Maha

Maha may refer to:

Vir

Vir (pronounced [v̞îːr]; Italian: Puntadura, Dalmatian: Punta de Ura), an island on the Croatian coast of the Adriatic Sea with an area of 22 km², lies north of the city of Zadar. It is connected to the mainland via a road bridge. The main village on the island, the eponymous village of Vir, had a population of 1,608 As of 2001. There are two more villages, Lozice and Torovi. The highest peak on the island is Bandira (112 m).

History

The first known mention of Vir was in Mare Nostrum Dalmaticum (1069), a charter by king Peter Krešimir IV, where the island is referred to as Ueru (Veru), a word believed to have an ancient Mediterranean origin, meaning "pasture".

Overpopulation

Vir is notorious/famous for its overpopulation during the summer holiday season. The cause of this is the fact that there are hundreds of smaller and larger privately owned resort-houses on it. These houses arose in the 1980s after the then Yugoslav government at one point considered building a nuclear power plant on Vir because it was so barren. Because of that, the real-estate prices dropped so low that, atypically, many people could buy a parcel of land there.

Maha Vir Chakra

The Maha Vir Chakra (MVC) (literally great warrior medal) is the second highest military decoration in India, after the Param Vir Chakra, and is awarded for acts of conspicuous gallantry in the presence of the enemy, whether on land, at sea or in the air. It replaced the British Distinguished Service Order (DSO). The medal may be awarded posthumously.

Appearance

The medal is made of standard silver and is circular in shape. Embossed on the obverse is a five pointed heraldic star with circular center-piece bearing the gilded state emblem of India in the center. The words "Mahavira Chakra" are embossed in Devanagari and English on the reverse with two lotus flowers in the middle. The decoration is worn on the left chest with a half-white and half-orange riband about 3.2 cm in width, the orange being near the left shoulder.

History

More than 155 acts of bravery and selfless courage have been recognized since the inception of the medal. The most MVCs awarded in a single conflict was in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, when eleven were given to the Indian Air Force.

Vir Chakra

Vir Chakra is an Indian gallantry award presented for acts of bravery in the battlefield. It replaced the British Distinguished Service Cross (DSC), Military Cross (MC) and Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC). Award of the decoration carries with it the right to use Vr.C. as a postnominal abbreviation (note the care to distinguish this abbreviation from that for the Victoria Cross (V.C.). It is third in precedence in the war time gallantry awards and comes after the Param Vir Chakra and Maha Vir Chakra.

Origin

Established by the President of India on 26 January 1950 (with effect from 15 August 1947). The statutes were amended 12 January 1952 to readjust the order of wearing as new decorations were established.

Appearance

The medal is 1-3/8 inch circular silver medal. A five pointed star, with the chakra in the center, and, on this, the domed gilded state emblem. The decoration is named on the rim and suspended from a swiveling straight-bar suspender. The decoration is almost always named and dated on the edge. Around a plain center, two legends separated by lotus flowers; above Vir Chakra in Hindi and in English. The ribbon is 32 mm, half dark blue and half orange-saffron. Dark blue 16 mm, saffron 16 mm.

Param Vir

Param Vir (born 1952) is a British composer originally from India.

Born in Delhi into a family life permeated with Indian classical music, Param Vir's strong interest in music developed as a teenager when attending a Roman Catholic secondary school and had informal lessons from composer Hans-Joachim Koellreutter, then resident in India. With no prospects as a composer in India, he read history and philosophy at Delhi University, but returned to music on graduation in 1974 as a teacher. From 1983 Vir studied composition at Dartington with Peter Maxwell Davies and at Guildhall School of Music and Drama with Oliver Knussen. In 1986 Vir was a composition fellow and Tanglewood. The following year he was a featured composer in the Festival of India in Geneva.

His works include Horse Tooth White Rock (1994) and the operas Snatched by the Gods and Broken Strings (a double bill commissioned for the Munich Biennale of 1992), and Ion, given at the Aldeburgh Festival in 2000. He has won, among other prizes, the Tippett Award and the Britten Prize.