Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v2.c4.s2: B

Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v2.c4.s2

Language: English

B

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Baka Dālbhya (‘descendant of Dalbha’) is the name of a person mentioned in the Jaiminīya Upaniṣad Brāhmaṇa as constraining Indra for the Ājakeśins (i. 9, 2), and as a Kuru-Pañcāla (iv. 7, 2).

Bakura is mentioned in one passage of the Rigveda,¹ where it is said that the Aśvins made light for the Āryan by blowing their Bakura against the Dasyus. According to the Nirukta,² the thunderbolt¹ is meant; but much more probable is Roth’s³ view, that the object blown was a musical instrument. See also Bākura.

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¹ i. 117, 21.

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² vi. 25. Cf. Naighaṇṭuka, iv. 3.

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³ St. Petersburg Dictionary, s.v. Cf. Zimmer, Altindisches Leben, 290; Muir, Sanskrit Texts, 5, 466.

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Baja is the name in the Atharvaveda¹ of a plant used against a demon of disease. Some sort of mustard plant may be meant.²

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¹ viii. 6, 3. 6. 7. 24.

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² Whitney, Translation of the Atharvaveda, 494.

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Badara denoting, like Karkandhu and Kuvala, a kind of jujube, is mentioned in the Yajurveda Saṃhitās¹ and the Brāhmaṇas.²

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¹ Kāṭhaka Saṃhitā, xii. 10; Maitrāyaṇī Saṃhitā, iii. 11, 2; Vājasaneyi Saṃhitā, xix. 22. 90; xxi. 30. Satapatha Brāhmaṇa, v. 5, 4, 10; xii. 7, 1, 3; 2, 9; 9, 1, 8, etc.; Jaiminīya Brāhmaṇa, ii. 156, 5.

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² Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa, i. 8, 5, 1;

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Badvan seems in one passage of the Pañcavimśa Brāhmaṇa¹ to denote a ‘causeway.’ It is said to be firmer than an ordinary road.

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¹ i. 1, 4. Cf. Lāṭyāyana Srauta Sūtra, i. 1, 23.

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Bandhana denotes a ‘rope’ or other fastening in the Atharvaveda¹ and later.²

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¹ Av. iii. 6, 7 (of a boat, Nau); vi. 14, 2. (of a horse); Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa, iii. 8, 9, 4; Chāndogya Upaniṣad, vi. 8, 2; Nirukta, xii. 38, etc.

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² Satapatha Brāhmaṇa, xiii. 1, 6, 2

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Bandhu, denoting ‘relationship’¹ in the abstract and ‘relation’² in the concrete, occurs in the Rigveda and later.

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¹ Rv. v. 73, 4; vii. 72, 2; viii. 73, 12, etc.; Av. v. 11, 10. 11; Vājasaneyi Saṃhitā, iv. 22; x. 6, etc. 23; Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa, iii. 7, 5. 5, etc.; bandhumant, ‘having relations,’ Rv. viii. 21, 4; Taittirīya Saṃhitā, i. 5, 1, 4, etc.

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² Rv. i. 164, 33; vii. 67, 9; Av. x. 10,

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Babara Prā-vāhani (‘descendant of Pravāhaṇa’) is the name of a man who, according to the Taittirīya Saṃhitā,¹ wished to become an orator, and obtained rhetorical power by the use of the Pañcarātra sacrifice.

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¹ vii. 1, 10, 2. Cf. Geldner, Vedische Studien, 2, 148.

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1. Babhru is the name, in the Rigveda,¹ of a Ṛṣi who received gifts from King Ṛṇamcaya. The same Babhru may be meant in another passage,² where he is mentioned as a protégé of the Aśvins; but it is doubtful whether the word is a proper name at all in the Atharvaveda.³

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¹ v. 30, ii. 14.

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² viii. 22, 10.

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³ iv. 29, 2. It is here taken as a proper name by the St. Petersburg Dictionary, s.v.; Ludwig, Translation of the Rigveda, 3, 126. But Whitney, Translation of the Atharvaveda, 199, denies that a proper name is meant. Cf. Oldenberg, Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, 42, 214.

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2. Babhru Kaumbhya (‘descendant of Kumbha’) is the name of the seer of a Sāman or Chant in the Pañcaviṃśa Brāhmaṇa (xv. 3, 13).

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3. Babhru Daivā-vṛdha is mentioned in the Aitareya Brāhmaṇa (vii. 34) as a pupil of Parvata and Nārada.

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Bamba Aja-dviṣa (‘descendant of Aja-dviṣ’) is mentioned as a teacher in the Jaiminīya Upaniṣad Brāhmaṇa (ii. 7, 2). Bimba is a various reading.

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Bambā-Viśvavayasau are the names, in the form of a compound, of two Ṛṣis who, according to the Yajurveda Saṃhitās,¹ invented a certain rite.

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¹ Taittirīya Saṃhitā, vi. 6, 8, 4; Kāṭhaka Saṃhitā xxix. 7, where the reading adopted in the text is Bambhā, though the reading of the Berlin manuscript is Bambhār. The name is taken to be Bambā by the St. Petersburg Dictionary; but Bamba is possible, the Dvandva compound accounting for the form with ā. The Maitrāyaṇī Saṃhitā, iv. 7, 3, has Bamba-.

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Barāsī is found in the Kāṭhaka Saṃhitā¹ and the Pañcaviṃśa Brāhmaṇa² denoting a garment of some kind.

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¹ xv. 4.

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² xviii. 9, 16 (where the commentator explains it as made of bark); xxi. 3, 4.

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Baru is the name of the author of a hymn of the Rigveda¹ according to the Brāhmaṇas² of that Veda.

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¹ x. 96.

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² Aitareya Brāhmaṇa, vi, 25; Kauṣītaki Brāhmaṇa, xxv. 8.

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Barku Vārṣṇa (‘descendant of Vṛṣan’) is the name of a teacher in the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa.¹

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¹ i. 1, 1, 10; Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad, iv. 1, 8 (Mādhyamdina = iv. 1, 4 Kāṇva).

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Barhis is found repeatedly in the Rigveda¹ and later² denoting the litter of grass strewn on the sacrificial ground on which the gods are summoned to seat themselves.

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¹ i. 63, 7; 108, 4; iii. 4, 4, etc.

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² Taittirīya Saṃhitā, vi. 2, 4, 5; Vājasaneyi Saṃhitā, ii. 1; xviii. 1, etc.

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Balākā, ‘crane,’ is mentioned in the list of victims at the Aśvamedha (‘horse sacrifice’) in the Yajurveda Saṃhitās.¹

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¹ Taittirīya Saṃhitā, v. 5, 16, 1; Vājasaneyi Saṃhitā, xxiv. 22. 23. Cf. Maitrāyaṇī Saṃhitā, iii. 14, 3. 14; Zimmer, Altindisches Leben, 92.

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Balāya is the name of an unknown animal mentioned in the list of victims at the Aśvamedha (‘horse sacrifice’) in the Yajurveda Saṃhitās.¹

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¹ Vājasaneyi Saṃhitā, xxiv. 38; Maitrāyaṇī Saṃhitā, iii. 14, 19.

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Balāsa is the name of a disease mentioned several times in the Atharvaveda¹ and occasionally later.² Mahīdhara³ and Sāyaṇa⁴ interpret the term as ‘consumption.’ Zimmer⁵ supports this view on the ground that it is mentioned⁶ as a kind of Yakṣma, makes the bones and joints fall apart (asthi-sraṃsa, paruḥ-sraṃsa),⁷ and is caused by love, aversion, and the heart,⁸ characteristics which agree with the statements of the later Hindu medicine.⁹ It is in keeping with a demon of the character of consumption that Balāsa should appear as an accompaniment of Takman.¹⁰ Grohmann,¹¹ however, thought that a ‘sore’ or ‘swelling’ (in the case of fever caused by dropsy) was meant. Bloomfield¹² considers that the question is still open. Ludwig¹³ renders the word by ‘dropsy.’

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¹ iv. 9, 8; v. 22, 11; vi. 14, 1; 127, 1; ix. 8, 8; xix. 34, 10.

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² Vājasaneyi Saṃhitā, xii. 97.

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³ On Vājasaneyi Saṃhitā, loc. cit.

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⁴ On Av. xix. 34, 10.

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⁵ Altindisches Leben, 385-387.

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⁶ Av. ix. 8, 10.

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⁷ Av. vi. 14, 1.

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⁸ ix. 8, 8.

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⁹ Wise, Hindu System of Medicine, 321, 322.

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¹⁰ Av. iv. 9, 8; xix. 34, 10.

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¹¹ Indische Studien, 9, 396 et seq.

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¹² Hymns of the Atharvaveda, 450.

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¹³ Translation of the Rigveda, 3, 510.

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As remedies against the disease the salve (Añjasa) from Trikakud¹⁴ and the Jaṅgiḍa¹⁵ plant are mentioned.

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¹⁴ Av. iv. 9, 8.

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¹⁵ Av. xix. 34, 10.

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Bali occurs several times in the Rigveda¹ and often later² in the sense of tribute to a king or offering to a god. Zimmer³ thinks that the offerings were in both cases voluntary. He compares the notices of the Germans in Tacitus,⁴ where the kings of the tribes are said to receive gifts in kind as presents, but not a regular tribute. There seems to be no ground whatever for this view. No doubt in origin the prerogatives of monarchy were due to voluntary action on the part of the tribesmen,⁵ but that the Vedic peoples, who were essentially a body of conquering invaders, were in this state is most improbable, and the attitude of the Vedic Indian to his gods was at least as compatible with tribute as with voluntary gifts. Zimmer admits that in the case of hostile tribes⁶ tribute must be meant even in the Rigveda. See also Rājan.

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¹ To a god, Rv. i. 70, 9; v. 1, 10; viii. 100, 9; to a king, in the compound bali-hṛt, ‘paying tribute,’ vii. 6, 5; x. 173, 6.

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² Metaphorically: Av. vi. 117, 1; Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa, i. 2, 3, 2; Kāṭhaka Saṃhitā, xxix. 7; Taittirīya Upaniṣad, i. 5, 3, etc.; bali-hṛt, Av. xi. 4, 19; Kāṭhaka Saṃhitā, loc. cit.; bali-hāra, Av. xi. 1, 20; literally: Av. iii. 4, 3; Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa, ii. 7, 18, 3; iii. 12, 2, 7; Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, i. 3, 2, 15; 5, 3, 18; 6, 3, 17; xi 2, 6, 14; Pañcaviṃśa Brāhmaṇa, xv. 7, 4; Aitareya Brāhmaṇa, vii. 29 (cf. vii. 34); bali-hṛt, Kāṭhaka Saṃhitā, xxix. 9; Taittirīya Saṃhitā, i. 6, 2, 1.

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³ Altindisches Leben, 166, 167.

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⁴ Germania, 15.

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⁵ Later, too, benevolences (praṇayā-kriyā) were known. See Fleet, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1909, 760-762.

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⁶ See Rv. vii. 6, 5; 18, 19.

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Balkasa denotes impure matter given off in the process of fermentation in the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa.¹ The exact sense may be either ‘scum,’ ‘sediment,’² or perhaps more probably vegetable matter in the form of ‘husks.’³

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¹ xii. 8, 1, 16; 9, 1, 2.

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² St. Petersburg Dictionary, s.v., Flocken (‘flakes’).

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³ Eggeling, Sacred Books of the East, 44, 236, n. 1.

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Balbaja is the name of the grass called Eleusine indica. It is mentioned in the Atharvaveda,¹ and is said in the Yajurveda Saṃhitās² to be produced from the excrements of cattle. In the Kāṭhaka Saṃhitā² it is stated to be used for the sacrificial litter (Barhis) and for fuel. Baskets or other products made from this grass are referred to in a Dānastuti (‘Praise of Gifts’) in the Rigveda.³

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¹ xiv. 2, 22. 23.

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² Taittirīya Saṃhitā, ii. 2, 8, 2; Kāṭhaka Saṃhitā, x. 10; Maitrāyaṇī Saṃhitā, ii. 2, 5.

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³ viii. 55, 3. Cf. St. Petersburg Dictionary, s.v.; Zimmer, Altindisches Leben, 69, 70.

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1. Balhika is the name of a people in the Atharvaveda¹ where the fever (Takman) is called upon to go to the Mūjavants, the Mahāvṛṣas, and the Balhikas. The Mūjavants are quite certainly a northern tribe, and though, as Bloomfield² suggests, the passage may contain a pun on Balhika as suggesting ‘outsider’ (from bahis, ‘without’), still no doubt the name was chosen from a northern tribe. But the view of Roth³ and Weber,⁴ which Zimmer⁵ once accepted, that an Iranian tribe is referred to (cf. Balkh), is not at all probable. Zimmer⁶ shows that there is no need whatever to assume Iranian influence. See also Parśu.

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¹ v. 22, 5. 7. 9.

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² Hymns of the Atharvaveda, 446.

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³ Zur Litteratur und Geschichte des Weda, 41.

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⁴ Indische Studien, i, 205; Proceedings of the Berlin Academy, 1892, 985-995.

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⁵ Altindisches Leben, 130.

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⁶ Op. cit., 431-433. Cf. Whitney, Translation of the Atharvaveda, 260; Hopkins, Great Epic of India, 373.

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2. Balhika Prātipīya is the name of a Kuru king in the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa,¹ where he appears as having been opposed to the restoration of Duṣṭaritu Paumṣāyana to his hereditary sovereignty over the Sṛñjayas, but as having failed to prevent the restoration being carried out by Revottaras Pātava Cākra Sthapati. The epithet Prātipīya is curious: if it connects him with Pratīpa (whose son he is in the Epic), the form is remarkable, Zimmer² indeed tacitly altering it to Prātīpīya. In the Epic and the Purāṇas³ he is in the form of Vāhlīka made a brother of Devāpi and Śantanu, and a son of Pratīpa. To base chronological conclusions on this⁴ would be utterly misleading, for the facts are that Devāpi was son of Ṛṣiṣeṇa and a priest, while Śantanu was a Kuru prince of unknown parentage, but not probably a son of Pratīpa, who seems to be a late figure in the Vedic age, later than Parikṣit, being his great-grandson in the Epic. Very possibly Balhika was a descendant of Pratīpa. Why he bore the name Balhika must remain uncertain, for there is no evidence of any sort regarding it.

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¹ xii. 9, 3. 3.

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² Altindisches Leben, 432.

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³ See Muir, Sanskrit Texts, I², 273 et seq.; Sieg, Die Sagenstoffe des Ṛgveda, 131-136.

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⁴ Pargiter, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1910, 52.

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Balbūtha is mentioned in one hymn of the Rigveda,¹ along with Tarukṣa and Pṛthuśravas, as a giver of gifts to the singer. He is called a Dāsa, but Roth² was inclined to amend the text so as to say that the singer received a hundred Dāsas from Balbūtha. Zimmer’s³ suggestion that he may have been the son of an aboriginal mother, or perhaps an aboriginal himself, seems probable.⁴ If this was the case, it would be a clear piece of evidence for the establishment of friendly relations between the Āryans and the Dāsas.

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¹ viii. 46, 32.

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² St. Petersburg Dictionary, s.v. dāsa.

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³ Altindisches Leben, 117.

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⁴ Weber, Episches im vedischen Ritual, 30; Griffith, Hymns of the Rigveda, 2, 196.

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1. Basta denotes the ‘goat’ in the Rigveda¹ and the later literature.² 2. Basta Rāmakāyana is the name of a teacher in the Maitrāyaṇī Saṃhitā (iv. 2, 10). The patronymic is variously read Samakāyana.

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¹ i. 161, 13. The passage is unintelligible; for a guess, see Tilak, Orion, 166 et seq., and cf. Hillebrandt, Vedische Mythologie, 3, 145, n. 2.

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² Taittirīya Saṃhitā, ii. 3, 7, 4; v. 3, 1, 5; 7, 10, 1; Kāṭhaka Saṃhitā, xvii. 2; Vājasaneyi Saṃhitā, xiv. 9; Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa, i. 3, 7, 7; Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad, i. 4, 9 (Mādhyamdina = i. 4, 4 Kāṇva), etc., and cf. Av. viii. 6, 12; xi. 9, 22.

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Bahu-vacana denotes in grammatical terminology the ‘plural’ in the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa¹ and the Nirukta.² So dvivat, bahuvat, in the Nirukta³ means ‘in the dual and the plural.’

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¹ xiii. 5, 1, 18.

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² v. 23; xi. 16; xii. 7 (which recognises the plural majestatis).

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³ ii. 24. 27; xi. 16.

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Bahv-ṛca denotes an adherent of the Rigveda. The term is found in the Brāhmaṇas¹ of the Rigveda, in the Śatapatha² and the Pañcaviṃśa Brāhmaṇas,³ and in the Āraṇyakas of the Rigveda.⁴

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¹ Aitareya Brāhmaṇa, ii. 36; v. 2; vi. 18; Kauṣītaki Brāhmaṇa, vi. 11; xvi. 9.

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² x. 5, 2, 20; xi. 5, 1, 10.

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³ v. 6, 6.

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⁴ Aitareya Āraṇyaka, iii. 2, 3; Śāṅkhāyana Āraṇyaka, viii. 4.

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Bākura in one passage of the Rigveda (ix. 1, 8) is used as an epithet of Dṛti, the combined words denoting a wind instrument of some kind. *Cf.* Bakura.

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Bādeyī-putra (‘son of Bādeyī’) is mentioned in the last Vamśa (list of teachers) of the Mādhyamdina recension of the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad (vi. 4, 30) as a pupil of Mauṣikī-putra.

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Bāṇa denotes ‘arrow’ in the Rigveda (vi. 75, 17) and later (Av. iii. 23, 2; vi. 105, 2, etc.).

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Bāṇavant in the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad (iii. 8, 2) denotes an ‘arrow’ like Bāṇa. Its more normal sense is ‘quiver’ (lit., ‘containing arrows’), which is its sense in the Vājasaneyi Saṃhitā (xvi. 10) and the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa (v. 3, 1, 11).

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Bādarāyaṇa (‘descendant of Badara’) is the name of a teacher in the Vamśa (list of teachers) at the end of the Sāmavidhāna Brāhmaṇa.¹

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¹ Cf. Weber, *Indische Studien*, 4, 377. Bādari is found in the Kātyāyana Śrauta Sūtra, iv. 3, 18; Weber, *Indische Studien*, 1, 34. n.

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Bādhyoga (‘descendant of Badhyoga’) is the patronymic of Jihvāvant, a pupil of Asita Vārṣagaṇa, in the last Vamśa (list of teachers) in the Mādhyamdina recension of the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad (vi. 4, 33).

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Bādhva is the name of a teacher in the Aitareya Āraṇyaka (iii. 2, 3). The reading in the Śāṅkhāyana Āraṇyaka (viii. 3) is Vātsya.¹

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¹ See Keith, *Aitareya Āraṇyaka*, 249, n. 1.

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Bābhrava, ‘descendant of Babhru,’ is the patronymic of Vatsanapāt in the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad.¹ In the legend of Śunaḥśepa² the Kāpileyas and the Bābhravas are enumerated as the descendants of Śunaḥśepa under his adoptive name of Devarāta Vaiśvāmitra. A Sāman, or Chant, of Babhru is mentioned in the Pañcavimśa Brāhmaṇa.³

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¹ ii. 5, 22; iv. 5, 28 (Mādhyamdina =ii. 6, 3; iv. 6, 3 Kāṇva).

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² Aitareya Brāhmaṇa, vii. 17. The Śāṅkhāyana version omits the words.

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³ xv. 3, 12.

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Bābhravya, ‘descendant of Babhru,’ is the patronymic of Girija in the Aitareya Brāhmaṇa (vii. 1), and of Śaṅkha in the Jaiminīya Upaniṣad Brāhmaṇa (iii. 41, 1; iv. 17, 1).

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Bārhat-sāmā is an anomalously formed word meaning ‘daughter of Bṛhatsāman’ in the Atharvaveda,¹ where her name occurs in a hymn for easy conception.

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¹ v. 25, 9. Cf Whitney, *Translation of the Atharvaveda*, 267.

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Bārhas-patya, ‘descendant of Bṛhaspati,’ is the patronymic of the mythical Śamyu.¹

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¹ Taittirīya Saṃhitā, ii. 6, 10, 1; v. 2, 6, 4; Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, i. 9, 1, 24; Nirukta, iv. 21, etc.

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Bāla denotes ‘boy,’ ‘young child,’ in the Upaniṣads.¹ The later definition² makes childhood extend to the sixteenth year.

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¹ Chāndogya Upaniṣad, v. 1, 11; 24, 5; Kāṭhaka Upaniṣad, ii. 6.

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² St. Petersburg Dictionary, s.v.

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¹ See Weber, Indische Studien, 3, 459, 478.

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Bālandana is a variant of Bhālandana, the patronymic of Vatsaprī.

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Bālāki, Bālākyā. See Dṛpta-bālāki and Kāśyapī-bālākyā-maṭharī-putra.

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Bāleya is a patronymic (‘descendant of Bali’) of Gandharvāyaṇa in the Baudhāyana Śrauta Sūtra (xx. 25).

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Bāṣkala. See Vārkali.

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Bāṣkiha, ‘descendant of Baṣkiha,’ is the patronymic of Śunaskarṇa in the Pañcaviṃśa Brāhmaṇa.¹ In the Baudhāyana Śrauta Sūtra² he is a descendant of Śibi.

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¹ xvii. 12, 6.

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² xxi. 17. See Caland, Über das rituelle Sūtra des Baudhāyana, 28.

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Bāhīka is applied in the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa¹ to the people of the west, of the Panjab,² as opposed to the Prācyas or easterns. They are said to have called Agni by the name of Bhava.

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¹ i. 7, 3, 8.

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² Cf. Mahābhārata, viii. 2030 et seq., where the Bāhīkas are defined as the people of the Panjab and the Indus. This coincides exactly with what seems to be meant by the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, which regards as the middle the land to the east of the Sarasvatī. Cf. Weber, Indische Studien, 1, 189; 2, 37; Eggeling, Sacred Books of the East, 12, 201, n 2.

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Bāhu, ‘arm,’ as a measure of length, is found in the Taittirīya Saṃhitā (vi. 2, 11, 1) and often in the Sūtras.

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Bāhu-vṛkta is the name of a man, apparently a Ṛṣi, who overcame foes in battle, according to the Rigveda.¹

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¹ v. 44, 12. Cf. Ludwig, Translation of the Rigveda, 3, 138, 139. The Anukramaṇī (Index) attributes to him two hymns of the Rigveda, v. 71 and 72.

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Bidala-kārī, ‘female splitter of bamboos,’ is the name of one of the victims at the Puruṣamedha (‘human sacrifice’) in the Yajurveda.¹ Eggeling² renders the word as ‘basket-maker.’

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¹ Vājasaneyi Saṃhitā, xxx. 8; bidala-kāra, Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa, iii. 4, 5, 1.

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² Sacred Books of the East, 44, 414.

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Bimba appears in one passage of the Jaiminīya Upaniṣad Brāhmaṇa (iii. 5, 6) to denote the plant Momordica monadelpha.

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Bilva is the name of the wood-apple tree (Aigle marmelos). It is mentioned in the Brāhmaṇas¹ and in the Atharvaveda,² where a reference to its valuable fruit may be intended. According to the Taittirīya Saṃhitā,³ the sacrificial post was made of Bilva wood in some cases. The Śāṅkhāyana Āraṇyaka⁴ contains a hymn in praise of the virtues of an amulet of Bilva (irā-maṇi bailva).⁵

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¹ Aitareya Brāhmaṇa, ii. 1; Satapatha Brāhmaṇa, xiii. 4, 4, 8, etc. Cf. Maitrāyaṇī Saṃhitā, iii. 9, 3.

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² xx. 136, 13.

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³ ii. 1, 8, 1. 2. Cf. Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, i. 3, 3, 20 (paridhayaḥ); Aitareya Brāhmaṇa, loc. cit.

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⁴ xii. 20 et seq.

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⁵ At the present day the tree is called Bel, and its leaves are used in the ritual of Śiva worship.

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Bisa denotes the radical fibres of the lotus, which seem to have been eaten as a delicacy as early as the times of the Atharvaveda.¹ It is mentioned also in the Aitareya Brāhmaṇa² and the Aitareya Āraṇyaka.³

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¹ iv. 34. 5.

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² v. 30.

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³ iii. 2, 4; Śāṅkhāyana Āraṇyaka, xi. 4. Cf. Zimmer, Altindisches Leben, 70.

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Bīja denotes ‘seed,’ the operation of sowing seed (vap) being several times referred to in the Rigveda¹ and later.² In a metaphorical sense the term is used in the Upaniṣads of the classes of beings according to origin, of which the Chāndogya Upaniṣad³ enumerates three, the Aitareya⁴ four. The former list includes aṇḍa-ja, ‘egg-born,’ jīva-ja, ‘born alive,’ and udbhij-ja, ‘produced from sprouts,’ ‘germinating,’ while the latter adds sveda-ja, ‘sweat-born’—that is, ‘generated by hot moisture,’ an expression which is glossed to comprise flies, worms, etc. Cf. Kṛṣi.

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¹ x. 94, 13; 101, 3. Cf. metaphorically, x. 85, 37. In v. 53, 13, dhānya bīja means the ‘seed which produces corn.’

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² Av. x. 6, 33; Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, vii. 2, 2, 4, etc.

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³ vi. 3, 1.

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⁴ iii. 3. See Keith, Aitareya Āraṇyaka, 235.

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Buḍila Āśvatarāśvi or Āśvatara Āśvi is mentioned several times in the Brāhmaṇa literature as a teacher. According to the Chāndogya¹ and the Bṛhadāraṇyaka² Upaniṣads, he was a contemporary of Janaka of Videha, and, according to the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa,³ of Aśvapati, the Kekaya king. He is also mentioned in the Aitareya Brāhmaṇa.⁴

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¹ v. 11, 1; 16, 1.

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² v. 15, 11 (Mādhyamdina=v. 14, 8 Kāṇva).

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³ x. 6, 1, 1. Cf. iv. 6, 1, 9.

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⁴ vi. 30.

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Budha Saumāyana, ‘descendant of Soma,’ is the name of a teacher mentioned in a verse in the Pañcaviṃśa Brāhmaṇa.¹

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¹ xxiv. 18, 6. Cf. Hopkins, Transactions of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, 15. 55, n. 2.

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Bunda means ‘arrow’ in a few passages of the Rigveda.¹

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¹ viii. 45, 4; 77, 6. 11. Cf. Nirukta, vi. 32.

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Bṛbu is mentioned in a hymn of the Rigveda,¹ where he is described as a most generous giver (sahasra-dātama), and as at the head of the Paṇis. According to the Śāṅkhāyana Śrauta Sūtra,² Bharadvāja received gifts from Bṛbu Takṣan and Prastoka Sārñjaya, a fact alluded to in the Mānava Dharma Śāstra,³ where takṣan is treated as a descriptive attribute, ‘a carpenter.’ Apparently Bṛbu was a Paṇi, though the words of the Rigveda¹ might be taken to mean that he was one who had overthrown them entirely. If so, Paṇi must here certainly mean a merchant in a good sense, Bṛbu being then a merchant prince.⁴ According to Weber,⁵ the name suggests connexion with Babylon, but this conjecture must be regarded as quite improbable. Hillebrandt⁶ sensibly expresses no opinion as to Bṛbu, while Brunnhofer’s⁷ attempt to recognize a people named Τάσκοι, and to connect them with the Vedic word takṣan, is valueless, especially considering the fact that Takṣan is not found as an epithet of Bṛbu in the Rigveda.

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¹ vi. 45, 31. 33.

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² xvi. 11, 11.

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³ x. 107.

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⁴ Cf. Griffith, Hymns of the Rigveda, i, 606, n.

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⁵ Episches im vedischen Ritual, 28 et seq.; Proceedings of the Berlin Academy, 1898, 563, n. 1; Indische Studien, 17, 198. The Bāveru Jātaka, on which stress is laid in connexion with the Indian knowledge of Babylon, being of quite unknown date, has no cogency as evidence for any early period. Cf. Bühler, Indische Palaeographie, 17-19; Indische Studien, 3, 79 et seq.; Weber, Indian Literature 3; Rhys Davids, Buddhist India, 201 et seq.

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⁶ Vedische Mythologie, i, 93, 104, 107.

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⁷ Iran und Turan, 127. Cf. Ludwig, Translation of the Rigveda, 3, 275; Bṛhaddevatā, v. 108, 109, with Macdonell’s notes; Max Müller, Sacred Books of the East, 32, 316.

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Bṛsaya is mentioned twice in the Rigveda, being in the first passage¹ connected with the Paṇis, and in the second² with the Pārāvatas and the Paṇis. According to the St. Petersburg Dictionary, the word is the name of a demon,³ but is in the second passage² used as an appellative, perhaps meaning ‘sorcerer.’⁴ Hillebrandt⁵ thinks that a people is meant locating them in Arachosia or Drangiana with the Pārāvatas and the Paṇis, and comparing Βαρσαέντης, satrap of Arachosia and Drangiana in the time of Darius.⁶ But this theory is not probable.

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¹ i. 93, 4.

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² vi. 61, 3.

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³ Cf. Sāyaṇa on Rv., loc. cit.

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⁴ Böhtlingk, Dictionary, s.v., following Grassmann.

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⁵ Vedische Mythologie, i, 97-104.

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⁶ Arrian, Indica, viii. 4; xxi. 1; xxv. 8.

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Bṛsī, denoting a ‘cushion’ of grass, is mentioned in the Aitareya Āraṇyaka¹ and the Sūtras.² The incorrect forms Vṛśī and Vṛṣī also occur occasionally.

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¹ i. 2, 4; v. 1, 3, with Keith’s note; 3, 2.

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² Śāṅkhāyana Srauta Sūtra, xvii. 4, 7; 6, 6; Kātyāyana Srauta Sūtra, xiii. 3, 1.

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Bṛhac-chandas is found in one passage of the Atharvaveda¹ as an epithet of Śālā, ‘house.’ It is apparently² an error for bṛhad-chadis, ‘broad-roofed,’ which in any case is the sense.³

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¹ iii. 12, 3.

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² Cf. Whitney, Translation of the Atharvaveda, 105.

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³ Bloomfield, Hymns of the Atharvaveda, 345.

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Bṛhat-sāman is mentioned in the Atharvaveda (v. 19, 2) as an Āṅgirasa who was oppressed by Kṣatriyas. The latter are said to have been ruined in consequence. Cf. Sṛñjaya and Bārhatsāmā.

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Bṛhad-uktha is mentioned in an obscure hymn of the Rigveda¹ as a priest; in two hymns of the tenth Maṇḍala² he is definitely a Ṛṣi. He is also mentioned in the Aitareya Brāhmaṇa³ as having consecrated Durmukha Pāñcāla, and is called Vāmadeva’s son in the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa.⁴ In the Pañcaviṃśa Brāhmaṇa⁵ he appears as Vāmneya, ‘descendant of Vāmnī.’ Hopkins’⁶ suggestion that he may have been there thought of as Vāmadevya also is quite probable.⁷