The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (280 page)

, and the practice of astrology did not abate, at least at the popular level.

 
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(Skt., ‘not-beautiful’). The contemplation in Buddhism of disgusting objects, sometimes equated with reflection on the unpleasing features of the body, especially of corpses in different stages of decay. It is thus a dramatic instance of
memento mori
.

 
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(Skt.), power-seeking and power-hungry being, not unlike a Titan, often, but somewhat misleadingly translated as ‘demon’; or,
an
rya
(non-
ryan
) people of ancient India. The derivation of asura is uncertain.
Asuras are not necessarily evil, nor are devas necessarily good. They are consubstantial, distinguished only by their mutual opposition, which is not conceived as an absolute ethical
dualism
.

 
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(2nd cent. CE).
A court poet of the Kus
na king Kani
ka and author of literary works in Sanskrit on Buddhist themes. He is known to be the author of three such works:
The Acts of the Buddha
(
Buddhacarita
),
Nanda the Fair
(
Saundarananda
), and
The Story of Sariputra
(
S
riputraprakara
a
). His most famous work is the first of these, a biography of the
Buddha
in epic
mah
k
vya
style.