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Vijayanagar

(Encyclopedia)Vijayanagar vēˈjəyənŭˈgər [key] [Sanskrit,=city of victory], ruined city, SE India. It was the capital (14th–16th cent.) of the Hindu Vijayanagar empire, which embraced all India S of the Kis...

Helmand

(Encyclopedia)Helmand or Helmund both: hĕlˈmənd [key], river, c.700 mi (1,130 km) long, rising in the Hindu Kush Mts., NE Afghanistan and flowing generally SW to the Sistan basin, SW Afghanistan, where it helps ...

Palembang

(Encyclopedia)Palembang pälĕmbängˈ [key], city (1990 pop. 1,144,047), capital of South Sumatra province, on SE Sumatra, Indonesia. The island's largest city, it is a deepwater port on both banks of the Musi Riv...

meditation

(Encyclopedia)meditation, religious discipline in which the mind is focused on a single point of reference. It may be a means of invoking divine grace, as in the contemplation by Christian mystics of a spiritual th...

monism

(Encyclopedia)monism mōˈnĭzəm [key] [Gr.,=belief in one], in metaphysics, term introduced in the 18th cent. by Christian von Wolff for any theory that explains all phenomena by one unifying principle or as mani...

Jugnauth, Anerood

(Encyclopedia)Jugnauth, Anerood, 1930–, Mauritian political leader, prime minister of Mauritius (1982–95, 2000–2003, 2014–17). Trained as a lawyer, he was first elected to the National Assembly in 1963 as a...

Merapi, Mount

(Encyclopedia)Merapi, Mount məräˈpē [key] [Indonesian=mountain of fire], volcano, 9,551 ft (2,911 m) high, central Java, Indonesia, 20 mi (32 km) NNE of Yogyakarta. It is the most active of Indonesia's many vol...

Nuristan

(Encyclopedia)Nuristan no͝orĭstănˈ [key] [Persian,=land of light or the enlightened], region on the southern slopes of the Hindu Kush, NE Afghanistan, bordered on the E by Pakistan. Formerly called Kafiristan [...

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...

Adam's Bridge

(Encyclopedia)Adam's Bridge or Rama's Bridge räˈmə [key], chain of shoals, c.18 mi (30 km) long, SW Palk Strait, between India and island nation of Sri Lanka. At high tide it is covered by c.4 ft (1.2 m) of wate...