deva

/day"veuh/, n.

1. Hinduism, Buddhism. a god or divinity.

2. Zoroastrianism. one of an order of evil spirits.

[ < Skt]

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(Sanskrit: "divine") In the Vedic religion of India, one of many divine powers, roughly divided into sky, air, and earth divinities.

During the Vedic period, the gods were divided into two classes, the devas and the asuras. In India the devas gradually came to be more powerful, and the asuras came to be thought of as demons. In the monotheistic systems that emerged by the late Vedic period, the devas were subordinate to one supreme being.

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▪ Romania

      city, capital of Hunedoara județ (county), west-central Romania, on the banks of the Mureș River, at an elevation of 590 feet (180 m). The town is dominated by Citadel Hill (1,217 feet), shaped like a truncated cone, which affords a commanding view of the Mureș valley. Atop the hill are the ruins of a citadel, built in the 13th century at the time of the Mongol invasions. The city grew in the protective shadow of the citadel during the 13th and 14th centuries, but an explosion of an arsenal in the early 19th century destroyed the structure. At the foot of the hill rises Bethlen Castle, also known as Magna Curia, built in 1621; it now houses the regional museum. Deva has little industry, but there is some food processing, and nearby are small copper and andesite mines. Pop. (2007 est.) 67,508.

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