Bhraja - Danda - Dictionary Illustrative of the Mythology, Philosop...
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Full text of "Supplement to a Classical dictionary of India: illustrative of the mythology, philosophy, literature, antiquities, arts, manners, customs &c. of the Hindus"
Bhraja:(sáns. hindú). The name of one of the seven suns into which the seven solar rays dilate at the consummation of all things when their radiance is to set the three worlds and Patila on fire.
Bhrajiras:(sáns. hindú). One of the five classes of demi-gods on the fourteenth Manwantara.
Bhrami:(sáns. hindú). (Revolving.) The daughter of Sisumara (the sphere) wife of Dhruva, according to the Bhagavata, which converts the family of Dhruva into personifications of divisions of time and of day and night.
Bhrigu:(sáns. hindú). A Prajapati, or Rishi, chief of the Maharshis (see Bishi,) Also one of the ten Prajapatis, sons of Brahma and progenitors of mankind, and teacher of the Dhanurveda, or science of war, one of the Upavedas. As such he belongs to the Vedic period. In the Puranic period he is called the husband of Khyati, or fame, the daughter of Daksha, by Prastiti. - Vishnu Purana pp. 49, 284. In Muir's Original Sanscrit Texts there are many incidents related of Bhrigu which illustrate the celebrity he had attained and the great influence he had acquired. When king Nahusha tyrannised over the brahmans and compelled even the Rishis to carry him from place to place, it once came Agastya's turn to perform the servile office. Bhrigu then said to Agastya " Why do wo submit to the insults of this king of the gods ?'*
Agastya answered that none of the Rishis had ventured to curse Nahusha because he had obtained the power of subduing to his service every one upon whom he fixed his eyes; and that he had nectar for his beverage. However Agastya said he was prepared to do anything that Bhrigu might suggest. Bhrigu said he had been sent by Brahma to take vengeance on Nahusha, who was that day about to attach Agastya to his car, and would spurn him with his foot; and that he (Bhrigu) incensed at this insult, would by a curse condemn Nahusha to become a serpent. All this accordingly happened. Bhrigu however on Nahusha's solicitation, and the intercession of Agastya, placed a period to the effects of the curse, which Yudhishthira was to be the instrument of terminating. Vol. 1, p, 315.
Bhrihaspati:(sáns. hindú). See Vrihaspati. This is not only the name of the purohita of the gods, but is also used in the ancient Sanscrit hymns as the name of the One Eternal.
Bhurishena:(sáns. hindú). The third son of the holy sage Chyavdna, according to the Bhagavata; the V. P. only mentions one son Anartta.
Bhudevi:(sáns. hindú). A name of the earth, and fabled to be married to Prithu; the first king who taught the mode of cultivating the ground. Hence the earth is named PrWhivL One of the Puranas was delivered to JBhu-devi, by Vishnu, as Vardha Swami. Bhudevi, or Bhumi-devi, is the secondary wife of Vishnu.
Bhumimitra:(sáns. hindú). A Kanwa prince, whose father Devabhuti, the last Sunga king, was murdered by his minister.
Bhuri:(sáns. hindú). A son of Somadatta, one of the descendants of Kuru.
Bhurloka:(sáns. hindú). The sphere of the earth comprehending its oceans, mountains and rivers, and extending as far as it is illuminated by the rays of the sun and moon.
Bhuta:(sáns. hindú). A son of Vasudeva by his wife Rohini.
Bhutadi:(sáns. hindú). The third variety of Ahankara, q. v.
Bhutas:(sáns. hindú). Evil spirits, said to proceed from Brahma. Children of Krodha. Malignant spirits, goblins or ghosts, haunting cemeteries, lurking in trees, animating dead bodies, and deluding and devouring human beings. They are generally coupled with the Pretas, and in this character belong to the Epic period. In the Puranic period they are personified as demi-gods of a particular class, produced by Brahma when incensed; and their mother is therefore considered in the Padma-purana as Krodha, or * Anger,' and their father, Kasyapa. - Thompson, Bhutasantapana - A powerful Daitya, the son of Hiranyaksha. The descendants of Hiranyaksha are said in the Padmapurana to have extended to seventy-seven crores, or seven hundred and seventy millions.
Bhutatma:(sáns. hindú). An appellation of Vishnu, meaning one with created things.
Bhutavidya:(sáns. hindú). The fourth branch of Medical Science, treating of maladies referred to demoniac possession, Bhutesa - A name of Vishnu, meaning lord of the elements, or of created things.
Bhuti:(sáns. hindú). A sage, the son of Angiras, whose pupil Santi, having suffered the holy fire to go out in his master's absence, prayed to Agni, and so propitiated him, that he not only relighted the flame, but desired Santi to demand a further boon. Santi accordingly solicited a son for his Guru, which son was Bhuti, the father of the Manu Bhautya. Also the name of a goddess, wife of Kavi.
Bhuvana:(sáns. hindú). The name of one of the eleven Rudras, according to the Vayu Purana list.
Bhuvar-loka:(sáns. hindú). The sphere of the sky, both in diameter and circumference, as far upwards as to the planetary sphere, or Swarloka.
Bijala Raja:(sáns. hindú). A Jaina king of Kalyatiapura, otherwise Silpagiri, who had the celebrated Basava, for his minister of state. He was charged with wasting the state funds, in gathering around himself adherents to a new form of the Saiva religion. When called to account, he made up the deficiency in appearance; but soon after caused the king to be assassinated by three men, in his own palace. Thereupon, the Jainas were massacred. The exact date is not known; but Professor Wilson places it in the eai'ly part of the eleventh century. See Basava,
Bikya:(sáns. hindú). The daughter of the minister of the Raja of Kutuwal in the Dekhan, who was married to Chandrahasa, the fortunate boy, q. V.
Bodha:(sáns. hindú). (Understanding). A son of Dharma, by one of Daksha's daughters, Buddhi.
Bodhana:(sáns. hindú). A mountain to the east of Ramghur.
Bodhas:(sáns. hindú). One of the tribes of Central India, according to the Vayu Purana; it is also read Bahyas.
Brahma:(sáns. hindú). The first deity of the Hindu triad; the creator of the world; the great father and lord of all; the supporter of all: yet described as born in the lotus which sprung from the navel of Vishnu; and as born from the golden egg. The Vishnu Purana says, the one only god Janardana, takes the designation of Brahma, Vishnu and Siva, accordingly as he creates, preserves or destroys.
Mr. Cockburn Thompson says: " In the ante-mythological age this was probably nothing but a name for the sun, considered as producer, vivifier and pervader. He afterwards replaced Surya in the triad of elementary gods, and was coupled with Vishnu and Siva, who were substituted for Varuna and Vayu, the other components of that triad. In the earliest mythological period, Brahma (always masculine) is then first person of the triad, Brahma, Vishnu and Siva; and when later the unity of these personages was established by referring them to one Supreme Being, Brahma was that being in his character of creator and eniivener, Vishnu in that of preserver, and Siva in that of destroyer. Thus in the Puranas (Vishnu P., p. 22,) Brahma is said to live 100 of his own years, each of which consists of 360 days and nights. The days are called Kalpas, and consist of 4,320,000,000 years of mortals, during which the universe exists. During his nights the universe ceases to exist, and is reproduced at the commencement of the next day or Kalpa. He is described in the Puranas as having four faces, and as being produced from the cup of a lotus, which sprang from the navel of Vishnu. In this mythological character of creator of the universe, he is mentioned in the Bhagavat Gita and Vishnu Purana.
When, after the period of superstitious mythology, the idea of one Supreme Being was again brought forward, Brahma was considered the chief of the existing trinity, and was at first identified with that idea of an unknown god; and though afterwards Siva and Vishnu were each in turn identified with the Supreme Being by their respective followers, the Saivas and Vaishnavas, the name Brahma, in the neuter, was still retained in the language of philosophy to designate the universal Supreme One. In this sense the word occurs throughout the Bhagavat Gita with the exception of a few places where it is masculine; and once where it occurs in the neuter, but no longer signifies the Supreme Being in his complete character of the essence of both spirit and matter; but merely that portion of him which is the essence of all matter, the universal vital energy. We have thus: - * 1st, Brahma, masculine the mythological personage, first person of the mythological triad, and personification of the creative power, considered as a mortal and material deity; 2nd, Brahma, neuter, a name used to designate the Supreme Being in philosophic language; and 3rd, Brahma, neuter, the personification, in later philosophical language, of the material portion of the Supreme Being. (The word has never been satisfactorily derived, though commonly supposed to come from the root vrih, to grow or increase." '- Thompson, Dr, Muir in the 5th Vol. of his Original Sanscrit Texts, translates a text which he says * is interesting not merely as introducing Brahma but as containing what is probably one of the oldest extant expositions of the conceptions of nama and rlipa (name and form) as comprehending the whole of the phenominal universe.'
"1. In the beginning Brahma was this (universe.) He created gods. Having created gods, he placed them in these worlds, viz., in this world Agni, in the atmosphere Vayu, and in the sky Sorya; (2) And in the worlds which were yet higher he placed the gods who are still higher. Such as are these visible worlds and these gods,- even such were those (higher) visible worlds in which he placed those (higher) gods, and such were those gods themselves; (3) Then Brahma proceeded to the higher sphere (pararddha - explained by the commentator to mean the Satyaloka, the most excellent, and the limit of all the worlds.) Having gone to that higher sphere, he considered * how now can I pervade all these worlds ?' He then pervaded them with two things- with form and with name. Whatever has a name, that is name. And then that which has no name - that which he knows by its form, that * such is its form'- that is form. This (universe) is so much as is (i. €., is co-extensive with) form and name; (4) These are the two great magnitudes (abhve) of Brahma. He who knows these two great magnitudes of Brahma becomes himself a great magnitude; (5) These are the two great manifestations of Brahma. He who knows these two great manifestations of Brahma becomes himself a great manifestation. Of these two, one is the greater, viz,, form; for whatever is name is also form. He who knows the greater of these two, becomes greater than him than whom he wishes to become greater; (6) The gods were originally mortal, but when they were pervaded by Brahma they became immortal. By that which he sends forth from his mind (mind is form; for by mind he knows, ' This is form') - by that, I say, he obtains form. And by that which he sends out from his voice (voice is name; for by voice he seizes name) - by that, I say, he obtains name. This universe is so much as is {i. e., is co-extensive with) form and name. A.11 that he obtains.' Now that all is undecaying. Hence he obtains undecaying merit, and an undecaying world."
*' The deity who is described in the later hymns of the Big Veda, and in the Atharva Veda, under the different titles of Visvakarman, Hiranyagarbha and Prajapati, appears to correspond with the Brahma of the more modern legendary books. Though this god was originally unconnected with Vishnu and Rudra, while at a sub?equent period he came to be regarded in systematic mythology as the first person in the triad of which they formed the second and third members, yet the general idea entertained of his character has been less modified in the course of his history than is the case in regard to the other two deities."
" Brahma was from the beginning considered as the Creator, and he continued to be regarded as fulfilling the same function even after he had sunk into a subordinate position, and had come to be represented by the votaries of Vishnu and Mahadeva respectively, as the mere creature and agent of one or other of these two gods. Tn later times Brahma has had few special worshippers; the only spot where he is periodically adored being at Pushkara in Rajputana. Two of the acts which the earlier legends ascribe to him, the assumption of the forms of a tortoise and of a boar are in later works transferred to Vishnu."
In the fourth Volume of Muirs Original Sanscrit Texts, from which the above extract has been taken, the reader will find the life, character and attributes of Brahma fully illustrated. In some of the Texts translated it is maintained that Brahma, Vishnu and Siva, are three manifestations of the same divinity. *' I shall declare to thee that form composed of Hari and Ilara (Vishnu and Mahadeva) combined, which is without beginning, middle, or end, imperishable, undecaying. He who is Vishnu is Rudrn; he who is Rudra is Pitamaha (Brahma); the substance is one, the gods are three, Rudra, Vishnu and Pitdmaha." (O. S. T., Vol. iv, p. 237.)
Brahma-Purana:(sáns. hindú). The, gives a description of the creation, an account of the Manwantaras, and the history of the solar and lunar dynasties to the time of Krishna. It also sets forth the sanctity of Orissa, with its temples and sacred groves, dedicated to the sun, to Siva and Jaggunath. Its object seems to be the promotion of the worship of Krishna as Jagganath.
Brahmabali:(sáns. hindú). A disciple of Devadersa and teacher of the Samaveda.
Brahmabhuta:(sáns. hindú). To become identified with the Supreme Spirit: to have the conviction that spirit is one, universal, and the same.
Brahma bodhya:(sáns. hindú). A river mentioned in the Vishnu Purana, but not identified.
Brahmachari:(sáns. hindú). A religious student who has been invested with the sacred thread; he is to prosecute the study of the Vedas in the house of his preceptor: and to wait on him constantly; in the morning he is to salute the sun, in the evening fire; and then to address his preceptor with respect. He must stand when his preceptor is standing; move when he is walking, and sit beneath him when he is seated: he must never sit, nor walk, nor stand, when his teacher does the reverse. He is to read the Veda attentively, placed before his preceptor; and to eat the food he has collected as alms, when permitted by his teacher. He is to bathe ia water which has first been used for his preceptor's ablutions; and every morning bring fuel and water, and whatever else may be required. V. P.
One of the hymns translated by Dr. Muir in his Original Sanscrit Texts ascribes " very astonishing powers to the Brahmacharin or religious student." Dr. Muir says: " Some parts of it are obscure, bat the translation I give, though imperfect, will convey some idea of the contents."
" The Brahmacharin works, quickening both worlds. The gods are joyful in him. He has established the earth and the sky. He satisfies his acharya (religious teacher) by tapas; 2, The Fathers, the heavenly hosts, all the gods separately, follow after him, with the 6,333 Gandharvas. He satisfies all the gods by tapas; 3, The acharya, adopting him as a disciple, makes him a Brahmacharin even in the womb, and supports him in the belly for three nights.
When he is born the gods assemble to see him; 4, This piece of fuel is the earth (compare verse 9), the second is the sky, and he satisfies the air with fuel. The Brahmacharin satisfies the worlds with fuel, with a girdle, with exertion, with tapas; o. Born before Brahma, the Brahmacharin arose through tapas, clothed with heat.
From him was produced divine knowledge (bramana), the highest Brahma, and all the gods, together with immortality; 6, The Brahmacharin advances, lighted up by fuel, clothed in a black antelope's skin, consecrated, long-bearded. He moves straightway from the eastern to the northern ocean, compressing the worlds, and again expanding them; 7, The Brahmacharin, generating divine science, the waters, the world, Prajapati, Parameshthin, Viraj, having become an embryd in the womb of immortality, having become Indra, crushed the Asuras; 8, The Acharya has constructed both these spheres, broad and deep, the earth and the sky. The Brahmacharin preserves them by tapas. In him the gods are joyful; 9, It was the Brahmacharin who first produced this broad earth and the sky as an alms. Making them two pieces of fuel (compare verse 4) he worships. In them all creatures are contained; 10, The two receptacles of divine knowledge are secretly deposited, the one on this side, the other beyond the surface of the sky. The Brahmacharin guards them by tapas. Wise, he appropriates that divine knowledge as his exclusive portion...; 16, The Brahmacharin is the Acharya, the Brahmacharin is Prajapati; Prajapati shines (virdjati); the shining ( FiVo/) became Indra, the powerful; 17, Through self-restraint and tapas a king protects his dominions. Through self-restraint an Acharya seeks after a Brahmacharin; 18, By self-restraint a damsel obtains a young man as her husband. By self-restraint an ox and a horse seek to gain fodder; 19, By self-restraint and tapas the gods destroyed death. By self-restraint Indra acquired heaven from (or for) the gods; 20, Plants, whatever has been, whatever shall be, day and night, trees, the year, with the seasons, have been produced from the Brahmacharin; 2), Terrestrial and celestial beings, beasts, both wild and tame, creatures without wings and winged, have been produced from the Brahmacharin; 22, All creatures which have sprung from Prajapati have breath separately in themselves; all of these are preserved by divine knowledge (Brahma), which is produced in the Brahmacharin ...; 26, These things the Brahmacharin formed; on the surface of the water ho stood performing tapas in the sea."
Brahmadatta:(sáns. hindú). A sage, the son of Anuha. In the Hari Vamsam is a curious legend of the different transmigrations of Brahmadatta and his six companions, who were successively as many brahmans, then forests, then deer, then water fowl, then swans, and finally, brahmans again, when with the king they obtained liberation. According to the Bhagavat, Brahmadatta composed a treatise on the Yoga, a yoga tantra.
Brahmaloka:(sáns. hindú). The highest heaven, the world of infinite wisdom and truth, the inhabitants of which never again know death.
Brahman:(sáns. hindú). The name of the sacerdotal class; though a priestly tribe, all brahmins are not priests. The true origin of the brahmans is not distinctly known. The fabulous tradition current amongst them derives them from the head of Brahma. A brahman is in a very differen fc situation from a Kshatriya, a Vaisya or a Sudra, These are born in the condition in which they continue to live. But a Brahman becomes such only by the ceremony of the cord with which he is invested at an early age. (See Upanayana). They are after this rite designated Dwija, twice-born.
The seven castes of the brahmans have for their special origin the seven famous Rishis or penitents. Tiiese seven Rishis are highly celebrated in the annals of the country. They are the holiest and most venerated personages the Hindus acknowledge. Their names are held sacred and invoked by all the people. (See Kishis).
" If the fabulous stories which are told of the origin of certain great families in Europe, shed a lustre upon them by proving their antiquity, how much more reason has the brahman to vaunt his noble pedigree ? and if the honor of being sprung from an illustrious family sometimes leads its descendants to look down with contempt upon the lower ranks, we cannot wonder at the haughtiness of the brahman, and the high disdain which he shows to every caste but his own."*
Every brahman professes to know from which of the seven Rishis he has descended. There is another and more general division which separates them into four distinct classes, each of which appertains to one of the four Vedas. But in the ordinary intercourse of life little attention is paid to this distinction. There are several sectarian divisions which are practically more operative.
These are Vishnuvite, Smarta or Saiva brahmans; and in different parts of India other sub-divisions are found.
Brahmanas:(sáns. hindú). The portions of the Vedas which comprise precepts inculcating religious duties, maxims which explain these precepts, and arguments which relate to theology. " The Brahmanas represent no doubt a most interesting phrase in the history of the Indian mind, but judged by themselves, as literary productions, they arc most disappointing. No one would have supposed that at so early a period, and in so primitive a state of society, there could have risen up a literature which for pedantry and downright absurdity can hardly be matched anywhere. There is no lack of striking thoughts, of bold expressions, of sound reason
* Abbe Dubois.
ing and curious traditions in these collections. But these are only like the fragments of a torso, like precious gems set in brass and lead. The general character of these works is marked byshallow and insipid grandiloquence, by priestly conceit and antiquarian pedantry. It is most important to the historian that he should know how soon the fresh and healthy growth of a nation can be blighted by priestcraft and superstition. It is most important that we should know that nations are liable to those epidemics in their youth as well as in their dotage. These works deserve to be studied as the physician studies the twaddle of idiots, and the raving of madmen. They will disclose to a thoughtful eye the ruins of faded grandeur, the memories of noble aspirations. But let us only try to translate these works into our own language, and we shall feel astonished that human language and human thought should ever have been used for such purposes."* (* Max Muller)
Brahmanda Purana:(sáns. hindú). That which has declared in twelve thousand two hundred verses, the magnificence of the egg of Brahma, and in which an account of the future Kalpas is contained, is called the Brahmanda Purana, and was revealed by Brahma. V. P.
Brahmas or Brahmarishis:(sáns. hindú). According to the V. P. the names of the nine Brahmans, or Brahmarishis, are Brighu, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu, Angiras, Marichi, Daksha, Atri and Vasishta. They are also called Prajapatis and Brahmaputras.
Considerable variety prevails in the lists of them in the different books: but the variations are of the nature of additions made to an apparently original enumeration of but seven, whose names generally recur. In the V. P. they are termed the mind-engendered progeny of Brahma: born from his continued meditations. In the South of India they are usually termed the Seven Penitents. Two it is said were not originally brahmans, but they practised so long and severe a penance that they obtained the remarkable favor of being raised to that rank by the ceremony of the cord. From penitent Rajas they became penitent brahmans: their rise was from a still lower rank according to the philosophical poet Veriiana. These Rishis existed prior to the Vedas, in which they are often mentioned. The Abbe Dubois thinks they were the seven sons of Japhet.
Brahma-savarni:(sáns. hindú). The Manu of the tenth Manwantara.
Brahmavaivartta-Purana:(sáns. hindú). " That Parana which is related by Savarne to Narada, and contains the account of the greatness of Krishna, with the occurrences of the Rathantantara Kalpa, where also the story of Brahma Vardhais repeatedly told, is called the Brahma vaivartta and contains eighteen thousand stanzas." V. P.
Brahmajna:(sáns. hindú). Sacred Study, that which communicates to soul the knowledge of good and evil: one of the five great sacrifices or obligations of the Brahmachari.
Bramharshis:(sáns. hindú). Descendants of the five patriarchs who were the founders of races or Gotras of brahmans, or Kasyapa, Vasishtha, Angiras, Atri and Brighu. The Brahmarshis dwell in the sphere of Brahma.
Brammedhya:(sáns. hindú). The name of a river in the Vishnu Purana not yet identified.
Buddha:(sáns. hindú). " Buddha, or more correctly, the Buddha, - for Buddha is an appellative meaning Enlightened, - Avas born at Kapilavastu, the capital of a kingdom of the same name, situated at the foot of the mountains of Nepal, north of the present Oude.
His father, the king of Kapilavastu, was of the family of the Sakyas, and belonged to the clan of the Gautamas. His mother was Mayadevi, daughter of king Suprabuddha, and need we say that she was as beautiful as he was powerful and just ? Buddha was therefore by birth of the Kshatrya, or warrior caste, and he took the name of Sakya from his family, and that of Gautama from his clan, claiming a kind of spiritual relationship with the honoured race of Gautama. The name of Buddha, or the Buddha, dates from a later period of his life, and so probably does the name Siddhartha (he whose objects have been accomplished), though we are told that it was given hiin in his childhood. His mother died seven days after his birth, and the father confided the child to the caro of his deceased wife's sister, who, however, laid . been his wife even before the mother's death. The child grew up a most beautiful and most accomplished boy, who soon knew more than his masters could teach him. He refused to take part in the games of his playmates, and never felt so happy as when he could sit alone, lost in meditation in the deep shadows of the forest. It was there that his father found him when he had thought him lost, and in order to prevent the young prince from becoming a dreamer, the king determined to marry him at once. When the subject was mentioned by the aged ministers to the future heir to the throne, he demanded seven days for reflection, and convinced at last that not even marriage could disturb the calm of his mind, he allowed the ministers to look out for a princess. The princess selected was the beautiful Gopa, the daughter of Dandapani.
Though her father objected at first to her marrying a young prince who was represented to him as deficient in manliness and intellect, he gladly gave his consent when he saw the royal suitor distancing all his rivals both in feats of arms and power of mind. Their marriage proved one of the happiest, but the prince remained as he had been before, absorbed in meditation on the problems of life and death. ' Nothing is stable on earth,' he used to say, * nothing is real. Life is like the spark produced by the friction of wood.
It is lighted and is extinguished - we know not whence it came or whither it goes. It is like the sound of a lyre, and the wise man asks in vain from whence it came and whither it goes. There must be some supreme intelligence where we could find rest. If I attained it, I could bring light to man; if I were free myself, I could deliver the world.' The king, who perceived the melancholy mood of the young prince, tried everything to divert him from his speculations: but all was in vain. Three of the most ordinary events that could happen to any man, proved of the utmost importance in the career of Buddha. We quote the description of these occurrences from M. Barthelemy Saint Hilaire: * One day when the prince with a large retinue was driving through the eastern gate of the city on the way to one of his parks, he met on the road an old man, broken and decrepit. One could see the veins and muscles over the whole of his body, his teeth chattered, he was covered with wrinkles, bald, and hardly able to utter hollow and unmelodious sounds. He was bent on his stick, and all his limbs and joints trembled. " Who is that man ?" said the prince to his coachman. " He is small and weak, his flesh and his blood are dried up, his muscles stick to his skin, his head is white, his teeth chatter, his body is wasted away; leaning on his stick he is hardly able to walk, stumbling at every step. Is there something peculiar in his family, or is this the common lot of all created beings ?"
* " Si)"," replied the coachman, " that man is sinking under old age, his senses have become obtuse, suffering has destroyed his strength, and he is despised by his relations. He is without support and useless, and people have abandoned him, like a dead tree in a forest. But this is not peculiar to his family. In every creature, youth is defeated by old age. Your father, your mother, all your relations, all your friends, will come to the same state; this is the appointed end of all creatures.' "
* *' Alas !" replied the prince, " are creatures so ignorant, so weak and foolish, as to be proud of the youth by which they are intoxicated, not seeing the old age which awaits them ! As for me, I go away. Coachman, turn my chariot quickly. What have I, the future prey of old age, - what have I to do with pleasure ?' "
And the young prince returned to the city without going to his park.
* Another time the prince was driving through the southern gate to his pleasure garden, when he perceived on the road a man suffering from illness, parched with fever, his body wasted, covered with mud, without a friend, without a home, hardly able to breathe, and frightened at the sight of himself and the approach of death.
Having questioned his coachman, and received from him the answer which he expected, the young prince said, *' Alas ! health is but the sport of a dream, and the fear of suffering must take this frightful form. Where is the wise man who, after having seen what he is, could any longer think of joy and pleasure ?" The prince turned his chariot and returned to the city.
* A third time he was driving to his pleasure garden through the western gate, when he saw a dead body on the road, lying on a bier, and covered with a cloth. The friends stood about crying, sobbing, tearing their hair, covering their heads with dust, striking their breasts, and uttering wild cries. The prince, again, calling his coachman to witness this painful scene, exclaimed, " Oh ! woe to youth, which must be destroyed by old age ! Woe to health, which must be destroyed by so many diseases ! Woe to this life, where a man remains so short a time ! If there were DO old age, no disease, no death; if these could be made captive for ever !" Then betraying for the first time his intentions, the young prince said, " Let us turn back, 1 must think how to accomplish deliverance.' "
* A last meeting put an end to Iiis hesitation. He was driving through the northern gate on the way to his pleasure gardens, when he saw a mendicant who appeared outwardly calm, subdued, looking downwards, wearing with an air of dignity his religious vestment, and carrying an alms-bowl.'
* " Who is this man ?' " asked the prince.
' " Sir," replied the coachman, " this man is one of those who are called bhikshus, or mendicants. He has renounced all pleasures, all desires, and leads a life of austerity. He tries to conquer himself. He has become a devotee. Without passion, without envy, he walks about asking for alms.' "
* " This is good and well said," replied the prince. " The life of a devotee has always been praised by the wise. It will be my refuge and the refuge of other creatures; it will lead us to a real life, to happiness and immortality."
* With these words the young prince turned his chariot and returned to the city.'
After having declared to his father and his wife his intention of retiring from the world, Buddha left his palace one night when all the guards that were to have watched him were asleep. After travelling the whole night he gave his horse and his ornaments to his groom, and sent him back to Kapilavastu. * A monument,' remarks the author of the Lalita-Vistara (p. 270), * is still to be seen on the spot where the coachman turned back.' HiouenThsang (II, 330) saw the same monument at the edge of a large forest, on his road to Kusinagara, a city now in ruins, and situated about fifty miles E. S. E. from Gorakpur.
Buddha first went to Vaisali and became the pupil of a famous . Brahman, who had gathered round him 300 disciples. Having learnt all that the Brahman could teach him, Buddha went away disappointed. He had not found the road to salvation. He then tried another Brahman at Ragagriha, the capital of Magadha or Behar, who had 700 disciples, and there too he looked in vain for the means of deliverance. He left him, followed by five of his fellowstudents, and for six years retired into solitude, near a village named Uruvilva, subjecting himself to the most severe penances, previous to his appearing in the world as a teacher. At the end of this period, however, he arrived at the conviction that asceticism, far from giving peace of mind and preparing the way to salvation, was a snare and a stumbling-block in the way of truth. He gave up his exercises, and was at once deserted as an apostate by his five disciples. Left to himself he now began to elaborate his own system. He had learnt that neither the doctrines nor the austerities of the Brahmans were of any avail for accomplishing the deliverance of man, and freeing him from the fear of old age, disease and death. After long meditations and ecstatic visions, he at last imagined that he had arrived at that true knowledge which discloses the cause, and thereby destroys the fear of all the changes inherent in life. It was from the moment when he arrived at this knowledge, that he claimed the name of Buddha, the enlightened. At that moment we may truly say that the fate of millions of millions of human beings trembled in the balance. Buddha hesitated for a time whether he should keep his knowledge to himself, or communicate it to the world. Compassion for the sufFerings of man prevailed, and the young prince became the founder of a religion which, after more than 2,000 years, is still professed by 455,000,000 of human beings.
The further history of the new teacher is very simple. He proceeded to Benares, which at all times was the principal seat of learning in India, and the first converts he made were the five fellow-students who had left him when he threw ofi* the yoke of the Brahmanical observances. Many others followed; but as the Lalita-Vistara breaks off at Buddha's arrival at Benares, we have no further consecutive account of the rapid progress of his doctrine. From what we can gather from scattered notices in the Buddhist canon, he was invited by the king of Magadha, Bimbisara, to his capital, Ragagriha. Many of his lectures are represented as having been delivered at the monastery of Kalantaka, with which the king or some rich merchant had presented him; others on the Vulture Peak, one of the five hills that surrounded the ancient capital.
Three of his most famous disciples, Sariputra, Katyayana, and Maudgalyayana, joined him during his stay in Magadha, where he enjoyed for many years the friendship of the king. That king was afterwards assassinated by his son, Agatasatru, and then we hear of Buddha as settled for a time at Sravasti, north of the Ganges, where Anathapindada, a rich merchant, had offered him and his disciples a magnificent building for their residence. Most of Buddha's lectures or sermons were delivered at Sravasti, the capital of Kosala; and the king of Kosala himself, Prasenagit, became a convert to his doctrine. After an absence of twelve years we are told that Buddha visited his father at Kapilavastu, on which occasion he performed several miracles, and converted all the Sakyas to his faith. His own wife became one of his followers, and, with his aunt, offers the first instance of female Buddhist devotees in India. We have fuller particulars again of the last days of Buddha's life. He had attained the good age of threescore and ten, and had been on a visit to Ragagriha, where the king, Agatasatru, the former enemy of Buddha, and the assassin of his own father, had joined the congregation, after making a public confession of his crimes. On his return he was followed by a large number of disciples, and when on the point of crossing the Granges, he stood on a square stone, and turning his eyes back towards Ragagriha, he said, full of emotion, * This is the last time that I see that city.' He likewise visited Yaisatli, and after taking leave of it, he had nearly reached the city of Kusinagara, when his vital strength began to fail. He halted in a forest, and while sitting under a sal tree, he gave up the ghost, or, as a Buddhist would say, entered into Nirvana.
This is the simple story of Buddha's life. It reads much better in the eloquent pages of M. Bartheiemy Saint Hilaire, than in the turgid lauguage of the Buddhists. If a critical historiau, with the materials we possess, entered at all on the process of separating truth from falsehood, he would probably cut off much of what our biographer has left. Professor Wilson, in his Essay on Buddha and Buddhism, considers it doubtful whether any such person as Buddha ever actually existed. He dwells on the fact that there are at least twenty different dates assigned to his birth, vaiying from 2420 to 453 b. c. He points out that the clan of the Sakyas is never mentioned by early Hindu writers, and he lays much stress on the fact that most of the proper names of the persons connected with Buddha suggest an allegorical signification. The name of his father means, he whose food is pure; that of his mother signifies illusion; his own secular appellation, Siddhartha, he by whom the end is accomplished. Buddha itself means, the Enlightened, or, as Professor Wilson translates it less accurately, he by whom all is known. The same distinguished scholar goes even further, and maintaining that Kapilavastu, the birth-place of Buddha, has no place in the geography of the Hindus, suggests that it may be rendered, the substance of Kapila; intimating, in fact, the Saukhya philosophy, the doctrine of Kapila Muni, upon which the fundamental elements of Buddhism, the eternity of matter, the principles of things, and the final extinction, are supposed to be planned. * It seems not impossible,' he continues, * that Sakya Muni is an unreal being, and that all that is related of him is as much a fiction, as is that of his preceding migrations, and the miracles that attended his birth, his life, and his departure.'
This is going far beyond Niebuhr, far even beyond Strauss. If an allegorical name had been invented for the father of Buddha, one more appropriate than ' clean-food' might surely have been found.
His mother is not the only queen known by the name of Maya, Mayadevi, or Mayavati. Why, if these names were invented, should his wife have been allowed to keep the prosaic name of Gopa (cowherdess), and his fother-in-law, that of Dandapani, * stick -hand ?' As to his own name, Siddhartha, the Tibetans maintain that it was given him by his parent, whose wish (artha) had been fulfilled (siddha), as we hear of Desires and Dieu-donues in French. One of the miuidters of Dasaratha had the same name.
It is possible also that Buddha himself assumed it in after-life, as was the case with mauy of the Roman surnames. As to the name of Buddha, no one ever maintained that it was more than a title, the Enlightened, changed from an appellative into a proper name, just like the name of Christos, the Anointed; or Mohammed, the Expected. Kapilavastu would be a most extraordinary compound to express * the substance of the Sankhya philosophy.' But all doubt on the subject is removed by the fact that both Fabian in the fifth, and Hiouen-Tshang in the seventh centuries, visited the real ruins of that city.
Making every possible allowance for the accumulation of fiction which is sure to gather round the life of the founder of every great religion, we may be satisfied that Buddhism, which changed the aspect not only of India, but of nearly the whole of Asia, had a real founder; that he was not a Brahman by birth, but belonged to the second or royal caste; that being of a meditative turn of mind, and deeply impressed with the frailty of all created things, hebecame a recluse, and sought for light and comfort in the different systems of Brahman philosophy and theology. Dissatisfied with the artificial systems of their priests and philosophers, convinced of the uselessness, nay of the pernicious influence, of their ceremonial practices and bodily penances, shocked, too, by their worldliness and pharisaical conceit, which made the priesthood the exclusive property of one caste and rendered every sincere approach of man to his Creator impossible without their intervention, Buddha must have produced at once a powerful impression on the people at large, when breaking through all the established rules of caste, he assumed the privileges of a Brahman, and throwing away the splendour of his royal position, travelled about as a beggar, not shrinking from the defiling contact of sinners and publicans.
Though when we now speak of Buddhism, we think chiefly of its doctrines, the reform of Buddha had originally much more of a social than of a religious character. Buddha swept away the web with which the Brabmans had encircled the whole of India.
Beginning as the destroyer of an old, he became the founder of a new religion."*
* Max Muller, Chips from a German Workshop, Vol. I, p. 210.
According to Buddhist belief when a man dies he is immediately born again, or appears in a new shape, according to his merit or demerit, he may be born in the form of a woman, or a slave, a quadruped, a bird, a fish, an insect, a plant, or even a piece of inorganic matter. He may be born in a state of punishment in one of the many Buddhist hells; or in the condition of a happy spirit or even divinity in heaven; but whatever the position be, and however long he may live in it, the life will have an end, and the individual must be born again, and may again be either happy or miserable - " either a god, or it may be the vilest inanimate object. The Buddha himself, before his last birth as Sakyamuni, had gone through every conceivable form of existence, on the earth, in the air, and in the water, in hell and in heaven, and had filled every condition in human life. When he attained the perfect knowledge of the Buddha, he was able to recall all these existences; and a great part of the Buddhist legendary literature is taken up in narrating his exploits, when he lived as an elephant, as a bird, as a stag, and so forth." - Goldstucker.
The Buddhist does not regard these various transmigrations, whether punishments or rewards, as caused by the Creator or Euler of the Universe. " They do not conceive any god or gods as being pleased or displeased by the actions, and as assigning the actors their future condition by way of punishment or reward."
The very idea of a god as creating or in any way ruling the world, is utterly absent in the Buddhist system. God is not so much as denied; he is simply not known." The power that controls the world is expressed by the word Karma, literally action, including both merit and demerit. " The future condition of the Buddhist, then, is not assigned him by the Ruler of the Universe; the Karma of his actions determines it by a sort of virtue inherent in the nature of things - by the blind and unconscious concatenation of cause and effect."
Buddhism inculcates morality. The most essential virtues are truthfulness, benevolence, kindness, purity, patience, courage, and contemplation. All offensive and gross language is forbidden; nothing is ever to be said to stir up ill-will, or excite enmity, or that would cause quarrels; it is a duty on all occasious to act as a peace-maker. " Humility holds a no less prominent place among Buddhist graces than it does among the Christians." - Goldstuckevy Chamber's Ency.
Buddhi:(sáns. hindú). Understanding, synonyme of Mahat; also the name of a daughter of Daksha who became the wife of Dharma.
Budha:(sáns. hindú). (Mercury.) The son of Soma, the moon. Budha married //a, whose sex had been changed by Siva. Thence the lunar, as distinguished from the solar, line of kings; and to that point is to be referred many important opinions and results, very widely disseminated. See Ila.
There exists a doubt whether the names of planetary bodies were given to early men, or whether the planets were named after distinguished men of the earliest age. The puranas give a brief legend, which has been deemed astronomical, but of a doubtful school; such as reduced Abraham to a constellation. This legend is that Chandra (the moon) was placed in the house of Vrihaspati (Jupiter) as his pupil, and that Tard (the lunar path of 27 asterisms) fell ia love with Chandra, and seduced him while Vrihaspati was away at a sacrifice made by Indra (the firmament); the result was the birth of Budha (Mercury). If there be any astronomical meaning, it would imply that the old Chaldeans thought that the moon in some part of its orbit attracted a satellite of Jupiter, detached it from that planet, and was the occasion of its finding an orbit around the sun, as a primary planet. However, this interpretation has great improbabilities.
The poets, and especially Telugu poets, have paraphrased the legend in their own way; and very freely too. If the parties were men on earth we get at one of the earliest known wars.
For, the claim to the parentage and right of Budha by Vrihaspati and Chandra, led to a fierce war, dividing gods and men into two parties.
In a variety of works published, writers, though oriental scholars, confound Budha and Buddha. This appears so late down as Major Cunningham's book on the Bhilsa Topes; published in 1855. But the persons are distinct, the sense of the words different, the spelling different, the pronunciation still more so. - Taylor.
Caste:(sáns. hindú). The term Caste, derived from the Portuguese Casta, expressive of the Indian word Jati, has been universally adopted by Europeans to denote the different classes or tribes into which the people of India are divided. " The permanent division of the community into classes, with hereditary professions assigned to each, is one of the most remarkable institutions of Hindustan.
There are four great divisions. The most distinguished of all is that of Brahmana or Brahmans, who are said to have come from the mouth of Brahma: the second in rank is that of Kshatriya or Rajas, from the arm of Brahma; the third the Vaisya, or merchants, from the thigh of Brahma; the fourth the Sudras, or workmen, from his foot: all with their females. Each of these four tribes is subdivided into several more; the Sudras especially have an almost endless number of distinctions; such as herdsmen who keep the cows; shepherds who tend the sheep; weavers; ave castes *of Artizans, viz., carpenters, goldsmiths, blacksmiths, stone-cutters, founders. The several castes of cultivators take precedence of other Sudras, and look with contempt on tradesmen and labourers. There is a Caste of Kallaru, or. robbers, who consider their profession as no way discreditable to themselves or their tribe. Each caste exhibits some particular and local varieties of its own by which it is discriminated from the rest: Some distinguish themselves by the cut and colour of their clothes; some by the manner in which they put them on. But however extravagant their modes and customs are, they never excite from castes of the most opposite habits and fashions the least appearance of contempt or dislike. Upon this point there seems to be the most perfect toleration.
In the South of India there is another division of the different tribes still more general than those which have been yet mentioned. It is that of Right-hand and Left-hand Castes. The greater number of Hindu castes belong either to the Right-hand or the Left. The Brahmans, the Pariahs (or outcastes) and several tribes of the Sudras, are considered neutral, and enjoying all the privileges and honors attached to both hands, they take no part with either. These neutral castes are frequently called upon to arbitrate in the fierce disputes that occur between the Right and Left-hand parties. Both parties lay claim to certain privileges; and when any encroachment is made by cither it is followed by tumults that spread through a district, accompanied with every excess; and generally with bloody contests. The Hindu, usually so gentle and timid, seems to change his nature. There is no danger he fears to encounter in maintaining these rights." - Dubois, Dr. Muir in the first volume of his O. S. Texts, has very fully investigated the mythical accounts of the creation of man and of the origin of the four castes. He says "it will be seen from the texts adduced that from a very early period the Indian writers have propounded a great variety of speculations regarding the origin of mankind, and of the classes or castes into which they found their own community divided. The most commonly received of these explanations is the fable which represents the Brahmans, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas and Sudras, to have been separately created from the head, the breast or arms, the thighs, and the feet of the Creator. Of this mythical account no trace is to be found in any of the hymns of the Rig Veda, except one, the Purusha Sukta."
Dr. Muir is of opinion that this hymn belongs to the most recent portion of the Rig Veda. Mr. Colebrook, Professors Max Muller and Weber concur on this view; which however is controverted by Dr. Haug.
After quoting a great number of texts from the oldest authorities, Dr. Muir remarks. " When we discover in the most ancient Indian writings such different and even discrepant accounts of the origin of man, all put forth with equal positiveness, it is impossible to imagine that any uniform explanation of the diversity of castes could have been received at the period when they were composed, or to regard any of the texts which have been cited as more orthodox and authoritative than the rest. Even, therefore, if we should suppose that the author of the Purusha Sukta meant to represent the four castes as having literally sprung from separate parts of Purusha's body, it is evident that the same idea was not always or even generally adopted by those who followed him, as a revealed truth in which they were bound to acquiesce. In fact, nothing is clearer than that in all these cosmogonies, the writers, while generally assuming certain prevalent ideas as the basis of their descriptions, gave the freest scope to their individual fancy in the invention of details. In such circumstances, perfect coincidence cannot be expected in the narratives."
The following are the results of Dr. Muir's careful investigation of all the Texts bearing on the subject: -
The details which I have supplied in the course of this chapter must have rendered it abundantly evident that the sacred books of the Hindus contain no uniform or consistent account of the origin of castes; but, on the contrary, present the greatest varieties of speculation on this subject. Explanations mystical, mythical, and rationalistic, are all offered in turn; and the freest scope is given by the individual writers to fanciful and arbitrary conjecture.
First: we have the set of accounts in which the four castes are said to have sprung from progenitors who were separately created; but in regard to the manner of their creation we find the greatest diversity of statement. The most common story is that the castes issued from the mouth, arms, thighs, and feet of Purusha, or Brahma. The oldest extant passage in which this idea occurs, and from which all the later myths of a similar tenor have no doubt been borrowed, is, as we Lave seen, to be found in the Purusha Sukta; but it is doubtful whether, in the form in which it is there presented, this representation is anything more than an allegory. In some of the texts which I have quoted from the Bhagavata Pui'ina, traces of the same allegorical character may be perceived; but in Manu and the Puranas the mystical import of the Vedic text disappears, and the figurative narrative is hardened into a literal statement of fact. In other passages, where a separate origin is assigned to the castes, they are variously said to have sprung from the words Bhuh, Bhuvah, Svah; from difieient Vcdas j from difl'crcnl sets of piaycrs) i from the gods, and the asuras; from nonentity, and from the imperishable, the perishable, and other principles. In the chapters of the Vishnu, Vayu, and Markandeya Puranas, where castes are described as coeval with the creation, and as having been naturally distinguished by different gunas, or qualities, involving varieties of moral character, we are nevertheless allowed to infer that those qualities exerted no influence on the classes in whom they were inherent, as the condition of the whole race during the Krita age is described as one of uniform perfection and happiness; while the actual separation into castes did not take place, according to the Vayu Purana, until men had become deteriorated in the Treta age.
Second: in various passages from the Brahmanas, Epic poems, and Puranas, the creation of mankind is, as we have seen, described without the least allusion to any separate production of the progenitors of the four castes. And whilst in the chapters where they relate the distinct formation of the castes, the Puranas, as has been observed, assign different natural dispositions to each class, they elsewhere represent all mankind as being at the creation uniformly distinguished by the quality of passion. In one of the texts I have quoted, men are said to be the offspring of Vivasvat; in another his son Manu is said to be their progenitor; whilst in a third they are said to be descended from a female of the same name. The passage which declares Manu to have been the father of the human race explicitly affirms that men of all the four castes were descended from him. In another remarkable text the Mahabharata categorically asserts that originally there was no distinction of classes, the existing distribution having arisen out of differences of character and occupation. Similarly, the Bhagavata Purana in one place informs us that in the Krita age there was but one caste; and this view appears also to be taken in some passages which I have adduced from the Epic poems.
In these circumstances we may fairly conclude that the separate origination of the four castes was far from being an article of belief universally received by Indian antiquity." - Vol. I, p. 160.
Chaidyas:(sáns. hindú). A race of kings, descendants of Chedi, amongst whom were Damagosha and Sisupdla.
Chaitra:(sáns. hindú). The name of the third lunar month (Feb. -March).
Chaitraratah:(sáns. hindú). A large forest, in the east of lUvrita.
Chakora:(sáns. hindú). One of the thirty Andhrabhritya kings; he only reigned six months.
Chakora:(sáns. hindú). The name of a mountain in the eastern ghauts.
Chakra:(sáns. hindú). l, The discus of Vishnu; a sharp-edged quoit; Arjuna performed wonderful feats with his chakra. It was with this weapon that Krishna slew Sisupala. It is always seen in one of the four hands of Vishnu. The Chakra has also been converted into the prayer wheel of the Buddhists; 2, The name of one of the chanters of the Sam a Veda.
Chakras:(sáns. hindú). A race of people who about the commencement of our era, extended along the West of India, from the Hindu Kosh to the mouths of the Indus.
Chakravartti:(sáns. hindú). One on whom the Chakra, the discus of Vishnu, abides; such a figure being delineated by the lines of the hand. The grammatical etymology is ' he who abides in or rules over, an extensive country called a chakra.' Chakravartti is therefore a univei'sal emperor. On the death of such an emperor it was the custom to collect and deposit the ashes of the body, after burning, in a pyramidal monument,:(sáns. hindú). Wilson.
Chakravaka:(sáns. hindú). A Brahmani goose: the name of a wise counsellor in the Pancha Tantra; Hiranyagarbha, the king of the water-fowl, was anxious to make war, when his minister, Chakravaka, made many speeches to prevent it, suggesting that victory was ever doubtful, &c.
Chakshu:(sáns. hindú). One of the four great rivers, made by the division of the Ganges, and which is said in the V. P. to flow into the sea after traversing all the western mountains, and passing through the country of Kctumala.
Chakshu:(sáns. hindú). A prince, the son of Purujanu, one of the descendants of Dwimidha.
Chakshupa:(sáns. hindú). A prince renowned for his valour, the son of Khanitra, .one of the descendants of Nedishta.
Chakshusha:(sáns. hindú). The Manu of the sixth Manwantara, son of Ripu by Vrihati. The Markandeya has a legend of his birth as a son of Kshatriya; of his being exchanged at his birth for the son of Visranta Raja, and being brought up by the prince as his own; of his revealing the business when a man, and propitiating Brahma by his devotions, in consequence of which he became a Manu; In his former birth he was born from the eye of Brahma; whence his name from Chakshush * the eye.'
Chakshushas:(sáns. hindú). The first of the five classes of gods in the fourteenth Manwantara.
Chandrayana:(sáns. hindú). Penances, which, according to the Vedanta, cause, not the acquisition of any thing positive, but merely the removal of sin. They are regulated by the moon's age; and consist in diminishing the daily consumption of food every day, by one mouthful, for the dark half of the month, beginning with fifteen at the full moon, until it is reduced to one at the new moon; and then increasing in like manner during the fortnight of the moon's increase: there are other forms of this penance.
Champa:(sáns. hindú). The son of Pritulaksha, a descendant of Anu, who founded the city of Champapuri, a city of which traces still remain in the vicinity of Bhaghulpur. Champa is everywhere recognised as the capital of Anga.
Champa:(sáns. hindú). A town on the Ganges in which is a Vihara, or Buddhist convent. It is described in the Dasukumaru as notoriously abounding in rogues.
Chamunda:(sáns. hindú). A name of the consort of Siva. Her temple is represented as a dreadful place; whither victims are conveyed to be offered in sacrifice to the cruel goddess. In the drama of Malati and Madhava, the heroine Malati is kidnapped by the priest of Chamunda and carried to the dreaded temple, but is rescued by her lover just as the fatal stroke is about to descend on her.
Chanakko or Chanakya:(sáns. hindú). A brahman of the city of Takkasila who lived about 330 b. c. He is said to have achieved the knowledge of the three Vedas; could rehearse the mantra; was skilful in stratagems, and dexterous in intrigue as well as policy.
After his father's death he became celebrated as the filial protector of his mother. A long legend is told of the way in which he brought up Chaudragupta and ultimately placed him on the throne about 315 B. c. When Chandragupta was a wandering adventurer, the ambitious intriguing brahman became his ardent friend, and promised to open for him a pathway to the throne. Nine brothers, called the nine Nandas, then reigned at Magadha.
" Chandragupta was looked upon as their half-brother by a Sudra mother. He is called a Takshaka, or descendant of the great snake Seshanaga. Feeling unsafe amongst his relatives in Behar he had wandered forth to seek his fortune elsewhere." It was then he met with Clianakya, who in pursuance of his intention to place Chandragupta on the throne " contrived to give dire offence to the nine Nandas.** He entered their dining-room unannounced, and with the cool assumption of a powerful brahman, took possession of the place of honour. The kings, having ' their understandings bewildered by fate, regarded him as a mere wild scholar; and not heeding the remonstrances of their wise minister, they dragged him from his seat with scorn.
" Then Chanakya, blind with indignation, stood up in the centre of the hall, loosened the knot of hair on the top of his head, and thus vowed the destruction of the Nanda race.
* Until I have exterminated these haughty and ignorant Nandas, who have not known my worth, I will not again tie up these hairs.' Having thus declared war he sought out the discontented Chaudragupta.
" In the meantime, Rakshasa, who was the prime minister of the Nandas, did all for his princes that could be done either by valour or sagacity. But all in vain, the Nandas * perished like moths in the flame of Chanakya's revenge.' "
The drama entitled " Mudra Rakshasa," attributed to Visakhadatta, is founded on this story of Chanakya. Hindu Theatre. Mrs. Manning i A. M. i., Vol II, p. 221, Chandana- A river in Bhagulpur.
Chandana Dasa:(sáns. hindú). A banker and intimate friend of Rakshasa in the dramu of the " Signet of the Minister." He was condemned and dressed for execution, bearing the stake upon his shoulder, followed by his wife and child; when he was rescued, pardoned and made provost of the merchants.
Chandala:(sáns. hindú). An outcaste or pariah; one of the lowest of the mixed tribes descended from a Sudra mother and a Brahman father.
Chando:(sáns. hindú). The name of the bull that protected Chandragupta in infancy.
Chandanodakadundhubi:(sáns. hindú). A Yadava chief called also Bhava, a friend of the Gandharba Tumburu.
Chandragiri:(sáns. hindú). A prince descended from Kusa, the son of Rama.
Chandrabhaga:(sáns. hindú). The name of a river, that takes its rise in the Himalayas and which Professor Wilson identifies as the Chinab.
Chadragupta:(sáns. hindú). King of Magadha, a most important name, as it has been proved by Professor Wilson and others that he is the Sandracoptus of the Greeks, who visited the camp of Alexander the Great, and we are thus able to determine the chronology satisfactorily. " The relative positions of Chandragupta, Vidmisara, or Bimbisdra, and Ajatasatru, serve to confirm the indentification.
Sakya was contemporary with both the latter, dying in the eighth year of Ajatasatru*s reign. The Mahawanso says he reigned twenty-four years afterwards; but the Vayu makes his whole reign but twenty -five years, which would place the close of it b, c. 526.
The rest of the Saisunaga dynasty, according to the Vayu and Matsya, reigned 143 or 140 years; bringing their close to b. c. 383, Another century being deducted for the duration of the Nandas, would place the accession of Chandragupta b. c. 283.
Chandragupta was the contemporary of Seleucus Nicator, who began his reign b. c. 310, and concluded a treaty with him b. c. 305. Although therefore his date may not be made out quite correctly from the Pauranic premises, yet the error cannot be more than twenty or thirty years. The result is much nearer the truth than that furnished by the Buddhist authorities. According to the Mahawanso a hundred years had elapsed from the death of Buddha to the tenth year of the reign of Kalasoko (p. 15). He reigned other ten years, and his sons forty-four, making a total of 154 years between the death of Sakya and the accession of Chandragupta, which is consequently placed b. c. 389, or above seventy years too early. According to the Buddhist authorities, Chan-ta-kutta or Chandragupta, commenced his reign 396 b. c. Burmese Table; Prinsep's Useful Tables. Mr. Tumour, in his Introduction, giving to Kalasoko eighteen years subsequent to the century after Buddha, places Chandragupta's accession b. c. 381, which, he observes, is sixty years too soon; dating, however, the accession of Chandragupta from 323 b. c. or immediately upon Alexander's death, a period too early by eight or ten years at least. The discrepancy of dates, Mr. Turnour is disposed to think, proceeds from some intentional perversion of the Buddhistical chronology." V. P.
Chandrahasa:(sáns. hindú). In the farthest extremity of the Dekhan there lived a Kaja who was doomed to the severest adversity. He had a son born at a propitious period, but was himself soon after slain in battle, and his Rani perished in the funeral pile. The nurse fled away with the infant to Kutuwal, but died herself in three years without having made known the secret of the child's birth. The boy was now quite destitute and suffered much; but one day happening to go to the house of the prime minister, the astrologers present declared that the boy's face had all the signs of royalty.
The minister hearing this, determined that the lad should be assassinated. But the men employed for the purpose took compassion on him and resolved not to kill him. He was found in the jungle and adopted by a certain dependant of the Minister, who called the boy Chandrahasa because when he laughed it was said his face resembled the moon.
As Chandrahasa grew up he was distinguished for his skill and courage, and his achievements came to the ears of the Raja. The Minister became jealous and determined to visit the Zamindar who had adopted Chandrahasa, when he discovered that the young man was the very boy he had scut into the jungle to be murdered.
Still bent on the youth's destruction he wrote a letter to his son Madan and requested Chandrahisa to carry it to the city; the letter was as follows: -
*' May nay son cat the fruits of youth, and know that this same Chandrahasa is my enemy, and that he is eager to get possession of all my property: Look not you to his youth or comeliness, nor trouble yourself as to whose son he is, or whether he be a man of rank or learning or abilities, but give him poison'
As he approached the city he entered a pleasant garden belonging to the Minister, and being very weary, he tied his horse to a tree, laid down in the shade and fell asleep. That very morning the Minister's daughter Bikya, with the Princess and her maids, had come to amuse themselves in the garden. Bikya, wandering away from the others, saw a young man asleep with such a charming face that her heart burnt towards him. Seeing a letter falling from his bosom and perceiving that it was in her father's handwriting, and addressed to her brother, she opened and read it.
Having compassion on the youth she determined to alter the letter, and as the word signifying enemy was such that by taking away a single letter she could turn it into a word meaning friend, she did so. The word signifying poison was Bika, which, as the young man was very good-looking, she altered into her own name of Bikya; and re-sealing the letter placed it again on the youth's bosom, and returned to her companions.
Soon after Chandrahasa rose from his sleep, found his way to the house of the Minister, and gave the letter to his son. Madan read the letter with great surprise, but saw that the orders were very positive and that he must obey them without delay.
Chandrahasa who was more confounded than any one, was presented with a bridegroom's dress, and directed to prepare himself to be married that evening to the beautiful daughter of the Minister. There was the usual distribution of presents, tind great rejoicing throughout the city.
The Minister on his return home was congratulated by every one he met, and " entered his house in a state bordering on madness," when he found what had occurred. His own letter was produced, and as he could not discover the alterations that had been made, he " could only wonder at the greatness of his own blunder." Early next morning he hired some assassins to secrete themselves in the temple of the goddess Durga which was outside the city, and murder the man who should come at evening time to present a golden-pot of incense to the goddess. He then told Chandrahasa it was the fixed rule for every man who married into his family to offer a golden-cup of incense at the temple of Durga, and Chandrahasa readily promised to comply with the custom that same evening.
But that very day, the Raja, in consequence of a dream, determined to resign his kingly authority, and not knowing of the minister's return sent for Madan, to whom he communicated his intention, and his determination to make Chandrahasa his successor.
He desired Madan to bring his new brother-in-law to the palace with all speed. Madan gladly set out in search of Chandrahasa and found him in the road to the temple of Durga with the golden-cup in his hand; and having briefly explained to him the urgent necessity for his immediate presence at the palace, he took the cup from his hand and promised to present it himself to the goddess.
Madan thus sent back Chandrahasa to the palace of the Raja and proceeded alone with the golden-cup to the temple of Durga. On entering it he was cut down by the swords of the assassins and killed on the spot. Chandrahasa on arriving at the palace, was crowned by the Rlja himself. The minister on hearing how his plot had been again defeated, and his own son killed, destroyed himself in the same temple. - Wheeler's Mahabhhrata, Chandraketu - The son of Lakshmana, and king of Chandravaktra, a country near the Himalaya.
Chandrama:(sáns. hindú). A river mentioned in the V. P., but which has not been identified.
Chandrasri:(sáns. hindú). One of the thirty Andhrabhritya kings, who reigned three years. V. P.
Chandrasukta:(sáns. hindú). One of the islands into which the Varsha of Bharata is divided, as enumerated in the Bhagavata and Padma.
It has not been identified.
Chandravaloka:(sáns. hindú). A prince descended from Kusa, the son of Rama.
Chandraswa:(sáns. hindú). One of the three sons of Dhundhumara, who survived the conflict with Ihc demon Dhundu. Dhundu hid himself beneath a sea of saud which king Kuvalayaswa, aided by twentyone thousand sous, dug up, undeterred by the flames which checked their progress and finally destroyed all but three of them. Kuvalayaswa was hence called Dhundumara. Professor Wilson thinks that the legend originates probably in the occurrence of some physical phenomena, as an earthquake or volcano.
Chanura:(sáns. hindú). A demon who was killed by Krishna, after a very severe contest, in which Chanura was whirled round a hundred times, until his breath was expended in the air, and Krishna dashed him on the ground with such violence as to smash his body into a hundred fragments, and strew the earth with a hundred pools of gory mire. V. P.
Charaka:(sáns. hindú). A renowned medical writer of great antiquity.
" Charaka appears to have been a person of varied thought and culture, and to have had an earnest desire to teach men so to manage their bodies, as not only to avoid all unnecessary pain on earth; but so as to ensure happiness after death. Charaka states that originally the contents or material of his work was communicated by Atreya to Agnivesa. By Agnivesa it was taught to Charaka, and by him condensed " where it was too prolix and expanded where it seemed too brief." The result of Charaka's labour was a work of considerable extent, no less than one hundred and twenty chapters in eight divisions. Mrs. Maiming; A. and M. /., vol. i, p. 342, where the reader will find an abstract of Charaka's work; made from the Sanskrit manuscripts of the India Office Library.
Charakas:(sáns. hindú). The students of a Sakha so denominated from its teacher Charaka. .
Charana:(sáns. hindú). A sect pledged to the reading of a certain Sakha of the Vedas. Charana means an ideal succession of pupils and teachers who learn and teach a certain branch of the Veda. See Gotra.
Charana vyaha:(sáns. hindú). The name of a * Parisishta' work, which is considered to have been composed later than the Sutras, and representing a distinct period of Hindu literature. See Parisishta. .
Chariot:(sáns. hindú). The sun, moon and planets are all represented in the Puranas as having chariots or cars. That of the sun is stated in the V. P. to be nine thousand leagues in length, and the pole of twice that longitude: that of the moon has three wheels and is drawn by ten white horses. The chariot of Mercury is composed of air and fire and is drawn by eight bay horses. The chariots of Mars and Jupiter are of gold.
Charishnu:(sáns. hindú). A son of the sage Kirttimat.
Charudatta:(sáns. hindú). An impoverished brahman who is one of the principal characters in the drama of the Toy Cart. On one occasion Charudatta says: -
My friend, The happiness that follows close on sorrow, Shows like a lamp that breaks upon the night.
But he that falls from afluence to poverty, May wear the human semblance, but exists A lifeless form alone.
On being further questioned, Charudatta declares that he would much prefer death to poverty.
" To die, is transient suffering, to be poor Interminable anguish."
And he further explains that he does not grieve for the lost wealth:
" But that the guest no longer seeks the dwelling whence wealth has vanished.
**********
And then with poverty comes disrespect; From disrespect does self-dependence fail; Then scorn and sorrow following, overwhelm The intellect; and when the judgment fails The being perishes. And thus from poverty Each ill that pains humanity proceeds."
- A. and M, /., vol. 2, p, 157.
Charmamandalas:(sáns. hindú). A northern people, living in the district of Maudala or Khanda of Charma. Pliny mentions a king of a people so called, Charmaru rex.
Charmanvati:(sáns. hindú). The name of a river, the Chambal.
Charu, Charudeha, Charudeshna, Charugupta, Charuvinda:(sáns. hindú). Five sons of Krishna by Rukmini, one is termed in the V. P. the mighty Charu.
Charumati:(sáns. hindú). A daughter of Krishna by Rukmini.
Charvaka:(sáns. hindú). A philosopher who about the third century, founded a new scliool of undisguised materialism - maintaining that perception is the one only source of knowledge and means of proof: that while there is body there is thought and sense of pleasure and pain; none when body is not; and hence, as well as from selfconciousness, it is concluded that self and body are identical. In the Vedinta Sara there is a refutation of no less than four followers of Charvdka, who assert his doctrine under various modifications; one maintaining that the gross corporeal frame is identical with soul; another that the corporeal organs constitute the soul; a third affirming that the vital functions do so; and the fourth insisting that the mind and the soul are the same.
Charvaka:(sáns. hindú). A Rakshasa who disguised himself as a mendicant brahman and reviled Yudhishthira at his installation as Raja. The real brahmans, says the Mahabharata, were so enraged with Charvaka that they looked upon him with such angry eyes that he fell upon the ground like a tree struck with lightning, and was burnt to ashes on the spot.
Chatakas:(sáns. hindú). Pupils of Vaisampayana. The Vayu states that they were styled Chatakas from Chat *to divide,' because they shared amongst them their master's guilt. Those pupils of Vaisampayana were called Chatakas by whom the crime of Brahmanicide was shared.
Chaturunga:(sáns. hindú). A Prince, the son of Romapada, one of the descendants of Anu.
Chaturmasya:(sáns. hindú). Sacrifices every four months.
Chedi:(sáns. hindú). Son of Kaisika, whose descendants were called the Chaidya kings.
Chedyas:(sáns. hindú). The inhabitants of Chedi, which is usually considered as Chandail, on the west of the Jungle mehals, towards Nagpore. It is known in times subsequent to the Puranas as Ranastambha, Chhala:(sáns. hindú). A Prince, the son of Dala, one of the descendants of Kusa.
Chhandajas:(sáns. hindú). The vasus and similar divinities. They have the epithet Chhandaji as born in different Manwantaras of their own will.
Chhandas:(sáns. hindú). An Anga of the four Vedas, the one which relates to metre.
Chhaya:(sáns. hindú). The wife of the sun. Sanjna, daughter of Viswakarman, was the wife of the sun and bore him three children, the Manu Vaivaswata, Yama, and the goddess Yami (or the Yamuna river.) Unable to endure the fervours of her lord, Sanjna gave him Chhaya* as his handmaid, and repaired to the forests to practice devotion. The sun supposing Chhaya to be his wife, Sanjna, begot by her three other children, Sanaischara (Saturn); another Manu (Savarni), and a daughter Tapti (the Tapti river.)
Chhaya upon one occasion being oifended with Yama, the son of Sanjna, denounced an imprecation upon him, and thereby let it be seen that she was not Sanjna, his mother. Chhaya informed the sun that his wife had gone to the wilderness, and he brought her back to his own dwelling. V. P.
Chhandoga-brahmana:(sáns. hindú). In the Brahmana of the Chhaudogas it is evident that, after the principal collection was finished (called the praudha or Panchavinsa-brahmana, i. e., consisting of twenty-five sections,) a twenty-sixth Brahmana was added which is known by the name of Shadvinsa-brahmana. This Brahmana together with the Adbhuta-brahmana must be of very modern date. It mentions not only temples (Devayatanani,) but images of gods (daivata-pratima) which are said to laugh, to cry, to sing, to dance, to burst, to sweat and to twinkle. These two have long been supposed to be the only Brahmanas of the Chhandogas,
* That is her shadow or image. It also means shade.
and they constitute, no doubt, the most important part of that class of literature. It is curious, however, that whenever the Brahmanas of the Chhaudogas are quoted, their number is invariably fixed at eight. Kumarila Bhatta says, " in the eight Brahmanas, together with the Upanishads, which the Chhandogas read, no single accent is fixed." - A. S. L.
Chhandoga-priestS:(sáns. hindú). The second class of priests at sacrifices.
Chikitsa:(sáns. hindú). One of the eight branches of medical science; that which treats of the administration of medicines, or medical treatment in general.
Chintamani:(sáns. hindú). An Epic poem in Tamil, of considerable merit, and regarded as the highest classical authority in that language.
It contains the heroic story of a king named Jivagan, and is probably founded on a similar story found in the Maha Purana, a sacred work of the Jains written in Sanscrit.
Chintamani is a compound of two Sanscrit words Chinta, thought or reflection, and mani a jewel. It is generally applied to a fabulous gem which is supposed to yield its possessor whatever may be required. The design of the work is to represent the Jaina system in an attractive form.
Chitar:(sáns. hindú). A chief mentioned in the Rig Veda as living with other chiefs near the Sarasvati.
Chiti:(sáns. hindú). Synonyme of Mahat, " is that by which the consequences of acts and species of knowledge are selected for the use of soul." Wilson, V. P. p. 15.
Chitra:(sáns. hindú). The name of a lunar mansion in Govithi, in the Central Avasthana.
Chitrabaha:(sáns. hindú). A Purana river, not identified.
Chitragupta:(sáns. hindú). The Registrar of Yama; all that die appear before Yama, and are confronted with Chitragupta by whom their actions have been recorded. " Chitragupta is described in the following tasteless and extravagant style in the Vrihanndradiya Purana. * The dreadful Chitragupta with a voice like that issuing from the clouds at the mundane dissolution, gleaming like a mountain of colJyrium, terrible with lightning-like weapons, having thirty-two arms, as big as three yojanas, red-eyed, longnosed, his face furnished with grinders and projecting teeth, his eyes resembling oblong ponds, bearing death and disease.' *' O. S. T., Vol. V, p. 302.
Chitraka:(sáns. hindú). A prince, the son of Prisni, a descendant of Sini.
Chitraketu:(sáns. hindú). A son of Vasishtha, the great sage, according to the list in the Bhagavata.
Chitrakuta:(sáns. hindú). An isolated hill situated on a river called the Pisani, fifty miles south-east of the town of Banda in Bundelkund.
It is a sacred spot crowded with temples, and shrines of Rama and Lakshmana; celebrated too as the seat of Valmiki, the sage and poet, who became famous in after years as the author of the Ramayana.
" We have often looked on that green hill: it is the holiest spot of that sect of the Hindu faith who devote themselves to this incarnation of Vishnu. The whole neighbourhood is Rama's country. Every head-laud has some legend, every cavern is connected with his name; some of the wild fruits are still called Skapkalf being the reputed food of the exiles. Thousands and thousands annually visit the spot, and round the hill is a raised foot-path, on which the devotee, with naked feet, treads full of pious awe." Calcutta Revieiv, Vol. XXIII.
The following extracts from Mr. Griffith's translation of the Ramayana will serve to show how this sacred character has been acquired :
" Then, as he saw the morning break, In answer Bharadvaja spake, ' Go forth to Chitrakuta's hill.
Where berries grow, and sweets distil:
Full well, I deem, that home will suit Thee, Rama, strong and resolute.
Go forth, and Chitrakuta seek, Famed mountain of the Varied Peak.
In the wild woods that gird him round, All creatures of the chase are found:
Thou in the glades shalt see appeal' Vast herds of elephants and deer.
With Sita there shalt thou delight To gaze upon the woody height; There with expanding heart to look On river, table-land, and brook, And see the foaming torrent rave Impetuous from the mountain cave.
Auspicious hill ! where all day long The lapwing's cry, the Koil's song Make all who listen gay: Where all is fresh and fair to see, Where elephants and deer roam free.
There, as a hermit, stay. ' " Then on from wood to wood they strayed.
O'er many a stream, through constant shade.
As Bharadvaja bade them, till They came to Chitrakuta's hilL And Rama there, with Lakshman's aid, A pleasant little cottage made.
And spent his days with Siti, dressed In coat of bark and deerskin vest.
And Chitrakuta grew to be As bright with those illustrious three As Meru's sacred peaks that shine With glory, when the gods recline Beneath them: Siva's self between The Lord of Gold and Beauty's Queen."
Chitralekha:(sáns. hindú). The companion and friend of the princess Usha, to whom Usha related her dream, and who by her magic power brought Aniruddha to the palace.
Chitrangada:(sáns. hindú). The son of Santanu by his wife Satyavati. He was killed when young, in a conflict with a Gandarbha, who was also named Chitrangada.
Chitrangada:(sáns. hindú). The daughter of the Raja of Manipura who was married to Arjuna in his travels, but remained in her own city with her son Babhru-vahana, when Arjuna returned to Hastinapur.
Chitraratha:(sáns. hindú). The king of the celestial choristers; " On Chitraratha, true and dear My tuneful bard and charioteer Gems, robes, and plenteous wealth confer Mine ancient friend and minister." - Griffith's Ramayana.
Chitraratha was also the name of the son of Rushadru and father of Sasavinda who was lord of the fourteen great gems. There was another Chitraratha, son of the Dharmaratha, who drank the Soma juice along with Indra. A fourth Chitraratha is mentioned in the V. P. as the son of Ushna, a descendant of Parikshit.
Chitraratha, Ohitrasena, Chitropala:(sáns. hindú). The names of three rivers in the V. P. which have not been yet identified.
Chitravarna:(sáns. hindú). The name of the peacock king in the Panchatantra stories.
Cholas:(sáns. hindú). The inhabitants of the lower part of the Coromandel coast; so called after them Cholamandala.
Chronology:(sáns. hindú). The Vishnu Purana says, " Time is a form of Vishnu: hear how it is applied to measure the duration of Brahma, and of all other sentient beings. Fifteen twinklings of the eye make a Kash'tha; thirty Kash'thas, one Kalti; and thirty Kalas, one Muhurtta. Thirty Muhurttas constitute a day and night of mortals: thirty such days make a month, divided into two half-months: six months form an Ayana (the period of the sun's progress north or south of the ecliptic :) and two Ayanas compose a year. The southern Ayana is a night, and the northern a day, of the gods. Twelve thousand divine years, each composed of (three hundred and sixty) such days, constitute the period of the four Yugas, or ages. They are thus distributed: the Krita age has four thousand divine years; the Treta three thousand; the Dwapara, two thousand; and the Kali age, one thousand: so those acquainted with antiquity have declared ," The peiiod that precedes a Yuga is called a Saodhya, and it is of as mauy huudred years as there are thousands in the Yuga: and the period that follows a Yuga, termed the Sandhyausa, is of similar duration. The interval between the Sandhya and the Sandhyansa is the Yuga, denominated Krita, Treta, &c. The Krita, Treta, Dwapara and Kali, constitute a great age, or aggregate of four ages: a thousand such aggregates are a day of Brahma, and fourteen Manus reign within that term. Hear the division of time which they measure.
Seven Rishis, certain (secondary) divinities, Indra, Manu, and the kings his sous, are created and perish at one period; and the interval, called a Manwantara, is equal to seventy-one times the number of years contained in the four Yugas, with some additional years: this is the duration of the Manu, the (attendant) divinities, and the rest, which is equal to 8,52,000 divine years, or to 3,06,720,000 years of mortals, independent of the additional period. Fourteen times this period constitutes a Brahma day, that is, a day of Brahma; the term (Brahma) being the derivative form. At the end of this day a dissolution of the universe occurs, when all the three worlds, earth, and the regions of space, are consumed with fire. The dwellers of Maharloka (the region inhabited by the saints who survive the world,) distressed by the heat, repair then to Janaloka (the region of holy men after their decease.) When the three worlds are but one mighty ocean, Brahma, who is one with Narayana, satiate with the demolition of the universe, sleeps upon his serpent-bed - contemplated, the lotus born, by the ascetic inhabitants of the Janaloka - for a night of equal duration with his day; at the close of which he creates anew.
Of such days and nights is a year of Brahma composed; and a hundred such years constitute his whole life. One Pararddha, or half his existence, has expired, terminating with the Maha Kalpa called Padraa. The Kalpa (or day of Brahma) termed Varaha is the first of the second period of Brahma's existence'
Chunchu:(sáns. hindú). A prince, the son of Harita, a descendant of Harischandra.
Chyavana:(sáns. hindú). A celebrated sage, who in old age was restored to youth by the Asvins. The legend is related at length in the Satapatha Brahmana, and translated by Muir in O. S. T., Vol. V, p. 250. The substance of the story as told in the Mahabharata is thus given by Muir: " We are there told that the body of Chyavana, when performing austerity in a certain place, became encrusted with an ant-hill; that king Saryati came then to the spot with his 4,000 wives and his single daughter Sukanya; that the rishi, seeing her, became enamoured of her and endeavoured to gain her affections, but without eliciting from her any reply.
Seeing, however, the sage's eyes gleaming out from the ant-hill, and not knowing what they were, the princess pierced them with a sharp instrument, whereupon Chyavana became incensed, and afflicted the king's army with a stoppage of urine and of the necessary functions. When the king found out the cause of the infliction, and supplicated the rishi for its removal, the latter insisted on receiving the king's daughter to wife, as the sole condition of his forgiveness. Sukanya accordingly lived with the rishi as his spouse. One day, however, she was seen by the Asvins, who endeavoured, but without effect, to persuade her to desert her decrepit husband, and choose one of them in his place. They then told her they were the physicians of the gods, and would restore her husband to youth and beauty, when she could make her choice between him and one of them.
Chyavana and his wife consented to this proposal; and, at the suggestion of the Asvins, he entered with them into a neighbouring pond, when the three came forth of like celestial beauty, and each asked her to be his bride. She, however, recognized and chose her own husband. Chyavana, in gratitude for his restoration to youth, then offered to compel Indra to admit the Asvins to a participation in the Soma ceremonial, and fulfilled his promise in the course of a sacrifice which he performed for king Saryati. On that occasion Indra objected to such an honor being extended to the Asvins, on the ground that they wandered about among men as physicians, changing their forms at will; but Chyavana refused to listen to the objection, and carried out his intention, staying the arm of Indra when he was about to launch a thunderbolt, and creating a terrific demon, who was on the point of devouring the king of the gods, and was only prevented by the timely submission of the latter." - Vol. V, p. 254.
Clepsydra:(sáns. hindú). A water-clock, is thus described in an extract from a commentary, given in a note to the Vishnu Purana. *' A vessel made of twelve Palas and a half of copper, and holding a Prastha, Magadha measure, of water, broad at top, and having at bottom a tube of gold, of four Mashas weight, four fingers long, is placed in water, and the time in which the vessel is filled by the hole in the bottom, is called a Nadika. The common measure of the Nadi is a thin shallow brass-cup, with a small hole in the bottom. It is placed in the surface of water, in a large vessel, where nothing can disturb it, and where the water gradually fills the cup and sinks it." Page 631.
Clouds:(sáns. hindú). Clouds, in the Puranas, arc of three classes: - 1, Agneya, originating from fire or heat, or in other words evaporation: they are charged with wind and rain and are of various orders; 2, Brahmaja, born from the breath of Brahma; these are the clouds whence thunder and lightning proceed: and 3, Pakshaja, or clouds which were originally the wings of the mountains, and which were cut off by Indra; these are the largest of all, and are those which at the end of the Kalpas and Yugas, pour down the waters of the deluge. The shell of the egg of Brahma, or of the universe, is formed of the primitive clouds.
The Vishnu Purana states that *' during eight months of the year the sun attracts the waters and then pours them upon earth as rain." Consequently the Linga Purana observes there is no waste of water in the universe as it is in constant circulation. The Vishnu Purana adds, "The water that the sun has drawn up from the Ganga of the skies he quickly pours down with his rays, and without a cloud; and men who are touched by this pure rain are cleansed from the soil of sin and never see hell: this is termed celestial ablution." " The water which the clouds shed upon the earth is the Ambrosia of living beings, for it gives fertility to the plants which are the support of their existence. By this, all vegetables grow and are matured, and become the means of maintaining life."
Dabhiti:(sáns. hindú). A king mentioned in the Rig Vetia who was saved by Indra from being carried off by the Asuras or Dasyus. *' Indra burnt all their weapons in a kindled fire, and enriched Dabhiti with their cattle, horses and chariots."
Dadhicha:(sáns. hindú). A celebrated sage who reproved Daksha on the occasion of his great sacrifice, saying, " The man who worships what ought not to be worshipped, or pays not reverence where veneration is due, is guilty of heinous sin."
Dadhikra:(sáns. hindú). The name given in the Rig Veda to a divine horse, described as the straight-going, the graceful-moving, the resplendent, the rapid, the destroyer of* enemies like a heroic prince. In a second hymn the Rishi says, " May Aditi, consentient with Mitra and Varuna, render him free from sin who has performed the worship of the steed Dadhikra, when the fire has been kindled at the opening of the dawn."
Dadhividarchas, Dahas:(sáns. hindú). Two tribes of people mentioned in the Vishnu Purana but not identified.
Dadu:(sáns. hindú). The founder of a Vaishnava sect, who taught that Bhakti, or implicit faith, was more efficacious than subjugation of the passions, charity, or knowledge. Dadii was originally a cottoncleaner at Ajmir.
Dadu-panthis:(sáns. hindú). The designation of the disciples or followers of the above. One of the Vaishnava sects in Hindustan. It had its origin from Dadu, a cotton-cleaner by profession, who, having been admonished by a voice from heaven to devote himself to a religious life, retired with that view to the Baherana mountain, Avhere, after some time, he disappeared, and no traces of him could be found. His followers believed him to have been absorbed into the Deity. He is supposed to have flourished about a. d. 1600.
The followers of Dadu wear no peculiar mark on the forehead, but carry a rosary, and are further distinguished by a round while cap accordhig to some; but, according to others, one with four corners, and a flap hanging down behind. This cap each man is required to manufacture for himself. - Wilson.
Dagoba:(sáns. hindú). A conical erection surmounting relics among the Buddhists. The name is said by Mr. Hardy to be derived from da, diitu, or dhatu, an osseous relic, and geba or garbha, the womb.
These buildings are sometimes of immense height, of circular form, and composed of stone or brick, faced with stone or stucco.
They are built upon a platform, which again rests upon a natural or artificial elevation, which is usually reached by a flight of steps.
The utmost respect is felt fordagobas among the Buddhists, chiefly because they contain relics of different kinds. Professor Wilson, in his * Ariana Antiqua,' thus describes the ordinary contents of a dagoba: " The most conspicuous objects are, in general, vessels of stone or metal; they are of various shapes and sizes; some of them have been fabricated on a lathe. They commonly contain a silver box or casket, and within that, or sometimes by itself, a casket of gold. This is sometimes curiously wrought. One found by Mr. Masson at Deh Bimaran is chased with a double series of four figures, representing Gautama in the act of preaching; a mendicant is on his right, a lay-follower on his left, and behind the latter a female disciple; they stand under arched niches resting on pillars, and between the arches is a bird; a row of rubies is set round the upper and lower edge of the vessel, and the bottom is also chased with the leaves of the lotus: the vase had no cover.
Within these vessels, or sometimes in the cell in which they are placed, are found small pearls, gold buttons, gold ornaments and rings, beads, pieces of white and coloured glass and crystal, pieces of clay or stone with impressions of figures, bits of bone, and teeth of animals of the ass and goat species, pieces of cloth, and folds of Tuz or Bhurj leaf, or rather the bark of a kind of birch on which the Hindus formerly wrote; and these pieces bear sometimes characters which may be termed Bactrian; but they are in too fragile and decayed a state to admit of being unfolded or read.
Similar characters are also found superficially scratched upon the stone, or dotted upon the metal vessels. In one instance they were found traced upon the stone with ink. Within some of the vessels was also found a liquid, which upon exposure rapidly evaporated, leaving a brown sediment, which was analysed by Mr.
Prinsep, and offered some traces of animal and vegetable matters."
The principal dagobas in Ceylon, as we learn from Mr. Hardy, are at Anuradhapura, and it would appear that it was accounted a ceremony of great importance amoug the ancient ascetics to walk round one of these sacred structures. It is regarded by the Hindu Brahmans as a most meritorious walk to circumambulate a temple, raising the person who performs this pious act to a place in the heaven of the god or goddess to whom the temple belongs. The Nepaulese also account it one of the most devout employments in which a Buddhist can be engaged to march round a dagoba, repeating 'mental prayers, and holding in his right hand a small cyliader fixed upon the upper end of a short staffer handle, which he keeps in perpetual revolution. The reverence in which these structures are held is thus noticed by Mr. Hardy, in his valuable work, entitled * Eastern Monachism :' " Any mark of disrespect to the dagoba is regarded as being highly criminal, whilst a contrary course is equally deserving of reward. When Elaro, one of the Malabar sovereigns, who reigned in Ceylon b. c. 205, was one day riding in his chariot, the yoke-bar accidentally struck one of these edifices, and displaced some of the stones. The priests in attendance reproached him for the act; but the monarch immediately descended to the ground, and prostrating himself in the street, said that they might take off his head with the wheel of his carriage.
But the priests replied, * Great king! our divine teacher delights not in torture; repair the ddgoba.' For the purpose of replacing the fifteen stones that had been dislodged, Elaro bestowed ) 5,000 of the silver coins called kahapana. Two women who had worked for hire at the erection of the great dd.goba by Dutu gamin i were for this meritorious act born in Tawntisa. The legend informs us that on a subsequent occasion they went to worship at the same place, when the radiance emanating from their persons was so great that it filled the whole of Ceylon."
The ground on which a dagoba is held in so high estimation is simply because it contains relics which have from remote times been worshipped by the Buddhists. As far back as the fourth century, Fa Iliau, a Chinese traveller, mentions such a practice as then prevailing. "The bones of Gautama, the garments he used, the utensils he used, and the ladder l)y which he visited heaven, were worshipped by numbers of devout pilgrims; and happy did the country consider itself that retained one of these precious remains."
The most celebrated relic which is still to be found among the worshippers of Gautama Buddha is the Dal ad A (which see). To make a present or offering to a dagoba is viewed as an act of the highest virtue, which will be rewarded both in this world and the next, and will lead to the attainment of Niricana or annihilatioyi.
Buddha himself declared while on earth, " Though neither flowers nor anything else should be offered, yet if any one will look with a pleasant mind at a dagoba or the court of the bo-tree, he will undoubtedly be born in a Deva-loka (which see); it is unnecessary to say that he who sweeps these sacred places, or makes offerings to them, will have an equal reward; furthermore, should any one die on his way to make an offering to a dagoba, he also will receive the blessedness of the Deva-lokas." Some dagobas are alleged to have the power of working miracles, but this privilege is almost exclusively confined to those which have been built in honor of the rahats, or beings who are free from all evil desire, and possess supernatural powers.
"It was not till the year 1837 in which Mr. Jas. Prinsep deciphered the written character of king Asoka's edicts, that anything was known of the Buddhism of ancient India. Then first was it understood when and by whom, and for what purpose, these dagobas were erected." - A. a?id 31. I.
Dahana:(sáns. hindú). The name of one of the eleven Rudras, according to the enumeration in the Matsya Parana.
Dahragni:(sáns. hindú). A name of the sage Agastya.
Daityas:(sáns. hindú). Demons. The Daityas are thought to have been, in the epic period, personifications of the Aborigines of India, more particularly of the southern part of the Peninsula; who, to increase the glories of the heroes who conquered them, were represented as giants and demons. They are associated with the Danavas, who bear the same character. In the Purdnic period they play a very importaut part, as the enemies who are constantly at war with the deities for the sake of obtaining the sovereignty of heaven. They are there considered as the descendants of Kasyapa and Diti (from whom the name Daitya is called a matronymic). At the churning of the ocean they attempted to seize the cup of Amrita or Ambrosia which was then produced, and was in the hand of Dhanwantari: but Vishnu, assuming a female form, fascinated and deluded them; and recovering the Amrita from them delivered it to the gods.
Sakra and the other deities quaffed the Ambrosia. The incensed demons, grasping their weapons, fell upon them; but the gods, into whom the ambrosial draught had infused new vigour, defeated and put their host to flight; they then fled through the regions of space, and plunged into the subterraneous realms of Patala. The gods thereat greatly rejoiced, did homage to the holder of the discus and mace, and resumed their reign in heaven. The Daityas then inhabited Patala. Hiranyakasipu was their king, but when deposed by Vishnu, his illustrious son Prahlada received the sovereignty. The Vishnu Purana relates other legends of the Daityas obtaining the sovereignty of the earth, and being deluded from the tenets of the Vedas were easily conquered.
Daksha:(sáns. hindú). A celebrated Prajapati, born from the thumb of Brahma; he was the chief of the patriarchs. He had twentyfour daughters by his wife Prasuti, and twenty-seven other daughters who were afterwards stellarised in the lunar mansions.
The Vayu Purana contains a full account of the great sacrifice offered by Daksha. One of his daughters, Sati, was married to Siva; but neither she nor her husband were invited to the sacrifice, as Daksha had been offended with Siva not long before.
Sati, however, attended, and on being affronted threw herself into the flames of the sacrifice and perished.* Siva exasperated, tore off a lock of his hair and cast it with violence to the ground. It started up in the shape of Vira Bhadra with a thousand hands, Avhom Siva sent to destroy the sacrifice. He did so, and according to some accounts cut off Daksha's head. According to the Vishnu * Hence in modern times a widow consentary to be bound with the corpse of her husband is called a Sati. The common word suttee is not the act of burning but the female burnt.
Purana, Vira Bhadra, was created from Siva's mouth, a being like the fire of fate, a divine being with a thousand heads, a thousand feet, &c., &c. It is only the Kasi Khanda, however, that makes Sati throw herself into the fire, and Professor Wilson thinks this an improvement indicative of a later age. In other legends she is represented as killing herself on account of a quarrel with her father. The conduct of Vira Bhadra in interfering with and destroying the sacrifice, displeased the gods who were present, and they complained of it to Brahma; whereupon he with them proceeded to Siva, interceding on behalf of Daksha. Siva then went personally to the scene of disorder, and having resuscitated Daksha, whose head could not be found, replaced it by the head of a ram. The exploits of the Rudras on the occasion are particularly specified in the Kurma and Bhagavata Puranas. Indra is knocked down and trampled on; Yama has his staff broken; Saraswati and the Matris have their noses cut off. Mitra or Bhaga has his eyes pulled out: Piisha has his teeth knocked down his throat; Chandra is pummelled; Vahni's hands are cut oflf; Bhrigu loses his beard; the Brahmans are pelted with stones; the Prajapatis are beaten; and the gods and demi-gods are run through with swords or stuck with arrows. Other accounts state that Daksha himself propitiated the mighty god, the holder of the trident, Maheshwara." V. P.
" The sacrifice of Daksha is a legend of some interest, from its historical and archceological relations. It is obviously intended to intimate a struggle between the worshippers of Siva and of Vishnu, in which at first the latter, but finally the former, acquired the ascendancy. It is also a favourite subject of Hindu sculpture, at least with the Hindus of the Saiva division, and makes a conspicuous figure both at Elephanta and Ellora. A representation of the dispersion and mutilation of the gods and sages by Virabhadra, at the former, is published in the Archaeologia, vir, 326, where it is described as the Judgment of Solomon ! a figure of Virabhadra is given by Niebuhr, Vol. II, tab. 10: and the entire group in the Bombay Transactions, Vol. I, p. 220. The legend of Daksha therefore was popular when those cavern temples were excavated." V. P.
" Daksha," " says Mrs. Mauning," is a shadowy god. He is an Aditya, one of the sons of Aditi.
" Daksha sprang from Aditi, and Aditi from Daksha. In the Rig Veda, Mitra and Varuna are celebrated as the sons of Daksha.
'* Mr. Muir relieves us from some of our perplexity concerning this mysterious Daksha, by suggesting that possibly in some of these passages, the word Daksha was used figuratively for strength." - A. and M. I.
Daksha-savarni:(sáns. hindú). The name of the Manu of the Ninth Manwantara; described in the Ydyu as one of the mind-engendered sons of a daughter of Daksha, by himself and the three gods Brahma, Dharma and Rudra, to whom he presented her on Mount Meru.
Dakshayana:(sáns. hindú). One of the names of the goddess Parvati. It is also the name of a lunar asterism in general. The grammarian Vyadi, author of the Sangraha, is sometimes called Dakshayana.
Dakshi:(sáns. hindú). The name of the mother of the celebrated Sanscrit grammarian Panini.
Dakshina:(sáns. hindú). One of the twin daughters of Rnchi and Akuti.
These descendants of the first pair are evidently allegorical: thus Yajni (the name of the other twin daughter) is 'sacrifice;' and Dakshina, ' donation' to brahmans. See V. P., Chap. viii.
Dakshinacharis:(sáns. hindú). A leading division of the sect of Saktas, the followers of the right-hand ritual; often popularly called the right-hand caste; the followers of the left-hand ritual being termed Vamacharis.
Dala:(sáns. hindú). A prince, the son of Kusa, a descendant of Rama.
Dalada:(sáns. hindú). The left canine tooth of Buddha, the most highly venerated relic among the Buddhists, particularly in Ceylon. To preserve this, the only portion which remains of the body of the holy sage, a temple has been erected, in which it is deposited, being placed in a small chamber, enshrined in six cases, the largest of them being upwards of five feet in height and formed of silver.
All the cases are constructed in the conical shape of a dagoba, and two of them are inlaid with rubies and precious stones. The outer case is ornamented with gold and jewels, which have been offered by devotees. Mr. Hardy describes the relic itself as ' a piece of discoloured ivory or bone, slightly curved, nearly two inches in lenglh, and one in diameter at the base; and from thence to the other extremity, which is rounded and blunt, it considerably decreases in size.' The vihara or temple which contains the sanctuary of this relic, is attached to the palace of the former kings of Kandy. From a work composed on the subject of Buddha's tooth, dating as far back as a. d. 310, it is said that one of the disciples of the sage procured his left canine tooth when his relics were distributed. This much-valued treasure he conveyed to Dantapura, the chief city of Kalinga, where it reminded for 800 years. Its subsequent history we quote from Mr. Hardy's * Eastern Monarchism :' " The Brahmans informed Paudu, the lord paramount of India, who resided at Pataliputra, that his vassal, Guhasiwa worshipped a piece of bone. The monarch, enraged at this intelligence, sent an army to arrest the king of Kalinga, and secure the bone he worshipped. This commission was executed, but the general and all his army were converted to the faith of Buddhism. Pandu commanded the relic to be thrown into a furnace of burning charcoal, but a lotus arose from the flame, and the tooth appeared on the surface of the flower. An attempt was then made to crush it upon an anvil, but it remained embedded in the iron, resisting all the means employed to take it therefrom, until Subaddha, a Buddhist, succeeded in its extraction. It was next thrown into the common sewer; but in an instant this receptacle of filth became sweet as a celestial garden, and was mantled with flowers. Other wonders were performed, by which Pandu also became a convert to Buddhism. The relic was returned to Dantapura; but an' attempt being made by the princes of Sewet to take it away by force, it was brought to Ceylon, and deposited in the city of Auuradhapura. In the fourteenth century it was again taken to the continent, but was rescued by Prakrama Bahu, IV. The Portuguese say that it was captured by Constantiue de Bragauza, in 1560, and destroyed; but the native authorities assert that it was concealed at this time at a village in Saffragam.
In 1815, it came into the possession of the British Government; and although surreptitiously taken away in the rebellion of 1818, it was subsequently found in the possession of a priest, and restored to its former sanctuary. From this time the keys of the shrine in which it was deposited were kept in the custody of the British agent for the Kandian provinces, and at night a soldier belonging to the Ceylon Rifle Begiment mounted guard in the temple, there being from time to time public exhibtions of the pretended tooth, under the sanction of the British authorities.
The relic has since been returned to the native chiefs and priests, by a decree from the Secretary of State for the Colonies."
The Dalada is worshipped with great reverence by all Buddhists, but the inhabitants of Kandy more especially attach the highest importance to the possession of the sacred relic, regarding it as in fact the very glory and security of their country.
Dalaki:(sáns. hindú). One of the four pupils of Sikapurni, and teacher of the Rig Veda.
Dama:(sáns. hindú). A prince, the son of Narishyanta, whose father Marutta, was a Chakravartti or universal monarch. The Markandeya has the following curious story of Dama. His bride Sumana, daughter of the king Dasarha, was rescued by him from his rivals. One of them Bapushmat, afterwards killed Marutta, who had retired into the woods after relinquishing his crown to his son. Dama in retaliation killed Bapushmat, and made the Pinda or obsequial offering to his father, of his flesh: with the remainder he fed the brahmans of Rakshasa's origin; such were the kings of the solar race. See Vishnu Purana, Book IV.
Damaghosha:(sáns. hindú). The Raja of Chedi and father of Sisupala, q. v.
Damanaka:(sáns. hindú). The name of one of the jackals in the Panchatantra.
Damaliptas, or Tamaliptas:(sáns. hindú). The people at the western mouth of the Ganges, in Medinipur and Tamluk. Tamralipti was a celebrated seaport in the fourth century and retained its character in the ninth and twelfth.
Damayanti :(sáns. hindú). The daughter of Bhima, Raja of Vidarbha. The name is already familiar to many English readers through Dr.
Milman's metrical translation of the story, "Nala and Damayanti" - and a translation in blank verse by Mr. Chas. Bruce, which appeared in Frasers Magazine a few years ago. The story itself is referred to the Vedic period of Hindu history. Damayanti was famous amongst all the Rajas for her radiant charms and exceeding grace. Nala, the Raja of Nishadha, had so often heard of the exquisite loveliness of Damayanti, the pearl of maidens, that he was enamoured without having seen her; and the soul-disturbing Damayanti had in like manner, so often been told of the god-like comeliness and virtues of the hero Nala, that she secretly desired to become his bride. Nala one day wandering in a grove, caught a swan of golden plumage; the bird cried out, * Slay me not O gentle Raja, and I will so praise thee to Damayanti that she shall think of no other man but thee. So Nala set it free, and the bird flew away with its companions and entered the garden of Raja Bhima. It took an opportunity of saying to Damayanti, * O Damayanti, thou art the loveliest of maidens, and Nala is the handsomest of heroes; if the peerless wed the peerless how happy will be the union.' Then the royal maiden whispered, * Say the same words to Nala.' And the bird flew away to Nishadha and told all to Nala.
Meantime the beautiful maiden grew pale and dejected. She could not sleep, she often wept, she found no joy in banquets or in conversation. The father saw that she must be married, and at the proclamation of her Swayamvara all the Rajas assembled.
Nala repairs as a suitor to Vidarbha; but Indra and three other gods become incarnate for the same purpose, and, meeting Nala in the way, they beg him to be the bearer of their message of love.
He remonstrates, but at last consents. He delivers it, but Damayanti declares that, even in the presence of the gods, she shall select the noble Nala. The assembly meets, and all the royal suitors are in array; but Damayanti discovers, to her dismay, five Nalas, each of the deities having assumed the form, features, and dress of the king of Nishadha. She utters a supplicatory prayer to the gods to reveal to her the true object of her choice. They are moved with compassion, and stand confessed, their spiritual bodies being distinguished from that of the human hero by their casting no shadow, nor touching the ground, and otherwise. Daraayanti throws the wreath of flowers around the neck of the real Nala in token of her choice. The assembly breaks up amid the applause of the gods, and the lamentations of the disappointed suitors. The nuptials are celebrated and Nala and his bride are blessed with two lovely children.
Nala, the model of virtue, and piety, and learning, at length performs the Aswameda, or sacrifice of a horse, the height of Indian devotion. In the course of time, however, Nala is induced by an evil spirit to play at dice with his brother, Pushkara, and loses his kingdom, his wealth, his very clothes. One stake only remains, - Damayanti herself. This Pushkara proposes, but Nala refuses. The ill-fated pair are driven together into the wilderness all but naked. Nala persuades his wife to leave him, and return to her father's court, but she will not forsake him. The frantic man, however, resolves to abandon her while asleep. He does so.
Each passes through a series of strange and stormy adventures, ending in Nala becoming master of the horse to the King of Ayodhya (Oude,) and Damajaanti returning to her father's house.
After some time, Damayanti, in order to discover the retreat of Nala, proclaims her intention to hold another Swayamvara, and to form a second marriage, though forbidden by the laws of Manu.
Rituparna, the King of Oude, resolves to become a suitor, and sets forth with his charioteer - the disguised Nala. As they enter the city of Bhima, Damayanti recognises the sound of her husband's trampling steeds, his driving could not be mistaken by her ear.
She employs every artifice to discover her lord; she suspects the charioteer; she procures some of his food, and recognises the flavour of her husband's cookery; she sends her children to him.
Nala can conceal himself no longer; but the jealous thought that his wife was about to take a second husband, rankles in his heart, and he rebukes her with sternness. Damayanti solemnly denies any such design, declaring that she had only employed the artifice to win back her lord. Nala re-assumes his proper form and character - wins back his wife and all that ho had lost to his unprincipled brother, and, re-ascending his ancestral throne, recommences a reign of piety, justice and felicity. - Mrs. Manning, A. Sf M. I.
Dambha:(sáns. hindú). Hypocrisy. The son of Adharma (vice,) and Hinsa (violence.)
Damodas:(sáns. hindú). The name of one of the nine divisions of the Atharva Veda.
Danavas:(sáns. hindú). Enemies of the gods, varho, " incapable of steadiness and animated by ambition, put forth their strength against the gods. They were the descendants of Kasyapa by his wife Danu, hence their name. They were a class of mythological giants; in the Epic period they were probably personifications of the Aborigines of India; in the Puranic period they are regarded as the inhabitant of Patala and enemies of the gods. See Daityas. - Thomson.
Danda:(sáns. hindú). The name of a son of Dharma by Kriya. Also the name of one of the hundred sons of Ikshwaku. Professor Wilson thinks that by these sons of Ikshwaku we are to understand colonies or settlers in various parts of India. In the Padma P., and the Uttara Khanda of the Ramayana, there is a detailed narrative of Danda, whose country was laid waste by an imprecation of Bhargava, whose daughter Danda had violated. His kingdom became in consequence the Dandaka forest. The Hari Vansa states that Danda was killed by Sudyumna.
Danda:(sáns. hindú). A measure of time - sixty Vikalas. Sixty Dandas make one siderial day.
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