marriage within the gotra is forbidden.
After her marriage the bride adopts
her husband’s gotra as part of her
new identity.
Bhrgu is most famous for testing the
three major Hindu gods, which results
in Vishnubeing declared the greatest of
the three. Bhrgu first goes to Brahma’s
house where the god does not pay Bhrgu
appropriate respect, and in revenge
Bhrgu cursesBrahma to receive no wor-
ship. Next he goes to see Shiva, who
refuses to meet with him because he is
making love to his wife Parvatiat the
time. In turn, Bhrgu curses Shiva to be
worshiped as the linga, the pillar-
shaped symbol that has undeniable
phallic associations. Lastly he visits
Vishnu and, finding him asleep, gives
him a sound kick in the chest. Vishnu
wakes up, but shows no anger at this dis-
respect. Instead he massages Bhrgu’s
foot, gently inquires whether it has been
hurt, and promises to retain its mark on
his chest forever, where it appears as the
shrivatsa. Vishnu’s magnanimous
behavior leads Bhrgu to proclaim him
the best of all the gods. Not surprisingly,
this version of the tale appears only in
Vaishnavasectarian literature. See also
marriage prohibitions.
Bhubaneshvar
Capital city of the modern Indian state
of Orissa. Bhubaneshvar reportedly has
over 500 temples, of which the most
prominent is the Lingaraja Temple. It is
dedicated to Shiva in his form as
Tribhuvaneshvar (“Lord of the Triple
World”), from which the city also gets
its name.
Bhudevi
See earth.
Bhujangavalaya
(“snake bracelet”) In Hindu iconogra-
phy, the name of a particular ornament
worn by the god Shiva. The bhujan-
gavalaya is a bracelet shaped in the form
of a snake. In Hindu mythology Shiva is
famous for wearing serpents, especially
cobras, as ornaments around his
arms and torso. This is just one of the
attributes that marks him as different,
powerful, and potentially dangerous.
The prescriptive canons for the creation
of Hindu images have followed up on
this tradition, and Shiva is invariably
shown wearing these bracelets.Bhuriwara
One of the four major organizational
groups of the Dashanami Sanyasis,
renunciant ascetics who are devotees
(bhakta) of the god Shiva; the other
three groups are Kitawara, Bhogawara,
and Anandawara. Each of these groups
has its headquarters in one of the four
monastic centers (maths) supposedly
established by the philosopher
Shankaracharya. Each division also has
certain religious associations: with one
of the four Vedas, with a particular quar-
ter of the Indian subcontinent, with one
of the “great utterances” (mahavakyas)
expressing ultimate truth, with a partic-
ular ascetic quality, and with several of
the ten Dashanami divisions. The
Bhuriwara group is affiliated with the
Shringeri Mathin the southern Indian
town of Shringeriand is thus connected
with the southern quarter of India. Their
Vedais the Yajur Veda, their mahavakya
is Aham Brahmasmi(“I am Brahman”),
and their ascetic quality is to renounce
all wealth and to live on food growing
wild in the jungles. The specific divi-
sions associated with this group are
Saraswati Dashanami, Bharati
Dashanami, and Puri Dashanami.Bhushundi
A character in the Ramcharitmanas,
the version of the Ramayanawritten by
the poet-saint Tulsidas (1532–1623?).
Bhushundi is a crow who symbolizes the
power of devotion to God to redeem
even the lowest of creatures. One of the
most pronounced differences between
the original Valmiki Ramayanaand the
Tulsidas Ramayanais that Tulsidas putsBhushundi