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sun worship

(Encyclopedia)sun worship. Deification and adoration of the sun occurred primarily in agrarian societies. When man became a farmer, and thus dependent upon daily and seasonal changes of weather, he often turned to ...

Gond

(Encyclopedia)Gond gŏnd [key], ethnic group of central India. The group is now found especially in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh and in neighboring areas of Maharashtra, Telangana, Odisha, Jharkhand, and Uttar P...

Gaur, ruined city, India

(Encyclopedia)Gaur gour [key], ruined city, West Bengal state, India. Known also as Lakhnauti, the city was an ancient Hindu capital of Bengal. It was captured (c.1200) by the Islamic rulers of Delhi and remained a...

Vedanta Societies

(Encyclopedia)Vedanta Societies, first and most influential Hindu organization in the West, founded by Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902), a disciple of Indian mystic Ramakrishna (1836–86). Vivekananda attended an i...

Philomena of Dacia, Peter

(Encyclopedia)Philomena of Dacia, Peter, or Peter Nightingale, fl. 1291–1303, Danish astronomer and mathematician. He taught at the Univ. of Bologna (1291–92) and in Paris, and was a canon of Roskilde Cathedral...

Karnataka

(Encyclopedia)Karnataka mīsôrˈ [key], state (2001 provisional pop. 52,733,958), 74,122 sq mi (191,976 sq km), SW India, bordering on the Arabian Sea. It is bordered on the north by the states of Goa and Maharash...

Tiruchirapalli

(Encyclopedia)Tiruchirapalli trĭchĭnŏˈpəlē [key], city (1991 pop. 711,862), Tamil Nadu state, SE India, on the Kaveri River. It is a district administrative center and an important educational, religious, and...

Delhi Sultanate

(Encyclopedia)Delhi Sultanate, refers to the various Muslim dynasties that ruled in India (1210–1526). It was founded after Muhammad of Ghor defeated Prithvi Raj and captured Delhi in 1192. In 1206, Qutb ud-Din, ...

phallic worship

(Encyclopedia)phallic worship fălˈĭk [key], worship of the reproductive powers of nature as symbolized by the male generative organ. Phallic symbols have been found by archaeological expeditions all over the wor...

Manu

(Encyclopedia)Manu mŭˈno͞o [key], semilegendary Hindu lawgiver. Traditionally ascribed to him are the Laws of Manu, best known of the Sanskrit smriti texts (see Sanskrit literature). They were compiled, probably...