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Buddha
Indian spiritual leader and founder of Buddhism. The term Buddha (Sanskrit: "Enlightened One") is a title rather than a name, and Buddhists believe that there are an infinite number of past and future buddhas. The historical Buddha, referred to as the Buddha Gautama or simply as the Buddha, was born a prince of the Sakyas, on the India-Nepal border. He is said to have lived a sheltered life of luxury that was interrupted when he left the palace and encountered an old man, a sick man, and a corpse. Renouncing his princely life, he spent seven years seeking out teachers and trying various ascetic practices, incl. fasting, to gain enlightenment. Unsatisfied with the results, he meditated beneath the bodhi tree, where, after temptations by Mara, he realized the Four Noble Truths and achieved enlightenment. At Sarnath he preached his first sermon to his companions, outlining the Eightfold Path, which offered a middle way between self-indulgence and self-mortification and led to the liberation of nirvana. The five ascetics who heard this sermon became his first disciples and were admitted as bhiksus (monks) into the sangha or Buddhist order. His mission fulfilled, the Buddha died at Kusinara (present-day Kasia), after eating poisonous mushrooms served him by accident, and escaped the cycle of rebirth; his body was cremated, and stupas were built over his relics.


Edda
Body of ancient Icelandic literature. Contained in two 13th-cent. books, it is the fullest and most detailed source for modern knowledge of Germanic mythology. The Prose Edda (or Younger Edda or Snorra-Edda; c.1222), a handbook on poetics by Snorri Sturluson, explains diction and meter in skaldic and Eddic poetry and recounts tales from Norse mythology. The Poetic Edda (Elder Edda, Sæ mundar Edda; c.1250-1300) is a collection of mythological and heroic poems of unknown authorship composed c.800-1100. These austere lays are the oldest surviving antecedents of the Nibelungenlied legends.


Jidda
City (pop., 1991 est.: 1,500,000), W Saudi Arabia. Located on the Red Sea, it is a major port and the nation's diplomatic capital. It takes its name (which means "ancestress" or "grandmother") from the reputed tomb of Eve, located there until it was destroyed by the Saudi government in 1928. Jidda has long been a point of entry for Muslim pilgrims journeying to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. It belonged to Turkey until 1916, when it yielded to British forces. It was captured by the Muslim leader Ibn Saud in 1925 and was incorporated into Saudi Arabia in 1927.


Luddite
Member of organized groups of early-19th-cent. English craftsmen who destroyed the textile machinery that was replacing them. The movement began in Nottingham in 1811 and spread to other areas in 1812. The Luddites, or "Ludds," were named after a probably mythical leader, Ned Ludd. They operated at night and often enjoyed local support. Harsh ...

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