Asvalayana

Author of the Asvalayana-srauta-sutra, Vedic manual of sacrificial ceremonies composed for the use of the class of priests called hotar, or hotr, whose main function was to invoke the gods. Belonging to the �forest tradition� of hermits and wandering holy men rather than to that of the priesthood, Asvalayana is mentioned as a teacher as well as a sage in Vedic litanies and in the

Fiduciary

In law, a person who occupies a position of such power and confidence with regard to the property of another that the law requires him to act solely in the interest of the person whom he represents. Examples of fiduciaries are agents, executors and administrators, trustees, guardians, and officers of corporations. They may be contrasted with persons in an ordinary

Arts, Islamic, Early period: the Umayyad and 'Abbasid dynasties

Of all the recognizable periods of Islamic art, this is by far the most difficult one to explain properly, even though it is quite well documented. There are two reasons for this difficulty. On the one hand, it was a formative period, a time when new forms were created that identify the aesthetic and practical ideals of the new culture. Such periods are difficult to define

Encephalartos

A genus of 20 or more species of palmlike cycads (plants of the family Cycadaceae), native to southern Africa and grown elsewhere as conservatory and house plants. The genus includes both tuberous and columnar varieties; they sometimes have spiny foliage. A breadlike food is prepared from the starchy centre of the stem of the Kaffir bread, or bread

Golf, The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA)

Several professional tournaments for women were staged during the 1920s and '30s; important players from this era include Glenna Collett from the United States and Joyce Wethered of Great Britain. It was not until the 1940s that efforts began in earnest to form a professional golf organization for women. The first, the Women's Professional Golf Association (WPGA), was chartered

Spoon River

River in west-central Illinois, U.S. It rises in southwestern Bureau county and flows south and southwest to a point near Lewistown, where it turns southeast, joining the Illinois River opposite Havana after a course of 160 miles (257 km). The Dickson Mounds, a rich archaeological area, are near the confluence of the two rivers. Spoon River was made famous by Edgar Lee Masters, the

Porsche, Ferdinand

Porsche became general director of the Austro-Daimler Company in 1916 and in 1923 moved to the Daimler Company in Stuttgart. He left in 1931 and formed his own firm to design sports and racing cars. Porsche became deeply involved in Hitler's project for a �people's

Jackrabbit

Any of several North American species of hare (genus Lepus).

Rome, Castel Sant'Angelo and the bridges

Four of the 11 bridges along this part of the Tiber are of special interest. The Ponte Sant'Angelo, to which Bernini was asked to add angels, is in the main the Pons Aelius built in AD 134. A year later Hadrian began his tomb, just off the end of the bridge. A towering cylinder 20 metres high on a square base, it was in size and form a typical imperial mausoleum. In 271 it was built into the Aurelian

Portico

The portico is a principal feature of Greek temple architecture and thus a prominent element in Roman and all subsequent classically inspired structures. The types of portico furnish the main terms

Asuka Period

In Japanese �history and art, era from Ad� 552 to 645 that began with the introduction of Buddhism from Korea and culminated in the adoption of a Chinese pattern of government. Initially opposed by conservative clans, Buddhism found favour with the powerful Soga family which defeated its rivals in a succession dispute in 587. As Imperial regent, Shotoku Taishi gave Buddhism official support, and his famous Seventeen

Literature, Canada

The past - personal, historical, and imaginary - was the chosen ground for many Canadian novels in 2001, ranging from Nega Mezlekia's exploration of precolonial Africa from a postcolonial perspective in The God Who Begat a Jackal to Robert Hough's 20th-century circus saga about a tiger-taming woman, The Final Confession

Biblical Literature, Hellenistic religions

With the expansion of Christianity into the Hellenistic world either to Jews or increasingly to Gentiles, there were various reasons why the Christian message that spread, for example by Paul, met the needs of the Hellenistic Age and world. There was no lack of religions, but there was a crisis of upheaval, unrest, and uncertainty and a desire to escape from mortality

Shih Tzu

Tibetan dog breed developed from the Pekingese and the Lhasa apso. Listed in the toy group by the American Kennel Club, the Shih tzu, called in Chinese Shih-tzu kou (�lion dog�), is a long-haired, characteristically active and alert little dog standing about 10 inches (26 cm) and weighing 18 pounds (8 kg) or less. It is longer than it is tall, sturdily built and short-legged, with a short muzzle,

Thomas, J.h.

In full� James Henry Thomas � British trade-union leader and politician, a shrewd and successful industrial negotiator who lost his standing in the labour movement when he joined Ramsay MacDonald's coalition government (August 1931). Later (May 1936) he was found responsible for the leakage of details of a proposed national budget to Stock Exchange speculators,

Philby, H. Saint John

Philby was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, and joined the Indian Civil Service in 1907. In 1917, as political officer of the Mesopotamian Expeditionary force, he was dispatched on a diplomatic

General Confederation Of Labour

French �Conf�d�ration G�n�rale du Travail (CGT),� France's largest labour-union federation. The CGT was formed in 1895 and united in 1902 with the syndicalist-oriented Federation of Labour Exchanges (F�d�ration des Bourses du Travail). In its early years the CGT was racked by ideological divisions between socialist, syndicalist, and other factions. The confederation advocated the use of collective bargaining and the general

Morocco, The pre-World War II period

Abd al-Hafid

Biblical Literature, Exegetical problems

This third category does not involve any consonantal alteration but results solely from the different possibilities inherent in the consonantal spelling. Thus, the lack of vowel signs may permit the word DBR to be read as a verb DiBeR (�he spoke,� as in the Masoretic text of Hosea) or as a noun DeBaR (�the word of,� as in the Septuagint). The absence of word dividers could lead

Kirikkale

Town, central Turkey, on the Ankara-Kayseri railway near the Kizil River. Formerly a village, it owes its rapid rise in population mainly to the establishment of steel mills in the 1950s. These works, among the largest in the country, specialize in high-quality alloy steel and machinery. In the 1960s chemical plants were added. Electricity is provided by a generating plant that is

Sayat-nova

Sayat-Nova worked first as a weaver and later (1750 - 65) became the court minstrel of Irakli II of Georgia. In 1770 he entered a monastery in Haghbat, and he was martyred by the Persian invaders of Georgia. Most of his extant songs are in Azeri Turkish; the rest are in Armenian and Georgian.

Sankt Gallen

French �Saint-gall, � canton, northeastern Switzerland, bounded north by Lake Constance (Bodensee); east by the Rhine Valley, which separates it from the Austrian Vorarlberg Bundesland (federal state) and from Liechtenstein; south by the cantons of Graub�nden, Glarus, and Schwyz; west by the canton of Z�rich; and northwest by the canton of Thurgau. Appenzell Ausser-Rhoden and Appenzell Inner-Rhoden

West End

In London, loosely defined area in the boroughs of Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea. Because many of its neighbourhoods and retail districts are among the more affluent of the metropolis, the West End is considered the fashionable end of London. For centuries it has been known for its royal palaces, parklands, government offices, mansions, and exclusive shopping

Offa

Town, Kwara state, southwestern Nigeria. It lies along the railroad from Lagos and at the intersection of roads from Ilorin town, Lafiagi, and Ikirun. A traditional settlement of the Yoruba people in a savanna area, it now serves as a collecting point for the yams, cassava, corn (maize), sorghum, and shea nuts grown in the surrounding area. Cotton weaving and dyeing (with locally

Science Fiction

Such literature may consist of a careful and informed extrapolation of scientific

Wilder, Billy

Wilder attended Viennese schools, including the University of Vienna (which he left

Wyat, Sir Thomas, The Younger

Wyat's father was the renowned poet and diplomat Sir Thomas Wyat. As a young man he acquired a reputation for recklessness, and in 1543 he was briefly imprisoned for taking part in a London street riot.

Habsburg, House Of, Power and weakness

The Habsburgs reached the zenith of their power before the end of the 16th century: the duchy of Milan, annexed by Charles V in 1535, was assigned by him to his son, the future Philip II of Spain, in 1540; Philip II conquered Portugal in 1580; and the Spanish dominions in America were ever expanding. There were, however, three faults in the power structure - two of them historical accidents, the

Amphibian, Neoteny

Neoteny entails the maturation of a larva's reproductive capabilities without the concomitant development of its external morphological features; this phenomenon occurs in some aquatic salamanders and is due to delayed somatic development. Different patterns of partial metamorphosis, ranging from a lack of development in jaw and cranial elements to a retention