The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism (2 Vol Set)

status, depending on the circumstances. Some beggars are simply people who are desperately poor, disabled, or unable to provide ...

Bel Another name for the bilva tree. See bilva. Belagave Village in the Shimoga district of the state of Karnataka. Belagave was ...

temple. Vishvanath is one of the twelve jyotirlingas, a group of sites deemed particularly sacred to Shiva. The original Vishvan ...

common name, pan(“drinking”). The nut turns the saliva a bright red color, which is the reason for the distinctive crimson smear ...

Bhadrapada According to the lunar calendar, by which most Hindu religious festivals are determined, Bhadrapada is the sixth mont ...

job is to kill people. At the same time, the path of action provides a way to transform socially sanctioned duty into religious ...

the god Krishnaas the single Supreme Being. Internal evidence hints that it was written in southern India in the ninth or tenth ...

sacred. Important pilgrimage places along this tributary include Gangotri near its headwaters, Uttarkashi, and Devaprayag. Bhair ...

akharas, or regiments, much like an army. Until the beginning of the nine- teenth century, the Nagas’ primary occupation was as ...

other hand, since most Hindu devotion- alism involves a community of worshipers, the devotee also gets to share in the company a ...

usages. In both these texts, bhakti is pre- sented as a form of yogain which one contemplates God as part of a con- trolled and ...

Bhaktimarga (“path of devotion”) Along with the path of action (karmamarga) and the path of wisdom (jnanamarga), this is one of ...

the avidya found in any particular soul is a “reflection” of the original avidya. For further information see Karl H. Potter (ed ...

the year. The former festival is dedicated to Shiva, who is famous for his love of the drug, whereas Holi is associated with ove ...

Bharata (2) In the Ramayana, the earlier of the two great Hindu epics, Bharata is the son of King Dasharathaby his wife Kaikeyi ...

it is mentioned in the two Tamil epic poems, Shilappadigaram and Manimegalai. Carvings at the Shiva temple in Kanchipuram sugges ...

The president of India invited the BJPto form a government, but this failed when it was unable to gain enough support from other ...

older brother’s wishes for the good of the family as a whole. Bharavi (6th c. C.E.)Sanskritdramatist who is best known as the au ...

bondage of the soul was caused by the primal ignorance known as avidya, but it could be erased by a combination of action and aw ...

sacred texts such as the Upanishads, and this problem may account for the school’s relatively short life. Bhasmasur In Hindu myt ...