ORIENTAL SERIES.

BARHISHADSBHA GA VAD-GITA. 43
classed with borderers and foreigners and nations not Hindu."
Wilson.
BAEHISHADS. A class of Pitns, who, when alive, kept
up the household flame, and presented offerings with fire. Some
authorities identify them with the months. Their dwelling is
Vaibhraja-loka. See Pit?^s.
BAUDHAYANA. A writer on Dharma-sastra or law. He
was also the author of a Sutra work.
BHADBJL Wife of Utathya (q.v.).
BHADRACHARU. A son of Kriskwa and RukminL
BHADRA-KALI Name of a goddess. In modern times
it applies to Durgil
BHADRA/SWA. i. A region lying to the east of Mem. 2.
A celebrated horse, son of UchehaiA-sravas.
BHAGA. A deity mentioned in the Vedas, but of ver^
indistinct personality and powers. He is supposed to bestow
wealth and to preside over marriage, and he is classed among
the Adityas and Yiswedevas.
BHAGA-NETRA-GHNA (or -HAN). <
Destroyer of the eyes
of Bhaga.' An appellation of Siva.
BHAGAYAD-GITi 'The song of the Divine One/ A
celebrated episode of the Maha-bharata, in the form of a metrical
dialogue, in which the divine Krishm is the chief speaker, and
expounds to Arjuna his philosophical doctrines. The author of
the work is unknown, but he " was probably a Brahman, and
nominally a Yaishftava, but really a philosopher and thinker,
whose mind was cast in a broad mould" This poem has been
interpolated in the Malia-bharata,
for it is of much later date
lhan the body of that epic ; it is later also than the six Darsawas
or philosophical schools, for it has received inspiration from
them all, especially from the Sankhya, Yoga, and Yedanta. The
second or third century A.D. has been proposed as the probable
time of its appearance. Krishna, as a god, is a manifestation of
Yishwi; but in this song, and in other places, he is held to
be the supreme being. As man, he was related to both the
Paw^avas and the Kauravas, and in the great war between these
two families he refused to take up arms on either side. But he
consented to act as the Pa^ava Arjuna's charioteer. When
the opposing hosts were drawn up in array against each other,
Arjuna, touched with compunction for the approaching slaughter