Pointed

domes crown these temples, and gilt spires with golden spikes: poles tipped with gold, or carrying gilt tridents, or waving flags, are their emblems. In all forms he is a Bhut-isvara, or “god of spirits.” He is Bhut-Bhairo, and also Vishama-Bhairava, who “specially preserves his worshipers from evil spirits.” He stopped the entry of the great fiend Pishich into Banaras, and eight great temples there bear his names; one of the seven divisions of the city, containing 220 temples, is called after him Kal-Bhairo, and in some of these he is Kedar-Isvar. He is a ociated with Ganesa, Anapurna, Lakshmi, Narayan, and other deities, mostly of Dravidian origin, though now adopted by Brahmans. About three quarters of a mile from the Raj-ghit (see Banaras) is the sacred water of the god (Bhairo-ka tolio), and close by, in Kasi, is the celebrated Lat (see our article on Banaras in the Agnostic Annual for 1895). Bhakti. Bhanjta. Sanskrit: “faiti” as being “ binding” (see Bhagavad-Gita). Bhala. Sanskrit: “lustre”; hence Bhalu “the sun,” from the Aryan root Bhal “to shine” (see Bel). Bhama. Bhatu. 316