Encyclopædia americana. A popular dictionary of arts, sciences, literature, history, politics and biography, a new ed.; including a copious collection of original articles in American biography; on the basis of the 7th ed. of the German Conversations-lexicon. Ed. by Francis Lieber, assisted by E. Wigglesworth ...

238 BERAINERD-BBRAMINS.
science, peculiarly fitted him for the busi- zari, shares with Brunelleschi the credit
ness of instruction. He was remarkably of being the restorer of architecture. He
composed and resigned during the ap- was born at Castel Duranti, in the duchy
proaches of death, and left this world in of Urbino, in 1444. He applied himself
the full hope of a glorious immortality, first to painting; but his passion for archiHis publications are, a narrative of his tecture soon gained the ascendency. At
labors at Kaunameek, and his journal, or length he went to Milan, and there his
account of the rise and progress of a whole time was spent at the cathedral.
remarkable work of grace among a num- Pope Alexander VI named him his archiber of Indians in New Jersey and Penn- tect, and Julius II made him superinsylvania, 1746. tendent of his buildings. At the command
BRAINERD; a missionary station among of the latter, he united the Belvedere with
the Cherokee Indians, in the district of the palace of the Vatican. He persuaded
Chickamaugah, within the chartered lim- the pope to order the church of St. Peter
its of Tennessee, near the boundary line to be torn down, and another to be erectof Georgia, on Chickamaugah creek, a ed in its place, which should not have its
few miles above its entrance into the river equal in the world. In 1513, the foundaTennessee; 150 miles S. E. of Nashville, tion of this edifice was laid, according to
250 N. W. Augusta. This missionary the plan of B. It yet remains the greatest
station wras commenced in 1817, and production of modern architecture. B.
it is the oldest establishment formed by died in 1514, without living to see this
the American board of missions among work completed. He had begun the edithe Cherokees. The property belonging fice with incredible despatch; but his sucto the mission, in 1822, was estimated at cessors, Raphael, Julius of San Gallo,
$17,390, and there are between 30 and 40 Peruzzi and Michael Angelo altered the
buildings of various descriptions, mostly original plan, and left nothing of B.'s
of logs. The labors of the missionaries workmanship standing, except the arches
here have been remarkably successful in which support the tower of the dome.
iniparting to the Cherokees a knowledge His writings, part prose, part verse, first
of the rudiments of learning, and of the discovered in 1756, were printed the same
arts of civilized life, as well as of the year at Milan.
principles and duties of religion. BRAMINs; the first of the four casts of
BRAKENBURG, Regner, a well-known the Hindoos. They proceeded from the
Dutch painter, distinguished for his rustic mouth of Brama, which is the seat of
scenes, family pieces, &c., was born at wisdom. They form the sacred orsacerHaerlem, in 1649. The time of his death dotal cast, and its members have mainis not known: it took place at Friesland. tained a more absolute and extensive au,
Iis paintings are true to nature. thority than the priests of any other nation.
BRAMA; the first person in the Trinity, Their great prerogative is that of being
or Trimnurti, of the Hindoos, consisting of the sole depositaries and interpreters of
Brama, the creator, Vishnu, the preserv- the Vedas or sacred books. There are
er or redeemer, and Siva, the destroyer. seven subdivisions of'the Bramins, which
He is represented with four heads and as derive their origin from seven penitents,
many arms, and the swan is consecrated personages of high antiquity and remarkto him. His name signifies knowledge of able purity, who are said to have rebuked
the laiws, in allusion to his creative power. the gods themselves for their debauchHe is the god of the fates, master of life eries. The great body of the Bram-ins
and death, and, by some, has been repre- pay equal veneration to the three parts of
sented as the supreme eternal power; hut the mysterious trinity, but some attach
he is himself created, and is merely the themselves more particularly to one paer
agent of the Eternal One. He is believed son of the triple godhead. Thus the
to die, according to some, annually, or, Vishnuvites are distinguished by an oraccording to others, after a longer period, ange-colored dress, and the malrk caleed
and to rise again. His character is no nama on their foreheads. The devotees
better than that of the Grecian Jupiter. of Siva wear the lingatn, and are d( stinHe is considered as the author of the guished from the former by their oreat
Vedas, and as the lawgiver and teacher abstemiousness. A Bramin should pass
of India. The worship of B. is regarded through four states. The first begins
as the oldest religious observance in that at about seven, when the duty of the
country. (For a more particular account, young novice, or Brachmaceari, consists in
see Indian MAythology.) learning to read and write, studying thle
BRAMANTE OF URBINO, Francesco Laz- Vedas, and becoming familiat':'with the