eton University Press, 1999); Martin E. Mary and R.
Scott Appleby, eds., Religion, Ethnicity, and Self Identity:
Nations in Turmoil (Hanover, N.H.: University Press
of New England, 1997); Peter van der Veer, Religious
Nationalism, Hindus and Muslims in India (Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1994).
Bhartrihari (c. fourth or fifth century)
grammarian and philosopher
Bhartrihari was a philosopher of language whose
work was seminal in the development of the
Indian theories of language and of MANTRA. There
are several extant accounts of his life, but none
seem to have a historical basis. He was primarily
known as a grammarian, but his works had great
philosophical impact as well.
Bhartrihari developed a philosophy that came
to be known as “word ADVAITA,” or non-dual-
ism, based on the notion that the word (shabda)
is the transcendent reality. His idea of “Shabda
BRAHMAN,” or Ultimate Reality, as the basis of all
language, broke the barrier between grammar
and philosophy. He is best known for his work
Vakyapadiya (Treatise on words and sentences),
which formulates the sphota theory of linguistic
utterance, much debated in successive times.
Bhartrihari maintained that the study of Sanskrit
grammar alone could cause one to attain libera-
tion from birth and rebirth.
Further reading: Sebastian Alackpally, Being and Mean-
ing: Reality and Language in Bhartrihari and Heidegger
(Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 2002); Harold Coward,
Bhartrihari (Boston: Twayne, 1976); Gayatri Rath,
Linguistic Philosophy in Vakyapadiya (Delhi: Bharatiya
Vidya Prakashan, 2000).
Bhaskara (c. ninth century C.E.) Vedantic
philosopher
Bhaskara was one of the most important phi-
losophers of VEDANTA. He accepts the notions of
non-duality—the unity of reality—as argued by
the earlier SHANKARA, but does not accept their
notion that the phenomenal universe, the every-
day world, is illusory. He instead argues that the
universe is a real evolute of the Supreme Reality
BRAHMAN, regarded not as a person but as an entity.
Only one of his books is extant, a commentary on
the Vedantic text the VEDANTA SUTRA.Further reading: S. N. Dasgupta, A History of Indian
Philosophy. Vol. 3 (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1975); A.
B. Khanna, Bhaskaracarya: A Study with Special Refer-
ence to His Brahmasutrabhasya (Delhi: Amar Granth,
1998).Bhavabhuti (early eighth century C.E.) Sanskrit
playwright
One of the greatest authors in Indian literature,
Bhavabhuti is most famous for his three surviving
Sanskrit dramas: Mahaviracharita (Adventures of
that great hero Rama), Uttararamacharita (The
later adventures of Rama), and Malatimadhava
(The story of Malati and Madhava). Mahavira-
charita tells with considerable originality the full
story of RAMA from his birth to the defeat of his
enemy RAVANA. The Uttararamacharita is a story of
the children of Lord Rama as they grew up in the
forest, a story not told in the original RAMAYANAS.
Malatimadhava is basically a romance.Further reading: Jan Gonda, ed., A History of Indian Lit-
erature. Vol. 1 (Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1976);
Chittenjoor Kunhan Raja, Survey of Sanskrit Literature
(Bombay: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, 1962).Bhave, Vinoba (1885–1982) leader in the
Indian independence movement
Vinoba Bhave, a prominent nonviolent leader of
the Indian independence movement, was a pro-
lific popular writer and a tireless organizer for
land redistribution and social reform. He contin-
ued to agitate on behalf of Gandhian social values
in the decades after independence.Bhave, Vinoba 81 J