BellaOnline Forums Religion and Spirituality Hinduism Learn the basic terms of Hindu ritual!

My personal experiences with Hinduism have revolved first and foremost around ritual. I think this is true for the majority of Hindus as well. So I thought I should lay out some of the most universal concepts and activities for Hindu ritual in my latest article. Check it out below: [url=http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art179972.asp]Basic Terms in Hindu Ritual[/url]

Thank you for this helpful information. I was previously familiar with only two of the terms you mention, mantra and prasad.

I have a question about the language, Telugu. Are the terms similar in Hindu ritual in families who speak Telugu?

Thank you,

Pam W
SE of Seattle

I'm glad you found the article helpful!

So in ritual life, many Sanskrit terms are shared (because of religious texts and oral traditions in religious life). Terms like mantra and prasad are definitely understood across linguistic groups. There might be some variation (for instance, in Tamil, we say prasadam (I am Tamilian, so I can speak for that at least). Furthermore, some languages that are not originally related to Sanskrit (i.e. Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayaalam) have borrowed a lot of words from Sanskrit (some more than others). Of course each language has their own terms for activities related to ritual as well.

But to answer your question, these terms would indeed be familiar to a family that speaks Telugu.

I hope that is somewhat clear...

If anyone knows more about this, please chime in!

Thanks for sharing this information with us.