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dharma (Jainist metaphysics)
...“nonliving substance,” as opposed to jiva, “soul” or “living matter.” Ajiva is divided into: (1) ākāśa, “space,” (2) dharma, “that which makes motion possible,” (3) adharma, “that which makes rest possible,” and (4) pudgala, “matter.” Pudga...
dharma (religious concept)
key concept with multiple meanings in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism....
Dharma Bums, The (novel by Kerouac)
autobiographical novel by Jack Kerouac, published in 1958. The story’s narrator, Raymond Smith, is based on Kerouac himself, and the poet-woodsman-Buddhist, Japhy Ryder, is a thinly disguised portrait of the poet Gary Snyder. The book contains a number of other characters who are drawn from actual poets and writers....
Dharma Māṇikya (king of Tripura)
...periods—the largely legendary period described in the Rajamala, a chronicle of the supposed early maharajas (kings) of Tripura, and the period since the reign of the great king Dharma Manikya (reigned c. 1431–62). The Rajamala, written in Bengali verse, was compiled by the Brahmans in the court of Dharma Manikya. During his reign and that of his......
dharma raja (Bhutani title)
...Bhutan are obscure. It is reported that some four to five centuries ago an influential lama from Tibet, Sheptoon La-Pha, became the king of Bhutan and acquired the title of dharma raja. Bhutan probably became a distinct political entity about this period. La-Pha was succeeded by Doopgein Sheptoon, who consolidated Bhutan’s administrative organization...
dharma sūtra (Hinduism)
any of several manuals of human conduct that form the earliest source of Hindu law. They consist chiefly of sutras (“threads” or “strings”) of terse rules containing the essentials of law concerning interpersonal relations and the relationship between people and the state. The maxims deal with the practical rules of caste...
dharma-dhātu (Buddhism)
...but was replaced with simpler doctrines because it proved incomprehensible to his hearers. The sutra tells of the pilgrimage of a young man in a quest to realize dharma-dhatu (“totality” or “universal principle”). Three Chinese versions and one Sanskrit original (the Gandavyuha), which contains the......
dharma-kāya (Buddhist concept)
...the most challenging philosophical issues are raised by Buddhism. The belief in God as the personal ultimate is challenged by the idea of the ultimacy of the nonpersonal dharma-kaya. The idea of the immortal soul is challenged by the anatta (“no soul”) doctrine, with its claim that the personal mind or......
Dharma-mangal (Bengali literature)
...some of the characteristics of Dharma-Thakur and his cult. The majesty and exploits of Dharma-Thakur are presented in a major class of works in Bengali literature known as Dharma-mangal....
Dharma-puja (religious festival)
...a pair of wooden sandals. Among other attributes he is a fertility god and a healer of disease. Worship of Dharma-Thakur is correlated with sun worship, and Dharma-Thakur’s annual worship, known as Dharma-puja, has been described as a kind of sympathetic magic to make the monsoon rains begin to fall....
Dharma-Rāj (Indian deity)
folk deity of eastern India having complex characteristics and obscure origins. Dharma-Thakur is worshipped as the “high god” of a large number of villages of the Rahr Plains, a region that comprises the greater part of modern West Bengal...
Dharma-Ray (Indian deity)
folk deity of eastern India having complex characteristics and obscure origins. Dharma-Thakur is worshipped as the “high god” of a large number of villages of the Rahr Plains, a region that comprises the greater part of modern West Bengal...
Dharma-śāstra (Hinduism)
ancient Indian body of jurisprudence that is still fundamentally the family law of Hindus living in territories outside India (e.g., Pakistan, Malaysia, East Africa) and is in force, subject to legislative modification, in India. Dharma-shastra is not primarily concerned with legal admin...
Dharma-shastra (Hinduism)
ancient Indian body of jurisprudence that is still fundamentally the family law of Hindus living in territories outside India (e.g., Pakistan, Malaysia, East Africa) and is in force, subject to legislative modification, in India. Dharma-shastra is not primarily concerned with legal admin...
Dharma-sutra (Hinduism)
any of several manuals of human conduct that form the earliest source of Hindu law. They consist chiefly of sutras (“threads” or “strings”) of terse rules containing the essentials of law concerning interpersonal relations and the relationship between people and the state. The maxims deal with the practical rules of caste...
Dharma-Thakur (Indian deity)
folk deity of eastern India having complex characteristics and obscure origins. Dharma-Thakur is worshipped as the “high god” of a large number of villages of the Rahr Plains, a region that comprises the greater part of modern West Bengal...
dharmachakra (Buddhism)
...used to convey concepts concerned with humanity’s relationship to the sacred or holy (e.g., the cross in Christianity) and also to his social and material world (e.g., the dharmachakra, or wheel of the law, of Buddhism). Other nonreligious types of symbols achieved increasing significance in the 19th and 20th centuries, especially those dealing with ...
Dharmakara (Buddhism)
in Mahayana Buddhism, and particularly in the so-called Pure Land sects, the great saviour buddha. As related in the Sukhavati-vyuha-sutras (the fundamental scriptures of the Pure Land sects), many ages ago a monk named Dharmakara made a number of vows, the 18th of which promised that, on his attaining buddhah...
dharmakaya (Buddhist concept)
...the most challenging philosophical issues are raised by Buddhism. The belief in God as the personal ultimate is challenged by the idea of the ultimacy of the nonpersonal dharma-kaya. The idea of the immortal soul is challenged by the anatta (“no soul”) doctrine, with its claim that the personal mind or......
Dharmakirti (Indian philosopher)
Indian Buddhist philosopher and logician. He asserted that inference and direct perception are the only valid kinds of knowledge and that, in the processes of the mind, cognition and the cognized belong to distinct moments. According to him, the object of inference, either analytical or synthetic, is the universal (sāmānyalak...
Dharmalaḳsaṇa (Buddhist school)
school of Chinese Buddhism derived from the Indian Yogācāra school. See Yogācāra....
dharmameghā (Buddhism)
...nirvana), (7) dūraṅgamā (“far-going”), (8) acalā (“immovable”), (9) sādhumatī (“good-minded”), and (10) dharmameghā (showered with “clouds of dharma,” or universal truth)....
Dharmanagar Valley (valley, India)
Central and northern Tripura is a hilly region crossed by four major valleys—from east to west, the Dharmanagar, the Kailashahar, the Kamalpur, and the Khowai, all carved by northward-flowing rivers (the Juri, Manu and Deo, Dhalai, and Khowai, respectively). North-south-trending ranges separate the valleys. East of the Dharmanagar valley, the Jampai Tlang range rises to elevations between.....
Dharmapāla (king of Pāla dynasty)
Vatsaraja, a Pratihara ruler who came to the throne about 778, controlled eastern Rajasthan and Malava. His ambition to take Kannauj brought him into conflict with the Pala king, Dharmapala (reigned c. 770–810), who had by this time advanced up the Ganges valley. The Rashtrakuta king Dhruva (reigned c. 780–793) attacked each in turn and claimed to have defeated them. Th...
Dharmapāla (king of Kotte)
Bhuvanaika Bahu was succeeded by his grandson Prince Dharmapala, who was even more dependent on Portuguese support. An agreement between Bhuvanaika Bahu and the king of Portugal in 1543 had guaranteed the protection of the prince on the throne and the defense of the kingdom; in return the Portuguese were to be confirmed in all their privileges and were to receive a tribute of cinnamon. The......
dharmapāla (Tibetan Buddhist deity)
in Tibetan Buddhism, any one of a group of eight divinities who, though benevolent, are represented as hideous and ferocious in order to instill terror in evil spirits....
Dharmapāla (Buddhist monk)
...thought in China by the Faxiang school, which was founded by Xuanzang, the 7th-century Chinese pilgrim-translator, and his main disciple, Kuiji. Xuanzang went to India, where he studied the works of Dharmapala (died 561) and taught at the Vijnanavada centre at Valabhi. When he returned to China, he translated Dharmapala’s Vijnapti-matrata-siddhi and many other works and taug...
Dharmapuri (India)
town, northwestern Tamil Nadu state, southeastern India. It was known in early Tamil shangam literature as the home of the poet Avvaiyar (2nd century ce). It is now an agricultural trade centre and contains some light industry. Considerable deposits of sa...
Dharmarāja-ratha (temple, India)
...(early 7th century), among the earliest examples of their type in southern India, there are here several monolithic temples carved out of the rock, the largest of which is the massive three-storied Dharmarāja-ratha (c. 650). The finest temple at this site and of this period is an elegant complex of three shrines called the Shore Temple (c. 700), not cut out of rock but buil...
Dharmarajika stupa (stupa, Taxila, Pakistan)
The Dharmarajika stupa, popularly known as Chir Tope, is a circular structure with a raised terrace around its base. A circle of small chapels surround the great stupa. Three distinctive types of masonry in the buildings around the main stupa suggest the contributions of different periods to the building activity. A silver scroll inscription in Kharoshti and a small gold casket containing some......
dharmas (Buddhist metaphysics)
...Dharma, the Buddha, and the sangha (community of believers) make up the triratna, or “three jewels,” to which Buddhists go for refuge. In Buddhist metaphysics the term in the plural (dharmas) is used to describe the interrelated elements that make up the empirical world....
dharmasastra (Hinduism)
ancient Indian body of jurisprudence that is still fundamentally the family law of Hindus living in territories outside India (e.g., Pakistan, Malaysia, East Africa) and is in force, subject to legislative modification, in India. Dharma-shastra is not primarily concerned with legal admin...
Dharmavamsa (king of Java)
king of eastern Java from about 985 and the first historical Javanese whose life is known in any detail....
Dharmavanca (king of Java)
king of eastern Java from about 985 and the first historical Javanese whose life is known in any detail....
Dharmawangsa (king of Java)
king of eastern Java from about 985 and the first historical Javanese whose life is known in any detail....
Dharmawangsja (king of Java)
king of eastern Java from about 985 and the first historical Javanese whose life is known in any detail....
Dharmottara (Indian philosopher)
...this was rejected by Dignaga, a 5th-century logician, as a definition belonging to his earlier realistic phase. Vasubandhu defined inference as a knowledge of an object through its mark, but Dharmottara, an 8th-century commentator, pointed out that this is not a definition of the essence of inference but only of its origin....
Dharmshala (India)
town, western Himachal Pradesh state, northwestern India, located on a lower slope of the Himalayas. Dharmshala is a scenic health resort. Aerated water is bottled there, and slate is quarried nearby. The town was virtually destroyed by an earthquake in 1905, but it was then rebuilt. The Dalai Lama set up a government in D...
dharmshala (housing)
...pancayat (village council) hall, a few shops, a tea stall, a public radio hooked up to a loudspeaker, a small post office, or perhaps a dharmshala (a free guest house for travelers). The village school is usually on the edge of the village in order to provide pupils with adequate playing space. Another common feature......
Dharwad (India)
...the Southern Railway, it has railway workshops and is also a major road junction. Its colleges of commerce, law, medicine, and engineering and technology are affiliated with Karnatak University in Dharwad....
Dharwad-Hubli (India)
city, western Karnataka state, southwestern India.Hubli, often called Hubballi or Pubballi (“Old Village”), developed around the 11th-century stone temple of Aharanishankar. Notable buildings include the Mahadi Mosque, the Bhavani Shankar Temple, and the city hall. Hubli is a trading centre with cotton mills, ginning and pressing factories, and a...
Dhārwār craton (geological region, India)
...or blocks. Some examples include: the North Atlantic craton that incorporates northwestern Scotland, central Greenland, and Labrador; the Kaapvaal and Zimbabwean cratons in southern Africa; the Dharwar craton in India; the Aldan and Anabar shields in Siberia in Russia; the Baltic Shield that includes much of Sweden, Finland, and the Kola Peninsula of far northern Russia; the Superior and......
dhātu (Buddhist doctrine)
...khandhas), the 12 bases (Pali and Sanskrit: ayatanas), and the 18 sensory elements (Pali and Sanskrit: dhatus). The 5 skandhas are rupa (Pali and Sanskrit), materiality, or form; ......
Dhatukatha (Buddhist text)
...work or with several suttas bearing the same name), a kind of supplement to the Dhammasangani, treating many of the same topics, (3) Dhatukatha (“Discussion of Elements”), another supplementary work, (4) Puggalapannatti (“Designation of Person”), largely a collection of excerpts from the......
Dhatusena (king of Sri Lanka)
A Pandyan invasion from southern India put an end to this dynasty and, briefly, to Sinhalese rule in 432. Dhatusena (reigned 459–477) defeated the Pandyas and reestablished Sinhalese rule with the line of Moriya kings. His son Kashyapa I (reigned 477–495) moved the capital from Anuradhapura to the rock fortress of Sigiriya. After Kashyapa’s dethronement the capital was returne...
Dhaulāgiri (mountains, Nepal)
mountain massif of the Himalayas in north-central Nepal, on the western side of the deep Kāli Gandak River gorge. Many of its snow- and glacier-covered peaks exceed 25,000 feet (7,620 m), including Dhaulāgiri I, II, III, and IV. At 26,795 feet (8,167 m), Dhaulāgiri I is one of the wor...
Dhaulāgiri I (mountain peak, Nepal)
...massif of the Himalayas in north-central Nepal, on the western side of the deep Kāli Gandak River gorge. Many of its snow- and glacier-covered peaks exceed 25,000 feet (7,620 m), including Dhaulāgiri I, II, III, and IV. At 26,795 feet (8,167 m), Dhaulāgiri I is one of the world’s highest mountains. With a south wall 15,000 feet (4,600 m) high, the peak’s steep...
Dhauli (India)
The lion was the animal most often represented, but figures of elephants and bulls are also known. At Dhauli in Orissa, the fore part of an elephant is carved out of rock on a terrace above a boulder that carries several of Ashoka’s edicts. The modelling here is soft and gentle, and the plump, fleshy qualities of the young animal’s body, seen as emerging from the rock, are suffused w...
Dhaulī Ganga (river, India)
The Ganges rises in the southern Himalayas on the Indian side of the border with the Tibet Autonomous region of China. Its five headstreams—the Bhagirathi, Alaknanda, Mandakini, Dhauliganga, and Pindar—all rise in the northern mountainous region of Uttarakhand state. Of these, the two main headstreams are the Alaknanda (the longer of the two), which rises about 30 miles (50 km)......
Dhaulī River (river, India)
The Ganges rises in the southern Himalayas on the Indian side of the border with the Tibet Autonomous region of China. Its five headstreams—the Bhagirathi, Alaknanda, Mandakini, Dhauliganga, and Pindar—all rise in the northern mountainous region of Uttarakhand state. Of these, the two main headstreams are the Alaknanda (the longer of the two), which rises about 30 miles (50 km)......
Dhaulīganga (river, India)
The Ganges rises in the southern Himalayas on the Indian side of the border with the Tibet Autonomous region of China. Its five headstreams—the Bhagirathi, Alaknanda, Mandakini, Dhauliganga, and Pindar—all rise in the northern mountainous region of Uttarakhand state. Of these, the two main headstreams are the Alaknanda (the longer of the two), which rises about 30 miles (50 km)......
Dhaulpur (India)
town, eastern Rajasthan state, northwestern India, situated just north of the Chambal River. The original town was founded by Raja Dholan Deo in the 11th century, when it was called Dhawalpur, a name since contracted to Dhaulpur. The present town was established just north of the original town to avoid encroachments by the Chambal River. It ...
Dhaun, Leopold Joseph, Graf von (Austrian general)
field marshal who was the Austrian commander in chief during the Seven Years’ War against Prussia (1756–63)....
d’Hauterive, Borel (French author)
French poet, novelist, and critic active in the Romantic movement....
Dhawalpur (India)
town, eastern Rajasthan state, northwestern India, situated just north of the Chambal River. The original town was founded by Raja Dholan Deo in the 11th century, when it was called Dhawalpur, a name since contracted to Dhaulpur. The present town was established just north of the original town to avoid encroachments by the Chambal River. It ...
Dhebar Lake (lake, India)
large reservoir lake in the southeastern Aravalli Range, south-central Rajasthan state, northwestern India. The lake, about 20 square miles (50 square km) in area when full, was originally named Jai Samand and was formed by a marble dam built across the Gomati...
Dhegiha (people)
Like other members of the Dhegiha—the Omaha, Ponca, Kansa, and Quapaw—the Osage migrated westward from the Atlantic coast, settling first in the Piedmont Plateau between the James and Savannah rivers in the present states of Virginia and the Carolinas. After a time they moved to the Ozark Plateau and the prairies of what is now western Missouri. At this point the five tribes......
Dhegiha language (language)
North American Indian people of the Dhegiha branch of the Siouan language stock. It is thought that Dhegiha speakers, which include the Osage, Ponca, Kansa, and Quapaw as well as the Omaha, migrated westward from the Atlantic coast at some point in prehistory and that their early settlements were in the present U.S. states of Virginia and the Carolinas. After a time they moved to the Ozark......
Dhekélia (British military enclave, Cyprus)
British military enclave in southeast Cyprus, retained as a “sovereignty base area” by the United Kingdom under the 1959 London Agreement granting independence to Cyprus. It is located northeast of Larnaca on the northern shore of Larnaca Bay, and its northern boundary formed part of the border between the Repu...
Dhelkī (people)
The Dudh are the most numerous and progressive branch; they live along the Sankh and South Koel rivers. The Dhelkī are concentrated near Gāngpur. Both live in settled villages, and intervillage federations enforce the feeling of social solidarity. They traditionally build separate large dormitories for unmarried men and women, but this practice has been abandoned by Christian......
Dhenkanal (India)
town, east-central Orissa state, eastern India. Named for Dhenka, a medieval chieftain of the Savara people, Dhenkanal is a marketplace for rice, oilseeds, and timber and is a centre of hand-loom weaving. It was formerly the capital of the princely state of Dhenkanal, which was incorporated in 1949 into Orissa state. The raja’s palace...
dhess (pedology)
...the Saïs Plain surrounding Meknès and Fès, supports productive vineyards and can also produce good cereal yields, though it has poor moisture retention. Dhess is the main soil type of the Sebou basin. A silt-rich alluvial soil, it provides the foundation for much of Morocco’s modern irrigated agriculture. Other major soil types,...
DHF (disease)
...disease is characterized by an extreme pain in and stiffness of the joints (hence the name “breakbone fever”). Complication of dengue fever can give rise to a more severe form, called dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF), which is characterized by hemorrhaging blood vessels and thus bleeding from the nose, mouth, and internal tissues. Untreated DHF may result in blood vessel collapse,.....
Dhībān (ancient city, Jordan)
ancient capital of Moab, located north of the Arnon River in west-central Jordan. Excavations conducted there since 1950 by the archaeologists affiliated with the American School of Oriental Research in Jerusalem have uncovered the remains of several city walls, a square tower, and numerous buildings. The pottery found on the site dates from Early Bronze (c. 3200–c. 2300 ...
dhikr (Islam)
(Arabic: “reminding oneself,” or “mention”), ritual prayer or litany practiced by Muslim mystics (Ṣūfīs) for the purpose of glorifying God and achieving spiritual perfection. Based on the Qurʾānic injunctions “Remind thyself [udhkur] of thy Lord when thou forgettest” (18:24) and “O ye who believe! Remember ...
Dhíkti Mountains (mountains, Greece)
...(Ídi) Mountains, with Crete’s highest point, the summit of Mount Psíloreítis, called Timios Stavrós, 8,058 feet (2,456 metres) high; the east-central Díkti Mountains; and the far eastern Tryptí (Thriptís) Mountains. Another range, the Asteroúsia (Kófinas) Mountains, runs along the south-central coast between the......
Dhiliyiánnis, Theódoros (prime minister of Greece)
politician who was prime minister of Greece five times (1885–86, 1890–92, 1895–97, 1902–03, 1904–05). He was a resolute advocate of aggressive and often irresponsible territorial expansion. His bitter rivalry with the reformist politician Kharílaos Trikoúpis...
Dhílos (island, Greece)
island, one of the smallest of the Cyclades (Modern Greek: Kykládes), Greece, an ancient centre of religious, political, and commercial life in the Aegean Sea. Now largely uninhabited, it is a rugged granite mass about 1.3 square miles (3.4 square km) in area. Also called ...
dhimmah (Islam)
...pagans, to have formed ummahs of their own around a revelation from God, Jews and Christians were entitled to pay for protection (dhimmah). Muhammad thus set a precedent for another major characteristic of Islamicate civilization, that of qualified religious pluralism under Muslim authority....
Dhir Mal (Sikh rebel leader)
...children. The eldest son, Gurditta, who was evidently his favourite for the position, had predeceased him, and none of the remaining five seemed suitable for the position. The older son of Gurditta, Dhir Mal, was rejected because, from his seat in Jalandhar district, he had formed an alliance with Emperor Shāh Jahān. This meant that the younger son of Gurditta, Har Rai, would beco...
Dhírfis Mountain (mountain, Euboea, Greece)
...Mountain (3,251 feet [991 metres]) and Teléthrion Mountain (3,182 feet [970 metres]). From Teléthrion the range trends eastward to the coast. In the centre of the island rises Dhírfis Mountain (5,715 feet [1,742 metres]), while in the south Óchi Mountain reaches 4,587 feet (1,398 metres). The east coast is rocky and harbourless; in ancient times the main......
Dhivehi language
The Maldivians are a mixed people, speaking an Indo-European language called Dhivehi (or Maldivian; the official language); Arabic, Hindi, and English are also spoken. Islam is the state religion. The first settlers, it is generally believed, were Tamil and Sinhalese peoples from southern India and Sri Lanka. Traders from Arab countries, Malaya, Madagascar, Indonesia, and China visited the......
Dhlakama, Afonso (Mozambican guerrilla leader)
...were reports of beatings and killings by former Mozambique National Resistance (Renamo) guerrillas, about 150 of whom had been retained as guards to their former leader and presidential candidate Afonso Dhlakama, in Maringue, 150 km (93 mi) northwest of Beira. The attacks were feared to be indicative of continuing distrust between the opposition Renamo and the ruling Frelimo party and were......
Dhlamini (people)
The Swazi nation is an amalgamation of more than 70 clans. Their chiefs form the traditional hierarchy under the ngwenyama and ndlovukazi, who are of the largest clan, the Dlamini. The amalgamation brought together clans already living in the area that is now Swaziland, many of whom were of Sotho origin, and clans of Nguni origin who entered the country with the Dlamini in the......
Dhlomo, R. R. R. (African writer)
African novelist, journalist, and editor who wrote in Zulu and English. His An African Tragedy (1928) was the first novel in English by a Zulu writer....
Dhlomo, Rolfus Reginald Raymond (African writer)
African novelist, journalist, and editor who wrote in Zulu and English. His An African Tragedy (1928) was the first novel in English by a Zulu writer....
dhobi nut (plant)
...pepper), they are totally unrelated, and care should be taken with Schinus fruits, given the toxic compounds prevalent in so many members of Anacardiaceae. Semecarpus anacardium (dhobi nut) has young fruits with a black resin that is insoluble in water and is used as a marking ink in Southeast Asia....
Dhodhekánisos (islands and department, Greece)
group of islands in the Aegean Sea, off the southwestern coast of Turkey, and constituting the nomós (department) of Dhodhekánisos, Greece. The city of Rhodes (Modern Greek: Ródos) on the island of the same name is the administrative centre. The name Dodecanese means “12 islands.” The ter...
Dhofar (region, Oman)
historical region in southern Oman, extending from Cape Ash-Sharbatāt on the coast of the Arabian Sea southwestward to the Oman-Yemen border. The region’s northern boundary has never been defined, but generally included in the territory is...
Dhoinine, Ikililou (Comorian politician)
...the law that extended the president’s term, and a new timetable was agreed on in June. The first round of elections was held by Moheli on November 7, and in the second round, on December 26, Ikililou Dhoinine emerged victorious; he was to take office in 2011....
Dhöiránis (lake, Macedonia)
The greater part of Macedonia (87 percent of its area) drains southeastward into the Aegean Sea, via the Vardar River and its tributaries. Smaller parts of this basin drain into Lake Doiran (Macedonian: Dojran) and into the Aegean via the Strumica and Struma rivers. The remaining 13 percent of Macedonian territory drains northward via the Crni Drim River toward the Adriatic....
Dhok (Iraq)
city, northern Iraq, capital of Dahūk muḥāfaẓah (governorate). The city lies near the northern end of the Tigris River valley. The area in which the city is situated is unsuitable for cultivation but is good for fruit orchards and pasturage. Dahūk has a fruit-canning pla...
Dhok Pathan Zone (geology)
...In one such cave (Tham Khuyen), Gigantopithecus and Homo teeth occur in the same deposits, dated as recently as 475,000 years ago. Furthermore, the discovery of an enormous jaw in the Dhok Pathan deposits of the Siwālik Hills of India, from the earliest Pliocene, has provided a respectably long period of existence for this aberrant giant-toothed hominoid genus. Clearly,......
Dhokhi apso (breed of dog)
breed of nonsporting dog that originated in Tibet to aid shepherds. It was believed to bring luck to its owner. The name terrier was adopted in reference to the dog’s size; unlike other dogs called terriers it was not bred to dig for game. Its profuse double coat is very thick and fine and may be straight or wavy, appearing in any colour or combination of col...
dhol (musical instrument)
...kicks, leaps, and bends of the body to the accompaniment of short songs called boliyan and, most significantly, to the beat of a dhol (double-headed drum). Struck with a heavy beater on one end and with a lighter stick on the other, the dhol imbued the music with a syncopated......
Ḍholā (Hinduism)
oral epic that is sung in various Hindi dialects in honor of the goddess Śakti and is performed in the western portion of Uttar Pradesh, as well as in parts of Rajasthan, Punjab, and Madhya Pradesh. Two major themes run throug...
dhola (hat)
...a woman’s face may or may not be covered, and dresses are sometimes sewn from brightly coloured fabric. Working women frequently wear a broad-brimmed straw hat (dhola) to ward off the sun....
dholak (musical instrument)
...dance but also the instrumental and vocal music that was associated with it; the large dhol was replaced by the similar yet smaller dholak, played with the hands; various local instruments—such as the flute, zither, fiddle, harmonium (a portable, hand-pumped organ), and tabla (pair of single-headed......
Dholavira (archaeological site, India)
...evidence of the actual transformation of Early Harappan into mature Harappan. Near the Rann of Kachchh, Surkotada is a small settlement with an oblong fortification wall of stone. Also in Kachchh is Dholavira, which appears to be among the largest Harappan settlements so far identified; a nine-year excavation at the site completed in 2001 yielded a walled Indus valley city that dated to the......
dhole (canine)
wild Asian carnivore of the dog family (Canidae), found in central and southeastern wooded areas and distinguished structurally by the lack of one pair of lower molars. Its length ranges between 76 and 100 cm (30 and 40 inches), exclusive of the 28–48-centimetre (11–19-inch) tail, and its weight is from 14 to 21 kg (30 to 46 pounds). Coloration varies from yellowish to reddish brown,...
Dholpur (India)
town, eastern Rajasthan state, northwestern India, situated just north of the Chambal River. The original town was founded by Raja Dholan Deo in the 11th century, when it was called Dhawalpur, a name since contracted to Dhaulpur. The present town was established just north of the original town to avoid encroachments by the Chambal River. It ...
d’Hondt formula (politics)
...to its share of the votes. There are various alternative rules for achieving this; the two principal ones are the largest-remainder rule and the highest-average rule (the latter referred to as the d’Hondt rule, named after Belgian Victor d’Hondt). Under the largest-remainder rule a quota is set, and each party is assigned one seat for each time it meets the quota. These votes are ...
d’Hondt rule (politics)
...to its share of the votes. There are various alternative rules for achieving this; the two principal ones are the largest-remainder rule and the highest-average rule (the latter referred to as the d’Hondt rule, named after Belgian Victor d’Hondt). Under the largest-remainder rule a quota is set, and each party is assigned one seat for each time it meets the quota. These votes are ...
Dhondu Pant (Indian rebel)
a prominent leader in the Indian Mutiny of 1857–58. Although he did not plan the outbreak, he assumed leadership of the sepoys (British-employed Indian soldiers)....
Dhône, Illiam (English politician)
Manx politician regarded in some circles as a patriot martyr....
Dhoni, Mahendra Singh (Indian cricketer)
July 7, 1981Ranchi, IndiaIn early 2011 Mahendra Singh Dhoni was confirmed as one of the most successful captains in international cricket as he guided India to victory in the 2011 one-day World Cup. He had already led India to the inaugural Twenty20 world cup title in 2007 and to the top of the International Cricket C...
dhoti (Hindu dress)
long loincloth traditionally worn in southern Asia by Hindu men. Wrapped around the hips and thighs with one end brought between the legs and tucked into the waistband, the dhoti resembles baggy, knee- length trousers....
dhoum nut
the nut of the doum palm (Hyphaene thebaica), native to Upper Egypt, Sudan, Kenya, and Tanzania. Also called the gingerbread palm, the 15.2-metre (50-foot) tree has a slender trunk and smooth branches, each tipped with a rosette of small, stiff, green, fanlike lea...
dhow (Arab sailing vessel)
one- or two-masted Arab sailing vessel, usually with lateen rigging (slanting, triangular sails), common in the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. On the larger types, called baggalas and booms, the mainsail is considerably bigger than the mizzensail. Bows are sharp, with a forward and upward thrust, and the sterns of the larger ...
Dhritarashtra (Hindu legendary figure)
...consists of a mass of mythological and didactic material arranged around a central heroic narrative that tells of the struggle for sovereignty between two groups of cousins, the Kauravas (sons of Dhritarashtra, the descendant of Kuru) and the Pandavas (sons of Pandu). The poem is made up of almost 100,000 couplets—about seven times the length of the Iliad......