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Possible definitions for yaksha

darshan
In Hindu worship, the beholding of an auspicious deity, person, or object. The experience is often conceived to be reciprocal and results in a blessing of the viewer. In rathayatras (car festivals), images are carried through the streets to allow viewing by those who formerly would not have been allowed in the temple. Darshan may also be imparted by a guru to his disciples, a ruler to his subjects, or a pilgrimage shrine to its visitors. In Indian philosophy, darshan also refers to a philosophical system (e.g., Vedanta).


Lakshmi
Hindu and Jain goddess of wealth and good fortune. The consort of Vishnu, she is said to have taken different forms to be with him in each of his incarnations. She is a principal object of worship during Divali, when her presence is sought in homes, temples, and businesses for the whole of the year to come.


moksha
In Hinduism and Jainism, the ultimate spiritual goal, the soul's release from the bonds of transmigration. The soul, once entered upon a bodily existence, remains trapped in a chain of successive rebirths until it has attains the perfection or enlightenment that allows it release. The methods by which release is sought and attained differ from one philosophical school to the next, but most schools consider moksha to be the highest purpose of life.


yakuza
Japanese gangsters. Yakuza, who trace their roots back to ronin, often adopt samurai-like rituals and identify themselves with elaborate body tattoos. They engage in such organized-crime pursuits as extortion, blackmail, smuggling, prostitution, drugs, and gambling, and they control many restaurants, bars, trucking companies, and taxi fleets in Japanese cities. Their numbers today exceed 150,000; they are organized into more than 2,000 gangs, most affiliated under the umbrella of one of a dozen or fewer conglomerate gangs. Yakuza gangs are rigidly hierarchical, and the price for disappointing the gang is often to be forced to cut off one's own finger.


Yokohama
Seaport city (pop., 1995 est.: 3,307,000), SE Honshu, Japan, on W Tokyo Bay. It was a small fishing village when U.S. naval officer M. Perry visited in 1854 to negotiate Japanese trading possibilities. It was opened for foreign settlement and trade in 1859. It was destroyed by earthquake and fire in 1923 and severely damaged by U.S. air raids in 1945 during World War II, but it was rebuilt both times. It is Japan's principal port and part of the Tokyo urban-industrial region. It produces textiles, chemicals, ships, machinery, petroleum products, and automobiles.

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