The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (678 page)

Divine messengers
(the reminders of human destiny in Buddhism: sickness, old age, and death)
:

see
DEVA-D
TA
.

 
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Divine right of kings
.

A high view of monarchy resting on biblical texts which associate kings closely with God through their anointing. Because of this sacramental association, the early view held that the character of the king was irrelevant: the virtue lay in the office, not in the person. The execution of Charles I did not break the hold of this belief (indeed, it contributed to the view that Charles I was a
martyr
, to be remembered as such in the
Book of Common Prayer
); it persisted as a motive for many of the non-Jurors. They refused to accept the accession of William and Mary, on the ground that this involved breaking their previous oath to James II and his successors. The divine right of kings meant that at most they could engage in passive obedience to the usurper. Nine
bishops
(including the
archbishop
of Canterbury, W. Sancroft) and about 400 priests were deprived of their posts. Sancroft perpetuated the succession of non-juring bishops by securing the
congé d’élire
from James II in exile. Gradually the non-Jurors were absorbed into the Anglican Church, the last bishop, Robert Gordon, dying in 1779.

 
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Divorce
:

see
MARRIAGE
.

 
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Divya-Prabandham
(Tamil hymns and poems)
:

see
NAL-
YIRA-DIVYA-PRABANDHAM
.

 
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Divya-siddhis
.

Praeternatural powers in Hinduism arising through meditation, which may nevertheless be highly dangerous—either physically to the meditator, or by way of distraction, as of a child by toys.

 
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Divy
vad
na
.