Kali [Hindi,=the Black One], important goddess in popular Hinduism and Tantra. Known also as Durga [the Inaccessible] and as Chandi [the Fierce], Kali is associated with disease, death, and de...

Tiruppur, city (1991 pop. 306,237), Tamil Nadu state, S India. Located in the Eastern Ghats valley, Tiruppur is a commercial center with cotton spinning and weaving industries. Its Shiva templ...

Barddhaman, formerly Burdwan, city (1991 pop. 245,079), West Bengal state, E central India. It has industries in hosiery and tools, but is best known for its 108 linga (phallic) temples dedica...

Nanda Devi, peak, 25,645 ft (7,817 m) high, Uttaranchal state, N India, in the Himalayas. Except for some peaks in Kashmir, it is the highest point in India. Hindus believe that the goddess Na...

Brahma, a god often identified, with Vishnu and Shiva, as one of the three supreme gods in Hinduism. In the late Vedic period he was called Prajapati, the primeval man whose sacrifice permitte...

Badrinath, peak, 23,210 ft (7,074 m) high, in the central axis of the Himalayas, Uttaranchal state, N India. The peak has several glaciers. At a height of c.10,000 ft (3,050 m), is an 9th-cent...

Kailas, peak, c.22,280 ft (6,790 m) high, SW Tibet region of China, highest point of the Kailas Range, in the Himalayas. It is near the sources of the Sutlej, Indus, and Yarlung Zangbo (Brahma...

Tiruchirapalli or Trichinopoly, city (1991 pop. 711,862), Tamil Nadu state, SE India, on the Kaveri River. It is a district administrative center and an important educational, religious, and c...

Avatara [Skt.,=descent], incarnations of Hindu gods, especially Vishnu. The doctrine of avatara first occurs in the Bhagavad-Gita, where Krishna declares: For the preservation of the righteous...

Adam's Peak, Sinhalese Sri Padastanaya and Samanaliya, mountain, 7,360 ft (2,243 m) high, S central Sri Lanka. It is a sacred mountain, famous as a goal of pilgrimage for Buddhists, Hindus, an...