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Madurai

(Encyclopedia)Madurai mədo͝orīˈ [key], city (1991 pop. 1,085,914), Tamil Nadu state, S India, on the Vaigai River. It is known as the “city of festivals and temples” and is the second largest city in Tamil ...

Chola

(Encyclopedia)Chola chōˈlə [key], S Indian dynasty, whose kingdom was in what is now Tamil Nadu. Its chief capitals were at Kanchi (Kanchipuram) and Thanjavur (Tanjore). The Chola kingdom was one of the three of...

Chatterjee, Bankim Chandra

(Encyclopedia)Chatterjee, Bankim Chandra bəngˈkĭm chŭnˈdrə chäˈtərjē [key], 1838–94, Indian nationalist writer, b. Bengal. He popularized a Bengali prose style that became the vehicle of the major natio...

Harsha, Indian emperor

(Encyclopedia)Harsha hûrˈshə [key], b. c.590, Indian emperor (606–47). He became (606) king of a small state in the upper Ganges Valley, and by 612 he had built up a vast army with which he forged nearly all I...

Brahma

(Encyclopedia)Brahma bräˈmə [key], a god often identified, with Vishnu and Shiva, as one of the three supreme gods in Hinduism. In the late Vedic period he was called Prajapati, the primeval man whose sacrifice ...

vegetarianism

(Encyclopedia)vegetarianism, theory and practice of eating only fruits and vegetables, thus excluding animal flesh, fish, or fowl and often butter, eggs, and milk. In a strict vegetarian, or vegan, diet (i.e., one ...

suttee

(Encyclopedia)suttee sŭˌtēˈ, sŭˈtēˌ [key] [Skt. sati=faithful wife], former Indian funeral practice in which the widow immolated herself on her husband's funeral pyre. The practice of killing a favorite wif...

Angkor

(Encyclopedia)Angkor ăngˈkôr [key], site of several capitals of the Khmer Empire, north of Tônlé Sap, NW Cambodia, for about five and a half centuries (9th to 15th), the heart of the empire. Extending over an ...

Shakti

(Encyclopedia)Shakti shŭkˈtē [key] [Skt.,=power], in Hinduism, name given to the female consorts of male deities. The Shakti personifies the dynamic, manifesting energy that creates the universe, while the male ...

Kerala

(Encyclopedia)Kerala kĕrˈələ [key], state (2001 provisional pop. 31,838,619), 15,003 sq mi (38,858 sq km), SW India, on the Arabian Sea. Thiruvananthapuram is the capital. A wet tropical climate and coastal low...
 

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