Full text of "Supplement to a Classical dictionary of India: illustrative of the mythology, philosophy, literature, antiquities, arts, manners, customs &c. of the Hindus" Presented to the UNIVERSITY OF TORONT -LIBRARY by the ONTARIO LEGISLATIVI LIBRARY 1980 FROM ARTHUR POOLE & CO Law Booksellers. &c TORONTO - ONT CLASSICAL DICTIONARY OF INDIA SUPPLEMENT TO A CLASSICAL DICTIONARY OF INDIA ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE MYTHOLOGY PHILOSOPHY LITERATURE ANTIQUITIES ARTS MANNERS CUSTOMS &. THE HINDUS BY JOHN GARRETT DIRECTOR, OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION IN MYSORE EDITOR OF THE BHAGAVAT GITA, IN SANSKRIT AND CANADESE PANCHA TANTRA, KATHA MANJARI, SHABDA MANI DARPANA, ETC. (/liilauu. MADRAS III lIIGdlNBOTHAM AND CO (All rights reserved.) | MiCROFORA/IED L I DATE FEB i 4 LIBRARY C Registered under Act XXV op 1867 Contenido - ContentsFull text of "Supplement to a Classical dictionary of India: illustrative of the mythology, philosophy, literature, antiquities, arts, manners, customs &c. of the Hindus"A1 | A2 | B1 | B2 | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | P | R | S1 | S2 | T | U | V | Y | Z A2Arvarivat: (sáns. hindú). One of the seven Rishis of the second Manwantara. By the seven Rishis we may often understand the constellation, Ursa Major. Arvavasu: (sáns. hindú). One of the seven principal solar rays, that which supplies heat to the planet Jupiter. Aryabhatta: (sáns. hindú). A celebrated ancient Hindu astronomer. It is difficult to determine with accuracy when he lived, but Mr. Colcbrooke thinks he flourished soon after the commencement of the Christian era, or not later than the third or fourth century. Aryaka: (sáns. hindú). A cowherd in the Sanscrit drama of the Toy-cart. He conspired against the weak and unpoi:)ular king then upon the throne at Ananti or Ougein. Aryaka is described as a man with * arms like elephants, vast'tusks, his breast and shoulders brawny as the lion's, his eyes a coppery red.' He succeeded in obtaining possession of the throne. Aryayhichita: (sáns. hindú). A celebrated Dravida Brahman who lived at Agrahara in the 16th century of Salivdhana; his contemporaries considered him as an emanation of Siva, on account of his devotion for this god, and his great learning. He is said to be the author of 84 books on theology, rhetoric and philosophy; he died at Chillumbrum at the age of ninety, Aryaman - One of the twelve Adityas in the Manwantara of Vaivaswata. Aryan Race, Aryan Languages : (sáns. hindú). Aryavarta was the holy land of the brahmans, the country lying between the Himalaya and the Vindhya mountains, which was the ancient abode of the Hindus. In the north-western part of that region, in countries watered by the Saraswati, the earliest traditions of the brahmans place the ancestors of the Indian race. The name Aryan is now generally used to designate that ethnological division of mankind otherwise called Indo-European or Indo-Germanic. No one now doubts that the brahmans of India belong to the same family, the Aryan or Indo-European family, which civilized the whole of Europe. The Aryan race consists of two branches, an eastern and a western. The western branch comprehends the inhabitants of Europe, with the exception of the Turks, Magyars, and Finns: the eastern comprehends the inhabitants of Armenia, of Persia, of Afghanistan and Hindustan. The evidence on which a family relation has been established among these nations is that of language. " At the first dawn of traditional histoiy," says Max Müller, " we see these Aryan tribes migrating across the snow of the Himalaya southward toward the ' Seven Rivers' (the Indus, the five rivers of the Punjab and the Sarasvati), and ever since India has been called their home. That before that time they had been living in more northern regions, within the same precincts with the ancestors of the Greeks, the Italians, Slavonians, Germans and Celts, is a fact as firmly established as that the Normans of William the Conqueror were the northmen of Scandinavia. The evidence of language is irrefragable, and it is the only evidence worth listening to with regard to ante-historical periods. It would have been next to impossible to discover any traces of relationship between the swarthy natives of India and their conquerors, whether Alexander or Clive, but for the testimony borne by language. What other evidence could have reached back to times when Greece was not peopled by Greeks, nor India by Hindus ? Yet these are the times of which we are speaking. What authority would have been strong enough to persuade the Grecian army, that their gods and their hero ancestors were the same as those of King Porus, or to convince the English soldier that the same blood was running in his veins and in the veins of the dark Bengalese ? And yet there is not an English jury now-a-days, which, after examining the hoary documents of language, would reject the claim of a common descent and a legitimate relationship between Hindu, Greek and Teuton. Many words still live in India and in England, that have witnessed the first separation of the northern and southern Aryans, and these are witnesses not to be shaken by cross-examination. The terms for God, for house, for father, mother, son, daughter, for dog and cow, for heart and tears, for axe and tree, identical in all the IndoEuropean idioms, are like the watchwords of soldiers. We challenge the seeming stranger; and whether he answer with the lips of a Greek, or German, or an Indian, we recognise him as one of ourselves. Though the historian may shake his head, though the physiologist may doubt, and the poet scorn the idea, all must yield before the facts furnished by language. There was a time when the ancestors of the Celts, the Germans, the Slavonians, the Greeks and Italians, the Persians and Hindus, were living together within the same fences, separate from the ancestors of the Semitic and Turanian races. It is more difficult to prove that the Hindu was the last to leave this common home, that he saw his brothers all depart towards the setting sun, and that then, turning towards the south and the east, he started alone in search of a new world. But as in his language and in his grammar he has preserved something of what seems peculiar to each of the northern dialects singly, as he agrees with the Greek and the German where the Greek and the German seem to differ from all the rest, and as no other language has carried off so large a share of the common Aryan heirloom - whether roots, grammar, words, myths, or legends - it is natural to suppose that, though perhaps the eldest brother, the Hindu was the last to leave the central home of the Aryan family. The Aryan nations who pursued a north-westerly direction, stand before us in history as the principal nations of north-western Asia and Europe. They have been the prominent actors in the great drama of history, and have carried to their fullest growth all the elements of active life with which our nature is endowed. They have perfected society and morals, and we learn from their literature and works of art the elements of science, the laws of art, and the principles of philosophy. In continual struggle with each other and with Semitic and Turanian races, these Aryan nations have become the rulers of history, and it seems to be their mission to link all parts of the world together by the chains of civilization, commerce and religion. In a word, they represent the Aryan man in his historical character. But while most of the members of the Aryan family followed this glorious path, the southern tribes were slowly migrating towards the mountains which gird the north of India. After crossing the narrow passes of the Hindu kush or the Himalaya, they conquered or drove before them, as it seems without much effort, the aboriginal inhabitants of the Trans-Himalayan countries. They took for their guides the principal rivers of northern India, and were led by them to new homes in their beautiful and fertile valleys. It seems as if the great mountains in the north had afterwards closed for centuries their Cyclopean gates against new immigrations, while, at the same time, the waves of the Indian Ocean kept watch over the southern borders of the peninsula. None of the great conquerors of antiquity - Sesostris, Semiramis, Nebuchadnezzar, or Cyrus, who waged a kind of half-nomadic warfare over Asia, Africa *and Europe, and whose names, traced in characters of blood, are still legible on the threshold of history, disturbed the peaceful seats of these Aryan settlers. Left to themselves in a world of their own, without a past, and without a future before them, they had nothing but themselves to ponder on. Struggles there must have been in India also. Old dynasties were destroyed, whole families annihilated, and new empires founded. Yet the inward life of the Hindu 'vvas not changed by these convulsions. His mind was like the lotus leaf after a shower of rain has passed over it; his character remained the same, passive, meditative, quiet and full of faith." - A Sanscrit Lit, p. 16. Asamanj: (sáns. hindú). The son and successor of Sagara; he is thus described in the Ramayana: " Prince Asamanj brought up with care. Scourge of his foes was made the heir. But liegemen's boys he used to cast, To Sarju's waves that hurried past, Laughing the while in cruel glee Their dying agonies to see. This wicked prince who aye withstood The counsel of the wise and good, . Who plagued the people in his hate. His father banished from the State; His son, kind-spoken, brave and tall. Was Ansuman, beloved of all." - Griffiths. Asampricshana: (sáns. hindú). The title of the fifth section of the Pancha Tantra; meaning Inconsiderateness. Asamprajnata: (sáns. hindú). Contemplation, in which reason is lost sight of; a complete restraint of the action of thought; the last stage of mental abstraction; in which even the reflection of his individual existence is lost sight of, and he is mentally one with the Supreme Being. Asana: (sáns. hindú). The third stage of Yoga. There are various postures in which the Yogi is directed to sit when he engages in meditation, Asana is that in which he crosses his legs underneath him, and lays hold of bin feet on each side with his hands. Ashadha: (sáns. hindú). The name of a coustellation. Ashahra: (sáns. hindú). The name of one of the lunar months in the Vedas. Ashtavakra: (sáns. hindú). A brahman, who by a long course of religious penance, standing in water, and meditating on the eternal spirit, became a celebrated sage or Muni. He was deformed from his birth, and on one occasion he was laughed at by the Apsarasas, or divine nymphs, on whom in consequence he denounced imprecations. The nymphs then endeavoured to appease him, and so far succeeded that he promised they should finally return to the sphere of the gods. Asikni: (sáns. hindú). The daughter of the patriarch Virana, wife of Daksha, the great father of mankind. Asipatravana: (sáns. hindú). Sins punished in one of the Narakas or hells, of which twenty-eight are enumerated. Asit: (sáns. hindú). The son of Raja Dhruvasandhi, of the solar race; his career is thus described in the Ramayana: " Asit had warfare, fierce and hot, With rival kings in many a spot, Haihayas, Talajanghas styled. And Sasivaindhus, strong and wild, Long time he strove, but forced to yield. Fled from his kingdom and the field. With his two wives away he fled Where high Himalaya lifts his head. And, all his wealth and glory past. He paid the dues of Fate at last." - Griffiths. Asitanga: (sáns. hindú). The name of one of the eight Bhairavas, or inferior manifestations of some portion of Siva. Aslesha: (sáns. hindú). A lunar mansion in Aii-avati (Anravati), the third vithi of the northern Avashtana. Asmita: (sáns. hindú). Selfishness, one of the five afilictions of the Patanjulu philosophy. Asoka: (sáns. hindú). A king of Magadha, patron of Buddhism. This king, is the most celebrated of any. in the annals of the Buddhists. In the commencement of his reign he followed the Brahmanical faith, but became a convert to that of Buddha, and a zealous encourager of it. " He is said to have maintained in his palace 64,000 Buddhist priests, and to have erected 84,000 columns or topes throughout India. A great convocation of Buddhist priests was held in the eighteenth year of his reign which was followed by missions to Ceylon and other places. According to Buddhist chronology he ascended the throne 218 years after the death of Buddha, B. c, 325. As the grandson of Chandragupta, however, he must have been sometime subsequent to this. The duration of his reign was 36 years, bringing it down to b. c. 230. A number of very curious inscriptions in columns and rocks, by a Buddhist prince, in an ancient form of letter, and the Pali language, exist in India, and some of them refer to Greek princes, who can be no other than members of the Seleucidan and Ptolemaic dynasties, and are probably Antiochus the Great, and Ptolemy Energetes, Kings of Syria and Egypt in the latter part of the third century before Christ." - Frofessor Wilson, Asokavarddhana: (sáns. hindú). Another name for Asoka, Asramas: (sáns. hindú). A condition of life; " orders;" when the youth has been invested with the sacred thread, he is diligently to prosecute the study of the Vedas in the house of his preceptor, with an attentive spirit and leading a life of continence. Asti: (sáns. hindú). The wife of Kansa, and daughter of Jarasandha, king of Magadha. Astika: (sáns. hindú). A brahman whose father had practised great austerities, bathed in all the holy tanks, and abstained from matrimony, with his body dried up by fasting, he wandered hither and thither, till he accidentally came to a hollow place in which he perceived men hanging over an abyss. Their heads were downwards and suspended by a straw at which a rat was gnawing. Inquiring who they were he discovered that they were his own ancestors. These wretched men tell him that they are thus suspended because their posterity, who should have been the means of ensuring their bliss, had perished; and the one living descendant, whose son might have done so, was entirely given up to austerities, and did not many. The ascetic tells them that he is that one descendant. The ancestors entreat him to many and have a son who would release them. He promises to do what they desire, but Avill only marry a girl whose parents give her to him willingly. At length in the forest, Vasuki, king of serpents, offered him his sister, a young girl of lovely form. To her he was married, and the child born to them was Astika. Of him we are told that he had a noble spirit, was well read in the Vedas, and became powerful through austerities.* . Asuras: (sáns. hindú). Demons, born from the thigh of Brahma while the quality of darkness pervaded his body. Asura is a general name for all the giants and demons who composed the enemies of the gods, and the inhabitants of Patala; and a special designation for a class of these of the first order. They belong, in the wider sense, to the Epic; in the more special sense, to the Puranic period. In the latter they are fabled to be sprung from Brahma's thigh (Vishnu, P., p. 40), and to be the sons of Kasyapa, by Diti and Danayu. As in the earliest period the Suras were personifications of light, so the Asuras were probably those of darkness; and the original idea of the existence of malignant and terrible beings may thus be traced to the fear that man experiences in darkness, from the conviction that he is surrounded by creatures which he cannot see, in short, ghosts or goblins. *' (The word is derived from a, privative, or rather negative, and sui-a, * a deity.') XI, 22." - J. C, Thompsoyi. In the Puranas the aborigines are described under the names of Asuras and Rakshasas; as being giants and cannibals, and of course very repulsive. " The word Asura has a very interesting history. In classical Sanscrit it only means a demon; and this meaning occurs occasionally even in the early books of the Rig Veda, and often in the later tenth. In the Atharva Veda it occurs very often in this sense, and the Brahmanas are never tired of beginning their legends with the phrase ' devasui-d va eshu lokeshu samayatanta ' the gods and asuras contended in these worlds.' . But generally in the * Rig Veda' the word has no such evil meaning, and it appears to have been originally derived from as * to be' with * Mrs. Manning, from Fragments du Mahabharata, Par. T. Pavie. the affix ura (a-sura), and to have meant * living,' * spiritual.' But in later times asiira acquired a malevolent meaning, just as the Greek saifiiov; and even in the great epics, the Ram4yana and the Mahabharata, we find a new word sura, coined to express the good deities. Henceforth sura and asura play the same parts in the legends which had once been played by deva and asura; and a new legend is invented for an etymology, the suras being those heavenly beings who shared the liquor of immortality, (sura) while those who were excluded became the asuras." - Quarterly Review, July mo, p. 202, Asura-marriage - The fifth mode of marriage mentioned by Manu, in which the bridegroom gives as much wealth as he can afford to the damsel and her kinsmen, and then takes her according to his own pleasure. Asvalayana: (sáns. hindú). A distinguished author, who lived about 350 B. c. He was the pupil of Saunaka and the predecessor of Katyayana. He was one of the writers of the Kalpa-sutras which teach the mode of performance of sacrifices enjoined by the Vedas: and the author of the Grihya Sutras, or rules for household rites. Asvamedha: (sáns. hindú). The Sacrifice of a Horse. This forms the subject of the Bharata of Jaimini. The sacrifice was an affair of great importance. It was of a politico-religious character. Any one claiming to be a supreme ruler, announced his intention of celebrating a horse sacrifice. A horse was selected and then turned loose to go whither it pleased: only being followed by armed men. If any other potentate contested the claim, he endeavoured to seize the horse; and there is much of Romance on this topic. If the armed men came back unconquered, and the horse with them, the sacrifice was conducted on a great, and most expensive scale. The flesh of the sacrifice was eaten, or burnt: the latter is the usual statement. The Aswamedha, performed a hundred times, raised the sacrificer to a level with Indra. Asvapati: (sáns. hindú). (Lord of Horses). 1, The Raja of Kekaya, and father of Maharaja Dasaratha's wife Kaikeyi; 2, An ancient i-Sja, the father of Savitri, q. v. Asvini: (sáns. hindú). A lunar asterism in Nagavithi, the first vithi in the northern Avasthana. Asvins: (sáns. hindú). *' The Asvins seem to have been a puzzle even to the oldest Indian commentators." {Muir.) Professor Roth says " they are the earliest bringers of light in the morning sky, who in their chariot hasten onward before the dawn, and prepare the way for her." *' It may seem unaccountable that two deities of a character so little defined, and so difficult to identify, as the Asvins, should have been the objects of so enthusiastic a worship as appears from the numerous hymns dedicated to them in the Rig Veda, to have been paid to tliem in ancient times. The reason may liave been that they were hailed as the precursors of returning day, after the darkness and dangers of the night. In some passages they are represented as being, like Agni, the chasers away of evil spirits. " The Asvins are said to be young ancient, beautiful, honeyhued, lords of lustre, bright, of a golden brilliancy, agile, fleet as thought, swift as young falcons, possessing many forms, wearing lotus garlands, strong, mighty, terrible, possessed of wondrous powers, and profound in wisdom." - Muir, 0. S. T., vol. v., p. 240. " The following are a few of the modes in which the divine power of the Asvins is declared in different hymns to have been manifested for the deliverance of their votaries. " When the sage Chyavana had grown old and had been forsaken, they divested him of his decrepit body, prolonged his life and restored him to youth. " In the same way they renewed the youth of Kali after he had grown old; and when Vispala's leg had been cut off in battle like the wing of a bird, the Asvins are said to have given her an iron one instead. "They restored Paravjir (or an outcast), who was blind and lame, to sight and the power of walking. "Finally to say nothing of the succours rendered to numerous other persons, the Asvins did not confine their benevolence to human beings, but are also celebrated as having rescued from the jaws of a wolf a quail by which they were invoked. " The Asvins are worshipped with uplifted hands, and supplicated for a variety of blessings, for long life, and for deliverance from calamities, for offspring, wealth, victory, destruction of enemies, preservation of the worshippers themselves, of their houses and cattle. No calamity or alarm from any quarter can touch the man whose chariot they place in the van." - Ibid, p. 249. Professor Goldstucker writes, " The myth of the Asvins is, in my opinion, one of that class of myths in which two distinct elements, the cosmical and the human or historical, have gradually become blended into one. It seems necessary, therefore, to separate these two elements in order to arrive at an understanding of the myth. The historical or human element in it, I believe, is represented by those legends which refer to the wonderful cures effected by the Asvins, and to their performances of a kindred sort; the cosmical element is, that relating to their luminous nature. The link which connects both seems to be the mysteriousness of the nature and effects of the phenomena of light, and of the healing art at a remote antiquity. That there might have been some horsemen or warriors of great renown who inspired their contemporaries with awe by their wonderful deeds, and more especially by their medical skill, appears to have been also the opinion of some old commentators mentioned by Yaska, for some * legendary writers,' he says, took them for ' two kings, performers of holy acts ;' and this view seems likewise borne out by the legend in which it is narrated that the gods refused the Asvins admittance to a sacrifice on the ground that they had been on too familiar terms with men. It would appear then that these Asvins, like the Ribhus, were originally renowned mortals, who, in the course of time, were translated into the companionship of the gods; and it may be a matter of importance to investigate whether, besides this a priori view, there are further grounds of a linguistic or grammatical character for assuming that the hymns containing the legends relating to these human Asvins are posterior or otherwise to those descriptive of the cosmical gods of the same name. *' The luminous character of the latter can scarcely be matter of doubt, for the view of some commentators - recorded by Ydska,- according to which they were ideutitied with * heaven and earth/ appears not to be countenanced by any of the passages known to us. Their very name, it would seem, settles this point, since asva the horse, literally, * the pervader,' is always the symbol of the luminous deities, especially of the sun. The difficulty, however, is to determine their position amongst these deities and to harmonize with it the other myths connected with them. I may here, however, first observe that, though Yaska records opinions which identify the Asvins with *day and night,' and * sun and moon,' the passage relied upon by Professor Roth to prove that YAska himself identified them with Indra and Aditya (the sun), does not bear out any such conclusion. For the passage in question, as I understand it, means: * their time is after the (latter) half of the night when the (spaces) becoming light is resisted (by darkness); for the middlemost Asvin (between darkness and light) shares in darkness, whilst (the other), who is of a solar nature (Aditya), shares in light.' There is this verse relating to them: * In nights,' etc. Nor does Durga, the commentator on Yaska, attribute to the latter the view which Professor Roth ascribes to him. His words, as I interpret them, are: * their time is after tho (latter) half of the night when tho (spaces) becoming light is resisted,' (means) when, after the (latter) half of the night, darkness intersected by light makes an effort against light, that is the time of the Asvins Then the nature of the middlemost (between them) is a share in that darkness which penetrates into light; and the solar one (aditya) assumes that nature which is a share in the light penetrating into darkness. These two are the middlemost and the uppermost: this is the teacher's (?, c, Yaska's) own opinion, for, in order to substantiate it, he gives as an instance the verse * Vasdtishu sma, ' " etc. *' To judge, therefore, from these words, it is the opinion of Yaska that the Asvins represent the transition from darkness to light, when the intermingling of both produces that inseparable duality expressed by the twin nature of these deities. And this interpretation, I hold, is the best that can be given of the character of the cosmical Asvins. It agrees with the epithets by which they are invoked, and with the relationshi)) in which they are placed. They are young, yet also ancient, beautiful, bright, swift, etc.; and their negative character- the result of the alliance of light with darkness - is, I believe, expressed by dasra, the destroyer, and also by the two negatives in the compound nasatya {nsi-aa-satya)a though their positive character is again redeemed by the ellipsis of " enemies, or diseases, to dasra, and by the sense of nasatya not un-true, i. e., truthful. They are the parents of Pushan, the sun; for they precede the rise of the sun; they are the sons of the sky, and again the sons of Vivasvat and Saranyu. Vivasvat, I believe, here implies the firmament * expanding' to the sight through the approaching light; and though Saranyu is to Professor Muller one of the deities which are forced by him to support his dawn-theory, it seems to me that the etymology of the word, and the character of the myths relating to it, rather point to the moving air, or the dark and cool air, heated, and therefore set in motion, by the approach of the rising sun. The Asvins are also the husbands or the friends of Sorya, whom I take for the representative of the weakest manifestation of the sun; and I believe that Sayana is right when, by the sister of the Asvins, he understands Ushas, the dawn. The mysterious phenomenon of the intermingling of darkness - which is no longer complete night - and of light - which is not yet dawn - seems to agree with all these conceptions, and with the further details of a cosmical nature, -svhich are so fully given in the preceding paper." - Ibid, p. 255-7. Atala: (sáns. hindú). The first of the seven regions of Patala, - below the earth - ten thousand yojanas in extent - the soil of Atala is white, and the place is embellished with magnificent palaces. Atarva: (sáns. hindú). One of the fifteen teachers of the school of Vajasaneyi or white Yajush. Atharva Veda: (sáns. hindú). The name of the fourth of the four Vedas, created from the northern mouth of Brahma. It was arranged by Vyasa. The illustrious sago Sumanta taught this Veda to his pupil Kabandha, who made it two-fold. The principal subjects of difference in the Sanhitas of the Atharva Veda, are the five Kalpas or ceremonials. *' As to the internal character of the Atharva hymns, it may be "ttid of them, as of the tenth book of the Kik, that they are the productions of another and a later period, and the expressions of a different spirit, from that of the earlier hymns in the other Veda. In the latter, the gods are approached owith reverential awe, indeed, but with love and confidence also; a worship is paid them that exalts the offerer of it; the demons, embraced under the general name Rakshasas, are objects of horror, whom the gods ward oif and destroy; the divinities of the Atharva are regarded rather with a kind of cringing fear, as powers whose wrath is to be deprecated and whose favour curried, for it knows a whole host of imps and hobgoblins, in ranks and classes, and addresses itself to them directly, offering them homage to induce them to abstain from doing harm. The mantra, prayer, which in the older Veda is the instrument of devotion, is here rather the tool of superstition; it wrings from the unwilling hands of the gods the favours which of old their good-will to men induced them to grant, or by simple magical power obtains the fulfilment of the utterer's wishes. The most prominent characteristic feature of the Atharva is the multitude of incantations which it contains; these are pronounced either by the person who is himself to be benefited, or, more often, by the sorcerer for him, and are directed to the procuring of the greatest variety of desirable ends; most frequently, perhaps, long life, or recovery from grievous sickness, is the object sought; then a talisman, such as a necklace, is sometimes given, or in very numerous cases some plant endowed with marvellous virtues is to be the immediate external means of the cure; farther, the attainment of wealth or power is aimed at, the downfall of enemies, success in love or in play, the removal of petty pests, and so on, even down to the growth of hair on a bald pate. There are hymns, too, in which a single rite or ceremony is taken up and exalted, somewhat in the same strain as the Soma in the Pavamanya hymns of the Rik. Others of a speculative mystical character are not wanting; yet their number is not so great as might naturally be expected, considering the development which the Hindu religion received in the periods following after that of the primitive Veda. It seems in the main that the Atharva is of popular rather than of priestly origin; that in making the transition from the Vcdic to modern times, it forms an intermediate step, rather to the gross idolatries and superstitions of the ignorant mass, than to the sublimated pantheism of the Brahmans." - Whitney, " It has been surmised (Muller's Ancient Sanscrit Literature, p. 447, ff.) that the hymns of the Atharva Veda * formed an additional part of the sacrilfice from a very early time, and that they were chiefly intended to counteract the influence of any untoward event that might happen during the sacrifice.' This is possible; but the great importance which the adherents of this Veda themselves attach to it, is founded on other considerations than these. They argue, as appears from the treatise AtharvanaraJiasya, mentioned above, that the three other Vedas enable a man to fulfil the dharma, or religious law, but that the Atharva helps him to attain mbksha, or eternal bliss. This doctrine is laid down, for instance, in the Chulika Upanishad of this Veda, when it says: * Those Brahmans and others who know the science of the (neuter) Brahman continued in the Brahma Veda, became merged in Brahman ;' and it is likewise inferred from other passages in the Saunaka Brahmand. The name of Brahma Veda itself, by which this Veda is also frequently called, is therefore explained by them, not as implying the Veda which belongs to the province of the priest Brahman, but the Veda which contains the mysterious doctrine of Brahman, the supreme spirit, into which the human soul becomes finally absorbed. It is probable, therefore, that the very uselessness of the Atharva Veda for sacrificial purposes, and the reluctance which was felt to base its sanctity merely on its incantations and spells, invested it, in the mind of its followers, with a spiritual character, which was then fully developed in the numerous Upanishads (q. v.) now connected with it." - Muir, Professor Muller, in his Ancient Sanscrit Literature, has given the following hymn from the Atharva Veda, of which the Quarterly Review says, " we know of no passage in Vedic literature which approaches its simple sublimity :" - " The Great one who rules over these worlds beholds all as if he were close by. When any one thinks that he cloaks a tuing, the Gods know it all.
Atharvan: (sáns. hindú). A priest who is considered to have obtained the fire from heaven, and who in the course of Mythological personification appears as a Prajapati or father of all beings, as the inspired author of the fourth or Atharva Veda, as the eldest son of Brahma to whom Brahma revealed the Bralima vidya, or knowledge of God; and at a later period as the same as Angiras. Atharvan: (sáns. hindú). A distinguished sage, the generator of fire, and producer of Agni. Atharvan is mentioned as the earliest institutor of sacrifice. Atharvan was the first who by sacrifices opened up Atharvas: (sáns. hindú). A class or even caste of priests, who had secrets which they were prohibited from divulging; they were the spiritual guides of their nation, and none but the son of a priest could become a priest - a rule which the Parsis still maintain.f Atiratra - A form of sacrifice created from the western mouth of Brahma, along with the Sama Veda. It is a division of the o Muir, O. S. T., vol. 1, p. 169. t Muir, O. S. T" vol. 1, p. 293. service of the Jyotishtoma, the fifth part, or Somasamtha, and means literally, lasting through the night. Atiratra: (sáns. hindú). One of the ten noble sons of Chakshusha. V. P., p. 98. Atma: (sáns. hindú). A name of Vishnu, who has many appellations. Atma: (sáns. hindú). Soul, living soul, animating nature and existing before it: " the highest object of their religion was to restore that bond by which their own self, (atma) was linked to the eternal self (paramatma); to recover that unity which had been clouded and obscured by the magical illusions of reality; by the so called Maya of creation ." - Max Muller. Atri: (sáns. hindú). A prajapati, one of the mind-engendered progeny of Brahma, with a form and faculties derived from his corporeal nature. One of the nine brahmans celebrated in the Puranas. Attapa: (sáns. hindú). The name of the nineteenth heaven of Buddhism. Aurva: (sáns. hindú). A sage, the grandson of Bhrigu. When the sons of king Kritavirya persecuted and slew the children of Bhrigu, to recover the wealth which their father had lavished upon them, they destroyed even the children in the womb. One of the women, of the race of Bhrigu, in order to preserve her embryo, secreted it in her thigh (uru), whence the child in his birth was named Aurva; from his wrath proceeded a flame that threatened to destroy the world; but at the persuasion of his ancestors he cast it into the ocean, where it abode with the face of a horse. Aurva was afterwards religious preceptor to Sagara, and bestowed upon him the Agneyastram, or fiery weapon with which he conquered the tribes of barbarians, who had invaded his patrimonial possessions. The duties and ceremonies of various castes and classes were explained by Aurva to Sagara and may be seen in the V. P., Book III, Chapters VIII to XVI inclusive. It is said that Aurva earnestly longed for a son, and that Atri gave his children to him, but afterwards felt very lonely and weak. Avanti: (sáns. hindú). The ancient name of Ujein in Central) India, where the scene is laid of the popular domestic drama named Mrichchhakato, or Toy Cart. Auttama, or Attumi: (sáns. hindú). The name of the third Manu, a descendant from Priyavrata. Avalokita: (sáns. hindú). A disciple of Kamandaki in the drama of the Toy Cart. Avantyas : (sáns. hindú). One of the five great divisions of the Haikaya tribe. The Avantyas were in Ujein, and preceded the Rajput tribes by whom that country is now occupied. There are still vestiges of them. - Tod's Rajasthan, /, 39. Avarant: (sáns. hindú). From Jvarana, screening or surrounding; the name of a division of the sect of Ramanujas who prepare their own meals and eat in the strictest privacy: " they must not eat in cotton garments, but having bathed must put on woollen or silk; all the Ramanujas cook for themselves, and should the meal during this process, or whilst they are eating, attract even the looks of a stranger, the operation is instantly stopped and the viands buried in the ground." - H, H. Wilson, Vol. /, p, 39. In the Jain system the five Avaranas mean the difficulties in acquiring as many gradations of holy or divine wisdom. Avasarpini: (sáns. hindú). The Jains divide time into two cycles or ages, viz., the Utasarpini and the Avasarpini time. The Avasarpini time, has six stages, viz., super-good time, good time, good-bad *ime, badgood time, bad-time, and super-bad time. The stage in which we now live is the fifth, the bad time. Avasarpini means the age of decrease. Avasthanas : (sáns. hindú). The name of the divisions of the sun's course, which are three, viz., Airavata (northern), Jaradgavu (southern), and Vaiswanara (ceutral). Avatar: (sáns. hindú). A descent, especially of a deity from heaven; an incarnation, or birth. Professor Wilson states that the Vedas allude occasionally to the avatars of Vishnu. The story of the Ramayana and Mahabharata turns wholly upon the doctrine of incarnations.
1. - The Matsya, or Fish avatar, under which form Vishnu preserved Manu the ancestor of the present human race, during a universal deluge. 2. - The Kurma or Tortoise avatar. 3. - The Varahu or Boar avatar. 4. - The Nara Simha or Man-lion avatar. 5. - The Vamana or Dwarf avatar. 6. - The Bhargava or Parasu Rama. 7. - The Rama Chendra or Kodanda Rama. 8. - As Krishna; this is the most celebrated of his avatars, in which he is supposed to have been completely incarnate. 9. - As Buddha. The brahmans consider Buddha to have been a delusive incarnation of Vishnu, assumed by him to induce the Asuras to abandon the Vedas, by which they lost their supremacy. 10.- The White Horse, (yet future) an account of each will be found under the separate heads. Avichi: (sáns. hindú). One of the twenty-eight Narakas or hells enumerated in the V. P. They are all said to be situated beneath the earth and beneath the waters. Avidya : (sáns. hindú). Ignorance. One of the five afflictions of the Patanjalu philosophy. Avveyar: (sáns. hindú). In former times, there existed among the Tamil people seven distinguished sages, of whom four were women and three men. Among them Avveyar and Tiruvalluvar were the most celebrated. Respecting the other five, but little is known either of their lives or their writings.
Avveyar was their second female child, and was born, reared, and educated at a village inhabited by Panars. (The business of the Panars was to attend on kings and celebrate their praises. But the race is now almost extinct.) " If we may judge from her character and writings, Avveyar was educated by a Panar with great care and talent. One thing is very evident, she must have possessed eminent natural abilities. From the numerous fables respecting her, we may gather that she was not only clever but that she exerted herself to do good. The excellent moral maxims she has left, tend for the most part to the promotion of good sentiments and good conduct.
"Her fame became widely spread abroad, and wherever she went, kings and nobles, the learned and the ignorant, alike showed her the highest respect.
Avyaya: (sáns. hindú). A name of Purusha or spirit, it means inconsumable. Awiha: (sáns. hindú). The name of the eighteenth heaven of Buddhism. Ayana: (sáns. hindú). A period of six months, two Ayanas compose a year. The southern Ayana is a night and the northern a day of the gods. Twelve thousand divine years, each composed of such days, constitute the period of four Yugas, or ages. The word is also used in the sense of hemisphere; the uttara-ayana is the apparent course of the sun through the northern signs, and the dakshanayana is the southerly course; hence the northern and southern hemispheres appear to correspond with the two ayanas. Ayatayama: (sáns. hindú). Texts of the Yajur-veda, revealed to Yajnawalkya by the sun in the form of a horse: the Texts thus imparted were unknown to Vaisampayana. Ayati: (sáns. hindú). One of the descendants of the daughters of Daksha who were married to the Rishis. Lakshmi the bride of Vishnu was the daughter of Bhrigu by Kayati. They had also two sons, Dhatri and Vidhatri, who married the two daughters of the illustrious Meru, Ayati and Niryati; and had by them each a son named Prana and Mrikanda. Ayodhya: (sáns. hindú). " The modern Oude, which is situated on the river Sarayu, the modern Gogra, about throe hundred and fifty miles to the south-cast of Delhi. In the present day the city of Ayodhya has disappeared, and little is to be seen of the ancient site beyond a shapeless heap of ruins, a mass of rubbish and jungle which stretches along the southern bank of the Gogra river. But in olden lime this city was one of the largest and most magnificent in Hindustan, and itp memory is still preserved in every quarter of the Indian peninsula. Its geographical position is highly significant of the progress of Aryan invasion between two great epochs, namely, that of the war of Bharata, and that of the birth of Rama.
After these were the Vaisyas, or merchants, who sold goods of every description, and who came from every corner of the earth.
Ayomukha: (sáns. hindú). One of the sons of Kasyapa by Danu, hence termed a Danava. Ayuaveda: (sáns. hindú). Medical science, as taught by Dhanwantari. Ayus: (sáns. hindú). The eldest son of Vikrama and Urvasi; Vikramorvasi, or the Hero and the Nymphs, is the title of a second drama attributed to Kaliddsa. Urvasi was one of the nymphs of heaven, and when love for the king induced her to dwell on earth, she had been warned that so soon as the king should see a son of hers she must return. From fear of this she kept her infant's birth concealed. Ayus was not seen by his father until he had grown up His inauguration as vice king then took place in circumstances of great splendour. The rite being concluded a chorus was heard without, invoking blessings upon Ayus - . *' Son of the monarch the universe filling, Son of the god of the mist-shedding night. Son of the sage, whom the great Brahma; willing, Called, with creation, to life and to light." . A. and M. /., p. 205. Ayutayus: (sáns. hindú). A descendant of the Kuru princes: also a king of Magadha, the name of one of the future kings of Magadha as enumerated in the V. P., p, 465. B1Babhru-vahana: (sáns. hindú). The son of Arjunaby his wife Chitrangacia, daughter of the Raja of Manipura. Arjuna dwelt at Manipura for three years, and then according to previous arrangements took leave of his wife and sou. When Babhru-viihana came of age and ascended the throne he is described as without an equal in prowess and manhood. His country was rich and prosperous; his subjects virtuous, contented and happy. In the seventh adventure of the horse of Arjuna it is said that the horse was seized by Babhruvahana when it approached the city of Manipura, but on discovering that it belonged to his father Arjuna he restored the horse with many demonstrations of affection and respect. Arjuna however considered that his son should not have restored the horse without a battle, and attributed it to cowardice, which led to a contest in which Arjuna was slain: when the tidings reached Chitrangada she wished to ascend a funeral pile. Arjuna was however restored to life again. Badari: (sáns. hindú). An extensive forest near Benares, celebrated as the scene of many mythical austerities. Krishna is said to have stood " on the spacious Badari a hundred years with his aims aloft, on one foot, subsisting on air." (0. S. T., Vol. iv). Of Arjuna it is said, " Thou wast Nara in a former body, and with Narayana for thy companion didst perform dreadful austerity at Badari for many myriads of years." (O. S. T., Vol. iv, p. 196). Badravati: (sáns. hindú). A city about fifty miles from Hastinapur, from which Bhima forcibly brought away the horse for the great Aswamedha sacrifice performed by Yudhishthira, after the great war. Badhas: (sáns. hindú). There are twenty-eight kinds of badhas, which in the Sankya system mean imperfections or disabilities, as defects of the senses, blindness, deafness, &c., defects of intellect, as incapacity, ignorance, &c., and moral defects, as stubbornness, discontent, &c. Bahkali, Bahkala, Bashkali: (sáns. hindú). One of the arrangers of the Vedas. Paila divided the Rig Veda, and gave the two Sanhitas, or collections of hymns, to Indrapramati and to Bashkali. Bashkali sub-divided his Sanhita into four, which he gave to his disciples Bandha, Agnimathara, Yajnawalka and Parasara; and they taught these secondary shoots from the primitive branch. Bahugara: (sáns. hindú). A descendant of Puru, son of Sudyumna: called Bahuvidha in the Agni and Matsya Puranas. Bahula: (sáns. hindú). l, The name of one of the Prajapatis, V. P., p. 50; 2, the name of a Prince killed by Abhimanyu, (Linga. Purana); and 3, the name of one of the rivers enumerated in the V. P., p. 183. Bahulaswa: (sáns. hindú). The last but one of the kings of Mithila. His son was Kriti, with whom terminated the family of Janaka. Bahuputra: (sáns. hindú). A Prajapati who married two daughters of Daksha, their children were the four lightnings, enumerated in Astrological works as brown, red, yellow and white; portending severally, wind, heat, rain, famine. Bahurupa: (sáns. hindú). One of the eleven Rudras, or lords of the three worlds. Bahwaswa: (sáns. hindú). Son of Mudgala, and father of Divodasa and Ahalya. Bajiarana: (sáns. hindú). One of the eight branches of Medical Science which treats of the use of aphrodisiacs. Balabhadra: (sáns. hindú). See Balarama. Balakhilyas: (sáns. hindú). Pigmy sages, no bigger than a joint of the thumb, chaste, pious, resplendent as the sun, whose chariot they constantly surround. The wife of the sage Kratu Sannati, brought forth the sixty thousand Balakhilyas; another account says they were produced from the hair of Brahma. V. P. Balarama: (sáns. hindú). An incarnation of a white hair of Brahma, born as the son of Vasudeva; by Devaki, but was transferred from the latter to the womb of Rohini, the other wife of Vasudeva; hence he was the half-brother of Krishna. He was brought up by Nanda, and is the patron of Agriculture; the Yddavas, his tribe, being properly herdsraea and shepherds. He is often represented as armed with a ploughshare, and sometimes as carrying a pestlelike club. By some he is regarded as the eighth avatar of Vishnu by others as an incarnation of the great serpent Ananta. He was of great strength and irascible temper. He diverted the course of the river Yamuna, and compelled it to attend him. The fierce and malignant demon Dhenuka, in the form of an ass, attacked Bala Rama when he was a mere boy playing with Krishna; Rama seized him by both hind legs and whirled him round till he expired. On another occasion the Asura Pralamba came to the boys and attempted to carry off Rama, who however, so squeezed and beat the powerful demon that he fell upon the ground and expired. Many other exploits are related of him. Bala Rama was married to Revati, to whom he was attached and faithful. When Arjuna, by the connivance and help of Krishna, stole away his sister Suhadhray Rama collected his retainers and set out in pursuit; but the matter was made up by the intervention of Krishna. One of the last feats of his prowess was the destruction of the dreadful Asura Dwivida, in the form of an ape. Shortly aftewards Bala Rama resumed the form of Sesha. V.P. Bali: (sáns. hindú). A celebrated Daitya, the son of Virochana, who rose to such an eminence in power that Indra and the other gods had to apply for the interference of Vishnu to protect them from the destructive effects of Bali's rule. The Mahabharata gives the following legend respecting Bali, as related by Viswamitra to the two young princes, Rama and Lakshmana, when they visited his hermitage: - "In ancient days, before the glorious Vishnu became incarnate as the Dwarf, this was his holy hermitage, and here he practised sacred austerities as an example to all others. And it came to pass that Bali, the mighty Raja of the Asuras, conquered Indra and the gods; and the gods came to this hermitage and prayed to Vishnu for succour: And Vishnu was born on earth in the form of a Dwarf, and he assumed the dress of a mendicant, and went to the abode of |Bali, and prayed Bali to give him as much earth as he could step over in three steps: And Bali granted his request; then Vishnu took upon himself a mighty form, and took three steps; and the first step covered the earth, and the second covered the heavens, and the third was on the head of Bali: And Vishnu bound Bali, and sent him and all his legions to the realms below the earth, and once more restored the universe to the rule of Indra." The meaning of this myth is not very obvious. It is said to have originated in an obscure Vedic idea that Vishnu as the Sun took three steps; viz., first, on the earth at his rising; secondly, in the heavens at noonday; and thirdly, on the under-world at his setting. (See Wilson's Rig Veda, Vol. I, p. 53, note.) The legend however is exceedingly popular, probably on account of the successful trick played against the giant; and a festival is still celebrated in memory of the so-called event. Bali then became the Sovereign of Patala. He is said to have had a hundred sons. Bali: (sáns. hindú). The monkey chieftain of Kishkindya; he had treated his brother Sugriva with great cruelty, and on the latter securing the friendship of Rama they both proceeded to Kishkindya, where Bali was killed by Rama, and Sugriva installed as sovereign of Kishkindya. Bana: (sáns. hindú). The eldest of the hundred sons of Bali. He had a thousand arms. His daughter Usha having seen Parvati sporting with her lord Sambhu, was inspired with a wish for similar dalliance. Parvati promised her a husband, who should appear to her in a dream on a certain night. This came to pass, and by the magic power of her companion Chitralekka, the person she had beheld in her dream, Aniruddha, (q. v.) was conveyed from Dwaraka to her apartments in the palace. This led to the contest narrated in the article Aniruddha, when Bana wounded Krishna, but afterwards lost his thousand arms and was nearly killed by Krishna. Banddhas: (sáns. hindú). Those who take nothing upon authority and admit nothing that cannot be proved; or it is explained, those who by argument cast a doubt upon the efficacy of acts of devotion. Bandhayanas: (sáns. hindú). Followers of a branch of the Vnjasaneiyi, or white YnJMsh. Bandhya: (sáns. hindú). A disciple of Bashkala, who made him a teacher of a portion of the Sanhita of the Rig Veda. Basava: (sáns. hindú). The name of a bull in the Canarese and Telugu languages, and applied to Nandi the vehicle of Siva. Basava: (sáns. hindú). The founder of the Lingait sect. He was originally an Aradhya brahman, and evidently a man of great independency of mind and possessed of great moral courage. He was born about the middle of the eleventh century, in a village to the east of Bijipur in the Collectorate of Kalladighee. *' Having become prime minister at the Court of Kalayana, the capital of a great empire, which then stretched from ocean to ocean, he succeeded gradually in founding a new sect, called the Lingait, from its votaries wearing the Linga, which they consider to be the true symbol of the Creative divine power. This great success may be attributed to two, perhaps three causes, Basava had great power, popularity and influence, from his high station in life. Converts from Jainism to Lingaitism were unduly favored, though Basava's master, king Bajal, still remained a Jain. Basava is said to have connived at the intercourse the king had with a beautiful sister, and had great power over him. Pecuniary assistance was largely given to itinerant priests of the sect who went about preaching to the people. The second cause of Basava's success was that he addressed himself chiefly to the lower classes. These were flattered by the prospect of their social position being improved if they embraced the new religion. And indeed taking the Linga and becoming a Lingait, was according to the ideas of the Hindus, a step in advance. For the great privilege of wearing this sacred symbol on the body had been to that time confined exclusively to the brahmans. In fact Basava at first merely introduced the peculiar Linga worship, as it was performed by the Aradhya brahmans, to whom he himself belonged, among the different classes of Sudras. *' The spread of the sect was wide and rapid, so that even in the neighbouring Telugu and Tamil countries, many became the worshippers of Basava; and books regarded as sacred, still extant, were written in those tongues in honor of him. The king however disapproved of this great change. He hated and persecuted the Lingaits. This led to his assassination in his own palace, by two fanatic Lingaits, who it is said were encouraged by Basava. A civil war then broke out, and the empire of Kalyana fell to pieces. Basava was thus the cause of great revolutions in the Deccan. It was to be expected that such a man would, after the lapse of sometime, be deified by credulous men, and the real facts of his history obscured by a mass of legendary lore." - Woerth. Basava Furana: (sáns. hindú). The Purana that narrates the life of Basava, the founder or restorer of the Jangama sect. Professor H. H. Wilson places the date of the events it records in the early part of the eleventh century. Basava's parents were both devout worshippers of Siva. In recompense of their piety, Nandi, the bull of Siva, waas born on earth as their son, becoming incarnate by command of Siva, on his learning from Narada the decline of the Saiva faith and prevalence of other less orthodox systems of religion. The child was denominated after the Basva or Basava, the bull of the deity. On his arriving at the age of investiture he refused to assume the thread ordinarily worn by brahmans, or to acknowledge any Guru except IswARA or Siva. He then departed to the town of Kalyan, the capital of Bijala or Vijala Udya, and obtained in marriage Gangdmbd, the daughter of the Dandandyak, or minister of police. From thence he repaired to Sangameh'ara, where he received from Sangainesvara Svdmi initiation in the tenets of the Vira Saiva faith. He was invited back from this place to succeed his father-in-law upon his decease in the office he had held. After his return to Kalyan, his sister, who was one of his first disciples, was delivered of a son, Chenna Basava, who is notunfrequently confounded with his uncle, and regarded, perhaps more correctly, as the founder of the sect. After recording these events the work enumerates various marvellous actions performed by Basava and several of his disciples, such as converting grains of corn to pearls - discovering hidden treasures - feeding multitudes - healing the sick and restoring the dead to life. The following are some of the anecdotes narrated in the Parana: - Basava having made himself remarkable for the profuse bounties he bestowed upon the Jangamas, helping himself from the Royal Treasury for that purpose, the other ministers reported his conduct to Bijala, who called upon him to account for the money in his charge. Basava smiled, and giving the keys of the Treasury to the king, requested him to examine it, which being done, the amount was found wholly undiminished. Bijala thereupon caused it to be proclaimed, that whoever calumniated Basava should have his tongue cut out. A Jangama, who cohabited with a dancing girl, sent a slave for his allowance of rice to the house of Basava, where the messenger saw the wife of the latter, and on his return reported to the dancing girl the magnificence of her attire. The mistress of the Jangama was filled with a longing for a similar dress, and the Jangama having no other means of gratifying her, repaired to Basava, to beg of him his wife's garment. Basava immediately stripped Gangamba, his wife, and other dresses springing from her body, he gave them all to the Jangama. A person of the name of Kanapa, who regularly worshipped the image of Ekamresvaea, imagining the eyes of the deity were affected, plucked out his own, and placed them in the sockets of the figure. Siva, pleased with his devotion, restored his worshipper his eyes. A devout Saiva named Mahadevala Machaya, who engaged to wash for all the Jangamas, having killed a child, the Raja ordered Basava to have him secured and punished; but Basava declined undertaking the duty, as it would be unavailing to offer any harm to the worshippers of Siva. Bijala persisting, sent his servants to seize and tie him to the legs of an elephant, but Machaya caught the elephant by the trunk, and dashed him and his attendants to pieces. He then proceeded to attack the Raja, who being alarmed applied to Basava, and by his advice humbled himself before the offended Jangama. Basava also deprecated his wrath, and Machaya being appeased, forgave the king and restored the elephant and the guards to life. A poor Jangama having solicited alms of Kinnardyu, one of Basava's chief disciples, the latter touched the stones about them with his staff, and converting them into gold, told the Jangama to help himself. The work is also in many places addressed to the Jainas in the shape of a dialogue between some of the Jangama saints, and the members of that faith, in which the former narrate to the latter instances of the superiority of the Saiva religion, and the falsehood of the Jain faith, which appears to have been that of Bijala Hay a and the great part of the population of Kalyana. In order to convert them, Ekanta Ramaya, one of Basava's disciples, cut oflf his head in their presence, and then marched five days in solemn procession through and round the city, and on the fifth day replaced his head upon his shoulders. The Jain Pagodas were thereupon, it is said, destroyed by the Jangamas. It does not appear, however, that the king was made a convert, or that he approved of the principles and conduct of his minister. He seems, on the contrary, to have incurred his death by attempting to repress the extension of the Vira Saiva belief. Different authorities, although they disagree as to the manner in which Bijala was destroyed, concur in stating the fact: the following account of the transaction is from the Basava Purana: - " In the city of Kalyana were two devout worshippers of Siva, named Allaya and Madhuvaya. They fixed their faith firmly on the divinity they adored, and assiduously reverenced their spiritual preceptor, attending upon Basava whithersoever he went. The king, Bijala, well knew their merits, but closed his eyes to their superiority, and listening to the calumnious accusations of their enemies, commanded the eyes of Allaya and Madhuvaya to be plucked out. The disciples of Basava, as well as himself, were highly indignant at the cruel treatment of these holy men, and leaving to Jagaddeva the task of putting Bijala to death, and denouncing imprecations upon the city, they departed from Kalyana, Basava fixed his residence at Sangamesvara. Machaya, Bommidevaya, Kiniiara, Kannatha, Bommadeva, Kakaya, Masanaya, Kolakila Bommadeva, Kesirajaya, Mathirajaya, and others, announced to the people that the fortunes of Bijala had passed away, as indicated by portentous signs; and accordingly the crows crowed in the night, jackals howled by day; the sun was eclipsed, storms of wind and rain came on, the earth shook, and darkness overspread the heavens. The inhabitants of Kalyana were filled with terror. When Jagaddeva repaired home, his mother met him, and told him that when any injury had been done to a disciple of the Saiva faith, his fellow should avenge him or die. When Daksha treated Siva with contumely, Parvati threw herself into the flames, and so, under the wrong offered to the saints, he should not sit down contented: thus saying, she gave him food at the door of his mansion. Thither also came Mallaya and Bommaya, two others of the saints, and they partook of Jagaddeva' s meal. Then smearing their bodies with holy ashes, they took up the speai*, and sword, and shield, and marched together against Bijala. On their way a bull appeared, whom they knew to be a form of Basava, came to their aid, and the bull went first even to the court of the king, goring any one that came in their way, and opening a clear path for them. Thus they reached the court, and put Bijala to death in the midst of all his courtiers, and then they danced, and proclaimed the cause why they had put the king to death. Jagaddeva on his way back, recalling the words of his mother, stabbed himself. Then arose dissension in the city, and the people fought amongst themselves, and horses with horses, and elephants with elephants, until, agreeably to the curse denounced upon it by Basava and his disciples, Kalyana was utterly destroyed. Basava continued to reside at Sangamesvara, conversing with his disciples, and communing with the divine Essence, and he expostulated with Siva saying: * By thy command have I, and thy attendant train, come upon earth, and thou hast promised to recall us to thy presence when our task was accomplished.' Then Siva and Parvati came forth from the Sangamesvara Linga,m, and were visible to Basava, who fell on the ground before them. They raised him, and led him to the sanctuary, and all three disappeared in the presence of the disciples, and they praised their master, and flowers fell from the sky, and then the disciples spread themselves abroad, and made known the absorption of Basava into the emblem of Siva." - Mackenzie's Collect., Vol, 2nd; Halakanara MSS. (pp. 3-12.); Wilson's Works, Vol. I, p. 225. Beerbhoom: (sáns. hindú). Properly Vir-bkumi, the hero-land. On the frontier of Lower Bengal, between the lofty plateau of Central India, and the valley of the Ganges. This country was the theatre of one of tl.e primitive struggles of Indian history. It stood as the outpost of the Sanscrit race, on the west of Lower Bengal, and had to bear the sharp collisions of Aryan civilization, with the ruder types prevailing among the aborigines. On its inhabitants devolved, during three thousand years, the duty of holding the passes between the highlands and the valley of the Ganges. To this day they are a manlier race than their kinsmen of the plains, and from the beginning of history, one of the two kingdoms has borne the name of Mala-bhumi, the country of the Wrestlers, - the other the appellation of Vir-bhumi, the Hero-land. - Hunter, Rural Bengal. Benares: (sáns. hindú). The sacred city of the Hindus. It is called Kasi, Varanasi, Atimukta. It was once destroyed by the discus of Krishna. " The whole of a city that was inaccessible to gods, was wrapped in flames by the discus of Hari, and was totally destroyed." V. P., Chap, xxxiv. " The term Kasi, denominating, if not a city, a people and its chieftains, occurs repeatedly in Sanscrit works of all but the highest antiquity The kingdom of the Kasis and its rulers, as is evinced by the frequency of reference to them, enjoyed from distant ages, more or less of notoriety; and this is substantially all that the Hindu memorials teach us. The Puranas specify but one dynasty of Kasi kings; a goodly catalogue, beginning in the most authoritative of those works, with the son of Kasa. To Kasa, by a lapse of perhaps two centuries, succeeded Divodasa, in whose reign Buddhism seems still to have been acting on the aggressive. In this synchronism there is no discernible improbability; and with some likelihood it rnibodies an historic fact. A reflection of actual events may Ijki wise be afforded in the story of the burning of Vardnasi by the discus of Vinhnii." - Hall. Bhadra : (sáns. hindú). The name of one of the many wives of Vasudeva. Bhadrabahu: (sáns. hindú). A son of Vasudeva by his wife Rohini. Bhadrabahu: (sáns. hindú). The author of the Kalpa Sutra, the most sacred religious work of the Jainas. He lived in the early part of the fifth century of the Christian era, but nothing is known of his personal history, though his work is held in such reverence. Bhadrachara: (sáns. hindú). A son of Krishna by his wife Rukmini. Bhadradeah: (sáns. hindú). A son of Vasudeva by his wife Devaki. lie and his five brothers were killed by Kansa. Bhadrakali: (sáns. hindú). A Rudra sprung from the auger of De\if and sent by Siva to destroy the sacrifice of. Daksha, V. P., Chap. viii. Bhadrasana: (sáns. hindú). The posture in which the Yogi is directed to sit when engaged in meditation: viz., to cross his legs underneath him and to lay hold of his feet on each side with his hands. Bhadrasena: (sáns. hindú). One of the six sons of Vasudeva, who were killed by Kansa. Bhadrasrenya: (sáns. hindú). AYadava prince, the son of Mahishmat. He is said to have had a hundred sons, all of whom but one, Durdama, were slain by Divodasa, the Raja of Benares. Durdama was spared, being an infant; and he lived to recover his patrimonial possessions. Bhadraswa: (sáns. hindú). A country to the east of Meru, and Ketumala on the west; and between these two is the region of Ilavrita. Four great lakes are near, the waters of which are partaken of by the gods. Bhadraswas is one of the eight varshas or countries described as places of perfect enjoyment, where happiness is spontaneous and uninterrupted. In them there is no vicissitude, no dread of decrepitude or death, there is no distinction of virtue or vice, no difference of degree as better or worse, nor any of the effects produced in this region by the revolutions of ages. Bhadravinda: (sáns. hindú). A son of Krishna, who is said to have had in all one hundred and eighty thousand. Bhaga: (sáns. hindú). One of the twelve Adityas; in the Manwantara of Vaivaswata. Bhaga: (sáns. hindú). An Aditya; the fifth of the eight sons of Aditi. His eyes were knocked out by Rudra (Siva). " Rudra of dreadful power then ran up to the gods, and in his rage knocked out the eyes of Bhaga with a blow, and incensed, assaulted Pushan with his foot, and knocked out his teeth as he was eating the puroddsa offering."* See Savitri. Bhagavat: (sáns. hindú). Vishnu. The Supreme Being. The letter Bk implies the cherisher and supporter of the universe. By ga is understood the leader, impeller, or creator. The dissyllable Bhaga indicates the six properties, dominion, might, glory, splendour, wisdom and dispassion. The purport of the letter va is, that elemental spirit in which all beings exist, and which exists in all beings. And thus this great word Bhagavat is the name of Vasudeva, who is one with the Supreme Brahma, and of no one else. V. P., Book vi, Chapter 5, Bhagavata- The name of a Purana, generally placed the fifth in all the lists, but the Padma Purana ranks it as the eighteenth, as the extracted substance of all the rest. According to the usual specification it consists of eighteen thousand slokas distributed amongst three hundred and thirty-two chapters, divided into twelve skandas or books. The Bhagavata is a work of great celebrity in India, and exercises a more direct and powerful influence on the opinions and feelings of the people than perhaps any other of the Puranas. For an analysis of its contents, see Professor Wilson's Preface to the V. P. Bhagavat Gita: (sáns. hindú). The Bhagavat Gita is an episode of the Mahabharata, the great epic poem of India, which, from its popularity and extent, corresponds with the Iliad among the Greeks, The leading story occupies only -about a fourth part of the entire work; numerous episodes and legends, chiefly didactic, and believed to be interpolations of a later date, make up the other three-fourths of the poem. The whole forms a collection of the traditions of the early history of the Aryan people during their first settlement in India. According to the legendary history of India two dynasties were originally dominant in the north, called Solar and Lunar (Muir, 0. S. T., Yol, iv, r. 1 8.), under whom uumerous petty princes held authority, and to whom they acknowledged fealty. The most famous Raja of the Lunar race, who reigned in Hastiniipura or ancient Delhi, was Bharata, who is designated a Malm Ruja, and whose Raj is said to have included all the kingdoms of the earth. To this day the whole continent of India is known to the Hindus by the name of Bharata- varsha, or the country of Bharata. The Kauravas and Pandavas were descendants of Bharata. Duryodhana and his brothers were the leaders of the Kauravas or elder branch of the tribe; and the five Pandava princes, Yudhishthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva, those of the Pandava or younger branch. The latter had been banished from their country, and after long wanderings and many hardships, they collected their friends around them, and with the help of the neighbouring Rajas mustered a great army, and prepared to attack their oppressors, who had also assembled their forces. The hostile armies met on the plain of Kurukshetra. Bhishma had the command of the Kaurava faction; Bhima was the General of the other party. The scene of the Bhagavat Gita now opens, and remains throughout the same - the field of battle. The poem is in the form of a discourse between the Avatar Krishria, and his friend and pupil Arjuna. The fight began with a volley of arrows from both sides; when Arjuna desired Krishna to draw up the chariot in the space between the two armies, while he examined the lines of the enemy. Krishna, who acted as charioteer, did so, and pointed out in those lines the numerous relatives of his friend. Arjuna, seeing his relatives drawn up in battle array, was suddenly struck with compunction at the idea of fighting his way to a kingdom through the blood of his kindred, and declared that he would rather be killed himself than continue to fight them. Krishna replied in a long metaphysical dialogue, full of fine passages, the moral of which is that as Arjuna belongs to the military caste, his duty is to fight. He said that the renunciation of the world ought not to involve the avoidance of action, or the neglect of professional duties. He then gave a full and most curious exposition of the half-mythological, half-philosophical pantheism of the Brahraans, and a general view of the mystic theology of the Hindus; following with some modification the theories of what is termed the Sankhya School of Philosophy. A. W. Schlegel calls this episode " the most beautiful, and perhaps the only truly philosophical poem that the whole range of literature known to us has produced." Dean Milman says, "It reads like a noble fragment of Empedocles or Lucretius, introduced into the midst of an Homeric epic." " In point of poetical conception," he adds, " there is something singularly striking and magnificent in the introduction of this solemn discussion on the nature of the godhead and the destiny of man in the midst of the fury and tumult in which it occurs." Arjuna is overruled, if not convinced, by the arguments of the god; the fight goes on, and the Pandavas gain a complete victory over their opponents. The Bhagavat Gita was first translated into English by Sir Charles Wilkins, and published by the East India Company, with an Introduction by the then Governor- General of India, Warren Hastings. It was eagerly received in Europe, and translated into the French, German and Russian languages. Schlegel published an excellent Latin version.* More recently a new English translation has been published by Mr. J. Cockburn Thompson, with valuable notes. Bhagiratha: (sáns. hindú). The son of Raja Dilipa, who spent a thousand years in severe austerities upon a mountain, by which he propitiated Brahma and Siva, and brought the Ganges to the earth; and with it watered the ashes of the sixty thousand sons of Sagara, who were at once restored to life, purified by the sacred water from all their sins, and ascended to heaven. " Soon as the flood their dust bedewed. Their spirits gained beatitude. And all in heavenly bodies dressed. Rose to the skies' eternal rest. *The Bhagavat Gitain Sanscrit, Canarese and English, with Schlegel's Latin version, and Humboldt's Essay on the Philosophy of the Gita, was published in 1847 by the Editor of this Volume. " Then thus to king Bhagiraih said, Brahma, when, coming at the head Of all his bright celestial train, He saw those spirits freed from stain: Are with the Blest, as Gods, enrolled." Bhagirathi: (sáns. hindú). A name of the Ganges in consequence of having been brought to the earth by Bhagiratha. Bhaimyekadasi : (sáns. hindú). The eleventh lunar day of the light half of Magha ( 1 0th February.) This is also a festival of traditional origin, said to have been first observed by Bhima, one of the Pandu princes, in honor of Vishnu, according to the instructions of Vasudeva. Every eleventh lunar day, it may be observed, is held in extravagant veneration by the Hindus, but more particularly by the Vaishnavas. Fasting on the eleventh is declared to be equally efficacious with a thousand aswamedhas, and eating during its continuance as heinous a sin as parricide, or the murder of a spiritual teacher. This extravagance demonstrates its sectarian character, and consequently its more modern origin. The notion may have grown, however, out of particular appropriations of the lunar day, when the eleventh was set apart, as in the present case, to the adoration of Vishnu. - Wilson. Bhairava: (sáns. hindú). An inferior manifestation of some portion of Siva, with the idea of severity or cruelty. A Bhairava has the head of a dog. There are eight Bhairavas named respectively, Asitanga, Eiuru, Chanda, Krodha, Unmatta, Kupati, Bhishana, Sanhara, all indicative of something fearful. Bhajamana: (sáns. hindú). A son of Andhaka, according to all the best authorities; the Agni makes him the son of Babhru. Bhajina: (sáns. hindú). A son of Satwata. Bhalandana: (sáns. hindú). A son of Nabhaga, who had carried off and married the daughter of a Vaisya, in consequence of which he was degraded to the same caste, and deprived of his share of the patrimonial sovereignty, which his son and successor, Bhalandana, afterwards recovered. Bhallada, Bhallaka, Bhallatta : (sáns. hindú). A king of Hastindpura, the last of the race of Hastin, who had founded the city; which was destroyed by the encroachments of the Ganges. Bhanu: (sáns. hindú). A son of Krishna and Satyabhama. Bhanu: (sáns. hindú). The daughter of Daksha, wife of Kasyapa, who became one of the ten wives of Dharma. BhailllS: (sáns. hindú). The sons of Bhanu, who became suns, and deities presiding over moments of Muhurtta. Bhanumat: (sáns. hindú). A prince, the son of Kusadhwaja, king of Kasi or Benares; or according to the Ramayana of Sankasya. Bharadwaja: (sáns. hindú). A sage, the son of Vrihaspati, who being abandoned by his natural parent was brought by the Maruts or winds to Bharata, who called the child Vitatha (unprofitable) in allusion to the birth and loss of his previous nine sons. Bharata had by different wives nine sons who were put to death by their own mothers, because Bharata remarked that they bore no resemblance to him, and the women were afraid that he would therefore desert them. From Bharadwaja, a Brahman by birth and king by adoption, descended Brahmans and Kshatriyas, the children of two fathers. Bharadwaja: (sáns. hindú). One of the eight celebrated Rishis, the reputed father of Drona. His hermitage was at Prayaga, the modern Allahabad; he is said to have dwelt there surrounded by a band of Brahman disciples, * who lead the ideal life of austerity, sacrifice, and devotion, which is so frequently described and lauded by Brahmanical bards.' He received Rama and Sita when they set forth on their exile, and recommended the hill Chitra-kuta as a residence. The Ramayana says, * the great Bharadwaja commanded Bharata to bring his whole army to the hermitage that he might feast them.' * Bring all thy host,' the hermit cried. And Bharat, to his joy, complied.
The God who forms and fashions all: Be all my wants this day supplied. Lord Indra at their head, the three Who guard the worlds I call to me: Let all the streams that eastward go, And those whose waters westering flow. Both on the earth and in the sky. Flow hither and my wants supply. Be some with ardent liquor filled. And some with wine from flowers distilled, While some their fresh cool streams retain Sweet as the juice of sugar-cane. I call the Gods, I call the band Of minstrels that around them stand: I call the heavenly wives of these With all the bright Apsarases, Alambusha of beauty rare. The charmer of the tangled hair, Ghritachi and Visvachi fair, Hema and Bhima sweet to view. And lovely Nagadanta too, And all the sweetest nymphs who stand By Indra or by Brahmi's hand - I summon these with all their train And Tumburu to lead the strain.
Bharadwajas: (sáns. hindú). Inhabitants of the northern regions according to the Vayu, but Professor Wilson says they might be thought to be religious fraternities from the sages Atri and Bharadwija. Bharadwaji: (sáns. hindú). A deep river in Malwa, included in the V. P. list. Bharani: (sáns. hindú). A lunar asterism in Nagavithi, the first Vithi in Airdvatha, or the northern Avasthana. Bharata-See Mahabharata. Bharata: (sáns. hindú). The eldest of the hundred sons of Rishabha, prince of Himahwa. Rishabha having ruled with equity and wisdom, and celebrated many sacrificial rites, resigned the sovereignty of the earth to the heroic Bharata. Bharata having religiously discharged the duties of his station, resigned the kingdom to his son Samati, a most virtuous prince; and abandoned his life at the holy place Salagrama to become an ascetic. His thoughts were now wholly on God; his conduct was distinguished by kindness, and he effected in the highest degree the entire control over his mind.
Bharata: (sáns. hindú). One of the four sons of Dasaratha and Kaikeyi. In youth he was sent to Girivraja, with his uncle Yudhajit. He was there educated in the house of his grandfather Raja Aswapati.
Bharata: (sáns. hindú). In the Bhagavat Gita a patronymic from Bharata, applied to Arjuna as his descendant. Arjuna is also called Prince of the Bharatas, and best of the Bharatas. Bharata: (sáns. hindú). " The son of Raja Dushyanta and Sakuntala. The legend of his birth forms the ground-work of Kalidasa's drama of Sakuntala, or the Lost Ring. The Raja was hunting in the forest when he saw Sakuntala, a brahman's daughter, and fell in love with her. He induced her to accept him as her husband by a Gandharva marriage, and giving her his ring as a pledge of his troth. She afterwards gave birth to a son who was named Bharata, but having lost the ring, the Raja in the absence of such evidence, conveniently forgot his engagement to marry the daughter of a priest.
Bharata-varsha: (sáns. hindú). An ancient name for northern India, which was divided into nine portions. Bharga: (sáns. hindú). A prince, the son of Vainahotra, descended from Alarka. Bhargas, Bharga vas: (sáns. hindú). A people of the east subdued by Bhima. Bhargabhumi: (sáns. hindú). The son of Bharga, the prince who is said to have promulgated the four rules of caste. Bharika: (sáns. hindú). A son of Krishna and Satyabhama. Bhartri-hari: (sáns. hindú). A Sanskrit grammarian who lived in the century preceding the Christian era. He was the brother of ViceamaDiTYA. He wrote a grammatical treatise, but his Vakya Pradipa or Metrical Maxims on the philosophy of Syntax, are the best known. They are often cited under the name of Harikarica, and have almost equal authority wilh the precepts of Panini. His Satakas or centuries of verses, are also much admired. Bhasi: (sáns. hindú). One of the six illustrious daughters of Tamra, the wife of Kasyapa. Bhasi gave birth to kites. Bhatta: (sáns. hindú). Bhatta. An honorary title given to learned brahmans who commit one of the Vedas to memory so as to be able to recite the whole without book. Bhatta Murti: (sáns. hindú). A distinguished Telugu poet, one of " the eight elephants," so styled of Krishna-raya's Court. He wrote the Narasa Bhtipaliyam during his patron's life; but his chief poem, the Vasu Charitramu, after that patron's death. It contains florid descriptions of scenery and love affairs, in recondite versification, much esteemed. Bhatta Murti ranks high as a poet. - Taylor, Bhattacharyas - The name of those Hindu scholars who not only learn, as the Bhattas do, one of the vedas completely by heart, but who study the meaning of each verse and word, so as to be able to give orally the explanation of any passage required.
Bhattoji Dikshita: (sáns. hindú). A grammarian, the son of a Brahman, and born in the Mahratta country. He applied to study; but, his own country ranking low in literature, he went to Benares studying Sanscrit and philosophy. He is now chiefly known by his celebrated work on grammar, entitled Siddhanta Kaumudi (moonlight of accuracy). PaninVs old sutras obtained three commentators. Vara ruchi, Bhattoji, and Pata?ijali; the latter is the most diffuse and perfect; but the Siddhanta Kaumudi, holding a medium place, has always been in wide and approved use. The author lived a studious and contemplative life; and died at Benares, aged fifty-six - Taylor. Bhaskaracharya: (sáns. hindú). " A celebrated Brahman astronomer who resided at Beder, one of the four ancient Mahomedan principalities. He applied his mind chiefly to numerical science. His Bija ganita was a work on arithmetic. He dedicated it to his only child, a daughter named LUdvati, under date S. S. 1036 (a. d. 1114). Singularly enough for such a work, it came to be called by her name; Bhaskara was also an astronomer, in which science his calculations are not to be confounded with Pauranical fables.
Bhautya : (sáns. hindú). The son of Bhuti, the Manu of the fourteenth Manwantara. Bhauma: (sáns. hindú). * Mars,' whose splendid car is of gold, drawn by eight horses of a ruby-red, sprung from fire. Bhava: (sáns. hindú). 1, Siva, a Muni or Rudra, the husband of Sati, (Truth) who abandoned her corporeal existence in consequence of the displeasure of Daksha. She was afterwards the daughter of Himavat, (the snowy mountains) by Mena; and in that character, as the only Uma, the mighty Bhava again married her. V. P., p. 59; 2, The name of a son of Pratihartta, one of the descendants of Bharata; also 3, of a son of Viloman. Bhavabhuti: (sáns. hindú). A celebrated Sanscrit author, some of whose dramas have been so well translated into English by Professor Wilson. He was also named Srikanta, or he in whose throat eloquence resides, was the son of a native of the South of India, a brahman of Berar or Beder, and a member of the tribe of brahmans who pretend to trace their descent from the sage Kasyapa. The site of Bhavabhuti's birthplace is fully corroborated by the peculiar talent he displays in describing nature in her magnificence, a talent very unusual in Hindu bards, and one which he no doubt derived from his early familiarity with the grand mountains and forests of Telingana. - Mrs. Manninga A.fy M, /., Vol. 11, p. 208. Bhavana: (sáns. hindú). The mental impression or apprehension following upon knowledge. The formation of a fixed idea of the object of contemplation. It is also teniied Bhava-bhavana, apprehension of the being, the existence or substantiality of the object; the thing contemplated. Bhavaumanya: (sáns. hindú). The son of Vithatha, and grandson of Bharata. Bhavishya: (sáns. hindú). One of the eighteen Puranas. " The Purana in which Brahma, having described the greatness of the sun, explained to Manu the existence of the world and the characters of all created beings in the course of the Aghora Kalpa." This Purana as its name implies should be a book of prophecies. Dr. Wilson says: " It should be rather regarded as a manual of religious rites and ceremonies, in which a few legends enliven the series of precepts. " Bhavishyottara Purana: (sáns. hindú). This is also a sort of manual of religious offices, the greater portion being appropriated to vratas, and the remainder to the forms with which gifts are to be presented. Bhavya: (sáns. hindú). One of the ten sons of Priyavrata, who became king of Sakadwipa. Also the name of one of the sons of Dhruva, by his wife Sambha. Bhavya: (sáns. hindú). A king mentioned in the Rig Veda, who dwelt on the banks of the Sindhu or Indus. Bhavyas: (sáns. hindú). One of the five classes of demi-gods of the sixth Manwantara, when Chakshusha was the Manu of the period, and Manojava was the Indra. Bhaya: (sáns. hindú). (Fear). Son of Aiiriti (falsehood), and Nikriti (immorality). Bhayada: (sáns. hindú). A prince, the son of Manasya, one of the descendants of Puru. Bhikshuka: (sáns. hindú). A mendicant, the fourth order of men described in the V. P. He is to forego the three objects of human existence (pleasure, wealth and virtue) - to be constantly occupied with devotion, and abstain from all wrong-doing. He is to reside but for one night in a village, and not more than five nights at a time in a city: for the support of existence he is to apply for alms at the houses of the three first castes, when the fires have been extinguished and people have eaten. The mendicant is to call nothing his own, and to suppress desire, anger, pride and covetousness. Bhils: (sáns. hindú). A tribe of Aborigines who still occupy the hill tracts of Rajputana and Central India, and in ancient times seem to have dwelt in nearly the same localities; having Rajas or Chieftains of their own, but acknowledging or dreading the supremacy of the Kshatriyas. In the Mahabharata they appear to the south of the Jumna, and in the immediate neighbourhood of the Raj of Bharata; whilst in the Ramayana they make their appearance further to the east, near the junction of the Jumna and Ganges.
Bhima: (sáns. hindú). " Terrible." The second of the five sons of Pandu, but mystically begotten by Vayu, the god of the wind or air, through his mother Kunti, or Pritha. He is the principal General of the Pandava army, and is renowned for his strength and swiftness. Duryodhana attempted to take his life by poison when a youth, but be escaped through the agency of the Nagas; he was instructed in the use of the club by Drdna, and at the exhibition of arms at Hastinapur fought Duryodhana with the club. His wars with the Asuras are referred to the old wars between the Aryans and Aborigines. The myth of his marrying Hidimbi, the sister of the Asura Hidimba, whom he slew in the forest, is regarded as a later addition to the original tradition. The Mahabharata also relates his slaughter of Vaka the Asura, his conquest of Jarasandha, the Raja of Magadha, his attempt at interference in behalf of Draupadi in the gambling pavilion; the fearful vow he uttered against Duryodhana and Dushasanas; his interview with his mythical brother Hanuman, the son of Vayu; his pursuit and treatment of Jayadratha after the abduction of Draupadi; his appearance in the council hall of Raja Virata with a ladle in one hand and a scimitar in the other; his engagement as head cook; the enormous quantity of provisions he daily eat himself; his battle with Jimuta whom he killed, and the favour he consequently obtained from the Raja; his contest with the prime minister Kichaka, whom he killed and rolled into a ball, because of his ill-treatment of Draupadi; how he rescued Raja Virata from Susarman who was carrying him into captivity; his battle with Bhishma in the first day of the great war; his slaughter of the Raja of Magadha and his sons; his conflicts with Droua, with Dushasana, with Duryodhana; his return to the Maharaja Dhritarashtra at Hastinapur; his slaughter of the horse at the Aswamedha of Yudhishthira; his disputes with the Maharaja, and his death, along with his four brothers, in the Himalayas. It will thus be seen that Bhima belongs to the epic period. - Wheeler Vol. I. Bhima: (sáns. hindú). The Raja of Vidarbha (Berar), and father of Damayanti. Bhima: (sáns. hindú). The fifth of the eight Rudras, to whom was assigned the charge of fire: also the name of a son of Amivasa. Bhimaratha: (sáns. hindú). Son of Ketumat and grandson of Dhanwantari, the author of Medical Science. He was the father of Divodasa, of whom many curious legends are narrated. Bhimarathi: (sáns. hindú). The ancient name of the river Bhima. Bhimasena: (sáns. hindú). One of the four sons of Parikshit, son of Kuru. Bhishma: (sáns. hindú). Originally named Santanavu, the son of Santanu, the Raja of Hastinapur; the legend ia the Mahabharata is that when Raja Santanu was very old he desired to marry a young and beautiful damsel, but the parents of the girl were unwilling to give her to the Raja, saying, " If our daughter have sons they will not succeed to the Raj; for when Santanu dies, his son Santanavu will become Raja." Then Santanavu determined to sacrifice himself in order to gratify his father; and he made a vow to the parents of the damsel, saying, ** If you will give your daughter in marriage to my father, I will never accept the kingdom or marry a wife, or become the father of children by any woman; so that if your daughter bear a son to the Raja, that son shall succeed him in the kingdom." And the vow of Santanavu was noised abroad, and from that day he was called Bhishma, or " the dreadful," because of his dreadful vow. Henceforth Bhishma became the patriarch of the family, *' and is represented as a model of faithfulness and loyalty, and indeed stands forth as one of the leading characters in the Mahabharata." He educated Dhritarashtra, Pandu and Vidura; and afterwards made Droua the preceptor of the Pandavas and Kauravas; and at a meeting of council proposed that the kingdom should be divided between the two parties. In the great war he became the generalissimo of the Kauravas and their allies. On the tenth day he was mortally wounded in a terrible conflict with Arjuna. Bhishmaka: (sáns. hindú). The king of Vidarbha (now Berar) who resided at Kundina. He had a son named Rukmin, and a beautiful daughter named Rukmini. Krishna fell in love with the latter and solicited her in marriage; but her brother would not assent to the espousals. At the suggestion of Jarasandha, the powerful sovereign, Bhishmaka affianced Rukmini to Sisupila. Krishiia went to witness the wedding and contrived to carry off the princess.
Bhishmashtami: (sáns. hindú). The twenty-third of Magha, and eighth lunar day of the light half (7th February). This is a festival which, at first sight, appears to be of special and traditional origin, but which has, probably, its source in the primitive institutes of the Hindus, of which the worship of the Pitris, the patriarchs or progenitors, the Dii Manes, constituted an important element. According to the Tithi Tattwa, this day is dedicated to Bhishma, the son of Gangi, and great uncle of the Pandava and Kaurava princes; who was killed in the course of the great war, and dying childless left no descendant in the direct line, on whom it was incumbent to offer him obsequial honors. In order to supply this defect, persons in general are enjoined to make libations of water on this day to his spirit, and to offer him sesamum seeds and boiled rice. The act expiates the sins of a whole year: one of its peculiarities is, that it is to be observed by persons of all the four original castes, according to a text of Dhavala, an ancient lawgiver, quoted by Raghunandana, " Oh twice-born ! persons of all the Varnas should on the eighth lunar day offer water, sesamum seeds and rice, to Bhishma. If a Brahman, or man of any other caste, omit to make such offerings, the merit of his good deeds during the preceding yeai' is annulled." According to a different reading of the text, however, it should be rendered: " Let all the twice-born castes make the oblations," This excludes Sudras, but extends the duty to the Kshatriyas and Vaisyas as well as Brahmans. The intention of the rite, as now understood, is expressed in the formulas uttered at the time of presenting the offerings: " I present this water to the childless hero Bhishma, of the race of Vyaghrapada, the chief of the house of Sankriti. May Bhishma, the son of Santanu, the speaker of truth and subjugator of his passions, obtain by this water the oblations due by sons and grandsons," The simple nature of the offerings which are sufficient on such occasions, water and sesamum seeds, justifies the remark made by Ovid on the Feralia, that the manes are easily satisfied, - Parva petunt manes. Bhiras: (sáns. hindú). The people about Surat; called Phauni or Phryni, by Sfcrabo. Bhogavati: (sáns. hindú). The capital of Vasuki in Rasatala, one of the seven regions of Patala. Bhojakata: (sáns. hindú). The city near the Narmada, founded by Rukmin, after his defeat by Krishna, as he had vowed never to return to Kuudani but as victor. Bhojas: (sáns. hindú). luhabitants of the country near the Vindhya range of mountains; a branch of the Yadavas. A Bhoja Raja is amongst the warriors of the Mahabharata. Bhoja Raja: (sáns. hindú). A prince of Dhara; or Dhar, in Malwa; supposed to be the same as Vikrama. There is some uncertainty as to the exact time of Bhoja's reign; the "nine gems" are said to have flourished during his reign and that of Vikrama. The period is designated the golden age of Hindu literature. Dr. E. F. Hall says it is high time to give up speaking of this prince as a great patron of literature. His pretensions to be so considered rest on the frailest foundation possible. - H, IL Wilson's Works, Vol. V, p.m. Fuentes - FontsSOUV2 SOUV2P.TTF - 57 KB SOUV2I.TTF - 59 KB SOUV2B.TTF - 56 KB SOUV2T.TTF - 56 KB Balaram bai_____.ttf - 46 KB babi____.ttf - 47 KB bab_____.ttf - 45 KB balaram_.ttf - 45 KB ScaGoudy SCAGRG__.TTF - 73 KB SCAGI__.TTF - 71 KB SCAGB__.TTF - 68 KB FOLIO 4.2 inbenr11.ttf - 64 KB inbeno11.ttf - 12 KB inbeni11.ttf - 12 KB inbenb11.ttf - 66 KB indevr20.ttf - 53 KB Disculpen las Molestias
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