bury, the name "Isle of Avalon" was given to the
low ridge in central Somersetshire which culminates in Glastonbury Tor,
while Glastonbury itself came to be called Avalon. Attempts have also been
made to identify Avalon with other places in England and Wales.

See _Studies in the Arthurian Legend_, by J. Rhys (Oxford, 1891); also
ARTHUR (KING); ATLANTIS.

AVARAY, a French territorial title belonging to a family some of whose
members have been conspicuous in history. The Bearnaise family named
Besiade moved into the province of Orleanais in the 17th century, and there
acquired the estate of Avaray. In 1667 Theophile de Besiade, marquis
d'Avaray, obtained the office of grand bailiff of Orleans, which was held
by several of his descendants after him. Claude Antoine de Besiade, marquis
d'Avaray, was deputy for the bailliage of Orleans in the states-general of
1789, and proposed a _Declaration of the Duties of Man_ as a pendant to the
_Declaration of the Rights of Man_; he subsequently became a
lieutenant-general in 1814, a peer of France in 1815, and duc d'Avaray in
1818. Antoine Louis Francois, comte d'Avaray, son of the above,
distinguished himself during the Revolution by his devotion to the comte de
Provence, afterwards Louis XVIII., whose emigration he assisted. Having
nominally become king in 1799, that prince created the estate of
Ile-Jourdain a duchy, under the title of Avaray, in favour of the comte
d'Avaray, whom he termed his "liberator."

(M. P.*)

AVARS, or AVARI, an East Caucasian people, the most renowned of the
Lesghian tribes, inhabiting central Daghestan (see LESGHIANS). They are the
only Lesghian tribe who possess a written language, for which they make use
of the Arabic characters. They are often confused with the Avars whose
empire on the Danube was broken by Charlemagne; but Komarov asserts that
they are of more recent origin as a tribe, their name being Lowland Turki
for "vagrant" or "refugee."

AVATAR, a Sanskrit word meaning "descent," specially used in Hindu
mythology (and so in English) to express the incarnation of a deity
visiting the earth for any purpose. The ten Avatars of Vishnu are the most
famous. The Hindus believe he has appeared (1) as a fish, (2) as a
tortoise, (3) as a hog, (4) as a monster, half man half lion, to destroy
the giant Iranian, (5) as a dwarf, (6) as R[=a]ma, (7) again as R[=a]ma for
the purpose of killing the thousand-armed giant Cartasuciriargunan, (8) as
Krishna,