BHAGALPUR 16 BIAS BHAGALPITR (be-hag-al'por) , a city in Bengal, capital of a district and division of the same name, on the right bank of the Ganges, here 7 miles wide. There are several indigo works in the neighborhood. Pop. about 75,000. The division of Bhagalpur has an area of 20,511 square miles, and a population of about 8,200,000. The district has an area of 4,226 square miles; pop. about 2,150,000. BHAGAVATGITA (be-hag-e-vet-ge'- te), or BHAGAVADGITA, in Sanskrit literature, a song relating a discourse between Krishna and his pupil Arjun in the midst of a battle. Its teaching is pantheistic. It consists of 18 lectures. It has been translated into many languages. BHAMO, a town of Burma on the upper Irrawaddy, about 40 miles from the Chinese frontier. It is the starting- point of caravans to Yunnan, and is in position to become one of the great em- poriums of the East in event of a regu- lar overland trade being established be- tween India and west China. BHARTPTJR, or BHURTPORE, the capital of a protected state in Rajpu- tana, India, is a large town, measuring about 8 miles in circuit, 35 miles W. of Agra by rail. It is worthy of notice chiefly on account of its two sieges in 1805 and 1827. Pop. about 35,000. The state of Bhartpur has an area of 1,982 square miles; pop. about 580,000, mostly Jats. BHAWALPUR (be-ha-wal-por') , a state of the Punjab, British India, S. of the Indus and Sutlej rivers. It is chiefly a desert of shifting sand. Only the river banks are cultivable. The inhabitants are Jats, Baluchis and Afghans, the greater part Mohamme- dans. Area, 15,000 square miles. Pop. about 785,000. Bhawalpur, the capital, is on a branch of the Sutlej. It is noted for the manufacture of a kind of tur- ban and scarf very popular among the Hindus: also produces considerable woolen, silk, and cotton cloth, indigo, alum, and saltpeter. BHEELS, or BHILS, a Dravidic race inhabiting the Vindhya, Satpura, and Satmala Hills, a relic of the Indian aborigines driven from the plains by the Aryan Rajputs. Various attempts to subdue them were made by the Gaekwar and by the British in 1818 without suc- cess. A body of them was, however, subsequently reclaimed, and a Bheel corps formed, which stormed the re- treats of the rest of the race and re- duced them to comparative order. Tho hill Bheels wear little clothing, and live precariously on grain, wild roots and fruits, vermin, etc., but the lowland Bheels are in many respects Hindu- ized. Their total numbers are about 1,250,000. BHOPAL, a native state of central India, under British protection, on the Nerbudda, in Malwah. Area, 12,842 square miles. The country is full of jungles, and is traversed by a part of the Vindhya Mountains. The soil is fertile, yielding wheat, maize, millet and peas. Chief exports: sugar, tobacco, ginger, and cotton. Pop. about 1,375,- 000. The capital of above state, also called Bhopal, is on the boundary be- tween Malwah and Gundwana. Pop. about 60,000. BHUTAN, an independent state in the eastern Himalayas, with an area of about 34,000 square miles, lying between Tibet on the N. and Assam and the Jalpaiguri district on the S. Pop. about 250,000. The Bhutanese are a backward race, governed by a Dharm Rajah, re- garded as an incarnation of deity, and by a Deb Rajah, with a council of eight. They are nominally Buddhists. After various aggressive incursions and the capture and ill treatment of Ashley Eden, the British envoy, in 1863, they were compelled to cede to the British considerable portions of territory, in re- turn for a yearly allowance of £2,500. By an amended treaty of 1906 Great Britain agreed not to interfe^" in the government. In 1907, Sir Ugyen Wangchuk was the first elected Ma- harajah of Bhutan. This allowance was increased in 1910 to £6,667. BIAFRA, BIGHT OF, a large bay on the W. coast of Africa, at the head of the Gulf of Guinea, between Capes Formosa and Lopez. The principal rivers flowing into it are the Niger, the New and Old Calabar rivers, the Rio del Rey, the Kamerun, and the Gaboon; its islands are Fernando Po (Spanish), and St. Thomas' and Prince's Islands (Por- tuguese). Opposite Fernando Po are the Kameruns. BIARRITZ, a watering-place and noted winter resort in France; on the Bay of Biscay in the department of the Basses-Pyrenees; 4 miles S. W. of Bayonne. Pop. about 20,000. BIAS, one of the seven sages of Greece; a native of Priene, in Ionia; celebrated for his practical knowledge and strict regard to justice. He flour- ished about 500 B. C.
