B had raca rya - pranidhana \,bad-r9-char-'y a-.pra-ne-do-'naX
Mahayana Buddhist text that is also important to Tibetan Buddhism. It is related to the Avatamsaka-sutra and is considered by some to be its final section. It presents ten vows of the bodhisattva Samantabhadra. These became daily lessons in Chinese monasteries. By keeping the vows, including inexhaustible service to all buddhas and the embracing of all universes, the faithful can realize the universe of interdependent phenom¬ ena manifested in the Buddha and enter into the Pure Land of Amitabha.
Bhagavadgita Vba-go-.vad-'ge-toV (Sanskrit: “Song of God”) One of the greatest of the Hindu scriptures, constituting part of the Mahabharata. It is written in the form of a dialogue between the warrior Prince Arjuna and the charioteer Krishna, an incarnation of Vishnu. It was probably com¬ posed in the 1st or 2nd century ad, later than much of the epic. Concerned over the suffering the impending battle will cause, Arjuna hesitates, but Krishna explains that the higher way is the dispassionate discharge of duty without concern for personal triumph. The Bhagavadgita considers the nature of God and ultimate reality and offers three disciplines for tran¬ scending the limitations of this world: jnana (knowledge or wisdom), karma (dispassionate action), and bhakti (love of God). It has inspired numerous commentaries over the centuries, including those by Ramanuja and Mohandas K. Gandhi.
Bhagavata Vba-go-.vo-toV Member of the earliest recorded Hindu sect, representing the beginnings of theistic, devotional worship and modem Vaishnavism. The Bhagavata sect originated in the Mathura region c. 3rd- 2nd century bc and spread through western, northern, and southern India. The faith centers on devotion to a personal god, variously called Vishnu, Krishna, Hari, or Narayana. The Bhagavadgita (lst-2nd century ad) is the
earliest exposition of the Bhagavata system, but its central scripture is the Bhagavata Purana. The sect was prominent within Vaishnavism until the 11th century, when bhakti (devotional worship) was revitalized by Ramanuja.
bhakti \'bok-te\ Southern Asian devotional movement, particularly in Hinduism, emphasizing the love of a devotee for his or her personal god. In contrast to Advaita, bhakti assumes a dualistic relationship between devotee and deity. Though Vishnu, Shiva, and Shakti (see shakti) all have cults, bhakti characteristically developed around Vishnu’s incarnations as Rama and Krishna. Practices include reciting the god’s name, singing hymns, wearing his emblem, and making pilgrimages. The fervour of South Indian hymnists in the 7th-10th centuries spread bhakti and inspired much poetry and art. Poets such as Mirabai conceived of the rela¬ tionship between the worshiper and the god in familiar human terms (e.g., the lover and beloved), while more abstract poets such as Kabir and his disciple Nanak, the first Sikh Guru and founder of Sikhism, portrayed the divinity as singular and ineffable.
bharata natya Vba-ro-to-'nat-yoX Principal classical dance style of India, indigenous to Tamil Nadu and prevalent in South India. It expresses Hindu religious themes, and its techniques and terminology are found in the treatise Natya-shastra , written by the sage Bharata (3rd century ad). One dancer performs the entire two-hour program, accompanied by drums, drone, and singer. Originally performed only by female temple dancers, the art fell into disrepute as temple dancing became associated with prostitution, but it was revived in its original purity in the late 19th century. It was not brought to the stage until the 1930s.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) English Indian People's Party
Pro-Hindu political party of India. The BJP traces its roots to the the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (founded in 1951), which advocated the rebuilding of India in accordance with Hindu culture. The BJP was formally estab¬ lished in 1980. It achieved its first significant electoral success in 1989, though in 1992 the destruction of the Babri Mosjid (Mosque of Babur) in Ayodhya caused a backlash against it. In 1996 the BJP formed a short¬ lived government. Two years later the party and its allies formed a major¬ ity government with Atal Bihari Vajpayee as prime minister. Vajpayee again became prime minister in 1998 as head of a coalition of the BJP and other parties. In 2004, however, the coalition was defeated in parliamentary elections, and Vajpayee resigned from office.
Bharatpur Vbo-rot-.piuA or Bhurtpore Vbort-.porX City (pop., 2001 prelim.: 204,456), Rajasthan state, northwestern India. Located west of Agra, it was founded c. 1733 and was the capital of the princely state of Bharatpur. It was so strongly fortified that it successfully resisted the Brit¬ ish siege in 1805, and it was not taken by them until 1826. The city is renowned for the superb bird sanctuary at nearby Keoladeo National Park.
Bharhut \'ba-rot\ sculpture Indian sculpture from the mid 2nd cen¬ tury bc that decorated the great stupa, or relic mound, of Bharhut, in Madhya Pradesh, India. It is now mostly destroyed; the railings and gate¬ ways that remain are in Kolkata’s (Calcutta’s) Indian Museum. The orna¬ mental medallions depicting legends of the Buddha’s previous births and events in his life are labeled and so are indispensable for an understand¬ ing of Buddhist iconography. The Bharhut style marked the beginning of a tradition of Buddhist narrative relief and decoration of sacred buildings that continued for several centuries.
Bhartrhari \'ba-tr9-re\ (b. 570?, Ujjain, Malwa, India—d. 651?, Ujjain) Indian Hindu philosopher, poet, and grammarian. He was of noble birth; according to legend, he made seven attempts to renounce the world for monastic life before eventually becoming a yogi and moving into a cave near Ujjain. Vakyapadiya is his major work on the philosophy of language. Also ascribed to him are three collections of poetry, each containing 100 verses: Shrngara-shataka (on love), Niti-shataka (on ethics and polity), and Vairagya-shataka (on dispassion). His poem Bhatti kavya demon¬ strates the subtleties of Sanskrit.
Bhasa Vba-S9\ (b. 3rd century ad) Indian dramatist. The earliest known dramatist in Sanskrit, he was known only by the allusions of other San¬ skrit dramatists until the texts of 13 of his dramas were discovered and published in 1912. Most of his works are adaptations of themes of hero¬ ism and romantic love borrowed from two epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. He diverged from the conventions of the time by portray¬ ing battles and killings on the stage. His influence is seen in the works of the 5th-century dramatist Kalidasa.
TIIE TAWNY OWL*
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The Tawny Owl, wood engraving by Thomas Bewick, from his History of British Birds, 1797 - 1804 .
COURTESY OF THE TRUSTEES OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM; PHOTOGRAPH, J.R. FREEMAN & CO. LTD.
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Bhaskara I ► Bhutto I 213
Bhaskara I (fl. c. 629, possibly Valabhi, India) Indian astronomer and mathematician. His fame rests on three treatises he composed on the works of Aryabhata I (b. 476). Two of these, known today as Mahab- haskariya (“Great Book of Bhaskara”) and Laghubhaskariya (“Small Book of Bhaskara”), are astronomical works in verse, while Aryabhatiy- abhashya (629) is a prose commentary on the Aryabhatiya of Aryabhata. Bhaskara stressed the importance of proving mathematical rules rather than just relying on tradition or expediency.
Bhaskara II (b. 1114, Biddur, India—d. c. 1185, probably Ujjain) The leading mathematician of the 12th century. He was the lineal successor of Brahmagupta as head of an astronomical observatory at Ujjain, the leading mathematical centre of ancient India. His mathematical works were the first to make full and systematic use of the decimal system. He evidently was the first to gain some understanding of the meaning of divi¬ sion by zero. He used letters to represent unknown quantities, much as in modern algebra, and solved indeterminate equations of 1st and 2nd degrees. He wrote on his astronomical observations of planetary positions, conjunctions, eclipses, cosmography, geography, and the mathematical techniques and astronomical equipment used in these studies. He was also a noted astrologer.