | Spiritual music/listening sessions in Sufi practice, used to achieve ecstatic states | Chishti order — distinguishing practice |
| Silsila | Chain of spiritual authority in Sufism — links a Sufi master to the Prophet | Sufi orders: Chishti, Suhrawardi, Qadiri, Naqshbandi |
| Syadvada | Jain conditional predication — all statements qualified with "in some sense" (syat) | Jain logic — paired with Anekantavada |
| Vedanta | The philosophical tradition interpreting the Upanishads, Brahma Sutras, and Gita | Advaita/Vishishtadvaita/Dvaita — most tested Astika school |