KARIKAL (93), a French possession in India, on the Coromandel coast, 150 m.  S. of Madras; rears and exports rice in large quantities.

KARLI, a famous temple-cave in Bombay Presidency, on the
Bombay-Poona road; dates from the 1st century B.C. at latest.

KARMA, the unbroken sequence, according to the Theosophists, of cause and effect, in which every effect is regarded the cause of the next.

KARMAN, the name given in the Brahminical philosophy and in Buddhism to that act of the soul by which, as is conceived, it determines its own destiny, a truly serious conception, and in itself soul affecting.

KARMATHIANS, originally a secret society of the Ismailis, developed into a religious and communistic sect, and waged a great peasants’ war under successive leaders between A.D. 900 and 950; Mecca was captured 930; the movement of the Karmathians did much to overthrow the power of the Khalifate.

KARR, JEAN BAPTISTE ALPHONSE, French novelist, born at Paris; entered journalism, became editor of the Figaro 1839, started Les Guepes the same year, retired to Nice 1855, and there died; his chief novel is “Genevieve,” and best known book, “Voyage autour de mon Jardin” (1808-1890).

KARROO, the name of a barren tract of tableland in South Africa with a clay soil, which, however, bursts into grassy verdure and blossom after rain; the Great Karroo, which is 850 m. long and about 80 m. broad, is 3000 ft. above the sea-level, while the Little Karroo is 1000 ft. lower; large flocks of sheep are pastured on them, and the value of the land has immensely increased within late years.

KARS (9), an almost impregnable fortress on the Russo-Turkish frontier in Asia, 100 m.  E. of the Caspian Sea; was successfully held by the Turks under General Williams in 1855, of which Laurence Oliphant wrote an account, but captured by Russia in 1877, and ceded to her by the Treaty of Berlin, 1878; it is a strong place, and a prize to any power that possesses it.

KARUN RIVER, rising in the Zarduh Koh Mountains W. of Ispahan; flows W. and S. past Shuster into the Persian Gulf; is the sole navigable waterway of Persia, and was thrown open to trade 1888.

KASCHAU (29), a beautiful town in Northern Hungary, on the Hernad River, 140 m.  NW. of Budapest; has a royal tobacco factory, is noted for hams, has an agricultural school and a Jesuit university.

KASHGAR (120), political capital and second largest city of Chinese Turkestan, on the Kizil River; has cotton, silk, carpet, and saddlery industries, and trades with Russia; it is the centre of Mohammedanism in Eastern Turkestan, a pilgrim city; has been in Chinese hands since 1758, but is chiefly under Russian influence.

KASSALA (3), a fortified town in the Soudan, near the Abyssinian boundary, on the Chor-el-Gash, a tributary of the Atbara, is 260 m.  S. of Suakim; suffered severely from the Madhist rising of 1883-1885.