Bhagavan, also written Bhagwan or Bhagawan, from the Sanskrit nt-stem bhaga-vant- (nominative/vocative भगवान् Bhagavān) literally means "possessing fortune, blessed, prosperous" (from the noun bhaga, meaning "fortune, wealth", cognate to Slavic bog "god"), and hence "illustrious, divine, venerable, holy", etc. Sanskrit (sa संस्कृता वाक् saṃskṛtā vāk, for short sa संस्कृतम् saṃskṛtam) is a historical Sanskrit bhaga is a term for "lord patron" but also for "wealth prosperity" ^[1]

In some traditions of Hinduism it is used to indicate the Supreme Being or Absolute Truth, but with specific reference to that Supreme Being as possessing a personality (a personal God)^[2]. Hinduism is a religious tradition that originated in the Indian subcontinent. God is the principal or sole Deity in Religions and other belief systems that worship one deity. This personal feature indicated in Bhagavan differentiates its usage from other similar terms^[3] such as Brahman, the "Supreme Spirit" or "spirit", and thus, in this usage, Bhagavan is in many ways analogous to the general Christian conception of God. Brahman ( bráhman-, Nominative bráhma sa ब्रह्म is a concept of Hinduism. Christianity ( Greek Χριστιανισμός from the word Xριστός ( Christ)is a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings God is the principal or sole Deity in Religions and other belief systems that worship one deity.

Bhagavan used as a title of veneration is often translated as "Lord", as in "Bhagavan Krishna", "Bhagavan Shiva", "Bhagavan Swaminarayan", etc. In Christianity, veneration ( Latin veneratio, Greek &delta&omicron&upsilon&lambda&iota&alpha dulia) or veneration of saints Krishna (कृष्ण in Devanagari kṛṣṇa in IAST, ˈkr̩ʂɳə in classical Sanskrit is a deity worshiped across many traditions of Hinduism Shiva:(pronunciation; Sanskrit: शिव Śiva, lit "Auspicious one" One of the Trimurtis Shiva is the supreme God in the Shaiva In Buddhism and Jainism, Gautama Buddha, Mahavira and other Tirthankaras, Buddhas and bodhisattvas are also venerated with this title. Buddhism is a family of beliefs and practices Jainism, traditionally known as Jain Dharma / Shraman Dharma (जैन धर्म is an ancient religion of India. Siddhārtha Gautama ( Sanskrit; Pali: Siddhattha Gotama) was a spiritual Teacher from Ancient India and the founder Mahavira (महावीर lit Great Hero) (599 – 527 BCE is the name most commonly used to refer to the Indian sage Vardhamana ( Sanskrit: वर्धमान In Jainism, a Tirthankar (" Fordmaker " (also Tirthankara or Jina) is a Human being who achieves enlightenment (perfect In Buddhism, buddhahood ( Sanskrit: buddhatva. Pali: buddhatta. In the Buddhist context a bodhisattva (बोधिसत्त्व bodhisattva;; Vietnamese Bồ Tát; बोधिसत्त bodhisatta The feminine of Bhagavat is Bhagawatī and is an epithet of Durga and other goddesses. In Hinduism, Durga ("the inaccessible" or "the invincible" or Maa Durga (Mother Durga is a form of Devi, the supreme Goddess A goddess is a Female Deity. Many Cultures have goddesses Often deities are part of a polytheistic system that includes several deities

The title is also used as a respectful form of address for a number of contemporary spiritual teachers in India. India, officially the Republic of India (भारत गणराज्य inc-Latn Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also other Indian languages) is a country

Contents 1 Definitions 2 Early epigraphical evidence 2.1 Bhagavat 2.2 In Buddhism 3 See also 4 Notes 5 References

Definitions

In the Vishnu Purana (6. 5. 79) the personality named Parashara Rishi defines six bhagas as follows:

aiśvaryasya samagrasya vīryasya yaśasaḥ śriyaḥ

jñāna-vairāgyayoś caiva ṣannāḥ bhaga itīṇganā

Jiva Gosvami explains the verse in his Gopala Champu (Pūrva 15. Parāśara "crusher destroyer" is the name of several figures in Hindu tradition a son of Vasishtha, or a son of Shakti and Jiva Goswami (15??-1618 CEis one of the most prolific and important writers from the Gaudiya Vaishnava school of Hinduism, producing a great number of philosophical Jiva Goswami (15??-1618 CEis one of the most prolific and important writers from the Gaudiya Vaishnava school of Hinduism, producing a great number of philosophical 73) and Bhagavata Sandarbha 46. Jiva Goswami (15??-1618 CEis one of the most prolific and important writers from the Gaudiya Vaishnava school of Hinduism, producing a great number of philosophical 10:

jñāna-śakti-balaiśvarya-vīrya-tejām. sy aśeṣataḥ

bhagavac-chabda-vācyāni vinā heyair guṇādibhiḥ

"The substantives of the word bhagavat (bhagavat-śabda-vācyāni) are unlimited (aśes. atah. ) knowledge (jñāna), energies (śakti), strength (bala), opulence (aiśvarya), heroism (vīrya), splendor (tejas), without (vinā) objectionable (heyair) qualities (guṇādibhiḥ). "

Early epigraphical evidence

Bhagavat

The Bhāgavat religion of early Hinduism is documented epigraphically from around 100 BCE, such as in the inscriptions of the Heliodorus pillar, in which Heliodorus, an Indo-Greek ambassador from Taxila to the court of a Sunga king, describes himself as a Bhagavata ("Heliodorena bhagavatena"):

"Devadevasa Va [sude]vasa Garudadhvajo ayam

karito i[a] Heliodorena bhaga-

vatena Diyasa putrena Takhasilakena

Yonadatena agatena maharajasa

Amtalikitasa upa[m]ta samkasam-rano

Kasiput[r]asa [Bh]agabhadrasa tratarasa

vasena [chatu]dasena rajena vadhamanasa"

"This Garuda-standard of Vasudeva (Vishnu), the God of Gods

was erected here by the Bhagavata Heliodoros,

the son of Dion, a man of Taxila,

sent by the Great Greek (Yona) King

Antialcidas, as ambassador to

King Kasiputra Bhagabhadra, the Savior

son of the princess from Benares, in the fourteenth year of his reign. Hinduism is a religious tradition that originated in the Indian subcontinent. The Heliodorus pillar is a stone column that was erected around 110 BCE in central India in Vidisha near modern Besnagar, by Heliodorus The Indo-Greek Kingdom (or sometimes Graeco-Indian Kingdom) covered various parts of the northwest and northern Indian subcontinent during the last two centuries For the Genus of metalmark butterflies, see Taxila (butterfly. For other uses of the term Sunga see Sunga (disambiguation The Sunga Empire (or Shunga Empire) is a Magadha GARUDA is India's Grid Computing initiative connecting 17 cities across the country For other meanings see Vishnu (disambiguation. Vishnu ( IAST viṣṇu Devanagari विष्णु (honorific Bhagavata, with the literal meaning of that which comes from Bhagavan or the Lord signifies in the context of Hinduism. For the Genus of metalmark butterflies, see Taxila (butterfly. "Yona" is a Pali word used in ancient India to designate Greek speakers Antialcidas Nikephoros "the Victorious" was a Western Indo-Greek king of the Eucratid Dynasty, who reigned from his capital at Varanasi ( Sanskrit: वाराणसी Vārāṇasī, pronunciation) also commonly known as Benares ( or Banaras (बनारस "

(Archaeological Survey of India, Annual Report (1908-1909))

In Buddhism

The word "Bhagavat" has also been used to describe the Buddha in the earliest Pali texts. Siddhārtha Gautama ( Sanskrit; Pali: Siddhattha Gotama) was a spiritual Teacher from Ancient India and the founder The term "Bhagava" has been used in Anussati or recollections as one of the terms that describes the "Tathagatha". Anussati ( Pāli; Sanskrit: Anusmriti) means "recollection" "contemplation" "remembrance" "meditation" and "mindfulness Tathāgata (pronounced tāht-āhgatah) in Pali and Sanskrit (Chin

(Sakamunisa bhagavato), is recorded in the kharoshthi dedication of a vase placed in a Buddhist stupa by the Greek meridarch (civil governor of a province) named Theodorus (Tarn, p391):

"Theudorena meridarkhena pratithavida ime sarira sakamunisa bhagavato bahu-jana-stitiye":

"The meridarch Theodorus has enshrined relics of Lord Shakyamuni, for the welfare of the mass of the people"

(Swāt relic vase inscription of the Meridarkh Theodoros [1])

See also

• Bhagavata Purana
• Bhagavad Gita
• Brahman
• Ishvara
• Paramatma
• Om Tat Sat
• Turiya

Notes

References

• The Shape of Ancient Thought. The Kharoṣṭhī script, also known as the Gāndhārī script, is an ancient Abugida (an alphasyllabary based on consonants with graphical variations to express A stupa (from Sanskrit and Pāli: m स्तूप stūpa, literally meaning "heap" is a mound-like structure containing Buddhist A meridarch (from the Greek meris, "division" and -arch, "ruler" was the civil governor of a province in the Hellenistic Theodorus was a " Meridarch " (Civil Governor of a province in the Swat province of the Indo-Greek kingdom in the northern Indian sub-continent Siddhārtha Gautama ( Sanskrit; Pali: Siddhattha Gotama) was a spiritual Teacher from Ancient India and the founder The Bhagavata Purana (also known as Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, or simply Bhāgavatam) is one of the Puranic texts of Hindu literature Brahman ( bráhman-, Nominative bráhma sa ब्रह्म is a concept of Hinduism. Ishvara ( Sanskrit: Īśvara sa ईश्वर Malay: Iswara, Thai: Phra Isuan) is a philosophical concept in Hinduism In Hindu theology Paramatman or Paramātmā is the Absolute Atman or Supreme Soul or Spirit (also known as Supersoul or Oversoul) Om Tat Sat is a Mantra in Sanskrit that is translated to mean the 'Supreme Absolute Truth' - literally 'all that is' In Hindu Philosophy, turiya (or chaturtha) is a state of pure Consciousness, or the experience of ultimate reality and truth Comparative studies in Greek and Indian Philosophies by Thomas McEvilley (Allworth Press and the School of Visual Arts, 2002) ISBN 1-58115-203-5
• Buddhism in Central Asia by B. N. Puri (Motilal Banarsidass Pub, January 1, 2000) ISBN 81-208-0372-8
• The Greeks in Bactria and India, W. W. Tarn, Cambridge University Press.

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