Brill’s Encyclopedia of Hinduism Online
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Subject: Asian Studies
Brill’s Encyclopedia of Hinduism presents the latest research on all the main aspects of the Hindu traditions. Its 438 essays are original work written by the world’s foremost scholars on Hinduism. The encyclopedia presents a balanced and even-handed view of Hinduism, recognizing the divergent perspectives and methods in the academic study of a religion that has ancient historical roots with many flourishing traditions today. Including all essays from the heralded printed edition, Brill’s Encyclopedia of Hinduism is now to be regularly updated with new articles and available in a fully searchable, dynamic digital format.
Subscriptions: see brill.com
Edited by: Knut A. Jacobsen (Editor-in-Chief), University of Bergen, and Helene Basu, University of Münster, Angelika Malinar, University of Zürich, Vasudha Narayanan, University of Florida (Associate Editors)
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Brill’s Encyclopedia of Hinduism presents the latest research on all the main aspects of the Hindu traditions. Its 438 essays are original work written by the world’s foremost scholars on Hinduism. The encyclopedia presents a balanced and even-handed view of Hinduism, recognizing the divergent perspectives and methods in the academic study of a religion that has ancient historical roots with many flourishing traditions today. Including all essays from the heralded printed edition, Brill’s Encyclopedia of Hinduism is now to be regularly updated with new articles and available in a fully searchable, dynamic digital format.
Subscriptions: see brill.com
Bangladesh
(3 657 mots)
Hindus in Bangladesh today are a minority of about ten percent of the total population of the country. Official figures are not easily available since statistics of religious affiliation are treated as sensitive data by the Bangladeshi authorities (the yearly
Statistical Pocketbook of Bangladesh, published by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, for example, withholds statistical information on religious communities), but it may be estimated that they number about 15 million individuals, thus constituting the largest Hindu population out…
Date:
2020-05-18
BAPS
(3 072 mots)
The Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayanan Sanstha (BAPS) is a major branch of Swaminarayan Hinduism that began when Yagnapurushadas Swami (1865–1951), popularly known as Shastriji Maharaj, left the Vadtal Swaminarayan temple in 1905 in a dispute with the Vadtal
ācārya and created a new fellowship with six
sādhus and householders who supported him. The separation became final when Shastriji Maharaj incorporated the BAPS in 1907 in Bochasan, and he built the first BAPS temple in Bochasan. The major reasons given for the separatio…
Date:
2020-05-18
BAPS: Pramukh Swami
(3 197 mots)
Pramukh Swami Maharaj (1921–2016) was the religious leader of the Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS), a denomination of the Swaminarayan Sampraday, which was established by Shastriji Maharaj (1865–1951) in 1907. The Swaminarayan Sampraday is a Hindu devotional tradition founded by Swaminarayan (1781–1830) at the start of the 19th century in present-day Gujarat.At the age of 18, Pramukh Swami was ordained as a
sādhu by Shastriji Maharaj, who named him Sadhu Narayanswarupdas. In 1950, Shastriji Maharaj appointed him as the preside…
Date:
2020-05-18
Bards and Reciters
(3 295 mots)
Although bards, reciters, and singers are critically important in the transmission, performance, composition, and creation of opulent traditions of literature, oral and written, their role has received insufficient recognition in scholarly writings on the history of Indian literary genres (see also oral traditions). However, taking into account the preponderance of the performative in the majority of literary genres in India, it is vital that we also appreciate the creative responsibilities of p…
Date:
2020-05-18
Basava
(4 805 mots)
Basava (or Basavēśvara or Basavaṇṇa) is the purported founder of the Liṅgāyat (or Vīraśaiva) religious movement. His most likely dates are 1105-1167 CE, though some argue for 1134-1196 CE. As with most founders, there are both traditional versions of his life and challenges to the very claim that he, rather than a group of mystical teachers (
ācāryas), founded the movement. Those traditional views, even if verified in broad scope, are challenged in their details by historical and epigraphical evidence. Certainly his person, both traditional and histor…
Date:
2020-05-18
Bāuls
(5 923 mots)
The name “Bāul” refers to a type of religious minstrel or esoteric practitioner (
sādhak) of the Bengali-speaking region of South Asia, that is, West Bengal and Bangladesh. Bāuls are primarily known to others through their beautiful and often enigmatic songs. In theory, people of any religion, class, caste, or gender may become Bāul, but in practice almost all are from poor and rural Hindu or Muslim backgrounds. As such, they are sometimes viewed as unorthodox Vaiṣṇavas and Fakirs (Beng. Phakir; from Arab.
faqīr), respectively. A person usually becomes Bāul through some kind…
Date:
2020-05-18
Bengal
(11 909 mots)
The Goddess Durgā: Enduring Image of Bengali Hindu Divinity The devotionalism that dominates Bengali Hindu religious belief and practice is puranic in its origins, extending the ritual interest that marks the later
upapurāṇas (see
purāṇas), many of which were fashioned in the northeastern sections of the subcontinent. The mythologies of Śiva, Kālī, and Kṛṣṇa are frequently invoked; but in the last several centuries, the goddess Durgā has emerged as the most common and enduring popular image of Bengali Hindu traditions. It i…
Date:
2020-05-18