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Mahabharata

(Encyclopedia)Mahabharata məhäˌbärˈətə [key], classical Sanskrit epic of India, probably composed between 200 b.c. and a.d. 200. The Mahabharata, comprising more than 90,000 couplets, usually of 32 syllables...

Hyderabad, former state and modern city, India

(Encyclopedia)Hyderabad hīˈdərəbădˌ [key], former princely state, S central India. The former princedom of Hyderabad is now divided among the states of Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Telangana. The Mughal empire...

Bihar

(Encyclopedia)Bihar or Behar shärēfˈ [key] or Bihar, city, on a tributary of the Ganges River, was the former capital of Magadha. It ...

Madhyamika

(Encyclopedia)Madhyamika mädyŭˈmĭkə [key] [Skt.,=of the middle], philosophical school of Mahayana Buddhism, based on the teaching of “emptiness” (see sunyata) and named for its adherence to the “middle p...

Khmer Empire

(Encyclopedia)Khmer Empire kəmĕrˈ [key], ancient kingdom of SE Asia. In the 6th cent. the Cambodians, or Khmers, established an empire roughly corresponding to modern Cambodia and Laos. Divided during the 8th ce...

Easter Island

(Encyclopedia)Easter Island, Span. Isla de Pascua, Polynesian Rapa Nui, remote island (2020 est. pop. 5,000), 66 sq mi (171 sq km), in the South Pacific, c.2,200 ...

Balinese music

(Encyclopedia)Balinese music represents, to a large extent, a survival of the pre-Islamic music of Java. It was taken to Bali by Hindu Javanese in the 15th cent. and uses the tonal systems of Javanese music, of whi...

Tamil Nadu

(Encyclopedia)Tamil Nadu mədrăsˈ, mədräsˈ [key], state (2001 provisional pop. 62,110,839), 50,180 sq mi (129,966 sq km), SE India, on the Bay of Bengal. The capital is Chennai (formerly Madras). On a low-lyin...

Tagore, Sir Rabindranath

(Encyclopedia)Tagore, Sir Rabindranath rəbĭnˈdrənät təgôrˈ, täko͝orˈ [key], 1861–1941, Indian author and guru, b. Calcutta (now Kolkata). Tagore came from a wealthy Bengali family. He went abroad in 18...

Mauritius

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Mauritius môrĭshˈēəs, –əs [key], officially Republic of Mauritius, republic (2015 est. pop. 1,259,000), 790 sq mi (2,046 sq km), in the SW Indian Ocean. It is part of the Mascarene Isla...