ВНІМА-ВHISHMA.

BHIMA. Name of the father of Damayanti.

Rudra or of one of his personifications.

See Rudra.

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A name of

BHĪMA SANKARA, BHĪMESWARA. Name of one of the twelve great Lingas. BHIMA-SENA. A name of Bhima.

See Linga.

BHISHMA. The terrible.' Son of King Santanu by the holy river goddess Gangā, and hence called Santanava, Gāngeya, and Nadi-ja, 'the river-born.' When King Santanu was very old he desired to marry a young and beautiful wife. His son Santanava or Bhishma found a suitable damsel, but her parents objected to the marriage because Bhishma was heir to the throne, and if she bore sons they could not succeed. To gratify his father's desires, he made a vow to the girl's parents that he would never accept the throne, nor marry a wife, nor become the father of children. Santanu then married the damsel, whose name was Satyavati, and she bore him two sons. At the death of his father, Bhishma placed the elder son upon the throne, but he was headstrong and was soon killed in battle. The other son, named Vichitra-viryya, then succeeded, and Bhishma acted as his protector and adviser. By force of arms Bhishma obtained two daughters of the king of Kāsī and married them to Vichitraviryya, and when that prince died young and childless, Bhishma acted as guardian of his widows. By Bhishma's arrangement, Krishna Dwaipayana, who was born of Satyavati before her marriage, raised up seed to his half-brother. The two children were Pandu and Dhrita-rashtra. Bhishma brought them up and acted for them as regent of Hastina-pura. He also directed the training of their respective children, the Pandavas and Kauravas. On the rupture taking place between the rival families, Bhishma counselled moderation and peace. When the war began he took the side of the Kauravas, the sons of Dhrita-rashtra, and he was made commander-in-chief of their army. He laid down some rules for mitigating the horrors of war, and he stipulated that he should not be called upon to fight against Arjuna. Goaded by the reproaches of Dur-yodhana, he attacked Arjuna on the tenth day of the battle. He was unfairly wounded by Sikhandin, and was pierced with innumerable arrows from the hands of Arjuna, so that there was not a space of two fingers' breadth left unwounded in his whole body, and when he fell from his chariot he was upheld from the ground by the arrows and lay as on a couch of darts. He was mortally

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BHISHMAKA-BHRIGU.

wounded, but he had obtained the power of fixing the period of his death, so he survived fifty-eight days, and delivered several long didactic discourses. Bhishma exhibited throughout his life a self-denial, devotion, and fidelity which remained unsullied to the last. He is also known by the appellation Tarpanechchhu, and as Tāla-ketu, palm banner.' See Maha

bharata.

BHISHMAKA. 1. An appellation of Siva. 2. King of Vidarbha, father of Rukmin and of Rukmini, the chief wife of Krishna.

BHOGAVATI. The voluptuous.' The subterranean capital of the Nagas in the Naga-loka portion of Pātāla. Another name is Pūt-kārī.

BHOJA. A name borne by many kings. Most conspicuous among them was Bhoja or Bhoja-deva, king of Dhar, who is said to have been a great patron of literature, and probably died before 1082 A.D. 2. A prince of the Yadava race who reigned at Mrittikavati on the Parnasa river in Malwa; he is called also Maha-bhoja. 3. A tribe living in the Vindhya mountains. 4. A country; the modern Bhojpur, Bhagalpur, &c.

The text

BHOJA-PRABANDHA. A collection of literary anecdotes relating to King Bhoja of Dhar, written by Ballala. has been lithographed by Pavie.

BHRIGU. A Vedic sage. He is one of the Prajapatis and great Rishis, and is regarded as the founder of the race of the Bhrigus or Bhargavas, in which was born Jamad-agni and Parasu Rama. Manu calls him son, and says that he confides to him his Institutes. According to the Maha-bharata he officiated at Daksha's celebrated sacrifice, and had his beard pulled out by Siva. The same authority also tells the following story:It is related of Bhrigu that he rescued the sage Agastya from the tyranny of King Nahusha, who had obtained superhuman power. Bhrigu crept into Agastya's hair to avoid the potent glance of Nahusha, and when that tyrant attached Agastya to his chariot and kicked him on the head to make him move, Bhrigu cursed Nahusha, and he was turned into a serpent. Bhrigu, on Nahusha's supplication, limited the duration of his

curse.

In the Padma Purana it is related that the Rishis, assembled at a sacrifice, disputed as to which deity was best entitled to the

BHRIGU-BHŪTA.

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homage of a Brahman. Being unable to agree, they resolved to send Bhrigu to test the characters of the various gods, and he accordingly went. He could not obtain access to Siva because that deity was engaged with his wife; "finding him, therefore, to consist of the property of darkness, Bhrigu sentenced him to take the form of the Linga, and pronounced that he should have no offerings presented to him, nor receive the worship of the pious and respectable. His next visit was to Brahma, whom he beheld surrounded by sages, and so much inflated with his own importance as to treat Bhrigu with great inattention, betraying his being made up of foulness. The Muni therefore excluded him from the worship of the Brahmans. Repairing next to Vishnu, he found the deity asleep, and, indignant at his seeming sloth, Bhrigu stamped upon his breast with his left foot and awoke him; instead of being offended, Vishnu gently pressed the Brahman's foot and expressed himself honoured and made happy by its contact; and Bhrigu, highly pleased by his humility, and satisfied of his being impersonated goodness, proclaimed Vishnu as the only being to be worshipped by men or gods, in which decision the Munis, upon Bhrigu's report, concurred." Wilson.

BHRIGUS.

'Roasters, consumers.' "A class of mythical beings who belonged to the middle or aerial class of gods."— Roth. They are connected with Agni, and are spoken of as producers and nourishers of fire, and as makers of chariots. They are associated with the Angirasas, the Atharvans, Ribhus, &c.

BHÜ, BHŪMI. The earth. See Prithivi.

BHÜR. See Vyahriti.

BHŪRI-ȘRAVAS. A prince of the Balhīkas and an ally of the Kauravas, who was killed in the great battle of the Mahabharata.

BHUR-LOKA. See Loka.

BHŪTA. A ghost, imp, goblin. Malignant spirits which haunt cemeteries, lurk in trees, animate dead bodies, and delude and devour human beings. According to the Vishnu Purāna they are "fierce beings and eaters of flesh," who were created by the Creator when he was incensed. In the Vayu Purana their mother is said to have been Krodha, 'anger.' The Bhutas are attendants of Siva, and he is held to be their king.

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BHŪTESA-BRAHMĀ.

BHŪTESA, BHŪTESWARA. 'Lord of beings or of created things.' A name applied to Vishnu, Brahmä, and Krishna; as 'lord of the Bhūtas or goblins,' it is applied to Siva.

BHUVANESWARA. A ruined city in Orissa, sacred to the worship of Siva, and containing the remains of several temples. It was formerly called Ekāmra-kānana.

BHUVAR. See Vyähriti.

BHUVAR-LOKA. See Loka.

BIBHATSU. Loathing.' An appellation of Arjuna. BINDUSĀRA. The son and successor of Chandra-gupta. BRAHMA, BRAHMAN (neuter). The supreme soul of the universe, self-existent, absolute, and eternal, from which all things emanate, and to which all return. This divine essence is incorporeal, immaterial, invisible, unborn, uncreated, without beginning and without end, illimitable, and inappreciable by the sense until the film of mortal blindness is removed. It is all-pervading and infinite in its manifestations, in all nature, animate and inanimate, in the highest god and in the meanest creature. This supreme soul receives no worship, but it is the object of that abstract meditation which Hindu sages practise in order to obtain absorption into it. It is sometimes called Kala-hansa,

There is a passage in the Satapatha Brāhmaṇa which represents Brahma (neut.) as the active creator. See Brahma. The Veda is sometimes called Brahma.

BRAHMA (masculine). The first member of the Hindu triad; the supreme spirit manifested as the active creator of the universe. He sprang from the mundane egg deposited by the supreme first cause, and is the Prajapati, or lord and father of all creatures, and in the first place of the Rishis or Prajapatis.

When Brahma has created the world it remains unaltered for one of his days, a period of 2,160,000,000 years. The world and all that is therein is then consumed by fire, but the sages, gods, and elements survive. When he awakes he again restores creation, and this process is repeated until his existence of a hundred years is brought to a close, a period which it requires fifteen figures to express. When this period is ended he himself expires, and he and all the gods and sages, and the whole universe are resolved into their constituent elements. His name is invoked

in religious services, but Pushkara (hodie Pokhar), near Ājmīr, is the only place where he receives worship, though Professor Williams states that he has heard of homage being paid to him at Idar.

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Brahma is said to be of a red colour. He has four heads; originally he had five, but one was burnt off by the fire of Siva's central eye because he had spoken disrespectfully. Hence he is called Chatur-anana or Chatur-mukha, 'four-faced,' and Ashtakarna, eight-eared.' He has four arms; and in his hands he holds his sceptre, or a spoon, or a string of beads, or his bow Parivita, or a water jug, and the Veda. His consort is Saraswati, goddess of learning, also called Brahmi. His vehicle is a swan or goose, from which he is called Hansa-vāhana. His residence

is called Brahma-vrindā.

The name Brahmā is not found in the Vedas and Brāhmaṇas, in which the active creator is known as Hiranya-garbha, Prajāpati, &c.; but there is a curious passage in the Satapatha Brāhmana which says: "He (Brahma, neuter) created the gods. Having created the gods, he placed them in these worlds: in this world Agni, Vayu in the atmosphere, and Surya in the sky." Two points connected with Brahma are remarkable. As the father of men he performs the work of procreation by incestuous intercourse with his own daughter, variously named Vach or Saraswati (speech), Sandhya (twilight), Sata-rūpā (the hundredformed), &c. Secondly, that his powers as creator have been arrogated to the other gods Vishnu and Siva, while Brahma has been thrown into the shade. In the Aitareya Brahmana it is said that Prajapati was in the form of a buck and his daughter was Rohit, a deer. According to the Satapatha Brahmana and Manu, the supreme soul, the self-existent lord, created the waters and deposited in them a seed, which seed became a golden egg, gg, in which he himself was born as Brahma, the progenitor of all the worlds. As the waters (nara) were "the place of his movement, he (Brahmā) was called Nārāyana." Here the name Nārāyaṇa is referred distinctly to Brahma, but it afterwards became the name of Vishnu. The account of the Rāmāyana is that "all was water only, in which the earth was formed. Thence arose Brahma, the self-existent, with the deities. He then, becoming a boar, raised up the earth and created the whole world with the saints, his sons. Brahma, eternal and perpetually undecaying, sprang from