The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (228 page)

BOOK: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions
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Apotheosis
(Gk.,
apo
, ‘from’, +
theoun
, ‘to deify’). The elevation of a human being to the rank and status of a god. See also
EUHEMERISM
.
Apotropaic
(Gk. ‘turn away from’). Name given to
rituals
designed to turn away some threatened or threatening evil.
Appar
(Late 6th or 7th cent. CE).
A
Tamil
poet, one of the sixty-three
N
ya
m
rs
. A devotee of
iva
, his 312 surviving hymns remain in use. He is a model of the self-effacing servant of the Lord.
Aprati
hita-nirv
na
(Skt., ‘not-fixed nirv
na’). The state, in
Mah
y
na
Buddhism of one who has attained
nirv
na
, but suspends final attainment in order to help those who are still on the path to liberation—i.e. a
bodhisattva
.

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