A Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism Klaus K Klostermaie

37 Bhäratïya Jänatä Party
teachers advocating it have different
understandings of its precise content.
Some seem to favour a spiritual interpretation,
i.e. an inner surrender to
God; others adopt a more ritualistic
understanding, an insistence on a routine
of rituals performed daily in front
of a consecrated image, pilgrimages to
holy places and such like. Within bhaktimärga
the importance of the spiritual
master (GURU) is generally stressed as
mediator of God’s saving grace. With
the growth of the theistic traditions in
India (VAIÆŒAVISM, ŸAIVISM, ŸÄKTISM
and others) the bhakti-märga became
the predominant path in Hinduism.
Bhämatï
Commentary on Ÿankara’s BRÄHMA-
SÜTRABHÄÆYA by VÄCASPATI MIŸRA.
Bhandarkar, Ramkrishna
Gopal (1837–1925)
One of India’s foremost early ‘modern’
Indologists, trained both in the Hindu
pandit tradition and at Western universities.
He had a brilliant academic and
public career as professor of Sanskrit at
Elphinstone College in Bombay, the
Deccan College in Poona, a member of
the syndicate and later vice-chancellor
of the University of Bombay, member of
the Viceroy’s Legislative Council,
knighted in 1911. At the occasion of his
80th birthday in 1917 the Bhandarkar
Oriental Research Institute was officially
inaugurated. It became home to the
critical edition of the Mahäbhärata, the
largest editorial enterprise ever undertaken.
His collected works comprise
over 2,000 pages, containing text editions,
translations, textbooks and
monographs such as his celebrated
Vai•æavism, Ÿaivism and Minor
Religious Systems (1913). He was also
an active member of the PRÄRTHANA
SAMÄJ, a religious and social reformer,
supporting the remarriage of widows
and arguing that many orthodox customs
had no basis in Hindu tradition.
Bhäradväja (4000 BCE?)
A vedic ØÆI to whom many hymns are
attributed. Son of BØHASPATI and father
of DRONA, the teacher of the PÄŒ¥AVAS.
There are many stories connected with
his life in epics and Puräæas.
Bharata (1)
In the ØGVEDA, hero and king of the
warlike Bhäratas.
Bharata (2)
An ancient king who, while living as a
SAMNYÄSI, became attached to a fawn
and was reborn as a deer. In a further
rebirth as a brahmin he served as palanquin
bearer and amazed the king with
his wisdom.
Bharata (3)
Son of Daÿaratha by his wife Kaikeyï;
half-brother of Räma, he ruled the
country during Räma’s absence on his
behalf.
Bharata (4)
The son of Du•yanyta and Ÿakuntalä,
who became a universal monarch: India
was called Bhärata-var•a after him. He
was a remote ancestor of both
PÄŒ¥AVAS and KAURAVAS. The
Päæõavas were also called Bhäratas:
hence the (Mahä-) Bhärata war and the
eponymous epic.
Bharata (5), also Bharata Muni
(second century BCE)
Author of the Näflyaÿästra, the earliest
treatise on music and dance.
Bhäratï
One of the names of SARASVATÏ (1).
Bhäratïya Jänatä Party
(‘Indian People Party’)
Formed out of sections of the former