Bel
Another name for the bilva tree.
See bilva.
Belagave
Village in the Shimoga district of the
state of Karnataka. Belagave was the
most important center for the
Kalamukhas, which was an asceticsect
of devotees (bhakta) of the god Shiva.
The Kalamukhas had an important his-
torical role in southern India between
the tenth and thirteenth centuries,
but they disappeared some time after
that. Their ritual center in Belagave
was the temple of Kedareshvara, which
was Shiva in his form as the lord of
Kedara. Although the Kalamukhas
have disappeared, their presence and
prominence in the region are confirmed
by the inscriptions at this and
numerous other temples.
Belur
Town in the state of Karnataka, about
sixty miles northwest of the modern city
of Mysore. As at its sister site, Halebid,
Belur is known for a magnificent collec-
tion of temples built by the Hoysala
dynasty, which ruled western Karnataka
from the eleventh to thirteenth cen-
turies C.E. At both sites the temples were
built from a particular type of stone—
variously described as chlorite schist,
steatite, or soapstone—that was quite
soft when newly quarried but gradually
hardened with exposure to the air. This
initial malleability made the stone easy
to carve and facilitated the lush detail
characteristic of Hoysala temples.
Architecturally speaking, these temples
have certain unique features: a central
hall connecting three star-shaped sanc-
tuaries, and temple towers (shikharas)
composed of well-defined horizontal
tiers rather than the continuous upward
sweep characteristic of the northern
Indian Nagaraarchitectural style.
Belur Math
World headquarters of the Ramakrishna
Mission, a modern religious organiza-
tion. The Ramakrishna Mission was
founded in 1897 by Swami
Vivekananda, the most famous disciple
of the nineteenth-century Bengali
mystic Ramakrishna. The Mission is
equally dedicated to both social service
and spiritual uplift, based on
Vivekananda’s realization that India
needed concrete development as much
as religious teaching. Belur Math was
constructed in 1899, two years after
the Ramakrishna Mission was founded.
It is located just north of Calcutta on
the west side of the Hugli River, quite
close to the Dakshineshwartemple
where Ramakrishna lived for most of
his adult life.Benares
City and sacred center (tirtha) on the
banks of the Gangesin the state of Uttar
Pradesh. Benares is an anglicized form
of Varanasi, one of the traditional Hindu
names for the city, as well as Kashiand
Avimukta. All three of these names are
used to designate the entire city, but in a
more specific context, they denote con-
centric sacred zones surrounding the
Vishvanath temple; Avimukta is the
smallest, then Varanasi, and finally
Kashi. As with all other pilgrimage
places on the Ganges, Benares is consid-
ered sacred because of its proximity to
the river, particularly because at Benares
the Ganges flows in a northerly direc-
tion, which is considered auspicious.
The Ganges is an integral part of the
identity of Benares, and much of the
city’s religious life centers around it.
The most important sacred presence
in the city, however, is the god Shiva.
Benares is the city of Shiva, his dwelling
place on earth, and the site he never
leaves, hence the name Avimukta
(“never forsaken”). Temples to Shiva are
scattered throughout the city—some
old, some new, some nearly forgotten—
but the most important is the
Vishvanath (“Lord of the Universe”)Bel