The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (1525 page)

 
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(Heb., ‘scroll’). Each of the ‘five scrolls’ in the Hebrew Bible. The books of
Ruth
, Song of Songs,
Lamentations
,
Ecclesiastes
, and
Esther
are all referred to as ‘megillot’ (pl.), but later, Megillah came to refer to Esther alone. The term also refers to the tenth tractate in the Order
Mo‘ed
in the
Mishnah
.

 
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(Heb., ‘Scroll of Fasting’). An Aramaic 1st/2nd cent. CE work listing days prohibited for fasting for the Jews. The list contains thirty-six days on which victories or happy events occurred.

 
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1894–1969).
An Indian spiritual master and founder of the Meher Baba movement. Baba claimed to be the final
avat
ra
or manifestation of God, who unfolded his truth in the form of three fundamental precepts—good thoughts, good words, good deeds—through
Zoroaster
,
R
ma
,
K
a
,
Buddha
, Jesus, and
Mu
ammad
, all of whom were avat
ras of a previous age. Baba declared, and his disciples or ‘Baba lovers’ believe, that his love sustains the universe. In 1924, he established a community at Meherabad, near Ahmednegar, with shelter and health care for the poor. In 1925, he announced that he was entering ‘the Silence’; by 1954, all communication had been reduced to gestures.
The Baba's tomb at Meherabad is now a centre of pilgrimage. While it has attracted several thousand people in the West since the 1950s, the overwhelming majority of ‘Baba lovers’ are still to be found in India.