SANDWICH ISLANDS.  See HAWAIIAN ISLANDS.

SANGHA, the Buddhist Church, and the third term of the Triratna or
Buddhist trinity, the two other being Buddha and Dharma, his law.

SANGRAAL.  See GRAAL, HOLY.

SANHEDRIM, a council of the Jews which held its sittings in Jerusalem, and claimed authority and jurisdiction over the whole Jewish people; it was an aristocratic body, and was presided over by the high-priest; its authority was limited from time to time, and it ceased to exist with the fall of Jerusalem; there is no note of its existence prior to the Grecian period of Jewish history.

SANKARA, a Hindu teacher of the philosophy or the Vedas, who lived some time between 800 and 200 B.C., and was the author of a number of commentaries on the sacred writings of the Hindus, the teachings of which he contributed to develop.

SANKHYA, one of three systems of Hindu philosophy, Yoga and Vedanta being the other two, and the system which is most in affinity with the doctrine of Buddha.

SANNAZARO, JACOPO, an Italian poet, enjoyed the favour of King Frederick III. of Naples, and wrote amongst other things a pastoral medley in verse and prose called “Arcadia,” which ranks as an Italian classic (1458-1530).

SANS SOUCI (i. e.  No Bother), “an elegant, commodious little ‘country box,’ one storey high, on a pleasant hill-top near Potsdam”; the retreat of Frederick the Great after his wars were over, and in part sketched by himself, and where he spent the last 40 years of his life, specially as years advanced; it is 20 m. from Berlin, and the name is Frederick’s own invention.

SANSCULOTTES (i. e. fellows without breeches), a name of contempt applied by the aristocratic party in France to the Revolutionists, and at length accepted by the latter as a term of honour, as men who asserted their claim to regard on their naked manhood.

SANSCULOTTISM, belief in the rights of man, stript of all the conventional vestures and badges by which alone, and without any other ground of right, one man maintains an ascendency over another.

SANSKRIT, the name given to the ancient literary language of the Hindus, still preserved in their literature, belongs to the Aryan family of languages, in their purest form and most perfect development.

SANTA-ANNA, ANTONIO DE, a noted soldier and President of Mexico, entered the army as a boy, and from the proclamation of the Republic in 1822 till his final exile in 1867 was embroiled in all the wars, intrigues, and revolutions of his country; was four times President, and on the last occasion (1853) was appointed for life, but his habitual harshness alienated the people in two years; fled the country as on many former crises in his life; intrigued against the newly-established empire, but was captured and sentenced to death (1867); allowed to expatriate himself, and died in exile; he was one of the most forceful characters in Mexican history (1795-1876).