deva (dava)

[Skt. (Hind., etc.), divine, a divinity, a god: see deity. ] 1. In Hindu myth., a god or divinity; one of an order of good spirits, opposed to the asuras, or wicked spirits. The Devas knew the signs, and said, Buddha will go again to help the World. IMG:content-2507.png:[blocks in formation] E. Arnold , Light of Asia, i. 13. devellt, n. An obsolete spelling of devil . 2. [ cap.] [NL.] In zool., a genus of lepidopterous insects. Walker, 1857. dev algate (de-val'gat), a. [NL. * devalgatus, The term Devanagari , which would mean the divine or sacred Nagari, is not used by the natives of India, and seems to have been invented by some ingenious Anglo Indian about the end of the last century. It has, how ever, established itself in works on Indian Palæography, and may be conveniently retained to denote that particular type of the Nagari character employed in printed books for the sacred Sanskrit literature, while the generic term Nagari may serve as the designation of the whole cla of vernacular alphabets of which the Devanagari is Isaac Taylor, The Alphabet, II. 349. the literary type.