The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (92 page)

 
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(Yoruba, ‘happy city’). A utopian Christian community, the Holy Apostles, in Nigeria, founded by a group of persecuted members of the
aladura
-type Cherubim and Seraphim society. In 1947 they migrated to a mudbank in the coastal lagoons 160 miles east of Lagos, built a model town on piles, and set up a radical form of economic communism under a priest-chief. Several branch communities developed, but by the 1970s internal dissension and litigation had appeared and the original impetus had faded.

 
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(Jap.; Skt., R
gar
ja or Vajrar
japriya). In Japanese esoteric Buddhism, a protective deity who destroys all evils and passions.

 
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(Skt., ‘the one-footed goat’). A
Vedic
god. The exact nature of Aja Ekap
d is obscure. He is mentioned only six times in
g Veda
, usually in connection with Ahi Budhnya, an atmospheric deity. Later traditions connect Aja Ekap
d with
Agni
or the sun. He has been interpreted as Agni in the form of lightning.