title: Veles (god)

text: Veles, also known as Volos, is a major god of earth, waters, livestock, and the underworld in Slavic paganism. His mythology and powers are similar, though not identical, to deities such as Loki and Hermes.


title: Veles (god)

text: According to reconstruction by some researchers, he is the opponent of the supreme thunder god Perun. As such he probably has been imagined as a dragon, which in the belief of the pagan Slavs is a chimeric being, a serpent that devours livestock. His tree is the willow much like Perun's tree is the oak.


title: Veles (god)

text: No direct accounts survive, but reconstructionists speculate that he may directly continue aspects of the Proto-Indo-European pantheon.


title: Veles (god)

text: Veles is one of few Slavic gods for which evidence of offerings can be found in all Slavic nations. The "Primary Chronicle", a historical record of the early Kievan Rus, is the earliest and most important record, mentioning a god named Volos several times. Here, Volos is mentioned as god of cattle and peasants, who will punish oath-breakers with diseases, the opposite of Perun who is described as a ruling god of war who punishes by death in battle. In the later half of the 10th century, Veles or Volos was one of seven gods whose statues Vladimir I of Kiev had erected in his city. It is very interesting that Veles' statue apparently did not stand next to others, on the hill where the prince's castle was, but lower in the city, in the marketplace. Not only does this indicate that Veles was connected with commerce, but it also shows that worship of Perun and Veles had to be kept separate: while it was proper for Perun's shrines to be built high, on the top of the hill, Veles' place was down, in the lowlands.


title: Veles (god)

text: A similar pattern can be observed among the South Slavs. Here the name of Veles appears only in toponyms, the best-known of which is the city of Veles in Macedonia, over which looms a hill of St. Elias the Thunderer. Also, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a part of Sarajevo is called Velešići and a mountain Velež near Mostar, Herzegovina. Other examples are Veles in Western Serbia, Velesnica on the Danube and Velestovo in Montenegro and also the township of Velestino (Βελεστίνο, today Φέρες), apparently bearing testimony to a Slavic layer in the settlement of Thessaly. Another debatable if not improbable example is the town of Volosko in Croatia, situated on the seashore under the peak of Mount Učka, nicknamed Perun.


title: Veles (god)

text: Among Western Slavs, the name can be principally found in 15th and 16th century Czech records, where it means either dragon or devil.


title: Veles (god)

text: Presumably it is not possible to conclusively determine a definite etymology for the name of the god Veles, though there are several Proto-Indo-European roots that are all closely related to the nature of Veles and his domains.


title: Veles (god)

text: One possibility is that the name derives from the Proto-Indo-European root "*wel-", meaning wool. This seems plausible, since in Slavic cosmology Veles in serpentine form is lying in a nest of black wool in the roots of the Tree of the World and Veles is the shepherd of the dead. "Volos" is also the Russian and Ukrainian word for "hair" and Veles is hairy in his beastly form (bear, wolf).


title: Veles (god)

text: The Proto-Indo-European root "*welg-" also means 'humid, wet'. Nothing is more connected with Veles than humidity and wetness. His domain is down, 'у воду пот корч пот колоду' ("in the water, below the tree stump and the log").


title: Veles (god)

text: There is also the Indo-European word "*woltus" meaning 'meadow' which is derived from the same root. Accordingly, Veles is the shepherd of the dead who was imagined to browse the deceased on green lush meadows in the underworld.


title: Veles (god)

text: The name is also related to Slavic terminology for oxen, for which the South Slavs, Russians, and Poles use "вол/vol/wół". Volos can also be a derivation from the same root by Eastern Slavic phonetic laws, now considered the most probable explanation for this phonetic form.


title: Veles (god)

text: Veles is presumed to be or to represent the same figure as Vala, the enemy of the Vedic thunder god Indra. Other scholarship suggests a closer connection to characters of Baltic mythology, such as "Velnias", "Velns" (Latvian) or "Vėlinas" (Lithuanian), a devil-like entity and enemy of the Baltic thunder-god Perkūnas (cf. Slavic "Perun"). Scholar Marija Gimbutas cited "related" etymons: Lithuanian "veles" 'shades of the dead' and Latvian "Vels" 'god of the underworld', which seem to indicate Veles's connection to the underworld. An ancient Russian word, "Vlasezhelische", probably refers to the place where Veles dwells, "the underground kingdom or an entrance to it".


title: Veles (god)

text: The Russian philologists Vyacheslav Ivanov and Vladimir Toporov reconstructed the mythical battle of Perun and Veles through comparative study of various Indo-European mythologies and a large number of Slavic folk stories and songs. A unifying characteristic of all Indo-European mythologies is a story about a battle between a god of thunder and a huge serpent or a dragon. In the Slavic version of the myth, Perun is a god of thunder while Veles acts as a dragon who opposes him, consistent with the Vala etymology; he is also similar to the Etruscan underworld monster Vetha and to the dragon Illuyankas, enemy of the storm god of Hittite mythology.


title: Veles (god)

text: The reason for the enmity between the two gods is Veles's theft of Perun's son, wife, or, usually, cattle. It is also an act of challenge: Veles, in the form of a huge serpent, slithers from the caves of the underworld and coils upwards the Slavic world tree towards Perun's heavenly domain. Perun retaliates and attacks Veles with his lightning bolts. Veles flees, hiding or transforming himself into trees, animals or people. In the end, he is killed by Perun and in this ritual death, whatever Veles stole is released from his battered body in the form of rain falling from the skies. This "storm myth", or "divine battle", as it is generally called by scholars today, explained to ancient Slavs the changing of seasons through the year. The dry periods were interpreted as the chaotic results of Veles' thievery. Storms and lightning were seen as divine battles. The ensuing rain was the triumph of Perun over Veles and the re-establishment of world order. On a deeper level, as has been said above, Perun's place is up, high and dry and Veles' down, low and wet. By climbing up into the sphere of Perun, Veles disrupts the equilibrium of the world and needs to be put in his place. Perun does this in a fierce battle by smiting him with his lightning and drives him down into the water under the tree stub and the log and by putting him back in his place Perun restores order. Then they stop being adversaries and remain just opponents until the next time Veles tries to crawl up into Perun's realm.


title: Veles (god)

text: The myth was cyclical, repeating itself each year. The death of Veles was never permanent; he would reform himself as a serpent who would shed its old skin and would be reborn in a new body. Although in this particular myth he plays a negative role as bringer of chaos, Veles was not seen as an evil god by ancient Slavs. In fact, in many of the Russian folk tales, Veles, appearing under the Christian guise of St. Nicholas, saves the poor farmer and his cattle from the furious and destructive St. Elias the Thunderer, who represents Perun.


title: Veles (god)

text: The duality and conflict of Perun and Veles does not represent the dualistic clash of good and evil; rather, it is the opposition of the natural principles of earth and water (Veles) against heaven/sky and fire (Perun).


title: Veles (god)

text: The Ivanov/Toporov conception of "the key myth" of Slavic mythology has been criticized by several authors, including Leo Klejn and Igor M. Diakonoff. Many, including Klejn, pointed out that Ivanov and Toporov often tended toward unjustified generalizations and considered many of their arguments "far-fetched". Supporters of the theory, on the other hand, include Boris Uspensky, T. Sudnik and T. Tsivyan, and others.


title: Veles (god)

text: According to Ivanov and Toporov, Veles' portrayal as having a penchant for mischief is evident both from his role in the storm myth and in carnival customs of Koledari shamans. In his role as a trickster god, he is in some ways similar to both Greek Hermes and Scandinavian Loki. He was connected with magic. The word "volhov", obviously derived from his name, in some Slavic languages still means sorcerer while in the 12th century Ruthenian epic The Tale of Igor's Campaign, the character of Boyan the wizard is called Veles' grandson. Veles was also believed to be protector of travelling musicians. For instance, in some wedding ceremonies of northern Croatia (which continued up to the 20th century), the music would not start playing unless the bridegroom, when making a toast, spilled some of the wine on the ground, preferably over the roots of the nearest tree. The symbolism of this is clear, even though forgotten long ago by those still performing it: the musicians will not sing until a toast is made to their patron deity.


title: Veles (god)

text: After the advent of Christianity, Veles was split into several different characters. As a god of the underworld and dragons, he became identified with the Devil. His more benevolent sides were transformed to several Christian saints. As a protector of cattle, he became associated with Saint Blaise, popularly known among various Slavic nations as St. Vlaho, St. Blaz, or St. Vlasiy (Armenian: Սուրբ Վլասի; germ: Blasius; fr: Blaise; sp: San Blas; port: São Brás; it: San Biagio; Croat: sv. Blaž; eng: Blase; Greek: Άγιος Βλάσιος). In Yaroslavl, for example, the first church built on the site of Veles's pagan shrine was dedicated to St Blaise, for the latter's name was similar to Veles and he was likewise considered a heavenly patron of shepherds. As mentioned already, in many Eastern Slavic folk tales, he was replaced by St. Nicholas, probably because the popular stories of the saint describe him as a giver of wealth and a sort of trickster.


title: Subjunctive mood

text: The subjunctive is a grammatical mood, a feature of the utterance that indicates the speaker's attitude towards it. Subjunctive forms of verbs are typically used to express various states of unreality such as: wish, emotion, possibility, judgment, opinion, obligation, or action that has not yet occurred; the precise situations in which they are used vary from language to language. The subjunctive is one of the irrealis moods, which refer to what is not necessarily real. It is often contrasted with the indicative, a realis mood which is used principally to indicate that something is a statement of fact.


title: Subjunctive mood

text: Subjunctives occur most often, although not exclusively, in subordinate clauses, particularly "that"-clauses. Examples of the subjunctive in English are found in the sentences "I suggest that you "be" careful" and "It is important that she "stay" by your side."


title: Subjunctive mood

text: The Proto-Indo-European language, the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European languages, had two closely related moods: the subjunctive and the optative. Many of its daughter languages combined or merged these moods.


title: Subjunctive mood

text: In Indo-European, the subjunctive was formed by using the full ablaut grade of the root of the verb, and appending the thematic vowel *"-e-" or *"-o-" to the root stem, with the full, primary set of personal inflections. The subjunctive was the Indo-European "irrealis", used for hypothetical or counterfactual situations.


title: Subjunctive mood

text: The optative mood was formed with a suffix *"-ieh" or *"-ih" (with a laryngeal). The optative used the clitic set of secondary personal inflections. The optative was used to express wishes or hopes.


title: Subjunctive mood

text: Among the Indo-European languages, only Albanian, Avestan, Ancient Greek, and Sanskrit kept the subjunctive and the optative fully separate and parallel. However, in Sanskrit, use of the subjunctive is found only in the Vedic language of the earliest times, and the optative and imperative are comparatively less commonly used. In the later language (from c. 500 BC), the subjunctive fell out of use, with the optative or imperative being used instead, or merged with the optative as in Latin. However, the first-person forms of the subjunctive continue to be used, as they are transferred to the imperative, which formerly, like Greek, had no first person forms.


title: Subjunctive mood

text: In the Germanic languages, subjunctives are also usually formed from old optatives (a mood that indicates a wish or hope), with the present subjunctive marked with *"-ai-" and the past with *"-ī-". In German, these forms have been reduced to a schwa, spelled "-e". The past tense, however, often displays i-umlaut. In Old Norse, both suffixes evolved into "-i-", but i-umlaut occurs in the past subjunctive, which distinguishes them. The table below shows the Old Norse active paradigm (set of rules) for the verb "grafa" (“to dig”):


title: Subjunctive mood

text: In Modern English, the subjunctive is realised as a finite but tenseless clause where the main verb occurs in the "bare" form. Since the bare form is also used in a variety of other constructions, the English subjunctive is reflected by a clause type rather than a distinct inflectional paradigm.


title: Subjunctive mood

text: German has two forms of the subjunctive mood, namely "Konjunktiv I" (KI) 'present subjunctive' and "Konjunktiv II" (KII) 'past subjunctive'. Despite their English names, both German subjunctives can be used for past and present time.


title: Subjunctive mood

text: The present subjunctive occurs in certain expressions, (e.g. "Es lebe der König!" "Long live the king!") and in indirect (reported) speech. Its use can frequently be replaced by the indicative mood. For example, "Er sagte, er sei Arzt" ('He said he was a physician') is a neutral representation of what was said and makes no claim as to whether the speaker thinks the reported statement is true or not.


title: Subjunctive mood

text: The past subjunctive can often be used to express the same sentiments: "Er sagte, er wäre Arzt." Or, for example, instead of the formal, written "Er sagte, er habe keine Zeit" 'He said he had no time' with present subjunctive 'habe', one can use past subjunctive 'hätte': "Er sagte, er "hätte" keine Zeit."


title: Subjunctive mood

text: In speech, however, the past subjunctive is common without any implication that the speaker doubts the speech he is reporting. As common is use of the indicative "Er sagte, er ist Arzt" and "Er sagte, er hat keine Zeit." This is often changed in written reports to the forms using present subjunctive.


title: Subjunctive mood

text: The present subjunctive is completely regular for all verbs except the verb "sein" ("to be"). It is formed by adding "-e", "-est", "-e", "-en", "-et", "-en" to the stem of the infinitive. The verb "sein" has the stem "sei-" for the present subjunctive declension, but it has no ending for the first and third person singular. While the use of present subjunctive for reported speech is formal and common in newspaper articles, its use in colloquial speech is in continual decline.


title: Subjunctive mood

text: It is possible to express the subjunctive in various tenses, including the perfect ("er sei da gewesen" 'he has [apparently] been there') and the future ("er werde da sein" 'he will be there'). For the preterite, which forms the Konjunktiv II with a somewhat other meaning, indirect speech has to switch to the perfect tense, so that: "Er sagte: 'Ich war da.'" becomes "Er sagte, er sei da gewesen".


title: Subjunctive mood

text: The "KII" or past subjunctive is used to form the conditional tense and, on occasion, as a replacement for the present subjunctive when both indicative and subjunctive moods of a particular verb are indistinguishable.


title: Subjunctive mood

text: Every German verb has a past subjunctive conjugation, but in spoken German the conditional is most commonly formed using "würde" (Konjunktiv II form of "werden" which in here is related to the English "will" or "would" rather than the literal "to become"; dialect: "täte", KII of "tun" 'to do') with an infinitive. For example: "An deiner Stelle würde ich ihm nicht helfen" 'I would not help him if I were you'. In the example, the Konjunktiv II form of "helfen" (hülfe) is very unusual. However, using 'würde' instead of "hätte" (past subjunctive declension of "haben" 'to have') and "wäre" (past subjunctive declension of "sein" 'to be') can be perceived anywhere from awkward (in-the-present use of the past subjunctive) to incorrect (in the past subjunctive). There is a tendency to use the forms in "würde" rather in main clauses as in English; in subclauses even regular forms (which sound like the indicative of the preterite and are, thus, obsolete in any other circumstances) can still be heard.


title: Subjunctive mood

text: Some verbs exist for which either construction can be used, such as with "finden" ("fände") and "tun" ("täte"). Many dictionaries consider the past subjunctive declension of such verbs the only proper expression in formal written German.


title: Subjunctive mood

text: The past subjunctive is declined from the stem of the preterite (imperfect) declension of the verb with the appropriate present subjunctive declension ending as appropriate. In most cases, an "umlaut" is appended to the stem vowel if possible (i.e. if it is "a", "o", "u" or "au"), for example: "ich war" → "ich wäre", "ich brachte" → "ich brächte".


title: Subjunctive mood

text: Dutch has the same subjunctive tenses as German (described above), though they are rare in contemporary speech. The same two tenses as in German are sometimes considered subjunctive mood ("aanvoegende wijs") and sometimes conditional mood ("voorwaardelijke wijs"). In practice, potential subjunctive uses of verbs are difficult to differentiate from indicative uses. This is partly because the subjunctive mood has fallen together with the indicative mood:


title: Subjunctive mood

text: Historically, the Latin subjunctive originates from the ancestral optative inflections, while some of the original subjunctive forms went on to compose the Latin future tense, especially in the Latin third conjugation. The *"-i-" of the old optative forms manifests itself in the fact that the Latin subjunctives typically have a high vowel even when the indicative mood has a lower vowel; for example, Latin "rogamus", "we ask", in the indicative mood, corresponds to the subjunctive "rogemus", "let us ask", where "e" is a higher vowel than "a".


title: Subjunctive mood

text: The subjunctive mood retains a highly distinct form for nearly all verbs in Portuguese, Spanish and Italian (among other Latin languages), and for a number of verbs in French. All of these languages inherit their subjunctive from Latin, where the subjunctive mood combines both forms and usages from a number of original Indo-European inflection sets, including the original subjunctive and the optative mood.


title: Subjunctive mood

text: In many cases, the Romance languages use the subjunctive in the same ways that English does; however, they use them in other ways as well. For example, English generally uses the auxiliary "may" or "let" to form desiderative expressions, such as "Let it snow". The Romance languages use the subjunctive for these; French, for example, says, ""Qu'il neige"" and ""Qu'ils vivent jusqu'à leur vieillesse"". However, in the case of the first-person plural, these languages have imperative forms: "Let us go" in French is ""Allons-y"". In addition, the Romance languages tend to use the subjunctive in various kinds of subordinate clauses, such as those introduced by words meaning "although" English: "Although I am old, I feel young"; French: "Bien que je sois vieux, je me sens jeune".


title: Subjunctive mood

text: In Spanish, phrases with words like "lo que" (that which, what), "quien" (who), or "donde" (where) and subjunctive verb forms are often translated to English with some variation of "whatever" or sometimes an indefinite pronoun. Spanish ""lo que sea"", which is, by a literal interpretation, along the lines of "the thing which is", is translated as English "whatever" or "anything"; similarly, Spanish ""donde sea"" is English "wherever" and Spanish ""quien sea"" is English "whoever". For example, Spanish ""lo que quieras"", literally "that which you want", is translated as English "whatever you may want"; Spanish ""cueste lo que cueste"" is translated to English as "whatever it may cost"; and Spanish ""donde vayas, voy"" is translated to English as "wherever you go, I go".


title: Subjunctive mood

text: The subjunctive is used mostly with verbs or adverbs expressing desire, doubt or eventuality; it may also express an order. It is almost always preceded by the conjunction ().


title: Subjunctive mood

text: French uses a past subjunctive, equivalent in tense to the "passé composé" in the indicative mood, called ""passé du subjonctif"". It is the only other subjunctive tense used in modern-day conversational French. It is formed with the auxiliary "être" or "avoir" and the past participle of the verb. Unlike other Romance languages, such as Spanish, it is not always necessary that the preceding clause be in the past to trigger the "passé du subjonctif" in the subordinate clause:


title: Subjunctive mood

text: French also has an imperfect subjunctive, which in older, formal, or literary writing, replaces the present subjunctive in a subordinate clause when the main clause is in a past tense (including in the French conditional, which is morphologically a future-in-the-past):


title: Subjunctive mood

text: The Italian subjunctive ("congiuntivo") is commonly used, although, especially in the spoken language, it is sometimes substituted by the indicative.


title: Subjunctive mood

text: The subjunctive is used mainly in subordinate clauses following a set phrase or conjunction, such as "benché", "senza che", "prima che", or "perché". It is also used with verbs of doubt, possibility and expressing an opinion or desire, for example with "credo che", "è possibile che" and "ritengo che", and sometimes with superlatives and virtual superlatives.


title: Subjunctive mood

text: Differently from the French subjunctive, the Italian one is used after expressions like ""Penso che"" ("I think that"), where in French the indicative would be used. However, it is also possible to use the subjunctive after the expression ""Je ne pense pas que..."" ("I don't think that..."), and in questions like ""Penses-tu que..."" ("Do you think that..."), even though the indicative forms are correct, too.


title: Subjunctive mood

text: The present subjunctive is similar to, but still mostly distinguishable from, the present indicative. Subject pronouns are often used with the present subjunctive where they are normally omitted in the indicative, since in the first, second and third person singular forms they are the same, so the person is not implicitly implied from the verb. Irregular verbs tend to follow the first person singular form, such as the present subjunctive forms of "andare", which goes to "vada" etc. (first person singular form is "vado").


title: Subjunctive mood

text: The present subjunctive is used mostly in subordinate clauses, as in the examples above. However, exceptions include imperatives using the subjunctive (using the third person), and general statements of desire.


title: Subjunctive mood

text: The Italian imperfect subjunctive is very similar in appearance to (but used much more in speech than) the French imperfect subjunctive, and forms are largely regular, apart from the verbs "essere, dare" and "stare" (which go to "fossi, dessi" and "stessi" etc.). However, unlike in French, where it is often replaced with the present subjunctive, the imperfect subjunctive is far more common. Verbs with a contracted infinitive, such as "dire" (short for "dicere") revert to the longer form in the imperfect subjunctive (to give "dicessi" etc., for example).


title: Subjunctive mood

text: The imperfect subjunctive is used in subordinate clauses taking the subjunctive where the sense of the verb requires the imperfect.


title: Subjunctive mood

text: The imperfect subjunctive is used in "if" clauses, where the main clause is in the conditional tense, as in English and German.


title: Subjunctive mood

text: The perfect and pluperfect subjunctives are formed much like the indicative perfect and pluperfect, except the auxiliary (either "avere" or "essere") verb takes the present and imperfect subjunctive respectively.


title: Subjunctive mood

text: They are used in subordinate clauses which require the subjunctive, where the sense of the verb requires use of the perfect or pluperfect.


title: Subjunctive mood

text: The subjunctive mood ("subjuntivo") is a fundamental element of Spanish. Its spoken form makes use of it to a much larger degree than other Latin languages and it is in no case homonymous to any other mood. Furthermore, it is common to find long complex sentences almost entirely in the subjunctive.


title: Subjunctive mood

text: The subjunctive is used in conjunction with impersonal expressions and expressions of emotion, opinion, desire or viewpoint. More importantly, it applies to most hypothetical situations, likely or unlikely, desired or not. Normally, only certitude of (or statement of) a fact will remove the possibility of its use. Unlike French, it is also used in phrases expressing the past conditional. The negative of the imperative shares the same form with the present subjunctive.


title: Subjunctive mood

text: For example, "I would like" can be said in the conditional "Querría" or in the past subjunctive "Quisiera", as in "Quisiera" (past subjunctive) "que vinieras" (past subjunctive), i.e. "I would like you to come".


title: Subjunctive mood

text: Comfort with the subjunctive form and the degree to which a second-language speaker attempts to avoid using it is a good way to gauge his or her fluency in the language. Complex use of the subjunctive is a constant pattern of everyday speech among native speakers but difficult to interiorize even by relatively proficient Spanish learners (e.g. I would have liked you to come on Thursday: "Me habría gustado" (conditional perfect) "que vinieras" (past subjunctive) "el jueves."


title: Subjunctive mood

text: An example of the subtlety of the Spanish subjunctive is the way the tense (past, present or future) modifies the expression "be it as it may" (literally "be what it be"):


title: Subjunctive mood

text: The same alterations could be made to the expression "Sea como sea" or "no matter how" with similar changes in meaning.


title: Subjunctive mood

text: Spanish has two past subjunctive forms. They are almost identical, except that where the "first form" has "-ra-", the "second form" has "-se-". Both forms are usually interchangeable although the "-se-" form may be more common in Spain than in other Spanish-speaking areas. The "-ra-" forms may also be used as an alternative to the conditional in certain structures.


title: Subjunctive mood

text: In Spanish, a present subjunctive form is always different from the corresponding present indicative form. For example, whereas English "that they speak" or French ""qu'ils parlent"" can be either indicative or subjunctive, Spanish ""que hablen"" is unambiguously subjunctive. (The corresponding indicative would be ""que hablan"".) The same is true for all verbs, regardless of their subject.


title: Subjunctive mood

text: Used interchangeably, the past (imperfect) subjunctive can end either in ""-se"" or ""-ra"". Both forms stem from the third-person plural ("ellos, ellas, ustedes") of the preterite. For example, the verb ""estar"", when conjugated in the third-person plural of the preterite, becomes ""estuvieron"". Then, drop the ""-ron"" ending, and add either ""-se"" or ""-ra"". Thus, it becomes ""estuviese"" or ""estuviera"". The past subjunctive may be used with "if... then" statements with the conditional mood. Example:


title: Subjunctive mood

text: In Spanish, the future subjunctive tense is now rare but still used in certain dialects of Spanish and in formal speech. It is usually reserved for literature, archaic phrases and expressions, and legal documents. (The form is similar to the ""-ra"" form of the imperfect subjunctive, but with a ""-re"" ending instead of ""-ra"", ""-res"" instead of ""-ras"" and so on.) Example:


title: Subjunctive mood

text: Phrases expressing the subjunctive in a future period normally employ the present subjunctive. For example: "I hope that it "will rain" tomorrow" would simply be ""Espero que llueva mañana"" (where "llueva" is the third-person singular present subjunctive of "llover", "to rain").


title: Subjunctive mood

text: In Spanish, the pluperfect subjunctive tense is used to describe a continuing wish in the past. ""Desearía que (tú) hubieras ido al cine conmigo el viernes pasado"." (I wish that you had gone to the movies with me last Friday). To form this tense, first the subjunctive form of "haber" is conjugated (in the example above, ""haber"" becomes ""hubieras""). Then the participle of the main verb (in this case is added, ""ir"" becomes ""ido"").


title: Subjunctive mood

text: Though the ""-re"" form appears to be more closely related to the imperfect subjunctive ""-ra"" form than the ""-se"" form, that is not the case. The ""-se"" form of the imperfect subjunctive derives from the pluperfect subjunctive of Vulgar Latin and the ""-ra"" from the pluperfect indicative, combining to overtake the previous pluperfect subjunctive ending. The ""-re"" form is more complicated, stemming (so to speak) from a fusion of the perfect subjunctive and future perfect indicative—which, though in different moods, happened to be identical in the second and third persons—before losing the perfect in the shift to future subjunctive, the same perfect nature that was the only thing the forms originally shared. So the ""-ra"" and ""-se"" forms always had a past (to be specific, pluperfect) meaning, but only the ""-se"" form always belonged with the subjunctive mood that the ""-re"" form had since its emergence.


title: Subjunctive mood

text: In Portuguese, as in Spanish, the subjunctive ("subjuntivo" or "conjuntivo") is complex, being generally used to talk about situations which are seen as doubtful, imaginary, hypothetical, demanded, or required. It can also express emotion, opinion, disagreement, denial, or a wish. Its value is similar to the one it has in formal English:


title: Subjunctive mood

text: As in Spanish, the imperfect subjunctive is in vernacular use, and it is employed, among other things, to make the tense of a subordinate clause agree with the tense of the main clause:


title: Subjunctive mood

text: There are authors who regard the conditional of Portuguese as a "future in the past" of the indicative mood, rather than as a separate mood; they call it "futuro do pretérito" ("future of the past"), especially in Brazil.


title: Subjunctive mood

text: Portuguese differs from other Ibero-Romance languages in having retained the medieval future subjunctive ("futuro do subjuntivo"), which is rarely used in Spanish and Galician and has been lost in other West Iberic languages. It expresses a condition that must be fulfilled in the future, or is assumed to be fulfilled, before an event can happen. Spanish and English will use the present tense in this type of clause.


title: Subjunctive mood

text: For example, in conditional sentences whose main clause is in the conditional, Portuguese, Spanish and English employ the past tense in the subordinate clause. Nevertheless, if the main clause is in the future, Portuguese will employ the future subjunctive where English and Spanish use the present indicative. (English, when being used in a rigorously formal style, takes the present subjunctive in these situation, example: "Should I be, then...") Contrast the following two sentences.


title: Subjunctive mood

text: The first situation is counterfactual; the listener knows that the speaker is not a king. However, the second statement expresses a promise about the future; the speaker may yet be elected president.


title: Subjunctive mood

text: The future subjunctive is identical in form to the personal infinitive in regular verbs, but they differ in some irregular verbs of frequent use. However, the possible differences between the two tenses are due only to stem changes. They always have the same endings.


title: Subjunctive mood

text: Below, there is a table demonstrating subjunctive and conditional conjugation for regular verbs of the first paradigm (-ar), exemplified by "falar" (to speak) .


title: Subjunctive mood

text: Compound verbs in subjunctive are necessary in more complex sentences, such as subordinate clauses with embedded perfective tenses e.g., perfective state in the future. To form compound subjunctives auxiliar verbs ("ter" or "haver") must conjugate to the respective subjunctive tense, while the main verbs must take their participles.


title: Subjunctive mood

text: Romanian is part of the Balkan Sprachbund and as such uses the subjunctive ("conjunctiv") more extensively than other Romance languages. The subjunctive forms always include the conjunction "să", which within these verbal forms plays the role of a morphological structural element. The subjunctive has two tenses: the past tense and the present tense. It is usually used in subordinate clauses.


title: Subjunctive mood

text: The present subjunctive is usually built in the 1st and 2nd person singular and plural by adding the conjunction "să" before the present indicative (indicative: "am" I have; conjunctive: "să am" (that) I have; indicative: "vii" you come; conjunctive: "să vii" (t/hat) you come). In the 3rd person most verbs have a specific conjunctive form which differs from the indicative either in the ending or in the stem itself; there is however no distinction between the singular and plural of the present conjunctive in the 3rd person (indicative: "are" he has; conjunctive: "să aibă" (that) he has; indicative: "au" they have; conjunctive: "să aibă" (that) they have; indicative: "vine" he comes; conjunctive: "să vină" (that) he comes; indicative: "vin" they come; conjunctive: "să vină" (that) they come).


title: Subjunctive mood

text: The present tense is by far the most widely used of the two subjunctive tenses and is used frequently after verbs that express wish, preference, permission, possibility, request, advice, etc.: "a vrea" to want, "a dori" to wish, "a prefera" to prefer, "a lăsa" to let, to allow, "a ruga" to ask, "a sfătui" to advise, "a sugera" to suggest, "a recomanda" to recommend, "a cere" to demand, to ask for, "a interzice" to forbid, "a permite" to allow, to give permission, "a se teme" to be afraid, etc.


title: Subjunctive mood

text: When used independently, the subjunctive indicates a desire, a fear, an order or a request, i.e. has modal and imperative values. The present subjunctive is used in questions having the modal value of "should":


title: Subjunctive mood

text: The present subjunctive is often used as an imperative, mainly for other persons than the second person. When used with the second person, it is even stronger than the imperative. The first-person plural can be preceded by the interjection "hai", which intensifies the imperative meaning of the structure:


title: Subjunctive mood

text: The past tense of the subjunctive mood has one form for all persons and numbers of all the verbs, which is "să fi" followed by the past participle of the verb. The past subjunctive is used after the past optative-conditional of the verbs that require the subjunctive ("a trebui, a vrea, a putea, a fi bine, a fi necesar", etc.), in constructions that express the necessity, the desire in the past:


title: Subjunctive mood

text: When used independently, the past subjunctive indicates a regret related to a past-accomplished action that is seen as undesirable at the moment of speaking:


title: Subjunctive mood

text: In Welsh, there are two forms of the subjunctive: present and imperfect. The present subjunctive is barely ever used in spoken Welsh except in certain fixed phrases, and is restricted in most cases to the third person singular. However, it is more likely to be found in literary Welsh, most widely in more old-fashioned registers. The third-person singular is properly used after certain conjunctions and prepositions but in spoken Welsh the present subjunctive is frequently replaced by either the infinitives, the present tense, the conditional, or the future tense (this latter is called the present-future by some grammarians).


title: Subjunctive mood

text: The imperfect subjunctive, as in English, only affects the verb "bod" ("to be"). It is used after "pe" (a form of "if") and it must be accompanied by the conditional subjunctive e.g. "Pe bawn i'n gyfoethog, teithiwn i trwy'r byd." = "If I were rich, I would travel throughout the world."


title: Subjunctive mood

text: For all other verbs in Welsh, as in English, the imperfect subjunctive takes the same stems as do the conditional subjunctive and the imperfect indicative.


title: Subjunctive mood

text: In Scottish Gaelic, the subjunctive does exist but still takes the forms from the indicative: the present subjunctive takes the future indicative and the imperfect subjunctive takes the imperfect indicative. The subjunctive is normally used in proverbs or truisms in phrases that start with 'May...'


title: Subjunctive mood

text: Or when used as the conjunction, the subjunctive is used, like every other language, in a more demanding or wishful statement:


title: Subjunctive mood

text: The subjunctive in Gaelic will sometimes have the conjunction "gun" (or "gum" before words beginning with "b", "f", "m" or "p") can be translated as 'that' or as 'May ...' while making a wish. For negatives, "nach" is used instead.


title: Subjunctive mood

text: In Scottish Gaelic, the imperfect subjunctive is exactly the same as the indicative only that it uses "robh" in both the affirmative and negative forms, as the interrogative does not exist in any subjunctive form in any language, of "bi"- 'to be' although "robh" is taken from the interrogative form in the imperfect indicative of "bi".


title: Subjunctive mood

text: For every other verb in Gaelic, the same follows for the imperfect subjunctive where the interrogative or negative form of the verb is used for both the affirmative and negative form of the verb and, like Welsh, the imperfect subjunctive forms can be exactly the same as the conditional subjunctive forms apart from "bi".


title: Subjunctive mood

text: In the Irish language (Gaeilge), the subjunctive, like in Scottish Gaelic (its sister language), covers the idea of wishing something and so appears in some famous Irish proverbs and blessings. It is considered an old-fashioned tense for daily speech (except in set phrases) but still appears often in print.


title: Subjunctive mood

text: The subjunctive is normally formed from "Go" (which eclipses, and adds "n-" to a verb beginning with a vowel), plus the subjunctive form of the verb, plus the subject, plus the thing being wished for. For instance, the subjunctive form of "téigh" (go) is "té":


title: Subjunctive mood

text: Or to take a third example, sometimes the wish is also a curse, like this one from Tory Island in Donegal:


title: Subjunctive mood

text: The subjunctive is generally formed by taking the stem of the verb and adding on the appropriate subjunctive ending depending on broad or slender, and first or second conjugation. For example, to the stem of bog "(to move)" is added -a giving as its subjunctive in the first person boga mé:


title: Subjunctive mood

text: There is also some irregularity in certain verbs in the subjunctive. The verb bí "(to be)" is the most irregular verb in Irish (as in most Indo-European languages):


title: Subjunctive mood

text: The Irish phrase for "thank you" – go raibh maith agat – uses the subjunctive of "bí" and literally means "may there be good at-you".


title: Subjunctive mood

text: Some verbs do not follow the conjugation of the subjunctive exactly as conjugated above. These irregularities apply to verbs whose stem ends already in a stressed vowel and thus due to the rules of Irish orthography and pronunciation, cannot take another. For example:


title: Subjunctive mood

text: Where the subjunctive is used in English, it may not be used in Irish and another tense might be used instead. For example:


title: Subjunctive mood

text: There are two subjunctive moods in Hindi-Urdu (Hindustani), first the regular subjunctive and the second, the perfective subjunctive which superficially has the same form as the perfective aspect forms of verbs but still expresses future events, it is only ever used with if clauses and relative pronouns. In a semantic analysis, this use of the perfective aspect marker would not be considered perfective, since it is more closely related to subjunctive usage. Only the superficial form is identical to that of the perfective.


title: Subjunctive mood

text: The regular subjunctive mood can be put in two tenses; present and future. There is another mood, called the contrafactual mood, which serves as both the past subjunctive and the past conditional mood in Hindustani. Hindi-Urdu, apart from the non-aspectual forms (or the simple aspect) has three grammatical aspects (habitual, perfective & progressive) and each aspect can be put five grammatical moods (indicative, presumptive, subjunctive, contrafactual & imperative). The subjunctive mood can be put in the present tense only for the verb honā" (to be) for any other verb only the future sujunctive form exists. Subjunctive mood forms for all the three grammatical aspects of Hindustani for the verbs honā (to be) and karnā" (to do) are shown in the table below.


title: Subjunctive mood

text: The Slavic languages lost the Proto-Indo-European subjunctive altogether, while the old optative was repurposed as the imperative mood. Some modern Slavic languages have developed a new subjunctive-like construction, although there is no consistent terminology. For example, some authors do not distinguish the subjunctive mood from the optative ("wishing") mood,


title: Subjunctive mood

text: The subjunctive mood is formed using the "by" particle, either alone or forming a single word with the complex conjunctions "żeby", "iżby", "ażeby", "aby", "coby". The mood does not have its own morphology, but instead a rule that the "by"-containing particle must be placed in front of the dependent clause. Compare:


title: Subjunctive mood

text: The subjunctive mood in the dependent clause is obligatory in the case of certain independent clauses, for example it is incorrect to say <del>"chcę, że to zrobi"</del>, but the subjunctive mood must be used instead: "chcę, by to zrobił".


title: Subjunctive mood

text: The subjunctive can never be mistaken with the conditional, despite that in the case of the conditional mood the clitic "by" and derivatives can move. See that in the following examples:


title: Subjunctive mood

text: Compare to the closely related optative mood, e.g. the subjunctive "nie nalegam, by wysłał list" vs the optative "oby wysłał list".


title: Subjunctive mood

text: Modal distinctions in subordinate clauses are expressed not through verb endings, but through the choice of complementizer - "че (che)" or "да (da)" (which might both be translated with the relative pronoun "that"). The verbs remain unchanged. In ordinary sentences, the imperfective aspect is most often used for the indicative, and the perfective for the subjunctive, but any combination is possible, with the corresponding change in meaning.


title: Subjunctive mood

text: In Standard/Literary Arabic, the verb in its imperfect aspect ("al-muḍāri‘") has a subjunctive form called the "manṣūb" form (). It is distinct from the imperfect indicative in most of its forms: where the indicative has "-u", the subjunctive has "-a"; and where the indicative has "-na" or "-ni", the subjunctive has nothing at all. (The "-na" ending in the second and third-person plural feminine is different: it marks the gender and number, not the mood, and therefore it is there in both the indicative and subjunctive.)


title: Subjunctive mood

text: The subjunctive is used in "that"-clauses, after Arabic "an": "urīdu an aktuba" "I want to write." However, in conditional and precative sentences, such as "if he goes" or "let him go", a different mood of the imperfective aspect, the jussive, "majzūm", is used.


title: Subjunctive mood

text: In many spoken Arabic dialects, there remains a distinction between indicative and subjunctive; however, it is not through a suffix but rather a prefix.


title: Subjunctive mood

text: Egyptian Arabic uses a simple construction that precedes the conjugated verbs with ("law" "if") or ("momken" "may"); the following are some examples:


title: Subjunctive mood

text: Final short vowels were elided in Hebrew in prehistoric times, so that the distinction between the Proto-Semitic indicative, subjunctive and jussive (similar to Classical Arabic forms) had largely been lost even in Biblical Hebrew. The distinction does remain for some verbal categories, where the original final morphemes effected lasting secondary changes in word-internal syllabic structure and vowel length. These include weak roots with a medial or final vowel, such as "yaqūm" "he rises / will rise" versus "yaqom" "may he rise" and "yihye" "he will be" versus "yehi" "may he be", imperfect forms of the "hiphil" stem, and also generally for first person imperfect forms: (imperfect indicative of 'sit') vs. (imperfect cohortative=volitive of 'sit'). In modern Hebrew, the situation has been carried even further, with forms like "yaqom" and "yehi" becoming non-productive; instead, the future tense (prefix conjugation) is used for the subjunctive, often with the particle "she-" added to introduce the clause, if it is not already present (similar to French "que").


title: Subjunctive mood

text: Biblical subjunctive forms survive in non-productive phrases in such forms as the third-person singular of "to be" ( – "lihyot", or ) and "to live" ( – "likhyot", ), mostly in a literary register:


title: Subjunctive mood

text: Subordinate clauses in Babylonian and Standard Babylonian Akkadian are marked with a "-u" on verbs ending in a consonant, and with nothing after vocalic endings or after ventive endings. Due to the consonantal structure of semitic languages, and Akkadian sound laws, the addition of the -u might trigger short vowels in the middle of the word to disappear. Assyrian Akkadian uses a more complicated system with both -u and -ni as markers of subordination. The ending -ni was used in the instances where -u could not be used as stated above. During Middle and Neo Assyrian the -ni ending became compulsory on all subordinate verbs, even those that already had the -u, resulting in -ni and-ūni as markers of subordination.


title: Subjunctive mood

text: This mood in Hungarian is generally used to express polite demands and suggestions. The endings are identical between imperative, conjunctive and subjunctive; it is therefore often called the conjunctive-imperative mood.


title: Subjunctive mood

text: Note that "demand" is nowhere near as rude as it might sound in English. It is a polite but firm request, but not as polite as, say, "would you...".


title: Subjunctive mood

text: The characteristic letter in its ending is "-j-," and in the definite conjunctive conjugation the endings appear very similar to those of singular possession, with a leading letter "-j-."


title: Subjunctive mood

text: An unusual feature of the mood's endings is that there exist a short and a long form for the second person singular (i.e. "you"). The formation of this for regular verbs differs between the indefinite and definite: the indefinite requires just the addition of "-j," which differs from the longer ending in that the last two sounds are omitted ("-j" and not "-jél" for example in "menj" above, cf. "menjél"). The short version of the definite form also drops two letters, but another two. It drops, for example: the "-ja-" in "-jad", leaving just "-d", as can be seen in "add" above (instead of "adjad").


title: Subjunctive mood

text: There are several groups of exceptions involving verbs that end in "-t". The rules for how this letter, and a preceding letter, should change when the subjunctive endings are applied are quite complicated, see the article Hungarian verbs.


title: Subjunctive mood

text: As usual, gemination of a final sibilant consonant is demonstrated when a "j"-initial ending is applied:


title: Subjunctive mood

text: There is no one-to-one relationship between the subjunctive mode in foreign languages and the modes in Turkish. The subjunctive mode of other languages can be compared with "imperative mode (emir kipi)", "necessitative mood (gereklilik kipi)", "optative mood (istek kipi)", "desiderative mood (dilek kipi)", "conditional mood (şart kipi)" in Turkish. Of the above 5 moods, 3 moods (istek kipi, şart kipi, dilek kipi) are additionally translated as "subjunctive mode " too.


title: Subjunctive mood

text: Examples of the optative mood (istek kipi) are gideyim (Let me go), gitsin (Let him go), gidelim (Let us go), gitsinler (Let them go). Suggested actions and desires are expressed with the optative verb. The suffixes -(y)eyim, -(y)elim, and other forms are used to form an optative verb. The Turkish optative means 'let someone do something' in English. Forming the optative:


title: Subjunctive mood

text: An example of a conditional mode (şart kipi) is: Çalışırsa kazanır (If he works, he wins. (simple present), he will win (simple future)), çalıştıysa kazanır (If he worked, he might win. (simple present)).


title: Subjunctive mood

text: An examples of an necessitative mood (gereklilik kipi) is: Benim gelmem gerek (I must/ have to come), Dün toplantıya katılman gerekirdi (You should have attended the meeting yesterday. (but you didn’t)).


title: Subjunctive mood

text: An example of an imperative mode (emir kipi) is: siz gelin (Let you come), onlar gelsinler (Let them come).


title: Subjunctive mood

text: An examples of an desiderative mood (dilek kipi) is: Ah! şimdi burada olsaydı (Oh! If/ if only he were here now); Keşke burada olaydı (I wish he were here).; Keşke arabam olsa da otobüse binmesem (I wish I had a car, but I didn't get on the bus.); Keşke arabam olsaydı da otobüse binmeseydim (I wish I had a car but I hadn't got on the bus.); Keşke arabam olsa o zaman otobüse binmem(I wish I had a car then I wouldn't get on the bus); Keşke arabam olsaydı o zaman otobüse binmezdim(I wish I had a car then I wouldn't get on the bus).


title: Merlion

text: The Merlion () is the official mascot of Singapore. It is depicted as a mythical creature with the head of a lion and the body of a fish. Being of prominent symbolic nature to Singapore and Singaporeans in general, it is widely used to represent both the city state and its people in sports teams, advertising, branding, tourism and as a national personification.


title: Merlion

text: The Merlion was first used in Singapore as the logo for the tourism board. Its name combines "mer", meaning the sea, and "lion". The fish body represents Singapore's origin as a fishing village when it was called "Temasek", which means "sea town" in Javanese. The lion head represents Singapore's original name—"Singapura"—meaning "lion city" or "kota singa".


title: Merlion

text: The symbol was designed by Alec Fraser-Brunner, a member of the Souvenir Committee and curator of the Van Kleef Aquarium, for the logo of the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) in use from 26 March, 1964 to 1997 and has been its trademarked symbol since 20 July 1966. Although the STB changed their logo in 1997, the STB Act continues to protect the Merlion symbol. Approval must be received from STB before it can be used. The Merlion frequently appears on STB-approved souvenirs.


title: Merlion

text: On 15 September 1972, Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew officiated the installation ceremony of the Merlion statue. The original statue stood at the mouth of the Singapore River in Merlion Park.


title: Merlion

text: It was conceptualised by the vice-chancellor Kwan Sai Kheong of the University of Singapore and constructed from November 1971 to August 1972 by Singapore sculptor Lim Nang Seng (). It measures 8.6 metres high and weighs 70 tons. The project cost about S$165,000.


title: Merlion

text: The completion of the Esplanade Bridge, in 1997, blocked the views of the Merlion from the Marina Bay waterfront. By then, the original Merlion location was also no longer the entrance of Singapore River. So, in 2002, the statue and its cub were relocated 120 metres to the current Merlion Park that fronts Marina Bay where it stands on a newly reclaimed promontory in front of The Fullerton Hotel.


title: Merlion

text: Another solution considered—to raise the Merlion on a pedestal at its original location—was deemed unsuitable as the view would still be blocked by the bridge. Other possible relocation sites considered included Nicoll Highway Extension Bridge, Esplanade Park, Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay, a promontory at Marina Centre (near where Singapore Flyer is located now), a promontory site at Bayfront (near the tip of Marina Bay Sands integrated resort) and Kim Seng Park. However, all were either unsuitable or not technically feasible.


title: Merlion

text: The unprecedented feat of relocation began on 23 April 2002 and finished on 25 April. A carefully engineered journey required one barge, two DEMAG AC1600S cranes of 5000 tonnes lifting capacity, plus a team of 20 engineers and workers on site. The entire statue was hoisted onto the barge, which then sailed to the new installation site at the current Merlion Park, near the mouth of Singapore River. During the voyage, the statue had to be hoisted from the barge, over the Esplanade Bridge and then back onto the barge, as it was too tall to pass underneath.


title: Merlion

text: Exactly 30 years after it was officially launched, then-Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew returned on 15 September 2002 to ceremonially welcome the Merlion again – this time in its new home. A viewing deck now stretches over the Singapore River, allowing visitors to pose for a photograph with a front or side view of the Merlion, including a new city skyline backdrop in the picture. The sculpture was aligned to face East, a direction advised to be most auspicious. Relocated, the statue once more spouted water from its mouth, having stopped in its old location since 1998 due to a water pump malfunction. The Merlion now has a new two-unit water pump system with units working alternatively, so a partner is always on standby. The relocation and new site (four times larger than the original) cost S$7.5 million.


title: Merlion

text: From 5 June till 10 July 2006, the Merlion at Merlion Park underwent maintenance. The last one was right after its relocation. Dirt and stains were removed using high-pressure water streams, and various wear and tear of the statue was mended.


title: Merlion

text: During that period, visitors were greeted with illustrated hoardings and canvases covering the safety nets and scaffolding. The illustrations were designed by Miel, an award-winning senior artist at "The Straits Times". The illustration on the canvases made them look like shower curtains, with the Merlion sticking its head out with the shadow of its tail behind the curtain. The illustration on the hoardings showed the Merlion scrubbing himself with a brush and showering using a Merlion shower head spouting water. The Merlion said, "EXCUSE ME while I take a shower..." in a speech bubble.


title: Merlion

text: The Merlion on Sentosa was designed and sculpted by an Australian Artist named James Martin. It is made of Glass Reinforced Cement (GRC) over a steel armature that is attached to the centre.


title: Merlion

text: The Merlion Park was temporarily turned into a single-unit hotel suite, as part of an artwork by Tatzu Nishi, for the duration of the 2011 Singapore Biennale.


title: Merlion

text: On Saturday, 28 February 2009, at about 4:26 pm, the Merlion in the Merlion Park was struck by lightning. A breaking news from 938NOW local radio showed an image with fragments from the Merlion's head on the ground.


title: Merlion

text: Examination of the damage was done quickly with wooden scaffolding set up on Sunday, 1 March 2009 for workers to take a closer look at the hole. The incident happened as a result of the lack of lightning protection on the Merlion itself.


title: Merlion

text: One of the previously approved statues, a 37-metre-tall gigantic replica at Sentosa, with Mouth Gallery Viewing Deck on the ninth storey, another viewing gallery on its head and Sentosa Merlion Shop, and capable of shining laser beams from its eyes, was closed on 20 October 2019. The area around the statue would be replaced by a Sentosa Sensoryscape project targeted to be completed by 2022.


title: Merlion

text: The statues can also be found outside of Singapore in various countries, namely Taiwan, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, and Thailand.


title: Fork

text: In cutlery or kitchenware, a fork (from 'pitchfork') is a utensil, now usually made of metal, whose long handle terminates in a head that branches into several narrow and often slightly curved tines with which one can spear foods either to hold them to cut with a knife or to lift them to the mouth.


title: Fork

text: Bone forks have been found in archaeological sites of the Bronze Age Qijia culture (2400–1900 BC), the Shang dynasty (c. 1600–c. 1050 BC), as well as later Chinese dynasties. A stone carving from an Eastern Han tomb (in Ta-kua-liang, Suide County, Shaanxi) depicts three hanging two-pronged forks in a dining scene. Similar forks have also been depicted on top of a stove in a scene at another Eastern Han tomb (in Suide County, Shaanxi).


title: Fork

text: In the Roman Empire, bronze and silver forks were used, many surviving examples of which are displayed in museums around Europe. Use varied according to local customs, social class, and the type of food, but in earlier periods forks were mostly used as cooking and serving utensils.


title: Fork

text: Although its origin may go back to Ancient Greece, the personal table fork was most likely invented in the Eastern Roman ("Byzantine") Empire, where they were in common use by the 4th century.


title: Fork

text: Records show that by the 9th century in some elite circles of Persia a similar utensil known as a "barjyn" was in limited use. By the 10th century, the table fork was in common use throughout the Middle East.


title: Fork

text: Chronographers mention the astonishment that the Byzantine princess Theophanu caused to the westerners, because she was using a fork instead of her hands when she was eating (she moved to the west because she married the Holy Roman Emperor Otto II).


title: Fork

text: In addition, according to Peter Damian, the Byzantine princess Maria Argyropoulina brought some golden forks to Venice, when she married Giovanni Orseolo, the son of the Doge Pietro II Orseolo in 1004. Damian condemned the fork as "vanity". The same story (with Maria Argyropoulina) was said about the Byzantine princess Theodora Doukaina who came to Venice to marry the Doge Domenico Selvo and used forks at the meals.


title: Fork

text: By the 11th century, the table fork had become increasingly prevalent in the Italian peninsula before other European regions because of historical ties with Byzantium and, as pasta became a greater part of the Italian diet, continued to gain popularity, displacing the long wooden spike formerly used since the fork's three spikes proved better suited to gathering the noodles. By the 14th century the table fork had become commonplace in Italy, and by 1600 was almost universal among the merchant and upper classes. It was proper for a guest to arrive with his own fork and spoon enclosed in a box called a "cadena"; this usage was introduced to the French court with Catherine de' Medici's entourage.


title: Fork

text: Although in Portugal forks were first used around 1450 by Infanta Beatrice, Duchess of Viseu, King Manuel I of Portugal's mother, only by the 16th century, when they had become part of Italian etiquette, did forks enter into common use in Southern Europe, gaining some currency in Spain, and gradually spreading to France. The rest of Europe did not adopt the fork until the 18th century.


title: Fork

text: The fork's adoption in northern Europe was slower. Its use was first described in English by Thomas Coryat in a volume of writings on his Italian travels (1611), but for many years it was viewed as an unmanly Italian affectation. Some writers of the Roman Catholic Church expressly disapproved of its use; St. Peter Damian seeing it as "excessive delicacy". It was not until the 18th century that the fork became commonly used in Great Britain, although some sources say that forks were common in France, England and Sweden already by the early 17th century.


title: Fork

text: The fork did not become popular in North America until near the time of the American Revolution. The standard four-tine design became current in the early 19th century.


title: Puri

text: Puri () is a coastal city and a municipality in the state of Odisha in eastern India. It is the district headquarters of Puri district and is situated on the Bay of Bengal, south of the state capital of Bhubaneswar. It is also known as "Sri Jagannatha Dhama" after the 12th-century Jagannath Temple located in the city. It is one of the original Char Dham pilgrimage sites for Hindus.


title: Puri

text: Puri is known by several names since the ancient times, and was locally known as "Sri Kshetra" and the Jagannath temple is known as "Badadeula". Puri and the Jagannath Temple were invaded 18 times by Muslim rulers, from the 7th century AD till the early 19th century with the objective of looting the treasures of the temple. Odisha, including Puri and its temple, were part of British India from 1803 till India attained independence in August 1947. Even though princely states do not exist in India today, the heirs of the House of Gajapati still perform the ritual duties of the temple. The temple town has many Hindu religious "matha"s or monasteries.


title: Puri

text: The economy of Puri is dependent on the religious importance of the Jagannath Temple to the extent of nearly 80 percent. The 24 festivals, including 13 major ones, held every year in the temple complex contribute to the economy; Ratha Yatra and its related festivals are the most important which are attended by millions of people every year. Sand art and applique art are some of the important crafts of the city.


title: Puri

text: Puri has been chosen as one of the heritage cities for Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY) scheme of Government of India.


title: Puri

text: Puri is a significant part of the "Krishna pilgrimage circuit" which also includes Mathura, Vrindavan, Barsana, Gokula, Govardhan, Kurukshetra and Dwarka.


title: Puri

text: Puri, the holy land of Jagannatha, also known by the popular vernacular name Srikshetram, has many ancient names in the Hindu scriptures such as the Rigveda, Matsya purana, Brahma Purana, Narada Purana, Padma Purana, Skanda Purana, Kapila Purana and Niladrimahodaya. In the Rigveda, in particular, it is mentioned as a place called Purushamandama-grama meaning the place where the Creator deity of the world – Supreme Divinity deified on an altar or mandapa was venerated near the coast and prayers offered with Vedic hymns. Over time the name got changed to Purushottama Puri and further shortened to Puri, and the Purusha came to be known as Jagannatha. Sages like Bhrigu, Atri and Markandeya had their hermitage close to this place. Its name is mentioned, conforming to the deity worshipped, as Srikshetra, Purusottama Dhāma, Purusottama Kshetra, Purusottama Puri and Jagannath Puri. Puri, however, is the popular usage. It is also known by the geographical features of its location as Shankhakshetra (the layout of the town is in the form of a conch shell), Neelāchala ("Blue mountain" a terminology used to name a very large sand lagoon over which the temple was built but this name is not in vogue), Neelāchalakshetra, Neelādri. In Sanskrit, the word "Puri" means town or city, and is cognate with "polis" in Greek.


title: Puri

text: Another ancient name is Charita as identified by General Alexander Cunningham of the Archaeological Survey of India, which was later spelled as Che-li-ta-lo by Chinese traveller Hiuen Tsang. When the present temple was built by the Eastern Ganga king Anantavarman Chodaganga in the 11th and 12th centuries AD, it was called Purushottamkshetra. However, the Moghuls, the Marathas and early British rulers called it Purushottama-chhatar or just Chhatar. In Moghul ruler Akbar's Ain-i-Akbari and subsequent Muslim historical records it was known as Purushottama. In the Sanskrit drama "Anargha Raghava Nataka" as well, authored by Murari Mishra, a playwright, in the 8th century AD, it is referred to as Purushottama. It was only after the 12th century AD that Puri came to be known by the shortened form of Jagannatha Puri, named after the deity or in a short form as Puri. It is the only shrine in India, where Radha, along with Lakshmi, Saraswati, Durga, Bhudevi, Sati, Parvati, and Shakti, abodes with Krishna, who is also known by the name Jagannatha.


title: Puri

text: According to the chronicle Madala Panji, in 318 AD, the priests and servitors of the temple spirited away the idols to escape the wrath of the Rashtrakuta king Rakatavahu. In the temple's historical records it finds mention in the Brahma Purana and Skanda Purana stating that the temple was built by the king Indradyumna, Ujjayani.


title: Puri

text: S. N. Sadasivan, a historian, in his book "A Social History of India" quotes William Joseph Wilkins, author of the book "Hindu Mythology, Vedic and Purānic" as stating that in Puri, Buddhism was once a well established practice but later Buddhism faded and Brahmanism became the order of the religious practice in the town; the Buddha deity is now worshipped by the Hindus as Jagannatha. It is also said by Wilkinson that some relics of Buddha were placed inside the idol of Jagannatha which the Brahmins claimed were the bones of Krishna. Even during Maurya king Ashoka's reign in 240 BC, Kalinga was a Buddhist center and that a tribe known as Lohabahu (barbarians from outside Odisha) converted to Buddhism and built a temple with an idol of Buddha which is now worshipped as Jagannatha. Wilkinson also says that the Lohabahu deposited some Buddha relics in the precincts of the temple.


title: Puri

text: Construction of the present Jagannath Temple started in 1136 AD and completed towards the latter part of the 12th century. The Eastern Ganga king Anangabhima III dedicated his kingdom to Jagannatha, then known as the Purushottama-Jagannatha, and resolved that from then on he and his descendants would rule under "divine order as Jagannatha's sons and vassals". Even though princely states do not exist in India today, the heirs of the Puri Estate still perform the ritual duties of the temple; the king formally sweeps the road in front of the chariots before the start of the Ratha Yatra. This ritual is called Cherra Pahanra.


title: Puri

text: The history of Puri is on the same lines as that of the Jagannath Temple, which was invaded 18 times during its history to plunder the treasures of the temple, rather than for religious reasons. The first invasion occurred in the 8th century AD by Rastrakuta king Govinda III (798–814 AD), and the last took place in 1881 AD by the monotheistic followers of "Alekh" (Mahima Dharma) who did not recognise the worship of Jagannatha. From 1205 AD onward there were many invasions of the city and its temple by Muslims of Afghan and Moghul descent, known as Yavanas or foreigners. In most of these invasions the idols were taken to safe places by the priests and the servitors of the temple. Destruction of the temple was prevented by timely resistance or surrender by the kings of the region. However, the treasures of the temple were repeatedly looted. The table lists all the 18 invasions along with the status of the three images of the temple, the triad of Jagannatha, Balabhadra and Subhadra following each invasion.


title: Puri

text: Puri is the site of the Govardhana Matha, one of the four cardinal institutions established by Adi Shankaracharya, when he visited Puri in 810 AD, and since then it has become an important "dham" (divine centre) for the Hindus; the others being those at Sringeri, Dwarka and Jyotirmath. The "Matha" (monastery of various Hindu sects) is headed by Jagatguru Shankarachrya. It is a local belief about these dhams that Vishnu takes his dinner at Puri, has his bath at Rameshwaram, spends the night at Dwarka and does penance at Badrinath.


title: Puri

text: In the 16th century, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu of Bengal established the Bhakti movements of India, now known by the name the Hare Krishna movement. He spent many years as a devotee of Jagannatha at Puri; he is said to have merged with the deity. There is also a "matha" of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu here known as Radhakanta Math.


title: Puri

text: In the 17th century, for the sailors sailing on the east coast of India, the temple served as a landmark, being located in a plaza in the centre of the city, which they called the "White Pagoda" while the Konark Sun Temple, away to the east of Puri, was known as the "Black Pagoda".


title: Puri

text: The iconic representation of the images in the Jagannath temple is believed to be the forms derived from the worship made by the tribal groups of Sabaras belonging to northern Odisha. These images are replaced at regular intervals as the wood deteriorates. This replacement is a special event carried out ritualistically by special group of carpenters.


title: Puri

text: The city has many other "Mathas" as well. The Emar Matha was founded by the Tamil Vaishnava saint Ramanujacharya in the 12th century AD. This Matha, which is now located in front of Simhadvara across the eastern corner of the Jagannath Temple, is reported to have been built in the 16th century during the reign of kings of Suryavamsi Gajapatis. The Matha was in the news on 25 February 2011 for the large cache of 522 silver slabs unearthed from a closed chamber.


title: Puri

text: The British conquered Orissa in 1803, and, recognising the importance of the Jagannath Temple in the life of the people of the state, they initially appointed an official to look after the temple's affairs and later declared the temple as part of a district.


title: Puri

text: In 1906, Sri Yukteswar, an exponent of Kriya Yoga and a resident of Puri, established an ashram, a spiritual training center, named "Karar Ashram" in Puri. He died on 9 March 1936 and his body is buried in the garden of the ashram.


title: Puri

text: The city is the site of the former summer residence of British Raj, the Raj Bhavan, built in 1913–14 during the era of governors.


title: Puri

text: For the people of Puri, Jagannatha, visualized as Krishna, is synonymous with their city. They believe that Jagannatha looks after the welfare of the state. However, after the partial collapse of the Jagannath Temple (in the Amalaka part of the temple) on 14 June 1990, people became apprehensive and considered it a bad omen for Odisha. The replacement of the fallen stone by another of the same size and weight (), that could be done only in the early morning hours after the temple gates were opened, was done on 28 February 1991.


title: Puri

text: Puri has been chosen as one of the heritage cities for the Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana scheme of the Indian Government. It is chosen as one of the 12 heritage cities with "focus on holistic development" to be implemented within 27 months by the end of March 2017.


title: Puri

text: Non-Hindus are not permitted to enter the shrines but are allowed to view the temple and the proceedings from the roof of the Raghunandan library, located within the precincts of the temple, for a small donation.


title: Puri

text: Puri, located on the east coast of India on the Bay of Bengal, is in the centre of the Puri district. It is delimited by the Bay of Bengal on the southeast, the Mauza Sipaurubilla on the west, Mauza Gopinathpur in the north and Mauza Balukhand in the east. It is within the coastal stretch of sandy beaches that extends between Chilika Lake and the south of Puri city. However, the administrative jurisdiction of the Puri Municipality extends over an area of spread over 30 wards, which includes a shore line of .


title: Puri

text: Puri is in the coastal delta of the Mahanadi River on the shores of the Bay of Bengal. In the ancient days it was near to Sisupalgarh (also known as "Ashokan Tosali"). Then the land was drained by a tributary of the Bhargavi River, a branch of the Mahanadi River. This branch underwent a meandering course creating many arteries altering the estuary, and formed many sand hills. These sand hills could be cut through by the streams. Because of the sand hills, the Bhargavi River, flowing to the south of Puri, moved away towards the Chilika Lake. This shift also resulted in the creation of two lagoons, known as Sar and Samang, on the eastern and northern parts of Puri respectively. Sar lagoon has a length of in an east–west direction and a width of in north–south direction. The estuary of the Bhargavi River has a shallow depth of just and the process of siltation continues. According to a 15th-century Odia writer Saraladasa, the bed of the unnamed stream that flowed at the base of the Blue Mountain or "Neelachal" was filled up. "Katakarajavamsa", a 16th-century chronicle (c.1600), attributes filling up of the bed of the river which flowed through the present Grand Road, as done during the reign of King Narasimha II (1278–1308) of Eastern Ganga dynasty.


title: Puri

text: According to the Köppen–Geiger climate classification system the climate of Puri is classified as Aw (Tropical savanna climate). The city has moderate and tropical climate. Humidity is fairly high throughout the year. The temperature during summer touches a maximum of and during winter it is . The average annual rainfall is and the average annual temperature is . The weather data is given in the following table.


title: Puri

text: According to the 2011 Census of India, Puri is an urban agglomeration governed by the Municipal Corporation in Odisha state, with a population of 200,564, comprising 104,086 males, 96,478 females, and 18,471 children (under six years of age). The sex ratio is 927. The average literacy rate in the city is 88.03 percent (91.38 percent for males and 84.43 percent for females).


title: Puri

text: The Puri Municipality, Puri Konark Development Authority, Public Health Engineering Organisation and Orissa Water Supply Sewerage Board are some of the principal organisations that are devolved with the responsibility of providing for civic amenities such as water supply, sewerage, waste management, street lighting and infrastructure of roads. The major activity, which puts maximum pressure on these organisations, is the annual event of the Ratha Yatra held during June- July. According to the Puri Municipality more than a million people attend this event. Hence, development activities such as infrastructure and amenities to the pilgrims, apart from security, gets priority attention.


title: Puri

text: The civic administration of Puri is the responsibility of the Puri Municipality. The municipality came into existence in 1864 in the name of the Puri Improvement Trust, which was converted into Puri Municipality in 1881. After India's independence in 1947, the Orissa Municipal Act (1950) was promulgated entrusting the administration of the city to the Puri Municipality. This body is represented by elected representatives with a Chairperson and councilors representing the 30 wards within the municipal limits.


title: Puri

text: The electricity is provided by Tata Power Central Odisha Distribution Limited in the city and the entire district.


title: Puri

text: The economy of Puri is dependent on tourism to the extent of about 80 percent. The temple is the focal point of the city and provides employment to the people of the town. Agricultural production of rice, ghee, vegetables and so forth of the region meet the large requirements of the temple. Many settlements around the town exclusively cater to the other religious requirements of the temple. The temple administration employs 6,000 men to perform the rituals. The temple also provides economic sustenance to 20,000 people. According to Colleen Taylor Sen, an author on food and travel, writing on the food culture of India, the temple kitchen has 400 cooks serving food to as many as 100,000 people. According to J Mohapatra, Director, Ind Barath Power Infra Ltd (IBPIL), the kitchen is known as "a largest and biggest kitchen of the world."


title: Puri

text: The Jagannath Temple at Puri is one of the major Hindu temples built in the Kalinga style of architecture. The temple tower, with a spire, rises to a height of , and a flag is unfurled above it, fixed over a wheel ("chakra").


title: Puri

text: The temple is built on an elevated platform (of about area), above the adjacent area. The temple rises to a height of above the road level. The temple complex covers an area of . There are four entry gates in four cardinal directions of the temple, each gate located at the central part of the walls. These gates are: the eastern gate called the "Singhadwara" (Lions Gate), the southern gate known as "Ashwa Dwara" (Horse Gate), the western gate called the "Vyaghra Dwara" (Tigers Gate) or the "Khanja" Gate, and the northern gate called the "Hathi Dwara" or (elephant gate). These four gates symbolize the four fundamental principles of Dharma (right conduct), Jnana (knowledge), Vairagya (renunciation) and Aishwarya (prosperity). The gates are crowned with pyramid shaped structures. There is a stone pillar in front of the Singhadwara, called the "Aruna Stambha" {Solar Pillar}, in height with 16 faces, made of chlorite stone; at the top of the stamba an elegant statue of Aruṇa (Sun) in a prayer mode is mounted. This pillar was shifted from the Konarak Sun Temple. The four gates are decorated with guardian statues in the form of lion, horse mounted men, tigers, and elephants in the name and order of the gates. A pillar made of fossilized wood is used for placing lamps as offering. The Lion Gate (Singhadwara) is the main gate to the temple, which is guarded by two guardian deities Jaya and Vijaya. The main gate is ascended through 22 steps known as "Baisi Pahaca", which are revered, as it is believed to possess "spiritual animation". Children are made to roll down these steps, from top to bottom, to bring them spiritual happiness. After entering the temple, on the left side, there is a large kitchen where food is prepared in hygienic conditions in huge quantities; the kitchen is called as "the biggest hotel of the world".


title: Puri

text: According to a legend King Indradyumma was directed by Jagannatha in a dream to build a temple for him which he did as directed. However, according to historical records the temple was started some time during the 12th century by King Chodaganga of the Eastern Ganga dynasty. It was completed by his descendant, Anangabhima Deva, in the 12th century. The wooden images of Jagannatha, Balabhadra and Subhadra were then deified here. The temple was under the control of the Hindu rulers up to 1558. Then, when Orissa was occupied by the Afghan Nawab of Bengal, it was brought under the control of the Afghan General Kalapahad. Following the defeat of the Afghan king by Raja Mansingh, the General of Mughal emperor Akbar, the temple became part of the Mughal empire till 1751. Subsequently, it was under the control of the Marathas till 1803. During the British Raj, the Puri Raja was entrusted with its management until 1947.


title: Puri

text: The triad of images in the temple are of Jagannatha, personifying Krishna, Balabhadra, His older brother, and Subhadra, His younger sister. The images are made of neem wood in an unfinished form. The stumps of wood which form the images of the brothers have human arms, while that of Subhadra does not have any arms. The heads are large, painted and non-carved. The faces are marked with distinctive large circular eyes.


title: Puri

text: Hindus consider it essential to bathe in the Pancha Tirtha or the five sacred bathing spots of Puri, to complete a pilgrimage to Puri. The five sacred water bodies are the Indradyumana Tank, the Rohini Kunda, the Markandeya Tank, the Swetaganga Tank, and the Bay of Bengal also called the "Mahodadhi", in Sanskrit 'Mahodadhi' means a "great ocean"; all are considered sacred bathing spots in the Swargadwara area. These tanks have perennial sources of supply from rainfall and ground water.


title: Puri

text: The Gundicha Temple, known as the Garden House of Jagannatha, stands in the centre of a garden, bounded by compound walls on all sides. It lies at a distance of about to the northeast of the Jagannath Temple. The two temples are located at the two ends of the "Bada Danda" (Grand Avenue), which is the pathway for the Ratha Yatra. According to a legend, Gundicha was the wife of King Indradyumna who originally built the Jagannath temple.


title: Puri

text: The temple is built using light-grey sandstone, and, architecturally, it exemplifies typical Kalinga temple architecture in the "Deula" style. The complex comprises four components: vimana (tower structure containing the sanctum), jagamohana (assembly hall), nata-mandapa (festival hall) and "bhoga-mandapa" (hall of offerings). There is also a kitchen connected by a small passage. The temple is set within a garden, and is known as "God's Summer Garden Retreat" or garden house of Jagannatha. The entire complex, including the garden, is surrounded by a wall which measures with height of .


title: Puri

text: Except for the 9-day Ratha Yatra, when the triad images are worshipped in the Gundicha Temple, otherwise it remains unoccupied for the rest of the year. Tourists can visit the temple after paying an entry fee. Foreigners (generally prohibited entry in the main temple) are allowed inside this temple during this period. The temple is under the Jagannath Temple Administration, Puri, the governing body of the main temple. A small band of servitors maintain the temple.


title: Puri

text: Swargadwar is the name given to the cremation ground or burning ghat which is located on the shores of the sea. Here thousands of dead bodies of Hindus brought from faraway places are cremated. It is a belief that the Chaitanya Mahaparabhu disappeared from this Swargadwar about 500 years back.


title: Puri

text: The beach at Puri, known as the "Ballighai beach, at the mouth of Nunai River", is away from the town and is fringed by casurina trees. It has golden yellow sand. Sunrise and sunset are pleasant scenic attractions here. Waves break in at the beach which is long and wide.


title: Puri

text: The Puri district museum is located on the station road where the exhibits in display are the different types of garments worn by Jagannatha, local sculptures, patachitra (traditional, cloth-based scroll painting), ancient Palm-leaf manuscripts, and local craft work.


title: Puri

text: Raghunandana Library is located in the Emara Matha complex (opposite Simhadwara or lion gate, the main entrance gate). The Jagannatha Aitihasika Gavesana Samiti (Jagannatha Historical Centre) is also located here. The library houses ancient palm leaf manuscripts on Jagannatha, His cult and the history of the city.


title: Puri

text: Puri witnesses 24 festivals every year, of which 13 are major. The most important of these is the Ratha Yatra, or the car festival, held in the June–July, which is attended by more than 1 million people.


title: Puri

text: The Jagannath Temple triad are normally worshipped in the sanctum of the temple at Puri, but once during the month of Asadha (rainy season of Orissa, usually in June or July), they are brought out on the Bada Danda (main street of Puri) and taken over a distance of () to the Gundicha Temple in huge chariots ("ratha"), allowing the public to have darśana (holy view). This festival is known as the Ratha Yatra, meaning the journey ("yatra") of the chariots. The yatra starts every year according to the Hindu calendar on the Asadha Sukla Dwitiya day, the second day of bright fortnight of Asadha (June–July).


title: Puri

text: Historically, the ruling Ganga dynasty instituted the Ratha Yatra on the completion of the Jagannath Temple around 1150 AD. This festival was one of those Hindu festivals that was reported to the Western world very early. Friar Odoric, in his account of 1321, reported how the people put the "idols" on chariots, and the King, the Queen and all the people drew them from the "church" with song and music.


title: Puri

text: The Rathas are huge wooden structures provided with large wheels, which are built anew every year and are pulled by the devotees. The chariot for Jagannatha is about high and and takes about 2 months for its construction. The chariot is mounted with 16 wheels, each of diameter. The carving in the front face of the chariot has four wooden horses drawn by Maruti. On its other three faces, the wooden carvings are of Rama, Surya and Vishnu. The chariot is known as Nandi Ghosha. The roof of the chariot is covered with yellow and red coloured cloth. The next chariot is of Balabhadra which is in height fitted with 14 wheels. The chariot is carved with Satyaki as the charioteer, roof covered in red and green coloured cloth, and the chariot is known as Taladhwaja. The carvings on this chariot include images of Narasimha and Rudra as Jagannatha's companions. The next chariot in the order is of Subhadra, which is in height supported on 12 wheels, roof covered in black and red colour cloth, and the chariot is known as Darpa Dalaan and the charioteer carved is Arjuna. Other images carved on the chariot are of Vana Durga, Tara Devi and Chandi Devi. The artists and painters of Puri decorate the cars and paint flower petals and other designs on the wheels, the wood-carved charioteer and horses, and the inverted lotuses on the wall behind the throne. The chariots of Jagannatha pulled during Ratha Yatra is the etymological origin of the English word Juggernaut. The Ratha Yatra is also termed as the Shri Gundicha yatra and Ghosha yatra


title: Puri

text: The Chhera Panhara (sweeping with water) is a significant ritual associated with the Ratha Yatra. During this ritual, the Gajapati King wears the outfit of a sweeper and sweeps all around the deities and chariots. The king cleans the road in front of the chariots with a gold-handled broom and sprinkles sandalwood water and powder. As per the custom, although the Gajapati King has been considered the most exalted person in the Kalingan kingdom, he still renders the menial service to Jagannatha. This ritual signifies that under the lordship of Jagannatha, there is no distinction between the powerful sovereign and the humblest devotee.


title: Puri

text: The Chandan Yatra festival held every year on Akshaya Tritiya day marks the commencement of the construction of the chariots of the Ratha Yatra. It also marks the celebration of the Hindu new year.


title: Puri

text: Every year, on the Purnima day in the Hindu calendar month of Jyestha (June), the triad images of the Jagannath Temple are ceremonially bathed and decorated on the occasion of Snana Yatra. Water for the bath is taken in 108 pots from the "Suna kuan" (meaning: "golden well") located near the northern gate of the temple. Water is drawn from this well only once in a year for the sole purpose of the religious bath of the deities. After the bath the triad images are dressed in the fashion of the elephant god, Ganesha. Later, during the night, the original triad images are taken out in a procession back to the main temple but kept at a place known as "Anasara pindi". After this the Jhulana Yatra is performed when proxy images of the deities are taken out in a grand procession for 21 days, cruised over boats in the Narendra Tirtha tank.


title: Puri

text: Anasara, a derivative of the Sanskrit word "Anabasara", literally means vacation. Every year after the holy Snana Yatra, the triad images, without the Sudarshana Chakra, are taken to a secret altar named "Anavasara Ghar" (also known as "Anasara pindi," 'pindi' is Oriya term meaning "platform" ) where they remain for the next fortnight of (Krishna paksha); devotees are not allowed to view these images. Instead, devotees go to the nearby Brahmagiri to see the Lord in the four-handed form of Alarnath, a depiction of Vishnu. Devotees then get the first glimpse of the Lord only on the day before Ratha Yatra, which is called "Navayouvana." It is a local belief that the gods suffer from fever after taking an elaborate ritual bath, and they are treated by the special servants, the Daitapatis, for 15 days. Daitapatis perform special nitis (rites) known as "Netrotchhaba" (a rite of painting the eyes of the triad). During this period cooked food is not offered to the deities.


title: Puri

text: Naba Kalebara is one of the most grand events associated with the LJagannatha that takes place when one lunar month of Ashadha is followed by another of Ashadha called Adhika Masa (extra month). This can take place at an interval of 8, 12 or even 18 years. Literally meaning the "New Body" (Nava = New, Kalevar = Body) in Odia, the festival is witnessed by millions of people and the budget for this event generally exceeds $500,000. The event involves installation of new images in the temple and burial of the old ones in the temple premises at Koili Vaikuntha. During the Nabakalebara ceremony held during July 2015 the idols that were installed in the temple in 1996 were replaced by specially carved new images made of neem wood. More than 3 million people are reported to have attended this festival.


title: Puri

text: Suna Besha, ('Suna besh'in English translates to "gold dressing") also known as Raja or Rajadhiraja Bhesha or Raja Bhesha, is an event when the triad images of the Jagannath Temple are adorned with gold jewelry. This event is observed five times in a year. It is commonly observed on Magha Purnima (January), Bahuda Ekadashi also known as Asadha Ekadashi (July), Dashahara (Bijayadashami) (October), Karthik Purnima (November), and Pousa Purnima (December). One such Suna Bhesha event is observed on Bahuda Ekadashi during the Ratha Yatra on the chariots placed at the Simhadwar. The other four Beshas are observed inside the temple on the "Ratna Singhasana" (gem studded altar). On this occasion gold plates are decorated over the hands and feet of Jagannatha and Balabhadra; Jagannatha is also adorned with a Chakra (disc) made of gold on the right hand while a silver conch adorns the left hand. Balabhadra is decorated with a plough made of gold on the left hand while a golden mace adorns his right hand.


title: Puri

text: Niladri Bije, celebrated in the Hindu calendar month Asadha (June–July) on Trayodashi (13th day), marks the end of the Ratha Yatra. The large wooden images of the triad of gods are taken out from the chariots and then carried to the sanctum sanctorum, swaying rhythmically; a ritual which is known as "pahandi".


title: Puri

text: The Sahi Yatra, considered the world's biggest open-air theatre, is an annual event lasting 11 days; a traditional cultural theatre festival or folk drama which begins on Ram Navami and ends on Rama "avishke" (Sanskrit meaning : anointing). The festival includes plays depicting various scenes from the Ramayana. The residents of various localities, or


title: Puri

text: The Samudra arati is a daily tradition started by the present Shankaracharya 9 years ago. The daily practise includes prayer and fire offering to the sea at Swargadwar in Puri by disciples of the Govardhan Matha. On Paush Purnima of every year the Shankaracharya himself comes out to offer prayers to the sea.


title: Puri

text: Earlier, when roads did not exist, people used to walk or travel by animal-drawn vehicles or carriages along beaten tracks to reach Puri. Travel was by riverine craft along the Ganges up to Calcutta, and then on foot or by carriages. It was only during the Maratha rule that the Jagannath Sadak (Road) was built around 1790. The East India Company laid the rail track from Calcutta to Puri, which became operational in 1898. Puri is now well-connected by rail, road and air services.


title: Puri

text: A broad gauge railway line of the South Eastern Railways which connects Puri with Calcutta, and Khurda is an important railway junction on this route. The rail distance is about 499 km (310 mi) from Calcutta and 468 km (291 mi) from Vishakhapatnam. Road network includes NH 203 that links the city with Bhubaneswar, the state capital, situated about 60 km (37 mi) away. NH 203 B connects the city with Satapada via Brahmagiri. Marine drive, which is part of NH 203 A, connects Puri with Konark.


title: Puri

text: The nearest airport is the Biju Patnaik International Airport at Bhubaneswar. Puri railway station is among the top hundred booking stations of the Indian Railways.


title: Puri

text: Sand art is a special art form that is created on the beaches of Puri. The art form is attributed to Balaram Das, a poet who lived in the 14th century. Sculptures of various gods and famous people are now created in sand by amateur artists. These are temporary in nature as they get washed away by waves. This art form has gained international fame in recent years. One of the famed sand artists of Odisha is Sudarshan Patnaik. He established the Golden Sand Art Institute in 1995, in the open air on the shores of Bay of Bengal, to provide training to students interested in this art form.


title: Puri

text: Appliqué art, which is a stitching-based craft unlike embroidery, was pioneered by Hatta Maharana of Pipili. It is widely used in Puri, both for decoration of the deities and for sale. Maharana's family members are employed as darjis or tailors or "sebaks" by the Maharaja of Puri. They prepare articles for decorating the deities in the temple for various festivals and religious ceremonies. The appliqué works are brightly colored and patterned fabric in the form of canopies, umbrellas, drapery, carry bags, flags, coverings of dummy horses and cows, and other household textiles; these are marketed in Puri. The cloth used is made in dark colours of red, black, yellow, green, blue and turquoise blue.


title: Puri

text: Pattachitra, the one of the oldest forms of cloth-based scroll painting of the region, originally created for ritual use and as souvenirs for pilgrims to Puri, as well as other temples in Odisha.


title: Puri

text: Cultural activities, including the annual religious festivals, in Puri are: The Puri Beach Festival held from 5 to 9 November every year, and the Shreekshetra Utsav held from 20 December to 2 January every year. The cultural programs include unique sand art, display of local and traditional handicrafts and food festival. In addition, cultural programs are held for two hours on every second Saturday of the month at the district Collector's Conference Hall near Sea Beach Police Station. Odissi dance, Odissi music and folk dances are part of this event. Odissi dance is the cultural heritage of Puri. This dance form originated in Puri from the dances performed by Devadasis (Maharis) attached to the Jagannath Temple who performed dances in the Nata "mandapa" of the temple to please the deities. Though the devadasi practice has been discontinued, the dance form has become modern and classical and is widely popular; many of the Odissi virtuoso artists and gurus (teachers) are from Puri. Some of the notable Odissi dancers are Kelucharan Mohapatra, Mayadhar Raut, Sonal Mansingh, and Sanjukta Panigrahi.


title: Playhouse Disney

text: Playhouse Disney was a brand of programming blocks and international cable and satellite television channels that were owned by the Disney Channels Worldwide unit (now Disney Branded Television) of The Walt Disney Company's Disney–ABC Television Group. It originated in the United States as a morning program block on the Disney Channel. Aimed mainly at children aged two to seven years old, its programming featured a mix of live-action and animated series.


title: Playhouse Disney

text: The Playhouse Disney block on Disney Channel was rebranded as the Disney Junior block on Disney Channel on February 14, 2011. The remaining channels and blocks using the Playhouse Disney brand outside the US relaunched under the Disney Junior brand over the next two years, concluding with the rebranding of the Playhouse Disney block on Disney Channel Russia on September 1, 2013.


title: Playhouse Disney

text: Prior to Playhouse Disney's launch, Disney Channel had aired a lineup of preschool-targeted programs to compete with Nick Jr. (which were mixed alongside animated series aimed at older children) during the morning hours since its debut in April 1983.


title: Playhouse Disney

text: On April 6, 1997, Disney Channel underwent a relaunch that signified the beginning of its full conversion into a commercial-free basic cable channel, and its preschool block now utilized a similar graphics package for its promotions as that used for the channel's afternoon children's programs. After Disney Channel's preschool block premiered three new original series in 1998 ("PB&J Otter", "Rolie Polie Olie" (produced by Canadian animation studio Nelvana), and the live-action series "Out of the Box"), the block rebranded as Playhouse Disney on February 1, 1999.