The Mythology of All Races - Forgotten Books

THE MYTHOLOGY OF ALL RACES

VOLUME VI

I N D IAN

I RAN IAN

VOLUME I . Greek and Roman

WILLIAM SHERWOOD Fox, Ph .D . , Princeton Univ ersity .

VOLUME II . Teutonic

AxEL OLRIK , Ph .D . , Univ ersity of Copenhagen.

VOLUME III . Celtic, S lavic

CANON JOHN A. MACCULLOCH, D .D . , B ridge ofAllan, Scotland.

JAN MACHAL, Ph D ., Bohem ian Univ ersity , Prague .

VOLUME IV . F inno-Ugric, S i berianUNO HOLMBERG , Ph D . , University of Finland , He lsing fors.

VOLUME V . S emitic

R . CAMPBELL THOMPSON,M.A., P .S .A F .R G .S . , Oxford.

VOLUME VI . I ndian , I ranian

A. BERRIEDALE KEITH , Edinb urgh University.ALBERT J . CARNOY , Ph D . , University of Louvain.

VOLUME VII . Armenian , AfricanMARDIROS ANANIKIAN, B D . , Kennedy Schoo l of Missions , Hart

ford , Connecticut .

GEORGE FOUCART , Docteur es Lettres, French Insti tute ofOrientalArchaeo logy, Cairo .

VOLUME VI II . Chinese, J apanese

U. HATTORI , Litt D . , Unive rsity ofTokyo .

(J apanese Exchange P rofessor atHarvard Unwersity , 1915—1916)MASAHARU ANESAKI , Litt .D . , Universi ty ofTokyo .

(J apanese Exchange P rofessor atHarvard Unioersity, 1913—1915)VOLUME IX . Oceanic

ROLAND BURRAGE DIXON, Ph D . , Harvard University.VOLUME X . American (North ofMexico)

HARTLEY BURR ALEXANDER, Ph D ., University ofNeb raska .

VOLUME XI . American (Latin)HARTLEY BURR ALEXANDER, Ph .D . , University ofNeb raska.

VOLUME XI I . Egypt, Far EastW. MAX MULLER, Ph D . , University OfPennsylvania.

SIR (JAMES ) GEORGE SCOTT , K.C .I E. , London.

VOLUME XII I . I ndex

PLATE I

DURGA

T he W ife o f gi va, in her dread aspect,s lays the

Asura Mahisa. Standing in an attitude o f triumph on

the demo n, who , as his name im p lie s, is in the shapeo f a b uti

‘

alo , she drags his so u l (symbo lized in humanfo rm ) from him . From a Jav ane se lav a sculpture

,

probably from Prambanan, in the Museum o f FineArts

,Bo sto n . See p . 1 18 .

THE MYTHOLOGYOF ALL RACES

IN THIRTEEN VOLUMES

LO U I S H ERB ERT GRAY,A.M PH .D . ,

EDITO R

GEORGE FOOT MOORE, A.M D .D. , LL.D CONSULT ING EDrTOR

INDIAN IRANIAN

A. BERRIEDALE KEIT H ALBERT J . CARNOYD . L ITT. PH .D. , LrTT .D.

VOLUME VI

BO STON

MARSHALL JONES COMPANYMDCCCC XVII

COPYRIGHT, 1917

BY MARSHALL JONES COMPANY

Entered at Stationers’Ha l l , London

All rights reserved

Printed in January , 1917

STATES OF AMERICA BY THE UNIVERSITY PRESSCAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS

BOUND BY THE’

BOSTON BOOKB INDING COMPANY

CONTENTS

IND IAN PAGEAUTHOR’S PREFACE

TRANSCRI PT ION AND PRONUNC IATION

I NTRODUCTION

CHAPTER I . THE RGVEDA — GODS OF SKY AND AIR .

K II . THE ROVEDA — GODS OF EARTH , DEMONS, ANDDEAD

III . THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE B RAHMANAS

IV . THE GREAT GODS OF THE EPI C

V . MINOR EPIC DEITIES AND THE DEAD

VI . THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE PURANAS

VII . BUDDH I STMYTHOLOGY IN IND IA AND TI BETVIII . THE MYTHOLOGY O F THE JAINS

IX . THE MYTHOLOGY OF MODERN HINDUI SM

IRANIANAUTHOR’S PREFACE

TRANSCRI PT ION AND PRONUNC IATION

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER I . WARS OF GOD S AND DEMONS

II . MYTH S OF CREAT ION

III . THE PRIMEVAL HEROES

IV . LEGENDS OF Y IMA

V . TRAD IT IONS OF THE KING S AND Z OROASTERY VI . THE LIFE TO COME

VII . CONCLUS ION

NOTES , IND IAN

NOTES,IRANIAN

B I B L IOGRAPHY, IND IAN

B I B LIOGRAPHY , IRANIAN

ILLUSTRATIONS

FULL PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS

Durga Pho togravureIdo l Car .

Sfirya

Indra Co louredApsarases Co louredB rahma Co lou redKala-SivaA. To rtures ofHe l lB . To rture s OfHe l lT rim fi rt i

Marriage Of Siva and Parvat iB irth Of B rahm a Co louredVaréhav atéra

Laksm i Co loured .

KrsnaHanumanGarudaVasuki

YaksiKuberaVisnu S lays the Dem ons Co louredLaksm iGaneSa

The G reat Buddha Co louredThe Buddha and Sujata Co louredThe Buddha on the Lo tus

T em ptat ion Of the Buddha Co loured

vii i ILLUSTRAT IONSPLATE FAC INGXXVII Av alokiteSv araXXVIII T irthakaraXXIX D i lwara Tem ple

Shr ine Of Bhfim iya

XXXI BhaironXXXII Iran ian De it ie s on IndO—Scythian Co ins

I . Mithra2 . Ap éim Nap ét

3. Mah

4 . Vata o r V i yu5. Khv arenanh

6 . Atar7 . Vanaint i (Up aratat)8 . Verethraghna

XXXIII I . Typ ica l Representat ion OfMithra2 . Scenes from the Life o fMithra

XXXIV Iran ian De it ies on IndO-Scythian and SassanianCo ins

I . Tisht rya

2 . Khshathra Vairya

3. Ardokhsho

4 . Asha Vahishta5. Ahura Mazda6 . Fire Altar7 . Fire Altar8 . Frav ashi

XXXV Anc ient F ire Tem p le near IsfahanXXXVI 1 . Mithra B o rn from the Ro ck

2 . Mithra B o rn from the Ro ck

XXXVII The Simurgh Co louredXXXVIII Tahm fi rath Com bats the Dem ons Co louredXXXIX 1 . Dahhak (Azhi Dahaka) Co loured

2 . Jam shid on His Throne Co louredXL Rustam and the White Dem o n Co louredXLI The Death Of Suhrab Co louredXLII Kai Kaas Attem pt s to Fly to Heaven Co loured

ILLUSTRATIONSPLATEXLIII Gushtasp K i l ls a Dragon Co louredXLIV Scu lpture Supposed to Represent Zo roast er

ILLUSTRATIONS IN TEXT

FI GUREAgniThe Churn ing Of the Ocean

1

2

3 The Prop it iat ion OfUm é,o r Devi

4 The Narasimha (“Man-Lion ”

) Avatar5 The Matsya Avatar Of Visnu

INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

A. BERRIEDALE KEITH,D .LITT .

REG IUS PROFESSOR OF SANSCRIT AND(

COMPARAT IVE PH ILOLOGYED INBURGH UN IVERS ITY

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AUTHOR’S PREFACE

HE mythology Of India claims unique interest by virtueOf i ts unparal leled length Of l ife . It i s tru e that no t even

the discoveries at Boghaz Ki render it prudent for u s top lace the Rgoeda at an earlier period than 1500 B . c .

,and in

part at least that collection may come from three centu rieslater

,so that a s contrasted with the dates Of Egyptian and

Babylonian records the earliest monument OfAryan mythologyis comparatively recent . In mas s Of content and in value fo rmythology

,however

,these cannot compare with the Rgoeda .

Of sti l l more importance i s the fact that from the period Of the

Rgoeda to the present day, a Space Of some thirty-fiv e hundredyears

,we have a mythology which i s in constant but organic

development . The high mythic systems Of Teuton,Celt

,and

S lav,OfGreek and Roman , have perished before the ons laught

Of a lofti er faith and survive in l ittle el se than folk-lore . InIndia

,on the contrary

,though foreign invas ion has Often swept

over the north-west Of the land,though Isl

'

am has annexedsouls a s wel l a s territories

,though Chri stianity (especia lly in

the south) has contributed elements to the fa ith Of the people,sti l l it remains true that the rel igion and the mythology Of theland are genu inely thei r own and for thi s reason have in themselves the constant potency Of fresh growth . Moreover

,amid st

the ceaseles s change which i s the heritage Of human things,

there i s relative stabi l ity in the S impler thoughts Of the humanmind

,and a s in many parts Of India the peasant sti l l labou rs

with the implements and in the mode Of hi s ancestors in period sfar remote

,8 0 hi s mind frames the same hypotheses to account

for those phenomena Of nature which in India more than elsewhere determine i rrevocably hi s weal o r hi s woe .

6 AUTHOR’S PREFACE

The rich variety Of the mythology, despite its attraction fo rthe student Of the history of myths

,renders the tas k Of conci se

expos ition one Of peculiar difficulty . Fo r the mythology Of thepresent day available materia l i s enormous : each part Of thevast area Of India has its own abundant store Of myth and

tradition,and to give detai l for this period would be impos s ib le .

The same consideration app lies with but S l ightly lessened forcefo r the earl ier epochs : the Veda , the epics , the Pa ranas , thel iterature of the Buddh i sts and Of the Jains , each p resent da tain lavi sh abundance . It has been necessary, therefore , to ci rcum scrib e narrowly the scope Of the subj ect by restricting thetreatment to that mythology which stands in close connexionwith religion and which conveys to u s a conception Of themanner in which the Indian p ictured to h imself the origin Ofthe world and Of life

,the destiny Of the universe and Of the

souls Of man,the gods and the evi l sp i rits who supported o r

menaced his exi stence . Gods and demons were very presentto the mind Of the Indian then as they are today, and they areinextricably involved in innumerable storie s Of folk-lore

, Of

fai ry tale,and Of speculation as to the origin of institutions and

customs . The task Of selecting such myths a s wil l best i l lu stratethe natu re Of the powers Of good and evi l i s one in which wecannot hope fo r complete succes s ; and the p roblem is renderedsti l l more hard by the es sentia l vaguenes s Of many Of thefigures Of Indi an mythology : the mystici sm Of Indian concep

tion tends ever to a panthei sm alien to the clear-cut creation sOf the Hel lenic imagination .

The diffi cu lt task Of selecting su itable i l lu strations has beenshared with the editor Of thi s series

,Dr . Lou i s H . Gray

,Of

whose valuable as s i stance in thi s and other matters I desi reto expres s my most s incere appreciation ; and my friend Professo r Charles R . Lanman

,Of Harvard Univers ity

,has gener

ously len t u s valuable volumes from his private l ibra ry . D r .

Ananda K . Co om araswamy , with hi s wonted generos ity anddevotion to the cause Of promoting the knowledge Of Indian

V I ’— ' I

AUTHOR’S PREFACE 7

a rt,not merely accorded permis s ion for the reproduction Of

i l lu strations from hi s Raj putPaintings (publi shed by the OxfordUnivers ity Pres s) , but p laced at my disposal the resources Ofhi s admirable Viioaharma

,a kindnes s for which I am deeply

grateful . TO the India Society and the Oxford Univers ityPres s I am indebted for permis s ion to rep roduce i l lu strationsfrom Lady He rringham

’s Splendid copies Of the Aj anta frescoes

,

published by the Pres s for the Society . Messrs . W . Griggs andSons

,Of Hanover Street

,Peckham

,London

, S . E.,have been

good enough to permit the rep roduction Of certain i llu strationsfrom thei r j ournal of Indian Art; and I ow e to the generos ityOf the India Office the photographs which Messrs . Griggs andSons have made fo r me from negatives in the col lection Of

that Department . Lieut .-COI. A . H . Milne,Of Cults

,Aber

deenshire , Scotland , kindly permitted the photographing Ofone Of the p ieces Of hi s rich collection ; the Museum Of FineArts in Boston and the Peabody Museum in Salem ,

Mass .,

have been nO les s generous than he ; and Mrs . Loui s H . Grayplaced her expert knowledge at ou r service in seeing the v o lume through the pres s .TO my wife I owe thanks fo r help and critic i sm .

A. BERRIEDALE KEITH.

UN IVERS ITY OF ED INBURGH,22. Sep tembe r, 1916.

TRANSCRIPTION AND PRONUNCIATION

HE system Of transcription fol lowed i s that u sed by theRoyal As iatic Society and accords closely with the one

adopted in the Grundriss der indo-ar ischen Phi lologie and

Altertumskunde . The pronunciation i s much a s in Engli sh,but

c is pronounced as ch, and g i s a lways hard ; the characters rep res ented by kh

, gh, ch, j h, th, oth, th, a’h, ph, bh have the h sounded

half-separately,somewhat a s in p ot

-hook,maa

’house

,hap

hazard, etc . Oi the letters d i stingu ished by diacritical markst,ih

, af, db , and n a re p ronounced very much l ike the ord inarydentals ; s i s sounded as sh, and s

'

as sh or s ; the s is always hard,never soft l i ke z. The letter r denotes the vowel sound Of r andi s p ronounced approximately l ike r i ; and S imilarly I i s almostl i ke li . The let ters n and ii denote a nasal as s imi lated to thefollowing sound

,guttu ral and palatal respectively

,and m

i ndicates a nasal sound which corresponds very roughly to ng.

The“ visarga

,

”h,was probably pronounced li ke the Scottis h

o r German ch. The vowel s e (pronounced l ike a in fate) and 0,

which represent an original a i and an,a re always long . The

vowel a i s p ronounced somewhat in the manner Of the u inEnglish but; other vowels have the same value as in I tali an .


I 2 INTRODUCTION

must,therefore

,be recognized that the Rgoea’a gives only an

imperfect impress ion Of Indi an mythology and that,in a sense ,

it i s the work Of an ari stocracy ; but at the same time it i s imposs ible to regard the Atharoaoeda as a di rect complement Ofthe Rgoeda and as giving the popular s ide of the Rgv edic religion . The Atharoaoeda was probably not reduced to its presentform much

,i f at all

,earlier than 500 B .C .

,and the popular

worship included in it i s one which i s at once separated by aconsiderable period in time from that Of the Rgoeda and is presented to us

,no t in its primitive form

,but as it was taken up

by the pri ests . The other Vedas and the B rahm anas may bereferred roughly to a period which runs from 800 to 600 B .C .

TO the B rahmanas are attached , more or les s closely, treati sescalled Aranyahas which were to be studied byoral tradition in the solitude Of the forests

,and Upanisads,

treati ses Of definitely philosophical content,whose name is de

rived from the “ ses s ion ” Of the pupi l s around thei r teacher.The Oldest Of these works p robably date from before 500On the other hand

,the S iZtras

, o r ru les regarding the sacrificeboth in its more elaborate and in its more domestic forms

,and

regu lations concerning custom and law give incidental info rmation as to the more popular s ide of religion .

The S iZtras , at any rate , and poss ibly even the B rahmanas,In thei r later portions

,are contemporaneou s with the begin

mings Of the two great epics Of India,the Maha

'

bha'

rata and theRamayana . The first composition Of these works as real epics

,

m ade up from ballads and other material,may be as s igned to

the fou rth centu ry B .C .,and it i s p robable that the Ra

'

ma

'

yana

was practically complete before the Chri stian era . In the caseOf the Mahabharata

,however

,there i s no doubt that the orig

inal heroic ep i c has been overwhelmed by a vast mass of religious , phi losophical , and didactic matter, and that it was notpractically complete before the s ixth century A.D .

,though

most Of it probably may be dated in the period from 200 B .C . to200 A.D . These works reveal

,to an extent which cannot be

INTRODUCTION 13

paralleled in the texts Of the preceding periods,the religion o f

the warrior c las s and Of the people generally . It cannot be assumed that the religion thus described i s a later development

,

in point Of time,than the Vedic religion , so far a s the chief

features of thi s rel igion are concerned ; but much of the mythology is c learly a wo rking over Of the tales reported in theperiod Of the B rahmanas

,Of which

,in so far

,the epic period i s a

legitimate successor.The epic period i s followed by that Of the Pa ranas

,which

Show undoubted s igns o f the development Of the religion and

mythology Of the epics . NO doubt the material in these textsi s often Old

,and here and there narratives are p reserved in a

form anterior to that now seen in the Maha’

bha'

rata . Yet,on

the whole,it i s probable that no Puréna antedates 600 A.D .

,

and there i s l ittle doubt that portions of some Of them are muchlater

,falling within the last few centuries . No r

,indeed

,i s there

any definite check to the continuance Of this l iteratu re : atleast two Of the Pa ranas have no definite texts

,and any author

,

without fear o f pos itive contradiction , i s at liberty to composea poem in honour o f a place of worship o r o f pilgrimage

,and

to cal l it a portion Of either Of these Pura'

nas . This i s theliterature which

,to the present day

,contains the autho rita

tive sacred texts ofH indu myth and worship . Yet it i s es sent ially priestly and learned , and the popular religion which itembodies has been elaborated and confu sed

,SO that it i s nece s

sa ry,fo r a clear View Of modern H indu mythology

,to supple

ment the account Of the Purdnas with records taken from theactual Observation Of the practices of modern India .Bes ides the main stream Of H indu mythology there are im

portant cu rrents in the traditions Of the Buddhists and theJains . Buddhi sm has left but faint traces of its former gloriesin India itself ; undoubted ly from about 500 B .C . to 700 A.D .

i t must be ranked among the greatest o f Indian religions,

and in the school Of the Mahayana,or “Great Vehicle

,

” i t dev e lOp ed an elaborate mythology which displays marked orig

14 INTRODUCTION

inal features . In compari son with Buddhism Jaini sm has addedlittle to the mythology Of India

,but in its own way it has de

v e lOp ed many themes Of Indian mythology, with the' main

doctrines of which it remains in much closer contact than doesBuddhism .

The subj ect, therefore , divides itself, in accordance with thelitera ry sou rces upon wh ich any treatment must be based

,into

s even d ivi s ions

I . The Period of the Rgoea’a (Chapters I and I I) ;I I . The Period Of the B rahmanas (Chapter I I I) ;I I I . The Period of the Epics (Chapters IV and V) ;IV . The Period o f the Pureinas (Chapter VI) ;V . The Mythology Of Buddhism (Chapter VI I) ;VI . The Mythology of Jainism (Chapter VI I I) ;VI I . The Mythology Of Modern India (Chapter IX) .

IND IAN MY T H O L O G Y

CHAPTER I

THE RGVEDA

GODS OF SKY AND AIR

N his Niru/eta (the oldest extant Vedic commentary, writtenabout 500 B .C . ) Y éska tell s u s that earlier students of the

mythology of the Rgoeda had resolved all the deities into threeclasses according to thei r pos ition in the Sky

,in the atmosphere

,

o r on the earth ; and he fu rther treats all the different members of each clas s as being only divergent aspects Of the threegreat gods

,Agni on earth

,Indra o r Vayu

(“Wind in the atmosphere

,and Sfirya Sun

”

) in the sky .

This apportionment Of the universe is,in fact

,widely accepted

in the Rgoeda , where , as a ru le, a threefold di stribution i s preferred to the s impler V iew which contrasts the earth with allthat i s seen above it . To the d ivis ion immedi ately over theearth are referred the manifestations of wind

,rain

,and light

ning,while solar phenomena are ass igned to the highest o f the

three parts . Each Of these three clas s ifications may again besubdivided into three : thus it i s in the highest luminous Spaceo r sky that the

“ fathers ” (the kindly dead) , the gods , andSoma res ide . In the atmosphere also there are three Spaces

,o r

Often only two one the heavenly and one the earthly andin either case the highest i s sometimes treated as if it were theheaven o r sky itself. Li ke the earth it has rocks and mountains ;streams (clouds) flow in it ; and the water-dripping clouds areconstantly compared to and identified with cows . It seemsc lear that the earthly as well a s the heavenly portion Of the

16 IND IAN MYTHOLOGY

atmosphere i s above,not below

,the earth

,so that the sun does

no t return from west to east under the earth , but goes backby the way it came

,turning its l ight s ide up to the sky and

thus leaving earth in darknes s . The ea rth,conceived as ex

tended,broad

,and boundles s

,i s compared in shape to a wheel

,

but no ocean su rrounds it,as in Greek and later Indian myth

ology . The earth has four points , o r five when we include thep lace where the speaker stands .An Older conception i s that of the earth and the sky alone asconstituting the universe . In that case the idea of the shape Ofthe earth varies

,fo r when it i s united with the sky , it i s com

pared to two great bowls tu rned toward each other ; while fromanother point of V iew earth and sky are li kened to the wheelsat the ends Of an axle . SO c losely united are the pai r that

,as a

deity,Dyév ép rthiv i Sky and Earth ”) is far more frequently

invoked than either Dyau s o r Prthiv i

The j oint deity can claim six hymns in the Rgoeda , the Earthonly one

,and the Sky none . Even in her solitary hymn (v . 84)

the Earth i s prai sed for sending the rain from her cloud,though

that i s,as a matter of fact

,her hu sband’s function . The two

are called the primeval parents,who make and su stain all c rea

tures ; and the gods themselves are thei r children : they are theparents of B rhasp at i (

“Lord of Devotion ”) and with the waters

and Tv astr they engendered Agni . Yet withcharacteri stic impartial ity they are said themselves to becreated

,for a poet marvels at the s ki l l which wrought them

,

and others attribute thei r fash ioning to Indra,to V iév akarm an

(“All-Maker”) o r to Tv astr. They are far-extending

,unaging

,

yielding milk,ghee (clarified butter) , and honey in abundance .

The o ne i s a prolific bu ll,the other a variegated cow ; and both

are rich in seed . They are wise al so,and they promote right

eousne ss and accord protection and aid to thei r worshippers .The constant problem Of the fashioning o f the world i s expressed in many ways . With the suns Varuna measu res theworld ; Indra made the wide expanse o f earth and the high

GODS OF SKY AND AIR 17

dome of the sky after measuring the six regions ; o r,again

,the

earth i s s aid to have been spread out,as by Agni

,Indra

,the

Maruts (storm-deities) , and other gods . The s imilitude Of ahouse leads to the question from what wood it was fashioned

,

and the doors of thi s hou se of the world are the portals of theeast

,through which comes the morning light . Both sky and

earth are Often said to be propped up,but the Sky i s a lso de

clared to be rafte rle ss, and the marvel Of its being unsupportedi s remarked . The earth i s made fast with hands by Sav itr (aform o f the sun) , and Vi snu fixed it with pegs . In the last andlatest book of the Rgoea

’a,however

,these s imple concepts a re

rep laced by speculations in which mythology passes into philOSOphy . The most important of these theo rizings i s thatcontained in x . 129, which tells that nothing exi sted in the b eginning

,all being void . Darknes s and space enveloped the

undifferentiated waters . By heat the first ex i sting thing cameinto being

,whereupon arose des i re

,the first seed Of mind

,to

be the bond of the existent and the non-exi stent . Thus the godshad thei r origin

,but at thi s point the Specu lation concludes

with an as sertion Of doubt. The hymn itself runs thus,in Muir’s

me trica l renderingI

Then the re was ne itherAught no r Nought , no air no r sky beyond .

What cove red a l l ? Whe re re sted a l l ? In wate ry gu lf p rofound?No r death was then ,

no r death le ssne ss,no r change o fn ight and day .

That One b reathed ca lm ly , se lf-sustained ; nought e lse beyond It lay .

G lo om hid in g loom exist ed first one sea,e luding view .

That One , a vo id in chao s wrapt , b y inward fe rvour grew.

Within It first aro se de sire , the prima l ge rm Ofm ind .

Which no thing with existence l inks, as sage s searching find .

The kindl ing ray that sho t acro ss the dark and drear abyss,Was it bene ath ? o r high a loft ? What bard can answe r this ?There fecundat ing powers we re found, and m ighty fo rces st rove ,A se lf-suppo rt ing m ass beneath , and ene rgy above .

Who knows, who ever to ld,from whence this vast creat ion ro se ?

NO gods had then been bo rn ,who then can e

’er the t ruth disc lo se ?

Whence sprang this wo r ld, and whether fram ed b y hand divine o rno

,

It’s lo rd in heaven a lone can te l l , if even he can show .

I 8 IND IAN MYTHOLOGY

As in thi s hymn the gods are said to come into being after thecreation of the universe, so in other phi losophic hymns they arebrought into exi stence from the waters

,and in o ne place they

are divided into groups born from Ad iti thewaters

,and the earth . The Adityas in particu lar are constantly

derived from Aditi . Yet speculation i s free and changes eas i ly :Dawn i s the mother of the sun and i s born Of Night

,by reason

Of temporal sequence ; while for local cau ses Sky and Earth arethe all-parents . O r the greatest Of a clas s i s parent Of the rest

,

as the storm-god Rudra of the Rudras,the wind

Of the storm-gods,Sarasvati Of rivers

,and Soma o f plants .

A certain mystici sm and love of paradox resu lt in a declarationthat Indra produced his parents

,Sky and Earth , o r that Daksa

(a creator—god) i s at once father and son o f Aditi . S imi larvaguenes s prevails regarding men . They must be included inthe general parentage of Sky and Earth , but the priestly familyo f theAng irases are sprung di rectly from Agni , and the sageVasistha i s the child of Mitra and Varuna by Urv aSi , anApsaras

,o r heavenly nymph . Yet they are also descended

from Manu,son o f Viv asv ant

,o r from Yama

,the brother of

Manu,and his s i ster Yami

,and thi s pai r claim kinship with the

Gandharva (celestial bard) and the water-nymph .

There i s too little di stinction between gods and men for u sto be surpri sed that the gods were once mere mortals

, o r thatthere are ancient a s wel l a s more recent gods . How they wonimmortality i s uncertain : Savitt o r Agni bestowed it uponthem

,or they Obtained it by drinking soma

,whereas Indra

gained it by his ascetic p ractices . Yet it seems clear that theydid get it and that when the gods a re called unaging

,i t does

not mean, as in the mythology Of the epic , that they endureonly for a cosmic age ; for thi s latter concept i s bound upwith the philosophy which sees no progres s in the world andwhich , therefore , resolves all exi stence into a perpetual series Ofgrowth and pas sing away .

Many as are the names of the gods,there i s much that they


20 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

one who boasts of having drunk himself into intoxication withsoma . He seems once to have fought with al l the gods , to haveshattered the car of Dawn , and even to have S lain hi s father ;and he actually quarrelled with h i s fa ithfu l henchmen

,the

Maruts . To their worshippers the gods are good and kind , andfor them they slay the demons , with whom they wage a warwhich i s triumphant if seemingly inces sant . They richly bles sthe sacrifice r and punish the niggard . They are true and no t

deceitful,although Indra again departs from the highest stand

ard by his use of wiles,even without a good end to ju stify

the means . Moral grandeur i s p ractically confined to Varuna,

and the greatnes s and the might Of the gods are extolled farmore often than thei r goodnes s . Thei r power over men i s uml imited : none may defy thei r ordinances o r l ive beyond theperiod allotted by them

,nor i s there aught that can subdue

them,save in so far as they are said sometimes not to be able to

transgres s the moral order of Mitra and Varuna .

The pantheon which the Rgoeda presents is essentially artificial

,for as regards by far the greater part of the collection it

contains hymns used in the Soma ritual,whence it gives only

an imperfect conception of the gods as a whole . Thus,except

ing in the tenth book,which contains a short group of hymns

( 14- 18) constituting a sort Of collection for Yama (the prime

v al man and the king of the departed) , we learn nothing Ofthe dead and very l ittle of the Spirits . Moreover

,it i s only in

qu ite inadequate measu re that we meet with the more domesticS ide of religion o r with the belief in magic and witchcraft inthei r application to the needs of ordinary life . We cannot

,

therefore,feel any assurance that the comparative importance

o f the gods as they might be j udged from thei r prominence inthe Rgoeda affords any real criterion of their actual position inthe life of any Vedic tribe

,though doubtles s it does reflect

their rank in the views of the group of priestly families whosetraditions , united in a whole , are presented to u s in the Rgoeda .

From the text itself it would seem that Indra,Agni

,and Soma

GODS OF SKY AND AIR 2 1

are by far the greatest gods ; then come the ASv ins (the twincelestia l the Maruts

,and Varuna ; then Usas

(“Dawn Sav itr, B rhasp at i, Sfirya , Pfisan

then Vayu , Dyév ép rthiv i , Vi snu , and Rudra ; and finally Yamaand Parj anya (the rain-god) . Even thi s li st

,based on numeri

cal cons iderations,i s Open to obj ection

,fo r some of the deities

,

such as Varuna,are obvious ly greater

,though les s c losely con

nected with the s acrifice,SO that, despite thei r true rank, they

are les s often mentioned than others,such as the ASv ins

,who

are more frequently invoked in the sacrifice .Of the gods of the sky Dyau s corresponds in name

to Zeus,and like Zeu s he i s a father. Indeed

,thi s is by far the

most important characteristic of Zeu s’s counterpart in the

Rgoeda . Usas i s most often the chi ld mentioned,

but the ASv ins,Agni

,Parj anya

,Sfirya, the Adityas , the Maruts ,

Indra,and the Ang irases are among his Offspring, and he i s the

parent ofAgni . Normally, however, he is mentioned with Earthin the compound Dyav ép rthiv i , and o n the solitary occas ionwhen he i s hailed in the vocative as Dyaus p itar (

“ Father Sky ,”

the exact equ ivalent of the Greek Z efi m i 'rep and the LatinIup p ite r) ,

“Mother Earth i s s imu ltaneous ly addres sed .

Scarcely any other characteri stic i s ascribed to him ; i t i s s implystated that he i s a bull who bellows downward

,o r a black steed

decked with pearls (i . e . the dark sky set with stars) , that hesmiles through the clouds

,and that he hears the thunderbolt .

Thus he i s hardly anthropomorphized at all,whether named

alone,o r when conjoined with earth

,and his worship i s l ittle

removed from the direct adoration o f the sky as a living being.

NO moral attribute belongs to him,nor is there any trace of

sovereignty over the world o r the other gods . The pos ition of

power and elevation which G reek mythology ascribes to Zeusi s no t accorded in ful l to any Vedi c deity

,but in so far a s Zeus

has a parallel,it is in Varuna

,not in Dyaus .

In comp ari son with Dyaus Varuna has far more anthropomorphic traits . He wears a golden mantle and a shining robe ;


with Mitra Sun he mounts hi s Shining car ; in the h ighestheaven they abide in a golden mans ion , with a thousand pi llarsand a thousand doors ; and the a ll-seeing Sun, ri s ing from hi sabode

,goes to the dwellings ofMitra and Varuna to tell of the

deeds of men ; the eye o fMitra and Varuna i s the sun, andVaruna has a thousand eyes . Both gods have fair hands

,and

Varuna treads down wiles with shining foot . Yet no myths a retold Of him

,and the deeds ascribed to him are al l intended to

Show his power as a ruler . He i s lord of all , both gods and menno t only an independent ru ler, a term more often given to Indra ,but a universal ru ler, an epithet used also o f Indra

,though

peculiarly Varuna’s . Moreover,the terms Ksat riya

and Asura (“Deity are his

,the first a lmost exclu s ively

,and

the second predominantly. As Asura he posses ses,in company

with Mitra,the maya, o r occult power, wherewith they send

the dawns,make the sun to cros s the sky , Obscure it with cloud

and rain , o r cause the heavens to rain . The worlds are sup

ported by Varuna and Mitra ; Varuna made the golden swing

(the sun) to shine in the heaven and placed fire in the waters ;the wind i s hi s breath . He establi shes the morning and theevening ; through him the moon moves and the stars shine atnight ; he regulates the months of the year. He i s only rarelyconnected with the sea , fo r the Rgoeda knows little of the ocean,but hi s occu lt power keeps the ever-flow ing rivers from fi l l ingit up . Despite thi s , Varuna and Mitra are greatly concernedwith the waters of the atmosphere and make the rain to fall ;they have kine yielding refreshment and streams flowing withhoney .

So great i s Varuna that neither the flying birds no r the flowing rivers can reach the limit of his dominion

,his might

,and his

wrath . The three heavens and the three earths alike are dep o sited in him ; he knows the fl ight of the bi rds in the Sky

,the path

o f the Ships , the track of the wind, and all secret things . Theomniscience and omnipotence

,no les s than the omnipresence

,

Of Varuna receive admirable expres s ion in a hymn wh ich,by

PLAT E I I

I DO L CAR

In the wo rship o f m any de itie s an im po rtant o ccasio n is the ir cerem onial v isit to o the r div init ie s

,and

fo r this purpo se e labo rate v ehic les are requisi te fo rthe ir co nveyance . T his car

,who se whe e ls are o f

Sto ne , has be en cho sen to i l lust rate the intricacyo f Indian carv ing in wood. Afte r I r chitecture ofDharw ar and Mysor e, Pho tograph L .



the gods in general . They are al so termed Guardians ofHolyOrder

,a term used likewi se of Agni and Soma , and

“ Followers of Holy Order, an ep ithet given predominantly to Agni .

This “Order ” must,therefore

,be regarded as something

higher even than Varuna , and it is _ clearly the Asha of theAvesta . Its first aspect i s cosmic order : the dawns Shine inaccordance with Rta and ri se from Rta

’s abode ; the sun, with

the twelve spokes of hi s wheel (the months) , moves in accordwith Rta ; it i s Rta that gives the white cooked milk to thered raw cow . The sacrifice i s under the guardianship of Rta ;Agni i s the observer of it and i s its first-born . Prayers takeeffect in accordance with Rta , and the piou s sacrificer claimsthat

,discarding witchcraft

,he offers with Rta . In the Sphere

ofman Rta i s a moral order and, as truth , it stands in perpetualOpposition to untruth . When Agni strives toward Rta , he i ss aid to become Varuna himself ; when Yama and Yami contendon the question whether incest may be allowed to the firstpair o f mankind

,it i s to Rta that Yama appeals against hi s

s i ster’s persuasions . The s ame featu res mark Rta in theAvesta

,and the antiquity ofthe conceptmay be very great.4 Un

l ike the Greek Moira,

6o r Fate

,we never find Rta coming into

definite confl ict with the will o r wish of the gods,and the con

stant Oppos ition ofAnrta shows that the idea israther one of norm o r ideal than of controll ing and overridingfate . This may be due to the transfer o fRta to the moral from thephysical world, o r to the fact that, even as applied to the phys icalworld , fu ll neces s ity of cause and effect was not accepted.

It i s perfectly clear that Varuna corresponds in characterand in the epithet Asura too closely with Ahu ra Mazda

,the

great deity of the Iranians,to be other than in the nearest rela

tion to him , nor can there be much real doubt that the phys icalbasi s of the god is the broad sky . Mitra is

,indeed

,so faint a

figure apart from him that it would be difficu lt to be certainthat he i s the sun , were it no t for the undoubted solar natu reof the Pers ian Mithra .

5 Yet if Mitra i s the sun,the sky i s nat


u rally the greater deity, and thi s not only well accounts fo r theconnexion of Varuna with the waters , which , from the Atharcaveda onward , becomes hi s chief characteri stic, but also ac

cords with the attributes Of a universa l monarch . No r i s thereanyt hing in the name o f the god to render thi s view doubtfu l .It seems to be derived from the root or

,

“ to cover,

” and to denote the covering sky, and many scholars have maintained thatthe name of the Greek deity Ouranos 6 can be identified with it .The antiqu ity ofMitra and Varuna has been carried back to

about 1400 B .C .,when thei r names occu r on an inscription

as gods of the Mitanni in northern Mesopotamia , but whetherthey were then Aryan o r I ranian o r Vedic gods i s not clear . 7 Ithas been suggested

,however, that the pecu lia r character of

Varuna i s due,l i ke the character of Ahura Mazda

,to borrow

ing,during the Indo—I ranian period

,from a Semitic people

,and

that he and Mitra and the other Adityas,seven in al l corre

sponding to the Am e sha Sp entas of I ran,

8 were in origin themoon

,the sun, and the five planets . Yet th i s view does not

accord well with the phys ica l s ide of Varuna in the Rgoeda , inwh ich h i s connexion with night i s only s light ; the Indians

’

knowledge of the five p lanets i s very doubtful ; and theAm e sha

Sp entas seem purely abstract and Avestan deities . No r i s itneces sa ry to see in Va runa’s sp ies the stars

,o r in hi s bonds the

fetters Of night ; both are the necessary paraphernalia of anIndian king

,and , when thought of concretely, h i s fetter s eems

to be di sease,in Special perhaps dropsy.

Indra occurs in the same record of the Mitannian gods,and

thi s shows that even then he must have been a great god . Inthe Rgoeda there can be no compari son between Varunaand Indra in moral grandeu r

,but the latter i s far more Often

mentioned and is c learly by all odds the more popular god . In

deed,in one hymn ( iv . 42) the claims o f the two divinities seem

to be placed before u s in thei r own mouths,Varuna a s the

creator and su stainer of the world , and Indra as the irres i stib ledeity of battle ; and the poet seems inclined to recognize the


pre—eminence of Indra . Yet there i s no real evidence , s ave perhaps a certain diminution of mention in the tenth book o f the

Rgoeda , that the worship of Varuna was on the decline in thi speriod

,and the real source o f the los s of hi s greatnes s i s to be

traced to the growth o f the conception of the creator god ,Praj ép at i o r ViSv akarm an

,at the end of the period of the

Rgoeda and in the following epoch . Driven thu s from hi s highfunctions

,Varuna became connected with the night and the

vvate rs .

Mitra has but one hymn addressed to him alone ( i i i . andin it he i s said to bring men together when he utters speech andto gaze on the ti llers with unwinking eye . The characteri sticsof as sembling men and regulating the course of the sun confirmthe view that

,as suggested by the Pers ian evidence, he i s a

solar god . The name is used repeatedly to denote “ friend ,” but

it i s not proved that the god is derived from that application ofthe term .

Mitra’s indefinite character and lack of personality may bedue in part to the co-exi stence of hi s riva l Sfirya as the sun-god

par excellence . Sfirya i s constantly the actual solar element andis conceived in many forms

,as a bi rd

,a flying eagle

,a mottled

bull,the gem o f the sky , the variegated stone set in the heaven .

He i s also the weapon Of Mitra and Varuna,o r the felloe of their

car, o r the car itself. He shines forth in the lap of the dawnsand i s the son of Aditi

,and his father i s Dyaus

,even though

many other gods are said to produce the sun . He triumphsover the darknes s and the witches

,drives away S i cknes s and

evi l dreams , and prolongs life . His evi l power a s bu rning heati s not known to the Rgoea

’a,unles s it be hinted at in the myth

that Indra overcame him and stole hi s wheel,which may point

to the obscuration of the sun by the storm,here poss ib ly re

garded as tempering its exces s ive heat,though it i s equally

susceptible of the opposite interpretation . In another aspectSfi rya i s Savitt , the Impeller ” or “ Instigator

,

” the goldenhanded, the golden-tongued , with chariot Of gold . He i t i s who

PLATE I I I

SURYA

As the text-bo o ks enjo in , the Sun-God is “c lad in

the dress o f the No rthe rners [i. e . Pe rsians], so as to

b e co v e red from the feet upward to the bo som . He

ho lds two lo tuses grow ing out o f his hands,wears

a diadem and a neck lace hanging down , has his faceado rned with ear- rings, and a girdle ro und his waist .

”

His figure thus suggests Iranian influence,e spec ial ly

as the sacred girdle w as wo rn by the Magas,who

traced the ir descent to the Magians o f Pe rsia. W hilethe sun-cu lt was known in India in the V edic pe riod

,

it rec e ived new life from Iran . From a scu lptureat Modhe ra

, G ujarat . Afte r Burgess and Co usens,The Ar chitectura l zlntiquz

'

tzes of Nor thern Guj arat,Plate LVI

,No . 5. See also pp . 138

—39, 183

— 84 .


28 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

of men,graciou s to them in marriage

,and the leader of thei r

souls in death to the world of the sun and heaven . The AvestanMithra has the characteri stics o f increas ing cattle and bringingthem back home .Yet another form of the sun i s Viv asv ant

,the father ofYama

and ofManu , and thus in a sense the forefather o f the humanrace . He i s identical with the Avestan Viv anghv ant , the fatherofYima , who first prepared the haoma ,10 and in the Rgoecla alsohe i s connected with the s acrifice . His messenger i s Agni o rMatariSv an ; in hi s abode the gods rejoice ; and Soma , Indra ,and the ASv inS are hi s close companions ; yet hi s natu re musthave had a dread trait

,fo r a worshipper prays that the arrow

ofViv asv ant may not smite him before o ld age . He shines outat the beginning of the dawn as Agni , nor i s it improbable thathe i s no more than the ri s ing sun . His character a s sacrificer

,

which is not as prominent in the Bgoea’a as in the Avesta

,can

eas i ly have been a special development,while

,if he was no more

in origin than the first of sacrifice rs l ike Manu in the Rgoea'

a,

his celestial character becomes difli cult to explain .

Much more faint are the figure s of Bhaga (“ Bountifu l

AmSa Aryaman (“ Comrade and Daksa

who with Mitra and Varuna are hailed in one

hymn ( I I . xxvii . 1) as the Adityas . Aryaman i s a faint doubleofMitra , but i s the wooer of maidens . AmSa i s p ractically amere name , but i s called bountifu l . Bhaga i s the giver ofwealthwhom men des i re to share

,and Dawn i s hi s s i ster. In the Avesta

his name is Bagha, an epithet of Ahura Mazda , and it corresponds to the Old Church S lavonic word bogri ,

“

god.

”Daksa

i s born of Aditi , although he i s a lso her father . His exi stencei s probably due to the fact that theAdityas are called “ havingintelligence for their father, thu s giving rise to the conception that Daksa i s a person .


Aditi throws away and then brings back to the gods . Mitra,

Varuna,and Indra are called Adityas

,and the same name is

given to Sav itr and to Sfirya . Sometimes the Adityas form agroup in conjunction w ith other gods li ke the Maruts

,Rudras

,

Vasus,and Rb hus, o r again they seem occasionally to include

all the gods . From Varuna they appear to have derived themoral duties of punishing sin and rewarding the good ; theyspread fetters for their enemies

,but protect thei r worshippers

as bi rds spread their wings over their young . They are bright,

golden,many-eyed

,unwinking

,and s leeples s

,kings with in

v iolab le ordinances,pure

,and overseers ofHoly Order .

In compari son with hi s future greatnes s Vi snu appears ofS l ight impor tance in the Rgoea

’a,in which only fiv e hymns and

part of a s ixth are given to him . His great feat i s hi s trip lestride

,the third ofwh ich places him beyond the ken o fman o r

the fl ight Of bi rds . Yet it i s a lso described as an eye fixed inheaven

,where there i s a well of honey

,where Indra dwells

,and

where are the many cows des ired of the worshipper . In h i s striding Vi snu moves swiftly but also according to law ; he i s anordainer who

,l i ke Sav itr, metes out the earth ly spaces ; o r

,

again,he sets in motion

,l i ke a revolving wheel

,hi s ninety steeds

with thei r fou r names,who can be nothing else than the year .

These tra its reveal him beyond doubt as a sun-god, whetherh i s name be explained as “ the Active

,

” from the root air,o r a s

One Who Crosses the Backs o f the Universe .” 11 His threestrides were interpreted by Aurnav éb ha, one of the earliestexpounders ofVedic mythology

,as the ri s ing

,culminating

,and

setting of the sun,but Sfikap fini, another exegete , a lready gave

the far more probable vers ion of ea rth,atmosphere

,and Sky .

The steps taken by Vi snu are for man in distress,o r to b e

stow on him the earth as a dwelling-place,o r to make room for

exi stence,and in thi s conception lies

,no doubt

,the germ of the

dwarf incarnation ofVi snu . His closenes s to man is also attestedby h i s connexion with Indra and the Maruts . Urged by Indra

,

Vi snu,having drunk of the soma

,carried Off one hundred buffa

30 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

loes and a brew ofmilk belonging to the boar (i .e . Vrtra) , wh i leIndra

,shooting acros s the cloud-mountain , s lew the fierce boar.

In the period of the B rdhmanas Visnu i s conceived as as sumingthe form of a boar, and the way fo r such transformations i spaved by the view of the Rgoea’a (VII . c . 6) that in battle Vi snuassumes a different shape and has to be asked to reveal hi s ownform to the worshipper . Though , therefore , not yet in Vedicci rcles one of the great gods , his relation to man , hi s close connexion with the three worlds , and hi s power of change of formare traits which explain that in other ci rcles he may have beena much greater deity .

Among the gods listed in the Mitanni inscription we find theNasatyas, thu s confirming the early exi stence of the divinepai r who in the Avesta have degenerated into a demon

,Néong

haithya . Their normal name in the Rgoea’a i s the ASv insthough they are also called “ the Wonder

Workers ” (Dasra) , and later mythology has invented Das raand Nasatya as the names of the pair. They are beautifu l,strong

,and red and their p ath i s red o r golden . They have a

skin fi l led with honey and touch the sacrifice and the wo rshipper with their honey-whip . Their chariot alone i s describedas honey-hued o r honey-bearing

,and it also has the peculi arity

of possess ing three wheels,three felloes

,and al l the other parts

triple . The time of the ASv ins’ appearance i s at dawn ; theyfol low dawn in thei r car ; at the yoking of thei r car the dawn i sborn ; but yet, despite thi s , they are invoked to come to theoffering not only at the morning but also at noon and at sunset .Their parentage i s not definitely decided : they are children ofSky o r ofOcean , o r ofViv asv ant and Saranyfi , o r ofPfisan ; andthough normally inseparable l ike the eyes or the hands

,never

theless they are once or twice said to be variou s ly born or bornhere and there . They arewedded to a deity described as Sfiryé ,the sun-maiden , or the daughter of the Sun ,

and it i s for herperhaps that thei r car has three seats and three wheels . In themarriage-rite they are accordingly invoked to conduct the bride


home on thei r chariot, and they are also asked to make theyoung wife ferti le , whi le among thei r feats is to give a child tothe wife of a eunuch , to cause the barren cow to yield milk, andto grant a hu sband to the o ld maid . Moreover they are phys ic ians who heal di seases , restore S ight to the bl ind , and ward Offdeath from the S ick. The decrepit Cyav ana they released fromhis worn—out body, prolonged hi s l ife , made him young againand the husband of maidens . By means o f thei r winged Shipthey saved Bhujyu , son ofTugra

,from the log to which he was

clinging in the midst of the ocean . They rescued and refreshedAtri

,whom demons had bound in a burning p it . At the prayer

of the she-wolf they restored h i s s ight to Rj raSv a , whom hi sfather had b linded fo r s laying a hundred and one sheep andgiving them to the wolf. They gave a leg of i ron to V iSp alawhen her leg was cut off in battle . They placed a horse’s headon Dadhyafic, who told them in reward where the mead of

Tv astr was ; and they rescued Rebha from death , befriendedGho sé , who was growing o ld childles s in her father’s house

,

gave V isnépu back to ViSv aka , and s aved the quai l from thewolf’s j aws . Many other names of p rote

’

ge’

s are mentioned,and

the deeds rec ited may have been historical in some cases,While

mythical traits doubtles s exi st In others .The Indian interpreters of the early period were at a los s todecide the nature of theASv inS

,whom they regarded as heaven

and earth,sun and moon

,day and night

,or even as two kings

who were performers of holy acts . It i s clear that in essence theyare one with the Dio skouro i 12 and with the two sons of the Letticgod who came riding o n steeds to woo for themselves thedaughter of the Sun o r the Moon and who

,l ike the Dio skou ro i

,

are rescuers from the ocean . The older identification with sun

and moon has been supported,and they have been regarded

merely as succou ring giants who have no mythical bas is,but the

more probable view i s either that they represent the twilight

(half dark, half l ight) , or the morning and the evening star. Thelatter interpretation offers the grave diffi cu lty of the contrast


between the unity of the ASv ins and the divers ity of the twostars

,which i s only s lenderly dimini shed by the curiou s traces

of separate birth and worship in the Rgoeda .

There i s but one goddess of the celestial world , the maidenUsas

,the most poetical figure in the whole pantheon . Decking

herself in gay attire like a dancer, she displays her bosom, andlike a maiden adorned by her mother she reveals her form .

Clothed in light,she appears in the east and shows her

charms ; immortal and unaging, She awakes before the world .

When she Shines forth , the birds fly up,and men besti r them

selves ; she removes the black mantle o f night and banishesevi l dreams and the hated darknes s . She follows ever the pathof Order, though once she i s a sked not to delay lest the sun

scorch her as a thief o r an enemy . She i s borne on a car withruddy steeds o r kine , and the di stance which the dawns traverse in a day i s th i rty yoj anas ( leagues) . She i s the wife o r themistres s of the Sun who follows her, but sometimes i s also h i smother ; she i s the s i ster o f Bhaga

,the kinswoman Of Varuna

,

and the mightier s i ster o fNight . She i s l i kewi se closely as sociated with Agni

,as the fire o f the sacrifice which i s lit at dawn

,

and with the ASv inS,whom She i s besought to arouse . Her

name denotes “ the Shining ” and i s in origin one with Auroraand E0333

Of the gods of the atmosphere by far the greatest i s Indra,

whose name occurs among the l i st o fMitannian gods . He i smore anthropomorphic than any other Vedic deity . His head

,

his arms , and his hands are mentioned , as i s hi s great bel ly inwhich he puts the soma ; he moves hi s j aws after drinkingsoma , and hi s l ips are beautifu l . His beard waves in the ai r,he has tawny hair and beard . His long

,strong

,well-shaped

arms wield the thunderbolt,which was fashioned for him by

Tv astr o rUSanas . This i s hi s chief weapon,and it i s described

as a stone , as hundred-j ointed and thou sand-pointed, hundredangled , sharp , and metalli c ; rarely it is s aid to be o f gold .

Occas ionally he bears a bow and arrows,hundred-pointed and


winged with a thou sand feathers,and sometimes he carries a

goad . He travels in a golden chariot drawn by two o r morehorses

,as many as eleven hundred being mentioned . He i s a

gigantic eater and drinker ; at hi s b i rth he drank soma and forthe S laying of Vrtra he drank three lakes o r even thirty . He

eats the flesh of twenty o r a hundred buffaloes,and when he

was born the worlds quaked with fear . His mother i s describedas a cow and he a s a bu ll ; she i s a lso called Nistigri , and hewilled to be born unnatu rally through her s ide . His father i sDyau s o r Tv astr; from the latter he stole the soma and evens lew him and made his mother a widow ; more than thi s hefought against the gods , perhaps for the soma . His wife Indréni i s mentioned , and he i s often called Sacip at i, o r

“Lord o f

Strength,

” whence later mythology coined a wife Saci for him .

He i s c losely connected with the Maruts and with Agni , and i sactually identified with Sfirya .

The might and power of Indra are described everywhere interms of hyperbole . He i s the greatest Of the gods

,greater even

than Varuna,lord of all that moves and of men

,who won in

battle wide Space fo r the gods . Occas ional ly he bears Varuna’stitle of universa l ru ler, but more often he has his own o f independent ru ler . The epithet “ of a hundred powers i s almost hi sa lone

,and his also i s that of “ very lord .

”The deed which wins

h im hi s high place i s the feat,ever renewed

,of s laying the

dragon which encompasses the waters . He smites him on thehead o r on the back

,he p ierces hi s Vita ls . After s laying Vrtra

he lets loose the streams ; he shatters the mountains , breaksopen the well

,and sets the waters free ; he kil l s the dragon

lying on the waters and releases the waters . He c leaves themountain to liberate the cows ; he loosens the rock and makesthe kine easy to Obtain ; he frees the cows which were fast withinthe stone ; he s lays Vrtra, breaks the castles , makes a channelfo r the rivers

,pierces the mountain

,and makes it over to hi s

friends the cows . Again,however

,he wins the light by his deed ;

he gains the sun as well a s the waters by freeing the demons ;


when he slew the chief of the dragons and released the watersfrom the mountain

,he generated the sun

, the sky, and thedawn ; he finds the light in the darknes s and makes the sun toShine

. He also wins the dawns ; with the sun and the dawn hedi scovers o r delivers o r wins the cows ; the dawns again goforth to meet Indra when he becomes the lord of the kine .Moreover he gains the soma and he establi shes the quakingmountains

,a feat which the B rahmanas explain a s denoting

that he cut Off thei r wings . He supports the earth and prop s upthe sky , and i s the generator of heaven and earth .

Indra,however

,does not war with demons only

,fo r he at

tacked Usas,Shattered her wain with hi s bolt

,and rent her

s low steeds,whereupon she fled in terror from him

,thi s being

,

perhaps,a myth of the dawn obscu red by a thunder-storm o r

of the sunrise hastening the departure of the lingering dawn .

Indra also came into confl ict with the sun when he was runninga race with the swift steed EtaSa

,and in some unexplained way

Indra caused the car of the sun to lose a wheel . He also seemsto have murdered his father Tv astr, and , though the Marutsaid him in his struggle with Vrt ra , in a series of hymns wefind a distinct trace that he quarrelled with them

,used

threatening language to them,and was appeased only with

d iffi culty .

Other foes of Indra’s were the Pan i s,who kept cows hidden

in a cave beyond the Rasa,a mythical stream . Saram é Indra’s

messenger, tracks the kine and demands them in Indra S name,only to be mocked by the Pan i s

,but Indra shatters the ridge of

Vala and overcomes hi s antagonists . E lsewhere the cows aresaid to be confined by the power of Vala without reference tothe Pan i s and are wo n by Indra

,often with the help Of the

Ang irases . Vala i s clearly the name o f thestronghold in which the cows are confined .

As becomes so great a warrior,Indra i s a worthy helper to

men on earth . He i s the chief aid of the Aryans in thei rstruggles against the Dasas o r Dasyu s , and subj ects the black


PLATTZ IV

I NDRA

T he de ity appears c rowned as king o f the godsand enthroned on his v ahana (

“v ehic le the

e lephant Airav ata . T he m iddle o ne o f his le ft handsho lds the thunderbo lt . He is further characte rizedby the mu ltitude o f marks o n his body, which o riginal ly represented the yoni (po ssibly because o f the

fe rti lity which the rain brings to earth) , though latertheywere changed into eye s . T he heavy beard show s

the Pe rsian influence in the painting. From an O il

painting Of the Indo-Mughal scho o l in the co l le ctiono f the Edito r. See pp . 32

—35.


race to the Aryan ; he leads Tu rv aSa and Yadu over the rivers ,apparently a s patron of an Aryan migration . Moreover he ass i sts hi s favourites against every foe ; and his friend Sudas i saided in his battle with the ten kings

,his foes being drowned

in the Paru sni . To h i s worshippers he i s a wall of defence, afather

,mother

,o r brother . He bestows wealth on the piou s

man,and

,as with a hook a man Showers fru it from a tree

,so he

can shower wealth on the righteous . He i s the lord o f richesand at the Same time i s “ the Bountifu l One

,

” whence in laterliterature the epithet Maghav an becomes one of h i s names .He richly rewarded a maiden who

,having found soma beside a

river,pres sed it with her teeth and dedicated it to him . Yet he

has few moral traits in hi s character and i s represented asboasting o fhis drinking feats . Indeed it i s most S ignificant thatwe have proof, even in the Vedic period , of men doubting h i sexistence .It i s a lmost certainthat in Indra we must see a storm-god

,

and that h i s exploit of defeating Vrtra i s a p icture of the bursting forth of the rain from the clouds at the oncoming of therainy season

,when al l the earth i s parched

,and when man and

nature alike are eager fo r the breaking of the drought . Thetremendou s storms which mark the first fall of the rain aregenerally recognized as a most fitting sou rce fo r the conceptionof the god

,while the mountains cleft and the cows won are the

clouds viewed from different standpoints . But Indra appearsa lso as winning the sun

,a trait representing the clearing away

o f the clouds from the sun after the thunder-storm,with which

has been confused o r united the idea of the recovery of the sunat dawn from the darknes s of night . That some of the te rm ino logy reflects an earlier view that Vrt ra i s the winter 14 whichfreezes the stream

,and that Indra i s the sun

,i s not p roved

,nor

need we hold that the poets of the Rgoea’a really meant only

that the god freed the rivers from the mountains and did notrealize that the mountains were c louds

,a s even the comm en

tato rs on the Rgoeda knew .


In the Rgoecla we find a close parallel of Indra , though in afaded form

,in T rita Ap tya . He s lays the three-headed son of

Tv astr as does Indra ; Indra impels him and he Indra , who i stwice said to act for him . He i s as soci ated with the Maruts , butespecially with soma

,which he prepares ; and thi s last featu re

associates him with Thrita in the Avesta , who was the“ thi rd

man,

” as his name denotes , to prepare soma , the second beingAthwya . His s laying of the demon identifies him with theThraétaona of the Avesta , who ki ll s the three-headed , S ixmouthed serp ent, and he has a brother Dv ita

,

“Second

,

” whileThraétaona has two, who seek to s lay him as in the B rahmanas

hi s brothers seek to murder T rita .

15 The parallel i sm pointsstrongly to his identification with the lightning which i s bornamong the waters

,as hi s second name

,Ap tya

indicates ; but he has been held to be a water-god , a stormgod

,a deified healer

,and the moon . In al l likelihood much of

hi s glory has been taken from him by the growt h o f Indra’sgreatnes s .The lightning seems also to lie at the base o f the deity Apam

Napa'

t,who likewise appears in the Avesta

,

”3where he i s a sp i ritof the waters

,dwelling in thei r depths and said to have seized

the brightnes s in the abysses of the ocean . He i s also “Son of

the Waters,

” born and nouri shed in them,but he Shines and i s

golden , and is identified with Agni , who i s often described asabiding in the waters of the ai r . The identification with a watersp irit pure and s imple is

,therefore

,improbable

,nor has he any

clear lunar characteri stics . Yet another form of the lightningi s Mé rariSv an (

“He that Grows in hi s the thunder

cloud . He i s the messenger of Viv asv ant and he brings Agnidown to men , as the Prometheus of Indi a ; by friction he produces Agni for the homes of men . The lightning may likewisebe represented by the “One-Footed Goat” (Aja Ekap éd) ,which i s occas ionally mentioned among aerial deities

,the goat

symbolizing the swift movement of the flash and the single footthe o ne place of striking the earth

,although thi s obscure god


may also be a solar phenomenon . With Ap e—

1mNap ét and Aj aEkap éd occurs the Serpent of the Deep (Ahi Budhnya) , whois born in the waters and S its in the bottom of the streams in thespaces

,and who i s besought no t to give his worshippers over to

inj u ry . Such an invocation suggests that there i s somethinguncanny about the nature of the god, and his name all ies himto Vrtra, whose b eneficent aspect he may represent, the dragonin thi s case being conceived as friendly to man .

The other great aspect of the ai r, the wind , i s represented byVi ta o r Véyu ,

the former being more markedly elemental,the

latter more divine . SO Va'

yu is Often linked with Indra,being

,

l i ke him,a great drinker of soma , but Vata i s associated only

with Parj anya,who is

,l ike himself

,a god o f l ittle but nature .

Véyu ,the son-in-law ofTv astr, i s swift of thought and thousand

eyed ; he has a team of ninety-nine o r even a thousand horsesto draw his car ; he drinks the clear soma and is connected withthe nectar-yielding cow . Vi ta ru shes on whirling up the dust ;he never rests ; the place of his bi rth i s unknown ; man hearshi s roaring

,but cannot see hi s form . He i s the breath of the

gods ; l ike Rudra , he wafts healing and he can p roduce thelight . The identification with the Eddic Wodan o r Odhin i ss ti l l unsubstantiated .

Parj anya p e rsonifies the cloud , flying round with a watery carand drawing the waterskin downward . He i s often viewed as abu ll o r even as a cow

,the clouds being feminine . He quickens

the earth with seed,and the winds b low forth and the lightnings

fall ; he i s a thunderer and a giver of increase to plants , to gras s ,to cows

,mares

,and women . He i s even called the divine father

whose w ife i s the earth,and he i s s aid to rule over all the world ;

he produces a calf himself,perhaps the lightning o r the soma . He

i s sometimes as sociated with the Maruts and i s clearly akin toIndra

,of whom he later becomes a form . It i s doubtfu l if the

Lithuanian thunder-god Pe rki'm as can be identified with him .

The waters are also hailed as goddesses on thei r own accountand they are conceived as mothers

,young wives

,and granters of


boons . They nourish Agni and they bear away defilem ent andpurify ; they bestow remedies and grant long life . They areoften associated with honey

,and it may be that they were

sometimes regarded as having the soma within them .

Though Rudra , the prototype of Siva , i s celebrated in onlythree hymns of the Rgoecla , he already bears remarkable traits .He wears braided hai r, l ike Pfisan ; his l ip s are beautiful , andhis colou r i s brown . His car dazzles , and he wears a wonderfu lnecklace . He holds the thunderbolt and bears bow and arrows ;and his lightning-shaft shot from the Sky traverses the earth .

He generated the Maruts from Frémi , and himself bears thename T ryam b aka (VII . l ix . denoting hi s descent fromthree mothers

,presumably a reference to the trip le divi s ion of

the universe . He i s fierce and s trong,a ruler of the world

,the

great Asura of heaven,bountifu l

,eas i ly invoked and ausp i

c ious,but thi s latter ep ithet

,Siva

,

17 i s not yet attached to h imas hi s own .

None the less,Rudra i s a very terrib le deity and one whose

anger i s to be deprecated,whence he i s implored not to s lay o r

inju re in hi s wrath the worshippers,thei r parents

,men

,children

,

cattle,or horses . His i l l wil l i s deprecated

,and hi s favou r i s

sought for the walking food,and he is even called man-s laying .

On the other hand,he has healing powers and a thou sand reme

d ies ; he i s asked to remove s icknes s and disease ; and he has aspecial remedy called j alasa , which may be the rain . This S ideof his nature is as essential as the other and lends plau sibi l ityto the View that he i s the l ightning

,regarded mainly as a de

stroying and terrible agency,but at the s ame time as the power

by which there i s heal ing calm after storm and as propitiou sin that the lightning Spares as wel l a s strikes . Yet hi s naturehas also been held to be a compound of a god of fire and a godo fwind, hi s name denoting “ the Howler ” (from rad

,

“ toa s the chief o f the spirits of the dead who storm along in thewind, and as a god o f forest and mountain whence di seasesspeed to men .



from a root mr,to Shine

,o r to crush , either of which

meanings would well enough accord with thei r figure . In laterdays they sank from thei r estate

,a s we shal l see , and became

the celestial counterparts of the VaiSyas , the common folk ofearth as d i stingui shed from the two higher castes o f Brahmans

(priests) and Ksat riyas (warriors) . Finally they degeneratedinto mere wind-godl ings , thei r very name becoming a synonymfo r

“wind ”

; and at the p resent day memory of them has allbut vani shed .

CHAPTER II

THE RGVEDA

(Continued)

GODS OF EARTH,DEMONS

,AND DEAD

MONG the gods connected with earth the first place b elongs to Agni

,who

,after Indra

,receives the greatest num

ber of hymns in the Rgoeda , more than two hundred being inhi s honour . Unlike Indra

,however

,anthrOp om o rphism has

scarcely affected Agni’s personality,which i s ever ful l of the

element from which it i s composed . Thu s he i s described asbutter-hai red o r a s flame-hai red

,tawny—bearded

,and butter

backed ; in one account he i s headles s and footless,but in an

other he has three heads and seven rays ; he faces in al l directions ; he has three tongues and a thousand eyes . He i s Oftenl ikened to animals

,as to a bull for hi s strength or to a calf as

being born,o r to a steed yoked to the pole of the sacrifice ; o r

again he i s winged,an eagle o r an aquatic bi rd in the waters ;

and once he i s even called a winged serpent . His food i s gheeo r Oi l o r wood

,but l ike the other gods he drinks the soma .

Bri lli ant in appearance,hi s track i s black ; driven by the wind,

he Shaves the ea rth as a barber a beard . He roars terribly,and

the bi rds fly before hi s devouring Sparks ; he rises aloft to theSky and licks even the heaven . He i s himself li kened to a chario t

,but he i s borne in one and in it he carries the gods to the

s acrifice . He i s the child of Sky and earth o r ofTv astr and thewaters

,but Vi snu and Indra begat him

,or Indra generated

him between two stones . On earth he i s produced in the twofire-sticks who are figured as hi s father (the upper) and hi smother (the lower) , o r as two mothers , or as a mother who can

GODS OF EARTH,DEMONS

, AND DEAD 43

not suckle . The ten maidens who generate him are the tenfingers

,and as “

Son of Strength ” hi s name bears witnes s tothe force needed to create the flame . As thu s produced for thesacrifice every morning he has the title o f youngest

,although

as the first sacrifice r he i s also the oldest . Or,again

,he i s born

in the trees o r the p lants o r on the navel of earth,the place of

the sacrifice .But Agni i s born also in the waters of the atmosphere ; he i s

ApamNap ét (“Child of the the bull which grows

in the lap of the waters . Poss ibly,however

,in some cases at

least , the waters in which he i s found are those o f earth , for hei s mentioned as being in the waters and the p lants . He i s bornl ikewise from heaven in the form of l ightning ; MatariSv anbrought him down

,doubtles s a remini scence of conflagrations

caused by the lightning . He i s also identified sometimes withthe sun

,though the solar luminary i s more often conceived as

a separate deity . Thus he has three bi rths in the sky , in thewaters

,and on earth

,though the order i s also given as sky,

earth,and waters . This i s the earliest form o f triad in Indian

religion,and probably from it arose the other form o f sun

,

wind , and fire,for which (though no t in the Rgoeda) sun ,

Indra,

and fire is a variant . The three fires in the ritu al correspondwith the three divine forms . On the other hand

,Agni has two

births when the a ir and the sky are taken as o ne ; he descendsin rain and is born from the plants

,and ri ses again to the Sky

,

whence we have the mystic commands that Agni Should sacrificeto himself o r bring himself to the sacrifice . Or

,again

,he can

be sa id to have many births from the many fires kindled on

earth . Yet the number three reappears in the conception ofthe brothers of Agni . Indra i s said to be hi s twin

,and from

him Agni borrows the exploit of defeating the Pan i s . Myst ically Agni i s Varuna in the evening

,Mitra in the morning

,

Sav itr as he traverses the a i r, and Indra as he i llumines theSky in the midst .Agni i s closely connected with the home

,o f which he i s the

44 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

sacred fire He alone bears the title o f Grhap ati, or Lord of

the House and he i s the guest in each abode a s kinsman,

friend,o r father, or even as son . Moreover he i s the ancestra l

god,the god of Bharata , of Div odasa, Of Trasadasyu , and of

other heroes . He brings the gods to the s acrifice o r takes thesacrifice to them ; and thus he i s a messenger, ever bu sy travelling between the worlds . Beyond all else he i s the p riest ofthe sacrifice

,and one legend tells that he wearied of the task

,

but consented to continue in it on receiving the due payment forwhich he asked . In another a spect he eats the dead

,for he

burns the body on the funeral p i le, and in thi s character he i scareful ly di stinguished from his form as bearer of oblations .He is

,further

,not merely a priest

,but a seer omni scient

,Jata

vedas (“Who Knows All He insp ires men and

delivers and protects them . Riches and rain are hi s gi fts,as

are offspring and prosperity ; he forgives sin ,averts the wrath

of Varuna,and makes men guiltles s before Aditi .

To the gods also Agni i s a benefactor ; he delivered themfrom a curse

,won them great Space in battle

,and i s even cal led

“ the S layer of Vrtra .

”His main feat

,however

,i s the burning

of the Raksases who infest the sacrifice , a S ign of the early use

of fire to destroy demons . By magic the lighting of Agni mayeven bring about the ri s ing of the sun in the sky .

AS VaiSv énara Agni i s the Fire ofAll Men,

” and in h im hasbeen seen a tribal fire 1 as Opposed to the fire of each householder, though the name is more normally thought to meanFire in All its Aspects .” As Tanfinapat Son o f Self”) Agni

’sspontaneou s birth from wood and cloud seems to be referredto ; as NaraSamsa (

“Praise ofMen ”) he may be either the per

sonificat ion o f the prai se of man,o r poss ib ly the flame of the

southern of the three fires,which i s particu larly connected

with the fathers . Though Agni’s name,which may mean

“ agile ,” i s not Avestan , the fire-cu lt i s clearly Iranian, and the

Atharv an priests of the Rgoeda , who are brought into close relation with the fire, have thei r paral lel in the Athrav ans, o r fire

GODS OF EARTH,DEMONS , AND DEAD 45

p riests,o f I ran . There i s also an obviou s parallel to the fire of

the Indian householder in the domestic fire in the Romanhousehold and in Greece .

2

D i stinct from Agni in personality i s the god B rhasp at i, whoi s described as seven-mouthed and seven-rayed

,beautifu l

tongued,sharp-horned

,blue-backed

,and hundred-winged .

He has a bow the string of which i s “Holy Order” (Rta) ,

wields a golden hatchet,bears an iron axe

,and rides in a car

with ruddy steeds . Born from great light in the highest heaven,

with a roar he drives away darknes s . He i s the father of thegods

,but i s c reated by Tv astr. He i s a p riest above others

,

the domestic priest,o r purohita , of the gods , and thei r B rahman

priest ; he is“ the Lord o f Prayer ” under the title Brah

m anasp at i . He i s closely connected with Agni,with whom he

appears at times to be identified,has three abodes l ike h im

,and

seems twice to be called NaraSamsa . Yet he has a lso appro

p riated the deeds of Indra , for he opens the cow- stall and letsthe waters loose ; with hi s s inging host he tore Vala asunderand drove out the lowing cows ; when he rent the defences ofVala

,he revealed the treasures o f the kine ; being in the cloud ,

he Shouts after the many cows . He also seeks light in the darknes s and finds dawn

,l ight

,and Agni

,and di spels the darknes s .

Hence he i s giver of victory in general,a bearer of the bolt

,i s

invoked with the Maruts,and bears Indra’s special epithet of

“ bountifu l . ” Like the other gods he protects hi s worshippers,

prolongs l ife,and removes di sease . As Lord o fPrayer ” he can

scarcely be anything more than a development of o ne s ide o fAgni’s character

,but it i s clea r that the proces s must have

been complete before the time of the Rgoeda , s ince there i s notrace of a growth of thi s deity in that Samhita. The alternative i s to lay stres s on the Indra s ide of hi s nature and to regardhim as a priestly abstraction o f Indra

,o r to find in him an ab

stract deity,the embodiment of p riestly action who has as

sumed concrete featu res from the gods Agni and Indra,but

thi s hypothes i s i s unlikely .


Soma , the Avestan Haoma the Pressed Juice i s the deityo f the whole of the ninth book of the Rgoeda and of S ix hymnselsewhere . The plant, which has not been identified for certainwith any modern species

,yielded

,when its shoots were pressed ,

a j uice which after careful straining was Offered,pure o r with

admixture of milk, etc . , to the gods and drunk by the priests .The colou r was brown or ruddy, and frequent mention i s madeo f the stones by which it was pounded , though it seems alsoto have been produced by mortar and pestle

,as among the

Parsi s . As pass ing through the fi lter o r strainer,soma i s called

p av am éna (“ flowing Bes ides milk

,sou r milk and

barley water were commonly added,and hence Soma i s lord

of the waters , who makes the rain to stream from heaven . The

waters are hi s s i sters,and he i s the embryo o r chi ld of the

waters . The sound o f the j uice as it flows i s likened to thunder,

i ts swiftnes s to that of a steed .

The exhilarating power o f the soma doubtles s explains h i sd ivinity. It is a plant which confers powers beyond the natural

,

and thus soma i s the draught of immortality (am rta) , the amb ro sia . The gods love it ; it gives them immortality no les sthan men , and one hymn depicts the ecstasy of feel ing producedin Indra by the drink

,which makes him feel able to dispose of

the earth at hi s p leasure . Soma i s also rich in healing and lordo f the plants . When quaffed

,he stimulates speech and i s the

lord o f speech . He i s a maker of seers,a protector of prayer

,

and his wisdom is extolled . He gazes with wisdom on men and

so has,

a thousand eyes . The fathers,no les s than men and

gods , love him, and through him they found the light and thecows . The great deeds of the gods owe their success to thei rdrinking the soma , with three lakes of which Indra fi l l s himself for the slaying ofVrtra . When drunk by Indra

,Soma made

the sun to ri se in the Sky,and hence Soma i s declared to per

form the feat ; he found the light and made the sun to Shine .So

, too , he supports the two worlds and i s lord of the quarters .Li ke Indra he i s a terrible warrior

,ever victoriou s

,winning for



of the expres s ions u sed in some of the more mysti c hymns .

The proces s of identification may have been brought about bythe practice of calling the soma celestial and bright, as di spelling the darknes s and dwelling in the water

,and also by

naming it the drop . This may easi ly enough have given ri se tothe concept that the soma was the drop-l i ke moon

,and so

soma in the bowls i s actually said to be li ke the moon in thewaters . It has been held that Soma in the Rgoeda as a deity i sreally the moon

,the receptacle of the ambros ia , which i s t e

vealed on earth in the form of the soma that i s used in the ritual .This view,

however,runs counter to native tradition , which

sti l l realizes the distinction between Soma and the moon in the

Rgoeda , and to the clear language of the texts .Compari son with the Avesta shows that in I ran al so the

plant was cru shed and mixed with milk,and that in I ran

,as in

Indi a,the celestial soma i s di stingui shed from the terrestri al ,

and the drink from the god : i t grows on a mountain and i sbrought by an eagle ; it gives light, s lays demons , and bestowsbles s ings ; but whereas in India the fi rst p reparers were two

,

Viv asv ant and T ritaAp tya, in I ran they are three,Viv anghv ant ,Athwya, and Thrita .

4 Poss ib ly the conception goes back to anolder period

,to the nectar in the shape of honey mead brought

down from heaven by an eagle from its guardian demon,thi s

hypothesi s being confirmed by the legend of the nectar broughtby the eagle o f Zeu s and the mead carried off by the eaglemetamorphosi s of Odhin .

In compari son with the celesti al waters the terres tria lrivers play little part in the Bgoeda . In one hymn (x . 75) theS indhu , or Indus , i s celebrated with its tributaries , and an

other hymn (i i . 33) lauds the VipaS, o r Beas , and the Sutudri ,o r Sutlej . The Sarasvati

,however

,i s Often prai sed in terms Of

hyperbole as treading with her waves the peaks of the mountains , as sevenfold , best ofmothers , of rivers , and of goddes ses .Even a celestia l origin i s a scribed

,to her

,an anticipation of

the later myth of the heavenly bi rth Of the Ganges . With the


ASv ins she gave refreshment to Indra , and she i s invoked together with the Ida (or o r s acrificial food

,and Bharati

,

who seems to be the Ida of the Bharatas l iving along her bank .

Sacrifices are mentioned as performed in the Sarasvati andDrsadv at i ; and with her i s invoked Sarasv ant , who seems nomore than a male Sarasvati

,o r water-genius . The preci se iden

t ificat ion of the Sarasvati i s uncertain . The name i s identicalwith the Harahv ait i of the Avesta

,which i s general ly taken to

be the He lmund in Afghanistan,and if the Sarasvati i s sti l l

that river in the Rgoeda , there must have been Indian settlements in the Vedic period much farther west than i s u suallya ssumed to be the case . On the other hand

,the description of

the Sarasvati as o f great s ize with seven streams and as sevenfold accords better with the great stream o f the Indus

,and the

word may have been a second name of that river . When,how

ever,it i s mentioned with the Drsadv at i , a small stream in the

middle country,i t i s c lea r that it i s the earlier form of the mod

ern river stil l bearing the s ame name,which at p resent loses

itself in the sands,but wh ich in former days m ay well have

been a much more important stream running into the Indus .It was in the land near these two rivers that the Vedic cu ltu retook its ful l development

,at least in the subsequent period

,

and it i s not improbable that a s early a s the Rgoeda the streamwas invested with most o f its later importance .5

The earth receives such worship a s i s hers in connexion withthe sky, but only one hymn (V . 84) i s devoted to her prai s ea lone

,and even in it reference i s made to the rain which her

spouse sends . She bears the burden of the mountains and supports in the ground the trees of the forest ; She i s great, firm

,

and shining . He r name,Prthiv i , means

“ broad,

” and a poettell s that Indra Spread her out .Apart from the Obvious ly concrete gods we find a certainnumber who may be described as abstract in that the phys ica lfoundation has either disappeared or has never been present.The great majority of these gods belong to the former type

50 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

they represent the development of aspects of more concretedeities which have come to be detached from their origina lowners

.Of these the most famous i s Sav itr, who i s the sun,

and yet i s a d i stinct god as the stimu lating power of the solarluminary . Tv astr represents a further stage of detachmentfrom a physical background . He i s e s sentially the cunningart ificer, who wrought the cup wh ich contains the ambros i aOf the gods

,and which the Rb hus l ater divided into fou r ; he

made the swift steed and the bolt Of Indra , and he sharpens thei ron axe of Brahmanaspati . He shapes al l forms and makesthe husband and wife for each other in the womb ; and he alsocreates the human race indirectly

,for Yama and Yami

,the

primeval twins,are children of h i s daughter Saranyfi . It seems

even that he i s the father of Indra , though the latter stole thesoma from him and even s lew him , as afterward he certainlykilled his son

,the three-headed ViSv arfip a . He i s al so closely

associated with the wives of the gods . Obscu re as i s hi s origin,

he presents many features of a sola r character,and with this

would accord well enough the V iew that h i s cup i s the moon,

where the ambrosia i s to be found .

Much feebler personal ities are those of Dhfitr E staban epithet of Indra o r ViSv akarm an

,of Vidhétr

also an epithet of these deities,Dhartr (

“Sup

and Tratr an epithet of Agni o r

Indra,and the leader-god who occu rs in one hymn . Of these

Dhétr alone has a subsequent hi story of interest, as he laterranks as a creator and i s a synonym o f Praj ép at i . That god

’sname,

“Lord of Offspring

,

” i s u sed as an ep ithet of Soma andof Savitt, but as an independent deity he appears only in thetenth and latest book of the Rgoeda , where hi s power to makeprolific i s celebrated . In o ne hymn (x . 121) i s described aGolden Germ ,

”Hiranyagarb ha, creator o f heaven and earth ,

o f the waters and all that lives . The“Golden Germ ” i s

doubtles s Prajapati , but from the refrain What god (hasmai

deodya) a deity Who (Ka deoa) was later evolved .

GODS OF EARTH , DEMONS , AND DEAD 51

In the beg inn ing ro se Hiranyagarb ha , bo rn only lo rd of a l l createdbe ings .

He fixed and ho ldeth up this earth and heaven . What god sha l l weado re with ou r o b lat ion ?

G iver Of vita l breath, of powe r and vigour, he who se comm andm ent sa l l the gods acknowledge :

Who se shade is death, who se lust re m ake s imm o rta l . What god sha l lwe ado re with our o blat ion ?

Who b y his grandeur hath becom e so le ru ler of a l l the m oving wo rldthat breathe s and slum bers ;

He who is lo rd Of m en and lo rd of catt le . What god sha l l we ado rewith ou r o blat ion ?

His, through his m ight , are these snow-covered m ountains, and m en

ca l l sea and Rasé his po sse ssionHis arm s are these

,his are the se heaven ly reg ions . What god sha l l we

ado re with ou r o b lat ion ?By him the heaven s are st rong and earth is stedfast

,b y him l ight’s

rea lm and sky-vau lt are suppo rt ed :

By him the reg ions in m id-air we re m easured. What god sha l l weado re with ou r o b lat ion ?

To him ,suppo rt ed b y his he l p , two arm ie s em batt led lo o k whi le

t rem b l ing in the ir sp irit ,When over them the r isen sun is shining . What god sha l l we ado rewith our o blat ion ?

What tim e the m ighty wate rs cam e,contain ing the un ive rsa l ge rm ,

produc ing Agni,Thence sp rang the gods

’one sp irit into be ing . What god sha l l we

ado re with ou r o b lat ion ?He in his m ight surveyed the flo ods

,contain ing p roductive fo rce and

generat ing Wo rship .

He is the god Of gods, and none beside him . What god sha l l we ado rewith ou r o b lat ion ?

Ne’er m ay he harm u s who is earth’s begette r, no r he who se laws aresure , the heavens

’creato r

,

He who brought fo rth the great and lucid waters . What god sha l l weado re with our o blat ion ?

Praj ép at i l thou on ly com p rehendest a l l the se c reated things, and nonebe side thee .

G rant u s our heart s’desire when we invo ke the e : m ay we have sto reo f riches in po ssession .

” 6

This passage i s the sta rting-point of h i s great hi story wh ichculminates in the conception of the absolute but personalB rahma.


Another personification of the tenth book wh ich later i smerged in the personality of Praj ép at i i s V iSv akarm an (

“Allwhose name i s u sed earlier as an epithet of Indra

and the sun . He i s descr ibed as having eyes , a face , arms , andfeet on every s ide , j ust as Brahma i s later fou r-faced . He i swinged

,and i s a lord of speech , and he as s igns thei r names to

the gods . He is the highest apparition , establi sher, and disposer

. Perhaps in origin he i s only a form of the sun,but in hi s

development he passes over to become one S ide of Praja'

patia s architect .Another aspect of the Supreme is presented by the Purusa

S iihta , o r“Hymn of Man ” (x . which describes the origin

of the universe from the sacrifice of a primeval Purusa, who i sdeclared d i stinctly to be the whole universe . By the sacrificethe Sky was fashioned from hi s head , from his navel the at

m o sphe re , and from his feet the earth . The sun sp rang fromhis eye

,the moon from his mind

,wind from his breath

,Agni

and Soma from his mouth ; and the fou r clas ses of men werep roduced from hi s head

,arms

,thighs

,and feet respectively.

The conception i s important, for Pu rusa as spi rit throughoutIndian religion

,and sti l l more throughout Indian philosophy

,

i s often given the position of Prajapati . On the other hand,

there i s p rimitive thought at the bottom o f the conception Ofthe origin of the world from the sacrifice of a giant . 7

Another and d ifferent abstraction i s found in the de ificat ionof Manyu a personification which seems to owe

its origin to the fierce anger of Indra and which i s invoked intwo hymns of the Rgoeda (x . 83 He i s of i rres i stible mightand i s self-existent ; he glows like fire

,s lays Vrtra , i s accom

p anied by the Maruts , grants victory like Indra , and bestowswealth . United with Tapas he p rotects hi s worshippers and s lays the foe . Other p e rsonificat ions of qualitiesare in the main feminine and will be noted with the otherfemale deities .The goddesses in the Rgoeda play but a small pa rt bes ide the


gods,and the only great o ne i s Usas

,though Sarasvati i s of

some s light importance . To Indra,Varuna

,and Agni are as

s igned Indréni , Varunéni , and Agnayi respectively, but theyare mere names . Prthiv i who is rather frequentlynamed with Dyaus

,has only one hymn to herself

,while Ratri

i s invoked as the bright star l it night,at whose ap

proach men return home as b irds hasten back to thei r nests,

and who is asked to keep the thief and the wolf away . Originally a personification of the thunder, Vac i scelebrated in one hymn (x . 125) in which she describes herself.She accompanies all the gods and supports Mitra and Varuna

,

Indra and Agni,and the ASv ins

,bes ides bending Rudra’s bow

against the unbeliever . Pu randhi,the Avestan Parendi

,i s the

goddes s of plenty and i s mentioned with Bhaga,while Dhisané ,

another goddes s (perhaps of plenty) , occurs a dozen times .The butter-handed and butter—footed 115 has a more concretefoundation

,for She i s the personification o f the offering of but

ter and milk in the s acrifice . Brhaddiv é , S iniv ali , Raka, andGungii are nothing but names . Frémi i s more real : she i s themother Of the Maruts

,perhap s the spotted storm-cloud .

Saranyfi figures in an interesting but fragmentary myth .

Tv astr made a wedding for hi s daughter with Viv asv ant , butduring the ceremony the bride vanished away . Thereupon thegods gave one of S imi la r form to Viv asv ant

,but in some way

Saranyfi seems sti l l to have borne the ASv inS to him,as well

perhap s as Yama and Yami,fo r the hymn (x . 17) calls her

mother ofYama .

”The fragmentary story i s put together by

Y éska in the following shape . Saranyfi bore to Viv asv antYama and Yami

,and then substituting one of l ike form for

herself,She fled away in the gu ise of a mare . Viv asv ant , how

ever,pursued in the shape Of a horse and united with her

,and

she bore the ASv ins,while her substitute gave birth to Manu .

The legend may be Old,for it has a curiou s s imilarity to the

story of the T ilpho ssan E rinys,

8 though the names do notphi lologically tally. At any rate the legend seems to have no


mythical intention,but to contain some effort to explain the

name ofManu as Son ofHe r ofLike Shape ,” which appears to

be known as early as the Rgoeda . Perhaps She i s another formof the dawn-goddess .Other goddes ses are p ersonificat ions of abstract ideas , such

as Sraddha who i s celebrated in a short hymn

(x . Through her the fire i s kindled,ghee i s offered

,and

wealth i s Obtained,and she i s invoked morning

,noon

,and

night . Anum at i represents the “ favour” of the gods . Aram at i

and Sfinrté are also personified . Asunit i Spi rit Life ”) i s besought to prolong life,while Nirrt i (

“Decease ” o r D i s solution ”) pres ides over death .

These are only faint figures in comparison with Aditi,if that

deity i s to be reckoned among the p ersonificat ions of abstractconcepts . She i s s ingu larly without definitive featu res of aphysical kind

,though

,in contrast to the other abstractions

,

she i s commonly known throughout the Rgoeda . She i s ex

p anded, bright, and luminous ; she i s a mistres s of a bright stal land a supporter of creatures ; and She belongs to a ll men . She

i s the mother ofMitra and Varuna,of Aryaman

,and of eight

sons,but she i s a lso said to be the s i ster of the Adityas

,the

daughter of the Vasus, and the mother o f the Rudras . She i soften invoked to release from sin o r gu i lt

,and with Mitra and

Varuna she i s implored to forgive S in . Evil-doers are cut Offfrom Aditi ; and Varuna , Agni , and Sav itr are besought to freefrom gui lt before her . She i s identified with the earth

,though

the sky i s also mentioned under the name Aditi . In manyplaces

,however

,She i s named together with (and therefore a s

distinct from) sky and earth ; and yet again it i s s aid ( I . lxxxix .

“Aditi i s the sky ; Aditi i s the ai r ; Aditi i s the mother,father

,and son ; Aditi i s all the gods and the five tribes ; 9 Aditi

i s whatever has been born ; Aditi i s whatever shall be born .

”

E l sewhere Aditi i s made both mother and daughter of Daksa

by a species of reciprocal generation which i s not rare in theRgoeda ; and in yet other passages she i s hai led as a cow .



the wedding-hymn of the union of Soma (no doubt the moon)and the dawn would be wholly unusual .The constant grouping of gods in the Rgoeda comes to formalexpress ion in the practice o f j oint invocation

,which finds its

natu ral starting-point in the concept of heaven and earth , whoare far oftener worshipped as joint than as separate deities .Even Mitra and Varuna are much more frequently a pai r thantaken individually

,and thi s use may be o ld

,s ince Ahura and

Mithra are thus coupled in the Avesta . A more cu riou s compound is Indra and Varuna

,the warl i ke god and the s layer of

Vrtra united with the divinity who supports men in peace andwisdom . Indra i s much more often conjoined with Agni , andthe pai r Show in the main the characteri stics Of the former god

,

though something of Agni’s priestly natu re is also ascribed tothem . With Visnu Indra strides out boldly, with Vayu hedrinks the soma

,with Pfisan he s lays Vrtras, and to their j oint

abode the goat conveys the sacrificial horse after death . Somai s invoked with Pfisan and with Rudra , Agni very rarely withSoma and Parj anya . A more natural pai r are Parj anya andVata (

“Rain ” and and s imi lar unions are Day and

Night, and Sun and Moon . Naturally enough,these dualitie s

develop little distinct character .Of groups of gods the most important are the Maruts

,who

are numbered now as twenty-one and now as a hundred andeighty and who are Indra’s followers

,although as Rudras they

are occas ional ly a ssociated with Rudra as thei r father . TheAdityas are smaller in number

,being given as s even o r eight

,

whi le the Vasus are indeterminate in number a s in character,

the name denoting no more than “ the Bright Ones .” All thedeities a re summed up in the concept ViSv e Dev ah All

but though original ly intended to include all,the term

even in the Rgoeda becomes app lied to a specia l body who arenamed together with other groups

,such as the Vasus and the

Adityas .An odd and curiou s group of deities is that of the Sédhyas,


who occu r in the Rgoeda and occasionally in the later literature .Neither thei r name nor the scanty notices of them justify anyconclus ion as to thei r real natu re

,though it has been sug

gested 1° that they may poss ibly be a clas s of the fathers (thekindly dead) .Bes ide the great gods the Vedic pantheon has many minor

personages who are not regarded as enjoying the height of

divinity which i s ascribed to the leading figures . Of these thechief a re the Rb hus, who are three in number, Rb hu or Rb huksan

,Vib hv an

,and Vi j a . They are the sons of Sudhanv an

(“Good though once they are called collectively thesons of Indra and the grandchi ldren Of Might

,and again they

are described as sons o f Manu . They acqui red their rank asd ivine by the ski l l of thei r deeds , which raised them to the sky .

They were mortal at fi rst,but gained immortality

,for the gods

so admired thei r s ki l led work that Vaj a became the art ifice r ofthe gods

, Rb huksan of Indra,and Vib hv an of Varuna . Thei r

great feats were five : fo r the ASv ins they made a car which,

without horses o r reins,and with three wheels

,traverses Space ;

fo r Indra they fashioned the two bay steeds ; from a hide theywrought a cow which gives nectar and the cow they reunitedwith the calf

,the beneficiary of thi s marvel being

,we infer

,

B rhasp at i ; they rejuvenated thei r parents (apparently heresky and ea rth) , who were very old and frai l ; and finally theymade into fou r the one cup of Tv astr, the drinking-ves sel ofthe gods

,thi s being done at the divine behest conveyed by

Agni,who promised them in retu rn equal worship with the

gods . Tv astr agreed , i t seems , to the remaking of the cup , butit i s a lso s aid that when he saw the fou r b e b id himself amongthe females and des i red to s lay the Rb hus for the desecration ,though the latter declared that they intended no dis respect .In addition to thei r great deeds a wonderful thing befel l

them . After wandering in swift course round the sky w indsp ed,they came to the house o f Sav itr, who conferred immortal ityupon them : when

,after s lumbering fo r twelve days , they had

58 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

rejoiced in the hospi tality ofAgohya , they made fields and deflected the streams ; plants occup ied the dry ground and thewaters the low lands . After thei r s leep they asked Agohya whohad awakened them ; in a year they looked around them ; andthe goat declared the dog to be the awakener . Agohya canhard ly be anything but the sun ,

and the period of thei r S leephas been thought to be the winter solstice

,and has been com

pared with the Teutonic twelve nights of l i cence at that period .

The nights , it ha s been suggested ,11 are intended to make goodthe defects of the Vedic year of360 days by inserting intercala rydays ; and the goat and the dog have led to sti l l wi lder fl ightsof speculative imagination . But as rkha means “ handy ” o r

“ dexterous ” and i s akin to the German Elbe and the Engli shelf, and as the Rb hus are much more than mere men , it i s notimprobable that they represent the three seasons which markthe earliest d ivi s ion of the Indian year

,and thei r dwell ing in

the house ofAgohya s ignifies the tu rn Of life at the winter solstice . The cup of Tv astr may poss ibly be the moon , and thefour parts into which it i s expanded may symbolize the fou rphases of the moon . They may

,however

,have had a humbler

origin as no more than elves who gradual ly won a higher rank,

although their human attributes may be due to another cau seit i s pos s ible that they were the favourite deities o f a chariotmaking clan which was admitted into the Vedi c ci rcle

,but

whose gods suffered some d iminution of rank in the proces s,fo r

it i s0

a fact that in the period of the B rdhmanas the chariotmakers , or Rathakaras

,form a distinct clas s by themselves .

Even more obscure than the Rb hu s i s the figure of the Gandharv a ; he bears the epithet ViSV

'

av asu (“Posses s ing All

and thi s i s later a p roper name,while at the same time

the s ingle Gandharva i s converted into many . Thi s idea i s notabsolutely strange to the Rgoeda , but it i s found only thrice,and the name Gandharva i s practically unknown to booksi i— v u , the nucleus of the collection . Yet the figure i s o ld

,for the

Gandarewa i s found in the Avesta a s a dragon-l i ke monster.

GODS OF EARTH ,DEMONS

,AND DEAD 59

The Gandharva i s heavenly and dwell s in the high region of theSky ; he i s a measurer of space and i s c losely connected withthe sun

,the sun-bird

,and the sun-s teed

,while in one passage

he i s pos s ibly identified with the rainbow . He i s al so as sociatedwith the soma ; he guards its p lace and protects the races ofthe gods . It i s in thi s capacity

,it wou ld seem

,that he appears

a s an enemy whom Indra pierces,j u st as in the Avesta the

Gandarewa , dwell ing in the sea Vourukasha , the abode o f theWhite Haoma

,battles with and i s overcome by Ke re sasp a .

12

From another point of view Soma is Said to be the Gandharva o fthe waters

,and the Gandharva and the Maiden of the Waters

a re claimed as the parents ofYama and Yami,the first pai r on

earth . SO,too

,the Gandharva i s the beloved o f the Apsaras

,

whence he i s as sociated with the wedding ceremony and in thefi rst days ofmarriage i s a rival o f the husband .

The Gandharva has bri ll i ant weapons and fragrant garments,

while the Gandharvas are described as wind-haired,so that it

has been suggested that the Gandharvas are the spi rits o f thewind

,closely connected with the souls of the dead and the

Greek Centau rs,with whose name ( in defiance of phi lology)

thei r name i s identified . Yet there i s no sufficient ground toju stify thi s hypothes i s o r any Of the other divergent Viewswhich see in the Gandharva the rainbow

,o r the ri s ing sun o r

the moon, o r the spirit of the clouds

,o r Soma (which he

guards) .The companion of the Gandharva

,the Apsaras

,i s l i kewise an

obscure figure,though the name denotes “moving in the

waters,

” and the original conception may well be that o f awater-nymph

,whence the mingling of the water with the soma

i s described as the flowing to Soma of the Apsarases of theocean . Of one

, Urv aSi,we have the record that she was the

mother of the sage Vasistha , to whose family are ascribed thehymns of the seventh book of the Rgoeda , and an obscure hymn

(x . 95) contains a d ia logue between her and her earthly loverPurfirav as

,whom she seems to have forsaken after spending


four autumns among mortal s and whom she consoles by promis ing him bli s s in heaven . From this story has been derived theview that Furfi rav as i s the sun and Urv aSi the dawn, wh ichdisappears at the ri se of the sun .

Much les s prominent than even the Gandharva and theApsarases i s the “

Lord of the Dwelling ” (Vasto sp at i) , who i sinvoked in one hymn (vi i . 54) to afford a favourable entry, tobles s man and beast

,and to grant prosperity in cattle and

horses . There can be no real doubt that he i s the tutelary spi ritof the house . Another deity of the same type i s the “

Lord of

the Field,

” who is asked to bestow cattle and horses and to fi l lheaven and earth with sweetnes s , while the Fu rrow ” i tself

,

S it'

a,i s invoked to give rich bless ings and crop s . It would

,o f

course,be an error to conclude from the meagrenes s of thei r

mythology that these were not powerfu l deities , but it i s clearthat they had won no real p lace in the pantheon of the tribalpriests whose views are presented in the Rgoeda .

So also the divinities of the mountains , the plants , and thetrees are far from important in the Rgoeda . Parv ata (

“Mountain ”) i s indeed found thrice coupled with Indra, and themountains are celebrated along with the waters

,rivers

,plants

,

trees,heaven

,and earth . The plants have a hymn to them

selves (x . 97) in which they are hai led , for thei r heal ing powers ,as mothers and goddes ses

,and Soma i s said to be their king ;

and the forest trees,too

,are occas ionally mentioned as deities

,

chiefly with the waters and the mountains . The “Goddes s ofthe Jungle , Aranyani , i s invoked in one hymn (x . whereshe i s described as the mother ofbeasts and as ri ch in food without tillage, and her uncanny S ights and sounds are set forthwith vivid force and power

,though poetically rather than

mythologically .

A different s ide of rel igious thought i s represented by thede ification of artificial obj ects

,but the trans ition from such

worship s as those of the tree to articles made of it i s easy andnatural enough . It can be seen at work in the case of the adora

PLATE V

II P SARASES

T he c e lestial nymphs, w ho are am o ng the c hief

ado rnm ents o f Indra’s he av en,are shown in fresco es

which are the o ldest extant Spec im ens o f Indianpaintings . From a fre sco at Ajanta

,Be rar. Afte

'

r

Aj anta Fr escoes, Plate II, No . 3.


GODS OF EARTH,DEMONS , AND DEAD 6 1

tion of the sacrificial post,which i s invoked as Vanaspati o r

Sv aru and which i s a god who , thrice anointed with ghee , i sa sked to let the offerings go to the gods . The sacrificial gras s

(the barhis) and the doors leading to the place of the sacrificeare l i kewise divine

,while the pres s ing stones are invoked to

drive demons away and to bestow wealth and offspring . Thusalso the plough and the p loughshare (Sunasira) as well a s theweapons ofwar

,the arrow

,bow

,quiver

,and armou r

,nay

,even

the drum,are hai led as divine . Doubtles s in thi s we are to see

fetishi sm rather than ful l divinity : the thing adored attainsfo r the time being and in its Special u se a holines s which i s notperpetually and normally its own . Such also must have beenthe character of the image o r other rep resentation of Indrawhich one poet offers to sell fo r ten cows

,on condition that it

shall be returned to him when he has s la in hi s foes .The religion o f the Rgoeda i s p redominantly anthropomorph i cin its representations of the gods

,and theriomorphism plays a

comparatively l imited part. Yet there i s an exception in thecase of the sun

,who appears repeatedly in the form o f a horse .

Thus the famous steed Dadhikré o r Dadhikrév an,who speeds

like the winds along the bending ways,i s not only conceived as

winged,but i s l i kened to a swooping eagle and i s actually called

an eagle . He pervades the five tribes with hi s power as the sunfi ll s the waters with hi s light ; hi s adversaries fear him like thethunder from heaven when he fights against a thousand ; andhe i s the swan dwelling in the l ight . He i s invoked with Agniand with Usas

,and his name may mean “ scattering curdled

mi lk,

” i n a llu s ion to the dew which appears at sunri se . NO

glorification o f a famous racehorse could account for theseepithets . Tarksya seems to be another form of the sun-horse

,

for the language used of him i s s imilar to that regarding Da

dhikra. Pe rhap s, too , Paidv a , the courser b rought by theASv insto Pedu to replace an inferior steed

,may also be a solar horse ;

no r i s there any doubt that EtaSa i s the horse of the sun, whobears a long the chariot of the god .


After the horse the cow takes an important place in the mythology

. The rain-clouds are cows , and the gods fight fo r themagainst the demons . The beams of dawn are also clouds , but iti s pos sible that the cow in itself had begun to receive reverence,being addres sed as Aditi and a goddes s , and being described asinviolable

,nor later i s there any doubt of direct zoOlatry .

Indra,Agni

,and rarely Dyau s are described as bu lls ; the boar

i s used as a description of Rudra , the Maruts , and Vrt ra .

Soma , Agni , and the sun are hai led as birds , and an eagle carrieddown the soma fo r Indra , apparently rep resenting Indra

’slightning . The crow and the p igeon are the messengers of

Yama,the god Of death

,and a bi rd o f omen i s invoked . The

“Serpent” (Ahi) i s a form of the demon Vrtra, but there i s notrace of the worship of snakes as such . Animals serve also assteeds for the gods : theASv ins u se the ass, and Pfi san the goat,but horses are normal . Yama has two dogs

,the offspring of

Saram é,though She does not appear in the Rgoeda as a b itch .

Indra has a monkey,ofwhom a late hymn (x . 86) tell s a curiou s

story . Apparently the ape,Vrsakap i, was the favourite of

Indra and inj ured property of Indra’s wife ; soundly beaten,i t was banished

,but it returned

,and Indra effected a recon

cil iation . The hymn belongs to the most obscu re of the Rgoedaand has been very variou s ly interpreted

,

13 even as a s ati re ona contemporary prince and his spouse .The s ame vein of s atire has been di scerned in a curiou s hymn

(v ii . 103) where frogs , awakened by the rains , are treated as ableto bestow cows and long life . The batrachians are compared topriests as they busy themselves round the sacrifice

,and thei r

quacking i s l ikened to the repetition of the Veda by the student.The conception i s carr ied out in a genial vein of burlesque

,yet

it i s very poss ible that it contains worship which i s seriou senough , for the frogs are connected with the rain and seem tobe praised as br inging with thei r renewed activity the fall o fthe waters .We have seen gods conceived as of animal form and

,there

GODS OF EARTH ,DEMONS , AND DEAD 63

fore,in so far incarnate in these animals , not indeed perma

nent ly , but from time to time . Accordingly, in the later ritual ,which seems faithfully to represent in thi s regard the meaningof the Rgoeda, the horse i s not always o r normally divine, but iti s so when a special horse i s chosen to be s acrificed at the horsesacrifice and for thi s purpose i s identified with the god . It i sposs ib le

,too

,that direct worship o f the cow and the frog (at

least in the rainy season) i s recorded . The question then ari seswhether the Vedic Indians were totemists . D id they conceivea tie of blood between themselves and an animal o r thing whichthey venerated and normally spared from death

,and which

they might eat only under the condition o f some sacrament torenew the blood bond ? We can ‘

only say that there i s no moreevidence of thi s than i s implied in the fact that some tribalappellations in the Rgoeda are animal names like the Aj as , o r“Goats

,

” and the Matsyas,o r

“ Fishes,

” or vegetable l i ke theSigru s, o r

“Horse-Rad i shes ” ; but we have no record that

these tribes worshipped the animals o r plants whose name theybear . Neither do we know to what extent these tribes were ofAryan origin o r rel igion . There may well have been totemisticnon-Aryan tribes

,for we know that another worship which i s

now accepted and bound up with the form of Siva thephall i c cu lt was p racti sed in the time o f the Rgoeda , but bypersons whom it utterly di sapproved and treated as hosti le . 14

Beside the gods some priests and priestly families who aremore than real men figure in the Rgoeda . Prominent amongthese are the Bhrgus, whose name denotes

“ the Bright,

” andwho play the rdle of those who kindle Agni when he i s disco vered by MatariSv an and establi sh and diffuse hi s u se uponearth . They find him in the waters ; they produce him by friction and pray to him . They are invoked to drink soma withal l the thi rty-three gods

,the Maruts

,the waters

,and the AS

vins ; they overcome the demon Makha and are foes of the hi storic king Sudas . They are mentioned i n connexion withAtharvan

,among others

,and like them Atharvan is as sociated


with the production of fi re,which he churns forth . Athrav an

in theAvesta denotes fire-priest,nor i s there any doubt that

the Atharvan or Atharvans of the Rgoeda are Old fire—priests ,while the Bhrgus represent either such priests or poss ibly thel ightning side o f fire itself. Yet another se t of beings connectedwith fire are the Angirase s . Angiras as an epithet is appl ied toAgni himself

,andAngiras i s represented as an ancient seer, but

the chief feat of the Angirase s i s thei r share in the winning o fthe cows

,in which act they are closely associated with Indra ;

they are,however

,also said to have burst the rock with thei r

songs and gained the light,to have driven out the cows and

pierced Vala and caused the sun to shine . They seem to bea rthe traces of mes sengers of Agni

,perhap s hi s flames

,but they

may have been no more than priests of the fire-cult,l i ke the

Atharvans . Li ke the Atharvans they are bound up with theAtharoaoeda

,which i s as sociated with that cult . The Virfip as

(“Those of Variou s another p riestly family

,seem no

more than they in one special a spect .A figure of great Obscurity connected with Agni i s that of

Dadhyafic (“Milk a son of Atharvan and a pro

ducer ofAgni . The ASv ins gave him a horse’s head,and with

i t he proclaimed to them the place of the mead of Tv astr.

Again it i s said that when Indra was seeking the head of thehorse hidden in the mountains

,he found it in Saryanav ant and

with the bones ofDadhyafi c he s lew ninety-nine Vrt ras . Dadh

ya ii c opens cow- stalls by the power of Soma,and Ind ra gives

him cow—stalls . He has been interpreted as the soma becauseo f the allu s ion to cu rdled milk in hi s name

,which again con

nect s him with the horse Dadhikré,but a more plau s ible view

i s that he represents a form o f l ightning,the Speed of which i s

symbolized by the horse’s head,whi le the thunder i s hi s speech

and the bolt hi s bones . The legend i s too fragmentary,how

ever, to enable u s to form any clear Opinion of its s ignificance .Atri , another seer, i s famed for being saved from burning in adeep pit by the ASv ins

,who restored him with a refreshing


draught . But he also performed a great feat himself,fo r he

rescued the sun when it was hidden by the Asura,Sv arb hanu

,

and placed it in the sky . The s ame deed i s al so ascribed to theAtri s a s a family

,and they are the traditional authors of the

fifth book of the Rgoeda , which Often refers to them . Thei rname denotes “ the eater ” and may itself once have belongedto Agni , who is perhaps hidden in the gui se of the bl ind seerKanva , a prote

’

gé of the ASv ins, from whom he received backhis lost s ight .Indra also has mythical connexions with the seers called

DaSagv as and Nav agv as who aided him in the recovery o f thekine and whose names perhaps denote that they won ten andnine cows respectively in that renowned exploit . Sti l l morefamous i s hi s friendship with Kutsa

,to whom he gave constant

a id in hi s struggles with Susna ; it was for him that Indra performed the feat of stopping the sun by tearing off its wheel

,

giving the other to Kutsa to drive on with . The myth i s astrange one and seems to be a confus ion of the story of thewinning o f the sun for men by Indra with hi s friendship for aspecial hero whom he aided in battle . Yet in other passagesKutsa appears in hostil ity to Indra . In the fight with Susna ,as the drought-demon

,Indra also had the aid of Kév ya USanaS ,

who l ikewi se made for him the bolt for the slaying o fVrtra .

An independent position i s occupied by Manu,who stands

out as the first o f men who lived,in contrast with Yama (l i ke

himself the son o fViv asv ant) , who was the first of men to die .

He i s par excellence the first sacrifice r,the originator of the cu lt

o fAgni and of Soma,and to him indeed Soma was brought by

the bi rd . Men are hi s offspring,and thei r s acrifices are based

on hi s a s prototype . Just as he embodies the concept of the fi rstsacrifice r

,so the group of seven priests who play the chief part

in the ritual a re personified as the seven seers who are cal leddivine and are associated with the gods .Against the gods and other spirits invoked as b eneficent are

set the host of the demons,o r more often individual sp irits who


are enemies both to gods and to men and whom the gods overthrow for the benefit of men no less than o f themselves . The

Asuras,as the demons are called throughout Indi an l iterature

subsequent to the age o f the Rgoeda , have not yet attained thatpos ition at the earliest period . Asura there means a spi rit whoi s normally benignant ; in four pass ages only (and three of thoseare in the tenth and latest book) are the Asu ras mentioned asdemons

,and in the S ingular the word has this sense only thrice

,

while the epithet “ s laying Asu ras i s appli ed once each toIndra

,Agni

,and the sun . Much more commonly mentioned

are the Pan i s,whose cows are won by the gods

,especial ly Indra .

Their name denotes “Niggard,” especially with regard to the

s acrificial gifts,and thus

,no doubt

,an ep ithet of human mean

nes s has been transferred to demoniac foes,who are accu sed o f

having concealed even the ghee in the cow . Other human enemies who rank as demons are the Dasas and Dasyus ; and by anatural tu rn of l anguage Das a comes to denote “ s l ave ” and i sfound in thi s sense in the Rgoeda itself. Bes ides the historicalD i s as

,who were doubtles s the aborigines

,rank others who seek

to scale heaven and who withhold the sun and the waters fromthe gods ; and the autumnal forts of the Dasas can hardly havebeen mere human citadels . While

,however

,the transfer o f

name from men to demons i s clear,can we go fu rther and equate

the Pani s and Dasas to definite tribes,and see in them Parnians

and Dahae,against whom the Vedic Indians waged warfare in

the land of Aracho sia ? The conj ectu re i s attractive,but it

shifts the scene of Vedic activity too far west and compels u sto place the events of the s ixth book o f the Rgoeda fa r di stantfrom those described in book seven

,the interest ofwhich centres

in the Indian “Middle Country,

” the home in al l p robabi l ityof the greater part of the Vedic poetry .

Much more common as a generic name of the advers aries ofthe gods i s Raksas, either “ the Injurious

,

”o r

“That Which

i s to be Guarded Against . Rarely these demons are cal ledYatus o r Yatudhanas who represent

,no doubt

,



gains the sun . He i s a lso described as cau s ing bad harvests ,while hi s name must mean either Scorcher” o r

“H i s ser” ; and

apparently he i s a demon of drought . With him i s sometimescoupled Sambara , the son o fKu litara

, the Dé sa of ninety-nineforts

,whom Indra destroys

,though he deemed himself a god

ling . Pip ru and Varcin also fall before Indra , the first with fiftythousand black warriors

,and the second with a hundred thou

sand . AS either i s at once Asu ra and Dasa , perhap s they werethe patron gods of aboriginal tribes which were overthrownby the Aryans ; but thei r names may mean in Sanskrit

“ theResi ster ” and “ the Shining .

”Dhuni and Cumuri

,the D i s as

,

were sent to sleep by Indra for the sake o f the p iou s Dab hit i ;

and thei r castles were shattered along with those Of Sambara,

Pip ru ,and Varcin . Dhuni means “

Roarer,but Cumuri i s

not,i t would seem

,Aryan

,and he p e rhap s,w ith Ilib iSa, Srb inda,

and others of whom we know practically nothing,may be ah

original names Of foes o r gods hosti le to the Aryans .A more perplexing figure and one famous in later l iterature

is Namuci,which Indian etymology renders as “He Who Will

No t Let Go .

”He i s at once Asura and Désa

,and in vanquish

ing him Indra has the aid o fNami Sépya . The peculiarity o f

his death i s that hi s head i s no t pierced,l i ke Vrtra’s, but i s

twirled o r twisted with the foam of the waters,and that Indra

i s s aid to have drunk wine bes ide him when the ASv ins aidedand Sarasvati cured him .

The king of the dead i s Yama,who gathers the people to

gether and gives the dead a resting-place in the highest heavenamid songs and the music o f the flute . He i s the son of Vivasvant, j u st as in the Avesta Yima i s the son OfViv anghv ant , thefi rst presser of the soma . His s i ster i s Yami

,and a curiou s

hymn (x . 10) contains a dialogue in which she presses herbrother to wed her and beget offspring

,while he urges rel igiou s

obj ections to her suit . The story suggests what i s confirmed bythe later Pers ian record that Yama and Yima were really thetwin parents of mankind . The Avesta also tell s u s that he lives


in an earthly paradi se which he ru les ,15 and though thi s trait i snot preserved in the Rgeeda , it i s hinted at in the ep ic . Hi s realimportance

,however

,i s that he i s the first man who died and

showed to others the way o f death . Death is hi s path,and he

i s once identified with death . AS death the owl o r the p igeonis hi s messenger, but he has two dogs , fou r-eyed, broad-nosed ,one brindle ( i abala) and one brown , sons of Saram é , who wat chmen and wander about as hi s envoys . They also guard thepath ,

perhaps li ke the four-eyed,yellow-eared dog of the

Avesta,who stands at the Cinv at B ridge to prevent evi l Spi rits

from seizing hold of the righteous . Yet it may be that,as i s

suggested by Aufrecht,

16the obj ect of the dogs’ watch is to

keep s infu l men from the world of Yama . It does not seem thatthe souls of the dead have (as in the ep ic) a stream Vaitarani tocros s

,though it has been sugges ted th at in X . xv i i . 7 ff . Saras

vati i s none other than thi s river .Though Yama i s as soci at ed wi th gods

,especially Agni

and Varuna , and though there i s an Obv ious reference to hi sconnexion with the sun in the phrase “ the heavenly coursergiven by Yama

,Stil l he is never cal l ed a god , and th i s fact

lends the greatest probab il ity to the view that he i s what heseems to be

,the first of men

,the firs t also to die

,and so the

king of the dead,but not a j udge of the departed . Nevertheles s ,

his conn exion with the sun and w ith Agni has suggested thathe i s the sun

,especial ly conceived as sett ing

,or that he is the

pa rt ing day , in which case hi s s i ster is th e night . The onl yother theory which would seem to have any plaus ib i l ity is thathe i s the moon

,for the connexion o f th e moo n with the souls of

the dead is deeply rooted in the Upa nisads . l lo reov e r,th e

moon actually dies and i s the chi ld Of the sun . Thi s ident ification

,however

,rests in large measure on th e unp roved hyp o th e

sis that th e few references in the Rgseda to Soma as as sociatedwith the fathers are al lu s ions to thei r abode in the moon .

I t i s in keeping wi th the belief in th e heaven of Yama thatthe burning of the body of th e dead is the normal , though no t


the exclu s ive,mode of di sposing o f the corpse . The dead were

,

however,sometimes bu ried

,for the fathers are distingu i shed as

those who are burned by fi re and those who are not burned .

The dead was burned with hi s c lothes , etc .

,to serve him in the

future life ; even hi s weapons and hi s wife, it would seem,were

once incinerated,although the Rgoeda has abandoned that

practice,of which only a symbol remains in placing the wife

and the weapons bes ide the dead and then removing them fromhim . Agni bears the dead away, and the rite of burning i s thu sin part li ke a sacrifice ; but as

“ eater of raw flesh ” in thi s riteAgni i s di stingui shed from that Agni who carries the oblations .With the dead was burned a goat

,which Agni i s besought to

consume while preserving the body enti re . On the path to theworld o f the dead Pfisan acts a s guide , and Savitt as conductor .A bundle of fagots i s attached to the dead to wipe out his trackand hinder the retu rn of death to the l iving . Borne along thepath by which the fathers went in days gone by

,the sou l

passes on to the realm of l ight and in hi s home receives a resting-place from Yama . Though hi s corpse i s destroyed by theflame

,sti l l in the other world he i s no t a mere spi ri t

,but has

what must be deemed a refined form of his earthly body . He

abides in the highest point of the sun,and the fathers are united

with the sun and its rays . The place i s one of j oy : the noi se offlutes and song resounds ; there soma , ghee, and honey flow.

There are the two kings,Varuna and Yama

,and the fathers are

clear to the gods and are free from o ld age and bodi ly frai lty.

Another conception,however

,seems to regard the fathers a s

being constellations in the sky, an idea which i s certainly foundin the later Vedic period .

Those who attain to heaven are,above al l

,the p iou s men who

offer sacrifice and reward the priest,fo r s acrifice and s acrificial

fee are indi s solubly connected ; 17 but heroes who ri sk thei rl ives in battle and those who practi se ascetici sm also win thei rway thither . Of the fate of evi l-doers we hear very l ittle

,and

it would appear that annihilation was often regarded as thei r



The conception seems natu ral enough as an expres s ion of theresolution of the body into the elements from which it i s derived

,j u st as in later Sanskrit it i s regularly said of man that

he goes to the five elements when he dies ; and it i s , therefore ,much more likely that the phrase i s thu s to be interpreted thanthat we are to se e in it the p rimitive idea that the sou l o f thedead may go into plants and so forth . The passage i s almosti solated

,however

,so tha t the sense must remain uncerta in .

CHAPTER III

THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE BRAHMANAS

ITHOUT exception the B rdhmanas presuppose the exi stence of a Rgoeda S amhita

'

,i n a l l p robabi l ity s imi la r

in es sential s to the cu rrent text,and it i s more than likely that

the other Samhitds — the Sdmaoeda,the two schools o f the

Yaj uroeda , and the Atharoaoeda — were composed after theformation Of the S amhitd of the Rgoeda . No r can there bemuch doubt that

,whi le the Rgoeda shows many traces of being

the product of an age which was far from primitive , the laterS ar

’

nhitds , in those portions which do not accord with textsa lready found in the Rgoeda , stand generally o n preci sely thesame level a s the leading B rdhmanas

,o r at least the oldest of

these texts . The most es sentia l characteri sti c of them all fromthe point of View of mythology i s that the o ld polythei sm i s nolonger as real as in the Rgoeda . It i s true that there i s no question of the actu ality o f the numerou s gods o f the pantheon

,to

whom others are indeed added,but the texts themselves Show

plain tendencies to create divinities o f more imposing andmore universa l power than any Ved i c deity . There are threefigures in the pantheon who display the resu lts of thi s en

deav our,those of Praj ép at i, Vi snu , and Rudra . Of these the

fi rst i s distingu i shed from the other two by the es sentia l factthat he i s a c reation not so much of popular mythology as ofpriestly specu lation

,and the resu lt

,as was inevitable

,i s that

hi s permanence a s a great god i s no t as su red ; while the twoother divinities

,being clearly popu lar deitie s in thei r es sence

,

have su rvived to be the great gods of India throughout the


centuries with only so much change as has proved unavoidablein the development Of creed during hundreds of years .The essential featu re o f Praj ép at i i s that he i s a creator, aLord o f Offspring ,

” and offspring includes everything . Yetthere i s no consi stent account o f creation in the B rdhmanas ,

nor even in any one text . Nevertheles s , the importance o f theconcept Prajapati does appear in the fact that he i s definitelyidentified with Viév akarm an

,the All-Creator ” o f the Rgoeda

(x . 8 1,

o r with Daksa , who i s at once son and father ofAditi in that Samhitd (x . and the later S amhitds repeatthe hymn o f the Rgoeda (x . 121) which celebrates the

“GoldenGerm

,

”Hiranyagarb ha , and identify with Prajép at i the in

terrogativ e Ka which in that hymn heads each linei n the question

,

“To what god shall we Offer with oblation ?”

Among the variants o f the story of the creation of the worldthere i s one which becomes a favourite and which as s igns tothe waters o r the ocean the first p lace in the order o f exi stence . The waters , however, des i re to be multip lied, and producea golden egg by the proces s of tap as , a term which , with itsorigin in the verb tap ,

“ heat,

” shows that the first conceptionof Indian ascetic austerity centres in the proces s of producingintense physical heat . From thi s egg i s born Prajapati

,who

proceeds to speak in a year,the words which he utters being

the sacred oydhrtis , o r exclamations,

“Bhfih,

” “Bhuv ah,

and “Svar, which become the earth

,the atmosphere

,and

the sky . He desi red Offspring and finally produced the gods,

who were made d ivinities by reaching the sky ; and he alsocreated the Asuras , whereby came the darknes s , which revealed to Prajapati that he had created evi l

,so that he pierced

the Asuras with darknes s,and they were overcome . The tale

,

o ne o f many , i s important in that it reveals qualities whichare permanent throughout Indi an religion : the story of creation i s various ly altered from time to time and made to ac

cord with phi losophical specu lation,which resolves the waters

into a primitive material termed Prakrt i ; but the golden egg,



Usas Dawn The gods were deep ly indignant at th i sdeed

,and Rudra either threatened to shoot him,

but was induced to des ist by being promised to be made lord o f cattle ; o ractually shot him

,though afterward the wound thus cau sed

was healed . In the Aitareya B rdhmana ( i i i . 33) the story takesa very mythic aspect : Praj

'

apati tu rns himself into a deer topursue hi s daughter in the gu ise of an antelope (rohini) , andthe gods produce a most terrib le form to punish him

,in the

shape,it i s c lea r

,of Rudra , though hi s name i s too dangerou s

to be mentioned ; he p ierces Prajéip at i, who flees to the sky

and there constitutes the constel lationMrga Wildwhile the archer becomesMrgav yadha Pie rcer of theMrga

the antelope i s changed into Rohini,and the arrow i s sti l l to

be seen as the constel lation of the three-pronged arrow .

Despite hi s creative activity, Praj ZIp at i was not immortal bybi rth

,for the conception of the B rdhmanas, as of India in later

days,does not admit of immortal ity won by birth alone . When

he had created gods and men,he formed death ; and half of

himself hair,skin

,flesh

,bone

,and marrow — was mortal

,

the other half — mind,voice

,breath

,eye

,and ear — being

immortal . He fled in terror of death,and it was only by means

Of the earth and the waters,united as a bri ck for the pi l ing Of

the sacred fi re which forms one of the main ceremonies o f thesacrificial ritual , that he could be made immortal . But at thes ame time Prajapati himself i s the year

,the symbol of time

,

and by the year he wears o ut the lives o fmortals,whether men

o r gods . The gods,on the contrary

,attained immortal ity from

Praj ép at i ; they sought in vain to do so by many sacrifices,

but fai led, even when they performed the p il ing of the fi realtar with an undefined number of fire-bricks

,unti l at last

they won thei r des i re when they followed the proper numbersof the bricks . Death

,however

,obj ected to thi s exemption

from his control , for it left him without a portion ; and the gods ,therefore , ordained that thenceforth no man shou ld becomeimmortal without parting with hi s body

,whether h i s immo r

THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE BRAHMANAS 77

tality was due to knowledge or to works . Thus it happensthat after death a man may either be reborn fo r immortality,o r he may be born only to be fated to die again and again .

Thi s i s but a specimen o f the variou s means by which the godsescape death

,for they are ever afraid o f the Ender and must

adopt rites ofmany kinds to be freed from hi s control .S ince both the gods and the Asura s were the

Offsp ring o fPrajép at i , it becomes neces sary to expla in why theyare differentiated as good and bad

,and thi s i s done in severa l

ways . In one case the Asu ra s kept s acrificing to themselveso ut of insolence

,while the gods sacrificed to one another ; and

a s a resu lt Prajép at i bestowed himself upon them ,and sacrifice

became thei rs only . In another vers ion the gods adopted theplan of speaking nothing but the truth

,while the Asura s re

sorted to falsehood : becau se of thi s for a while the gods becameweaker and poorer

,but in the end they flouri shed

,and so i t

i s with man ; wh i le the Asuras , who waxed rich and pros

p erous, l ike salty ground came to ru in in the end . The gods ,again

,won the earth from the Asura s : they had only as much

of i t a s one can see while s itting,and they asked the Asu ra s

fo r a share ; the latter replied that the gods cou ld have a s muchas they cou ld encompass

,whereupon the gods encompassed

the whole earth on fou r s ides . Another legend accounts forthe differences in greatnes s of the gods by the fact that threeof them Indra

,Agni

,and Sfi rya des i red to win superior

ity,and for that pu rpose they went on sacrificing unti l in the

long run they attained thei r aim .

Praj'

apati might,i t i s clea r

,have become a much greater figure

had it no t been fo r the fact that the phi losophic sp i rit whichconceived h im soon went beyond the original idea and transformed the male

,as too personal for the expres s ion of the ab

solute,into the neuter B rahman Sv ayamb hfi (

“Self-Exi stent

It sti l l remained poss ible to ascribe the origin o f theworld to thi s B rahman and to account for it. by ascetic au sterityon its part

,but the way was opened fo r the development of the


panthei stic ph i losophy of the Up anisads . The change of namei s s ignificant and indicates that a new s ide of thought hasbecome prominent : Brahman is the “ prayer,

” or the spel l,

”

which i s uttered by the priest and i t i s also the holy power ofthe prayer o r the spell , so that it i s well adapted to become aname for the power which i s at the root o f the universe . When

,

therefore,this B rahman i s converted into the subj ect of as

ce ticism ,i t i s clear that it i s as suming the featu res o fPraj éip ati ,

and that two distinct lines of thought are converging into one .

The full resu lt of thi s p roces s i s the creation o f a new god,

Brahma,which i s the masculine of the neuter impersonal

B rahman . Yet this new deity i s not an early figure : he i s foundin the later B rdhmanas , such as the Kausi tahi and the Ta ittir iya ,as well as in the Up anisads and the sti l l later S iZtra l iterature

,

in which he i s c learly identified with Praj apati , whose double ,however

,he Obvious ly i s . Was there

,as has been suggested

,

ever a time when Brahma

-

1 was a deity greater than a ll othersin the pantheon ? The answer certainly cannot be in the unrestricted afli rm at iv e

,for the epic shows no c lear trace of a

time when Brahmawas the chief god,and the evidence o f the

Buddhist S iZtras,which undoubtedly make much o f Brahma

Saham p at i (an epithet of unce rtain sense) , i s no t enough to domore than indicate that in the circles in which Buddhism foundits origin Brahma had become a leading figure . It i s

,in fact

,

not unlikely that in the period at the close of the age of theB rdhmanas, j u st before the appearance of Buddhism,

the popular form Of the philosophic god had made some progres s toward acceptabi l ity , at least in the ci rcles of the warriors andthe B rahmans . But if that were the case

,i t i s cl ea r that thi s

superiority was not to be of long duration,and certa inly it

never spread among the people as a whole .Of these rivals of B rahma in popular favour Vi snu showsclear s igns of an increas ing greatnes s . The gods

,as u sual

,were

worsted in thei r struggles with the Asu ras,and for the purpose

of regaining the earth which they had lost they approached the


PLATE’

VI

BRAHMA

In the pre senc e o f the sac red fire a wo rshipperpresents an offe ring to Brahma. T he fo ur face s o f

the god are said to hav e com e into be ing from his

desi re to beho ld the lo v e liness o f his daughte r, whoso ught in vain to e scape his am o rous gaze . He

o rig inal ly had a fifth head,due to the sam e cause

,

b ut this was rem o ved by Siva, e ithe r because o fwratho r because the head acquired such Splendo ur thro ughknowledge o f the Vedas that ne ither gods no r dem ons

co u ld endure it . From an Indian painting o f a ra'

g ini

(“sub -m ode

”o f Indian m usic) in the co l lection

o f the Edito r .

THE NEW YORK

PUBLIC LIBRARY


80 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

der,cut off the head of the god . The sound ghrm , with

which Visnu’s head fell , became the gharma

,o r s acrificial

kettle ; and as hi s strength dwindled away, the mahdoira,o r

p o t of great strength , acquired its name . The gods proceeded to offer with the headles s s acrifice, o r mahha

, but asthey did not succeed they had to secure the restoration o f itshead either by the ASv ins o r by the p raoargya rite . It i s verycuriou s that thi s should be so

,for Vi snu takes only a small

part in the ritual and is not closely connected with the SomaOffering

,which i s

,after all

,the chief feature of the s acrifice ;

yet we must,no doubt

,recognize that the god had a strong body

o f adherents who secured the growing attention paid to him .

The s ame trait i s seen in the relations of Vi snu and IndraVi snu now appears as supporting Indra in hi s attack on Vrt ra ,and we have as surances that Vi snu is the chief of the gods . Hisdwarf Shape also as s imilated him in cunning to Indra , fo r it i sdoubtles s nothing but a clever device to secure the end aimedat

,j u st a s Indra changes himself

,in the vers ion of the Tait

tiriya S amhitd (VI . i i . 4. into a sdldorhi (poss ibly a hyena)and in that form wins the earth for the gods from the Asura sby running round it three times . Otherwise the god develop sno new traits : his characteristic feature remains hi s threefoldstride which seems to have been accepted in the sense of s triding through the three worlds

,though the a lternative vers ion

of striding through the sky i s a lso recognized .

The name Narayana i s not yet applied to Vi snu in the earlytexts ; yet we hear in the Satap atha B rdhmana (XI I I . v i . 1. 1)of Puru sa Narayana who saw the human sacrifice and Offeredwith it, thu s attaining the supremacy which he des ired . Herewe have , of course , a reflex of the Purusa S iihta o f the Rgoeda ,the Purusa who there i s offered up being transferred into aPurusa who sacrifices another, and in thi s aspect Na

'

réyana i sc losely akin to Prajapati . As early as the Ta ittir iya Aranyaka,however, which can scarcely be placed later than the thi rdcentury B .C .

, the name o f Néréyana, together with those o f

THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE BRAHMANAS 8 1

Vasudeva and Naras imha , i s a scribed to Vi snu , which Showsthat at the end of the Vedic period the conception of Vi snuhad been enlarged to include the traits which appear in theepic

,where Vi snu i s not identified merely with Narayana ,

but also with the Vasudeva Krsna and i s revealed a s theMan-Lion

,

” Naras imha .

None the les s it i s ce rtain that in the B rahmanas Siva i sreally a greater figure than Vi snu , perhaps because he i s aterrible god

,an aspect never congenia l to Vi snu . Thu s he i s

implored to confer long life,the trip le l ife of Jam adagni and

KaSyapa and the gods , and taking his bow, clad in hi s tiger’ss kin

,to depart beyond the Mfij av ants in the far north . Sti l l

more s ignificant i s the Satarudr iya , o r“Litany to Rudra by a

Hundred Names ,” which occu rs in variant but nearly identica l

vers ions in the severa l texts o f the Yaj urveda . He here appearsa s many-colou red and as the god who s lip s away, eventhough the cowherds and the drawers of water catch a glimpseOf him ; he i s treated as lord of almost everything conceivable

,

i ncluding thieves and robbers . He i s a mountain dweller and,

above all,i s the wielder o f a terrible b ow ; he has hosts of

Rudras who are hi s attendants and who, l ike himself, areterrible ; moreover he has hi s abode in everything . Othernames are given which are not merely descriptive Bhava

,

Sarva,PaSup at i as well a s such as Nilag riv a (

“ BlueNecked”) and Sit ikantha (

“White Of these nameswe find Bhava and Sarva repeatedly connected in the Atharvaveda

,both as archers

,and brought into conj unction with Rudra ;

while in another pas sage of that Veda (xv . 5) appellativesof the s ame deity under d ifferent forms are not merelyBhava and Sarva

,but also PaSup at i, Ugra , Rudra , Mahadeva ,

and ISéna . In the Satapatha B rdhmana (I . V ii . 3. 8) we are toldthat Rudra i s Agni and that among the eastern people h i sname is Sarva

,but that among the westerners (the Bahikas)

he i s called Bhava ; and he i s a lso termed“Lord o f Cattle .

”

Another account (VI . i . 3. 7) s ays that from the union o f the


Lord of Creatures (Prajapati) with Usas was born a boy,Kum é ra , who cried and demanded to be given names . ThenPrajapati gave him the name Rudra because he had wept

(rad) ; and he also called him Sarva PaSup at i (“Lord

o f Cattle Ugra (“ the ASani Bhava

(“ the Mahédev a (

“ the G reat and ISénathe which are the eight forms o f Agni . In s l ightly

d ifferent order the names are given in a pas sage of the Kausi

tahi B rdhmana (vi . 1 ff . ) as Bhava , Sa rva , PaSup at i, Ugradev a,Mahédev a

,Rudra

,ISana

,and ASani ; although here the origin

of the being thu s named i s traced to the joint action o f Agni ,Véyu ,

Aditya,Candram as (the moon) , and Usas in the form

o f an Apsaras . Yet another account tel ls of the origin of

Rudra from the deity Manyu (“Wrath who alone remained

in Praj zi p at i after al l the other gods left him when he was dissolved by the effort of creation . Thi s fact explains why Rudrais so s avage and requ ires to be appeased . He i s the cruel oneo f the gods

,and he i s the boar

,because the boar i s wrath .

There are many other traces o f the dread natu re o f the god .

Thus in the ritual Rudra is so far identified with the Raksase s,

Asuras,and fathers that after uttering h is name a man must

touch the purifying waters ; but, on the other hand , he i s di st ingu ished from them by the fact that hi s region i s the north ,not the south , and that the call u sed in hi s service i s the sodhd,which i s normal for the gods . While Néb hénedistha, the sono fManu , was absent from home as a student , his brothers de

p riv ed him of any share in the paternal estate which they en

j oyed during the lifetime of thei r father . When he complainedo f thi s to hi s parent

,he was told to go to the Angirase s, who

were sacr ificing with the obj ect of Obtaining heaven,and to

make good his los s by gaining from them a boon fo r teachingthem the proper recitation on the s ixth day . He did so

,but

,

when he was taking pos ses s ion o f the thousand cattle whichthe Angirase s gave as the reward , a man in black raiment(Rudra) claimed the prize to be h is own , declaring that whatever


PLATE V I I

KALA-S IV A

Siva is represented in his dread aspect

(“ T im e o r Death From a sculpturebanan

,Java . After a pho tograph in the

o f Fine Arts,Bo ston .

THE NEW YORK

PUBLIC

ASTOR.

TILDEN



viii . 19) we find added to Rudra’s names those of S iva,

Sankara,Hara , and Mrda , a ll appellatives of S iva .

In addition to the strong evolution of monotheistic tendencies in the shape of the worship of these three great divinities

,

we must note the definite setting up o f the Asu ras a s enemiesto the gods . Thi s trend i s a marked change from the point ofView o f the Rgoeda , where the term

“Asura ” normally appliesto the gods themselves and where the confl ic t of the demonsand the gods takes the form of struggles between individualAsura s and gods rather than between the host of the Asu ras andthe gods

,both sprung from Prajép at i, as the B rdhmanas Often

declare . In thi s phenomenon,coupled with the fact that the

I ranians treated dae'

va,the word corresponding to the Vedic

deoa,

“ god,

” as meaning “ devi l,it i s natural to se e a resu lt

of hosti le relations between the I ranian reformed faith o f Z o

roaster and the Older Vedic belief ; but the suggestion i s inseparab ly bound up with the fu rther question whether o r not the

Rgoeda and the B rdhmanas Show traces of close connexionwith I ran . In support of the theory may be adduced the factthat the Kavi s who are popu lar in Indian literature are hereticsin the Avesta ; while , on the other hand

,Kév ya USanas , who

i s the purohita of the Asu ras in the Pari caoin’i fa B rdhmana

(VII . v . i s famed as Kavi Usan,o rKai Kafis

,in I ran .

1 OtherAsu ras with names poss ibly borrowed from Iran are Sandaand Marka (with whom is compared the Avestan mahrka

,

Prahréda Kayadhav a , and Srm a ; but the evidencei s much too feeble to afford any pos itive conclu s ion

,and the

other explanation of natu ral development of meaning in bothcountries i s poss ible enough

,for in the Veda Asura i s specially

connected with the word ma

'

ya'

,

“ power of i l lu s ion ,” and may

well have denoted one of magic,uncanny power

,a sense which

would eas i ly lead to an unfavourable meaning . The degradation of Asu ras from gods to demons was doubtles s helped bythe apparent form of the word as a negative of sum

,from the

base soar , denoting “ l ight,

” for by the time of the Upanisads


we meet the word sura denoting a god,derived by th i s p opu

l a r etymology from asura,wh ich i s really connected with asu

,

“ breath .

”

As regards the individual gods we find a clear change in theconception of Varuna , who , with l\/l itra , i s now equatedd n

several p lace s with the night and the day respectively . Moreover in the Atharoaoeda and the B rdhmanas there i s a d istincttendency to bring Varuna into close connexion with the waters

,

who are hi s wives,in whom he is s aid to dwell

,and to whom he

i s related as Soma to the mountains . His power of punishingthe s inner

,fu rthermore , becomes especially p rominent in the

final bath which terminates the s acrific ia l ceremony as a normal ru le and by which the sacrifice rs release themselves fromVaruna’s noose . At the horse s acrifice thi s bath takes thepecul iar form that a man i s driven deep into the water and thenbani shed as a scapegoat ; and , s ince the appearance of the scapegoat i s to be s imilar to that of the god

,we learn that Varuna

was in thi s connexion conceived as bald-headed,white

,yellow

eyed,and lep rou s . The one festiva l which i s Specia lly hi s

,

the Varunap ragh'

asa,i s again o ne o f expiation o f S in . Yet

in hi s rel ation to the sacrifice Varuna does not appear in anyo f the moral sp lendour of the Rgoeda , and he i s manifestlytending

,as in the ep ic

,to s ink to the level o f a god of the

waters,without special ethical qual ity.

In the other Adityas there i s l ittle change ; but the number i snow usually either eight or (more often) twelve , which i s tobe final for later times

,when the term is not as often u sed

generica lly in a sense wide enough to cover al l the gods,a

use which leads to the epic View that every deity i s a chi ldofAditi . One enumeration of eight gives Varuna ,Mitra , Aryaman

,Bhaga

,AmSa,Dhé tr, Indra , andV iv asv ant . The introduc

tion o f Indra is interesting , and the Ma itrdyani S arhhita"

(I I . i .12) makes h im a son of Aditi , but the connexion is not Ins i s tedupon . Mitra decided ly recedes even from the small p lacewhich he holds in the Rgoeda , perhap s in accordance with


Varuna’s los s of pos ition . Aryaman’s natu re a s a wooer andprototype of wooers i s frequently mentioned , and two Aryamans occu r in one phrase which may suggest a c lose a l li ancewith Bhaga

,whose character a s the deity who gives good for

tune seems to be definitely implied in a legend of the SatapathaB rdhmana (I . v ii . 4. according to which he i s blind . AmSaand Daksa almost disappear, although the l atter i s once ident ified with Prajapati , and the gods bear the ep ithet

“ havingDaksa for father,

” where hi s pu rely abstract character i sc learly seen . V iv asv ant , who i s several times cal led an Aditya ,i s s aid to be the father of men .

From the Atharoaoeda onward there i s a d i stinct development of Sfi rya as the sun-god par excellence , whether underthat name o r under that o f Aditya ; and the Aitareya B rdhmana

( i i i . 44) explains that there i s no rea l ri s ing or setting of thesun

,for it a lways shines

,though it reverses its s ides

,so that

the shining one i s now turned to and now from the ea rth,

whence comes the dis crepancy o f day and night . The s ameB ra

'

hmana i s respons ib le fo r the view that the distance betweenthe earth and the heaven is that of a thousand days’ j ou rneyby horse

,while the Pancaoimi a B rdhm ana reduces it to the

height o f a thousand cows standing one on top of another, amode of reckoning wh ich has modern parallels . Natu ral lyenough , with the growth of importance of Sfirya as suchSav itr tends more and more to become the god of instigation

,

and his solar character is not marked . Pfisan i s qu ite oftenmentioned , but hi s natu re i s not appreci ably altered .

Of the other denizens of the Skies Dyau s i s more evanescentthan ever, but Dyav ép rthiv i occupy a fai r p lace in the ritu aland receive frequent shares in the offering . Usas steadi ly dimini shes in importance

,thu s continu ing a devolution which

had begun in the Rgoeda itself, and no new mythology is maderegarding her . On the other hand

,the ASv ins are popular

gods , and the references to thei r activity in the Rgoeda aresupplemented by further detai ls

,the most remarkable of these



by the promise of a share in the cake at the s acrifice,he v an

qu ished Vrtra , who apparently then became hi s food . The

Story of the death of V iSv arii p a , the three-headed son o fTv astr,

i s various ly told,but it i s c lear that Indra was afraid that thi s

demon was likely to betray the gods to the Asu ras,whence

he cut off his three heads , which tu rned into different bi rds .Nevertheles s by thi s act Indra had been gu i lty of the S in o f

S l aying a B rahman , and , s ince al l beings cried out upon himfo r his deed , he besought the earth , trees , and women , each ofwhich took to themselves a thi rd of the blood-sta in which hadfallen on the deity . The s laying o f Tv astr

’s son

,however

,i s

only o ne of the S ins o f Indra known to the B rdhmanas : i t i ss aid that he insu lted h i s teacher B rhasp at i ; gave over theY at is

,who are traditionally s ages , to the hyenas ; and S lew the

Aru rm aghas o r Arunm ukhas,of whom no further data are

recorded . For these s ins,according to the Aitareya B rdhmana

(vi . he was excluded by the gods from the soma,and with

him the whole of the warrior race ; but later he managed to secu re the soma for himself by stealing it from Tv astr, though , i fwe may believe o ne account

,he paid dearly for the theft by

being seriou s ly affected by the drink and requ iring to be curedby the Sautrdmani rite .

Other new featu res of the Indra myth are the p rominentparts p layed by other gods in the confl i ct with Vrt ra : the app earance ofAgni and Soma as helpers i s paralle led by the stres slaid on the aid of Vi snu o r of the Maruts . Moreover we hearnow of the consequences of hi s s laying of the dragon

,which

i s no longer regarded merely as a triumph . Indra himself fleesto the farthest di stance

,thinking that he has fai led to lay hi s

opponent low, and al l hi s strength pas ses from him and en

ters the water, the trees , the plants , and the earth ; o r, again ,he feel s that he has s inned in h i s action

,which i s paralle l

to hi s d i sgrace for s laying V iSv arfip a . All the gods s ave theMaruts abandon him at the deci s ive moment ; and , when Vrtrahas been struck , it i s Véyu who i s sent to see if he i s really dead .


On the other hand,the figu res o f T rita Ap tya , Ap ém

Nap’

at,Aj a Ekap éd, and Ahi Budhnya become fainter and

fainter. T rita natu rally leads to the invention of a legend ac

cording to which there were three brothers,Ekata

,Dv ita , and

T rita , two of whom threw the thi rd into a well . The gods o fthe wind also

,Véyu and Véta , remain unchanged , but M

'

atariSvan assumes the di stinct new feature of a wind-god pu re and

S imple without trace of any connexion with the fire . Parj anyaas the ra in i s sti l l recognized j u st as he i s in the Buddhist texts

,

and we find the importance of the waters duly acknowledgedby the many spel ls of variou s kinds devised to secure ra in

,in

o ne o fwhich the colour black i s u sed throughout to resemble theblacknes s of the c louds whence the rain must descend . In closea s sociation with the waters stand the frog

,which i s u sed in

severa l cool ing rites ; the ants , who exact, in return for thei raction in gnawing the bow-string which cuts Off the head ofVi snu

,the p rivi lege of finding water even in the desert ; many

plants ; and the“Serpent of the Deep ,

” Ahi Budhnya .

The Satarudriya l itanies Show u s the importance of the num e rous Rudras

,who must be p ropitiated no les s than Rudra

h imself,and give them countles s p laces of origin . They

dwell on earth,as well a s in the atmosphere and in the sky ,

and vex men on the roads and at s acred places,bes ides dis

turb ing them in the p latters from which they eat . The ritua lof the householder provides that blood i s to be Offered to themin al l fou r di rections

,and they are described sometimes as

snakes and elsewhere as noi sy eaters of raw flesh,etc . Despite

their connexion with the great god,they are no more than

imps and troll s,and it i s no high honour fo r the Maruts to

receive the s ame name as “ the chi ldren of Rudra,as they

are called even in the Rgoeda . Bes ides thei r spec ia l as sociation with Indra the Maruts now appear regu larly as the sub

j ects among the gods , qu ite like the VaiSyas among men , andthey are s aid to dwell in the asoattha , o r Ficus religiosa , whichi s the tree normally found in an Indian vi l lage enjoying the


honour accorded in England to the o ak . It may eas i ly be thatit was the kinship of these gods

,as the common folk of

heaven,to the VaiSyaS of the vi l lage that helped the theo lo

gians to locate them there,while the popular imagination cou ld

readily fancy that the storm-gods dwelt in the tree throughwhich their winds would whi stle in time of tempest .Of the terrestria l divinities Soma has converted himself intoa celestia l deity by hi s definite identification with the moon

,

which begins in the latest hymns o f the Rgoeda and i s qu itecommon in the later Vedic l iteratu re ; though o f cou rse theplant itself sti l l remains s acred and in a sense i s Soma

,j u st a s

it was in the ear l ier period . There are few legends told re

garding Soma which are o f any interest, the most importantbeing that which concerns the buying of it . It i s an es sentia lpart of the ritual that the soma-plant Should be rep resentedas bought ; but that the seller should be rep robated , and hi sprice afterward even taken away from him . In thi s has beenseen a representation

,one of the beginnings of Indian drama

,of

the obtaining of the soma from the Gandharvas who,in the

Yaj urveda , guard it . The price i s a cow,which i s

,therefore

,

called the soma-purchase cow,but in the B ra

'

hmanas i t appearsthat Vac Speech ”) was the price with which the gods boughtthe soma from the Asu ra s in days gone by

,when she l ived

with the Asuras,and that the cow i s the modern representa

tive o f Vac . The reason why the gods had to purchase somawith Vac was that the Gandharvas were fond of women andwould , therefore , prefer a woman as a price ; but the divinitie sparted with Vac only on the di stinct secret agreement thatwhen they des i red her she would retu rn again , and she did so .

Hence in thi s world it i s legitimate to repu rchase the cow paidfor the soma , though normally a cow so given cou ld not betaken back again . It may be that the legend contains somefaint indication that it was neces sa ry to buy the p lant from thehil l tribes among whom it grew . But if Soma i s the moon

,

the moon and Soma also a re identified in whole o r i n p art



gested that in the connexion,wh i ch i s thu s shown , of the

fathers and the wind (Véyu ) we have a trace o f the concep

tion (which i s certainly no t the normal one o f thi s period) thatthe fathers l ive in the wind ; and the NaréSamsa has been regarded as a name of the fire for the fathers . The fi re natu rallyand inevitably serves to Show the establi shment of Aryancivi lization

,and a famous story of the eastward movement of

the Aryans in the Satap atha B rdhmana (I . iv . 1) tell s o f thefire which V idegha Mathav a 2 and Gotama Réhfigana followed and which introduced the Aryan beliefs into new lands .Yet the B rdhmanas Show no trace of any evolution of a publi ca s opposed to a p rivate fi re o f the king . There is

,however

,a

new development of Agni,for h i s numerou s a spects a re fre

quently described by epithets,such as “

Lord of Vows,

”

Des i re,

o r“ the Pu re ” ; and the ritu a l prescribes d ifferent

Offerings to these several s ides of his natu re . Thi s fact lendsplaus ibi lity to the View that the origin o f B rhasp at i (

“Lord

Of Devotion ”) l ies in a featu re of Agni which was developedmore completely into an independent deity . B rhasp at i himself as sumes in thi s period two o f hi s later characteri stics . He

i s declared to be “Lord o f the Metres

,

” and a lso “Lord Of

Speech ” (Vécasp at i) , which i s h i s p rominent aspect in postVed ic literature

,and he becomes the deity of the constellation

T isya ; while in post-Vedic literatu re he i s the regent of thep lanet Jupiter

,although the suggestion that he i s h imself a

p lanet i s inadmis s ib le .

3 The worship of the p lanets does notappear for certain in any Vedic text

,and i s c learly se t forth

for the fi rst time in the law-book of Yaj fi av alkya in the thi rdcentu ry A.D .

Though there i s no real increase in the position o f the goddes ses in thi s period

,the wives of the gods ob tain a definite

part in the ritu al . Some importance attaches to Ida, the deityo f the oblation , who i s described as the daughter of Manu ,with whom he re-created the world after the deluge

,a lthough

She a lso passes as the chi ld o fMitra and Varuna . Aditi loses


anyth ing of mystery which may have been hers in the Rgoedaand i s constantly identified with the cow at the s acrifice . Sarasv at i appears a s in the Rgoeda , and sacrifices on the banks ofthe Sara svati o f special holines s a re mentioned in the B rahmanas and described at length in the ritual texts . She i s a lsoseen

,however

,i n a new light : when Indra i s compelled to resort

to the Sautrém ani to be cu red from the i l l effects of drinkingsoma

,she , together with theASV ins, aids hi s recovery ; and the

fact that her instrument was Speech seems to have given ri seto her identity with Vac as a ss erted by theB rdhmanas , as well a s to her later elevation to the rank of agoddes s of learning and cu ltu re . The prominence of the moonin the mythology o f the time may explain the appearance of thenames Anum at i and Réké

, Siniv é li and Kuhfi as the deitiesp res iding over the two days of fu l l and new moon respectively .

Of the gods who may be called p e rsonificat ions of ab strac

tions Tv astr remains active a s the creator of the forms o f

beings and the c au ser of the mating of animals . His chieffeatu re i s hi s enm ity with Indra

,who steal s the soma when

Tv astr seeks to exclude him from it and s lays hi s son ViSv arfip aof the three heads , who has been interp reted (though with l ittlel i kelihood) as the moon , but who seems to be no more thanproof o f the cunning of Tv astr’s workmanship . His creationo f Vrt ra for vengeance on Indra i s l i kewise a fa i lu re . His ultimate fate

,as Shown by the Kaufi/ea S iZtra , i s to be merged in

the more comprehens ive personality of Praj ép at i, and thes ame doom befall s Dh

'

atr, V iSv akarm an,and Hiranyagarb ha .

The Atharoaoeda , with that cu riou s mixtu re of theosophy andmagic which characterizes it

,c reates some new gods

,such

as Rohita the Kal a Skam b ha (the“Sup

port” which Praj ép at i u sed for fashioning the world) , Prénathe Vratya (pos s ib ly Rudra under the gu ise of

non-B r’

aihm an ical Aryans) , and others . The really importantfigures thu s c reated

,however

,are Kama and Sri . The former,

Des i re,

” perhaps has its origin in the cosmogonic hymn of


the Rgoeda (x . 129) where Des i re i s s aid to be the fi rst seedo fMind . Thi s god has arrows , and though he i s a cosmic power,he i s to reappea r as a les ser go d in a S iltra and in the epicperiod . The other deity i s S ri who, as we knowfrom the Buddhi st s cu lptu res , was a prominent d ivinity in thefollowing age .It i s a natu ral s ign of growing formali sm that the gods shou ld

now be grouped in clas ses : the eight Vasus (now in connexionwith Agni

,not with Indra) , the eleven Rudras , and the twelve

Adityas,corresponding to earth

,a i r

,and sky respectively.

The Chdndogya Up an isad shows a fu rther p rogres s in addingtwo new groups the Maruts with Soma , and the Sédhyaswith Brahman . The Maruts a re now usually di stingu i shed fromthe Rudras , although they are sti l l connected with them .

When we pass to the minor deitie s o f the period of the B rdhmanas , we find a certain development clearly marked in the cas eof the Gandharvas and the Apsarases . The sol itary Gandharva ,who i s only thrice made plu ral in the Rgoeda , i s now regu larlytransformed into a body o f beings who can be placed togetherwith the gods

,the fathers , and the Asu ras . V iSVav asu ,

however

,i s sti l l frequently mentioned , and appears to have been

conceived as one of the chief guardians of the soma,by whom

,

indeed,in one account he was stolen . Soma i s

,therefore

,b e

sought to elude him in the form o f an eagle in the TaittiriyaS amhitd ( I . i i . 9 . I ) , and the Ta ittiriya Aranyaka (I . ix . 3)tell s u s that Kré

'

anu,the archer who Shot at the eagle which

carried the soma to earth,was a Gandharva . Yet in one account

the gods succeed in buying the soma from the Gandharvasby means of Vac

,for the Gandharvas are lovers o f women ;

with the Apsarases they pres ide over ferti l ity,and those who

desi re offsp ring pray to them . The Atharoaoeda decl a res them tobe shaggy and half animal in form

,though elsewhere they are

called beautifu l . The Apsarases now appear in constant conj unction with water

,both in rivers

,c louds

,l ightning

,and

Stars ; while the Satapatha B rdhmana describes them as trans



spi rits,of whom Vasto sp at i the Lord of the Hou se Kset

rasya Pati (“ the Lord of the Field ”) S i te

—

1 (“ the Fu rrow and

Urv ara (“ the Ploughed Field a re the natu ral divinities of a

V i l lager. Yet the p lace of plants and trees i s sti l l very s light,though the Atharoaoeda u ses p lants freely for medic inal andmagic purposes and ascribes a divine character to them

,and

the bless ing of trees i s,as we have seen

,sought in the mar

riage ritual , while offerings are made both to trees and to plants .In the Buddhi st s criptu res and stories special p rominence i s

,

on the other hand , given to tales of divinitie s of plants , trees ,and forest . A distinct innovation i s the di rect worship of se r

pents,who are clas s ified as belonging to earth

,Sky

,and at

mo sphe re , and who doubtles s now include real repti les a s wella s the snake o r dragon of the atmosphere

,which i s found in the

Rgoeda . The danger from snakes in India i s sufficient to explainthe ri se of the new s ide of the ritual : the Offerings made tothem

,often of blood

,a re to p rop itiate them and reduce thei r

destructive power,and Buddhism i s also supp lied with charms

against them . I solated in compari son with the references tothe snakes are those to other vermin

,such as worm s o r the

king of the mice o r ants,all o fwhich occas ionally receive Offer

ings . A serpent-queen appears a s early as the B rdhmanas andis natu rally enough identified by specu lation with the earth

,

which i s the home o f the snakes . No t unti l the AfoaldyanaGrhya S iZtra ( I I . iv . however

,do we hear in the Vedic rel igion

of the Nagas who are p rominent in the epic .A new form of being in the shape of the man-tiger i s al so found

,

but no t the man-l ion . The boar i s mentioned in cosmogoni cmyths as the form assumed by Prajapati

,who i s also b rought

into conjunction with the tortoi se a s the lord of the waters .The cow i s now definitely divine and i s worsh ipped

,but she

i s a lso regarded as identica l with Aditi and Ida. Tarksya,

the sun-horse , i s named here and there , and Aristanem i, whooccurs in connexion with him

,i s a p recu rsor of Aristanem i as

one o f the T irthakaras of the Jains .


Many other sp i rits of dubious character and origin a re a lsofound

,among whom Nirrt i i s the most p romi

nent : s acrifice i s frequently made to her, and black i s the colourappropriate for u se in such Offerings ; while d ice , women , ands leep

,as evi l th ings

,are brought into as sociation with her .

At the royal consecration the wife who has been degraded inpos ition i s regarded as her representative

,and in the house

of such a woman the Offering toNirrt i i s made . Other deities aremuch les s important and appear chiefly in the S iZtras

,which

Show thei r connexion with the life of the people . Thu s theSdiihhdyana Grhya S iZtra ( i i . 14) describes an offering which ,bes ides the leading gods

,enumerates such persons as Dh

'

atr,

Vidhfitr, Bharata , Sarv énnab hfit i , Dhanap at i, Sri , the nightwalkers

,and the day-walkers . The Kaui iha S iZtra (lV i . 13)

names Udankya , Sfi lv fina , Satrumj aya , Ksé tréna, Martyumj aya ,Martyav a, Aghora , Taksaka , Va i saleya , Hahéhfihfi ,

two Gandharvas , and others . The“ Furrow

,

”Sitii , i s rep laced

by the fou r, Sita, ASS , Aradé , Anaghé ; and so on . We even

find the names of Kubera,

4 the later lord of wealth,and

V i suki , the later king of snakes , but only in S iZtras and , therefore

,i n a period later than that of the B rdhmanas proper .

They se rve , however , to Show how full of semi-divine figureswas the ordinary l ife of the people

,who saw a deity in each

poss ib le form of action . Natu rally, too , they regarded as divinethe p lough and the p loughshare and the drum

,j u st as in the

Rgoeda , and the ritual i s full of the use of symbols,such as

the wheel o f the sun, the gold plate which represents the sun ,and the l ike .In the world of demons the ch ief change in the B rdhmanas

i s the formal separation of Asu ras and gods . Vrtra , whoselegend i s developed

,remains the chief Asura ; but the story of

Namuei i s a lso e laborated , stres s being laid on the u se o f leadin the ritual

,apparently to rep resent the weapon (the foam

of the sea) with which Indra destroyed him when he had undertaken to S lay h im neither with wet nor with dry . The myth of


Vala i s di stinctly thru st to the background , though the epicconstantly celebrates the s layer of Vala and Vrtra ; Susnanow appears a s a Danava who was in posses s ion of thesoma . The Raksase s are the more prominent fiends : theyare dangerou s to women during pregnancy ; in the shape o fdog or ape they attack women ; they p rowl round the brideat the wedding

,so that l ittle staves are shot at thei r eyes .

Often,though human in figure , they are deformed , th ree

headed,fiv e—footed , fou r-eyed , fingerles s

,bear-necked

,and

with horns on thei r hands . They are both male and female ;they have kings and are mortal . They enter man by themouth when he is eating o r drinking ; they cause madnes s ; they su rround houses at night , b raying like donkeys ,laughing aloud

,and drinking out of sku l ls . They eat the flesh

of men and horses and drink the milk of cows by thei r magicpower as ydtudhdnas , o r wizards . Thei r time i s the coming o fnight

,especia lly at the dark period of new moon ; but in the

east they have no power,for the ris ing sun di spels them . The

PiSécas are now added to the numbers of demons as a regu lartribe : they eat the corpse s of the dead ; they make the livingwaste away and dwell in the water of the V i l lages . Magici s u sed both against PiSa

'

caS and against Raksase s,the latter

o fwhom are especi a l enemies o f the sacrifice,and against whom

magic ci rcles,fire

,and imprecations of al l kinds are employed .

More abstract are the Arét is,o r p e rsonificat ions o f i l l iberality .

Other Spi rits,l i ke Arb udi in the Atharoaoeda

,can be mad e to

help against an enemy in battle . A few individua l names ofdemons are new

,and although Makha

,Araru

,Sanda , and

Marka (the Asu ras’

purohitas) a re al l ancient , a vast numberare added by the Grhya S iZtras — Up av ira , Saundikeya,Uliikhala

, Malim luca,D ronéisa , Cyav ana , Alikhant , Anim isa,

Kimv adanta, Up aSrut i , Haryaksa , Kum b hin

,Kfi rku ra

,and

so forth . None o f these has individual charac ter : the sp i ritso f evi l which su rround human beings at every moment

,and

particu larly at times li ke marri age,chi ld-bi rth

,the leaving of a


100 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

are a hundred times greater than the j oys of ea rth . Those whos acrifice properly are rewarded by unity with and identity o f

abode with the sun,Agni , Va

'

yu , Indra , Varuna , B rhasp at i,Prajapati , and Brahma, though thi s identification i s commononly in the later B rdhmanas . On the other hand

,we hear now of

hell : the Atharoaoeda tell s o f i t a s the Naraka Loka ( in contrast with the Svarga Loka , the p lace of Yama) , the abode offemale goblins and sorceres ses , the p lace of blind o r blackdarknes s . It i s described in S l ight detai l in its horror in thatVeda (V . 19) and fully in the Satapatha B rdhmana (X I . v i .where Bhrgu , son of Varuna

,sees a Vi s ion o f men cutting up

men and men eating men . The s ame idea,which i s clearly one

o f retribution in the next world for actions in thi s , i s paralleledin the Kausitahi B rdhmana (xi . where we learn that theanimals which man eats in thi s world wi l l devou r h im in

yonder world if he has not a certa in saving knowledge,though

how the reward or the penalty i s accorded does not clearly ap

pear. The Satapatha B rdhmana (VI . i i . 2 . 27 ; X . V i . 3. 1)holds that all are born again in the next world and are rewardedaccording to thei r deeds

,whether good o r bad ; but no state

ment is made as to who i s to decide the quality of the acts .In the Ta ittir iya Aranyaka (VI . V . 16) the good and the untruthfu l are said to be separated before Yama

,though there i s

no suggestion that he acts a s j udge ; but the Satap atha (XI . i i .

7 . 33) introduces another mode of testing, namely, weighingin a balance

,though by whom the man i s weighed i s not de

clared . Poss ibly thi s i s a reference to some kind of ordeal .In the Up anisads and in the legal text-books we find a new

conception — that of rebi rth after death in the present,no t

in yonder, world . It has no clear predeces sor in the B rdhmanas

proper, but it i s hinted at in the doctrine of the later B rdhmanas that after death a man may yet die over and over again

,

from which the doctrine of metempsychos i s i s an easy step ;whi le a further idea , also with some amount of p reparation inthe Satapatha B rdhmana, regards the man who attains true




souls of the dead in other mythologies a re often connect edwith the winds . In the Veda the only other reference to thi swhich presents itself i s the poss ibi l ity that the Maruts maybe the sou ls o f the dead

,regarded as riding in the storm

winds,but for thi s there i s no clear evidence . A group of the

fathers,the “

Seven Seers ,” i s identified with the stars of the

Bear,doubtles s for no better reason than the S imila rity of

rs seer,

’’ and rhsa,

“ bea r,

” although from time to time theidea occu rs that the sou ls of the piou s are the stars in heaven .

CHAPTER IV

THE GREAT GODS OF THE EPIC

the epic we find in developed and elaborate form a concep t ion which i s entire ly o r at least mainly lacking in the

Vedic period,a doctrine o f ages of the world which has both

striking points of contrast with and affinity to the idea o f thefou r ages se t forth in Hes iod . In the G reek vers ion

,however

,

the fou r ages are naively and S imply cons idered as accountingfo r al l time ,1 while in the Indian they are only the form inwhich the Absolute reveals itself

,thi s revelation being followed

by a period of reabsorption,after which the ages again come

into being . In the p roces s o f evolution the fi rst,o r Krta , age

i s preceded by a dawn o f fou r hundred years and closes in atwi light of equal duration , whi le its own length i s fou r thousandyears .2 Thi s i s the golden age of the world

,in which al l i s

perfect . Neither gods nor demons o f any kind yet exi st, andsacrifices are unknown

,even bloodles s Offerings . The Vedas

themselves have no exi stence,and all human infirm itie s

,such

as di sease,pride

,hatred

,and lack ofmental power

,are absent .

None the les s , the fou r castes — the p riest,the warrior

,the

hu sbandman,and the serf come into being with thei r specia l

marks and characteri stics,though thi s d ifferentiation i s modi

fied by the fact that they have but one god to worship , oneVeda to fol low

,and one ru le . In thi s age men do not seek the

fru it of action , and accordingly they are rewarded by o b

taining salvation through absorption in the absolute . On thetwilight of the Krta age follows the dawn of the T re té

,which

lasts for three hundred years,whi le the age itself continues three

thousand and ends in a twi light o f three hundred years . Inv 1— 8

FIG . 2 . THE CHURNING OF THE OCEANThe gods (Siva, Visnu , and B rahm a

“

) stand to the le ft ofMountMandara,which rests

on a to rto ise (Visnu h im se l f in his Karm a,o r To rto ise

,avatar) ; to the right are the

demons ; and w ith the se rp ent Vasuki as the co rd the two Op po sing sides twir l themountain to churn the am b ro sia from the o ce an of m i lk . In the lower p art o f the p ictureare the various “

gem s”incidenta l ly won in gaining the amrta . After Moo r, Hindu

Pantheon, P late XLIX.



gods a re chiefly conspicuou s by reason of thei r impotence tointervene in the affai rs of men : with the exception o f Vi snuthey can merely applaud the combatants and cannot aid o r

succou r them,i n strange contrast with the gods o f Homer .

There are real gods , however, as well a s phantoms,and thei r

exi stence i s c learly revealed to u s in the legend of the churningof the ambros i a which is prese rved in the Rdmdyana ( i . 45;v ii . 1) and , i n a more confused and fragmentary form ,

in theMahdhharata . The gods and Asuras were sprung from o ne

father,KaSyap a Marica , who married the daughters of Daksa

Praj ép at i, the gods being the chi ldren of Aditi , while theAsu ras (the chi ldren of D iti) were the Older . They lived inhappines s in the Krta age , but being seized with the des i re toattain immortal ity and freedom from o ld age and s icknes s ,they decided that they shou ld seek the ambros i a which wasto be won by churning the mi lky ocean , and accordingly theyset about thi s tas k by making the serpent Vasuki the chu rningrope and Mount Mandara the chu rning stick . For a thousandyears they churned

,and the hundred heads of Vasuki

,Spitting

venom,bit the rocks

,whence sprang the deadly poi son called

Hé lahala , which began to burn al l creation , gods , men , andAsuras al i ke . T hey fled to Rudra ,

“ the Lord o f Cattle,

“ the Healer (Sankara) , and at the request of Vi snu,who

hai led him as chief o f the gods , he drank the poison as thoughit were the ambros i a . The chu rning then proceeded

,but Mount

Mandara s l ipped into hel l . To remedy the disaster Vi snu layin the ocean with the mountain on hi s back

,and KeSav a pro

ceeded to chu rn the ocean,grasping the top ofMandara with

hi s hand . After a thou sand years there appeared the ski lledphys ic ian Dhanvantari , then the Apsarases , who were treatedas common property by the gods and the Asu ra s

,and next

Varuna’s daughter, Su ra, whom the sons o fAditi married , thu sattaining the name of Sura

,while those of D iti declined to

marry, whence thei r name o f Asura (here popu larly etym o lo

gized as“Without Then came out the best o f horses ,

THE GREAT GODS OF THE EPIC 107

UccaihSrav as, and the pearl of gems , Kaustub ha,and the am

b ro sia itself . But over it strife arose between the half-brothers ,so that in the end Vi snu by hi s magic power (mdyd) secu redthe Vi ctory o f the gods and bestowed upon Indra the so v e r

e ignty of the three worlds .Such in es sence i s the attitude of the epic to the Vedic gods ,

who appear a s feeble creatu res,unable to overpower the Asu ras

o r to effect thei r pu rpose of winning immortality by the use ofthe ambros i a unti l they are aided by S iva and Vi snu

,though

in the genealogy these two are no more divine than the others .Indra himself who

,as the god of the warrior

,might have been

expected to retain some degree of real authority,can hold h i s

pos ition only by the favour of Visnu and can exerci se hi sShadowy sway merely as a V icegerent . Bes ide S iva and Vi snuno Vedic god takes equal rank

,and the only power which

can for a moment be compared with these two deitie s i sB rahma

-

I,the personal form o f the absolute B rahman

,a god

,

that Is to say,of priestly origin and one who cou ld never have

any real hold o n the mythological instinct . Vi snu and S iva,

o n the contrary,were too real and popular to S ink into the

deities of priestly specu lation,and round them gathers an

ev e rgrow ing body of tales .It i s characteri stic o f the feeb le personal ity of Brahma

that he finds a connexion with the classes of the gods onlythrough identification with Tv astr, who counts as one of thetwelve Adityas

,the narrower group o f the chi ldren of Aditi

and KaSyap a Prajép at i . In reality , however, he i s a p e rson ification of the abstract Absolute which i s often described in theMahdhhdrata . It i s eternal

,self-existing

,invi s ib le

,unborn

,

unchanging,imperi shable

,without beginning o r end ; from it

a ll i s Sprung,and it i s embodied in the whole universe ; yet in

itself it has no characteri stics,no qualities

,and no contrasts .

As all sp rings from it,so into it all is resolved at the end of the

fou r ages . Thus it can be identified with T ime and with Death ,both of which

,l ike itself

,absorb all things and bring them to


nothingnes s . Into the B rahman the individual self may beresolved when it casts as ide even the apprehens ion of its ownidentity with the B rahman

,abandons all resolves o f body o r

mind,and frees itself from every attachment to obj ects of

sense . When a man withdraws al l h i s des i res as a tortoi se al lits l imbs

,then the self sees the self in itself ; when a man fears

no one and , when none fear him ,when he des i res nothing and

has no hatred,then he attains the Absolute . Pe rsonified as

Brahm '

a, the Absolute appears as a creator, as Praj ép at i, themaker of the worlds , the grandfather of the worlds . He createsthe gods

,seers

,fathers

,and men

,the worlds

,rivers

,oceans

,

rocks,trees

,etc . In other pas sages he created fi rst the B rah

mans called Praj ép at is endowed with radiance l ike the suntruth

,l aw

,penance

,and the eternal B rahman

,cu stoms

,pu ri

ficat ions, the Devas , D'

anavas,Gandharvas

,Daityas, Asu ras ,

Maho ragas, Yaksas, Réksasas, Nagas , PiSacas, and the fou rcastes of men . It i s characteri sti c that the B rahman is herecreated by the personal B rahma who i s sp rung from itself.Brahma also appears a s only one and that the highest of

the Praj'

apati s,and elsewhere we find an enumeration of

seven Prajép at is who are cal led hi s Spi ritu al sons , Marici ,Atri

,Angiras, Pulastya , Pulaha , Kratu , and Vasistha, even

longer li sts being given elsewhere .Beyond thi s c reative power mythology has l ittle to say of

Brahma.

"

Above heaven lie h i s beautifu l worlds,and hi s as

sem b ly hal l stands on Mount Meru . Yet,as accords with one

who created the world by V i rtue of his magic power of i l lu s ion,

the form of his palace i s such that it cannot be describedneither cold nor hot

,it appears to be made of many bri ll i ant

gems , but it does not rest upon columns ; it su rpas ses inSplendour the moon , the sun , and fi re

,and in it the creator

ever dwell s . Brahma’s wife i s Savitri,and swans are harnes sed

to his chariot, which i s swift a s thought . His altar i s calledSam antap aficaka , and it was from a great s acrifice which heperformed on the top of Mount Him av ant (roughly to be iden



tified with the H imalayas) that there came into being a c reature with the colou r of the blue lotu s

,with sharp teeth and

s lender waist,of enormous strength

,at whose b i rth the earth

trembled,and the ocean rose in great waves . Thi s being was

As i (“ the born to protect the gods

,and it was given

to Rudra by B rahma. Rudra handed it on to Vi snu,and he to

Marici,whence it came to the seers

,from them to Vé sav a and

the world guardians,and then to Manu in the shape of the law .

AS contrasted with the Vedic gods B rahma shows some ofthe featu res of the greatnes s of a creator . Thu s in time of

distres s the gods are ap t to turn to him and to seek hi s advice ,but he yields in importance to the two great gods

,S iva and

Vi snu,even though here and there in the Maha

'

hha'

rata phrasesoccu r which suggest that these gods owed thei r origin to him

,

o r rather to the Absolute , o f which he i s the personal form .

When worshipped as the greatest of gods,he himself responds

by adoration of Vi snu,who

,though Sprung from the B rahman

,

has c reated him as a factor in the proces s of world creation ;and it i s s tated that B rahmawas born from the lotu s which cameinto being on the navel of Vi snu as he lay sunk in mus ing .

Once only in the epic is the doctrine of a tri ad of Brahma,

Vi snu,and S iva la id down in a p as sage o f the Mahahhdrata

( i i i . where it i s s aid : “ In the form of B rahmahe creates ;his human form [i .e . Vi snu]preserves ; in hi s form as Rudra

[i . e . S iva]wil l he destroy ; these are the three conditions ofPrajép at i .

”This V iew

,however

,i s foreign to the epic a s a

whole and to the Rdmdyana , and the creator-god i s at mostregarded as one o f the forms of the two great sectarian divinities .It accords well with the faded pos ition o f the creator-god

that the account of Indian religion which we owe to the Greekwriter Megasthene s (about 300 B .C . ) makes no mention of himas a great god

,even when it tells u s of two deities who are

identified with D ionysos and Herakles and in whom we mustrecognize S iva and Vi snu

,rather than

,as has also been sug

gested , V i snu and S iva , though the poss ib i l ity of the double

1 10 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

identification reminds u s that there i s much in common in thetwo Indi an as in the two Greek gods themselves . The divinitywhomMegasthenes cal ls D ionysos was at home where the vineflourished in the ASv aka country, north of the Kabu l river,in the north-west country north of Delhi

,and fu rther north

in KaSm ir ; and his worship also extended east to B ihar andeven as far as Kalinga in the south-east

,and was p revalent

round Gokarna in the west . Herakles again was worshippedin the Ganges val ley and had as chief seats o f his cu lt the townso f Metho ra and Kle iso b o ra

,in which have been seen (doubt

les s rightly) Mathure-

I and the city o f Krsna , both on theJumn '

a,the former being the capital of the Y édav as

,among

whom Krsna ranked as hero and god . Consi stent with thi s i sthe fact that Megasthene s ascribes to Herakles a daughterPandaie

,for thi s accords with hi story

,s ince the Pandyas o f

southern India,whose connexion with the Pandavas of the epic

was recognized,were worshippers of Krsna , and in thei r coun

t ry a second Mathura is found .

In the ep ic S iva,the ten-armed

,dwells on the holyHim av ant

,

on the north s ide of Mount Meru,in a lovely wood

,ever full o f

flowers and surrounded by divine beings ; o r , again , he lives onMount Mandara . He i s s aid to be born of B rahma

,but also

from the forehead of Vi snu . His hair flashes li ke the sun,and

he has four face s which came into being when he was temptedby T ilo ttam

'

a,a beautifu l nymph created by B rahma from all

that was most preciou s in the world . As She walked round thegreat god

,a beautifu l countenance appeared o n each s ide : Of

the four, those facing east, north , and west are mild , but thatwhich faces south i s harsh ; with that which faces east he ru les ,with that which faces north he rejoices in the company of hi swife Uma; that which faces west i s mild and delights a ll beings ,but that which faces south i s terrib le and destructive . He hasthree eyes which shine like three suns

,whi le , again , it i s s a id

that the sun , moon , and fi re are his three eyes . His third eyehe owes to the playfu l act ofUm éi . One day in j e st She suddenly



hailed as a lord of gold,wearing mail of gold

,and golden

crested,and i s a close friend of Kubera

,lord of treasu res .

The names of S iva are countles s and his Shapes many : of theformer now one thous and and eight

,now one thous and

,are

mentioned,but names and forms a like s imp ly i l lu strate either

the mild o r the terrib le aspect o f hi s natu re . The terrib leform is declared to be fi re

,l ightning

,and the sun ; the mild

form is Dharma (o r water,and the moon ; o r

,

again,the terrible form is fire

,and the mild i s Soma as the

moon . His sovereign power gives h im the name MaheSv ara

(“ the Great h is greatnes s and omnipotence cau se himto be styled Mahadeva (

“ the Great and hi s fiercene ss,

wh ich leads him to devour flesh,blood

,and marrow

,i s the

origin of the name Rudra ; while hi s des i re to confer bles s ingso n al l men makes him to be termed the Ausp iciou s (S iva) ,o r

“ the Healer ” (Sankara) . AS the devastating power whichfinally destroys the universe he is Hara (

“ the Sweeper Awayof all beings) . Moreover he sends di sease and death ; thedeadly fever i s h is deputy

,and he i s actu ally personified as

death and disease,destroying the good and the bad alike .

As K'

ala he i s lord o f the whole world,and as Kai la

(“Death he vis its impartia lly the young

,children

,the Old

,

and even those yet unborn . As Kala he i s the beginning of theworlds

,and the destroyer ; o n the instigation of Kala everything

i s done,and al l i s animated by Kala . He created the whole

world indeed,but at the end of the ages he draws it in and

swallows it ; yet al l that i s thus absorbed i s born again , s aveonly the wise who understand the origin and disappearance ofal l things and so attain fu l l union with him . He i s the “

Lordo f Creatures ” (PaSup at i) , a term not merely denoting theLord of Cattle ” as a pastoral deity

,but s ignifying also the com

p lete dependence of all human souls upon him .

Other epithets which proclaim his might are ISéna theIév ara (

“ the V iSv eSv ara (“ the Lord of

Sthanu the Immovable and Vrsa (“ the a name

THE GREAT GODS OF THE EPIC 1 13

which i s al so s ignificant of the close connexion and partial ident ificat ion of the god with the beast which he rides . The terribleaspect o f his character i s li kewise reflected in the natu re o f hisappearance : his ears a re not merely large

,but are shaped like

spears o r pegs o r bas ins (kumbha) ; his eyes and earsare frightfu l ; his mouth i s m is Shapen , hi s tongue i s l ike asword

,and hi s teeth are both large and very sharp .

On the other hand,in hi s mild form as S iva or Sankara

,he

i s friendly to all beings,bears a mild countenance

,and re

j oices over the welfare ofmen . He i s gay and i s fond ofmusic,

song,and dance ; indeed , he i s s aid to imitate the noise of the

drum with his mouth and to be ski lled in song and dancing andmus ic

,arts to which h i s fol lowers are also addicted .

In the Mahdhhdrata (xi i i . 7506) part of h i s mi ld form isreckoned to be hi s p ractice of the ascetici sm of a hrahmacdrin

,

o r chaste B réhm anical scholar,but hi s self-m o rt ificat ion i s

di stinctly of the horrible type and sets an example for theworst exces ses of the Indian faki r . The most fit p lace fo rs acrifice which he can find in his wanderings over all the earthIS none other than the burning ghat , and he i s believed to befond of ashes from the funeral pyre and to bear a sku l l in h i shand . He l ives in bu rning ghats , goes either shaved o r withuncombed hai r

,i s clothed in bark o r s kins

,and i s s aid not only

to have stood on o ne foot for a thou sand years,but also to

endure heavy penances o n Mount Him av ant . All thi s i s donefor the good of the world

,but it affords a precedent for the

most painfu l renunci ation and the most appall ing austerities,

features which endear S iva to the B rahman as the ideal of thetrue yogin ,

o r ascetic .

It i s characteri sti c of the god that the tales of him dwellrather on his power than on hi s gentlenes s

,although there i s a

striking exception in a legend told in the Mahdhhdrata (xi i .

5675ff. ) which shows both S iva and hi s consort in a tender l ight .After a long time a B rahman had been bles sed with a son

,but

the chi ld soon died and was carried to the burning place . A

1 14 IND IAN MYTHOLOGY

vulture,attracted by the lamentations of the relatives

,bade

them depart, s aying that no u sefu l pu rpose wou ld be served bytheir staying

,s ince al l must die ; but j u st as they were prepar

ing to follow his advice,a black j ackal appeared , and dec laring

that the chi ld might perhaps revive , asked them if they hadno love for it . They went back, and while the two animals cont inued thei r dispute Sankara , instigated by Um ZI , appearedon the scene with eyes ful l o f tears o f p ity, and as a boon b estowed on the chi ld a hundred years of l ife

,reward ing the

vultu re and the j ackal as well . In striking contrast with thi si s the famou s tale ofDaksa

’s sacrifice . At the end o f the Krta

Yuga the gods sought to perform a sacrifice and prepared itin accordance with the prescriptions of the Vedas

,while Praj

'

a

pati Daksa , a son of Prace tas undertook the Offering and performed it on Him av ant at the very place where the Gangesbursts forth from the mountains . The gods themselves dec ided how the sacrifice was to be apportioned

,but as they did

not know Rudra well they left him without a share . In angerRudra went to the p lace of Offering , bearing hi s bow,

andstraightway the mountains began to Shake

,the wind ceased to

blow,and the fi re to burn

,the stars quenched thei r l ight in

fear,the glory o f the sun and the beauty o f the moon departed

,

and thick darknes s fi l led the air . S iva shot right through thes acrifice

,which took the shape o f a hart and sought refuge in

heaven together with Agni ; in hi s wrath he broke the arms ofSav itr and the teeth o f Pfisan ,

and tore out the eyes of Bhaga .

The gods hasti ly fled with the remains of the preparations forthe sacrifice

,pursued by Siva’s mocking laughter . The string

of hi s bow,however

,was rent by a word spoken by the gods

,

and the deities then sought h im and strove to propiti ate him .

Mahédev a suffered his anger to be appeased,hu rled hi s bow

into the sea,and restored to Bhaga his eyes

,to Sav itr hi s arms ,

and to Pfisan his teeth , and in retu rn received the melted butteras hi s share of the offering . Such i s the tale in its s implest form

(Mahdhhdrata,x . 786 ff ) , but it i s a favourite theme o f the



The stream on earth fol lowed the chariot of Bhagiratha unti lit came to the Offering place of Jahnu , who swallowed it and wasinduced by the gods to a llow it to i s sue forth again through hi sears only on condition that it shou ld count as hi s daughter.Bhagiratha then conducted the river into the underworld ,where he sprinkled the ashes o f the sons o f Sagara with it andreceived the praise of Brahma for his great deed .

S iva performed another mighty feat when he made thedeity of love to lose hi s body . As the lord of the gods was engaged in deep meditation

,Kama approached him to induce him

to beget with Parvati a son powerfu l enough to overthrow theDaitya Taraka

,who had conquered the worlds . In deep anger

S iva with a glance of hi s eye burned Kama to ashes,whence

the god of love i s cal led Amanga,o r Bodi les s . ” The incident

i s only briefly referred to in the Mahdhhdrata (x i i . 6975— 80)and owes its fame to its handl ing by Kal idas a in the famousep ic Kumdrasamhhaoa

,which tells o f the b irth of the war-god

as the resu lt of the love excited by the hap les s Kama in S iva,

despite the penalty paid by him .

The first in rank among S iva’s martial exploits was hi s destruction of the three citadel s of the Asu ras in the wars whichthey waged against the gods . These citadels are al ready knownto the B rdhmanas as made of i ron , s i lver, and gold , o ne in eachof the three worlds

,but the ep ic places them al l in heaven

,and

makes V idyunm alin ,Taraka

'

ksa and Kam ala'

ksa thei r re sp ective lords . Even Indra could not p ierce these citadels

,where-r

fore the gods sought the aid of Rudra,who burned the forts

and extirpated the D'

anavas . Among the Asuras he had o ne

special foe in Andhaka,whom he s lew ; and he a lso had an en

counter with the sage USanas, who by means of hi s asceti cpower deprived Kubera o f his treasu re . In punishment S ivaswallowed him and not only refused to disgorge him unti l hehad long been entreated to do so

,but even then wou ld have

s lain him had it not been for the intervention o fDevi . A morepoetic tale i s the encounter of S iva with Arjuna : Arjuna

,the

FIG . 3. THE PROP IT IATION o r UMA, OR DEVI

The goddess is seated in he r tem p le o n the summ it of a m ountain and is ado red b y

( 1) Siva, (2) Visnu , (3) B rahma, (4) Indra , (5) Agni, and ano the r de ity . Above to

the le ft is SGI’YQ. (“ the Sun ”

) w ith his chario tee r Aruna,and to the right is Candra

(“the The mountain

,wh ich is shown to b e the haunt o f w ild beasts

,is the

home Of various kinds of asce tics . After Moo r, Hindu Pantheon, P late XXXI .


noblest of the five Pandavas , by his a scetic p ractices createdpanic among the gods

,so that S iva

,a s suming the form of a

mountaineer,o r Kirata

,went to Arj una and picked a quar

rel with him over a Raksasa in boar-form whom Arjuna ki l ledwithout permitting the Kir

'

ata to share in the booty . The twofought

,finally wrestl ing with each other

,and Arjuna fainted

in the god’s embrace,to be revived by the deity and to receive

from him the divine weapons which were to stand him in goodstead in the great war which forms the main theme of theMahdhhdrata . At S iva’s b idding Arjuna was borne to theheaven o f Indra

,where he remained for five years

,learning the

use of the celestial weapons .Closely akin to S iva i s hi s wife Um

'

a,the younger daughter

o f Him av ant,whose gift of her to Rudra cost him the los s o f

al l hi s j ewel s through a curse of Bhrgu ,the sage o f the gods

,

who came too late to seek her in marriage . As “Daughter o f

the Mountain she i s a l so Parvati,and Gau ri the Radiant

White and Durga (“ the The fancy of

the poet,however

,derives thi s last epithet from the fact that she

guards her devotees from di stres s (durga) , and she i s proclaimeda s the refuge for those lost in the wild s

,wrecked in the great

ocean,o r beset by evi l men . Yet her normal aspect i s terrib le :

she l ives in trackles s p laces,She loves strife and the blood of

the Asu ra Mahi sa,and in battle She conquers Dénav as and

Da ityas . She i s Kali o r Mahékali,a s her spou se i s Kala

,and

she i s called the deep s leep of a ll creatu res . She i s a lso said tol ive on Mandara or the Vindhya

,and to be of the l ineage of the

cowherd Nanda,a daughter ofYaSodaand a S i ster ofVasudeva

,

a descent which i s clearly intended to connect her c losely withVisnu . Li ke her husband She has four' faces

,but only fou r arms

,

she wears a d iadem of shin ing colou rs,and her emblem is the

peacock’s tai l .In the Mahdhhdrata sectarian influence has exalted both

Siva and Visnu at the expense o f the other : it seems clear thatthe Vaisnav as fi rst exerci sed thei r influence o n the text

,but


PLATE X

MAR R I AGE O F S IV A AND PARV AT I'

T he union o f the de ities is honoured by the pre senceo f the chief div initie s . V isnu and Laksm i stand o n the

le ft ; o n the right the T rimurti o f Brahma,V i snu

,and Siva is seen. Gandharvas and Apsarase s

float above in the sky, and among the gods V isnu

( riding o n Garuda) , Vfiyu (o n an ante lo pe) , Agni

(on a ram ) , Indra (on an e lephant) , and Kama (ona do lphin) are c learly recognizable . From the Dumar

Lena cav e at Elura,in His Highne ss the Nizam ’s

Dom inio ns . Afte r a pho tograph in the Library o f the

India O ffi ce , Lo ndo n .



persona l ity in great measu re in becoming a feminine expres s iono f her husband’s character, especially in its dark and s ini stera spect . As her descent from Him av ant denotes

,l i ke her hu s

band she was particu larly a goddes s ofthe north and of the earthin its mountainou s

,and not in its peaceful

,aspect

,which exp lains

in part her wild and ferociou s character . She seems a lso tohave been identified with a goddes s of the non-Aryan tribesof the Vindhya .

While S iva and his consort represent the a scetic s ide of Indian religion

,Vi snu and his spou se di splay the milder and more

human aspects o f that faith . Li ke Indra he is reckoned as oneof the Adityas , and the youngest, but he i s al so the only Ad ityawho i s enduring

,unconquerable

,Im p e rl shab le , the everlasting

and mighty lord . Though Indra’s younger b rother, i t was hewho secured Indra in the kinship over the worlds . His abodei s on the top ofMount Mandara , to the east ofMeru , and tothe north of the sea of milk . H igher even than B rahm é’sseat i s h i s p lace

,in everlasting l ight

,and thither they only go

who are without egoi sm,unselfis with

restra ined senses . No t even B rahm arsis ttain

to it,but Y at is alone

,that i s

,men who have completely over

come the temptations of sense . He has four arms and lotu s eyes,

and bears on his b rea st the vatsa mark which he rece iv ed when the great sage Bharadv

'

aja threw water at himbecau se he d i stu rbed him at prayer . From hi s navel

,when he

lay musing,sprang a lotu s

,and in it appeared Brahma

—

I with hisfou r faces . H is ra iment i s yellow

,and on hi s b reast he bears

the Kau stub ha gem which came forth on the chu rn ing of theocean . He has a chariot of gold

,eight-wheeled

,swift a s thought

,

and yoked with demons,and the couch on which he l ies as he

m u ses,is the serpent Sesa or Ananta

,who holds the ea rth at

B rahma’s command and bears up the s lumbering god . H is

standard i s the bird Garuda . H is weapons are a cakra , o r

discu s , W i th which he overwhelmed the Daityas, a conch , a

c lub,and a bow.

PLATE X I

B I RTH O F BRAHMA

V isnu re sts,abso rbed in m editatio n

,on the co sm ic

se rpent Ananta who floats on the

co sm ic o cean . Laksm i,the wife o f the god, shampo o s

his fe et . From his nav e l springs a lo tus , on whichappears the four-headed de ity B rahma. From an

Indian wate r-co lour in the co l lection o f the Edito r.


THE GREAT GODS OF THE EPIC 12 1

Li ke S iva Vi snu must have a thou sand names , which theMahdhhdrata enumerates and in part explains , ascrib ing thename Vi snu to the greatnes s (orhattoa) of the god . Sectarianenthus iasm raises h im to the pos ition of all-god and sub o rdi

nates to him no t onlyBrahma—

1but even S iva himself. AS Brahmai s born from the lotu s on V isnu

’s navel

,SO S iva i s born from

his forehead . A favou rite name of his i s Hari,and at the very

close o f the ep ic period the Harioamfa commemorates theequality o f the two great gods of the epic in the compoundHarihara

,Hara

,as we have seen

,being an epithet of Vi snu .

Another name with mystic sense i s Néréyana , which i s u sed todenote the god in hi s relation of identity with man .

While S iva i s the ascetic in hi s gruesome aspect,the per

former of countles s years of hatefu l au sterities , Vi snu also i s a

yogin ,though in a very different way . When al l the world has

been destroyed and al l beings have peri shed,then Vi snu muses

on the waters , resting on the serpent,thu s personifying the

state of absorption of the sou l in the Supreme Being . Thi s,

however,i s the les s important S ide of hi s being

,which expres ses

itself in the desi re to puni sh and restra in the b ad and to rewardand encourage the good . He i s rep resented as del iberately dec iding for thi s pu rpose to as sume such forms a s those of a boar

,

a man- l ion,a dwarf

,and a man ; and these constitute hi s ava

tars,o r

“ descents,

” which in ever increas ing number revealVi snu in hi s character of the loving and compass ionate god

,

and which,by bringing him into close contact with humanity

,

distingu i sh him from Siva,whom the ep ic never regards a s

taking human Shape .

The incarnations of Vi snu known to the Mahdhha'

rata a reas a boar

,a dwarf

,a man- l ion

,the head of a horse

,and Krsna ,

o f which the fi rst three only are normally reckoned among hisavatars . The boar incarnation was as sumed when all the surface of the ea rth was flooded with water

,and when the lord

,

wandering about l ike a fi re-fly in the night in the rainy season ,sought some place on which to fix the earth

,which he was fain


to save from the deluge . The shape wh ich he took was ten

yoj anas ( leagues) broad and a hundred yoj anas long, l ike a

great mountain,shin ing with Sharp tu sks

,and resembling a

dark thunder-cloud . Assuming it, he descended into the water,and grasp ing the s inking earth with one of h i s tusks , he drew itup and set it back in its due p lace . In the dwarf incarnationVi snu was born a s a son of KaSyap a and Aditi , his originalparents

,in order to deprive Bali

,son of Viro cana

, of the sove re ignty o f the three worlds which he had attained . He cameinto being with matted hair

,in the shape of a dwarf

, of theheight of a boy, bearing staff and j ar, and marked with theoatsa . Accompanied by B rhasp at i, he strode to the D i nav as

’

place of s acrifice , and Bal i , seeing h im ,courteously offered him

a boon . In reply Vi snu chose three step s of ground,but when

the demon accorded them,Vi snu

,resuming hi s true Shape

,in

three great strides encompassed the three worlds,which he

then handed over to Indra to ru le . The myth i s clearly only avariant of the three step s ofVi snu in the Rgoeda , and the boarincarnation also has a forerunner in that text in so fa r a s Vi snui s rep resented in close connexion with a boar .The epi sode of the man-l ion i s only briefly related in theMahdhhdrata : Vi snu assumed the form half of a l ion and halfof a man and went to the as sembly of the Daityas. ThereHiranyakaéipu ,

the son saw him and advanced againsthim in anger

,trident i and rumbling like a thunder

cloud,only to be torn in p ieces by the Sharp claws o f the lion

man . This double form is a new motive in Indian mythologyand has no Vedic parallel .The incarnation with a horse’s head has a faint Vedic p redecessor in the legend that the doctrine of the Madhuwas told by a horse’s head . In the epic story we are informedthat two D i nav as

,Madhu and Kaitab ha , stole the Vedas from

B rahma and entered the sea,whereupon the deity was cast

into deep sorrow and bethought himself o f seeking the aid of

Vi snu . The latter,gratified by hi s adoration

,assumed the


PLATE X I I

V ARAHAVATARA

V isnu,incarnate as a bo ar

,raise s

the Earth,who

,in the figure o f a woman

,c l ings to

his tusk . From a sculpture at Eran, Sagar, Central

Pro v inces . Afte r Co omaraswamy, Vis’

v aharma , PlateXCIII .



head of a horse , and plunging into the sea , rescued the Vedasand restored them to B rahma

,after which he retu rned to his

proper form and assai led the two Danavas,whom he S lew in

revenge fo r their insu lt to Brahma.

The Mahdhhdrata ( i i i . 12746 S . ) ha s a vers ion of the famousstory of the deluge

,but the fish which saves Mann and the

seeds of a ll th ings from destruction reveal s himself,when the

vessel which he ~

supp ort s rests upon Mount Naub andhana,

a s B rahma rather than a s Vi snu , as in the later accounts of thePurdnas . These

,however

,l i ke the p reviou s avatars

,are mere

ep isodes in the life of the god , while the embodiments Of Vi snuas Krsna and Rama belong to a different order of myths andadd material ly to the godhead of Vi snu . It i s through them

,

indeed,that the ancient Vedic sun-god attains hi s fu l l great

nes s and becomes specia lly adapted for the pos ition of supremed ivinity and the obj ect o f keen sectarian worship .

The wife of Vi snu is Laksmi or Sri,who came forth

,accord

ing to o ne vers ion,at the chu rning of the ocean

,while in an

other a lotu s sp rang from the forehead o f Vi snu,whence was

born Sri,who became the wife of Dharma

,o r

“ Ju sti ce .

”She

i s the goddes s of beauty and prosperity and can boast that noa !

god,Gandharva

,Asura

,o r Raksasa i s able to overpower her.

Unlike Kal i,however

,she has no d i stinct personality in the

epic and i s but a faint reflex of her hu sband,though poss ibly

enough she was once an independent and l iving goddes s .In the Mahdhhdrata a s we have it Krsna i s recognized a s an

incarnation o f Néréyana Vi snu , and the Bhagaoadgi td, whichi s h i s song

,declares h i s identity with the supreme principle

of the universe . He was,we are told

,born in the family of the

Yadu s a s the son of Vasudeva and Devaki , and throughoutthe body of the ep ic he plays the r6le of a parti san and mostenergeti c supporter o f the Pandavas . His character i s decidedlyunsati sfactory and i s marked by every sort of deceit andtrickery . It was he who gave the advice how to secu re the overthrow of D rona and who proved to Arjuna that truth must

PLATE XI H

LAK SMi

The Goddess o f W ealth and Beauty, who se bi rthat the churning o f the ocean is represented in Fig . 2,

is here shown in her usua l fo rm as a lo v e ly womanseated on a lo tus . O n e ither side stands an e lephantho lding a canopy o v e r her head. T he smal l

,separate

figures hav e no mytho logical significance . Fo r an

o ther conceptio n Of he r see Plate XXI . From

a painted alabaster group in the Peabody Museum,

Salem,Mass .



no t always be told,and against the rep roof of Yudhisthira

he defended the action of Bhima in unfai rly defeating Du ryo

dhana in the final duel . Subsequently he saved Bhima from thefate p repared for him by Dhrtaréstra by substituting an i ronstatue for him . Becau se of hi s sha re in the ru in of the Kau rav as he was cu rsed by G

'

andhéri,thei r mother

,and he admit

ted that the doom was fated to be accompli shed in the destru ct ion of himself and hi s race . He was present at thehorse s acrifice by which Yudhisthira procla imed h i s completesovereignty

,and then reti red to h i s country of Dv é raké .

There strife b roke out among the Yadavas,thi s being fol lowed

by the death of Krsna , who was accidentally p ierced in thesole of the foot (where alone he was v ulnerab le) by an arrowshot by a hunter with the S ignificant name of Jaré (

“O ldLater

,in the Har ioamfa and the Purdnas we have

detai l s of the early days o f Krsna , and there i s evidence thatthese storie s were known even in the second centu ry B . C .

,

although , di s regarding interpolations wh ich a re obviou sly late ,it i s ce rta in that the ep ic normally cons iders Krsna as es sentially heroic . It is

,however

,equally clear that h i s a s sociation

with Vi s nu i s no t primitive,but that it has been introduced

into the ep ic in the cou rse of time : indeed,i t is doubtfu l i f

the Bhagaoadgitd i tself was origina lly Va isnav ite in tendency,but even if that were the ca se

,i t i s certain that the Krsnaite

redaction was an afterthought .The origin of th i s new and most important deity i s ob scu reand p robably insoluble . In the op inion of E . W . Hopkins 4

Krs na was the chief god of the invad ing tribe of the YadavasPandavas who came from the hi l l country north of the Gangesand overthrew the Ku ru s in the stronghold of B rahmani smin the holy land about the present Delhi . But the conquerors

,

a s often,were merged in the B réhm anic society wh i ch they

had conquered , while the priests identified thei r d ivinity, whoas in the case of most of the h i l l tribes of the Gangetic

region — was the triba l hero as a sun-god,with Vi snu

,the


Vedic and Brahmanic solar deity .Krsna , son o f Devaki , i s

mentioned in the Chdndogya Upanisad ( I I I . xvi i . 6) a s haV Ing a

teacher named Ghora Angirasa , who taught him a doctrinewhich i s summed up by Hopkins as showing the vanity of

sacrifice and inculcating the worship of the sun-god ; and inthis record may be seen a trace of a deity whose name in thenative tongue of the invaders may have been suffic iently close

to the Sanskrit Krsna to render the identification poss ible andeasy

.

On the other hand,R . Garbe 5 ins i sts that from the

first Krsna was nothing more than a man , and that hi s de ifica

tion was a process of euhemerism , carried out at an early date ,s ince the excavations at Rumm inde i indicate that the p rede

ce ssors of the Buddha worshipped Rukm ini , the wife of Krsna .

The early date of his cult i s clearly p roved by the Herakles

of Megasthene s, who can certainly be none other than thi sgod

. So far as it goes , the earlines s of the date of the divinity

of Krsna seems rather to tell against the theory of hi s de ification and to suggest that he was always a god and , p robablyenough

,not so much a sun-god a conception which i l l fits

h i s name,which means “Black ” as a rep resentation of the

Spirit of the dark earth,a vegetation-god . For thi s hypoth

esi s a definite support i s given by a notice in the Mahd

hhdsya6of Patafijali (written about 150— 140 from which

it appears that Krsna and Kamsa , who in the later accountsof the Harioamfa appears as hi s c ruel uncle

,were p rotagonists

in a ritual contest wh ich i s precisely parallel to the combatswhich in many parts of Europe have symbol ized the death of

the old and the Victory of the new sp irit of vegetation,and

from which the Greek and perhaps the Indian drama havegrown . The human character of the vegetation-sp i rit i s amarked characteristic of that spi rit in a ll lands

,and hence we

may readily understand how the god of the Pandavas wasconceived as aiding them in bodily presence even at the expenseof some diminution of hi s divinity

,ofwhich

,however

,the ep ic

never loses S ight . His identification with Vi snu was doubtles s


PLATE X IV

KR SNA

T he de ity is represented in characte ristic po se w ithcro ssed legs and playing his pipe , which is lo st in the

carv ing here Shown . From an o ld O rissan i v o ry.

After W att,Indian zfr t a t Delhi , Plate LXXVI .



Bharata . Theseparation from h i s son broke the heart o fDaSa

ratha , who soonpassed away

,whereupon Bharata , hast i ly

seeking Rama , endeavoured to persuade him to return to rule

the state,and when he refused , regarded himself a s no more

than his Vicegerent . In the meantime Rama , accompanied bythe faithful Sité and Laksm ana , p roceeded to the Dandakaforest

,

where Sité was stolen from him by Ravana and carriedaway to Lanka, which ( in later times at least) i s reckoned a sCeylon

. Rama makes alliance with the apes under Sugriv a ,who is at variance with Val in , his elder brother ; and with theape army

,and especially Hanum én , the son of Maruta by

Afijané , succeeds after great struggles in reaching Lanké andin slaying Ravana . By pass ing through the fi re Sité provesthat her purity has been uninjured despite her captivity in

Lanké , and husband and wife are united . Later , however,Rama is again troubled by the popular d i s sati sfaction at hi saction in taking Sita back after her abduction and d i smis sesher ; she departs and stays at the hermitage of Vé lm iki, towhom the Rdmdyana i s a scribed , and there gives bi rth to thechildren KuSa and Lava

,in whose names can be seen a popu la r

etymology of the word hus’i laoa,the name o f the wandering

minstrels who sang the epic songs to princely cou rts and eve nto the people . Rama prepares a horse sacrifice

,and hi s two

sons , at the instigation ofValmiki , appear at the p lace of s acrifice and recite to him the story of hi s deeds . Learning theidentity of the boys

,the king sends to Vé lm iki

,des i ring to

arrange that S ita shou ld prove her purity by an oath before thewhole assemblage ; and when Vé lm iki presents himself accomp anied by Sit

'

a and declares her spotles snes s,Rém a admits

that he i s now convinced . Then the gods a l l manifest themselves to lend their authority to the oath of Sita

,but She

,as

serting her chastity, asks the divinity Madhav i to receive herin proof of it . The goddes s Earth then appears

,embraces

S ita, and vanishes with her under the ground to the wonderof the assembled gathering, whi le Rama’s despai r at her los s

PLATE XV

H ANUMAN

T he mo nkey-god, the great al ly o f

shown in m i ld and attractive fo rm . Fro m a Ceylone secopper figure in the Indian Museum

,Lo ndon .

Coomaraswamy, l/ zi fuaéarma

, Plate C .



i s les sened only by as su rances of futu re reunion . Thi s seconddoubt o f Sité and her tragic departu re , i s , however, l i ke thea s se rtion of the identification of Rama and Vi snu

,c learly no

part of the earlier form o f the Rdmdyana legend . Taking whatremains

,it fa ll s into two parts

,the first o f which is qu ite a

S imp le story o f the intrigues which must have troubled manya royal family

,while the second i s definitely mythical in natu re .

By far the most p robable explanation of the story i s that suggested byH . Jacob i . 7 Sit é

,i t i s c lear

,i s no mere mortal woman

,

for in the Rgoeda ( IV . lv i i . 6— 7) She i s worshipped a s the fu rrow made by the p lough

,and thi s conception was a popular

o ne,s ince in the much later and more popu la r texts

,theAdhhutd

dhydya of the Kaufi lea S iZtra and the Pdrasleara Grhya S ti tra

( i i . She appears a s the geniu s of the p loughed field and i sdes cribed a s a being of wonderfu l beauty, wife of Indra o r

Pa rj anya . The rape of Sité at once p resents itself a s the para llelt o an agricu ltu ral population to the Pan i s’ theft o f the cowsin the shape of the waters

,and he who wins them back can

be none other than a form of Indra,while the thief must be

Vrt ra . Thi s again finds support in the fact that a son o f RSV

ana’s i s cal led Indra’s foe o r vanquisher,and o ne o f his brothers

,

Kum b hakarna , dwells , l i ke the Vedic Vrt ra , in a cave . Fu rtherconfi rmation from the pos ition of Hanum én i s a lso fo rthcoming . That god in modern Ind i a is es sentially the gu ardian godof eve ry village settlement

,and it may well be that in origin

he was the geniu s o f the monsoon . Thi s conception wou ld bequ ite in harmony with his b i rth from the wind-god

,h i s power

o f a s suming shape at wi ll l i ke the clouds,his long jou rneys

over the se a in search of Sité , and the bringing back o f S ité

from the south (whence the monsoon comes) with the help ofthe apes

,that i s

,the ra in-clouds . In the deeds of Hanum én

there may actually be a reflex of the jou rney of Saram é in theVeda

'

acro ss the Rasé to seek the clouds when they were stolenby the Pan i s . Rama may have been a local god s imi la r incharacter to Indra

,but representing the V i ews of a society

13oIND IAN MYTHOLOGY

which was essentially agricu ltural and not pastoral ; and hi sidentification with Vi snu was doubtles s instigated by the samemotives which led to the identification of Krsna with thatgreat god and which has in the course of time brought manyother deities into the fold of Visnu .

Efforts have been made to find a myt hologica l backgroundfor theMahdhha

'

rata in the conception of a struggle of the fiveseasons of the year

,represented by the Pandavas , against the

winter,which i s thus supposed to be typified by Du ryodhana

,

but thi s interpretation can scarcely be maintained in face o f

the extremely human characteri stic s of the figures of the greatepic

,which in thi s respect stands in marked contrast to much

of the Rdmdyana .


132INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

those who sacrifice, those who perform penance , and above al l

those warrior heroes who meet their death in battle .

Besides Airav ata, Indra has a steed named Ucca ihsrav as,

which came forth at the churning of the ocean . H is chariot i s

drawn by ten thousand reddi sh-ye llow’

ho rse s who a re as swift aswind ; the lightning and the thunderbolt a re

on the ca r , and a sit cleaves the sky it s catters the dark clouds . The flagstaff,

Va ijayanta , i s bright blue and i s decorated w ith

“

go ld . The

charioteer i s Mittali, councillor and friend of Indra , of whom apretty story i s told . His daughter by Sudharm é was o f ex

ceedingbeauty

,and neither among gods , demons , men , no r

seers could Matal i find one whom he thought worthy o f her .Accordingly, after taking counsel with hi s wife , he decided togo to the world of Nagas , o r Serpents , in search of a son-in

law,and by permiss ion of Varuna he went thither with Né rada ,

in due course finding the handsome Sum ukha who became thehusband of GunakeSi . The weapons borne by the god are thethunderbolt, which Tv astr made from the bones of the see r

Dadhica and with which he stru ck Off the head of Vrt ra andcleaves even mountains

,the spear Vij aya

,and the conch

Dev adatta .

As in the Veda , Indra i s ever distingu i shed by hi s confl i ctswith demons . He was engaged in the great struggle of theSuras with the Asuras which broke out after the chu rning of theocean

,but hi s weakness is shown by the fact that the victo ry

could be achieved only by the aid o f Visnu,who on the over

throw of the demons gave the ru le o f the three world s toIndra . Then followed for a time a golden age

,when Indra

,

seated on Airév ata, gazed on a prosperou s world , flouri shingtowns and villages , kings devoted to their duty , and happyand contented people . Sri came and dwelt with him

,and Indra

wrought great deeds , such a s the s laying of numbers o f theAsuras , the freeing of B rhasp at i

’s wife Taraka

,and the rescue

of the daughter of Puloman . But prosperity led Indra tofall into evil courses : he set hi s des i re upon Ruci

,the wife of

MINOR EPIC DEITIES AND THE DEAD 133

Dev aSarm an, and seduced Ahalya; and , worst o f al l , he slew

the son of Tv astr, V iSv arp a T riSiras . Fail ing to tempt thi sp iou s being by the wi les o f an Apsaras

,he smote him with hi s

thunderbolt and ordered a wood-cutter to chop Off hi s head .

In revenge Tv astr c reated Vrt ra and commanded him to s layIndra . Then ensued a long war

,and the gods sought the ad

vice o f Vi snu in order to secu re peace . Vrt ra , however, wouldnot consent to any reconci l iation unles s he were p romisedimmunity from dry o r wet

,stone o r wood

,sword o r j avel in

,

by day o r by night . On these terms peace was made,but

Indra kept to hi s resolve to S lay his rival,and meeting him on

the seashore,at the j unction o f wet and dry

,at the twi light

between day and night,he ki lled him with the foam of the

sea and the thunderbolt into which Vi snu had entered . Soon,

however,he real ized the enormity o f his own deed in s laying a

B rahman and fled in terror to the remotest part of the earth,

where he lived concealed in a lotu s sta lk in a lake . Then theearth became desolate

,the forest withered

,the rivers ceased

to flow,and creatu res peri shed for lack o f ra in ; wherefore the

gods and seers went to Nahu sa and persu aded him to acceptthe kingship

,seeing the evi l s cau sed by the lack of a monarch .

He consented , but after receiving the new rank he abandonedhimself to id le enj oyment

,and seeing Saci

,the wife of Ind ra

,

he des i red her . Saci,loya l to Indra

,sought the p rotection of

B rhasp at i, but Nahu sa replied that a s Indra had been allowedto seduce Ahalyé , he a lso Should be permitted to take Saci .Saci in despai r obtained a postponement by ins i sting that Indramight sti l l be d i scovered

,and in the meantime the gods sought

the advice of Vi snu , who p romised that Indra shou ld regainhi s pos ition by performing a horse sac rifice to h im . Indra

‘

did

so and thu s was pu rified from the sin o f Brahman- s laying .

Saci then besought h im to retu rn and s lay Nahu sa,whereupon

he bade her induce the sage to cau se himself to be drawn ina chariot by the seven Rsis . The advice p roved succes sfu l

,for

,

wh i le Nahu sa carried out the wish of Saci,he fool i shly a llowed

I 34IND IAN MYTHOLOGY

himself to be drawn into an argument with Agastya a s to thelawfulness of the eating of meat, and indignant with him , theseer

,

whom he had kicked on the head , hurled him from heavento dwell in snake form for ten thou sand years . Indra wasthen restored to the kingship . Other demons were also s lainby Indra

,the most important of them being Nam uci

, whosestory i s a variant of that of Vrtra, of whom he is only another

form .

Indra has a famous wish-cow who i s the daughter of Su rab hi

and is called Sarv akém adughé o r Nandini . She i s fat , and thepotency of her milk i s such that the mortal who d rinks it wi llbe li ke a strong youth for a thousand years . Vasistha , son of

Varuna,obtained her as a sacrificial cow ,

but fo r a time Shewas stolen by Dyaus , so that in atonement o f his crime he was

doomed to a long sojourn on earth among mortals . He r mother,

Surab hi,was the daughter of Daksa Praj ép at i , and her home

i s the seventh layer under the earth,Rasatala ; but by her as

cet icism she received from Brahma immortality and a world,

Goloka,above the three worlds . She c reated daughters

,fou r

of whom Surfip é , Hamsika—

I, Sub hadré , and Sarv akam a

dughé— support the east

,south

,west

,and north corners of

the heavens , but She weeps because her son i s tormented bythe ploughman with hi s goad .

Indra has a thousand eyes s ince,according to one vers ion

,

when T ilo ttam é walked round him and the other gods,pro

ducing the four heads of Siva , a thousand eyes bu rst fo rth on

his back, s ides , and front ; although another legend says thatGautama cursed Indra for hi s inabi lity to restrain h i s pa s s ions



waters are sa id to be depos ited in him . Again,Agni i s the in

ternal fire within each man,and a s such he knows everything

and i s Jétav edas . He i s , a s o f o ld , lord of Vasu s and i s s aid tobe a chi ld o f Brahma.

AS in the Veda , Agni was apt to di sappear, and on one occas ion thi s was due to the curse o f Bhrgu . That sage had suc

ceeded in marrying Pu lom é , who had formerly been betrothedto the Raksasa Pu loman , but whom her father had later givenin due form to Bhrgu . While the latter was absent the R

'

aksasa

came to hi s dwelling,where he was received hospitably by

Pu lom é,who was di sclosed to him by Agni ; but not knowing

whose wife She was,Pu loman abducted her . In revenge for

Agni’s action Bhrgu cu rsed him ,and as a resu lt the d ivinity

withdrew from the sacrifice and d i s appeared into the fam itree . Much disturbed , the gods sought him ,

and at thei r request he retu rned

,so that the sacrifices were resumed once

more . Another story tell s that Agni fel l in love with KingNi la’s beautifu l daughter, whose lot it was to tend her father

’ss acred fire . In the form o f a Brahman he wooed and with difficu lty w on the maiden , and rewarded her father in hi s strugglewith Sahadeva by cau s ing the horses , chariots , army , and

even the body of the latter to burst into flame,Sahadeva and

the other rivals of Ni la being thu s destroyed and eaten by thegod of fire .Soma al so ranks , l i ke Vayu and Agni , a s a Vasu : h is father

was Atri,and in the epic he i s the moon pure and s imple

,so

that at times he bears the names Candram as,Candra

,o r

Indu,al l meaning s imply “Moon .

”His fame rests on his mar

r iage with twenty-seven of the daughters of Daksa Praj ép at i,the twenty- seven Naksat ras, or lunar mansions . Soma un

happily conceived an exces s ive affection for Rohini alone o f

his wives,wherefore her s i sters

,going to thei r father

,asked

him to redress their grievance . Thereupon Daksa , by a curse,brought sicknes s o n Soma

,who appealed to his father-in-law

,

only to be told that he had acted unfair ly . Nevertheles s,the


seers d i rected him to effect a cure by bathing at Hiranyat irthain the western region by the sea

,and Soma did so

,whence the

p lace won the name ofPrab hésa On account o fthe curse

,however

,the moon i s sti l l h idden when it i s new

,and

at its fu ll shows a body covered by a line of clouds,whence i s

derived the View that there i s a hare in the moon . Another trialof Soma’s i s h i s enmity with Réhu

,a demon who ever seeks to

swallow him and who thus cau ses ecl ip ses .With Varuna Soma comes into close relation : by drinkingal l hi s six j u ices he i s born to ki l l the darknes s at the beginningo f the light half of the month

,and hi s daughter Jyo tsnékali

marr ied Puskara , Varuna’s h andsome and clever son . T rouble

arose,however

,over hi s daughter Bhadré . Soma found for

her a su itable husband in the Brahman Utathya , but S inceV aruna had long des i red her, one day he came to the forestwhere she l ived and stole her after she had entered the waterin order to bathe . On hearing the news Utathya sent Naradato demand the restoration of hi s wife

,but Narada’s embas sy

was fruitles s . Utathya then drank up all the waters ; and S inceeven thi s dra sti c procedure had no effect

,he caused the lakes

on earth,to the number of S ix hundred thou sand

,to dry up and

the rivers to disappear in the desert,whereupon Varuna at last

repented of hi s action and restored his wife to Utathya .

In thi s legend Varuna appears,j u st a s in early days

,a s a

god of the waters , and thi s i s es sentia lly h is character throughout the epic . Here and there

,in company with Mitra

,men

tion i s made of his radiance and his l ight hue,and both are

Ad itya s ; but , unlike the Vedic concept of these two deities ,neither stands in any relation with the light o f day o r night .Varuna

,on the contrary

,bears many aqueou s epithets

,such

as “God of the Waters

,

” “Lord o f Water

,

” “Lord of the

Rivers ,” and “

Lord of Every Stream ”

; and it i s a s Lord of theWaters that he i s said to rule over theAsu ras . To thi s supremacy he was unanimously appointed at the beginning of theKrta age . H is realm i s in the west

,and he dwells in the ocean

,

138INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

fi lled with Nagas , aquatic monsters , preciou s stones , and fi re ,and rich in salt

;and in the se a i s al so an egg whence flames wi l l

burst forth at the end of the world and destroy the whole o f

the three worlds. His city is fu ll of palaces and Apsara ses , and

hisown palace is made wholly of gold , whi le cooling waters

drip from his royal canopy . He s its with hi s wife , S iddhi , o r

Gauri,or Véruni , in hi s hall of as sembly , which V i sv akarm an

built in the midst of the waters and which contains divinetrees consisting of pearls and producing every kind o f fru it .

He himself i s dark blue in colou r and like Yama he bears anoose

,while his conch was fashioned for him by ViSv akarm an

from a thousand pieces of gold . It was from him that Arjunaobtained the b ow Gandiv a , as well a s chariots and other gifts .Besides hi s son Puskara he had another , who was named Bandinand was the suta of King Janaka . Defeated by the young boy

Astav akra in a competition because of his inabi li ty to enumerate things which made up thirteen

,Bandin p roved hi s con

nexion with his father by plunging into the waters and thu suniting himself with him .

The sun-deity of the epic i s Sii rya o r Ad itya,son o f Aditi

,

the ruler of the flaming lights,the l ight of the world

,the father

of beings who sustains them with hi s heat , the entrance to theways of the gods . In him are summed up the many aspects ofthe Adityas

,as Pfisan

,Bhaga

,Sav it r

,Aryaman

,Dh

'

at r, andViv asv ant . The sun i s descr ibed as being as yel low as honey

,

with large arms and with a neck like to rtoi se—Shel l,and as

wearing bracelets and a di adem . His ear- rings were the giftof Aditi . A single Naga draws hi s chariot

,which has but o ne

wheel , though elsewhere seven steeds are mentioned . He has aspecial place in the epic in that he was the god whom Kuntisummoned to wed her and to whom she bore Karna

,who was

thus the eldest brother of the Pandava Yudhisthira . H is wifeis called Suv arcalé (

“ the Resplendent ”) and i s mentionedas taking the form of a mare . His daughter i s married toBhénu

,i .e . to himself in another form

,and hi s son i s Yama


the snakes . The serpents lick the p lace where the soma has

lain,and thus their tongues become forke

d .

Thelegend shows clear traces of the Ved ic tale of the bring

f the soma to earth by the Gayatri : l i ke the Géyat ri

Garuda is regarded as a b ird and i s ca lled both Garu tm ant

(“ the Winged ”) and Sup arna (

“ the Fair With

the windof the motion of hi s wings he can Stay the rotation of

the three worlds,and his strength i s so great that he seems to

drag the earth after him as he goes . Visnu indeed once had tocheck his boast of hi s might by laying on him the weight o fhi s

right arm. The main obj ect of Garuda , however , a s of hi s S ix

sons and their offspring,i s to prey on the snakes .

An essentially new deity i s Skanda , who ranks both a s the

son of Agni and of Siva , although as a matte r o f fact he wasbrought to life in a mysteriou s way in order to create for

Dev asenZI ,daughter of Prajépat i, a husband stronger than

gods and men alike. He was thought to be the son of the s ix

wives of the Seven Seers , Arundhat i being omitted ; and theseers having repudiated their Spouses for thei r apparent in

fidelity,they became stars in the constellation Krtt ik

'

as

Skanda i s S ix—faced , but has only one neck ; healways wears red garments and rides on a peacock . His p rowes sin war i s great and marks him as the rea l war-god in the laterepic : he becomes the general of the army of the gods , who aredefeated in hi s absence , while the Asura Mahi sa seeks to graspthe chariot of Visnu ; but Skanda retu rns , and , s laying him , reestablishes Indra in hi s position . He a lso ki l led Ta

'

raka , andhis spear never misses the mark

,but

,once thrown , retu rns to

him after slaying thousands of hi s foes ; When a boy , he th ru sthis spear into the ground in contempt for the three world s andchallenged the whole world to remove it ; the Da itya Prahl

'

ada ,

HiranyakaSipu’s son

,fainted at the attempt

,but

,when Visnu

PLATE XV I

GARUDA

T he mythic b ird Garuda is the fudhana (“ v ehic leo f V isnu . He is the lo rd o f birds

, the bro the r o f

Aruna,the chario tee r o f Sfirya (“ the Sun and the

implacable fo e o f snake s,who are his half-bro thers .

From an ebo ny carv ing in the co l lectio n o f Lieut.—Co l.A. H. Mi lne

,o f Cu lts , Abe rdeenshire , Sco t land.


PLATE XV I

GARUDA

T he mythic b ird Garuda is the udhana (“v ehic le

o f V isnu . He is the lo rd o f b irds,the bro the r o f

Aruna,the chario tee r o f Sfirya the Sun and the

implacable fo e o f snake s, who are his half-bro the rs .

From an ebo ny carving in the co l lectio n o f Lieut.-Co l.A. H. Mi lne , o f Cults , Abe rde enshire , Sco tland.



Cyav ana ,who entered the waterwith theASV ins, al l three em e rg

ing in the same youthfu l and lovely cond ition . She managed,

however,to choose her own husband from among them

,and

in delight b e secured for the ASV ins a share in the soma drink .

In the epic Speci al interest i s given to them by the fact thatthey were born as M

'

adri’s two sons Naku la and Sahadeva

,the

youngest of the Pandavas .The Maruts , who have sunk to mere names , se rve to aidIndra in hi s confl i cts with hi s foes . In one pas sage they are saidto be descended from the Seven Seers

,and in another p lace

Marici is said to be the chief among them,which brings them

into connexion with the Prajép at is , o fwhom Marici i s the mostimportant .The Rudras form an indeterminate group

,either eleven o r

eleven thousand in number . They are children of Dharma,

and S iva i s thei r protector,but they are effectively swallowed

up in hi s omnipotence . One li st a scribes to thei r ranks Mrga

v yédha, Sarpa , Nirrt i, Aj a Ekap éd, Ahi Budhnya, Pin'

akin,

Dahana,Iév ara , Kap é lin ,

Sthénu ,and Bhaga

,a curiou s con

glomerate of epithets of S iva and the ancient Vedic gods .The Vasu s number eight, and are sons of Dharma o r of

Praj'

apati Manu . In one l i st they appear a s Dhara,Dhruva

,

Soma,Aha

,Anila

,Anala

,Pratyfisa , and Prab hésa , but in

another Sév it ra replaces Aha , and in the Harioamfa Apastakes h is p lace . They s inned against the great sage Vasisthaby steal ing hi s cow to please the wife of Dyau s

,and were

doomed by him to be born on earth . Accord ingly they becamethe chi ldren of wIiO

'

fO'

r

h

ai ia

t e r fault had been condemmed to as sume mortal form

,and King Santanu . But thei r

mother cast the first seven into the water,and Santanu suc

ceeded in saving only the eighth,who became Bhism a

,the

famous sage and warrior of the epic . The Vasu s,however

,

showed their realization of their kinship with Bhism a by cursing Arjuna for s laying him .

The Adityas number,as u sual

,twelve

,but the li sts of them


d iffer : one gives Indra , Vi snu , Bhaga , Tv astr, Varuna , AmSa ,Aryaman

,Ravi

,Pfisan ,

Mitra,Manu

,and Parj anya ; while

another has Dhétr, Aryaman , Mitra , Varuna , AmSa , Bhaga ,Indra

,V iv asv ant , Piisan ,

Tv astr, Sav itr, Parj anya , and Vi snu ,making thi rteen . Of these AmSa

,Aryaman

,Pfisan ,

Bhaga,

Mitra,Ravi

,V iv asv ant , and Sav itr a re al l equ ivalents of the

sun-god ; Parj anya and Indra have no real sola r character ; andDhétr, Tv astr, and Manu are synonyms o f the creator-godBrahm

'

a.

The Gandharvas a s heavenly musicians are often mentionedas p laying on thei r lutes and a s S inging

,while the Apsarases

dance . They res ide near Lake Manasa and also on MountNisadha . Two of thei r leaders

,V iSv év asu and Tum b u ru

,are

mentioned,and the Kinnaras and Naras are clas sed with

them . The mystic connex ion of the Gandharva with bi rth has,

however,disappea red ; and the Apsarases have also lost al l

myste ry and have sunk to be the dancers of the gods,beautifu l

with lotu s eyes,s lender waists

,and swell ing hip s

,who enchant

mortals with thei r gestu res and thei r honeyed words . Theyserve Sakra in heaven and consort with the Gandharvas . Iti s they who are cal led upon to interrupt from time to time thedevotions of saints when they threaten to acqui re too muchsanctity . Yet they are Often unsuccessfu l in these errands

,and

even Urv aSi herself fai led when she sought to attract the loveof Arjuna on hi s V i s it to the heaven of Indra . Repulsed

,She

cursed him to become a eunuch,but her malediction was only

nominally fulfi l led . Long li sts o f names of Apsarases a regiven

,among which are Ram b hé

,Menak

'

a,Pufij ikasthal

'

a,

V iSv éci,Ghrtaci , Sahaj anyé , Pram lo cé , MiSrake Si , and I r

"

Some of these are Vedic , and Iré i s none other than the Ida,o r s acrifici al food in the Vedic offering . It i s a cu riou s fate whichbrings the holy consecrated es sence of the Offering into therank of a dancing gi rl .The Caranas , wandering minstrel s o r troubadours , are men

t ioned with the Gandharvas , and the S iddhas and Sédhyas


also occur as bles sed spi rits,though w ithout mention of thei r

Specia l functions . The S iddhas,however

,a re sa id to dwell on

the south of the Ni la Mountain and the northern side of Meruin the realm o f the Uttara Kuru s . In that land trees yieldfruits at p leasure

,milk

,and six kinds of food tasting li ke am

b ro sia ; the trees bear clothing, and in thei r fru its a re ornaments .The men there are beautifu l and l ive ten thousand and tenhundred years ; chi ldren a re born a s twins and intermarry ;at death bi rds called Bhérundas come and carry away the dead ,throwing them into mountain caves .The V idyédharas l ive in the Him av ant on Mount Kraufica ;

thei r chief i s Cakradharm an,but their only function i s to rain

flowers down on the warriors a s they fight with one another .Sti l l les s definitely d ivine are the Rsis, or seers , of whom

many clas ses a re mentioned . The greatest are the Seven Seers,

normally given as Ang iras, Atri , Kratu , Pu lastya , Pulaha ,Marici

,and Vasistha . The names

,however

,vary

,and in the

legend of the drawing of the chariot o fNahu sa by the SevenSeers it i s Agastya who plays the chief r6le and hurl s Nahu safrom heaven . Another famous story

,

2 which in its main l inesmust have been known a s early a s the Aitareya B rdhmana

(V . 30) and which i s preserv ed in variant vers ions in the j dtalea ,tell s of an adventure o f Atri

,Vasistha , KaSyap a, Gautama ,

Jam adagni, Bharadv'

aja , and ViSv ém itra,with Arundhati .

Once upon a time the seers found themselves threatened withfamine

,and in the midst o f i t Saib ya Vrsadarb hi, who had

been given to them as an offering by his royal father, died .

The king Offered them large sums to prevent them eating humanflesh

,but these they decl ined to take a s transgress ing the ru le‘

which forbade the acceptance of presents , and wandered away .

The king performed a sacrifice whence sp rang a terrible demonnamed Y étudhéni

,whom he sent after the seers . AS they

went along,they were joined by a man with a dog , and finally

they came to a lake guarded by the Y étudhéni,who a llowed

them to enter it to pluck lotu ses for the sake o f the edib le fibre



fusal endeavours to take her by force , but hi s troop s are defeated by hosts o f Mle cchas (

“ Barbarians which the cowproduces . He therefore devotes himself to ascetic i sm

,and at

last attaining B réhm anhood , he revenges himself on hi s rivalby getting Kalm

'

asap éda to eat Vasistha’s son Sakti and other

sons . In despai r Vasistha seeks to S l ay himself, but the riverinto which he casts h imself bound rej ects h im and hence ac

quires its name of Vip éS, o r Unbound (the modern Beas) .At last he i s comforted by finding that Sakti’s wife i s to bear ason ParéSara . V iSv ém itra also di stingu i shed himself by dev ou ring a dog

’s flesh when in hunger and by debating with aCéndé la , o r outca ste ; by the Apsaras Menaké he was thefather of the famous Sakuntalé . Vasistha , whose wife wasArundhat i

,cursed the Vasu s and made them be born as men,

and he a lso cu rsed HiranyakaSipu .

Of Agastya wi ld legends are related . He created Lop amudré

to be hi s wife,but gave her a s an adoptive daughter to the

king o f Vidarb ha (B e rér) , a tale doubtles s meant to expla inthe mixed marriage o f persons of the Brahman and warriorca stes . To win trea su re for her he made a p ilgrimage to variou skings

,but took nothing from them

,s ince he found that they

spent thei r wea lth in good deeds . oFinally , however, he cameto king Ilv ala

,who had a lready destroyed many B réhm ans by

causing them to eat,i n the form of flesh

,hi s brother Vétép i,

who then emerged from them,rending thei r bodies and ki ll ing

them . Ilv ala sought to destroy Agastya in li ke manner,but

by his wondrou s power of digestion the sage su cceeded inas s imilating Vétap i , who cou ld not , therefore , come forth athi s b rother’s cal l

,whereupon Ilv ala richly rewarded the seer .

The story of the theft of the lotu ses i s narrated of him also,and

it was he who prevented the Vindhya,which was growing up

to heaven,from actual ly reaching the sky . He had a son

Drdhasyu ,who was of incomparable strength ; and he drank

up the ocean and burnt the Asu ras,bes ides bringing Nahu sa

to ru in .

MINOR EP IC DEITIES AND THE DEAD 147

Vém adev a i s the hero of a curiou s ep isode : in a thicket oneday King Pariksit comes upon a fai r maiden who consents tomarry him on condition that She Shal l never se e water . Aftera time

,however

,she unhappi ly behold s a tank of water and

vanishes whi le bathing in it ; the water is let out , and only a frogi s found . Pariksit orders the massacre of the frogs , whereuponthei r king

,Ayu ,

appears and explains that the maiden i s hisdaughter, who i s then united in marriage to the king , but whoseoffspring are fated by thei r grandfather’s cu rse to be foes o fB réhm ans . The chi ldren o f Pariksit , Sala , Dala , and Bala ,grow up

,and in hunting one day Sala borrows from Vém adev a

two horses which he refu ses to return,even though the seer

cau ses a R'

aksasa to tear him to pieces . Da la a ims a poisonedarrow at Vém adev a

,but ki ll s only hi s own son ; and Dala

’s wife,

at last propitiating the sage,returns the horses to him .

Manu plays a comparatively smal l r6le: he i s the son o f

Viv asv ant,the brother of Yama

,and the hero o f the tale o f

the deluge . On the advice o f the fish he bu i lds a Ship andplaces in it the seeds of a ll beings

,

3so that he restores the world

again when,after the deluge

,the Ship rests on Naub andhana .

The fish reveals itself a s B rahma,no t (as in the later legend) a s

Vi snu . One of his chi ldren,I la

,was of double character

,now

man now woman,and he was the father of Purfirav as

,who Op

pressed the B rahmans . With I la’s androgynous natu re therei s a parallel in the Mahdhhdrata (x i i i . 528 ff . ) in the tale o f

Bhangé sv ana who , with hi s son s , was turned into a woman andwho preferred to retain that sex. Later S iva i s often androgy

nous,and in the Vedic mythology Praj ép at i i s , it would seem ,

occas ionally so conceived,but thi s double character of I l a

cannot be traced earlier in the Vedic legend of Fu rfirav as .

4

Another Vedic story appears in an a ltered form in the taleof SunahSep a . AS in the Mahdhhdrata

,ViSv ém it ra i s engaged

in rivalry with Vasistha and after the repulse of hi s effort toseize the cow o f his riva l he p ractises ascetic i sm

,ri s ing through

the states of royal seer,great seer

,and finally Brahman seer

,


even Vasistha recognizing hi s pos ition . In the course of th i sproces s he has two adventures without a paral lel in theMahd

bha'

rata . T riSanku , a king who sought to attain heaven with hi sown body by means o f the sacrifice , found that Vasistha wouldnot help him to thi s end . Nevertheles s

,by a mighty offering

to which al l the seers were invited,but from which Mahodaya

and the Vasisthas kept away, ViSV ém itra ra i sed T riSafIku

aloft toward the sky . Indra,however

,struck him downward

,

but ViSVa'

m itra a rrested his fl ight in mid-ai r,where he hangs

in the southern sky,head down

,among other stars and con

ste llat ions which V iSV'

am itra made to accompany him . The

second experience was hi s encounter with Am b arisa , a kingwhose sacrific ial victim had been carried away by Indra fromthe a ltar . As a substitute he decided to offer a human victimto appease the god

,and after long search was able to purchase

SunahSep a , the second son of Rcika,for a thousand cows . On

being sold by his father,however

, SunahSep a entreated V iSV émitra to help him

,and the seer did so by giving him a couple of

gdthds , o r verses , which saved him from death .

There i s a curiou s exception to the ru le that the Vedic godsappear a s of l ittle account in the ep ic . In one passage in theMahdhhdrata ( i i i . 15457 ff.) we are told that in the world of

Brahma,which l ies above the worlds of the Vedic gods

,are

the seers and others,including the deities of the gods

,the

Rb hu s, whom even the divinities worship . They are describedas being exempt from Old age

,from death

,from pain o r happi

ness,from love o r hate

,as l iving without sacrifice and without

ambros ia ; and — what i s yet more wonderfu l — they do notperish with the ages l ike the other gods

,who accordingly seek

in vain to attain their rank . The passage i s a s remarkable asit i s i solated

,and it contra sts strongly with the somewhat

lowly pos ition occup ied by the Rb hus in the Vedic pantheon .

D iverse as are thei r natu res,there are certain things which

the gods have in common : they are al l immortal , though thi smust be taken with the qualification that they are subj ect to



hell with h i s kindred than to dwell in heaven when he was toldthat they cou ld not Share its p leasures with him . Dharma alsomade proof of the Vi rtue of other heroes

,but hi s dealings were

severely criticized by the sage Mai ndav ya . This seer,while en

gaged on a penance which included complete Si lence,was

wrongly believed gu i lty o f the theft o f property which thievesin thei r fl ight depos ited in hi s p lace of abode

,and was impaled

as a penalty . Nevertheles s,he did not die

,and the king

,recog

n izing the wrong done to him ,had him removed from the stake

,

a part of which,however

,remained in hi s body . The s age

sought Dharma in order to learn fo r what atrociou s c rime in hi searlier l ife he had thu s cru elly been punished

,and was told by

Dharma that it was because , in hi s chi ldhood , he had stuck athorn into the back of an insect . Natu rally enraged at theridicu lou s di sp roportion between the offence and the punishment

, Mandav ya cursed Dharma to be born a s the son of aSfidra woman , and accordingly he came to l ife a s Vidu ra,being born through the union o f Vyésa with a s lave woman ,instead of with Am b iké

,one of the widows of Vicitrav irya,

who was too frightened to submit to marriage with the sage,

even for the purpose o f securing a son for her dead husbandin accordance with the ancient p ractice of the levirate . Vidu ra

proved a wise counci llor of Dhrtaréstra as well a s a protectorof the Pandavas , and at the end , when the Kuru family hadfallen into ru in

,it wa s he who accompanied to the forest the

aged Dhrtaréstra, and there by hi s power o f yoga , o r mysticunion

,he gave up life and was united with Yudhisthira .

Contrary to cu stom,hi s body was not burnt .

Just as in the period of the B rdhmanas , the Asuras stand overagainst the gods in a compact body and ever wage war withthem . The confl ict i s one which has no ending

,despite the con

stant slaying of the demons by the gods ; for as often as the fiendsare routed

,others ar i se to take their p lace . Demon after demon

i s mentioned as cau s ing fear to the gods,and though unquestion

ably the deities have the superiority,j u st a s they have in the


B rdhmanas , the ascendancy i s only that of one set of imm o r

tal s against another . In so far a s the triumph o f good i s secu redin the universe

,it i s not in the sphere of the empi rica l world

with its apparatu s of gods and demons,but in the absolute

as personified in the sectarian d ivinities . Moreover,the Asu ras

are the elder brothers of the gods,being

,l i ke them

,children of

KaSyap a Praj ép at i and o f thirteen o f the daughters o f Daksa

Praj ZIp at i ; the chi ldren o f D iti are the Daityas, and those o fDénu the Danavas ; and s ince D iti was the eldest daughter ofDaksa , the Daityas were older even than the gods . The

enmity o f the gods and the Asuras commenced at the churningo f the ocean for the sake of the ambros ia and i s briefly re

l ated in the Rdmdyana ( i . 45 ff. ) in concluding its account o fthat great event . The Mahdhhdrata (i . 1103 ff.) has a fullervers ion of the Struggle . When the moon

,Laksmi

,the white

steed,the Kaustub ha gem

,and Dhanvantari had appeared

the latter bearing the nectar in his hand and when the dreadpoison had been swallowed by Siva

,the Asu ras were fi l led with

despair and decided to war with the gods fo r the pos ses s ion of

Laksmi and the ambrosia . Thereupon Né réyana called to hi sa id hi s bewitching power of i llu s ion (mdya

'

) and in ravi sh ingfemale form coquetted with the Daityas, who placed the nectarin her hand . Then

,with hi s counterpart Nara

, Néréyana

took away the am rta,but Rahu

,a Danava

,was drinking it in

the form of a god . The nectar,however

,had reached only hi s

throat when the sun and the moon di scovered his theft and

told the gods,whereupon Néréyana with hi s di scu s clove the

head of Rahu,which leapt to the sky , where it ever wars with

the sun and moon,swallowing them and cau sing their ecl ip se .

Néréyana then la id as ide hi s female form and attacked thedemons ; and after an appal ling confl ict Naréyana and Naradefeated thei r foes

,securing the ambros ia for the gods .

The Asuras have strongholds and haunts in the mountaincaves

,and they dwell in the depths in Pété la

,where are the

cities of Nirm o cana,Prégjyo t isa , and Hiranyapu ra . Or they

VI _ I I


are within the sea , having been cast there and placed in thekeeping o fVaruna . In heaven they made three fortres ses

,one

of gold,one of i ron

,and one of S i lver

,and thence they assai led

the three worlds , only to fai l in their attempt and to be castfrom heaven . It i s characteri stic

,however

,of the constant rela

t ionship in which they stand to the gods that on the d ivineMount Meru i tself Asura s and Réksasas mingle in friendlycontact with gods and Gandharvas ; and , demons though theyare

,ViSv akarm an

,who serves as divine a rchitect

,having fallen

to thi s humble pos ition from hi s late Vedic rank,bui lds fo r

them,to p lans devi sed by Maya

,their town Hiranyap ura .

It i s equally significant that it was Dharma who bound thedemons and handed them over to Varuna to guard in the sea ;and Va runa’s los s of rank is Shown with Speci al clearnes s bythe fact that it was with the nooses of Dharma

,doubtles s the

very ones which had been hi s own in the Vedic period,that

Va runa bound the Daityas and Danavas , whi le both Dharmaand Varuna act under the orders of the supreme lord .

Evil as they are,the demons are formidable fighters :Mahi sa

attacks the gods with a mountain a s hi s weapon ; KeSin snatchesa mountain-peak for an as sault . No t only are they numberless ,but they are s ki lled in sorcery and in every magic art

,trans

forming themselves into al l manner of shapes,such a s those

u sed by Rév ana in the abduction o f Sité , and spreading universal terror by thei r appal ling roars . The Daityas and Danavasbecome invis ib le and must be met with invi s ible weapons . An

p isode in the Mahdhhdrata (i i i . 11903 ff.) tell s in detai l o f theexploits o f Arjuna against the demons : on the instigation ofIndra he attacks the Niv atakav acas in thei r fortres s beneaththe se a

,and though they strive against him with magic a rts

,

at last they are defeated,notwithstanding the fact that they

had taken thei r city from the gods and had held it desp ite them .

He then proceeds to destroy the city of Hiranyapura , whichwas occupied by the Pau lom as and Kalakafijas and whichBrahma had given to Pu lom é and Kalaké as the reward of



are those of Kam alaksa , Kalanem i, Jam b ha, Tarakéksa,

Talaj angha , DamSa,Naraka (apparently a personified hel l) ,

Nahu sa (the rival of Indra , overthrown by Agastya) , Péka,Mada

,V iro cana , Vira , Vegav ant , Samhléda

,S i lva

,and

H iranyakaSipu ,the latter of whom was slain by Visnu in hi s

man- l ion avatar .The o ld Vedic Dasyu s , who were often enough nothing buthuman foes

,but who were also doubtles s demons

,at least in

part,are practically mere men in the epic

,where it i s s aid that

Indra invented armour,arms

,and the bow for their de st ruc

tion . On the other hand , great importance now attaches to theNagas

,who are described as serp ents and also enumerated

with them . Many and variou s are thei r dwell ing-places : theyl ive in Naga

‘loka (“Snake—World”) in the depths of the ea rth ,

where are many palaces,towers

,and pleasu re gardens

,but thei r

home i s also cal led Patala and Niraya . Thei r chief town i sBhogav at i , where the serpent king, V

'

asuki,l ives . Yet they

are found also in caves,in inacces s ib le mountains

,in the

valleys,in Ku ruksetra , on the banks o f the river Iksum ati

,

in the Na im isa forest,on the shores of the Gomati

,on the north

ern banks o f the Ganges,and in the Nisadha d i strict . The

strength o f the snakes i s great ; they are huge in S ize , very v io

l ent,swift to strike

,and ful l o f dead ly poison ; but they are

al so said to be handsome and o f many shapes,and to wear

ear-rings . There are many kinds : ofVé suki’s race some are b lue,

some red,and some white ; some have three , some seven , and

some ten heads .The most famous ep i sode connected with the snakes i s thesacrifice of them by Janam ej aya in revenge for hi s father

’sdeath . When pursu ing a wounded gazelle Pariksit met an as

cetic named Sam ika,but S ince the latter could not help him to

know its path,he threw a dead snake on the hermit’s neck .

In anger the son of Sam ika cursed the king to die in seven daysfrom the bite of the serpent ruler Taksaka . D i sp leased withthis action

, Sam ika warned the king of hi s fate , and Pariksit

PLAT E XV I I

VASUK I

Vasuki, the king o f the Nagas (“ Serpents is

represented,l ike his subjects gene ral ly

,in human

fo rm,the on ly trace o f his o riginal nature be ing his

se rpent c rest . T hi s fact reflects the be lie f that the

Nagas assum e hum an fo rm at wi l l . Fo r the true

se rpent Shape o f Vasuki, se e F ig . 2 . From the

tem ple rai l at Bharhut, Baghe lkhand. Afte r Cunningham

, The Stzipa ot arhut,Plate XXI .



retired into a carefu lly guarded palace ra i sed on pil lars . KéSyapa

,who came to heal h im from the threatened bite

,was

bribed by Taksaka to depart , and the latter introduced himself into the palace in the shape of a worm in fru its presentedby snakes in B rahman guise as a gift to the sovereign . Thenappearing in hi s true form

,he bit the king ; but Pariksit

’s son

,

Janam ej aya , in hi s anger made SO huge a sacrifice of the snakesthat even Taksaka would have peri shed if it had not beenfor the intervention ofAstika

,who induced the young monarch

to spare him .

Sesa l ies underneath the earth and supports it . He i s theson of Kadrfi and at the chu rning of the ocean he performed theimportant task of tearing out Mount Mandara so that itmight be p laced on the great tortoi se in preparation for thechurn ing . Vasuki also served as churning string at the chu rning and was grandfather of Kunti

,the mother of the Pandavas .

He healed Bhima when the latter was poisoned . Another snakei s Arb uda

,who i s remini scent of a figure of the Atharoaoeda ;

and Dhrtaréstra appears a s a serpent king , as in the SatapathaB rdhmana . Others are Karko taka , Kalap rstha , Jaya , Mahaj aya

,and Padm anéb hi .

The snakes take part even in the ep ic confl i ct,and we are

told that the great serpents were for Arjuna and the little forKarna . There i s sti l l a Néga people in India , and it may bethat the ep ic refers to the Naga tribes of the Ganges valley .

Doubtles s many cau ses have combined to produce the beliefin Nagas . The cloud-snake is Rgv edic , and the serpent isclosely connected with rivers and streams a s the genius loci .S imi larly it is a representative of the ea rth sp i rit, while , again ,the snake in itself i s a dangerou s animal and worthy of worship for its own sake . It may wel l be that

,in part at least

,the

worship was totemisti c and was accompanied by a bel ief in theance sto rship of the snake and in its kinship with the worshippers

,though the epic says nothing directly on these points .

The Réksasas are of particu larly terrib le a spect : they have


red hair and eyes and a mouth stretching from ear to ear,

the latter being pointed l i ke spears . Large and strong,they

wander in the darknes s and a re unconquerable at midnight,

and they are s ki l led sorcerers and wizards , changing Shape atwill . They haunt the woods and the lonely mountains

,but

they also l ie in wait for the p iou s at places o f pilgrimage andworship . They delight in destroying the sacrifice and arecannibals

,desi ring human flesh ; yet they can appear in beauti

fu l form when they wish to deceive the unwary .

Of ind ividual Réksasas by far the greatest i s Ravana , theenemy of Rama

,though perhap s he was originally an Asura

,

rather than a mere Réksasa . H is son Indraj it perform edgreat deeds of strength before he finally fell in battle ; hi s brothers Khara and Vib hisana a lso fought on hi s S ide , and hi s s i sterSfirp anakhé as s i sted him . Mérica a ided him in his plot tosteal Sita and finally was ki lled in the form o f a golden gazelle by R

’

ama . In the Mahdhha'

rata ( i . 5928 H. ) H idim b a , aRéksasa , made an attack on the Pandavas , but was broughtlow by Bhima ; hi s s i ster fel l in love with the S layer of herbrother and bore to him Ghato tkaca . More interesting i s thetale of Jar

'

a. King B rhadratha had no son,but through the

favou r of CandakauSika each o f his two wives bore a portiono f a boy . These fragments were thrown away a s monstros ities

,

but when Jara approached and placed them together in orderto carry them away

,they formed a complete child who called

out,whereupon his parents came to see what had happened

and found him . Jaré then exp lained that she had refra inedfrom devouring the chi ld because a s the house-deity she haddwelt in painted form on the walls , su rrounded with offerings ;and she declared that thi s was an infall ible mode of secu ringprosperity .

Closely akin with such female Réksasas as Jara are theMi tts , o r

“Mothers,

” who appear in the Mahdhhdrata inclose connexion with Skanda . They dwel l in cemeteries

,at

cros s-roads,or on the mountains

,and practi se witchcraft .


PLATE XV I I I

YAKs i

T his scu lpture o f the Y aksi S irim i Dev ati we l lil lustrate s the Indian ideal o f fem in ine beauty as

repre sented in scu lpture and painting, and as describedin Sanskrit literature . From the tem ple rail at Bharhut

, Baghe lkhand. Afte r a pho tograph in the L ibraryo f the India O ffic e , Lo ndon .



Réksasa and the Yaksa armies . He went to theH imalaya range,

to the mountain Gandham édana,and to Kailésa with the

l ively Mandakini River, whi le Ravana entered Lanké withthose Réksasas who had espoused hi s cau se , attacked bothgods and demons

,and won his name by the roars o f grief wh ich

b e caused .

On Kailésa and Gandham édana Kubera now dwells,en

j oying a quarter of the treasure of the mountain and giving oneS ixteenth to man . Réksasas, Gandharvas , and Kinnaras, a swel l as Guhyakas and Yaksas, are in hi s service and attend himamid scenes of the utmost beauty . H is great forest i s ca lledNandana

,and his grove i s Caitraratha . The waters of hi s river

,

the Mandékini,a re covered with golden lotu ses ; and hi s lake ,

Nalini o r Jam b finadasaras (also known as Alaka) , i s fu l l o fgolden lotu ses and lovely bi rds

,i s surrounded by dense trees

,

has cool water, and i s guarded by the Krodhav aSa Réksasas

under thei r king Manib hadra . In his city o fAlaké flags everflutter

,and women dance . In hi s a s sembly hall he s its in solemn

state,su rrounded by hi s retainers ; and Laksmi , S iva , and Um é

a ll vi s it him there . His chariot Pusp aka was wrought, l i ke hi spalace

,by V iév akarm an and was given to him by Brahma,

but Ravana took it from him on hi s defeat , only to be cu rsedin consequence . His favou rite weapon i s a mysteriou s one

called Antardhéna,with which Sankara once destroyed the

three fortres ses of the Asuras . He has,ever guarded by poi son

ou s snakes,a j ar o f honey

,and if a mortal might taste o f it,

he would win immortal ity,a bl ind man would regain hi s s ight,

and an old man would become young again .

Bes ides these groups of minor divine powers,more o r les s

wel l defined,the epic i s full o f worship o f anything that can be

regarded as charged with mysteriou s potency . Prominentamong these les ser bel iefs i s that in trees

,which are deemed to

be no t merely homes of sp irits,but actual l iving beings

,a rel ic

of an older stratum of thought . Thus in the days of PrthuVainya the trees were not only good , so that clothes pleasant to

PLATE X IX

KUBERA

Kubera,lo rd o f the Y aksas and guardian o f treas

ure s,was o riginal ly k ing o f the gnom e s who hide

m e ta l s and jewe ls in the m o untains . As a m o untain

god, he is also a de ity who prom o tes ferti l ity. It is

no t im po ss ible that Kube ra is the Indian co unte rparto f the G reek Kab e iro i

,e v en in nam e . From the

tem ple rail at Bharhut , Baghe lkhand. Afte r Cunningham

,The Stzipa ot arhut

, Plate XXII .



touch could be made from all o f them,but they themselves

came and had speech with Prthu Vainya , a cu ltu re hero of

great antiquity . Or,again

,two wives des i rou s of children em

brace trees,which

,unfortunately, a re interchanged, so that the

wife who seeks a heroic obtains a priestly son,and vice versa .

Many trees are sacred in the extreme : the worship of the Ficusreligiosa i s equal to the worship of a god

,and there are five

heavenly trees of special sanctity . The mountains,too

,are

ful l of l ife , and the Vedic legend of their wings i s sti l l remembered . Vindhya seeks the Sky and i s restra ined only by thecunning of Agastya ;Mainéka i s famed because when the othermountains lost thei r p inions

,i t retained its own ; and Krau nca

i s renowned for being p ierced by Skanda . All the mountainswere once reduced to ashes by a saint Dhanuséksa as theonly means to destroy Medhév in

,son of Valadhi

,who had se

cu red from the gods the promise that hi s son’s l ife shou ld lastas long as the mountains endured .

The lord of the dead is Yama Vaiv asv ata , even a s in theVedic epoch ; and he ranks as one of the fou r Lokapalas, o r

“World-Protectors,

” who are normally reckoned a s Indra,

Agni,Varuna

,and Yama

,though in o ne vers ion Kubera takes

the p lace of Agni,while Ravana claims that he himself i s the

fifth world-guardian . AS hi s name denotes,

6 Yama “ restra insmen and thus i s often nearly identified with Dharma

,so that

when the sageMandav ya goes to question the latter he seeks hisplace of j udgement ju st as i f it were Yama’s . Yama i s a l so theking of the Pitrs, or

“ Fathers,

” who live in his realm,thi s being

in the south under the earth at a d i stance o feighty-six thousand

yoj anas , along which the dead must travel . In it are the Vaitarani River and the Rau rav a Hell . H is as sembly hall i s an abodeof bli s s which sages and kings attend to pay homage to Yama ,and there Gandharvas and Apsarases S ing and dance . He

himself i s of maj estic appearance , red-eyed and of dark hue ,but he i s also t errible to look at and with noose in hand hestrikes dread into the hearts of men . His messengers wear dark


apparel,and thu s are unlike their master

,whose clothes are

red ; their eyes are red, thei r ha ir bri stles , and thei r legs , eyes ,and noses are li ke a crow’s ; Yama carries the staff o f j u stice anda noose

,and hi s charioteer i s Roga He has two

four-eyed dogs,the offspring of Saram é .

Two aspects are inextricably blended in the character o f

Yama : he i s the ender o f the life of man , and therefore i s accompanied by death and hundreds o f dreadfu l di seases

,and

his messengers drag the weary dead through a region wi thneither water nor shade . On the other hand

,he i s a lso the j u st

j udge,before whose throne a l l must go without friend o r kin

to a id,s ave only thei r own deeds . AS a ru ler o f the realm of the

dead he executes righteou s puni shment on the evi l and re

wards the good,and hi s staff metes out j u st j udgement to all

mortals . Pleasant places are reserved for the good,while hel l

awaits the bad,and the terrors of the infernal world are vividly

described : the evi l man i s threatened with a hell where he S inksin the hot stream Va itarani , where the forest o f sword—leaveswounds hi s l imbs

,and where he i s bound to lie o n axes . Another

tortu re i s that described by Agastya,who found that his an

ce sto rs were hanging head downward in a cave until such timeas he Shou ld perform the sacred duty of rearing a son to cont inue the race .

The Vedi c V iews as to the futu re of the dead sti l l su rvive inparts of the epic . In one of the finest epi sodes of theMahdhhdrata

( i i i . 166 16 ff. ) we are told of the marriage Of Sév itri , the daughter ofASv ap at i of the Madras , to Satyav ant . Though the sageNarada approved the choice

,nevertheles s he foretold the

death of the hu sband in a year,but Sév it ri would not a lter

her choice . With Satyav ant She l ived in happines s in the hermitage where he dwelt

,for hi s royal father had lost hi s king

dom to his foes . One day when he was cutting wood,he fel l

as leep,wear ied out

,with hi s head on her lap . Then She saw

Yama approaching,noose in hand

,and the dread deity

,say

ing he had come for the sou l of her husband,drew it forth with


CHAPTER VI

THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE PURANAS

E i s no es sentia l difference between the mythology ofurdnas and the mythology of the epic . T radition

i s strong in India,and the fame and popu larity o f the great

epic s would in any case have served to make much of theirmythology a permanent inheritance o f l ater ages . There i s

,

therefore,for the most part no substantial change in the myths

affecting the well known features o f the epic pantheon : detai lsvary

,and the outline o f the stories tends to be fu rther con

fu sed by contamination of legends and by free invention and

rearrangement,but these d ivergencies

,while not without

interest for literary history and folk-lore,seldom have m ytho

logical s ignificance .

The most noteworthy featu re of the Pau ranic mythology i sthe deepening of the sectariani sm of the worship o f the twogreat gods . That worship i s sectarian as early as the epics

,in

the latest parts o f which there i s a free u se o f language whichgoes a s far a s anything in the Purdnas,‘ but there i s a d ifference in degree in the devotion when the main body o f the epicis compared with these poems

,and sectariani sm develop s

more and more conspicuous ly the later the Purdna i s . At thesame time these texts Show a steadi ly increas ing tendency todeal with questions of phi losophy and to dres s out thei r doctrines a s far a s p racticable in the garments of that compoundo f the samkhya and the Ved

'

anta phi losophical systems whichi s seen in the Bhagaoadg i td and in the long disqu i s itions ofthe d idactic books of the Mahdhhdrata . They unite with thi sadoption of theory the ru les of yoga practi ce which they find

THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE PURANAS 163

in the Yoga phi losophy ; and on the other hand they di rectpolemics against the Buddhists

,Jains

,and more especial ly

the Carv akas, who are held to be the leading and most dangerou s s chool o f material i sts , preaching a l ife o f self- indu lgence .

Of the two great gods Vi snu has the greater number o f

Purdnas as d i rected in the main in hi s honou r, including theVisnu

,the Bhdgaoata , the B rahma

,the B rahmaoa ioarta

,the

Brahmdnda , the Vardha , the Vdmana,the Karm a

,the Padma

,

the Garuda , and the Ndrada . Siva can c laim only the d a,

the Agn i , the Linga , and perhaps the Matsya , though the latterhas much to say on V i snu . The Mdrkandeya treats both deitie swithout prepos ses s ion for either

,and the Bhaoisya , with the

Bhaoisyottara , i s not marked ly sectarian . Yet despite the vastnumber o f legends contained in the Visnu and the Bhdgaoata ,which are par excellence the text-books of Vai snavism

,few of

them are more than quaint o r fooli sh . The depth of the devotion of hi s followers can , however, be gathered from a tale inthe “Uttarakhanda of the Padma Purdna . The s age Bhrguwas sent by the seers to a scerta in which god posses sed thequality of goodnes s

,in the highest degree

,so that they cou ld

decide whom to worship . The sage found S iva so deep ly en

gros sed in hi s sport with hi s wife that he did not receive hi sV i s itor

,while B rahma was su rrounded by seers and so taken

up with himself that he had no attention to pay to Bhrgu .

The latter then went to find V i snu,who was asleep

,whereat

the angry sage arou sed him with a kick . Instead of showinganger at thi s rude awakening

,the deity gently stroked the

foot of the seer and expressed the honour which he had felt athis unu sual method o f cal ling hi s attention . It is no t su r

pri s ing that,overjoyed at thi s condescension

,Bhrgu declared

that V i snu was by far the most worthy of worship of a ll thegods . The Ndrada Purdna

,however

,goes fu rther . Thi s late

and worthles s tract tel l s u s a vapid tale of the daughter of aking who obtained from her father a promise that he wou ldgrant her anything she des i red and who then ins i sted on her


parent either breaking one o f the fast-days o f Vi snu o r s layinghis son, whereupon the monarch chose the latter alternativea s being the les ser sin . On the whole the Visnu Purdna i s les sabsurd in its legends

,a lthough it has extravagances enough .

The great name o f Bharata i s now degraded by a fooli sh story

(i i . 13— 16) of how one day a fr ightened antelope died near

him,leaving a young fawn

,which Bharata took home and

brought up,devoting hi s whole l ife to med itation upon it .

Ju stly enough in the next birth he was reincarnated as anantelope

,but by his practice of ascetic i sm in thi s state he was

able to be born in hi s following reincarnation in the pos itiono f the son o f a piou s B rahman . Nevertheles s

,though fu l ly

acquainted with the knowledge o f the self,he was heedles s

o f a ll mundane things,Spoke indi stinctly and confu sedly

,per

formed no rites,went about di rty and in rags

,and genera lly so

conducted himself a s to earn the name of Fool Bharata . He

was accordingly engaged on the meanest tasks and in thi s waycame to be employed in the service o f King Sauv ira . Thi sopportunity being afforded him

,b e disp layed himself as a

ski l led and most learned teacher by tell ing a story whichShowed emphatica lly the unity of the whole o f exi stence andthe lack o f any real ind ividuality amongst men . All thi sBharata won through hi s devotion to Vi snu . In contra st thedemerits of su ch heretics a s the Buddhists and the Jains arerevealed by the story of King Satadhanu s ( iv . Onone sacred moment thi s true worshipper of Vi snu

,moved by

cou rtesy,sa id a few words to a heretic ; and a ll hi s goodnes s

cou ld not avai l to prevent hi s being born success ively as a dog,

a j ackal,a wolf

,a v ultu re

,a crow

,and a peacock

,unti l the

devotion o f hi s wife Sa ib ya succeeded in securing his rebi rthinto hi s royal rank . On the other hand

,devotion to Vi snu

su stains men through appal ling trial s,thi s being the case with

Prahléda,the p iou s son of HiranyakaSipu ( i . 17 Unin

stru cted by his teacher,the lad proclaimed before hi s father the

deity and supremacy of V i snu and would not des i st . Every


PLATE XX

V I SNU S LAY S THE DEM ONS

W hi le V isnu s lum be red on Ananta (se e Plate XI) ,two demons

, Madhu and Kaitab ha,sprang from his

ear and so ught to de stroy B rahma ; b ut the de ityawakened and s lew them . From a painting in a

Sanskrit m anuscript . Afte r Hendley, Ulw ar and its

Ar t Tr easur es,Plate LXIII .

PLDLIC LIBRa

Afi

BY

AS’I‘OR, LENOX AND

TILDEN FOUNDATIONS


I 66 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

the sacred gras s . Shortly afterward,however

,the sages saw

cloud s of du st, which , they were told , were rai sed by hordes ofrobbers hastening to steal , now that the strong arm of the kingwas removed . They accordingly rubbed the thigh of the corpse

,

whence sprang a man with flattened countenance and of dwarfs ize

,representing the Nisadas , or aboriginal inhabitants of

the country,by whose p roduction the gui lt of the s in was

carried away . The sages then rubbed Vena’s right arm,from

which came Prthu ,at W hose bi rth sacrifice the Suta (

“Herald

and Magadha (“Minstrel were brought forth

,and they

sang of the future deeds which he was to do,s ince they cou ld

not tell of the achievements that a newly born chi ld hadwrought . Prthu found that the earth was withholding allvegetation because of the period o f anarchy and with hismight he compelled her to submit to being milked . He i s thecu lture hero of Indi a : he made the earth level by lowering themountains ; he divided out the land and establi shed boundaries ; and he introduced agri cu ltu re .

Another tale (iv . 2) i s of King Yuv anasv a‘

. S ince he waschi ldles s

,the seers left on the altar a specia lly consecrated

draught which they meant his queen to swallow,but by error

he drank it instead,the resu lt being that a boy was born from

hi s s ide who won the name Mandhatr from the fact that hewas nouri shed by sucking the thumb of Indra .

1 The‘daughters

of thi s emperor were sought in marriage by the sage Saub hari,

who had spent a prolonged period of a scetic i sm ,but was

aroused to a des i re for the joys of l ife by gazing at the gambolsof the great fish Samm ada in the pool in which he was performing penance . By his magic might he as sumed a lovely form sothat all the daughters of the king ins i sted on being wedded tohim

,and by thi s s ame power he made each bel ieve that he

was constantly with her . But from this dream of happines she awoke one day to the inuti l ity and unending character ofhuman j oy and with his wives assumed hi s old asceti c p ractices in devotion to V l snu

,finally attaining liberation .

FIG . 5. THE MATSYA FI SH AVATAR OF VI SNU

When the wo rld had been de stroyed b y a de luge wh ic h sp ared o n ly the sh ip co n

taining Manu,the seven Rsis and the ir w ive s

,Visnu assum ed the fo rm o f

a fish and kep t the vesse l safe unt il the wate rs had subsided . Visnu has he re taken thep lace of Prajap at i o r B rahma in e ar l ier myth (see p p . 74, After Mo o r

,Hm du

Pant/won,P late XLVIII

,No . I .

V I 12


The l i st and the detai ls of the avatars natu rally begins toexpand

,and a very interesting account i s given in the Matyya

Purdna (ccxxxi-ccxxxv) . In the interminable wars of the godsand demons Sukra left the Asu ras and went to the gods , butwas entreated by hi s former as sociates to return to their a id .

He finally did so and undertook to obtain from Siva spel lswhich would make him more powerfu l than B rhasp at i, thepriest of the gods . Mahadeva imposed on him the horriblepenance of hanging for a thou sand years head downward overa fire of chaff

,and while he was engaged in thi s the gods at

tacked the Asuras,whom Sukra’s mother sought to protect .

She rendered Indra powerles s , and to prevent the completediscomfiture of the d ivinities Indra had to seek aid fromVi snu

,who with great hes itation cut off her head

,fo r which

deed he was cursed by Sukra to be born seven times on earthfor the good of the world when unrighteou snes s shou ld prevai l ;therefore i s Vi snu born in thi s world . After Sukra’s thousandyears of penance were over

,he was begu i led for ten years by

Jayanti,daughter o f Indra

,to l ive with her concealed from all .

In thi s period B rhasp at i took advantage of Sukra’s absence to

palm himself off on the Asu ras as Sukra,so that at fi rst they

rej ected Sukra when he came back to them . Finally they succe eded in pacifying him and after a thou sand years of war theywon a victory over the gods

,although thi s was soon undone

when the deities seduced the demons Sanda and Marka fromtheir a llegiance ; and thus the Asura s were finally driven fromheaven .

The l i st of avatars i s then given by the Matfya as ten in al l ,the last seven of which represent the resu lts o f the curse ofSukra . They are a part sprung from Dharma

,the man—l ion

,

the dwarf,Dattat reya , Mandhatr, Parasu ram a

,Rama

,

V edav yasa , Buddha , and Kalki . The Bhdgaw ta (I . i i i . 24)gives twenty-two

,namely

,Pu rusa , the boar, Narada , Na ra

and Narayana,Kapila

,Dattat reya , the sacr ifi ce , Rsab ha ,

Prthu ,the fish

,the tortoi se

,Dhanvantar i (counting as two) ,



became unduly proud . Balarama,another o f the incarnations

,

is the brother of Krsna , and in thi s capacity a lone i s con

side red a representative of Vi snu , especially when Krsna i sregarded no t as a mere pa rtia l incorporation

,but as the fu ll

incarnation o f the deity . The avatar a s Datt'

at reya was dueto a penance performed by Atri

,as a resu lt of which the three

gods,Brahma

,Vi snu

,and Siva

,became incorporated in part

in hi s three sons, Soma , Datta , and Du rv asas .

All these additions and modifications o f the avatar theoryare in keep ing with Indian tradition : j u st a s the older att rib ution of the fi sh

,the tortoi se

,and the boar incarnations to

Brahma or Prajapati gradually yields to the tendency to confer them on a real l iving deity

,so i t was only natu ral that

other greater beings shou ld be definitely ranked as incarnationsof Vi snu

,though originally no such character attached to

them . The proces s wa s gradual,as can be seen from the in

c rease in the number of the avatars in the later Pam—

nay, andneeds no explanation by external influence . Every trendin Indian religion told toward the proces s o f recognizing aseries of such “ descents .” From the Rgveda onward theidentification of one god with another was normal and of

increas ing frequency,nor can we suppose that these ident i

ficat ions were meaningles s . On the other hand,i t was the

natura l a im of the Brahmans to admit into their pantheon,in

such a manner a s to meet their views,the great gods o f tribes

which fell under the influence of their cu lture . Again,quite

apart from these two motives,from the first the gods are

powerful beings who can assume a multitude of shapes atwill and who may for their own purp oses be present in strangeplaces ; and , furthermore,we must no t exclude the poss ibi l itythat the animal incarnations point to totemism and to theincorporation of inferior gods into the Hindu pantheon . Butwhile the motives of the avatars cannot be as s igned with certainty , it i s wholly needles s to seek to impute them to theinfluence o f Christianity . There was indeed in the births o f

PLATE XX I

LAKSMI

T he G oddess o fW ealth and Beauty is shown withhe r characte ristic emblem , the lo tus . T his is part icularly appropriate , no t m e re ly because o f the beautyo f the flowe r

,b ut because it is a water-plant, while

Laksm i herse lf is sprung from the wate rs,hav ing

com e into be ing at the churning o f the o ce an (see

F ig . Fo r ano the r conception o f he r se e PlateXIII . From a bronze statue tte in the Museum o f

Fine Arts , Bo ston .


THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE PURANAS 17 1

the Buddha,the tradition o fwhich i s undoubtedly long anterior

to the Chri stian era,a form of incarnation which

,springing

immed iately from the H indu tenet of reincarnation,would

have been sufficient to render reference to any external sourcesuperfluou s

,but it i s doubtfu l whether even this doctrine i s

necessary to explain the incarnation of deities,which i s already

presaged in texts older than Buddhism .

On the other hand,a new influence does seem to be at work

in the tales of the child Krsna , which are wanting in the genuine portions of the epic and are first recorded in the Har ivamfa

(before goo A.D .) and then appear in the Virna and BhdgavataPurcizzaf in fu ll detai l , and more or less fu l ly in the B rahm a

,

the B rakmaw ivarta and other Purdnas . Narada,the sage

,

warned King Kamsa o f Mathura (the modern Muttra) , theland destined to be the holy state o f the Krsna cu lt, thatdeath awaited him at the hands of the eighth child of Devakiand Vasudeva . To avert thi s evi l

,Kams a kept Devaki under

st rict watch,and six of her children were duly s la in . The

seventh,however

,was saved by the goddes s S leep

,who re

moved it before bi rth from the womb of Devaki to that ofRohin i

,the other wife o f Vasudeva

,o f whom it was born as

Balarama or B aladev a . The eighth chi ld had to be s aved in adifferent way . A herdsman called Nanda had come with hi swife Y asoda up to the town to pay tribute to Kamsa

,and so

immedi ately after the bi rth of the chi ld Vasudeva bore itacros s the deep and dangerous Jumn

'

a, which in regard tohim rose no higher than his knee

,and exchanged the infant

for the daughter ju st born from Yasoda. The tiny gi rl was atonce cruelly s lain by the King’s order

,while Nanda retu rned

to hi s home with the youthfu l Krsna and with Balarama also ,fo r Kamsa

,in his anger at di scovering that the chi ld which

he had put to death was not the one destined to ki ll h im,but

was really a form o f the goddes s S leep,had given orders for

the slaughter of all male chi ldren which showed s igns of specialvitality .


The two boys grew up together, and Krsna early gave signso f hi s prowess . He s lew the demon Pfitana

,who came to offer

him suck with intent to s lay him ; he overturned a ca rt and

broke the pots and pans ; when tied with a rope round hi swaist

,he dragged the mortar, to which it was fastened , between

two trees,and after it had thu s become wedged fast

,by hard

pulling he overthrew both trees . No t content with thesemiracles

,accord ing to the Hariwmfa he created hundreds of

wolves from hi s body unti l he persuaded the herdsmen to settlein the Vrndav ana , where he des i red to be . Arrived there

,he

leaps into the Jumna and defeats the great serpent Kal iya,

whom he bids depart to the ocean ; he destroys the demonDhenuka

,who was in as s form ; he cau ses Rama to s lay the

Asura Pralam b a . When the time comes for the festiva l ofIndra

,he persuades the cowherds to abandon the practice of

worshipping Indra,incu lcating instead the adoration of the

mountains and o f their own cattle as means o f succes s . Inanger at hi s thus d iverting sacrifice from him Indra sends aterrib le storm on the cattle

,but Krsna upraises Mount Govar

dhana and thu s protects the kine and the herdsmen unti l afterseven days the storm d ies away

,and Indra recognizes the

greatnes s of the boy,who

,however

,declines to admit hi s

d ivine character to the herdsmen,with whom he continues to

l ive,enjoying sports of al l kinds and in specia l indulging in

dances with the Gopi s,or milkmaids . Here arose the Rasa or

Hallisa dances performed in honou r of Krsna in many partso f Ind ia

,even to the present day . On one occas ion a demon

Ari sta attacked Krsna in the mid st of hi s dance , but was s lain .

Learning of the deeds o f Krsna , Kamsa determines to fetchhim to hi s cap ital and there to procure his death

,i f he cannot

s lay him before . He accordingly sends Akrura to fetch Krsnaand his brother to Mathura

,and Ke s in to attempt hi s l ife ;

but Ke s in,who attacks in horse shape

,i s destroyed by Krsna .

The boys accompany Akrfi ra to Mathura,and they enter the

town,ki lling Kamsa’s washerman who shows them disre



her love to him and explained that he was not her son,where

upon,in anger with Sambara

,he s lew him and carriedMayadev i

as his wife to Dv araka, being received there with great j oy,

s ince in reality he was none other than the god of love,reunited

to his wife Rati under the form of Mayadev i . From this marriage was sprung youngAniruddha , who ranks a s Egoism to themystics and who married Rukm in’s g randdaughter ; but thewedding-feast ended in bloodshed

,for Rukm in challenged

B aladev a to dice , played him false , and was s lain by him .

Then one day Indra came to Krs na and told him of the vi ledeeds o f Naraka of Pragjyo t isa , who had robbed Aditi of herear-rings and had insu lted Varuna and the other gods . Aftera valiant fight Krsna destroyed Naraka and retu rned to Aditiher ear-rings . Thi s vis it to the celestial world

,however

,leads

h im to another adventu re,for Satyab ham a, one o f his other

s ixteen thousand one hundred wives,sees the Parijata tree in

heaven and des i res him to take it home with them . He agrees todo so in order to lessen her j ea lou sy of hi s favourite Rukm ini ,though for thi s purpose he has first to overthrow Indra and thegods ; but finally with the permis s ion of Indra he takes the treeto Dv

'

araka and marries the princes ses held in captivity byNa

raka . A greater struggle now awaited him : Usa, the daughterof Bana

,the Asu ra king

,became enamoured of Pradyum na

’s

son An iruddha , but Bana strongly Opposed hi s daughter’s wish

,

and being a devotee o f S iva,secu red that god’s a id . Bana

managed to find An iruddha in hi s palace,where he had come

in secret,and bound him ; and a terrib le struggle then ensued

between Krsna , Balarama , and Pradyum na o n the one s ide,

and Bana,S iva

,and Skanda on the other . Finally the might

of Krsna prevai led , and he was about to s lay the Asu ra kingwhen S iva intervened and asked for hi s l ife

,which Krsna

graciou s ly granted,as S iva had acknowledged his sup reme

pos ition . In the Harivarhfa the scene ends d ifferently : thetwo gods are reconci led by the intervention of Brahma

,.who

points out thei r identity ; and the whole ends with a hymn


asserting their unity . The vers ion of the Vim u Pa rana,how

ever,clearly as serts a victory of the Va isnav as and doubtles s

has some semi-historica l bas is . Here the Har ivamfa ends,but

the Vim u Pa rana,after o ne or two more legends

,narrates

the death of Krsna on the model o f the Mahabharata .

The study of Krsna’s youth at once ra ises i rres i stib ly the

question whether we have here a real growth of Indi an religion,

derived from native sources , o r whether we must look forforeign

,and particu larly Chri stian

,influence . The facts as

to Christianity in Indi a are unhappi ly Open to grave doubtthe legend o f the working of St . Thomas in western Indi a

,

much d i scu ssed as it has been , 2 can and will yield no clearproof of any actual contact of Chri stianity with Ind i a in theapostolic period . The statement that in 190 A.D . Pantaenu s

found Indians who were Chri stians depend s upon the inter

p retat ion to be given to the vague word“ Ind i a in a notice

of Eusebiu s , which may with more probabi lity be a ss igned toSouth Arabia . The as sertion of D io Chrysostom that Christiantexts were turned into thei r native tongue by Indians mayequally well be referred to the same source

,if indeed it is any

thing but a rhetorica l exaggeration . Yet it is probable thatby the middle of the fou rth century of the Chri stian eraChr i stians fleeing from Pers ian persecution had come to aland which was to be gu i ltles s of intolerance until the adventofMuhammadanism ,

and we have the conclu s ive evidence ofthe Egyptian traveller Cosmas that about 525— 530 A.D . therewere Chri stian communities on the Malabar coast and thatat Kalliana

,which i s doubtles s Kalyan near Bombay

,there

was a bi shop appointed from Pers ia . This proves that by thatdate the Indian Church had become Nestorian

,and probably

enough the event was of recent origin,for it was only in the

latter pa rt of the fifth century that the Pers ian king PerOzdeclared that Nestorianism should be the only legitimate formo f Chri stianity and in 498 A.D . the B ishop of Se leukia formallydeclared his independence of the B i shop of Antiochia .


The fate of the Nestorian Church was a chequered one : itwas very loosely connected with the parent body and in theninth century it seems to have evolved into a practicallyautonomous communion at a time when those who professedthe faith were gaining politica l independence o r semi-dependence . Chri stian influence was also becoming more pronouncedin the north . There it can be fully a ssumed in 639 A.D .

,when

we have the first record of the vis it o f a body of Syrian Chri stians to the cou rt of the Chinese emperor and o f thei r settingforth their doctrines ; 3 and in 78 1 A.D . a Nestorian joined witha Buddhi st in a trans lation of a Buddhi st text in China . The

dates are o f importance,for they enable us to judge the ex

ternal probabi lities o f the introduction into Indian mythologyof conceptions taken from Chri stianity .

The influence of the Gospels has been sought in detai l inthe Bhagavaa

’

gi ta, but though the paral leli sms o f thought andlanguage a re sometimes remarkable enough

,they cannot be

said to prove borrowing,nor

,as we have seen

,i s there any

need to as sume that the idea of incarnation was borrowedfrom Christianity . There i s

,however

,one passage in the ep ic

which seems to hint at knowledge o f the Chri sti an faith . Herewe are told (x11. 12696 ff.) that Narada once j ou rneyed to theSv etadv ip a (

“White where he learned the Pafi caratra doctrine

,a mysti c form of Vai snavi sm ; and it i s a lso said that

three sons o fBrahma,Ekata

,Dv ita

,and T rita “

Two,

”

and went to the same place,which i s at a di stance

of thi rty-two thousand yoj anas north o r north-west ofMountMeru on the north bank of the sea of milk . There dwell menwithout organs o f sense

,white in colour

,and of a bri l l i ance

which dazzles the eyes of the s inful . They ever revere God inmuttered prayer and with folded hands ; but thei r deity, forwhom they are fi l led with the deepest love

,cannot be seen .

None of them has a higher rank than the others,but a ll a re

equal . Laying as ide the fabu lou s pa rt o f the tale,which prob

ably belongs to one of the latest parts of the epic,i t i s no t



Krsta in many part s o f Ind ia at the p resent day and whosebright and cheerfu l rel igion with its p ronounced thei sm and

its doctrine of faith was naturally akin to Chri stianity in fargreater degree than Buddhism

,Jaini sm

,or Saivism with its

especia l devotion to ceremonies and a scetic practices . Forthe most part

,though no t without important exceptions

,in

cluding the Bhagavata , the Pa rana; describe the festival ofthe b irthday o f Krsna in great detai l : the es sentia l featu reis that the chi ld i s represented as being born in a cow- sta l land as lying on the breast o f hi s mother Devaki in indub itable imitation of the Madonna Lactans . The change from theorthodox story of the exchange of the chi ldren by Vasudeva i ss ignificant of the new influence . The same factor betrays itselfin the traditions of the Visnu Pa rana that Nanda was goingto Mathura to pay his tribute to the king in accordance withthe Gospel of Luke

,and o f the healing of the crooked Kub ja,

who presents him with a ves sel o f sa lve,in which seem to be

blended events recorded by Matthew ( ix . 20 ; xv . 30—

31) andby Luke (v ii . 37— 3 To the borrowing may be added the taleo f the bringing to life of the son of Duhsalawhich i s recountedin the j a im ini Bharata , a work not later than the thirteenthcentury . Later texts add other small points o f resemblance

,

but on the whole the influence o f Christianity extends todetai ls

,not to princip les .

In compari son with the richnes s of the mythology whichhas grown up round the person of V l snu it is astoni shing thatSiva remains so poor in legends

,though he i s given twenty

eight incarnations to enable him to compete with hi s rival .The strength of his worship

,however

,l ies in cu lt

,not in

theory,and the centre o f that cu lt is formed by the sacred

liriga . Many of these are descr ibed by the Pa rah ar,and they

represent the god in hi s c reative capacity, while with themare connected the trad itions o f Siva’s activity

,such as that

recorded in the story of Daksa . In a late Pauranic pas sage theMahabharata (x i i . 10208 ff. ) tells u s that when Daksa was


s acrificing,but ignoring Siva

, Uma incited the deity to securea part o f the offering , and he then created a terrib le beingcalled Virab hadra , whileUma as sumed her form as Bhadrakali ,and together the pair up set the sacrifice . In the resu lt Daksa

recognized his error,

and Virab hadra,who showed the

gentle as well a s the terrib le s ide of S iva’s natu re,took

him to Benares,where he erected a liaga and by med itation

entered into it . In the Saura Pa ra—

21a , a work which i snot later than 1200 A.D .

,thi s ep i sode i s so narrated as to

bring out in great clearnes s the anxiety o f the supportersof S iva to prove that he was superior to Vi snu

,and thi s indeed

seems to be a trait of a l l the Sa iva Puranas,which seek to

make good the importance of the god whom they worship . Asin the later additions to the ep ic , Siva i s set o ff against Vi snu ,and it is ins i sted that he i s the father of both B rahma andVi snu : he created the first from hi s right s ide and the secondfrom hi s left

,while from hi s hea rt he sent forth Rudra

,the

first deity being formed to create,the second to protect

,and

the third to destroy the world . The popu lar Vi ew,which the

Pa rana itself expres ses,that S iva w as born of Brahma is refuted

by a proof which demonstrates to Brahma that the only realcreator i s S iva and that by his power of i l lu s ion he has broughtabout the apparent bi rth of himself a s the son of Brahma.

Li ke V i snu,S iva i s the a ll-god , and the tenets o f the Vedanta

and the Samkhya are fitted to him with a s much ski l l a s theyare adapted to Vi snu

,subj ect to the fact that he has no sons

li ke Pradyum na and An iruddha to identify with Mind and

Egoism in the proces s of the descent o f the Absolute into em

p ir ical reality . As a creator,however

,Siva has one advantage

over Vi snu,for at times he i s clear ly conceived as being an

drogynou s . This idea i s not new,for it i s perhaps found o n

coins o f the so -called Scythian kings , probably about the beginning of the Chr i stian e ra

,

6 but stres s now begins to be la id onit . From the female s ide of his nature S iva created h i s consort S iva

,who serves a s his feminine counterpart and who in


the philOSOphic interpretation o f the deities represents Prakrt i,the materia l out o f which the whole universe develops ; whileS iva himself i s the eternal Purusa , o r sp ir it, fo r which Prakrt iunfolds itself in its unreal d i sp lay . Li ke her husband

,S iva i s

a terrib le foe o f the demons : the S aura Pa rana (xl ix) tell show Indra in fear of them is fain to go to beg her a id

,and then

with her three heads and twenty arms she attacks the Daityas,

s lays them in enormous numbers,desp ite the feats of thei r

leaders Raktaksa and Dhfim raksa , and dances a wild dance ofvictory

,a remini scence o f the dance o f S iva which is recorded

as early as Megasthene s .

As in the ca se o fV i s nu , great reward s await the p iou s devoteeof S iva . T hu s we are told ( i i i . 14 ff. ) o f a king who in hi sp reviou s b irth had been a robber and hunter

,a man without

the s l ightest tinctu re of vi rtue o r cu lture . On his death hecomes before Dharma

,who takes the place o f Yama as j udge

of the dead,the ancient lord of the departed being relegated

to the duty of puni shment . Dharma’s spy , Cit ragup ta , cannot relate a s ingle virtuou s act consciou sly done by the robber

,

but he revea ls the fact that day by day, while p lying hi snefariou s craft

,he has been unwittingly invoking Siva as Hara

in the words ahara,

“ bring the booty,and p rahara ,

“ stri ke” ;and thi s is enough to wipe ou t every other one of his s ins and tosecu re his ultimate birth in the royal palace . One Pulaha

,who

had the fortune to be a fly in the temple of S iva,i s for that

cau se alone reborn as the son o f Brahma ( lxvii . 14 Evena dog—eater who reveres S iva ranks above a Brahman whodoes not . Sti l l more striking i s the story of the origin o fKubera

,

lord of riches (xlvi i . 45 A Brahman in Avanti left homein greed o f gain

,and hi s wife

,deserted by him

,formed a con

nexion with a Sudra,bearing to him a son named Duhsaha ,

who was di s regarded by al l h i s kinsfolk becau se of his loworigin . He turned to ways o fwickednes s and finally broke intothe temple of Siva to plunder it ; but since the wick o f hi slamp failed during his efforts to find the treasu re

,he had to



of hi s rea l head i s variou s ly explained : one story tell s that hi smother Parvati , from the scurf on whose body some believedhim to have been born

,asked Sani

,the p lanet Satu rn

,to look

upon him,forgetfu l o f the effect o f hi s glance . When Sani

obeyed,he burned the child’s head to ashes

,and Parvati

,

on Brahma’s advice , rep laced it with the first head she cou ldfind

,thi s happening to be an elephant’s . Again it i s sa id that

Parvati,when bathing

,placed the b oy at the door to guard

her privacy ; but S iva sought to enter and in hi s anger at thechi ld for attempting to stay h im cut off hi s head

,for which he

then substituted an elephant’s to p rop itiate h i s wife . Anothervers ion attributes it to the puni shment infl i cted on S iva fors laying Aditya (the sun) , Ganesa los ing h is head a s a resu ltand receiving in its p lace that of Indra’s elephant . The los sof the one tu sk i s explained by a fu rther legend : Parasu ram a

once came late to see S iva,but since the deity was asleep

,hi s

son Ganesa sought to prevent the vi s itor from distu rbing hi sfather . Enraged a s u sual

,Rama then attacked him

,and whi le

at first the god had the advantage,his enmity was disarmed by

seeing flung at him the axe which hi s father had given to Rama,

so that he submiss ively allowed the weapon to tear away oneof hi s tu sks . A further pecu l iarity of thi s deity i s that he i ss aid to ride on the rat . Pos sibly enough some local variety ofthe earth o r corn sp i rit has been amalgamated with the concep t ion of the lord of S iva’s hordes . A counterpart to Gane saas patron of learning and l iterature i s Sarasvati

,who can

trace her or igin to the Vedic Vac ; but in striking contrast toGane sa she i s a lways dep icted as a woman of great beauty

,

seated on a lotu s and with a crescent on her brow .

Among the other gods Agni shares a certain importance,

though merely becau se he i s connected with the bi rth of Skanda,

who i s produced by him and S iva ; and in the Saura Pa rana ,curiou sly enough

,Varuna i s somewhat often mentioned . Indra

,

on the other hand,appears only as in constant need of help and

presents almost a comic figu re . Him av ant as the father of

PLATE XX I I

GANE! A

T he de ity Gane s’a is e special ly honoured as be ing

the god who av e rt s obstac le s,whence he becom es

a div inity o f goo d fo rtune , who should b e wo rshippedbe fo re each new undertak ing . Vario us legends, hardto reco nci le with each o the r

,are to ld o f his parentage

and to explain his e lephant’s head, which is apparent ly

a symbo l o fwisdom . He is probably a god o f som e

abo riginal tribe who was adopted by Hinduism . From

a bro nz e in the PeabodyMuseum , Salem , Mass .



Gau ri i s o f some consequence , and Kama 1s Inseparably connected with the Siva legend through hi s part in bringing aboutthe wedlock of Parvati with S iva , from which Skanda was fatedto spring . The l iterature also shows other trace s of the prominence of thi s god , whose rale in the epic i s small enough .

More important than these surviva ls of the o ld mythologyi s the new stres s laid on the cu lt of the sun . Sun-worship hasindeed from all time been practi sed in India

,and we hear of

three c lasses of worshippers who adored the ris ing,the setting

,

and the midday sun ; whi le one form o f the tri ad,or Trimfi rt i,

was the veneration of the whole three forms of the sun . The

record of Hiian T s ang shows what importance at hi s timeattached to the cu lt of the sun in India . It appears

,however

,

that fresh l ife in that worship was derived from Pers ian influence . In a story told in the Bham

’

gya Pa rana (cxxxix) welearn that Samba , the son of Krsna , was aflficted by leprosyas a resu lt of the cu rse of the i rascible sage Du rv asas

,and that

in order to secure heal ing he decided to apply himself. to dev o t ion to Surya , o f whose power Narada had told him much .

Having obtained the permis s ion of hi s father, he left Dvaraka,c ros sed the Indu s and the Candrab haga (the modern Chenab) ,and arrived at the grove of Mitra , where he was freed from hisdi sease . In gratitude he returned to the Chenab

,having sworn

to erect a temple there in honour of the god and to found acity . When he had done thi s

,however

,he was in doubt in

which form to worship the god unti l an image was m iraculously found by him when bathing ; but s ince he was sti l l inneed o fpriests to tend the idol , and as B rahmans were not avai lable for such a duty

,he was advi sed to seek “Magas ” from

over the sea . By Krsna’s aid and by u s ing Garuda he suc

ce eded i n find ing the Magas and inducing eighteen families tocome with him to Sam b apura and to settle there . The Pers ianorigin of these Magas i s p roved by many detai ls given regarding them : they observed the vow of eating in s i lence

,were

afraid of contamination by the dead,wore the sacred gi rd le

v r— 13


of the Pars i s,covered the mouth at worship

,etc . 8 Moreover

they are found in Sakadv ip a, which suggests that the legendlays hold of the hi stori c fact o f the fl ight of Pars i s to India .

The S aura Pa rana , which i s a pu rely Saivite work , though itpurports to be revealed by the sun

,contains some references

to practices of Sau ra sects , and here and there it identifiesS iva with the sun . It i s

,however

,s ignificant for the inferior

position of the sun that to it i s given the duty of destroying theworld at the end of a period

,while the complete annihi lation

of the universe i s reserved for the great god himself.In close connexion with the cu lt of S iva we find a develop

ment ofthe Tantric rites and of thei r accompanying demonology .

For the hi story of religion in its lower phases the Tantray,the

date s of which a re sti l l wholly uncertain,but which doubtles s

represent a form of l iteratu re belonging to the latter part o f

the first millennium,are of great importance ; but mytho logi

cally they are Of little value . The worship inculcated i s thatof the female s ide of Indra

,his Sakti

,which phi losophically i s

regarded as Prakrt i and as Maya, or the Delu s ion whichcreated the apparent world and which i s identified with Sivaunder her variou s names a s Kali

,Durga

,Aghori

,and many

others . She i s Sati,daughter of Daksa , whose sacrifice S iva

destroyed,whereupon in anger she departed to be reborn as

Uma and thu s to be reunited to her husband . In the ritual ofthe Sakta sects human sacrifice has apparently been u sualfrom the earliest times and has p revai led down to the presentday

,though in later years sporadically and by stealth . The

other feature o f the cu lt i s the grave immorality which i texalts a s a sacred duty

,at least among the votaries o f the

“ left-hand sect,who are the more numerous

,though the

Tantri c texts vei l the ceremonies in a mass of p seudo-mystici sm .

The character of the rites can only be explained,no t by any

adoration Of an abstraction,but by the continued practice

of a worship of a vegetation o r earth spi rit who i s identifiedwith Siva’s wife

,thi s nature cu lt being transformed and altered



the doctrine of hells , of which the Marhanaeya Pa rana describes seven in fu l l detai l , and with a certain power enum e rate s with care the tortures o f the inhab itants of theseabodes . On the other hand

,it gives a tale of remarkable beauty

(xv ) . It i s that o f the o ld king Vip ascit (“ the who

dies and , much to his amazement, i s dragged down to hell bythe retainers Of Yama

,who i s sti l l more completely identified

with Dharma than even in the epic . He inquires in wonderwhy thi s treatment i s infl icted upon him and learns that it i sa brief and slight penalty for the omis s ion Of a trifl ing domesticduty during hi s l ifetime . When

,however

,he i s about to depart

from hell,the sou ls in torment ask him to stay

,s ince from him

a refreshing breath emanates which les sens thei r pains ; andon learning this he refu ses to obey the b idding of Yama’sattendants and wil l not leave . Dharma himself and Sakracome to see him and point out that the s inners in hell sufferfo r thei r evi l acts

,while hi s good deeds have earned him

celestia l bli s s,and urge him to go forth from hi s temporary

place of puni shment . He declares,however

,that he wil l not

do so without obtaining freedom from anguish for the sou l sin hell

,and eventually the gods give way and relieve the

damned of all their pain at the moment when the king goes toheaven . The last book of the Mahabharata appea rs to be anecho of the tale .

CHAPTER VII

BUDDHIST MYTHOLOGY IN INDIA

AND T IBET

AREFUL analys i s of the texts of the Buddh i st Pal i1Canon ,which at the present day represents the sacred scriptures

of the Buddhists in Ceylon , enables c ritic i sm to establ i sh ap icture of the l ife and teaching of Gotama Sakyamuni , theBuddha

,or “Enlightened One

,which deprives him of a ll

s ave human attributes . Accord ing to thi s view,wh ich is most

bri l l iantly represented by the writings of H . O ldenberg,

Gotama was a purely human personage who,bui lding on the

foundation of the thought of the Upanirad: and on contem

p o rary rel igiou s and philOSOphic movements , arrived at atheory of human life which

,recognizing and accepting as its

basi s the fact o f human sufl e ring , saw clearly that the attainment of fu l l self-control and the suppres s ion of pass ion werethe true ends of mankind . Holding these views

,he incu lcated

them by teaching among a wide ci rcle of pupi ls,founded a

religiou s order,and in due cou rse died of a perfectly s imple

d i sease,produced by indigestion

,which acted fatally on the

constitution of the o ld man . A variety of historica l cons iderations lead to the conclu s ion that the death of the Buddha fellin the thi rd decade of the fifth centu ry B . C .

,o r poss ibly a few

years earl ier,though it i s admitted that thi s date i s no t ab

so lute ly free from su spicion . Rigorous ly followed out,but

without real alteration of their p rincip les,the teachings o f

the “ Enlightened One show that not only a re all l ife and

striving merely unhappy , but that the true end of exi stence i sthe termination of that exi stence and the breaking of the chain


of action which keep s in perpetual motion and which the Buddhist s substituted for the conception of self which they hadinherited from the cu rrent phi losophy . The Buddha a lso incu lcated a s imple form o f monastic d i scip line and a methodof l ife which involves a strict morality and a steady p roces so f menta l cu ltu re .This vers ion o f early Buddhism

,which reveals it a s a fa ith

of extraordinary s impli city and purity of origin,laying as ide

al l futi le belief in gods,abandoning outworn beliefs in sou ls

,

and carrying to a logica l conclu s ion the reasoning o f theUpaniradr , which elevates the subj ect of thought into ameaningless Absolute

,may poss ib ly correspond with historica l

reality,for we have not

,and never can exp e ct

’

to have,any

conclu s ive proof as to the actual views and teachings ofGotama .

It i s true that high age has been ascribed to the earliest textsof the Pal i Canon

,but the evidence for that date i s conj ectu ra l

and doubtfu l,and we have no as su rance that a s ingle Bud

dhist text which has come down to u s i s even as early as twohundred years after Gotama had departed . There i s

,therefore

,

abundant room for a lteration and change in the tradition . Ifthe Buddha were but a simple mortal

,there was time fo r him

to be transformed into something more-than human,and we

may,i f we please

,cite in favou r of thi s view the opinion of Sir

R . G . Bhandarkar 2 and Profe ssor R . Garbe 3 that the Krsnamyth has ari sen from the personality of a s imple head of a clanand religiou s teacher .who at an early

,if unce rtain

,date

,though

sti ll long before the Buddha,t aught a rel igion in which bhakti

,

or fa ith in and devotion to God,played a most important part

,

and who in the cou rse of time was himself regarded a s beinga form o r incarnation of the divinity whom he preached . Onthe other hand

,it i s equally legitimate a s a matter of hypothes i s

to suppose that the rationali stic treatment of the Buddha shownin part of the texts of the Pal i Canon rep resents a deliberateeffort to p lace on a purely p hilOSOp hic bas i s the fundamentalportion of hi s creed . Neither i s it pos s ible to ignore the force


PLAT E XX I I I

T H E GREAT BUDDHA

T he Buddha he re appears as in his youth, whenhe was sim ply Prince S iddhartha and befo re he haddese rted al l fo r the sake o f salv atio n . His po rtrayalis an adm irable exam ple of the Indian ideal o f manlybeauty. From a fresco at Ajanta, Berar . Afte r

zfj anta Fra mes, Plate XI .

THE NEW max

PUBLIC

ASTOR, LENOX

TILDEN FOUNDATIONSR L



of India had definitely become subj ect to the need of accounting for thei r existence by some exploit of merit . These textsare fu l l of exp lanations o f the rea sons why the gods gainedimmortal ity

,of how they became gods

,and why individua l

gods have thei r functions and being . As in the rel igion of

ancient Rome,as in the rel igion o fmodern India

,a deity i s not

a creature which exi sts from birth o r from all time and cont inue s to be , i rrespective of his actions : the gods must createthei r d ivinity by the sacrifice or by ascetic feats

,and the ep ic

i s fu ll o f tales o f s ages o f a l l kinds who seek to become divineand whose efforts the gods strive to restrain by inducing themto abandon their a scetic i sm under temptation . These sagesare a s powerfu l as gods and mingle freely with them : whenIndra i s hu rled from hi s throne and flee s into hiding

,and

when Nahu sa u surps hi s p lace,it i s no divine power that re

stores him to hi s kingdom,but the anger of the seer Agastya ,

with whom Nahu sa had ra shly entered into a theological d i sputation . Indeed it must be remembered that the B rahmanai

~

as sert in a l l seriou snes s that the Brahmans are the gods onearth

,thei r location being the point o fd i stinction between them

and the gods in the skies above,and the whole sacrificia l con

cep t ion of the B rahmanar i s based on the V iew that by thes acrifice the p riests hold complete control over the gods . Itwas inevitable that under these ci rcumstances the Buddha

,

with hi s trip le perfection o f knowledge,o f virtue

,and of aus

t e rity , shou ld be regarded by hi s followers a s a being of a divinecharacter

,and that a mythology shou ld rap idly develop round

his person .

It might,however

,be thought that

,though the mythology

did grow,yet in that mythology it wou ld not appear that the

Buddha himself ever made any cla im to more than humannatu re

,that he was in hi s own Opinion a s imple man , and that

a s a preacher of a system of rational i sm any claim of divinityo r superiority in kind to other men would no t be as serted byh im . Here again the expectation i s d i s appointed : the texts not

PLAT E XX IV

T HE BUDDHA AND S UJATA

Befo re attaining en lightenm ent (Bodhi) the Buddhaso ught to w in salvation by B rahmanic precepts .

W hile thus engaged,he was m istaken fo r a de ity by

Sujata, the wife o f a landho lder,who sought o f him

a bo o n and pre sented him an offe ring o f m ilk,giv ing

him l ikew ise a bow l o f wate r -to wash his hands .T o uched by he r hom age

,he ble ssed her and granted

he r reque st . Afte r this he bathed,and when the

go lden cup in which Sujata had bro ught the m i lkfloated up

-stream,he knew that he w as so on to gain

Buddhaho od. From a painting by the m ode rn Indianartist Ab anindro Nath T ago re . Afte r Interna tiona lStudio

,XV III

, Plate fac ing p . 26 .


BUDDHIST MYTHOLOGY 19 1

merely ascribe to Gotama traits which are mythological,but

they attribute to him cla ims which a re incompatible withhumanity . Many as are the notices of the Buddha

,we find

that at the most important periods o f hi s l i fe the non-humancharacteri stic s have a practi ce of appearing

,whether because

the fancy of the di scip les then thought it fit to insert them orwhether from the beginning the Buddha felt himself to bemore than a man .

In the Sar'

nyutta N! haya and elsewhere a compari son occu rsbetween the Buddha and the flowers : a s the lotu s grows up inthe water from which it i s born

,ri se s above it

,and ceases to

be su ll ied by it,thu s the Buddha grows above the world and

i s no longer defiled by it . In itself the analogy might be s ati sfied by the V iew that the Buddha ri ses from the world into theway of del iverance from all de sife of any kind in Ni rvana , thatis,he becomes an Arhat . This interp retation

,however

,is for

bidden by an important dialogue in the Ariguttara Nihaya

( i i . in which the Buddha himself answers the questionas to h i s humanity and divinity . A certain Brahman namedDona

,seeing on the feet of the B les sed One — for the

Buddha often bears the title of Bles sed (Bhagavant) , whichi s pecu lia rly that o f Krsna thou sands of wheels with thei rspokes and their naves

,crie s out in wonder that , being but a

man,he shou ld have these marks . He then proceeds to ques

tion the Buddha and asks i f he i s a god . To thi s the Buddharesponds

,

“No .

”He then asks

,

“Art thou a Gandharva ? ”

and receives the same rep ly,which i s repeated in answer to

hi s next inqu iry whether the “ Bles sed One i s a Yaksa,a

term denoting a sort of demoniac being , which (sometimes atleast) i s conceived as o f mysteriou s and heavenly beauty .

The questioner therefore resorts to the only hypothes i s whichseems ava i lab le and suggests that

,after a ll

,the Buddha must

be a man ; but thi s conclu s ion i s at once rej ected by Gotama ,who finally explains that from him have vani shed the pas s ionswhich cou ld bring about hi s being a Gandharva

,a Yaksa

,


or a man,and that

,l i ke the lotu s , he has passed out from the

world and i s not affected by the world ; in sum ,he i s a

Buddha . It i s imposs ible to expla in away thi s pa s sage a s amere reference to the cond ition of an Arhat

,for Arhats a s

men have no such remarkable phys ica l featu re s a s the wheelson the feet o f the great god . S imi larly

,though the Buddha

i s fa in to eat and drink l ike other men,and though we have

the fu ll detai l s of hi s la st days and of the efforts to heal h immade by human means

,the texts can tell u s without hes itation

that he i s the first of beings,the control ler and the sovereign

of the whole world and of everything which i s contained in it,

Of Mara who tempts him,of Brahma

,of a ll the generations of

l iving beings men and gods,ascetics and Brahmans . When

in the Ariguttara Ananda rejoices to know that the Buddha i sable to sp read hi s glory and make his voice heard in countles sworlds

, Udayin questions the value of such a power ; but the“ Bles sed One

,far from reproving Ananda’s admiration

,

declares that if Ananda should fai l to secu re emancipationin the present exi stence

,he will

,by reason o f his acqu iescence

in the Buddha’s wonderfu l power,be born for seven exi st

ence s to come a s king of the gods and for other seven as kingof Jam b udv ip a , o r the world . Again

,when the deitie s of the

sun and moon are a s sa i led by the terrib le demon Rahu , whoswallows them and thu s from time to time cau ses thei r ecl ip se ,it is to the Buddha that they go seeking shelter . “

Rahu,

”

says Sakyamuni,the deity of the moon ha s had recou rse to

me ; let go the moon , for the Buddhas pity the world”; and

the demon departs in terror,reflecting that had he harmed the

moon,his head would have flown into seven parts .

While variou s Buddhas may have thei r ea rthly l ife fromtime to time

,i t is cha racteri stic of these beings in al l texts ,

both early and late,that in thi s world there cannot be more than

a s ingle Buddha at any one time,even as in the view Of the

Brahmans the god Brahma ex i sts and must exist a lone . Therei s,however

,a distinction between the B rahmanica l V iew and


PLAT E XXV

T H E B U DDHA ON THE LOTU S

T he Buddha, seated on his lo tus-thro ne , is repre

sented in the “ teaching attitude,

”expo unding the

Law to the mu ltitude who surround him . T he sma l lfigures in the upper co rne rs show him in the “

con

tem plativ e attitude,

”and the seco nd from the to p o n

the right po rtrays him in the attitude o f benediction

(cf. Plate XXIV ) . T he “witne ss attitude ” is shownin Plate XXV I. T he princ ipal o the r “attitude ” isrec lining o n the right side with the head to the no rth

,

this repre senting the Buddha’s death. From a G an

dhara scu lpture now in the Laho re Mu seum . After

70arna1 of Indian t,v ii i

,NO . 6 2

,Plate V

, NO . 2 .



and that,after he has finished his d i s cou rses

,hi s hearers

wonder whether he be god o r man . It i s not surpri s ing if theobsequ ies of such a man were marked not merely by the honoursdue to an ea rthly supreme king

,but by miracles o f different

kinds,testifying rather to hi s immorta l nature than to a merely

human character .The birth of the Buddha is no les s remarkable than h i s death .

The“Buddha To Be , or Bodhisattva , had for some centuries

been living in glory in the world o f the Tusita , o r“Happy

,

”

gods,which he had atta ined by the only pos s ib le means

,that

o f good deeds in earl ier bi rths . In the fu llnes s of time,and

after matu re cons ideration of the time and place,and o f the

caste,fami ly

,and personality of the mother

,he selected for

thi s honou r Maya,the wife o f the Sakya king

,and whi le she

s lept he entered her womb in the gu ise o f a six-tu sked elephant.Fou r celestial beings guarded the infant before b i rth

,and he

eventually saw the light in the Lumbini grove while hi s motherheld in her hand a branch of the sacred sal-tree . The para lleli sm with the myth of Leto 4 i s made yet more stri king in thelegend a s told of another Buddha

,Dip amkara , which s ignifies

e ither “Maker of Light or “ I s land-Maker,

” who was born ona mysti c i s land in the Ganges . There i s no tradition in the earlycanon that Maya was a virgin

,but although a s ingle pas sage

in the T ibetan literatu re 5 suggests a natu ral conception,that

appears to be a blasphemy . Moreover the mysteriou s nature o f the b irth i s heightened by the fact that Maya die sseven days afterward .

It is,o f cou rse

,pos s ib le to see in a ll thi s a d i storted vers ion

o f actual facts : death of the mother o f the Buddha in childbi rth i s a s legitimate an explanation of the tale o f the deatho f Maya as any interpretation based on the theory of a sun

myth . Yet in the Pal i Canon we have the authority of theBuddha himself for hi s abode in the Tusita heaven and hi sdescent from it

,and it is not easy to expla in the six-tu sked ele

phant which Maya in vi s ion saw entering her womb . The

BUDDHIST MYTHOLOGY I 95

most p lau s ible hypothes i s i s to refer the dream to the Ind i an b el ief that a child before it s conception a lready exists in an intermedi ate cond ition , as follows naturally from the doctrine of rebi rth , and to find that the six tu sks o f the elephant ari se froma misunderstand ing o f a phrase denoting “ one who has the sixorgans of sense under control . ” 6 These hypotheses

,however

,

ingeniou s a s they are , seem needles s in face of the natu ral explanation that the Buddha

,l i ke hi s followers

,regarded himself

a s real ly divine .

The s ame d iffi cu lty presents itself in a new form regardingthe marks which can be seen on the body o f the Buddha

,

thi rty-two o f which'

are primary and eighty secondary . Canthese be resolved into the products of the Indian conception ofphys ica l perfection combined with the hi storica l trad ition Ofcer tain somatic pecu li aritie s of Sakyamuni ? These s igns areeagerly noted on the body of the infant Buddha by the soothsayers

,and they are found there without lack or flaw . Yet

the legend tell s that they cou ld no t decide whether the boywou ld become a universal monarch or a Buddha

,a lthough one

sage declared that the s igns showed that if the prince stayed inthe secu la r l ife

,he wou ld be a universa l monarch ; but if he

abandoned thi s world,as he would do

,he would be a Buddha .

Moreover the marks are described as being those of a Maha

p urusa, or“Great Male and their abnormal character i s

clearly shown by the description given of some Of them : thu sthe feet of the Buddha are covered , as we have seen , by wheelsof great beauty, his hands have the fingers united by a membrane

,between his eyebrows extends a ci rcle of soft

,white

hair which emits marvellou s rays of l ight,his sp ine i s so rigid

that he cannot tu rn hi s head,and so forth .

In these featu res of the Buddha there is strong rea son to seemythology

,for the marks a re those of the universa l monarch

,

”

the Cakravartin,as he i s described freely in the Buddhist

scriptures . The Maharudassana Su lfa of the Digha Nihayagives u s a p ictu re of such a king in the shape of Sakyamuni in

196INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

an earl ier birth as a Cakravartin . As he walks on the terrace of

his palace,the divine wheel appears ; and the king , after pay ing

it due honour,bids it roll on and triumph . The wheel rol ls to

the east,followed by the king and his a rmy , and the east

yields to him ; the wheel roll s then south , then west , thennorth

,and all the lands submit and accept the Buddhi st do c

trine;after which it comes back to rest on the terrace of the

palace with its sevenfold rampart of gems . It i s diffi cu lt to

doubt that the conception of the wheel owes its origin to sun

worship,for as early as the B rahmarzar the wheel i s freely used

in the r itual to represent the sola r luminary . Thi s hypothes i sreceives increased force when it i s remembered that the termMahapurusa is applied in Brahmanica l l iteratu re to Narayana ,that form of V i snu which recall s the Pu rusa of the Egb eda andthe B rahmanas

,the primeval being from which the world

was created,and the spir it which i s eternal and unique . The

later northern Buddhist text , the Lalitaoirtara , actua lly ident ifies Narayana with the Buddha . Further the Brahmaniccharacter of the marks i s interestingly shown by a p iece of

ancient evidence a Sutta in the Suttan ipata which tel ls howthe Brahman Sela was convinced o f the truth of the natu re ofthe Buddha , not by any preaching of the “ Bles sed One

,

” butby the argument that he bore the special marks

,a demonstra

tion Of which he gave to the Brahman,includ ing the miracle

by which he covered the whole of hi s face with his tongue .

It i s not surpris ing that such a sa int as the Buddha shou ldhave been subj ect to temptation

,for

,desp ite the fact that one

of the commandments laid down fo r his order i s to avoid asceticism as a means to secure Ni rvana

,it i s certa in that it wa s by a

great feat of self-m o rt ificat ion that he attained to hi s Buddhaship . For six years he practi sed ascetic r ites and wore himselfnearly to a skeleton , though at the end o f thi s time he became

contest with the evil Mara,the Vedi cMrtyu ,

o r“Death

,

” who



dhist tradition : in the Cahhaoattisutta o f the Digha NihayaSakyamuni predicts the coming OfMe tteya , the futu re Buddha ,and thi s is confirmed by the B ua’a’haoarhsa

,fo r though the verse

(xxvi i . 19) which gives his name is late , i t i s c lea r that hi sexi stence i s implied

,s ince the text mentions three Buddhas

who have lived in thi s happy world-period before Gotama,

and a happy period i s one in which there must be ful l fiveBuddhas . Me tteya , in whose name i s recorded the Buddhistm etta

,or the “ friendship of the Buddha for all beings

,i s

later a subj ect o f special reverence . Moreover the Enlightened One himself tell s of six prior Buddhas

,a conception

hard to reconcile with the idea of a s imple human doctrine .The d ivine o r supernatu ral character of the Buddha i s indeed adequately proved by the s igns o f extreme devotion to hisrel ics which appeared immedi ately after hi s death

,and which

are incompatible with the mere interest taken in the remainso f a famous teacher . The fact that only symbols , such as thetree

,the feet

,o r the wheel

,are chosen for rep resentation in

the sculptu res of sanchi,Bharhut

,and Bodh Gaya

,which

aflo rd the oldest examples of Buddhi st rel igiou s art,shows

that the Buddha was sti ll the centre o f the devotion,though it

was not yet cons idered seemly to portray hi s bodi ly figure .It i s true that many of his followers adopted a rational i stattitude

,held that a Mahapu rusa was merely a great man ,

as serted that thi s was the Buddha’s own interpretation of theterm

,denied the mysteriou s conception and birth

,and ex

plained the reference o f the “ Bles sed One to his power to l iveto the end of the age as meaning merely that he might havelived to the ful l age of a hundred years

,instead of dying at

eighty,as he actually did . At the same time

,however

,there

were schools of supernatu rali sts who held that the Buddha wassomething remarkable and far from merely human : thussome Of the faithfu l as serted that the fact was that Sakyamunihad never truly lived in the world o f men

,that during hi s

alleged stay on earth he was in reality dwelling in the Tusita

BUDDHIST MYTHOLOGY 199

heaven,and that a mere phantom appeared to gods and men .

This doctrine , if we may bel ieve the trad ition , was alreadycurrent by 256 B .C .

,and was condemned by the Council which

was held in that year .Whatever may have been the date of the ri se of doceti sm in

the Buddhi st community,the s imple

,human s ide of the “

En

l ightened One has enti rely d i sappeared when we find theMahayana

,or G reat Vehicle

,system se t forth in the litera

ture,as in The Lotus of the Good Law (S addharmapundar iha) ;

and we see instead a deity of s ingular greatnes s and power . Thi sBuddha came into being at the beginning

,it m ay be presumed,

o f the present age,but he can boast o f having taught the true

law for endles s mill ions of years . He posses ses a body of del ight (J ambhoga) , which has the famou s thirty-two marks , including the marvellou s tongue

,which now can reach forth to

the wor ld o f Brahma. This,however

,i s reserved for the vi s ion

o f b eat ified saints , and to men he shows only an artificia lbody

,which i s a derivative

,in far infer ior natu re

,of the true

body . It was in thi s appearance that Sakyamuni appeared onearth

,entered Ni rvana

,and left rel ics of himself in a Stfip a ;

but in reality hi s real body dwelt and dwells in a celestia lsphere and will

,when his true Ni rvana shal l come

,be changed

into a divine Stfip a (of which the earthly Stfip a i s but a reflex) ,where the “ Bles sed One ” wil l repose after having enjoyed thep leasures of instruction . Nevertheless

,he wil l sometimes ari se

at the des i re of one of the other Buddhas,for the number of

Buddhas now increases to infinity,j u st a s space and time are

s imilarly extended . The oldest stage of the Buddhist canonknew six earl ier Buddhas

,and they grew to twenty-fou r before

the Pal i Canon was complete . In the Mahayana there i s noend to the numbers

,for the heap ing up of huge figures i s one

of the most conspicuou s featu res Of the school . Thus the“ Bles sed One can remember having honoured eight thousand Buddhas named Dip amkara ,

five hundred called Padm o t

tara,eighteen thousand Maradhv ajas , eighty thousand

V I— I4


198INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

dhist tradition : in the Cakhaoattirutta o f the Digha Nihaya

Sakyamuni predicts the coming ofMe tteya , the futu re Buddha ,

and this i s confirmed by the Buddhaoau’

wa , for though the verse

(xxvii

. 19) which gives hi s name i s late , i t i s c lea r that hi sexistence i s implied

,s ince the text mentions three Buddhas

who have lived in thi s happy world—period before Gotama ,and a happy period i s one in which there must be ful l fiveBuddhas

. Metteya , in whose name i s recorded the Buddhist

m etta,or the “ friendship of the Buddha for al l beings , i s

later a subj ect of special reverence . Moreover the Enlightened One himself tells of six prior Buddhas , a conceptionhard to reconcile with the idea o f a s imple human doctrine .

The divine or supernatu ral character of the Buddha i s indeed adequately proved by the s igns of extreme devotion to hi srelics which appeared immedi ately after hi s death , and whichare incompatible with the mere interest taken in the remainsof a famous teacher . The fact that only symbols , such a s thetree

,the feet

,or the wheel

,are chosen for rep resentation in

the sculptures of sanchi , Bharhut, and Bodh Gaya, whichafford the oldest examples of Buddhi st re l igiou s a rt, showsthat the Buddha was stil l the centre of the devotion , though itwas not yet cons idered seemly to portray hi s bod i ly figure .It is true that many of his followers adopted a rational i stattitude

,held that a Mahapurusa was merely a great man ,

asserted that thi s was the Buddha’s own interpretation o f theterm , denied the mysteriou s conception and birth , and explained the reference of the “ Bles sed One to hi s power to l iveto the end of the age as meaning merely that he might havelived to the full age of a hundred years

,instead of dying at

eighty, as he actually did . At the same time,however

,there

were schools of supernatura li sts who held that the Buddha wassomething remarkable and far from merely human : thussome of the faithful asserted that the fact was that Sakyamunihad never truly lived in the wor ld o f men

,that during h is

alleged stay on earth he was in real ity dwelling in the Tusita

BUDDHIST MY THOLOGY 199

heaven,and that a mere phantom appeared to gods and men .

This doctrine , if we may bel ieve the trad ition , was al readycurrent by 256 B .C .

,and was condemned by the Counci l which

was held in that year .Whatever may have been the date of the ri se of doceti sm in

the Buddhist community , the s imple , human s ide of the “En

l ightened One has enti rely d i s appeared when we find theMahayana

,o r Great Vehicle

,system set forth in the l itera

ture,as in The Lotus of the Good Law (S aadharm apuuaar iha)

°

and we see instead a deity of s ingular greatnes s and power . Thi sBuddha came into being at the beginning

,it may be presumed

,

o f the present age , but he can boast o f having taught the truelaw for endles s mill ions of years . He posses ses a body of del ight (sambhoga) , which has the famou s thirty-two marks , inc luding the marvellou s tongue

,which now can reach forth to

the world of Brahma. This,however

,i s reserved for the vi s ion

o f b eat ified s aints , and to men he shows only an artificialbody

,which i s a derivative

,in far inferior natu re

,o f the true

body . It was in thi s appearance that Sakyamuni appeared onearth

,entered Ni rvana

,and left rel ics Of himself in a St iip a ;

but in reality hi s rea l body dwelt and dwell s in a celestialsphere and will

,when hi s true Ni rvana shal l come

,be changed

into a divine Stfip a (of which the earthly Stfip a i s but a reflex) ,where the “ Bles sed One ” wil l repose after having enj oyed thep leasu res of instru ction . Nevertheles s

,he wil l sometimes ari se

at the des i re o f o ne of the other Buddhas,for the number of

Buddhas now increases to infinity,j u st a s space and time are

s imi larly extended . The oldest stage o f the Buddhi st canonknew six earl ier Buddhas

,and they grew to twenty—fou r before

the Pal i Canon was complete . In the Mahayana there i s noend to the numbers

,for the heap ing up of huge figures is o ne

of the most conspicuou s featu res of the school . Thu s the“ Bles sed One can remember having honoured eight thousand Buddhas named Dip amkara , five hundred called Padm o t

tara,eighteen thousand Maradhv ajas , eighty thousand

v 1 —14

zooINDIAN MYTHOLOGY

Kasyapas , and so on up to three hundred mill ion Sakyamunis .

His seeming entrance upon Ni rvana while yet on earth i s explained by the great eagernes s of the god to benefit men and

is i llustrated by the example o f the phys ic ian who , being anxiou sto persuade his sons to take medic ine which they would no t

receive so long as they had him to look to for help , withdrewhimself from them

,so that, thinking him lost to them , they

made use of the healing agency . The path o f s a lvation , too,i s a very different one from the old conception of moral d i sc ipline : it i s true that thi s i s sti l l a means of del iverance , but tohear the preaching of the Buddha , to honour reli cs , to erectStfip as, to set up statues of gems or marble or wood , to offerflowers or fragrant essences

,all these will b ring the supreme

reward ; nay, even the children who in play bu ild Stfip as in thesand o r scrawl figures of the Buddha on the wall , and thosewho by accident utter the words

,Reverence to the Buddha

,

”

are equally fortunate . The paralleli sm with the legends of thePuranas is clear and convincing, and renders it p robable thatthe Mahayana texts (at least as they are preserved to u s) arenot to be dated earlier than the third or fou rth centu ries of theChri stian era

,even though mention i s made of Chinese trans

lat ions of some of the important documents at surpri s inglyearly times .Sakyamuni i s not, however, the greatest figu re of the Maha

yana faith : a certain monk,Dharmakara by name

,in ages long

passed addressed to the then reigning Buddha,Lokesv araraj a,

an intimation o f his determination in du e cou rse to become aBuddha who should be the ru ler of a wor ld in which al l wereto be free from any trace of suffering and shou ld be saints .It is through this resolve of Dharmakara that he now existsas Am itayu s or Amitabha (

“With Infinite Life ” or WithInfinite Glory ”) in the Sukhav at i heaven , contemporaneou s lywith the Buddha known as Sakyamuni . The glories of thi sheaven are described in the Suhhaoatioyaha , which was translated into Chinese between 148 and 170 A.D .

,and in the


202INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

next visits , he comforts these hungry and thirsty hosts withfood

and drink .In Ceylon he converts man-eating Raksasis ;

and as the winged horse , Balaha , he rescues from d i sa ster men

who have been shipwrecked and are troubled by evil demons ;while in Benares he preaches to those creatu res who a re embodied as insects and worms . He ranks a s the first mini ster of

Amitabha , for it i s part of the Mahayana doctrine that eachBuddha has two Bodhi sattvas a s hi s attendants who vi s it thehells

,

carry souls to paradi se , and take care of the dying .

For some reason o r other Avalokite svara ranks high aboveMaitreya (or Metteya) , who i s the only Bodhi sattva rec

o gnized b ythe Buddha of the Hinayana canon . Curiou s ly

enough,Chinese piety has converted thi s Bodhi sattva into a

woman,a view which i s contrary to both schools of Buddhism ,

though the Mahayana acknowledges the Taras a s feminine

deities of maternal tendernes s , a point in which it shows agreement with the fahti-worship of Saivi sm . After Avalokite svarathe most important Bodhisattva i s Mafijusri , celebrated inthe Gauaaoyaha , which was trans lated into Chinese between

317 and 420 A.D .

It is not surpri s ing that from thi s mas s of specu lation andreligion should be evolved the conception of an Adib uddha ,that is

,a Buddha who shou ld

,in the fu llest sense of the word

,

be without beginning,and not merely ( l i ke the other Buddhas)

go back to an infinitely di stant per iod in time . This figu re wasprobably developed as the view o f some of the fa ithfu l by theend of the fourth century A.D .

,for the S ti tralar'nhara o fAsanga

refutes the idea , which at least suggests that it wa s a currentbelief, and not merely a poss ible pos ition , although it cannotbe said ever to have become orthodox or estab l i shed .

The net result of the Mahayana trad ition was to add to thedivine powers the Buddhas

,ra i sed to countles s numbers

,and

to swell the hosts of the deities by the Bodhi sattva s in l i keabundance , since not fo r a moment did either s chool abandonbelief in the ordinary gods . If we may tru st the Hinayana

PLAT E XXV I I

AVA LOK ITES'VARA

T he Bodhisattva Buddha T o Be Av alo kitesvarabears the expressio n o f calm and benevo lence

,which

is in co nfo rm ity with his lo ve fo r m ankind. In his

left hand he bears a lo tus,and his right hand is he ld

in the po sitio n which conventiona l ly expre sse s fav ourto suppliants . From a Nepalese j ewe l led figure o f

co ppe r gi lt in the co l lectio n of Dr . Ananda K .

Coomaraswamy. After Coomaraswamy, Vis'

fv abarma

,

Plate XI .


BUDDH IST MYTHOLOGY 203

canon,the Buddha himself wa s completely sati sfied o f the

exi stence of the gods , both the higher, of whom Brahma andIndra are by far the most active and prominent

,and the lower

,

such a s the horde o fNaga s , Ga rudas , Gandharva s , Kinnaras,Maho ragas, Yaksas, Kum b handas (a species of gobl in) , Asuras ,Raksasas, and so forth . The Preta s

,the ghosts o f the dead

, o c

cup y a somewhat prominent p lace in Buddhi st imag ination ,and the Yaksas a lso a re frequently mentioned , though theword itself i s sometimes applied even to a god l i ke Indra , o r toSakyamuni

,in the more ancient sense o f a being deserving

worsh ip,o r at lea st a powerfu l sp irit . To the su rpri se o f Bud

dhaghosa , the great commentator of the Pal i Canon , the Buddhahimself recommended that due worship should be paid tothese sp i rits to secure thei r good wil l . The Nagas fal l intosevera l cla sses

,those of the a i r

,o f the waters

,of the earth

,of

the celestia l regions,and o fMount Meru ; they are conceived

as half human,half snake in form . The point of view of the

Hinayana i s shown to perfection in the methods u sed to guardthe monks against the evi l beings around them . Thu s theAtauatiya S utta portrays the deitie s of the fou r cardinal pointsa s coming to the Buddha with thei r retinues and a s declaringto him that among the d ivine spirits some are favourable tothe Buddha and some unfavourable

,s ince he forb id s murder

and other wickednes ses,and that

,therefore

,the monks need

some protection from these beings . Accordingly they offer aformula which a ll the fa ithfu l shou ld learn by hea rt

,and which

,

enumerating the creatu res in the variou s quarters,decla res that

they join whole-heartedly in the cu lt of the Buddha,ending

with a l i st of the chiefs of the spi rits who are to be invoked ifany o f thei r subj ects improperly attack the monks despitethe a ssu rances o f the formula . S imi larly the Khaudapar ittaprevents danger from snakes by declaring friendship for thei rvariou s tribes

,and in the Mora j ataha an o ld solar charm i s

converted into a Buddhist spell to secure safety from all evi ls .It is no t unnatu ral that

,when the Hinayana s chool i s so

294INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

closely associated with the ordinary re l igion of the day , theMahayana is st i l l more open to such influences . The

“Great

Vehicle ” i s especially fond of bringing some quasi-divine

figure into connexion with its Buddhas , the most stri king ofthese being Vaj rapani (

“ the Thunderbolt-Handed ”) who aidsin converting the doubtfu l

,drags such demons a s Mara

Namuci before the Buddha , and as s i sts in deep grief at the

funeral of the “ Blessed One .

”His thunderbolt brings him into

close relation with Indra,the troops who attend him are l ike

the Ganas of Siva , and he has affi l i ations with Kubera . Forthe Mahayana he is a great Bodhisattva , but though he rankshigh among the future Buddhas

,he i s nothing more in origin

than a Yaksa by race and a Guhyaka by ca ste . Another instance of the steady working o f the Indian pantheon i s thefact that in this period Narayana becomes definitely identifiedwith the Buddha .

It i s clear,nevertheless

,that at first thi s adoption o f c loser

connexion with the ordinary deities had no substantia l effectupon the theology of the Mahayana school nor upon its p ractice

,which was inspired with the conception of benevolence

which differentiates it from the individuali stic and les s em o

t ional Hinayana,whose aim is personal attainment of Ni rvana

,

and whose ideal i s the Buddha,not the Bodhisattva . But t he

development of the worse s ide of the Pau ranic rel igion had itsinfluence on the theology o f the Mahayana

,and apparently

from the sixth century A.D . onward the whole system beganto be seriously altered by the effect o f the Tantri c doctrines .At any rate , as early as the eighth century we find in Padmasamb hav a

, the converter of T ibet, no orthodox Buddhist,but a sorcerer who defeats the magicians o fT ibet on their ownground and who , when he has accomplished thi s ta sk , changeshimself into a horse in order to convert the people o f some otherland . Both the literature and the art revea l a vast horde ofterrible forms , largely female , such as Pisacis

, Matangis,Pulkasis (the last two named after debased ca stes) , the Par



unnecessary to seek the thei stic stratum of the Mahayanafrom an external source

,and

,a s we have seen , the Pal i Canon

already refers to Metteya a s a“ Buddha To Be . No r indeed ,

unles s we can accept the legend o f St . Thomas as referring toactual miss ion work in the north-west of Ind i a , is there anyclear proof of Chri stian influence there before the thi rd cen

tury.It would be idle to deny that the negative argument i s no t

complete,but

,on the other hand

,we must admit that there i s

no conclusive ground to seek for any Chri stian modification toexpla in the rise of the Mahayana . That in later times someborrowing may have taken place i s certa inly poss ible : thu sin the late Mahayana texts we find the compari son of theBuddha to a fisher

,which is not Buddhi stic , and the a rt

exhibit s the influence of the Madonna with the Chri st, butthese facts do not affect the main body of the mythology .

It has,on the contrary, been contended that the legends of

the earl ier Hinayana school penetrated to the west and influenced in detail the Christian Gospels . As the cla im is putforward by its ablest expositors

,i t does not amount to more

than a belief that Buddhist legends had penetrated in someshape to the east Of the Mediterranean and were known in thecircles in which the Gospels o f the Church were composed .

The best example adduced in support of thi s hypothes i s i s theparallelism of the story of S imeon in the Gospel of Luke ( i i .25

—

35) with the tale of Asita , which i s found as early a s theSutta N! pata and may

,therefore

,be presumed to be older than

the New Testament . In both cases the o ld man hears of thebirth of the child and worship s it

,but real izes that he must

die before the things which he foresees come to pas s . Therei s also a certain similarity in the account o f the temptation ofthe Buddha by Mara and that of the Chr i st by the devi l . Inthis instance the evidence for the Buddhi st story must bepieced together from portions of the T ip itaka , and the analogyis not very convincing . Other parallels which are al leged arethose of the miracle of the feeding o f the five thousand

BUDDHIST MYTHOLOGY 207

(Matthew xiv . 15—21, Mark v i . 35

—

44, Luke ix . 12— 17) and

Peter’s walking on the sea (Matthew xiv . 25 but the Buddhist sou rce from which these stories a re cited i s only the introduct ion to two legends in the Pal i j ataha . That text is acol lection

,as we now have it

,of five hundred forty-seven storie s

o f the adventures of the present Buddha o f the Hinayana inpreviou s births

,and it i s a mine of treasures , though for folk

lore rather than for mythology . The verses which it containsare of uncerta in date

,but the prose commentary and the in

t roduct ions are not,a s they stand

,older than the fifth century

A.D . It i s matter of conj ectu re to what extent the prose rep resents the older tradition

,

7 and the occurrence of the legendsin question in the fataha prose i s o f no value a s p roof of borrowing on the part o f the Gospels . Some scholars hold thatin the stories o f the fataka we must seek the original s o f thelegends of Placidu s (who i s canonized a s St . Eu stathiu s) , o f

St . Chri stopher,and of the attempts of the devi l to as sa i l saints

under the gu ise of the Holy One ; and it has al so been suggestedthat it is to Buddhism that we must look for the origin of theChri stian community o fmonks

,for the requ irement of celibacy

,

the cu stom Of the tonsu re,the veneration o f rel ics

,the u se of

church bel ls and of incense,and the actual p lan of chu rch bui ld

ing . The proofs of borrowing in these cases a re sti l l to seek,

and the es sentia l fact remains that neither Buddhism norChristianity appears to have contributed es sentia lly towardthe mythology o r the religion of the other .The Buddhism of T ibet i s an offshoot of the Mahayanaschool o f Indian Buddhism

,but it represents the faith o f that

sect in a form of marked ind ividuality . In all its types,desp ite

considerable d ifferences of tenets among the several schoolswhich have appeared from time to time

,the Buddhism of

T ibet i s penetrated with H indui sm ,especially Saivism

,and b y

the aborigina l wor ship of the land,which

,though compelled

to assume a Buddhist garb,retains much of its p r imitive force

and natu re .


To King Sro r’

r-b tsan-sgam—p o , in the period from 629 to

650 A.D .,belongs the cred it of introducing Buddhism into

T ibet , for he sent T’on—mi Sam b hota to India to col lect books

and pictures pertaining to the Buddhist fa ith , being as s i stedin his work by his two wives , one the daughter of the king ofNepal and o ne the daughter of the Chinese emperor. He

t ransferred the seat of government from Yar-lun to Lha-sa ,and when he died at an advanced age , he took up his abodewith his spouses in a statue of the Bodhi sattva Avalokitesvara

,

which i s stil l exhibited at Lha-sa . The legend is quite typ ica lo f the faith

,as is the story that both his wives were incarna

tions of.

the goddess Tara, for the embodiment of the d ivinitiesin human form is a marked characteri stic of T ibetan mythology . These features appear fu lly developed in the account ofPadm asam b hav a

,who in the eighth centu ry A.D . gave the

T ibetans the deci s ive impulse to the Buddhi st fa ith . He wasapparently a native Of Udyana , which , l i ke Ka smir, was thehome of magic arts

,and he appears a s p ar excellence a magician

who claimed to excel Gotama himself in thi s dubiou s aecom

p lishm ent . The legendary account of his l ife makes him a sp i ritual son of Amitabha , produced for the convers ion of T ibet

,

and he was born from a lotus a s the son of the childles s,blind

king Indrab hfi t i, whence hi s name , which means“Lotus

Born . Educated as the hei r of the monarch,he su rpas sed all

his equals in accompli shments and was married to a princes sof Ceylon , but a supernatural voice u rged him to abandon

away . After resorting to meditation in cemeteries,and there

winning supernatural power s through the favour of Dakinis,he trave l led through all lands

,and despite the fact that he was

,

as a Buddha,already omniscient, he acqu ired each and every

science,astrology

, alchemy, the Mahayana , the Hinayana ,



The child denoted by the oracle i s taken with hi s parents to a

temple east of the capital ; at the age of fou r he i s brought to

Potala and made a novice , and at seven or eight becomes amonk and the titular head of the two great monasteries of

Lha—sa . The control exerci sed by China over T ibet led formerly to the taking of steps to prevent any Dala i Lama reachingmaturity , doubtless in order to obviate the growth of a powerhostile to Chinese claims . The s ame doctrine o f su cces s ive reincarnat ion applies to the Tashi Lama , and the tenet is widelyapplied to other spiritual heads , especially among the Mongo

lians .Naturally enough , theT ibetans have added to thei r mythologynot merely the priests of T ibetan Buddhism proper, but a lsothe masters of the Mahayana school , from which the Bud

dhism ofT ibet i s u ltimately derived . Thu s the great masters ofthe Mahayana

,Nagarjuna , Aryadev a , Asanga , and Vasu

bandhu,are all elevated to the rank of Bodhi sattvas . Other

saint s o f later origin than these are included in the group ofeighteen Arhats and of eighty-four Mahasiddhas ; while addit ional famous individuals include Dharm akirt i

,a contemporary

of the king in whose reign Buddhism was fi rst brought intoT ibet

,and Ab hayakara , a sage of the ninth centu ry born in

Bengal,who is said to have as sumed the form of a Garuda

to rout an army o fTu ru skas and to have rescued a large number of believers fro

'

m slaughter by an athei stic king,a huge

snake appearing above the head of the saint a s he intercededfo r the captives and terrifying the ru ler into compliance withhis request .In T ibet the Indian practice of p lacing oneself under the

protection Of a special god i s carried to the fu rthest extent, andeach monk adopts some divinity as hi s patron

,either genera lly

o r for some special per iod o f l ife o r for a definite undertaking .

Such gods make up the clas s of guardi an deities , o r Y i-dam,

and these are of various kinds . On the one hand there are theDhyan ib uddhas, and on the other divinities who are manifesta

BUDDH IST MYTHOLOGY 2 1I

tions of Buddhas or Bodhisattva s ; both these cla sses a re markedout from other kinds of guard i an de 1t1e s In that they are regularly represented in art a s hold ing in their a rms thei r s

'

aktis,

o r energies in female form,thi s mode of p resentation being

most characteri stic of the influence of Saivi sm on the Buddhism o fT ibet .It i s a lso s ignificant of the change in the faith that Gotama

plays a comparatively s light part in the religiou s l ife of T ibet .A much more important p lace i s taken by the five Dhyan ibuddhas

,o r

“Med itative Buddhas,Va iro cana

,Akso b hya ,

Ratnasam b hav a,Amitabha

,and Am oghasiddha . They cor

respond to the five Manusib uddhas of the present period ,Kraku cchanda

,Kanakam uni

,Kasyapa

,Sakyamuni

,and the

future Buddha,Maitreya . There are a lso fiv e Dhyanib o

dhisattv as, o f whom the ch ief a re Sam antab hadra,the B0

dhisattv a o f Va iro cana,and Vaj rasattv a , that of Akso b hya .

Of the Dhyanib uddhas the chief i s Amitabha , whose paradi se ,Sukhav at i , i s a s famous in T ibet a s in China and Japan ; nori s i t improbable that in the development of this deity

,as in

that of the Dhyan ib uddhas, I ranian influences may be seen ,s ince the I ranian Fravash i s

,or sp iritua l counterpa rts o f

those born on earth,

9 have some affinity to the conception ofDhyanib uddhas . Along with Amitabha

,o r Am itayu s, which

i s h i s name in h i s perfect,or sam bhoga , form ,

we frequently findrep resentations o f a Buddha called Bhaisajyagu ru (

“MasterofHeal ing whose effigies h i s worshippers u se a s feti shes

,rub

bing on them the portions of their persons affected by d i s ea se .

Of the forerunners of Gotama , the first,Dip arhkara , and

the six immediately preceding , Vip asyin , Sikhin ,V isv ab hfi

,

Krakucchanda , Kanakam un i,and Kasyapa

,are Often men

t ioned,although neither they nor Maitreya

,the future Buddha

,

play any considerab le part in the mythology . Of Maitreya,

however,i s related a legend with I ranian affinities . In the hi l l

Kukkutap ada , near Gaya, l ies the uncorrupted body o f

Kasyapa,whether o ne of the pupi ls of Gotama o r hi s p rede


cessor.

When Maitreya has abandoned hi s home and made the

great renunciation expected of al l Buddhas , he wi ll p roceedto the place where Kasyapa lies , the hil l wi l l mi racu lou slyOpen

,Maitreya will take from his body the Buddha’s d res s ,

and a wondrous fire will consume the corpse Of the dead man

so that not a bone or a sh shal l remain over .10

Much more prominent than Maitreya i s the Dhyan ib odhisattva of Gotama

,the sp iritua l son o f Amitabha , Padma

pan i , or Avalokitesvara . In one of hi s forms thi s deity bears thename Simhanada (

“Lion’s and in thi s a spect he has the

half moon as his crest j ewel,a s ign Of the Saivite origin of thi s

manifestation of the god . The o ld Buddhi st legend o f S im

hanada is doubtles s the source of the mediaeva l story preservedin the Physiologus , which tells how the l ion by its roar v iv ifie s

its l ifeles s young after their birth , a parable applied to theRedeemer, who lies in the grave for three days unti l ca lled tolife by the voice of His heavenly Father . Another Saiviteform of the god is that as Am oghap asa , and the same influenceappears in two other aspects of the deity a s Natesa (

“Lord

of the Dance ”) and Halahala , the name of the poi son whenceSiva derives hi s name of Nilakantha , or

“ Blue Neck .

” In yetanother manifestation he appears with eleven heads

,whose

origin i s traced to the grief felt by the sage when,after h i s un

wearying work for the freeing of creatu res from il l,he found that

the hells were once more becoming ful l . Becau se of his sorrowhis head fel l Off

,and from its fragments hi s sp i ritual father

,

Amitabha , created ten heads , to which he added hi s own asthe eleventh .

Another Bodh i sattva of high rank isMafijusri , who i s reputedto have been a miss ionary of Buddhi sm in north China

,and

into whose complex compos ition the record of a hi storic teachermay perhaps have entered . He was born ou t of a lotu s withoutfather o r mother, and from his face a tortoise sp rang . Thi s andother traits of the legends affecting him suggest that he hasbeen ass imilated to the H indu B rahma. While Avalokitesvara


2 14INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

but short,and their bodies are misproportioned ; they are sur

rounded with flames or smoke,and o n their forehead they bear

a third eye ; their appearance i s that of readines s to fight .

The hate of Vaj rapani for the demons i s exp la ined by thefact that at the churning o f the ocean he was entru sted withthe duty of guarding the ambrosia , but being deceived by the

demons , he became their deadly foe . Li ke hi s prototype Indra ,he is a god of rain and in this capacity protects the Nagas ,who send rain

,from the onslaught of the giant Garuda b i rd s .

The legend tells that when the Nagas came to hea r the p reaching of Gotama

,Vaj rapani was given the function o f guarding

them,when thus engaged

,from the attack of the Garudas .

Yet this special position does not prevent the close a s soci ationof Vajrapani and the Garudas , and in one form he appearswith the wings of a Garuda and the head of a Garuda abovehis own .

Another Dharm apala , who i s a lso a Y i-dam ,i s Acala Im

whose main characteri stic is the fact that in h i seffigies he always bears a sword , while hi s wrathfu l temper i sreflected in hi s name of Mahakrodharaja (

“Great-WrathBetter known than he i s Hayagriv a Horse

a god with a horse’s head ari s ing from his hair . He i s des cribed

as generally friendly to men,but he terrifies the demons by

neighing and by the same means he announces hi s presencewhen he is summoned by the appropriate spell . The Mongol sregard him as the protector of the horse

,and hi s name and

character suggest that an animal origin i s not improbable .Hayagriv a ranks as the first o f the eight dreadful gods unitedby the T ibetans in the group ofD rag—gshhed . The second in thi sli st i s the war~

god lCam-srin,whose Indian p rototype i s p o s

sib ly Karttikeya , the son of S iva,but who may also be a

purely T ibetan divinity . The thi rd i s Yama,the o ld deity o f

death and punisher of sin . Now,however

,he i s o f dimini shed

importance , for the pains of hell wi l l not endure forever,and

in the end he will be freed from his task ; while again he him

BUDDHIST MYTHOLOGY 2 15

self i s one of the damned and , according to one legend,must

swallow molten metal every day . His s i ster Yami reappearsbeside him , charged with the duty of taking away the clothesof the dead . As of o ld, Yama bears the noose to grasp thesou ls Of the dead and he has retainers

,two of whom are rep re

sented with the heads o f a bul l and a stag . Next to Yamacomes his enemy, Yamantaka , one form of Vaj rab hairav a orMafijusri . He i s fol lowed by the one female figure among thedreadfu l gods

,Devi , who rides on a mule over a sea of blood

which flows from the bodies of the demons which she s lays .She i s accompanied by two Dakinis, Simhav aktra and Makarav aktra

,who have the heads of a ' l ion and a mahara (a sort of

dolphin) respectively . Other Dakinis a lso appear with Simhav aktra, two ofwhom have the heads of a tiger and a bea r .It i s obviou s that th i s goddes s

,though in part she ap p roxi

mates to the arti stic type o f Sara svati,i s nothing but the dread

aspect of the wife of S iva , and appropriately enough two formsof S iva are enumerated among the dreadfu l deitie s

,the white

Mahakala and the six-armed protector . His es sentia l characte rist ic in T ibet i s that of the gua rdian god and the giver ofinsp i ration

,a featu re which connects him closely with the

Indian legends attributing to him the patronage o f grammarand of lea rning generally . He is not only a Dharm apala , butalso a Y i-dam

,and his form i s l i kewi se to be recognized in the

two Y i—dam Sambara and Hev aj ra .

The eighth of the dreadfu l gods i s a special white form of

Brahma o r,more normally

,Kubera or Vaiérav ana , the god of

wealth . The latter,however

,more commonly and more prop

erly appears a s one of the fou r Lo kap alas, o r“World-Guard

ians .” These four great kings are thought to dwel l roundMount Meru

,ru ling the demon hordes which live about that

mountain,the reputed centre of the Buddhist world . They are

Virfidhaka , lord of the Kum b handas in the south ; in the northKubera

,lord of the Yaksas ; in the west V irfip aksa , lord of the

Nagas ; and in the east Dhrtarastra , lord o f the Gandharvas .V I I5


Apparently sometimes identified with thi s group i s another

o f local origin , fiv e in number , one o f whom serves as the i rhead and the other four a s the Lo kap alas . The chief of these

deities i s reputed to be incarnate in the head o f the monas

te ryofgNas-c’un , who i s the giver o f oracles and in especia l o f

the one which determines on whom the sp i rit o f the dead

G rand Lama has descended . The incorporation of thi s remarkable body o f divinities into the Buddhist pantheon i s a scribed ,doubtless rightly, to Padm asam b hav a , who undertook the

diffi cu lt but es sentia l ta s k of as s imilating the loca l deitie s tohi s teaching

,following the model adopted at an earl ier date by

Asanga in introducing the Saivite pantheon into the Bud

dhism ofthe Mahayana school . Another o f these loca l d ivinitie si s Dam-can rDo—rje- legs , who seems to stand in close relation to the group of fiv e gods .T ibet has also borrowed directly from India its chief and itsminor deities in various forms . Thu s from Indra are derivednot merely Vajrap ani of the Mahayana a s an attendant of

Gotama,but also the Bodhisattva Vaj radhara , the Dhyani

bodhi sattva , the Yaksa Vaj rap ani , and even Indra eo nom ine .

Brahma,again

,i s not merely reproduced in pa rt in Mafijusri ,

but enters the pantheon independently ; Rudra appears bes ideMahakala ; deities l ike Agni , Varuna , Vayu , and Vasundhara

which are closely connected with natu ra l phenomena

,are often mentioned . More interesting than these

are the minor deities who posses s a specia l a ffinity for T ibetanimagination . The Nagas are very consp icuou s : they havehuman forms with snakes appearing above thei r heads

,o r a re

figured as serpents or as dragons of the deep . They have castesand kings and can send famine and epidemics among men .

Their enemies are the Garudas , beings with the heads andwings Of birds , but with human arms and stout , semi-humanbodies . Among the snakes the chief a re Nanda

, Up ananda ,sagara , Vasuki

, Taksaka , Balav ant , Anav atap ta , Utpala ,Varuna , Elapatt ra , and Sankhap ala .



her claim to be the lady of a ll the Sab aras , or wild aboriginaltribes of India

. Kuruku lla ranks a s the goddes s o f wealth and

is closely connected with Vaisrav ana ; it wa s her help whichsecured great wealth for the Dala i Lama who first held thatOffi ce . She is the wife of Kam adev a and i s c learly nothingelse than the Hindu Rati , the goddes s o f sexua l love .

The s’ahti of the Bodhisattva Mafijusri is Sarasvati o r Vac ,

who is represented,in accordance with her Indian prototype ,

as a beautifu l woman with but one face and two arms , p layingon an Indian oina, o r lute . She has a great pa rt in the S rina

j rabhairaoatantra because she i s the wife of Mafijusri in hi saspect as Vaj rab hairav a .

A les s reputable group of female d ivin ities i s composed of

the Dakinis, who are all held to be the wives of a deity Daka ,and whose Sanskrit name , of unknown meaning, i s translated in T ibetan as “Wanderers in the Air .” These goddes sesa re multiform

,but while they can confer supern atu ral powers on

their worshippers,they are also prone to wrath and must be

ass iduously cultivated to win thei r regard . Those who seekfrom them their lore must expect to find them in hideou s humano r animal shapes . They form two groups

,those who have al

ready left thi s earth and those who sti l l remain on it . To thefirst belong Buddhadakini , Vaj radakini , Padmadakini , Rat

nadakini , and Karm adakini . The most important of al lDakinis i s Vaj rav arahi , inca rnate in the priestes s who is thehead of the monastery b Sam -ldin ; she is not permitted to s leepat night, but i s supposed to spend that time in meditation . Alegend tells that a Mongolian raider who

,in 17 16 A.D .

,sought

to enter the monastery in order to sati sfy himself a s to whetherthe priestes s bore the characteri st i c mark of the goddes s whoseincarnation she was , found nothing within the wa ll s but awaste space in which a herd of swine wandered

,feeding under

the leadership of a large sow . When the danger was over,the

swine changed thei r shape and once more became monks andnuns under the control o f thei r abbes s

,while the Mongol

,con

BUDDH IST MYTHOLOGY 2 19

verted from hi s mi sbelief, richly endowed the monastery . InNepal thi s goddes s seems to count as a form of Bhavani

,the

wife of Siva . He r representations a re characterized by thepresence of the snout o f a hog , and her incarnate form mustbear a mark having a s imi larity to thi s .Other Dakinis figu re a s attendants upon Devi in her a spect

a s one of the eight dreadfu l gods . In al l l i kelihood many of

these Dakinis are local Spi rits ofT ibet , though natu rally enoughthey do no t differ materially from the s imilar sp i rits o fH indumythology .

CHAPTER VIII

THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE JAINS

HATEVER be the relative antiqu ity of the Ja in and theBuddhist sects and the tru stworthines s o f the tradition

which makes the founder of the Jain faith, a s we now have it, acontemporary of the Buddha

,and whether o r not he merely

reformed and revi sed a religion a lready preached in substanceby his predecessor Parsv anatha , there can be no doubt that themythology of the Jains has a great s imi la rity with that of theBuddhists and that it also shows close relations to the ord ina rymythology of India . The question i s rendered more complexby the fact that the Jain scriptures of the older type

,the Far

v as,are confessedly lost

,that the sacred texts which we now

posses s are ofwholly uncert ain date , and that even if the com

p arat iv e ly early date o f the third centu ry B . C . be admitted forthe substance of their contents

,nevertheles s it i s certa in that

the documents were not finally redacted unti l the time ofDev arddhigana in the midd le of the fifth centu ry A.D .

,up to

which period they were always subj ect to interpolation ingreater o r les ser degree . In their p resent form the Ja in bel iefsare schematized to an almost inconceivable extent

,and thei r

mythology,which centres in the persona l itie s of the twenty-fou rT irthakaras

, i s connected with their remarkab le views on theformation of the wor ld and on the nature of time . Thu s thenumber of T irthakaras , o r perfected s aints , i s increa sed to seven

karas , and three ages for each . The wor lds a re a l l modelled on

the continent of Jamb udv ip a , which i s the continent on which


PLAT E XXVTH

TWRTHAKARA

T he gigantic statues o f the Jain T Irthakaras

Pe rfec ted Saints are inv ariably repre sented withan expre ssion o f supe rhuman calm . As becom e s theo ldest Jain sect , the Digambara (“ Sky-C lad,

” i . e .

naked), they are nude . T he e longated ears are interesting as recu rring in image s o f the Buddha . From

a statue at Srav ana Be lgo la,Myso re . Afte r a pho to

graph in the Library o f the India O ffice,London .



Twenty of them attained final release on Sam etasrkhara, or

Mount Parsv anatha , in the west of Bengal , but Nem inatha

enjoyed this bli s s at G irnar, Vasup fijya at Cam pap u ri in northBengal

,Mahavira at Pav apu ri , and Rsab ha himself at Asta

pada,which is identified with the famous Sat rumjaya in

Gujarat . Rsab ha , Nemi , and Mahavira agree a lso in the factthat they attain release when seated on the lotu s-throne andnot

,l ike the others

,in the hayotsarga posture , that o f a man

standing with all hi s l imbs immovable , by which he fo rt ifies himself against any sin . The Tirthakaras a l l d iffer, however, intwo further respects : the mark or cognizance which ap p e r

tains to them and which appears sculptu red on thei r images,

and the tree under which they are consecrated . Nevertheles s,

fo r the most part the economical Jains adopt the sage deviceof narrating precisely the same wonders attending thei r bi rth ,thei r determination to become devotees of the l ife of a T irthakara

,the obtaining of release

,and so forth

,so that

,as handed

down,the canonical texts cons i st of fragments which may be

expanded, as occas ion requi res , from notices of other personscontained in them .

The l i fe of the last Tirthakara,Mahavira

,is characteri sti c

of all . At a time preci sely defined,though we cannot ab so

lute ly ascertain it, Mahavira descended from his d ivine p laceand

, assuming the shape of a lion , took the form of an embryoin the womb of Dev ananda o f the Jalandharayana Gotra ,wife of the B rahman Rsab hadat ta o f the Gotra of Kodala .

The“Venerable One ” knew when he was to descend and that

he had descended, but not when he was descending,for the

time so occupied was infinite sim ally small . The place of hisdescent was Kundagram a

, which i s now B asukund nea rB esarh . Indra , however, was di s sati sfied with thi s des cent , s incehe reflected that it was improper for a T irthakara to be bornin a poor Brahmanical family ; and accordingly, with the fu llknowledge of Mahavira , he reverently conveyed the embryofrom the womb of Dev ananda to that of Trisalaof the Vasistha

THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE JAINS 223

Gotra,wife of the Ksatriya S iddhartha of the Kaéyap a Gotra

and o f the clan of the i atrs , and transferred the foetu s in thewomb of Tr iéala to that of Dev ananda. In that night T risala

beheld fou rteen wonderfu l vi s ions , and s imi la rly the mother ofa T irthakara always sees these dreams on the night in whichthe Arhat enters her womb . She tell s her hu sband

,and sooth

sayers predict the greatnes s o f the chi ld to be . When it i sborn

,the gods come in vast numbers

,and the rites connected

with its nativity are performed with the utmost splendour,

out of a l l keep ing with the real pos ition o f the father of Mahavira ; while from the time of the conception o f the chi ld theprosperity of the house i s so augmented that the babe i s giventhe name Vardhamana (

“He that At the age of

thi rty,with the permis s ion of his elder b rother Nandiv ardhana

,

h i s father having d ied,Mahavi ra gave himself up to asceti ci sm

and after a p rolonged life o f rel igiou s teaching,during which

he was for a period closely as sociated with the Aj ivika sectunder Gosala , he pas sed away . The gods descended at h i sdeath a s at hi s b irth

,and in the shape of a heap of ashes a

great comet appeared which has been rashly identified withthe horn-shaped comet that

,according to P l iny

,was seen at

the time of the battle of Sa lamis .Thi s narrative leaves no room for doubt that the T irthakarawas deemed to be a divine being by his followers and

,probably

enough,by himself a s well . But what i s to be made of the story

of the interchange of the embryos ? ProfessorH. Jaco b i,1towhom

we are indebted for the effort to make history from the legendofMahavira , sees in the account an endeavou r to explain awaya fact which told against the advancement of Mahavi ra . Inh i s op inion Dev ananda never had any other hu sband thanS iddhartha , and the al leged Rsab hadatta i s a mythical person .

In real ity the boy was the chi ld of Dev ananda,a B rahman

woman by origin,and the attempt to connect him with Tri

sa lawas in order to Obtain for him the powerfu l protection of

the noble relatives of T risala,who was a Ksatriya lady . The

224INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

story would gain more ready credence s ince the parents o f

Mahavira were dead before he revealed himself a s a p rophet,but as the facts could not be wholly forgotten , the story of theexchange of embryos was invented . Yet on the other hand ,as Jacobi himself notes

,the exchange i s an open borrowing

from the similar account of the bi rth of Krsna , and we mustrecognize that it i s id le to seek any such rationa l exp lanationas that proposed . From whatever cau se — most probably the

Krsna legend it had become a doctrine of the s chool of theJains that the high nature of a T irthakara requ i red thi s transfe r,poss ibly to heighten the importance of the bi rth , and it i s notimpossible that the belief was borrowed from the Aj ivi ka sect,who have been brought into connexion with the worsh ip o f

Narayana .

2

The same close as sociation with the Krsna sect i s shown tous by the biography of Aristanem i (o r Nem inatha) , thetwenty-second of the Tirthakaras, which is set forth at lengthin the Jain Antagaa

’aclasao . In connexion with it we learn of

the life and the death of Krsna , the son of Devaki , with (on thewhole) s light change , though of cou rse the facts selected are onlya sm all number from the entire life of that hero . The interchange

of embryos i s specially mentioned , and we hea r of the futi lebirths of six children to Devaki who

,as in the Puranas

,are

destroyed by Kamsa and whose death she mourns . As a resu ltof the intervent ion of Krsna with Harinegam esi an eighthchild , Gaya Sukumala , i s born , but his fate i s somewhat unfortunate . His brother Krsna arranges for hi s marriage toSoma, the daughter of the B rahman Som ila and hi s wife Somasiri , but in the meantime the prince hears a d i s cou rse of Ari stanemi and determines to abandon the world ly for the a sceticl ife . In th i s des ire he pers i sts

,despite every effort to hold him

back , and in the end is a llowed (as a lways in these ta les) tohave his own will after he has enj oyed the royal state for onlya single day . Now he obtains the permi ss ion of the Arhat toperform meditation in the graveyard of Mahakala for one



lawgivers , appeared, the last of whom was Nabhi . To hi s wifewas born a son called Rsab ha (

“ Bull , becau se she

had dreamt of a lion . He it was who taught, for the benefit o fthe people

,the seventy-two sciences , of which writing i s the

first,arithmetic the most important, and the knowledge of

omens the last ; the s ixty-four accompli shments o f women ;the hundred arts , including such as those o f the potter, blacksmith

,painter

,weaver

,and barber ; and the three occupa

tions. To him tradition also attributes the d i scontinuance o f

the yugalin system of intermarriage . In due cou rse he bestowedkingdoms on his sons and passed into the ascetic l ife .

Of the legends regarding Parsv anatha speci al interest at

taches to one told to show why he has Dharanendra and Padmavati as his attendants . Two brothers , Marub hut i and Kamatha , were born as enemies in eight incarnations , the last beingas Parsv anatha and Sam b aradev a respectively . Once

,whi le

felling a tree for hi s fire-rite,an unbeliever, despite the p ro

test of the Jina,cut to pieces two snakes in it

,but these the

Jina brought to l ife by a special incantation . When,therefore

,

Sam b aradev a attacked Parsv anatha with a great storm whilehe was engaged in the hayotsarga exerci se and was standingimmovable and exposed to the weather

,much a s Mara a s s ai led

the Buddha at Bodh Gaya,then the two snakes

,who had been

born again in the Patala wor ld a s Dharanendra and Padmavati , came to his a id from thei r infernal abode

,Dharanendra

holding his folds over the Jina and the Y aksini sp reading awhite umbrella over him to protect him . Thereafter they b ecame his inseparable attendants

,j u st a s Sakra in Buddhi st

legend accompanies the “ Bles sed One . Hence in the figures ofthe Jina Parév anatha in the Jain sculptu re s at Badami

,E lu ra,

and elsewhere he i s often represented with the folds of a snakeover him . Curiously enough

,the D igambara Ja ins

,who fol

low the stricter ru le ofthe sect advocating nudity and who have,

therefore , nude statues , assign to the seventh T irthakara asmaller set of snake hoods

.

PLAT E XX IX

D I LWARA T EM PLE

T he wealth of de tai l in scu lpture is striking lyshown in the white marble tem ple o f Di lwara

(De l vada o r De v alvada) o n Mo unt Ab il,Sirohi

,

Rajputana. T he tem p le was bui lt in 1032 A. D . in

ho nour of the fi rst Jain T irthakara, Rsab hada tta

,

who se statue i s see n in the niche . Afte r a pho tographin the Public Library

, Bo ston (Co pyright , H . C . W hiteCo . , New Y o rk) .


THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE JAINS 227

Beside the real deities , the T irthakaras, the ord inary d ivinitie s a re minutely and carefu lly subdivided into clas se s . In thethi rty-s ixth chapter o f the Uttaraclhyayana S tZtra they are enum e rated as fol lows : there a re fou r kinds

, Bhaum eyikas (or Bhav anav asins) , Vyantaras, Jyo t iskas, and Vaimanikas. Of thefi rst category there are ten subd ivi s ions

,the Asu ra Naga

V idyu t Sup arna Agni Dv ip a Udadhi Dik Vata andGhanika-Kumara s . Of the second clas s there are eight kinds :P isacas

,Bhfitas

,Raksasas, Yaksas, Kinnaras, Kim pu ru sas,

Maho ragas, and Gandharvas . The moons,the suns

,the

p lanets,the Naksatras , and the stars a re the dwell ings of the

Jyo t iskas . The Va iman ika gods a re o f two kinds : those bornin the kalp as and those born above the ka lp as . The formercategory o f divinitie s fa l l s into twelve clas ses who live in thekalpas after which they are named : Saudharm a

,Isana

, Sanatkumara

,Mahendra

,Brahmaloka

,Lantaka

,Su kra (o r Maha

sukra) , Sahasrara , Anata , Pranata , Arana , and Acyuta . The

gods born in the regions above the kalp as a re again subdividedinto those who live in the neck

,

” or upper part,of the universe

,

Graiv eyakas, and the Anut taras (“With None

above whom there are no higher god s . The first group cons i stsof three sets of three , a scending from lowest to highest , andthe Anuttaras a re clas sed a s the V ij ayas, the Va ij ayantas, the

Jayantas , the Aparaj itas , and the Sarvarthas iddhas . The

text p roceeds to state the duration of the l ives of thes e deities,

which in the case of the highest gods,those of the Sarvar

thasiddha Vimana,inc rease to inconceivable numbers

,but

sti l l the divin ities are subj ect to sarnsara,o r transmigration

,

and cannot endure for ever .Twelve yoj anas above thi s Vimana i s the p lace ca lled I sat

p ragb hara , shaped l i ke an umbrel la , where go sou ls which arefinal ly perfected . It i s fou r mil l ion five hund red thousand

yoj anas long , a s many broad , and rather more than thri ce a smany in ci rcumference

,with a thicknes s of eight yoj anas in

the middle,decreas ing unti l at the ends it i s only the s ize of

228 INDIAN MY THOLOGY

the wing of a fly . Above Isatp ragb hara , which cons i sts o f

pure gold,i s a place o f unal loyed bli s s , the S i la, which i s

white like a conch-shel l,and a yoj ana thence is the end of

the wor ld . The perfected sou ls penetrate the s ixth part o f thetopmost hros

’

a of the yoj ana and dwel l there in freedomfrom all transmigration . Individual ly each sou l thu s per

fected has had a beginning b ut no end ; col lectively , however

,there has not been even a beginning . They have no vis ib le

form,they consist o f l ife throughout , and have developed into

knowledge and faith .

On the other hand,the Jains provide fo r a serie s of hel ls

which lie below our earth , the Ratnap rab ha, Sarkarap rab ha,

Valukap rab ha, Pankap rab ha, Dhfim ap rab ha, Tam ahp rab ha,

andMahatamahp rab ha. With due preci s ion it i s specified thatin the lowest hell al l the inmates have a statu re of five hundred poles , which decreases by ha lf with each a scending step .

Apart from its tru ly remarkable schemati sm , the most wonde rful things about Jain mythology a re the prominence whichit gives to the minor divinities whom it cla s ses a s Vyantarasand who are described as wood-dwellers

,and the importance

which it attaches to the Sphere of thought corresponding to thebelief in fairies

,kobolds

,ghosts

,spooks

,and so forth . These

godlings are present in the Rgoecla , though natu ra lly they a renot salient there

,and doubtles s they have a lways been essen

tial items in the popular bel ief of Ind ia . Another notable figu rein the pantheon i s the god Harinegam e si

,

4 who figu res in theKalpa Satra as the divine commander of the foot troop s ofIndra and who is entrusted wi th the unmil itary duty o f effecting the transfer of the embryo of Mahavira

,while in the

Antagaaadasao he appears as a god who ha s power to grant thedesi re for children . In art he i s represented with an antelope’shead, seemingly due to a false rendering of his name

,which

i s Sanskr it ized from the original Prakrit as Harina igam a isin ,

though he i s scarcely known to the Brahmanica l books . Anaddit ional deity who i s p ractical ly — though not enti rely


CHAPTER IX

THEMYTHOLOGY OF MODERN H INDUISM

HE rel igion of India a s manifested to u s in l itera ry history

has been a constant proces s of the extens ion of the influence

of the B rahmanical creed over tribes , whether Ary an o r (moreoften) non-Aryan , who lay outs ide its fi rst sphe re of control .Brahmanism has , on the whole , proved i t self the most tolerantand comprehensive of religions and has constant ly known howto absorb within its fold lower forms Of faith . In doing SO ithas received great as s i stance from the panthei sti c phi losophywhich has allowed many of its ablest supporters to look withunderstanding and sympathy

,o r at least with tolerance , upon

practices which,save to a panthei st, would seem hopeles s ly

out of harmony with the D ivine . Thu s the doctrine of Devias the female s ide of S iva has enabled B rahmanism to acceptas part of its creed the wide—sp read worship of Mother Ea rth

,

which i s no real component o f the ea rl i e r Vedic fa ith ; the Vai snava can regard as forms Of Visnu even such unorthodox persons as the Buddha himself. Of cou rse

,in thu s incorporating

lower religions Brahmani sm has done much to transform themand has greatly affected the social p ractices of the tribes whichhad become Hinduized

,but it i s sti l l easy to find among these

peoples Stages of the earl iest forms of primitive rel igion,much

less developed than any type recorded for u s in the Vedic texts .In the resu lt the pantheon ofH indu i sm i s a strange and remarkable thing : on the one hand

,there are the great gods Vi s nu

and Siva with thei r attendants and as si stants,who are in one

aspect regarded as nothing more than forms of the Absoluteand subj ects of a refined phi losophy

,but who at the same time

THE MYTHOLOGY OF MODERN HINDUISM 231

are wide enough in character to cover deities of the most primitive s avagery . On the other hand

,we have innumerable petty

deiti es (aeotas) , godlings a s contrasted with rea l gods , whosec lose connexion with nature i s obviou s and who belong to avery primitive stratum of rel igion . Many o f these minor deitie srep resent the s ame phys ical facts a s the great Vedic gods

,but

the mythology of these d ivinities has peri shed,and folk-lore

makes a poor substitute .

During thi s period Vai snavi sm pas ses through an important

p eriod of deepening of the rel igiou s interest a s a resu lt o f thereforms of Ramanuj a in the twelfth centu ry and those ofRamananda in the fou rteenth , which emphas ized the es senceo f fa ith which had been a vita l featu re of the worship ofVi snu

,

b ut which now assumed a more marked character,perhap s

under Chri stian influence from the Syri an chu rch in SouthIndia .

1 The worship ofRama as the perfect hero has been finallyestabli shed by the Ram caritmanas o f Tulas i Das (1532— 1623

but,on the other hand

,the cu lt ofKrs na on its erotic s ide

has been developed by such sects a s the RadhaVallab his,who

have sometimes brought the worsh ip into as l ittle repute a sthe exces ses of the votaries of the s’aktis of S iva . The worship oft hese faletis , the p ersonificat ions of the female a spect of S iva

’snatu re , i s the chief development of the Sa ivite cu lt, and itforms the subj ect of the new literary Species which comes intop rominence after the tenth centu ry o f the Chri stian era

,the

T antric text-books , of which the greater part are modern , butwhich doubtles s contain older material . The worship whichthey seek -to treat a s phi losophy i s in itself made up of veryprimi tive ri te s

,much of i t seemingly at the best ferti l ity magic ,

but the phi losophic gu i se into which these books seek to throwit i s not proved to be early . While the cu lt of S iva , a s ofVi s nu ,has continued to extend by the proces s of amalgamating withitself the deities o f ruder fa iths , that o f the s

’ahti has grown

to such a degree a s to p lace the god in the inferior position , theAbsolute now being conceived in the Tantras a s es sentia lly

v i — 16

232INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

feminine in character,a curiou s overthrowing o f the older In

di an religion , which , on the whole , gives very little worsh ip tothe female deities . Brahma has o f cou rse di sappeared more

and more from popular worship and at the present day hasbut two shrines dedicated to him in the whole of India .

Of the celestial deities the sun , Sfi rya o r Suraj Narayan , sti l l

has votaries and is worshipped at many famous sun temples .

The Emperor Akbar endeavoured to introduce a new characterinto hi s cu lt

,provid ing that he shou ld be adored fou r times a

day,at morning

,noon

,evening, and midnight, but th i s exoti c

worship naturally did not establi sh itself. There i s a Sau rasect which has its headquarters in Oudh , wh i le the Nim b araksect worships the sun in a n im-tree (Aziclirachta indica) inmemory of the condescens ion of the lumina ry who , after thetime of setting, came down upon such a tree in order to affordlight for an ascetic to enjoy the meal to which he had beeninvited

,but which his ru le of life forbade him to eat in the

night-time . In the vil lages of North India the vi l lagers re

frain from salt on Sundays and bow to the sun as they leave thei rdwellings in the morning

,while the more learned repeat the

famous Gayatri in his honour . In compari son with the sun

the moon has l ittle worship,and that u sually in connexion

with the sun . Yet it serves of course to suggest stories to ac

count for the marks on its surface,which are general ly ex

plained as a hare and attributed to the puni shment infl i ctedon the moon for some sin ; its d ifferent phases are u sed to gu ideoperations of agricu lture ; and there are many superstitionsregarding lucky and unlucky days . The demon Rahu

,whose

function it i s to eclipse the sun and moon,and Ketu

,rep re

senting his tai l , once turned into constellations , have fal lenon evil days : the latter i s a demon of disease

,and the former i s

the divinity of two menial tribes in the eastern di stricts of theNorth-Western Provinces ,whoseworship consi sts in a fire-offeringat which the priest walks through the fire

,thi s ceremony being

clearly a device to secure abundance of sunlight and prosperity


234INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

imitation of the Hindu fire—cu lt the Muhammadans of Go rakhpur have maintained for over a century a sacred fi re un

quenched,and its ashes a re

,l i ke those o f the fire of Indian

Yogis,believed to have magic qua lities . Volcanic fi re i s a lso

revered,but the lightning i s now attributed to demoniac

agency. The earth , however, has a fu l ler sha re of worship

than in the earlier faith : she i s es sentia lly “ the Mother who

Supports (Dharti Mai) , and her sanctity i s so great that thedying are laid upon her

,as are women at chi ld-birth . The du st

of the earth has powerfu l curative properties . Hindu cookingvessels are regularly cleansed in thi s way

,and in the cri s i s of

the engagement the H indu troopers at the battle of Kamptitook dust from their grooms and cast it over the i r head s , thu sdoubtles s gaining courage from close contact with MotherEarth . Among many tribes dust i s a lso flung upon the dead .

The worship of the earth i s very marked among the Dravid iantribes and i s beyond question most primitive in character .Of the rivers the most holy i s GangaMai (

“Mother Gangesto whom temples have been raised a ll a long the bank of thestream . Her water i s holy and is in great demand a s a viaticum

,

as pure for u se in sacrifice,and a s valuable for stringent oaths .

The full efficacy of the stream i s,however

,best obtained by

bathing in it during the fu ll moon o r at eclipses,and on these

occas ions the ashes of the dead are brought from afar andcast into the river . The Jumna i s a l so sacred

,but s ince

,ac

cording to modern legend , she i s unmarried , she i s not of thehighest sanctity, and so the water i s heavy and indigestib le .

The union of the two sacred streams i s especi ally holy at themodern Allahabad . The great rival of the Ganges i s theNarmada, which tore through the marble rocks at Jaba lpu rin anger at the p erfidy of her lover, the Son ,

who was begu i ledby another stream, the Johila. In the Op inion of her supportersthe Narmada i s superior to the Ganges

,fo r both its banks a re

equally efficacious for bathing , and not as in the case of herrival — only the northern shore . The Bhaoisya Purana ,

PLATE XXX

SHR INE O F BHUM IY A

T he earth-de ity o f the abo rigine s is Bhfim iya,who is gradual ly be ing inco rpo rated into the Hindupantheon . T he shrine is o f inte re st as showing the

humble charac ter o f the tem ple s o f the prim itiv egodlings, who are frequent ly repre sented m ere ly byrough sto ne s and do no t e njoy the honour o f any

shrines whatev er . Afte r Croo ke , The Popula r Relig ion

and Folk-Lor e of Nor thern India,Plate facmg i

,105.



deed,i s c red ited with the prophecy that after five thous and

years o f the Kali age , i .e . in 1895 A.D .,the sanctity o f the

Ganges should depart and the Narmada take her p lace,but

thi s has not yet come to pas s . Most other rivers a re sacred insome degree

,but there are i l l-omened streams . The Va itarani ,

located in Ori s sa , i s the river which flows on the borders of therealm of Yama and over whose horrib le tide of blood the deadmust seek the a id of the cow . The Karam nasa

,which for part

of its course traverses the Mirzapu r di strict,i s sa id to represent

the bu rden of the s ins of the monarch TriSanku,which VIS

v am itra sought to wash away with holy water from all thestreams

,o r an exudation from the body of that king a s he hangs

head downward in the sky where V iSv am itra placed h im . Evento touch it destroys the merit of good deeds

,

2so that people o f

low caste can make a l iving by ferrying more scrupu lou s person sacros s it . Yet although rivers a s a ru le are benevolent deities ,many dangerou s powers l ive in them

,such as the Nagas (or

water-serpents) and ghosts o f men o r beasts drowned in thei rwaters . Whirlpool s in particu lar are held to harbour dangerou ssp i rits who requ ire to be appeased

,and floods are believed to be

cau sed by demons who are elaborately prop itiated . Boatmenhave a spec ia l deity cal led Raja Kidar, o r in Bengal Kawaj o rB ir Badr

,who i s said to be the Muhammadan Kwaj a Khidr 3

and who has al so the cu riou s function of haunting the market inthe early morning and fixing the price of grain , which he proteets from the evi l eye .

Wells a re sacred if any Special featu re marks them , such as i sthe case with hotsprings

,and waterfall s a re natura l ly regarded

a s holy,a famou s cataract being where the Chandrap rab ha

descends from the plateau of the Vindhya to the Gangeticva lley . Lakes are at once more common and more renowned .

At Pokhar in Rajp ii tana , where B rahma’s Shrine and temple

stand,there i s a very sacred lake

,which , accord ing to tradi

tion,was once inhab ited by a dragon . Sti l l more famous i s

Manasarov ara , which , formed from the mind of Brahma, i s the


abode not only o f him,but of Mahadeva and the god s

,and

from which flow the Sutlej a nd the Sarja. The Naini Tal Lakei s sacred to Devi . In Lake Tarob a in the Chanda d i strict o fthe Central Provinces a l l neces sa ry ves sel s u sed to ri se out Ofthe water at the cal l of p i lgrims

,but S ince a greedy man took

them home,thi s boon has cea sed to be granted . Other obj ects

of reverence are the tanks at certa in sacred p laces,as at Amrit

sar . Some tanks have healing power,and others contain buried

treasu re .

Mountains a re l ikewi se the obj ect of worship both by theAryanized and the Dravidian tribes . The H imalayan peakNanda Devi i s identified with Parvati , the wife o f Siva

,and

the goddes s of the Vindhya i s worshipped under the style ofMaharani VindhyeSv ari and was once the patron divin ity of

the Thags . The Ka im ii r and the Vindhya ranges a re fab ledto be an offshoot from the H imalaya : they were composed of

rocks let fa l l by Rama’s followers when they were retu rningfrom the H imalaya with stones for the bridging of the way toLanka; but before they had reached thei r destination Ramahad succeeded in hi s a im and he therefore bade them drop thei rbu rdens . Another famou s hi l l i s Go v ardhana

,the peak up

rai sed by Krsna for seven days to protect the herdsmen fromthe storm o f ra in sent by Indra to punish them for withholdingh i s meed of s acrifice .

In addition to these deities,and more important than they

for popular rel igion,must be reckoned the vi l lage deities .

Of these a notable figure is Hanuman , whose rude image i sto be found in most H indu vil lages of the respectable cla ss . He

i s adored by women in the hope of obtaining offspr ing and hei s the favourite deity of wrestlers . He i s a very popular divinity among the semi-Hindu ized Dravidian races o f the Vindhyarange and he bears hi s o ld name of Son of the Wind .

”This

,

coup led with the fact that in the Panjab appeal i s made to himto stop the whirlwind

,suggests that the theory that he i s con

nected with the monsoon has a good deal of probabi l ity . What



for thi s deity . The Mothers,who appea r a s early a s the

epic in company with Skanda , have a stead i ly increa sing worship

. Thei r number ranges from seven to S ixteen , and thei rnames vary

,but in Guj arat the tota l exceeds one hundred

and forty . Some of these “Mothers are no more than d i sea sedemons

,and some are angry spi rits of the dead , wherea s others

appear to have a more exalted origin . Thu s Po rfiMai ofNadiyaseems clearly to be the goddes s of the j ungle , and in the NorthWestern Provinces the title Vanaspati Mai decla res her tobe “ the Mother of the Forest . MataJanuv i (or Janam i) i s agoddes s of birth , as her name implies , whi le Bhfikhi Mata

(“ the Hunger Mother ”) i s a personification o f famine . The

Rajp fits have a supreme“Mother Deity,

” Mama Devi , themother of the gods , who i s presumably a rep resentation of

Mother Earth . In the p la ins Maya,the mother o f the Buddha

,

i s often accepted a s a vi llage deity,and even the famous Bud

dhist poet ASv aghosa has thu s received adoration ; whi le ins imilar fashion the Gond deity Gansam Deo has been metam o rpho sed, according to one theory

,into GhanaSyam a

(“Black Li ke the Rain-Cloud an ep ithet of Krsna .

The belief in the tree-sp irit which i s found in the Rgvedai s prominent throughout the popular religion . The Maghs ofBengal would fell trees only at the instigation of Europeansand in their presence : on cutting down any large tree one of

the party used to place a Sprig in the centre of the stumpwhen the tree fel l a s a prop itiation to the Spi rit which had beendi splaced , plead ing at the same time the orders of the strangers for the work . Another example of the same belief in the lifeof the tree i s the constant practice of the performance of marriage ceremonies with trees for the most variou s pu rposes ,either, as often , to enable a man to marry a third wife withoutincurring i l l luck or to prevent a daughter from remainingunwed beyond the normal time of marriage . In many placespeople obj ect to the collection o f toddy from the pa lm-treesbecau se it necess itates cutting thei r necks . Folk-lore i s fu l l of

PLATE XXX I

BH A IRO N

O riginal ly a v i l lage godling o f the abo rigine s,

Bhairo n has becom e ident ifi ed w ith Bhairav a (“ theFearful one o f the dread fo rm s o f Siva . His

animal is the dog . He is e ssential ly a de ity who sefunction is to keep guard and thus to giv e pro tectio n .

Acco rdingly he is usual ly repre se nted as arm ed withc lub o r swo rd

,whi le his te rrible aspect appears in

the bowl o f blood which he carrie s . Afte r Cro oke ,The Popular Relzgion and Folk-Lor e of Nor ther n India

,

Plate facing ii, 2 18 .



stories of tree-sp irits , and there i s no doubt that in many casestrees have become closely connected with the sou ls o f thedead ; groves of trees are often set as ide and treated as sacred

,

being a dwelling-place of the spirits o f the wild when cu ltivation has l imited their sphere . The p ipp ala or as

’

oattha (F icusreligiosa) i s sa id to be the abode of Brahma, Vi snu , and S iva ;but the cotton-tree i s the home o f the local gods

,who can more

effectively watch the affa i rs of the vi l lage s ince they are les soccup ied than these great deities . The nim-tree harbours thedemons o f disease , but its leaves serve to drive away serpents .The coco-nut i s revered for its intoxicating qualitie s as wel l a sfor its s imi larity to the human sku ll . The tulasi-plan

'

t,o r

holy bas i l (Ocyrnum sanctum) , has aromatic and healing properties , and in myt h it figures as wedded to Vi snu , by whose ordinance its marriage to the infant Krs na in hi s image i s sti l l performed . The bel (Aegle marmelos) i s u sed to refresh the symbolof S iva , and its fru it i s fabled to be produced from the milk ofthe goddes s Sri . The palai a (Butea frondosa) , bamboo, s andal ,and many other trees are more or les s s acred and are appliedto specific ceremonial u ses o r avoided as dangerou s

,j u st as in

the B rahmanas we find many Inj unctions regarding the duekinds of wood to be used for the sacred post

,the fire-dri l l

(for which the hard hhair , o r mimosa [Acacia catechu], and the

p ippala are sti l l u sed) , and the implements of s acrifice .As in the Egb eda a lso, there i s much worship of the work ofhuman hands . The pickaxe feti sh of the Thags was wroughtwith great care

,consecrated

,and tested on a coco-nut : if it

fa i led to sp lit it at one blow,i t was recognized that Devi

was unprop itiou s . Warriors revere their weapons , tanners theirha ir-scrapers

,carpenters their yard-measures

,barbers thei r

razors,s cribes thei r writing material s . So

,in accordance with

Krsna’s advice to the herdsmen

,in the Panjab farmers wor

ship thei r oxen inAugust and their p lough at theDasahra festival ,and shepherds do reverence to thei r sheep at the fu l l moon of

July . Among other implements the corn s ieve o r winnowing

240INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

basket,the broom used to sweep up the grain on the threshing

floor o r in cleaning the hou se , the plough , and the rice pounderare all marked by di stinct powers , a s in many other lands .

Stones too are often worshipped , whether for thei r own s ake

o r for thei r connexion with some spirit o r deity . The mostfamous i s the cu riou sly perforated falagram ,

o r ammonite ,found in the Gandak River and s aid to be V isnu

’s form as a

golden bee,for the god, when wandering in thi s shape , at

tracted such a host of gods in the gu i se of bees that he as sumedthe form of a rock

,whereupon the god s made each a dwell ing

in the stone . Visnu’s footstep s are al so revered at Gaya, and

those of his d isciple , Ramanand , at Benares . A feti sh stone ineach vil lage represents the abode of the vil lage deities ; legendsare told of the stone statues of Older gods and sp irits foundin the great shrines

,or of uncanny o r weird-looking natu ral

rocks ; while here and there even the tombs of mode rn Engli shdead receive some degree of worship .

As regards animal cults far more evidence of the characteri sti cs igns of totemism is avai lable than in the Vedic period

,but

these data are mainly to be found among the aboriginal tribeswhich have been H induized . Thu s many fami li es a re namedafter the wolf, cat , rat , heron , parrot , to rtoi se , weevi l ,frog , or other animal . Stories of animal descent are not rare ,as in the case of the royal family of ChotaNagpur , who usea s thei r seal a cobra with a human face under an expandedhood , invested with the ins igni a o f royalty . Some tribe s refra infrom eating the animal s which are thei r totems

,though in

many cases they have different explanations o f thei r refu s al ;and other tribes observe exogamy as re gards the totem of thefamily, such as those of Berar, where the totems are trees andplants . In Bombay the deoale

,o r guardi an deity

,i s held to be

the ancestor o r head of the hou se : fami lies with the same devakdo not intermarry ; and if the deoale i s an animal , they do noteat it s flesh , though if it be a fru it-tree , the u se of the fru it i snot generally forbidden . S imi lar reasons may underl ie the non


242INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

believed to be amenable to control by sorcerers ; in Hoshanga

b ad the Bhom kas, who are priests o f Bagh Deo (“ the T iger

God can by offerings to the deity restra in the tigers from ap

pearing for a certain period ; and if a tiger i s addres sed a suncle

,he wil l spare hi s victim . Men may eas i ly tu rn into

tigers,who can be recognized by lacking a tai l . The hors e

and the ass both have worshippers , and the dog , cu riou slyenough

,enjoys a good deal o f reverence , both from wild tribe s

(where it i s the wild dog which i s respected) and from thosewhich are more c ivi l ized . H is connexion with death

,his u sefu l

characteri stics,and hi s uncanny power of recognizing sp i rits

and barking at them are doubtles s among the qual ities whichgive him fame . The Bedd Ge lert legend , a s told in Ind ia ,applies in its normal form to the ichneumon who slays thecobra which would devour the child ; in its appl ication to thedog it runs that it i s mortgaged by a Banya or Banjara to amerchant

,that hi s goods are stolen

,and that it recovers them .

The merchant di smi s ses it to its home with a paper round itsneck contain ing a release of the mortgage debt

,but the owne r

fooli shly s lays it in anger for fa il ing in its duty . The bul l andthe cow receive worship , the latter very widely , and the ru leagainst the s laying of a cow i s in force in orthodox H indu state sl ike Nepal to the p resent day . The wandering Banjara trib ereveres the bu ll . Becau se o f hi s wi sdom the elephant i s inseparab ly as sociated with GaneSa

,and men are a lso thought

to become elephants . The cat has demoniaca l qual itie s ; i t i sthe vehicle of the goddes s Sasthi and is fed at d inner as part ofthe orthodox H indu rite . The rat i s the veh icle of Gane sa

,and

hi s sacrednes s leads to the d i ffi cu lty of exterminating p laguebearing rats . Among bird s the peacock

,the crow

,the hoopoe

,

and many others are occa s ionally revered . All igators are qu itefrequently worshipped in tanks

,perhap s because of thei r dan

gerous qualities , which prevent thei r destru ction except in pu rsuance of a blood feud for the ki l ling of a near relative . Fi shocca s ionally enjoy adoration , so that the Mundari Kols revere


the eel and tortoi se a s totems . Even insects l i ke the s i lk-worma re sometimes treated as d ivine . Much of thi s adoration ofanimal s seems clearly to be accorded to them in thei r own right

,

b ut in other ca ses the devotion may be no more than a trace o fthe temporary entry of the corn Spirit into the body of theanimal in question .

No distinction of princip le separates the reverence paid toanima ls from the worship of sa ints

,and i t i s sti l l les s di stinct

from the cult of holy men after thei r death . The H indu sainti s Often venerated at the spot where he lie s interred

,for hi s

s anctity i s so great that it is not neces sa ry that he shou ld beburned

,a s ordinary people a re

,while other holy men a re buried

in the Ganges enclosed in coffins o f stone . The worship takesp lace at a Shrine or tomb

,which i s general ly occup ied by a di s

c ip le ( i f not by an actua l des cendant) of the sage , and therep rayers are made and offerings are p resented . The grounds fora ccord ing the honours due to a sa int are many and variou s .One holy man i s actua lly sa id to have won hi s rank at Meeruto n the strength merely o f a prophecy that a mi l l belonging toa Mr . Smith would cea se shortly to work . Many saints

,how

ever,won thei r rank by harder means than that . Harsu Panre ,

the loca l god of Chayanpur , w as , accord ing to tradition , aB rahman whose hou se and lands were confi scated by the loca lRaj a on the instigation of one o f h i s queens

,who was j ea lou s

o f hi s influence with the Raj a and ins inuated that the priestp roposed to ou st the prince from hi s throne . In revenge theB rahman performed dharna, that i s , he starv ed himself to deathat the pa lace gate in 1427 A.D .

,but only to ari se a s a brahm

,o r

malignant ghost of a B rahman , and he brought to ru in thefamily of the Raj a

,s ave one daughter who had befriended him

in hi s misfortunes . He now exorcizes evi l Sp irits who cause di se ase

,but who cannot res i st his Brahmanical power . There are

o ther such spi rits,whi le Nahar Khan of Marwar is revered

because,in hi s duty to hi s chief

,he was wi ll ing to sacrifice his

l ife for him in exp iation for hi s p rince’s crime . Vyasa , the edi

244IND IAN MY THOLOGY

tor of the Mahabharata , Valmi ki , the author of the Ramayana,Dattatreya , an authority on Yoga or an incarnation o f Vi snu ,Kal idasa , Tulas i Das, Vasistha , Narada Muni , and Tfikaramare among those whose d ivinity is due to thei r learning . The

Pandavas , the heroes of the Mahabharata , receive honour, but

so does thei r teacher Drona , who was thei r riva l in the actua lfighting

. The B anjaras have a saint named Mitthu Bhfikhiya ,whom they worship and whom they consu lt before committinga crime . A famous Kol deity i s Raj a Lakhan , who i s apparentlynone other than the son ofRaj a Jaichand of Kanauj , a strangehero fo r a Dravid i an race . Bela

,the S i ste r of thi s p rince

,has

a temple at Belaun on the banks of the Ganges,though her

only claim to renown i s that she was the obj ect of the di s s ens ion of the Raj pat p rinces which preceded the Mussu lman inv asion . Many of the Muhammadans have holy men who seemnothing more than H indu saints thinly veneered . An importantclas s of women saints a re the satis who have bu rnt themselveswith thei r hu sbands on the fu neral pyre : offerings are pa id tothe memorial s erected to them

,and they are c redited with

saving power . The tombs of sa ints,moreover

,are deemed to

work miracles,and a new holy man wil l not receive fu ll ac

cep tance unti l the account of hi s ma rvel lou s deeds ha s beensp read abroad and more o r l es s general ly admitted to be tru e .

The demons of modern Indi a a re many and varied,but it i s

characteri stic that the Asu ra s shou ld Show little of thei r formergreatnes s ; whi le it is on a par with thi s that the Devas , thei ro ld rivals , have sunk to the rank of mere cannibal demons whowould be a seriou s danger

,were it no t for thei r stup idity

,wh i ch

renders them liable to being hoaxed with ease . There a re,a s

of old , Danos , who rep resent the Danava s,but they are no

more than the B irs,o r heroes

,who a re malignant vi l lage de

mons . The Dait s bear the name o f the o ld Daityas, but aremere goblins who are fond of res id ing in trees . Far more important are the Raksasas

,who have retained much of their

p r imitive character . They are tree—dwellers and cau se indiges


246IND IAN MY THOLOGY

Badarinath , who rewarded her for her p iety , as ev i nced by herdesi re to interest herself in the god s o f H indu i sm , by makingher the incarnation of S itala and the guardian goddes s o f chi ldren

.In another shrine in the Dehra Dfin d i strict she i s a

Sati named Gandhari , the wife of Dhrtarastra , the father of theKauravas in the epi c . Yet she does not stand alone , for according to one vers ion of the story there a re seven

“Motherswho represent and control di sea ses s imi lar to smallpox . Inev itab ly she i s recognized as a form of Devi , and Mahakal i ,Bhadrakali , and Durga, as well a s Kal i , appear a s names o fthe seven “Mothers . ” In Bengal e scape from the ravages ofsmallpox i s the purpose of the worship of the goddes s Sasthi

(“S ixth apparently a personification of the sp i rit p res id ing

over the critica l s ixth day aft er the bi rt h of a chi ld . S italaagain i s one form of Matafigi Sakti , a mod ification o f thepower of Devi as the female s ide o f Siva . Thi s deity i s o fho rrible aspect

,with proj ect ing teeth

,a hideou s face with wide—open

mouth,and ears a s large as a winnowing fan . She a lso carrie s

such a fan and a broom together with a p itcher and a sword .

In the Panjab the di sease i s d i rectly attributed to Devi Mata,

who is honoured in order to secu re the departu re Of the malady .

It i s clear,however

,that the di sea se i s considered to be a mani

fe stat ion of the entry of Devi into the chi ld,and thu s

,ow ing

to the holines s produced by the inward presence of the deity,

the bodies of those who die are,l i ke those of sa intly persons

,

buried,and not cremated .

Cholera has its female d ivin ity,Mari Bhavani

,but it i s a lso

represented by a male deity,Hardau l Lala

,in the region north

of the Jumna. According to the legend,he i s the ghost o f a

prince who was murdered in 1627 A.D . by hi s brother,Jhaj har

S ingh ; and at one time he was so important that in 1829 i t i ss aid that the village headmen were inc ited to set up altars tohim in every vi llage at Hoshangabad in order to preserve thecu ltivators , who were apt to run away if thei r fears of ep idemies were not ca lmed by the respect paid to loca l gods .


Cholera i s a lso sacred to Devi,and in add ition to prayers the

ceremony of the formal expu ls ion of the demon is often performed . Besides the deitie s of the great diseases

,we find gods

of minor maladies , su ch as he o f the itch,who i s solemnly

prop itiated .

Other evi l beings a re the ghosts of the dead,the bhats

,in so

fa r a s they are malignant . Such a spirit i s that of a manwho ha s d ied a violent death

,whether by su icide

,acc ident

,o r

cap ita l puni shment ; and the malevolence of a ghost of th i stype i s inevitably increased greatly if he has been denied duefunera l rites . Indeed , i f a man otherwise free from sin dieswithout offspring to perform the s’raddha for him he i s l iabl e tobecome a gayal, o r sonles s ghost, especially dangerou s to theyoung son s of other peop le . Many B irs a re men kil led by ac

cident,a s by a fal l from a tree

,by a tiger

,and so on . The

bhats are particu larly feared by women and chi ldren,and at

the , t im e of marr iage,and a woman who weds a second time

must take step s to prop itiate the sp irit of her first hu sband .

Bhats never rest on the ground,which i s inimica l to them .

Hence thei r shrine s a re provided with a bamboo o r otherp lace to a llow them to descend upon it ; wherea s , on the otherhand

,people anxiou s to avoid i l l from bhats l i e on the ground

,

a s do a bride and bridegroom,or a dying man at the moment

of di s solution . Three s igns of the natu re o f a bhat are hi s lacko f Shadow

,hi s fear of bu rn ing tu rmeri c

,and his speaking with

a nasal a ccent . A person beset by them should invoke Kali,

Durga,and especi ally S iva

,who i s the lord of bhats . The v am

p ire of Europe ha s a para lle l in the oetal, who enters corp ses ,often being the sp irit of a discontented man who chooses su cha home instead o f retain ing hi s own body .

The p ret i s in some degree a ll ied to the bhat in that it oftendenotes the ghost o f a deformed or cripp led person o r one defect iv e in some member, or of a child which d ies prematurelyowing to the omis s ion of ce rtain of the ceremonies prescribedfo r i ts good during its l ife a s an embryo . In another sense ,

v i — 17


however,a p ret i s a sp irit after death and before the accom

p lishm ent of the funeral rites . It wanders round its o ld home,

in s ize no larger than a man’s thumb,unti l it is gradual ly ra i sed

through the intermediate stage of a Pi saca to that of a “ father .One form o f ghost with many European parallel s i s the

headles s Dand,who i s

,accord ing to one account

,der ived from

the wars of the great epic . He roves about at night and call sto the householder, but it i s dangerou s to answer such a summons . When he vi s ited Agra in 1882

,much terror was cau sed

,

and houses were shut at night . Other such demons are notrare

,and at Faizabad there is a road which country folk wil l

not travel at night,s ince on it marches the headle s s army of

Prince Sayyid salar . In l ike manner Ab i'

i’l-Fadl tel l s of the

ghosts of the great S l aughter at Panipat,and in modern times

there are the ghosts of the hard-fought field o f Chil ianwal a .

The sp irits who haunt burning grounds are styled masan

from the Sanskrit s'

mas'

ana (“ cemetery and are dangerou s

to ch i ldren,whom they affl i ct with consumption . Among the

bhats of the H i l l s is Airi , the ghost of a man killed in hunting,who goes about with a pack of belled hounds and to meet whomis death . The acher i a re the ghosts of l ittle girl s

,l iving on the

mountain-top s,but descending for revels at night . The

baghauts are the ghosts of men s lain by tigers , fo r whom shrinesare erected on the spot o f their sad end . Such sp irits a redangerou s and requ ire carefu l treatment . Sti l l more peri lou si s the churel. In origin the name seems to have denoted theghosts of some low caste people , whose sp irits are a lways espec ially malignant , and whose bodies l i ke those of su icides inEngland in former times are bu ried face downward to hinderthe easy escape of the evi l Spirit . The modern acceptance ofthe churel

,however

,i s that it i s the ghost o f a woman who d ie s

while pregnant o r in chi ld-bi rth o r before the period of ceremonial impurity has elap sed . Such a ghost may appear beautifu l

,but it can be recognized by the fact that its feet a re

turned round . She i s apt to captivate handsome young men



conception regards the oblations made during the first periodafter death as being intended to create a body for the deceased

,

which converts hi s Sp irit from a mere p reta , o r ghost, into a rea lindividual

,capable of experiencing either the p lea sures of

heaven o r the pangs of hell . Heaven,however

,i s by no means

difficu lt of acces s to the man who believes in one of the sectarian divinities : the mere repetition o f the name of the god atthe moment of death secures a favourab le resu lt

,and S imi la r

effects are p redicated of the u se o f s acred water (especia lly thato f the Ganges) and o f the employment of variou s p lants at themoment o f death ; while the same idea has led to the wide dev e lopm ent o f the cu stom of casting the ashes of the dead intothe Ganges o r some other holy river .

IRAN IAN MYTHOLOGY

ALBERT J . CARNOY,PH .D .

, Lm D .

PROFES SOR OF LI NGUI STIC S ‘AND 'OF I RANIAN PHI LOLOGY,

UNIVERS ITY OF LOUVAINRESEARCH PROFES SOR, UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA



the theologica l and mystic accounts of the Pahlavi books,and

finally to the ep i co-hi storic legends of Firdau s i .There i s no doubt that such was the genera l movement inthe development of the hi storic stories of I ran . Has theevolution sometimes operated in the reverse direction ? Dr .

L . H . Gray,who knows much about Iranian mythology

,seems

to think so in connexion with the myth of Yima,for in hi s

a rtic le on “ Blest,Abode of the (Pers ian) , in the Encyclo

pa dia of Religion and Ethics,i i . 702—04 (Ed inburgh , he

presents an interesting hypothes i s by which Yima’s succes s iveopenings o f the world to cu ltivation wou ld appear to a llude toAryan migrations . It has seemed to me that thi s story has

,

rather,a mythical character

,in conformity with my inter

p retat ion of Yima’s personal ity ; but in any event a s ingle ca s e

would not alter our general conclu s ions regarding the courseof the evolu tion ofmythology in Pers i a .

Another point of interest presented by Iranian mythologyi s that it collects and unites into a coherent system legendsfrom two sou rces which are intimately connected with the twogreat racial elements o f our civi lization . The Aryan myths ofthe Vedas appear in I ran

,but are greatly modified by the

influence of the neighbou ring populations o f the valleys of theT igri s and the Euphrates Sumeri ans

,Assyrians

,etc . Occa

sional compari sons of Pers ian stories with Vedi c myths o r

Babylonian legends have accordingly been introduced intothe account of I ranian mythology to draw the reader’s attention to curiou s coincidences which

,in our p resent state of

knowledge,have not yet received any sati sfactory explanation .

In a paper read thi s year before the American Oriental SocietyI have sought to carry out thi s method of comparison in moresystematic fashion

,but studi es of su ch a type find no place in

the present treati se,which i s strictly documentary and presen

tat ional in character . The u se of hypotheses has , therefore,been carefu lly restr icted to what was absolutely requ i red topresent a consi stent and rational account of the myths and to

AUTHOR’S PREFACE 255

permit them to be class ified accord ing to thei r probable nature .

Due emphasis has a lso been laid upon the great number ofreplicas of the s ame fundamenta l story . Throughout my workmy personal views a re natu rally implied

,but I have sought to

avoid bold and hazardou s hypotheses .It has been my endeavour not merely to as semble the myths

of I ran into a cons i stent account, but also to give a readableform to my exp ose, although I fear that Iranian mythology i so ften so dry that many a passage will seem rather ins ip id . Ifth i s impres s ion i s perhap s relieved in many places

,that happy

result i s la rgely due to the poeti c colou ring of Darm e stete r’s

trans lation of the Avesta and of the Warners’ vers ion of theShahnamah. The editor o f the series has -a lso employed hista lent in vers ifying such of my quotations from the Avesta a sare in poetry in the original . In so doing he has

,of cou rse

,

adhered to the metre in which these portions of the Avestaa re written

,and which i s famili ar to Engli sh readers a s being

that of Longfellow’s Hiawatha,a s it i s a lso that of the Finni sh

Kalevala . Where prose i s mixed with verse in these pas sagesDr . Gray has rep roduced the origina l commingling . While

,

however,I am thus indebted to him as well a s to Darm estete r

,

Mills,B artho lom ae

,West

,and the Warners fo r thei r meritori

ous translations,these vers ions have been compared in all

neces sary cases with the original texts .My hearty gratitude i s due to Professor A . V . Will iamsJackson

,who placed the lib ra ry of the Indo-I ranian Seminar at

Columbia Univers ity at my di sposal and gave me negatives ofphotograph s taken by him in Pers ia and used in hi s Persia Pastand Present. It i s th i s hospitality and that of the Univers ityo f Pennsylvania which have made it pos s ible for me to pursuemy researches after the destruction of my library in Louvain .

Dr . Charles J . Ogden of New York City also helped me inmany ways . For the colou r-plates I am indebted to the courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum ofArt

,New York , where the

Persian manuscripts of the Shahnamah were generously placed


at my service ; and the Open Court Publish ing Company of

Chicago has permitted the rep roduction o f fou r i l lustrationsfrom their i s sue of The Mysteries ofMithra .

A. J . CARNOY .

UNIVERS ITY OF PENN SYLVANIA ,1 November, 1916.


258 TRANSCRIPTION AND PRONUNCIATION

ah, f, and w a re pronounced a s in Scottish loch or Ge rman ach,

German Tag, Engli sh thin , this , far , and win respectively .

In the quotations from the Shahnarnah the Arabic lettersd,h,and 9 occur ; a and h a re pronounced very emphatica lly

,

and q i s a 13 produced deep in the throat . The transcriptionemployed in the Warner translation o f F irdau si d iffers somewhat

,but not sufficiently to cause confus ion

,as when

,for

instance,following the Pers ian rather than the Arabic p ro

nunc iat ion ,they write Z ahhak instead of Dahhak

,etc . They

also u se the acute accent in stead of the macron to denote longvowels

,as i in stead of i , e tc .

INTRODUCTION

THNOLOGICALLY the Pers ians are closely akin to theAryan races of India

,and thei r re ligion ,

which shows .manypoints of contact with that of the Ved ic Ind ians , was dominantin Persi a unti l the Muhammadan conquest of I ran in the seventhcentu ry o f ou r era . One of the most exalted and the most intere sting religions of the ancient world , it has been fo r thirteenhundred years practica lly an exi le from the land o f its bi rth

,

but it has found a home in India,where it is profes sed by the

relatively small but highly influentia l community of Pars i s,

who,a s thei r name Pers ian s ”) imp lies , are descendants of

immigrants from Pers ia . The I ranian fa ith i s known to u s bothfrom the inscriptions o f the Achaemenian kings (558— 330 B .C . )and from the Avesta

,the latter being an extens ive collection of

hymns,discou rses

,precepts for the religiou s l ife

,and the l ike

,

the oldest portions dating back to a very early period,prior to

the dominion of the great kings . The other parts are cons iderably later and are even held by several scholars to have beenwritten after the beginning of the Chri stian era . In the periodof the Sas sanians

,who reigned from about 226 to 641 A.D .

,

many trans lations of the Avesta and commentaries on i t weremade

,the language employed in them being no t Avesta (which

is closely related to the Vedi c Sanskrit tongue of India) , butPahlavi

,a more recent d ia lect of I ranian and the older form of

Modern Pers ian . A large number of trad itions concerning theI ranian gods and heroes have been prese rved only in Pahlavi , e s

p ecially in the Bandahish, or“ Book o f Creation .

” Moreoverthe huge epic in Modern Pers ian

,written by the great poet

F irdausi , who died about 1025A.D .

,and known under the name

60 INTRODUCT ION

o f Shahnarnah, or Book of the Kings , has l ikewi se rescued agreat body of traditions and legends which wou ld otherwisehave pas sed into obl ivion ; and though in the epic these affecta more hi storical gu i se

,in reality they are generally nothing but

humanized myths .Thi s i s not the p lace to give an account Of the ancient Pe rs i an religion

,s ince here we have to dea l with myt hology only .

It wil l suffi ce,therefore

,to recall that fo r the great kings as.

well a s for the priests,who were fol lowers of Z grg ag

sg ter (Avesta

Z arathushtra) , the great p rophet of I ran , no god can be compared with Ahura creator o f al l good beings .Under him are the Am e sha Sp entas, o r Immortal HolyOnes

,

” and the Yazatas, or“Venerable Ones

,who are secon

dary deities . The Am e sha Sp entas have two a spects . In themoral Sphere they embody the es senti al atta inments of religious l i fe :

“Righteou snes s (Asha o r Arta) ,

“Good Mind ”

(Vohu Manah) , Des i rable Kingdom ”

(Khshathra Va irya)“Wise Conduct and

“Devotion ” “

PerfectHappines s ” (Haurv atat) , and Immorta l ity ” (Ame re tat)In their materia l nature they pres ide over the whole world a sguardians : Asha i s the spi rit of fire

,Vohu Manah i s the pro

tector of domestic animals,Khshathra Va irya i s the patron of

metals,Spenta Arm ait i pres ides over earth

,Haurv atat over

water,and Am e re tat over p lants .

The Am e sha Sp entas constitute Ahura Mazda’s court

,and

1

it i s through them that he governs the world and brings men tosanctity . Below Ahura Mazda and the Am e sha Sp entas comethe Yazatas

,who are for the most part ancient Aryan d ivini

ties reduced in the Zoroastrian system to the rank of auxil iaryangels . Of these we may mention Atar

,the personification of

that fire which plays so important a part in the Mazdean cu ltthat its members have now become commonly

,though quite

erroneou s ly,known as

“ Fire-Worshippers ” ; and by the s ideof the geniu s o f fi re is found one of water

,Anahita .

Mithra i s by a ll odds the most important Yazata . Although


PLAT E XXX I I

I RAN IAN DEIT IES ON INDo -ScYTH IAN CO IN S

1 . MITHRAT he Iranian god o f l ight w ith the so lar disk about his head.

From a co in o f the IndO-Scythian king Huv iska . Afte r Ste in,

Zoroastr ian Deities on Indo—Scythian Coins, No . I . See pp . 287— 88 .

2 . APAM NAPAT

T he “ Chi ld o f W aters .

”T he de ity is represe nted with a

ho rse,thus recal ling his Av e stic epithe t, auro a t-aspa (“w ith sw ift

steeds From a co in o f the Indo -Scythian king Kaniska.After Ste in

,Zoroastr ian Deities on Indo-Scythian Coins

,NO . III .

Se e pp . 267 , 340 .

3. MAHT he m o o n-god is represented with the characteristic lunar

disk . From a co in o f the Indo -Scythian king Huv iska. Afte rSte in, Zoroastr ian D eities on Indo-Scythian Coins,No . IV . See p. 278 .

4 . VATA OR VAYUT he w ind-god is running fo rwardwith hair floating and mantle

flying in the breeze . From a co in o f the Indo-Scythian kingKaniska. After Ste in, Zoroastr ian D eities on Indo-Scythian Coins,No . V . Se e pp . 299, 302 .

5. KHVARENANH

T he G lo ry, here ca l led by his Pe rsian nam e,Farro

,ho lds out the

royal symbo l . From a co in o f the Indo Scythian king Huv iska .

After Ste in, Zoroastr ian D eiti es on Indo-Scythian Coins,No . VI .

Se e pp . 285, 304 05, 31 1 324 , 332 33, 343

6 . ATART he god o f fire is here characte rized by the flam e s which

rise from his sho ulde rs . From a co in o f the Indo-Scythian kingKaniska. Afte r Ste in, Zor oastr ian D eities on Indo-Scythian Coins,

No . VII . Se e pp . 266—67 .

7. VANAINT I (UPARATAT )T his goddess, “Co nquering Supe rio rity,

”is m ode l led on the

G re ek Nike and se em s to carry in o ne hand the

sc eptre o f royalty, whi le w ith the o ther she proffe rs the crownwo rn by the I ranian kings . From a co in o f the Indo -Scythianking Huv iska . After Ste in, Zoroastr ian Deities on Indo-Scythian

Coins,No . V III .

8 . VERETHRAGHNA

O n the he lm et o f the war-god pe rche s a birdwhich is doubtless the Vareghna . T he de ity appropriate ly carrie s spear and swo rd.

From a co in o f the Indo -Scythian king Kaniska . After Ste in ,Zoroastr ian Deities on Indo—Scythian Coins, No . IX. See pp . 2 7 1

—73.


262 INTRODUCT ION

molten metal will,as an ordeal

,purify al l men and bring about

the complete exclu s ion of evi l .Duali sm,

having impregnated a ll I ranian beliefs,profoundly

influenced the mythology of Iran a s well or,more exactly

,i t

was in thei r mythology that the people of ancient Pers ia foundthe germ that developed into religiou s duali sm .

IRAN IAN MY THO L O GY

CHAPTER I

WARS OF GODS AND DEMONS

HE mythology of the Indians and the Iranians has givena wide extension to the Conception o f a struggle between

light and darknes s,thi s being the development of myths dating

back to Indo—Eu ropean times and found among a l l IndoEuropean peoples . Bes ides the cosmogonic stor ies in whichmonstrous giants are ki l led by the gods of sky o r storm we havethe myths of the storm and of the fi re . In theformer a heavenlybeing s lays the dragon concea led in the cloud

,whose waters

now flow over the ea rth ; or the god del ivers from a monsterthe cows of the clouds that a re impri soned in some mounta ino r cavern

,as

,for example

,i n the legends concerning Herakles

and Ge ryo neus o r Cacu s . 1 In the second clas s of myths thefire of heaven

,produced in the cloud or in an aerial se a

,i s

b rought to ea rth by a bird o r by a daring human being likePrometheu s .All these myths tel l of a struggle against powers Of darknes sfor l ight o r for bles s ings under the form o f ra in . They wereeminently su sceptible o f being systematized in a duali sticform

,and the strong tendency toward symbolism,

observableboth in o ld Indian (Vedi c) and o ld I ranian conceptions

,re

su lted in the as sociation of mora l ideas with the cosmicstruggle

,thu s eas i ly leading to duali sm .

The recent di scoveries in Boghaz Kyoi and el sewhere in theNear East have shown that the Indo- I ranians were in contact withAssyro—Babylonian cu lture at an early date , and there

V I 18

264 IRANIAN MYTHOLOGY

are many reasons for bel ieving that thei r rel igiou s idea s wereinfluenced by thei r neighbours , especially a s regards the groupo f gods known in India a s the Ad itya s , whose function is tobe the guardi ans of the law (Sanskr it rta Avesta asha) ando f moral ity .

2

Now,Babylonian mythology could only confirm the Indo

Iranians in thei r conceptions concerning the cosmic battleagainst m aleficent forces or monstrou s beings . Thu s Assyro -KBabylonian legends tel l of the fight between T iamat

,a huge

monster o f forbidding aspect , embodying p rimeval chaos , andlMarduk , a sola r deity . As Profes sor Morri s Jastrowthe myth i s based upon the annual phenomenon witnes sedin Babylonia when the whole valley is flooded

,when storms

sweep acros s the p la ins,and the sun is obscu red . A confl i ct i s

going on between the waters and storms on the one hand,

and the sun on the other ; but the latter i s finally victorious,

for Marduk subdues T iamat and triumphantly marches acros sthe heavens from o ne end to the other a s general overseer .In other myths

,more specifica lly those o f the storm

,the

storm is rep resented by a bull ,4 an idea not far remote from the

Indo—I ranian conception which identifies the storm-cloud witha cow or an storm-

go d i s l i kewi se symbolized underthe form o f a e which we also find in I ranian myt h s ,a s when an to the ea rth the fi re of heaven

,the

l ightning . S imilarly in Babylonian mythology the bi rd Z u

endeavou rs to captu re the tablets of Fate from En—l i l,and du r

ing the contest which takes p lace in heaven Z u seizes the tablets

,which only Marduk can recover . Li ke the dragon who has

hidden the cows,Z u dwell s in an inacces s ib le reces s in the moun

v tains, and Ramman,the storm-god

,is invoked to conquer

him with his weapon,the thunderbolt .5

Among the Indo- I ranians,the poetic imagination of the

Vedic Indians has given the most complete description of theconfl ict in the storm-cloud . With hi s d i stinctive weapon

,the

b aj ra Indra s l ays the demon o f drought called


PLAT E XXX I I I

I

TYP I CA L REPRE SEN TAT I ON o r M ITHRA

Mithra is shown sac rific ing the bu l l in the cav e .

Beneath the bu l l is the serpent,and the dog springs

at the bu l l’s throat,lick ing the blo od which po urs

from the wo und. T he rav en,the bird sacred to

Mithra,is also pre sent . O n e ithe r side o f the god

stands a to rch—beare r,symbo liz ing the rising and the

se tting sun re spectiv e ly, and abo v e them are the sun

and the m o on in the ir chario ts . T his Bo rghesi b asre lief in white m arble

,now in the Lo uv re

,was o rigi

nal ly in the Mithraeum o f the Capito l at Rom e . After

Cum ont,The [Myster ies of Mithra , Fig . 4 .

2

S CEN E S FROM THE L I FE O F MI TH RA

T his has-re lief,disco v e red in 1838 at Neuenhe im

,

ne ar He ide lberg, shows in the bo rde r, ro und the centralfigure o f the tauro cto nou s de ity, twe lve o f the principale vents in his l ife . Am ong them the c leare st are his

birth from the ro ck (to p o f the bo rde r to the le ft) ,his capture o f the bu l l

,which he carries to the cav e

(bo rde r to the right) , and his ascent to Ahura Mazda

(to p bo rder) . T he sec ond scene from the to p o n the

bo rde r to the le ft represents Kro no s (Z arvan,o r

T im e inv e sting Z eus (Ahura Mazda) with the

sc eptre o f the un iv e rse . After Cumo nt, The Myster iesof Mithra , Fig . 15.


266 IRANIAN MY THOLOGY

Mainyu to s laughter I ranian s ettlements and to murder thefa ithfu l of Asha the scene of the struggle being“ the four-cornered Varena

,a mythical

,remote region . Li ke

the storm-gods and the bringers of fire,Thraétaona sometimes

reveals h imself in the shape of a bi rd,a vu ltu re

,

12 and later wesha ll se e how

,under the name of Faridiin , he becomes an im

portant hero in the Pers ian ep ic . His myt hica l nature appearsc learly if one compares the storm-stories in the Veda withthose in the Avesta . All es sential featu res a re the same onboth s ides . The myth of a confl ict between a god of l ight o r

storm and a dragon assumes many shapes in I ran,a lthough in

its general outl ines it i s unchanging . In Thraétaona’s strugglethe victor was

,as we have seen

,connected with fi re . Now

fi re itself,under the name of Ata r

,son of Ahura Mazda

,i s

represented as having been in combat with the d ragon Azb iDahaka

Fire,Ahura Mazda’s offspr ing ,

Then did hast en,hasten fo rward,

Thus within him se lf commun ing :‘Let m e se ize that G lo ry unat tainab le.’But behind him hurt led onwardAzhi

,blasphem ie s outpou ring ,

T r ip le-m outhed and evi l-cre eded‘Back ! let this be to ld thee

,

Fire,Ahura Mazda’s o ffspr ing

If thou ho ldest fast that thing unattainab le,Thee wi l l I dest roy ent ire ly ,That thou sha lt no m o re b e g leam ingOn the earth Mazda-c reat ed

,

Fo r p ro t e ct ing Asha’s c reature s .’

Then Atar drew back his hands,

Anxious,fo r his l ife affright ed,

So m uch Azhi had a larm ed him .

Then did hu rt le,hu rt le fo rward,

T riple-m outhed and evi l-creedéd,

Azhi,thu s within him thinking

‘Let m e se ize that G lo ry unat tainab le.

’

But behind h im hast en ed onwardFire

,Ahura Mazda’s o ffsp ring ,

Speaking thus with wo rds o f m eaning

WARS OF GoDs AND DEMONS 267

‘Hence ! let this b e to ld the e ,Azb i , t riple-m outhed Dahaka

If thou ho lde st fast that thing unat tainable,I Sha l l Spark le up thy butto cks, I sha l l g leam upon thy j aw ,

That thou sha lt no m o re b e com ingOn the earth Mazda-c reat ed

,

Fo r dest roying Asha’s c reatures .’

Then Azb i drew back his hands,

Anxious,fo r his life affr ighted,

So m uch Atar had a larm ed him .

Fo rth that G lo ry wen t up -swe l l ingTo the o cean Vou rukasha .

Straightway then the Chi ld ofWaters,

Swift o f ho rses, se ized upon him .

This do th the Chi ld ofWate rs,swift of ho rses

,desire

‘Let m e se ize that G lo ry unattainab leTo the bo ttom of deep o cean

,

In the bo t tom of profound 14

Although much uncertainty reigns a s to the localization of

the sea Vou rukasha and the nature of the Son o f the Waters ”

(Apam Nap at) , the p reva lent Opinion i s that they are re sp ect iv e ly the waters on high and the fire above , which i s born fromthe clouds .The Avesta’s most poetica l accounts of the contest on high

are,however

,not the descriptions of battles withAzhi Dahaka ,

but the vivid p ictures o f the victory of T ishtrya , the dogsta r (S i riu s) , overAp ao sha , the demon of drought . 15 Droughtand the heat of summer were the great scou rges in I raniancountries

,and S i riu s

,the star of the dog-days

,was supposed

to bring the b eneficent summer showers , whereas Ap ao sha ,the evi l demon

,was said to have captu red the waters

,which

had to be released by the god of the dog-star . Accordingly wefind the fa ithfu l s inging :

T isht rya the star we wo rship,

Fu l l of b ri l l iancy and g lo ry ,Ho lding wat e r

’s seed and m ighty,

Ta l l and st rong , afar o ff see ing ,Ta l l

,in rea lm s superna l wo rking ,


Fo r whom yearn flo cks and herds and m en

‘When wi l l T isht rya b e r ising ,Fu l l of bri l l iancy and g lo ry ?When ,

Oh, when ,wi l l springs o fwate r

F low again, m o re st rong than ho rse s ?’ 16

T isht rya l i stens to the prayer of the fa ithfu l , and being s ati sfied with the sacrifice and the libations

,he descends to the

sea Vourukasha i n the shape of a white , beautifu l hors e , withgolden ears and capari soned in gold . But the demon Ap ao sharushes down to meet h im in the form of a dark horse

,bald with

bald ears,bald with a bald back , bald with a bald tail , a fright

fu l horse . They meet together,hoof against hoof ; they fight

together for three days and nights . Then the demon Ap ao shaproves stronger than the bright and gloriou s T ishtrya and overcomes h im

,and he drives him back a fu ll mile from the sea

Vou rukasha . In deep d i stres s the bright and gloriou s T ishtryac ries out

Wo e to m e,Ahura Mazda !

B ane fo r you , ye p lant s and wate rs !Do om ed the faith that wo rships Mazda !

Now m en do no t wo rship m e with wo rship that speaks my nam e .If m en shou ld wo rship m e with wo rship that speaks my

nam e,

Fo r m yse lf I’d then b e gaining

St rength o f ho rse s ten in num be r,

S t reng th o f cam e ls t en in num ber ,S trength of o xen ten in num ber

,

St reng th o f m ountains t en in num ber,St reng th o f navigab le r ive rs t en in num be r .

Hearing hi s lament , the fa ithfu l offer a sacrifice to T ishtrya,and the br ight and gloriou s one descends yet again to the seaVou rukasha in the gu i se o f a white , beautifu l horse , with goldenears and capar i soned in gold . Once more the demon Ap ao sharu shes down to meet him in the form of a dark horse

,bald with

bald ears . They meet together,they fight together at the time

o f noo n . Then T ishtrya proves stronger than Ap ao sha and



m ev al times before the appearance ofman on earth , in order todestroy the evi l creatu res produced by Angra Mainyu a s acounterpart of Mazda’s creation . T ishtrya

’s co—Operators

were Vohu Manah,the Am e sha Sp entas, and Haoma , and he

produced ra in during ten days and ten nights in each one of thethree forms which he as sumed — an a llu s ion to the do g-daysthat were supposed to be thi rty in number . “ Every s ingledrop of that ra in became a s b ig a s a bowl , and the water stoodthe height of a man over the whole o f thi s earth ; and thenoxiou s creatures on the earth being all ki l led by the rain

,went

into the holes of the ea rth . Afterward the wind blew,and

the water was a l l swept away and was brought out to the b o rders o f the earth , and the sea Vou rukasha (

“Wide-Gulfed ”)arose from it . “

The noxiou s creatu res remained dead withinthe earth

,and thei r venom and stench were mingled with the

earth,and in order to carry that poi son away from the earth

T ishtar went down into the ocean in the form of a white horsewith long hoofs

,

” conquering Apao sha and caus ing the riversto flow out .

20

In hi s function of collector and distributor of waters fromthe sea Vourukasha, Tishtrya i s a ided by a strange mythicalbeing

,called the three- legged ass .

“ It stands amid the wideformed ocean

,and its feet are three

,eyes s ix

,mouths n ine

,

ears two,and horn one

,body white

,food sp iritual

,and it i s

righteous . And two of its six eyes are in the pos ition o f eyes,

two on the top of the head, and two in the pos ition of thehump ; with the sha rpnes s of those six eyes it overcomes anddestroys . Of the nine mouths three are in the head

,three in

the hump,and three in the inner pa rt o f the flanks ; and each

mouth i s about the s ize of a cottage , and it i s itself a s la rge a sMount Alvand [eleven thousand feet above the sea]. Whenthat as s shal l hold its neck in the ocean its ears wil l terrify

,and

al l the water o fthe wide formed ocean will shake with agitation .

When it stale s in the ocean all the sea-water wil l becomepurified .

” Otherwise,

“ all the water in the sea would have

WARS OF GODS AND DEMONS 27 1

peri shed from the contamination which the poi son of the evi lsp irit ha s brought into its water . ” 21 Darm e stete r thinks thi sass i s another incarnation o f the storm-cloud

,whereas West

maintains that it i s some foreign god tolerated by the Mazdeanpriests and fitted into thei r system .

Zoroastrianism,being inclined to abstraction and to personi

fying abstractions , has created a genius of victory, embodyingthe conquest of evi l creatu res and foes o f every descriptionwhich the myths attribute to Thraétaona

,T isht rya , and other

heroes . The name of thi s deity is Ve rethraghna (“Victory

over Adverse Attack an express ion reminding u s of theepithet Vrtrahan (

“S layer Of Vrt ra ”

) of the mighty Vedicconqueror-god Indra . The ortra

,the “ attack

,

” i s i n the lattercase made into the name of the as sai ling dragon Ahi

,the

I ranian Azb i .Ve rethraghna penetrated into popular worship and evenbecame the great Hercu les of the Armenians

,who were for

centu ries under the influence o f I ranian cu lture and whocalled the hero Vahagn ,

a corruption of Ve re thraghna .

23 He

was supposed to have been born in the ocean,probably a

remini scence of the sea Vourukasha,and he mastered not

only the dragon Azhi, whom we know,but also Vishap a , whose

name in the Avesta i s an epithet o f Azhi,meaning “whose

saliva i s poi sonous,

”and he fettered them o n Mount Dama

vand .

24 In a hymn of the Avesta 25 the variou s incarnationsof Ve rethraghna a re enumerated . Here he describes himselfa s “ the mightiest in might

,the most victoriou s in victory , the

most gloriou s in glory,the most favouring in favour

,the most

advantageou s in advantage,the most healing in healing .

” 26

He destroys the malice of al l the maliciou s,of demons as well

a s of men,of sorcerers and Spirits o f seduction , and o f other

evi l beings . He comes in the shape o f a s trong , beautifu l wind ,bearing the G lory made by Mazda that is both health and

strength ; 27 and next he conquers in the form o f a handsomebull

,with yellow ears and golden horns .28

272 IRAN IAN MYTHOLOGY

Thi rdly, he i s a white , beautifu l horse l ike Tishtrya , andthen a burden-bearing camel

,sharp-toothed and long-hai red .

The fifth time he i s a wi ld boar,and next

,once more like T i sh

trya,he manifests h imself in the gui se of a handsome youth

o f fifteen,shining

,clear-eyed

,and s lender-heeled .

The seventh t ime he appears

In the Shape o f the Vareghna ,G rasp ing p rey with what is lowerRending prey with what is upper,Who of b ird-kind is the swiftest

,

Light est , to o , of them that fare fo rth .

He a lone of a l l things l ivingTo the arrow’

s fl ight atta ineth,Though we l l Sho t it sp e edeth onward .

Fo rth he fl ie s with ruffl ing feathe rsWhen the dawn beg ins to g l imm e r

,

Se eking ev en ing m ea ls at n ightfa l l ,Se eking m o rn ing m ea ls at sun rise

,

Skimm ing o’e r the va l leyed r idges,

Skimm ing o’e r the lofty hi l l-to ps,

Skimm ing o’e r dee p v a le s of r ive rs

,

Skimm ing o’e r the fo rest s

’summ it s

,

Hearing what the b irds m ay ut t er .

” 30

Then Ve re thraghna comes a s a beaut i fu l wild ram,with

horns bent round,

”and again as

“ a fighting buck with sha rphorns . That these a re symbols o f vi ri l ity i s shown by thenext avatar

,the tenth

,in which he appears

In a shin ing hero’s bo dy ,

Fair of fo rm,Mazda-c reat ed

,

With a dagge r go ld-dam ascened,B eaut ified with a l l ado rnm ent .

Verethraghna g ives the sou rces Of m anho od, the st rength o f the

arm s,the hea lth of the who le body , the stu rdine ss of the who le body ,

and the eye sight of the [ear-fish,which l ives beneath the wate rs and

can m easu re a ripp le no thicke r than a hair , in the Rangha who seends lie afar

,who se depth is a thousand t im e s the he ight o f a m an .

He g ives the eye sight o f the sta l l ion,which in the dark and

c loudy n ight can pe rce ive a ho rse’s hai r lying on the ground and


PLAT E XXX IV

I RAN IAN D E IT IE S ON INDo -SCYTH IAN AND SA S SAN IAN CO I N S

I T ISHT RYA

T he god bears b ow and arrows, and his repre sentation as female isprobably due to im itat io n o f the G re ek Artem is . From a co in o f the

Indo-Scythian k ing Hu v iska . Afte r Ste in, Zoroastr ian Deities on Indo

Scythian Coins,No . X. See pp . 267

—70 .

2 . KH SHAT HRA VAIRYA

T he de ity Desirable Kingdom ,

”who is also the god o f m etals, is

appropriate ly represe nted in fu l l m e tal a rm o u r. From a co in o f the IndoScythian king Huv iska. Afte r Ste in, Zor oa str ian D eities on Indo—Scythian

Coins,NO . X I. See p . 260 .

3. ARDOKH SHO

T his goddess is e v ident ly m ode l led o n the G re ek T yche (“Fo r

tune and has been he ld to b e the div inity Ashi . T he nam e,as g iv en on

the co in,seem s to m ean

“Augm e nting Righteo usne ss,”and in v iew o f the

refe re nc e to Haurv atat and Am e retat as“ the co m panio ns w ho augm ent

righteo usne ss (ashaohhshayantao sa r edyaya‘

o,Yam a

, xxx iii . 8 the Edito rsugge sts that Ardo khsho m ay b e o ne o f the se Am esha Spentas, p robablyAm e re tat

,the de ity o f vegetat io n . From a c o in o f the Indo -Scythian king

Huv iska . Afte r Ste in,Zor oastr ian D eities on Indo-Scythian Coins

, NO .

XVI . Se e pp . 260,28 1 .

4 . ASHA VAH ISHTAIn e v e ry respec t exc ept the nam e this de ity is repre sented prec i se ly

like Mithra. From a co in o f the Indo-Scythian king Huv iska . Afte rSte in

,Zoroastr ian D eities on Indo-Scythian Coins

, No . XV II . Se e p . 260 .

5. AHURA MA Z DAT he c o nve ntio nal represe ntatio n o fAhura Mazda floats abo v e what

appears to b e a fire tem ple,rather than an a l tar

,from which rise the

sacred flam e s . From a Parthian co in . Afte r Dro uin,in Rev ue archéolo

g igue, 1884 , Plate V ,No . 2 .

6 . FIRE ALTART he a ltar he re appears in its sim ple st fo rm . From a Sassanian co in

in the co l lect io n o f the Edito r .

7 . FIRE ALTART he altar is he re m uch m o re e labo rate in fo rm . From a Sassanian

co in in the co l lec tion o f the Edito r.

8 . FRAVASH IO f inte re st as show ing the appe arance o f a Fravashi (“ G enius in

the flam e,and as represe nt ing the king as o ne o f the guardians o f the fire ,

altho ugh strict ly o n ly the prie sts are pe rm itted to e nter Atar’s presenc e .

From a Sassanian c o in . Afte r Do rn,Collection de monna ies sassanides de

7 . de Bar tholomaei, Plate V I , No . I . Se e pp . 26 1, 342 .



demons,and the same struggle at the end o f the world by the

futu re p rophet Saoshyant .All thi s wi l l be considered in subsequent chapters

,and al l

thi s,according to certain mythologi sts l i ke James Darm esteter

,

i s the perpetual repetition (with some modifications) of thestruggle in the storm-cloud between the light and the darknes s .That conclus ion i s Obviou sly exaggerated , a lthough it i s veryl ikely

,and very n atu ra l al so

,that features borrowed from the

famous myth have penetrated into those other battles whicha re

,each of them

,incidents of the great duali sti c war between

the two creations . It i s thi s confl ict that we are now going tofol low from the time o f creation to the renovation of the worldat the end of thi s period o f strife .

CHAPTER II

MYTHS OF CREAT ION

HE I ranian legend of creation i s as follows . 1 AhuraMazda lives eternally in the region of infinite l ight

,but

Angra Mainyu ,on the contra ry

,ha s hi s abode in the abys s

of endles s darknes s,between them being empty space

,the a i r.

After Ahura Mazda had produced his creatu res,which were

to remain “ three thousand years in a sp i ritua l state,so that

they were unth inking and unmoving,with intangible bodies

,

”

the Evil Spi rit,having arisen from the abys s

,came into the

light of Ahura Mazda . Becau se of his maliciou s natu re,he

rushed in to destroy it,but seeing the Good Spirit was more

powerfu l than himself,he fled back to the gloomy darknes s

,

where he formed many demons and fiends to help him .

Then Ahura Mazda saw the creatu res of the Evil Spi rit,

terrib le,corrupt

,and bad as they were

,and having the knowl

edge o f what the end of the ma tter would be , he went to meetAngra Mainyu and proposed peace to him :

“Evil sp irit ! bringass i stance unto my creatu res

,and ofl e r praise ! so that

,in

reward fo r it , thou and thy creatu res may become immortaland undecaying .

” But AngraMainyu howled thus :“ I wil l no t

depart,I wil l not provide as s i stance for thy c reatu res

,I wil l

not offer prai se among thy creatu res , and I am not of the sameOpinion with thee a s to good things . I will destroy thy creatu res for ever and everlasting ; moreover , I wil l force al l thycreatu res into disaffection to thee and affection for myself .Ahura Mazda

,however

,s aid to the Evi l Sp i rit

,

“Appoint a

period ! so that the intermingling of the confl ict may be fornine thousand years ” ; for he knew that by setting that time


the Evi l Spi rit wou ld be undone . The latter,unobservant and

ignorant,was content with the agreement

,and the nine thou

sand years were divided so that during three thousand yearsthe wil l of Mazda was to be done

,then for three thousand

years there i s an intermingling o f the wills of Mazda and

Ang ra Mainyu , and in the la st third the Evi l Sp i ri t wil l bed isabled .

Afterward Ahura Mazda recited the powerfu l prayer Yathaaha oairya

2and

,by so doing

,exhibited to the Evil Spirit hi s

own triumph in the end and the impotence of his advers ary .

Perceiving thi s,Angra Mainyu became confounded and fell

back into the gloomy darknes s,where he stayed in confus ion

fo r three thou sand years . During thi s period the creatu res o fMazda remained unharmed

,but existed only in a Sp i ritual or

potentia l state ; and not unti l thi s trip le millennium had cometo an end did the actua l c reation begin .

AS the first step in the cosmogonic proces s Ahura Mazdaproduced Vohu Manah Good Mind whereupon AngraMainyu immediately created Aka Manah (

“Evil andin like manner when Ahura Mazda formed the other Am esha

Sp entas, hi s adversa ry shaped thei r counterparts . After al lthi s was completed

,the creation of the world took place in

due order sky , water, ea rth , p lants , animals , mankind .

In shaping the sky and the heavenly bodies Ahura Mazdaproduced first the celestia l sphere and the constellations

,e s

p ecially the zodiacal s igns . The stars a re a warl ike army de stined fo r battle against the evi l sp irits . There a re six mill ionfour hundred and eighty thousand small stars

,and to the many

which are unnumbered places a re as s igned in the four quarterso f the sky . Over the stars four leaders p res ide

,T ishtrya (S i riu s)

being the Chieftain o f the east,Hap tOk R ing (Ursa Major) of

the north,Satav és of the west

,and Vanand of the south . Then

he created the moon and afterward the sun .

In the meanwhile,however

,the impure female demon Jah i

had undertaken to rou se Angra Mainyu from hi s long s leep



Vourukasha Wide-Gu lfed which occup ies one third of

thi s earth in the d i rection of the southern limit of MountAlb firzand i s so wide that it contains the water of a thou sand lakes .Every lake i s of a particu la r kind ; some are great, and someare small

,while others are so vast that a man with a horse

cou ld no t compass them around in les s than forty days .All waters continually flow from the sou rce Ardvi Sfira

Anahita (“ the Wet, Strong, and Spotles s There a re ahundred thou sand golden channels

,and the water

,warm and

c lear,goes through them toward Mount Hagar

,the lofty . On

the summit of that mountain i s Lake Urvis,into which the

water flows,and becoming qu ite purified

,retu rns through a

different golden channel . At the height o f a thou sand men anOpen golden branch from that affluent i s connected with MountAfisindOm and the sea Vou rukasha

,whence one part flows forth

to the ocean for the purification of the sea,while another p o r

tion drizzles in moistu re upon the whole of thi s earth . All thecreatures of Mazda acqui re hea lth from it

,and it dispels the

drynes s o f the atmosphere .

There are,moreover

,three la rge sa lt sea s and twenty-three

small . Of the three,the Pfi it ika (Pers ian Gulf) i s the greatest,

and the control o f i t i s connected with moon and wind ; i tcomes and goes in increase and decrease because of her rev o lving . From the presence o f the moon two winds continuallyblow ; one i s cal led the down-draught, and one the up -draught,and they produce flow and ebb .

The spring Ardvi Sfi ra Anahita,which we have ju st men

t ioned, and from which al l rivers flow down to the earth

,i s

worshipped as a goddes s . She i s celebrated in the fifth Yashto f the Avesta a s the li fe-increas ing

,the herd—increas ing

,the

fold- increas ing,who makes p rosperity for al l countries . She

runs powerfully down to the sea Vou rukasha , and al l its Shoresa re boil ing over when she plunges foaming down

,she

,Ardvi

Sii ra , who has a thou sand gulfs and a thousand outlets .No t only does Anahita bring ferti lity to the fields by her

MYTHS OF CREAT ION 279

waters,but she makes the seed of al l males pure and sound

,

purifies the wombs of al l females,causes them to bring forth in

safety,and puts milk in thei r breasts . 7 She gave strength to all

heroes of primeval times so that they were able to overcometheir foes

,whether the demofi s, the serpentAzhi, o r the golden

heeled Gandarewa .

She i s personified under the appearance of a handsome andstately woman .

8

“Y ea in t ruth her arm s are love ly,White of hue , m o re st rong than ho rses ;Fair-ado rned is she and charm ing ;

With a love ly m aiden’s body ,

Very strong , of good ly figure ,G irded high and Standing upright ,No bly bo rn ,

of br i l l iant l ineage ;Ank le-high she weareth fo o t-gearGo lden-latcheted and shin ing .

Sheis c lad in co stly raim ent,

Richly pleated and a l l go lden ,

Fo r ado rnm ent she hath ear-ringsWith four co rn e rs and a l l go lden .

On he r love ly throat a n ecklaceShe do th wear

,the m aid fu l l no b le

,

Ardvi Sfi ra Anahita .

Round he r waist she draws a g irdleThat fair—fo rm ed m ay b e he r bo som ,

That we l l-pleasing b e he r bo som .

On he r brow a c rown she p laceth,Ardvi Sfi ra Anahita

,

Eight it s part s, it s j ewe ls a hundred,Fair-fo rm ed

,l ike a chario t-bo dy ,

Go lden,ribbon—decked

,and love ly ,

Swe l l ing fo rth with cu rve harm on ious .She is c lad in b eave r garm ents

,

Ardvi Sfi ra Anahita ,Of the beave r t ribe three hundred .

This preci se des cr iption points to the exi stence o f rep resemtat ions of the goddes s

,a thing unusual in Pers i a in ancient

V I — Io


t imes . But Anahita , as Herodotu s tel ls u s , was at that periodidentified with the Semitic Ishtar, a d ivinity of ferti l ity and

fecundity, and a powerfu l deity invoked in battle and in war,both these functions being attributed to Anahita in the hymnquoted above . I shtar seems to have absorbed in Babyloniamany o f the attributes o f Ea’s consort Nin E l la

,the Great

Lady of the Waters ,” the “

Pure Lady ” o f birth,whose name

i s the exact equivalent of Ardvi S ii ra Anahita ; and it wa s NinE l la

,more probably than I shtar

,who was the prototype o f the

I ranian goddes s .The Evil Spi rit, however, also came to the water and sent

Ap ao sha , the demon o f drought, to fight a ga inst T ishtrya

(S i riu s) , who bestows water upon the earth during the summer ; the resu lt of thei r encounter being the confl ict that hasbeen narrated above .

The third of the p roces ses of creation was the shap ing of theworld . After the rain o f T isht rya had flooded the earth and

purified it from the venom of the noxiou s creatu res,and when

the waters had reti red,the thirty-three kinds o f land were

formed . These are d istributed into seven portions : one i s inthe middle

,and the others are the six regions (hashoars) o f the

ea rth .

To counteract the work of Ahura Mazda,Angra Mainyu

came and pierced the earth , entering straight into its midmostpart ; and when the earth shook , the mount ains arose . First

,

Mount Alb l—

I I‘

Z (Hara B e rezait i) was created , and then theother ranges o f mounta ins came into being ; for a s Alb firzgrew forth all the mounta ins remained in motion

,for they

have al l grown forth from the root of Alb ii rz. At that timethey came up from the earth

,l i ke a tree which has grown up to

the clouds and its root to the bottom .

”The mountains stand

in a row about Alb i'

i rz, which is the knot o f lands and is thehighest peak of all

,l ifting its head even to the sky . On one o f

i ts summits,named Taéra

,the sun

,the moon

,and the stars

ri se,and from another of its heights

,Hukairya , the water of



Thee I p ray fo r m ight and conquest ,The e fo r hea lth and the e fo r hea l ing ,The e fo r p rog re ss and fo r increase

,

Thee fo r st rength of a l l m y body ,Thee fo r wisdom a l l-ado rned .

Thee I p ray that I m ay conquer ,Conque r a ll the hat e rs’hat red,B e they m en o r b e they dem ons,

B e they so rce re rs o r witche s,

Ru le rs, bards, o r pr iest s of evi l ,T reacherous things that wa lk on two feet

,

Heret ics that wa lk o n two feet,

Wo lve s that go about on four feet ,Or invading ho rde s dece itfu lWith the ir front s spread wide fo r batt le .” 11

Above a ll,however

,Haoma i s expected to drive death

to give long l ife,

12 and to grant chi ldren to women andbands to gi rls .

Unto wom en that wou ld b ring fo rthHaom a g iveth b ri l l iant chi ldren ,

Haom a g iveth righteous o ffsp ring .

Unto m aiden s long unweddedHaom a , quickly a s they ask him

,

Fu l l of in sight , fu l l ofwisdom ,

G rant eth husbands and p ro t ecto rs .

The terrestria l haoma i s s a id to grow on the summits of themountains

,especially on Alb i

'

i rz (Ha ra B e reza it i) , to whichdivine b i rds brought it down from heaven . It is col lected in abox

,which i s placed in an i ron va se

,and after the p riest has

taken five or seven pieces of the plant from the box and washedthem in the cup

,the stalk of haoma i s pounded in a mortar

and fi ltered through the oara,the j u ice being then mixed with

other sacred fluids and ritua l prayers being recited .

The Haoma sacr ifice i s supposed to date back to primevaltimes

,its fi rst priests being V iv anghv ant , Athwya , Thrita , and

Pourushasp a, the heroes o f ancient ages . The offering of i t i s


an Indo-I ranian rite , and the same legend s a re found in theVeda

,where am rta soma (

“ immortal soma ” haoma]) hasbeen brought from heaven to a high mounta in by an eagle

.

Swift as thought, the bird flew to the i ron castle of the sky andbrought the sweet stalks back .

14 It i s actually an Indo—Europeanmyth closely as sociated with the fire-myths , for the fire of thesky (the lightning) i s s a id to have been brought to earth eitherby a bi rd or by a daring human being (Prometheus) , whileexactly the same story i s told of the earth ly fire-dr ink

,the

honey-mead,the draught o f immortality Curi

ously enough , the Babylonian ep ic a lso knows of a marvellou splant that grows on the mountains , the plant

“ of bi rth ” b elonging to Shamash , the sun-god . When the wife of the heroEtana i s in d i stres s becau se she i s unable to bring into the worlda child which she has conceived

,Etana prays Shamash to

show him the plant of bi rth ” :“ O Lord

,let thy mouth com

mand,and give me the plant of bi rth . Reveal to me the p lant

of bi rth,bring forth the fru it

,grant me offsp ring ” ; and an eagle

then helps Etana to obta in the p lant . 15 The Etana-myth isalso related to the story of Rustam

’s birth

,as will be narrated

in a subsequent chapter .When Angra Mainyu ,

the destroyer,came to the p lants

,he

found them with neither thorn nor bark about them ; but hecoated them with bark and thorns and mixed thei r sap withpoi son

,so that when men eat certa in p lants

,they die .

16 Therewas also a beautifu l tree with a s ingle root . Its height wasseveral feet

,and it was without branches and without bark

,

j u icy and sweet ; but when the Evi l Spi rit approached it, itbecame quite withered .

17

In I ranian mythology the creation of fire constitutes,to al l

intents,a subdivi s ion of the creation of the vegetable world

,

the close connexion between fi re and plants in Indo- I ranianconceptions being due to the fact that it was the cu stom of

those peoples to obtain flame b y taking a stick of hard wood,boring it into a p lank or board of softer wood (that of a lime


tree,for instance) , and tu rning it round and round ti l l fire was

p roduced by the friction .

18 For this rea son the Veda declaresthat Fi re (Agni) i s born in wood , i s the embryo of plants , and i sd i str ibuted in p lants . But fi re has l ikewise a heavenly origin

,

for it i s the son o f the sky-god (Dyaus) and was born in the

highest heavens,whence it was brought to earth

,as already

narrated,though it i s also described as having it 's origin in the

aerial waters . Owing to h i s divine bi rths,Agni in India i s

often regarded as posses s ing a trip le character and is trisadhastha (

“ having three stations o r his abodes beingheaven

,ea rth

,and the waters . The fire o f the hearth has been

held in very great veneration among all Indo—Europeans . I t

was adored as Hestia in Greece and as Vesta in Rome,whi le in

India the domestic Agni i s ca lled Grhap at i Lord of theIt i s also the guest (atithi) in human abodes , for it i s

an immortal who has taken up h is home among morta ls ; i t i sVis

’

p at i (“Lord of the their leader

,their p rotector .

It i s the friend,the brother

,the nea rest kinsman of man ; 19 it

i s the great averter of evi l beings,j u st a s it keep s off wild ani

mals in the forest at night .The second aspect under which fi re i s subservient to humanity is the part tha t it p lays as the mes senger who brings to thegods the offerings of men . It is the sacrific ia l fire

,and as such

it i s ca lled Naraéamsa“Praise ofMen ”) i n India .

20

As is wel l known , fi re enjoys qu ite a specia l veneration inI ran

,and under its fi rst gui se

,a s a rep resentative of

,

divinees sence on earth

,it dwell s in the home o f each of the faithfu l .

Particu lar reverence i s given to the sacred flame which is mainta ined with wood and perfumes in the so -called fi re

.

temples,

two kinds o fwhich are di stingui shed : the great temple for theBahram fi re and the small shrine

,or adaran . The Bahram

fi re,whose preparation lasts an entire yea r

,is constituted out

of s ixteen d i fferent kinds of fire and concentrates in itself thees sence and the soul of a ll fire s .

21 It is maintained by means ofsix logs Of sandal-wood and is placed in the sacred room,


PLATE XXXV

AN C IENT F I RE T EM P LE NEAR I S FAHAN

T he structure,o riginal ly do m ed

,is bui lt o f unburnt

b ricks . Its he ight is about fourteen fee t, and its

diam e te r abo ut fifteen ; o ctagona l in plan,its e ight

doo rs face the e ight po ints o f the com pass ; the inne rsanc tuary is Circu lar . It appare nt ly date s at least fromthe Sassanian period, and its shape m ay b e comparedwith what seem s to b e a fire temple as pictured on

Parthian co ins (se e Plate XXXIV ,No . Fo r the

h isto ry o f the Shrine,so far as known

,see Jackso n

,

Persia Past and Present,pp . 256

— 6 1 . Afte r a photograph by Pro fesso r A. V . W i l liam s Jackson .

TILDEN i‘oUNDArmNg



The fi re was a ll light and bril l i ancy,but AngraMainyu came

up to it,as to al l beings of the good creation

,and marred it

with darknes s and smoke .

24

The fifth creation was the animal realm . Just a s there wasa tree Gao ke rena which had within itself al l s eeds o f plantsand trees , so I ranian mythology knows o f a p rimeval ox inwhich were contained the germs of the animal species and evenof a certain number of u sefu l plants .This ox

,the sole-created animate being

,was a splend id

,

strong animal which,though sometimes said to be a female

,

25 i su sually described as a bu ll . When the Evi l Spi rit came to theox

,Ahura Mazda ground up a healing fru it

,called bina/e

,so

that the noxiou s effects of Angra Mainyu might be minimized ;but when

,despite thi s

,

“ it became at the same time lean andi l l

,a s its breath went forth and it pas sed away, the ox a lso

spoke thus : ‘The cattle are to be created , thei r work , labou r,

and care are to be appointed .

’ When Géu sh Urvan the Sou lo f the Ox ”) came forth from the body, it stood up and criedthus to Ahura Mazda

,as loudly as a thousand men when they

rai se a cry at one time : “With whom is the guardianship of thec reatu res left by thee

,now that ru in has broken into the earth

,

and vegetation is withered, and water i s troubled ? Where i sthe man of whom it was said by thee thu s : ‘I wil l p roduce him

,

so that he may preach carefu lnes s ? ’ Ahura Mazda answered“You are made i l l

,O GOShfI rv an ! you have the i l lnes s which

the evi l Spirit brought on ; i f it were proper to produce that manin thi s earth at thi s time

,the evi l Spi rit wou ld not have been

oppres s ive in it . ” Géu sh Urvan was not sati sfied,however

,

but walked to the vau lt of the stars and cried in the same way,

and his voice came to the moon and to the sun ti l l the Fravashi 26

o f Zoroaster was exhibited to it,and Ahura Mazda promised

to send the p rophet who would preach ca‘refu lnes s for theanimals , whereupon the sou l of the ox was contented and agreedto nourish the creatu res and to protect the animal world .

From every l imb of the ox fifty-fiv e species of gra in and


twelve kinds of medicinal p lants grew forth,thei r splendou r

and strength coming from the seminal energy of the ox. De

l ivered to the moon , that seed was thoroughly pu rified by thelight of the moon and ful ly prepared in every way

, and thentwo oxen arose , one male and one female

,after which two

hundred and eighty—two pai rs of every single spec ies o f animalappeared upon the earth . The quadrupeds were to live on theearth

,the bi rds had their dwelling in the ai r

,and the fish were

in the midst of the water .Another myth asc ribes the kil l ing of the primeval ox to thegod Mithra .

The legend concerning the bi rth and the first exploits of

Mithra runs thus .27 He was born o f a rock o n the banks of ariver under the shade of a sacred fig—tree , coming forth armedwith a knife and carrying a torch that had il lumined the sombredepths . When he had clothed himself with the leaves of thefig

-tree,detaching the fru it and stripping the tree of its leaves

by means of hi s knife,he undertook to subj ugate the beings

a lready created in the world . First he measu red his strengthwith the sun

,with whom he concluded a treaty o f friendship

an act qu ite in agreement with his natu re as a god of contractsand s ince then the two all ies have supported each other in

every event .Then he attacked the primeval ox. The redoubtable animalwas grazing in a pastu re on a mountain

,but Mithra boldly

seized it by the horns and succeeded in mounting it . The ox,

infuriated,broke into a gallop

,seeking to free itself from its

rider,who relaxed his hold and suffered h imself to be dragged

along til l the animal,exhausted by its efforts , was forced to

su rrender . The god then dragged i t into a cave , but the oxsucceeded in escaping and roamed again over the mountainpastu res

,whereupon the sun sent hi s mes senger, the raven ,

to help hi s ally slay the beast . Mithra resumed hi s pursu it ofthe ox and succeeded in overtaking it j u st at the moment whenit was seeking refuge in the cavern which it had quitted . He


seized it by the nost r i l s with one hand,

and with the other heplunged his hunting-knife deep into its flank . Then the prodigyrelated above took place . From the limbs and the blood of

the ox sp rang a ll u sefu l herbs and all species of anima ls,and

“ the Soul of the Ox ” (Géu sh Urvan) went to heaven to be theguardian of animals .The myths relating to the primeval ox contain traces of

severa l older IndO-Eu ropean myths . Fi rst,the conception of

the production of variou s beings ou t of the body o f a primeval gigantic creatu re i s a cosmogonic story

,fai rly common

in the mythology of many nations and rep roduced in theEddic myth of the giant Ymir

,who wa s born from the icy

chaos and from whose arm sprang both a man and a woman .

He was then s lain by Odhin and hi s companions,and of the

flesh of Ymir was formed the earth , of his blood the sea and

the waters,of hi s bones the mountains

,o f his teeth the rocks

and stones,and o f hi s hai r a ll manner o f plants . 28

Many featu res recall to u s,on the other hand , the contests

on high between a light-god and some monster who detains thera in which i s the source of life. fo r terrestria l beings and whichi s Often personified under the shape of a cow . The kine areconcealed in caves or on mountains , o r the monster i s hiddenin a mountain cavern and escapes

,as is the case with Ve re th

xraghna and Azb i in the Armenian myt h . In the bi rth ofMithra traces o f solar myths may also be detected . The raveni s the mes senger of the sun becau se

,l ike the b ird Vareghna,

“Fo rth he fl ie s with ruffi ing feathe rsWhen the dawn beg ins to g l imm e r .

Here,then

,we are dealing with a secondary myth .

As regards the variou s species o f animals p roduced from theox

,the Mazdean books speak first of mythica l beings , su ch a s

the three-legged ass that has been desc ribed above , the l izardcreated by Angra Mainyu to destroy the tree Gaoke rena , andthe [ear-fishe s that defend it . They know, moreover, o f an ox


PLAT E XXXV I

I

M I TH RA BORN FROM THE RO CK

T he de ity, bearing a dagge r in o ne hand and a

lighted to rch in the o the r, rise s from the ro ck . From

a b as-re lief fo und in the Mithraeum which o nc e o ccu

pied the site o f the church o f San C lemente at Ro m e .

Afte r Cum ont, The [Myster ies of Mithra , Fig . 30.

2

M ITHRA BORN FROM THE RO CK

T he divinity, lifting a c luste r o f grapes in his righthand

,eme rges from the ro ck

,on which he re sts his

le ft hand. O n the ro ck are scu lptured a qu iv e r, arrow ,

b ow,and dagger . O n e ithe r s ide o fMithra stand the

two to rch-beare rs, Caut and CautOpat (who se nam es,

in the Opinion o f the Edito r,m ean

“ the Burner”and

He W ho Lets His Bu rned [T o rch] do ubtless sym bo l izing the rising and the se tting sun

,as

Mithra is the sun at no o nday. From a white m arblefo rm erly in the V i l la G iustiniani , Rom e

,b ut now lo st .

After Cumo nt, The [Myster ies of Mithra , Fig. 31 .

THE NEW YORK

PUBLIC LIBRARY

AS'I'OR, LENOXTILDEN



thou shou ldst stroke thy body,with that feather thou shouldst

conj ure thy foe . E ither the bones o f the stu rdy bird o r the

feathers o f the sturdy bi rd carry boons .

Ne ither can a m an of b ri l l ianceS lay o r rout him in confusion .

It first do th bring him reve rence,it first do th bring him g lo ry .

He l p to him the feather g ivethOf the b ird o f b irds, Varengan .

” 35

The s ame thing i s recorded of Saéna (the S imurgh) in theShahnamah. When Z al leaves the nest of the Simurgh

,who

has brought h im up,his foster-father gives him o ne o f hi s

feathers so that he may a lways remain under the shadow o f

his power .B ear this p lum e o f m ine

About with thee and so ab ide beneathThe shadow o f m y G race . Hencefo rth if m en

Sha l l hurt o r , right o r wrong , exc laim again st the e ,Then burn the feathe r and beho ld m y m ight .

” 36

When the s ide of Rfidab ah,Rustam

’s mother

,i s opened to

a llow the chi ld to be brought into the world,Z al hea ls the wound

by rubbing it with a feather o f the S imurgh,and when Rustam

is wounded to death by I sfandyar,he i s cu red in the same way .

37

The bi rd Karship tar ha s a more intellectual part to p lay, forhe sp read Mazda’s rel igion in the enclosu re in which the primev al king Yima had as sembled mankind

,

38 as will be narratedbelow . There men recited the Avesta in the language ofb irds .39

The bi rd AshO—zushta also has the Avesta on hi s tongue,and

when he recites the words the demons are frightened .

40 Whenthe nai l s of a Zoroastrian a re cut

,the faithfu l must say :

“ O

AShO-zushta bi rd ! these nai ls I p resent to thee and consecrateto thee . May they be for thee so many spears and knives , somany bows and eagle-winged arrows

,so many sl ing- stones

against theMazainyan demons .” 41 If one recites thi s formula ,

the fiend s tremble and do not take up the nails , but if the

PLAT E XXXVI I

T HE S IM URGH

T he Sim urgh, flying from its m ountain hom e,re

sto res the infant Z al to his fathe r S i m ,who had

c aused the chi ld to b e abando ned because it had be enbo rn wi th white hair . In his hand the prince carriesthe ox-headed m ace as a symbo l o f roya lty. T he

painting Shows marked Pe rso-Mo ngo lian influence .

From a Pers ian manuscript o f the Shahna'

nzah,da'ted

158 7— 88 A. D .

,now in the Me tro po litan Museum o f

Art, New Y o rk . Se e also pp . 330

—

31 .


MYTH S OF CREAT ION 291

parings have had no spell uttered over them,the demons and

wizards u se them as arrows against the bi rd AshO-zu shta and

ki l l him . Therefore , when the nail s have had a cha rm spokenover them

,the bi rd takes them and eat s them

,that the fiends

may do no harm by thei r means . 42 AshO-zushta i s p robablythe theological name of the ow l.43

The part played by bi rd s a s transmitters of revelation leadsin later l iteratu re to the identification o f the S imurgh withSupreme Wisdom .

44 As we have said more than once,the con

cep t ion of myt hical b irds dates back to Indo—I ranian evenIndo-European times

,and often those birds are incarnations

o f the thunderbolt, the sun, the fi re

,the C loud

,etc . In the

Rgveda the proces s i s seen in operat ion . The soma i s oftencompared w ith o r ca lled a bird ; the fire (agn i) i s described asa bird o r as an eagle in the sky ; and the sun is at times a b ird ,whence it i s ca lled garutmant The most prominent bird in the Veda

,however

,i s the eagle

,which carrie s the

soma to Indra and which appears to represent lightning .

45 So

in Eddic myt hology the god Odhin,t ransforming h imself into

an eagle,fl ies with the mead to the realm of the gods . Bes ides

these mythica l b i rds there are one hundred and ten species ofw inged kind

,such as the eagle

,the v ultu re

,the crow

,and the

crane,to say noth ing of the bat, which ha s milk in it s teat

and suckle s its young,and i s created of three races

,bird

,dog ,

and musk-rat,for it fl ies l i ke a bi rd , has many teeth l ike a dog,

and dwell s in holes l i ke a musk-rat .

Other bea sts and birds were formed in Oppos ition to noxiou screatu res : the white falcon ki ll s the serp ent with its wings ; themagp ie destroys the locu st ; the vu ltu re , dwel ling in decay, i sc reated t o devour dead matt er , as do the crow — the mostpreciou s of bi rds and the mounta in kit e .

46 So it i s a lso withthe quadrupeds

,fo r the mountain ox, the mountain goat , the

deer,the wi ld ass

,and other beasts devou r snakes . Dogs a re

created in oppos it ion to wolves and to secu re the protection o f

sheep ; the fox is the fo e o f the demon Khava ; the ichneumon


destroys the venomous snake and other noxiou s creatu res inbu rrows ; and the great musk-animal was formed to counteract ravenous intestinal worms . The hedgehog eats the antwhich carries off gra in ; when the grain-carrying ant travelsover the ea rth

,it produces a hollow path ; but when the

hedgehog pas ses over it,the track becomes level . The beaver

i s in Oppos ition to the demon which i s in the water .The cock

,in co—operation with the dog

,averts demons and

wizards at night and help s Srao sha in that task, and theshepherd’s dog and the watch-dog of the house are a lso indi sp ensable creatures and destroyers Of fiends . The dog l ikewi seannihi lates covetou snes s and disobedience

,and when it barks

it destroys pain,while its flesh and fat are remedies fo r avert

ing decay and angui sh from man . Ahura Mazda creatednothing u seles s whatever ; al l these animal s have been formedfor the well-being of mankind and in order that the fiends maycon tinual ly be destroyed .

47



ea se,and the plagues o f the wicked Bfishyasta (the demon of

s loth) , ofAstO-V idhOtu ,and o f other destroying beings . Gaya

died,and hi s body became molten bra s s

,

6 while other mineralsa rose from hi s members : gold

,s i lver

,i ron

,tin

,l ead

,quick

s i lver,and adamant . Gold wasGaya’s se ed

,whichwas entru sted

to the earth and carefully p reserved by Spenta Arm ait i,the

guardian of ea rth . After fort y years it brought forth the fi rsthuman pai r

,Mashya and Mashi ,

under the appearance of ari vas-plant (Rheum r ibes) with one stem and fifteen leaves

,

because the human couple were intimately united and wereborn at the age o f fifteen years . 7

The parallel i sm between thi s myth accounting for the p roduction o f human beings and the ox-story expla ining how animals were created i s very striking and i s intentional

,and in the

Avesta the p r imeval man and the primeval ox a re invokedtogether . 8 The same parallel i sm

,cu riou s ly enough

,exi sts in

the cosmogony of the Scandinavians,in which it i s reported

that the cowAudhub la was p roduced at the same time as thegiant Ymir . 9 The primeval giant i s an Indo-Eu ropean con

cep t ion . We find it also in India in a form more s imila r tothe Iranian vers ion

,for in p rimordial times Purusa

was alone in the world,but differenti ated himself into two

beings,husband and wife .

Bes ides thi s myth,the Indians knew Of another explanation

for the origin of the human race . The fi rst man i s Manu,son

o fViv asv ant , o r Yama , son ofViv a sv ant . Yama and hi s s i sterYami were twins

,and after the latter had overcome the

scruples of the former,they produced mankind

,

10 a s imila rstory being told of Mashya and Mashi in I ran

,as wil l be

set forth later on . Moreover,Yama and Yami exist in Pers ia

under the names of Yima and Y imaka (Pahlavi Yim and

Y im ak) , though they have been changed into a king and aqueen of legendary but no longer p rimeval times . In I ranYima is the son o fV iv anghv ant , the same being as the Ind i anViv asv ant , and both are mythica l priests who offered the

THE PRIMEVAL HEROES 295

Soma sacrifice . They are heavenly beings in connexion withthe ASv ins (the evening and the morning star) and have beentaken by several scholars for the bright morning sky or theri s ing sun . Although thi s is uncerta in

,the latter myt h seems

to a scribe to man a heavenly origin, so that Darm esteter

wonders whether the youth o f fifteen who i s the first man i snot identica l with the hero who in the contest on high s laysthe demon Azhi o r other storm—dragons . The question i s

,of

cou rse,hardly answerable in ou r present state of . know ledge ,

but it seems at least p robable that a certa in contaminationbetween the storm-myth and the story o f the first man hastaken p lace . We may observe that the first man is s aid to bewhite and bri l liant

,that he s lays a demon before being over

come by the powers of darknes s , and that he i s born fromsweat

,etc .

A Manichean narrative of the creation and l ife of the primev al man 11 i s still more l ike a storm—myth : “The first man wascreated by the Lord of Pa radise to fight again st darkness . He

had five divine weapons : warm breeze,strong wind

,l ight

,

water,and fire . He dres sed h imself with the warm breeze

,

put light above it,and then water

,wrapped h imself in the

frightfu lnes s of winds , took fire a s a spear,and ru shed forward

to the battle . The demon was ass i sted by smoke,flame

,burn

ing fire,darknes s

,and clouds . He went to meet the fi rst man

,

and after fighting for twenty years he proved V ictoriou s,

stripped his adversary of hi s light,and wrapped h im in h i s

e lements .As to Mashya and Mashi ,

who grew up under the formo f a tree

,they give an i l lu stration of another myth of man’s

origin,the equ ivalents o f which are found in many nationa l

trad itions . In Greece the Ko ryb ante s were born a s trees , andother legends speak of the b irth of Atti s from an a lmond-treeand of Adonis from a myrtle , whi le Vergi l mentions a s imilarstory o f Itali c origin .

12

Coming back to the Iranian myth , we must narrate theV I — Z O


deeds ofMashya and Mashi . In their rioas-plant they wereunited in such a manner that thei r arms rested behind on thei rshou lders

,while the wai sts o f both o f them were brought C lose

and so connected that it was imposs ib le to di stingu is h whatbelonged to one and what to the other

,a lthough after a time

they changed from the shape of a p lant into that of humanbeings and received a sou l . Meanwhi le the tree had grown upand brought forth fru it that were the ten varieties o f man .

Now Ahura Mazda spoke to Mashya and Mashi thu s“You a re man

,you are the ancestry of the world

,and you

a re created perfect in devotion by me ; perform devotedly theduty o f the law

,think good thoughts , speak good words , do

good deeds,and worship no demons ! ” Then they thought that

s ince they were human beings,both of them

,they must p lease

one another and they went together into the world .

13 The

first words that they exchanged were that Mazda had createdwater and earth

,plants and animals

,stars

,moon

,and sun

,and

all the good things which manifest His bounty and His j u stice .Then

,however

,letting the Spi rit of Deceit penetrate into

their intellects,they said that it was Angra Mainyu who had

formed water,earth

,etc . and thi s l i e gave much enjoyment

to the D ruj (“Deceit

,Lie because they had become wicked

,

and they are hi s p rey unti l the renovation of the world .

Fo r thirty days they had gone without food, covered withclothing of herbage . After thi rty days they went forth intothe wildernes s

,and coming to a white-haired goat

,they milked

the mi lk from the udder with thei r mouths . Then Mashyasa id

,

“ I was happy before I had drunk that milk,but my pleas

u re i s much greater now that I have enj oyed its savour . Thi s,

however,was an impiou s word

,

14 and as a punishment theywere dep rived of the taste of the food ,

“so that out of a hun

dred parts one part remained .

”

Thirty days later they came to a Sheep,fat and white-j awed ,

which they s laughtered . Extracting fire from the wood of alote-p lum (a kind of j uj ube) and a box-tree , they stimulated



influenced by theologica l conceptions and probably also bythe traditions o f Semiti c people

,perhaps even by the Jews

,

s ince we have only a late redaction o f the myth .

Of thes e s even pai rs one was S iyakm ak and Nashak,who

had as children another pai r,Fravak and Frav akain . From

them fifteen pairs were born who produced the seven races o fmen

,and s ince then there has been a constant continuance of

the generations in the world . Nine races,owing to the in

c rea se of population , p roceeded on the back of the ox Sarsaokthrough the sea Vourukasha and settled in the regions o n theother s ide o f the water

,whi le six races remained in Khv aniras

,

among them being the pai r Tazh and Tazhak who went to thep la in of Arabia

,whence the Pers ians call the Arabs Tazis .

The I ranians are the descendants of Hao shyangha (PahlaviHOshang) and o fGfizhak .

Bes ides the fifteen races i s sued from the l ineage o fFravak,son

of Siyakm ak,there a re ten varieties o f mythica l men

,grown

o n the tree from which Mashya and Mashi were detached,

these being “ such as those o f the earth,o f the water

,the

brea st-eared,the breast-eyed

,the one-legged

,those al so who

have wings l i ke a bat,those of the forest

,with tai l s

,and who

have hai r o n the body .

”

In the Pers ian ep ic Gaya Maretan has become the first kingo f the I ranians , and S iyam ak i s hi s son

,but some o ld featu res

are p reserved in the very much adulterated legend . ThusGayOm art ( ! Gaya Mare tan) i s sa id to have dwelt at fi rst on amounta in whence h i s throne and fortune arose

,a detai l which

may date back to the period when,according to Darm este te r

’s

supposition,the fi rst man was sa id to have been born in the

mountains of the clouds . His subj ects wore leopards’ s kins,

j u st a s Mashya and Mashi were fi rst C lad in the fell s of animals . GayOm art reigned thi rty years over the world

,while

Gaya Maretan was supposed to have l ived on earth the samelength o f time ; and j u st a s Gaya Mare tan was “ white andb r i l l i ant

,GayOm art was

“ on hi s throne l ike a sun o r a fu ll


moon over a lof ty cypres s another featu re which supportsDarm e ste te r

’s hypo thes i s .

The account o f the struggle between Angra Mainyu and thefirst man i s reduced in F irdau si’s narrative to a war betweenS iyam ak

,son o f GayOm art

,and the wicked king Ahriman

( ! Angra Mainyu ) , in which the superb youth was ki l led .

“When Ga ium art heard this the wo r ld turned b lackTo him

,he left his throne

,he wai led a loud

And to re his face and body with his nai ls ;His Che eks were sm irched with b lo od

,his heart was bro ken

,

And l ife grew som bre .

” 17

The victory o f darknes s ha s thu s become the overcoming ofGayOm art — b y a moral gloom . S iyam ak

,however

,had left a

son HOshang who in the Older legend i s h i s grandson and

he attacked the devi l i sh fo e,cut off hi s monstrous head

,and

trampled him in scorn .

In the traditions of the I rani ans the story of Gaya Maretan

i s immediately followed by that o f HOShang , who i s the o ld

I rani an hero Hao shyangha , mentioned severa l times in theAvesta and referred to in the Bandahish a s the son of Fravak

,

son of Siyakm ak . The name of thi s mythical ru ler seems tomean “King o f Good Settlements

,

” 18 and he often receivesthe epithet paradhata (Pahlavi pashdat) , o r first law-giver . ”

He is the Numa of the I ranians , the first organizer o f the I ranian nation

,and i s

,moreover

,supposed to have introduced

the u se o f fi re and metals .The old tradition concerning him s imply says that he was aman who was brave (ta/ehma) and l ived according to j ustice

(asha b an) . Thanks to the s acrifice which he Offered on the topo f Hara B e reza it i, the great i ron mountain celebrated in a llI ranian myths

,he obtained d ivine protection ; he invoked

Ardvi Sara Anahi ta,the goddess who, a s already stated , lets

her b eneficent waters flow down from thi s height ; and he alsoaddres sed a prayer to Vayu

,the god of wind .

“He s acrificed

a hundred stal lions,a thou sand oxen , and ten thousand

300 IRANIAN MY THOLOGY

lambs 19 while s eated o n a golden throne,o n a golden cu shion

,

o n a golden carpet, with baresman2°

o utsp read,with hands

overflowing,

” 21 and he obta ined the favou r that the awfu lkingly G lory

,the Khoarenanh

,clave to him

Fo r a t im e o f long durat ion ,

So that he ru led over the earth sevenfo ld,

Over m en and ove r dem ons,

Over so rce re rs and witches,

Ru le rs,bards

,and p riest s of evi l

,

Who s lew tw o-thirdsOf the dem on ho rdes MazainyanAnd the ly ing fiends o f Varena .

” 22

Making them bow in fear,they fled down to darknes s

and o n account of his exploits h i s Fravashiinvoked to with stand the evi l done by the daév as.

The Pers i an writings have nothing but p rai se to tel l ofHOshang

,who was a j u st and up right sovereign

,c ivi l izing the

world and fi l l ing the su rface of the earth with j u sti ce,so that

du ring hi s reign men reposed “ in the gardens o f content andqu iet

,in the bowers of undi stu rbed secu rity ; Prosperity drew

the bloom of happines s from the vicin ity of h i s imperi alpavi lion ; and Victory borrowed bri l l iancy o f complexion fromthe violet su rface o f hi s wel l-tempered sword .

” 25

Whereas early tradition said that he had offered a sacrificeon the top o f an i ron mountain , F irdausi tel ls u s that he wonthe i ron from the rock by craft and was the fi rst to dea l withmineral s

,besides inventing blacksmithing and making axes

,

saws,and mattocks . H is c ivi l izing activity extended even fu r

ther,for he taught the human race how to dig canal s to i rrigate

a dry country,so that men tu rned to sowing

,reap ing

,and

planting . Moreover he tra ined greyhounds for the chase andshowed how to make garments from the skins o f s ables o r foxes

,

in stead of taking leaves for that pu rpose . Li ke a l l heroes,he

was a smiter o f daév as — tradition had a lready attributed tohim the slaying of two-thi rds of the demons and

,a s u sual

,

that kind of exploit took place on a mountain .


39 2 IRANIAN MYTHOLOGY

Viv anghv ant and a brother o f Yima , and is almost a doubleto fHao shyangha . He al so hasmade a sacrifice toVayu Windand has been empowered to conquer a ll daév as and men

,a l l

sorcerers and witches,etc .

,a lthough he has not been able to

secu re a permanent mastery over them,as h i s p redeces sor did .

After having reigned thi rty yea rs and subdued Angra Mainyu

so as to ride him,tu rned into a horse

,a ll a round the earth from

one end to the other,he was betrayed by hi s wife

,who revealed

to the Evi l Sp i rit the secret of her husband’s power. The demon,

we are told,cou ld attempt nothing against him so long as he

betrayed no alarm,and accordingly Angra Ma inyu in stigated

the wife of hi s conqueror to ask Takhm a Urupi if he never wasafra id to mount h i s swift b lack horse . Thereupon Tahm fi rathconfes sed that he had no fear either o n the summits or in thevalleys

,but that on Hara B e rezait i he was deep ly alarmed when

the horse ru shed with lowered head,so that he u sed to rai se hi s

heavy noose,shou ting a loud and g iving the beast a b low on

the head to make it p as s hasti ly the dangerou s spot . Havingbeen promised incomparable p resents by Angra

,the woman re

vealed thi s secret to h im,and when the horse was on the fatal

mountain the following day,he o pened h i s huge mouth and

swallowed his rider .Fortunately Yima managed to recover hi s brother’s corp se

from the body of Angra Ma inyu ,thereby rescu ing the a rts and

civil ization which had disappeared a long with Takhm a Urup i .28

During that operation he had hi s hands defiled,but he was able

to cleanse them by an infu sion of the a ll-purifying gom ez

(“ bu ll’s This story also is scarcely unlike a stormmyth

,and Darm e ste te r

3° compares it with the Scandinavianlegend in which Odhin i s swallowed by the wolf Fenrir , thedemoniacal cloud-wolf “whose eyes and nostri l s vomi t fire

,

whose immense mouth reaches the sky with one j aw and theearth with the other . It shou ld be noted that the scene of al lthose contests i s Mount Hara B e rezait i .Another story connected with Takhm a Urupi i s reported in

PLATE XXXVI I I

TAHMURATH COM BAT S THE DEM ONS

T he he ro , m o unted on his charge r and swinginghis mace (a characte ristic Pe rsian weapon) , struggleswith fo ur dem ons

,who se fo rm s are a comb ination

o f human and animal shapes . A to uch o f Chine seinfluence is disce rnible in the two human figures .From a Pe rsian manusc ript o f the Sha

’

hna’

mah,dated

1605— 08 A. D .

,now in the Metropo l itan Museum

o f Art, New Y o rk .



the B 'anclahish.

31 “ In the reign of TakhmOrup , when men con

tinually pas sed , on the back o fthe ox Sarsaok [a curious parallelwith the king’s horse], from Khv aniras to the other regions

,

one night amid the sea the wind rushed upon the fi rep lacethe fi rep lace in which the fire was

,such as was provided in

three p laces on the back of the ox which the wind droppedwith the fi re into the sea ; and a l l those three fires

,l ike three

breathing sou ls , continually shot up in the p lace and pos itiono f the fire o n the back o f the ox, so that it becomes qu ite l ight,and the men pas s aga in through the sea .

”The meaning o f thi s

myt h i s not a ltogether clear, a lthough Darm e stete r thinksthat the ox i s another incarnation o f the cloud .

32

In later narratives Takhm a Urup i i s rep resented as having areign s imilar to that o f his predeces sor . He a lso teaches menhow to clothe themselves

,but instead o f skins he gives them

garments made by spinning the wool o f sheep . As a rider ofthe devi li sh horse he was predestined to be the tamer o f swiftquadrupeds and to make them feed on barley

,gra ss

,and hay ;

moreover he taught the j ackal to obey him and began to tamethe hawk and the falcon .

F irdausi tell s u s fu rther that when Tahmfi rath had conqueredthe daév as

,binding most o f them by charms and quell ing

the others with h i s mass ive mace,the captives

,fettered and

stricken,begged for thei r l ives .

Dest roy us no t ,’they said

,

‘and we wi l l teach thee

Anew and u sefu l art .

’He gave them quart e r

To learn the ir secret . When they we re re leasedThey had to serve him ,

lit his m ind with knowledgeAnd taught him how to write som e thirty sc ript s .

” 33

This i s evidently a later addition to the legend whichmakes Takhm a Urupi fetter the daév as, and the exploits o fTahm fi rath have been fu rther amplified by the hi stor ians ofthe Arab period

,particu la rly a s they have identified him with

the B iblical Nimrod .

CHAPTER IV

LEGENDS OF Y IMA

N I ranian tradition the short reigns o fGayOm art,HOShang ,

and Tahm fi rath were fol lowed , F irdausi says , by a period of

seven hundred years du ring which Jamshid ruled the I ranianworld . Jamshid i s the Pers ian form of Y ima Khshaéta (

“Yimathe Bril li ant the name of a very ancient hero o f the IndoI ranians

,and his epithet o f “ bri l l iant

,

” which i s also appliedto the sun

,corresponds not only to th e early but a lso to

the later conception of thi s monarch . F irdau si says that he“ wore in kingly wise the crown of gold and that on hi s j ewe lledthrone he

sat sun l ike in m id air .

The wo rld assem b led round his thron e in wonderAt his re splendent fo rtun e .

” 1

In the Avesta Yima is the so n of Viv anghv ant , who fi rst offe red the haoma to Ahura Mazda . Continu ing

,the poet de

scribes him as“B ri l l iant

,and with he rds fu l l go od ly ,

Of a l l m en m o st r ich in G lo ry ,

Ofm ankind l ike to the sun l ight ,So that in his kingdom m ade heB easts and m en to b e undy ing ,P lant s and wate rs neve r dry ing ,Food invinc ib le be stowing .

In the re ign of va l iant Y im aNe ithe r co ld no r heat was pre sent

,

Ne ithe r ag e no r death was p resent ,Ne ithe r envy , dem on—founded .

Fifte en years of ag e in figureSon and fathe r wa lked togethe rAll the days Viv anghv ant

’s offspr ing ,

Y im a,ru led

,with he rds fu l l go odly .

” 2



I was ne ither m ade no r tuto red

To rece iv e the faith and sp read it

whereupon Ahura Mazda repl ie s

If thou,Y im a , art no t ready

To rece ive the faith and spread it,

then further m y creatures, then increase my creature s,

then Show thyse lf ready to b e bo th the p ro t ecto r and the

guardian and the watcher of m y creatures .

” 9

Accord ingly Yima introduces men into their earthly abodelike a king o f settlers opening new countries to h i s peop le eachtime they fal l short of ground to cu ltivate . He receives fromAhura Mazda a golden arrow and a scou rge inlaid with gold

,

and he undertakes to secu re to h i s subj ects a delightfu l abodewith neither cold no r wind , fu l l of flocks and herds , men , dogs ,and bi rds . Three fires protected that beautifu l land

,the FrOb ak

o n the mountain in Khv arizm ,the fire Gfi shasp on Mount

Asnav and , and the fire B fi rzhin Mit rO on Mount Rév and,

10

but under such favourable cond itions flocks and men increasedso much that after three hundred years had passed away

,

there was no longer room for them . Then Ahura Mazdawarned Yima :

Y im,Viv anghv ant

’s beauteous o ffsp ring ,

Earth in so o th is ove rflowingB o th with sm a l l b east s and with g reat beast s ,Men

,and dogs, and fly ing creatures

,

11

And with ruddy fire s red blazing .

No r inde ed can they find p laces ,sm a l l beasts and g reat beasts and m en .

’

Then at no on Y im a went fo rward to the l ight , in thedirect ion o f the path of the sun

,

And earth’s surface he abradedWith the arrow

,m ade a l l go lden ,

With the scourge he st ro ked it over,thus speaking

‘O thou ho ly , dear Arm a it i

,

12

Go thou fo rward,st retch thyse lf out

to bear sm a l l beast s and g reat beast s and m en .

’

LEGENDS OF YIMA 39 7

Then Y im a m ade this ea rth st retch itse lf apart a thirdlarge r than it wa s befo re . The re sm a l l beasts and g reatbeasts and m en rovedJust as was the ir w i l l and p leasu re

,

Howso eve r was his p leasu re .

” 13

But a time came when the earth was even thus too small,

so that Yima had once more to perform the same rite ; and hedid thi s yet again , making the ea rth increase in s ize by oneth i rd on each occas ion , so that after nine hundred years thesu rface of the world became double what it had been at first .

“Then Ahura Mazda , the Creator, convened an as sembly

with the sp iritua l Yazatas14 in the famous Airyana Vaéj ah, at

the goodly Dai tya .

15 Then Yima the B r i l l i ant,with goodly

flocks,convened an as sembly with the best men in the famous

Airyana Vaéjah, at the goodly Dai tya . Then Ahura Mazdaspake to Yima : ‘O beauteous Yima

,son o f Viv anghv ant ! On

the evi l material world the winters a re abou t to fall,wherefore

there Shal l be strong,destructive winter ; on the evi l materia l

world the winters a re about to fall,wherefore stra ightway the

clouds shal l snow down snow from the loftiest mountains in tothe depths of Ardvi [ Sura Anahita]. 16 Only o ne-third ofthe cattle

,Yima

,will escape of those who live in the most

terrible of places,

17 of those who live on the tops of mountains,

o f those who l ive in the val leys of the rivers in permanentabodes . 18

T i l l the com ing o f that wint e rSha l l the land b e c lad in ve rdu re ,But the wate rs so on Sha l l flo od itWhen the snow hath onc e been m e lted,

and,Yima

,it wi ll be impas sable in the material world where

now the footp r ints of the sheep are vis ib le . Therefore make anenclosu re (oara) long a s a r iding—ground (caretu) on every sideof the square ; gather together the seed o f small cattle and ofgreat catt le

,of men and dogs and bi rds and red

,b lazing fires .

Then make the enclosu re long as a r iding—ground on every

39 8 IRANIAN MYTHOLOGY

s ide Of the square to be an abode for men , long a s a ridingground o n every s ide o f the square as a sta ll for cattle .

In the ir cou rse m ake thou the wat ersThe re flow fo rth

,in width a hathra ;

And the re sha lt thou place the m eadowswhe re unceasing ly the go lden-co lo ured, whe re unceasing ly theinvincible fo od is eaten .

And the re sha lt thou p lace the m ansion swith ce llars and ve st ibu le s, with bast ions and ram parts .

Gather together the seed o f all men and women that a rethe greatest and the best and the finest o n thi s earth ; gathertogether the seed of al l kinds o f cattle that are the greatest andthe best and the finest on thi s earth ; gather together the seedo f al l p lants that are the tallest and the sweetest o n thi s earth ;gather together the seed o f al l fru its that are the most edibleand the sweetest on thi s earth . B r ing these by pai rs to beinexhaustible so long as these m en shal l stay in the enclosu re .There will be no admittance there for humpback o r chickenbrea st

,for apa

f

oaya ,19 lunacy

,bi rth-mark

,da iwish

,

19 hasoish,

19

mis-shap enne ss , men with deformed teeth or with leprosythat compels seclus ion

,nor any of the other marks which are

the mark of Angra Mainyu la id upon men . In the la rgestpart of the p lace thou shalt make nine streets

,in the middle

six,and in the smallest three . In the streets of the la rgest

part gather a thousand seeds of men and women,in those

o f the middle part six hundred,in those o f the smallest

part three hundred . With thy golden arrow thou sha lt markthine enclosu re

,

And b ring thou to the enc lo surea shin ing do o r, on its inne r side shining b y its own l ight .

’” 20

At this Yima was much at a los s and wondered how he couldever make such an enclosu re . Ahura Mazda

,however

,told

him to stamp the earth with his heel s and to knead it with hi shands , as people do when now they knead potter

’s clay ; and


3 I o IRANIAN MYTHOLOGY

the poet prays to Ahura Mazda in order to avoid such S ins a sthat of Yima

,who gave men meat to eat in small p ieces

,as i t

was offered to the gods in sacrifice .

23 A late book,on the other

hand,relates that Yima unwittingly gave meat to a daév a

,

24

although the most cu rrent form of the legend i s that Yima

In his m ind began t o dwe l l onWo rds o f fa lseho od and o f unt ruth .

” 25

Firdau si explains that Y ima’s l i e was in reality apresumption .

One day cont em p lat ing the throne o f powerHe deem ed that he wa s pee r le ss . He knew God

,

But act ed froward ly and tu rn ed asideIn his ingrat itude . He summ oned a l lThe chiefs

,and what a wea lth o fwo rds he used !

‘The wo rld is m ine , I found it s p ro pe rt ies,The roya l thron e hath seen no king l ike m e

,

Fo r I have decked the wo r ld with exce l lenceAnd fashion ed earth acco rding to m y wi l l .From m e de rive your p rovand, ease , and s leep

,

Your raim ent and you r p leasure . Min e are greatnessAnd diadem and sove re ignty . Who saithThat the re is any g reat king save m yse lf?Leechcraft hath cu red the wo r ld, disease and deathAre stayed . Though king s a re m any who b ut ISaved m en from death ? Y e ow e m e sense and l ifeThey who ado re m e no t are Ahrim an s .

So now that ye pe rce ive what I have doneAll hai l m e a s the Make r o f the 26

Another story o f Yima’s s in i s connected with the fact thathe had a s i ster Y im ak who

,as i s the ca se with a ll p rimeval

pairs,was also h i s wife . Variou s mora l cons iderations regard

ing the incestuou s union of thi s twin pai r have been made forYama and Yami in India a s wel l a s for Yima and Y imaka inI ran . In India a Vedic hymn 27 records a conversation betweenthe twins in which Yama refu ses to do what the sages at thattime condemned as a grave s in

,whereas in the Pahlavi books

the union of Yim and Y im ak i s given as an example of the

PLATE XXX IX

1

DAHHAK (AZ H I DAHAKA)

T he tyrant is seated o n his thro ne,surro unded by

his c o urtiers . From his shoulde rs Spring the serpents .

From a Pe rsian manuscript o f the Shahnamah,dated

1602 A. D .,now in the Me tro po l itan Museum o f Art,

New Y o rk .

2

J AM SH ID ON H I S T H RONE

T he king adm in iste rs justic e and is attended no t

me re ly by hum an se rv ito rs, b ut also bydi v s dem ons”)in m o nstro us guise

,murghs and par i s

T he figures show a m ixture o f Indianand Chinese influence

,and it has been conjectured

that the m iniature s in this m anuscript are the wo rko f a Mo ngo lian o r T urkista' n artist we l l acquaintedwith Pe rsia

,b ut l iv ing in no rthern India . From a

Persian manusc ript o f the Shahnamab,dated 1602 A.D .

,

now in the Metro po l itan Museum o fArt, New Y o rk .


LEGENDS OF YIMA 311

Khoata/e-das , or incestuous marriage , which was recommendedby the Mazdeans at o ne period in thei r h istory . In the Bana’ahish 28 Yima is sa id to have given his s i ster to a demonafter he had been blinded by fol ly at the end o f hi s reign

,

and to have himself marr ied a demoness,these unions resu lt

ing in monstrous and degenerat e beings,such as tai led apes .

Whatever Yima’s sin may have been,the king soon received

his punishment,for the G lory (Khoarenanh) , an emanation o f

d ivine radiancy that gave prestige to the I ranian monarchs,

deserted him immediately and left him trembling,confounded

,

and defenceles s before hi s foes . The fi rst time that the G lorydeparted from Yima

,it was in tHi e shape of a Vareghna bird ,

and Mithra,the lord o f broad pastu res

,whose ear i s quick to

hear,and who has a thousand senses

,seized it . The second

time that the G lory departed from Yima the Bril liant,i t was

seized by Thraétaona,the victoriou s hero who after a thousand

years was to take from the devili sh D ahhak (Azhi Dahaka)the realm which Yima lost . The third time i t was the manlyminded Ke re sasp a who seized the G lory, and who also was tobe a valiant and victor ious ru ler of the Iranians .29

Yima,deprived of the G lory that made hi s power

,was over

come by a being of decidedly mythical natu re,the famous

serpentAzhi Dahaka , whom we have seen to be an inca rnat ionof the storm-cloud . In later texts thi s monster i s called by aSemitic name , Dahhak (

“ the Man with a Sarcasticbut thi s i s merely a popular etymology

,a pun on his real ap

pellation . He is now an Arab king,l iving in Babylon

,and in

the Avesta itself we read thatAzhi Dahaka , the triple-mouthed ,offered s acrifice to Ardvi Sfi ra in the land of Bawr i (Babylon) ,wishing to become the ruler of the world and to make the sevenregions of earth empty of men . Although hi s p rayer was notgranted to such an extent , he overcame Yima and made capt iv e s of hi s two si sters , Sanghav ak and Arenav ak .

30 If in theAvesta Azhi Dahaka sti ll has three mouths l ike the dragon ,in the Shahnam ah he i s completely a man , though he has two

V I

3 I 2 IRANIAN MYTHOLOGY

snakes sp ringing from his shou lders,where they grew through

a kis s ofAngra Mainyu ,a legend which recu rs in Armenia .

In the presence of thi s monstrous fiend Yima

fled,surrendering crown

,thro ne and t reasure

,

Ho st , powe r and diadem . The wo r ld turned blackTo him

,he disappeared and y ie lded a l l .” 31

Fo r a hundred years he hid himself, but then appeared o ne

day in the Far East, on the shores o f the Chinese sea, whereh i s foe

,informed of the fact

,gave him no resp ite

,and sawing

him asunder,freed the world from him . In the older texts it

i s Sp ityu ra , a brother of Yima,who sawed Yima in twain .

32

Sometimes i t i s exp la ined that he was in a hollow tree,where

he had concealed himself ; but by the command o f Dahhakthe stem of the tree was severed by the saw

,and with it the man

ins ide .

33

The story of Y ima i s the most interesting and the only extens ive myth of the I ranians , and it i s certa in that the legenddates back to Aryan

,o r at least to Indo-I ranian

,times .

As the Avesta knows of Yima , son of Viv anghv ant , so theVeda speaks of Yama

,son of V iv asv ant . As Yima i s the chief

of a remote kingdom,a marvellou s realm where there i s neither

cold nor suffering,so Yama i s the ruler of the fathers

,the de

parted souls,with whom he revels in a huge tree . Just as

Yima’s oara i s concealed ei ther o n a mountain o r in some re

ces s where sun and moon are not seen , Yama’s dwell ing i s in

the remote part of the sky . While Yima calls a gathering ofmen to as semble them in his oara

,Yama collects the people and

gives the dead a resting-place . Yima has Opened the earth formankind ; Yama i s

“ lord o fthe settlers ” (oifpati) and“ father . ”

Yima has found new countries , following a road toward thesun ; Yama has a path for the dead to lead them to their abode,being the fi rst to die and having d i s covered “ a way for many .

”

A bird brings messages into Yima’s oara ; Yama has the owlo r the pigeon as hi s envoy .



In Iran the sola r natu re of Yima i s rather more accentuatedthan in Ind ia

,and the o ld epithets of Yima are striking in thi s

respect . He i s commonly cal led hhshaata anadj ective which i s at the same time the regu lar epithet of thesun (hoare hhshaata , Pers i an khurshid) ; and moreover he i shhoarenanguhastema (

“ the most gloriou s,the most su rrounded

with l ight ”) and hoare—daresa (“who looks l ike the sun

,the sun

l ike These ep ithets,which a re very natu ra l a s a su r

v iv al i f Yima had once been the sun ,would be incom p rehensi

ble if he was originally the fi rst man and nothing more . He

i s also hoathwa (“with goodly an adj ective that very

pos s ib ly al ludes to the stars fol lowing the setting sun in hi sretreat

,e specia lly a s stars are sa id in Vedi c l iteratu re to be the

l ights of virtuous men who go to the heavenly world,

37so that

they wou ld thu s form the natu ral flock of Yima . Yima’sgolden arrow reminds u s strikingly of a s imilar mis s i le in thehands of hi s father V iv asv ant in the Veda

,by means of which

he sends men to the realm of the dead .

38 Other luminous gods,

l i ke Apollo,show the same featu res

,and it seems not im p rob

able that these arrows are the rays o f the sun .

The bri l liancy of Yima was so deep ly rooted in traditionthat Firdau si i s sti l l more definite about it . As we have a l

ready seen,Jamshid s its l i ke the sun in mid a i r

,hi s fortune and

his throne a re resplendent,and the royal G lory shines brightly

from him . That thi s dates back to ancient sources i s p rovedby the fact that Firdau si has a very cu riou s sentence aboutY ima which i s not at al l in keep ing with the nature of Jamshidas a world ly king ; he puts in the monarch

’s mouth the words,

“ I wil l make for soul s a path toward the light .” This is takenfrom the passage al ready quoted from the Vendia’ad in whichYima goes toward the path of the sun to Open earth for men

,

and it shows that thi s typical action of Yima may origina llyhave been meant for the dead : Yima u sed to lead the departed toward the sun

,on the way of the sun that i s the path

of Yima .

LEGENDS OF YIMA 315

The end of Yima is a lso very characteri sti c . When hi sbri ll iancy qu its h im, the world tu rns black to h im and hevanishes . When he appears again

,i t i s in the di stant east

,

where the sun ri ses .A solar year-myth seems l ikewise to have been involved in

the story,for Yima i s the founder o f the feast of Nau rfiz, the

New Year’s Day that with the Pers ians occurs in March at thebeginning o f the rad i ant spr ing . Yima’s vernal kingdom i sdestroyed by the demon o f cold and frost (Mahrkfi sha) , yetthe sun and life do not disappear forever from the world

,but

are kept in reserve for the next spring,l i ke the beings in Yima’s

oara . As we have seen,the legend of Yima as told in the

Vendidad express ly s ays that in the oara one year i s one day .

The d i s appearance of the sun in winter i s thus as s imilated toits dai ly departure to the remote reces s in the world o f darknes s

,and the story o f Yima’s centu ry of concealment unti l

he reappears in the East i s very much in the same sp i rit .The connexion of Yima with a tree reminds u s of Yama’sabode in a high tree

,and in the Atharoaoea’a an arboreal dwell

ing—place i s the home of the god s in the third heaven .

39

No doubt other stor ies have come to be mixed up with thesolar myths of the departed sou ls . Thu s the legend of Yima’sdefeat by a storm-cloud monster

,Azhi Dahaka , i s p robably

borrowed from the very prolific storm-myth o f which we haveheard so many times . The abduction of Yima’s two fair sisters and thei r release by the storm—

god Thraétaona i s a mereva riation o f the release of the imp r i soned cows by thi s god ,40

a lthough the s i sters are at the same time , poss ibly, a rem inis

cence of Yama’s two br i l l iant steeds .The description of the monster’s victory over Yima in Fir

dausi has many features of a storm-myth :

The king of dragon-visage cam e l ike wind

And having se ized the throne o f Shah Jam shidS l ipped on the wo r ld a s

’t we re a fing e r-ring .

” 41


The palace of the d ragon , which i s ca lled hoir inta, is com paredto a bi rd with large wings . 42

Finally,the story of Yima and Yama i s C losely related to

that of the twins Yama-Yami o r Yima-Y im ak,who after

much hes itation agree to have intercourse with one anotherand become the parents o fmankind . In I ran the tradition i s adoublet of the legend of Mashya and Mashi ,

in whichs imilar hes itations occu r . It seems clear enough that such astory has been invented to account for the p ropagation ofhuman beings from one s ingle pai rS ince the word “Yama ” means twin

,it i s fairly probable

that this story belongs originally to Yama,although it i s a l so

poss ib le,as severa l schola rs admit

,that Yami has been in

vented later and that Yama was pr imari ly the twin of another being

,perhaps Agni (fi re of earth and fi re o n high) ,

o r that he was the sou l of the departed considered as the alterego of the l iving man .

43 It might seem preferable,however

,

to ab ide by the most natu ra l explanation and admit that Yamai s the male twin ofYami . Now the twin pai r had to come fromsome pre-exi stent being

,a s was the case with Mashya and

Mashi ,who sprang from GayaMare tan

’s seed . In the legend

ofYima , some traces are left of a story that made the fi rst pai ra ri se from the violent divi s ion o f one being . Yima i s s awna sunder — a cu riou s featu re which i s much in the spi rit of

mythical stor ies among people of fairly elementary cu ltu re .

Among the Indo-Europeans we know o f the Indian fi rst manPurusa , who differentiated himself into two beings , hu sbandand wife . On the other hand

,the S lavonic people tell the story

that the moon,the wife of the sun

,separated herself from him

and fell in love with the morning star,whereupon she was

cut in two by the sword of Pe rki'i nas . Comparing thi s mythwith the I ranian legend that the seed of the primeva l ox waspreserved in the moon

,one wonders if there a re no traces o f

that Indo—European trad it ion in the story of Yima . At al levents it i s c lear that Yima’s legend combines several concep


3 I 8 IRANIAN MYTHOLOGY

This trad ition of Yima’s activity i s probably fairly ancient .He was indeed the material organizer o f mankind

,and the

castes were a l ready in exi stence in the days o f Zoroaster,fo r

the Gathas know o f a ca ste of priests,of nobles o r warriors

,and

o f farmers . The location of p riests o n the mountains cu r iou s lyrecall s the fact that the heroes of ancient times are representedin the Avesta a s ofl e ring thei r sacrifices on the mountain-tops ,and Herodotu s reports the s ame thing concerning the Pers iansin his day : “ It i s thei r wont to perform sacrifices to Zeu s

,going

up to the most lofty of the mountains ; and the whole c i rcleof the heavens they cal l Zeus . ” 45

Regarding the farmers Fi rdau si s ays,in the pas sage from

which we have ju st quoted,that

,

Though c lo thed in rags,The wearers are no t slave s

,and sounds of chiding

Reach no t the ir ears . They a re free m en and labourUpon the so i l safe from dispute and conte st .

What said the no b le m an and e lo quent ?’T is idlene ss that m ake th freem en Slave s .

This high appreciation of the agricu ltu ral ca ste i s a l so verymuch in the spi ri t o f Zoroastriani sm .

As regards hi s med i ca l s ki l l,Jamshid i s said to have known

“Next le echcraft and the hea l ing of the sick,

The m eans o f hea lth,the cou rse of m a ladie s.

” 46

Moreover he made u se o f hi s marvel lou s power to searchamong the rocks for prec iou s stones

,he knew the arts of naviga

tion,and hi s wi sdom brought to l ight the properties o f al l

th ings . It i s doubtfu l,however

,whether h i s functions a s a

hea ler were primitive,for the med ica l a rt i s more properly

a scribed to Faridfi n (Thraétaona) o r to Irman (Airyam an) .

Y ima’s works a s a constructor were better known,and

many an o ld ru in today i s sti l l a scribed to h im by the Pers ians .This fame is

,Firdau si continues

,a resu lt of hi s subj ugation

of the demons,whom he instructed how to

LEGENDS OF YIMA 319

Tem pe r earth with wate rAnd taught them how to fashion m ou lds fo r b ricks .They laid fo undations first with stones and l im e

,

Then raised the reon b y ru le s o f art such st ructure s

AS ho t baths, lofty ha l ls, and sanctuarie s .

”

Even more i s a scribed to Jamshid by the writers ofMuham

madan times . As a wise king of great bri ll iancy he w as assim ilated to Solomon , while a s a pr imeval monarch and probably a s the bu i lder of the enclosu re against the destructivewinter he was confused with Noah . E ither on account of thi so r because hi s wisdom brought to light the properties of thingshe was supposed to have di scovered wine . l\/Iirkho nd tellsan anecdote about thi s . 47 Having tried the taste of the j uiceof grapes

,the king observed a sensation o f bitternes s and con

ce iv ed avers ion for it, thinking that it was a deadly poi son .

A damsel o f the palace,seized with violent pain in her head

,

longed for death and accord ingly resolved to drink o f theju ice that was deemed poisonous . She did not die

,however

,

but drank so much of it that she fel l into a b eneficent s leepwhich lasted an enti re day and night . On awaking she foundherself restored to perfect health

,and for this reason the

monarch ordered the general use of wine .

CHAPTER V

TRADIT IONS O F THE KINGS AND

Z OROASTER

HE serpent—l i ke dragon of the storm-cloud described as thethree-headed monster in Indo—European myths has Often

appeared in ou r account o f I ranian mythology . We have seenhow the cloud was forgotten for the serpent

,and how the ser

pent became a human monster,the conqueror of Yima . Of

h i s dragon nature he preserves a dragon-l i ke face and two snakeson his shou lders , the fru it of Angra Mainyu

’s kis ses . As we

find the legend in F irdau si in a completely anthrOp om o rp hized

shape,it reta ins many features of the myth in the form in

which it appea rs in its most complete vers ion in Armenianbooks : the monstrou s dragon Azhdak (Azhi Dahaka) , withserpents sprung from hi s shou lders and served by a host ofdemons

,i s conquered by Vahagn IVe re thrgghna) , the hero who

replaces Faridfin (Thraétaona) in Armen i an Mazdean mythology

,and the demon i s fettered in a gorge on Mount Dam

avand, the serpents sprung from his shoulders being fed on

human flesh . We find all these featu res in Firdau si’s account .Dahhak every night sent to hi s cook two youths who weres laughtered so that thei r brains might feed the snakes . Two

high—born Pers ians d i sgu i sed as cooks devi sed a scheme torescue o ne youth from each pai r doomed to death

,and when

the young men who escaped,thanks to thei r contrivance

,fled

to the mountains,

Thus sprang the Ki'

i rds,who know no sett led hom e

,

But dwe l l in wo o len t ents and fear no t Go d .

” 1



As if by a natural instinct of j u stice,the tyrant in hi s abuses

i s pu rsued by fear of puni shment . After the dream which wehave al ready mentioned Dahhak runs about the world , quarre lling and s laughtering men and nations to anticipate theattack of him who i s to sati sfy the popular conscience by causing hi s ru in . He has an army o f sp ies

,among them being Kun

drav,a very ancient mythical creature of the Indo-I ranians

(Sanskrit Gandharva , Avesta Gandarewa) , who appears in theAvesta a s a dragon ki l led by Ke re saspa . Kundrav manages topenetrate into Faridfin’s tent when he i s at table

,and having

gained hi s confidence,he notes a ll h i s p reparations against

Dahhak, after which , escaping from the hero’s camp

,he makes

a fu ll report to the tyrant . Dahhak endeavours to avert hi sdestined ru in

,but in vain

,for he i s opposed by Faridfin

,en

dowed with the kingly G lory o f Yima,and tal l and fi rm like a

cypres s . 4 Abtin (i . e . Thrita Athwya) , the father o f Faridfin

(Thraétaona) , had been ki l led by Dahhak to feed the serpents ,and his son planned revenge for thi s ignominiou s murder

,

another tas k being the release of the two s i sters of Jamshid

(Yima) , who had been su rrendered to the monster when thei rbrother fel l .

T rem b l ing l ike a wi l low-leaf,

Men bo re them to the pa lace of Z ahhak

And gave them ove r to the dragon king ,Who educat ed them in evi l waysAnd taught them so rce ry and necrom ancy .

After Faridfin had taken posses s ion ofDahhak’s palace

,

Then from the wom en’s bowe r he brought two Ido l sSun-faced

,dark-eyed ; he had them bathed, he purged

The darkne ss of the ir m inds b y t eaching themThe w ay o f God and m ade them who l ly clean ;Fo r ido l-wo rshippe rs had brought them upAnd they we re dazed in m ind l ike drunken fo lk .

Then whi le the t ears from the ir b right eyes bedewedThe ir ro sy che eks tho se s ist e rs o f Jam shidSaid thus t o Faridi'i n : ‘Mayst thou b e young

TRAD IT IONS OF KINGS AND ZOROASTER 323

T i l l earth is o ld ! What star was this of thine,

O favou red one ! What t ree bo re thee as fruit,

Who v enture st inside the Lion’s lair

SO hardi ly , thou m ighty m an o f 6

It i s cu riou s to se e the o ld myth of the release of the womenof the clouds transformed into a merely romantic episode

,and

one wonders whether the bath which the women must undergois not a remnant o f thei r sojourn in the waters on high .

Faridfin then as sai l s Dahhak with a lasso made of lion’s h ide,and while the dragon king, blinded by j ealou sy at the s ight of

dark-eyed Shahr inaz,Who toyed bewitching ly with Faridi

'

m,

rushed about like a madman,the hero bound him around the

arms and waist with bonds that not even a huge elephan tcou ld snap . He conveyed the captive to Mount Damavand

,

where he fettered him in a narrow gorge and studded him withheavy nails

,leaving him to hang

,bound by hi s hands

,to a crag

,

so that hi s angu ish might endure . He i s not ki lled by the herobecause in myth the storm-dragon does no t die , but often e s

capes from the hold of the light-god .

T radition knows little of Fa ridfin outs ide of hi s healingpower and hi s victory over the dragon . Nevertheles s theDin/cart 8 mentions the d ivi s ion o f his kingdom between hi s sonsSalm ,

Tfi r,and Iraj ; and the Bandahish 9 explains that the

two former kil led the latter, as well as hi s posterity, with theexception of a daughter who was concealed by Faridiin and

who bore the hero Manu shc ithra , o r Minfi c ihr, the succes sorof Faridfin . The legends concerning these princes thu s dateback to a fairly ancien t period , although it i s doubtful whetherthey had the amplitude and the character which they assumein Firdausi’s epic . These stories are not mythical , but merelyepic

,and they centre about the j ealou sy of two older b ro thers

who,enviou s o f the younger son o f Faridfin because he was

braver and more beloved by hi s father, trea’cherous ly put him


to death . Manu shcithra , grandson of the unfortunate Iraj ,was to be the avenger of his grandfather

,aided by Ke re sasp a

(Garshasp ) , an ancient hero , who occup ies a very secondarypos ition in the Shahnamah

, but i s , nevertheles s , one of thegreatest figures of o ld I ranian tradition . Ke re sasp a , whosename means “with slender horses

,

” i s another son o f Thrita

Athwya , the father o f Faridfin (Thraétaona) and seems originally to have been a doublet of the latter

,especial ly a s h i s main

exploit i s a lso the s laying of dragons .With his strength and his club Ke resasp a i s the Hercu les ofI ran

,and it is not in the least remarkable that he i s supposed

to have s lain many foes both human and demoniacal,among

them being not only Gandarewa and Srv ara,but a lso Vare

shava,Pitaona

,ArezO-Shamana , the sons of Niv ika and of

Dashtayani, the nine sons of Pathana , Snav idhka , and thenine sons o fHitasp a , the murderer of h i s brotherUrv akhshaya .

10

Moreover he i s o ne of the heroes who,at the end o f time

,

when Azb i Dahaka (Dahhak) will escape from the place of

concealment where Thraétaona (Faridfin) has fettered him,

wil l s lay the dragon and free the world .

He has accompli shed his exp loits under the protection of athi rd part of Yima’s G lo ry (Khoarenanh) and he i s , therefore ,worshipped by the warriors to obtain strength “ to withstandthe dreadfu l arm and the hordes with wide battle array

,with

the large banner,the flag uplifted

,the fl ag unfolded

,the bloody

flag ; to withstand the brigand havoc-working , horrib le , manslaying

,and piti les s ; to withstand the evi l done by the

brigand .

” 11

Among Ke re sasp a’s feats some are described in the Avesta

and in the Pahlavi books . 12 His most dreadfu l fight was withthe dragon Srv ara

Which devoured m en and ho rses,Which w as venom ous and ye l low,

Ove r which a flo od of venomY e l low poured

,it s depth a spear’s length,



j ugated,but s laughtered and ate Ke re sasp a

’s fifteen horses

and pushed the hero himself blinded into a dense thicket .Meanwhile he carried off the hero’s wife and family

,but Keres

aspa qu ickly recovered , went out to the sea , released the pri soners

,and S lew the fiend .

16

Of Snav idhka it is recorded that he u sed to ki l l men w i th h i snai ls

,and that his hands were like stones . To all he shouted

‘I am imm atu re

,no t m ature ;

But if I attain to m anho od,

Of the earth a whe e l I ’ll m ake m e,

Of the Sky I’ll m ake a chario t ;

I ’l l b ring down the Ho ly Sp iritFrom the House o f Praise 17 a l l radiant

,

Ang ra Ma inyu I’ll m ake fly up

From the hideou s depths ofHades ;And they twain sha l l draw m y chario t ,B o th tho se sp irit s

, go od and e v i l,

if the m an ly-m inded Ke re sasp a S lay m e no t .

’The m an ly

m inded Ke re sasp a slew him .

” 18

ArezO- shamana was a more sympathetic adversa ry,brave

and val iant,always on hi s guard

,and supple in h i s mode of

fighting . Hitasp a was the murderer of Ke re sasp a’s brother

Urv akhshaya , a“wise chief of a s semblies

,and to avenge thi s

crime the hero smote Hitasp a and bore him back on hischariot . 19

Moreover the Iranian Hercules purged the land of highwaymen

,who were so huge that the people u sed to say,

“ Belowthem are the stars and moon

,and below them moves the sun

at dawn,and the water of the se a reaches up to thei r knees .” 2°

S ince Ke re sasp a could stretch no higher, he smote them on thei rlegs

,and fall ing

,they shattered the hi ll s on the earth .

A gigantic bi rd named Kamak,which overshadowed the

earth and kept off the rain ti l l the rivers dried up , eating upmen and animal s as if they were gra ins of corn

,was also

kil led by Ke re sasp a , who shot a rrows at it constantly for sevendays and nights .21 This Story i s evidently the adu lterated formof an o ld myth of storm or ra in .

TRADIT IONS OF KINGS AND ZOROASTER 327

A wolf called Kap fi t or Péhin l i kewi se fell , together with itsn ine cubs , at the hand o fKe re sasp a ,

22 who was also compelledto fight even with the elements of natu re

,the wind being

tempted to as sa i l h im when the demons said,

“Se e

,Ke re sasp a

despi ses thee and res i sts thee,more than anyone else . Aroused

by the taunt, the wind came on so strongly that every treeand shrub in its path was Uprooted

,while by its breath the

whole earth was reduced to powder,and a dark cloud of dust

a rose . When it came to Ke re sasp a , however, it cou ld not evenmove him from the spot, and the hero , seizing the Spirit of thewind , overthrew h im unti l he promised to go again below theea rth .

23

Unfortunately, the conqueror of so many foes was himselfconquered by a woman , a witch (p air i /ea) called Khnatha it i,who was in the court of Pitaona

,a prince whom Ke re sasp a

had also ki l led .

24 Under the influence of his wife he becameaddicted to Turanian idolatry and completely neglected themaintenance of the sacred fi re . On account of thi s grievoussin Ahura Mazda permitted him to be wounded during h iss leep by one of the Turks with whom he lived in the plain ofPéshyansai , and though he was not ki lled , he was brought intoa state of lethargy .

25 S ince that moment he has lain there ins lumber

,protected by the kingly G lory which he took from

Yima and by nine thou sand nine hundred and ninety-nineFravashi s

,o r guardian spirits .26 Thus he will remain ti ll the end

o f the world , when Dahhak (Azb i Dahaka) , fettered by Faridfin on Mount Damavand , will be released by the powers ofevi l

,who will rally for the last struggle against good . Freed

from hi s chains,Dahhak wi ll ru sh forth in fury and swallow

everything on his way : a third of mankind , cattle , and sheep .

He will smite the water,fire

,and Vegetation , and will commi t

a ll poss ible abuses . Then the water, the fi re,and the vegeta

tion wil l lament before Ahura Mazda and pray that Faridfi nmay be revived to s lay Dahhak , else fi re declares that it wi llno t heat, and water that it will flow no more . Then Mazda

V I — 22


will send Srao sha to rou se Kere sasp a , whom he wil l ca l l threetimes . At the fourth summons the hero wil l wake and go forthto encounter Dahhak, and smiting him on the head with hi sfamous club , will s lay him,

the death of the a rch-fiend markingthe beginning of the era of happines s .T i l l then , however, a s long as Ke re sasp a is as leep , h i s sou lmust make its abode either in paradise or in hell

,but s ince the

heinou s offence which he committed against the fi re madeentrance into paradi se very d i ffi cu lt for h im in sp ite of a l l h i sexploits

,he was sent to hell

,though Z arathushtra obtained the

promise that he wou ld be summoned by Ahura Mazda . He

complained at the hideous s ights which he saw in the realmof punishment and said that he did no t deserve such misery

,

fo r he had been a priest in Kabul , but Ahura Mazda with greatseverity reminded him of the fi re

,hi s son

,which had been

extinguished by him . He then implored Mazda’s pardon,

reciting a l l the deeds wh ich he had performed : “ If Srv ara,the

dragon,had not been ki l led by me

,al l thy creatures wou ld

have been annihi lated by it . If Gandarewa had no t been s lainby me

,Angra Mainyu would have become predominant over

thy creatu res ” ; but Mazda was inflexible : Stand off,thou soul

ofKe re sasp a ! for thou shou ldst be hideou s in my eyes , becaus ethe fire

,which i s my son

,was extingu ished by thee .

”Never

the le ss,when the sp i rits in heaven heard of Ke re sasp a

’s valor

o us feats,they wept aloud

,and Z arathushtra intervened

, so

that after a di s cu s s ion between him and the sp irit of fi re,who

pleaded against Ke re sasp a , Géu sh Urvan made supplicationunto Mazda

,while Z arathushtra

,to propitiate Atar’s wrath

,

vowed that he would provide that the sanctity o f the fire shouldbe maintained o n earth

,wherefore the hero’s sou l was finally

admitted into GarOtman (“House of Prai se

,

”

As has al ready been said,no fai r p lace i s granted to the great

national hero in the Shahnam ah,his personality being divided

by splitting the name Sama Ke re sasp aNai re-manah into severa lpersonal ities . In thi s way sam became the grandfather

,and


PLAT E XL

RU STAM AND THE W H ITE DEM ON

Ente ring the cavern whe re the demo n lurks,the

he ro hews him limb from lim b and final ly s lays him .

In this m in iature the so le trace s o f the animal natureo f the dem o n are the ho rns Springing from his head.

From a Pe rsian manusc ript o f the Shahna'

mah,dated

1605—0 8 A. D .

,now in the Me tropo l itan Museum

o fArt, New Y o rk

'

.



Like som e m ad e lephant,with Indian swo rd

In hand . Methought , O Shah ! that e’en the m ountainsWou ld c ry to him fo r quart e r ! He p ressed on

,

Then l ike a m adden ed e lephant I dashed himUpon the ground so that his bone s were shivered .

More striking sti l l i s the s laying of the dragon wh i ch hauntedthe river Kashaf

That dragon c leared the skyOf flying fowl and earth of beast of p rey .

It sco rched the vu lture’s feathers with it s b last ,Set earth a-b lazing where its venom fe l l

,

Dragged from the wat e r gru e som e cro co di les,

And swift ly fly ing eag les from the air .

~Men and four-foo ted beasts ceased from the land ;The who le wo r ld gave it ro om .

I cam e . The dragon seem ed a lofty m ountainAnd trai led upon the ground its hairs l ike lasso s .Its tongue was l ike a t ree—t runk charred

,its jaws

Were o pen and were ly ing in m y path .

Its eyes were l ike two cistern s fu l l of b lood .

It bel lowed when it saw m e and cam e on .

When it c lo sedAnd pressed m e hard I to o k m ine ox-head m aceAnd in the strength of God, the Lo rd of a l l ,Urged on m ine e lephant ine steed and sm o teThe dragon

’s head : thou wou ldst have said that heavenRained m ountain s down the reon . I sm ashed the sku l l

,

As it had been a m ighty e lephant’s ,And venom poured fo rth l ike the rive r Ni le .So st ruck I that the dragon ro se no m o re .

” 33

All these detail s strikingly resemble the story of Srv ara .

A son is born to Sam in hi s old age , but the white hai r ofthe babe so disgu sts the father that he commands the chi ld tobe carried to the famou s mountain Alb fi rz (Hara B e rezaiti) .There

,fortunately

,it is found by the S imurgh , the myth ica l

b ird Saéna , which we have described above and which takescare of the infant unti l he becomes a tall and stu rdy youth .


In the meanwhile sam regrets hi s fault,and being told in a

dream where the chi ld i s,he goes to Mount Alb ii rz and fetches

home his so n , to whom he gives the name of Z al . Z al fa ll s inlove with Rfidab ah, the daughter Of the prince of Kabul , adescendant of Dahhak ; but though the maid i s fai r and graceful

,the marriage i s opposed first by her father and then by the

Shah becau se she i s of the race of the devi li sh King . This i sthe subj ect of a tale which F irdausi narrates with much talent

,

but it i s no mythology , although the love for an Ahrimanianwoman recall s the errors of Ke re sasp a . Finally

,of course

,

every obstacle i s removed,and Z al marries Rfidab ah .

Before long the pr inces s i s found to be pregnant,but no de

l iverance comes , and Ri

'

i dab ah suffers in vain . Then a thoughtoccurs to Z al . On hi s departure from the nest where he hadSpent hi s infant years the S imurgh had given him one of itsp inions a s a tali sman

,bidding him burn the feather in case of

misfortune,whereupon the b i rd would immediately come to

his rescue . He did so,and the Simurgh , arriving instantly,

told him that the bi rth would be no natural one . It bade himbring

Ab lue-stee l dagger , seek a cunning m an,

B emuse the lady first with wine to ease

Her p ain and fear , then let him p ly his craftAnd take the Lion from its lair b y p ie rc ingHer waist whi le a l l unconsc ious , thus im bru ingHe r side in b lo od, and then st it ch up the gash .

Put t roub le , care , and fear aside , and b ruiseWith m i lk and m usk a herb that I wi l l show theeAnd dry them in the shade . Dress and ano intR i

’

i dab a’s wound and watch her com e to l ife .

Rub o’er the wound my p lum e

,its grac ious shade

Wi l l p rove a b le ssing .

” 34

The mandate o f the Simurgh was scrupulously obeyed , andwhen Radab ah awoke and saw her babe , she j oyous ly cried ,“ I am del ivered ” (b irastam) , which in Pers ian happens to be apun on the name of the futu re hero , Ru stam , the ancient formo f which ( if the word were extant) would be Raodhatakhm a


Strong in When little more than a ch i ld thep romis ing youth breaks the neck of an elephant with a s ingleblow o f hi s mace and with some companions takes pos ses s iono f a stronghold on Mount Sip and . Henceforth Rustam willbe the Roland or the Cid of the Pers ian epic and he puts hi ssword — o r rather h i s c lub — at the di sposal o f a l l I raniankings in succes s ion . There a re no trace s o f mythology in hi sadventures

,which are of a warlike character par excellence

,

a lthough occa sional ly they are at the same time romantic,a s

in the story of hi s son Suhrab , who was brought up amongthe Turanians

,and whom his father ki l led in s ingle combat

,

not knowing that he was his son .

36 The feats performed byRu stam in the se rvice o f the I ranian kings against the Turan ians a re attributed in Pahlavi l iterature to the monarchsthemselves

,and it i s evident that Rustam i s a personality

whose importance has been made much greater in comparat iv e ly recent times . He i s the hero o f Sei stan and has clea rlytaken the p lace o f Ke re sasp a and other Pers i an o r Medianheroes .If Rustam is the Roland of F irdausi

,Afras iyab plays the

part of the Emir Marsile,the chief o f the Saracens in the

French epic ; he i s the arch-unbel iever, the leader of the Turanian hordes .In the Avesta he i s known as Frangrasyan and has a much

more mythical character than Rustam . Judging from theepi sode o f hi s fight with Uzava

,in which he i s said to have

detained the rivers so a s to desolate I ran by drought,he b e

longed originally to a rain-myth . Ancient legend says that hel ived in a stronghold (haubana) in the depths of the earth ,where he offered an unsucces sfu l s acrifice to Ardvi Sfira Anahita in the des i re of seizing the kingly G lory of the Aryanswhich had departed from Yima and

,escap ing Azhi Dahaka

,

had taken refuge in the midst o f the se a Vou rukasha .

37

The treacherous Turanian king tried to seize it,but though

he stripped himself naked and swam to catch it,the G lory fled


PLATE XLI

T HE DEATH O F SUHRAB

T he figure o f the king , bending o v er the so n whomhe has unwitting ly S lain , is fu l l o f patho s . Rustam

’s

fam ous Steed, Rakhsh, stands in the uppe r backgro und.

From a Persian m anuscript o f the Shahnamah,dated

1605— 08 A. D .

,now in the Metro po litan Museum

o f Art , New Y o rk .



creatures,but if he should cea se doing so

,al l those maleficent

beings would fal l on earth with the rain .

41

The second epi sode i s the battle between Afrasiyab andUzava Tumasp ana (Pers ian Zav) , thi s hero being a nephew o f

Nao tara,and hi s mother being the daughter of Afrasiyab

’s

sorcerer . Afras iyab had invaded I ran,stopped the course of

all the rivers,and by his witchcraft prevented ra in from fal l

ing,thu s producing d rought and starvation ; 42 but Uzava , who,

though a chi ld,had the maturity and the strength of an adult

,

43

frightened the sorcerers and their chief and cau sed rain tofall . In two myths , therefore , Afras iyab infl icts starvation on

the I ranians,and in the latter he does it by withholding the

rain,so that hi s original nature a s a ra in-demon i s scarcely

open to question .

The thi rd invasion i s connec ted with the name of KaviKavata (Pers ian Kai Qubad) , the first king of the dynasty of

the Kaianians . In Ind ia the word haoi means “ a s age,a

respectab le person in ancient days ; in I ran it was appl ied toprinces in olden times

,and s ince those ru lers originally were

not Zoroastrians,haoi (Pers ian ha i) in the Avesta often has the

s ignification of “ unbeliever,” though thi s pejorative sense does

not apply to the group of legendary kings who are regularlyp rovided with that epithet and who

,therefore

,are called

Kaianians . Li ke Z al, Kai Qubad i s said to have been abandoned on Mount Alb ii rz at hi s b i rth , and there , protected onlyby a wai st—cloth

,he was freezing near a river when Zav per

ce iv ed him and saved hi s l ife .

44 He remained on Alb firz until ,Zav and hi s succes sor being dead

,the Irani an throne was

vacant ; but meanwhile Afras iyab had again invaded the country . Thereupon Z al sent hi s son Rustam to Mount Alb fi rz tofetch Qubad and to make him the sovereign of a l l I raniantribes ; and then it was that Rustam,

who had received Sam’sc lub ( i . e . the mace of Ke resasp a) , began to distingui sh himself and to beat back the invaders .The succes sor of Kavi Kavata i s Kavi Usan (Pers ian Kai


Kaii s) , whose name has been compared with that of an ancientseer who i s known as Kavya USanas in the Vedas

,where he i s

renowned for hi s wisdom . There he i s s aid to have driven thecows on the path of the sun and to have fashioned fo r Indrathe thunderbolt with which the god s lew Vrt ra . The ident ifi

cation i s not quite certain,however

,because the character of

Usan i s completely altered in Iran into that o f an ordinaryking , although a trace of his quality of driver of cows may p e rhaps su rvive in the legend of hi s wonderfu l ox

,to whose j udge

ment al l d isputes were referred as to the boundary betweenIran and Turan .

45 Yet Kai Kafi s was not really wise,for he

was , at least according to F irdau si , an imperfect character,eas i ly led astray by pas s ion .

46 Legend has transferred wisdomto hi s minister Ao shnara

,whose ep ithet i s pouru—j ira ,

“ veryintel ligent . ” 47 While yet in his mother’s womb

,he taught

many a marvel and at his b irth he was able to confound AngraMa inyu by answering all the questions and riddles o f Fracih,the unbeliever . 48 Thi s story i s a repl ica of the legend of YOishta

,

a member o f the vi rtuou s Turanian family of the Fryanas,49

who preserved his town from the devastations of the ruffi anAkhtya by resolving the ninety-nine riddles a sked by thatmalic iou s Spirit and by confounding the fiend with three otherenigmas which he was unable to answer

,

"30 a tradition whichreminds u s Of the legend of (Edip us . Ao shnara became theadmini strator of Usan’s kingdom and taught many invaluablethings to mankind

,but unfortunately the inconstant monarch

at last became ti red of hi s mini ster’s wi sdom and put him todeath .

Kai Kai'

i s was not only inconstant but presumptuous,for he

ascendedMountAlb fi rz, where he bui lt himself seven dwellings ,one of gold

,two of s i lver

,two of steel , and two of crystal . He

then endeavoured to restrain theMazainyan daév as , or demonso fMazandaran

,only to be led into a trap by one o f these evi l

beings who tempted him by making him di scontented with hi sea rthly sovereignty and by flattering him so as to induce him


to aim at the sovereignty of the heavenly regions . Yi elding tothe tempter

,he sought to reach the skies by means of a car

support ed by four eagles , and he also began to display insolencetoward the sacred beings to such a degree that he lost hi sG lory . His troops were then defeated , and he was compelledto flee to the Vourukasha , where NairyOsangha , the mes sengero f Ahura Mazda , was about to s lay him when the Fravash i ofHao srav ah, yet unborn , implored that h i s grandfather mightbe spared on account o f the virtues of the grandson .

51

During th i s expedition o r during one to Hamav aran,

which i s only a duplicate of the other the land of I ran,being

abandoned by its ru ler, was laid desolate by a fiend calledZ ainigav ,

who had come from Arabia and in whose eye was suchvenom that he ki lled any man on whom he gazed . So dire wasthe calamity that the I ranians called their enemy Afras iyabinto thei r country to rid them of Z ainigav ,

and for that tas kthe Turanian received the kingly G lory wh ich had abandonedthe frivolou s king Kai Kat

-

l s . Afras iyab,however

,abused hi s

power,and the I ranians had once more to be saved by Rustam

,

who released Kai Kafi s and expelled the Turanians .Kai Kafis had married a Turanian woman named Sfidab ah,

a viciou s creature who made shamefu l propositions to Syav arshan (Pers i an Kai Siyav akhsh) , who was the son o f a previou swife of her hu sband and a superb youth . S ince

,however

,the

piou s young man rej ected her love,she calumniated him to Kai

Kafis,so that Syav arshan had to flee to Afras iyab

,who received

him well and even gave him his daughter in marriage ; but thehonour with which he was welcomed roused the j ealou sy of

Ke resav azdah (Pers ian Garsiv az) , the brother of Afras iyab ,who by false accu sations persuaded the king to put Siyav akhshto death .

To avenge th i s deed was the l ife-task of his son Hao srav ah

(Pers ian Kai Khusrau) , the greatest king of the Kaianian

dynasty . His name means “of good renown

,glorious

,

” andperhaps he was originally the same person as the Vedic hero


PLAT E XL I I

KAI KAGS ATTEM PT S To FLY To H EAVEN

T he ambitio us k ing fastens fo ur yo ung eag le s tothe co rne rs o f his thro ne , making them fly upward

by attaching raw m eat to fo ur spe ars . As he risesthro ugh the c lo uds

,the animals o n the m ountain-to p

lo ok at him with am azem en t. T he king’s feature shav e be en obl ite rated by som e pio us Muhammadanwho was o ffended by the transgressio n o fthe prohibitio nagainst po rtraying l iv ing creature s (cf. Plate XLIV) .

From a Pe rsian m anuscript o f the Shahnanzah,dated

1587— 88 A . D .

,now in the Metro po litan Museum o f

Art,New Y o rk .



Haoma (the drink of the gods when they fight the demons) ,and the presence of a supernatural fi re

,o f the white steed

,

and of the cavern,a s well a s the location of the contest on a

lake,point to some natu ral myth as the origin o f the story

,

though it i s too adulterated to admit of any convincing inter

p retat ion . F irdausi,of cou rse, introduces sti l l more profound

alterations . Instead o f being in hi s own subterranean palace,

Afras iyab i s supposed to have taken refuge in a cavern afterhaving been completely beaten by Kai Khusrau and havingtaken to fl ight

,while Haoma has become the hermit Hiim

,who

overhears him bewai l ing hi s defeat and tries to captu re thefugitive

,who escapes by plunging into the lake . Kai Khusrau

i s called immediately and seizes Garsiv az (Ke re sav azdah) , themurderer of Siyav akhsh . To compel Afras iyab to emerge fromhi s retreat hi s beloved brother Garsiv az i s tortured , and finallyboth brothers a re put to death .

56

Having achieved the greatest exp loit of the ep ic and havingavenged his father

,Hao srav ah fears that he may lapse into

pride and meet the same end as Yima . He becomes melancholy,

resolves to res ign the throne toAurv at-aspa (Pers ian LuhraSp ) ,and finally rides with his paladins into the mountains

,where

he d i s appea rs . A few knights follow him till the end,but are

lost in the snow,so that he a lone

,gu ided by Srao sha

,arrives

a live in heaven,where

,in a secret place and adorned with a

halo of glory,he s its on a throne unti l the renovation of the

world .

57

Thi s very noteworthy legend of the reti rement of the mightyking and warrior has been compared by Darm e stete r

53 withan epi sode of the Mahabharata

,the great Indian ep ic

,where

the hero Yudhisthira , weary o f the world,des ignated hi s suc

ce sso rs and with his four brothers set out on a j ourney northward toward the mountains and the deserts of Him av ant (theH imalayas) . One after the other all hi s companions expi redexhau sted on the way

,but he with hi s faithfu l dog

,who was

Dharma in disgui se,entered heaven

, not


having tasted death . Unles s the story has been borrowed fromthe Indians

,it is Indo—Iranian

,the latter explanation being the

more probable s ince the immortality of Hao srav ah i s a l readyknown in the Ave sta .

59

Among the companions ofHao srav ah who died on the wayw ere G iv

,son of G i

'

i darz,both gallant heroes who played an

important part in the war against Afras iyab,and T ii s

,son o f

Nao tara (Pers ian Naudhar) , the last monarch of the Pishdadian dynasty . He had been barred from hi s realm by the acces s ion o f the Kaianian kings because he was to o frivolou s

,but

a fter having been the competitor o fHao srav ah,he became hi s

friend . An epic of Nao tara’s sons seems to have exi sted in

which T ii s was the conqueror of the sons o f Vaésaka (Pers ianV isah) , the uncle of Afras iyab , for he is said to have bes iegedthem in the pas s o fKhshathrO-Suka on the top of the holy andlofty Mount Kangha ; 60 and as a reward for hi s exploits and

a fter hi s death he wil l be among the thirty who will helpSaoshyant at the end o f the world .

61

His brother Vistauru (“Opposed to S inners ” 62) i s famed fo r

having obtained from Ardvi Sfira , when he was pursu ingidolators

,the power to cros s the River Vitanguhait i .

This is t rue , in so o th v eracious,Ardvi Sfi ra Anahita ,

that as m any dem on—wo rshippe rs have been s lain b y m e

as I have hairs o n my head . Therefo re do thou , Ardvi S i'

i raAnahita , p rovide m e a dry cro ssing 63

O’e r the good Vitanguhait i .

’

Ardvi Sfi ra Anahita hastened downWith a love ly m aiden

’s body ,

Ve ry st rong , of go od ly figure ,G irded high and standing upright ,No bly bo rn ,

of b ri l l iant l ineage ,Wearing go lden fo o t-gear shiningAnd bede cked with a l l ado rnm en t .

Ce rtain wate rs m ade she stand st i l l ,Othe rs caused she to flow fo rward ,And a cro ssing dry providedO

’e r the good Vit anguhait i .


After the reign of Kai Khusrau the scene of Firdausi’s ep icshifts toward Balkh in Bactria

,and the mi li ta ry character of

the poem yield s to more religiou s interests . We have,indeed

,

arrived at the point where legends,which a re fo r the mo st part

of a mythica l character, are brought into connexion with traditions concerning the origins of the Zoroa strian religion

, of

Zoroaster himself,and of the persons around him .

In Firdausi’s view the succes sor o fKai Khusrau i s Luhrasp ,the Aurv at-aspa of the Avesta , who i s renowned only as the

father of V ishtasp a , the first Zoroastrian king,and of Z airiv airi

(“Golden-B reastp lated

”

; Pers ian Z arir) . The deeds of thelatter a re of much the same kind a s those of other I ranianheroes . He i s a s layer ofTuranians

,and nea r the river Daitya

he ki l led Hum ayaka, a demon-worshipper who had long clawsand l ived in eight caverns

,and he also did to death the wicked

Arejat-aspa , 65 but was treacherou sly as sas s inated by the

wizard Vidrafsh and avenged by hi s son B astv ar.

66 All thissavours p retty much o f a combat with dragons .In the Greek author Athenaeus 67 Z a iriv a iri appears under

the name Z ariadre s and i s s aid to be a son of Adonis andAphrodite . Thi s i s a truly mythic genea logy

,fo r Aphrodite i s the

u sual Greek translation o fAnahita,the goddes s of the waters

,

and her most natu ra l lover i s Apam Napat ,“ the Child of the

Waters,

” whose name the Greek writer here renders byAdonis,

the habitual pa ramour o f Aphrod ite . A very frequent epithetof Apam Napat i s auroat-asp a (

“with swift which i spreci sely the name of Z airiv airi’s father . Accord ingly

,Dar

m e stete r thinks 68 that Z a iriv a iri is a mythica l being and extendsthe conclus ion to hi s b rother Vishtasp a and even to the prophetZ arathu shtra . Thi s Op inion i s rej ected by Orienta li sts o f th epresent day

,who

,not without reason

,think that Z arathusht ra

actua lly exi sted ; but nevertheles s it isz p o ssib le that Z a iriv airihas been introduced into Vishtasp a

’s family by a contamina

tion o f legends o r by a similarity of names,such as has pro

duced many errors concerning V ishtasp a himself. Z airiv a iri


PLAT E XLI I I

GUSHTAS P K I L L S A D RAG O N

T he he ro s lays a drago n in serpent fo rm . T he

representat io n o f the dese rt scene is v ery we l l do ne ,and Pe rso -Mo ngo lian influence is stro ng ly marked.

From a Pe rsian manusc ript o f the Shahnamah,dated

1587— 8 8 A. D .

,now in the Metro po litan Museum o f

Art,New Y o rk .



itself. Later l iteratu re , o n the other hand , concocted a life ofZoroaster which i s fu ll of marvels and in which the prophet i sin continual intercou rse with Ahura Mazda and the Am esha

Sp entas, achieving all manner of prodigiou s deeds . Theselegends appea r comparatively late in Mazdei sm

,centuries

after Zoroaster’s l ife,and probably contain very few historical

elements,although they have accumulated stories borrowed

from variou s sources and even include piou s forgeries . The

Avesta knows of an intervention of divine beings only at Z Oroa ster’s b i rth . A plant o f haoma contained the p rophet’sFrav ashi

,o r pre—created sou l , which Pou rushasp a, the father

of Zoroaster and a priest of Haoma , happened to absorb . He

married DughdhOv a , who had received the khoarenanh wh ichhas been so frequently mentioned

,and thu s the G lory ofYima

himself was transferred to Zoroaster . The daév as repeatedlysought to ki l l the prophet both before and after h i s b i rth

,and

the adorers of idols persecuted him , but in va in . Ahura Mazdathen entered into communion with him and revealed the rel igion to him . Fo r ten years he had only one disciple

,hi s cou s in

Maidhi -maongha , but at last he won converts in Vishtasp a’s

cou rt among the members of the HVOgv a family, the king himself becoming a believer through the ins i stence of his wifeHutao sa . A long war followed between Vishtaspa and Arejataspa

,king of the Hyaonians, who wa s determined to suppres s

Zoroastriani sm,and though the prophet’s b rothers Z airiv airi

(Pers ian Z arir) and Sp entOdata (Pers ian I sfandyar) foughtgallantly

,Zoroaster was s la in by the Turanian B rat IO-résh,

one o f the harapans ( idolatrou s priests) who had tried to ki l lh im at hi s birth .

Zoroaster has left three germs in th i s world,and they are

l ike three flames which Na iryOsangha , the messenger of the godsand a form of Agni

,

73 has depos ited in Lake Kasu (the Hamli nSwamp in Sei stan) , where they are watched by ninety-ninethousand nine hundred and ninety-nine Fravashi s . Nearthat lake i s a mountain inhabited by faithfu l Zoroastrians

,

PLAT E XL IV

S CU L P TUR E SU P PO SED To REP RE SEN TZO ROA S TER

Parsi tradition seeks to identify thi s figure w ithZ o ro aster

,and the conv entio na l m ode rn picture s o f

the Pro phet are o f this gene ral type . T he identifica

tion is by no m eans ce rtain , fo r the figure has alsobeen he ld to repre sent Ahura Mazda o r with muchgreater p ro babi lity— Mithra . Ahura Mazda regularlyappears as a bearded m an in a winged disk (seePlate XXXIV ,

No . identificatio n with Mithra isfav oured by the Sunflowe r o n which the figure standsand by the m ac e which he ho lds (cf. Yasht, v i. 5, x .

T he face is m uti lated, probably by the early Arabconque ro rs , who , as strict Muhammadans, objectedto repre sentatio ns o f liv ing be ings (c f. the sim i larm uti latio ns in m in iature paintings, Plate XLII) .

From a Sassanian sculpture at T akht-i-Bustan,

‘ Kir

manshah . After a pho tograph by Pro fe sso r A. V .

W il liam s Jackson .



and once in each millennium a maiden,bathing in the waters

,

wi l l receive one of those germs . Thu s three prophets (Sao sh

yant s,“They Who Will Advantage ”) will be born in succes

s ion : first Ukhshyat-ereta (Hashétar) , then Ukhshyat-nemah

(Hfishétar—mah) , and finally Astv at-ereta , the Saoshyant p arexcellence . They will reveal themselves in periods when evi lwil l be p revalent and wi ll put an end to wickednes s . The l astSaoshyant wi ll come when Dahhak wil l have desolated theworld after having broken hi s fetters on Mount Damavand ;but Kere sasp a, as we have seen , 74 will s lay him at the veryinstant when Saoshyant appears with the kingly G lory

(Khoarenanh) , and when he wil l definitely conquer the Druj

(the p rinCIp le of fa lsehood) , Angra Mainyu , and the evi lcreation .

VI -23

CHAPTER V I

THE LIFE TO COME

HE account ofthe Saoshyants , the future sons ofZoroa ster,brings u s to the theme o f I ranian eschatology . Li ke

Odys seu s in Greece,or Dante in the Divina Commedia

,

l

Arta V iraf, a wi se and virtuou s Mazdean , i s supposed in alate Pahlavi book to have vi s ited the other world

,and it wi ll

be interesting to follow him in his j ou rney to see what werethe Mazdean conceptions of heaven and of hel l .When the sou l o f Viraf went forth from its body

,the first

thing which it beheld was the Cinv at Bridge (the bridge o f“ the D ivider which all sou ls must cros s before they pas sto the future world . There he saw before him a damsel ofbeautifu l appearance

,fu ll-bosomed

,charming to heart and

sou l ; and when he a sked her,“Who art thou ? and what

person art thou ? than whom , in the world of the living,any

damsel mo re elegant,and of more beautifu l body than thine

,

was never seen by me , she repl ied that she was his ownrel igion (daana) and hi s own deeds “ i t i s on account o f

thy will and actions,that I am as great and good and sweet

scented and triumphant and undistres sed a s appears to thee .”

Then the Cinv at Bridge became wider,and with the as s i st

ance of Srao sha (“Obedience to the Law ”

) and Ata rViraf could eas i ly cros s . Both Yazatas promised to Show himheaven and hell

,but before entering the kingdom o f the blest

,

he had to pass through Ham istakan ,the resting-place of those

whose good works and sins exactly counterbalance . Therethey await the renovation of the world

,thei r only sufferings

being from cold and heat .



p le t ed, and they wi ll not release me !” Everywhere a re noxiou s

creatu res,the smallest o f them as high as mountains

,and they

tea r and worry the soul s of the wicked a s a dog does a bone .

For speci al crimes there are special punishments . The womanwho has been unfaithfu l to her husband i s su spended by herb rea sts

,and scorpions seize her whole body

,the same creatu res

biting the feet of those who have polluted the earth by walkingwithout shoes . The woman who has insu lted her husband i ssu spended by her tongue . A wicked king must hang in space

,

flogged by fifty demons . The man who has ki l led cattle unl awfu lly suffers in his l imbs

,which a re broken and separated

from one another . The m i s er i s stretched upon a rack,and a

thou sand demons trample h im . The l i a r sees h i s tongue gnawedby worms . The unju st man who did not pay the salary of hi sworkmen i s doomed to eat human flesh . The woman who hass la in her own chi ld must dig into a h i l l with her breasts andhold a millstone o n her head . The bodies of impostors and

deceivers fal l in rottennes s . The man who has removed theboundary stones of others so as to make his own field s la rgermust d ig into a hi l l with hi s fingers and nai ls . The breaker o fpromises and contracts

,whether with the p iou s or with the

wicked — s ince Mithra i s both for the fa ithfu l and the um

believers i s tortu red by pricking spu rs and arrows . Underthe Cinv at Bridge there i s an abys s for the most heinous sinners

,thi s p it being so deep and so stinking that if al l the wood

o f the earth were burned in it,it would not even emit a per

cep t ib le smell . There the sou l s o f the wicked stand,a s close

a s the ear to the eye,and a s many a s the hai rs on the mane of

a horse,and they also are submitted to variou s torments ac

cord ing to thei r d ifferent offences . At the very bottom o f theabys s i s Angra Mainyu (Ahriman) , the Evil Spirit, who rid icu les and mocks the wicked in hell

,s aying

,

“Why did you evereat the bread o f Ahura Mazda

,and do my work ? and thought

no t o f your own creator,but practi sed my wil l ? ”

It would be interesting to know how much in Arta Viraf’s

THE LIFE TO COME 347

vis ions was influenced by the conceptions of other religions,

inc luding Judai sm and Christianity . That the Semites influenced I ranian thought in some measure i s obvious — themyth of the attempt of Kai Kafis to fly to heaven

,for instance

,

shows a remarkable paral lel i sm to the Babylonian story ofEtana

,who sought to ascend on an eagle

’s back to the sky

that he might secure the plant of li fe .

” 3 The close as sociationof Jews and Pers i ans in the Exi l ic and post-Exil i c periods seemsto have caused some interchange of religious concepts , thoughthe preci se degree o f this influence i s s til l sub j udice .

4

CHAPTER V II

CONCLUSION

HE special interest p resented to the mythologi st by thestudy o f I ranian myths lies in the fact that they Show

with ideal clearnes s the variou s stages in the evolution o f mythtoward hi storica l legend .

As i s wel l known,a myth originally i s an effort toward ac

counting for some phenomenon . The attempt i s made, o f

cou rse,with the mental tendencies of people o f a fai rly elemen

tary cultu re,but it i s c lear enough that primitive man does not

only aim at giving an explanation,but at making it p ictu resque

and appealing to h is imagination ; and it is equa lly obviou s thathe des ires to stimu late the fancy o f hi s fellow men by u s ingsymbol s

,testing thei r ingenu ity by transferring one order of

facts to another . Thi s tendency generates parable,moral fic

tion,and riddle

,and it i s difli cu lt to doubt that myth i s one

more aspect of that same tu rn of mind when we compare Oldriddles with o ld myths .Otto Schrader has collected 1 severa l Indo-European riddles

that are very instru ctive in thi s regard,and an ep isode o f the

Shahnamah also i l lu strates thi s explanation o f myth . Thus,in

Firdausi’s epic 2 Minii cihr tests Z al by hard questions

,con

co cted by the shrewd priests , who formulate a series o f riddlesthat are very much of the s ame kind as those which a re foundamong people of primitive cu ltu re and which Schrader considers to be a sou rce of myths . Z al i s a sked what are a dozencypresses with thi rty boughs on each

,and he finds them to be

the twelve moons of every year,each moon having thi rty days .

Two horses , one white and one black , moving rap id ly to catch



The specia l evolution ofmyths in Iran a s sumes three forms .

(a) The myth , being no longer understood as such,becomes

a mere tale and,a s i s the case with tales

,i s ap t to be sub

divided into severa l stories or to be reproduced many timeswith different names . Th i s has especially been the ca se withthe storm-myt h . The dragon i s Azb i

, Srv ara,Z ainigav ,

Ap ao sha , Gandarewa, etc . ; the youthfu l and godlike V i ctor

i s Thraétaona , Keresasp a , Raodhatakhma (Rustam) , Haosrav ah, etc .

Myths are duplicated . Bes ides Yima-Y imak,we find

Mashya-Mashi . Kavi Usan i s twice a pri soner ; KaviKeresav azdah has been calumniated twice ; Urupi and Keresaspa both ride on a demon ; Kavi Kavata and Z al are bothabandoned on Mount Alb i

'

i rz at their b i rth ; Thraétaona and

Vistauru both cros s a river in a miracu lou s way ; YOishta andAo shnara both answer the riddles o f a Sphinx . All heroesmarry Turanian girls , and al l stories take p lace o n MountHara B e rezait i (Alb i

'

i rz) or in the sea Vourukasha , etc . , etc .

(b) On the other hand , several myths coalesce into one story,the most complete in stance being the legend of Yima , whichunites a story of primeval twins

,a winter-myth

,a myth com

paring sunset to the death of man,a story of women cap

tured by a fiend,etc .

(c) There i s a gradual anthropomorph ization of the myths .On the one hand

,the myth ica l contest i s changed into a mora l

one,the cloud-dragons

,impri soners of water

,becoming here

ti cs o r enemies o f the Zoroastrian religion . A curiou s instanceof thi s i s Faridfin’s convers ion of Jam shid

’s daughters , who had

been brought up in vice and pagan lore by Dahhak , thi s beinga transformation o f the traditional story of the storm-god re

leas ing the women of the cloud,i . e . the impri soned waters .

In Yima’s story a moral motive has been introduced into thedarkening of the sun by the cloud-dragon .

On the other hand,the mythical materia l becomes h i storica l

o r,at least

,ep ic . Monsters

,dragons

,etc .

,become Tu ranians,

CONCLUSION 351

and the gods are transformed into kings of a purely human character

,SO that in many cases in the Shahnamah i t i s imposs ib le

to determine whether we are dealing with some historicalevent

,more or les s embell i shed by legend

,o r with a nature

myth that has been humanized . Dahhak i s an Arabian king ;Faridfin i s an audaciou s soldier ; haoma , the draught of immortality, becomes a hermit in the story of Afras iyab , etc .In the legend of Yima we see a l l succes s ive stages . First

we have the setting sun,and then the setting sun

,showing the

path to the departed,becomes their s i re

,and his solar qual ity

fades away . He i s thu s evolved into the first mortal o r theking of the dead , and finally becomes an ord inary I ranianmonarch of ancient times .This transformation has , i t i s true , deprived the I ranians ofthe great sou rce of Indian poetry

,but has resu lted , on the

other hand,in p roviding them with a rich epic material , the

di rection in which their l iterature has been developed . Theywere also creative in this domain , for they wove many legendsaround thei r real kings

,thei r p rophet, etc . Both sources o f

inspi ration have been so blended that in the Shahnamah

Rustam’s mace , wh ich was originally the thunderbolt of Indra ,

i s swung against the castellan b i shops of the Syrian Chu rch ,3

and that Z airiv airi, a son of Apam Napat , i s the lover o f thedaughter of the Emperor o f Byzantium .


1 . Or iginal S anskrit Texts , v . 356, no te .

2 . This is what F . MaxMii lle r (Ancient Sanskrit Literature, London,

1859 , pp . 526 ff. ) ca l led “ heno the ism .

”

3. Original S anskr it Texts , v . 64, no te .

4. See M. B loom fie ld,Religion of the Veda , pp . 12

,126 H. Fo r

the Iran ian Asha see infra,pp . 260

,264 .

5. Fo r the Iran ian concept ions ofAhura Mazda and Mithra see

infra,pp . 260— 6 1

,275 ff.

,287

— 88, 305 ff.

6 . Fo r Ourano s see Mythology ofAll Races , Bo ston ,1916, i . 5

—6,

and fo r Mo ira see ih. pp . 283— 84 .

7 . See H . Winckler, in Mittei lungen der deutschen Orientgesell

schaft,No . 35 E. Meye r, Das erste Auft reten derArie r in de r

G e schicht e,

”in S itzungsber ichte der kan iglich

-p reuss ischen Akadem ie

der Wissenschaften,1908 , pp . 14

— 19, and Geschichte cles Altertums,

I . ii . 651 ff. (3rd ed .

,B e r l in

,H . Jaco b i

,in j RAS 1909, pp . 721

ff., H . O ldenberg , ib . pp . 1095 ff.

, J . H . Mou lton,Early Zoroastrian

ism,London

,1913, pp . 6 ff.

8 . Fo r the Am e sha Sp entas se e infra ,p . 260 .

9 . R . T . H . G riffi th,Hymns of the Rigveda , ii . 87 .

10 . Se e infra , pp . 282 , 294, 304 .

11 . Se e M. B lo om fie ld,in Amer ican j ournal of Philology, xv n . 428

from oi+ snu (cf. sanu ,

12 . See Mythology ofAll Races , Bo ston ,1916 , i . 26

— 27 , 246—47 .

13. See Mythology ofAll Races , Bo ston ,1916 , i . 245

—

46 .

14 . See A. Hi l leb randt , Vedische Mythologie, iii . 157 ff.

15. See Shahnamah, t r . J . Moh l , Paris, 1876—78 , i . 69— 70 .

16 . See infra , pp . 267 , 340 .

17 . The wo rd fioa m e ans“ausp ic ious .

18 . Se e L . v on Schro ede r, Mysterium und Mimus im Rigveda , pp .

47 ff.

,124 ff.

CHAPTER II

1 . See A. Hi l leb randt , Vedische Mythologie , ii . 122— 23.

2 . Cf. Mythology ofAll Races , B o ston ,19 16 , i . 208

—09, 298 .


3. See M. B loom fie ld,in j AOS xv i . I ff. H . Usener, in

Rheinisches Museum ,lx . 26 ff.

4 . Se e infra , pp . 265, 282 .

5. See A. A. Macdone l l and A. B . Ke ith,Vedic I ndex

,i i . 434— 37 .

6 . R . T . H . Griffi th,Hymns of the Rigveda , iv . 355

—

56 .

7 . See J . Rhys, Lectures on the Or igin and Growth of Religion as

i llustrated by Celtic Heathendom ,London

,1888

,pp . 114

— 15.

8 . See L. R . Farnel l,Cults of the Greek S tates , Oxfo rd, 1896—1908 ,

ii i . 50 ff.

9 . This exp re ssion deno tes first fiv e t ribes fam ous in Vedic history, and then a l l m en gene ral ly .

10 . See A. Hi l lebrandt , Vedische Mythologie, i ii . 418- 19 .

11 . See A. B . Ke ith, in j RAS 1915, pp . 127 ff.

12 . Se e infra,pp . 325

- 26 .

13. See L. v on Schro eder, Mysterium und Mimus im Rigveda , p p .

304— 25.

14 . See L. v on Schro ede r, op . cit. pp . 52, 63.

15. See infra,pp . 306

—09 .

16 . I ndische S tudien,iv . 341

17 . Hence istapurta ,“sacrifice and baksheesh

, go together ; see

M. B loom fie ld, Religion of the Veda , pp . 194 ff.

18 . R . T . H . Griffith,Hymns of the Rigveda , iv . 133.

CHAPTER III

1 . See A. Hi l lebrandt , VedischeMythologie, ii i . 430 ff. Un l ike M.

Haug (Essays on the S acred Language , Wr itings , and Religion of thePars is

, 3rd ed .,London

,1884, pp . 287 Hi l leb randt p laces the ho st i le

contact with Iran after the pe riod of the Rgoeda and associat es itwith an o lder fo rm of Iran ian re l ig ion ,

no t with Z arathusht ra’steaching .

2 . In V idegha Mathav a V . Henry (LaMagie dans l’I nde antique,

2nd ed .

,p . xxi .) sees the Indian Prom etheus .

3. Se e A. B . Ke ith,in j RAS 19 11, pp . 794

—

800 .

4 . Kube ra appears as king of the Raksases in S atapatha B rahmana,

XIII . iv . 3. 10 ; cf. Atharoaoeda VIII . x . 28 .

CHAPTER IV

1 . See Mythology ofAll Races , B o ston, 1916 , i . 17— 18 .

2 . Apparent ly each of these years is equa l to 360 years of man ;

so Manu, i . 69, and the Puranas (cf. H . H . Wi lson , Visnu Purana ,ed . F . Ha l l , i . 49—50, and E. W . Ho pkins

,in fAOS xxiv . 42 ff.

3. See B . C . Mazum dar , in j RAS 1907 , pp . 337—39 ; S ir R . G .



7 . S ir R . G . Bhandarkar (Va isnavism , Saivism ,andMinor Religious

Systems , pp . 147—

49) ascribe s the growth of a sing le de ity to the

perio d about the s ixth centu ry A . D . The V inayakas, who appearreduced to one in Ganapat i , o r GaneSa , are found in the ManaoaGrhya Satra ( ii . and the Mahabharata (xiii . 151. 26) m ent ion sVinayakas and GaneSv aras as c lasse s . Cf. M. Wintern itz, in j RAS1898 , pp . 380

—84.

8 . See S ir R . G . Bhandarkar, Va isnaoism , Sa ivism ,andMinor Reli

gions Systems , pp . 153—55; R . Chanda, The I ndo-Aryan Races , Raj

shahi , 1916 , pp . 223 ff.

CHAPTER VII

1 . Pal i i s the term used to describe the language in which the Buddhist texts are preserved . It is a l it erary dia lect whose o r ig in is unce rtain ,

b ut which is ce rtain ly no t the language spo ken b y the

Buddha , be ing much lat er than his t im e .

2 . Va isnavism , S aivism , and Minor Religious Systems , pp . 8 ff.

3. I ndien und das Chr istentum,pp . 2 15 ff.

4 . Cf. Mythology ofAll Races , Bo ston ,1916, i . 174— 75.

5. Se e L. de la Va l lée Po ussin,B ouddhisme

,Op inions sur l

’histoire

de la dogmatique , p . 239 .

6 . The phrase in que stion i s chaddanta; see J . S . Speyer, in Z DMGlv u . 308

7 . See H . Liiders , inNachrichten van der koniglichen Gesellschaft derWissenschaften zu Go

'

ttingen , 1901, p . 50 ; A. Foucher,in Malanges

d’indianisme ofierts aM. Syloain Le

'

oi , Paris, 1911, pp . 246—47,

fo r ve ry c lear cases o f a diffe rence in date .8 . This concept ion is often asc ribed to Iran ian influence

,i .e . the

concept of the Fravashis ; see A. Griinwedel,BuddhistischeKnust

,2nd

cd .

,pp . 169 ff.

9 . Se e infra , pp . 261, 300, 336 .

10 . See infra , pp . 327 , 338 .

CHAPTER VIII

1 . SEE xxi i . , p . xxxi . , no te , Oxfo rd, 1884.

2 . Cf.

, however, J . Charpent ie r, in, ]RAS 1913, p p . 669

—74, who

wou ld connect the Aj ivikas with the Saivite sect s .3. Cf. W . H . Scho ff

,in j AOS xxxiii . 209

4 . See M. Wintern itz, in j RAS 1895, pp . 159 ff. Nej am esa i s a lsoo bviously to b e read fo r Nej am eya in B audhayana Grhya Satra , ii .

2,as in W . Caland, LIber das rituelle Satra des B audhayana , Le ipzig ,

NOTES 359

1903, p . 31 . This passage , howeve r , with its invocat ion of m o the rs(ap parent ly the diseases of chi ldren) , is evident ly late .

CHAPTER IX

Se e G . A. G rie rso n,in j RAS 1907 , pp . 311 ff . ; R . Garbe

,

Indien und das Christentum,pp . 27 1 ff.

2. The nam e o f the r ive r m eans “dest roying (the m e rit of good)

3. On this m ytho log ica l figure see I . Fried lande r,Khidr, in Eu

cyclopafdia of Religion and Ethics , V ii . 693—95, Edinburgh, 1915.

V i— 24

IRANIAN

CHAPTER I

1 . On this cyc le of legends see M. B réal, He rcu le et Cacus

,

in hi s Mi langes de mythologie et de lingu istique , Paris, 1877, pp . 1

161,and cf. Mythology of All Races , Bo ston ,

1916, i . 86— 87 , 303.

2 . See sup ra , pp . 23— 24 .

3. Religion of B abylon ia and Assyr ia , B o ston ,1898 , pp . 429, 432 .

4 . ib . p . 537 .

5 ih P 541

6 . A. A. Macdone l l , Vedic Mythology, St rassburg , 1897, p . 67 .

7 . Fo r a l l the se m yths se e sup ra , pp . 33, 35—36, 87

— 88, 93, 133.

8 . Yasna , ix. 7 .

9 . Vendidad, xx . 2— 4.

10 . Thrit a,who se nam e m eans third

,was the third m an who

prepared the haom a , acco rding t o Yasna , ix . 9 .

11 . Yasna , ix. 7 .

12 . Yasht,V . 61 .

13. This l ine, fra thwam zadanha p a iti uzukhshane zafara pa iti

uzraocayeni , we l l i l lust rat e s the extent to which m uch of the Avestain its pre sent fo rm has suffe red int erpo lat ion . It is o bvious

,from the

para l le lism with Azhi Dahaka’s spe ech, that the l ine shou ld read

S im ply fra thwam pa iti uzukhshane (“thee wi l l I besprinkle who l ly

[i . e . wi th The sam e thing o ccurs be low in the last l in e of the

t ranslat ion from Yasht,viii . 24, where the para l le l ism with dasanam

ga irinam aoj o (“st rength o f m ountains t en in num be r ” ) shows that

the wo rd naoayanam is int e rpo lat ed in the l inedasanam apam naoayanam aoj o , which shou ld read dasanam apam

aoj o (“st rength o f r ive rs t en in

14. Yasht,xix . 47

—

51 . The“Chi ld o f Wate rs is m ent ioned in

m ag icMandean inscr ipt ions as “Nb at

,the g reat p rim eva l ge rm which

the Life hath sent”

(H . Pognon ,I nscrip tions m andai tes des coupes de

Khouab i r,Paris, 1898 , pp . 63, 68 ; cf. a lso p .

15. G . HUsing (Die traditionelle Ueberlieferung und das arische

System ,p . 53) thinks that Ap ao sha m eans “

Cove re r,

” “Concea ler ”

(from apa oar) .

16 . Yasht,viii . 4— 5.



13. Yasna , ix . 22— 23. It is scarce ly nece ssary to no te that the

wo rd “Haom a ” is dissy l lab ic .

14. A. A. Macdone l l , Vedic Mythology, St rassburg , 1897, p . 111 .

15. M. Jastrow,Religion of Babylonia and Assyria , B o ston ,

1898 ,

pp . 520—21 .

16 . Bandahish,xxvii . 1 .

17 . S elections of Z at-Sparam ,ii . 5.

18 . O . Schrade r, “Aryan Re l ig ion ,in Encyclope dia of Religion

and Ethics , i i . 39, Edinbu rgh , 1910 .

19 . A. A. Macdone l l,Vedic Mythology, St rassburg , 1897, p . 88 ff.

20 . See sup ra , pp .

21. J . Darm e st et e r,Zend—Aoesta

,i . pp . lix ff .

22 . Bundahish,xvii . 1— 4.

23. J . Darm e stete r, Zend—Aoesta , i . 150 .

24. Bandahish,iii . 24 ; S elections of zat-Sparam ,

ii . 11 .

25. S elections of Z at-Sparam ,ii . 6 .

26 . Nam e ly , his sp iritua l pro to type , his supra-t e rre str ia l se lf o r

guardian sp ir it . Fo r this account of Géush Urvan see Bundahish,

iii . 17— 18 , iv . 1— 5.

27 . F . Cum ont,The Myster ies ofMithra , Chicago , 1903, p . 131 ff.

28 . See P . D . Chant ep ie de la Saussaye , Religion of the Teutons ,Bo ston ,

1902, p . 341 .

29 . Yasht,xiv . 19 .

30 . Yasht,xiv . 41 .

31 . Ma inag-i-Khro t

,lxii . 40—42 (tr . E. W. West

,in SEE xxiv .

32 . Bandahish,xix . 13.

33. S up ra , p . 272 .

34. Yasht,xix . 35.

35. Yasht,xiv. 34

—

36 .

36 . J . Darm estete r,Zend—Avesta

,i i . 57 1, no te 51 ; Shahnamah,

t r . A. G . and E. Warner,i . 246 .

37 . S hahnamah,i . 320—22 .

38 . Vendidad,i i . 42 .

39 . Bandahish,x ix . 16 .

40 . J . Darm estet e r, Ormazd et Ahr iman

,p . 189 .

41 . Vendidad,xvii . 9 .

42 . Bundahish,xix . 19 .

43. C . Ba rtho lom ae,Altiranisches IVorterbuch

,co l . 259 .

44 . J . Da rm e st ete r,in SEE xxiii . 203, no t e 4 .

45. A. A. Macdone l l,Vedic Mythology, St rassburg , 1897 , p . 152 ;

see a lso sup ra , pp . 47 , 62 .

46 . Bandahish,xix. 21— 25.

47 . Bandahish,xix. 36 .

NOTES 363

CHAPTER III1. Yasht

,xiii . 87 .

2 . Yasna,xxv i . 10 .

3. Bandahish,xxx . 7 .

4. Bandahish,xxiv . 1 .

5. Ma inag-i-Khro t

,xxv n . 14.

6 . Ma inag-i-Khrut

,xxvii . 18 ; J . Darm estete r Ormazd cl Ahriman

P I S9

7 . F . Windischm ann,Zoroastrische S tudien

,p . 2 16 .

8 . Yasht, xiii . 86 ; Yasna , lxviii . 22 ; Visparad, xxi . 2 .

9 . J . Darm estete r,Ormazd et Ahriman

,p . 159 .

10 . Se e sup ra ,p . 68 .

11 . J . Darm e stete r,Ormazd et Ahr iman

,p . 159, no te 4.

12 . F . Windischm ann,Zoroastrische S tudien

,p . 2 15.

13. The Pah lavi t ext is very unce rtain in this place .

14 . The nature o f this s in is no t c lear . It seem s,how ever, that they

were requ ired to respect a l l the creature s ofAhura Mazda .

15. This who le passage is ve ry unce rtain .

I 6 . Bundahish, xv . 1— 24 .

17 . Shahnam ah,i . 120 .

18 . F . Just i,I ranisches Namenbuch

,p . 126 .

19 . Yasht,v . 21 .

20 . The bundle of twigs which the Iranian priest ho lds in his handduring the sacrifice .

2 1 . Yasht,xv . 7 .

22 . Yasht,xix. 26 . The m et re Shows that the last wo rd o f the

second l ine , hap ta ithyam shou ld b e om itt ed , so thatit shou ld read yat khshayata pa iti ham im so that o ’

e r the earth heMazana is pro bably the m ode rn Mazandaran

,and

Varena se em s to have co rre sponded to G i lan (see L . H . G ray ,Mazan

daran,

”in Encyclope dia of Religion and Ethics , viii . 507 , Edinbu rgh ,

23. Yasht,xvii . 25.

24 . Yasht, xiii . 137 .

25. Mirkhond , History of the Ea rly Kings of Persia , t r . D . Shea,

p . 68 .

26 . S hahnamah,i . 123 ; cf. a lso L . H . Gray ,

Fest iva ls and Fastsin Encyclope dia of Religion and Ethics , v . 873

—74, Edin

bu rgh, 1912 .

27 . Shahnamah, i . 124 .

28 . J . Darm est e te r, in SEE xxiii . 252 , no te 1 .

29 . J . Da rm e st ete r, Zend—Avesta , ii . 266 , no t e 49 .

30 . J . Darm este t e r, Ormazd cl Ahriman, p . 169 .


31. xvii . 4 .

32 . J . Da rm e st et e r, Ormazd et Ahr iman,p . 167 .

33. Shahnamah,i . 127 .

CHAPTER IV

I . Shahnamah,i . 131, 133.

2 . Yasna,ix. 4

—

5.

3. Yasht,xix . 31

—32 .

4. S hahnamah,i . 134.

5. E. W . West,in SEE xlv n . p . xxix .

6 . J . Darm e st et e r,Zend—Aoesta

,ii . 18 .

7 . J . Ehn i,D

'

er vedische Mythus des Yama,St rassburg , 1890, p .

8 . S hahnamah,i . 131.

9 . Vendidad,ii . 3— 4 . The second and fourth l ine s of ve rse read

,

m o re l it e ra l ly , “to rem em be r and carry the re l ig ion .

”In the first

l ine ofAhura Mazda’s speech m2 has be en om itt ed as un

m et rica l bo th in Ave sta and in Eng l ish .

10 . Bandahish, xvii . 5— 8 . Cf. the enum e rat ion o f the fires,sup ra ,

p . 285.

11 . This l ine is unm et rica l in the o rig inal (mashyanamca sanamca

oayamca) . The second o r third wo rd (p robab ly the latt e r) apparent ly shou ld b e om itted .

12 . Goddess of the earth .

13. Vendidad, ii . 9— 11 .

14. Wo rshipfu l be ings .

15. Am ythica l land, at one t im e identified with the va l ley of the

Aras in T ranscaucasia .

16 . The r iver-goddess ; cf. sup ra , p . 278 .

17 . The de sert s (C . B artho lom ae,Altiranisches Worterbuch

, co l.

18 . In sta l ls (C . B artho lom ae,Altiranisches Wo rterbuch

,Co l.

19 . The m eaning of these t erm s is unknown . The Edito r sugge sts

that kasoish m ay m ean “dwarfishness

”

(cf. Ave sta kasu , “sm a l l

,

”

kasoika“t r ifl ing

20 . Vendidad, ii . 2 1—

31 .

2 1 . Vendidad, ii . 31—

42 .

22 . Dinkart,XII . ix. 3 (t r . E. W . West , in SEE xlv n .

23. Yasna , xxxii . 8 ; cf. J . H . Mou lton,Early Zoroastrianism ,

p . 149 ; C . Ba rtho lom ae,Altiranisches Warterbuch, co l. 1866 .

24. S ad—Dar,xc iv . (t r . T . Hyde , H istoria religionis oeterum Per

sarum ,p .

25. Yasht,xix . 33.



6 . Shahnamah,i . 162 .

7 . Shahnamah,i . 167 .

8 . V III . xii i . 9 (t r . E. W . West,in SEE xxxv u .

9 . Bandahish,xxxi . 10 .

10 . Yasht,xix . 38

—

44 (cf.

‘Yasna,ix. 11

,Yasht

,v . 38 , xv .

11 . Yasht,xi ii . 136 .

12 . Yasna,ix . 11 Yasht

,xix. 40, Pahlavi Rioayat, t r . E. W . We st

,

in SEE xviii . 374 .

13. The m et re of the o r ig ina l shows that Ke resasp a is to b e p ro

nounced Krsa-aspa .

14. S up ra , pp . 58—

59 , 944 95, 143.

I 5. The autho r is no t convinced b y the argum ents advanced b yG . Hii sing (Die traditionelle Ueberlieferung und das ar ische System ,

pp . 135—

39) to p rove that Gandarew a w as o rig ina l ly a b ird .

16 . Yasht,x ix . 41, Pahlavi Rioayat, t r . E. \V . We st

,in SEE xviii .

37517 . Heaven .

18 . Yasht,xix . 43

—

44 . The m etre of the o rig inal is no t who l lyco rrect .

19 . Yasht,xv . 28

,xix . 41 .

20 . Pahlavi Rioayat (tr . E. W . We st,in SEE xviii .

21 . E. W . West , in SEE xv iii . 378 , no t e 1 .

22 . Ma inag-i-Khrat

,xxvii . 50 .

23. Pahlavi Rioayat (t r . E. W . We st,in SEE xviii . 376

24 . Yasht,xix. 41, Vendidad, i . 9 .

25. Bandahish,xx ix . 7 .

26 . Yasht,xi ii . 6 1 .

27 . Pahlavi Rioayat (t r . E. \V . West,in SEE xviii . 373

28 . S hahnamah,i . 174 .

29 . Yasht,x iii . 131 .

30 . Bandahish,xii . 10 .

31 . Bandahish,xxxi . 2 1— 22 .

32 . APe rsian we ight ofwide ly vary ing va lue s .

33. Shahnamah,i . 291, 296

—

97 .

34 . S hahnamah,i . 320

— 22 .

35. On the sto ry o fRustam cf. G . Husing , B eitrage zur Rustamsage,Le ipzig , 1913.

36 . S hahnam ah,i i . 119

— 87 ; fo r the m otif in saga—cyc le s see M. A.

Po tt e r,S ohrab and Rustam : The Ep ic Theme of a Combat between

Father and S on,London

,1902 .

37 . Yasht,v . 41

—

43.

38 . Yasna,xi . 7 ; Yasht, ix. 18— 22

,xix. 56

—64.

39 . B ilndahish,xxxi . 2 1 ; J . Darm e stet e r, Zend—Avesta , i i . 400 .

40 . Bandahish,xxix . 5.

NOTES 367

41 . Ma inog-i-Khrat

,lxii . 31— 36 . This seem s to b e a rem in iscence

o f the m an-headed bu l ls in B aby lonian art (L. C . Casarte lli,Phi

lorophy of the Mazdayam ian Religion under the S au ania’r,

42 . J . Darm e st ete r,Zend—Aoerta

,ii . 400 .

43. Di i i hart, VII . i . 31 (t r . E. W . We st

,in SEE xlvii . 1

44. B iZna'

a/ziyh,xxxi . 24 .

45. Dinhart,V II . ii . 62— 63 (tr . E. W . We st

,in SEE xlvii . 31

46 . Shahnamah,ii . 26 .

47 . Yasht,xiii . 131 ; Afr in-i—Z arturht, 2 .

48 . Dinhart,VI I . i . 36 (t r . E. W . We st

,in SEE xlvii .

49 . Yam a,xlvi . 12 ; Yarht, v . 8 1— 83.

50 . J . Darm est et e r , Zend—Aver la , ii . 386 ; cf. the Pahlavi text as ed .

and t r . b y E. W . We st,in The B ook ofArda Viraf, B om bay , 1872 .

51 . Dinhart, IX . xxii . 4— 12 (tr . E. W . We st,in SEE xxxvii . 220

52 . A. A. Macdone l l , Vedic Mythology, St rassburg , 1897, p . 64.

53. Yasht,v . 50 .

54. Yarht,ix. 17

— 18 . Hao srav ah and Caécasta are tr isy l lab ic .

55. J . Darm est ete r,Zend—Aoeyta

,i . 154.

56 . Shahnamah,iv . 264

— 69 .

57 . Dinkart,VII . i . 40 (t r . E. W . We st

,in SEE xlvii .

58 . J . Darm est et er , Zend—Averta , ii . 66 1, no t e 29 ; see a lso supra ,

PP 149-

50

59 . Afr in—i—Z arturht, 7 .

60 . Yar'

ht,v . 54 .

6 1 . J . Darm e stet er , Zend—Aoerta , 11. 380 .

62 . C . B artho lom ae,Altiranisches Worterbueh, co l . 1459 .

63. The pro se l ine aat me tiim area'oi mi re anahite hurh(h)em parhum

raEeaya shou ld pro bab ly read,

a

'

at hurh(/e)em payhum raeeaya

aradei r i e anahite

(“So a c ro ssing dry provide thou ,

Ardv i Sura64. Yarht, v . 77

—

78 .

65. Yafht,v . 113.

66 . J . Darm e stet e r , Etude; i ran iennes , ii . 230 . The chief Pahlavisource fo r Z airiv airi, the Yathar

- i-Z ar i ran ,has b een edited b y Jam

asp j i Mino chehe rj i Jam asp-Asana (Bom bay , 1897) and t ran slated b y

Jiv anj i Jam shedj i Modi (B om bay ,

67 . Deipnorophistae , xi ii . 35 (p .

68 . J . Darm est et er , Zend-Aver la , iii . p . lxxxi i .69 . S hahnamah

,iv . 318 fi .

70 . J . Darm e st e te r,Zend—Avesta , iii . p . lxxxi ; cf. E. Rohde , Der

gr iechirche Roman,2nd ed .

,Le ipzig , 1900 , pp . 47

—

55.


71 . F . Ro senbe rg , Le Livre de Z oroastre (Z ardtushtNdma) , pp . 47

72 . Yasna,lx. 13.

73. Se e sup ra , pp . 44, 284— 85.

74 . See sup ra , pp . 327— 28 .

CHAPTER VI

1 . Cf. a l so E. J . B ecke r , A Contr ibution to the Comparative S tudyof the Medieval Vis ions ofHeaven and Hell

,Ba lt im o re

,1899 .

2 . Cf. L . H . G ray ,Marriage (Iran ian) , in Encyclope dia of

Religion and Ethics,viii . 456— 59, Edinburgh, 1916 .

3. S ee supra , pp . 283, 336 .

4 . Cf. the l ite rature c ited in the B ib liog raphy (V) , p . 402 .

CHAPTER VII

1. Aryan Re l ig ion ,in Encyclope dia of Religion and Ethics,

11. 39, Edinbu rgh , 1910 .

2 . S hahnamah,i . 308- 11 .

3. S hdhndmah,i . 378 .


INDIAN

I . ABBREVIATIONS

Anandasram a San skr it Se ries .

B ib l io theca Indica .

Jou rn a l of the Am erican Orienta l Society .

Jou rna l of the Roya l Asiat ic So ciety .

Sacred B o o ks of the East .

Wien e r Ze it schr ift fur die Kunde de s Mo rgen landes .Zeit schrift der deut schen m o rgenlandischen Gese l lschaft .

II . GENERAL WORKS

BARTH, A.

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,Essays . Revised ed . b y W . D . Whitney . 2

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72 .

COLEMAN,C .

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COOMARASWAMY ,A. K .

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EGGELING ,H . J .

,

“B rahm an ,

in Encyclope dia B ritannica , 11th ed .

,

iv . 378—

79 .

B rahm an ism ,in Encyclope dia B r itannica

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,iv .

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“Hinduism ,

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,

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'

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( iv ) Ma itrdyan i Upanisad. Ed . E. B . Cowe l l,in B I 1870 . (v)

B rhaddranyaka Upanisad . Ed . and t r . 0. BOht lingk , Le ipzig , 1889 .

(v i) Ifa'

Upan isad. Ed . AS S 1888 . (v ii) Suetdfvatara Upanisad

(at t ribut ed, though w ithout m uch reaso n,to the B lack Yaj urveda) .

Ed . AS S 1890 .

4 . At tached to the Atharuaoeda . (i) Mundaka Upan isad. Ed .

AS S 1889 . ( ii) P rafna Upanisad . Ed . and t r . O . BOht lingk, Le ipzig , 1890 . (iii) Mdndukya Upanisad . Ed . and t r . B om bay , 1895.

The re are m any o ther Upanisads , b ut they are of le ss im po rtanceand of doubtfu l age . The p rincipa l Upan isads are t ran slat ed b y F.

BIBLIOGRAPHY 375

MaxMu l le r,in SBE i (2nd cd .

,xv and b y P . Deussen

,

S echzig Upanishads des Veda , 2nd cd .

,Le ipzig , 1905 (se e a lso his

Philosophy of the Upanishads , t r . A. S . G eden,London

,1906, and

A. E. Gough, The Phi losophy of the Upanishads , London ,

(6) Ritual Literature

The m o st im po rtant source fo r m ytho logy in the ritua l l ite ratu reis furn ished b y the Grhya Sutras

,o f which tho se o f Aév alayana ,

sankha'

yana , Paraskara , Khadira, Ap astam b a , H iranyakeéin, and

Go b hila are t ran slated b y H . O ldenbe rg , in SBE xxix,xxx

The Kaus‘

ika Sutra of the Atharuaveda,the chief text on Vedic m ag ic ,

is edit ed b y M. B lo om fie ld,New Haven

,1890, and t ran slat ed in

large part b yW . Caland, Altindisches Zauberr i tual, Am st e rdam,1900 ,

who has a lso edit ed the Pitrm edha Sutra (on ance sto r-wo rship) o f

Gautam a , B audh'

ayana , and H iranyakeSin . Of the Dharma Sdstras ,o r law-bo o ks, tho se o fAp astam b a , Gautam a , Vas istha , and Baudhayana are t ran slat ed b y G . Buhle r

,in S BE ii (2nd cd .

,xiv

who has a lso t ran slated the late r Manu Sm rti , in SBE xxv

(b) General Treatises

B ERGAIGNE, A.

,La Religion ue

’

dique . 4 v o ls . Paris,1878

— 83.

B LOOMF I ELD ,M.

,The Religion of the Veda . New Yo rk

,1908 .

COLINET , P .,

“Le Sym bo lism e so laire dan s le Rig-Veda ,

”in Melanges

Charles de Harlez,pp . 86— 93. Leyden ,

1896 .

DEUS S EN ,P .

,Philosophie des Veda (Allgem eine Geschichte der Philoso

phie m i t besonderer B eriicks ichtigung der Religionen ,i, part

3rd ed . Le ipzig , 1915.

HARDY, E.

,Die vedisch-brahman ische Per iode der Religion des alten

I ndiens . Mun ste r , 1893.

HENRY , V .,La Magie dans l

’I nde antique . 2nd ed . Paris, 1909 .

HI LLEB RANDT , A.,Vedische Mythologie . 3 vo ls . B re slau

,1891

— 1902 .

HO PKIN S , E . W .,

“Heno the ism in the Rig

-Veda ,” in Class ical S tudiesin Honour of Henry Drisler

,pp . 75

— 83. New Yo rk, 1894 .

“The Ho ly Num be rs of the Rig

-Veda , in Or iental S tudies

A S election of the Pap ers Read before the Or ien tal Club of Phila

delphia , pp . 141—

59 . B o ston ,1894.

KAEG I , A.

,Der Rigveda . 2md ed . Le ipzig , 188 1 . Eng l ish t ran sla

t ion b y R . Arrow sm ith . Bo ston ,18 86 .

KUHN , A.

,Die Herabkunft des Feuers und des Gottertranks . zud ed .

Gute rs loh , 1886 .

v 1— 25


LEVI,S .

,La Doctrine du sacr ifice dans les brdhmanas . Paris

,1898 .

MACDONELL , A. A.

,Vedic Mythology . St rassburg , 1897 .

MACDONELL , A. A.

,and KEITH

,A. B .

,Vedic I ndex of Nam es and

S ubj ects . 2 vo ls . London , 1912 .

OLDENB ERG , H .,Die Religion des Veda . B e r l in

,1894.

FI SCHEL , R .

,and GELDNER

,K.

,Vedische S tudien . 3 vo ls . Stuttgart ,

1889— 1901.

ROTH,R .

,

“Die hochsten Go tte r de r arischen Vo lke r

,in Z DMG

-

v i 67—

77

SANDER , P .

,Rigoeda und Edda . Sto ckho lm

,1893.

SCHROEDER , L . V ON,I ndiens Li teratur und Ku ltur . Le ipzig , 1887 .

Mysterium und Mimus im Rigveda . Le ipzig , 1908 .

S I EG,E.

,Die S agenstofie des Rgveda . Stu ttgart , 1902 .

DE LA VALLEE POUS S IN , L .

,Le Védisme . Par is

,1909 .

Le B rahm anisme . Paris,1910 .

WEBER , A.

,

“Vedische B e itrage ,

”in S itzungsber ichte der koniglich

p reuss ischen Akadem ie der Wissenschaften , 1894— 1901.

(c) Treatises on Sp ecial Po ints

1 Co sm o logy

SCHERMAN , L .

,Philosophische Hymnen aus der Rig und Atharva

Veda-S anhita. St rassbu rg , 1887 .

WALLI S , H . F .,Cosmology of the Rigveda . London

,1887 .

2 . Dyaus

BRADKE,P . V ON,

Dydus Asura , AhuraMazdd und die Asuras . Ha l le,

1885.

HOPKIN S , E. W .

,Dyaus, V isnu ,

Varuna,and Rudra

,in P roceed

ings of the American Oriental S ociety, 1894, pp . cxlv— cxlvii .

3. Varuna

BOHNENB ERGER , K.

,Der altindische Gott Varuna . Tub ingen ,

1893.

FOY , W .

,Die kOn igliche Gewalt nach den altindischen Rechtsbuchern

,

pp . 80—86 . Le ipzig , 1895.

HI LLE B RANDT,A.

,Varuna und Mitra . B re s lau

,1877 .

OLDENB ERG , H .,

“Varuna und die Adityas,” in Z DMG 1. 43

—68



SCHRO EDER, L. VON ,B em e rkungen zu Oldenb erg

’s Re l ig ion des

Veda ,” in WZ KM ix . 233-

52

S IECKE , E.,I ndra

’s Drachenkampf (nach dem Rig-Veda) . B er l in ,

1905.

13. Adit i

COLINET, P .

,Etude sur le m o t Adit i

,inMuse

'

au,xi i . 8 1—90

H I LLEBRANDT,A.

,Ueber die Go

’

ttin Aditi . B reslau,1876 .

OPPERT,G .

,

“Uber die ved ische GOtt in Adit i ,” in Z DMG lvii .508

— 19 ( 1903)14 . Saranyfi

B LOOMF I ELD,M.

,Cont ribut ion s to the Interp retat ion of the Veda

,

in j AOS xv . 17 2— 88

15. Gandharvas

MEYER , E. H .

,Gandharuen-Kentauren . B e rl in

,1883.

SCHRO EDER, L. VON,Gr iechische GO

’

tter und Heroen,i . 23— 39 . B e r l in

,

1887 .

16 . Apsarase s

S IECKE , O .,Die Liebesgeschichte des Himm els . Strassburg , 1892 .

17 . Rb hu s

RYDER,A. W . , Die Rbhus im Rgveda . Gute rs loh

,1901 .

18 . Anim a l Wo rship

HOPKIN S,E. W .

,No t es o n Dyaus, V isnu ,

Varuna, and Rudra in

P roceedings of the Amer ican Or iental S ociety, 1894, p . c l iv .

KE ITH,A. B .

,

“Som e Mode rn Theo r ies of Re l ig ion and the Veda ,

in IRAS 1907, pp . 929—49

WINTERN ITZ , M.,Der S arpabali . V ienna

,1888 .

19 . Asu ra

MACDONELL , A. A.

, Mytho lo g ica l Studies in the Rigveda , in

j RAS 1895, pp . 168— 77 .

20 . Nam uci

B LOOMF I ELD, M., Cont ribut ion s to the Interp retat ion o f the

Veda ,” in j AOS xv . 143— 63

BIBLIOGRAPHY 379

21 Dadhikra

Dadhikra-Dadhikrav an et l’euhém érism e en exegese

v ediqu e , In Album Kern,pp

. 5— 12 . Leyden , 1903.

22 . Pi sacasCHARPENTI ER

, J ., Kleine B eitrage zu r indo iranischen Mythologie , pp .

1— 24. Upsa la,1911 .

23 Matar i sv an

CHARPENTIER, J .

, Kleine B eitrage zur indoiranischen Mythologie,pp . 69

- 83. Upsa la,1911 .

24. Brhasp at i

STRAUS S , O .

,B rhaspati im Veda . Le ipzig , 1905.

25. lVIanu

LINDNER, B .

,Die iran ische Flu tsage , in Festgruss an Rudolf oon

Roth,pp . 2 13

— 16 . Stut tgart , 1903.

MULLER, F . MAX,I ndia

,What can it teach us?

,pp . 133

—

38 . London,

1883.

WEBER, A.

,Zwe i Sagen au s dem Catap athab réhm ana uber

Einwande rung und Ve rbre i tung de r Arie r in Indien,

”in

I ndische S tudien, i . 161— 232

26 . Eschato logy

BOYER,A. M.

,Etude sur l

’O rig ine de la do ctrine du sam sara

,

in j ournal as iatique , IX . xviii . 451— 99CALAND

,W .

,Altindischer Ahnencult. Leyden ,

1893.

Die altindischen Todten und B estattungsgebrauche . Am ste r

dam,1896 .

EHNI, J .

,Der vedischeMythus des Yama . Strassbu rg , 1890 .

Die ursp rungliche Gottheit des vedischen Yama . Le ipzig ,1896 .

GELDNER,K .

,Yam a und Y am i , in Gurupuj a

'

kaumudi,Festgabe

Albrecht Weber,pp . 19

— 22 . Le ipzig , 1896 .

KE ITH,A. B .

,

“Pythago ras and the Doc t rine o f T ran sm ig rat ion ,

in

j RAS 1909, pp . 569— 606 .

S CHERMAN , L .,Mater ialien zur Geschichte der indischen Vis ions

litteratur . Le ipzig , 1892 .

WINDI SCH,E.

,B uddha

’s Geburt, pp . 57

—76 . Le ipzig , 1908 .


IV . THE EPIC

(a) Texts and Translations

(a) Mahdbhdrata

The Mahdbha'

rata has been edit ed seve ra l t im e s in India : at Cal

cutta in 1834—

39 and 1894, at Madras in 1855— 60

,at B om bay in

1863, 1888 , and 1890 . An edit ion based on the South Indian m anuscript s

,which vary g reat ly from tho se in No rthe rn India

,was pub

lished at Bom bay in 1906— 11 . The re are two com plet e Eng l ish t rans

lat ions,one m ade at the expense of Pratap a Chandra Ray , Ca lcutta,

1882— 94, and one b y M. N. Dutt,Ca lcutta

,1895

— 1904.

The Bhagavadgitd, which has been edit ed repeat edly , is t ranslat edb y K. T . Te lang in SBE v iii (2nd cd .

,1898) (togethe r with the

Anugi td and S anatsuj dtiya) , R . Garbe,Le ipzig , 1905, P . Deu ssen

and O . St rauss,in Vier philosophische Texte des Mahdbhdratam

,S a

na tsuj°

dta—P arvan—Bhagavadgitd—Moksadharma-Anugitd, Le ipzig , 1906

(the Bhagavadgi td separat e ly , Le ipzig ,

(B) Ra'

mciyana

The Rdmdyana , which exist s in thre e different recensions,has Often

been edit ed : b y G . Go rre sio,Tur in

,1843

— 67 , K . B . Parab, 3rd ed .

,

B om bay , 1909, and T . R . Kr ishnacharya and T . R . Vyasacharya ,B om bay , 1911 . It has been t ran slat ed b y R . T . H . G riffith

,B enare s

,

1895,M. N . Dutt , Ca lcutta , 1892—93, andA. Rousse l,Paris

,1903

—0 9 .

(b) Treatises

BIJHLER, G .

,I ndian S tudies

,i i . V ienna , 1892 .

DAHLMANN, J .

,Das Mahdbha

'

rata als Epos und Rechtsbuch. B e r l in,

1895.

Genes is des Mahdbhdrata . B e rl in,1899 .

Die Sdmkhya Philosophie . B e r l in,1902 .

FAUS BOLL,V .

,I ndian Mythology according to the Mahdbhdrata in

Outline . London,1902 .

FEER,L.

,

“Vrt ra et Nam uci dan s le Mahabharata

,in Revue de

l’histo ire des religions , xiv . 291

—

307

GARBE , R .

,I ndien und das Chr istentum ,

pp . 209—

71 . Tub ingen ,

1914.

HOLZ MANN,A.

,Agn i . St rassbu rg , 1878 .



v,on the l ife of Krsna, b y A. Pau l

,Kr ischnas Weltengang, Mun ich,

1905.

4 . Vciyu Purdna . Ed . Rfij endralala Mitra, in B I 1880—88,AS S

1905.

5. B ha'

gavata Purdna . Ed . B om bay , 1904, 1910 ; ed . and t r . E.

Bu rnouf,M. Hauv e t t e-B esnau lt , and P . Rousse l

, 5 vo ls .

,Par is

,

1840—

98 . Se e a lso P . Rousse l,Cosm ologie hindoue d

’ap res le B hdgavata

Pu rdna,Paris, 1898 , Le

'

gendes m orales de l’I nde

,Paris

,1900 .

6 . Ndrada (o r Ndradiya o r B rhanna'

radiya) Purdna . Ed . HrS IkeSa

Sast ri , in B I 1891 .

7 . Mdrkandeya Pura'

na . Ed . K . M. Bane rj ea, in B I 1862, Ji

b ananda V idyé ségara , Ca lcut ta , 1879 ; t r . F . E. Parg it e r , in B I1888 M. N. Dut t

, Ca lcutta, 18978 . Agni Purdna . Ed . B I 1870

—79, AS S 1900 ; t r . M. N. Dutt ,

Ca lcut ta,1903

—04 .

9 . Bhavisya Purdna . Ed . Bom bay , 1897 . (An in te rpo lat ed and

in part unt rustwo rthy t ext ; see T . Aufrecht , in Z DMG lvii . 276

84 (19031)10 . B rahmavaivarta (o r B rahmaka ivarta) Pura

'

na . Ed . Ca lcut ta,

1888 .

11 . Linga Purdna . Ed . B om bay , 1857 , Jib ananda V idyaségara ,Ca lcut ta , 1885.

I 2 . Va rdha Purdna . Ed . HrsikeSa sast ri , Ca lcut ta , 1887—9 3.

13. S kanda Purana . The o rig ina l is lo st , b ut various t ext s c laimt o b e part s of it : Sutasamhitd

,ed . AS S 1893 ; Sahyddr ikhanda , ed .

T . G . da Cunha, B om bay , 1877 ; d ikhanda , ed . B enare s,1868

,

B om bay ,188 1 .

14 . Vdmana Purdna . Ed . Calcutta,1885.

15. Kurma Purana . Ed . Ni lm ani Mukho p éidhyaya Nyéyélamké ra

,Ca lcutta , 1886—90.

16 . Matsya Purdna . Ed . Jib énanda Vidyé ségara , Ca lcu t ta, 1876,AS S 1907 .

17 . Garuda Pura'

na . Ed . Jib ananda V idyé ségara , Ca lcut ta , 1890,B om bay , 1903 ; t r . in S acred B ooks of the Hindus

,ix

,Al lahabad

,

1911 .

18 . B rahmdnda Pura'

na . No t extant as a who le ; a part , Adhydtma

rdmdyana ed . B om bay , 1891, 1907 .

Of the Upapu rdnas , o r m ino r t ext s Of this type , the Kdlikd Purdna ,which contain s an im po rtant chapt e r on the vict im s offe red to Durga,w as publ ished at B om bay in 1891 ; the S aura Purdna is edit ed inAS S 1889, and summ arized and part ial ly t ran slat ed b y W. Jahn ,

St rassbu rg , 1908 .

Much info rm at ion on the content s of the Purdnas is g iven b y H . H .

Wi lson in his t ranslat ion o f the Visnu Purdna and in his Essays on

BIBLIOGRAPHY 383

S anskr it Li terature (Works,iii . 1 b y E. Bu rnouf in the p reface

to his edit ion and t ran slat io n of the B hdgavata Purdna , b y T . Aufrecht in his Catalogus codicum mss . S anscr iticorum in B iblio

theca B odle iana , Oxfo rd , 1859, and b y J . Egge ling in his Catalogue ofthe S anskr itManuscr ip ts in the Library of the I ndia Ofi ce

,v i

,Lo ndon

,

1899 . Se e also A. Ho lzm ann,Das Mahdbhdrata

, 4 vo ls .

,Kie l

,1892

95 (e special ly v o l .

The Tan tric texts are now be ing m ade accessible b y a se rie s o f

t ranslat ion s, e tc .

,b y

“Arthu rAva lon,

”Ca lcut ta and London ,

19 13 ff.

Tho se which have thu s far appeared are as fo l low s : Ta ntra of theGrea t Liberation (Mahdnirvdnatantra) , with int roduct ion and com

m entary ; Hymns to the Goddess (Tantrdbhidhdna) , San skrit t ext and

Eng lish t ranslat ion ; S atcakran irupana , San skrit t ext and Eng l isht ran slat ion ; P r inciples of Tantra , part 1, The Tantrata ttva of Sr iyuktaS iva Chandra Vidydrnava B hatta

’

chdrya ll/Iahodaya ,w ith int roduct ion

and comm entary ; P rapa r’

icasdra Tantra , ed . Tarénatha V idyaratna ;

Kulacu'

ddmani Tantra,

ed . G iriSa Candra Vedantat i rtha . The set exts a re int ended to b ring out the phi lo so phic m ean ing of the be l iefin the fem a le p rincip le as the Sup rem e B e ing .

VI . BUDDHISM


Of the text s o f the Southe rn canon , pre se rved in Pal i and at the

pre sent t im e cu rrent in Cey lon ,the m o st im po rtant fo r m ytho logy

is the sixt e enth S utta of the Digha Nikdya , the Mahdpa rin ibbdnasutta ,

t r . T . W . Rhys Dav ids, Dialogues of the B uddha , Lo ndo n ,19 10, K. E.

Neum ann ,Die letzten Tage Gotama B uddho

’s,Mun ich , 19 11 . The

tale s of the j dtakas pe rtain to fo lklo re rathe r than mytho logy pro pe r .

Of wo rks which , while be longing frankly to the Hinayana , showa t endency to the do ct rine s o f the Mahayana the chief is the Mahd

vastu ,ed . E. Senart , 3 vo ls .

,Paris, 1882—97 .

Of tho se o fMahayanist ic t endency the m o st no table a re : Lalita

v istara , ed . S . Lefm ann ,2 vo ls .

,Ha l le , 1902

—08 ; t r . P . E. Foucaux,

in Annales du Muse'

e Ou imet,v i

,xix (Paris , 1884

—

94 ; this m ay

o rig inal ly have be en a Hinayana t ext ) ; B uddhaca r ita b y ASv aghOsa ,

ed . E. B . Cowe l l , Oxfo rd , 1893 ; t r . E. B . Cowe l l , in SBE xlix ( 1894)( it dat e s pe rhaps from abo ut 100 A . S aunda rdnanda Kdvya b y

ASv aghosa , ed . Harap ras'

ada S'

ast ri , in B] 19 10 ; Sutra'

lamkara b y

Aév aghosa , ofwhich o n ly a Chine se t ran slat ion exist s, t r . E. Hube r,Paris, 1908 ; Mahdydnas

‘

raddhotpdda b y an autho r who se ident ity isunce rtain ,

t r . from Chine se b y T e itaro Suzu ki , Afvaghosha’s Discou rse

on the Awakening of Fa ith in the Maha'

ydna , Chicago ,1900 ; j a

'

taka


mci la b y Aryasfi ra (of the scho o l o f ASv aghosa) , ed . H . Kern,

Cam b ridge , Mass .

,1891 ; tr . J . S . Speye r, London ,

1895; Avada'

nafa

taka,ed . J . S . Speye r , Pet rog rad, 1902—09 ; t r . L . Fe e r

,in Annales du

Musée Gu imet,xviii (Paris , Divydvaddna , ed . E. B . Cowe l l

and R . A. Ne i l,Cam b ridge , 1886 (in the m ain Hinayana of the second

o r third century A .

The fo l lowing Sutras are st rict ly Mahayén ist ic : S addharm apun

darika,ed . H . Ke rn and Bunyiu Nanj io , Pe t ro grad, 1908 ff. ; t r .

H . Ke rn,in SBE xxi Kdrandavyuha , p ro se ve rsion ed .

Satyav rat a sam aéram i,Ca lcutta

,1873 ; S ukhdvativyuha , ed . F . Max

Mul le r and Bunyiu Nanj io , Oxfo rd, 1883; t r . F . Max Mii lle r,in

SBE xl ix Am itdyurdhydnasutra , t r . from Chinese b y J .

Takakusu,in SBE xl ix Lankdvatdra

,ed . Ca lcutta

,1900 ;

Rds trapa’

lap raip rcchd, ed . L . Fino t,Pet rog rad, 1901 .

Of the Buddhist Tantr ic l it e rature the Pancakrama is edit ed b yL. de la Val lée Pou ssin ,

Etudes et textes tantr iques , Ghent and Louvain ,

1896 ; B odhicarydvatdra b y S i nt idev a,t r . L . de la Va l lée Poussin

,

Par is,1907 .

(b) I ndian B uddhism

BURNOUF , E.

,I ntroduction d l

’histoire du bouddhisme indien . 2nd ed .

Paris,1876 .

COPLE STON , R . S .

,B uddhism

,Pr im itive and P resent

,in Magadha and

Ceylon . 2nd ed . London,1908 .

DAHLMANN, J .

,Nirvdna . B e rl in

,1896 .

B uddha . B e rl in,1898 .

I ndische Fahrten . Fre ibu rg , 1908 .

Die Thomas-Legende . Fre ibu rg , 1912 .

EKLUND, J . A.

,Nirvana . Up sa la , 1900 .

FOUCHER,A.

,Etude sur l

’iconographie b ouddhique de l

’I nde . 2 vo ls .

Paris,1900

—0 5.

L’Art gre

'

co—bouddhique du Gandhdra . Paris,1905.

The B eginnings of B uddhist Art and other Essays in I ndian

Archaeology . London,1915.

GETTY , A.

,The Gods of Northern B uddhism . Oxfo rd

,1914 .

GOGERLY ,D . J .

,Ceylon B uddhism . New ed . Co lom bo

,1908 .

GRU’NW EDEL,A.

,B uddhis tische Kunst in I ndien . 2nd ed . B er l in

,

1900 ; Eng lish t ranslat ion , with addit ions , b y T . Burge ss andMrs .

G ibson . London ,1901 .

HACKMANN , H .

,B uddhism as a Religion . London

,1910 .

HARDY , E.

,Der B uddhismus . Mun ste r

,1890 .

HARDY , R . S .

,Manual of B uddhism . zud ed . London , 1880.



RHYS DAVID S , T . W .,Lamaism ,

in Encyclope dia B ritannica , 11th

ed .,xv i . 96

—100 .

ROCKH I LL, W . W .,The Land of the Lamas . London

,1891 .

SCH LAG INTW EIT , E.

,B uddhism in Thibet. Le ipzig and London

, 1863.

WADDELL, L. A.,The B uddhism of Thibet. London

,1895.

(d) B uddhism ,Hinduism

,and Christianity

AIKEN , C . F The Dhamma of Gotama the B uddha and the Gospel ofj esus the Chr ist. B o ston ,

1900 .

CLEMEN , C .

,Religionsgeschichtliche Erklarung des Neuen Testaments .

G iessen ,1909 .

EDMUND S,A. J .

,B uddhist and Christian Gospels . 4th ed . b y M.

Ane saki . 2 vo ls . Phi lade lphia, 1908—09 .

FABER,G .

,B uddhistische und Neutes tamentliche Erza

'

hlungen . Leipzig , 1913.

GARBE , R .

,I ndien und das Christentum . Tub ingen , 1914.

GRAY,L. H .

,

“B rahm an ist ic Para l le l s in the Apo cryphal New

T estam ent,

in Amer ican j ournal of Theology, v ii . 308— 13

HASE , K. VON,Neutestamentliche Parallelen zu buddhistischen Quellen .

Ber l in,1905.

HOPKIN S , E. W .

,I ndia Old and New . New Yo rk

,1902 .

KUHN,E.

,

“Buddhist ische s in den apo kryphen Evange l ien ,

inGurupuj a

'

kaumudi,Festgabe Albrecht Weber

,pp . 116—19 .

Le ipzig , 1896 .

PFLEIDERER , 0 ,Die Entstehung des Christentums . 2nd ed . Mun ich,

1907 .

SEYDEL,R

,

Das Evangelium von j esu in seinen Verha'

ltnissen zu

B uddha-Sage und B uddha-Lehre . Le ipzig , 1882 .

Die B uddha-Legende und das Leben j esu nach den Evangelien .

2nd ed . We im ar,1897 .

SODERB LOM ,N.

,

“The Place o f the Christ ian Trin ity and of the

Buddhist T r iratna am ong st Ho ly T riads,

” in Transactions of theThird I nternational Congress for the History of Religions, p p .

391—410 (London ,

DE LA VALLEE POUS S IN , L .

,

“L’Histo ire de s re lig ions de l

’Inde et

l’ap o logét ique ,

”In Revue des sciences philosophiques et theolo

gigues , v i . 490—526

VAN DEN B ERGH VAN EY S INGA,A.

,I ndische Einflusse auf evangelische

Erza'

hlungen . 2nd ed . GOtt ingen ,1909 .

BIBLIOGRAPHY 387 ,

WEBER , A., Uber Krshna

’s Geburtsfest

,Krshnaj anma

'

shtam i . B e rl in,

1868 .

WECKER, O ., Christus und B uddha . 3rd ed . l\/Iunst er

,1910 .

VII . JAINISM


The sacred t ext s of the Jains have been pub l ished in Indian edi

t ions, usua l ly with San skr it comm entaries and v e rnacu lar explanat ions . The fo l lowing have been edit ed o r t ranslat ed in Eu ro pe , be ingc lassed e ithe r as Angas o r Updngas .

' Ni raya'

valiydsuttam ,een Upanga

der j a ina’s,ed . S . J . Warren

,Am st erdam

,1879 ; Acdrdnga S iZtra , ed .

H . Jacob i , London ,1882 ; t r . H . Jaco b i

,in SBE xxi i Ut

tarddhyayana Sutra, ed . Ca lcut ta,1879 ; t r . H . Jaco b i

,in SBE xlv

Sutrakrtdnga S ii tra , ed . B om bay , 1880 ; t r . H . Jaco b i , inSBE xlv Updsakadafd Sutra , ed . and t r . A. F . R . Ho e rn le

,

in B I 1888—90 ; Aupapdtika S ti tra , ed . E. Leum ann,Le ipzig , 1883 ;

Dafavaikdlika Sutra,

ed . E. Leum ann,in Z DMG xl v i . 58 1— 613

Antakrtadas’

d Sutra and Anuttaraupapdtika Sutra ,ed . Cal

cutta,1875; t r . L . D . Barnett

,London ,

1907 .

Of the m any lat er canon ica l and non-canonical t ext s b y far them o st im po rtant is the Kalpasutra b y Bhadrab

’

ahu ,ed . H . Jaco b i ,

Le ipzig , 1879 ; tr . H . Jacob i,in SBE xxii Jaco b i has a lso

edit ed and t ranslated the fo l lowing : Bhaktdnzarastotra and Ka lydna

m andirastotra,in I ndische S tudien ,

xiv . 359—9 1 Ca turvim

fatij inastuti , in Z DMG xxxii . 509—34 S thav ira’

valicar ita o r

Par isistaparvan b y Hem acandra , in B I 189 1, Tattva’

rtha’

dhigama Sutra

b y Um asv at i, in Z DMG lx . 287—

325, 512—

51 Othe r no te

wo rthy t exts a re Rsabhapa ii cds'

ikci b y Dhanapala , ed . and t r . J .

Klat t,in Z DMG xxxiii . 445— 83 Yogas

’

a

'

stra b y Hem acandra,

ed . and t r . E. Windisch , in Z DMG xxviii . 185— 262

,678

—79

Sryddifvaracar ita b y Hem acandra , ed . Narm adaSafikaraSarm an,

B om bay ,1905; P rabandhacintdmani b y Me rutunga , tr . C . H . Taw

m y , in B I 1899 ; Ka thdkofa , t r . C . H . T awn ey ,London ,

1895;

Kalpasutra , ed . and t r . W . Schub ring , Le ipzig , 1905; j ivav icdra

b y Sant isfi ri, ed . and t r . A. Guerino t , in j ournal as ia tique , IX . XIX.

231— 88

(b) Treatises

BHANDARKAR ,R . G .

,Rep ort on the S earch for S anskrit Manuscripts

in the B ombay P res idency for the Yea r 1883—4. Bom bay , 18 87 .

B ii HLER ,G .

,Ueber die indische S ecte der j a ina . V ienna , 18 87.


BURGE S S, J .

,No te on Jaina Mytho logy , in I ndian Antiquary,

xxx . 27— 28

“Digam bara Jaina Iconog raphy , in I ndian Antiquary,

xxxii . 459— 64“ Jain a Mytho logy , in his t ranslat ion of G . Buhler

, On the

I ndian S ect of the j a ins . London,1903.

FEER,L .

,

“Nataputta et le s Niganthas,” in j ournal asiatique, VIII .

xi i . 209—

52

GUERINOT,A.

,

“La Do ct rin e de s ét re s vivant s dans la re l ig ion jaina ,

in Revue de l’histoire des religions , xlvii . 34— 50Essai de b ibliographie j a ina . Paris

,1906 .

Repertoire d’ep igraphie j a ina , p recede d

’une esqu isse de l

’kis

to ire du j a inisme d’ap res les inscrip tions . Paris

,1908 .

HOERNLE,A. F . R .

,

“ Jain ism and Buddhism,in Proceedings of the

As iatic S ociety of B engal, 1898 , pp . 39—

55.

JACOB I,H .

,

“Uebe r die Ent stehung de r Cv etam b ara und Digam baraSekten

,in Z DMG xxxviii . 1— 42 xl . 92—98

“D ie Jain a Leg ende v on dem Unte rgange Dv arav at i

’s und

v on dem Tode Krishna’s,” in Z DMG xl i i . 493— 529 ( 1888)“Uebe r den Jain ism u s und die Ve rehrung Krischna s

,in

B er ichte des VI I internationalen Or ientalis ten-Congresses , pp .

75—77 (V ienna,

JAINI , J .

,Outlines of j a in ism . Cam b ridge , 1916 .

JHAV ER I , J . L.

,F irst Pr incip les of j aina Phi losophy. Bom bay ,

1912 .

KARB HARI,B . P .

,The fain Philosophy collected and edited . Bom bay ,

1912 .

LEUMANN,E.

,Die a lten B e richte v on den Schism en der Jaina,

in I ndische S tudien,xv . 91

— 135

Die Avafyaka-Erza'

hlungen . Leipzig , 1897 .

MI LLOUE,L. DE

,Essa i sur la religion des j a ins . Louvain ,

1884.

“Etude su r le mythe de VriSab ha ,”in Annales du Musée

Gu imet,x . 413

—

43

MIRONOW ,N.

,Die Dharmapar iksa des Am i tagati . Le ipzig , 1903.

PULLE,F . L.

,

“La Cartog rafia ant ica de l l

’ India,

” part 1,in S tudi

italiani di filologia indo-iranica , iv . 14—41

STEVEN SON,MR S . S INCLAIR

,Notes on Modern j a inism . Oxfo rd,

1910 .

The Heart of j a inism . Oxfo rd, 1915WARREN , S . J .

,Over die godsdienstige en w i j sgeerige begrippen der

j a inas . Am sterdam,1875.



GROW SE , S . F .,Mathura

,a Distr ictMemo ir . Al lahabad

,1885.

IB B ETSON,D . C . J .

,Panj ab Ethnography . Ca lcut ta

,1883.

JACKSON,A. M. T .

,and ENTHOVEN

,R . E.

,Folklore Notes

,i

(Gujarat) . B om bay , 1914 .

KITTEL,F .

,Ueber den Ursp rung des Lingakultus in I ndien . Manga

lo re,1876 .

KNOW LE S, J . H .

,Folk-Tales ofKashm ir . 2nd ed . London

,1893.

LEVI,S .

,Le Nepal, i . Paris

,1905.

NI CCULLOCH ,W .

,B engali Household Ta les . London

,1912 .

NATESA SASTRI, Folklore of S outhern I ndia . 3 part s . B om bay ,1884

— 88 .

PARKER,H .

,Vi llage Folk

-Tales of Ceylon . 3 vo ls . London,1910

— 14.

RALSTON,W . R . S .

,Tibetan Tales . Lo ndon

,1906 .

RI SLEY, H . H .

,Tr ibes and Castes of B engal . Ca lcutta , 1891 .

The Peop le of I ndia . 2 vo ls . 2nd ed . Lo ndon,1915.

RIVERS,W . H . R .

,The Todas . London

,1906 .

RUS SELL,R . V .

,The Tr ibes and Castes of the Central Provinces of

I ndia . 4 vo ls . London,1916 .

SHERR ING ,M. A.

,The S acred City of the H indus . London

,1868 .

Hindu Tr ibes and Castes . 3 vo ls . Ca lcutt a,1872

— 8 1 .

SLEEMAN , W . H .

,Ramb les and Recollections of an I ndian Ofi cial.

London,1893.

SRIN IVA S AIYANGAR ,NL

,Tam i l S tudies . Madras

,1914.

SW YNNERTON,C .

,I ndian Nights

’Enterta inm ent. London

,1892 .

Romantic Tales from the Panjab . We stm inste r,1903.

TEMPLE , R . C .

,Panj ab Notes and Queries . 4 vo ls . Al lahabad

,

1883— 86 .

Wide-Awake S tories . Bom bay , 1884 .

Legends of the Panj db . 3 v o ls . B om bay , 1884— 1900 .

THURSTON,E.

,Omens and S up erstitions of S outhern I ndia . London ,

1912 .

THUR STON, E.

,and RANGACHARI , K .

,Castes and Tr i bes of S outhern

I ndia . 7 v o ls . Madras,1909 .

TOD, J .

,Annals and Antiqu ities of Raj as than . Rev . ed . with preface

b y D . S laden . 2 vo ls . London,1914.

WH ITEHEAD,H .

,The Vi llage Gods of S outh I ndia . London

,1916 .

WILKIN S,W . J .

,Modern Hindu ism . 2nd ed . London ,

1900 .

ZIEGENBALG,B .

,Genealogy of the S outh I ndian Gods . Eng l ish t r.

Madras,1869 .

BIBLIOGRAPHY 39 1

Va luab le info rm at ion as to Hindu re l ig ion and mytho logy is g ivenin the fragm ent s of the Gre ek em bassado r to India

,Megasthene s

(ear ly part of the third century B . t ranslated b y J .W . McCrindle,

Ancient I ndia as Descr ibed by Megasthenes andArrian,London

,1877 .

St i l l m o re im po rtance attache s to the writ ing s of the Chine se Buddhist p i lg rim s Fa Hien and Sung Yun (400 and 518 A . D . re spect ive ly) ,tran s lated b y S . B ea l , London ,

1869 (Fa Hien a lso b y J . Legge ,Oxfo rd, Hsii an T sang (629— 45 t ranslated b y S . B eal

,

new ed .,London, 1906, and b y T . Watte rs

,2 vo ls .

,London

,1904

—06,

and I T sing (67 1— 95 t ranslated b y E. Chavanne s,Paris

,1894,

and J . T akakusu,Oxfo rd, 1897 . The account of India b y al-B irfini

(about 1030 t ranslated b y E. Sachau,n ew ed .

, London ,1906,

contains m uch on m ytho logy, as do e s the Pe rsian Dabistcin,written

in the sevent eenth century (t r . D . Shea and A. T roye r, Paris, 1843,ii . 1 Som e inc identa l m ate ria l m ay b e g leaned from the o ld t rave l lers in India , such as Pietro de l la Val le (early sevent eenth century ;

ed . E. Grey , 2 vo ls .,London

,and from the earl ie r m issionary

m at e ria l , no tably A. Roge r, Open-Deure tot het verborgen Heydendom ,

Leyden , 1651 (new ed . b y W . Caland,The Hague , 1915; French t r .

Am ste rdam ,1670 ; Ge rm an t r . Nu rem be rg , and an anonym ous

Rom an Catho l ic Po rtuguese m issio nary of the early seventeenth century part ly t ran slat ed b y L. C . Casart elli

,in B abylonian and Oriental

Record, viii . 248—59, 265

—

70, ix. 41—

46 , 63—67 ( 1900—01) and An

thropos , i . 864—76, ii . 128— 32 , 275— 8 1, iii . 77 1— 72 ( 1906— 08) (the autho r

is be l ieved b y H . Ho sten ,inAnthrop os , ii . 272— 74 to have been

Fr . Francis Neg rone) . Fo r the p rob lem of the re lat ions betweenIndia and the G reeks se e A. Weber

,

“Die G riechen in Indien ,

”in

S itzungsberichte der ko'

niglich p reuss ischen Akadem ie der Wissen

schaften ,1890, pp . 901

—33 ; G . d

’Alv ie lla , Ce que l’Inde doit d la

Grece , Paris, 1897 ; S . Levi , Quid de Gre cis veterum I ndorum monu

m enta tradiderint, Paris , 1890 , H . G . Rawl inson ,I ntercourse between

I ndia and the Western World from the Earliest Times to the Fall ofRome

,Cam b ridge, 1916 . Refe rence m ay a lso b e m ade to M. Re inaud,

Me'

moire géographique, historique et scientifique sur l’I nde d

’apres

les e'

crivains arabes , persans et chinois , Paris, 1849 .

IX . PRINCIPAL ARTICLES ON INDIAN RELIGION IN

THE ENCYCLOPE DIA OF RELIGION AND ETHICS

(VO LS . I— VI I I)

ALLAN , J .

,Maya, viii . 503—05.

ANDERSON , J . D“Assam ,

”ii . 131

—38 .

ANE SAK I , M.

,Do cet ism (Buddhist) , iv . 835

—

40 .

v 1— 26


B LOOMF IELD,M.

, Literature (Vedic and Classica l Sanskrit) ,viii . 106— 13.

BOLLING , G . M.,Divinat ion (Vedi c ) , iv . 827

—30.

“Dream s and S leep v . 38

—40.

CROOKE , W . ,

“Agho ri ,” i . 210—13.

“Ahir, i . 232—34.

B aiga,” ii . 333.

B anjara,” ii . 347—48 .

B engal ,” ii . 479—501 .

Bhang i , ii . 551—53.

Bhi ls,

”11. 554

—

56 .

Bom bay , ii . 786—9 1.

Death and Di spo sa l of the Dead (Indian, non-Aryan) ,iv . 479

— 84.

Dem ons and Sp irits (Indian) , iv . 601—08 .

Do sfidh, Dusadh,

”iv . 852

-

53.

Dravidians (No rth India) , v . 1—21 .

Gangé , Gange s , v i . 177—

79 .

Gurkha, Go rkhé ,”v i . 456

—57 .

Hinduism ,

”v i . 686—7 15.

Im ages and Ido l s (Indian) , v ii . 142—46 .

Kandh, Khond v ii . 648—

51 .

DEUS S EN,P .

, Atm an ,ii . 195—97 .

FRAZ ER R . W .

,

“Dravidian s (South India) , v . 21— 28 .

Literature viii . 91—92 .

GARBE , R .,

“Bhagav ad

-Gita,”ii . 535

—

38 .

G EDEN , A. S .

,Buddha

,Life of the

,ii . 88 1— 85.

“Dev ayana , iv . 677

—79 .

Fate (Buddhist) v . 780—82 .

God (Buddhist) , v i . 269—72 .

God v i . 282—90 .

Im age s and Ido ls (Buddhist) , V II . 119—27 .

Insp irat ion Vii . 352—54.

GRI ERSON , S IR G A.

,

“Bhakt i-Mérga , ii . 539

—51.

“Dards

,iv . 399

—

402 .

Ganap atyas , v i . 175 76 .

GURDON , P . R . T“Ahom s

,i . 234—37 .

“Khésis,

V l l . 690—92.



DE LA VALLEE iPOUS S IN,L.

,B lest , Abode of the (Buddhist) , 11.

687— 89 .

B odhisattva , 11. 739—53.

Co sm ogony and Co sm o logy (Buddhist) , iv . 129—38 .

Death and D ispo sa l o f the Dead (Buddhist) , iv . 446—49 .

Incarnat ion v ii . 186—88 .

Karm a,

”V l l . 673

—

76

Mag ic (Buddhist) , viii . 255—57 .

Mahayana , viii . 330—

36 .

MafijuSri ,” viii . 405—06 .

Mara,” viii . 406—07 .

WADDELL , L . A.

,

“Death and Dispo sa l of the Dead (T ibetan) ,

lV . 509— 11 .

Dem on s and Sp irits (Buddhis t) , iv . 571—72 .

Dem ons and Sp irits iv . 635—36 .

Divinat ion iv . 786- 87 .

Fest iva ls and Fast s v . 892—94.

Jewe l v ii . 553—

57 .

Lam aism v ii . 784— 89 .

W INTERNITz, M., Jétaka , v ii . 491

—94.

IRANIAN

I . TEXTS AND TRANSLATIONS

1 . Avesta . Ed . N. L . Westergaard, Co penhagen ,1852

—54, F.

Sp iege l (incom p lete) , 2 vo ls .

, V ienna , 1853— 58 , K . F . Geldner, 3 vo ls . ,

Stuttgart , 1885—9 6 ; the -Ga

'

thds on ly ed . and t r . M. Haug , 2 vo ls .,

Le ipzig , 1858— 60

,L. H . l\/l ills

, Oxfo rd, 1892—94 ; t r . Anquet il du

Perron , 2 vo ls .

,Par is

,177 1, F . Sp iege l , 3 vo ls .

,Le ipzig , 1852

—63

(Eng l ish tr . b y A. B leeck, 3 vo ls .

,He rtfo rd

, C . de Harlez,2nd

cd .,Paris

,188 1

, J . Darm estete r and L. H . Mi l ls,in SBE iv (2nd ed .

,

xxiii,xxxi J . Darm esteter, 3 vo ls .

,Paris

,1892

—9 3, F .

Wo lff,St rassburg , 19 10 ; the Gdthds on ly t r . L. H . Mi l ls

,! Oxfo rd,

1900, C . Bartho lom ae,Strassburg , 1904.

2 . Pa'

hlav i . (i) Artd-i—Virdf. Ed . and tr . E. W . West andM. Haug ,Bom bay, 1872 ; ed . K . J . Jam aSp Asa , B om bay, 1902 ; tr . A. Bar

thelemy , Par is, 1887 . ( ii) B ahman Yasht. Ed . K. A. No she rwfin ,

B om bay, 1899 ; tr . E. W . We st,in SBE v . 191

— 235 ( iii)B i a ahish. Ed . and tr . F . Just i

,Le ipzig , 1868 ; t r . E. W . West , in

SBE v . 3— 151 (iv) Dinkart. Ed . and t r . P . B . and D . P.

Sanjama, B om bay , 1874 ff. ; ed . D . M. Madan ,2 vo ls .

,B om bay, 19 11 ;

tr . (part ia l) E. W . West,in SBE xxxvii, xlvii . 1— 130 ( 1892

(v) Great Bundahish. Ed . T . D . Anklesar ia , B om bay , 1908 . (v i)Guj astak-i—Abdlish. Ed . and t r . A. Barthe lemy , Paris, 1887 ; t r .

I . Pizzi , in B essar ione, II . iii . 299—307 (v ii) Ma inOg

-i-Khrat.

Ed . and t r . E. W . We st,Stuttgart and London , 187 1 ; ed . D . P .

Sanj ana , Bom bay ,1895; t r . E. W . We st

,in S BE xx iv . 3

— 113

(viii) S elections of Z dt-Sparam . Tr . E. W . West , in SBE v . 155— 87 ,

xlvii . 133— 70 ( 1880 ( ix) YOsht-i—Frydné . Ed . and t r . E. W . We st ,

in The B ook ofArda Viraf, pp . 207— 66

,Bom bay , 1872 ; t r . A. B ar

the lem y , Paris, 1889 .

3. P ers ian and Arab ic . ( i) Dab istdn . Tr . D . Shea and A. Troye r,

3vo ls . , Par is, 1843 (on ly v o l . i re levant here) . ( ii) Firdaus i , Sha

'

hud

m ah. Ed . T . Macan , 4 vo ls .

, Ca lcutta , 1829 ; ed . and t r . J . Mohl ,7 vo ls . , Paris, 1838—78 (t rans lat ion separate ly , 7 v o ls .

,Paris

,1876

ed . J . A. Vullers and S . Laudaue r , 3 vo ls .,Leyden, 1877

— 84 ( incom a

p let e) ; t r . I . Pizzi , 8 vo ls .

,Turin ,

1886— 88 , A. G . and E. Warne r,

Fo r the abb reviat ions see tho se g iven in the Indian B ibl iograp hy, supra, p . 371.


London, 1905 if. ( iii) Mas‘ildi , Les P ra ir ies d

’or . Ed . and tr . C .

B arb ie r de Meynard and Pav et de Courte ille, 9 vo l s .

,Par is

,1861—77 .

( iv ) Mirkhond, H istory of the Early Kings of P ers ia . Tr . D . Shea,London

,1832 . (v ) Mohl , J .

,Fragmens relatifs d la religion de Zoro

astre , Paris , 1829 (Germ an tr . b y J . A. Vu llers,B onn , (v i)

S hahristdn i , Kitci b a l-Mi lal w’al—Nihal . Ed . W . Cureton ,

London,

1846 ; t r . T . Haarb r ii cke r, 2 vo ls .

,Ha l le

,1850

—

51 . (v ii) Tabar i ,Chronique sur la vers ion p ersane de B el

‘am i . Ed . and t r . H .

Z o t enb erg , 4 vo ls .

,Par is

,1867

—74 (se e a lso T . NOldeke

,Geschichte

der P erser und Araber zur Zeit der S asaniden aus der a rabischen

Chronik des Tabar i,Leyden , (viii) Tha‘dlib i , H istoire des

rois de P erse . Ed . and t r . H . Z o tenb e rg , Par is , 1900 . ( ix) Ulamd-iI slcim . Ed . J . Moh l

,Fragmens relatifs d la religion de Z oroastre , pp .

1— 10,Par is

,1829 ; t r . J . A. Vu lle rs, Fragmente ueber die Religion des

Zoroaster , pp . 43— 67, Bonn ,

1831, E . B lochet , in Revue de l’histoire des

religions , xxxvii . 23—

49 (x) Z ardtushtndmah. Ed . and tr .

F . Rosenberg , Petrograd, 1904.

II . NON— IRANIAN SOURCES

EZ NIK OF KOLB , Aga inst the S ects . T r . J . M. Schm id . Vienna , 1900 .

G ELZ ER,H .

,

“Ezn ik und die Entwick lung des persischen Rel ig ions

system s , in Zeitschrift fu'

r a rmenische Philologie , i . 149—63

( 1903)GOTTHEI L, R . J . H .

,Refe rences to Zo ro ast e r in Syriac and Arab ic

Literature ,” in Class ical S tudies in Honour ofHenry Drisler,pp .

24—

51 . New Yo rk, 1894 .

GRAY, L . H .,

“ Zo roastr ian Mate ria l in the Acta Sancto rum ,

in j ournal of the Manchester Egyp tian and Oriental S ociety,1913

— 14> PP ° 37—

55

HOF FMANN , G .

,Ausziige aus syrischen Akten p ers ischer Martyrer .

Le ipzig , 1880 .

KLEUKER, J . F .

,Zend-Avesta

,Appendix

,v o l . ii

,part 3. Le ipzig and

Riga , 1783

NOLDEKE,T .

,Syrische Po lem ik gegen die persische Re l ig ion ,

Festgruss an Rudolf von Roth, pp . 34—

38 . Stuttgart , 1893.

RAPP,A.

,

“Die Re l ig ion und S it te de r Pe rser und iib rigen Iran i er

nach den g riechischen und rOm ischen Que l len ,

”in Z DMG xix .

1— 89, xx . 49— 204 ( 1865 Eng l ish t ranslat ion b y K . R . Cam a ,

2 vo ls . Bom bay , 1876—79 .

SODERBLOM ,N.

,

“Theo p om p us and the Ave stanAge s of the Wo r ld,

in Dastur Hoshang Memor ial Volume,pp . 228—30 . No t ye t

pub l ished .



GORVALA, R . F .,The Imm o rta l Sou l : Its Pre-Existence, Persist ence

after Death and Transm ig rat ion , in Sp iegel Memorial Volume,pp . 99

- 124 . Bom bay , 1908 .

HARLEz, C . DE,Les Orig ine s du zo roast rism e, in j ournal asiatique ,

VII . x i . 101- 34, xii . 117- 76, x iii . 241- 90, xiv . 89— 140 ( 1878

HAUG , M.

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