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Ahmadabad

(Encyclopedia)Ahmadabad or Ahmedabad both: äˌmədəbädˈ [key], city (2020 est. pop. 8,059,441), Gujarat state, NW India, on the Sabarmati River; also called Amdavad. India's ...

Upanishads

(Encyclopedia)Upanishads o͞opănˈĭshădz [key], speculative and mystical scriptures of Hinduism, regarded as the wellspring of Hindu religious and speculative thought. The Upanishads, which form the last section...

caste

(Encyclopedia)caste [Port., casta=basket], ranked groups based on heredity within rigid systems of social stratification, especially those that constitute Hindu India. Some scholars, in fact, deny that true caste s...

Narayan, R. K.

(Encyclopedia)Narayan, R. K. (Rasipuram Krishnaswami Narayan) nərīˈyän [key], 1906–2001, Indian novelist, b. Madras (now Chennai). Narayan, who wrote in English, published his first novel, Swami and Friends, ...

Ramayana

(Encyclopedia)Ramayana rämäˈyənə [key] [story of Rama], classical Sanskrit epic of India, probably composed in the 3d cent. b.c. Based on numerous legends, it is traditionally the work of Valmiki, one of the m...

Besant, Annie

(Encyclopedia)Besant, Annie bĕzˈant [key], 1847–1933, English social reformer and theosophist, b. Annie Wood. She steadily grew away from Christianity and in 1873 separated from her husband, a Protestant clergy...

Manipur

(Encyclopedia)Manipur mənĭpo͝orˈ [key], state (2001 provisional pop. 2,388,634), 8,628 sq mi (22,347 sq km), NE India, bordered by Myanmar on the south and east. Imphal is the capital. The terrain, mostly jungl...

snake worship

(Encyclopedia)snake worship. The snake has been variously adored as a regenerative power, as a god of evil, as a god of good, as Christ (by the Gnostics), as a phallic deity, as a solar deity, and as a god of death...

Bhopal

(Encyclopedia)Bhopal bōˈpäl [key], former principality, Madhya Pradesh state, central India. A region of rolling downs and thickly forested hills, it is predominantly agricultural. Its Buddhist monuments include...

Malay Peninsula

(Encyclopedia)Malay Peninsula məlāˈ, māˈlā [key], southern extremity (c.70,000 sq mi/181,300 sq km) of the continent of Asia, lying between the Andaman Sea of the Indian Ocean and the Strait of Malacca on the...