(P. A. K.; J. T. Be.)
KALUGA, the chief town of the above government, situated on the left bank of the Oka, 117 m. S.W. of Moscow by rail, in 54° 31′ N. and 36° 6′ E. Pop. (1870), 36,880; (1897) 49,728. It is the see of a Greek Orthodox bishop. The public buildings include the cathedral of the Trinity (rebuilt in the 19th century in place of an older edifice dating from 1687), two monastic establishments, an ecclesiastical seminary, and a lunatic asylum. The principal articles of industrial production are leather, oil, bast mats, wax candles, starch and Kaluga cakes. The first historical mention of Kaluga occurs in 1389; its incorporation with the principality of Moscow took place in 1518. In 1607 it was held by the second false Demetrius and vainly besieged for four months by the forces of Shuisky, who had ascended the Russian throne as Basil IV. on the death of the first false Demetrius. In 1619 Kaluga fell into the hands of the hetman or chief of the Zaporozhian Cossacks. Later two-thirds of its inhabitants were carried off by a plague; and in 1622 the whole place was laid waste by a conflagration. It recovered, however, in spite of several other conflagrations (especially in 1742 and 1754). On several occasions Kaluga was the residence of political prisoners; among others Shamyl, the Lesghian chief, spent his exile there (1859-1870).
KALYAN, a town of British India, in the Thana district of Bombay, situated 33 m. N.E. of Bombay city, where the two main lines of the Great Indian Peninsula railway diverge. Pop. (1901), 10,749. There is a considerable industry of rice-husking. Kalyan is known to have been the capital of a kingdom and a centre of sea-borne commerce in the early centuries of the Christian era. The oldest remains now existing are of Mahommedan times.
KAMA, or Kamadeva, in Hindu mythology, the god of love. He is variously stated to have been the child of Brahma or Dharma (virtue). In the Rig Veda, Kama (desire) is described as the first movement that arose in the One after it had come into life through the power of fervour or abstraction. In the Atharva-Veda Kama does not mean sexual desire, but rather the yearning after the good of all created things. Later Kama is simply the Hindu Cupid. While attempting to lure Siva to sin, he was destroyed by a fiery glance of the goddess’ third eye. Thus in Hindu poetry Kama is known as Ananga, the “bodiless god.” Kama’s wife Rati (voluptuousness) mourned him so greatly that Siva relented, and he was reborn as the child of Krishna and Rukmini. The babe was called Pradyumna (Cupid). He is represented armed with a bow of sugar-cane; it is strung with bees, and its five arrows are tipped with flowers which overcome the five senses. A fish adorns his flag, and he rides a parrot or sparrow, emblematic of lubricity.
KĀMALĀ, a red powder formerly used in medicine as an anthelmintic and employed in India as a yellow dye. It is obtained from Mallotus philippinensis, Müll., a small euphorbiaceous tree from 20 to 45 ft. in height, distributed from southern Arabia in the west to north Australia and the Philippines in the east. In India kāmalā has several ancient Sanskrit names, one of which, kapila, signifies dusky or tawny red. Under the name of wars, kanbil, or qinbil, kāmalā appears to have been known to the Arabian physicians as a remedy for tapeworm and skin diseases as early as the 10th century, and indeed is mentioned by Paulus Ægineta still earlier. The drug was formerly in the British Pharmacopoeia, but is inferior to many other anthelmintics and is not now employed.