that they perform stories and episodes from the Bhāgavatam, one of the Purānas.
Bhakta.— See Bagata.
Bhandāri.— See Kelasi.
Bhānde.— Recorded, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, as "a class of potters in the Ganjam Māliahs, a sub-division of Kumbhāro. The name is derived from the Sanskrit bhānda, a pot."
Bharadwāja. — A Brāhmanical gōtra of Bhatrāzus. Bharadwāja was a rishi, the son of Brihaspati, and preceptor of the Pāndavas.
Bhātia.—— Nearly four hundred members of this caste were returned at the Madras census, 1901. It is recorded in the Bombay Gazetteer, that " the Bhātias claim to be Bhāti Rājputs of the Yādav stock. As a class they are keen, vigorous, enterprising, thrifty, subtle and unscrupulous. Some of the richest men in Bombay started life without a penny. A large number of Bhātias are merchant traders and brokers, and within the last fifty years they have become a very wealthy and important class." Like the Nāttukōttai Chettis of Southern India, the Bhātias undertake sea voyages to distant countries, and they are to be found eastward as far as China.
Bhatta.— A sub-division of Gaudo.
Bhatkali.— -A class of Muhammadans on the west coast, who are said to have originally settled at Bhatkal in North Canara.
Bhatrāzu.— The Bhāts, Bhatrāzus, or Bhatrājus are described, in the Mysore Census Reports, 1891 and 1901, as musicians and ballad-reciters, who "speak Telugu, and are supposed to have come from the Northern Circars. They were originally attached to the courts of the Hindu princes as bards or professional
