(Barhiṣad). From the Sanskrit word barhis, or barhiḥ, sacrificial grass (a layer of kuśa grass strewn over the sacrificial ground), barhishad meaning seated or placed on the sacred grass. In the plural it refers to the PITṚIS (pitṛs) or deceased ancestors and to a particular class of Pitṛis. In The Secret Doctrine of Helena P. BLAVATSKY the Barhishad Pitṛis are those “possessed of the physical creative fire,” the esoteric meaning given out being totally different from the exoteric Hindu books (SD II:77). Being devoid of the higher Mahatic element, the Barhishad Pitis could only project the model of the physical being. “. . . The Barhishad, being the lunar spirits more closely connected with Earth, became the creative Elohim [the Hebrew name for gods] of form, or the Adam of dust” (SD II:78; also p. 95).

See LUNAR PITṚIS.

J.Mr.