[Brag, Jack], a pretender who ingratiates himself with people above him.
[Braga] (23), a city, 34 m. NE. of Oporto, Portugal; the residence of the Primate; the capital of Minho.
[Braganza], capital of Traz-os-Montes, in Portugal; gives name to the ruling dynasty of Portugal, called the House of Braganza, the eighth duke of Braganza having ascended the throne in 1640, on the liberation of Portugal from the yoke of Spain.
[Bragi], the Norse god of poetry and eloquence, son of Odin and Frigga; represented as an old man with a long flowing beard and unwrinkled brow, with a mild expression of face; received in Valhalla the heroes who fell in battle.
[Braham, John], a celebrated tenor singer, the most so in Europe of his day, and known all over Europe; was particularly effective in rendering the national songs; born in London, of Jewish parents; composed operas, which, however, were only dramas interspersed with songs. Scott described him as "a beast of an actor, but an angel of a singer" (1774-1856).
[Brahé, Tycho], a Swedish astronomer, of noble birth; spent his life in the study of the stars; discovered a new star in Cassiopeia; had an observatory provided for him on an island in the Sound by the king, where he made observations for 20 years; he was, on the king's death, compelled to retire under persecution at the hand of the nobles; accepted an invitation of the Kaiser Rudolf II. to Prague, where he continued his work and had Kepler for assistant and pupil (1546-1601).
[Brahma], in the Hindu religion and philosophy at one time the formless spirit of the Universe, from which all beings issue and into which they all merge, and as such is not an object of worship, but a subject of meditation; and at another the creator of all things, of which [Vishnu] (q. v.) is the preserver and [Siva] (q. v.) the destroyer, killing that he may make alive. See [Trimurti].
[Brahman], or Brahmin, one of the sacred caste of the Hindus that boasts of direct descent from, or immediate relationship with, Brahma, the custodians and mediators of religion, and therefore of high-priestly rank.
[Brahmanas], treatises on the ceremonial system of Brahminism, with prescriptions bearing upon ritual, and abounding in legends and speculations.
[Brahmaputra] (i. e. son of Brahma), a river which rises in Tibet, circles round the E. of the Himalayas, and, after a course of some 1800 m., joins the Ganges, called the Sampo in Tibet, the Dihong in Assam, and the Brahmaputra in British India; it has numerous tributaries, brings down twice as much mud as the Ganges, and in the lower part of its course overflows the land, particularly Assam, like an inland sea.