BHAGAVATA PURANA The Purana "in which ample details of duty are described, and which opens with (an extract from) the Gayatri; that in which the death of the Asura Vritra is told, and in which the mortals and immortals of the Saraswata Kalpa, with the events that then happened to them in the world, are related, that is celebrated as the Bhagavata, and consists of 18,000 verses. "Such is the Hindu description of this work." The Bhagavata," says Wilson, "is a work of great celebrity in India, and exercises a more direct and powerful influence upon the opinions and feelings of the people than perhaps any other of the Puranas. It is placed fifth in all the lists, but the Padma ranks it as the eighteenth, as the extracted substance of all the rest. According to the usual specification, it consists of 18,000 slokas, distributed amongst 332 chapters, divided into twelve skandhas or books. It is named Bhagavata from its being dedicated to the glorification of Bhagavata or Vishnu." The "most popular and characteristic part of this Purana is the tenth book, which narrates in detail the history of Krishna, and has been translated into perhaps all the vernacular languages of India. Colebrooke concurs in the opinion of many learned Hindus that this Purana is the composition of the grammarian Vopadeva, who lived about six or seven centuries ago at the court of Hemadri, Raja of Deva-giri (Deogurh or Daulatabad), and Wilson sees no reason for calling in question the tradition which assigns the work to this writer. This Purana bas been translated into French by Burnouf, and has been published with the text in three volumes folio, and in other forma.

BHAGIRATHl The Ganges. The name is derived from Bhagiratha, a descendant of Sagara, whose austerities induced Siva to allow the sacred river to descend to the earth for the purpose of bathing the ashes of Sagara's sons, who bad been consumed by the wrath of the sage Kapila. Bhagiratha named the river sagara, and after leading it over the earth to the sea, he conducted it to Patala, where the ashes of his ancestors were laved with its waters and purified.

BHAlRAVA. (mas.), BHAIRAVI (fern.) 'The terrible.’ Names of Siva and his wife Devi. The Bhairavas are eight interior forms or manifestations of Siva, all of them of a terrible character :-(1.) Asitanga, black limbed; (2.) Sanhara, destruction; (3.) Rum, a dog; (4.) KaIa, black; (5.) Krodha, anger; (6.) Tamra -chuda, red crested; (N Chandra-chuda, moon crested; (8.) Maha, great. Other names are met with as variants: Kapala, Rudra, Bhishana, Un-matta, Ku-pati, &c. In these forms Siva often rides upon a dog, wherefore he is called Swaswa, 'whose horse is a dog.'  

BHAMATl  A gloss on Sankara's commentary upon the Brahma Sutras by Vachaspati Misra. It is in course of publication in the Bibliotheca Indica.  

BHANUMATI  Daughter of Bhanu, a Yadava chief, who was abducted from her home in Dwaraka, during the absence of her father, by the demon Nikumbha.  

BHARADWAJA  A Rishi to whom many Vedic hymns are attributed. He was the son of Brihaspati and father of Drona, the preceptor of the Pandavas. The Taittiriya Brahmana says that "he lived through three lives" (Probably meaning a life of great length), and that " he became immortal and ascended to the heavenly world, to union with the sun.” In the Mahabharata he is represented as living at Hardwar; in the Ramayana he received. Rama and Sita in his hermitage at Prayaga, which was then and afterwards much celebrated. According to some of the Puranas and the Hari-vansa, he became by gift or adoption the son of King Bharata, and an absurd story is told about his birth to account for his name: His mother, the wife of Utathya, was pregnant by her husband and by Brihaspati, Dirgha-tamas, the son by her husband, kicked his half-brother out of the womb before his time, when Brihaspati said to his mother, `Bhara-dwa-jam,’ `Cherish this child of two fathers.’ 

BHARADWAJA 1. Drona, 2. Any descendant of Bharadwaja or follower of his teaching. 3. Name of a grammarian and author of Sutras. 

BHARATA 1. A hero and king from whom the warlike people called Bharatas, frequently mentioned in the Rig-veda, were descended. The name is mixed up with that of Viswamitra. Bharata’s sons were called Viswamitras and Viswamitra’s sons were called Bharatas.

2. An ancient king of the first Manwantara. He was devoted to Vishnu, and abdicated his throne that he might continue constant in meditation upon him. While at his hermitage, he went to bathe in the river, and there saw a doe big with young frightened by a lion. Her fawn, which was brought forth suddenly, fell into the water, and the sage rescued it. He brought the animal up, and becoming excessively fond of it, his obstruction was interrupted. “In the course of time he died, watched by the deer with tears in its eyes, like a son mourning for his father; and he himself, as he expired, cast his eyes upon the deer and thought of nothing else, being wholly occupied with one idea.” For this misapplied devotion he was born again as a deer with the faculty of recollecting his former life. In this form he lived an austere retired life, and having stoned for his former error, was born again as a Brahman. But his person was ungainly, and he looked like a crazy idiot. He discharged servile offices, and was a palankin bearer; but he had true wisdom, and discoursed deeply upon philosophy and the power of Vishnu. Finally he obtained exemption from future birth. This legend is “a sectarial graft upon a Pauranik stem.”

3. Son of Dasaratha by his wife Kaikeyi, and half-brother of Rama-chandra. He was educated by his mother’s father, Aswa-pati, king of Kekaya, and married Mandavi, the cousin of Sita. His mother, through maternal fondness, brought about the exile of Rama, and endeavoured to secure her own son’s succession to the throne, but Bharata refused to supplant his elder brother. On the death of his father Bharata performed the funeral rites, and went after Rama with a complete army to bring him back to Ayodhya and place him on the throne. He found Rama at Chitra-kuta, and there was a generous contention between them as to which should reign. Rama refused to return until the period of his exile was completed, and Bharata declined to be king; but he returned to Ayodhya as Rama’s representative, and setting up a pair of Rama’s his brother’s name. “He destroyed thirty millions of terrible gandharvas” and made himself master of their country.

4. A prince of the Puru branch of the lunar race. Bharata was son of Dushyanta and Sakuntala. Ninth in descent from him came Kuru, and fourteenth from Kuru came Santanu. This king had a son named Vichitra-virya, who died childless, leaving two widows. Krishna Dwaipayana was natural brother to Vichitra-virya. Under the law he raised up seed to his brother from the widows, whose sons were Dhrita-rashtra and Pandu, between whose descendants, the Kauravas and Pandavas, the great war of the Maha-bharata was fought. Through their descent from Bharata, these princess, but more especially the Pandavas, were called Bharatas.

5. A sage who is the reputed inventor of dramatic entertainments.

6. A name borne by several others of less note than the above. 

BHARATA A descendant of Bharata, especially one of the Pandu princess. 

BHARATA-VARSHA India, as having been the kingdom of Bharata. It is divided into nine Khandas or parts: Indra-dwipa, kaserumat, Tamra-varna, Gabhastimat, Naga-dwipa, Saumya, Gandharva, Varuna. 

BHARATI   A name of Saraswati. 

BHARGAVA  A descendant of Bhrigu, as Chyavana, Saunaka, Jamad-agni, but more especially used for the latter and Parasu-rama. 

BHARATRI-HARI  A celebrated poet and grammarian, who is said to have been the brother of Vikramaditya. He wrote three Satakas or Centuries of verses, called – (1.) Sringara-sataka, on amatory matters; (2.) Niti-sataka, on polity and ethics; (3.) Vairagya-sataka, on religious austerity. These maxims are said to have been written when he had taken to a religious life after a licentious youth. He was also author of a grammatical work of high repute called Vakya-padiya, and the poem called Bhatti-kavya is by some attributed to him. The moral verses were translated into French so long ago as 1670. A note at the end of that translation says, “Trad. Par le Brahmine Padmanaba enflamand et du flamand en francais par Th. La Grue.” The text with a Latin translation in German by Bohlen and Schutz, in French by Fauche, and of the erotic verses by Regnaud; in English by Professor Tawney in the Indian Antiquary. 

BHASHA-PARICHCHHEDA An exposition of the Nyaya philosophy. There are several editions. 

BHASKARACHARYA (Bhaskara + Acharya).  A celebrated mathematician and astronomer, who was born early in the eleventh century A.D. He was author of the Bija-ganita on arithmetic, the Lilavati on algebra, and the Siddhanta Siromani on astronomy. It has been claimed for Bhaskara that he “was fully acquainted with the principle of the Differential Calculus.” This claim Dr. Spottiswoode considers to be overstated, but he observes of Bhaskara: “It must be admitted that the penetration shown by Bhaskara in his analysis is in the highest degree remarkable; that the formula which he establishes, and his method of establishing it, bear more than a mere resemblance – they bear a strong analogy – to the corresponding process in modern astronomy; and that the majority of scientific persons will learn with surprise the existence of such a method in the writings of so distant a period and so distant a region.” – Jour R. A. S., 1859. 

BHATTACHARYA See Kumarila Bhatta. 

BHATTI-KAVYA  A poem on the actions of Rama by Bhatti. It is of a very artificial character, and is designed to illustrate the laws of grammar and the figures of poetry and rhetoric. The text has been printed with a commentary, and part has been translated into German by Schutz. 

BHAUMA Son of Bhumi (the earth). A metronymic of the Daitya Naraka. 

BHAUTYA The fourteenth Manu. See Manu. 

BHAVA 1. A Vedic deity often mentioned in connection with Sarva the destroyer. 2. A name of Rudra or Siva, or of a manifestation of that god. See Rudra. 

BHAVA-BHUTI A celebrated dramatist, the author of three of the best extent Sanskrit dramas, the Maha-vira Charita, Uttara Rama Charita, and Malati Madhava. He was also known as Sri-kantha, or `throat of eloquence.’ He was a Brahman, and was a native either of Beder or Berar, but Ujjayini or its neighbourhood would seem, from his vivid descriptions of the scenery, to have been the place of his residence. The eighth century is the period at which he flourished. His three plays have been translated by Wilson in blank verse, who says of Malati Madhava, “The author is fond of an unreasonable display of learning, and occasionally substitutes the phraseology of logic or metaphysics for the language of poetry and nature. At the same time the beauties predominate over the defects, and the language of the drama is in general of extraordinary beauty and power.” 

BHAVISHYA PURANA “This Purana, as its name implies, should be a book of prophecies foretelling what will be.” The copies discovered contain about 7000 stanzas. The work is far from agreeing with the declared character of a Purana, and is principally a manual of rites and ceremonies. Its deity is Siva. There is another work, containing also about 7000 verses, called the Bhavishyottara Purana, a name which would imply that “it was a continuation or supplement of the former,” and its contents are of a similar character. – Wilson. 

BHAVISHYOTTARA PURANA See Bhavishya Purana. 

BHAWANI One of the names of the wife of Siva. See Devi. 

BHELA An ancient sage who wrote upon medicine.

BHIKSHU A mendicant. The Brahman in the fourth and last stage of his religious life. See Brahman.Any mendicant, especially, in its Pali form, Bhikshu, a Buddhist medicant.