title: Evony

text: The game features player versus player game play making it possible to attack another player's cities making it almost impossible for players who have not formed or joined alliances to survive.


title: Evony

text: The game allows the player to control up to ten cities through gain of titles. To gain a title, a certain rank is necessary. Both Title and Rank require Medals gained by use of in-game coins to purchase medal boxes, by attacking valleys or winning medal boxes from spinning the wheel.


title: Evony

text: The game has two different monetary systems. The in-game monetary system revolves around gold. Gold can be obtained by completing quests, by taxing the city's population as well as attacking NPC's. It is also possible to sell resources for gold on the marketplace or to trade resources with other players within a player's alliance for gold. A player can also use real money to buy game cents with which to purchase items and resources from the in-game shop.


title: Evony

text: "The Guardian" noted that "Evony" 2009 ad campaign featured women, increasingly unclothed, which had no connection to the game. In 2009 Gavin Mannion commented that "Evony" "latest ad is seriously pushing boundaries of what is acceptable to publish on Google". Other ads used stock photographs from pornographic DVD covers. Evony promoted the game via "millions of spam comments" and the company denied responsibility.


title: Evony

text: In 2009, Evony's lawyers sent a cease and desist letter to blogger Bruce Everiss after he alleged deceptive marketing. In March 2010, two days into the case, Evony withdrew its claims.


title: Red–Green Alliance (Denmark)

text: The Red–Green Alliance or Unity List (, , EL) is an eco-socialist political party in Denmark. It was founded in 1989 with the merger of three Marxist parties and it is the furthest left-wing party in the Danish parliament, where it advocates for an expansion of welfare and social justice as well as socialist transformation in Denmark and internationally. During the 2021 Danish municipal elections the party placed first in the Danish capital Copenhagen, with 24.6% of the votes. The party is also active in various Danish trade unions.


title: Red–Green Alliance (Denmark)

text: The party describes itself as a socialist and democratic grassroots party, which claims also to represent green politics, peace movement, anti-discrimination, and trade union movement. The party's ideological position is set out in a manifesto from 2014. It proposes that a socialistic society of the future "neither can nor should be described in detail, but rather be developed and shaped by the people living in it". It describes socialism as "an answer to the problems caused by capitalism such as non-sufficient democracy, crises, destruction of nature, inequality, racism and war".


title: Red–Green Alliance (Denmark)

text: A new and actually democratic system of society requires fundamental changes in the ownership of the means of production, such as companies, land and natural resources. Collective forms of ownership will be dominating. We propose that public authorities, co-workers, local communities and other collectives of persons should own and run institutions and companies. ... A democratic economy means a democratic work life as well. The work place should be characterized by democracy, and the employees must have a constitutional right to decisive influence on the organization of work in the workplace.


title: Red–Green Alliance (Denmark)

text: The Red–Green Alliance recognizes that methods achieving this may differ depending on the course of class struggle, but will eventually require a revolution—one that must be supported by a majority of the population manifested through democratic and free elections. The party often adopts particular views in relation to the other parties in the Folketing and opt out of many of the settlements reached, seen as an expression of class collaboration. Until the conditions for the party's long-term goal are presented, the party will use its seats in parliament to vote for any improvement and against any deterioration of working-class people's lives. In line with this, the party agreed at its national conference in 2010 that if Helle Thorning-Schmidt became Prime Minister after the 2011 election, the party would vote for a "red" budget bill that did not contain obvious flaws.


title: Red–Green Alliance (Denmark)

text: The party places great emphasis on the fight against social inequality and poverty, and is in favour of strengthening and expanding the welfare state. The party believes there is place in society for all forms of diversity, including gender, sexuality, disability and ethnic background. It also advocates for a larger public sector, among other things, to improve quality of life for public sector employees.


title: Red–Green Alliance (Denmark)

text: The party believes people should be free to choose when they want to get an education and is opposed to tuition fees, which they believe harm opportunities for everyone to acquire an education. The party does not see unemployment as being equal to laziness and seeks to abolish the Danish equivalent of workfare.


title: Red–Green Alliance (Denmark)

text: The party is decisively anti-capitalist and has particularly distinguished itself as an opponent of transfer pricing, whereby multinational companies minimise the amount they pay in tax by attributing their profits to countries with lower tax rates.


title: Red–Green Alliance (Denmark)

text: In response to the Great Recession, the Red–Green Alliance urged stricter control of loans, the introduction of a Tobin tax, and the nationalisation of banks and mortgage companies. It also believes that the public sector must be expanded, the wages of the lowest-paid workers should be raised, and the insurance-based unemployment benefit period should be extended to a minimum of four years. At the same time, students should be given a greater state education grant. At minimum, all benefits should be raised to 13,500 kroner per month before taxes.


title: Red–Green Alliance (Denmark)

text: The party advocates for foreign policy based on respect for human rights, which it believes has not been appropriately prioritised in the past. It also proposes greater support for developing countries through a doubling of foreign aid, and campaigns for Denmark's withdrawal from NATO. In March 2019, the party announced it would no longer campaign for a referendum to leave the EU, pointing to Brexit illustrating the need for clarity before withdrawal can be considered.


title: Red–Green Alliance (Denmark)

text: The party operates on the fundamental belief that peace is preferable to war, and has been opposed from the beginning to Denmark's participation in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. That principle was challenged in 2011, when the party's parliamentary group voted in favour of Danish participation in the UN-sanctioned military action in Libya on the basis that it was a humanitarian action. However, the decision led to significant backlash, and the party's support was pulled back after the military intervention began.


title: Red–Green Alliance (Denmark)

text: The party was formed in 1989 as an electoral alliance of three left-wing parties: Left Socialists (VS), Communist Party of Denmark (DKP), and Socialist Workers Party (SAP). Originally the plan was to unite these parties alongside The Greens (De Grønne), Common Course, and Humanist to form a broad-based progressive movement, but this did not materialize. A fourth party, the Communist Workers Party (KAP), succeeded in joining the alliance in 1991, but its involvement was vetoed a year later by DKP.


title: Red–Green Alliance (Denmark)

text: Prior to the 2007 parliamentary election, the party enlisted Asmaa Abdol-Hamid, a Danish Muslim candidate who identified herself as a feminist, democrat, and socialist. She is endorsed by some imams, opposed by others (including those in Hizb-ut-Tahrir), wears a hijab and will not shake hands with men. These facts, and some of her statements regarding politics and religion, made her the target of some criticism across the political spectrum, particularly from the Danish People's Party. Some left-wing figures cited her candidacy as a reason for withdrawing their support from the party. An anti-religious network was created within the party with the stated goal of turning the party into a solely atheist party with a materialist–Marxist basis.


title: Red–Green Alliance (Denmark)

text: During the campaign, there was some speculation as to whether her candidacy would attract or repel voters. The results of the election were 2.2% for the party, down from 3.4% in the 2005 parliamentary elections. Although not elected, Abdol-Hamid maintained that she had attracted voters to the party. The four seats won by the party went to Frank Aaen, Johanne Schmidt-Nielsen, Line Barfod, and Per Clausen.


title: Red–Green Alliance (Denmark)

text: In the 2011 parliamentary election, the party received 6.7% of the vote and tripled its representation from 4 seats to 12 seats.


title: Red–Green Alliance (Denmark)

text: The party contested the 2013 local elections on a platform of improving public transport and making greater public investment.


title: Red–Green Alliance (Denmark)

text: As part of the left-leaning "Red bloc" coalition with the Social Democrats, the Red–Green Alliance accepted the state budget twice and was in opposition twice in the period from 2011 to 2015. But at no point did they report direct opposition to the government. In the 2015 general election, the party received 7.8% of the vote and increased its representation from 12 seats to 14 seats.


title: Red–Green Alliance (Denmark)

text: The distribution of Red–Green Alliance's voters is geographically disparate. While in Nørrebro and Vesterbro districts of Copenhagen, it was the strongest party in the 2015 election, scoring 26.5 and 20.8% respectively (in Bispebjerg it received 22%, placing it only slightly behind the Social Democrats), the party is much more weakly positioned in rural parts of Denmark, taking only an average of 4.5% of votes in Western Jutland with as little as 3.1% in the Ringkøbing district.


title: Red–Green Alliance (Denmark)

text: Prior to 2016, the Red–Green Alliance never directly contested elections to the European Parliament, preferring to support the People's Movement against the EU, a Eurosceptic party whose MEP sits in the European United Left–Nordic Green Left group. Some of the party's MPs were considering running an independent list for the 2014 elections, but this idea was dismissed by a majority on the party's yearly meeting.


title: Red–Green Alliance (Denmark)

text: In a historic decision in the party's yearly meeting in May 2016, a majority decided to directly contest the 2019 European Parliament election.


title: Brian Castaño

text: Brian Carlos Castaño (born 12 September 1989) is an Argentine professional boxer. He held the WBO light middleweight title between February 2021 to May 2022 and previously held the WBA interim light middleweight title from 2016 to 2018, and the WBA (Regular) light middleweight title from 2018 to 2019. As of November 2020, he is ranked as the world's fifth best active light middleweight by "The Ring" magazine, the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board and third by BoxRec.


title: Brian Castaño

text: Castaño started boxing at 11, trained by his father Carlos, who was also a professional boxer. Castaño won a South American Games gold medal and tallied a 181–5–5 record as an amateur, with wins over Errol Spence Jr. and Esquiva Falcão. Castaño participated in the 2009 World Amateur Boxing Championships, winning his first two bout before losing to Jack Culcay-Keth. He also represented Argentina in the World Series of Boxing. Castaño accumulated a 3–0 record in the World Series, including a famous win over Sergiy Derevyanchenko, who had previously been unbeaten in the competition.


title: Brian Castaño

text: Castaño made his professional debut in September 2012, months after his win over Derevianchenko. He beat Alejandro Antonio Dominguez with a round 4 technical knockout at Luna Park. Castaño won his first 8 fights, 7 by way of knockout, before being sidelined due to an arrhytmia which caused several medical complications. After recovering, Castaño relocated to the United States. Castaño maintained his winning streak, winning four fights over the course of a year while fighting out of the U.S.


title: Brian Castaño

text: In November 2016, Castaño fought Emmanuel de Jesús for the WBA interim super welterweight title. After knocking De Jesús down on round 1 with a flurry of punches, Castaño went down at the beginning of round 2, following a cross from De Jesús. Castaño survived the round and as the fight went on, De Jesús started slowing down. Castaño eventually won the fight with a body shot towards the end of round 6.


title: Brian Castaño

text: Castaño stepped up against former world title challenger and long-time contender, Michel Soro. Castaño won a close fight by split decision (115–113, 115–113, 112–116). The judges seemed to prefer Castaño's activity and consistency over Soro's calculated pressure, who admitted he had started slow in a post-fight interview. Two months after the fight, Castaño said that Soro's promoter, Univent, had yet to pay most of his purse.


title: Brian Castaño

text: After Demetrius Andrade vacated his WBA (Regular) title, the WBA elevated Castaño to regular champion. Shortly thereafter, the WBA ordered a fight between Castaño and WBA (Super) champion, Erislandy Lara. Castaño would first face Cedric Vitu on 10 March 2018. Castaño showcased his talent, and defeated Vitu via a 12th-round TKO, dominating him from start to finish to retain his WBA (Regular) title.


title: Brian Castaño

text: On 2 March 2019, Castaño defended his title against former world champion Erislandy Lara. The fight ended in a split draw, one judge scoring it 115–113 for Castaño, one judge scoring it 115–113 for Lara while the third had it 114–114.


title: Brian Castaño

text: On June 25, 2019, the WBA announced that they are stripping Castaño of his belt, because he did not sign the contract for a rematch against Cedric Vitu, his immediate mandatory challenger.


title: Brian Castaño

text: In his next fight, Castaño faced veteran Wale Omotoso. The fight was a one-sided affair in favor of Castaño, up until the end of the fifth round, in which Omotoso declared a shoulder injury was too painful to proceed, awarding Castaño with the victory.


title: Brian Castaño

text: On 13 February 2021, Castaño defeated WBO light middleweight champion Patrick Teixeira via wide unanimous decision with judges' scores of 119–109, 120–108 and 117–111 in his favor.


title: Brian Castaño

text: Castaño faced unified light middleweight champion Jermell Charlo on 17 July 2021 in San Antonio, Texas in a showdown for the undisputed light middleweight championship. A competitive fight between them ended in a split draw, the second of Castaño's career, with scores of 117–111 Charlo, 114–113 Castaño and 114–114 even. The result was controversial, with much attention being brought to judge Nelson Vazquez's 117–111 Charlo card, which was described as "terrible" by Andre Ward. After the fight, an upset Castaño opined, "[Charlo] won the second, tenth and eleventh [rounds], that’s it... I don’t agree with [the result]. I felt I was robbed, and I demand a rematch."


title: Brian Castaño

text: On November 27, 2021, it was revealed by ESPN that Castaño and Charlo had agreed to face each other in a rematch. The fight was officially announced on February 8, 2022, and was supposed to take place on March 19. Castaño was forced to withdraw on February 17 however, after suffering a slight biceps tear during training camp. A day later, the WBO ordered Castaño to show cause as to why Charlo should't be rescheduled to make an overdue mandatory title defense against Tim Tszyu. The fight was granted sanctioning approval by the WBO on May 3, under the condition that it takes place by May 14. The bout was officially announced for May 14, 2022, and took place at the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California. He lost by 10th-round knockout after being knocked down twice. He was down on all three of the judges' scorecards at the time of the stoppage, with scores of 84–87, 83–88 and 82–89.


title: Suhasini Mulay

text: Suhasini Mulay (born 20 November 1950) is an Indian actress in Assamese, Bollywood and Marathi films as well as television. She won National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1999, for her performance in Gulzar's film "Hu Tu Tu".


title: Suhasini Mulay

text: speaking family in Patna where she spent the early part of her childhood. She lost her father when she was only three and was brought up by her mother, noted documentary filmmaker and film historian Vijaya Mulay. Suhasini was attracted to film because of her mother.


title: Suhasini Mulay

text: Mulay was in an extended live-in relationship that ended in 1990. On 16 January 2011 she got married at Arya Samaj to a physicist, Prof. Atul Gurtu.


title: Suhasini Mulay

text: In 1965 she was chosen by Pears Soap to be its model. It was this ad film which caught Mrinal Sen's attention and he signed her for "Bhuvan Shome" (1969).


title: Suhasini Mulay

text: Though "Bhuvan Shome" proved to be a milestone in Indian cinema, Suhasini did not pursue acting as a career. Instead she enrolled at the McGill University in Montreal, Canada for a course in agricultural technology with specialization in soil chemistry and microbiology. She also obtained a degree in mass communication, and majored in film, radio, TV, journalism and print from the same university.


title: Suhasini Mulay

text: Suhasini returned to India in 1975 and worked as an assistant to Satyajit Ray in the Bengali film "Jana Aranya". Later she joined Mrinal Sen as an assistant director in "Mrigaya". Since then, she has been actively producing films and has made over 60 documentaries. She achieved national awards for four of them.


title: Suhasini Mulay

text: Almost 30 years after "Bhuvan Shome", she made a great comeback to mainstream Bollywood cinema, through Gulzar's "Hu Tu Tu" for which she received a national award as the best supporting actress. She has been playing mother roles in Bollywood since then. She has worked on "Jaane Kya Baat Hui", a television serial. Currently she completed her latest film PEEDA directed by Hemant Verma. PEEDA recently received best feature film award at FOG film festival USA.


title: White Sea–Baltic Canal

text: The White Sea–Baltic Canal (, , ), often abbreviated to White Sea Canal () is a ship canal in Russia opened on 2 August 1933. It connects the White Sea, in the Arctic Ocean, with Lake Onega, which is further connected to the Baltic Sea. Until 1961, it was called by its original name: the Stalin White Sea–Baltic Canal ("Belomorsko-Baltiyskiy Kanal imeni Stalina").


title: White Sea–Baltic Canal

text: The canal was constructed by forced labor of gulag inmates. Beginning and ending with a labor force of 126,000, between 12,000 and 25,000 laborers died according to official records, while Anne Applebaum's estimate is 25,000 deaths.


title: White Sea–Baltic Canal

text: The canal runs , partially along several canalized rivers and Lake Vygozero. As of 2008, it carries only light traffic of between ten and forty boats per day. Its economic advantages are limited by its minimal depth of , inadequate for most seagoing vessels. This depth typically corresponds to river craft with deadweight cargo up to 600 tonnes, while useful seagoing vessels of 2,000–3,000 dwt typically have drafts of . The canal was originally proposed to be deep; however, the cost and time constraints of Stalin's first five-year plan forced the much shallower draught.


title: White Sea–Baltic Canal

text: The total length of the waterway is , of which are man-made. The current flows north from Lake Onega to the White Sea, and all navigation marks are set according to it. Once in Lake Onega, ships can exit the southwest shore through the Svir River (and its two locks) to reach Lake Ladoga and then proceed down the Neva River to Saint Petersburg and the Baltic Sea. Alternatively, from Lake Onega river ships can sail eastward into the Volga–Baltic Waterway.


title: White Sea–Baltic Canal

text: The canal begins near Povenets settlement in Povenets bay of Lake Onega. After Povenets there are seven locks close together, forming the "Stairs of Povenets". These locks are the southern slope of the canal. The canal summit pond at 103 m elevation is long between locks 7 & 8. The northern slope has twelve locks numbered 8–19. The route of the northern slope runs through five large lakes; Lake Matkozero between locks 8 & 9, Lake Vygozero between locks 9 & 10, Lake Palagorka between locks 10 & 11, Lake Voitskoye between locks 11 & 12 and Lake Matkozhnya between locks 13 & 14. The canal empties out into the Soroka Bay of the White Sea at Belomorsk. The settlements of Povenets, Segezha, Nadvoitsy, Sosnovets, and Belomorsk are located along the canal.


title: White Sea–Baltic Canal

text: Minimum lock dimensions are wide by long. The navigable channel is wide and deep, with a radius of curvature of . Speed is limited to in all artificial portions. In conditions of low visibility (less than one km) navigation is halted.


title: White Sea–Baltic Canal

text: For the navigation seasons of 2008 to 2010, the canal locks were scheduled to operate from 20 May to 15–30 October, giving 148–163 navigation days per year.


title: White Sea–Baltic Canal

text: The following illustration depicts the profile of the White Sea–Baltic Canal. The horizontal axis is the length of the canal. The vertical axis is the elevation of the canal segments above mean sea level.


title: White Sea–Baltic Canal

text: The Soviet Union presented the canal as an example of the success of the first five-year plan. Its construction was completed four months ahead of schedule, though it was entirely too shallow for the planned use. The entire canal was constructed in twenty months, between 1931 and 1933, almost entirely by manual labor.


title: White Sea–Baltic Canal

text: The canal was the first major project constructed in the Soviet Union using forced labor. BBLAG, the Directorate of the BBK Camps, managed the construction, supplying a workforce of an estimated 100,000 convicts, at the cost of huge casualties. Although prison labor camps were usually kept secret, the White Sea Canal was a propaganda showcase of convicts "reforging" themselves in useful labor (Soviet concept of "perekovka", reforging or rehabilitation).


title: White Sea–Baltic Canal

text: Marshall Berman states that "The canal was a triumph of publicity; but if half the care that went into the public relations campaign had been devoted to the work itself, there would have been far fewer victims and far more development."


title: White Sea–Baltic Canal

text: The workforce for the Canal was supplied by the Belbaltlag camp directorate (White Sea–Baltic Corrective Labor Camp Directorate, WSBC) of the OGPU GULAG.


title: White Sea–Baltic Canal

text: Genrikh Yagoda, Deputy Chairman of the OGPU, as well as Berman, Firin, Kogan, and Rappoport were awarded the Order of Lenin for the completion of the canal by the Politburo on July 15, 1933.


title: White Sea–Baltic Canal

text: The Soviets portrayed the project as evidence of the efficiency of the Gulag. Supposedly "reforging class enemies" (political prisoners) through "corrective labor", the working conditions at the BBK Camp were brutal, with the prisoners given only primitive hand tools to carry out the massive construction project. The mortality rate was about 8.7%, with many more sick and disabled.


title: White Sea–Baltic Canal

text: The workforce was organized into brigades of 25–30, which made up phalanges of 250–300. There were norms for labor, for example of hand-dug stone per day per brigade. At other times these teams were pitted to compete against each other in surpassing the norms, and promises were made of shortened sentences, food and cash bonuses for the champions. After the successful construction, 12,484 prisoners were freed as reward, and 59,516 prison terms were shortened. At least 12,000 workers died during the building process, according to the official records, while Anne Applebaum's estimate is 25,000 deaths, and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn estimated up to 250,000 deaths.


title: White Sea–Baltic Canal

text: A carefully prepared visit in August 1933 to the White Sea–Baltic Canal may have hidden the worst of the brutality from a group of 120 Russian writers and artists, the so-called Writers Brigade, including Maxim Gorky, Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy, Viktor Shklovsky, and Mikhail Zoshchenko, who compiled a work in praise of the project, the 600-page "The I.V. Stalin White Sea – Baltic Sea Canal" (), published at the end of 1934. Shklovsky visited the White Sea Canal on his own rather than with the group. Gorky, who had previously visited the Solovetski Islands labor camp in 1929 and written about it in the Soviet journal "Our Accomplishments," organized the White Sea trip, but did not himself join it.


title: White Sea–Baltic Canal

text: It is likely that at least some of the visiting writers were aware of the brutality of camp life. In fact, one of the contributors, Sergei Alymov, was a prisoner at the camp and editor of the camp newspaper "Perekovka" ("Reforging"). Similarly, Aleksandr Avdeenko's account of Belomor includes conversations between OGPU chief Semyon Firin and Prince Mirsky that reveal at least some of the writers were aware of its true nature.


title: White Sea–Baltic Canal

text: After the canal had been completed and opened for navigation, the Belbaltlag (White Sea-Baltic Camp) was reorganized into the White Sea-Baltic Combine (Baltiysko-Belomorsky Kombinat [BBK]), still within the NKVD system, by an order of the Council of People's Commissars of August 17, 1933. The Combine was charged with operating the canal and managing the economic development of the adjacent areas, including 2.8 million hectares of forest lands and the industrial facilities that had been constructed along the route.


title: White Sea–Baltic Canal

text: A major part of the Combine's workforce consisted of 75-85,000 Belbaltlag prisoners. In addition, the Combine included 21 "special settlements" ("spetsposyolok") with some 30,000 residents, mostly dispossessed farm families transported to Karelia from the USSR's warmer regions. In addition to convicts and "special settlers", the Combine employed about 4,500 free employees and a paramilitary security force. In all, the Combine's employees accounted for about 25% of the population of the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.


title: White Sea–Baltic Canal

text: The BBK led to the development of Belomorsk as a major industrial city. New cities and urban-type settlements developed along the route of the canal, such as Medvezhyegorsk, Segezha, Nadvoitsy. Povenets, which had been demoted from a town to a village in the 1920s, now became a town again, and a large port.


title: White Sea–Baltic Canal

text: As is discussed further below, during the 1930s a number of smaller naval vessels were transferred from the Baltic to the White Sea to provide warships for the Soviet Northern Naval Flotilla, which became the Northern Fleet in 1937.


title: White Sea–Baltic Canal

text: There was no action near the White Sea–Baltic Canal during the Winter War of 1939-1940, when the USSR invaded Finland. With Germany's full-scale invasion of the USSR in 1941, supported by Finland in the Continuation War, the canal route became the front line.


title: White Sea–Baltic Canal

text: On June 23, 1941, the day after the German invasion, 16 Finnish commandos were ferried to the canal by two German Heinkel He 115 seaplanes from Oulujärvi. The commandos were Finnish volunteers recruited by the German Major Schaller, and were equipped with German uniforms and weapons, as the Finnish General Staff wanted no responsibility for the operation. The commandos were to blow up the canal locks, but they failed due to heightened security.


title: White Sea–Baltic Canal

text: On June 28, the canal was bombed for the first time by the Finnish Air Force, targeting Locks No. 6, 7, 8, and 9, followed the next day by Finnish troops advancing along the Finland-USSR border. The air bombings of the Povenets lock ladder succeeded in interrupting boat traffic on the canal only from June 28 to August 6, and then again from 13 to 24 August 1941. On August 28, the fifth and final bombing raid of the 1941 navigation season took place against Lock No. 7, but it did no damage.


title: White Sea–Baltic Canal

text: In August, the management of the BBK and most of the 800 canal staff were evacuated from Medvezhyegorsk to Lock No. 19 in Belomorsk, with only 80 left at their stations.


title: White Sea–Baltic Canal

text: In November, a caravan of passenger vessels evacuating families of Povenets canal workers and residents, along with equipment, froze into the ice of Lake Vygozero. On the night of November 12/13, another boat caravan froze in Zaonezhsky Bay near Megostrov Island, and was later captured by Finnish troops. On December 5, Finnish troops entered Medvezhyegorsk.


title: White Sea–Baltic Canal

text: On the same day, Soviet troops started demolishing canal structures. Lock No. 1 was the first to be blown up.


title: White Sea–Baltic Canal

text: At the same time, heavy fighting took place near the Povenets Lock Ladder (Locks No. 1 to 7). The Finns crossed the canal and captured Gabselga village to the east, but after a few days of fighting they were pushed back to the canal's western side.


title: White Sea–Baltic Canal

text: Soviet sappers blew up Lock No. 7 on December 11 after the Red Army had retreated. Once the locks of the Povenets Ladder had been destroyed, water from the watershed lakes poured freely into Lake Onega through Povenets village, which was nearly completely destroyed by the flood. The route of the BBK had become the front line, separating the Finnish troops on the canal's western bank from the Soviet forces on its eastern bank. The opposing armies held these positions until June 1944.


title: White Sea–Baltic Canal

text: After Finland left the war in September 1944, the damage to the canal, including the complete destruction of its southern section and the town of Povenets and damage to lighthouses and other structures, was repaired. Rebuilding was completed by July 1946, with navigation through the canal restored on July 28, 1946.


title: White Sea–Baltic Canal

text: On February 2, 1950, the RSFSR Council of Ministers issued an order for the overhaul and reconstruction of the BBK's structures, with gradual electrification of the canal's structures and machinery. In 1953, the locks' staff hired electricians; by 1957, the electrification of the locks of the northern slope was completed; and by 1959 all coastal and floating navigation lights were switched to electric power.


title: White Sea–Baltic Canal

text: The importance of BBK for the national economy greatly increased after the commissioning of the modern Volga-Baltic Waterway in 1964. Canal capacity and the annual volume of freight traffic increased several-fold.


title: White Sea–Baltic Canal

text: Another upgrade took place in the 1970s. During the reconstruction, the guaranteed depth of the fairway was increased to 4 meters, and the channel became part of the Unified Deep Water System of European Russia.


title: White Sea–Baltic Canal

text: Cargo tonnage peaked in 1985, with 7.3 million tonnes transported. Tonnage remained high until 1990, then declined after the fall of the Soviet Union. Usage rose gradually in the 21st century, but remained well below the Soviet-era peak, with just 0.3 million tonnes in 2002.


title: White Sea–Baltic Canal

text: During the 2007 season, the canal carried 0.4 million tonnes of cargo along with 2,500 passengers. It is now operated by the White Sea and Lake Onega Waterways and Shipping Administration


title: White Sea–Baltic Canal

text: (Беломорско-Онежское государственное бассейновое управление водных путей и судоходства), which is also responsible for shipping on Lake Onega and in the Belomorsk harbor area (but not in the open waters of the White Sea). The canal was seemingly a small part of the agency's overall shipping business, which in 2007 amounted to 4.6 million tonnes and 155,000 passengers.


title: White Sea–Baltic Canal

text: According to official statistics, a total of 193 million tonnes of cargo was transported over the canal over its first 75 years (1933–2008).


title: White Sea–Baltic Canal

text: The canal makes it possible to ship heavy and bulky items from Russia's industrial centers to the White Sea, and then by sea-going vessels to Siberia's northern ports. For example, in the summer of 2007, a large piece of equipment for Rosneft's Siberian Vankor Oil Field was delivered by the "Amur-1516" from Dzerzhinsk on the Oka River, via the Volga–Baltic Waterway and the White Sea Canal to Arkhangelsk, and from there by the ocean-going SA-15 class Arctic cargo ship "Kapitan Danilkin" to Dudinka on the Yenisei River. In 2011, heavy equipment for the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydro power plant was shipped from Saint Petersburg via the canal, the Arctic Sea, and the Yenisei River.


title: White Sea–Baltic Canal

text: In Soviet times, the canal was used for shipping oil products from refineries on the Volga River to consumers in the Murmansk Oblast and overseas. Russia's Volgotanker Company, with a fleet of suitably sized petroleum tankers and ore-bulk-oil carriers, pioneered this route starting August 1970, when "Nefterudovoz-3" delivered a cargo of fuel oil to the White Sea port of Kandalaksha.


title: White Sea–Baltic Canal

text: After many years of interruption, Volgotanker resumed the canal route in 2003. The company had plans to carry 800,000 tonnes of fuel oil over the canal during 2003, and to increase the volume to in 2004. The fuel was transferred from Volgotanker river tankers to Latvian seagoing tankers at a floating transfer station near the Osinki Island in the Onega Bay on the White Sea, northwest of the port of Onega.


title: White Sea–Baltic Canal

text: Transfer operations began 24 June 2003, but on 1 September a low-speed collision between Volgotanker's "Nefterudovoz-57M" and the Latvian "Zoja-I" during a transfer caused a crack in the "Nefterudovoz's" hull, with a subsequent oil spillage estimated at , of which only were recovered. Volgotanker's alleged failure to contain the spill resulted in the Arkhangelsk Oblast authorities shutting down the oil transfer operation with only 220,000 tonnes exported. The company was fined and future operations were refused.


title: White Sea–Baltic Canal

text: Russian (and later Soviet) naval strategists long believed that a well-designed canal system could help establish contact among the separate fleets based on Russia's Black Sea, Baltic, Arctic, Pacific, and Caspian coasts. The White Sea Canal was also constructed with this military use in mind,


title: White Sea–Baltic Canal

text: and early in its history the Northern Fleet's first warships sailed along the canal to the White Sea from the Baltic, Before World War II, the canal was used for the transfer of military vessels between the two seas on 17 occasions.


title: White Sea–Baltic Canal

text: During World War II, in August–September 1941, the canal was used to move a number of submarines from the Baltic Fleet to the White Sea, including submarines K-3, S-101 and S-102, L-22.


title: White Sea–Baltic Canal

text: Some unfinished submarines from Leningrad's Baltic Shipyard and Gorky's Krasnoye Sormovo shipyard sailed to the new Sevmash shipyard in Severodvinsk.


title: White Sea–Baltic Canal

text: Since then, the canal has been regularly used for delivering submarines by transporter dock from the Baltic Shipyard and Krasnoye Sormovo to Sevmash for completion.


title: White Sea–Baltic Canal

text: There is a monument at Povenets for the prisoners who perished during the construction, and a smaller memorial in Belomorsk near the White Sea end. There was even a comedic play written about the canal by Nikolay Pogodin.


title: White Sea–Baltic Canal

text: The canal project also gave the Russian language the slang word ""zeka"", ""zek", "z/k"" for "inmate". In Russian, "inmate", "incarcerated" is (), usually abbreviated to "" in paperwork, and pronounced as "" (, "zeh-KA"), which gradually transformed into "" and "", "zek" (both pronounced as ). The word is still in colloquial use. Originally the abbreviation stood for (), literally "incarcerated canal-army-man". The latter term coined in an analogy with the words meaning "member of the Red Army" or (member of a labor army). According to the Soviet account, in 1932 when Anastas Mikoyan visited the "Belomorstroy" construction site, Lazar Kogan asked, "Comrade Mikoyan, what shall we call them? (…) I thought up the word: . What do you think?" Mikoyan approved.


title: A Very Potter Musical

text: A Very Potter Musical (originally titled Harry Potter: The Musical and often shortened to AVPM) is a musical with music and lyrics by Darren Criss and A. J. Holmes and a book by Matt Lang, Nick Lang and Brian Holden. The story is a parody, based on several of the "Harry Potter" novels by J. K. Rowling (particularly "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone", "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" and "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows"), as well as their film adaptations.


title: A Very Potter Musical

text: "A Very Potter Musical" tells the story of Harry Potter's return to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, his participation in the House Cup Championship, the trials and tribulations of adolescence, and the return of the dark wizard Lord Voldemort and the Golden Trio's attempts to destroy the Horcruxes.


title: A Very Potter Musical

text: The musical was performed on April 9–11, 2009 on the University of Michigan campus and is currently available to watch online on Youtube. It was produced by StarKid Productions and directed by Matt Lang. The musical starred Darren Criss as Harry Potter, Joey Richter as Ron Weasley, Bonnie Gruesen as Hermione Granger, Jaime Lyn Beatty as Ginny Weasley, Lauren Lopez as Draco Malfoy, Brian Rosenthal as Quirinus Quirrell and Joe Walker as Lord Voldemort. In late June 2009, the group put the entire musical up on YouTube and it became a viral video, obtaining millions of views.


title: A Very Potter Musical

text: The popularity of this musical allowed Team StarKid to create subsequent musicals, such as "Me and My Dick" (2009), "A Very Potter Sequel" (2010), "Starship" (2011), "Holy Musical B@man!" (2012), "Twisted: The Untold Story of a Royal Vizier" (2013), "The Trail to Oregon!" (2014), "ANI: A Parody" (2014), "Firebringer" (2016), "The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals" (2018), and "Black Friday" (2019). A third installment of the "A Very Potter" series, called "A Very Potter Senior Year," premiered at LeakyCon on August 11, 2012. A fourth installment, titled "A Very Potter Christmas" (this time audio-only and not a musical) was released as a reward for backers of Team StarKid's "Firebringer" musical and was later released to the public during the "A Very Potter Golden Birthday!!!" stream.


title: A Very Potter Musical

text: Harry Potter, the legendary "Boy Who Lived", rejoices that he is entering his second year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry with his best friend Ron Weasley and frumpy nerd Hermione Granger ("Goin' Back to Hogwarts"). Headmaster of Hogwarts Albus Dumbledore welcomes everyone back, skips the Sorting Ceremony and introduces the House Cup Tournament, in which a champion will be chosen on behalf of each House (Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin) to fight for the House Cup.


title: A Very Potter Musical

text: The names are chosen out of a magical trophy by Potions Master, Severus Snape, with Harry being chosen for Gryffindor. The other champions are his crush Cho Chang (Ravenclaw), her current boyfriend Cedric Diggory (Hufflepuff) and Harry's obnoxious rival, Draco Malfoy (Slytherin). Hermione then voices her concern about the bloodstained history of the House Cup Tournament but no one can drop out due to the enchantment on the trophy from which the names were drawn. Draco attempts to intimidate Harry by claiming that he will transfer to a prestigious wizarding academy on Mars called Pigfarts and presided over by Headmaster Rumbleroar, a talking lion, but Hermione threatens him and forces him to back off.


title: A Very Potter Musical

text: Meanwhile, Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher Quirinus Quirrell is secretly conspiring to revive the evil wizard Lord Voldemort, who is parasitically attached to the back of his head after Voldemort's previous defeat by an infant Harry Potter. They bicker about this arrangement, which causes inconvenience to both of them due to their conflicting personalities ("Different As Can Be").


title: A Very Potter Musical

text: Harry convinces Hermione to do all of his school work for him while he writes a love song intended to win the heart of Cho Chang. He tests out the song on Ron's younger sister Ginny ("Ginny's Song"), while being oblivious to Ginny's own crush on him. Harry, Ron and Hermione use his Cloak of Invisibility to sneak off and investigate what the first round of the House Cup Tournament could entail, leaving Ginny alone to lament her unrequited love ("Harry").


title: A Very Potter Musical

text: Voldemort convinces Quirrell to go out and celebrate the progress of their evil plan instead of grading papers. Harry, Ron, and Hermione discover that the first round will involve dragons, while also eavesdropping on a conversation by Malfoy that hints at an unrealised crush on Hermione. Voldemort and Quirrell return from a night of drunken escapades, reminiscing on past events and how they have become good friends from their time spent (literally) together ("Different As Can Be (Reprise)").


title: A Very Potter Musical

text: Harry continues to neglect his preparation for the tournament, and is caught completely off-guard when he is forced to face a deadly Hungarian Horntail in battle, initially having been lulled into a false sense of security as his competitors are allotted dragons such as 'Puff the Magic Dragon'. With no other choice, Harry summons his guitar and serenades the dragon into submission, allowing him to move on to the next round of the competition ("The Dragon Song").


title: A Very Potter Musical

text: The annual Yule Ball is announced, and Ginny attempts to ask Harry to be her partner. Unfortunately, Harry is dead set on asking Cho and unknowingly rejects Ginny, causing her to run off in tears. Harry plays his song for Cho ("Ginny's Song Reprise (Cho's Song)") but is rejected because Cho has already agreed to go with Cedric, leaving him and Ron as the only two male students without partners. Quirrell relieves Voldemort of his worries surrounding their master plan as the two weigh the pros and cons of their upcoming physical separation. Voldemort realises he has become close with Quirrell, and that he wishes to remain his friend.


title: A Very Potter Musical

text: At the Yule Ball, the normally-unattractive Hermione suddenly shows up with a gorgeous makeover, causing Ron and Malfoy to suddenly realise their feelings for her ("Granger Danger"). Harry develops an attraction to Ginny and asks her to dance, leaving Ron to get "drunk" on Butterbeer and fight over Hermione with Malfoy, causing her to lash out at both of them. Harry pulls back from a kiss with Ginny, stating that they cannot be together because of his friendship with Ron. Ginny leaves in tears and a flustered Harry attempts to regain his dignity by cutting in with Cho, causing him to get into a fight with Cedric. As the guys argue over who will get a thirsty Cho a glass of punch, they both grab the enchanted ladle that Quirrell had planted earlier, teleporting them to a mysterious graveyard.


title: A Very Potter Musical

text: Quirrell appears, killing Cedric with the Killing Curse and using the full Body-Bind curse on Harry. Snape then appears; while Quirrell and Voldemort submerge themselves in a large cauldron, Snape uses his own hand and Harry's blood to complete a ritual that successfully revives Voldemort, who joyfully celebrates with his Death Eaters ("To Dance Again!"). Death Eater Bellatrix Lestrange arrives to welcome back her master and former lover, and reveals their plan was to use Quirrell as a scapegoat for the murder of Harry. Heartbroken at the betrayal of their friendship, Quirrell falls out with Voldemort and is taken to Azkaban. Before Voldemort can kill Harry, Harry manages to use the ladle to escape back to Hogwarts, where he exclaims in horror that Voldemort has returned.


title: A Very Potter Musical

text: despite proof such as Voldemort's new vlog and his review of 17 Again, with the star Zac Efron. Meanwhile, Harry, consumed by the stress this situation is causing him, pushes his friends away by acting egocentric. Malfoy tries to make fun of Harry, but he's once more humiliated in front of the student body and he promises revenge. Ginny tries to make sense of her relationship with Harry, but he explains to her that as long as Voldemort is around, they can't be together because he wants to protect her. When Ginny runs away in tears, Dumbledore in disguise calls Harry to his office to discuss about Voldemort.


title: A Very Potter Musical

text: Snape reveals himself as a Death Eater under cover and meets up with Voldemort, who's in a deep depression after his fight with Quirrell. Snape introduces Draco Malfoy to the Dark Lord, who informs him about a secret passage leading to Hogwarts in exchange for a rocket to Mars (“Pigfarts, Pigfarts, Here I Come”). Voldemort makes Draco sign a magical contract to make him kill Dumbledore. Harry, Ron and Hermione get to Dumbledore's office for the meeting. There, Dumbledore explains that Voldemort possesses some Horcruxes that make him immortal as long as they exist, he reveals that he has already destroyed five of the six Horcruxes and tells Harry to find the last one, hidden right there in Hogwarts. At that moment, the Death Eaters break into Dumbledore's office and arrest him. Malfoy is ready to follow through his part of the deal, but after a speech from Dumbledore he finds himself unable to give him the final blow. Snape takes the initiative and kills Dumbledore, traumatising Harry who declares he has to kill Voldemort on his own.


title: A Very Potter Musical

text: Voldemort successfully takes over the Ministry of Magic, but he's still sad about the loss of Quirrell. Voldemort, Quirrell and Harry lament all the people they lost (“Missing You”). After that, a Death Eater informs Voldemort that Hogwarts has fallen, and Voldemort gets ready to leave for Hogwarts.


title: A Very Potter Musical

text: Ginny finds Harry and tries to convince him that he has the power to save everyone, but Harry is pessimistic and he complains about all the unrealistic expectations and the pressure on him for being the “Boy Who Lived”. Ginny reassures him that he's not alone in his fight against evil (“Not Alone”) and he makes up with Ron and Hermione. With Malfoy's help, who regretted his choices, Harry and Ron go to Dumbledore's office to destroy the last Horcrux, while Ginny and Hermione try to contact the Order of the Phoenix. Before they separate, Ron apologises to Hermione for his behaviour at the Yule Ball and the two share a passionate kiss.


title: A Very Potter Musical

text: Harry, Ron and Malfoy find out that the last Horcrux is Zac Efron's poster that Dumbledore kept in his office. The Horcrux tries to turn Ron against Harry by taking the form of Voldemort and Hermione and relying on his insecurities. Ron fights against it and destroys the Horcrux, rekindling his friendship with Harry.


title: A Very Potter Musical

text: A group of Death Eaters led by Bellatrix arrives in the office, after having captured Ginny and Hermione. Snape is revealed to be Dumbledore's agent and tries to save the students, but Bellatrix kills him. At that moment Ginny and Ron's mother, Molly Weasley (Lily Marks) intervenes and kills Bellatrix. With his last breath, Snape reveals that Harry became a seventh Horcrux the night his parents died.


title: A Very Potter Musical

text: Voldemort has arrived at Hogwarts and demands that the student body delivers Harry to him in exchange for their lives. Harry realises that he has to die to save everyone else and he turns himself in to Voldemort, who kills him. In a realm between life and death, Harry meets Dumbledore, who explains to him that by killing Harry Voldemort involuntarily destroyed his seventh Horcrux. Dumbledore makes Harry return to the world of the living before leaving for Pigfarts riding Rumbleroar, the lion who acts as Headmaster at the Mars school.


title: A Very Potter Musical

text: Ron and Hermione gather the other Hogwarts students and convince them to fight because that's what Harry would have done (“Voldemort is Goin’ Down”). When Harry shows himself still alive, everybody cheers, but Voldemort bursts into the room, shocked that Harry isn't dead. Harry explains that his sacrifice made the Hogwarts’ students immune to Voldemort's magic, and that Voldemort's disregard about other people is eventually going to be his demise. Voldemort tries the Avada Kedavra curse, but Harry counterattacks the spell and kills him.


title: A Very Potter Musical

text: The student body celebrates Voldemort's death, and Neville Longbottom (Richard Campbell) finds Dumbledore's will in which the Headmaster awards Gryffindor with the House Cup and nominates Harry as the new Headmaster. Harry kisses Ginny after Ron gives them his blessing, and all the students throw a party.


title: A Very Potter Musical

text: At Azkaban, Quirrell hears about Voldemort's death and he's devastated. However, the last residue of Voldemort's soul comes to make amends with Quirrell, and the two gloriously reunite (“Not Alone (Reprise)/Goin’ Back to Hogwarts (Reprise)”).


title: A Very Potter Musical

text: A. J. Holmes, the piano player for the show, is involved in the actual musical twice, first leaving his duties as the piano player to give Ron some Twizzlers (not Red Vines, which would not appear until the next musical), and second being threatened by Voldemort when he starts playing sad music to accompany Voldemort thinking about Quirrell.


title: A Very Potter Musical

text: While reading "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire", Nick Lang and a few others attending the University of Michigan discussed the possibility of Draco Malfoy having a crush on Hermione Granger because of him constantly bullying her, and created the concept of a song "Granger Danger", which led to the idea of making a Harry Potter musical. When the script was being written, they asked Darren Criss if they could use his songs "Sami", which was originally written for the web series "Little White Lie", and "Not Alone", which they ended up using as a model for the show.


title: A Very Potter Musical

text: "Harry Potter: The Musical" was performed April 9–11, 2009, on the University of Michigan campus. Soon after, the group posted the entire musical on YouTube. However, it was later taken down and edited to make it less inappropriate for the younger audiences, but was posted again, slightly edited and under the new name "A Very Potter Musical" in late June 2009. As of March 2018, the production in its entirety has around 100 million views.


title: A Very Potter Musical

text: Due to the nature of the musical, Team Starkid is allowed by Warner Brothers to host the musical on their channel and owns the rights to the songs and script, but as they do not own the rights to the Harry Potter characters they cannot make money off of the production, nor can they give the rights for the show to any other production company: the University of Michigan version is the only "official" production. This has not stopped unauthorized productions from being performed elsewhere, also done non-profit.


title: A Very Potter Musical

text: A cast recording of the production was released in 2009 through the StarKid Productions website. All of the songs featured on stage are present on the recording. The group also released the album through Bandcamp on July 29, 2010.


title: A Very Potter Musical

text: Two other musicals entitled "A Very Potter Sequel" and "A Very Potter Senior Year" were released by Starkid in 2010 and 2012 respectively.


title: Ahom people

text: The Ahom (Pron: ), or Tai-Ahom is an ethnic group from the Indian states of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. The members of this group are admixed descendants of the Tai people who reached the Brahmaputra valley of Assam in 1228 and the local indigenous people who joined them over the course of history. Sukaphaa, the leader of the Tai group and his 9000 followers established the Ahom kingdom (1228–1826 CE), which controlled much of the Brahmaputra Valley in modern Assam until 1826.


title: Ahom people

text: The modern Ahom people and their culture are a syncretism of the original Tai and their culture and local Tibeto-Burman people and their cultures they absorbed in Assam. The local people of different ethnic groups of Assam that took to the Tai way of life and polity were incorporated into their fold which came to be known as Ahom as in the process known as Ahomisation. Many local ethnic groups, including the Borahis who were of Tibeto-Burman origin, were completely subsumed into the Ahom community; while members of other communities, based on their allegiance to the Ahom kingdom or the usefulness of their talents, too were accepted as Ahoms. Currently, they represent the largest Tai group in India, with a population of nearly 1.3 million in Assam. Ahom people are found mostly in Upper Assam in the districts of Golaghat, Jorhat, Sibsagar, Dibrugarh, Tinsukia (south of Brahmaputra river); and in Lakhimpur, Sonitpur, and Dhemaji (north).


title: Ahom people

text: Even though the already admixed group Ahom made up a relatively small portion of the kingdom's population, they maintained their original Ahom language and practised their traditional religion till the 17th century, when the Ahom court as well as the commoners adopted the Assamese language.


title: Ahom people

text: The Tai speaking people came into prominence first in the Guangxi region, in China, from where they moved to mainland Southeast Asia in the middle of the 11th century after a long and fierce battle with the Chinese. The Tai-Ahoms are traced to either Mong Mao of South China or to the Hukawng Valley in Myanmar.


title: Ahom people

text: Sukaphaa, a Tai prince of Mong Mao, and a band of followers reached Assam in 1228 with an intention of settling there. They came with a higher technology of wet-rice cultivation then extant and a tradition of writing, record keeping, and state formation. They settled in the region south of the Brahmaputra river and to the east of the Dikho river; the Ahoms today are found concentrated in this region. Sukaphaa, the leader of the Tai group and his 9,000 followers established the Ahom kingdom (1228–1826 CE), which controlled much of the Bramhaputra valley until 1826.


title: Ahom people

text: In the initial phase, the band of followers of Sukaphaa moved about for nearly thirty years and mixed with the local population. He moved from place to place, searching for a seat. He made peace with the Borahi and Moran ethnic groups, and he and his mostly male followers married into them, creating an admixed population identified as Ahoms and initiating the process of Ahomisation. The Borahis, a Tibeto-Burman people, were completely subsumed into the Ahom fold, though the Moran maintained their independent ethnicity. Sukaphaa established his capital at Charaideo near present-day Sivasagar in 1253 and began the task of state formation.


title: Ahom people

text: The Ahoms believed that they were divinely ordained to bring fallow land under the plow with their techniques of wet-rice cultivation, and to adopt stateless shifting cultivators into their fold. They were also conscious of their numerical minority. As a result, the Ahom polity initially absorbed Naga, Borahi and Moran, and later large sections of the Chutia and the Dimasa-Kachari peoples. This process of Ahomisation went on until the mid-16th century, when the Ahom society itself came under the direct Hindu influence. That many indigenous peoples were ceremonially adopted into Ahom clans are recorded in the chronicles. Since the Ahoms married liberally outside their own exogamous clans and since their own traditional religion resembled the religious practices of the indigenous peoples the assimilation under Ahomisation had a little impediment.


title: Ahom people

text: In the 16th and 17th centuries, the small Ahom community expanded their rule dramatically toward the west and they successfully saw off challenges from Mughal and other invaders, gaining them recognition in world history. The rapid expansion resulted in the Ahom people becoming a small minority in their own kingdom, of which they kept control. Eventually, the Ahom court, as well as the Ahom peasants took to Ekasarana dharma, Shaktism and Saivism over the traditional Ahom religion; and adopted Assamese over the Ahom language for secular purposes.


title: Ahom people

text: The modern Ahom people and their culture are a syncretism of the original Tai and their culture and local Tibeto-Burman peoples and their cultures they absorbed in Assam.


title: Ahom people

text: The everyday usage of Ahom language ceased completely by early 19th-century. The loss of religions is also nearly complete, with only a few priestly families practising some aspects of it. While the written language (and ritualistic chants) survive in a vast number of written manuscripts, much of the spoken language is lost because the Ahom script does not mark tone and under-specifies vowel contrasts.


title: Ahom people

text: Though the first political organisation (All Assam Ahom Association) was created in 1893 it was in 1954 when Ahom connection to other Tai groups in Assam was formally established.


title: Ahom people

text: The traditional social system of Tai-Ahom people was known as "Ban-Mong" which was related to agriculture and based on irrigation. The "Ban" or "Ban Na" is a unit composed of families that settled by the side of the rivers. While many "Bans" together forms a "Mong" which refers state.


title: Ahom people

text: Ahom clans, called "phoid"s, formed socio-political entities. At the time of ingress into Assam, or soon thereafter, there were seven important clans, called "Satghariya Ahoms" (Ahoms of the Seven Houses). There were Su/Tsu (Tiger) clan to which the Chao-Pha (Sukaphaa) belonged; his two chief counselors Burhagohain ("Chao-Phrung-Mung") and Borgohain ("Chao-Thao-Mung"); and three priestly clans: Bailung ("Mo-plang"), Deodhai ("Mo-sham"), Mohan ("Mo-hang") and Siring. Soon the "Satghariya" group was expanded—four additional clans began to be associated with nobility: Dihingia, Sandikoi, Lahon and Duarah. In the 16th-century Suhungmung added another great counselor, the Borpatrogohain and a new clan was established. Over time sub-clans began appearing. Thus during the Suhungmung's reign, the Chao-Pha's clan were divided into seven sub-clans—Saringiya, Tipamiya, Dihingiya, Samuguriya, Tungkhungiya, Parvatiya, and Namrupiya. Similarly, Burhagohain clan were divided into eight, Borgohain sixteen, Deodhai twelve, Mohan seven, and Bailung and Siring eight each. The rest of the


title: Ahom people

text: Ahom gentry belonged to clans such as "Chaodangs", "Gharphalias", "Likchows" etc. In general, the secular aristocratic clans, the priestly class, and the gentry clans did not intermarry.


title: Ahom people

text: Some clans admitted people from other ethnic groups as well. For example, Miri-Sandikoi and Moran-Patar were Sandikoi and Patar from the Mising and Moran communities, while the founders of Chetias and Lahons were from the Chutia community. This was true even for the priestly clans: Naga-Bailung, Miri-Bailung and Nara-Bailung.


title: Ahom people

text: The Ahoms were literate with a writing system based on the Ahom script, which fell into disuse along with the language. The Ahom script evolved from an earlier script of the Tai Nuea language which developed further under the present Chinese Government. There exists today a large corpus of manuscripts in this script on history, society, astrology, rituals, etc. Ahom people used to write their chronicles known as "Buranji". The priestly classes (Mo'sam, Mo'hung, Mo'Plong) are the custodians of these manuscripts.


title: Ahom people

text: The Ahom people used to use a lunar calendar known as "Lak-Ni Tao-Si-Nga" with its origins in the middle kingdoms (Chung-Kuo). But is still in vogue in China and South-East Asian Tai people.


title: Ahom people

text: Like the rural Thai people of Thailand, the house rural Ahom families have been made of wood and bamboo, and two roofs are typically thatched. Families' orchards and ploughed fields are situated near their house. Houses are built in a scattered fashion within bamboo groves. At one time, the Ahom built their house on stilts called Rwan Huan about two meters above ground level.


title: Ahom people

text: Food is one of the important variables of the culture of Tai-Ahom. Most Ahoms, particularly in rural areas, are non-vegetarian, still maintaining a traditional cuisine similar to other Tai people. Rice is a staple food. Typical dishes are pork, chicken, duck, slices of beef, frogs, many kinds of fishes, "hukoti maas" (dry preserved fish mixture), "muga lota" (cocoon seeds of endi and muga worms), and eggs of red ants. Certain insects are also popular foods for the Ahoms. "Luk-Lao" or "Nam-Lao" (rice beer, undiluted or diluted) are traditional drinks. They consume "Khar" (a form of alkaline liquid extracted from the ashes of burned banana peels/bark), "Betgaaj" (tender cane shoots), and many other naturally grown herbs with medicinal properties. However beef for the genral hindus and, pork for the Vaisnavites are avoided During Siva Singha's reign, the people abandoned the free usage of meat and drinks.


title: Ahom people

text: Ahom food specialties resemble Thai cuisine. Like the Thais, the Ahoms prefer boiled food that have little spices and directly burnt fish, meat and vegetables like brinjal, tomato, etc. Some of them are "Thu–dam" (black lentil), "Khao–Moon" (Rice Frumenty), "Xandohguri" (a powder made from dry roasted rice), "ChewaKhao" (steamed rice), "Chunga Chaul" (sticky rice cooked in tender bamboo tubes), "Til pitha" (sesame rice rolls prepared from sticky rice powder), and "Khao-tyek" (rice flakes). The process of preparation of this item was quite unknown to population other than the Ahoms and the Thais. Khao (unboiled soft rice prepared from a special variety of sticky rice with a unique technique), Tupula Khao (a kind of rice cooked and packed with a particular kind of plant leaf with good smell called 'tora pat' and preserved bamboo sauce are some of the favourite food items of the Ahoms, which are similar to their traditional diet.


title: Ahom people

text: "Cho Klong" is the main marriage ritual among the twenty marriage rituals of Tai Ahom people. The name Cho Klong is derived from the Tai Ahom language [Cho=to combine, klong=ritual]. The ritual is described in an ancient Tai Ahom script "Lai Lit nang Hoon Pha". 101 ban-phai-s (earthen lamps) or lights are lit. The bride offers the groom a "heng-dan" (sword) to protect her, their children, family, race and country. Sum of twenty rituals are performed in ahom wedding along with cho klong, including:


title: Ahom people

text: Most Ahoms today declare Hinduism as their religion, although there is an effort to revive the traditional Ahom religion. The Ahom religion started to decline since the days of Jayadhwaj Singha, he was the first Ahom king to adopt Ekasarana Dharma and to take initiation of the Auniati Mahanta. From Jayadhawaj Singha to Rantadhwaj Singha all were followers of Ekasarana Dharma. From Gadadhar Singha onwards the kings veered towards Shaktism. Siva Singha made the Shaktism the state religion, Suremphaa Rajeswar Singha (1751–1769) ordered Sanskritisation. All funerals were to be practised under the Hindu cremation rites, conducted by a Maithil Brahmin priest and a traditional priest. Nevertheless, Me-Dam-Me-Phi is widely celebrated.


title: Ahom people

text: The Ahoms today use the Assamese language after the traditional language, the Ahom language, fell into complete disuse. The Ahom language, a member of the Tai branch of the Kra–Dai languages is now dead, with its tone system completely lost. Nevertheless, it is being revived by some Tai Ahom organisations.


title: Ahom people

text: Starting in the late 20th and continuing into the early 21st century, there has been renewed interest among the Ahoms in their culture and language leading to increased study and attempts at revival. The 1901 census of India enumerated approximately 179,000 people identifying as Ahom. The latest available census records slightly over 2 million Ahom individuals, however, estimates of the total number of people descended from the original Tai-Ahom settlers are as high as eight million. The Ahom script also finds a place in the Unicode Consortium and the script declared the topmost in the South-East Asia category.


title: Ahom people

text: Ahom people today are categorised in the other backward classes (OBC) caste category; there is longstanding discussion and demand for Scheduled Tribe status. The term "ethnic Assamese" is now associated by the Indian government with the various indigenous Assamese people. According to Anthony Van Nostrand Diller, possibly eight million speakers of Assamese can claim genetic descent from the Ahoms. However, historian Yasmin Saikia argues that in pre-colonial times, the Ahoms were not an ethnic community, but were a relatively open status group. Any community coming into the socio-economic fold of the Ahom state could claim the Ahom status with active consent of the king.


title: Jen Majura

text: Jennifer Majura Indrasen (born 16 June 1983) is a German musician. She was the rhythm guitarist for American rock band Evanescence from 2015 to 2022.


title: Jen Majura

text: Majura was born in Stuttgart, West Germany, and started in music at the age of six. Her father is Thai and was one of the founding members of the Reutlingen-based German NDW band KIZ as bassist, her mother is German. Majura has played professionally since 2000. She featured on Rage's "Lord of the Flies" track and toured with the band from 2006 to 2009 on several international tours.


title: Jen Majura

text: Majura was the founder of AC/DC cover band Black Thunder Ladies (lead guitarist and backings). She had since played in Knorkator (guitarist, 2012–2014), Equilibrium (bass, 2014) and Evanescence (guitarist, 2015–2022). In August 2015, Evanescence frontwoman Amy Lee announced that Majura would replace guitarist Terry Balsamo in the band. In November 2015, Equilibrium announced that Majura had parted ways with the band to join Evanescence. In May 2022, Evanescence parted ways with Majura.


title: National Alliance (Latvia)

text: The National Alliance (, NA), officially the National Alliance "All for Latvia!" – "For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK" (), is a national-conservative and right-wing populist political party in Latvia. A right-wing party, it has also been placed as the far right, or radical right, of the political spectrum.


title: National Alliance (Latvia)

text: It was formed as an electoral alliance for the 2010 Latvian parliamentary election between the For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK and All for Latvia! parties. It won eight seats, placing it fourth among all parties. In July 2011, it merged into a single political party under the leadership of Gaidis Bērziņš and Raivis Dzintars. In the 2014 Latvian parliamentary election, it again increased its seats to seventeen, and entered a centre-right coalition, along with Unity and the Union of Greens and Farmers under Prime Minister Laimdota Straujuma.


title: National Alliance (Latvia)

text: It has participated in every government of Latvia since the 2011 Latvian parliamentary election to prevent Harmony Centre from leading the coalition. It is also a member of the European Conservatives and Reformists Party (ERC) and its two MEPs, Roberts Zīle and Dace Melbārde, sit in the ERC group in the European Parliament. The party controls the town and city governments of Ogre, Bauska, Smiltene, Sigulda, and Talsi.


title: National Alliance (Latvia)

text: It was founded as an electoral alliance in 2010 by the national-conservative For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK and the far-right All for Latvia! after the two parties were refused entry into the Unity alliance. The loose alliance was transformed into a unitary party on 23 July 2011. In the 2010 Latvian parliamentary election, the alliance won 8 seats. As part of the outgoing government, it was involved in negotiations after the election to renew the coalition but was vetoed by the Society for Political Change, which had not been part of the government but had joined the Unity alliance.


title: National Alliance (Latvia)

text: In May 2011, the party supported the re-election of Valdis Zatlers in the 2011 Latvian presidential election. The alliance became a single united party on 23 July 2011. At the 2011 Latvian parliamentary election, the National Alliance won fourteen seats, an increase of six on the previous year, making it the fourth-largest party in the Saeima. After extensive negotiations with an aim to avoid Kremlin supporting powers from gaining seats in government, it joined a centre-right government with Unity and Zatlers' Reform Party, with the party's Gaidis Bērziņš as Minister for Justice and Žaneta Jaunzeme-Grende as Minister for Culture.


title: National Alliance (Latvia)

text: On 23 August 2013, All for Latvia! wing of National Alliance signed the Bauska Declaration together with the Conservative People's Party of Estonia and Lithuanian Nationalist and Republican Union calling for a new national awakening of the Baltic states and warning about perceived threats posed by cultural Marxism, "postmodernistic multiculturalism", "destructive liberalism", and Russian imperialism. The merging period of the two founding parties was ended on the National Alliance's third congress on 7 December 2013, finally creating one unitary party.


title: National Alliance (Latvia)

text: In 2014 Latvian parliamentary election, the party gained 17 seats and entered a centre-right coalition, along with Unity and the Union of Greens and Farmers under Prime Minister Laimdota Straujuma. The party succeeded to include several points in the Declaration of the government and coalition treaty, such as to begin gradual Latvianization of the bilingual educational system starting from 2018; to limit the residence permit acquisition programme established in 2010, increase state support to family values and the demography programme; to make national identity, Latvian language, and Latvian culture as a priority as it is defined in the Constitution of Latvia; opening of natural gas market in order to end the Gazprom monopoly in the Latvian energy market; veto rights to any decision which could weaken the positions of the Latvian language.


title: National Alliance (Latvia)

text: After the 2018 Latvian parliamentary election, in which the party won 13 seats, Arturs Krišjānis Kariņš was tasked by Latvian President Raimonds Vējonis with forming the next government following the failures of previous nominees Bordāns and Gobzems in a contentious negotiation process. Kariņš took office as Prime Minister on 23 January 2019, leading a broad centre-right coalition of five conservative and liberal parties (Kariņš cabinet) that included National Alliance, along with Development/For!, New Conservative Party, Kariņš' Unity, and Who Owns the State? parties.


title: National Alliance (Latvia)

text: The National Alliance is a national-conservative party, as well as socially conservative. It has also been described as right-wing populist or nationalist, and placed on the right wing to far right, or radical right, of the political spectrum. In its platform, the party lists its core priorities as protecting Latvian language, culture, and heritage. An economic liberal party, it takes a pro-West stance in foreign policy, supports economic reform to promote business competition, and calls for a "non-taxable minimum pension" for all citizens. In 2021, the party submitted to the Saeima a draft law regarding an amendment to the Constitution, which intends to strictly define the concept of family as a union of a male and a female person.


title: National Alliance (Latvia)

text: It has taken right-wing populist positions, and it actively opposes immigration, both the residence permit selling programme and the refugee quota system intended by the European Union (EU), emphasizing the already large number of Soviet-era settlers in Latvia. It has compared the modern advocates of immigration with those who supported the planned mass immigration to the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic, which affected the demographic ethnic groups in Latvia, such as the expansion of a Russian minority. The party was the only one of the leading coalition partners that completely refused both the refugee quota system, as well as voluntary acceptation of refugees. In August 2015, the party took part in organizing the massive anti-immigration rally in Rīga. This anti-immigration position was accented in the annual foreign affair debates in the Saeima, also turning against perceived liberal immigration policy and political correctness in the EU.


title: National Alliance (Latvia)

text: In foreign policy, the party wants to participate in what it calls the "Western geopolitical space". It supports Latvian membership of NATO. The party takes a Eurosceptic, or what they describe as Eurorealist, stance towards the EU, by opposing bureaucracy and centralization of powers around Brussels, arguing that the EU should be limited to a trading block as opposed to a bureaucratic political organization, and that member states must work to fight crime and defend European culture together but not impose on domestic decision making and political sovereignty of nations, and abandon what the party calls the EU's "everything for all" approach. Following Brexit, the National Alliance stated that the UK's decision must be respected and the country needs to remain an important ally of Europe and Latvia, and that the EU must not retaliate against Britain and instead pursue a free trade agreement with Britain. Since the beginning of the Russo-Ukrainian War, the party has taken a pro-Ukrainian position and suggested a stricter anti-Kremlin position for the Latvian government, as well as the Council of Europe.


title: Nyingma

text: Nyingma (literally 'old school') is the oldest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. It is also often referred to as Ngangyur (, ), "order of the ancient translations". The Nyingma school is founded on the first lineages and translations of Buddhist scriptures from Sanskrit into Tibetan in the eighth century, during the reign of King Trisong Detsen (r. 710–755).


title: Nyingma

text: Nyingma traditional histories consider their teachings to trace back to the first Buddha Samantabhadra (Güntu Sangpo) and Indian mahasiddhas such as Garab Dorjé, Śrī Siṃha and Jñānasūtra. Traditional sources trace the origin of the Nyingma order in Tibet to figures associated with the initial introduction of Buddhism in the 8th century, such as Padmasambhava, Yeshe Tsogyal, Vimalamitra, Vairotsana, Buddhaguhya and Shantaraksita. The Nyingma tradition is also seen having been founded at Samyé, the first monastery in Tibet. Nyingma teachings are also known for having been passed down through networks of lay practitioners or ngagpas (Skt. "mantrī").


title: Nyingma

text: While the Nyingma contains most of the major elements of Tibetan Buddhism as do the other Tibetan schools, they also have some unique features and teachings. Nyingma teachings include a distinctive classification of Buddhist vehicles to liberation, called the nine vehicles. This schema places the Nyingma teachings of the "Great Perfection" (Dzogchen) as the highest of all Buddhist teachings. As such, the Nyingmas consider the Dzogchen teachings to be the most direct, profound and subtle path to Buddhahood. The main Dzogchen sources (like the "Seventeen tantras") are seen as communicating a path that goes beyond the methods of Highest Yoga Tantra (which are seen as supreme in other schools of Tibetan Buddhism). The most influential Nyingma scholar yogi of the Great Perfection is Longchenpa (1308–1364), and his voluminous works mark a turning point in the scholastic systematization and refinement of the Nyingma Dzogchen system.


title: Nyingma

text: The Nyingma school also has an important tradition of discovering and revealing "hidden treasure texts" called Termas, which allows the treasure discoverers or tertöns to reveal new timely scriptures. Many Nyingma lineages are based on particular termas. For example, Mindroling Monastery focuses on the revelations of Nyangrel Nyima Özer, while Dorjé Drak is based on the Northern Treasures of Rigdzin Gödem.


title: Nyingma

text: as an embodiment of the Dharmakāya, the "truth body" of all buddhas. The Nyingma school sees the Dharmakaya as inseparable from both the Sambhogakaya and the Nirmanakaya.


title: Nyingma

text: The Vajrayana or Tantra of the Nyingma school traces its origins to an emanation of Amitaba and of Avalokitesvara, Guru Padmasambhava, whose coming and activities are believed to have been predicted by Buddha Shakyamuni. Nyingma origins are also traced to Garab Dorje and to Yeshe Tsogyal.


title: Nyingma

text: Nyingma also sees Vajradhara (an emanation of Samantabhadra) and other buddhas as teachers of their many doctrines. Samantabhadra's wisdom and compassion spontaneously radiates myriad teachings, all appropriate to the capacities of different beings and entrusts them to "knowledge holders" ("vidyadharas"), the chief of which is Dorjé Chörap, who gives them to Vajrasattva and the dakini Légi Wangmoché, who in turn disseminate them among human siddhas. The first human teacher of the tradition was said to be Garab Dorje (b. 55 c.e.), who had visions of Vajrasattva. Padmasambhava is the most famous and revered figure of the early human teachers and there are many legends about him, making it difficult to separate history from myth. Other early teachers include Vimalamitra, Jambel Shé Nyen, Sri Simha, and Jñanasutra. Most of these figures are associated with the Indian region of Oddiyana.


title: Nyingma

text: (fl.173?-300? CE), especially in the eastern regions. The reign of Songtsen Gampo (ca.617-649/50) saw an expansion of Tibetan power, the adoption of a writing system and promotion of Buddhism.


title: Nyingma

text: Around 760, Trisong Detsen invited Padmasambhava and the Nalanda abbot Śāntarakṣita to Tibet to introduce Buddhism to the "Land of Snows." Trisong Detsen ordered the translation of all Buddhist texts into Tibetan. Padmasambhava, Śāntarakṣita, 108 translators, and 25 of Padmasambhava's nearest disciples worked for many years in a gigantic translation-project. The translations from this period formed the base for the large scriptural transmission of Dharma teachings into Tibet and are known as the "Old Translations" and as the "Early Translation School". Padmasambhava supervised mainly the translation of tantras; Śāntarakṣita concentrated on the sutras. Padmasambhava and Śāntarakṣita also founded the first Buddhist monastery in Tibet: Samye. However, this situation would not last:


title: Nyingma

text: The early Vajrayana that was transmitted from India to Tibet may be differentiated by the specific term "Mantrayana" (). "Mantrayana" is the Sanskrit of what became rendered in Tibetan as "Secret Mantra" (): this is the self-identifying term employed in the earliest literature.


title: Nyingma

text: From this basis, Vajrayana was established in its entirety in Tibet. From the eighth until the eleventh century, this textual tradition (which was later identified as 'Nyingma') was the only form of Buddhism in Tibet. With the reign of King Langdarma (836–842), the brother of King Ralpachen, a time of political instability ensued which continued over the next 300 years, during which time Buddhism was persecuted and largely forced underground because the King saw it as a threat to the indigenous Bön tradition. Langdarma persecuted monks and nuns, and attempted to wipe out Buddhism. His efforts, however, were not successful. A few monks escaped to Amdo in the northeast of Tibet, where they preserved the lineage of monastic ordination.


title: Nyingma

text: The period of the 9-10th centuries also saw increasing popularity of a new class of texts which would later be classified as the Dzogchen "Mind series" (Semde). Some of these texts present themselves as translations of Indian works, though according to David Germano, most are original Tibetan compositions. These texts promote the view that true nature of the mind is empty and luminous and seem to reject traditional forms of practice. An emphasis on the Dzogchen textual tradition is a central feature of the Nyingma school.


title: Nyingma

text: From the eleventh century onward, there was an attempt to reintroduce Vajrayana Buddhism to Tibet. This saw new translation efforts which led to the foundation of new Vajrayana schools which are collectively known as the Sarma "New translation" schools because they reject the old translations of the Nyingma canon. It was at that time that Nyingmapas began to see themselves as a distinct group and the term "Nyingma" came into usage to refer to those who continued to use the "Old" or "Ancient" translations. Nyingma writers such as Rongzom (ca. 11th century) and Nyangrel were instrumental in defending the old texts from the critiques of the Sarma translators and in establishing a foundation for the mythology and philosophy of the Nyingma tradition.


title: Nyingma

text: Rongzom Chokyi Zangpo was the most influential of the 11th century Nyingma authors, writing "extensive exoteric and esoteric commentaries." He upheld the view that sutra teachings such as Madhyamaka were ultimately inferior to the teachings found in the Buddhist Tantras and Dzogchen. Rongzom also wrote a commentary on the Guhyagarbha tantra, which is the main tantra in the Nyingma tradition.


title: Nyingma

text: The period of the new dissemination of Buddhism which saw the rise of the Sarma schools also saw the proliferation of fresh Nyingma Dzogchen texts with fresh doctrines and meditative practices, mainly the 'Space class' (Longdé) and the 'Instruction class' (Menngagde) (11th-14th century), particularly important were the seventeen tantras. To vitalize the legitimacy of these new texts against the criticism of the Sarma schools, the Nyingma school expanded the tradition of the "Terma", which are said to be revealed treasure texts by ancient masters, usually Padmasambhava, which had been hidden away and then discovered by tertons (treasure revealers). The first tertons dating to the 11th century were Sangyé Lama and Drapa Ngönshé. Another important terton, Nyangrel Nyima Özer (1136-1204), was the principal promulgator of the Padmasambhava mythos, according to Janet Gyatso. Guru Chöwang (1212–70) was also influential in developing the myths of Padmasambhava. Nyangrel and Chögi Wangchuk (1212–1270) are known as the "sun and moon" of tertons, and along with Rikdsin Gödem (1337–1409), are called the "three grand tertons".


title: Nyingma

text: By this period we see the establishment of three major classes of Nyingma literature; those translated and transmitted without interruption from the beginning of the Buddhist dissemination are called "transmitted precepts" ("bka' ma"), the hidden "treasures" are called "gter ma" and lastly there are those collected works ("gsung 'bum") of individual Tibetan authors.


title: Nyingma

text: Longchen Rabjampa, Drimé Özer (Longchenpa, 1308–1364, possibly 1369) is a central thinker and poet in Nyingma thought and Tibetan Buddhist philosophy. He is mainly known for his systematized integration and exposition of the major textual cycles such as the Menngagde in his various writings, which by his time had become central texts in the Nyingma tradition. His main writings include the Seven Treasuries ("mdzod bdun"), the "Trilogy of Natural Freedom" ("rang grol skor gsum"), the "Trilogy that Clears Darkness" ("mun sel skor gsum"), and the Trilogy of Natural Ease ("ngal gso skor gsum").


title: Nyingma

text: Pema Lingpa (1346–1405), Sangye Lingpa (1340–1396) and Ratna Lingpa (1403–1479). Another key figure was Karma Lingpa (1326–1386), who wrote down an important work called "Profound Dharma of Self-Liberation through the Intention of the Peaceful and Wrathful Ones" which includes the two texts of the "bar-do thos-grol", the "Tibetan Book of the Dead".


title: Nyingma

text: Lochen Dharmaśrī (1654–1717) wrote important commentaries on the Guhyagarbha tantra and his brother Terdak Lingpa (1646–1714) was the founder of the Mindrolling Monastery in 1670, one of the six major Nyingma monasteries.


title: Nyingma

text: A later seminal figure in the development of the Nyingma system was Jigme Lingpa (1730-1798) "the greatest treasure finder of the eighteenth century", whose Longchen Nyingthig ("The Heart-essence of the Vast Expanse") is a systematization of the path which is one of the most widely used Nyingma Dzogchen teachings today.


title: Nyingma

text: In 1848, the Nyingma monastic college of Dzogchen Shri Sengha (rdzogs chen srwi sengha), was founded in Kham by a charismatic teacher, Zhanphan Thaye (gzhan phan mtha' yas, 1800-), in association with the active participation of Do Kyentse (rndo mkhyen rtse). According to Georges Dreyfus, the Nyingma school had traditionally "relied on non-ordained tantric practitioners to transmit its teachings through authorized lineages." The foundation of this monastic school was a major shift in the Nyingma tradition, and is seen as a response to the growth of the Gelug school's hegemony which was based on a well organized system of monastic scholasticism and education. The sort of study and learning in this monastery was mostly based on exegetical commentary, a contrast to the more debate based Gelug education. In this way, the Nyingma school revitalized itself and presented itself as a legitimate rival to the Gelug school.


title: Nyingma

text: The 19th century also saw the rise of the non-sectarian 'Rime' movement, led by Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo (1820-1892) and Jamgön Kongtrül (1813-1899) which sought to collect and print the teachings of the Sakya, Kagyu and Nyingma schools in response to the hegemonic influence of the Gelug school.


title: Nyingma

text: Jamgon Ju Mipham Gyatso ("Mipham the Great", 1846–1912) was born into an aristocratic family in 1846 in Kham, a province of eastern Tibet. Mipham was a student of Rime scholars like Kongtrül. Mipham composed authoritative works on both the Sutra and Vajrayana teachings as understood in the Nyingma tradition, writing extensively on Dzogchen and Madhyamaka. According to Karma Phuntsho, Mipham's work "completely revolutionised rNying ma pa scholasticism in the late nineteenth century, raising its status after many centuries as a comparative intellectual backwater, to arguably the most dynamic and expansive of philosophical traditions in all of Tibetan Buddhism, with an influence and impact far beyond the rNying ma pa themselves."


title: Nyingma

text: Mipham's works have become the foundation of study for not only the Nyingma lineage, but the Kagyu lineage as well. They hold a central position in all Nyingma monasteries and monastic colleges.


title: Nyingma

text: Following in the footsteps of Mipham, Khenpo Shenga was also an important figure in the revitalization of Nyingma monastic education by establishing the study of exoteric philosophy at Dzogchen Shri Sengha through the use of classic Indian texts, which include the major works of Asanga, Nagarjuna and Aryadeva. Khenpo Shenga composed commentaries on these key texts and scholastic textbooks. He focused on the study of these texts as a way to avoid sectarian disputes by appealing to classic Indian material.


title: Nyingma

text: The 19th century also saw the production of new Terma texts, particularly by Orgyen Chokgyur Lingpa (1829-1870), Péma Ösel Dongak Lingpa (1820–1892), and Dudjom Lingpa (1835–1904). Another important figure is Patrul Rinpoche (b. 1808), who wrote "The Words of My Perfect Teacher", a key text on Nyingma preliminaries.


title: Nyingma

text: Dzogchen ("Great Perfection") is the central distinctive practice and view which is the focus of Nyingma and it is seen by this school as the supreme practice. It is seen as the ultimate understanding of the nature of mind, which is known as rigpa. Dzogchen seeks to understand the nature of mind without the subtle body practices and visualizations of other tantric forms, and Dzogchen tantras state that visualization practices are inferior to Dzogchen, which directly works with the nature of the mind itself. A main feature of Dzogchen is the practice of "cutting through" ("khregs chod") the everyday mind and its obscurations to reach the primordial nature of mind or rigpa, which is essential purity ("ka dag") and spontaneity ("lhun grub"), and is associated with emptiness ("shunyata"). The second form of Dzogchen practice is referred to as "direct approach" ("thod rgal") and involves making an effort at recognizing spontaneity through the use of visions or appearances. This is said to be associated with skillful means ("upaya").


title: Nyingma

text: Koppl notes that although later Nyingma authors such as Mipham attempted to harmonize the view of Dzogchen with Madhyamaka, the earlier Nyingma author Rongzom Chokyi Zangpo did not:


title: Nyingma

text: Like in other schools of Tibetan Buddhism, Nyingma teaches various forms of ngöndro, or preliminary practices which help prepare the mind for later meditations. These include the cultivation of "bodhicitta", the "four thoughts that turn the mind", and Vajrasattva purification practice.


title: Nyingma

text: Deity Yoga is also a feature of Nyingma. The foremost deities (yidam) practiced by the Nyingma masters are Vajrakīla (Tib. "Dorje Phurba") and Vajra Heruka (also "Vishuddha Heruka"; Tib. "Yangdak Tratung", ), the third of the Eight Herukas who closely resembles Śrī Heruka of the Chakrasamvara tantra. The three principle protectors of the Nyingma lineage are said to be Ekajaṭī (), Rāhula () and Dorje Legpa (, Sanskrit: "Vajrasādhu").


title: Nyingma

text: Other forms of practice like Lojong and subtle body practices such as Trul khor are also taught in Nyingma.


title: Nyingma

text: The doxography employed by the Nyingma tradition to categorize the whole of the Buddhist path is unique. Nyingmapas divide the Buddhist path into nine yanas, as follows:


title: Nyingma

text: In the later schools the inner tantric teachings are known as " Anuttarayoga Tantra", which corresponds to Mahayoga in the Nyingma system, while the Mahamudra teachings of the later schools are said to lead to similar results as the Dzogchen teachings. The first two of the nine vehicles are seen as Hinayana, the third as Mahayana and the remaining six as specifically Vajrayana.


title: Nyingma

text: With the advent of the transmission of Sarma traditions into Tibet, various proponents of the new systems cast aspersions on the Indic origins of much of the Nyingma esoteric corpus. Indic origin was an important component of perceived legitimacy at the time. As a result, much of the Nyingma esoteric corpus was excluded from the Tengyur, a compilation of texts by Buton Rinchen Drub that became the established canon for the Sarma traditions. This means that while Nyingma accept the Tengyur scriptures they also include writings that other schools reject as not being authentic for having no Indic sources—though Sanskrit originals of some have been discovered in Nepal.


title: Nyingma

text: The Nyingma school has a Kama or oral lineage and a Terma lineage. The Kama lineage is the oral transmission lineage, and is called the "source of Nyingma tradition" by Nyingma scholar Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche. It is further stated by Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche that,


title: Nyingma

text: The Kama lineage remained predominant from the 8th to 11th century, and Kama masters taught from the lineage's teachings.


title: Nyingma

text: The Terma lineage is the revealed transmission lineage where Tertons, or treasure revealers, realize the teachings. The arising of the Terma lineage began in the 11th century, and by the 14th century Tertons were more sought as teachers than Kama masters. The Terma lineage was established by Guru Padmasambhava and Yeshe Tsogyal, through the hiding of teachings for the purpose of future discovery. The Kama is the basis of the Terma.


title: Nyingma

text: The Nyingma Kama lineage begins with Padmasambhava, Shantarakshita, Vimalamitra, and Vairochana. The Nyingma Dzogchen lineage was transmitted directly from Garab Dorje to Padmasambhava.


title: Nyingma

text: The Nyingmapas organized their esoteric corpus, comprising mostly Mahayoga, Atiyoga (Dzogchen) Mind class Semde and Space Class (Longdé) texts, into an alternate collection, called the "Nyingma Gyubum" (the Hundred Thousand Tantras of the Ancient School, ). Generally, the Gyubum contains Kahma () and very little terma (). The third class of Atiyoga, the Secret Oral Instructions (Menngagde), are mostly terma texts.


title: Nyingma

text: Various editions of the Gyubum are extant, but one typical version is the thirty-six Tibetan-language folio volumes published by Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche in New Delhi, 1974. It contains:


title: Nyingma

text: There are 'eighteen great tantras' () at the heart of the 'Mahayoga' () tradition, grouped into 'five root tantras' (), 'five practice tantras' (), and 'five activity tantras' (), and the 'two supplementary tantras' (). Together they are known as the "Māyājāla". The Guhyagarbha Tantra () is the foremost of all of these and it abridges the content of the seventeen others.


title: Nyingma

text: Dzogchen literature is usually divided into three categories, which more or less reflect the historical development of Dzogchen:


title: Nyingma

text: According to the Nyingma-tradition, Padmasambhava and his main disciples hid hundreds of scriptures, ritual objects and relics in secret places to protect Buddhism during the time of decline, under King Langdarma, and for when the dharma would need revitalizing in the future. These termas were later rediscovered. The Rinchen Terdzod () is the most important collection of terma treasure to Nyingmapas today. This collection is the assemblage of thousands of the most important terma texts from all across Tibet made by Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye, at the behest of Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo in the nineteenth century.


title: Nyingma

text: The Nyingma school considers itself non-political. In contrast to the other three main Tibetan schools, the Nyingma tradition has never been the dominant political power in Tibet. As is common, practitioners were not completely removed from the political machinations of Tibet, and also of neighboring Bhutan.


title: Nyingma

text: Unlike the other three schools, the Nyingma school does not incorporate a spiritual leader of the school, but rather organizes itself with autonomous monasteries which coordinate activities when necessary.


title: Nyingma

text: The Nyingma traditionally had no centralized authority or Nyingma-wide hierarchy. There was never a single "head of the lineage" in the manner of either the Ganden Tripa of the Gelug, the Karmapa of the Karma Kagyu or the Sakya Trizin of the Sakya.


title: Nyingma

text: After the Tibetan diaspora following the Chinese invasion of Tibet, the Nyingma temporarily had a head of the school, at the request of the 14th Dalai Lama, and of Dudjom Rinpoche whom lead efforts to stabilize the exile community and gather Tibetan Buddhist texts. (The Central Tibetan Administration represents the Tibetan diaspora's political positions, and does not administer Tibetan Buddhism). The position was largely administrative, but the Rinpoches who have served in this role are among the most universally highly regarded. They include:


title: Nyingma

text: Afterwards, it was unanimously decided that the internal administration would revolve between the head lamas of the six principle Nyingma monasteries - Kathok, Zogchen, Shechen, Mindrolling, Dorje Drak and Palyul. The representatives were appointed for three-year terms at the annual Nyingma Monlam.


title: Nyingma

text: The internal administration is changing. During the 31st Nyingma Monlam in 2020, Shechen Rabjam Rinpoche was requested to accept the position. Rinpoche did not accept, and expressed his concerns about how the continued appointment of a "head of the tradition" would be problematic. Upon his suggestion, the representatives of major Nyingma monasteries decided that the position of "head of Nyingma tradition" would thenceforth not be selected. Instead, representatives would be selected for the Nyingma Monlam Committee, which would look after the welfare of the tradition.


title: Nyingma

text: The Nyingma tradition is therefore decentralized and often individual monastery administration decisions are made by the community of the lamas together with senior sangha members. Nyingmapa are also historically characterized and distinguished by this decentralization and by their general wider political disinterest. Their monasteries and sanghas, and wider communities, consist of a blend of monastic vow holders, of vow holding ngagpa householders, and of yogins.


title: Nyingma

text: The appearance of "terma" ("hidden treasures") is of particular significance to the Nyingma tradition. Although there have been a few Kagyupa "tertons" (treasure revealers) and the practice is endemic to the Bönpo as well, the vast majority of Tibetan Buddhist tertons have been Nyingmapas. It is held that past masters, principally Padmasambhava and Yeshe Tsogyal, secreted objects and hid teachings for discovery by later tertons at appropriate and auspicious times such that the teaching would be beneficial. These teachings may be physically discovered, often in rocks and caves, or they may be "mind terma," appearing directly within the mindstream of the terton.