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Pollonarrua

(Encyclopedia)Pollonarrua or Polonnaruwa both: pŏlˌənəro͞oˈə [key], ruined ancient city, NE Sri Lanka. Pollonarrua, beautifully situated on a lake, was once the most splendid city of Sri Lanka. It became a r...

Chittagong

(Encyclopedia)Chittagong chĭtˈəgŏng [key], city, capital of Chittagong division, SE Bangladesh, on the ...

Harijans

(Encyclopedia)Harijans hârˈĭjănzˌ [key] [children of God], in India, individuals who are at the bottom of or outside the Hindu caste system. They were traditionally sweepers, washers of clothes, leatherworkers...

Kashmir

(Encyclopedia)Kashmir kăshmērˈ, kăshˈmēr [key], region and former princely state, 85,714 sq mi (222,236 sq km), NW India, NE Pakistan, and SW China. Kashmir is bordered on the west by Pakistan, on the south b...

avatara

(Encyclopedia)avatara ăvˌətârə [key] [Skt.,=descent], incarnations of Hindu gods, especially Vishnu. The doctrine of avatara first occurs in the Bhagavad-Gita, where Krishna declares: “For the preservation o...

Banerjea, Sir Surendranath

(Encyclopedia)Banerjea, Sir Surendranath so͝orĕnˈdrənät bäˈnərjē [key], 1848–1926, Indian nationalist. One of the first Indians to join the Indian civil service, he was dismissed (1874) for a minor error...

Vivekananda

(Encyclopedia)Vivekananda vēˌvəkənŭnˈdə [key], 1863–1902, Hindu mystic, major exponent of Vedanta philosophy. He was born of a well-to-do family in Calcutta (now Kolkata), and his given name was Narendra N...

Shrirangapattana

(Encyclopedia)Shrirangapattana srēˌrŭngˌgəpŭtˈnə [key], town (1991 pop. 21,905), Karnataka state, S India, on an island in the Kaveri River. There are Hindu monuments, some built in the 13th cent. Most of t...

Indian art and architecture

(Encyclopedia)Indian art and architecture, works of art and architecture produced on the Indian subcontinent, which is now divided among India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. In the Western world, notable collections of...

Ellora

(Encyclopedia)Ellora ĕlōˈrə [key], village, E central Maharashtra state, India. Extending more than 1 mi (1.6 km) on a hill are 34 rock and cave temples (5th–13th cent.), most of them Hindu but some Buddhist ...