Dictionary of Proper Names
Selected from Glossary and Index of Proper Names in Sri Aurobindo’s Works (1989/1996)
H
Habibullah Amir Habibullah Khan (1872-1919) of Afghanistan (then a British protectorate) who maintained ‘satisfactory relations’ with British India by implementing the reforms ‘recommended’ by it.
Hades (1) a son of Cronus & Rhea, who won the lordship of the nether world when his brother Zeus of the sky, & Poseidon of the sea. He is also known as Pluto. (2) His domain also came to be known as Hades [s/a Tartarus].
Prof. Haeckel Ernst (Heinrich) Haeckel (1834-1919), German zoologist & evolutionist, proponent of Darwinism who offered new theories of the descent of man.
Hafiz, Shams-ul-Din (c.1320-90), Persian mystic & poet.
Haider Ali (1722-82) son of Fatah Muhammad, a military commander & jāgirdār of Budikota in Mysore: by 1755 military governor of Dindigul, a Mysore stronghold: by 1759 Commander of Mysore Raja’s Army: gradually gained control, assumed sovereign power & deposed the Raja Chikka Krishnarāj Wodiyār: invaded Carnatic in 1767 came to within 5 miles of Madras whose Governor concluded a treaty with him: Bombay Govt. made a treaty with him in 1770: but the British declined to help him against Mahratta invasions: invaded Madras territory in 1780, took Arcot & other places: was defeated as Porto Novo in July, 1781 by Eyre Coote who met him in the indecisive action at Arni June1782: Hyder died near Chitore Dec 7, 1782: a born soldier, a first-rate horseman, heedless of danger, full of energy & resource, severe, cruel, cold, indifferent to religion, shrewd in business – though quite uneducated – with a retentive memory, with better support from the French, he might have driven the English out of Southern India…. His son Tippoo (1753-99), as powerful a warrior as his father held his own against the Octopus, the Nizam & the Marathas but failed like him to obtain the support of Turkey, Afghanistan, France in Mauritius, when besieged by various alliances formed by those three. The armies of Harris, Stuart, Baird, & Arthur Wellesley attacked all together in 1799 & captured his stronghold of Seringapatam [Sri-Ranganath-Paṭam] on May 4, killed him & imprisoned his sons at Vellore. [Buckland]
Haihayas a tribe in the Vindhyās made up of five sub-tribes. They invaded the region between Gungā & Yamunā & took the city of Kāshi [s/a Kārtavirya Haihaya Arjūna]
Haimāvati Pārvati, as daughter of Hīmavat or Himālaya.
Hāldār, Haridas (1864-1935), a nationalist physician friend of Brahmabāndhab Upādhyāya, B.C. Pal, & Sri Aurobindo. For a time edited C.R. Das’ Nārāyaṇa.
Hall Edward (c. 1498-1547), English chronicler, his Chronicle glorifies the Tudors & the social life under Henry VIII. Shakespeare used it for his historical plays.
Hamadryad Greek nymph of the trees, living & dying with the tree she inhabits.
Hamilton Lord George Francis (1845-1927): Under Secretary of State for India under Disraeli 1874-8: Vice President of Council 1878-80: First Lord of the Admiralty 1885-92: Chairman London School Board 1894-5: Secretary of State for India (1895-1903). [Buckland]
Hamlet hero of Shakespeare’s Hamlet – the story created in ancient Germanic times.
Hamlet considered Shakespeare’s greatest tragedy.
Hampden John (1594-1643), English parliamentary leader; his challenge to King Charles I over ship-money (a tax historically imposed only in maritime countries), became an episode in the controversies that led to the English Civil War (1642-51).
Hansa Kaushika & his brother Dimbhuk were friends & ministers of Jarāsandha.
Lālā Hansrāj (1864-1938), Arya Samāj leader, principal of DAV College, Lahore; his appeal for any cause he made his own was always fully met, in men & funds.
Hara-Gauri/ Haragauri biune body of Shiva & Pārvati [s/a Swami Vivekananda]
Hardie, Keir James Keir Hardie (1856-1915), Scottish labour leader, first to represent the working classes in Parliament as an independent (1892); first to lead the Labour party in the House of Commons (1906). In 1907 he visited East Bengal, where his private statements & conversations were misrepresented by English newspapers & agencies as seditious speeches.
Lord Hardinge Charles (1858-1944), 1st Baron of Penthurst, was Viceroy (1910-16). His grandfather Henry Hardinge (1785-1856)…as Gov.-Gen of India (1884-88); provoked the 1st Anglo-Sikh War in 1845, extracted from descendants of Ranjit Singh the Treaty of Lahore to swallow Punjab & Kashmir (part of which he shared with his Kashmiri ally): made 1st Viscount of Lahore; reshaped Govt.’s internal administration, established Christian schools, prohibited Sunday work in Govt. offices so native employees could practise Christian ritual of that day, determined military questions in native & European armies. [Buckland] ― Towards the end of 1911, revolutionaries of Chandernagore group decided to kill Charles Hardinge when he made a ceremonial entry into Delhi, the new capital. The mission was organised by Rash Behari Bose, a relative & colleague of Srish Ghose (q.v.); a picric-acid bomb made by the Anushilan Samiti; Rash Behari trained Basanta Biswas for the mission. On 23 December 1912, the procession for the Viceroy’s State entry into the new capital of British India, the Delhi of the Moghuls, started from the railway station, amidst thousands of troops & hundreds of thousands of spectators. At the head were a number of elephants carrying the Viceroy & the Vicerine, the Ruling Princes, & senior officials. Basanta already on a rooftop in Chāndani Chowk, when the procession entered the Chowk, hurled the bomb at the Viceroy & disappeared into the crowds. Hardinge fainted from loss of blood; the servant holding the umbrella behind him was killed & another wounded. In spite of offers of huge rewards – 100,000 rupees, was offered for information leading to the arrest of the culprit or culprits – & unprecedented police activity the culprits remained undetected. In 1913, under the new Indian Criminal Law Amendment Act, a number of revolutionaries were arrested & convicted. Of them, Basanta, Amir Chand, Awadh Behari & Bālamukund, arrested for a different bomb attack, received capital punishment & two others sentenced to 7 years Rigorous Imprisonment. ― Early in August 1914, Viceroy Hardinge offered to take 2000 volunteers as stretcher-bearers. When almost 50,000 volunteered, Hardinge whittled down the offer to enlist to the Ambulance Corps. In a private letter that year, Sri Aurobindo: “We know Lord Hardinge’s policy: sweet words; quiet systematic coercion; concession where obstinacy would mean too great a row & too much creation of deep-seated hostility.” Spineless INC thanked Hardinge for the prompt despatch of an expeditionary force & a free gift of 100 million pounds sterling (of India’s money) “affording Indians an opportunity of showing that, as equal (sic) subjects of His Majesty, they are prepared to fight in defence of right & justice (sic) & the cause of the Empire.” By All Fools Day 1918, Govt. spent 128 million pounds sterling in addition to the 2.1 million extorted from Princes & public, not counting what the country paid for war equipment. Viceroy Hardinge declared in the British Parliament that India had been “bled white”. In April 1918, Lord Hardinge called a War Conference inviting the ruling Princes & “delegates representing all shades of political opinion”. There G.S. Khaparde proposed that “in order to invoke whole-hearted & real enthusiasm... to mobilise the man-power & material & money, the Parliament should introduce a Bill to establish responsible Govt. in India within a reasonable period which would be specified in the Statute.” The Viceroy ruled it out of order. Immediately after this conference Gandhi wrote to the Viceroy, “But it is the simple truth that our response is due to the expectation that our goal will be reached all the more speedily... it is this faith which has enabled many...to tender to the Govt. their full-hearted co-operation.”... In a similar Conference in Bombay, Tilak’s reply to the Governor’s attack on Home Rulers was twice ruled out of order & he walked out. Kelkar too, ruled out of order because he raised the question of India’s political status, walked out with Horniman & others. Jinnah entered an emphatic protest on the same issue & demanded Govt. raise “a national army to fight the German menace, not a purely mercenary army”.... Though sweet reasonableness & a sympathetic attitude marked the words of Britishers, official & unofficial, during the course of the War, all these were forgotten as soon as the Armistice was signed. Govt. became as reactionary in regard to political reforms & as oppressive as before. [Vide R.C. Majumdar’s History of Freedom Movement; P. Heehs, Bomb in Bengal, 1993; Lajpat Rai, Young India, 1927; Fatehsingh Rao’s Sayājirao of Baroda..., 1989; CWSA vol.36.]
Hardy Thomas (1840-1928), English novelist; after his novels were denounced as indecent & immoral, he became one of the foremost poets.
Hare, Sir Lancelot (1851-1922), served in Bengal & Assam from 1873; member Viceroy’s Council, 1905-06; Lt. Gov. Bengal, 1906; Lt. Gov. East Bengal & Assam, 1906-11, where he continued the measures adopted by his predecessor Fuller.
Haridrumata (the Gautama) Rishi Haridrumata, son of Haridrumata the descendant of Rishi Gotama. He was the guru of Satyakāma Jabāla.
Haris(h)Chandra 28th Sūryavanshi king; he is acclaimed for his piety, justice, & fidelity to his word with which he passed the ordeals Vishwāmitra put him to.
Harkissen Lal (1864-1937), barrister of Dera Ismail Khan in Punjab, & Lahore from 1913, he floated, promoted or organized various companies, banks, & factories [s/a Chaudhuri, Rambhuj Datta].
Harmsworth Trust; Harmsworth & Company owned or established by Alfred C.W. Harmsworth (1865-1922), who, with his brother, formed the world’s largest newspaper empire – Daily Mail, Daily Mirror, Times (see London Times), etc.
Harnām/ Harram Singh, Sir Kuṇwar (prince) of Kapurthāla (b.1851), son of Raja Sir Raṇadhīr Singh Bahadur of Kapurthāla (1831-70). Raṇadhīr Singh succeeded his father Nihāl Singh on 13 Sept. 1852: in the mutiny volunteered his assistance, first at Jalandhar & later marched to Oudh at the head of a mixed force & was engaged there for 10 months, was in several actions action rebels near Cawnpore & Lucknow, showing great bravery: made Grand Commander of the Star of India in 1864 & rewarded with estates confiscated from rebels, & received the right of adoption: died near Aden on a visit to Europe. Harnām Singh was educated at Kapurthāla: managed Kapurthāla estates for 18 years: Hon. Life Secretary of the British Indian Association of Tālukdārs of Oudh: Fellow of Panjab Univ.: Knight Commander of Indian Empire, 1899: Member of Panjab Legislative Council 1900-02: Member of Gov.-Gen.’s Legislative Council: resigned all claims to the succession to the State by becoming a Christian: guest of the nation at the Coronation 1902. In 1911 he was appointed an ornamental member of the Governor’s Punjab Legislative Council. [Buckland]
Haroun al-Rashid Arabic härōōn-äl-räshëd means Aaron the Just. Born at Reyy near Tehran, in 766, he was the third son of the third Abbasid caliph, Mohammed al-Mahdi (ruled 775-85), who entrusted his education to Yaḥyā ibn Khālid, at one time Governor of Arminiya. When Haroun was sixteen he was name second heir after his elder brother, Musa al-Hādi. Yaḥyā continued to advise him when he was named the leader of military expeditions against Byzantium (q.v.) in 780 & 782; the second invasion even reached the Bosporus. Haroun was rewarded by being named governor of Ifriqiyah (Tunisia), Egypt, Syria, Armenia, & Azerbaijan Province in Iran, & the honorific äl-räshëd, the Upright, was added to his name. In September 786, Al-Rashid succeeded his brother Al-Hādi & became the fifth Caliph. His rule coincided with the Islamic Golden Age marked by scientific, cultural, & religious prosperity, as well as Islamic art & music, & Baghdad flourished as a centre of knowledge, culture & trade. In 797 the Byzantine empress Irene made peace & agreed to pay a large sum of money. Irene’s successor, the emperor Nicephorus denounced that treaty but Rashid defeated him in 803 & again in 806, forcing him to make an even more humiliating treaty, which required paying annual tribute to Baghdad. But by 803, Rashid was finding it difficult to hold his vast empire together. Syria (Al Sham) was inhabited by tribes with Umayyad sympathies & remained the bitter enemy of the Abbasids, while Egypt witnessed uprisings against Abbasids due to maladministration & arbitrary taxation. The Umayyads had been established in Spain in 755, the Idrisids in Morocco in 788 & the Aghlabids in Ifriqiyah (now Tunisia) in 800. Besides, unrest flared up in Yemen, & the Kharijites rose in rebellion in Daylam, Kerman, Fars, & Sistan. Revolts also broke out in Greater Khorasan, & al-Rashid waged many campaigns against the Byzantines. Some of the Twelver sect of Shia Muslims blames Harun for his supposed role in the murder of their 7th Imam (Musa ibn Ja'far)…. Very soon it became clear that by dividing the empire between his two sons, Rashid had provided them with sufficient resources to become independent of each other. After his death in 809, a war (the Fourth Fitna) broke out between his two sons, Al-Amin & Al-Ma’mun, which spiralled into a prolonged period of turmoil & warfare throughout the Caliphate, ending only with Ma’mun’s final triumph in 827.
Harpies daughters of Electra, the sea nymph, & Thaumas, they were born with woman’s head & body, & bird’s wings & claws. Ministers of divine vengeance, they punished criminals such as Phineus whom they tortured for impiety; or caught criminals & handed them over to the Erinnyes for punishment.
Harris, F. Frank Harris (1856-1931), British-American journalist known for his autobiography. His biography of Shaw came out in 1931.
Lord Harris George Robert Canning (1851-1932), 4th Baron Harris: Under Secretary of State for India 1885-6: Under Secretary for War 1888-9: while Gov. of Bombay 1890-95, implementing the official policy of proving by hook or crook that Sayājirao needed to be upbraided for his independence, he once complained to French (the tutor of his children) who happened to attend a reception at the Govt. House, that Mahārāni Chimnābai had shown discourtesy to Lady Harris by failing to pay a courtesy call on her & darkly added that “Her Majesty the Queen of England was sure to be annoyed if she were to know of this lapse”. It did not count with him that Chimnābai was then in an advanced state of pregnancy & hardly in a condition to exchange formal visits – so much for the world-famous sense of fair play of a worthy arm of the British Octopus after captaining Eton Eleven, three years on Oxford Eleven, &, as prominent cricketer for Kent, captaining England’s team! The prospect of the retirement of Lord Harris as Governor of Bombay emboldened certain loyalists in the province to propose that a public memorial should be raised in his honour. Tilak criticised the administration of Lord Harris in a series of articles in his Kesari. Lovers of sports are free, he declared, to go into ecstasies over the achievements of Lord Harris. It would be callousness, however, to raise any memorial in his honour in the name of the general public. [Buckland & S.L. Karandikar]
Harrison, Frederic (1831-1923), president of English Positivist Committee.
Harsha/Sriharsha Harshavardhana (c.590-647) was the second son of his father, Prabhākarvardhana, king of Thāneshwar (in Eastern Punjab)…. The dominant powers in India in the latter half of the 6th century, were the Maukharies in the Madhya-deśa (Ganges valley) & in South India the Chālukyas. A powerful alliance was formed in the Madhya-deśa when the Maukhari king Grahavarman married Rājyashri the daughter of Prabhākarvardhana of the Śhaiva Pushyabhūti family of Thāneshwar, the other most powerful family of the Madhya-deśa. Fearful of the outcome to his own kingdom, the king of Mālwā killed Grahavarman & threw Rājyashri into prison at Kanauj. Rājyavardhana avenged the death of his brother-in-law, but was later murdered by Śaśanka, king of Gauḍa, who had invited him by false courtesy & he had gone to him unarmed. It was then that the elders of Kanauj offered the crown to Rājyavardhana’s & Rājyashri’s younger brother Harshavardhana in 606 AD. In effect Harsha had to take charge of his rightful kingdom of Thāneshwar & that of Kanauj as Grahavarman had died childless. As a result, not only had he to consolidate his authority in the two kingdoms over which he was called upon to rule, he had to rescue his sister, who had escaped from her confinement in Kanauj, & avenge the death of his brother. He befriended Mādhava Gupta who belonged to the line of “the latter Guptās” of Mālwā & Magadha & accompanied by Mādhava rescued his sister. He made a treaty of alliance with Bhāskarvarman, the ambitious king of Kāmarūpa (present Assam), who was in a position to attack Śaśanka the king of Gauḍa from the rear & sent his chief noble to attack Śaśanka, but it was not until 619 that Śaśanka was subdued. Harsha is said to have waged incessant warfare until in six years he succeeded in strengthening his position in the home territories, & in 612 assumed full regal titles. By 641, Harsha had made a matrimonial alliance with Dhrūvabhaṭa, king of Vallabhi (Gujarat). In 641 he assumed the title of king of Magadha & exchanged embassies with China. There are references in literature to Harsha’s expeditions to Himalayan kingdom which became his vassal, to Kashmir & to Sindh whose ruler had already been humbled by his father. His empire embraced the old kingdoms of Thāneshwar & Kanauj, & the provinces of Ahichchhatrā (later Rohilkhand), Śrāvastī (later Oudh) & Prayāga. His armies had overrun almost the whole of Northern India from Kashmir to Narmada, & Vallabhi to Ganjam (eastern Odishā). The king of Kāmarūpa was his ally & dared not disobey his commands. Kanauj, the imperial capital, had the Ganges on its west side. It is described by Hiuen Tsang was a very strongly defended city with lofty structures everywhere. There were beautiful gardens & tanks with clear water. Rarities from strange lands were collected here. The inhabitants were well-off & there were families with great wealth. The people had a refined appearance & dressed in glossy silk attire. They were given to learning & the arts. Harsha also showed a taste for literature & the arts of peace that reminds one of the versatile heroes, Samudra Gupta. In his later days he sought to emulate, perhaps unconsciously, the great Asoka, & the Chinese pilgrim bears eloquent testimony to his pious foundations, his toleration, liberality & benevolence, all irrespective of caste & creed. A great general & a just administrator, he was even greater as a patron of religion & learning. He gathered round himself some of the finest intellects & holiest sages – men like Bāṇa, Mayūra, Divākara, & Hiuen Tsang. His rule saw the composition of poetic works of Bāṇa, Mayūra (a lyric poet who wrote the Kādambari & Harsha-charita), Bhartŗihari, Subandhu & the royal poets, Śrī Harsha & Mahendravarman. A poet of no mean order, emperor Harsha composed three Sanskrit gems: Nāgānanda (epithet of Shiva), Ratnāvali, & Priyadarśika. [Based on S. Bhattacharya; R.C. Majumdar et al’s Advanced History of India: 94, 128, 141-153, 194, 198, 201].
Harvey Gabriel (1545?-1630), poet, university don, & friend of Edmund Spenser.
Sir Harvey Adamson (1852-1929): Judicial Commissioner, Upper Burma 1900-03; Additional Member, Viceroy’s Council 1903-05; Chief Judge, Burma 1905; Member, Viceroy’s Council 1906-10; Home Member c.1907-08; Lt.-Gov., Burma 1910-15.
Hassan Imam Syed Hasan Imam (1871 -1933), nationalist Muslim of U.P.: Staunch constitutionalist: presided over 1918 Special Session of INC at Bombay: converted to Gandhism during Khilafat Agitation: joined Gandhi’s Satyagraha in 1930.
Hastings, Warren (1732-1818), employee of East India Co. started at Calcutta 1750: to Kasimbazar 1753: Member Council there, imprisoned at Murshidabad 1756, joined the British refugees from Calcutta at Falta: after British crushed Nawab of Murshidabad made its Resident 1757-60 by Clive then Gov. Calcutta: sent to Patna to bulldoze trade concessions: sent to Madras as second in its Council 1769: Gov. Bengal from April 13, 1772: appointed Gov.-Gen. with four colleagues from 20 Oct,1774, of the four Francis, Clavering & Monson opposed him & Barwell sided with him: Raja of Nunda Kumar, a willing cat’s paw of Clive & Hastings, having gone through exhilarating ups & devastating downs, brought before the Council some grave charges against Hastings in March 1775, only to be himself prosecuted on trumped up charges, convicted & hanged on Aug 5, 1775; after two enemies of his on his Council died he fought & wounded the third: drove Hyder Ali out of Carnatic & Mahrattas by help of Scindia: tried to extort money from the Raja of Banaras & humiliated & deposed him for refusing: extorted huge sums from the Nawab of Oudh: his impeachment for maladministration by Burke (q.v.) & others with assistance of Sir P. Francis, began in Feb. 1788, lasted 145 days cost him £70,000 which E.I. Co. reimbursed: acquitted of all charges in April 1795: when he attended House of Commons in 1813, the whole House rose & did him honour: made Privy Councillor: his statue was erected in Calcutta. [Buckland]
Hastings Street in Calcutta, connecting Dalhousie Square & Strand Road was named, not after Warren Hastings, but Francis Rawdon, First Marquis of Hastings (1754-1826): eldest son of the first Earl of Moira: entered the Army 1771 & the 5th foot 1773: to America: engaged at Bunker’s Hill 1775 & in other battles till 1781: Lt-Col. & Adjutant-Gen. in America 1778: captured by the French on his voyage to England 1781: made Baron Rawdon 1783: took the additional name Hastings 1790: succeeded as Earl of Moira 1793: commanded reinforcements in Flanders: Lt-Gen. 1798: C-in-C in Scotland: General 1803: Master of Ordnance 1806: Constable of the Tower of London: Gov.-Gen. & C-in-C of India Oct. 1813 to Jan. 1823: war against Nepal, 1814-6 created Marquis of Hastings for his success: took command in the Pindari war of 1817-8 & made subsidiary treaties with them: deposed the cowardly Peshwa Bājirao II & defeated the Mahratta Confederacy thus making the British power supreme all over India: resigned because his order to W. Palmer & Co. of Hyderabad to lend 60 lakhs to the Nizam was disallowed by E.I. Co.’s Directors: his statue was erected in Calcutta by the British residents there: wrote lengthy summary of his Indian administration, victorious wars & extension of British territory as well as for his personal ability, both in his civil & military capacities. [Buckland: 193, 321]
Hathayoga Pradīpikā by Svātmarāma.
Havell E.B. Havell (1861-1934) came to India in 1884 to take charge of Govt. School of Art, Madras, & worked as its superintendent up to 1892. In 1896-06 he was principal of Govt. School of Art, Calcutta. He left India in 1907. The artistic renaissance of India owes a great deal to him. He was one of the strongest critics of Ravi Varmā’s paintings.
Hayagrīva in one form of Buddhism a fierce protective deity, usually with a horse’s head in its hair; in another, a god of fire who assists Bodhisattva Avalokiteshwar.
Hebe goddess of youth, daughter of Zeus & Hera, the cup-bearer of the Olympian gods & personal attendant of Hera.
Hecate moon-goddess, daughter of the Titan Coeus. She is Persephone’s attendant in the Underworld, where she has the power to conjure up phantoms, dreams, & the spirits of the dead; in this aspect she is the goddess of ghosts, witchcraft & sorcery.
Hector eldest of the 19 children of King Priam & Queen Hecuba of Troy.
Hegel G.W. Friedrich (1770-1831) what he wrote on ethics, aesthetics, history, & religion influenced Existentialism, Marxism, Positivism, & Analytical philosophy.
Heine Heinrich Heine (1797-1856), German poet & author whose lyrics, ballads, & essays dwelt on German literature, politics & philosophy.
Helenus a warrior & prophet son of Priam king of Troy.
Helios/ Haelios son of the Titans Hyperion & Theia. He leaves his palace in the east on a golden chariot drawn by four immortal horses to traverse to his palace in the west. Later he denoted the Sun’s material aspects while Apollo took up its spiritual aspects.
Hellas or Ellas, originally confined to Phthia, in Thessaly, it stands for all Greece.
Hellene(s) traced their descent to Hellen, grandson of Prometheus. The term “Hellenism” stands for Greek idiom or construction, nationality & culture, & also applied to the ideals of later thinkers who draw their inspiration from ancient Greece.
Helots term of a class of serfs in ancient Sparta; used for all serfs.
Helps, Sir Arthur (1813-75), English writer popular for his Friends in Council series (1847-59), dialogues on ethics, dramas, a novel, & Brevia (short essays).
Henry IV (1553-1610), first Bourbon king of France (1589-1610).
King Henry applicable to any for the four Henry’s in Shakespeare’s plays.
Henry the Eighth (1491-1547), ruled (1509-47) when English Reformation began.
Hephaestus/ Hephaistos son of Zeus; a lame craftsmen he made Zeus’ thunderbolts, Achilles’ armour & Agamemnon’s sceptre, & married Charis & Aphrodite.
Hera daughter of the Titans Cronus & Rhea; wife & sister of Zeus to whom she bore Hephaestus & Ares. She & Zeus worked for Troy’s destruction as it no longer served Zeus’ will. In Sri Aurobindo’s Ilion, she is a sublime figure devoid of the passions of vanity & jealousy that Greek myths attribute to her.
Heraclidae descendants of Heracles; a name especially used for Hyllus & his descendants, the leaders of the Dorian invasion of the Peloponnesus.
Heraclitus (c.535-c.475 B.C), Greek philosopher of Ephesus. Sri Aurobindo: Heraclitus’ account of the cosmos is an evolution & involution out of his one eternal principle of Fire, – at once the one substance & the one force, – which he expresses in his figurative language as the upward & downward road. ‘The road up & down,’ he says, ‘is one & the same.’ Out of Fire, the radiant & energetic principle, air, water & earth proceed, – that is the procession of energy on its downward road; there is equally in the very tension of this process a force of potential return which would lead things backward to their source in the reverse order. In the balance of these two upward & downward forces resides the whole cosmic action; everything is a poise of contrary energies. The movement of life is like the back-returning of the bow, to which he compares it, an energy of traction & tension restraining an energy of release, every force of action compensated by a corresponding force of reaction. By the resistance of one to the other all the harmonies of existence are created. We have the same idea of an evolution of successive conditions of energy out of a primal substance-force in the Indian theory of Sāṅkhya. There indeed the system proposed is more complete & satisfying. It starts with the original or root energy, mūla-prakrti, which as the first substance, pradhāna, evolves by development & change into five successive principles. Ether, not fire, is the first principle, ignored by the Greeks, but rediscovered by modern Science. [SABCL 16:352]
Herbert, William (1580-1630), 3rd Earl of Pembroke, English patron of letters.
Hercules Latin for Heracles the mightiest & most popular of Greek heroes; son of Zeus & Alemene. He was given twelve great labours after accomplishing which he would become immortal. Sri Aurobindo’s Ilion refers to two of his labours: killing the Hydra & his fight with the Centaurs who, maddened with wine, attacked him. Though he won immortality, he immolated himself on Mt. Oeta to escape the torture caused by a garment smeared with the blood of a centaur he had slain with a poisoned arrow.
Hermes son of Zeus & Maia, messenger of Zeus & conductor of souls to Hades; god of commerce & trade, cheats & thieves, gamblers, athletic contests, & eloquence; depicted in winged sandals, staff with white ribbons, & travelling-hat with wings.
Hernani a tragedy by Victor Hugo.
Herod (c.73-04 B.C), governor of Galilee under the Romans, he obtained the title of King of Judaea in 37 BC. His descendants ruling Palestine were also called Herods.
Heroides ‘Heroines’ refers to Ovid’s Epistulae Heroidum, Letters from Heroines.
Herpe sword of Athene, the goddess of Wisdom.
Herreros Hereros or Ovahereros, a tribe of Bantu Negroes of Namibia.
Herschel After William Herschel (1738-1822) English astronomer discovered Uranus (q.v.) in March 1781 it was for some time called Herschel, though he himself had proposed Georgium Sidus (Georgian planet) as its name, after George III.
Hertha title of one of Swinburne’s “Songs before Sunrise” which calls for emancipation of the soul under the influence of Hertha, earth-goddess, Spirit of Life.
Hesiod Greek poet, first to incorporate a set of instructions poetically. His most famous poem contains advice for his brother & maxims for farmers.
Hesper(us) father of the Hesperides (nymphs). In a garden on the enchanted island in the western sea, he guards a tree which bears golden apples, &, as the most brilliant star, leads the other stars out into the sky (see Venus).
Hildebrand Ildebrando (1020-85) an Italian priest installed as Pope in 1073, under name Gregory VII. He enforced his Church’s edicts with unanswerable authority.
Himalaya(s)/ Himalay/ Himaloy/ Himavan Himādri or Tushārādri in Sanskrit.
Hindu Marriages (Validity) Bill See Patel, Viṭhalbhai.
Hindu Punch journal edited by Bhide, a lawyer of Poona. It had to stop publication in 1909 as the result of a defamation suit filed against it by Gokhale.
(Hindu) Patriot loyalist English weekly founded in 1853 by Girish Chunder Ghosh & edited by him. Later it was edited by Hurrish Chunder Mukherji assisted by Sambhunath Mukherji (q.v.); on Hurrish Chandra’s death in November 1861, the editorship was taken up by Kristo Das Pal (q.v.).
Hindu Sabhā Unlike the Congress, the League fulfilled its role to the hilt & the pleased British added to its armoury a separate Muslim electorate under the Morley-Minto Reforms of 1909. That was a catalyst for Hindu leaders coming together to create an organisation to protect the rights of the Hindu community members. Arya Samāj leaders Lajpat Rai & others established the Punjab Hindu Sabhā; Madan Mohan Malaviya (q.v.) presided over its first session at Lahore in October 1909. It organised the Punjab Provincial Hindu Conference, which criticised the Indian National Congress for failing to defend Hindu interests, & called for promotion of Hindu-centred politics; & five more annual provincial conferences in Punjab. Over the next few years, several such Hindu Sabhās were established… in United Provinces, Bihar, Bengal, Central Provinces & Berar, & Bombay Presidency. On 8 December 1913, the Punjab Hindu Sabhā passed a resolution to create an All India Hindu Sabhā at its Ambālā session which proposed holding a general conference of Hindu leaders from all over India at the 1915 Kumbha Mela in Haridwar. It formally changed its name to Akhīl Bhāratīya Hindu Mahāsabhā at its sixth session in April 1921. Under Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya the Mahāsabhā campaigned for Hindu political unity, for the education & economic development of Hindus as well as for the conversion of Muslims to Hinduism. In the late 1920s, the Mahāsabhā came under the influence of leaders like B.S. Moonje & V.D. Sāvarkar. In 1925, its former member K.B. Hedgewar left to form the Rāshṭriya Swayamsevak Saṇgha.
Hindu Spiritual Magazine started & edited by Shishir Kumar Ghose (q.v.) after his conversion to Vaishnavism in 1893.
Hindustan launched by Rambhuj Dutt (q.v.), & edited by Lālā Dinānāth (q.v.).
Hindustan Standard English daily of Calcutta founded in 1937 by Satyendranath Majumdar & edited by Dhirendranath Sen.
Hippias Major & Minor are two of Plato’s shorter dialogues, depicting Hippias of Elis, a Sophist philosopher (c.5th cent. BC). Hippias Minor deals with “wrong-doing is involuntary”; Hippias Major discusses the question “What is the fine (or beautiful)?”
Hippocrates (c.460-c.377 BC), Greek physician.
Hippocrene fountain on Mount Helicon in Boeotia (q.v.) sacred to the Muses, having been produced by the stroke of a hoof of Pegasus (q.v.).
Hippogriff or Hippogryph having a horse’s body & hind & a griffin’s head & wings.
Hiraṇyagarbha The Golden Womb, the Golden Egg is the source of the manifested Cosmos in Vedic philosophy as well as an avatar of Vishnu in the Bhāgavata. The Hiraṇyagarbha Sūkta (Rig Veda 10.121, verse 8) says: He is the God of gods. Vishvakarman Sūkta (Rig Veda 10.82) too speaks of Hiraṇyagarbha as the Golden Womb. Vedanta calls Hiraṇyagarbha the Soul of the Universe or the Brahman, & elaborates that it floated around in emptiness & the darkness of the non-existence for about a year, & then broke into two halves which formed the Swarga & the Pṛthvi.
According to Matsya Purāṇa (2.25-30), after Mahāprālaya, the Ultimate Dissolution of the Manifested Cosmos, there was darkness everywhere. Everything was in Sushupti, dream sleep, there was nothing, either moving or static. Then the Swayambhu, the self-manifest
Being arose. It created the primordial waters first & established the seed of creation into it. The seed turned into the Golden Womb or Egg, Hiraṇyagarbha & Swayambhu entered it. That is the origin of all Creation. In Manu Smṛti 1.9 Hiraṇyagarbha is also Brahmā, because he was born from a golden egg. The Nārāyaṇa Sūkta exclaims that everything that is, visible or invisible, all this is pervaded by Nārāyaṇa within & without. The Īśvara Upaniṣad says that Īśvara, Shiva, the Creator, pervades the Creation, He is all that is dynamic & all that is static; He is far & near; within & without everything.
Hiranyakashipu an Asura who for his tapasyā had been granted lordship of the three worlds by Shiva, persecuted even his son Prahlāda for worshipping Vishnu & was slain by Vishnu’s Narasimha form.
Hitabādi Bengali nationalist daily of Calcutta, edited by Panchcowri Banerjee (q.v.).
Hitaishi nationalist journal from Barisal. It 1905 it urged Swadeshis to adopt the successful Chinese boycott of American goods against British goods.
Hitopadesha ethical tales & fables by Narayana in 12th century from Panchatantra.
Hittites ancient people living in Asia Minor & Syria from c.2000 to 1200 BC.
Hobbs Sir John Berry, known as Jack Hobbs (1882-1963). He retired from international cricket in 1934 & in 1953 he became the first cricketer to be knighted.
Hobhouse Charles Edward Henry (1862-1941): Under-Secretary of State for India (1907-08): Financial Secretary to the Treasury (1908-11).
Hofer, Andreas (1767-1810), Austrian patriot & Tyrolese general, he fought Napoleonic France & Bavaria for two years; he was captured & executed in 1810.
Hohenzollern(s) German dynasty ruling Brandenburg (1415-1918), Prussia (1525-1918), & Germany (1871-1918).
Holdich, Sir Thomas (b.1843) Royal Engineers 1862: Brevet-Colonel 1891: served in Bhutan expedition 1865: Afghan war 1878-80: Tirah expedition 1879-8: on special duty with Afghan Boundary Commission 1884-6: Superintendent of Frontier Surveys, India, 1892-8: Pamir Commission 1895: wrote The Indian Borderland 1901, The Gates of India 1910. [Buckland]
Holinshed Raphael (d.c.1580). His Chronicles of England, Scotland, & Ireland was a source book for Shakespeare & many other Elizabethan dramatists.
Holkar family name of the Maratha rulers of Indore. The state was founded by Malharrao Holkar (1728-64). He was succeeded by Tukojirao (d.1797), Jaiwantarao (d.1811), Malharrao (1805-33) & Tukojirao II (1832-1886) who was, on Malharrao’s death, empowered by the British in 1852 with ‘royal authority’ i.e. feudatory obligations such as paying through his nose for British ‘protection’. ― “The thoroughness of his loyalty during the mutiny of 1857 was at first doubted but, after the defeat of his army, which attacked the British Residency at Indore [like happened with Gwalior’s Jayājirao], his prudent & circumspect behaviour was held to entitle him to confidence & was made Knight Grand Commander of the Star of India in 1861: received the Prince of Wales with great ceremony when H.R.H. visited India in 1875: made a General in 1877; died 1886.” [Buckland]
Holland formerly a part of the Holy Roman Empire, it was the chief member of the United Provinces of the Netherlands from 1579 to 1795.
The Hollow Men poem by American-English poet Thomas Steams Eliot.
Holy Alliance term originally for 19th century European alliance ostensibly formed for conserving religion, justice & peace, but used for repressing popular tendencies towards constitutional government. It was formed at Paris by Alexander I of Russia, Francis I of Austria, & Frederick William III of Prussia on 26 September 1815. Subsequently it was joined by all the sovereigns of Europe, except the Pope & the King of England. It ended after the 1830 revolution in France.
Holy Office In 1908 when the Inquisition became an organ of papal government the word Inquisition was dropped & the Congregation charged with maintaining purity of faith came to be known officially as the Holy Office.
Homer principal figure of ancient Greek literature, & the First European poet. Legends about Homer were numerous in ancient times. He was said to be blind, & seven different cities claimed him. Modern scholars generally agree that there was a poet named Homer, who lived before 700 BC, probably in Asia Minor, that he wrote for an aristocratic society, & that the Iliad & the Odyssey are each the product of one poet’s work. “For centuries during the Mauryan-Scythian era (4th cent BC – 4th cent AD) India was in intimate contact with the Graeco-Roman world. Embassies were exchanged…Indian philosophers, traders, & adventurers were to be found in the intellectual circles of Athens & in the markets of Alexandria…. A Greek orator, Dion Chrysostom, informs us that the poetry of Homer was sung by the Indians, who had translated it into their own language & modes of expression so that even Indians were not unacquainted with the woes of Priam, the weeping & wailing of Andromache & Hecuba & the heroic feats of Achilles & Hector.” [Advanced History of India, R.C. Majumdar et al, 3rd Ed., 1973-1974, p.135]
Home Rule (Movement) Irish movement to secure internal autonomy for Ireland within the British Empire. The Home Government Association, calling for an Irish parliament, was termed in 1870 by Isaac Butt, a Protestant lawyer who popularized “Home Rule” as the movement’s slogan. In 1873 the Home Rule League replaced the association & Butt’s moderate leadership gave way to that of the aggressive Charles Stewart Parnell. The Home Rule Bill in British Parliament became law on September 18, 1914, but was inoperative during World War I – an anachronism in the post-war world of independence movements & never came into force [s/a Besant, Hardinge, Indian Sociologist, Lucknow, Tilak,]
Home Ruler(s) or Home Rule Party members of the Indian Home Rule Society founded in London in February 1905 by Shyamji Krishnavarma with the object of securing Home Rule for India through propaganda in the U.K.
Hooghly/ Hughly/ Hugly district on the Hooghly River is c.20 miles north of Calcutta. In c.1859, Sir William James Herschel discovered that fingerprints remain stable over time & are unique across individuals; as Chief Magistrate of the Hooghly district in 1877, he was the first to institute the use of fingerprints & handprints as a means of identification, signing legal documents, & authenticating transactions. The fingerprint records collected at this time were used for one-to-one verification only; as a means in which records would be logically filed & searched had not yet been invented. Sir Edward Henry, I.G. Bengal Police, influenced by Galton’s fingerprinting system that included the patterns formed by loops, whorls & arches ordered Bengali Police in 1896 to add prisoners’ fingerprints to their anthropometric measurements. He developed his own classification system in which he was mainly assisted by Azizul Haque who developed a mathematical formula to supplement Henry’s idea of sorting in 1024 pigeon holes based on fingerprint patterns, & Hem Chandra Bose, another of Henry’s assistants helped refine the system, for which, years later & only on Henry’s insistence did the two receive recognition by the Govt. In 1901 Henry was appointed Asst. Commissioner, Scotland Yard, heading its CID. In the same year, the first UK fingerprint bureau was established at Scotland Yard.
Hooshka The territories in the Indus valley & western India from southern Afghanistan downwards was styled Scythia by Greeks in 1st & 2nd centuries when they had fallen into the hands of the Kushāns of Central Asia. The most famous Scythian-Kushān king Kanishka I, who ruled from Purūshapūra (renamed Peshawar by Akbar) up to c.110 AD, patronised Buddhism. Huvishka, his grandson, made Mathura his centre & adorned it with monuments. His rival king, Vājeshka assumed the title of Kaisara [cf. Czar, Caesar]. In Kalhānā’s Chronicle there is reference to the rule of ‘Hushka, Jushka & Kanishka’ apparently identical with Huvishka, Vājeshka & his son who were the reputed founders of three cities in Kashmir named after them. [Advanced History of India, R.C. Majumdar, H.C. Raychaudhuri & Kalikinkar, 1973-74]
Hopkins, Gerald Manley (1844-89) Victorian poet, unappreciated in his lifetime.
Horace (65-08 BC); after the death of Virgil, he was the chief literary figure in Rome. He represents par excellence the spirit of the Augustan Age of Rome.
Horu Thakur Harekrishna Deerghangi (1738-1813), renowned Kaviāl – title of versifiers or poets of Bengal who compose & recite poems impromptu. He learnt composing from a weaver & gained great influence as consummate Kaviāl in some royal courts. In old age he became court-poet of Navakishan Dev of Shobhabazar Raj. Sakhi-Samvād & Premer Kobitā are outstanding among his works [s/a Navakishan].
Hound of Heaven by Francis Thompson, it depicts God’s pursuit of human souls.
The House of Brut – Fragment of a Drama editorial title of a untitled unfinished piece published in SABCL Vol. 7, “Collected Plays”, pp.881-88. The same piece is published in CWSA Vol. 2, “Collected Poems” as A Dialogue (q.v.).
Housman, A.E. Alfred Edward Housman (1859-1936), English poet & classical scholar whose lyrics express a Romantic pessimism in a spare, simple style.
Hriday(a) nephew & personal attendant of Sri Ramakrishna.
Hrishikesh(a) “master of the senses”, an epithet of Sri Krishna.
Hubris Hybris, Greek for overweening presumption suggesting impious disregard of the limits governing men’s actions in an orderly universe. In Greek tragedy it is usually the basic flaw of the tragic hero.
Huerta Victoriano Huerta (1854-1916), Mexican general & president (1913-14). He served under Porfirio Diaz, & after the successful revolution of Madero (1911) aided the new president (Madero) but betrayed Madero & himself became the president in 1913. His tyranny led to rebellions including one led by Carranza, Villa, & Zapata. He resigned in 1914, went to Europe & the USA where he was jailed & died in custody.
Hugo, Victor Victor Marie Vicomte Hugo (1802-85), French poet, dramatist & novelist, a towering figure in 19th-century French literature, who had great power to shape public opinion in France.
Hull when known as Kingston-on-Hull, a county borough on the shores of river Humber, Hull was one of the chief outlets for the industrial Yorkshire & Lancashire districts, with a number factories producing oil, agriculture machinery, textiles, paper, cement, leather goods.
Hume David (1711-76), English philosopher, historian, economist, & essayist who conceived of philosophy as the inductive, experimental science of human nature.
Hume/ Allan Hume/ A.O. Hume Allan Octavian (1829-1912), educated at Haileybury College set up in 1805 by East India Co for nominees to its ICS: member ICS (1849-82): served in North-West Frontier Province, Commissioner of Inland Customs, Secretary to Govt. of India in Revenue & Agriculture Dept.: Member Board of Revenue NWFP 1879: magistrate of Etāwāh during the uprising of 1857, he was (says his officially recorded statement) saved by the townspeople who disguised & smuggled him to a place of safety: awarded Companion of Bath 1860: retired 1882: chief founder of the I.N.C., its general secretary (1885-1907), member of its British Committee (1887-1912). [Buckland] ― Possessed with something of a great & noble spirit & adequate experience of how high & serious were Indian affairs, he was pained to see the brutality inflicted by the age-limit for ICS Exams (1876), the Vernacular Press Act (1878), & the Ilbert Bill (1882) on the English-educated middle class & the wretchedness of the masses due to Pax Britannica. Having retired from the Service in 1882, he went to Viceroy Dufferin (q.v.) with evidence of widespread outbreak of violent crimes threatening to escalate into a widespread revolt of the starving masses, thus confirming the reports Dufferin had received from British C.I.D. in India & in London about Russian & Afghan intrigues & possible intrusions under the guise of a Second 1857. Over the several meetings they had, Dufferin asked him to set up a sort of Majlis where Indian politicians could vent dissatisfactions & disappointments & suggest their solutions, but make sure they have no connection with the suffering proletariat. It was in effect, Hume would say, “a safety-valve for the escape of the great & growing forces” for which the British themselves were responsible; “& no more efficacious safety-valve than our Congress movement could be devised”. In order to achieve this goal, Hume visited England & met veterans like John Bright, Sir James Caird, Lord Ripon, some sitting M.P.s, William Wedderburn, George Yule, & Charles Bradlaugh. Back in India, he consulted the local Indian leaders in the various provinces & invited them to assemble in December 1885 at Bombay to establish an all-India political organization. Thus was formed the ‘safety-valve’ which the Govt. hoped would release the pent up dissatisfactions & ideas in the law-abiding native intelligentsia. In 1888, annoyed that Govt. was neither heeding his herd’s thundering resolutions nor bothered about the worsening “sufferings of the Indian masses from famine & disease” which arose from “preventable poverty”, Hume initiated a nationwide awareness programme to bring the masses into the Congress movement so that “every Indian that breathes upon the sacred soil of this our motherland may become our comrade, coadjutor, our supporter & if need be our soldier in the great war…for our liberties & rights.” But his Congressmen were as scared even to orally support such ideas as they were when Hume sought to infuse manhood into them in 1883 with, “…all vital progress must spring from within”; “they who would be free themselves must strike the blow”; “whether in the case of individuals or nations, self-sacrifice & unselfishness are the only unfailing guides to freedom & happiness”. [Quotes from History & Culture of the Indian People, 1963, R.C. Majumdar et al, Vol. X, part II] Being informed by the Govt. that his efforts of infusing the idea of liberty in the starving masses would uncap the rumbling volcano of 1857, Hume kept the proletariat off the board, & began, to quote Sri Aurobindo, “ by accustoming the INC as well as its adversaries to its own corporate reality, to proceed by a definitive statement of its case to the Viceregal government, & for a final throw to make a vehement & powerful appeal to the English parliament, an appeal that should be financed by the entire resources of middle-class India & carried through its stages with an iron heart & an obdurate resolution, expending moreover infinite energy, so & so only could the dubious road Mr Hume was treading, lead to anything but bathos & anti-climax.” Adopting Bannerjea’s idea of setting up a committee of English ‘friends’ to lobby in England, in 1887 Congress set up a Committee under Hume, Wedderburn, Henry Cotton, & Naoroji on an annual budget of Rs.45,000/-. Within a decade the committee proved too ineffective & expensive & was dropped. [A.P. Kaminsky, The India Office – 1880-1910] In 1908, Hume retired from the affairs of his offspring, the self-styled Indian National Congress which the very next year declared him her “father & founder”. [W. Wedderburn, Life of Allan Octavian Hume.]
Hun(a) The Huns were a race of fierce barbarians who issued from the steppes of Central Asia & in the 4th century spread its devastating hordes over eastern provinces of the Roman Empire & the Gupta Empire in the India which extended from north Bengal to Kātḥiāwāḍ & from the Himālayās to the Narmadā. The Gupta emperor Skanda Gupta (ruled 455-67) succeeded in repelling their early invasions, but in spite of his heroic efforts the empire in its entirety did not long survive the shock it received from waves of Hun hordes & the uprising of the Pushyamitras, a dynasty of Thāneshwar (west of River Jamunā, between present Shimla & Delhi & Kanauj) founded by Pushyamitra. It maintained some sort unity till the days of Budha Gupta (476-95); thereafter the Huns pushed their conquests deep into the Indian interior as far as Eran in eastern Mālwā. They ravaged & occupied Mālwā, the kingdom established by the Mālavas (q.v.). Mihirgula conquered Punjab (then ruled by the Pushyamitras) making its capital Sakala (now Sialkot) his own capital.
The Hun suzerainty rapidly spread in all directions, thanks to the vigour & energy of Toramāna (q.v.) & his son Mihirgula. The last-mentioned ruler is known not only from the inscriptions & coins, but from tradition recorded by Hiuen Tsang & Kalhaṇa, both of whom bear witness to his barbaric rule. He had further been identified with the White Hun King Gollas mentioned by the monk Cosmas Indikopleustes, & also with the Yetha ruler of Gāndhāra by Song Yun, the Chinese pilgrim. An account of his feats is also supposed to be preserved in the Jain stories about Kalki rāja. The expansion of the Hun rule in Central India seems to have been checked by the loyal feudatories of the Guptās, & the Hun imperial power was finally shattered c.528 by Yaśodharvarman of Mandsaur (western Mālwā) who belonged to the Shaiva Aulikara dynasty that ruled Mālwā since the 4th century, first as independent rulers then as feudatories of the imperial Guptās of Kanauj. Not only had the Hun king Mihiragula to pay obeisance at his feet, homage was done to him by chiefs from the neighbourhood of the Brahmaputra up to the Eastern Ghats & from the Himalayas down to the Rameshwaram. After the death of Emperor Harsha in 636 or 647, Yaśodharvarman was among those who tried to maintain the imperial position of Harsha’s empire but failed against the forces that competed to take over that empire.
Petty Hun chieftains continued to rule over a circumscribed area in NW India & Mālwā & were absorbed into the Rājput population. So immense was the assimilative potentiality of the old Indian civilisation that the earlier invaders of the country, the Greeks, the Śakas, & the Huns were absorbed with the fold of her population & completely lost their separate identity. But it did not happen so with the Turko-Afghān invaders of India. In the wake of the Muslim invasions, definite social & religious ideas, which differed fundamentally from those of Hindustan, entered into this country & a perfect absorption of the invaders by the original inhabitants could not be possible. [Based on S. Bhattacharya & Majumdar et al’s Advanced Hist. of India]
Hutashan/ Hutaashon ‘the spiritual energy’ of Agni.
Huxley (1) Thomas Henry (1825-95), British scientist renowned for his defence of Darwinism which he accepted with some reservations. (2) Aldous Leonard (1894-1963), grandson of Thomas Henry, friend & disciple of D.H. Lawrence, wrote novels, essays, biographies, & travel books.
Hybla Hybla Minor, city on east coast of Sicily, mentioned frequently by ancient poets for its honey, its ‘golden milk’.
Syed Hyder Reza leader of a section of the Muslims who opposed to separate representation of Muslims on Govt. councils because it was a wedge to set Muslims against Hindus. In the famous photograph of the nine nationalist leaders taken when they gathered for the 1907 Surat Congress, Reza is sitting to Tilak’s left.
Hymns to the Goddess translation of hymns, mostly from Tantra, by Arthur & Ellen Avalon (q.v.), published in 1913 by Ganesh & Co. (Madras) Ltd.
Hymn to the Naiads one of the later works (1746) of Akenside.
Hypatia (c.370-415) beautiful eloquent Alexandrian Neo-platonic woman philosopher & mathematician; murdered by Alexandria’s Archbishop’s monks.
Hyperion son of Uranus & Gaea; father of Helios (q.v.), Selene (moon-goddess), & Eos (dawn-goddess). ‘Hyperion’ is also an epithet of the Sun himself.
Hyperion The Fall of Hyperion: A Dream an epic poem by John Keats.