Absent Lord: A Note On Transliteration

I have employed standard conventions for the romanization of words from Indian languages. Words from Indian languages have been pluralized by adding an unitalicized "s." I have used diacritics on personal names and many place names (although I have used conventional spellings for such familiar place names as Ahmedabad and Delhi). The Hindi retroflex flap and the Sanskrit vocalic "r" are both reproduced as "r." The soft-palatal nasal in words like sangh is represented by an unmarked "n." Many of the Indic words reproduced in this book have both Hindi and Sanskrit forms, with the Hindi form dropping the final "a" (dana thus becoming dan). In keeping with the vernacular milieu of the study, I have privileged the Hindi forms throughout most of the book (Mahavira therefore appearing as Mahavir). In some cases, however, I have bowed to conventions employed by secondary sources on which I rely heavily and have given the more familiar Sanskrit versions (for example, Saiva and Vaisnava). Occasionally, moreover, context or common practice has made it seem desirable to give the word in question in its Sanskrit form even though it has been given in its Hindi form elsewhere in the book. When this has been done, both forms are included in the glossary. Recurrent and important terms, but not all Indic terms, are included in the glossary; Hindi glosses given in the text are not given in the glossary.