Plisetskaya, Maya, 1925-, Russian dancer. Pliesetskaya became a soloist with the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow on graduating from its school in 1943. She soon gained recognition as one of the world's foremost ballerinas, combining flawless technique with a sensitivity to emotional nuance. Her roles ranged from Odette-Odile in the romantic Swan Lake to the passionate title role in Carmen. Her memoir, I, Maya Plistetskaya (tr. 2001), reveals the difficulties she suffered as an artist in the Soviet Union.

Angelou, Maya, 1928-, African-American writer and performer, b. St. Louis, Mo. as Marguerite Johnson. She toured Europe and Africa in the musical Porgy and Bess (1954-55), then sang in New York City nightclubs, joined the Harlem Writers Guild, and took part in several off-Broadway productions, including Genet's The Blacks and her own Cabaret for Freedom (1960). During the 1960s she was active in the African-American political movement; she subsequently spent several years in Ghana as editor of the African Review. Her six autobiographical volumes (1970-2002), beginning with I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, have generally been well-received. She has also published several volumes of poetry, including And I Still Rise (1987). Angelou read her poem "On the Pulse of Morning" at the inauguration of President Clinton in 1993.

maya, in Hinduism, term used in the Veda to mean magic or supernatural power. In Mahayana Buddhism it acquires the meaning of illusion or unreality. The term is pivotal in the Vedanta system of Shankara, where it signifies the world as a cosmic illusion and also the power that creates the world.

In Hinduism, a powerful force that creates the cosmic illusion that the phenomenal world is real. The word maya originally referred to the wizardry with which a god can make human beings believe in what turns out to be an illusion, and its philosophical sense is an extension of this meaning. The concept is especially important in the Advaita school of the orthodox system of Vedanta, which sees maya as the cosmic force that presents the infinite Brahman as the finite phenomenal world.

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(born Nov. 20, 1925, Moscow, Russia, U.S.S.R.) Russian prima ballerina. She studied at the Bolshoi Ballet's school in Moscow and joined the company as a soloist in 1943. Noted for her technical virtuosity and ability to integrate acting with dancing, she toured worldwide with the Bolshoi Ballet and appeared as a guest artist with several companies, including the Paris Opéra. She also danced in several films, including Swan Lake (1957). In the 1980s she was a guest ballet director in Rome and then in Madrid.

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(born Nov. 20, 1925, Moscow, Russia, U.S.S.R.) Russian prima ballerina. She studied at the Bolshoi Ballet's school in Moscow and joined the company as a soloist in 1943. Noted for her technical virtuosity and ability to integrate acting with dancing, she toured worldwide with the Bolshoi Ballet and appeared as a guest artist with several companies, including the Paris Opéra. She also danced in several films, including Swan Lake (1957). In the 1980s she was a guest ballet director in Rome and then in Madrid.

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orig. Marguerite Johnson

(born April 4, 1928, St. Louis, Mo., U.S.) U.S. poet. She was raped at age eight and went through a period of muteness. Her autobiographical works, which explore themes of economic, racial, and sexual oppression, include I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1970), The Heart of a Woman (1981), and All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes (1986). Her poetry collections include Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'fore I Diiie (1971), And Still I Rise (1978), and I Shall Not Be Moved (1990). Her recitation of a poem she wrote for Bill Clinton's first inauguration (1993) brought her widespread fame. In 2002 she published her sixth volume of memoirs, A Song Flung Up to Heaven.

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Group of Mesoamerican Indians who between AD 250 and 900 developed one of the Western Hemisphere's greatest civilizations. By AD 200 they had developed cities containing palaces, temples, plazas, and ball courts. They used stone tools to quarry the immense quantities of stone needed for those structures; their sculpture and relief carving were also highly developed. Mayan hieroglyphic writing survives in books and inscriptions. Mayan mathematics featured positional notation and the use of the zero; Mayan astronomy used an accurately determined solar year and precise tables of the positions of Venus and the Moon. Calendrical accuracy was important for the elaborate rituals and ceremonies of the Mayan religion, which was based on a pantheon of gods. Ritual bloodletting, torture, and human sacrifice were employed in an attempt to propitiate the gods, ensure fertility, and stave off cosmic chaos. At the height of its Classic period, Mayan civilization included more than 40 cities of 5,000–50,000 people. After 900 the civilization declined rapidly for unknown reasons. Descendants of the Maya are now subsistence farmers in southern Mexico and Guatemala. Seealso Chichén Itzá; Copán; Lacandón; Maya codices; Maya language; Quiché; Tikal; Tzeltal; Tzotzil; Uxmal.

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orig. Marguerite Johnson

(born April 4, 1928, St. Louis, Mo., U.S.) U.S. poet. She was raped at age eight and went through a period of muteness. Her autobiographical works, which explore themes of economic, racial, and sexual oppression, include I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1970), The Heart of a Woman (1981), and All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes (1986). Her poetry collections include Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'fore I Diiie (1971), And Still I Rise (1978), and I Shall Not Be Moved (1990). Her recitation of a poem she wrote for Bill Clinton's first inauguration (1993) brought her widespread fame. In 2002 she published her sixth volume of memoirs, A Song Flung Up to Heaven.

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Maya may refer to:

People and languages

• The Maya peoples, peoples of southern Mexico and northern Central America
• Maya civilization, their historical pre-Columbian civilization
• Mayan languages, the family of languages spoken by the Maya
• Yucatec Maya language, specific and most widespread Mayan language, frequently referred to simply as Maya
• Maya people (Australia), an Australian Aboriginal tribe
• Maya language (Australia), an Aboriginal language
• Badimaya language, an Aboriginal language of Australia, also known as "Parti-Maya"
• Maya language (Brazil), an unclassified language that may be related to the Panoan languages
• Maya (given name), the name.

Religion and mythology

• Maya (illusion), the word for "illusion" in Sanskrit and a concept in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism (Dharmic philosophy)
• Maya (Jainism), translated as "greed"; one of the 18 traditional undesirables in Jainism
• Mayasura, a Hindu demon often known by the name Maya
• Queen Maya, the mother of the historical Buddha
• Mahamaya - "Great Maya" - a Vajrayana Buddhist Tantra & meditational deity

Historical persons or events

• Battle of Maya, a 1813 battle of the Peninsular War, between British and French forces
• Maya (Egyptian) (13th century BC), the treasurer to Pharaoh Tutankhamun of Egypt
• Maya (Korean singer) (b. 1979), K-Pop singer
• Maya Angelou (b. 1928), African-American author and poet
• Maya Bond (b. 2000), Japanese American singer
• Maya Bond (actress) (b. 1931), Canadian actress
• Maya Bouskilla (b. 1977), Israeli singer
• Maya Deren (1917-1961), American avant-garde filmmaker
• Maya Dolas (1966-1991), Indian gangster
• Maya Gabeira (b. 1987), Brazilian surfer and daughter of the politician Fernando Gabeira
• Maya Gold (b. 1981), stage name of a Hungarian pornographic actress
• Maya Jobarteh (b. 1983), Malian kora player
• Maya Lin (b. 1959), American architect and sculptor, designer of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial
• Maya Mishalska (b. 1974), Mexican actress
• Maya Plisetskaya (b. 1925), Russian ballerina
• Maya Ritter (b. 1993), Canadian actress
• Maya Rudolph (b. 1972), American actress and Saturday Night Live cast member

Geographical locations

• Maya, Western Australia, a location in Western Australia
• Maya Biosphere Reserve, a nature reservation in northern Guatemala
• Maya Karimata, an island in West Borneo, Indonesia
• Maya Mountains, a range in Guatemala and Belize
• Maya River, a river in the region of Sakha, Russia
• Mount Maya, a mountain in Kobe, Japan and the namesake of the Navy cruiser

Technology

• Japanese cruiser Maya of the Imperial Japanese Navy
• Maya, the NATO reporting name for Aero L-29 Delfin, a Czech military jet trainer aircraft
• Maya (software), a computer program for creating 3D graphics
• Maya Signature Series, six-string electric guitars created by Washburn Guitars

Culture and art

Fictional characters

• Maya, the original name given to Aelita (Code Lyoko) in the TV show Code Lyoko.
• Maya (Space: 1999), an alien character on the television series Space: 1999
• Maya the Bee, a character in a popular German children's book and television series
• Maya of Mirinoi, the Yellow Ranger in Power Rangers: Lost Galaxy
• Maya Chinn, a character from the American daytime soap opera Passions
• Maya Do'Urden, a sister of Drizzt Do'Urden in Forgotten Realms
• Maya Gallo, a character in the NBC sitcom Just Shoot Me
• Maya (Battlestar Galactica), a character in Battlestar Galactica
• Maya Fey, a character from the Ace Attorney videogame series
• Maya Herrera, a character in the NBC drama series, Heroes
• Maya Santos, a character from Maya & Miguel
• Maya (Killer Instinct), from Killer Instinct 2 and Killer Instinct: Gold.

Art, film, literature, music, TV

• Maya, a 1999 book by Jostein Gaarder
• Maya, An Assamese Monthly Magazine
• Maya, a song by the Incredible String Band from the 1968 album Wee Tam and the Big Huge
• Maya (album), by Banco de Gaia
• Maya (album), by Zubeen Garg, Assam
• Maya (film), a 2001 film by Digvijay Singh
• Maya (1966 film), a 1966 American film starring Sajid Khan and Jay North.
• Maya (TV series), a U.S. television adventure series that ran from 1967 to 1968 and was a follow-up to the 1966 film
• Maya Memsaab, a 1992 Bollywood movie directed by Ketan Mehta
• Maya with Doll, a 1938 painting by Pablo Picasso of his daughter Maya
• Tamperer featuring Maya, a British pop group
• Veil of Maya, a deathcore/technical metal band out of Chicago, Illinois.

Other

• Maya, the Filipino name for the Eurasian Tree Sparrow
• Maya Gold (candy), organic chocolate produced by Green & Black's
• Maya sticks, pieces of resin-rich wood used as a firestarter
• Maya, a Bottlenose Dolphin at the National Aquarium in Baltimore, MD

See also

• Maia
• Majo/Maja