Gaj Muktaa
Gaj Motee, or elephant pearl. Elephant pearls are the equivalent of pulp stones in human teeth. They are formed from rounded calcified masses of dentine (ivory) and are recovered from the large soft tissue pulps of the continuously growing teeth (tusks) of mammals such as the elephant (recent and fossil). These rare objects, which are known as Gajamuktaa (Gaja-muthu) are much revered and valued by members of the Buddhist faith - particularly in Sri Lankaa. It is commonly believed that the person who possesses a Gajamukta will be very successful in life and could become king.

Identifying elephant pearls requires a mix of observational skill and advanced spectroscopy. As the elephant pearl consists of a rounded mass of dentine, its surface may be patterned by curving growth layers; but the external surface of the elephant pearl will not display an engine-turned surface. This observation allows its ready discrimination from a shaped elephant molar or carved elephant ivory; but will not allow identification of the species of mammal responsible for producing the pearl. To achieve this discrimination requires use of Raman spectroscopy to determine the relative intensities two specific bands in the suspect elephant pearl's 1064 nm excited Raman spectra.

Gajaanan
Whose face is of elephant. Another name of Ganesh.

Gan
(1) Troop.  (2) Group.  (3) Group of men or angels under the superintendence of Ganesh Jee. That is why he is called Ganapati or Ganaadhipati also.

Ganagaur
Celebrated on Chaitra Shukla Triteeyaa by women. It is said that on this day Paarvatee blesses women for the long life of their husbands. This festival is popular in Raajsthaan.

Ganapati
Who is the Lord of Gan (servants). Another name of Ganesh.

Ganapati Stotra
A special prayer in praise of Ganesh Jee.

Gandh Tailam
Gandh Tailam means the fragrant oil of Champak flower or the oil of sandalwood.

Gandhaar
The third note of North Indian music. There are seven notes in North Indian music - Shadaj, Rishabh, Gandhaar, Madhyam, Pancham, Dhaivat, and Nishaad.

Gandharv

Gandharv Vivaah
One of the eight types of marriages prescribed by Manu. This is love marriage, without ceremony, with the consent of boy and girl.

Ganesh

Ganesh Chaturthee
Bhaadrapad Shukla Chaturthee which is considered the birth date of Ganesh.

Gangaa River

Gangaa Laharee

Garud

Garuddhwaj

Garud Puraan    see also   Puraan
One of the main 18 Puraan. According to Aangiras (p 122), its contents have doubtful value.

Gati
(1) Status. (2) Situation. When a soul is born in lower species, it is said to have bad Gati. Born being a human being is considered a good Gati on Prithvi. In after life if somebody goes to Hell, he is said to have bad Gati. Going to Heaven is a good Gati, and attaining Moksh is the best Gati.

Gauraang
(1) Fair-complexioned. (2) Another name of Chaitanya Mahaaprabhu.

Geetaa

Gems
Expensive stones, such as (1) Heeraa (diamond), (2) Laal, or Chunnee (ruby), (3) Neelam, or Padm-raag, or Indraneel (sapphire), (4) Motee or Muktaa (pearl), (5) Moongaa (coral), (6) Pannaa or Marakat (emerald).

Geroo
A type of red clay which is mostly used in drawing Mandals and other Devtaa-related drawings. It comes in hard lumps, so it is ground and mixed with water, which gives a kind of red ink. Then this ink is used to draw figures on floor or walls. For beauty, other colors are also diluted and filled in thos drawings made by Geroo. It is very popular in north India.

Ghaat
A place on the banks of river, where one can take bath safely. There are several such famous places on various holy rivers, such as Dashaashwamedh Ghaat, Manikarnikaa Ghaat, Naarad Ghaat etc Ghaat at Gangaa River in Vaaraanasee, UP.

Ghadee
A time period in Indian religious astrology - 24 minutes. 
60 Ghadee makes 1 day (60 x 24 minutes = 1440 minutes;    1440/60 minutes = 144/6 = 24 hours = 1 day)

Ghantaa
(1) Bell.  (2) Hour - 1/24th part of one day.

Ghatee     see   Ghadee

Ghatikaa   see   Ghadee

Ghee
Clarified butter. Butter is boiled and its water content is dried. the remains is called Ghee. It is used to light lamp before God, making sweets and food. Normally people do not use oil to light lamps in religious ceremonies. In India people use it in cooking and eat it in their daily food items too.

Ghor
(1) Fierce.  (2) Serious. Eg Ghor Aparaadh = Serious crime; Ghor Paap = Serious sin; Ghore Roop = Fierce form

Go (Gau)
Cow. For several centuries, cow has been a sacred animal in Hindu society. It is interesting to know as how it came to be a sacred animal. In the early Vaidik times, the cow did not have any special place. In fact the Hindu of early Vaidik age ate beef as it is evident from Rig Ved and Uttar-Raamcharit of Bhavabhooti. In due course of time they found that eating beef was not a good idea since it was harmful to human body. The germ of this experience is also present in Rig Ved  itself, where the term "Aghnya" suggests it. As time passed Hindu stopped eating beef and became vegetarian.

History is repeating itself in west. They are rediscovering that beef and other meats are harmful for human body and are becoming vegetarian. The Hindu society did not have large dairy farms. Each family owned its own cow or cows to provide milk, butter, cheese etc. Thus they became the family member and as such people found them difficult to kill that cow which provided milk etc for so long for the family.
[Aangiras, p 126-127]

Go-Charm (Bhoomi)    see also   Distance
2,100 arm-length (2 arm-length = 1 yard, thus 2,100 arm-length land is about 1,050 yard land) land is called Go-Charm Bhoomi (land).
(Naarad Puraan, p 721)

Go-Daan    see also   Daan
Gift of cow or cows. Go-Daan has a great importance in Hindoo religion.

Go-Maya
Cow dung.

Go-Rochan
A yellow pigment obtained from the head of a cow is called Go-Rochan. Some sects use it to apply Tilak on their forehead.

Gopaal Sahstranaam
A book of poems mentioning 1,000 names of Krishn

Gope
Cowherd

Gopee
Cowherdess

Gopee Chandan
Soil of Dwaarakaa.

Gopuram
Literally means "Cow city". The term first assigned to the Vaidik village, later assigned to the gate of the city and finally the monumental entrance. This type of tower is distinguished from the Vimaan by its oblong plan at the top which is an elongated vaulted roof with gable ends. It has pronouncing sloping sides, usually 65 degrees, so that the section at the top is about half the size of the base. Although the first two storeys are usually built solidly of stone masonry, the rest is of lighter material, usually brick and plaster. One can see the Paandyaa Gopuram at Jambookeshwar near Tiruchiraapallee and in Chidaambaram and Tirumalai Temples.

Gotra

Graam
(1) 1/1000th part of Kilogram a measure to weigh dry things.  (2) Village

Graas
Kaur. Morsel.

Graha (Planets)

Graha Devtaa

Grahan
(1) Accepting.  (2) Grasping.  (3) Eclipse. There are two Grahan - Soorya Grahan (Solar eclipse) and Chandra Grahan (Lunar eclipse). Soorya Grahan always falls on Amaavasyaa (New Moon day) and Chandra Grahan always falls on Poornimaa (Full Moon day). Both periods are considered auspicious for charity (Daan) and Jap.

Grains    see also     Cereals
(1) A single unit of a cereal or pulse, or anything. (2) An imperial measurement of weight for dry things

Granthi
(1) Knot.  (2) Problem. 
There are seven Granthi mentioned in Naarad Puraan, p 405 - Kalaa, Kaal (Time), Niyati (destiny), Vidyaa (knowledge), Raag (intense love), Prakriti (five Bhoot), and Gun (attributes - three Gun - Sat, Raj, and Tam).

Greeshm Ritu
Summer - one of the six seasons of India. These six seasons are - (1) Vasant (Spring), (2) Greeshm (Summer), (3) Varshaa (Rainy), (4) Sharad (Autumn or Fall), (5) Hemant (Winter), and (6) Shishir (mild Winter).

Grih

Griha Devtaa
Deity of some family. Many families have their own Deity to worship for. These Griha Devtaa are always worshipped on all important occasions of the family, such as births, marriages, any religious Sanskaar etc.

Grihya-Sootra   See also   Sootra;  Sootra in Ved
A book describing how sacraments should be performed. Several writers have written such books, the more well-known among them being Aashwalaayan, (Ashwalaayan Grihya Sootra) Gobhil, Hiranyakeshee, Paaraskar, Shankhaayan and Aapastamb. All of these books are very similar to each other in contents and were perhaps written during 600 BC - 200 BC period. Much of the materials of these books has been obsolete except some Mantra borrowed from Ved. A new Grihya-Sootra has been written by Aangiras Muni based on Rig Ved, Atharv Ved and other sources to make it meaningful to modern times. There is a Kathak Grihya Sootra also where Kaalee Devee is being mentioned.

Groups  -  Here are given terms used for groups, sounds etc of animals, birds etc

Guhyak
Guhyak are beings born in Dev Yoni and are attendants of Kuber (Devtaa of Wealth), described in the Kaashee Khand of Shiv Puraan.

Gun

Gunaateet [Geetaa, 14/21-27]
A compound word. Gun (attributes) and Ateet (beyond), means who is beyond the three Gun, or who is not affected by Gun - the Supreme Being. There are three Gun - Sat, Raj, and Tam. Sat Gun produces Gyaan, Raj Gun inspires for actions and Tam Gun makes a man ignorant. When these three Gun do not affect a person, he is called Gunaateet. The Supreme Being in Its ultimate Nir-Gun aspect. When it unfolds Itself by Chitt Shakti, It enters into the attributes of the world created in pastime by the play of self-illusion and appears as One possessing attributes. It appears differently according to the characters of such beings and enjoys their attributes. (Bhaagvat Puraan, 2/30-32)

Gunjaa Phal    see     Rattee

Guru

Guru Deekshaa
Vow of rituals.

Gurukul
In olden days, in ancient Inia, education to children was given in Gurukul. Here Guru used to live and educate his Shishya (disciples). In those days Guru was also used to be very respectable and an identifier of the quality of education. People used to take the name of their Guru with very pride. Children used to go there after their Yagyopaveet Sanskaar - between 5-11 years of age normally and stayed there only up to the time their education was finished. Then they gave Guru Dakshinaa to their Guru and came to their parents and marry to enter Grihasth Aashram. This period was called Brahmcharya Aashram.

Gyaan
(1) Knowledge of Shaastra. (2) Bodh power - power to discriminate between good and bad. (3) [Padm Puraan, 3/5] says by whichever knowledge one knows Bhagavaan, is called Gyaan. (4) Awareness.
(5) [Bhavishya Puraan, 1/1], says that there are 14 types of Gyaan - 4 Ved (Rig, Yajur, Saam, and Atharv); 6 Vedaang (Shikshaa, Kalp, Nirukt, Vyaakaran, Chhand, and Jyotish); Meemaansaa; Nyaaya, Puraan; and Dharm Shaastra - including Aayur Ved, Dhanur Ved, Gaandharv Ved and Arth Shaastra (economics) - they constitute the 18 knowledge. So only that knowledge is Gyaan which gives Moksh or helps to attain the Knowledge about Brahm - rest of the knowledge is called Vi-Gyaan. Gyaan is eternal wisdom (example: Hygiene); Vigyaan is contextual knowledge (example: Detergents).

Gyaan Indriyaan    see   Indriyaan

Gyaan Yog    see    Yog

Gyaat
(1) Known.  (2) Understood.  (3) Mentally grasped.
Its antonym is A-Gyaat.

Gyaataa
Knower who wants to know something.

Gyeya
By which something is known.