title: Non-English-based programming languages

text: While Internationalization is not a part of any Scheme standard, the expressiveness and flexibility of the language allows for the addition of internationalization as a library. International Scheme is an open source project to which anyone can contribute a translation. Since translations of Scheme can be loaded as libraries, Scheme programs can be multilingual.


title: Non-English-based programming languages

text: Scratch is a block-based educational language. The text of the blocks is translated into many languages, and users can select different translations. Unicode characters are supported in variable and list names. (Scratch lists are not stored inside variables the way arrays or lists are handled in most languages. Variables only store strings, numbers, and, with workarounds, boolean values, while lists are a separate data type that store sequences of these values.) Projects can be "translated" by simply changing the language of the editor, although this does not translate the variable names.


title: Iravan

text: Iravan also known as Iravat and Iravant, is a minor character from the Hindu epic Mahabharata. The son of Pandava prince Arjuna (one of the main heroes of the Mahabharata) and the Naga princess Ulupi, Iravan is the central deity of the cult of Kuttantavar (Kuttandavar) which is also the name commonly given to him in that tradition—and plays a major role in the sect of Draupadi. Both these cults are of Tamil origin, from a region of the country where he is worshipped as a village deity and is known as Aravan. He is also a patron god of well-known transgender communities called "Thirunangai" (also "Aravani" in Tamil, and "Hijra" throughout South Asia).


title: Iravan

text: The Mahabharata portrays Iravan as dying a heroic death in the 18-day Kurukshetra War (Mahabharata war), the epic's main subject. However, the South Indian traditions have a supplementary practice of honouring Aravan's self-sacrifice to the goddess Kali to ensure her favour and the victory of the Pandavas in the war. The Kuttantavar tradition focuses on one of the three boons granted to Aravan by the god Krishna in honour of this self-sacrifice. Aravan requested that he be married before his death. Krishna satisfied this boon in his female form, Mohini. In Koovagam (கூவாகம்), Tamil Nadu, this incident is re-enacted in an 18-day festival, first by a ceremonial marriage of Aravan to "Thirunangai" and male villagers (who have taken vows to Aravan) and then by their widowhood after ritual re-enactment of Aravan's sacrifice. Local tradition has it that Aravan is a form of Shiva, hence locally called Kutandavar.


title: Iravan

text: The Draupadi tradition emphasizes another boon: Krishna allows Aravan to witness the entire duration of the Mahabharata war through the eyes of his severed head. In another 18-day festival, the ceremonial head of Aravan is hoisted on a post to witness the ritual re-enactment of the Mahabharata war. The head of Aravan is a common motif in Draupadi temples. Often it is a portable wooden head; sometimes it even has its own shrine in the temple complex or is placed on the corners of temple roofs as a guardian against spirits. Aravan is worshipped in the form of his severed head and is believed to cure disease and induce pregnancy in childless women.


title: Iravan

text: Iravan is also known in Indonesia (where his name is spelled Irawan). An independent set of traditions have developed around Irawan on the main island of Java where, for example, he loses his association with the Naga. Separate Javanese traditions present a dramatic marriage of Irawan to Titisari, daughter of Krishna, and a death resulting from a case of mistaken identity. These stories are told through the medium of traditional Javanese theatre ("Wayang"), especially in shadow-puppet plays known as "Wayang Kulit".


title: Iravan

text: According to the Monier Williams Sanskrit–English Dictionary (1899), the name Iravan (, ), also spelt "Irawan", is formed from the root Iravat (इरावत्, ), also spelt "Irawat". In turn, the root Iravat is derived from Irā (इरा)—closely linked with Iḍā (इडा)—meaning "possessing food", "endowed with provisions" or, by extension, "comfortable" (as used in the Mahabharata and the Rig and Atharva vedic scriptures). Alf Hiltebeitel, George Washington University professor of religion, suggests that the Sanskrit name Iravan or Iravant is derived from Iḍā-vant, "one who possessed Iḍā". The French Indologist Madeleine Biardeau describes religious use of the word Iḍā as reference to an "oblatory substance consumed by the participants from which comes all fecundity of the sacrifice". Based on this definition, Biardeau concludes that Iravant means sacrificial victim in the Mahabharata. Iḍā is also used elsewhere to denote a substance that Devas (demi-gods) and Asuras (demons) vie for.


title: Iravan

text: Iravan is generally known as Aravan (, Aravāṇ), also spelt as "Aravaan" in South India. He is revered as a deity in two southern Indian Hindu cults: the Kuttantavar cult (dedicated solely to Aravan), and the cult of Draupadi (Aravan's stepmother and Arjuna's wife). In his own cult, Aravan is also known as Kuttantavar (கூத்தாண்டவர்), originating from the legend of Kuttantavar killing the demon Kuttacuran. This name is sometimes spelled as "Kuttandar", "Khoothandavar" or "Koothandavar".


title: Iravan

text: The South Indian, Tamil name, Aravan, is popularly believed to be derived from the word "aravam" (அரவம்) (snake). Aravan's association with snakes is also apparent in his iconography.


title: Iravan

text: Aravan is always worshipped in temples in the form of his severed head. He is usually depicted with a moustache, pronounced eyes and large ears. Typically, he also wears a conical crown, a Vaishnava "tilak" mark on his forehead and earrings. Aravan is often depicted with a cobra hood over his crown, cobra heads sprouting through the crown, or a snake emerging from behind the crown. Even the chief Koovagam icon features a serpent on Aravan's crown.


title: Iravan

text: Another distinctive feature of Aravan's iconography is the presence of demonic canine teeth. Although the central Koovagam icon does not feature such demonic teeth, they are a regular feature of most Draupadi cult images, where Aravan's demonic features are emphasized.


title: Iravan

text: Aravan-head icons are either painted or unpainted portable ones for processions; they are housed together in the temples of his shrines. Koovagam, Kothadai, Kothattai and Pillaiyarkuppam have icons painted with a red face and multi-coloured ornamentation. Unpainted black stone images of the Aravan-head are seen in Kothattai, Madhukarai and Pillaiyarkuppam.


title: Iravan

text: Some paintings also depict the sacrifice of Aravan. In these scenes, he is often depicted bowing to Kali, while his head is about to be severed; or, as in one Sowcarpet painting, a self-decapitated Aravan holds both a sword and his own severed head, offering the latter to the goddess.


title: Iravan

text: Iravan first appears as a minor character in the Mahabharata as the son of Arjuna, the chief hero of the epic. The background to the Mahabharata infers a date that is "after the very early Vedic period" and before "the first Indian 'empire' was to rise in the third century B.C.", so "somewhere in the eighth or ninth century". It is generally agreed, however, that "Unlike the Vedas, which have to be preserved letter-perfect, the epic was a popular work whose reciters would inevitably conform to changes in language and style." The earliest surviving components of this dynamic text are believed to be no older than the earliest external references to the epic, which may include an allusion in Panini's 4th-century grammar manual "Ashtadhyayi" (4:2:56). It is estimated that the Sanskrit text probably reached something of a "final form" by the early Gupta period (about the 4th century CE). The editor of the first great critical edition of the Mahabharata commented: "It is useless to think of reconstructing a fluid text in a literally original shape, on the basis of an archetype and a "stemma codicum". What then is possible? Our objective can only be to reconstruct "the oldest form of the text which it is possible to reach" on the basis of the manuscript material available."


title: Iravan

text: Iravan is also mentioned, as the son of Arjuna and Ulupi, in passing references in two "Puranas" ("sacred texts") known as the "Vishnu Purana" (4:20:12)—also with a text history from the late Vedic through the Gupta periods—and the "Bhagavata Purana" (9:22:32)—traditionally dated to the Vedic period but dated by modern scholars to the 9th or 10th century CE.


title: Iravan

text: Although the original Sanskrit version of the Mahabharata records Iravan's (Sanskrit name) death during the 18-day Mahabharata war, the Tamil versions discuss Aravan's (Tamil name) ritual self-sacrifice to Kali before the war. Hiltebeitel relates this to the South Indian glorification of "heroic" self-mutilation and self-decapitation before a goddess. He takes particular note of a scene towards the end of a puranic text, "Devi Mahatmyam", in interpreting old Tamil sculptures depicting a warrior king spilling his own blood, as in the "Purana", in adoration of a goddess of victory. In the Tamil sculptures, the goddess is Korravai, who became associated with Durga and hence Kali. He also finds parallels in the Telugu legend of the sacrifice of Barbarika—another Mahabharata character—and its variants in Rajasthan (see also: Khatushyamji), Himachal Pradesh, Garhwal, Kurukshetra, Bundelkhand and Orissa. Most notable among the similarities between Aravan and Barbarika is the boon to witness the entire duration of the Mahabharata war—through the eyes of the severed head, despite the sacrifice.


title: Iravan

text: The first account of Aravan's sacrifice is found in "Parata Venpa"—the earliest surviving Tamil version of the Mahabharata—by Peruntevanar (9th century). The tale is later retold by Villiputuralvar in his 14th-century "Makaparatam" and by Nallapillai in the 18th century. The legend is also mentioned in the text "Khoothanvar Sthala Purana", associated with the shrine of Kuttantavar.


title: Iravan

text: Another source of Aravan traditions is the folk-theatre of Tamil Nadu, called "koothu". "Aravan Kalappali" (or "Aravan Kalabali"), "Aravan's Battlefield Sacrifice", is a popular theme of the traditional "Terukuttu" ("street theatre"). "Aravan Kalappali" tells the story of Aravan's pre-battle self-sacrifice to the goddess Kali to win her support, guaranteeing victory for the Pandavas (Arjuna and his brothers) in the Mahabharata war. "Aravan Kalappali" is staged annually in the villages of Melattur, Kodukizhi and Yervadi, according to various forms of the "koothu" folk-theatre. In Karambai, "Aravan Kalappali" is performed as part of the cult of Draupadi, on the 18th day of an annual festival (April–May), to please the goddess.


title: Iravan

text: In modern interpretations, Aravan's head symbolizes not only self-sacrifice but also regeneration and continuity, because of his ability to see the war after his sacrifice. For example, Iramacamippulavar's "Merkolvilakka Kkatai Akaravaricai" (1963)—which narrates the tale of Aravan—ends with the conclusion that Aravan continues to live on as a folk hero in Tamil Nadu, because he embodies "the ideal of self-sacrifice". Aravan is considered to be a representation of the cost of war; he evokes the "countless innocent" reluctantly sent by their mothers "to be consumed by the insatiable Goddess of War". Indologist David Shulman, on the other hand, considers Aravan's sacrifice to be a reworking of the serpent sacrifice in the Tamil epic tradition.


title: Iravan

text: While the marriage of Iravan's parents is mentioned in the first book of the Mahabharata, Adi Parva (the Book of Beginnings), both the birth and death of Iravan are mentioned later, in the sixth book, Bhishma Parva (the Book of Bhishma). In this sixth book of the epic, Arjuna, the third Pandava brother, is exiled from Indraprastha (the capital city of the Pandava kingdom) to go on a 12-year pilgrimage as a penance for violating the terms of his marriage to Draupadi, the Pandava brothers' common wife. Arjuna reaches the north-east region of present-day India and falls in love with Ulupi, a widowed Naga princess. The two get married and have a son named Iravan; later, Arjuna proceeds with his pilgrimage, leaving Iravan and Ulupi behind in Nagaloka, the abode of the Nagas. Iravan is described as being born "parakshetre", literally "in a region belonging to another person", interpreted by Hiltebeitel as "upon the wife of another". Iravan grew up in Nagaloka, protected by his mother, but was rejected by his maternal uncle because of the latter's hatred of Arjuna. After reaching maturity, Iravan, hoping to be reunited with his father, departs for Indraloka, the abode of the god Indra, who is also Arjuna's father. Upon meeting his adult son, Arjuna requests his assistance in the Kurukshetra War.


title: Iravan

text: Thus Iravan finally reaches the battlefield of Kurukshetra to assist his father and Pandavas against their cousins and opponents, the Kauravas and slays many enemy warriors. On the first day of war, Iravan fights a duel with Srutayush, a Kshatriya king who had been a "daitya" (demon) called Krodhavasa in a prior incarnation. Srutayush is later killed by Arjuna. On the seventh day of war, Iravan also defeats Vinda and Anuvinda, the princes of Avanti, who are later killed by Arjuna.


title: Iravan

text: On the eighth day of the war, Iravan combats the princes of Gandhara, sons of king Suvala, and the younger brothers of Shakuni, the treacherous maternal uncle of the Kauravas. The brothers Gaya, Gavaksha, Vrishava, Charmavat, Arjava, and Suka attack Iravan, supported by the whole Kaurava army, but Iravan's army of Nagas slay all the soldiers, leaving the Gandhara princes for Iravan. Iravan, then gets down from his chariot and slays five of the Gandhara princes in a sword fight; Vrishava alone escapes death.


title: Iravan

text: Agitated by this reversal, the eldest Kaurava, Duryodhana, orders the "rakshasa" (giant) Alamvusha (or Alambusha), son of Rishyasringa, to kill Iravan. This time Alambusha, as well as Iravan, uses illusion in combat. Alambusha attacks Iravan with a bow, but Iravan counters, breaking Alambusha's bow and slicing the giant into several pieces. Alambusha's body, however, reconstitutes itself. Then Iravan assumes the form of the serpent Shesha (Ananta), and his serpent army surrounds him to protect him. Alambusha counters this by assuming the form of Garuda (the eagle-man), the eternal foe of the serpents, and devours the serpent army. Ultimately, Alambusha kills Iravan by cutting off his head, though Iravan is later avenged when Ghatotkacha, his cousin, finally kills Alambusha during the night war on the fourteenth day.


title: Iravan

text: The earliest source of Tamil traditions regarding Aravan is found in Peruntevanar's "Parata Venpa", a 9th-century Tamil version of the Mahabharata. One of the features of this work is its reference to a rite it calls "kalappali" ("sacrifice to the battlefield"), a term found only in Tamil versions of the Mahabharata. This is a ritual performed before battle to ensure victory. In Peruntevanar's narrative, just before the Mahabharata war, Duryodhana—the leader of the Kauravas and opponent of the Pandavas—learns from the Pandava's expert astrologer, Sahadeva, that the day of the new moon, indeed the very next day, would be the most auspicious time for a "kalappali". Consequently, Duryodhana approaches and convinces Aravan to be the sacrificial victim for the "kalappali".


title: Iravan

text: The god Krishna, who is a close friend of and advisor to the Pandavas, hears of Duryodhana's plan, and devises one of his own, to ensure that Aravan will give himself as a sacrifice on behalf of the Pandavas rather than the Kauravas. Krishna first discusses the issue with Yudhishthira (Dharma or Dharmaraja), the eldest of the Pandavas, recommending the sacrifice to Kali as a part of an "ayudha-puja" ("worship of the weapons"). Krishna establishes that there are four candidates most suited to being offered as the victim: Shalya, who is on the side of Kauravas; Arjuna, the commander of the Pandavas; Aravan; and Krishna himself. From this shortlist, Krishna finally narrows the best choice down to Aravan. Aravan agrees to undergo the "kalappali" on behalf of the Pandavas but mentions his prior commitment to Duryodhana.


title: Iravan

text: Later Tamil sources provide variants to Peruntevanar's version. In Villiputuralvar's 14th-century version, Krishna first offers himself as the sacrificial victim, but Aravan volunteers to replace him. There is no mention of Duryodhana in this version of the legend. In other accounts, Aravan is sacrificed in order to counteract the Kauravas' sacrifice of a white elephant. In the traditions of the village of Neppattur, in the Thanjavur district, Aravan is described as being so strong that he could slay all the Duryodhanas at once, thus preventing any war from happening. So Krishna prescribes the human sacrifice of Aravan in order that "the greater sacrifice of the war can take place".


title: Iravan

text: In "terukkuttu" performances, at the time of Aravan's sacrifice, he is often compared to Puru and Bhishma, characters in the Mahabharata who gave up their youth and sexual fulfilment for the sake of their respective fathers, Yayati and Santanu. In the drama, after acquiring Aravan's approval, Krishna approaches Aravan's mother, Ulupi—Nagakanni or Nakakanni ("Serpent maiden") in Tamil, for her consent. At first she strongly opposes her son's proposed sacrifice but finally relents when Aravan appeals to her, explaining that he belongs to Kali alone.


title: Iravan

text: Finally, in all versions of the tale, Krishna tricks the gods Surya (the Sun) and Chandra (the Moon) to co-ordinate their movements so that the day of the new moon will fall one day earlier—the current day. This allows Aravan to make the initial sacrifice of flesh on behalf of the Pandavas, only making the rest-offering on behalf of Duryodhana the following day, yet fulfilling his promise to Duryodhana by doing so.


title: Iravan

text: In "Parata Venpa", Aravan asks Krishna to grant him the boon of a heroic death on the battlefield at the hands of a great hero. Although "Parata Venpa" mentions only one boon, the overall Tamil tradition preserves a total of three distinct boons associated with Aravan. The single boon of "Parata Venpa", according to Hiltebeitel, indicates an early (9th-century) effort to harmonize the Tamil tradition of Aravan's pre-battle sacrifice with the original Sanskrit account of his death during the battle at the hands of Alambusha (Alampucan in Tamil).


title: Iravan

text: In both the Kuttantavar and Draupadi cults, Aravan is believed to have been granted a second boon—to see the entire 18-day war. A second boon is indeed found in Villiputuralvar's 14th-century version of the Mahabharata. In this version, Aravan is granted boons of watching the battle for a "few days" and of dying gloriously after killing many enemies, though Villiputuralvar does not actually specify whether Aravan's head survives to see the complete battle after his bodily death on the eighth day.


title: Iravan

text: The third boon is found only in the folk rituals. This third boon provides for Aravan to be married before the sacrifice, entitling him to the right of cremation and funerary offerings (bachelors were buried). However, no woman wanted to marry Aravan, fearing the inevitable doom of widowhood (see also "sati"). In the Kuttantavar cult version, Krishna solves this dilemma by taking on his female form, Mohini the enchantress, marrying Aravan, and spending that night with him. The Koovagam version additionally relates Krishna's mourning as a widow after Aravan's sacrifice the next day, after which he returns to his original masculine form for the duration of the war. The "terukuttu" performance presents a stylised wedding ceremony followed by Mohini's abrupt departure, which is taken to signify that the marriage is unconsummated. Another version, popular with trans people, cites the reason behind Aravan's wish to be "coital bliss" and tells explicitly about consummation of the marriage. This third marriage boon is not, however, uniform across all the folk traditions. In other legends, Krishna arranges some other pre-war marriages. In Thanjavur, the marriage of Aravan and Mohini is unknown; instead it depicts Aravan as married to Paravanacciyal, the daughter of Krishna's younger cousin-brother Satyaki.


title: Iravan

text: Hiltebeitel theorizes that both the first (heroic-death) and third (marriage) boons originated with the Kuttantavar cult, while the second boon originated with the Draupadi cult. The Kuttantavar cult ritualizes both the heroic death and the marriage ceremony—enacted by "Alis" (officially, "eunuchs" in Tamil Nadu). Whereas, in the Draupadi cult it is the clay head of Aravan, fixed on a posta and witnessing the re-enactment of the 18-day war, that is prominently ritualized. Additionally, Draupadi-cult texts from Thajavur concentrate only on this second boon, omitting the other two.


title: Iravan

text: The pre-battle sacrifice is incompatible with the first and second boons, but the cults have their own explanations. The self-sacrifice prior to the war is incompatible with dying a heroic death during the war and both are incompatible with living to see the full duration of the war. The Kuttantavar cult resolves the first dilemma, holding that Aravan's body reconfigured itself after the sacrifice and that Aravan went on to die a heroic death on the eighth day of the war. The Kuttantavar cult are not overly concerned about the second boon of Aravan's continued observation of the war. On the other hand, the Draupadi cult are not overly concerned about the first boon of the heroic death; they resolve the second dilemma, regarding Aravan's continued observation of the war, holding that Aravan was able to watch the entire war through the eyes of his severed head. A third view harmonizes all the boons, holding that Aravan's body reconstituted after the sacrifice; he then fought heroically until being decapitated on the eighth day, observing the remainder of the war through the eyes of his severed head.


title: Iravan

text: In any case, the pre-battle sacrifice is the common element in the Tamil traditions. After Aravan requested and was granted his boons, he was ready for the sacrifice. He proceeds to the Kurukshetra battlefield. While Yudhishthira is worshipping Kali in his "hall of weapons", Aravan removes his epaulettes and chest plate. He then cuts his body into 32 pieces—one cut for each of his 32 bodily perfections—which are offered by Yudhishthira to Kali. In a "terukuttu" performance, this is depicted by covering the actor playing Aravan with a white cloth from the neck down. It is also believed that Aravan's spirit may possess the actor at this point. Sometimes a chicken is sacrificed on stage in a "terukuttu" performance to signify the sacrifice. In Villiputuralvar's retelling, an elephant is sacrificed to the goddess, complementing Aravan's own self-sacrifice.


title: Iravan

text: Aravan, after being stripped of his flesh, has only his head and skeleton remaining. Krishna advises him to pray to the Naga, Adi-Shesha, his grandfather, and father of Ulupi. Adi-Shesha coils himself around Aravan, becomes his flesh and restores his body. To fulfil the second boon, Krishna orchestrates the heroic death by making one of the enemy strong enough to defeat the mighty Aravan. Krishna selects Alambusha. Then, depending on the version of the story, Krishna either advises Alambusha to assume the form of Garuda via a heavenly voice, or he sends the true Garuda to assist Alambusha. At the sight of Garuda—his perennial "eagle" adversary—Shesha uncoils in fear, leaving Aravan unprotected and leading ultimately to Alambusha beheading the weakened Aravan.


title: Iravan

text: A traditional story local to Koovagam describes how Aravan came to be known as Kuttantavar. After the war, while the Pandavas are boasting about vanquishing the Kauravas, Krishna asks Aravan—the sole witness of the entire war, "who was truly responsible for winning this war?" Aravan replies that he saw two things: Krishna's discus decapitating the enemy, and his conch shell collecting their blood. This reply is understood to give all the credit for the victory to Krishna.


title: Iravan

text: Aravan's opinion enrages the proud and quick-tempered Bhima, whose influence in deciding the outcome of the battle is covered at great length in the Mahabharata. However, before Bhima can wound Aravan, Krishna orders Aravan's head to be dropped in the river Caraparika, where he assumes the form of a child, and is eventually found by the king of Chandragiri, a city on the river bank. The child cries "Kuva Kuva", when picked up by the king, who therefore names the location Kuvakkam (Koovagam). The king also names the child Carapalan ("reed-child").


title: Iravan

text: The tradition goes on to relate that Carapalan grew up, going on to kill the demon Kuttacuran, who had wounded his adopted father in battle. Draupadi—identified in this tradition with the Supreme Goddess—blesses Carapalan with the new name Kuttantavar—the slayer of Kuttacuran—and grants him a temple in Koovagam.


title: Iravan

text: There are variants within this tradition. Some versions give the credit for finding the child to Queen Kirupanci of Chandragiri. Others omit mention of the king of Chandragiri altogether, and omit reference to the Koovagam temple. Instead they focus on the demon Kuttacuran and an apparently impossible boon granted to him that he will be killed by a person having only a head and who was born from water. Vishnu, incarnated as Krishna, informs the gods that Aravan will kill this demon. With this in mind, the head of Aravan is consigned to the river and is transformed into a child called Kuttan ("born from water"), who kills the demon.


title: Iravan

text: Hiltebeitel argues that the Kuttantavar cult might represent the original Tamil tradition regarding Aravan, however it is no longer the only tradition that venerates Aravan. The Draupadi cult has developed traditions and rituals of its own.


title: Iravan

text: Most Kuttantavar devotees reside in the Tamil Nadu districts of Cuddalore, Thiruvannamalai, Vellore and Villupuram. Draupadi's devotees have also spread across these districts, as well as into the Kanchipuram (former Chingleput) district. Her temples can also be seen in the Thanjavur district and beyond, to the southern districts of the states of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. The temples of Kuttantavar are fewer than the Draupadi temples and are restricted to a belt running from the Cuddalore and Villupuram districts through to Coimbatore. Thirty-two of these temples are particularly prominent; Koovagam is the foremost. The 32 temples are:


title: Iravan

text: The severed head of Aravan is a common motif in Draupadi's temples. Often it is a portable wooden head; sometimes this even has its own shrine in the temple complex. Icons of Aravan's head are also often placed on the corners and edges of Draupadi temple roofs. As a "pey" or "bhuta" (spirit), Aravan acts as a guardian against other spirits, for the temple itself, and also for the Patukalam ceremony. Patukalam, in the Draupadi cult, is the symbolic ground on which the Mahabharata war is ritually re-enacted. In the "taluks" of Thajavur, Kumbhakonam and Pattukkotai, Aravan's head is enshrined permanently in a "mandapa" or within a temple niche. The largest known Aravan head is found at the Hajiyar Teru temple in Kumbhakonam.


title: Iravan

text: Aravan is known as Kuttantavar in the cult which bears his name, and in which he is the chief deity. His main temple is in Koovagam, Tamil Nadu. Here, the marriage of Aravan and Mohini, Krishna's female form, and her widowhood and mourning, after Aravan's sacrifice, forms the central theme of an 18-day annual festival either side of the night of the full moon in the Tamil month of Cittirai (April–May). The day of the full moon is the central day of the festival, when Aravan's sacrifice is ritually re-enacted.


title: Iravan

text: "Aravani"s, who call themselves "Ali"s in this geographic area, take part in the Koovagam festival by re-enacting the marriage of Aravan and Mohini. The "Aravanis" participate in similar Kuttantavar festivals, of smaller scale, in other villages like Tevanampattanam, Tiruvetkalam, Adivarahanattum— north-west of Chidambaram—and Kotthatai (all in Tamil Nadu) and also in Pillaiyarkuppam, in Puducherry. Although local "Aravani"s have been part of this festival for many years, since the 1960s, a large number of "Aravani"s have come to the festival from further afield: from throughout Tamil Nadu, from the whole of India, and even from as far away as Singapore. About 25,000 Transgender followers, including the "Aravani"s, visit the festival. Francis's account of 1906 records men dressed as women, from Vanniyar and other castes, becoming part of the festival—a "popular feast , but there is no explicit mention of "Aravani"s. It also records that the ritual marriage of the men to Kuttantavar and their widowhood occurred on the last day of the festival, unlike the present form of the festival, which has the marriage ceremony on the 14th day, and the widowhood ceremony on the 16th day.


title: Iravan

text: During the first six days of the Kuttantavar festival, Aravan's head ("cami") is "danced" around the streets of Kuvagam, with music and fireworks accompanying it. Each household offers a "puja" (a kind of devotional ceremony) to Aravan, with lamp-waving, coconut-offerings and other rituals. Traditionally, goats and chickens are sacrificed. On the 13th day, Aravan's "soul" is ritually transferred from his head to a pot, and the head is repainted. On the evening of the 14th day, a high post is erected on a processional chariot. The post will support Aravan's head and body later in the festival. After the post-setting ceremony ("kampam niruttatal"), young and middle-aged men (farmers and traders from Koovagam and surrounding villages) who have vowed to marry Aravan purchase "thali"s—the traditional mark of a married woman, in this case a pendant with a piece of turmeric at its centre. The priest, representing Aravan, ties the "thali"s around their necks in the inner sanctum of the temple. Even married men and men afflicted with diseases, all dressed as women, are described as ritually "marrying" Aravan in the festival, to please the deity.


title: Iravan

text: The "Aravani"s arrive in increasing numbers from the 14th through the 16th day. Late on the 15th night, they dance with the flower-crown ("karakam") of Aravan, which is believed to possess his power. After this dance, the priest marries the "Aravani"s to Aravan through the traditional "thali"-tying ceremony. The "Aravani"s then conduct sex work, symbolic of consummating their ritual marriage. A "night of wild revelry and sexual promiscuity" follows for the "Aravani"s. However, the villagers who married Aravan are not described as having sex in any of the accounts. While "Aravani"s wear women's clothes and jewellery, villagers marrying Aravan on account of wish-fulfilment vows made to him retain their ordinary men's clothes.


title: Iravan

text: Early on the 16th day, the "soul" of Aravan is transferred back to his repainted head and the "cuvami tirukkan tirattal" ("opening of the god's holy eyes") ceremony is performed with painting of the pupils. The head is then paraded around the village on a portable platform called a "ketayam". The "ketayam" is accompanied by two other platform-chariots, one holding the chest plate and epaulettes of Aravan—without which the festival is considered incomplete; the other carries his flower-crown. The ceremony ends with a sacrificial offering of roosters. Aravan's head is fixed on the post, with his large epaulettes and chest plate fixed to his body, which is made of straw and surrounded by a garland. The image is then paraded across the village in preparation for his "kalappali" and ritual re-enactment of his death on the eighth day of the war. At noon his chariot turns north, a symbolic gesture representing his "kalappali" and then he is turned to face the ceremonial Kurukshetra battlefield, symbolizing his entry onto the battlefield to die at the hands of Alambusha. On arrival in Kurukshetra, the garlands are removed, indicating the removal of his flesh and his defeat on the eighth day of war.


title: Iravan

text: Returning from the battlefield, the chariot turns towards the location prepared for the ceremonial mourning rituals, the "weeping ground" ("alukalam"). The "widowed" "Aravani"s, with their hair dishevelled, lament the death of their "husband" as he performs the "kalappali". The garlands from Aravan's image are thrown at devotees one by one, symbolizing his gradual loss of vitality. At this "weeping ground", the "Aravani"s mourn Aravan's death by breaking their bangles, beating their breasts and discarding their bridal finery, like the legendary Mohini-Krishna. They cut their "thali"s, which are flung at a post erected for the ceremony ("vellikkal"). After bathing, they put on white saris as a mark of their widowhood. The "Aravani"s bear these signs of widowhood for a month before re-adorning themselves with bangles and coloured saris again.


title: Iravan

text: At mid-afternoon, as the chariot reaches "alukalam", Aravan is stripped to his skeletal straw body. Most "Aravani"s have left and men wedded to Aravan also break their "thali"s and bangles and perform all the rites of widowhood (the "vellikkal" rites) before the image of Aravan. Meanwhile, a "paratiyar" (Mahabharata-reciter) tells the story of the culmination of the war, symbolic of Aravan fulfilling his wish of seeing the war. Hiltebeitel suggests that while the "Aravani"s weep for Aravan's "kalappali", the villagers weep for the death of an ancestor, as life leaves Aravan's head at the end of the war.


title: Iravan

text: Also at the "alukalam", a symbolic sacrifice of cooked "blood rice" is distributed in honour of the deceased Aravan. This rice is believed to make childless women conceive. After the death rites at dusk, the chariot is now considered a "house of death", and the lifeless head is removed from the frame of its skeletal body, then covered by a cloth, and finally paraded around the village as though at a funeral. The head is taken to the temple of Kali, where is it "revived". In a ceremony called "vitaiyatti" ("the return dance"), the head is once more danced around the village, right up until early morning on the 17th day. On the 18th and final day, the head is decorated and paraded around the village a final time. In the evening, the "pujari" ("priest") as Yudhishthira (Dharmaraja) crowns Aravan's head in a coronation ceremony held in the inner sanctum of his temple.


title: Iravan

text: In Coimbatore district, "Aravan Thiruvizha" (The festival of Aravan) is celebrated in seven places in Coimbatore city such as Vellalore, Thudiyalur, Kurichi, Singanallur, Annur, Vadavalli and Kattampatti. The festival at Singanallur, celebrated in the Tamil month of Karthigai, is the largest of the seven festivals. It is termed as "Saathi Nallinakka Thiruvizha" involving the share of over eight communities. The festival is celebrated in the month of Thai in Annur, Thudiyalur in the month of Purattasi, Kurichi in the month of Aiipasi, Kattampatti in the month of Thai and Vadavalli in the month of Panguni.


title: Iravan

text: Devotees of Draupadi commemorate the Mahabharata war by conducting an annual festival known as "patukalam". This festival usually begins with a "kuttu" ("drama") re-enacting Draupadi's wedding. During the festival, the actor playing the part of Draupadi (and other women participating in the public ceremonies) lament the death of Aravan and the other heroes of the war. There is some variation in the length of the "patukalam" festival and in the day allocated to performing the "kuttu" of "Aravan's sacrifice" ("kalappali"), but wherever the ritual "kalappali" is performed, that place is declared to be, symbolically, the battlefield of Kurukshetra.


title: Iravan

text: In Irunkal, Tamil Nadu, this "kuttu" is usually performed 16 days before ""patukalam" day", the last day of an 18-day festival. In Singapore, however, the "kuttu" is performed on the day of the new moon in the Tamil month of Purattaci (September–October). In shorter 10- to 12-day festivals, the "kuttu" and ritualisation of Aravan's "kalappali" are performed on the concluding night of the festival, as can be observed in Bangalore and in and around Chennai—at Sowcarpet, Alantur and Punamalli.


title: Iravan

text: There is also variation in how Aravan is represented in the festivities. While permanent wooden Aravan heads are used in temples in Chennai and Puducherry, in rural areas the head and body of Aravan are made of clay; both are destroyed at the end of the festival. At Tindivanam, a headless clay and bamboo body of Aravan is modelled, showing him in a heroic position, kneeling on his left knee and holding a bow. A clay head is then ceremoniously fixed, making the effigy about tall. The officiating priest first takes a sword, striking pieces from the head. Then, a pumpkin is sliced into 32 pieces, symbolizing 32 pieces of Aravan's sacrificed body. Next, Aravan is fed his own "blood", represented by the blood of goat, sacrificed to Aravan beforehand. Aravan's body from the neck downwards is then covered with a bloodstained white cloth. Finally, blood-soaked rice is sprinkled on Aravan's face. Devotees, as in the Kuttantavar cult, believe eating this rice from Aravan's face, recovered after the ceremony, can induce pregnancy.


title: Iravan

text: In Cattiram Karuppur, near Kumbhakonam, a statue of Aravan is constructed horizontally and placed on the ground. Aravan's story is then re-enacted; one of the actors, believed to be possessed by Kali, kills a rooster over the statue's neck, symbolizing the sacrifice. Again, blood-soaked rice is distributed to devotees, especially childless women. Similar rituals associated with a symbolic sacrifice and blood-soaked rice are performed in Melaccari, Alantur, Punamalli and Villupuram. At Alantur and Punamalli, a goat is sacrificed, in Cuddalore, Patirikkuppam and Villupuram, a cock is sacrificed. In the districts of Cuddalore, Thanjavur and Villupuram, Aravan's head is hoisted to an elevated position to watch over the "patukalam" and the symbolic re-enactment of the Mahabharata war.


title: Iravan

text: The Indonesian island of Java, run by the Srivijaya dynasty of Sumatra from the 7th century, partly practised Hinduism. This included transmission and adoption of the Mahabharata traditions. "The earliest evidence of the penetration of the Sanskrit epics into rural areas is found in the Sangsang copper plate inscription issued in the name of King Balitung in AD 907." A "rendering of the Mahābhārata (IAST original) into Javanese was undertaken under the patronage of King Dharmawangśa Tĕguh (AD 990–1016)", culminating in "a recital of the Wirāṭaparwa for 'one month minus one evening'—commencing on 14 October and ending on 12 November 996." This first translation into Javanese was "abbreviated" and in "prose". However, East Javanese poets later started producing native metered "kakawin", expanding on themes from the "parva"s ("books" or "chapters") of the Mahabharata, and freely importing these into Javanese settings. Petrus Josephus Zoetmulder commented: "These men and women with their Indian names are essentially Javanese, acting like Javanese, thinking like Javanese and living in a Javanese environment."


title: Iravan

text: The stories of Iravan, usually spelled Irawan in Java, along with others from the Javanese version of the Mahabharata, are told in traditional Javanese theatre ("wayang"), as well as shadow-puppet plays known as "wayang kulit". As in India, Irawan is described as a son of Ardjuna (Arjuna) and Ulupi. While in India, Irawan's mother Ulupi is a Naga (serpent), in Javanese legends she is the daughter of the sage Kanwa (Jayawilapa in puppetry) of the Yasarata hermitage. Irawan is born and brought up in the hermitage under the care of his mother and grandfather, away from his father. Irawan and his stepbrother Abhimanju (Abhimanyu) or Angkawijaya are the protagonists of more than 40 "lakon"s ("scenes", "dramas" or "plays") set in the Amarta Period, the era of the Pandawas (Pandavas). In these "lakon"s, Irawan is depicted as a "lijepan" character—"a small, extremely refined, controlled character, whose manner is modest". In the "wayang kulit", he is referred to as a "bambang" ("refined knight"), depicted with a white face and dubbed with a light, floating voice. Irawan is also described as determined and calm.


title: Iravan

text: A popular "lakon" named "Irawan Rabi" ("Irawan's wedding") tells about the love of Irawan and Titisari, a daughter of Kresna (Krishna). While Titisari is engaged to Irawan, Baladewa (Baladeva), Kresna's brother and an ally of the Kurawas (Kauravas), wants her to marry Lesmana Mandrakumara, the son of Durjudana (Duryodhana), initiating a dramatic conflict. The conflict that ensues ends up being three-sided, among the Pandawas, Kurawas and the ogre-kingdom, whose evil ogre-king Barandjana plans to kidnap Titisari. The confusion that follows results in the outwitting and humiliation of the Kurawas. Siti Sendari, the eldest daughter of Kresna and the estranged wife of Abhimanju, takes advantage of the situation and schemes to bring Irawan and Titisari together, while also mending her relationships with her husband. Though officially Irawan and Titisari are the hero and heroine of the "lakon", in reality they are mere spectators, not the movers, in the play. Brandon describes Irawan as a minor character. Irawan is also depicted as unassertive and manipulated by others, which is common in South Asian theatre. Another "lakon" called "Serat Lampahan Pregiwa Pregiwati" also relates a tale about the love of Irawan and Titisari.


title: Iravan

text: In a "lakon" called "Serat Gambiranom", written in "macapat" verse by Mangkunegara IV's court poet R. M. Ng. Wiryakusuma in 1883, and embellished by anonymous later poets, Irawan becomes the king of Ngrancang Kencana and earns the title Prabu Gambiranom. Yet another "lakon", "Irawan Maling", discusses a duel between Irawan and Angkawijaya.


title: Iravan

text: The "kakawin" text "Irawan(an)taka" ("Death of Irawan"), also known as "Parthawijaya" ("Arjuna's Victory"), describes Irawan's death in the Bharatayuddha (Mahabharata war). At the beginning of the Bharatayuddha, Irawan advances to the battlefield along with his brothers. Together, they kill many Kurawas. Later, the demon ("ditya") Kalasrenggi encounters Irawan. Kalasrenggi, whose father was killed by Ardjuna, mistakes Irawan for Ardjuna because of the similarity of their appearance and kills him. Arjuna then kills Kalasrenggi to avenge Irawan's death. The death of Irawan is placed at the very beginning of the war in the Javanese version of the Mahabharata. The puppetry version of the story places this encounter between Irawan and Kalasrenggi even before Irawan's meeting with his father, ahead of the Bharatayuddha.


The 2022 UEFA European Under-17 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-17 Euro 2022) was the 19th UEFA European Under-17 Championship (38th edition if the Under-16 era is also included), the annual international youth football championship organised by UEFA for the men's under-17 national teams of Europe. Israel was hosting the tournament. A total of 16 teams played in the tournament, with players born on or after 1 January 2005 eligible to participate.


title: 2022 UEFA European Under-17 Championship

text: Netherlands, having won the title in 2018 and 2019, were the two-times title holders, since the 2020 and 2021 editions were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe and the title was not awarded.


text: For the UEFA European Under-17 Championship final tournaments of 2021 and 2022, Cyprus and Israel were selected as hosts respectively.


text: All 55 UEFA nations entered the competition, and with the hosts Israel qualifying automatically, the other 54 teams will compete in the qualifying competition, which will consist of two rounds: Qualifying round, which will take place in autumn 2021, and Elite round, which will take place in spring 2022, to determine the remaining 15 spots in the final tournament. The draw for the qualifying round was held on 9 December 2020 at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.


title: Vertex Pharmaceuticals

text: Vertex Pharmaceuticals is an American biopharmaceutical company based in Boston, Massachusetts. It was one of the first biotech firms to use an explicit strategy of rational drug design rather than combinatorial chemistry. It maintains headquarters in South Boston, Massachusetts, and three research facilities, in San Diego, California, and Milton Park, near Oxford, England.


title: Vertex Pharmaceuticals

text: Vertex was founded in 1989 by Joshua Boger and Kevin J. Kinsella to ""transform the way serious diseases are treated.""


title: Vertex Pharmaceuticals

text: The company's beginnings were profiled by Barry Werth in the 1994 book, "The Billion-Dollar Molecule". His 2014 book, "The Antidote: Inside the World of New Pharma", chronicled the company's subsequent development over the next two decades.


title: Vertex Pharmaceuticals

text: By 2004, its product pipeline focused on viral infections, inflammatory and autoimmune disorders, and cancer.


title: Vertex Pharmaceuticals

text: In 2009, the company had about 1,800 employees, including 1,200 in the Boston area. By 2019 there were about 2,500 employees.


title: Vertex Pharmaceuticals

text: Since late 2011, Vertex has ranked among the top 15 best-performing companies on the Standard & Poor's 500. Vertex shares increased 250 percent in the same period. In January 2014, Vertex completed its move from Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Boston, Massachusetts, and took residence in a new, $800 million complex. Located on the South Boston waterfront, it marked the first time in the company's history that all of the roughly 1,200 Vertex employees in the Greater Boston area worked together.


title: Vertex Pharmaceuticals

text: On 23 January 2019, Ian Smith, the COO and interim CFO of Vertex, was terminated from his position for undisclosed personal behavior that violated established company code of conduct rules. In June of the same year, Vertex announced it would acquire Exonics Therapeutics for up to $1 billion and collaborate with CRISPR Therapeutics, boosting its development of treatments for Duchenne muscular dystrophy and myotonic dystrophy type 1.


title: Vertex Pharmaceuticals

text: In September 2019 the company announced it would acquire Semma Therapeutics for $950 million in cash. Semma Therapeutics created a "small, implantable device that holds millions of replacement beta cells, letting glucose and insulin through but keeping immune cells out."


title: Vertex Pharmaceuticals

text: On 1 April 2020, former chief medical officer, Reshma Kewalramani, became president and chief executive officer of Vertex Pharmaceuticals. Former CEO and president Jeffrey Leiden transitioned to the role of executive chairman of the board of directors, as of 1 April 2020. Dr. Leiden will serve as executive chairman until April 2023.


title: Vertex Pharmaceuticals

text: In 2012 ivacaftor was designated as an orphan drug, identifying cystic fibrosis as affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the United States. On 31 January 2012, Vertex gained FDA approval of the first drug, Kalydeco, to treat the underlying cause of cystic fibrosis rather than the symptoms, in patients 6 years or older who have the G551D gene mutation. In the US, 30,000 people have cystic fibrosis.


title: Vertex Pharmaceuticals

text: About 4% of those, or 1,200, have the G551D gene mutation. In 2017 Vertex marketed the drug for $311,000 per year.


title: Vertex Pharmaceuticals

text: Vertex also studied ivacaftor in combination with another drug (lumacaftor) for the most common mutation in cystic fibrosis (CF), known as F508del, and published the first set of results in 2012. Vertex produced the drug after 13 years of research and development, with $70 million in support from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.


title: Vertex Pharmaceuticals

text: In the UK, the company provided the drug free for a limited time for certain patients. Subsequently, the hospitals decided to continue to pay for the drug for those patients. UK agencies estimated the cost per quality adjusted life year (QALY) at between £335,000 and £1,274,000—far above the NICE thresholds of £20,000-£30,000.


title: Vertex Pharmaceuticals

text: On 5 November 2014 Vertex announced the submission of a New Drug Application (NDA) to the FDA for a fully co-formulated combination of lumacaftor and ivacaftor for people with cystic fibrosis ages 12 and older who have two copies of the F508del mutation in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene. In 2015, FDA approved the combination of lumacaftor and ivacaftor to treat CF in patients 12 years and older, who have the F"508del" mutation. The combination drug is marketed under the tradename Orkambi.


title: Vertex Pharmaceuticals

text: On 28 March 2017, Vertex announced Phase 3 data from a dual combination treatment, tezacaftor plus ivacaftor, in patients with cystic fibrosis. On 12 February 2018, the FDA approved the combination, marketed as Symdeko.


title: Vertex Pharmaceuticals

text: In 2016, Vertex began developing a new group of CFTR modulators in combination with tezacaftor and ivacaftor. In 2017, the company reported results that showed benefits for patients with different mutations that represent 90% of the CF population.


title: Vertex Pharmaceuticals

text: On 22 October 2019, the FDA approved Vertex's Triple-combo therapy "TRIKAFTA (elexacaftor/tezacaftor/ivacaftor)" for patients 12 and older with at least one F508del mutation. This approval came only 2 months after the NDA was filed. Trikafta is approved for approximately 90% of patients with cystic fibrosis.


title: Vertex Pharmaceuticals

text: In 2014, Vertex discontinued telaprevir. In May 2011, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had approved the drug telaprevir (Incivek) as an oral treatment for hepatitis C. Development and commercialization of telaprevir was shared with Johnson & Johnson for European distribution and Mitsubishi for Asia. Telaprevir is a protease inhibitor.


title: Vertex Pharmaceuticals

text: In 2015, several media outlets reported CEO Jeffrey Leiden's 2014 compensation to be approximately US$48.5 million. Vertex shareholders opted for a reduction in CEO compensation in 2015 and 2016, resulting in 2016 earnings of US$17.4 million.


title: Vertex Pharmaceuticals

text: Criticism of Vertex-based around claims that the pricing of their groundbreaking cystic fibrosis drug Orkambi (priced at to per patient per year, depending on the patient's country), limited access to the drug for children and young adults with cystic fibrosis, resulted in campaigns by concerned parent groups and allegations of unfair pricing by the UK's National Health Service.


title: Vertex Pharmaceuticals

text: In March 2019, Vertex was legally required to destroy 7,880 packs of Orkambi that reached their expiry dates during negotiations with the NHS concerning the drug's pricing.


title: Vertex Pharmaceuticals

text: On October 24, 2019, NHS England agreed to fund wider access to all of the pharmaceutical company's cystic fibrosis medications that were already licensed at that time, such as Orkambi, Symkevi and Kalydeco, and any future indications of these medicines. The funding agreement was finalized soon after Vertex signed reimbursement deals elsewhere, including NHS Scotland, Spain and Australia. The NHS in Wales and Northern Ireland will be offered equivalent pricing terms. On June 30, 2020, Vertex and NHS expanded the agreement to include reimbursement of Kaftrio, making CF patients in England to be among the first in Europe to access public funding for this medicine upon its approval by the European Commission.


title: Vertex Pharmaceuticals

text: In the late 1990s the Bethesda-based Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, encouraged by then-President Robert Beall, began investing in Vertex— when it was a small start-up biotechnology company— to help fund the development of Kalydeco in the form of venture philanthropy. The total investment amounted to $150 million. In 2014, the CF Foundation sold the rights to the royalties of the drugs for $3.3 billion, twenty times the foundation's 2013 budget. Proponents of venture philanthropy say the high financial return helps speed drug development and also provides potential monetary rewards that can go to more research.


title: Vertex Pharmaceuticals

text: According to an article published in the "Milwaukee Journal Sentinel" Vertex executives "grossed more than $100 million by cashing in stocks and stock options" and at "one point, the value of company's stock increased more $6 billion in a single day."


title: Vertex Pharmaceuticals

text: Twenty-nine physicians and scientists working with people with cystic fibrosis (CF) wrote to Jeff Leiden, CEO of Vertex Pharmaceuticals to plead for lower prices.


title: Vertex Pharmaceuticals

text: The company responded in an email that "while publicly funded academic research provided important early understanding of the cause of cystic fibrosis, it took Vertex scientists 14 years of their own research, funded mostly by the company, before the drug won approval."


title: Vertex Pharmaceuticals

text: On 15 April 2015 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Joan Finnegan Brooks of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation spoke about the role of Vertex and venture philanthropy to a panel of biotech leaders hosted by Life Sciences Foundation on the topic of patient advocacy in the biotech industry. While Brooks, who has cystic fibrosis, expressed gratitude for Vertex' development of Kalydeco, she observed that "More than 25% of people are saying (in surveys conducted by the CFF) that they are skipping medications or delaying medications or skipping doctor appointments because of cost of care issues." She added that "one of the things that the Foundation has done," is to "develop resources that can help patients bridge that gap through patient access programs, and so forth."


title: Rauvolfia serpentina

text: Rauvolfia serpentina, the Indian snakeroot, devil pepper, or serpentine wood, is a species of flower in the milkweed family Apocynaceae. It is native to the Indian subcontinent and East Asia (from India to Indonesia).


title: Rauvolfia serpentina

text: "Rauvolfia" is a perennial undershrub widely distributed in India in the sub-Himalayan regions up to .


title: Rauvolfia serpentina

text: "Rauvolfia serpentina" contains dozens of alkaloids of the indole alkaloid family, including ajmaline, ajmalicine, reserpine, and serpentine, among others.


title: Rauvolfia serpentina

text: "Rauvolfia serpentina" may be useful in treating excitable patients with hypertension. According to a 2016 review by Canadian researchers, 4 different high-quality clinical trials on humans suggest that reserpine significantly reduces systolic blood pressure (SBP) compared to placebo. They concluded it may be as effective at reducing SBP as other front-line hypertensive drugs. Rabbits fed a high-cholesterol diet who took reserpine for 6 weeks had their total cholesterol levels reduced by 42% and their heart rate decreased by 28%.


title: Rauvolfia serpentina

text: "R. serpentina" may cause adverse effects by interacting with various prescription drugs or via interference with mechanisms of mental depression or peptic ulcer. The reserpine in "R. serpentina" is associated with diverse adverse effects, including vomiting, diarrhea, dizziness, headache, anxiety, or hypersensitivity reactions.


title: Tomb

text: A tomb ( "tumbos") is a repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. Placing a corpse into a tomb can be called "immurement", and is a method of final disposition, as an alternative to cremation or burial.


title: Tomb

text: The word is used in a broad sense to encompass a number of such types of places of interment or, occasionally, burial, including:


title: Tomb

text: As indicated, tombs are generally located in or under religious buildings, such as churches, or in cemeteries or churchyards. However, they may also be found in catacombs, on private land or, in the case of early or pre-historic tombs, in what is today open landscape.


title: Tomb

text: The Daisen Kofun, the tomb of Emperor Nintoku (the 16th Emperor of Japan), is the largest in the world by area. However, the Pyramid of Khufu in Egypt is the largest by volume.


title: Earned value management

text: Earned value management (EVM), earned value project management, or earned value performance management (EVPM) is a project management technique for measuring project performance and progress in an objective manner.


title: Earned value management

text: Earned value management is a project management technique for measuring project performance and progress. It has the ability to combine measurements of the project management triangle: scope, time, and costs.


title: Earned value management

text: In a single integrated system, earned value management is able to provide accurate forecasts of project performance problems, which is an important contribution for project management.


title: Earned value management

text: Early EVM research showed that the areas of planning and control are significantly impacted by its use; and similarly, using the methodology improves both scope definition as well as the analysis of overall project performance. More recent research studies have shown that the principles of EVM are positive predictors of project success. Popularity of EVM has grown in recent years beyond government contracting, a sector in which its importance continues to rise (e.g. recent new DFARS rules), in part because EVM can also surface in and help substantiate contract disputes.


title: Earned value management

text: EVM implementations for large or complex projects include many more features, such as indicators and forecasts of cost performance (over budget or under budget) and schedule performance (behind schedule or ahead of schedule). However, the most basic requirement of an EVM system is that it quantifies progress using PV and EV.


title: Earned value management

text: Project A has been approved for a duration of one year and with the budget of X. It was also planned that the project spends 50% of the approved budget and expects 50% of the work to be complete in the first six months. If now, six months after the start of the project, a project manager would report that he has spent 50% of the budget, one can initially think, that the project is perfectly on plan. However, in reality the provided information is not sufficient to come to such a conclusion. The project can spend 50% of the budget, whilst finishing only 25% of the work, which would mean the project is not doing well; or the project can spend 50% of the budget, whilst completing 75% of the work, which would mean that project is doing better than planned. EVM is meant to address such and similar issues.


title: Earned value management

text: EVM emerged as a financial analysis specialty in United States Government programs in the 1960s, with the government requiring contractors to implement an EVM system (EVMS). It has since become a significant branch of project management and cost engineering. Project management research investigating the contribution of EVM to project success suggests a moderately strong positive relationship. Implementations of EVM can be scaled to fit projects of all sizes and complexities.


title: Earned value management

text: The genesis of EVM occurred in industrial manufacturing at the turn of the 20th century, based largely on the principle of "earned time" popularized by Frank and Lillian Gilbreth, but the concept took root in the United States Department of Defense in the 1960s. The original concept was called PERT/COST, but it was considered overly burdensome (not very adaptable) by contractors whom were mandated to use it, and many variations of it began to proliferate among various procurement programs. In 1967, the DoD established a criterion-based approach, using a set of 35 criteria, called the Cost/Schedule Control Systems Criteria (C/SCSC). In the 1970s and early 1980s, a subculture of C/SCSC analysis grew, but the technique was often ignored or even actively resisted by project managers in both government and industry. C/SCSC was often considered a financial control tool that could be delegated to analytical specialists.


title: Earned value management

text: In 1979, EVM was introduced to the architecture and engineering industry in a "Public Works Magazine" article by David Burstein, a project manager with a national engineering firm. This technique has been taught ever since as part of the project management training program presented by PSMJ Resources, an international training and consulting firm that specializes in the engineering and architecture industry.


title: Earned value management

text: In the late 1980s and early 1990s, EVM emerged as a project management methodology to be understood and used by managers and executives, not just EVM specialists. In 1989, EVM leadership was elevated to the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, thus making EVM an element of program management and procurement. In 1991, Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney canceled the Navy A-12 Avenger II Program because of performance problems detected by EVM. This demonstrated conclusively that EVM mattered to secretary-level leadership. In the 1990s, many U.S. Government regulations were eliminated or streamlined. However, EVM not only survived the acquisition reform movement, but became strongly associated with the acquisition reform movement itself. Most notably, from 1995 to 1998, ownership of EVM criteria (reduced to 32) was transferred to industry by adoption of ANSI EIA 748-A standard.


title: Earned value management

text: The use of EVM expanded beyond the U.S. Department of Defense. It was adopted by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, United States Department of Energy and other technology-related agencies. Many industrialized nations also began to utilize EVM in their own procurement programs.


title: Earned value management

text: An overview of EVM was included in the Project Management Institute's first PMBOK Guide in 1987 and was expanded in subsequent editions. In the most recent edition of the PMBOK guide, EVM is listed among the general tools and techniques for processes to control project costs.


title: Earned value management

text: The construction industry was an early commercial adopter of EVM. Closer integration of EVM with the practice of project management accelerated in the 1990s. In 1999, the Performance Management Association merged with the Project Management Institute (PMI) to become PMI's first college, the College of Performance Management. The United States Office of Management and Budget began to mandate the use of EVM across all government agencies, and, for the first time, for certain internally managed projects (not just for contractors). EVM also received greater attention by publicly traded companies in response to the Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002.


title: Earned value management

text: It is helpful to see an example of project tracking that does not include earned value performance management. Consider a project that has been planned in detail, including a time-phased spend plan for all elements of work. Figure 1 shows the cumulative budget (cost) for this project as a function of time (the blue line, labeled PV). It also shows the cumulative actual cost of the project (red line, labeled AC) through week 8. To those unfamiliar with EVM, it might appear that this project was over budget through week 4 and then under budget from week 6 through week 8. However, what is missing from this chart is any understanding of how much work has been accomplished during the project. If the project was actually completed at week 8, then the project would actually be well under budget and well ahead of schedule. If, on the other hand, the project is only 10% complete at week 8, the project is significantly over budget and behind schedule. A method is needed to measure technical performance objectively and quantitatively, and that is what EVM accomplishes.


title: Earned value management

text: Progress can be measured using a measurement sheet and employing various techniques including milestones, weighted steps, value of work done, physical percent complete, earned value, Level of Effort, earn as planned, and more. Progress can be tracked based on any measure – cost, hours, quantities, schedule, directly input percent complete, and more.


title: Earned value management

text: Progress can be assessed using fundamental earned value calculations and variance analysis (Planned Cost, Actual Cost, and Earned Value); these calculations can determine where project performance currently is using the estimated project baseline's cost and schedule information.


title: Earned value management

text: Consider the same project, except this time the project plan includes pre-defined methods of quantifying the accomplishment of work. At the end of each week, the project manager identifies every detailed element of work that has been completed, and sums the EV for each of these completed elements. Earned value may be accumulated monthly, weekly, or as progress is made. The Value of Work Done (VOWD) is mainly used in Oil & Gas and is similar to the Actual Cost in Earned Value Management.


title: Earned value management

text: EV is calculated by multiplying %complete of each task (completed or in progress) by its planned value


title: Earned value management

text: Figure 2 shows the EV curve (in green) along with the PV curve from Figure 1. The chart indicates that technical performance (i.e. progress) started more rapidly than planned, but slowed significantly and fell behind schedule at week 7 and 8. This chart illustrates the schedule performance aspect of EVM. It is complementary to critical path or critical chain schedule management.


title: Earned value management

text: Figure 3 shows the same EV curve (green) with the actual cost data from Figure 1 (in red). It can be seen that the project was actually under budget, relative to the amount of work accomplished, since the start of the project. This is a much better conclusion than might be derived from Figure 1.


title: Earned value management

text: Figure 4 shows all three curves together – which is a typical EVM line chart. The best way to read these three-line charts is to identify the EV curve first, then compare it to PV (for schedule performance) and AC (for cost performance). It can be seen from this illustration that a true understanding of cost performance and schedule performance "relies first on measuring technical performance objectively." This is the "foundational principle" of EVM.


title: Earned value management

text: The "foundational principle" of EVM, mentioned above, does not depend on the size or complexity of the project. However, the "implementations" of EVM can vary significantly depending on the circumstances. In many cases, organizations establish an all-or-nothing threshold; projects above the threshold require a full-featured (complex) EVM system and projects below the threshold are exempted. Another approach that is gaining favor is to scale EVM implementation according to the project at hand and skill level of the project team.


title: Earned value management

text: There are many more small and simple projects than there are large and complex ones, yet historically only the largest and most complex have enjoyed the benefits of EVM. Still, lightweight implementations of EVM are achievable by any person who has basic spreadsheet skills. In fact, spreadsheet implementations are an excellent way to learn basic EVM skills.


title: Earned value management

text: The "first step" is to define the work. This is typically done in a hierarchical arrangement called a work breakdown structure (WBS), although the simplest projects may use a simple list of tasks. In either case, it is important that the WBS or list be comprehensive. It is also important that the elements be mutually exclusive, so that work is easily categorized into one and only one element of work. The most detailed elements of a WBS hierarchy (or the items in a list) are called work packages. Work packages are then often devolved further in the project schedule into tasks or activities.


title: Earned value management

text: The "second step" is to assign a value, called planned value (PV), to each work package. For large projects, PV is almost always an allocation of the total project budget, and may be in units of currency (e.g. dollar, euro or naira) or in labor hours, or both. However, in very simple projects, each activity may be assigned a weighted "point value" which might not be a budget number. Assigning weighted values and achieving consensus on all PV quantities yields an important benefit of EVM, because it exposes misunderstandings and miscommunications about the scope of the project, and resolving these differences should always occur as early as possible. Some terminal elements can not be known (planned) in great detail in advance, and that is expected, because they can be further refined at a later time.


title: Earned value management

text: The "third step" is to define "earning rules" for each work package. The simplest method is to apply just one earning rule, such as the 0/100 rule, to all activities. Using the 0/100 rule, no credit is earned for an element of work until it is finished. A related rule is called the 50/50 rule, which means 50% credit is earned when an element of work is started, and the remaining 50% is earned upon completion. Other fixed earning rules such as a 25/75 rule or 20/80 rule are gaining favor, because they assign more weight to finishing work than for starting it, but they also motivate the project team to identify when an element of work is started, which can improve awareness of work-in-progress. These simple earning rules work well for small or simple projects because generally, each activity tends to be fairly short in duration.


title: Earned value management

text: These initial three steps define the minimal amount of planning for simplified EVM. The "final step" is to execute the project according to the plan and measure progress. When activities are started or finished, EV is accumulated according to the earning rule. This is typically done at regular intervals (e.g. weekly or monthly), but there is no reason why EV cannot be accumulated in near real-time, when work elements are started/completed. In fact, waiting to update EV only once per month (simply because that is when cost data are available) only detracts from a primary benefit of using EVM, which is to create a technical performance scoreboard for the project team.


title: Earned value management

text: In a lightweight implementation such as described here, the project manager has not accumulated cost nor defined a detailed project schedule network (i.e. using a critical path or critical chain methodology). While such omissions are inappropriate for managing large projects, they are a common and reasonable occurrence in many very small or simple projects. Any project can benefit from using EV alone as a real-time score of progress. One useful result of this very simple approach (without schedule models and actual cost accumulation) is to compare EV curves of similar projects, as illustrated in Figure 5. In this example, the progress of three residential construction projects are compared by aligning the starting dates. If these three home construction projects were measured with the same PV valuations, the "relative" schedule performance of the projects can be easily compared.


title: Earned value management

text: The actual critical path is ultimately the determining factor of every project's duration. Because earned value schedule metrics take no account of critical path data, big budget activities that are not on the critical path have the potential to dwarf the impact of performing small budget critical path activities. This can lead to "gaming" the SV and Schedule Performance Index or SPI metrics by ignoring critical path activities in favor of big-budget activities that may have much float. This can sometimes even lead to performing activities out-of-sequence just to improve the schedule tracking metrics, which can cause major problems with quality.


title: Earned value management

text: In this way, the distorting aspect of float would be eliminated. There would be no benefit to performing a non-critical activity with many floats until it is due in proper sequence. Also, an activity would not generate a negative schedule variance until it had used up its float. Under this method, one way of gaming the schedule metrics would be eliminated. The only way of generating a positive schedule variance (or SPI over 1.0) would be by completing work on the current critical path ahead of schedule, which is in fact the only way for a project to get ahead of schedule.


title: Earned value management

text: In addition to managing technical and schedule performance, large and complex projects require that cost performance be monitored and reviewed at regular intervals. To measure cost performance, planned value (or BCWS - Budgeted Cost of Work Scheduled) and earned value (or BCWP - Budgeted Cost of Work Performed) must be in units of currency (the same units that actual costs are measured).


title: Earned value management

text: In large implementations, the planned value curve is commonly called a Performance Measurement Baseline (PMB) and may be arranged in control accounts, summary-level planning packages, planning packages and work packages.


title: Earned value management

text: In large projects, establishing control accounts is the primary method of delegating responsibility and authority to various parts of the performing organization. Control accounts are cells of a responsibility assignment (RACI) matrix, which is the intersection of the project WBS and the organizational breakdown structure (OBS). Control accounts are assigned to Control Account Managers (CAMs).


title: Earned value management

text: Large projects require more elaborate processes for controlling baseline revisions, more thorough integration with subcontractor EVM systems, and more elaborate management of procured materials.


title: Earned value management

text: In the United States, the primary standard for full-featured EVM systems is the ANSI/EIA-748A standard, published in May 1998 and reaffirmed in August 2002. The standard defines 32 criteria for full-featured EVM system compliance. As of the year 2007, a draft of ANSI/EIA-748B, a revision to the original is available from ANSI. Other countries have established similar standards.


title: Earned value management

text: In addition to using BCWS and BCWP, implementations often use the term actual cost of work performed (ACWP) instead of AC. Additional acronyms and formulas include:


title: Earned value management

text: Proponents of EVM note a number of issues with implementing it, and further limitations may be inherent to the concept itself.


title: Earned value management

text: Because EVM requires quantification of a project plan, it is often perceived to be inapplicable to discovery-driven or Agile software development projects. For example, it may be impossible to plan certain research projects far in advance, because research itself uncovers some opportunities (research paths) and actively eliminates others. However, another school of thought holds that all work can be planned, even if in weekly timeboxes or other short increments.


title: Earned value management

text: Traditional EVM is not intended for non-discrete (continuous) effort. In traditional EVM standards, non-discrete effort is called "level of effort" (LOE). If a project plan contains a significant portion of LOE, and the LOE is intermixed with discrete effort, EVM results will be contaminated. This is another area of EVM research.


title: Earned value management

text: Traditional definitions of EVM typically assume that project accounting and project network schedule management are prerequisites to achieving any benefit from EVM. Many small projects don't satisfy either of these prerequisites, but they too can benefit from EVM, as described for simple implementations, above. Other projects can be planned with a project network, but do not have access to true and timely actual cost data. In practice, the collection of true and timely actual cost data can be the most difficult aspect of EVM. Such projects can benefit from EVM, as described for intermediate implementations, above, and earned schedule.


title: Earned value management

text: As a means of overcoming objections to EVM's lack of connection to qualitative performance issues, the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) PEO(A) organization initiated a project in the late 1990s to integrate true technical achievement into EVM projections by utilizing risk profiles. These risk profiles anticipate opportunities that may be revealed and possibly be exploited as development and testing proceeds. The published research resulted in a Technical Performance Management (TPM) methodology and software application that is still used by many DoD agencies in informing EVM estimates with technical achievement.


title: Earned value management

text: The research was peer-reviewed and was the recipient of the Defense Acquisition University Acquisition Research Symposium 1997 Acker Award for excellence in the exchange of information in the field of acquisition research.


title: Earned value management

text: There is the difficulty inherent for any periodic monitoring of synchronizing data timing: actual deliveries, actual invoicing, and the date the EVM analysis is done are all independent, so that some items have arrived but their invoicing has not and by the time analysis is delivered the data will likely be weeks behind events. This may limit EVM to a less tactical or less definitive role where use is combined with other forms to explain why or add recent news and manage future expectations.


title: Earned value management

text: There is a measurement limitation for how precisely EVM can be used, stemming from classic conflict between accuracy and precision, as the mathematics can calculate deceptively far beyond the precision of the measurements of data and the approximation that is the plan estimation. The limitation on estimation is commonly understood (such as the ninety–ninety rule in software) but is not visible in any margin of error. The limitations on measurement are largely a form of digitization error as EVM measurements ultimately can be no finer than by item, which may be the work breakdown structure terminal element size, to the scale of reporting period, typically end summary of a month, and by the means of delivery measure. (The delivery measure may be actual deliveries, may include estimates of partial work done at the end of month subject to estimation limits, and typically does not include QC check or risk offsets.)


title: Earned value management

text: As traditionally implemented, earned value management deals with, and is based in, budget and cost. It has no relationship to the investment value or benefit for which the project has been funded and undertaken. Yet due to the use of the word "value" in the name, this fact is often misunderstood. However, earned value metrics can be used to compute the cost and schedule inputs to Devaux's Index of Project Performance (the DIPP), which integrates schedule and cost performance with the planned investment value of the project's scope across the project management triangle.


title: Earned value management

text: Darling & Whitty (2019) conducted an ethnographic study to see how EVM is implemented, applying Goffman's Dramaturgy (sociology), they found there is a sham act occurring through impressionable acts presenting statistical data as fact even when the data may be worthless. Findings include Sham progress reporting can emerge in an environment where senior management’s ignorance of project work creates unworkable binds for project staff. Moreover, the sham behaviour succeeds at its objective because senior management are vulnerable to false impressions. This situation raises ethical issues for those involved, and creates an overhead in dealing with the reality of project work. Further the Darling & Whitty study is pertinent as it provides sociological insight to how a scientific management technique has been implemented.


title: League of Legends Pro League

text: The "League of Legends" Pro League (LPL) is the top-level professional league for "League of Legends" in China. The first season of the LPL was the 2013 Spring season. The top three finishers of the playoff tournament receive automatic bids to the "League of Legends" World Championship. Playoffs are an eight team single elimination with each step a best-of-five series. The total prize pool is ¥2,350,000. In 2014 Riot Games began providing an English language broadcast. The format is modeled after the "League of Legends" Champions Korea format in South Korea. In September 2015 it was announced that Riot Games was in negotiations with Tencent to take over operations of the league. In 2019, Riot Games and Tencent created joint venture, TJ Sports, to focus on all "League of Legends" esports business in China, including tournament organizing, talent management, and venues.


title: League of Legends Pro League

text: For the 2015 spring season the LPL adopted a best-of-two series. Teams compete in a double round robin.


title: League of Legends Pro League

text: From 2017 to 2018, the league used the same format as the EU LCS for selecting regular season groups. The highest ranked teams from the previous split headed the groups with other teams being selected. Matches were also best-of-three.


title: League of Legends Pro League

text: The winner of the spring split represents China at the Mid-Season Invitational. The winner of the summer split (seed 1), the team with the most championship points (seed 2), and the winner and runners-up of the regional qualifier (seeds 3 & 4) qualify for the World Championship.


title: PolitiFact

text: PolitiFact.com is an American nonprofit project operated by the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Florida, with offices there and in Washington, D.C. It began in 2007 as a project of the "Tampa Bay Times" (then the "St. Petersburg Times"), with reporters and editors from the newspaper and its affiliated news media partners reporting on the accuracy of statements made by elected officials, candidates, their staffs, lobbyists, interest groups and others involved in U.S. politics. Its journalists select original statements to evaluate and then publish their findings on the PolitiFact.com website, where each statement receives a "Truth-O-Meter" rating. The ratings range from "True" for statements the journalists deem as accurate to "Pants on Fire" (from the taunt "Liar, liar, pants on fire") for claims the journalists deem as "not accurate and makes a ridiculous claim".


title: PolitiFact

text: PunditFact, a related site that was also created by the "Times" editors, is devoted to fact-checking claims made by political pundits. Both PolitiFact and PunditFact were funded primarily by the "Tampa Bay Times" and ad revenues generated on the website until 2018, and the "Times" continues to sell ads for the site now that it is part of Poynter Institute for Media Studies, a non-profit organization that also owns the newspaper. PolitiFact increasingly relies on grants from several nonpartisan organizations, and in 2017 launched a membership campaign and began accepting donations from readers.


title: PolitiFact

text: In addition to political claims, the site monitors the progress elected officials make on their campaign promises, including a "Trump-O-Meter" for President Donald Trump and an "Obameter" for President Barack Obama. PolitiFact.com's local affiliates review promises by elected officials of regional relevance, as evidenced by PolitiFact Tennessee's "Haslam-O-Meter" tracking Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam's efforts and Wisconsin's "Walk-O-Meter" tracking Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's efforts.


title: PolitiFact

text: PolitiFact has won the Pulitzer Prize, and has been both praised and criticized by independent observers, conservatives and liberals alike. Both liberal and conservative bias have been alleged at different points, and criticisms have been made that PolitiFact attempts to fact-check statements that cannot be truly "fact-checked". A survey of 511 stories from 2010 to 2011 found that statements made by Republicans were almost three times as likely to be labeled as false as those of Democrats. A larger 2016 analysis by the American Press Institute found that PolitiFact was statistically more likely to be critical of Republicans, while a text analysis by the University of Washington in 2018 was "not able to detect any systematic differences in the treatment of Democrats and Republicans in articles by Politifact", but noted that the analysis "cannot determine whether there are partisan biases in Politifact’s judgments about truthfulness nor


title: PolitiFact

text: PolitiFact.com was started in August 2007 by "Times" Washington Bureau Chief Bill Adair, in conjunction with the "Congressional Quarterly".


title: PolitiFact

text: In January 2010, PolitiFact.com expanded to its second newspaper, the Cox Enterprises-owned "Austin American-Statesman" in Austin, Texas; the feature, called "PolitiFact Texas", covered issues that are relevant to Texas and the Austin area.


title: PolitiFact

text: In March 2010, the Times and its partner newspaper, "The Miami Herald", launched PolitiFact Florida, which focuses on Florida issues. The Times and the Herald share resources on some stories that relate to Florida.


title: PolitiFact

text: Since then, PolitiFact.com expanded to other papers, such as "The Atlanta Journal-Constitution", "The Providence Journal", "Milwaukee Journal Sentinel", "The Plain Dealer", "Richmond Times-Dispatch", the "Knoxville News Sentinel" and "The Oregonian". The "Knoxville News Sentinel" ended its relationship with PolitiFact.com after 2012.


title: PolitiFact

text: In 2013, Adair was named Knight Professor of the Practice of Journalism and Public Policy at Duke University, and stepped down as Bureau Chief at the "Times" and as editor at PolitiFact.com. The "Tampa Bay Times"' senior reporter, Alex Leary, succeeded Bill Adair as Bureau Chief on July 1, 2013, and Angie Drobnic Holan was appointed editor of PolitiFact in October 2013. Adair remains a PolitiFact.com contributing editor.


title: PolitiFact

text: In 2014, "The Plain Dealer" ended its partnership with PolitiFact.com after they reduced their news staff and were unwilling to meet "the required several PolitiFact investigations per week".


title: PolitiFact

text: The organization was acquired in February 2018 by the Poynter Institute, a non-profit journalism education and news media research center that also owns the "Tampa Bay Times".


title: PolitiFact

text: In March 2019, in preparation for the 2020 presidential elections, PolitiFact partnered with Noticias Telemundo for fact-checking of information given to the Spanish language audience. In April 2019 PolitiFact joined forces with Kaiser Health News (KHN), for health-news fact checking. In October 2019 insight was given into PolitiFact's Truth-O-Meter's step-by-step process of assessing an item's truth, as considered true by the Politifact team, revealing confirmed facts and including accreditations.


title: PolitiFact

text: Since 2009, PolitiFact.com has declared one political statement from each year to be the "Lie of the Year."


title: PolitiFact

text: In December 2009, they declared the Lie of the Year to be Sarah Palin's assertion that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2009 would lead to government "death panels" that dictated which types of patients would receive treatment.


title: PolitiFact

text: In December 2010, PolitiFact.com dubbed the Lie of the Year to be the contention among some opponents of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that it represented a "government takeover of healthcare". PolitiFact.com argued that this was not the case, since all health care and insurance would remain in the hands of private companies.


title: PolitiFact

text: PolitiFact's Lie of the Year for 2011 was a statement by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) that a 2011 budget proposal by Congressman Paul Ryan, entitled "The Path to Prosperity" and voted for overwhelmingly by Republicans in the House and Senate, meant that "Republicans voted to end Medicare". PolitiFact determined that, though it is true the Republican plan would change Medicare fundamentally by forcing the elderly to use private health plans - the very thing Medicare was intended to substitute for - a radically transformed program could still be termed "Medicare" so it was not technically true that "Republicans voted to end Medicare". PolitiFact had originally labeled nine similar statements as "false" or "pants on fire" since April 2011.


title: PolitiFact

text: For 2012, PolitiFact chose the claim made by Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney that President Obama "sold Chrysler to Italians who are going to build Jeeps in China" at the cost of American jobs. (The "Italians" in the quote was a reference to Fiat, who had purchased a majority share of Chrysler in 2011 after a U.S. government bailout of Chrysler.) PolitiFact had rated the claim "Pants on Fire" in October. PolitiFact's assessment quoted a Chrysler spokesman who had said, "Jeep has no intention of shifting production of its Jeep models out of North America to China." As of 2016, 96.7 percent of Jeeps sold in the U.S were assembled in the U.S., with roughly 70 percent North American parts content. (The vehicle with the most North American parts content came in at 75%).


title: PolitiFact

text: The 2013 Lie of the Year was President Barack Obama's promise that "If you like your health care plan, you can keep it". As evidence, PolitiFact cited analysts' estimate of 4 million cancellation letters sent to American health insurance consumers. PolitiFact also noted that in an online poll, readers overwhelmingly agreed with the selection. This stands in stark contrast to its October 9, 2008 statement that Obama's “description of his plan is accurate, and we rate his statement True.”


title: PolitiFact

text: PolitiFact's 2014 Lie of the Year was "Exaggerations about Ebola", referring to 16 separate statements made by various commentators and politicians about the Ebola virus being "easy to catch, that illegal immigrants may be carrying the virus across the southern border, that it was all part of a government or corporate conspiracy". These claims were made in the midst of the Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa when four cases were diagnosed in the United States in travelers from West Africa and nurses who treated them. PolitiFact wrote, "The claims – all wrong – distorted the debate about a serious public health issue."


title: PolitiFact

text: PolitiFact's 2015 Lie of the Year was the "various statements" made by 2016 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. Politifact found that 76% of Trump's statements that they reviewed were rated "Mostly False," "False" or "Pants on Fire". Statements that were rated "Pants on Fire" included his assertion that the Mexican government sends "the bad ones over" the border into the United States, and his claim that he saw "thousands and thousands" of people cheering the collapse of the World Trade Center on 9/11.


title: PolitiFact

text: PolitiFact's 2016 Lie of the Year was "fake news" referring to fabricated news stories including the Pizzagate conspiracy theory.


title: PolitiFact

text: PolitiFact's 2017 Lie of the Year was Donald Trump's claim that Russian election interference is a "made-up story." The annual poll found 56.36% of the 5080 respondents agreed that Trump's "Pants on Fire" statement deserved the distinction. Raul Labrador's statement that "Nobody dies because they don't have access to health care," and Sean Spicer's statement that "[Trump's audience] was the largest audience to witness an inauguration, period," came in second and third place getting 14.47% and 14.25% of the vote respectively. In its article, PolitiFact points to multiple occasions where Donald Trump stated that Russia had not interfered with the election despite multiple government agencies claiming otherwise.


title: PolitiFact

text: Politifact's 2018 Lie of the Year was that survivors of the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting were crisis actors. These conspiracy theories were spread on blogs and social media by sources including InfoWars, and targeted students including X González and David Hogg, who became prominent gun control activists in the wake of the shooting and helped organize the March for our Lives.


title: PolitiFact

text: Politifact's 2019 Lie of the Year was Donald Trump's claim that the anonymous whistleblower who reported possible presidential misconduct got the report of his phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky "almost completely wrong." The whistleblower complaint alleged that President Trump urged President Zelensky to conduct an investigation into Trump's political rival in return for promised military aid.


title: PolitiFact

text: The 2020 Lie of the Year was misinformation related to the COVID-19 pandemic; specifically, theories that either deny the existence of the disease outright, or claim that the disease is much less deadly than it actually is. In particular, Donald Trump was mentioned as a main supporter of such conspiracy theories.


title: PolitiFact

text: The 2021 Lie of the Year was lies related to the 2021 United States Capitol attack and its significance.


title: PolitiFact

text: PolitiFact.com was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting in 2009 for "its fact-checking initiative during the 2008 presidential campaign that used probing reporters and the power of the World Wide Web to examine more than 750 political claims, separating rhetoric from truth to enlighten voters".


title: PolitiFact

text: A "Wall Street Journal" opinion editorial by Joseph Rago in December 2010 called PolitiFact "part of a larger journalistic trend that seeks to recast all political debates as matters of lies, misinformation and 'facts,' rather than differences of world view or principles".


title: PolitiFact

text: TV critic James Poniewozik at "Time" characterized PolitiFact as having the "hard-earned and important position as referee in the mudslinging contest—a 'truth vigilante,' as it were", and "PolitiFact is trying to do the right thing here. And despite the efforts of partisans to work the refs by complaining about various calls they’ve made in the past, they’re generally doing a hard, important thing well. They often do it better than the rest of the political media, and the political press owes them for doing it." Poniewozik also suggested, "they need to improve their rating system, to address the irresponsible, the unprovable, the dubious. Otherwise, they’re doing exactly what they were founded to stop: using language to spread false impressions."


title: PolitiFact

text: Mark Hemingway of "The Weekly Standard" criticized all fact-checking projects by news organizations, including PolitiFact, the Associated Press and the "Washington Post", writing that they "aren't about checking facts so much as they are about a rearguard action to keep inconvenient truths out of the conversation".


title: PolitiFact

text: In December 2011, Northeastern University journalism professor Dan Kennedy wrote in "The Huffington Post" that the problem with fact-checking projects was "there are only a finite number of statements that can be subjected to thumbs-up/thumbs-down fact-checking".


title: PolitiFact

text: Matt Welch, in the February 2013 issue of "Reason" magazine, criticized PolitiFact and other media fact-checkers for focusing much more on statements by politicians about their opponents, rather than statements by politicians and government officials about their own policies, thus serving as "a check on the exercise of rhetoric" but not "a check on the exercise of power".


title: PolitiFact

text: PolitiFact retracted its fact-check about a lab leak as the possible origin of COVID-19. The site had originally stated that the lab leak was a "conspiracy theory that has been debunked since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic". However, after some scientists said they were "too quick to discount a possible link", the lab leak theory, PolitiFact changed its evaluation of the claim to "unsupported by evidence and in dispute".


title: PolitiFact

text: PolitiFact has drawn allegations of political bias from both left-leaning and right-leaning media outlets. Overall, right-leaning outlets get more negative results from fact-checkers than those on the left, including at PolitiFact, which some right-wing commentators have interpreted as evidence of bias.


title: PolitiFact

text: In February 2011, University of Minnesota political science professor Eric Ostermeier analyzed 511 PolitiFact stories issued from January 2010 through January 2011. He found that the number of statements analyzed from Republicans and from Democrats was comparable, but Republicans had been assigned substantially harsher grades, receiving "false" or "pants on fire" more than three times as often as Democrats. The report found that "In total, 74 of the 98 statements by political figures judged 'false' or 'pants on fire' over the last 13 month were given to Republicans, or 76 percent, compared to just 22 statements for Democrats (22 percent)."