The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism (2 Vol Set)

such tour that he started the Bhoodan (“land gift”) movement, the purpose of which was to obtain donations of land for the poor. ...

Yudhishthiraloses an important game of dice. Duhshasana drags Draupadi into the hall by her hair, her garments stained with mens ...

him his life. It is Bhishma who abducts Amba, Ambika, and Ambalika, the daughters of the king of Kashi, to be married to his ste ...

certain religious associations: with one of the four Vedas, with a particular quar- ter of the Indian subcontinent, with one of ...

marriage within the gotra is forbidden. After her marriage the bride adopts her husband’s gotra as part of her new identity. Bhr ...

far greater stress on devotion to Rama, of which Bhushundi is a perfect exam- ple. In Indian culture, crows are consid- ered unc ...

Bhuta Epithet of the god Shiva. See Shiva. Bhutalingas (“elemental lingas”) A network of five southern Indian sacred sites (tirt ...

incredibly rich history; it was the ances- tral homeland of the Maurya dynasty, which ruled over much of the Indian subcontinent ...

Renfrew Brooks, The Secret of the Three Cities, 1990. Bilva The wood-apple tree (Aegle marmelos). Although this tree is known fo ...

membranes, amniotic fluid, placenta, etc.). Thus, birth rituals usually include rites of purification for both mother and child, ...

and requiring continual infusions of life- sustaining blood to maintain their pow- ers. See also witchcraft. Boar Avatar The thi ...

Pushkar. Some Hindus have attributed this lack of worshipto his status as the creator. After all, since creation has been comple ...

four great crimesthat makes one an outcast from society. This crime’s seri- ousness stems from notions of brahmin sanctity and s ...

marriage, there has been significant divergence from the classically mandat- ed form. In many modern Indian weddings, it has bec ...

noun. In contrast, particular deitiesare seen as lower, provisional, qualified (saguna) forms of Brahman. This under- standing w ...

claim seems highly suspect, in part because the guardian deitiesof the two sects are different; Chaitanya and his followers wors ...

Brahmi The most commonly used script in the inscriptionsof the emperor Ashoka(r. 269–232 B.C.E.), the greatest figure in the Mau ...

missionaries and others based on the rationalist emphasis of the Enlightenment. The Brahmo Samaj’s openness put it at the forefr ...

extremely unusual feature in Indian temples. See also Chola dynasty. Brhannala This was the identity assumed by Arjuna, one of t ...

(9th–14th c.), in which another impor- tant medium was bronze. The images were made using lost wax casting, which allows for gre ...