title: Liam Lynch (musician)

text: While working on "Fake Songs", Lynch directed a UK-only music video for the Foo Fighters song "Times Like These"; worked on DVDs for No Doubt, Tenacious D, and Eagles of Death Metal, Sarah Silverman, and Queens of the Stone Age; and finished composing music for the MTV animated series "Clone High". He also co-wrote music for the Jack Black film "School of Rock". He released several of his albums, including "We're All-Nighters" and "How to Be a Satellite", in 2006. He released his album "Get Up on the Raft" in 2008. He also released two volumes of songs from his podcast "Lynchland". He collaborated on and directed Sarah Silverman's film "", also co-writing and producing the soundtrack. He then directed "Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny", released in late 2006, and helped to write and played guitar for the album of the same name. In 2007, he animated and voiced the character of Bulby, a wise-cracking light bulb created to promote the Queens of the Stone Age album "Era Vulgaris".


title: Liam Lynch (musician)

text: In 2009, Lynch directed the music video for the song "Craigslist" by "Weird Al" Yankovic from his album "Alpocalypse". Later that year, he was credited for the graphics and artwork on Them Crooked Vultures' debut self-titled album. In 2012, he directed several music videos for songs from Tenacious D's "Rize of the Fenix" album. He also made the artwork for the band's 2012 "Jazz" EP. In 2013, he directed the music video for They Might Be Giants' title track from the album "Nanobots". In 2014, he directed the music video for "Weird Al" Yankovic's song "First World Problems" from his album "Mandatory Fun". In 2018, he directed the music video for Queens of the Stone Age's song "Head Like a Haunted House" from their album "Villains". In 2021, he directed and starred in the music videos for Royal Blood's songs "Boilermaker" and "Oblivion" from their album "Typhoons".


title: Liam Lynch (musician)

text: Pictures of Lynch were used as inspiration in designing one of the aliens in J. J. Abrams' 2009 "Star Trek" film. Lynch has a podcast, "LynchLand", which features video animations, songs from his albums, and guests. He also features his cats and other animals around his home. His video podcast has over 90,000 viewers. He sells merchandise on his website to offset the costs of making the podcast. The podcast has featured appearances by Ringo Starr, Josh Homme, Sarah Silverman, Jack Black, Tony Hawk, Tim Robbins, Shirley Manson, "Weird Al" Yankovic, Dhani Harrison, and Alex Albrecht.


title: Liam Lynch (musician)

text: Lynch married his wife, artist Robin McCauley, on an unknown date in the wheel house of the RMS "Queen Mary" in Long Beach, California. He claims to have lived in a haunted building during his time in Liverpool, which gave him an interest in the paranormal. He and his wife have collected many audio recordings and videos of their paranormal experiences, some of which they have uploaded onto a YouTube channel called The Spark Club. In 2006, he had his pet cat cloned, making it the sixth cat ever to be cloned; the company who performed the cloning was later absorbed into ViaGen Pets.


title: Liam Lynch (musician)

text: Lynch suffers from dyslexia, two types of color blindness, and insomnia. He is unable to burp. He does not drink alcohol or use recreational drugs of any kind. He is an avid gamer and can be seen in a bonus video on the original disc of the video game "Guitar Hero", in which he explains the equipment he uses by Line 6, the company who developed the guitar tones for the game to match the various musicians they needed to mimic. He is a lifelong "Doctor Who" fan, and continues to watch the series and collect memorabilia.


title: Pembroke Castle

text: Pembroke Castle () is a medieval castle in the centre of Pembroke, Pembrokeshire in Wales. The castle was the original family seat of the Earldom of Pembroke. A Grade I listed building since 1951, it underwent major restoration during the early 20th century.


title: Pembroke Castle

text: In 1093, Arnulf of Montgomery built the first castle at the site when he fortified the promontory beside the Pembroke River during the Norman invasion of Wales. A century later, the castle was given by Richard I to William Marshal, who became one of the most powerful men in 12th-century Britain. He rebuilt Pembroke Castle in stone, creating most of the structure that remains today. The castle is open to the public and is the largest privately owned castle in Wales.


title: Pembroke Castle

text: The castle is sited on a strategic rocky promontory by the Milford Haven Waterway. The first fortification on the site was a Norman motte-and-bailey. It had earthen ramparts and a timber palisade.


title: Pembroke Castle

text: In 1189, Pembroke Castle was acquired by William Marshal. He soon became Lord Marshal of England, and set about turning the earth and wood fort into an impressive Norman stone castle. The inner ward, which was constructed first, contains the huge round keep with its domed roof. Its original first-floor entrance was through an external stairwell. Inside, a spiral staircase connected its four stories. The keep's domed roof also has several putlog holes that supported a wooden fighting-platform. If the castle was attacked, the hoarding allowed defenders to go out beyond the keep's massive walls above the heads of the attackers.


title: Pembroke Castle

text: The inner ward's curtain wall had a large horseshoe-shaped gateway. But only a thin wall was required along the promontory. This section of the wall has a small observation turret and a square stone platform. Domestic buildings including William Marshal's Great Hall and private apartments were within the inner ward. The 13th century keep is tall with walls up to thick at its base.


title: Pembroke Castle

text: In the late 13th century, additional buildings were added to the inner ward, including a new Great Hall. A 55-step spiral staircase was also created that led down to a large limestone cave, known as Wogan Cavern, beneath the castle. The cave, which was created by natural water erosion, was fortified with a wall, a barred gateway and arrowslits. It may have served as a boathouse or a sallyport to the river where cargo or people could have been transferred.


title: Pembroke Castle

text: The outer ward was defended by a large twin-towered gatehouse, a barbican and several round towers. The outer wall is thick in places and constructed from Siltstone ashlar.


title: Pembroke Castle

text: Although Pembroke Castle is a Norman-style enclosure castle with great keep, it can be more accurately described as a linear fortification because, like the later 13th-century castles at Caernarfon and Conwy, it was built on a rocky promontory surrounded by water. This meant that attacking forces could only assault on a narrow front. Architecturally, Pembroke's thickest walls and towers are all concentrated on its landward side facing the town, with Pembroke River providing a natural defense around the rest of its perimeter.


title: Pembroke Castle

text: Pembroke Castle stands on a site that has been occupied at least since the Roman period. Roger de Montgomerie, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury founded the first castle here in the 11th century. Although only made from earth and wood, Pembroke Castle resisted several Welsh attacks and sieges over the next 30 years. The castle was established at the heart of the Norman-controlled lands of southwest Wales. Arnulf de Montgomery appointed Gerald de Windsor as his castellan at Pembroke.


title: Pembroke Castle

text: When William Rufus died, Arnulf de Montgomery joined his elder brother, Robert of Bellême, in rebellion against Henry I, William's brother and successor as king; when the rebellion failed, he was forced to forfeit all his British lands and titles. Henry appointed his castellan, but when the chosen ally turned out to be incompetent, the King reappointed Gerald in 1102. By 1138 King Stephen had given Pembroke Castle to Gilbert de Clare who used it as an important base in the Norman invasion of Ireland.


title: Pembroke Castle

text: In August 1189 Richard I arranged the marriage of Isabel, de Clare's granddaughter, to William Marshal who received both the castle and the title, Earl of Pembroke. He had the castle rebuilt in stone and established the great keep at the same time. Marshal was succeeded in turn by each of his five sons. His third son, Gilbert Marshal, was responsible for enlarging and further strengthening the castle between 1234 and 1241. All of Marshal's sons died childless. In 1247, the castle was inherited by William de Valence (a half-brother of Henry III), who had become Earl of Pembroke through his marriage to Joan de Munchensi, William Marshal's granddaughter.


title: Pembroke Castle

text: The de Valence family held Pembroke for 70 years. During this time, the town was fortified with defensive walls, three main gates and a postern. Pembroke Castle became de Valence's military base for fighting the Welsh princes during the conquest of North Wales by Edward I between 1277 and 1295. On the death of Aymer de Valence, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, William de Valence's son, the castle passed through marriage to the Hastings family. In 1389, 17-year-old John Hastings died in a jousting accident, ending a line of inheritance stretching back 250 years.


title: Pembroke Castle

text: Pembroke Castle then reverted to Richard II. Short tenancies were then granted by The Crown for its ownership. By 1400 Owain Glyndŵr had begun a rebellion in Wales. However, Pembroke escaped attack because the castle's Constable, Francis а Court, paid off Glyndŵr in gold. Then in 1452, the castle and the earldom were presented to Jasper Tudor by his half-brother Henry VI. Tudor brought his widowed sister-in-law, Margaret Beaufort, to Pembroke where, in 1457, she gave birth to her only child, who was to become King Henry VII of England.


title: Pembroke Castle

text: In the 15th and 16th centuries, the castle was a place of peace until the outbreak of the English Civil War. Although most of South Wales sided with the King, Pembroke declared for Parliament. It was besieged by Royalist troops but was saved after Parliamentary reinforcements arrived by sea from nearby Milford Haven. Parliamentary forces then went on to capture the Royalist castles of Tenby, Haverfordwest and Carew.


title: Pembroke Castle

text: In 1648, at the beginning of the Second Civil War, Pembroke's commander Colonel John Poyer led a Royalist uprising alongside Colonel Powell, Tenby Castle, and Sir Nicholas Kemoys, Chepstow Castle. Oliver Cromwell came to Pembroke on 24 May 1648 and took the castle after a seven-week siege. Its three leaders were found guilty of treason and Cromwell ordered the castle to be destroyed. Townspeople were even encouraged to disassemble the fortress and re-use its stone for their purposes.


title: Pembroke Castle

text: The castle was then abandoned and allowed to decay. It remained in ruins until 1880, when a three-year restoration project was undertaken. Nothing further was done until 1928, when Major-General Sir Ivor Philipps acquired the castle and began an extensive restoration of the castle's walls, gatehouses, and towers. After his death, a trust was set up for the castle, jointly managed by the Philipps family and Pembroke town council.


title: Pembroke Castle

text: In July 2022, archaeological survey funded by the Natural History Museum and the British Cave Research Society uncovered evidence of prehistoric megafauna such as reindeer and woolly mammoth bones, in addition to seashells, pigs and deer at Wogan Cavern. According to the researchers, the cave was occupied by residents as far back as the Paleolithic and Mesolithic Periods.


title: Pembroke Castle

text: Pembroke has appeared in numerous feature films. These include the 1968 film "The Lion in Winter", the 1976 film "Jabberwocky", the BBC adaptation of C.S. Lewis's "Prince Caspian", the film of Shakespeare's "Richard II", and the 2016 Anglo-American romantic film "Me Before You". It features as the fictional Penleven Castle in Cornwall in the 2015 comedy film "The Bad Education Movie".


title: Thumbscrew (torture)

text: The thumbscrew is a torture instrument which was first used in early modern Europe. It is a simple vice, sometimes with protruding studs on the interior surfaces. The crushing bars were sometimes lined with sharp metal points to puncture the nails and savagely stimulate the flesh of the nail beds. While the most common design operated upon a single thumb or big toe, cunningly-designed variants of the device could accommodate, for example, both big toes, all five fingers of one hand, or all ten toes.


title: Thumbscrew (torture)

text: The thumbscrew was also referred to as thumbkin or thumbikin (1675–1685), the "kin" part being a diminutive suffix of nouns. An alternate spelling was thumbikens. The terms pillywinks and pilnie-winks were also used. Other terms may have been applied as well.


title: Thumbscrew (torture)

text: The torture of the "boots" occurs at an earlier period of our history than that of the thumbikens... Thus we read, that in 1596, the son and daughter of Aleson Balfour, who was accused of witchcraft were tortured before her to make her confess her crime in the manner following: Her son was put in the "buits" where he suffered fifty seven strokes; and her daughter about seven years old, was put in the "pilniewinks". In the same case, mention was made, besides "pilniewinks", "pinniewinks" or "pilliwinks", of "caspitanos" or "caspicaws", and of "tosots", as instruments of torture. Lord Royston, in his manuscript notes upon Mackenzie's criminal law conjectures that these may have been only other names for the "buits" and "thumbikens"; thus much seems certain, that in those times there was some torturing device applied to the fingers which bore the name of pilniewinks; but it will immediately appear, that the most authentic accounts assign the introduction and use of the instrument known by the name of "thumbikens" to a much later period.


title: Thumbscrew (torture)

text: Cochrane and McCrone, somewhat wryly, argue that the thumbscrew entered the British Isles later than the invasion of the Spanish Armada in the 16th century:


title: Thumbscrew (torture)

text: "It has been very generally asserted," says Dr. Jamieson, "that part of the cargo of the invincible Armada was a large assortment of "thumbikens", which it was meant should be employed as powerful arguments for convincing the heretics." The country of the "inquisition" was certainly a fit quarter from whence to derive so congenial an instrument; but other accounts, as we have said, and these apparently unquestionable, assign it a later introduction... In the torturing of [William] Spence, Lord Fountainhall mentions the origin of the "thumbikens", stating that this instrument "was a new invention used among the colliers upon transgressors, and discovered by Generals Dalyell and Drummond, they having seen them used in Muscovy." The account of Bishop Burnet gives of the torturing of Spence confirms the then recent use of the "thumbikens". ... This point we think is put beyond all doubt by the following act of the privy council in 1684, quoted in Wodrow's invaluable history: "Whereas there is now "a new invention and engine called the thumbikens" ... the Lords of His Majesty's Council do therefore ordain, that when any person shall be put to the torture, that the boots and the thumbikens both be applied to them..."


title: Thumbscrew (torture)

text: In the early 17th century, Italian Baroque painter Artemisia Gentileschi was subjected to thumb-screw torture during a trial to establish whether or not her virginity was forcibly taken by painter Agostino Tassi.


title: Thumbscrew (torture)

text: As late as the mid-18th century, the ex-slave Olaudah Equiano, in his autobiography "The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano", documented the use of thumbscrews to torture slaves. During this period (mid-18th century), Thomas Clarkson carried thumbscrews with him to further his cause for the abolition of the slave trade and later emancipation of slaves in the British Empire. He hoped to, and did, inspire empathy with the display of this and other torture devices used on slaves. They were used on slave ships, as witnessed and described by Equiano and Ottobah Cugoano.


title: Thumbscrew (torture)

text: The thumbscrew is mentioned by name by Professor Moody in "The Goblet of Fire", part of the "Harry Potter" book series, written by J.K Rowling in 1997, as a torture device, along with knives and the Cruciatus Curse.


title: Thumbscrew (torture)

text: The thumbscrew is shown in use in various media, including "The Headsman", a 2005 film about Europe's 16th-century Inquisition starring Steven Berkoff and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau.


title: Regular haircut

text: A regular haircut, in Western fashion, is a men's and boys' hairstyle that has hair long enough to comb on top, a defined or deconstructed side part, and a short, semi-short, medium, long, or extra long back and sides. The style is also known by other names including taper cut, regular taper cut, side-part and standard haircut; as well as short back and sides, business-man cut and professional cut, subject to varying national, regional, and local interpretations of the specific taper for the back and sides.


title: Regular haircut

text: The short back and sides dates back to the Roman empire, as the regulation haircut for legionaries. Besides preventing the spread of lice, short hair and a clean shaven face prevented the enemy from grabbing a soldier by the beard. By the first century AD, Roman hairstyles were imitated by non-Roman subjects who admired the civilisation that Rome brought. Examples include the Gallo-Romans and Romanized Jews like Saint Paul seeking to distinguish themselves from traditionalists for whom hair cutting was forbidden.


title: Regular haircut

text: The regular haircut, worn with a long beard, made a comeback during the Renaissance due to European men's newfound fascination with rediscovered classical Greco-Roman artefacts. It was revived for a second time during the Regency era of c.1810-1830 as dandies abandoned the impractical and expensive powdered wigs in response to William Pitt the Younger's hair powder tax.


title: Regular haircut

text: During the Gay Nineties, the regular haircut gradually replaced the longer hair and muttonchop sideburns fashionable since the 1840s until, by 1910, it had become the norm for professional men. An extreme version known as the undercut was regulation for British and German soldiers during World War I and World War II. During the post-World War II period, the business-man haircut, in the form of a combover, became the standard dress code for men's hair in white-collar workplace settings throughout the Western world (until the late 1960s and early 1970s). In 2010s fashion, the short back and sides continued to be worn by many professional men, while the related undercut was appropriated by the hipster subculture.


title: Regular haircut

text: Edging comes first, followed by siding and topping. Edging is typically done with clippers; siding, shears over comb; topping, shears over finger. There are other methods that can be utilized including all clipper cuts, all shears cuts and all razor cuts. Barbers distinguish between a two line haircut and a one line haircut. Two line haircuts are standard taper cuts. The hair is outlined around the ears and then straight down the sides of the neck.The edge of hair growth at the nape of the neck is tapered to the skin with a fine(zero) clipper blade. A one line haircut, often referred to as a block cut, has the edge of hair growth at the nape outline shaved, creating an immediate transition between hair and skin and connecting the outline from the right sideburn to the outline from the left sideburn across the nape. The outline at the edge of the nape can be in a squared off or rounded pattern. A squared off nape can have squared or rounded corners. Rotary, taper and edger clippers can be utilized when edging or siding a haircut. Guards and/or blades can be attached that vary the cutting length.


title: Regular haircut

text: A tapered back and sides generally contours to the head shape; the hair progressively graduates in length from longer hair at the upper portions of the head to shorter hair at the lower edge of hair growth on the back and sides. There are a variety of tapers possible from short to extra long. Medium and longer tapers can be referred to as trims; however, the word trim is commonly used to request that the hair is trimmed back to the last haircut regardless of the style of taper. The sideburns and the shape and height of the neck edge are important design elements that can affect the appearance of the face, neck, chin, ears, profile and overall style.


title: Regular haircut

text: In most instances, a shorter neck or chin suits a somewhat higher neck edge; a longer neck or chin suits a somewhat lower neck edge. An extra wide neck suits a somewhat narrower neck edge while a thinner neck or protruding ears suit a wider neck edge. When slightly longer sideburns are worn than are appropriate for a style, it can shorten the appearance of the face; when slightly shorter sideburns are worn than are appropriate, it can lengthen the appearance of the face; therefore, the appearance of a face that is shorter or longer than average, in particular when due to the length of the chin or lower face, can be normalized by altering the length of the sideburns.


title: Regular haircut

text: Other names for this style of taper include full crown, tight cut, and fade. The hair on the sides and back is cut with a coarse clipper blade from the lower edge of hair growth to or nearly full up to the crown. The clipper is gradually arced out of the hair at the hat band to achieve a taper. A fine clipper is used from the sideburn to about an inch above the ear. Clipper lines are blended out so there is a seamless transition between lengths.


title: Regular haircut

text: Sideburns, which may not be visible at the time of the haircut depending on the color, thickness and density of the hair, skin tone and fine clipper blade used, are maintained short between haircuts. Short sideburns extend to the area where the ear cartilage attaches to the skull or slightly lower if ear shape requires to allow a sideburn to be defined. Can be worn with an ivy league, high and tight, flat top crew cut, butch and other styles; and often the choice with these styles during the summer.


title: Regular haircut

text: Also known as a half crown. The hair on the sides and back is cut with a coarse clipper blade about halfway up to the crown; the clipper starts to gradually arc out of the hair at the top of the ears. A fine clipper blade is used at the sideburns and at the nape arcing out of the hair to create a blend at a point between the bottom and the top of the ears.


title: Regular haircut

text: Sideburns are generally worn short as the hair grows out or slightly longer than short but not quite medium. Blending at the upper sides can utilize clipper over comb or shears over comb techniques. While a semi-short taper can be worn with a regular haircut, it is very common with an ivy league, crew cut, flat top crew cut, butch, brush cut, or burr.


title: Regular haircut

text: A coarse clipper blade may be used on the sideburns, with the clipper immediately arcing out of the hair, completing the taper at the top of the ears. In the nape area, the coarse clipper starts to arc out at the middle of the ears with the taper completed at the top of the ears. A fine clipper blade tapers the lower edge of the hairline at the nape to the skin. The lower edge of hair growth at the nape can alternatively be blocked off in a squared or rounded pattern.


title: Regular haircut

text: Medium sideburns are appropriate with face shapes that are neither long or short. Medium sideburns extend to the top of the ear orifice. The hair on the middle part of the back and sides can be shortened, thinned and blended using a variety of methods including shears over comb, clipper over comb, thinning shears method, slithering with standard barber's shears, shear point tapering or razor methods. A common style with a regular haircut, medium pompadour or ivy league and also worn with a crew cut or flattop.


title: Regular haircut

text: A coarse clipper blade is used in the nape area, arcing out of the hair at the bottom of the ears with the taper completed at mid ear. A fine clipper blade is used to taper the edge at the hairline. A long taper is frequently blocked at the nape in a squared or rounded pattern instead of being tapered to the skin. Long sideburns are appropriate for average face shapes. Long sideburns extend to the middle of the ear opening.


title: Regular haircut

text: The middle section of the back and sides is most often cut shears over comb or shears over fingers; can also be cut with a razor. Thinning, layering and blending of the middle section of the back and sides can be accomplished with thinning shears, slithering or razor techniques. Most frequently worn with a regular haircut or a long pompadour.


title: Regular haircut

text: A coarse clipper blade is used in the nape, immediately arcing out of the hair, with the taper completed below the bottom of the ears. A fine clipper blade may be used to taper the lower edge of the hairline to the skin. An extra long taper is frequently blocked at the nape in a squared or rounded pattern; a deconstructed arch around the ears and a deconstructed or shaggy block at the nape are also quite common.


title: Regular haircut

text: Extra long sideburns are appropriate; extra long sideburns extend to the top of the ear lobe. The middle section of the back and sides is most often cut shears over comb or shears over fingers; can also be cut with a razor. Thinning, layering and blending of the middle section of the back and sides can be accomplished with thinning shears, slithering or razor techniques. Apart from being worn with a regular haircut, also worn with an extra long pompadour.


title: Regular haircut

text: Topping includes shortening, layering, and thinning the hair on the crown and frontal areas to attain the desired length, volume, degree of contour, graduation, and layering. The technique most widely used to shorten, layer and graduate the hair is the shears over finger method, also known as finger work. Finger work involves initially lifting the hair to be cut with the comb, then grasping the lifted hair between the index and middle finger of the opposite hand while transferring the comb to that hand and cutting it with the shears held in the hand that initially held the comb. The comb is then transferred back to the hand that holds the shears and the process is repeated in swaths that go from front to back, outer to inner areas of the right and left sides of the top.


title: Regular haircut

text: The angle at which the hair is held away from the scalp is critical as it affects how the cut hair will graduate and layer. Depending on the area of the scalp and the desired appearance of the cut hair, the angle will range from around 45 to 135 degrees. Shears over comb techniques include the up and over method and the shear lifting method. In both methods, the hair to be cut is held up by the comb and cut with shears.


title: Regular haircut

text: The up and over method is a continuous process where the strips of cut hair run from the front hairline back or from the side hairline upwards. In the shear lifting method, the process is not continuous but carried out sectionally from left to right across the top of the head proceeding from the crown to the front. For example, there may be fifteen separate sections, three across the top of the head from side to side and five from the crown forward. Cutting proceeds from crown left to crown right and so on to front left to front right. As with the shears over finger method, the angle of the hair to the scalp as it is cut is critical to the layered and graduated appearance of the cut hair.


title: Regular haircut

text: Depending on the thickness of the hair and the desired volume, topping may include thinning which can be accomplished by a variety of methods including thinning shears method, slithering with regular barber shears or the push back method with regular shears or thinning shears. The hair to be thinned may be held with the fingers or comb.


title: Regular haircut

text: Whorls, cowlicks, and irregularities of the scalp can be addressed by shear point tapering techniques. Only a few hairs are cut in the problem areas using just the tips of the shears, over comb. Topping as well as siding may also be achieved with razor cutting techniques.


title: Regular haircut

text: Three types of clippers can be utilized to achieve a regular haircut: taper clippers, rotary clippers and outliner/edger clippers. Taper clippers are powered by a linear or pivot motor. The blades are not readily interchangeable. The taper lever allows adjustment of the cutting length within a certain range, usually from #000 blade length, on the fine side to #1 length, on the coarse side. For longer lengths, clipper guards are attached. The guard will cut at the numbered guard length when the taper lever is in the shortest cutting position. Clipper guards are also known as clipper guide combs. Fade clippers are identical to taper clippers with the exception of the range of cutting lengths which is entirely within the fine blade range. Most fade clippers cut between #00000 blade length, and #000 blade length, . As with regular taper clippers, clipper guards can be attached for longer cutting lengths.


title: Regular haircut

text: Rotary clippers have blades that readily snap on and off. Blades are available that leave from to of hair on the scalp when the clipper is guided over the head with the teeth of the clipper blade in contact with the scalp. Blades are numbered differently than guards. Rotary clippers are designed to accept a certain standard blade type, so that blades from a variety of manufacturers designed to the specific standard may be utilized on a clipper designed to that standard, regardless of manufacturer. Outliner/edger clippers have a very fine cutting blade and no taper lever and are used to outline a defined arch around the ear and for block cuts, the edge at the nape of the neck.


title: Regular haircut

text: Human scalp hair grows on average about one eighth inch per week or one half inch per month. Most clipper guards are numbered in eighths of an inch. The number of the guard denotes the number of weeks of hair growth left on the scalp when a clipper with a certain numbered guard is guided over the head with the guard in contact with the scalp. A #1 guard leaves , one week's growth of hair, on the scalp; a #2 guard leaves , two weeks' hair growth, on the scalp; a #3 guard leaves , three weeks' hair growth on the scalp; and so on.


title: Komnenos

text: Komnenos (; Latinized Comnenus; plural Komnenoi or Comneni (Κομνηνοί, )) was a Byzantine Greek noble family who ruled the Byzantine Empire from 1081 to 1185, and later, as the Grand Komnenoi (Μεγαλοκομνηνοί, "Megalokomnenoi") founded and ruled the Empire of Trebizond (1204–1461). Through intermarriages with other noble families, notably the Doukai, Angeloi, and Palaiologoi, the Komnenos name appears among most of the major noble houses of the late Byzantine world.


title: Komnenos

text: The 11th-century Byzantine historian Michael Psellos reported that the Komnenos family originated from the village of Komne in Thrace—usually identified with the "Fields of Komnene" () mentioned in the 14th century by John Kantakouzenos—a view commonly accepted by modern scholarship. The first known member of the family, Manuel Erotikos Komnenos, acquired extensive estates at Kastamon in Paphlagonia, which became the stronghold of the family in the 11th century. The family thereby quickly became associated with the powerful and prestigious military aristocracy ("dynatoi") of Asia Minor, so that despite coming from Thrace it came to be considered "eastern".


title: Komnenos

text: The 17th-century French scholar du Cange suggested that the family descended from a Roman noble family that followed Constantine the Great to Constantinople, but although such mythical genealogies were common—and are indeed attested for the closely related Doukas clan—the complete absence of any such assertion in the Byzantine sources argues against Du Cange's view. The Romanian historian George Murnu suggested in 1924 that the Komnenoi were of Aromanian descent, but this view too is now rejected. Modern scholars consider the family to have been entirely of Greek origin.


title: Komnenos

text: Manuel Erotikos Komnenos was the father of Isaac I Komnenos (reigned 1057-1059) and grandfather, through Isaac's younger brother John Komnenos, of Alexios I Komnenos (reigned 1081-1118).


title: Komnenos

text: Isaac I Komnenos, a stratopedarch of the East under Michael VI, founded the Komnenos dynasty of Byzantine emperors. In 1057 Isaac led a coup against Michael and was proclaimed emperor. Although his reign lasted only until 1059, when his courtiers pressured him to abdicate and become a monk, Isaac initiated many useful reforms. The dynasty returned to the throne with the accession of Alexios I Komnenos, Isaac I's nephew, in 1081. By this time, descendants of all the previous dynasties of Byzantium seem to have disappeared from the realm, such as the important Scleros and Argyros families. Descendants of those emperors lived abroad, having married into the royal families of Georgia, Russia, France, Persia, Italy, Germany, Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary and Serbia; this made it easier for the Komnenos family to ascend to the throne.


title: Komnenos

text: Upon their rise to the throne, the Komnenoi became intermarried with the previous Doukas dynasty: Alexios I married Irene Doukaina, the grandniece of Constantine X Doukas, who had succeeded Isaac I in 1059. Thereafter the combined clan was often referred to as Komnenodoukai (Κομνηνοδούκαι) and several individuals used both surnames together. Several families descended from this wider clan, such as Palaiologos, Angelos, Vatatzes and Laskaris. Alexios and Irene's youngest daughter Theodora ensured the future success of the Angelos family by marrying into it: Theodora's grandsons became the emperors Isaac II Angelos (reigned 1185–1195 and 1203–1204) and Alexios III Angelos (reigned 1195-1203).


title: Komnenos

text: Under Alexios I and his successors the Empire was fairly prosperous and stable. Alexios moved the imperial palace to the Blachernae section of Constantinople. Much of Anatolia was recovered from the Seljuk Turks, who had captured it just prior to Alexios' reign. Alexios also saw the First Crusade pass through Byzantine territory, leading to the establishment of the Crusader states in the east. The Komnenos dynasty was very much involved in crusader affairs, and also intermarried with the reigning families of the Principality of Antioch and the Kingdom of Jerusalem - Theodora Komnene, niece of Manuel I Komnenos, married Baldwin III of Jerusalem, and Maria, grandniece of Manuel, married Amalric I of Jerusalem.


title: Komnenos

text: Remarkably, Alexios ruled for 37 years, and his son John II ruled for 25, after uncovering a conspiracy against him by his sister, the chronicler Anna Komnene. John's son Manuel ruled for another 37 years.


title: Komnenos

text: The Komnenos dynasty produced a number of branches. As imperial succession was not in a determined order but rather depended on personal power and the wishes of one's predecessor, within a few generations several relatives were able to present themselves as claimants. After Manuel I's reign the Komnenos dynasty fell into conspiracies and plots like many of its predecessors (and the various contenders within the family sought power and often succeeded in overthrowing the preceding kinsman); Alexios II, the first Komnenos to ascend as a minor, ruled for three years and his conqueror and successor Andronikos I ruled for two, overthrown by the Angelos family under Isaac II who was dethroned and blinded by his own brother Alexios III. The Angeloi were overthrown during the Fourth Crusade in 1204, by Alexios V Doukas, a relative from the Doukas family.


title: Komnenos

text: Several weeks before the occupation of Constantinople by crusaders in 1204, one branch of the Komnenoi fled back to their homelands in Paphlagonia, along the eastern Black Sea and its hinterland in the Pontic Alps, where they established the Empire of Trebizond. Their first 'emperor', named Alexios I, was the grandson of Emperor Andronikos I. These emperors – the Grand Komnenoi ( or in Greek) as they were known – ruled in Trebizond for over 250 years, until 1461, when David Komnenos was defeated and executed by the Ottoman sultan Mehmed II. Mehmed himself claimed descent from the Komnenos family via John Tzelepes Komnenos. The Trapezutine branch of the Komnenos dynasty also held the name of Axouchos as descendants of John Axouch, a Byzantine nobleman and minister to the Byzantine Komnenian Dynasty. A princess of the Trebizond branch is said to have been the mother of prince Yahya (born 1585), who reportedly became a Christian yet spent much of his life attempting to gain the Ottoman throne.


title: Komnenos

text: Another branch of the family, descendants of Constantine Angelos, founded the Despotate of Epirus in 1204, under Michael I Komnenos Doukas, great-grandson of Emperor Alexios I. This branch adopted the surnames Komnenos Doukas and are known as such in modern scholarship. Helena Doukaina Komnene, a child of that branch of the family, married Guy I de la Roche thereby uniting the Komnenos and the de la Roche houses, with Komnenos family members eventually becoming Dukes of Athens.


title: Komnenos

text: One renegade member of the family, also named Isaac Komnenos, established a separate "empire" on Cyprus in 1184, which lasted until 1191, when the island was taken from him by Richard I of England during the Third Crusade. His daughter, called the Damsel of Cyprus, married Thierry of Flanders during the Fourth Crusade and tried to claim the island.


title: Komnenos

text: When the eastern Empire was restored in 1261 at Constantinople, it was ruled by a family closely related to the Komnenoi, the Palaiologos family. The Palaiologoi ruled until the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks in 1453.


title: Komnenos

text: The last descendant of the dynasty is often considered to have been John Komnenos Molyvdos, a distinguished Ottoman Greek scholar and physician, who became metropolitan bishop of Side and Dristra, and died in 1719.


title: Komnenos

text: In 1782, the Corsican Greek notable Demetrio Stefanopoli obtained letters patent from Louis XVI of France recognizing him as the descendant and heir of the Emperors of Trebizond.


title: Komnenos

text: Irene Angelina, daughter of Isaac II Angelos and thus a descendant of Alexios I Komnenos, married Philip of Swabia (1177-1208), the King of Germany. From this union many of the royal and aristocratic families of Western Europe can trace a line of descent.


title: Close-mid central unrounded vowel

text: The close-mid central unrounded vowel, or high-mid central unrounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is . This is a mirrored letter e and should not be confused with the schwa , which is a turned e. It was added to the IPA in 1993; before that, this vowel was transcribed (Latin small letter e with umlaut, not Cyrillic small letter yo). Certain older sources transcribe this vowel .


title: Close-mid central unrounded vowel

text: Conversely, , the symbol for the mid central vowel may be used with a raising diacritic to denote the close-mid central unrounded vowel, although that is more accurately written with an additional unrounding diacritic to explicitly denote the lack of rounding (the canonical value of IPA is undefined for rounding).


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: The Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram is a collection of 7th- and 8th-century CE religious monuments in the coastal resort town of Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu, India and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal, about south of Chennai.


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: The site has 40 ancient monuments and Hindu temples, including one of the largest open-air rock reliefs in the world: the "Descent of the Ganges" or "Arjuna's Penance". The group contains several categories of monuments: "ratha" temples with monolithic processional chariots, built between 630 and 668; "mandapa viharas" (cave temples) with narratives from the "Mahabharata" and Shaivite, Shakti or Shaaktha and Vaishnava inscriptions in a number of Indian languages and scripts; rock reliefs (particularly bas-reliefs); stone-cut temples built between 695 and 722, and archaeological excavations dated to the 6th century and earlier.


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: The monuments were built during the Pallava dynasty. Known as the Seven Pagodas in many colonial-era publications, they are also called the Mamallapuram temples or Mahabalipuram temples in contemporary literature. The site, restored after 1960, has been managed by the Archaeological Survey of India.


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: The Mahabalipuram temples are in the southeastern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, about southwest of Chennai on the Coromandel Coast. The monuments are reachable by the four-lane, divided East Coast Road and Rajiv Gandhi Salai (State Highways 49 and 49A). The nearest airport is in Chennai (IATA airport code MAA). The city is connected to the rest of India through a rail network.


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: Mahabalipuram is known by several names, including Mamallapuram; Mamalla means "Great Wrestler", and refers to the 7th-century king Narasimha Varman I. Other names found in historic texts include Mamallapattana, Mavalipuram, Mavalivaram, Mavellipore, Mauvellipooram and Mahabalipur, all of which refer to a "great wrestler city" or "city of Mahabali". The latter is related to the mythical Mahabali, the demon king defeated by the dwarf Vamana (a Vishnu avatar). According to Nagaswamy, the name is derived from the Tamil word "mallal" (prosperity) and reflects its being an ancient economic center for South India and Southeast Asia. This theory is partially supported by an 8th-century Tamil text by the early Bhakti movement poet Thirumangai Alvar, where Mamallapuram is called "Kadal Mallai".


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: The town was known as "Seven Pagodas" by European sailors who landed on the coast after they saw the towers of seven Hindu temples. Seventh-century inscriptions refer to it as "Mamallapuram" or close variants; "Mahabalipuram" appears only after the 16th century, and (with Seven Pagodas) was used in colonial-era literature. The Tamil Nadu government adopted Mamallapuram as the official name of the site and township in 1957, and declared the monuments and coastal region a special tourism area and health resort in 1964.


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: Although the ancient history of Mahabalipuram is unclear, numismatic and epigraphical evidence and its temples suggest that it was a significant location before the monuments were built. It is speculated that it is the seaport of Sopatma mentioned in the 1st-century Periplus of the Erythraean Sea or Ptolemy's port of Melange in his 2nd-century "Geographia". Another theory posits that the port of Nirppeyarvu mentioned in the "Perumpanarrupadai" from the late 19th century to early 20th century may be Mahabalipuram or Kanchipuram.


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: In his "Avantisundari Katha", the 7th–8th century Sanskrit scholar Daṇḍin (who lived in Tamil Nadu and was associated with the Pallava court) praised artists for their repair of a Vishnu sculpture at Mamallapuram. However, Daṇḍin's authorship of this text is disputed. The medieval Sanskrit text mentions the Mamallapuram monuments, an early tradition of repairs, and the significance of Vaishnavism.


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: When Marco Polo (1271-1295 CE) arrived in India on his way back to Venice from Southeast Asia, he mentioned (but did not visit) "Seven Pagodas" and the name became associated with the shore temples of Mahabalipuram in publications by European merchants centuries later. It appeared in Abraham Cresques' 1375 Catalan Atlas as "Setemelti" and "Santhome", a crude map of Asia but accurate in the relative positions of the two ports; the former is Mamallapuram and the latter Mylapore. Venetian traveler Gasparo Balbi mentioned the "Seven Pagodas" and "Eight Pleasant Hillocks" in 1582, which Nagaswamy suggests refers to the monuments. According to Schalk, Balbi called it the "Seven Pagodas of China" (a re-interpretation of Henry Yule's reading of Balbi which considered Balbi unreliable, followed by a selective correction that it probably meant Mamallapuram).


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: Since there are now fewer than seven towers, the name has inspired speculation and argument. The December 2004 tsunami briefly exposed the beachfront near Saluvankuppam (now north of Mahabalipuram), revealing inscriptions and structures. Badrinarayanan said in a BBC report that they dated to the 9th century and may have been destroyed by a 13th-century tsunami. The tsunami also revealed large structures on the seabed about a kilometre offshore, which archaeologists speculate may be the ancient Mahabalipuram. According to a "Science" article, the tsunami exposed rocks with an "elaborately sculpted head of an elephant and a horse in flight", "a small niche with a statue of a deity; another rock with a reclining lion", and other Hindu religious iconography. Marine archaeologists and underwater diving teams have explored a site east of the Shore Temple, one of the monuments, after the 2004 tsunami. This has revealed ruins of fallen walls, a large number of rectangular blocks and other structures parallel to the shore, and the forty surviving monuments.


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: European sailors and merchants who pioneered trade with Asia after the 16th century mentioned the site. Early reports, such as those by Niccolao Manucci (who never visited the site, but saw the monuments from a distance and heard about them) conflated Chinese and Burmese Buddhist pagoda designs with the Hindu temples and assumed that the temples were built by the Chinese. According to Anthony Hamilton's 1727 ""New Account of the East Indies"", the site was a pilgrimage center and its outside sculpture was "obscene, lewd" as performance in Drury Lane. French writer Pierre Sonnerat was critical of European racism toward Indians, and theorized that the Mahabalipuram temples were very old.


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: William Chambers' 1788 literary survey of Mahabalipuram brought the monuments to the attention of European scholars. Chambers interviewed local residents and linked the monumental art he saw to Hindu texts, calling it remarkable and expressive in narrative detail. A series of 19th-century studies, such as those by Benjamin Babington and William Elliot, contained sketches of the monuments and impressions of the inscriptions. Some stories and speculation in Western literature, nevertheless, continued to be unusual. Francis Wilford suggested in 1809 that the monuments were built in 450 BCE, linking them to Cicero's (1st century BCE) writings about Indians who might have built three ancient Indian temple cities (including Mahabalipuram).


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: Nineteenth-century reports note local mentions of "gilt tops of many pagodas" in the surf at sunrise, which elders talked about but could no longer be seen. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Mahabalipuram site was the focus of colonial-era tourist guides and speculation. Portions of many monuments were covered with sand, and little was done to preserve the site. After Indian independence, the Tamil Nadu government developed the Mamallapuram monuments and coastal region as an archaeological, tourism and pilgrimage site by improving the road network and town infrastructure. In 1984, the site was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: The group has been the subject of archaeological interest since 1990, and excavations have yielded unexpected discoveries. According to John Marr, the site yielded "an apsidal-shaped tank, its curved end aligned south towards the middle portion of the Shore Temple" with an "anantasayana" (reclining Vishnu) probably predating the temple.


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: Mamallapuram became prominent during the Pallava-era reign of Simhavishnu during the late 6th century, a period of political competition with the Pandyas, the Cheras and the Cholas and spiritual ferment with the rise of 6th- to 8th-century Bhakti movement poet-scholars: the Vaishnava Alvars and the Shaiva Nayanars. Mamallapuram's architecture is linked to Simhavishnu's son, Mahendravarman I (600-630 CE), who was a patron of the arts. Mahendravarman's son, Narsimha Varman I, built on his father's efforts and most scholars attribute many of the monuments to him. After a brief hiatus, temple and monument construction continued during the reign of Rajasimha (or Narasimhavarman II; 690–728).


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: Mid-20th-century archaeologist A. H. Longhurst described Pallava architecture, including those found at Mahabalipuram, into four chronological styles: Mahendra (610-640), Mamalla (640-670, under Narsimha Varman I), Rajasimha (674-800) and Nandivarman (800-900). K. R. Srinivasan described it as reflecting three styles and stages of construction, calling the third period the Paramesvara style.


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: This chronology has been the subject of scholarly disagreement. Some scholars, such as Marilyn Hirsh in 1987, have said that the earliest temples are traceable to about 600 (under the poet-king Mahendravarman I). Other, such as Nagaswamy in 1962, have said that King Rajasimha (690-728) was the probable patron of many monuments; many temple inscriptions contain one of his names and his distinctive Grantha and ornate Nāgarī scripts.


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: Evidence dating some of the Mamallapuram monuments to the early 7th century includes the Mandagapattu inscription (Laksitayana inscription) of Mahendravarman I. The inscription reads that he "brought into existence a temple without utilizing either timber or lime (mortar) or brick or metal", and the temple was dedicated to "Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva". This was the first Pallava rock-built Hindu temple, and Mahendravarman I and his descendants probably constructed others. According to Mate and other scholars, the inscription implies that the Tamil people had a temple-construction tradition based on the mentioned materials which predated the 6th century. The Mandagapattu inscription is not isolated, and additional Mahendravarman I inscriptions relating to cave temples have been discovered across his kingdom. Further evidence is in the form of cave temples (such as the Undavalli Caves) which predate the Mamallapuram cave temples, suggesting that Indian artisans began exploring cave architecture before the Pallava period. The monuments at Mamallapuram are generally dated by scholars to the 7th and 8th centuries.


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: The monuments are a fusion of religion, culture and legend relating to the Hindu religious pantheon. They are expressions through rock or inside boulders, on a grand scale, integrating nature and sculpture. The site has about forty monuments, in varying degrees of completion, categorized into five groups:


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: There are ten major "rathas", ten mandapas, two rock bas-reliefs and three structural temples. The monumental plan is based on a square and circle, or stacked squares (producing a rectangle). The reliefs, sculptures and architecture incorporate Shaivism, Vaishnavism and Shaktism, with each monument dedicated to a deity or a character in Hindu mythology. The monuments are a source of many 7th- and 8th-century Sanskrit inscriptions, providing insight into medieval South Indian history, culture, government and religion.


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: The "ratha" temples, in southern Mahabalipuram, are carved in the shape of chariots. Their artists used naturally-occurring blocks of diorite and granite in sand, carving legends in stone. The best-known are the five monolithic structures projecting above the beach, known as the Five Rathas or the Pandava Rathas. In the "Mahabharata", the Pandavas are five brothers with a common wife, Draupadi. Although the symbolism and grouping of the temples have led to these popular names, they are neither true "rathas" nor dedicated to the Pandavas; they are temples dedicated to deities and concepts of the Shaivi, (Shiva), Vaishnavi (Vishnu) and Shakti (Durga) traditions of Hinduism. These "rathas" are dated to the 7th century.


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: The five-"ratha" group is on a north–south axis with the Dharmaraja Ratha at the south end, followed by the Bhima, Arjuna and Draupadi Rathas. The latter two share a common platform. There is a lion west of the Arjuna-Draupadi platform, a seated bull on its east and a standing elephant on its southwest. The Nakula and Sahadeva Ratha is northwest of Bhima Ratha and southwest of Arjuna Ratha, behind the elephant. The cross-sectional axis of the Nakula and Sahadeva Ratha is in the centre of the group. All the temples have a west entrance except the Nakula-Sahadeva Ratha, which has a south entrance.


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: The "rathas" have common elements. Each is on a moulded plinth, with or without "ganas"; according to George Michell, above this plinth the "walls divide rhythmically into a number of projections and recesses between pilasters" (producing niches). Sculptures are within the niches, and the more-important sculptures have "makaras" on their brackets. Above them are eaves, sometimes decorated with human faces. Mouldings were added up to the parapet. The upper level repeated (at a reduced level) the lower-level design or was capped with curved roofs.


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: The Dharmaraja ratha has a square floor plan within a rectangular frame (26.75 ft x 20.67 ft), and is 35.67 feet high. It has an open porch supported by pillars. The temple's pyramidal tower consists of a vimana of shrinking squares, capped by an octagonal shikhara. There is evidence that it had (or was intended to have) a finial. Its pillars have seated lions at the base. It has three levels; the lowest is solid (probably never carved out), and the upper two have shrines. The two upper levels are connected by stairs carved into the stone. The middle level has two shrines, and the uppermost has one. The "ratha" walls have carvings and inscriptions, one mentioning Narasimhavarman I. The western side of the top storey has a Somaskanda image. The entablature integrates the secular with the divine, where human faces peek out of the "kudu" arches of the chariot. An Amaravati motif is carved below the cornice.


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: At ground level, the sides have four pillars; the other two have two pillars and two pilasters. Each corner has two niches, with carved figures apparently waving to the crowd. The deities are Ardhanarishvara (half Parvati, half Shiva), Harihara (half Vishnu, half Shiva), Brahma, Skanda, Bhairava (Shiva) and two other obscure forms of Shiva. The upper-mid level has carvings of aspects of Shiva and Vishnu, suggesting that the artists revered both Hindu traditions. Included on this level are Nataraja (dancing Shiva), Vinadhara (Shiva with Veena), Gangadhara (Shiva bringing the Ganges from heaven to earth), Vrishbhantika (Shiva with Nandi), Kankalamurti, Chandesa and Vishnu. The uppermost level has carvings of Dakshinamurti (Shiva as guru or teacher), Surya and Chandra.


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: The Somaskanda panel is significant because it dates the temple to the early 7th century. It differs from those created in the Rajasimha period, and resembles those created during the early Pallava era.


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: Bhima Ratha (next to the Dharmaraja Ratha) is massive and has a roof resembling a vaulted barrel, reminiscent of woodwork. The "ratha" is long, about high and about 25 feet wide. Its incomplete interior was probably intended to house a reclining Vishnu ("anantasayana"). Unlike the other "rathas", the temple has no inscriptions or sculptures. Its vimana is intricately carved on both sides of the roof. The cornice has seven pairs of kudus (Sanskrit: "gavaksha"). Above it are alternating "salas" and "kutas" (types of aediculae), forming thirteen small vimanas. Above this layer are five "grivas" (necks, clerestory) carved into the shrine, like a niche flanked by small pilasters. The two on each side are the same size, and the middle one is larger. There is structural evidence on the top of eighteen original "kalashas" and two tridents.


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: According to Ramaswami, the "ratha" has an embedded square plan up to the entablature and integrates the "griva" and "shikara" in the form of a circle. Its long side has four round pillars and two rounded pilasters, with the base designed as seated lions. The north and south sides each have two square, massive pillars. The roof has crack lines, possibly caused by structural elements or centuries of weathering (such as lightning).


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: Arjuna Ratha, adjacent to Bhima Ratha, is also incomplete. One of the larger monuments, it is about six times smaller in area than the Dharmaraja Ratha. The square, two-level "ratha" has one shrine and mirrors the Dharmaraja Ratha; the decoration and structure of the cornice, kudus and "haras" are similar. However, its shikhara is hexagonal. The walls of the "ratha" are carved into panels with fourteen sculptures. Four are dvarapalas (Vishnu, a rishi with a student, Kartikeya—or Indra—and Shiva with Nandi), and the rest are humans at various stages of life. Arjuna Ratha has a lion and Nandi on each side between it and the adjacent Draupadi Ratha, but their orientation suggests that the "ratha" was not dedicated to Shiva. According to Susan Huntington, the temple may have been dedicated to Ayyappan. Its shikara is round. The monument looks odd from the side, partly because its original pillars were replaced with modern ones which do not fit the texture (or style) of the originals. An elephant stands northwest of Arjuna Ratha.


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: The Draupadi Ratha is an stone structure north of Arjuna Ratha, and they share a platform. Dedicated to (whose image is carved on the rear wall), it resembles a wooden hut and has a curved roof. There is a carved structure with alternating lions and elephants, and the shrine deity is missing. Its design is a simplified Nagara-style Hindu temple. The "ratha" has reliefs of Durga; three images are on the outer walls, and one is on an interior wall. The east-facing Durga is her Mahishasuramardini form, with the head of buffalo. Depicted elsewhere with her are devotees, "makaras" (mythical sea creatures) and "ganas" (mythical, comic dwarfs).


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: The unfinished Nakula Sahadeva Ratha is an apsidal temple, a relatively-uncommon Hindu design found in Aihole and elsewhere in India. The two-storey, Vesara-style temple is high and long. It has "kutas" and "salas" style aediculae like the others, but is unique in also having "panjaras" (an apsidal aedicula). The deity to whom it may have been dedicated is theorized to be Kartikeya, Brahma, Ayyappan or Indra. Northeast of the "ratha" are a standing elephant and Arjuna Ratha.


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: Other "ratha" monuments at Mahabalipuram include the late-7th-century Ganesha Ratha, attributed to Parameshvara-varman I (grandson of Mahamalla). One kilometre from the "pancha rathas", it is adjacent to (and north of) the Descent of the Ganges bas-relief and south of Krishna's butter-ball monument. The two-storey, relatively-undamaged Ganesha Ratha, similar to Bhima Ratha, is long, wide and high. The first storey has five small vimanas; the second storey has four, with repeating patterns. The "sala" has nine "kalasas", and one end has a trishula at its top (similar to a cross on a church). The temple facade has two pillars and two pilasters. The column bases are shaped like seated lions and the middle is chamfered, topped with a fluted capital. At the sides of the entrance mandapa are two standing "dvarapalas" with welcoming, bent heads. The temple wall has an inscription suggesting a 7th-century origin. A Ganesha statue is in the garbhagriha, but Ramaswami wrote that it may have been a later addition.


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: In the west of the town, there are two Pidari "rathas" and a Valayankuttai "ratha" (unfinished, two-storey monuments). One Pidari and one Valayankuttai "ratha" feature North Indian Nagara-style architecture, and the other Pidari "ratha" features South Indian Dravida-style architecture.


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: Mandapa is a Sanskrit term for a typically square vestibule, pillared hall or pavilion. It was a space for people to gather socially, usually for ceremonies and rite-of-passage rituals. Cells or sanctums would often be included, creating a "vihara". Mandapas also refer to rock-cut cave temples or shrines, built according to the same concept, and Mamallapuram has many mandapas dated to the 7th and 8th centuries.


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: The Mamallapuram cave temples are incomplete, which has made them a significant source of information about how cave monuments were excavated and built in 7th-century India. Segments of the caves indicate that artisans worked with architects to mark off the colonnade, cutting deep grooves into the rock to create rough-hewn protuberances with margins. The hanging rocks were then cut off, and they repeated the process. After the excavation, other artisans moved in to polish the rocks and begin the creation of designs, motifs, friezes and Hindu iconography. The process of producing rock-cut cave temples influenced later structural Hindu temples.


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: The Varaha cave was excavated from a vertical wall on the west face of the main Mamallapuram hill. Its architecture is simple; a Vaishnavism-related cave temple, it is known for its four sculptures depicting Hindu legends: the Vamana-Trivikrama legend, the Varaha legend, the Durga legend and the Gajalakshmi legend. Srinivasan and other scholars date it to the 7th century.


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: The temple facade consists of two pillars and two pilasters recessed about from the rock front. The pillared platform leads to a mandapa and a sanctum in the rear. The base of the pillar has a molded "oma" (protecting layer) and "adhishthana". Their pedestals are lotus-shaped ("padma pithas") and square. Above this are seated lion-faced "vyalas". Their heads merge into octagonal shafts ("kal") of the pillars, which taper and flow into an octagonal "kalasa" and ornamented capital. The top "phalaka" (flat plate) is a square. The "kapota" (a type of frieze) above is decorated with six "kudu" arches. Above the "kapota" is a wagon-style roof, topped with finials.


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: The cave's rear wall has a square shrine which projects inside the rock, slightly above the floor. On each side of the sanctum the wall projects inward, creating two sunken niches. At the corners are pilasters with partially-formed dvarapalas, and the upper planks have "ganas" and friezes of "hamsas".


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: The northern panel of the cave's inner wall narrates the Varaha legend, where the man-boar avatar of Vishnu rescues Bhūmi from the waters of Patala. This is an unusual depiction; Varaha is turned to his right instead of the typical left and affectionately holds (and looks at) the rescued Bhūmi instead of dangling her from his tusks. She sits near his raised knee, and the demon who created the chaotic waters is trampled by Varaha. The other characters in the panel include Brahma, the Vedic sage Narada, Surya (the sun), Chandra (the moon) and others in the legend. The closest narration of the panel is the "Vaikhanasagama". According to Alice Boner, the panel is a rectangle; the divine characters (except Bhūmi) are set in a square, and the earthly yogis and prakriti-related characters are arranged outside a mandala circle.


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: The southern panel of the mandapa narrates the Vamana-Trivikrama legend. The giant incarnation of the Vishnu dwarf avatar takes the third huge step to cover the heavens and Bali sits below, amazed. In the panel are other characters from the legend, such as Brahma and Shiva (seated on lotuses as witnesses). Again, the closest narration of the panel is the "Vaikhanasagama". The Trivikrama depiction is again unusual, because the Vamana portion of the legend is not shown (unlike other medieval Hindu temples in India).


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: On the rear wall of the niche north of the sanctum is Gajalakshmi, and the southern niche shows Durga. The Durga panel symbolizes Shakti tradition and she is called "Vijaya Sri", the goddess of victory. Durga, depicted with four arms, stands on a lotus. A warrior is shown near her, ready to sacrifice himself, and another devotee is on one knee adoring her. In the panel are fleeing, frightened "ganas", a lion – her vahana – and an antelope, medieval iconography common in South India. The Gajalakshmi is shown seated in a yoga asana on a lotus, holding two lotus buds. Jeweled, Durga wears "patra kundalas" – one of five types of golden ear ornament – symbolizing her link to wealth. Near her are apsaras holding auspicious jars of water and two large elephant heads; one lifts a water pitcher, and the other is tilting the pitcher to spray water. According to Alice Boner, the characters in the square Gajalakshmi panel are arranged in a circular mandala.


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: Kotikal is a simple, early excavation with two pilasters on its facade. In front of it are sockets, suggesting a structural "mukhamandapa" (main hall). Inside the Kotikal cave temple are an oblong "ardha-mandapa" (half or partial hall) and a square sanctum ("garbha griya"). The front of the sanctum has mouldings and features similar to a free-standing temple.


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: The sanctum door is flanked by female "dvarapalas" (sculptures guarding the door) on each side. One of the warrior women carries a sword in her right hand and a shield in her left; the other, in a "tribhanga" pose, holds the bottom of a bow with the toe of her raised foot and grasps the top with her hand. Both wear earrings which hang from their ear lobes almost to their shoulders. The female guardians suggest that the deity in the sanctum was probably Durga, the Hindu warrior goddess. In the square sanctum are a moonstone, "adhiṣṭhāna" (base), "bhitti" (partial wall) and "kudu" (gavaksha). One pillar has an inscription in the Grantha alphabet which transliterates as "Sri Vamankusa". Since no king or Pallava official is known by that name, it probably signifies that the temple was built by a patron (according to Ramaswami, possibly Telugu). Srinivasan dates it to the early Mahendra period.


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: The Dharmaraja cave temple, also known as the Atyantakama cave temple, is on the south side of Mamallapuram hill near the Mahishamardini cave. It has a facade, "mukha-mandapa" and "ardha-mandapa" like the Kotikal cave. Slim, four-sided pillars create space for the two "mandapas". Its "ardha-mandapa" is about three inches above the "mukha-mandapa". The facade has two pillars and two pilasters, as does the space separating the two "mandapas".


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: The inner hall leads into three shrine cells sharing a common "adhisthana". The "adhisthana" has four mouldings. It is unusual in lacking a recessed moulding ("kantha"), an upper fillet ("kampa") and a thick moulding ("pattika"); it has a lower most moulding ("upana"), vertical moulding ("jagati"), three faceted moulding ("tripatta-kumuda") and a lower fillet ("kampa"). The central sanctum, the largest dedicated to Shiva Linga, has two male "dvarapalas". Although the cells on the sides were dedicated to Brahma and Vishnu (based on iconography), images are now missing.


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: The temple has a fourteen-line Sanskrit inscription in the Grantha alphabet with an epithet. Ramaswamy attributes the cave to King Rajasimha (late 7th or early 8th century), but Srinivasan and Hultzsch date it to the 7th-century King Paramesvara-varman I; other scholars assign it to the Mahendra period, based on its style.


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: One of the most sophisticated and complete cave temples, Ramanuja had three cells. It was excavated in the center of the main Mamallapuram hill, on its eastern scarp. The temple was partially renovated centuries after its construction into a shrine for the Vaishnava scholar, Ramanuja. The later artisans added the six crudely-cut, free-standing pillars in front, probably to extend the "mandapa".


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: The Ramanuja cave consists of a rectangular "ardha-mandapa", marked with a row of pillars. At the side of its facade are two model "vimanas" with a square rock platform. Many traditional Hindu-temple architectural elements are found here. Inside, the main excavation begins with an "adhishthana", a row of two pillars, two pilasters and three "ankanas" forming its facade. Behind it is an oblong "mandapa" with three square shrines. The side shrines were originally placed about two feet behind the central one, but all three shared a common raised base. The entrance to the shrines had "dvarapalas", now largely missing. Like other Hindu temples, this was an open structure without evidence of jambs. The back wall of the central shrine has a five-foot-square panel which held a Somaskanda bas-relief, much of which has been erased. There is no evidence of panels in the side shrines. The ceilings of the three cells have plaster remnants and evidence that they may have been painted. The walls separating the three shrines were removed by later artisans.


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: The three cells were dedicated to Brahma, Shiva (the central cell) and Vishnu, or to three obscure forms of Shiva. The southern panel in the main "mandapa" probably contained Durga. None of the images have survived; only faint remnants are traceable, because most of the wall reliefs were chiselled off. On the floor between the two pillars of the facade is a Sanskrit inscription in the Grantha alphabet praising Rudra, evidence that the temple was originally associated with Shaivism. The inscription's florid font and epithets date it to the 7th century and Parameshvara Varman.


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: The Koneri "mandapa", dedicated to Shiva, has five cells (shrines) attached to its main hall and is named for the Koneri-pallam tank in front. Carved into the western side of the main hill in Mamallapuram, its facade has an entablature. Its cornice has ten "kudus", with five interconnected "salas" above it. The temple has two rows of four pillars and two pilasters. The front row is considerably simpler than the row near the shrines, which is intricately carved. The pilasters are four-sided and the pillars are cylindrical.


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: The five shrines have five pairs of "dvarapalas" (door-guardian sculptures). These pairs are distinct, and all figures have signs of erosion or damage. Each wears a yajnopavita across their chest. The northernmost pair is the most damaged; one figure appears feminine. The second pair, to the south, is slightly inclined and has "trishula" (trident)-like horns above their crowns (possibly symbolic of Nandi). The third pair also has "trishula" horns; the fourth pair appears regal, with conical crowns and garlands as yajnopavita. The fifth pair looks angry, with small fang-like tusks. The five nearly-square cells are empty. Scholars have interpreted the "dvarapala" pairs as Shiva's five aspects: Sadyojata (creation), Vamadeva (preservation), Aghora (dissolution and rejuvenation), Tatpuruṣa (concealing grace) and Ishana (revealing grace). According to Srinivasan, the "mandapa" probably dates to the reign of Narsimha Varman I.


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: The Krishna "mandapa" is a sophisticated cave, with large panels depicting Hindu mythology and the culture of 7th-century Tamil Nadu. The temple is near the "Descent of the Ganges" bas-relief. Its facade consists of four leonine mythical figures "vyala", holding pillars, and two pilasters. Behind them is another row of pillars. The walls of the pillared hall depict village life woven into the story of Krishna. Krishna holds Goverdhana Mountain, under which are people, cattle and other animals, in one section. In another section, a young man holds the hands of his beloved and pulls her in the direction he is going; although she resists slightly, she is willing. The panel then depicts a milkmaid carrying stacks of milk containers and a bundle of cattle feed on her head. Next to her is a man milking a cow. The cow has a calf, which she licks with a curved tongue. Above, Krishna plays the flute while people and animals listen intently.


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: The 7th-century Atiranachanda cave temple is in the village of Saluvankuppam, north of Mamallapuram. It has a small facade, with two octagonal pillars with square "sadurams" (bases) and two four-sided pilasters. Behind the facade is an "ardha-mandapa" and a small, square sanctum. In front of the facade are empty mortise holes, probably later additions to a now-missing "mandapa".


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: The sanctum entrance is flanked by two Shaiva "dvarapalas". Inside is a later black, polished, 16-sided, tantra-style Shiva linga. At the bottom of one "dvarapala" is a later channel to drain water offerings over the linga. On the back wall of the sanctum is a square Somaskanda bas-relief panel of Shiva, Parvati and the infant Skanda in Parvati's lap. Two other Somaskanda panels are on the "ardha-mandapa" hall walls.


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: Further in front of the cave temple, in the sand, is a tall, polished linga. This is not part of the cave temple, and is probably the only remnant of a free-standing temple. In front of the linga is a boulder with a three-by-six-foot Shakti rock relief of the Mahishasuramardini Durga legend. The panel, different from others found in many of the monuments, depicts the goddess on her lion chasing a demon army led by the shape-shifting Mahishasura.


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: The temple contains an identical, 16-line Sanskrit inscription in two scripts: the South Indian Grantha alphabet on the south wall and the North Indian Nāgarī script on the north wall. The inscriptions contain a dedication to Shiva, Parvati and Skanda, and the temple and reliefs have been dated to the early 8th century.


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: The Adivaraha cave temple, also known as the Maha Varaha Vishnu temple, is still in use. It is known for sculptures relating the Hindu legends about Varaha (Vaishnavism), Durga (Shaktism), Gangadhara (Shaivism), Harihara (Vaishnavism-Shaivism fusion) and Gajalakshmi (Vaishnavism). The temple is at the northern end of the main Mamallapuram hill, on its western side. Similar to the Varaha "mandapa", both have been dated to the 7th-century Narasimha Varman I era. Although it has later inscriptions consecrating the temple, its style suggests that it was built earlier. The famed "avatara" inscription found in this temple, which places a floruit on the Buddha as the ninth avatara of Vishnu, is dated to mid 7th-century.


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: Although the Adivaraha "mandapa" panels of the Gajalakshmi and Durga Mahishamardini legends have the same (or similar) quality as the Varaha temple, Varaha- and Vamana-Trivikrama-legend panels are absent from Adivaraha. The north side has a standing Vishnu sculpture with two devotees, and the south side has a standing Harihara (half Vishnu, half Shiva). The Vishnu sculpture shares the Gajalakshmi side, and Harihara shares the Durga side. The temple's main sanctum has a stucco bas-relief of Varaha which was once painted. Other reliefs in the temple include Adisesha, Shiva Gangadhara, and Brahma and a tribhanga. The facade has four "vyala" pillars and two pilasters on one side of the main, oblong community hall. Inside are two side pillars, and the temple has one sanctum. It has inscriptions in Tamil, Sanskrit and Telugu.


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: The Mahishasuramardini cave, also known as the Mahishamardini "mandapa", is found at the southern end of the site (known locally as Yamapuri). Excavated on the eastern scarp of a boulder on the main Mamallapuram hill, above it are the ruins of the Olakkannesvara temple. According to Ramaswami, the temple is unfinished but what has been carved represents the ultimate in Tamil temple rock art. The cave has many panels, and their narrative follows the "Markandeya Purana".


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: The front of the oblong "mandapa" is defined by four pillars and two pilasters. One of its original pillars was moved to the nearby Adivaraha temple, and was replaced with an incongruous, plain pillar. Portions of another pillar are damaged. Lions are part of the pillar architecture instead of the "vyalas" found in other Mamallapuram cave temples, consistent with its Durga theme. Uniquely, the temple's interior artwork was completed before its facade details, ceiling or floor. Its southern pillar and pilaster are the only ones which have been finished. The temple is an example of parallel construction by multiple artisans.


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: The "mandapa" has three shrine cells connected to a central, trapezoidal hall. The floor level of the side shrines are about a foot higher than the central shrine. In the central shrine is a large rock relief of Somaskanda, with Shiva seated in a Sukhasana (cross-legged) yoga posture and Parvati next to him with the infant Skanda. Behind them are a standing Brahma, Vishnu and Surya.


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: On the northern wall of the temple hall is the Mahishasuramardini legend rock relief, one of the most intricately-carved in the Mamallapuram monuments. On the southern wall of the hall is a carving of the Anantasayi Vishnu narrative with Madhu and Kaitabha. Both layouts are symmetrical.


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: Just south of the "Arjuna's Penance" bas-relief is the Panchapandava mandapam, the largest (unfinished) cave temple excavated in Mamallapuram. It has six pillars, one of which has been restored, and two pilasters as its facade. Another row of pillars follows in the "ardhamandapa", and largely-unfinished, deep side halls also contain pillars. Evidence of work in progress suggests that the cave was intended to have a walking path and large wall reliefs.


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: The Mamallapuram site includes a number of other unfinished cave temples. Among them are the Trimurti temple, dedicated to Brahma, Shiva and Vishnu; the Panchapandava "mandapa", named for characters in the "Mahabharata"; Pulipudar and adjacent cave temples near the Konerippallam tank and the Tiger Cave, also known as the Yali "mandapa", dedicated to Lakshmi (the goddess of prosperity, an aspect of Durga).


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: The structural (free-standing) temples at Mamallapuram have been built with cut stones as building blocks, rather than carved into a rock (cave temples) or out of a rock ("ratha" temples). Surviving examples, fewer in number and representing a different stage, style and sophistication than the other monuments, are some of best examples of early medieval Tamil Hindu-temple architecture. These temples (like other monuments in Mamallapuram) were dedicated to Shiva, Vishnu and Durga, although more Shiva iconography has survived.


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: The Shore Temple complex is near the Mamallapuram shore, hence its modern name. It consists of a large temple, two smaller temples and many minor shrines, open halls, gateways, and other elements, much of which is buried by sand. The main temple is within a two-tier, compound wall with statues of Shiva's vahana (vehicle), Nandi, surrounding it. The -high temple has a plan. It is a stepped pyramidal tower, arranged in five tiers with Shiva iconography. The temple includes a path around its main sanctum and a large, barrel vaulted roof above its doorway. Pilasters on the outer wall divide it into bays. The temple is steeper and taller than the Arjuna and Dharmaraja "rathas", with a similar design in which the superstructure repeats the lower level in a shrinking square form. An octagonal shikhara and kalasa- (pot)-shaped finials cap the tower.


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: A small temple in the original forecourt of the larger temple. The other two temples in the complex are behind the main temple, face each other and are known as the Rajasimhesvara (or Nripatisimha Pallava Vishnugriha) and the Kshatriyasimhesvara. The main shrine has Vishnu and Durga images. The rear temple walls are carved with Somaskanda bas-relief panels depicting Shiva, Parvati and the infant Skanda.


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: Most of its Nandi sculptures were in ruins and scattered around the main temple complex. Twentieth-century restoration efforts replaced them in accordance with the inscriptions, descriptions of the temple in medieval texts and excavations of layers which confirmed that Nandi bulls were seated along its periphery.


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: The Shiva temples have been dated to the early 8th century and are attributed to the reign of the Pallava king Rajasimha (700-728). The Vishnu temple, with an image of a reclining Vishnu discovered after excavations, has been dated to the 7th century.


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: The Olakkanesvara temple is perched on the rock above the Mahishamardini cave temple. It is also known as the Old Lighthouse because of its conversion by British officials. The temple, built in the early 8th century from grey granite cut into blocks, is credited to King Rajasimha. It is severely damaged, and its superstructure is missing; what remains is a square building with its west entrance flanked by "dvarapalas". The walls of the temple depict the Ravananugraha legend from the "Ramayana" and a relief of Dakshinamurti (Shiva as a yoga teacher). Its name is modern, based on the "ollock of oil" per day which was burnt by local residents to keep the temple flame lit.


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: The Mukundanayanar temple has "ratha"-like architecture. North of the main hill in Mamallapuram, it has been dated to the early 8th century and attributed to King Rajasimha. The temple, with a simple square design, is oriented to the east and its facade is supported by two slender, fluted, round pillars. Its sanctum is surrounded by granite walls, and its outer walls are articulated into pilastered columns. Artisans shaped the roof to resemble timber, and the corners have square, domed "kutas" (pavilions). The superstructure is tiered into squares, topped with an octagonal dome. The inside of the superstructure is cut to create a "shikhara" above the "garbhagriha". There is a square panel in the sanctum, but the image is missing.


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: Reliefs are carved on rocks or boulders. These include the wall of the Krishna "mandapa", where a superstructure was added in front of the relief. The best-known rock relief in Mahablipuram is the "Descent of the Ganges" (also known as "Arjuna's Penance" or "Bhagiratha's Penance"), the largest open-air rock relief.


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: The "Descent of the Ganges" is considered one of the largest bas-relief works in the world. The relief, consisting of Hindu mythology, is carved on two , boulders.


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: There are two primary interpretations: the effort needed to bring the Ganges from the heavens to earth, and the "Kirātārjunīya" legend and the chapter from the "Mahabharata" about Arjuna's efforts to gain the weapon he needed to help good triumph over evil. A portion of the panel shows the help he received from Shiva to defeat the Asuras. Included in the panel are Vishnu, Shiva, other gods and goddesses, sages, human beings, animals, reptiles and birds.


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: According to another interpretation, an ascetic Bhagiratha is praying for the Ganges to be brought to earth. Shiva receives the river, to which all life is racing in peace and thirst. This theory has not been universally accepted because central characters are missing or are inconsistent with their legends. The absence of a boar from the entire panel makes it doubtful that it is single story, although scenes of Arjuna's penance and the descent of the Ganges are affirmed. The granite reliefs, from the early or middle 7th century, are considered by "The Hindu" as "one of the marvels of the sculptural art of India."


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: Krishna's Butterball (also known as Vaan Irai Kal) and Krishna's Gigantic Butterball) is a gigantic granite boulder resting on a short incline in the historical coastal resort town of Mamallapuram in Tamil Nadu state of India. Due to the optical illusion it seems to barely rest on the rocky plinth.


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: The architecture of the rock-cut temples, particularly the "rathas", became a model for south Indian temples. Architectural features, particularly the sculptures, were widely adopted in South Indian, Cambodian, Annamese and Javanese temples. Descendants of the sculptors of the shrines are artisans in contemporary Mahabalipuram.


title: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

text: After a roughly 40-year delay, a master plan to beautify Mahabalipuram was implemented in 2003. The Union Ministry of Tourism and Culture is financing the multi-crore-rupee Integrated Development of Mamallapuram project. The area around the monuments was cleaned up with fencing, lawns, paths, parks and the removal of hawkers and encroachments. During a "Son et lumiere" show, the monuments are illuminated at night. The Archaeological Survey of India has laid the lawns and pathways around the monuments, and the Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) has designed parks on both sides of the roads leading to the Shore Temple and the Five Rathas. A path from behind the Shore Temple to the Five Rathas and the conservation of more monuments are planned.


title: Child cannibalism

text: According to 14th century traveller Odoric of Pordenone, who gave an account of a place called Lamuri (the account was later borrowed by Sir John Mandeville's in his "Book of Marvels and Travels"), describing the people Lamuri as cannibals who purchased children from merchants to slaughter them.


title: Child cannibalism

text: The performance artist Zhu Yu claimed that he prepared, cooked and ate real human bodies, including fetuses, as an artistic performance. The performance was called "Eating People", and he claimed it was to protest against cannibalism. It was intended as "shock art". The Chinese Ministry of Culture cited a menace to social order and the spiritual health of the Chinese people, banned exhibitions involving culture, animal abuse, corpses, and overt violence and sexuality and Zhu Yu was prosecuted for his deeds.


title: Child cannibalism

text: Snopes and other urban legend sites have said the "fetus" used by Zhu Yu was most likely constructed from a duck's body and a doll head. Other images from another art exhibit were falsely circulated along with Zhu Yu's photographs and claimed to be evidence of fetus soup.


title: Child cannibalism

text: Critics see the propagation of these rumors as a form of blood libel, or accusing one's enemy of eating children, and accuse countries of using this as a political lever.


title: Child cannibalism

text: Capsule pills purported to be filled with human baby flesh in the form of powder were seized by South Koreans from ethnic Koreans living in China, who had tried to smuggle them into South Korea and consume the capsules themselves or distribute them to other ethnic Korean citizens of China living in South Korea. Experts later suggested that the pills had actually been made of newborn placenta for the documented practice of human placentophagy.


title: Child cannibalism

text: Jonathan Swift's 1729 satiric article "A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children of Poor People in Ireland from Being a Burden to Their Parents or Country, and for Making Them Beneficial to the Public" proposed the utilization of an economic system based on poor people selling their children to be eaten, claiming that this would benefit the economy, family values, and general happiness of Ireland. The target of Swift's satire is the rationalism of modern economics, and the growth of rationalistic modes of thinking at the expense of more traditional human values.


title: Tommaso Pobega

text: Tommaso Pobega ( born 15 July 1999) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for club AC Milan and the Italy national team.


title: Tommaso Pobega

text: On 23 August 2018, Pobega joined to Serie C club Ternana on loan for the 2018–19 season. On 7 October he made his professional debut in Serie C for Ternana as a substitute replacing Giuseppe Vives in the 73rd minute of a 1–1 home draw against Renate. Two weeks later he was sent-off, as a substitute, with a double yellow card in the 87th minute of a 1–1 away draw against Triestina. On 7 November he played his first entire match for Ternana, a 1–0 away win over Fano. On 27 December he scored his first professional goal in the 69th minute of a 2–1 home win over Teramo. On 9 February 2019, Pobega scored twice in a 2–2 home draw against Virtus Verona. Pobega ended his season-long loan to Ternana with 32 appearances, 3 goals and 3 assists.


title: Tommaso Pobega

text: On 15 July 2019, Pobega joined Serie B club Pordenone a loan until 30 June 2020. On 11 August he made his debut and he scored his first goal for the club in the 44th minute of a 2–1 home defeat against FeralpiSalò in the second round of Coppa Italia, he played the entire match. On 26 August he made his Serie B debut for Pordenone and he scored twice in a 3–0 home win over against Frosinone, he was replaced by Simone Pasa after 81 minutes. Five days later he played his first entire match in Serie B, a 4–2 away defeat against Pescara. On 5 October, Pobega scored his third goal in Serie B in the 40th minute of a 2–0 home win over Empoli.


title: Tommaso Pobega

text: On 24 August 2020, Pobega signed a new contract with Milan until 30 June 2025. On 23 September 2020, Pobega joined promoted Serie A club Spezia on loan until 30 June 2021. On 27 September, he made his debut for Spezia in a 4–1 home defeat to Sassuolo. On 1 November 2020, he scored his first goal for Spezia in a 4–1 home defeat to Juventus.


title: Tommaso Pobega

text: Pobega returned to AC Milan for the 2021–22 preseason. He made his first appearance for the club on 17 July 2021, in the friendly match won 6–0 against Pro Sesto.


title: Tommaso Pobega

text: On 5 August 2022, Pobega extended his contract until 30 June 2027. He scored his first competitive goal on 14th September 2022 against Dinamo Zagreb in Champions League match coming in as a substitute.


title: Tommaso Pobega

text: On 12 November 2020, Pobega made his debut with the Italy U21 team, starting in a qualifying match 2–1 away win over Iceland, scoring both of the goals for Italy.


title: Tommaso Pobega

text: He has been called up by the national team for the first time on 5 November 2021, for the matches against Switzerland and Northern Ireland for the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.


title: Paksha

text: Paksha (also known as "pakṣa"; , Nepal Bhasa: "thwa" and "gа̄"; ) refers to a fortnight or a lunar phase in a month of the Hindu lunar calendar.


title: Paksha

text: Literally meaning "side", a paksha is the period either side of the Full Moon Day ("Purnima"). A lunar month in the Hindu calendar has two fortnights, and begins with the New moon, ("Amavasya"). The lunar days are called "tithis" and each month has 30 tithis, which may vary from 20 – 27 hours. A paksha has 15 tithis, which are calculated by a 12 degree motion of the Moon. The first fortnight between New Moon Day and Full Moon Day is called "Gaura Paksha" or Shukla Paksha () the period of the brightening moon (waxing moon), and the second fortnight of the month is called "Vadhya Paksha" or Krishna Paksha (), the period of the fading moon (waning moon). Neemuch Panchang begin new lunar month from first day of Krishna Paksha while Gujarat Panchang begin new lunar month from first day of Shukla Paksha.


title: Paksha

text: Shukla paksha, "thwa" (𑐠𑑂𑐰𑑅, थ्वः) in Nepal Bhasa, refers to the bright lunar fortnight or waxing moon in the Hindu calendar. "Shukla" () is Sanskrit word for "white" or "bright".


title: Paksha

text: Shukla Paksha (Waxing Moon period) is a period of 15 days, which begins on the "Shukla Amavasya" (New Moon) day and culminating Purnima (Full Moon) day and is considered auspicious because it is favorable to growth or expansion on every plane of existence i.e. Mental, Physical and Spiritual Plane.


title: Paksha

text: Numerous festivals are held during this period, including the Navratri festivals, most importantly Chaitra Navratri and Ashvin Navratri.


title: Paksha

text: Krishna paksha, "gа̄" (𑐐𑐵𑑅, गाः) in Nepal Bhasa, refers to the dark lunar fortnight or waning moon in the Hindu calendar. "Krishna" () is Sanskrit for "dark".


title: Paksha

text: Krishna Paksha is a period of 15 days, which begins on the (Full Moon) day ("Purnima"), culminating on (New Moon) day ("Amavasya"). "Krishna Paksha" is considered inauspicious, as the moon loses light during this period.


title: Paksha

text: In Vedic astrology when a person does a prasna (a question chart) and the planet Venus indicates the time period, the event referred to in the answer will happen in a pakṣa ("fortnight") from the time the question was asked.


title: Lists of wars

text: There are various sets of such lists, based upon different criteria for grouping individual wars, as shown below.


title: Lists of wars

text: Below is a set of articles which each provide a list of wars within a specific time period, each covering at least several decades or more.


title: Tui T. Sutherland

text: Tui Tamara Sutherland (born July 31, 1978 in Caracas, Venezuela) is an American children's book author who has written more than 50 books under her own name and under several pen names. In 2009, she appeared as a contestant on "Jeopardy!", becoming a two-day champion and winning a grand total of $46,200. Sutherland's books have sold over 15 million copies; she is perhaps best known for writing the "Wings of Fire" series of dragon fantasy novels.


title: Tui T. Sutherland

text: Tui T. Sutherland was born on July 31, 1978 in Caracas. Her mother, who was from New Zealand, named her after the tui, a bird native to that country. Sutherland lived in Asuncion, Miami, and Santo Domingo for short periods before moving to New Jersey in high school. While in high school she began doing theater, mostly backstage work. She obtained a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from Williams College in 1998, writing her college thesis about Ophelia from William Shakespeare's "Hamlet," then earned a Master of Arts in Art History.


title: Tui T. Sutherland

text: Sutherland abandoned ideas of a career in theater in favor of writing children's books after "she partook in creative writing courses over six months in New Zealand", a decision she half-joked allowed her career path "to be more far stable and lucrative".


title: Tui T. Sutherland

text: Sutherland began her professional literary career as an editor in Brooklyn, New York, at Grosset & Dunlap, then at HarperCollins; she rose to initial notoriety after becoming a member of the Erin Hunter team alongside Victoria Holmes, Kate Cary and Cherith Baldry on the popular "Warriors" and "Seekers" series, from the perspective of cats and bears respectively. Her initial success during this time, coupled with what she learned about the inside workings of the publishing industry, helped her build the courage to publish books of her own and to eventually quit her position as an editor to write full-time.


title: Tui T. Sutherland

text: Her first solo work, "This Must Be Love" (a retelling of "A Midsummer Night's Dream"), was published in 2004. Sutherland wrote books under her actual name (or an initialized variation) and under pseudonyms and pen names, including Tamara Summers, Heather Williams, and Rob Kidd.


title: Tui T. Sutherland

text: After finishing the eighth and final installment in her dog-oriented "Pet Trouble" series, Sutherland pitched the editing team at Scholastic Inc. about writing an epic fantasy series starring dragons as the heroes. With Amanda Maciel as her editor, the first "Wings of Fire" book was released on July 1, 2012, to generally positive critical reviews, as did subsequent entries; the series gradually amassed a substantial cult following and became an international bestseller.