Brahman
/ˈbrɑːmən
/noun (plural Brahmans)
1 (also Brahmin) A member of the highest Hindu caste, originally that of the priesthood: [as modifier]: a Brahman family...
- Atharva Veda is also known as Brahma Veda, because it is still used as a manual by Hindu priests and Brahmins.
- The applicant is a citizen of India and a high caste Hindu Brahmin.
- Caste was invented by the Hindu Brahmin or priestly group some 2,000 years ago.
2 [mass noun] The ultimate reality underlying all phenomena in the Hindu scriptures: Brahman is formless but is the birthplace of all forms in visible reality...
- It says Brahman is that ultimate ‘world’ which we gain access to by distilling the world down to its inmost content, or the furthest stop from where we get off by travelling backwards in time-space.
- Guided by a realized guru and avowed to the unreality of the world, the initiate meditates on himself as Brahman, Absolute Reality, to break through the illusion of maya.
- It is very similar to what the Hindus call atman Brahman.
3 US spelling of Brahmin (sense 3).
Derivatives
Brahmanic
- In this descent to the world, Viu comes to support a fusion of bhakti, specifically, devotion to Viu, and dharma, or the orthodox Brahmanic social order that bhakti sometimes appears to challenge.
- With the strengthening of Brahmanic Hinduism and orthodox traditions, the Hindu woman's role within the family and community was redefined in the late 19th century.
- It is a Sanskrit word roughly translatable as music, but in early theoretical treatises meant to embrace a range of practices that included Brahmanic ceremony, song, instrumental music, dance, and certain types of theatre.
Brahmanical
/ adjective ...- The protesters believed that the ancient text is the defining document of Brahmanical Hinduism, and also the key source of gender and caste oppression in India.
- But the Hinayana, and Brahmanical doctrines from Hinduism were taught here too.
- If Brahmanical Hindutva had divided the nation into Hindus and non-Hindus to rule the nation, Muslims too should adopt a divide and rule policy if they have any ambition or compulsion to come near the levers of power.
Origin
From Sanskrit brāhmaṇa (Brahman (sense 1)), brahman (Brahman (sense 2)).