title: St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

text: The population of St. John's was once divided along sectarian (Catholic/Protestant) lines, but in recent years this sectarianism has declined significantly. The city is the seat of the Roman Catholic Archbishop of St. John's, and the Anglican Bishop of Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador. All major Christian sects showed a decline from 2001 to 2011 with an increase in those with no religion from 3.9% to 11.1%.


title: St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

text: St. John's economy is connected to both its role as the provincial capital of Newfoundland and Labrador and to the ocean. The civil service which is supported by the federal, provincial and municipal governments has been the key to the expansion of the city's labour force and to the stability of its economy, which supports a sizable retail, service and business sector.


title: St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

text: With the collapse of the fishing industry in Newfoundland and Labrador in the 1990s, the role of the ocean is now tied to what lies beneath it – oil and gas – as opposed to what swims in or travels across it. The city is the centre of the oil and gas industry in Eastern Canada and is one of 19 World Energy Cities. ExxonMobil Canada is headquartered in St. John's and companies such as Chevron, Husky Energy, Suncor Energy and Statoil have major regional operations in the city. Three major offshore oil developments, Hibernia, Terra Nova and White Rose, are in production off the coast of the city and a fourth development, Hebron, discovered in 1981 and put online in 2017, is estimated to contain over 700 million barrels of producible hydrocarbons.


title: St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

text: The economy has grown quickly in recent years. In 2010 and 2011, the metro area's gross domestic product (GDP) led 27 other metropolitan areas in the country, according to the Conference Board of Canada, recording growth of 6.6% and 5.8% respectively. At $52,000 the city's per capita GDP is the second highest out of all major Canadian cities. Economic forecasts suggest the city will continue its strong economic growth in the coming years not only in the "oceanic" industries mentioned above, but also in tourism and new home construction as the population continues to grow. In May 2011, the city's unemployment rate fell to 5.6%, the second lowest unemployment rate for a major city in Canada.


title: St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

text: St. John's is also becoming known as an entrepreneurial city. In a 2009 report by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, "Communities in Boom: Canada’s Top Entrepreneurial Cities", St. John's was ranked the best major city in Atlantic Canada and 19th overall in Canada for providing a good environment for small business development.


title: St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

text: The downtown area is the cultural hub of St. John's and is a major tourist destination in Newfoundland and Labrador and Atlantic Canada. Water Street and Duckworth Street are known for their brightly coloured low rise heritage buildings, housing numerous tourist shops, clothing boutiques, and restaurants.


title: St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

text: George Street, a downtown side-street above the western end of Water Street, is the predominant home of the city's nightlife. It holds numerous annual festivals including the George Street Festival in August and the Mardi Gras Festival in October. The street can be credited with kick-starting the careers of many musical acts and is busy nearly every night of the week.


title: St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

text: The city has a symphony orchestra, a string quartet, and several choirs. In addition the School of Music of Memorial University of Newfoundland has several ensembles, including a chamber orchestra. St. Johns also plays host to the Tuckamore Festival of chamber music, which has been held every August since 2001. Opera on the Avalon puts on performances of opera, over several days, in the summer. Established in 1987, the Kittiwake Dance Theatre is one of the province's leading dance companies.


title: St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

text: The LSPU Hall is home to the Resource Centre for the Arts. The "Hall" hosts a vibrant and diverse arts community and is regarded as the backbone of artistic infrastructure and development in the downtown. The careers of many well-known Newfoundland artists were launched there including Rick Mercer, Mark Critch, Mary Walsh, Cathy Jones, Andy Jones and Greg Thomey. The St. John's Arts and Culture Centre houses an art gallery, libraries and a 1000-seat theatre, which is the city's major venue for entertainment productions.


title: St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

text: The Nickel Film Festival and the St. John's International Women's Film Festival are two independent film festivals held annually in St. John's. Lawnya Vawnya is an annual music festival.


title: St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

text: The Provincial Museum of Newfoundland and Labrador (c. 1892–93) was on Duckworth Street in a building designated as a heritage site by the City of St. John's. In 2005 the museum, along with the Art Gallery of Newfoundland and Labrador and the Provincial Archives of Newfoundland and Labrador, moved into The Rooms. The Rooms is Newfoundland and Labrador's cultural facility, and is in the downtown area.


title: St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

text: Other museums include the Railway Coastal Museum, a transportation museum in the 104-year-old Newfoundland and Labrador train station building on Water Street. The Johnson Geo Centre is a geological interpretation centre on Signal Hill. The centre is designed to teach the public about the history of the earth through the unique and complex geological history of Newfoundland and Labrador. The East Rider Motorcycle Museum showcases over 110 years of Newfoundland's Motorcycle History, with two floors of bikes, memorabilia, and biker culture. Located downtown St. John's (above East Rider Motorcycle Gear Shop).


title: St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

text: The Murray Premises is a National Historic Site in downtown St. John's. The buildings once served as a fishery premises, with facilities for drying and packaging fish and warehouses for fish, barrels and other items. The oldest of the buildings is the one facing on Beck's Cove. It was built after the 1846 fire and for a time served as both shop and house. The Murray Premises was renovated in 1979 and now contains office suites, restaurants, retail stores and a boutique hotel.


title: St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

text: Another National Historic Site is Signal Hill is a hill which overlooks the city of St. John's. It is the location of Cabot Tower which was built in 1897 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of John Cabot's discovery of Newfoundland, and Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. The first transatlantic wireless transmission was received here by Guglielmo Marconi on 12 December 1901. Today, Signal Hill is a National Historic Site of Canada and remains incredibly popular among tourists and locals; 97% of all tourists to St. John's visit Signal Hill. Amongst its popular attractions are the Signal Hill Tattoo, showcasing the Royal Newfoundland Regiment of Foot, c. 1795, and the North Head Trail which offers an impressive view of the Atlantic Ocean and the surrounding coast.


title: St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

text: Pippy Park is an urban park in the east end of the city; with over of land, it is one of Canada's largest urban parks. The park contains a range of recreational facilities including two golf courses, Newfoundland and Labrador's largest serviced campground, walking and skiing trails as well as protected habitat for many plants and animals. Pippy Park is also home to the Fluvarium, an environmental education centre which offers a cross section view of Nagle's Hill Brook.


title: St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

text: Bowring Park, in the Waterford Valley, is one of the most scenic parks in St. John's. Entrance to the park is via Waterford Bridge Road, passing a sculptured duck pond and a statue of Peter Pan. The park land was donated to the city in 1911 by Sir Edgar Rennie Bowring on behalf of Bowring Brothers Ltd. on their 100th anniversary of commerce in Newfoundland. The park was officially opened by His Royal Highness, the Duke of Connaught on 15 July 1914.


title: St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

text: Bannerman Park is a Victorian-style park near the downtown. The park was officially opened in 1891 by Sir Alexander Bannerman, Governor of the Colony of Newfoundland who donated the land to create the park. Today the park contains a public swimming pool, playground, a baseball diamond and many large open grassy areas. Bannerman Park hosts many festivals and sporting events, most notably the Newfoundland and Labrador Folk Festival and St. John's Peace-a-chord. The park is also the finishing location for the annual Tely 10 Mile Road Race.


title: St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

text: St. John's has been home to several professional hockey franchises. The St. John's Maple Leafs were an American Hockey League (AHL) team from 1991 to 2005. The team left after the 2004–05 season to Toronto due to the desire of its parent team, the Toronto Maple Leafs, to reduce travel costs and to have a tenant for its Ricoh Coliseum.


title: St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

text: Shortly after, the Maple Leafs were replaced by the St. John's Fog Devils of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL). The team left St. John's in 2008 after just three seasons due to a poor lease arrangement with the city over the use of Mile One Centre and poor attendance.


title: St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

text: From 2011 until 2017, it was home to the St. John's IceCaps in the AHL. The IceCaps operated under two separate franchises and affiliations during its time in St. John's; the first owned by the Winnipeg Jets' True North Sports & Entertainment and the second by the Montreal Canadiens' Molson family. Both franchises were relocated to be closer to their parent team.


title: St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

text: In 2018, the ECHL approved an expansion team for St. John's with the Newfoundland Growlers. The team became the ECHL affiliate of the Toronto Maple Leafs bringing the Leafs back to St. Johns for the first time since 2005.


title: St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

text: The St. John's Edge was a Canadian professional basketball team based in National Basketball League of Canada that launched as an expansion team for the 2017–18 season at the Mile One Centre. The team was owned by Atlantic Sport Enterprises Ltd. headed by John Graham with Irwin Simon and Robert Sabbagh. The team replaced the IceCaps as the primary tenant at the Mile One Centre after their departure. In 2021, the Edge did not obtain a lease extension at the Mile One Centre.


title: St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

text: In September 2021, the City of St. John's signed a five-year lease agreement with the American Basketball Association, to bring the expansion Newfoundland Rogues to Mile One Centre. Several weeks after the announcement of a new basketball team, Mary Browns a fast food chain that originated in NL, purchased the naming rights to Mile One Centre, becoming the Mary Brown's Centre.


title: St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

text: The Atlantic Rock are a senior men's rugby union team who compete in the Canadian Rugby Championship. The Rock play their home games at Swilers Rugby Park, as did the Rugby Canada Super League champions for 2005 and 2006, the Newfoundland Rock. The city hosted a Rugby World Cup qualifying match between Canada and the USA on 12 August 2006, where the Canadians heavily defeated the USA 56–7 to qualify for the 2007 Rugby World Cup finals in France. The 2007 age-grade Rugby Canada National Championship Festival was held in the city.


title: St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

text: St. John's is home to North America's oldest annual sporting event, the Royal St. John's Regatta, which dates back to at least 1816. The event is important enough in the life of the city that the day of the Regatta (the first Wednesday in August, weather permitting) is a civic holiday – one of the few weather-dependent holidays in the world.


title: St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

text: The Tely 10 Mile Road Race is an annual road race that starts in Paradise and finishes at Bannerman Park. The race draws in excess of 2,500 runners. It began in 1922, which makes it one of the oldest road races in Canada.


title: St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

text: St. John's was where the Canada men's national soccer team qualified for their first FIFA World Cup on 14 September 1985, when they defeated Honduras 2–1, at King George V Park.


title: St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

text: Curling has gained prominence in St. John's over the years. The 2005 Scott Tournament of Hearts, the Canadian women's curling championship, was held at Mile One Centre from 19 to 27 February 2005. The 2006 Olympic gold medalist men's curling team, skipped by Brad Gushue, is based in St. John's at the Bally Haly Golf & Curling Club. Gushue and his team launched a campaign to return the Brier to the province for 2017, a successful bid. They would go on to win the Brier as well as representing Canada at the World Championships three weeks later going undefeated and winning the gold medal. The Brier win was the second for the province (1976) and the second time as event host (1972). The city has two curling clubs, the St. John's Curling Club and the Bally Haly.


title: St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

text: The St. John's Avalon Harps are the local Hurling and Gaelic Football team, that compete in Canadian GAA events.


title: St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

text: There are numerous recreational paths in the city, the most important is the Grand Concourse, which has trails throughout the city, including around Quidi Vidi Lake, parts of Signal Hill, Downtown, along river banks, and around other lakes. The Grand Concourse also extends into Mount Pearl. There are also many kilometres of path within Signal Hill National Historic Park, the Geo-Vista Park on the lower sloe of Signal Hill, Memorial University of Newfoundland Botanical Garden, and within Pippy Park. There are also trails used by mountain bikers, trail runners and walkers on the White Hills, behind the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the RCMP headquarters. The Trans Canada Trail leaves St. John's from the Railway Coastal Museum and follows the trackbed of the former Newfoundland Railway right across the Island, though it now starts at Cape Spear, continues to Fort Amherst, and connects at the station, via a footbridge, with the original mile zero at the Museum. The East Coast Trail, also passes through St. John's, coming from Topsail Beach in the north to pass through St. John's via Quidi Vidi, Signal Hill and Water Street before connecting with the Trans Canada Trail at the Railway Coastal Museum, before heading east to Cape Spear, and then continuing south to Cappahayden.


title: St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

text: St. John's is governed by a mayor-council system, and the structure of the municipal government is stipulated by the City of St. John's Act. The St. John's City Council is a unicameral legislative body composed of a mayor, deputy mayor and nine councillors. The mayor, deputy mayor and four of the councillors are elected at large while the five other councillors represent geographical wards throughout the city. The mayor and members of the city council serve four-year terms without term limits.


title: St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

text: Elections in St. John's are held every four years on the last Tuesday in September. The current city council was elected in the municipal election held on 28 September 2021. The Mayor of St. John's is Danny Breen. The St. John's City Hall, on New Gower Street, has housed municipal offices and Council Chambers since being officially opened in 1970.


title: St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

text: St. John's served as the capital city of the Colony of Newfoundland and the Dominion of Newfoundland before Newfoundland became Canada's tenth province in 1949. The city now serves as the capital of Newfoundland and Labrador, therefore the provincial legislature is in the city. The Confederation Building, on Confederation Hill, is home to the House of Assembly along with the offices for the Members of the House of Assembly (MHAs) and Ministers. The city is represented by eight MHAs, six who are members of the governing Liberal Party, one that belong to the New Democratic Party (NDP), and one that belong to the Progressive Conservative Party.


title: St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

text: St. John's is represented in the House of Commons by two members of Parliament. Liberal Joanne Thompson represents St. John's East and Liberal Seamus O'Regan represents St. John's South—Mount Pearl.


title: St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

text: The Newfoundland and Labrador office for the regional federal minister is in downtown St. John's. Regional offices for federal government departments and agencies are throughout the city.


title: St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

text: Police services for the city are provided by the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary, which serves as the primary policing body of the metropolitan area. The "B" Division headquarters of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police is located in the Pleasantville neighborhood; but the RCMP primarily operate in rural Newfoundland and Labrador and not St. John's.


title: St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

text: St. John's has traditionally been one of the safest cities in Canada to live; however, in recent years crime in the city has steadily increased. While national crime decreased by 4% in 2009, the total crime rate in St. John's saw an increase of 4%. During this same time violent crime in the city decreased 6%, compared to a 1% decrease nationally. In 2010 the total crime severity index for the city was 101.9, an increase of 10% from 2009 and 19.2% above the national average. The violent crime severity index was 90.1, an increase of 29% from 2009 and 1.2% above the national average. St. John's had the seventh-highest metropolitan crime index and twelfth-highest metropolitan violent crime index in the country in 2010.


title: St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

text: According to Statistics Canada's Juristat reports (1993–2007), the metropolitan area reports an average homicide rate of approximately 1.15 per 100,000 population; an average of two homicides per year. An all-time high rate of 2.27 was reported in 1993 (four homicides). This figure is far below the national average and ranks amongst the lowest rates for any metropolitan area in Canada.


title: St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

text: St. John's has a substantial harbour. Among other things, the harbour is the base for the following Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) ships:


title: St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

text: St. John's is served by St. John's International Airport (YYT), located 10 minutes northwest of the downtown core. In 2011, roughly 1,400,000 passengers travelled through the airport making it the second busiest airport in Atlantic Canada in passenger volume. Regular destinations include Toronto, Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, and small destinations throughout the province. International locations include London, Saint-Pierre, Cancún, Orlando, Tampa, Fort Lauderdale, Varadero, Cayo Coco, and Montego Bay. Scheduled service providers include Air Canada, Air Canada Jazz, Air Saint-Pierre, Air Transat, Porter Airlines, Provincial Airlines, Sunwing Airlines and Westjet.


title: St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

text: St. John's is the eastern terminus of the Trans-Canada Highway (Route 1), one of the longest national highways in the world. The divided highway, also known as "Outer Ring Road," runs just outside the main part of the city, with exits to Pitts Memorial Drive (Route 2), Topsail Road (Route 60), Team Gushue Highway (Route 3A), Thorburn Road (Route 50), Allandale Road, Portugal Cove Road (Route 40) and Torbay Road (Route 20), providing relatively easy access to neighbourhoods served by those streets. Pitts Memorial Drive (Route 2) runs from Conception Bay South, through the city of Mount Pearl and into downtown St. John's, with interchanges for Goulds (Routes 3 and 10), The Parkway (Columbus Drive), Water Street and Hamilton Avenue-New Gower Street.


title: St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

text: The St. John's Cycling Master Plan was officially launched in July 2009. Its first phase will consist of of on-road painted bike lanes, signs on an additional of roadway, the installation of 20 bicycle parking facilities and the addition of bike racks on the fleet of 53 Metrobuses.


title: St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

text: Metrobus Transit is responsible for public transit in the region. Metrobus has a total of 19 routes, 53 buses and an annual ridership of 3,014,073. Destinations include the Avalon Mall, The Village Shopping Centre, Memorial University, Academy Canada, the College of the North Atlantic, the Marine Institute, the Confederation Building, downtown, Stavanger Drive Business Park, Kelsey Drive, Goulds, Kilbride, Shea Heights, the four hospitals in the city as well as other important areas in St. John's and Mount Pearl.


title: St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

text: St. John's was the eastern terminus of the Newfoundland Railway from 1898 until the abandonment and closure of the railway in September 1988.


title: St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

text: St. John's is served by Eastern Health, Newfoundland and Labrador's largest health authority. The city's major hospitals include the Health Sciences Centre, St. Clare's Mercy Hospital, Waterford Hospital and the Janeway Children's Health and Rehabilitation Centre.


title: St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

text: There are 32 anglophone primary, elementary and secondary schools in the city of St. John's, including two private schools. St. John's also has two schools that are part of the province-wide Conseil Scolaire Francophone (CSF), the Francophone public school district. It has two private schools, St. Bonaventure's College and Lakecrest Independent.


title: St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

text: The main campus of Atlantic Canada's largest university, Memorial University of Newfoundland (MUN), is in St. John's. There are satellite campuses on Signal Hill, St. John's, and the Ocean Sciences Centre in nearby Logy Bay. The Fisheries and Marine Institute of Memorial University of Newfoundland (MI or simply Marine Institute) is a post-secondary ocean and marine polytechnic in St. John's and is affiliated with Memorial University of Newfoundland. MUN provides comprehensive education and grants degrees and was one of the top ten comprehensive universities in Canada according to Macleans in 2021.


title: St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

text: The College of the North Atlantic (CNA) is the public college of the province and operates two main campuses in the city. CNA provides career, trade, and university-transfer programs for St. John's residents.


title: St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

text: The city hosts several private colleges and post-secondary schools; Academy Canada, Eastern College, and Keyin College are the largest of these.


title: St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

text: St. John's has one daily newspaper, "The Telegram". Other local papers include "The Muse", "The Gazette", "Le Gaboteur", "The Scope", "The Business Post" and "The Current". St. John's also receives the nationally distributed newspaper "The Globe and Mail".


title: St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

text: CJON-DT, known on air as "NTV", is an independent station. The station sublicenses entertainment programming from Global and news programming from CTV and Global, rather than purchasing primary broadcast rights. Rogers Cable has its provincial headquarters in St. John's, and their community channel Rogers TV airs local shows such as "Out of the Fog" and "One Chef One Critic". CBC has its Newfoundland and Labrador headquarters in the city and their television station CBNT-DT broadcasts from University Avenue.


title: St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

text: The city is home to 15 AM and FM radio stations, two of which are French-language stations. The ITU prefix "VO" was assigned to the Dominion of Newfoundland before the province joined Canadian Confederation in 1949, and three AM stations kept their existing call letters. However, other commercial radio stations in St. John's that went to air after 1949 use the same range of prefixes ("CF"–"CK") currently in use elsewhere in Canada, with the exception of VOCM-FM, which was permitted to adopt the VOCM callsign because of its corporate association with the AM station that bore that callsign. VO remains in use in amateur radio.


title: St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

text: "allNewfoundlandLabrador" is the city's daily online newspaper, which focuses on business news from across the province.


title: Santiago Bernabéu Stadium

text: The Santiago Bernabéu Stadium (, ) is a football stadium in Madrid, Spain. With a current seating capacity of 81,044, it has been the home stadium of Real Madrid since its completion in 1947. It is the second-largest stadium in Spain and third-largest home to a top-flight European club after Camp Nou and Westfalenstadion.


title: Santiago Bernabéu Stadium

text: Named after footballer and legendary Real Madrid president Santiago Bernabéu (1895–1978), the stadium is one of the world's most famous football venues. It has hosted the final of the European Cup/UEFA Champions League on four occasions: in 1957, 1969, 1980, 2010. The stadium also hosted the second leg of the 2018 Copa Libertadores Finals, making Santiago Bernabéu the first (and only) stadium to host the two most important premier continental cup finals (UEFA Champions League and Copa Libertadores).


title: Santiago Bernabéu Stadium

text: The final matches for the 1964 European Nations' Cup and the 1982 FIFA World Cup were also held at the Bernabéu, making it the first stadium in Europe to host both a UEFA Euro final and a FIFA World Cup final.


title: Santiago Bernabéu Stadium

text: On 22 June 1944, the Banco Mercantil e Industrial bank granted credit to Santiago Bernabéu and Rafael Salgado for the purchase of the land adjacent to the old Chamartín Stadium. On 5 September 1944, architects Manuel Muñoz Monasterio and Luis Alemany Soler were hired and the structure on the site began to give way to the new stadium. On 27 October 1944, construction work on the stadium began, which was being built partly on the old site and on the grounds of Villa Ulpiana. In the meantime, Real Madrid played its home games at the Estadio Metropolitano in the 1946–47 season and at the start of the 1947–48 season.


title: Santiago Bernabéu Stadium

text: The stadium was inaugurated on 14 December 1947 with a match between Real Madrid and the Portuguese side Os Belenenses. After the preliminaries, at 15:30 referee from the Madrid school started the match. Real Madrid striker Sabino Barinaga scored the first goal in the 15th minute with a header. At the end of the match, Barinaga received a recognition pennant. Afterwards, players and managers of both teams celebrated with a dinner. The first official match took place on 28 December 1947 on matchday 12 of La Liga against Atlético de Bilbao, which had been postponed due to the inauguration of the stadium. The match was refereed by José Fombona Fernández from the Asturian school and ended with a 5–1 victory for "Los Blancos". The first goal was scored in the 4th minute by Madrid midfielder Chus Alonso after receiving a pass from Barinaga.


title: Santiago Bernabéu Stadium

text: The stadium's official name at the time was , although it continued to be known among fans as () or simply . The stadium had an initial capacity of 75,145 spectators, 27,645 of which had seats (7,125 covered) and 47,500 for standing fans.


title: Santiago Bernabéu Stadium

text: The first major renovation occurred in 1955. On 19 June of that year, the stadium expanded to accommodate 125,000 spectators. Thus, the Madrid coliseum became the biggest stadium of all the participants of the newly established European Cup.


title: Santiago Bernabéu Stadium

text: On 4 January 1955, after the General Assembly of Members Compromisaros, it was decided that the stadium adopt its present name in honour of club President Santiago Bernabéu.


title: Santiago Bernabéu Stadium

text: In March 1957, floodlights were installed to allow nighttime games. On 18 May of the same year, the new floodlights were officially inaugurated in a game against Brazilian club Sport Recife, which Real Madrid won 5–3.


title: Santiago Bernabéu Stadium

text: In 1965, the transfer of all the club's offices to the stadium was completed, which previously had been moved between multiple venues in the capital.


title: Santiago Bernabéu Stadium

text: On 14 December 1972, coinciding with the 25th anniversary of the Santiago Bernabéu's inauguration, the first electronic scoreboard was installed inside the stadium and later utilized for the first time in a friendly match against the same rival that Madrid faced in 1947, the Portuguese Belenenses. The match ended with a 2–1 Real victory. Days before the scoreboard had already been used for the farewell ceremony of the Madrid legend Paco Gento.


title: Santiago Bernabéu Stadium

text: The next big changes did not occur until the early 1980s with the hosting of the 1982 FIFA World Cup in Spain. The stadium had to adapt to the changing times and with this, architects Rafael Luis Alemany and Manuel Salinas were hired for the stadium's renovation project. The brothers were sons of Luis Alemany Soler, who carried out the original construction project next to Muñoz Monasterio. The work lasted 16 months and had a cost of 704 million pesetas (US $4.7 million), of which 530 million was paid by the City of Madrid.


title: Santiago Bernabéu Stadium

text: The improvements included a number of points. First, FIFA forced two-thirds of the seating area to be covered. For this reason, Real Madrid installed a roof covering the perimeter of the first and second tiers of seating, except the east side. The stadium's capacity was reduced from 120,000 to 98,000 spectators, 24,550 of which were covered by the new roof. The project also involved remodeling the façade, the installation of new electronic signs in the north and south ends, as well as the renovation of the press areas, lockers rooms, access, and ancillary areas.


title: Santiago Bernabéu Stadium

text: The stadium hosted four matches in the World Cup: three second-round Group Two matches (West Germany vs. England, West Germany vs. Spain, and Spain vs. England) and the prestigious final match (Italy vs. West Germany).


title: Santiago Bernabéu Stadium

text: Following a series of spectator fatalities in the 1980s (most notably the Heysel Stadium in Belgium and the Hillsborough Stadium in England), English authorities released the Taylor Report on how to improve football spectator safety in English venues. UEFA followed suit across Europe. The stadium was forced to create separate shortcuts to different stadium sections and seats for all spectators.


title: Santiago Bernabéu Stadium

text: In 1992, the board of Ramón Mendoza awarded an expansion and renovation project to Gines Navarro Construcciones, S.A. The work started on 7 February 1992 and concluded on 7 May 1994 with a final cost of more than 5 billion pesetas, substantially raising the debt of the club, which no longer had any institutional support. The work concluded with the creation of an amphitheater on the west side and in the foundations, as well as the opening of the new commercial center, "La esquina del Bernabéu." In total, 20,200 upgraded seats were installed, with each seat having a tilt of 87 degrees, ensuring a perfect view and proximity to the pitch. In addition, four entrance towers were erected on the outside, each with two staircases and a central spiral ramp, so the spectators could access the new tier and exit more quickly.


title: Santiago Bernabéu Stadium

text: With the new structure, the height of the stadium was increased from 22 m to 45 m. This caused problems during the winter, leaving two-thirds of the field of play in the shade. This lack of sunlight led to grass deterioration on the pitch. For this reason, a polypropylene pipe network was installed at a 20 cm depth under the pitch. At over 30 km long the pipe system circulates hot water, keeping the turf from freezing in cold temperatures.


title: Santiago Bernabéu Stadium

text: Also, due to the height of the stand, it was necessary to improve and increase the lighting capability. A retractable protective roof was also installed to protect the fans from the elements. After the renovation, the stadium's capacity was 106,000 spectators.


title: Santiago Bernabéu Stadium

text: In 1997, with Lorenzo Sanz as president, UEFA required the Santiago Bernabéu to adopt an all-seating arrangement, bringing its capacity down from 106,000 to 74,328 spectators.


title: Santiago Bernabéu Stadium

text: As the club kept growing in all regards, thoughts for further changes to the stadium appeared. When Florentino Pérez became the president of the club, he launched a "master plan" with one goal: to improve the comfort of the Santiago Bernabéu and the quality of its facilities, and maximise revenue for the stadium.


title: Santiago Bernabéu Stadium

text: Pérez invested €127 million in five years (2001–2006) by adding an expansion to the east side of the stadium, as well as adding a new façade on Father Damien street, new boxes and VIP areas, new dressing rooms, a new stage in honour of the east side, a new press area (also located on the east side), a new audio system, new bars, integration of heating in the stands, panoramic lifts, new restaurants, escalators in the tower access, and implementation of the multipurpose building in Father Damien street. Following the enlargement of the lateral east side and the creation of new galleries, the capacity of the Santiago Bernabéu was expanded to 80,354, all seated.


title: Santiago Bernabéu Stadium

text: Pérez proposed construction of a retractable roof before he resigned in 2005. In 2009, following the re-election of Pérez as the club president, it was announced that the roof construction was looking unlikely due to the financial situation of the club. According to Spanish sports newspaper "Marca", however, Pérez wants to restructure Santiago Bernabéu. According to the newspaper, the architect in charge will be chosen from among a shortlist of Spanish architects Santiago Calatrava and Pritzker Prize-winner Rafael Moneo, and Chinese-American Ieoh Ming Pei, also a Pritzker winner.


title: Santiago Bernabéu Stadium

text: On 16 October 2013, Pérez announced that Real Madrid was seeking to sell the naming rights for its stadium and looking for a sponsor for the €400 million renovation project. The proposed design of the stadium renovation, produced by German architects GMP, was unveiled on 31 January 2014. The bold design includes a retractable roof, with the overall cost of around €400 million likely to be met half via the sale of naming rights and half via a bond issue to Real members according to Spanish media reports. Pérez said, "We want to make the Santiago Bernabéu the best stadium in the world." Real Madrid then announced a sponsorship agreement with IPIC to assist the club in the redevelopment of the stadium. Pérez then said that in compliance to the agreement the name of the stadium would be renamed "IPIC Bernabeu" or "CEPSA Bernabeu". The surface has been replaced with Mixto hybrid grass manufactured in Italy.


title: Santiago Bernabéu Stadium

text: Real Madrid and Microsoft launched the first interactive audioguide for the Bernabéu Tour on 3 April 2017. Over 200,000 people toured the stadium in 2016, of whom over 60% were foreigners.


title: Santiago Bernabéu Stadium

text: A €525-million renovation project was initially set to begin in summer 2017, but began in 2019. The capacity will be increased by approximately 4000 with the addition of an extra tier, bringing it to just over the 85,000 mark. Furthermore, the height will also be increased by ten metres and a retractable roof as well as a retractable pitch will be added. The club is expected to sell the naming rights to the renovated stadium.


title: Santiago Bernabéu Stadium

text: The work was initially expected to last three and a half years (2019–2022). However, the COVID-19 pandemic and Russian invasion of Ukraine caused significant disruption to supply chains, prompting the club to postpone the stadium's inauguration to 2023.


title: Santiago Bernabéu Stadium

text: The renovation team utilises Roman techniques with raising the top, so as not to affect the operation of the stadium during the football season. "The project is complex because it will not stop the football and therefore complicates the works and design, which has a roof that encloses the whole stadium. They are going to lift the roof like the Romans did, but with modern technology. They will raise the inner ring by string-pulling with hydraulic jacks, bridge technology and ski lifts in a short period of time in the summer to respect the sporting calendar," said Tristán López Chicheri, the individual in charge of the renovation. In March 2020, Real Madrid decided to expedite the renovations after the Royal Spanish Football Federation suspended La Liga due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The expedition included interior work, which made the pitch unplayable and prompted Real Madrid to play their matches at the Alfredo Di Stéfano Stadium instead until the end of the 2020–21 season.


title: Santiago Bernabéu Stadium

text: Chicheri believes the renovation will bring tourists to the stadium all year round, with many attractions planned. The stadium is supposed to have more restaurants, a shopping centre and a hotel, with some rooms having a view of the pitch. The "digital stadium of the future" will be equipped with a 360-degree screen and retractable roof. "It is not only on matchdays that it will be used – there are venues like the Bernabéu that are in the middle of the city and it is a shame that they have no life beyond 35–40 matches a year," said Chicheri.


title: Santiago Bernabéu Stadium

text: The stadium is located in the Chamartín district of Madrid. It occupies the block bounded by the Paseo de la Castellana and the streets of Concha Espina, Padre Damián, and Rafael Salgado.


title: Santiago Bernabéu Stadium

text: The stadium is served by its own metro station along the Line 10 called "Santiago Bernabéu". It is also served by bus routes 14, 27, 40, 43, 120, 147 and 150.


title: Santiago Bernabéu Stadium

text: Santiago Bernabéu hosted three matches of the 1964 European Nations' Cup, a tournament which Spain hosted: one qualifying match and two in the main tournament, including the final. All three matches involved Spain.


title: Santiago Bernabéu Stadium

text: The match was contested by the 1960 winners, the Soviet Union, and the hosts, Spain, at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid. Spain won the match 2–1, with goals coming from Chus Pereda and Marcelino. Galimzyan Khusainov scored for the Soviet Union.


title: Santiago Bernabéu Stadium

text: In the 1982 World Cup held in Spain, the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium hosted four matches: three in the second round (West Germany–England, West Germany–Spain and Spain–England) as well as the final between West Germany and Italy.


title: Santiago Bernabéu Stadium

text: The 1982 FIFA World Cup Final was a football match contested between Italy and West Germany. It was played on 11 July 1982.


title: Santiago Bernabéu Stadium

text: After a scoreless first half during which Antonio Cabrini fired a penalty low and wide to the right of goal, Paolo Rossi scored first, heading home a bouncing Claudio Gentile cross from the right from close range. Marco Tardelli then scored from the edge of the area with a low left footed shot before Alessandro Altobelli, at the end of a counterattack by winger Bruno Conti, made it 3–0 with another low left footed shot.


title: Santiago Bernabéu Stadium

text: Italy's lead appeared secure, encouraging Italian president Sandro Pertini to wag his finger at the cameras in a playful 'not going to catch us now' gesture from the stands. Paul Breitner scored for Germany in the 83rd minute, firing low past the goalkeeper from the right, but Italy held on to claim their first World Cup title in 44 years, and their third in total with a 3–1 victory.


title: Santiago Bernabéu Stadium

text: This match was contested between Real Madrid, champions of Spain, and Fiorentina, champions of Italy. In this season, 16 teams played for the trophy. Real Madrid won 2–0 in the final after goals from Alfredo Di Stéfano and Francisco Gento in the second half. This was the second consecutive European Cup for Real Madrid after having won his first trophy one year before, at the Parc des Princes against Stade de Reims.


title: Santiago Bernabéu Stadium

text: This year Milan, champions of Italy, played Ajax, champions of the Netherlands, to determine who would be the champions of Europe. Milan defeated Ajax 4–1 to win their second European championship. Ajax made history by being the first Dutch team to reach a final.


title: Santiago Bernabéu Stadium

text: In this final, defending champions Nottingham Forest of England faced Hamburger SV, champions of Germany. The match ended with a victory for the English team with a 1–0 result. The new champions of Europe retained the trophy and achieved a historic second consecutive European Cup.


title: Santiago Bernabéu Stadium

text: A game played between two best teams in the Champions League which consists of group stage and knock-out stage. The final is played at a different stadium each year. In 2010, Bayern Munich, who eliminated Lyon in the semi-finals, faced Internazionale, who defeated Barcelona in the semi-finals. Inter won 2–0 after two goals from Diego Milito.


title: Santiago Bernabéu Stadium

text: The two-legged 2018 CONMEBOL Libertadores final pitted Argentine archrivals of Buenos Aires in Boca Juniors and River Plate against each other in the final for the first time. The first leg was held at Boca Juniors' home pitch, La Bombonera, on 11 November 2018, ending in a 2–2 draw with no away goal rule applied.


title: Santiago Bernabéu Stadium

text: During the planned second leg on 24 November 2018, scheduled for El Monumental, the home stadium of River Plate, numerous River Plate fans threw glass bottles and stones at the Boca Juniors team bus headed to the stadium, injuring numerous players as a result. CONMEBOL postponed the match and moved the second leg to Europe for 9 December 2018 in Madrid, a neutral site, for security and travel reasons. Both sets of fans attended the match as River Plate won 3–1 after extra time (5–3 on aggregate) to lift the trophy outside of South America for the first time.


title: Witching hour

text: In folklore, the witching hour or devil's hour is a time of night that is associated with supernatural events, whereby witches, demons and ghosts are thought to appear and be at their most powerful. Definitions vary, and include the hour immediately after midnight, and the time between 3:00am and 4:00am. The term now has a widespread colloquial and idiomatic usage that is associated with human physiology and behaviour to more superstitious phenomena such as luck.


title: Witching hour

text: The phrase "witching hour" began at least as early as 1775, in the poem "Night, an Ode." by Rev. Matthew West, though its origins may go further back to 1535 when the Catholic Church prohibited activities during the 3:00 am and 4:00 am timeframe due to emerging fears about witchcraft in Europe.


title: Witching hour

text: In the Western Christian tradition, the hour between 3:00 am and 4:00 am was considered a period of peak supernatural activity – this time is also referred to as the "Devil's hour" due to it being a mocking inversion of the time in which Jesus supposedly died, which was at 3:00 pm.


title: Witching hour

text: There are multiple times that can be considered the witching hour. Some claim the time is between 12:00 am and 1:00 am, while others claim there is increased supernatural activity between sunset and sunrise. The "New Zealand Oxford Dictionary" identifies midnight as the time when witches are supposedly active.


title: Witching hour

text: During the time in which this term originated, many people had sleeping schedules that meant they were awake during the middle of the night. Nonetheless, there is psychological literature suggesting that apparitional experiences and sensed presences are most common between the hours of 2:00 am and 4:00 am, corresponding with a 3:00 am peak in the amount of melatonin in the body.


title: Witching hour

text: The witching hour may stem to a human's sleep cycle and circadian rhythm – the body is going through REM sleep at that time, where the heart rate is slower, body temperature reduced, breathing pattern and blood pressure irregular. Sudden awakening from REM sleep could cause agitation, fear and disorientation in an individual.


title: Witching hour

text: Also, during REM sleep, which usually occurs within the witching hour, unpleasant and frightful sleep disturbances such as parasomnias can be experienced, which include nightmares, rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder, night terrors, sleepwalking, homicidal sleepwalking and sleep paralysis.


title: Witching hour

text: Moreover, during the night and well into the witching hour, symptoms of illnesses and conditions such as lung disease, asthma, flu and common cold seem to exacerbate because there is less cortisol in the blood late at night and especially during sleep. As such, the immune system becomes very active and white blood cells fight infections in the body during sleep, and this would thereby worsen the symptoms of fever, nasal congestion, cough, chills and sweating.


title: Witching hour

text: The term may be used colloquially to refer to any period of bad luck, or in which something bad is seen as having a greater likelihood of occurring.


title: Witching hour

text: In investing, it is the last hour of stock trading between 3:00 pm (when the U.S. bond market closes) and 4:00 pm EST (when the U.S. stock market closes), a period of above-average volatility.


title: Witching hour

text: The term can also refer to a phenomenon where infants or young children who cry for an extended period of time during the hour (or two) before their bedtime, where they would usually be irritable and unwieldy with no known cause.


title: Witching hour

text: To reduce gun violence, curfew hours in Washington D.C. have been in force between 11:00 pm and 12:00 am to lower juvenile gunfire incidents. Influenced by the idea of "witching hour", this occurs between 11:00 pm and 11:59 pm on weekdays and is referred to as the "switching hour". Furthermore, violent crimes like rape and sexual assault would peak at midnight on average and DUI police incidents would usually tend to occur at around 2:00 am.


title: Karna

text: Karna (Sanskrit: कर्ण, IAST: "Karṇa"), also known as Vasusena, Anga-raja, and Radheya, is one of the main protagonists of the Hindu epic "Mahābhārata". He is the son of the sun god Surya and princess Kunti (mother of the Pandavas), and thus a demigod of royal birth. Kunti was granted the boon to bear a child with desired divine qualities from the gods and without much knowledge, Kunti invoked the sun god to confirm it if it was true indeed. Karna was secretly born to an unmarried Kunti in her teenage years, fearing outrage and backlash from society over her premarital pregnancy, Kunti had no choice but to abandon the newly born Karna adrift in a basket on the Ganges, in the hope that he finds foster parents. The basket discovered and Karna is adopted and raised by foster "Sūta" parents named Radha and Adhiratha Nandana of the charioteer and poet profession working for king Dhritarashtra.


title: Karna

text: Karna grows up to be an accomplished warrior of extraordinary abilities, a gifted speaker and becomes a loyal friend of Duryodhana. He was appointed the king of Anga (Bihar-Bengal) by Duryodhana. Karna joined Duryodhana's side in the Kurukshetra war. He was a key warrior who aimed to kill the third Pandava Arjuna but dies in a battle with him during the war.


title: Karna

text: He is a tragic hero in the "Mahabharata", in a manner similar to Aristotle's literary category of "flawed good man". He meets his biological mother late in the epic, and then discovers that he is the older half-brother of those he is fighting against. Karna is a symbol of someone who is rejected by those who should love him but do not given the circumstances, yet becomes a man of exceptional abilities willing to give his love and life as a loyal friend. His character is developed in the epic to raise and discuss major emotional and "dharma" (duty, ethics, moral) dilemmas. His story has inspired many secondary works, poetry and dramatic plays in the Hindu arts tradition, both in India and in southeast Asia.


title: Karna

text: Karṇa (कर्ण) is a word found in the Vedic literature, where it means "the ear", "chaff or husk of a grain" or the "helm or rudder". In another context, it refers to a spondee in Sanskrit prosody. In the "Mahabharata" and the Puranas, it is the name of a warrior character. Called Vasusena as a child by his foster parents, he became known by the name Karna because of the golden earrings of Surya he used to wear, according to the Sanskrit epics scholar David Slavitt.


title: Karna

text: The word Karna, states the Indologist Kevin McGrath, signifies "eared, or the ear-ringed one". In section 3.290.5 of the "Mahabharata", Karna is described as a baby born with the ear-rings and armoured breastplate, like his father Surya.


title: Karna

text: The second meaning of Karna as "rudder and helm" is also an apt metaphor given Karna's role in steering the war in Book 8 of the epic, where the good Karna confronts the good Arjuna, one of the climax scenes wherein the Mahabharata authors repeatedly deploy the allegories of ocean and boat to embed layers of meanings in the poem. For example, his first entry into the Kurukshetra battlefield is presented as the "Makara" movement (an arrangement of soldiers in the sea-monster pattern). As Duryodhana's army crumbles each day, the sea and vessel metaphor repeatedly appears in the epic, particularly when Karna is mentioned. As a newborn, Karna's life begins in a basket without a rudder on a river, in circumstances that he neither chose nor had a say. In Book 1, again in the context of Karna, Duryodhana remarks, "the origins of heroes and rivers are indeed difficult to understand".


title: Karna

text: The name Karna is also symbolically connected to the central aspect of Karna's character as the one who is intensely preoccupied with what others hear and think about him, about his fame, a weakness that others exploit to manipulate him. This "hearing" and "that which is heard", states McGrath makes "Karna" an apt name and subtle reminder of Karna's driving motivation.


title: Karna

text: The story of Karna is told in the "Mahābhārata", one of the Sanskrit epics from the Indian subcontinent. The work is written in Classical Sanskrit and is a composite work of revisions, editing and interpolations over many centuries. The oldest parts in the surviving version of the text probably date to about 400 BCE. Within Mahabharata, which follows the story within a story style of narration, the account of Karna's birth has been narrated four times.


title: Karna

text: Karna appears for the first time in the "Mahabharata" in the verse 1.1.65 of "Adi Parvan" (first book) where he is briefly mentioned through the metaphor of a tree, as someone who is refusing to fight or help in the capture of Krishna. He is presented again in sections 1.2.127–148, and chapter 1.57 of the "Adi Parvan". It is here that his earrings "that make his face shine", as well as the divine breastplate (body armor) he was born with, are mentioned for the first time. This sets him apart as someone special, with gifts no ordinary mortal has. However, later in the epic, the generous Karna gives the "earrings and breastplate" away in charity, thereby becomes a mortal and later dies in a battle with Arjuna.


title: Karna

text: The story of his unmarried mother getting the child due to her curiosity, his divine connection to the Hindu god Surya, then his birth appears for the first time in the epic in section 1.104.7. The epic uses glowing words to describe Karna, but the presentation here is compressed in 21 "shlokas" unlike the later books which expand the details. These later sections with more details on Karna's birth and childhood include 3.287, 5.142 and 15.38. According to McGrath, the early presentation of Karna in the "Mahabharata" is such as if the poets expect the audience to already know the story and love the character of Karna. The text does not belabour the details about Karna in the early sections, rather uses metaphors and metonyms to colourfully remind the audience of the fabric of a character they already are assumed to be aware of. The complete narrative of his life appears for the first time in chapter 1.125.


title: Karna

text: The "Mahabharata" manuscripts exist in numerous versions, wherein the specifics and details of major characters and episodes vary, often significantly. Except for the sections containing the "Bhagavad Gita" which is remarkably consistent between the numerous manuscripts, the rest of the epic exists in many versions. The differences between the Northern and Southern recensions are particularly significant, with the Southern manuscripts more profuse and longer. The legends of Karna too appear in many versions, including some versions that have no support in surviving manuscripts. The manuscripts found in the North and South India for the "Karna parvan" book have "great divergence" in details, though the thematic essence is similar. Scholars have attempted to construct a critical edition, relying mostly on a study of the Bombay edition, the Poona edition, the Calcutta edition and the south Indian editions of the "Mahabharata" manuscripts. The most accepted version is one prepared by scholars led by Vishnu Sukthankar at the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, preserved at the Kyoto University, the Cambridge University and various Indian universities.


title: Karna

text: According to the legend, there was a king of the Yadava dynasty named Shurasena who had a beautiful young daughter named Pritha (later Kunti). A "rishi" (Vedic scholar and seer) named Durvasa visited the king for a lengthy stay and was housed as his palace guest. Shurasena asked Pritha to ensure that Durvasa's stay was comfortable. On leaving, having been delighted with his stay and her diligent services, Durvasa thanked her and gave her the "Siddha mantra", telling her that if she ever wants, she can invoke any deity to give her a child.


title: Karna

text: Teenage Pritha became curious, wondered if the mantra would really work and, as the sun rose one morning, she initiated the mantra through which she could invoke any divine God being to provide her a son. She called the sun god Surya. He came with a golden glow, dressed up in jewellery and breastplate, and provided her with her first son. Pritha felt confused and ashamed, worried what everyone will think and how she will embarrass her family. At that time, according to Vedic civilization, if a girl gives birth to a child before married are less likely to marry. So, she put the newborn baby in a padded basket, and set it adrift in the small river Ashvanadi by the palace.


title: Karna

text: Later Kunti got blessed with children Yudhishtra, Bhima, and Arjuna, using this mantra. The same mantra was used by Kunti to allow her co-wife, Madri, to conceive Nakula and Sahdeva. The Spiritual "fathers" of the five Pandavas were Yama, Vayu, Indra and the twin Ashwini Kumaras.


title: Karna

text: As the adolescent mother abandons her unwanted child on the river, she laments and the epic verses describe her emotions with heartbreaking poetry, according to the Indologist Patricia Greer.


title: Karna

text: The basket floats, reaches the river Charmanwati, which carries it to the Yamuna River. The basket floats on and reaches the Ganges River and on it into the kingdom of Anga (ancient Bengal). There, it is found by a charioteer's wife Radha, who takes the baby Karna to her husband Adhiratha Nandana. They adopt him right away and name him Vasushena. They love him and raise him just like their own son. While he was growing up, his adopting parents let Karna know that they had found and adopted him. This knowledge affects Karna, he feels ashamed that he was abandoned, and this frames his sense of self-identity through the epic.


title: Karna

text: The boy goes to school in Hastinapura, and studies martial arts under the sages Drona, Kripa and the Vishnu avatar Parashurama. Parashurama also gifted him a bow named Vijaya due to his impressive skills.


title: Karna

text: The third Pandava prince Arjuna was Karna's peer and equal. At school and in episodes where his character appears, he is repeatedly rejected, subjected to ridicule and bullied for being the son of a poor family, and particularly for his low birth. The boy Karna came to be known for his solitary habits, hard work, pious yoga before Surya every day, compassion and eager generosity to help anyone in need particularly Brahmins, his gift of speech, and for the pursuit of excellence in whatever he did. Karna is also known as someone who craves for respect, love and attention, who is overly sensitive to criticism, who habitually brags about his skills and martial capabilities, yet is deeply thoughtful and dharmic in critical moments of the epic.


title: Karna

text: Karna meets Duryodhana for the first time in Hastinapura during archery lessons from Drona, an event described in section 3.293 of the "Mahabharata". They become close friends not long after, when Karna and Arjuna are at a weapons trial competition. Duryodhana sees in Karna a man who is an equal of Arjuna in martial abilities, and someone to befriend to balance out Arjuna and thereby "diminish the Pandavas".


title: Karna

text: Before the competition starts, the contestants must announce theirs lineage so that men of equal ranks are placed together. After Arjuna announces his royal lineage, it is time for Karna to present his lineage. If Karna were to announce his charioteer lineage, it would disqualify him from competing against Arjuna. Duryodhana steps in and says Karna is an "Arajna" (a non-king, but also a word play on Arjuna) but announces that he is offering to anoint Karna as the king of Angas (Bengal). Once Karna is a king, states Duryodhana, Arjuna would not have the excuse to avoid Karna and not compete with the able warrior. Karna accepts the anointment, becomes a king that day. It also transforms him into a loyal friend to Duryodhana, with an eagerness to reciprocate the favour. Karna asks Duryodhana what he would want in return for the kingdom he just gave out of his empire, Duryodhana replies, "I want your endless friendship Karna".


title: Karna

text: For the consecration ceremony, Karna's father arrives. Bhima, one of the Pandavas, ridicules him for his low status and calls him dog-like. The public insult of his father makes Karna hate the Pandavas. At the end of the competition, while everyone rejects Karna, Duryodhana expresses amity to Karna by "taking Karna by his hand". Karna feels Duryodhana is that friend who stood by him when everyone rejected him. Duryodhana becomes Karna's lifelong close friend. In Karna, Duryodhana finds an able man and talented commander who can help him gain and retain power over an empire. In Duryodhana, Karna finds a caring friend and resourceful supporter when almost everyone is bent on ridiculing and disowning him.


title: Karna

text: Karna evolves into a character who shares Duryodhana's view that Pandavas are bad and enemies, though for different reasons. Karna participates with Duryodhana in schemes to effect the downfall of the Pandavas. Duryodhana provides the goals, Karna conspires the means to get there.


title: Karna

text: In the final year of the exile of the Pandavas, Duryodhana plans to sow dissension and keep the entire empire to himself. In contrast, Bhisma and Drona suggest a conciliation and dividing the kingdom into two, half for Kauravas and other for Pandavas. Karna, in contrast, adopts the hawkish approach and becomes the first to suggest a direct confrontation in the form of the Kurukshetra war. He calls for "together we should slay the Pandavas" as the final solution. Karna persistently recommends violence and an all-out war, to settle things once and for all, by good brave warriors. Karna also accuses Bhisma and Drona as covetous materialists and dishonest in counselling Duryodhana with non-violent strategies. Duryodhana has evil intentions and is a bad king, but it is Karna who fuels Duryodhana's ambitions and fights his battles.


title: Karna

text: With Duryodhana, Karna is a key participant in insulting the Pandavas and Draupadi. He humiliates the Pandavas with his gift of speech and mocks Draupadi, then calls her a "whore" and asks Duhshasana to strip her off her clothes. It is Karna's language and insults that hurt the Pandavas and Draupadi the most, a sentiment that is noted in numerous verses of the "Mahabharata" such as 3.13.113 and 5.93.11. Yet, states the "Mahabharata" scholar Alf Hiltebeitel, "remarkably, Karna regrets his harsh words to Draupadi and Pandavas", in verse 5.139.45, where he confesses he spoke so to please Duryodhana.


title: Karna

text: The "Adi Parva" mentions Karna's battle with Drupada, king of Panchala. After the Kauravas and Pandavas finished their training under Drona, the teacher asked his pupils to capture his enemy Drupada as their "Gurudakshina". The Kauravas, accompanied by Karna, attacked first, but were defeated by Drupada. Later Arjuna captured Drupada and freed his cousins and his rival.


title: Karna

text: Pandavas performed Rajasuya yaga. According to this, they have to either defeat or make alliance with other kingdoms. When Bhima came to Anga Kingdom, Karna didn't accept to make alliance due to which a terrific war took place between Bhima and Karna. Each used some of their prominent weapons on the other. At last Bhima defeated Karna but failed to kill because of Karna's "Kavacha" and "Kundala".


title: Karna

text: In the Shanti Parva of Mahabharata, Karna fought with Jarasandha, the powerful ruler of Magadha, in the Swayamvar of daughter (Bhanumati) of Chitrangada of Kalinga. Although Jarasandha was very powerful, Karna defeated him. To please Karna, Jarasandha gifted him the land of Malini.


title: Karna

text: During the exile of the Pandavas, Duryodhana and his allies were captured by Chitrasena, a Gandharva king, for their misdeeds. Karna tried run away from battle-field after getting defeated by Chitrasena but was captured. On knowing this, Yudhishthira asked Arjuna to free them since this would be a humiliation to Hastinapura. Arjuna followed his eldest brother's order and first requested Chitrasena to release Kauravas and Karna. Chitrasena rejected Arjuna's request and asked him to fight with him in order to free Kauravas and Karna. Thus a battle took place. Arjuna used Shabdavedi astra and captured Chitrasena. Arjuna then released his cousins and his rival.


title: Karna

text: The relationship between Karna and the Pandavas, particularly Arjuna, were hostile. The "Mahabharata" mentions Karna as the main challenger of Arjuna at sporting and skills competitions. At martial sporting events, Arjuna and Karna were often equal, though in his self-bragging style Karna once announced, states McGrath, that "he will perform any feat that Arjuna has accomplished and do it better".


title: Karna

text: At the "svayamvara" competition of Draupadi, where she is expected to choose her husband, both Arjuna and Karna are present. Arjuna and his brothers, however, are disguised as mendicant Brahmins. They use this false identity in exile because Duryodhana had attempted to kill them using various schemes, including burning the lacquer house – custom built for the Pandavas by Duryodhana – along with the forest while they were sleeping. There are some variations regarding Karna's participation. Some renditions show Draupadi refusing to marry Karna on account of being a "Sūta", while some other versions describe him failing to string the bow by the "breadth of a hair". In the end, Arjuna succeeds in the task, However Karna objects that the competition is only meant for "Kshatriyas", and Brahmins such as "the mendicant who just strung the bow" should not be competing for the hand of Draupadi, a Kshatriya bride. Duryodhana supports him. The gathered Kshatriyas too angrily support Karna, for they against the mixing of varna (here, Brahmin-Kshatriya marriage). Arjuna maintains his calm, continues to hide his true identity, insists that he is a "Brahmin who fight". Arjuna's accomplishments and calmness win Draupadi's heart. Draupadi picks Arjuna and awards the garland to him, signify that she chooses to marry the disguised-Brahmin Arjuna. The varna-based discrimination and verbal insults on Arjuna, for lovely Draupadi's hand, one that Karna initiates at the time of Draupadi's "svayamvara" competition comes back to haunt him many times through angry Bhima and others who remind Karna that he is merely a "suta-putra" (son of a charioteer). Draupadi too never likes Karna thereafter.


title: Karna

text: Karna fights and berates the Pandavas at the legendary gambling match during the royal consecration ritual. There, Karna uses the choicest words to insult Draupadi that takes the bitterness of Pandava for Karna to much more emotional level from what previously was a dispute about respective martial prowess. These are the sections of the epic when the Pandavas, Arjuna in particular, openly pledge to kill Karna. Karna retaliates with words too, stating that Arjuna's death is so near that he will "not wash his feet until Arjuna is slain".


title: Karna

text: Karna is not proud of his anger and outbursts. Later, in a quieter moment with Krishna such as in section 5.139.45, and to his lifelong friend Duryodhana in section 8.1.7, Karna confides he was wrong in insulting Draupadi and the Pandavas, it is his past karma that haunts him and is a source of his private suffering.


title: Karna

text: Book 5 of the "Mahabharata" describes two meetings where Karna discovers information about his birth. The first meeting is with Krishna, the second where his biological mother Kunti comes to meet him for the first time.


title: Karna

text: Krishna approaches Karna as an ambassador seeking to prevent violence and the war. Krishna starts by complimenting Karna for knowing "the "Vedas" and the subtlety of the "dharmasastras"". He then requests his support to end the cascading cycle of violence and war. Krishna tells Karna that Kunti is his biological mother and Pandavas are his half-brothers. In section 5.138 of the epic, according to McGrath, Krishna states, "by law, Karna should be considered as the eldest born of Pandavas", that he can use this information to become the king. Through his relationship to his mother Kunti, all Vrishnis on Krishna's side will also recognize him and be his tributary, he can be the emperor with power over everyone. Yudhisthira will hold the fan for him as he sits in the throne, Bhima his umbrella, and the common wife of the Pandavas – Draupadi too – says Krishna, may marry to him. after some time, were Karna to press his status as the eldest biological Pandava brother, end the war and rule the world.


title: Karna

text: Karna declines the offer. Karna replies that though he was born from Kunti, it was the wife of a charioteer "Radha who gave him love and sustenance", and that makes her his real mother. Similarly, it is from the love and affection and "not scripture" that he knows Adhiratha to be his real father. He is already married, says Karna, he has two sons and now grandsons, all because his father Adhiratha helped him settle into his married life. What matters most in life are the "bonds of love", according to Karna, and not power over the world. He shall betray no one, remain loyal to those who love him, including his friend Duryodhana, with whom he has been in allegiance for thirteen years. It is not "blood ties" that matter, but how someone treats you over a period of time that does. He made a promise to Duryodhana and he will keep it. It is his duty to fight Arjuna.


title: Karna

text: Krishna then went to Kunti and asked her to meet Karna and tell him that he is her first born son and the Pandavas were his brothers. Krishna left it to her to choose between Karna and her five other sons. Kunti then went to meet Karna, finds him praying. She waits. After he finished his prayers to Surya, Karna meets Kunti for the first time in his adult life. He greets her (he now already knows her to be his biological mother). With folded hands, he introduces himself as the son of Radha and Adhiratha, and inquires about the purpose of her visit. Kunti then confesses that he is her firstborn. Surya also appears and confirms Kunti's story, and suggests that he follow her. Karna says that though he may have been the firstborn, he never received the affection or care from her as the firstborn. "You discarded me", says Karna to Kunti, "you destroyed me in a way that no enemy could ever do to him". It is too late. He reiterates that he loves the parents who raised him, they love him, and he will remain loyal to his lifelong relationships. No one should abandon those who give respect and affection, says Karna in these "Mahabharata" verses. The war momentum shall continue and he aims to kill Arjuna. Karna promised to Kunti that he will not kill any of his other four half-brothers, but either "Arjuna or I" shall die and she can still say she has five sons just as she did all her life.


title: Karna

text: After these developments and pondering on Karna's life choices, the divine Krishna, as well as a host of "Mahabharata" heroes, in private and after his death, honour Karna as a "satpurusha" (lit. "a true, honest, good man") and "the best among those who understand and uphold the "dharma"".


title: Karna

text: Karna was born with aspects of his divine father Surya – the earrings and armour breastplate – that made him an immortal at birth. However, despite being warned, Karna prefers to lose these natural gifts in order to uphold his reputation as the one who always gives "dāna" (charity), particularly to Brahmins, as being more important than his own life.


title: Karna

text: As the battle-to-death between Karna and Arjuna becomes certain, Kunti – the mother of both, faints and later weeps in sorrow that her boys are bent on killing each other. In parallel, Arjuna's brothers and Indra – the father of Arjuna and a major Vedic deity – plan ways to make Karna mortal. Surya meets Karna and warns him of Indra's plan to appear disguised as a Brahmin to divest him of his earrings and breastplate, and thereby his immortality. Karna disregards this warning and says that if the king of gods Indra comes to beg before him, and if he charitably gives to Indra, it will bring him "renown and fame", then argues that "fame is more important to him than anything else". Indra appears as predicted, and Karna cuts his birthmarks of immortality with a knife, and gives the blood-soaked donation to disguised-as-a-Brahmin Indra. The leader of gods in return praises him and gives him a missile that can only be used once and will kill any mortal or immortal.


title: Karna

text: Karna keeps the Indra's missile in reserve since it could only be used once, and aims to kill Arjuna with it. By the thirteenth day of the "Mahabharata" war, numerous soldiers, kings, brothers and sons of Kauravas (Karna's side) and Pandavas (Arjuna's side) had been killed, many by foul means. The war had entered a brutal stage, according to the "Mahabharata" verses in sections 7.150–156. On the fourteenth day, Arjuna took revenge of his own son's death, while Bhima and his son Ghatotkacha wreaked havoc on numerous Kaurava battalions. The war that previously started after sunrise and stopped at sunset, did not stop on the fourteenth day's sunset as both armies continued a ferocious war to kill each other. Bhima's son Ghatotkacha had a "rakshasha" lineage, and his powers of illusion to confuse the enemies grew to enormous proportions as the war dragged deeper into the fifteenth night. Duryodhana and Karna's Kaurava friends plead that they are finished unless Karna does whatever it takes to kill Ghatotkacha. Karna hurls the "Indra missile" to kill Ghatotkacha. Karna thus saves his reputation among his soldiers, launches the missile and kills Ghatotkacha. Duryodhana and Kaurava army rejoice with the death of Bhima's son Ghatotkacha, but now Karna had exhausted the weapon that gave him an advantage over Arjuna.


title: Karna

text: As the second last day of the war and Karna's day of death dawns, Karna asks Duryodhana to convince king Shalya to be his charioteer since he plans to kill Arjuna that day. The South Indian king considers it below his dignity to be a mere charioteer and starts insulting Karna, who retaliates with words. Duryodhana intervenes, praises both, presses Shalya to guide the chariot for the critical battle. Ultimately Shalya agrees. Since all previous commanders of Duryodhana had been killed, he anoints Karna as the "senapati" (commander of all his forces) for the first time. Karna and Shalya head into the battlefield together, though they keep insulting each other's abilities and intent, lack mutual devotion and teamwork. Together they reach Arjuna with Krishna. They battle that day, each showing his martial skills of attack as well as his ability to neutralize all weapons that reach their chariot. Then, the wheel of Karna's chariot gets stuck in the ground. Karna steps out of his chariot and is distracted while trying to unstick it. Arjuna – whose own son was killed by the Kauravas a day ago while he was trying to unstick his chariot's wheel – takes this moment to launch the fatal attack. Karna dies.


title: Karna

text: Karna's family life is hardly mentioned in the "Mahabharata". In the "Udyoga Parva", it is mentioned that he is married to a woman chosen by Adhiratha. In the "Stri Parva", Karna's wife is mentioned as the mother of Vrishasena and Sushena. In many recent adaptations of the "Mahabharata", Karna is depicted married to two women—Vrushali and Supriya. Contradictory to this, the Tamil play Karna Moksham portray Ponnuruvi as his wife, while the regional Kashidasi Mahabharata states her to be Padmavati.


title: Karna

text: In the modern day version of the "Mahabharata", nine sons of Karna are mentioned—Vrishasena, Chitrasena, Satyasena, Sushena, Shatrunjaya, Dvipata, Banasena, Prasena and Vrishaketu.


title: Karna

text: The Karna-Arjuna story has parallels in the Vedic literature and may have emerged from these more ancient themes. According to McGrath, the Vedic mythology is loaded with the legendary and symbolism-filled conflict between Surya (sun) and Indra (clouds, thunder, rain). Indra cripples Surya in the Vedic mythology by detaching his wheel, while Arjuna kills Karna while he tries to fix the wheel that is stuck in the ground. As another example of parallels, Surya too has a birth mother (Night) who abandons him in the Vedic texts and he too considers his adoptive mother (Dawn) who raises him to his bright self as the true mother just like Karna. This idea was first discussed by the philologist Georges Dumézil, who remarked that similar mythology and details are found in other ancient Indo-European stories.


title: Karna

text: Karna resembles various famous characters found in Hindu texts. The attributed author of Mahabharata, the sage Vyasa, was also born from an unwed union of Satyavati and sage Parashara. German Indologist Georg von Simson states that Karna of the "Mahabharata" resembles the Kumbhakarna of the "Ramayana", the demon brother of the main antagonist Ravana of the epic "Ramayana" in their powers to sway the war. Both Karna and Kumbhakarna did not take part in the great wars of their respective epics at the start.


title: Karna

text: Scholars internationally have also drawn parallels with various European mythologies. Karna's "kawach" (breastplate armour) has been compared with that of Achilles's Styx-coated body and with Irish warrior Ferdiad's skin that could not be pierced. He has been compared to the Greek mythological part divine, part human character Achilles on various occasions as they both have divine powers but lack corresponding status.


title: Karna

text: Dharma is a complex concept in the Indian religions. It is not an atomistic or compartmentalized concept, rather incorporates "ways of living, ways of seeing and ways of relating to life's ultimate issues", according to Matilal. Of those issues, ones relating to right or wrong behaviour, duties, rights, and expectations from others are the domain of "dharma-ethics". Karna's story raises the "dharma-ethics" questions both while Karna acts in the epic as well as after his death. These questions arise with the circumstances related to his birth and through his death. Karna chooses loyalty to his lifelong friend and "good policy based on his heart" to be of higher value than accepting Krishna's recommendation that he switch sides and become the king as the eldest son of Kunti based on "dharmasastras". According to Gurcharan Das, the character of Karna in the ancient Hindu epic suggests a social debate between "inherited status" and "deserved status", a debate that remains relevant to the contemporary times. Das writes,


title: Karna

text: As the Karna story unfolds, similar to other stories in epic, it raises moral dilemmas. With each dilemma, the "Mahabharata" presents various sides and shades of answers through the characters. According to Bimal Matilal, the characters face a "choice between irreconcilable obligations", between two good or two poor choices, where complex circumstances must be considered. These circumstances make the evaluation of the choices complicated and a decision difficult, subjective. When circumstances lead to a conflict between two choices that are both right in their own premises, then following one duty becomes "contrary to the duty according to the other". Under these circumstances, there is an inherent subjective weighing of one moral duty against another.


title: Karna

text: According to the "Mahabharata", human conflicts such as those illustrated through Karna-Arjuna conflict are inherently complicated and come with circumstantial depth. During violence and war, where all sides are motivated in part by their own beliefs in what constitutes righteousness, coupled with anger, frustration, and fear, the circumstances are ever more complex, actions irreversible, choices difficult. The choices made by Karna and his opponents must then be reflected upon both in terms of the circumstances and the mesh of multiple relative goods or bads, by characters each with different combinations of human strengths and weaknesses.


title: Karna

text: According to the Indologist Adam Bowles, while the Hindu "Arthashastra" text presents an objective analysis of situations, its "dharmasutras", "dharmasastras" and the epics attempt to deal with the more complex, subjective scenarios of life. The "dharma", according to the "Mahabharata" and as Karna's story illustrates, is "sukshma" (subtle) and subjective to circumstances. According to Julian Woods, these stories suggest that the difficulty isn't really between ""dharma" and "adharma"", but rather "conflict between different "dharmas"". No act, states Woods, on this earth "is wholly good or wholly bad".


title: Karna

text: Karna and other characters in the "Mahabharata", like all human beings, combine a spectrum of good and bad behaviour, intentions and deeds. According to Das, all of the epic's characters including Karna do good deeds, foul deeds, and they are "ineradicable mixture of good and evil". With the assistance of Karna, Duryodhana plotted many evil plans against the Pandavas. Similarly, the Pandavas use foul means in an attempt to win a war, and Arjuna sets aside the Hindu behavioural code for "just war" when Karna becomes defenceless and distracted by his chariot's stuck wheel.


title: Karna

text: According to the "Mahabharata" scholar Sukthankur, as quoted by Indologist Adarkar, there are apparent contradictions in Karna's character. His behaviour reflects a "frustration complex" that makes sense in light of the circumstances of his birth and early life. Karna is a mirror with "insights into human nature" and how circumstances have the ability to shape human behaviour and one's personality. Karna is not evil, just a misfit or a rebel, an inspiring character if viewed from one set of values and an abnormal character from another set of values. Other characters in the epic, on both sides, present behaviour conflicted hues of human behaviour in difficult circumstances. Karna is cruel in some situations such as against Draupadi, a behaviour he himself regrets in the pages of the "Mahabharata". To the victim Draupadi, it was a violence she would never forget nor live with, and Karna's personal regrets did not balance out her sexual humiliation in public. The reader and epic's audience can empathize with his psychology, as well as the psychology and the counter-behaviour of his victims.


title: Karna

text: According to Adarkar, the Karna story also illustrates a different paradigm, one that transcends the Oedipal theories and evolutionary models of human behaviour. The Karna narrative resonates deeply with some in part because of his "heroic steadfastness" ("dhirata"), being comfortable with who he is, his beliefs and acting according to his "dharma" rather than being someone who evolves and changes as he studies martial arts, or because of Krishna's advice, or Kunti's confession that Karna is her firstborn. He refuses to wear "Emperor's New Clothes", states Adarkar, and thus "being revealed as a fraud" and ever-adapting to new psychological garb. He loves the parents who adopted him, he loves his friends and heritage. Karna exemplifies a personality that does not "discard identity after identity, but rather one who thrives by accepting and steadfastly hanging on to a meaningful identity". A more modern era example of Karna-like human behaviour was in Mahatma Gandhi, who "after getting well-educated in a British law school and gaining international experience", steadfastly felt more empowered to embrace his heritage and culture rather than abandon or transcend it.


title: Karna

text: Karna is the flawed tragic hero of the Mahabharata. He is martially adept and equal to Arjuna as a warrior, a gifted speaker who embeds provocative insults for his opponents in front of an audience. He does the right thing ("dharma") yet is cruel and mean ("adharma"). He never questions the ethics of his lifelong friend Duryodhana rather conspires and abets in Duryodhana's quest for power through the abuse of his opponents. He complains of ""dharma" failed him" on the day of his death, yet in his abuse of Draupadi, he himself ignores the "dharma". He is a victim of his circumstances beyond his choosing, as much as the cause of circumstances that victimize other flawed heroes of the epic. His life story raises compassion, sorrow with an impending sense of destruction and fear ("phobos" and "eleos") in the audience, as any good tragic drama. According to the Indologist Daniel Ingalls, the Karna character refutes the ""bon mot" that Indian poets knew no tragedy" before the colonial British introduced European literature to the Indians. Karna, and many Rajput ballads, are clearly tragedies in the Aristotlean and Elizabethan sense, states Ingalls.


title: Karna

text: According to Julian Woods, Karna is a "tragic antihero" of the epic. He is both generous to the Brahmins yet arrogant and cruel to the Pandavas. He bitterly opposes the Pandavas and is the pillar of support to the Kauravas, yet as he nears his fatal battle, he is also willing to accept his mistakes and recognize the good in Yudhisthira and the Pandavas he opposes.


title: Karna

text: The Karna story has been retold and adapted into drama, plays and dance performances in India and southeast Asia. These versions vary significantly from each other as well as the "Mahabharata" manuscript.


title: Karna

text: Rabindranath Tagore wrote a poem, "Karna Kunti Sangbad" based on the meeting of Karna and Kunti before the war. Karna also has been topic of various contemporary literary works. The Marathi books of "Radheya" (1973) authored by Ranjit Desai and "Mrityunjay" (1967) authored by Shivaji Sawant bring forth a fictionalized account of Karna's private and personal life. Sawant also received Moortidevi Award, instituted by Bharatiya Jnanpith, for his work and was translated into nine languages. Ramdhari Singh Dinkar in 1978 published an epic poem "Rashmirathi" (translation: One who rides the Chariot of light, 1952) which narrates Karna's life. The poem has later also been adapted as a play.


title: Nirvana

text: In Indian religions, nirvana is synonymous with "moksha" and "mukti". All Indian religions assert it to be a state of perfect quietude, freedom, highest happiness as well as the liberation from attachment and worldly suffering and the ending of "samsara", the round of existence. However, non-Buddhist and Buddhist traditions describe these terms for liberation differently. In Hindu philosophy, it is the union of or the realization of the identity of Atman with Brahman, depending on the Hindu tradition. In Jainism, nirvana is also the soteriological goal, representing the release of a soul from karmic bondage and samsara. In the Buddhist context, nirvana refers to realization of non-self and emptiness, marking the end of rebirth by stilling the fires that keep the process of rebirth going. To achieve this status, one has to get rid of three psychological evils – Raga (greed, desire), Dwesha (anger) and Moha (delusion).


title: Nirvana

text: The ideas of spiritual liberation, with the concept of soul and Brahman, appears in Vedic texts and Upanishads, such as in verse 4.4.6 of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad.


title: Nirvana

text: The term "nirvana" in the soteriological sense of "blown out, extinguished" state of liberation appears at many places in Vedas particularly in Bhagavata Purana, however populist opinion does not give credit to either the Vedas or the Upanishads. Erroneously Collins states, "the Buddhists seem to have been the first to call it "nirvana"." This may have been deliberate use of words in early Buddhism, suggests Collins, since Atman and Brahman were described in Vedic texts and Upanishads with the imagery of fire, as something good, desirable and liberating. Collins says the word "nirvāṇa" is from the verbal root "blow" in the form of past participle "blown", prefixed with the preverb meaning "out". Hence the original meaning of the word is "blown out, extinguished". (Sandhi changes the sounds: the "v" of causes to become , and then the "r" of causes retroflexion of the following "n": "+" > "nirvāṇa"). However the Buddhist meaning of nirvana also has other interpretations.


title: Nirvana

text: L. S. Cousins said that in popular usage nirvana was "the goal of Buddhist discipline... the final removal of the disturbing mental elements which obstruct a peaceful and clear state of mind, together with a state of awakening from the mental sleep which they induce."


title: Nirvana

text: Nirvāṇa is a term found in the texts of all major Indian religions – Hinduism, Jainism Buddhism, and Sikhism. It refers to the profound peace of mind that is acquired with "moksha", liberation from samsara, or release from a state of suffering, after respective spiritual practice or sādhanā.


title: Nirvana

text: The liberation from Saṃsāra developed as an ultimate goal and soteriological value in the Indian culture, and called by different terms such as nirvana, moksha, mukti and kaivalya. This basic scheme underlies Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism, where "the ultimate aim is the timeless state of "moksa", or, as the Buddhists first seem to have called it, nirvana." Although the term occurs in the literatures of a number of ancient Indian traditions, the concept is most commonly associated with Buddhism. Some writers believe the concept was adopted by other Indian religions after it became established in Buddhism, but with different meanings and description, for instance the use of ("Moksha") in the Hindu text "Bhagavad Gita" of the "Mahabharata".


title: Nirvana

text: The idea of "moksha" is connected to the Vedic culture, where it conveyed a notion of "amrtam", "immortality", and also a notion of a "timeless", "unborn", or "the still point of the turning world of time". It was also its timeless structure, the whole underlying "the spokes of the invariable but incessant wheel of time". The hope for life after death started with notions of going to the worlds of the Fathers or Ancestors and/or the world of the Gods or Heaven.


title: Nirvana

text: The earliest Vedic texts incorporate the concept of life, followed by an afterlife in heaven and hell based on cumulative virtues (merit) or vices (demerit). However, the ancient Vedic Rishis challenged this idea of afterlife as simplistic, because people do not live an equally moral or immoral life. Between generally virtuous lives, some are more virtuous; while evil too has degrees, and either permanent heaven or permanent hell is disproportionate. The Vedic thinkers introduced the idea of an afterlife in heaven or hell in proportion to one's merit, and when this runs out, one returns and is reborn. The idea of rebirth following "running out of merit" appears in Buddhist texts as well. This idea appears in many ancient and medieval texts, as "Saṃsāra", or the endless cycle of life, death, rebirth and redeath, such as section 6:31 of the "Mahabharata" and verse 9.21 of the "Bhagavad Gita". The Saṃsara, the life after death, and what impacts rebirth came to be seen as dependent on karma.


title: Nirvana

text: Nirvana ("nibbana") literally means "blowing out" or "quenching". It is the most used as well as the earliest term to describe the soteriological goal in Buddhism: release from the cycle of rebirth ("saṃsāra"). Nirvana is part of the Third Truth on "cessation of dukkha" in the Four Noble Truths doctrine of Buddhism. It is the goal of the Noble Eightfold Path.


title: Nirvana

text: The Buddha is believed in the Buddhist scholastic tradition to have realized two types of nirvana, one at enlightenment, and another at his death. The first is called (nirvana with a remainder), the second "parinirvana" or (nirvana without remainder, or final nirvana).


title: Nirvana

text: In the Buddhist tradition, nirvana is described as the extinguishing of the "fires" that cause rebirths and associated suffering. The Buddhist texts identify these "three fires" or "three poisons" as "raga" (greed, sensuality), "dvesha" (aversion, hate) and "avidyā" or "moha" (ignorance, delusion).


title: Nirvana

text: The state of nirvana is also described in Buddhism as cessation of all afflictions, cessation of all actions, cessation of rebirths and suffering that are a consequence of afflictions and actions. Liberation is described as identical to "anatta" (, non-self, lack of any self). In Buddhism, liberation is achieved when all things and beings are understood to be with no Self. Nirvana is also described as identical to achieving "sunyata" (emptiness), where there is no essence or fundamental nature in anything, and everything is empty.


title: Nirvana

text: In time, with the development of Buddhist doctrine, other interpretations were given, such as being an unconditioned state, a fire going out for lack of fuel, abandoning weaving ("vana") together of life after life, and the elimination of desire. However, Buddhist texts have asserted since ancient times that nirvana is more than "destruction of desire", it is "the object of the knowledge" of the Buddhist path.


title: Nirvana

text: The most ancient texts of Hinduism such as the Vedas and early Upanishads don't mention the soteriological term Nirvana. This term is found in texts such as the Bhagavad Gita and the Nirvana Upanishad, likely composed in the post-Buddha era. The concept of Nirvana is described differently in Buddhist and Hindu literature. Hinduism has the concept of Atman – the soul, self – asserted to exist in every living being, while Buddhism asserts through its "anatman" doctrine that there is no Atman in any being. Nirvana in Buddhism is "stilling mind, cessation of desires, and action" unto emptiness, states Jeaneane Fowler, while nirvana in post-Buddhist Hindu texts is also "stilling mind but not inaction" and "not emptiness", rather it is the knowledge of true Self (Atman) and the acceptance of its universality and unity with Brahman.


title: Nirvana

text: The ancient soteriological concept in Hinduism is moksha, described as the liberation from the cycle of birth and death through self-knowledge and the eternal connection of Atman (soul, self) and metaphysical Brahman. Moksha is derived from the root () which means free, let go, release, liberate; Moksha means "liberation, freedom, emancipation of the soul". In the Vedas and early Upanishads, the word mucyate () appears, which means to be set free or release - such as of a horse from its harness.


title: Nirvana

text: The traditions within Hinduism state that there are multiple paths () to moksha: , the path of knowledge; , the path of devotion; and , the path of action.


title: Nirvana

text: The term Brahma-nirvana appears in verses 2.72 and 5.24-26 of the Bhagavad Gita. It is the state of release or liberation; the union with the Brahman. According to Easwaran, it is an experience of blissful egolessness.


title: Nirvana

text: According to Zaehner, Johnson and other scholars, "nirvana" in the Gita is a Buddhist term adopted by the Hindus. Zaehner states it was used in Hindu texts for the first time in the Bhagavad Gita, and that the idea therein in verse 2.71-72 to "suppress one's desires and ego" is also Buddhist. According to Johnson the term "nirvana" is borrowed from the Buddhists to confuse the Buddhists, by linking the Buddhist nirvana state to the pre-Buddhist Vedic tradition of metaphysical absolute called Brahman.


title: Nirvana

text: According to Mahatma Gandhi, the Hindu and Buddhist understanding of "nirvana" are different because the nirvana of the Buddhists is shunyata, emptiness, but the nirvana of the Gita means peace and that is why it is described as brahma-nirvana (oneness with Brahman).


title: Nirvana

text: Uttaradhyana Sutra provides an account of Sudharman – also called Gautama, and one of the disciples of Mahavira – explaining the meaning of nirvana to Kesi, a disciple of Parshva.


title: Nirvana

text: The concept of liberation as "extinction of suffering", along with the idea of "sansara" as the "cycle of rebirth" is also part of Sikhism. Nirvana appears in Sikh texts as the term "Nirban". However, the more common term is "Mukti" or "Moksh", a salvation concept wherein loving devotion to God is emphasized for liberation from endless cycle of rebirths.


title: Nirvana

text: In sikhism Nirvana is not an after life concept but a goal for the living. Furthermore Sikh nirvana/mukti is achieved thru devotion to satguru/truth who sets you free from reincarnation bharam/superstition/false belief.


title: Nirvana

text: The term "Nirvana" (also mentioned is "parinirvana") is in the 13th or 14th century Manichaean work "The great song to Mani" and "The story of the Death of Mani", referring to the realm of light.


title: Resin

text: In polymer chemistry and materials science, resin is a solid or highly viscous substance of plant or synthetic origin that is typically convertible into polymers. Resins are usually mixtures of organic compounds. This article focuses on naturally occurring resins.


title: Resin

text: Plants secrete resins for their protective benefits in response to injury. The resin protects the plant from insects and pathogens. Resins confound a wide range of herbivores, insects, and pathogens, while the volatile phenolic compounds may attract benefactors such as parasitoids or predators of the herbivores that attack the plant.


title: Resin

text: Most plant resins are composed of terpenes. Specific components are alpha-pinene, beta-pinene, delta-3 carene, and sabinene, the monocyclic terpenes limonene and terpinolene, and smaller amounts of the tricyclic sesquiterpenes, longifolene, caryophyllene, and delta-cadinene. Some resins also contain a high proportion of resin acids. Rosins on the other hand are less volatile and consist of diterpenes among other compounds.


title: Resin

text: Examples of plant resins include amber, Balm of Gilead, balsam, Canada balsam, copal from trees of "Protium copal" and "Hymenaea courbaril", dammar gum from trees of the family Dipterocarpaceae, dragon's blood from the dragon trees ("Dracaena" species), elemi, frankincense from "Boswellia sacra", galbanum from "Ferula gummosa", gum guaiacum from the lignum vitae trees of the genus "Guaiacum", kauri gum from trees of "Agathis australis", hashish (Cannabis resin) from "Cannabis indica", labdanum from mediterranean species of "Cistus", mastic (plant resin) from the mastic tree "Pistacia lentiscus", myrrh from shrubs of "Commiphora", sandarac resin from "Tetraclinis articulata", the national tree of Malta, styrax (a Benzoin resin from various "Styrax" species) and spinifex resin from Australian grasses.


title: Resin

text: Amber is fossil resin (also called resinite) from coniferous and other tree species. Copal, kauri gum, dammar and other resins may also be found as subfossil deposits. Subfossil copal can be distinguished from genuine fossil amber because it becomes tacky when a drop of a solvent such as acetone or chloroform is placed on it.