in 1895 on the ground of intemperate conduct; and in 1900 was finally deposed for the murder of one of his personal attendants. He was succeeded by his infant son Kishen Singh. During his minority the administration was undertaken by a native minister, together with a state council, under the general superintendence of the political agent. Imperial service cavalry are maintained. The state is traversed for about 40 m. by the Rajputana railway.
The City of Bharatpur is 34 m. W. of Agra by rail. The population in 1901 was 43,601, showing a decrease of over 23,000 in the decade. The immense mud ramparts still stand. It has a handsome palace, a new hospital and a high school. There are special manufactures of chauris, or flappers, with handles of sandalwood, ivory or silver, and tails also made of strips of ivory or sandalwood as fine as horse-hair.
BHATGÁON, a town of Nepal, 8 m. from Khatmandu. It is a celebrated place of Hindu superstition, the favourite residence of the Brahmans of Nepal, and contains more families of that order than either Khatmandu or Patan. It has a population of about 30,000, and its palace and buildings generally are of a more striking appearance than in other Nepalese towns. The town is said to possess many Sanskrit libraries.
BHATTIANA, a tract of country in the Punjab province of India, covering the Ghaggar valley from Fatehabad in the district of Hissar to Bhatnair in Bikanir. It derives its name from the Bhattis, a wild Rajput clan, who held the country lying between Hariana, Bikanir and Bahawalpur. It skirts the borders of the great sandy desert, and only contains a small and scattered population. This tract was ravaged by Timur in his invasion of India; and in 1795 paid a nominal allegiance to George Thomas, the adventurer of Hariana. After the victories of Lord Lake in 1803 it passed with the rest of the Delhi territory under British rule, but was not settled until 1810. A district of Bhattiana was formed in 1837, but in 1858 it was merged in the Sirsa district, which was divided up in 1884. The Bhattis number some 350,000, and are a fine tall race, making capital soldiers.
BHAU DAJI (Ramkrishna Vithal) (1822–1874), Hindu physician of Bombay, Sanskrit scholar and antiquary, was born in 1822 at the village of Manjare, in the native state of Sawantwari, of humble parents dealing in clay dolls. Dr Bhau’s career is a striking instance of great results arising from small accidents. An Englishman noticing his cleverness at chess induced his father to give the boy an English education. Accordingly Bhau was brought to Bombay and was educated at the Elphinstone Institution. He relieved his father of the cost of his education by winning many prizes and scholarships, and on his father’s death two years later he cheerfully undertook the burden of supporting his mother and a brother (Narayen), who also in after-life became a distinguished physician and surgeon. About this time he gained a prize for an essay on infanticide, and was appointed a teacher in the Elphinstone Institution. He began to devote his time to the study of Indian antiquities, deciphering inscriptions and ascertaining the dates and history of ancient Sanskrit authors. He then studied at the Grant Medical College, and was one of the first batch who graduated there in 1850. In 1851 he set up as a medical practitioner in Bombay, where his success was so great that he soon made a fortune. He studied the Sanskrit literature of medicine, and also tested the value of drugs to which the ancient Hindus ascribed marvellous powers, among other pathological subjects of historical interest investigating that of leprosy. Being an ardent promoter of education, he was appointed a member of the board of education, and was one of the original fellows of the university of Bombay. As the first native president of the students’ literary and scientific society, and the champion of the cause of female education, a girls’ school was founded in his name, for which an endowment was provided by his friends and admirers. In the political progress of India he took a great and active interest, and the Bombay Association and the Bombay branch of the East Indian Association owe their existence to his ability and exertions. He was twice chosen sheriff of Bombay, in 1869 and 1871. Various scientific societies in England, France, Germany and America conferred on him their membership. He contributed numerous papers to the journal of the Bombay branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. He found time to make a large collection of rare ancient Sanskrit manuscripts at great cost and trouble. He died in May 1874. His brother, Dr Narayen Daji (who helped him to set up the charitable dispensary in Bombay), did not long survive him. Dr Bhau was a man of the most simple and amiable character and manners; his kindness and sympathy towards the poor and distressed were unbounded, and endeared his memory among the Hindus of Bombay. (N. B. W.)
BHAUNAGAR, or Bhavnagar, a native state of India in the Kathiawar agency, Bombay. Its area covers 2860 sq. m. In 1901 the population was 412,664, showing a decrease of 12% in the decade; the estimated revenue is £255,800, and the tribute £10,300. The chief, whose title is thakor sahib, is head of the famous clan of the Gohel Rajputs of Kathiawar. The enlightened system of administration formed during the rule of the thakor sahib maharaja Sir Takhtsinghji Jaswatsinghji, G.C.S.I., was continued with admirable results under the personal supervision of his son, the maharaja Bhausinghji, K.C.S.I. (b. 1875), and forms a model for other native states. The Gohel Rajputs are said to have settled in the district about 1260. Bhaunagar suffered terribly from the famine of 1899–1900. About 60 m. of the Bhaunagar-Gondal railway run through the state, with its terminus at the town of Bhaunagar, which is the principal port. The town of Bhaunagar is situated on the west coast of the gulf of Cambay. The population in 1901 was 56,442. It is the chief port in Kathiawar, though only admitting vessels of small burden. It was founded in 1723 by the thakor sahib Bhausinghji, after whom it is named, in place of his former capital, Sihor, which was considered too exposed to the Mahratta power.
BHEESTY (from the Persian bihisti, paradise), the Hindustani name for a water carrier, the native who supplies water from a pigskin or goat-skin bag.
BHERA, a town of British India, in the Shahpur district of the Punjab, situated on the river Jhelum. Pop. (1901) 18,680. It is the terminus of a branch of the North-Western railway. It is an important centre of trade, with manufactures of cotton goods, metal-work, carving, &c. Bhera was founded about 1540 on its present site, but it took the place of a city on the opposite bank of the river, of far greater antiquity, which was destroyed at this period.
BHILS, or Bheels (“bowmen,” from Dravidian bil, a bow), a Dravidian people of central India, probably aborigines of Marwar. They live scattered over a great part of India. They are found as far north as the Aravalli Hills, in Sind and Rajputana, as well as Khandesh and Ahmedabad. They are mentioned in Sanskrit works, and it is thought that Ptolemy (vii. I. 66) refers to them as Φυλλῖται (“leaf wearers”), though this word might equally apply to the Gonds. Expelled by the Aryans from the richer lowlands, they are found to-day in greatest numbers on the hills of central India. In many Rajput states the princes on succession have their foreheads marked with blood from the thumb or toe of a Bhil. The Rajputs declare this a mark of Bhil allegiance, but it is more probably a relic of days when the Bhils were a power in India. The Bhils eagerly keep the practice alive, and the right of giving the blood is hereditary in certain families. The popular legend of the Bhil origin assigns them a semi-divine birth, Mahadeva (Siva) having wedded an earth maiden who bore him children, the ugliest of whom killed his father’s bull and was banished to the mountains. The Bhils of to-day claim to be his descendants. Under the Moguls the Bhils were submissive, but they rebelled against the Mahrattas, who, being unable to subdue them, treated them with the utmost cruelty. The race became outlaws, and they have lived their present wild life ever since. Their nomad habits and skill with their bows helped them to maintain successfully the fight with their oppressors. An unsuccessful attempt was made in 1818 by the British to conquer them. Milder measures were then tried, and the Bhil Agency was formed in 1825. The Bhil corps was then organized
