such tour that he started the Bhoodan
(“land gift”) movement, the purpose of
which was to obtain donations of land
for the poor. Much of Bhave’s life after
independence was devoted to village
development, in particular through a
movement called Sarvodaya (“welfare of
all”), which sought to solve problems
through collective involvement and ser-
vice to one another.
Bhedabhada
(“identity-in-difference”) Philosophical
school whose best-known figures were
Bhartrprapancha and Bhaskara. The
Bhedabhada position identified three
levels of being: the Ultimate Reality
known as Brahman, the “witness” con-
sciousness (sakshin) in the human
being, and the world. The school para-
doxically asserted that these three levels
are identical, yet different. Thus the
world is identical to Brahman but is sub-
ject to change and decay, unlike
Brahman. In the same way, while each
human soul is identical to Brahman, it is
also subject to bondage and reincarna-
tion (samsara), unlike Brahman. The
bondage of the soul was caused by the
primal ignorance known as avidya, but
it could be erased by a combination of
action and awareness (jnanakar-
masamucchaya). The basic philosophi-
cal problem for Bhartrprapancha and
his followers was that because they
believed that Brahman was actually
transformed into the world and the Self
(parinamavada), it followed that
Brahman was subject to bondage and
ignorance. Thus, if one must destroy
avidya to gain liberation, one must also
destroy part of Brahman. These were
difficult ideas to defend since the tran-
scendence of Brahman was well estab-
lished by sacred texts such as the
Upanishads, and this problem may
account for the school’s relatively
short life.
Bhil
The name of a tribal (adivasi) group
found in greatest numbers in the
Vindhya Mountains, in the eastern part
of the state of Madhya Pradesh. They
are historically associated with the for-
est, particularly with hunting and gath-
ering honey. As with many tribal groups,
their homeland is often in marginal
lands, and most of them are quite poor.Bhima
The third of the five Pandavabrothers
who are the heroes in the
Mahabharata, the later of the two great
Hindu epics. Bhima is born when his
mother, Kunti, uses a powerful mantra
(sacred sound) to have a sonby the
wind-god, Vayu. Of all the Pandavas,
Bhima is the largest and strongest, and
his favorite weapon is the club, which
requires great physical strength. This
strength is one of the sources of enmity
between the Pandavas and the
Kauravas(cousins of the Pandavas),
since during their adolescent training,
Bhima can always draw on his superior
power to outdo his cousins. His earthy
and untamed nature is evident through
his consumption of strange foods as well
as from his liaison with the rakshasi
(female demon) Hidambi, by whom he
has a son, Ghatotkacha. Bhima’s notable
deeds tend to be feats of strength. In
many cases this involves killing demons,
such as Bakasuror Hidamba in hand-to-
hand combat; but Bhima is also a major
figure in the Mahabharata war, in which
he uses his club to kill great masses of the
Kaurava army.
Besides his strength and unusual
appetites, which make him a figure sub-
ject to caricature, Bhima is also
absolutely devoted to his brothers and
to their common wife, Draupadi.
Whenever her honor is at stake, Bhima is
the person to whom she turns. When
Draupadi is molested by Kichakaduring
the year that the Pandavas spend incog-
nito at the court of King Virata, Bhima
disguises himself as Draupadi, goes to
meet Kichaka, and kills him. It is also
Bhima who vows to kill the two
Kaurava brothers, Duhshasana and
Duryodhana, because of their behavior
toward Draupadi after Bhima’s brotherBhima