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The battle was long and furious ; the parties were equally matched, and Bhima was getting the worst of it, when he struck an unfair blow which smashed Dur-yodhana's thigh, and brought him to the ground. Thus he fulfilled his vow and avenged Draupadi. In his fury Bhima kicked his prostrate foe on the head, and acted so brutally that his brother Yudlii- sh^hira struck him in the face with his fist, and directed Arjuna to take him away. Bala-rama was greatly incensed at the foul play to wliich Bhima had resorted, and would have attacked the Pawf^avas had he not been mollified by Krishna. He de- clared that Bhima should thenceforward be called Jihma-yodhin, 'the unfair fighter.' After the conclusion of the war, the old king, Dh?-'ita-rash/ra, asked that Bhima might be brought to him. K?'isliwa, who knew the blind old man's sorrow for his son, whom Bhima had killed, and suspecting his intention, placed before him an iron statue, which Dlwita-rash^ra crushed in his embrace. Dh?'ita-rash/ra never forgave Bhima, and he returned the ill feeling with insults, which ended in the old king's retir- ing into the forest. Bhiraa's last public feat was the slaughter of the horse in the sacrifice which followed Yudhi-sh/hira's accession to the throne. Apart from his mythological attributes, the character of Bhima is natural and distinct. A man of burly form, prodigious strength, and great animal courage, with coarse tastes, a gluttonous appetite, and an irascible temper ; jovial and jocular when in good humour, but abusive, truculent, and brutal when his passions were roused. His repartees were forcible though coarse, and he held his own even against K?'/sh?ia when the latter made personal remarks upon him. See Mahii-bharata. By his Asura wife Hi<:?imba he had a son named Gha^otkacha ; and by his wife Balandhara, princess of Kiisi, he also had a son named Sarvatraga or Sarvaga. Other appellations of Bhima are Bhima-sena, Bahu-sfdin, ' tlie large armed,' Jarasandha-jit, ' van- quisher of Jarasandha.' BHIMA—BHISHMA. 53 BHIMA. Il^ame of the father of Damayanti. A name of Kudra or of one of his personifications, ^ee Rudra. BHIMA aSANKARA, BHIME^'WARA. Name of one of the twelve great Lingas. See Linga. BHIMA-SENA. A name of Bhima. BHISHMA ' The terrible.' Son of King ^S'antanu by the holy river goddess Ganga, and hence called /S'antanava, Gangeya, and Nadi-ja, 'the river-born.' When King /Santanu was very old he desired to marry a yonng and beautiful wdfe. His son ^antanava or Bhishma found a suitable damsel, but her parents objected to the marriage because Bhishma was heir to the throne, and if she bore sons they could not succeed. To gratify his father's desires, he made a vow to the girl's parents that he would never accept the throne, nor marry a wife, nor become the father of children. iS'antanu then married the damsel, whose name was Satyavati, and she bore him two sons. At the death of his father, Bhishma placed the elder son upon the throne, but he was headstrong and was soon killed in battle. The other son, named Yichitra-viryya, then succeeded, and Bhishma acted as his protector and adviser. By force of arms Bhishma obtained two daughters of the king of Ka5i and married them to Vichitra- viryya, and when that prince died young and childless, Bhishma acted as guardian of his widows. By Bhishma's arrangement, Knsh?za Dwaipayana, who was born of Satyavati before her marriage, raised up seed to his half-brother. The two children were Pa?zc?u and Dh?"ita-rash/ra. Bhishma brought them up and acted for them as regent of Hastina-pura. He also directed the training of their respective children, the Pa?zc?avas and Kauravas. On the rupture taking place between the rival families, Bhishma counselled moderation and peace. When the war began he took the side of the Kauravas, the sons of Dhr/ta-rash/ra, and he was made commander-in-chief of their army. He laid down some rules for mitigating the horrors of war, and he stipulated that he should not be called uj)on to fight against Arjuna. Goaded by the reproaches of Dur-yodhana, he attacked Arjuna on the tenth day of the battle. He was unfairly wounded by /S'ikhandin, and was pierced with innumerable arrows from the hands of Arjuna, so that there was not a space of two fingers' breadth left unwounded in his whole body, and when he fell from his chariot he was upheld from the ground by the arrows and lay as on a couch of darts. He was mortally 54 BHISHMAKA—BHRIGU. wounded, but he had obtained the power of fixing the period of his death, so he survived fifty-eight days, and dehvered several long didactic discourses. Bhishma exhibited through- out his life a self-denial, devotion, and fidelit}^ which remained unsullied to the last. He is also known by the appellation Tarpawechchhu, and as Tala-ketu, 'palm banner.' iiee Maha- bharata. BHISHMAKA. i. An appellation of /Siva. 2. King of Vidarbha, father of Rukmin and of Rukmini, the chief wife of IO'ish?ia. BHOGAVATI. ' The voluptuous.' The subterranean capital of the Xagas in the Naga-loka portion of Piitala. Another name is Put-kari. BHOJA. A name borne by many kings. Most conspicuous among them was Bhoja or Bhoja-deva, king of Dhar, who is said to have been a great patron of literature, and probably died before 1082 a.d. 2. A prince of the Yadava race who reigned at ]\I?7'ttikavatI on the Par?2,asa river in Malwa; he is called also Maha-bhoja. 3. A tribe living in the Vindhya mountains. 4. A country ; the modern Bhojpur, Bhagalpur, &c. BHOJA-PRABANDHA. A collection of literary anecdotes relating to King Bhoja of Dhar, written by BalHla. The text has been lithographed by Pavie. BHit/GU. A Vedic sage. He is one of the Prajapatis and great i^/shis, and is regarded as the founder of the race of the Bhrigus or Bhargavas, in which was born Jamad-agni and Para^u Rama. Manu calls him son, and says that he confides to him his Institutes. According to the Maha-bharata he officiated at Daksha's celebrated sacrifice, and had his beard pulled out by /Siva. The same authority also tells the following story : — It is related of Bhrigu that he rescued the sage Agastya from the tyranny of King Nahusha, who had obtained suj^erhuman power. Bli?-igu crept into Agastya's hair to avoid the potent glance of Nahusha, and when that tyrant attached Agastya to his chariot and kicked him on the head to make him move, Bh7-/gu cursed Nahusha, and he was turned into a serpent. Bh/igu, on Nahusha's supplication, limited the duration of his curse. In the Padma Purana it is related that the i^ishis, assembled at a sacrifice, disputed as to which deity was best entitled to the BHRIGU—BHUTA. 55 homage of a Brahman. Being unable to agree, they resolved to send Bhngii to test the characters of the various gods, and he accordingly went. He could not obtain access to ^S'iva because that deity was engaged with his wife ; " finding him, therefore, to consist of the property of darkness, Bhrigu sentenced him to take the form of the Linga, and pronounced that he should have no offerings presented to him, nor receive the worship of the pious and respectable. His next visit was to Brahma, whom he beheld surrounded by sages, and so much inflated with his own importance as to treat Bhngu with great inattention, betraying his being made up of foulness. The Muni therefore excluded him from the worship of the Brahmans. Repairing next to Vishmi, he found the deity asleep, and, indignant at his seeming sloth, Bh?'igu stamj^ed upon his breast with his left foot and awoke him ; instead of being offended, VisliTiu gently pressed the Brahman's foot and expressed himself honoured and made happy by its contact ; and Bhrigu, highly pleased by his humi- lity, and satisfied of his being impersonated goodness, proclaimed Vishvzu as the only being to be worshipped by men or gods, in which decision the Munis, upon BhW-gu's report, concurred." — Wilson. BHit/GUS. 'Roasters, consumers.' "A class of mythical beings who belonged to the middle or aerial class of gods." — Roth. They are connected with Agni, and are spoken of as producers and nourishers of fire, and as makers of chariots. They are associated with the Angirasas, the Atharvans, i^ib- hus, &c. BHU, BHUMI. The earth. 8m Pnthivi. BHUR. Sm Yvahnti. BHURI-^SRAYAS. A prince of the Balhikas and an ally of the Kauravas, who was killed in the great battle of the Maha- bharata. BHUR-LOKA. See Loka. BHUTA. A ghost, imp, gobhn.