The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (100 page)

(Gk., ‘not sitting’, because it is sung standing). A Greek
hymn
in twenty-four stanzas in honour of the Virgin
Mary
. It is sung in
Orthodox churches
on the fifth Saturday in
Lent
.

 
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1542–1605).
One of the ablest rulers of
Mughal
India, who built a durable base for stable Muslim rule. Akbar ruled for forty-eight years and created a strong central government to administer the vast Mughal empire; he extended it from Afghanistan to the Godavari river in S. India.
During the latter part of his reign, Akbar, while maintaining that he remained Muslim, promulgated D
n-i-Il
h
(Divine Faith, also called Taw
d-i Il
h
) as a new religion for his empire. It was a syncretization of various creeds and an attempt to create a pure theism. Although he was illiterate himself, he founded an ‘Ib
dat-kh
na (house of worship) where leaders of different religions could discuss their faiths. However, Akbar's D
n-i-Il
h
met with very little success (it was strongly opposed by
A
mad Sirhind