Please help my mother solve a nonconventional crossword puzzle. The clue is “Important concept in Indian religions” (as in religions from India, not native American religions) and it starts with MA. The number of letters is unknown. It could be MA_RA but we’re not sure.
I know about Mara, the Buddhist “devil” and have mentioned to her that the word may be transliterated Mahra, so that could fit. Any other suggestions?
mantra
Hinduism. A sacred verbal formula repeated in prayer, meditation, or incantation, such as an invocation of a god, a magic spell, or a syllable or portion of scripture containing mystical potentialities.
Is this a cryptic clue, or a ‘general knowledge’ type puzzle?
If the latter, maybe the M is wrong and it’s actually KARMA.
Mangetout I bow to your superiority.
It’s a pretty special puzzle. The theme is “important concepts in Indian religions” and the puzzle itself is a circle so that each word’s end forms the beginning of the next.
Karma is the previous word, that’s how we got to the MA. Mantra is a good idea, I’ll pass that on.
How about “maya”–“the illusory appearance of the sensible world.”
Thanks all. I just spoke to my mother and she misread the puzzle. The clue for “karma” was “important concept in Indian religions” and the clue for the next word was “and therefore here”, which turned out to be Madras. She thought it said something similar to “and the same here” (it’s a lot more understandable in Swedish).
Ha ha! So I was right. Yar boo sucks to you, Mangetout! 
