missionaries and others based on
the rationalist emphasis of the
Enlightenment. The Brahmo Samaj’s
openness put it at the forefront of legal
reform—in particular, influencing the
1829 law banning sati. But at the same
time, its members were mostly
Westernized urban intellectuals, far
removed from the life and religious
concerns of Hindus. For further
information see Spencer Lavan, “The
Brahmo Samaj: India’s First Movement
for Religious Reform,” in Robert D. Baird
(ed.), Religion in Modern India, 1998.
Braj
Northern Indian region on the Yamuna
River, south of the modern city of Delhi.
According to Hindu tradition, Braj is the
land where the god Krishnalived during
his time on earth. The Braj region does
not have clearly defined boundaries,
and the name has never referred to an
official administrative area. Instead it
has been defined by popular piety.
Krishna’s devotees (bhakta) place great
emphasis on visualizing his exploits as a
way to attain communion with him, and
thus places throughout the Braj region
are associated with very specific inci-
dents in Krishna’s life. As it now stands,
the southern and eastern borders of the
region are just over five miles southeast
of the city of Mathura, and its northern
and western boundaries are nearly five
times that distance. For extensive infor-
mation on Braj and its culture, see A. W.
Entwistle, Braj, 1987.
Braj Bhasha
The “language of Braj”; a dialect of
medieval Hindiprimarily spoken in the
Braj region, south of the modern city of
Delhi. Braj is the land associated with
the god Krishna, and the devotion that
flourished there between the fifteenth
and eighteenth centuries made Braj
Bhasha a major literary language. Aside
from being the language of Krishna wor-
shipers, it also functioned as a lingua
franca—a common language used by
diverse peoples—for religious devotees
(bhakta) in a much larger area of northern
India, although it varied at the borders.Brhadaranyaka (“Great Forest
Book”) Upanishad
By general consensus, the oldest of the
Upanishads, the speculative religious
texts that form the most recent stratum
of the Vedas. The Brhadaranyaka
Upanishad’s chronological priority is
supported by at least four pieces of evi-
dence: its length, its lack of organiza-
tion, its archaic language, and its
relationship to earlier Vedic texts. The
opening passage gives an extended
comparison between the world and the
sacrificial horse, showing clear parallels
with the earlier Brahmanaliterature.
Moreover, by its very name (“great forest
book”), the Brhadaranyaka Upanishad
clearly points to a transition from the
Aranyaka (“forest books”) literature,
which followed Brahmana literature.
This upanishad first addresses many of
the questions raised in later texts and is
therefore an important source for the
development of the tradition. Unlike
most of the later Upanishads, it is writ-
ten in prose rather than poetry, with the
instruction often in the form of dialogue
between various speakers.Brhadeshvar
Temple built in the southern Indian city
of Tanjore around the year 1000 B.C.E. by
the Chola king Raja Raja(r. 985–1014).
The temple is dedicated to the god Shiva
in his form as Brhadeshvar (the “great
lord”). It was built in the Dravidastyle
characteristic of southern Indian tem-
ples, in which the buildings are of mod-
est height but cover an immense area
and are surrounded by a boundary wall
with massive towers (gopurams) over
each wall’s central gateway. The
Brhadeshvar temple is famous as a cen-
ter for traditional arts and culture, par-
ticularly as a home for the dancestyle
known as Bharatanatyam. It also con-
tains some exceptional murals, anBraj