Contenido - ContentsFull text of "Supplement to a Classical dictionary of India: illustrative of the mythology, philosophy, literature, antiquities, arts, manners, customs &c. of the Hindus"PREFACE | A1 | A2 | B1 | B2 | C | D1 | D2 | E | F | G | H1 | H2 | I | J1 | J2 | K1 | K2 | L | M1 | M2 | O | P1 | P2 | R1 | R2 | S1 | S2 | S3 | T1 | T2 | U | V1
T2Tuni: (sáns. hindú). One of the Saineya princes, the son of Asanga. Turvasu: (sáns. hindú). One of the sons of Yayati, to whom his father made over the south-east districts of his kingdom, to govern as viceroy under bis younger brother Puru. Turvasu refused to take his father's infirmities on him, in consequence of which his line soon failed and became merged in that of Puru. Tusharas: (sáns. hindú). l, A people, called also Tukhiras, probably the Tochari, or tribe of the Sakas, by whom Bactria was taken from the Greeks, and from whom Tocharistan derives the name it still bears; 2, A race of princes; the dynasty consisted of fourteen, and the Vayu Purâòa states that their united reigns lasted 500 years. Tushitas: (sáns. hindú). A class of deities of the second Manwantara; and who were called the Adityas in the Manwantara of Vaivaswata. According to the Vayu the Tushitas were the sons of Kratu. The deities of each period are those to whom offerings of the sonja juice, &c., are presented collectively. Tushti: (sáns. hindú). 1, Resignation; a daughter of Daksha who became the wife of Dharma; 2, A daughter of Paurnamasa. Tushtimat: (sáns. hindú). One of the sons of Ugrasena and Devaka. Tvashtri: (sáns. hindú). This god, who in the later mythology is regarded as one of the Adityas, but does not bear that character in the Rig Veda, is the Hephaistos or Vulcan, of the Indian Pantheon, the ideal artist, the divine artizan, the most skilful of workmen, who' is versed in all wonderful and admirable contrivance. He sharpens the iron axe of Brahmanaspati, and forges the thunderbolts of Indra, which are described as golden, or of iron, with a thousand points and a hundred edges. He is styled the beautiful, or skilfulhanded, the skilful worker, the omniform, or archetype of all forms,, and Savitri, the vivifier. He imparts generative power and bestows offspring. He develops the seminal germ in the womb, and is the shaper of all forms, human and animal. He has produced and nourishes a great variety of creatures; all worlds (or beings) are bis, and arc known to him; he has given to heaven and earth and to all things their forms. He bestows long life. He puts speed into the legs of a horse. He is said to be skilled in all Saniatexts, and to have created Brahmanaspati above all creatures; and is said, aloug with heaven and earth, the waters, and the Bhrigus, to have generated Agni. He is master of the universe, a first-boi'ii protector and leader. He is a companion of the Angirases and knows the region of the gods. He is supplicated to nourish the worshipper and protect his sacrifice. He is the bestower of blessings and possessed of abundant wealth; and is asked, like other gods, to take pleasure in the hymns of his worshippers, and to grant them riches. Tvashtri is in several passages connected with the Ribhus, who, like him, are celebrated as skilful workmen, and are called his pupils. An exhibition of their skill is mentioned; they are said to have made into four a single new sacrificial cup which Tvashtri had formed, and when he saw this alteration of his work, he is represented as becoming ashamed and hiding himself among the goddesses. In one place he is said to have resented this change in his own workmanship, while in another he is made to applaud their design and admire the superior products of their skill. Tvashtri had twin children, (a daughter) Sarariyu, and (a son) Trisiras. He is represented as having foi- his most frequent attendants the wives of the gods; which Professor Roth considers to refer to the principal sphere of his creative action, as the bestower of offspring, Indra sometimes appears to be in a state of hostility with Tvashtri and his son; and at last a quarrel occurs in which Indra slays him. In the Markandeya Purâòa Tvashtri is identified with Visvakarman and Prajapati. See Muir's Orig. Sans. Texts, Vol. V, pp. 224-233, where the authorities are quoted for all the preceding statements. Twisha: (sáns. hindú). A daughter of Paurnamasa. UUchchraissravas: (sáns. hindú). The horse produced at the churning of the ocean, and taken by Indra. It is called the chief of horses. Udaksena: (sáns. hindú). A king of Hastinapura, the son of Viswaksena. Udaradhi: (sáns. hindú). The son of Pushti, and grandson of Dhruva. Udavasu: (sáns. hindú). A king of Mithila, the son of Janaka, (q. v.) Udavraja: (sáns. hindú). A country mentioned in the Rig Veda as one " into which the waters flow," the residence of the black-skinned aboriginal king Sambara, who possessed one hundred ancient impregnable cities. Udayana: (sáns. hindú). A prince, the son of Satanika; of the race of Puru, " the race which gave origin to Brahmans and Kshatriyas, and which was purified by regal sages." V. P. Udayaswa: (sáns. hindú). A king of Magadha, the son of Dharbaka. Udayin: (sáns. hindú). One of the sons of Vasudeva, by his wife Devaki. Uddalin: (sáns. hindú). One of the fifteen teachers of the Vahite Yajush. Uddhava: (sáns. hindú). A sage, versed in the Yoga doctrine, foreseeing the destruction of the Yadavas, applied to Krishna for advice, and was sent to Badarikasrama to practise penance and prepare for , heaven. Udgatri: (sáns. hindú). The title of the priest who chaunts the prayers and hymns in the administration of sacrificial rites. Udgitha: (sáns. hindú). One of the kings of Bharata Varsha, the son of Bhava. Ugra, Ugraritas: (sáns. hindú). Two of the eleven Rudras. Ugradeva: (sáns. hindú). The name of a deceased ancestor conceived of as still existing in another world, and invoked in one of the hymns of the Rig Veda, along with the souls of other deceased ancestors; they are thus called on, "Let not the gods injure us here, nor our early Fathers who know the realms ! ' May the Fathers protect me in my invocation to the gods.' " Ugrajit, Ugrampasya: (sáns. hindú). Two Apsarases, who are invoked in the Atharva Veda, and asked to remit sins committed while gambling. There are many verses which show that the Apsarases were intimately connected with gambling. Dr. Muir translates the following: - " I invoke hither the skilfully-playing Apsaras who cuts up and conquers and gets gains in the game of dice. I invoke hither the skilfully-playing Apsaras who collects and scatters, and receives gains in the game of dice. May she who dances about with the dice, when she wins by gaming, grant gain to us, and obtain success through her skill. May she come to us with abundance of food. Let them not conquer this money of ours. I invoke hither the joyful and exulting Apsaras - those (goddesses) who delight in dice, and who cherish grief and anger. In another verse they are said to be " fond of dice," and soulbewitching." Ugrasena: (sáns. hindú). l, The Raja of Mathura, who was deposed by his son Kansa and kept in confinement. The Raja Kansa was afterwards killed by Krishna in a severe contest. Krishna then restored Ugraseua to the throne, and sent to Indra for his royal hall Sudharman, which was conveyed from heaven by Vayu, and used by the Yadava chiefs. Ugrasena is then described as reigning wisely and well for a long period at Mathura; but when the death of Krishna took place, Ugrasena and his wives committed themselves to the flames; 2, One of the sons of Parikshit. Ugrayudha: (sáns. hindú). A Kaurava prince, the son of Krita; by whose prowess the Nipa race of Kshatriyas was destroyed. Ugrayudha was slain by Bhishma in consequence of demanding in marriage the widow of Santana. Uktha: (sáns. hindú). 1, The name of a portion of the Sama Veda, created from the southern mouth of Brahma; 2, A prince, the son of Chhala, descendant of Kusa. Ulmuka: (sáns. hindú). One of the sons of Balabhadra by his wife Revati. Uluki: (sáns. hindú). The parent of owls. V. P., 148. Ulwana: (sáns. hindú). One of the seven Rishis of the third Manwantara; they were sons of Vasishtha. Uma: (sáns. hindú). The Harivansa gives the following history of Uma, which differs in some points from that of the Râmâyaòa, as it assigns three daughters to Himavat and Mena, among whom the Ganga is not included. ' Their (the Pitris') mental daughter was Mend, the eminent wife of the great mountain Himavat. The king of the mountains begot three daughters upon Mend, - viz., Aparna, Ekaparna, and Ekapatala. These three, performing very great austerity, such as could not be performed by gods or Danavas, distressed with alarm both the stationary and moving worlds. Ekaparna (one leaf) fed upon one leaf. Ekapatala took only one patala (Bignouia) for her food. One (Aparna) took no sustenance, but her mother, distressed through maternal affection, forbade her, dissuading her with the words, u ma (0 don't). The beautiful goddess, performing arduous austerity, having been thus addressed by her mother on that occasion, became known in the three worlds as Uma. In this manner the contemplative goddess became renowned under that name. But this world shall remain distinguished by having these three maids... Uma was the eldest and most excellent among the three. Distinguished by the force derived from deep contemplation she obtained Mahadeva for her husband.- 0. S, T., Vol. IV, p. 367. The first work in which the name of Uma occurs is the Talavakara, or Kena Upanishad. In his remarks on a passage in this work, relating a victory gained by Brahma for the gods, Weber supplies an ingenious contribution to the mythlogical history of Uma. He says: " The representation in Sections 3 and 4 indicates that the Kena Upanishad was produced at a time when, - in place of the three principal gods, Agni, Vayu, and Surya, who had come to be regarded as the representatives of the divine principle on earth, in the atmosphere, and in heaven, - Agni, Vayu, and Indra were regarded as such. These are properly only two, since Indra is essentially identical with Yiju. Though I have found numerous examples of the first triad, especially in the two Yajur-vedas, I have noticed only one other of the second triad, which is properly one a duad, viz., in the Rik-text of the Purusha Sukta (R. V., x. 99, 13). Nor am I able to give a satisfactoiy explanation of it. On the other hand, the totality of the divine was already comprehended in Brahma (neuter), and it is the object of the legend here to make clear and to enforce the supremacy of Brahmi over all temporary divine manifestations, and even over the triad of such. *' But how shall we explain the position of Uma Haimavati, who comes forward as mediatrix between the eternal Brahma and the gods ? According to Sankara, she is Vidya (knowledge) who appears Uma rupini (in the form of Uma) to Indra. The same explanation is found in Sayana, who (on Taitt. Ar. x, 1, 150) when interpreting the word soma, cites this passage, and remarks: " Since Gauri, the daughter of Himavat, is the impersonation of divine knowledge, the word Uma, which denotes Gauri, indicates divine knowledge. Hence in the Talavakara Upanishad, in the passage on the impersonation of divine knowledge, the impersonation of divine knowledge is introduced in these words: * He said to the very resplendent Uma Haimavati.* There are, however, some additional points which seem to place the original signification of Uma in quite a different light. First of all, why is she called Haimavati ? What has she to do with Himavat ? Is it that the brahma-vidya (divine knowledge) came originally from the Himavat to the Aryans dwelling in Madhyadesa (the central region of Hindustan) ? We have learnt from the Haushitaki Brahmana (Ind. Stud, i, 153) that the north of India was distinguished by greater purity of speech, and that students travelled thither to learn the language (yacham sixitum) and on their return thence enjoyed great consideration and authority. Now it would have been quite natural if this state of things had not been confined to language, but had become extended to speculation also, and if the knowledge of the one, eternal Brahma, had been sooner attained in the peaceful valleys of the Himalaya, than was possible for men living in Madhyadesa, Avhere their minds were more occupied by the practical concerns of life," Such a view of Uma Haimavati appears to me, however, to be very hazardous. For, - not to say that in our explanations of the ancient Indian deities we act wisely when we attach greater importance to the physical than to the speculative element, - we are by no means certain that Uma actually does signify divine knowledge {brahma vidya); and moreover, her subsequent position as Rudra's wife (in the Taitt. Ar.) would thus be quite inexplicable. Now there is among the epithets of this latter goddess a similar one, viz., Parvati, which would lead us in interpreting the word Haimavati, to place the emphasis not upon the Himavat, but upon the mountain (parvata): and with this I might connect the epithets of Rudra which we have learnt from the Satarudriya, Girisa, Girisantttf Girisaya, Giritra, in which we recognize the germ of the conception of Äiva's dwelling on Kailasa. He is the tempest, which rages in the mountains, and his wife is therefore properly called Parvati, Haimavati, " the mountaineer," * the daughter of Himavat.' At the same time, it is not clear what we have to understand by his wife; and further she is perhaps, originally not his wife, but his sister, for Uma and Ambika are at a later period evidently identical, and Ambika is Rudra's sister (Ind. Stud. I, 183), Besides, this identification of Uma with Ambika leads us to a new etymology of the former. For as Ambika, ' mother,' appears to be merely an euphemistic and flattering epithet, employed to propitiate the cruel goddess, in the same way it appears that we must derive Uma from the root u, av, *to protect.'* As the consort of Äiva, the goddess has various names; as Durga, Devi, Kali, Parvati, Bhavani, &c. Some of these names have in the Vedic writings a different import from those assigned in the later mythology, as Äiva was not a deity of the Vedic period, or not of the whole of it. " Though this double character of the consort of Äiva is not always discernible in the myths which are connected with special designations of hers, and though at a late period the popular creed looked upon her far more as the type of destruction than as that of divine wisdom, yet the works devoted to her praise never fail to extol her also as the personification of the highest knowledge." Various myths relating to this goddess are to * Muir, O. S, T, Vol. IV, p. 360. be found scattered over nearly the whole range of Hindu literature. Some of those have already been narrated in the articles given under her other names in this volume. In a previous existence she is said to have been Sati, the daughter of Daksha, who abandoned her mortal life because she was slighted by her father when he performed his great sacrifice and neglected to invite Äiva to partake of it. As Uma she was the mother of Ganesa and Karttikeya, (q. v.) " According to the Harivansa she was, in another life, born as the daughter of Yasoda, and exchanged for Vishnu, when in his incarnation as Krishna he was born as a son of Devaki. On that ocqasion she was killed by Kansa, but as soon as he had dashed her to the ground, she rose to the sky, leaving behind her corporeal frame, and became a divine virgin to whom the gods addressed their praises. Hence her names Kanya, Kumari, &c., the virgin. This connection between the legendary history of Uma and Vishnu, is also briefly referred to in the Devimahatmya, though this work is chiefly concerned in the narrative of the martial exploits of the goddess. The latter consisted in the destruction by her of two demons, Madhu and Kaitabha, who had endangered the existence of the god Brahma; and of the demon Mahisha or Mahishasura, who, having conquered all the gods, had expelled them from heaven, and who met Uma, assisted only by her lion, with a numberless host of demons; moreover in her defeating the army of Chanda and Munda, two demon servants of Sumbha and Nisumbha; in her killing the demon Rakavija, who had a sort of charmed life, each drop of his blood, when shed, producing hundreds of demons like himself; and ultimately in her destroying the demons Sumbha and Nisumbha themselves. " In commemoration of her victory over Mahishasura, a festival called the Durgapuja is annually celebrated in Bengal. The goddess is there represented with ten arms trampling upon the demon, who is also attacked by her lion, and wounded in the chest by her spear. She has also laid hold of him by the hair, and is about to chop off his head." - Goldstucker. Unmada: (sáns. hindú). Insanity; a form of Brahma. Unnati: (sáns. hindú). Elevation; one of the allegorical daughters of Daksha, married to Dharma. Upadanavi: (sáns. hindú). 1, The daughter of Vrishaparvaa the Daitya, and wife of Hiranyaksha. Upadeva: (sáns. hindú). l, One of the sons of Akrura; 2, A son of Devaka. Upadeva: (sáns. hindú). A daughter of Devaka. Upagu: (sáns. hindú). A king of Mithila, the son of Satyarathi. Upamadgu: (sáns. hindú). A prince, one of the sons of Swaphalka by Gandini. Upananda, Upanidhi: (sáns. hindú). Two sons of Vasudeva, by his wives Madira and Bhadra respectively. Upanishad: (sáns. hindú). " Is the name of those Sanskrit works belonging to the Vedic literature which contain the mystical doctrine of the Hindus on the nature of a supreme being, its relation to the human soul, and the process of creation. The word (derived from the Sankrit prefixes upa, * beneath' or ' near,' and wf, * in,' combined with the radical sad, * sit') is explained by the great theologian Sankara (q. v.), and others after him, as meaning the * science of Brahma,' or * the understanding of the identity of Brahma and the soul,' because * in those devoted to it, this science sets to rest (or destroys) the world, together with (ignorance) its cause ;' or in other words, because it shows to them that the world has, besides Brahman, no reality. Grammatical commentators explain its etymology as implying that * eternal bliss reposes on it (upanishidati sreyo 'syam) ;' and Professor Max Müller has surmised that the word * Upanishad meant originally the act of sitting down near a teacher, of submissively listening to him,' whence it came to mean * implicit faith, and at last truth or divine revelation.' But apart from the artificial ness of all these interpretations, it deserves notice that the earliest sense of the word appears to be that of * secret' or * mystery' (literally, that which sits or rests beneath.) In this sense, it is mentioned by the grammarian Panini; and as it is very probable that, in his time, the works bearing the name of Upanishads were not yet in existence, it may be assumed that these works derived their name from the mysteriousness of the doctrine contained in them; and perhaps also from the mystical manner in which they propounded it. In order to understand the origin and purport of the Upanishads, as well as the relation in which they stand to the Veda5, properly so called, it must be borne in mind that, though the Vedic hymns are based on the worship of the elementary powers, and the Brahmana portion connected with them is chiefly concerned in legendary and ritual matter relating to that worship, yet in both these portions of the Vedas, and especially in the Brahmanas, the beginning of a period become already visible when the poets raised the questions as to the origin of the world and the true nature of the gods. A first attempt at a systematic answer to these questions was made in works which bear an intimate relation to the Brahmanas; and so great was the awe in which, on this account, these works were held, that they had to be read in the solitude, where the mind could ponder in perfect calmness over the mysterious problems in which they are engaged. These are the Aranyakas (from aranya, a forest.) But as the style and contents of the Aranyakas are extremely obscure, and as, through the close alliance of these works to the Brahmanas, of which some of them form part, the theological questions of which they treat are much overlaid with ritual and other matters which properly belong to the Brahmanas, a further progress made in the same direction, Jed to the composition of works and treatises, the diction of which is somewhat clearer, and less entangled with subjects extraneous to the problems they intend to solve. Such works and treatises are the Upanishads. Their object, like that of the Aranyakas, is to impress the mind with the belief in one Supreme Spirit {Brah7nd, as a neuter, and different, therefore, from the same word as a masculine, which is the name of the first god of the Trimiirti, q. v,,) to show that this Supreme Spirit is the creator of the world; that the world has no reality if thought of besides Brahma, and that the human soul is identical in nature with that same spirit whence it emanates. The reward the Upanishads hold out to the believer, who understands their doctrine and firmly adheres to it, is freedom from Transmigration (q. v.,) and consequent eternal bliss. The object and aim of the Upanishads are therefore the same as those propounded in the philosophical systems; and the Upanishads may therefore be looked upon as the forerunners of these systems themselves - those Upanishads, at least, which we may call the older Upanishads; for as to the more recent ones, and those which bear the stamp of sectarian character, their claim to be ranked among the Vedic writings is extremely doubtful, if at all admissible. Though agreeing in the main points of their doctrine, it is easily understood that works of this nature, ranging over different periods of Hindu religion, will also differ from one another both in the manner and detail in which they deliver their subject-matter, and in the degree of completeness with which they treat of it. Thus, in some, the legendary narrative, and even ritual detail, are still considerably blended with the theosophical speculation - and these stand nearest, therefore, the Aranyakas, probably also in time; in others, more philosophical, the nature of Brahma and the human soul is the only subject of inquiry; in others, the process of creation is also enlarged upon, with detail which harmonises more or less either with the ulterior views of the Vedanta (q. v.) or those of the Sankhya (q. v.) philosophy; some Upanishads, again, especially emphasise the inefficiency, for the attainment of eternal bliss, of the performing religious acts and of worldly studies - the knowledge of Brahma being the only means that leads to this end; others, on the contrary, in conformity with the Yoga (q. v.) doctrine, assign a prominent place to the exterior means, by using which the soul would qualify itself for union with the Supreme Spirit; while the sectarian Upanishads, which identify this spirit with Vishnu and Äiva, have, besides, the tendency of reconciling the popular with the philosophical creed. Of the older Upanishads, a typical instance is furnished in the Chhandogya Upanishad of the Samaveda, the framework of which is legendary throughout, and its contents allegorical and mystical. Other shorter Upanishads, freer from narratives and allusions to the mysterious import of ritual acts, aim at a more intelligible exposition of the doctrine of the soul. Of their mode of treatment, the following passage from the Kathaka Upanishads will serve as an example: Nachiketas, the son of Vajasravas, having come to the abode of Yama, the judge of the dead, and obtained from him the grant of three boons, asks of him, for his third boon, an answer, to the following question: * There is this doubt: some say that (the soul) exists after the death of a man (in connection with another body than this); others say that it does not. This I should like to know, instructed by thee.' And Yama, after some hesitation, explains to him that the soul and Brahma are one, but that a man attains immortality only by understanding this unity, and that, to arrive at this understanding, he must free his mind from sensual desires, and get a correct knowledge both of the nature of Brahma and of the soul. * Know the soul as the rider, and the body as the car; know intellect as the charioteer, and manas (the organ of volition) as the rein. The senses, they say, are the horses, the objects (their) roads; and the enjoyer (i. e., the rider) is (the soul) endowed with body, senses, and manas. Thus say the wise. If he (the charioteer) is unwise, and his manas is always unbridled, his senses are uncontrolled like vicious horses; but if he is wise, and his manas is always bridled, his senses are controlled like good horses. He who, always impure, is unwise, and whose manas is unbridled, does not attain that abode (of immortality,) but comes to the world (of birth and death); he, however, who, always pure, is wise, and whose manas is bridled, he attains that abode whence he is not born again. The man who has a wise charioteer, and whose manas is bridled, reaches the other shore of the road (of the world,) the highest abode of Vishnu. Higher, (i. e., subtler,) indeed, than the objects are the senses; higher than the senses is manas; higher than manas, intellect; and higher than intellect, the great one, the soul. Higher than the great one is that which is unmanifested, and higher than the unmanifested is Purusha, the Supreme Spirit. But higher than Purusha there is nothing; he is the goal, the highest resort. The highest spirit is the soul hidden in all created beings; it is not manifest, but is beheld by those who can see what is subtle with an attentive, subtle intellect.' The coincidence between the allegory, in the foregoing passage, and that in Plato's Phadrusy imparts an additional interest to this Upanishad, which is valuable, moreover, on account of the evidence it affords as to points of agreement and difference between its views of the development of the world and those expounded in the Sankhya (q. v.) The Mundaka Upanishad is important for the relative position which it assigns to the teaching of the Vedas, and the doctrine of the Upanishads. * Two sciences,' it says, the knowers of Brahma tell us, ' must be known, the higher and the inferior. The inferior is (the knowledge of) the Rig Veda, the Yajurveda, the Samaveda, and the Atharvaveda, the knowledge of pronunciatiou, the ritual, grammar, explanation of Vedic texts, prosody, and astronomy. But the higher knowledge is that by which that imperishable Brahma is comprehended. That which is invisible, unseizable, without descent (or origin,) without either colour, eye, or ear, without hand or foot, eternal, manifold (in creation,) all-pervading, very subtle, undecaying - the wise behold it as the cause of created beings.' And in another place, the performers of the sacrificial rites ordained by the Veda are said to attain, indeed, to Indra's heaven in virtue of their pious work; but this state of bliss is declared to be unstable and perishable, and these * fools... drop (from their heaven) as soon as this heaven (the reward of their acts) has faded away. Fancying that pious acts, ordained by the Vedas and codes of law, are the highest (object of man,) these ignorant people do not know that there is something else which leads to eternal bliss. Having enjoyed (the reward of their deeds) on the happy summit of paradise, they enter again this world, or one that is (even) lower. Those, on the contrary, who practice penance and faith, and, with subdued desire, live in the forest, under the vow of a religious mendicant, they, free from sin, enter through the sun to that abode where resides that immortal spirit, that spirit, indeed, of undecaying nature.' The Talavakara, or Kena, Upanishad, which, being one of the shortest, is in form one of the most philosophical treatises of this kind, puts in clearer language, perhaps, than any other Upanishad, the doctrine that the true knowledge of the Supreme Spirit consists in the consciousness which man acquires of his incapacity to understand it, since the human mind being capable only to comprehend finite objects, cannot have a knowledge of what is infinite. The Upanishads are not supposed to have been revealed in the same manner as the Vedic hymns. Nevertheless, with the exception of a few confessedly modern Upanishads, they are not assigned to human authorship, but looked upon as inspired writings, to which the term Sruti (q. v.) applies. In several Upanishads, no special mention is made of their divine origin; in some, however, this is done. Thus the Chhandogya Upanishad, in its concluding section, relates: ' This (knowledge of the soul) Brahma (the god of the Trimurti) imparted to Prajapati (a lord of creation - the patriarch Kasyapa, as Sankara explains); Prajapati imparted it to Manu, and Manu to mankind ;' the Brihaddranyaka Upanishad, which on three occasions gives long lists of teachers who handed it down to their pupils, always ascribes itself, in the last instance, to the authorship of * the self-existent Brahma (the Supreme Spirit) ;' and in a similar manner the Mundaka Upanishad says that it was Brahma (the god of the Trimurti,) the creator of the universe, who first taught the science of the Supreme Spirit to his eldest son, Atharvan. As in the case of most ancient works of Sanskrit literature, the date of the Upanishads also still remains quite uncertain, and, wherever given, is purely conjectural. According to the native system, they are classified as belonging to one or the other of the four Vedas, with which they are held to stand in immediate connection. There are Upanishads, consequently, of the Rig-, Yajur-, Sama-, and Atharva-veda. But this classification has no reference whatever to chronology." - Chambers Encyclopaedia. Upa-puranas: (sáns. hindú). Minor Purâòas, of which there are said to be eighteen; " but the names of only a few of these are specified in the least exceptionable authorities, and the greater number of the works is not procurable." ( Wilson.) The Matsya enumerates but four, but the Devi Bhagavata specifies eighteen. . The Revi Khanda has a different list but enumerates eighteen. " Of the Upa Purâòas few are to be procured. Those in my possession are the Äiva, considered as distinct from the Vayu; the Kalika, and perhaps one of the Naradiyas." Wilson. Uparichara: (sáns. hindú). A Vasu, who by command of Indra became king of Chedi. He had five sons, the eldest of whom Vrihadratha, was king of Magadha; by another wife he had an Apsaras, condemned to the form of a fish, Matsya, a son, and Satyavati or Kali, a daughter; the latter was the mother of Vyasa. Upasunda: (sáns. hindú). A Daitya, the son of Nisunda, and father of Muka. Upendra: (sáns. hindú). The divinity who presides over the feet. Urddhabahu: (sáns. hindú). One of the seven pure sages, of the first and third Manwantara, the sons of Vasishtha by his wife Urjja. Urddhabahus: (sáns. hindú). " Personal privation and torture being of great efficacy in the creed of the Hindus, various individuals, some influenced by credulity, and some by knavery, have adopted modes of distorting their limbs, and forcing them out of their natural position, until they can no longer resume their ordinary directions. The Uraddhabahus extend one or both arms above their heads, till they remain of themselves thus elevated. They also close the fist, and the nails being necessarily suffered to grow make their way between the metacarpal bones, and completely perforate the hand. The Urddhabahus are solitary medicants, as are all of this description, and never have any fixed abode: they subsist upon alms; many of them go naked, but some wear a wrapper stained with ochre; they usually assume the Saiva marks, and twist their hair so as to project from the forehead, in imitation of the Jati of Äiva. - Wilson, Vol. I. Urja: (sáns. hindú). 1. One of the seven Rishis of the second Manwantara; 2, An obsolete name of a month. Urjja: (sáns. hindú). Energy; A daughter of Daksha who was married to Vasishtha. Urjaswati: (sáns. hindú). l. A daughter of Daksha who was married to Dharma; 2, The daughter of Priyavrata. Urjjavaha: (sáns. hindú). A king of Mithila, the son of Suchi. Uru: (sáns. hindú). One of the ten noble sons of the Manu Chakshusha. Uruashaya: (sáns. hindú). A prince, the son of Mahavirya, a descendant of Bharata. Urvasi: (sáns. hindú). A celestial nympb, who having incurred the imprecation of Mitra and Varuòa determined to take up her abode in the world of mortals; and descending accordingly behold Puruvaras. As she saw him she forgot all reserve, and disregarding the delights of Swarga became deeply enamoured of the prince. See PURURAVAS. Usanas: (sáns. hindú). l. The preceptor of the Daityas, one of the Brahmanical tribe of Bhargavas, sons of Bhrigu; 2, The Yyasa of the third Dwapara age; 3, A prince, the son of Tamas, who celebrated a hundred sacrifices of the horse. Usha: (sáns. hindú). 1. The wife of the Rudra Bhava; 2, The daughter of Bana, who saw Aniruddha in a dream and became enamoured of him. She related this to Chitrarikha, a female confidante, who advised the employment of a portrait painter to take likenesses of all the young princes in the neighbourhood. On seeing the portrait of Aniruddha, grandson of Krishna, Usha recognised the youth she had seen in her dream. The same confidante now offered her services; and by her means Aniruddha held clandestine meetings with Usha; and at length was secreted in her private apartments. Bana discovered this, and made Aniruddha a prisoner. Krishna then interfered, and after a terrible fight Aniruddha was released; both parents agreed to a marriage, which was publicly celebrated at Dwaraka. See Aniruddha. Ushas: (sáns. hindú). The Dawn. The Aurora of Hindu mythology. "This goddess, who corresponds to the 'Hwf of the Greeks and to the Aurora of the Latins, is a favourite object of celebration with the poets of the Rig Veda, and the hymns addressed to her are among the most beautiful - if not the most beautiful - in the entire collection."1 Ushas is continually described as the daughter of the Sky. She is called the sister of Bhaga, and the kinswoman of Varuòa. She is also the sister of Night, who is also the daughter of the Sky. Ushas is also frequently brought into connection with the Sun. He is called her lover and is said to follow her track; and she is represented as leading on the beautiful white horse the Sun. She is declared to be the mistress of the world and the wife of the Sun. Ushas and Agni are also frequently brought into conjunction, fire being always kindled for sacrificial purposes at dawn. He is called her lover and is said to appear with or before the dawn. Ushas is also often connected with the Asvins, the time of whose manifestation is regarded by Yaska as being between midnight and sunrise. They are said to associate with her, and she is called their friend.2 In one place the moon is said to be born again and again, ever new, and to go before Ushas as the herald of the day. Indra is said to have created, or lighted up, Ushas. He is however sometimes represented as assuming a hostile attitude towards her, and is said to have crushed her chariot with his thunderbolt.3 The Nighaòùu gives sixteen names of Ushas, which seem to be almost entirely epithets, viz., the 'resplendent,' the beautiful, the shining, the flowing, the possessor of brilliant riches, the white, the bringer of food, the giver of joy, the bright, the fair-coloured, the ruddy, the utterer of pleasant voices. Some of these epithets are of frequent occurrence in the hymns, and there are also many others to be found there, such as the magnificent, the righteous, the immortal, the gold-hued, &c., &c.J 4 Ushas is borne onward on a shining chariot, of massive construction, richly decorated and spontaneously yoked, drawn by ruddy horses, or by cows or bulls of the same colour, traversing rapidly a distance of thirty yojanas. Like a beautiful young woman dressed by her mother, a richly-decked dancing girl, a gaily attired wife appearing before her husband, or a female rising resplendent out of the bath, smiling and confiding in the irresistible power of her attractions, she unveils her bosom to the gaze of the beholder. She dispels the darkness, disclosing the treasures it had concealed: she illuminates the world, revealing its most distant extremities. She is the life and breath of all things, causing the birds to fly forth from their nests, visiting every house, and like an active housewife arousing her household, awakening the five races of men, yea all creatures, as if from death, and sending men forth to the pursuit of their several occupations; and rendering good service to the gods by causing ail worshippers to awake, and the sacrificial fires to be kindled. She is however entreated to arouse only the devout and liberal worshipper, and to leave the ungodly niggard to sleep on in unconsciousness. She is young, being born anew every day, and yet she is old, nay immortal, and wears out the lives of successive generations, which disappear one after another, while she continues undecaying.5 The worshippers however sometimes venture to take the credit of being more alert than Ushas, and of awaking her instead of being awakened by her: and in one place she is solicited to make no delay that the sun may not scorch her as like a thief or an enemy. She is prayed to bring the gods to drink the libations of Soma. Agni and the gods generally are described as waking with Ushas.6 Dr. Muir gives the following metrical sketch of Ushas as represented in the hymns of the Rig Veda.
Utkala: (sáns. hindú). One of the sons of Sudyumna after his transformation. Uttama: (sáns. hindú). Uttanapada: (sáns. hindú). The son of the Manu Swayambhuva. The Vishnu Parana describes him as heroic and pious, but gives no particulars of his history, Uttara-bhadrapada - A lunar mansion in Vaiswdnari in the Southern Avashthana. Uttarakuru: (sáns. hindú). A varsha or country beyond the Sringi range of mountains, south of Meru. Uttara-phalguni: (sáns. hindú). A lunar mansion in Arshabhi, in the Central Avashthana. Uttarashadha: (sáns. hindú). A lunar mansion in Ajavithi, in the Southern Avashthana. Uttatahya: (sáns. hindú). A sage, the son of Angiras, and husband of Mamata. V1Vach: (sáns. hindú). I, The goddess of speech, who resides in the region intermediate between heaven and earth. In the later mythology Sarasvati was identified with Vach, and became under different names the spouse of Brahma and the goddess of wisdom and eloquence, and is invoked as a Muse. In the Mahabharata she is called the mother of the Vedas, and the same is said of Vach in the Taitt. Br. ii, 8, where she is also said to be the wife of Indra, to contain within herself all worlds, and to have been sought after by the rishis who composed the Vedic hymns, as well as by the gods through austerity.- 0. S. H, F, 342. Vach is represented as the wife of Prajapati, and as pervading all that exists. She is termed the mother of the Vedas. Vach is also designated as a cow. " Let a man worship the cow Vach. She has four udders, the formulae, svaha, vas/iat, hauta, and svadha. The gods live upon her two udders, svaha and vashat; men upon hauta; and the fathers upon svadha. Breath is her bull; the mind, her calf."- 0. S. T., II, 2o6. Vach: (sáns. hindú). 2, A daughter of Daksha, married to Kasyapa. Vadhrimati: (sáns. hindú). The wise female to whose invocation the Asvins listened and gave her a son called Hiranyahasta. - 0. S. J*., F, 247. Vahan: (sáns. hindú). Sans., a vehicle. One is allotted to each of the gods. Brahma has the Ilamsa, a goose or swan. Vishnu, Garuda, half man, half bird, but now, in Southern India, identified with the Haliaitus Poudicheriauus, or Brahmauy-kite; Äiva, the bull; Indra, the elephant; Ganesa, a rat; Kartikeya, a peacock; Agni, a ram; Vayu, an antelope; Yama, a buffalo; Sani, Saturn, a Tulture; Râma, a monkey; Kamadeva, a parrot; Durga or Purvati, a lion and bull, and the other goddesses, the vahaus of their respective lords. The vahan of Brahma, Hamsa, or Hah us, sometimes Hahnsi, Major Moor tells us, is precisely the name that in Suffolk, is commonly given to the heron, that Saraswati rides on. The swan or goose, the eagle, and the bull, are the vehicles respectively allotted to the three great powers. The terrestrial sluggish nature of the first, is an apt type of matter, personified in the creative power, and a contrast to Vishnu, or spirit, the preserving power, appropriately mounted on a buoyant eagle, the celestial Garuda. Äiva, the destructive energy of the Deity, is Time or Justice; and the Hindus, deem the bull also its type, and give it to Äiva as his vahan, or mode of conveyance. These vehicles are supposed by Mr. Paterson (As. Res. Vol. VII, p. 48,) to have allusion to Purity, Truth, and Justice: the first, he says, typified by the swan, which, clothed with unspotted whiteness, swims, amidst the waters, as it were, distinct from, and unsullied by, them; as the truly pure mind remains untainted amidst the surrounding temptations of the world. Garuda, brother to Aruna, is remarkable for strength and swiftness; and the latter is described as imperfect, and, on account of his defects, destined to act as charioteer to the Sun, he being the dawn, the twilight preceding the sun. Garuda is perfect light; the dazzling full blaze of day; the type of Truth; the celestial vahan of Vishnu. Perhaps the Hindus may, like western observers, have noticed the strong optic nerves of the eagle tribe; and have heard of the fable of the parents destroying such of their brood as are unable to look steadily on the sun; the eagle in western poetry is called bird of the sun, as well as bird of Jove; in both of which characters Vishnu particularly appears. Justice, typified in the sacred bull, is the vahan of Äiva: the bull, whose body is Pararaesvara, and whose every joint is a virtue; whose three horns are the three Vedas; whose tail ends where ad'harma, or injustice, begins. - Coleman, Moor. " The creatures here named, alone suffice to indicate the northern origin of the people who believe in them, and the readiness with which they have accommodated themselves to change. There is no swan nor eagle in Southern India, so far as we know, nor is the buffalo or brahmany-kite known in the highlands of Central Asia." - BALFOUR. Vahnijwala: (sáns. hindú). One of the Narakas that for shepherds and potters. Vaibhraja: (sáns. hindú). A large forest in the west of Mount Meru. Vaideha: (sáns. hindú). " The son of the bodiless ;" a name of Raja Janaka, (q. V.) Vaideyha: (sáns. hindú). One of the fifteen teachers of the White Yajush. Vaidurya: (sáns. hindú). One of the principal mountain ridges which project from the base of Meru, on the western side. Vaikanka: (sáns. hindú). A similar ridge in the eastern side. Vaikuntha: (sáns. hindú). The heaven of Vishnu. This is considered by Wilson to be a sectarial addition to the seven Lokas or spheres above the earth. Vaikuntha is also the name of an incarnation of Vishnu in the seventh Manwantara. Vaikunthas: (sáns. hindú). A class of deities of the sixth Manwantara. Vaikrita: (sáns. hindú). Secondary or instrumental creation. Vaimanikas: (sáns. hindú). The deities who travel in Vimanas, * heavenly cars,' or rather * moving spheres.' Vainahotra: (sáns. hindú). One of the Rajas of Kasi, the son of Dhrishtaketu. Vairaja: (sáns. hindú). l, Part of the Sama Veda created from the northern mouth of Brahma; 2, A name of the first Manu. Vairajas: (sáns. hindú). A class of deities who dwell in Tapoloka, the sphere of penance; these deities are inconsumable by fire. Vairupa: (sáns. hindú). The name of a portion of the Sama Veda created from the western mouth of Brahma. Vaisakha: (sáns. hindú). An obsolete name of one of the months. Vaisakhi, Vaislai: (sáns. hindú). Two of the wives of Vasudeva. Vaisali: (sáns. hindú). A city of considerable renown in Indian tradition, but its site is a subject of some uncertainty. It is celebrated among the Buddhists as a chief seat of the labours of Sakhya and his first disciples, and would thus be Prayaga or Allahabad; but the Râmâyaòa places it much lower down on the north bank of the Ganges. Vaisampayana: (sáns. hindú). The coadjutor of Vyasa in arranging the Vedas. "It seems probable that the tradition is true that records the first establishment of a school, of which the Vyasa was the head, and the other persons named were the teachers." Vaisampayana was the teacher of the Yajur Veda. There is a legend that Raja Janamcjaya killed a brahman and in order to expiate this dreadful crime he listened to a recitation of the whole of the Mahabharata, which was performed by Vaisampayana. Accordingly the Mahabharata, which is said to have been originally composed by Vyasa, is supposed to be written as it was recited by Vaisampayana. Vaiseshika: (sáns. hindú). " Is the name of one of the two great divisions of the Nyaya (q. v.) school of Hindu philosophy, and probably a later development of the Nyaya' itself, properly so called, with which it agrees in its analytical method of treating the subjects of human research, but from which it differs in the arrangement of its topics, and more especially by its doctrine of atomic individualities, or vis'eshas - whence its name is derived." The reputed founder of the Vaiseshika is Kanada, of whose histoiy or date, however, nothing is known. Kanada taught that the visible form of God was light; that when the desire of creation arose in the divine mind, he first gave existence to water, and then to innumerable worlds, floating on the waters like the mundane egg; that in these primseval eggs water Avas contained, on which lay Vishnu, and from whose navel issued a lotus, in which Brahma was born; that Brahma, receiving instructions from God, created the world, first from his mind, and then with the primary atoms; that spirit and animal life were separate substances. To him are attributed the Vaiseshika-Sufras, which contain about 550 aphorisms, or sentences. These relate to seven subjects (padarthas,) under the following distinct heads, viz.; - 1, Things; 2, Qualities; 3, Actions; 4, Genus; 5, Spirits; 6, The inseparable Connection of Constituent Parts; and 7, Non-entity. After a long discussion of the different subjects included in this arrangement, Kanada discourses on religion, riches, happiness, and final liberation. Having first explained the nature of religion, he then arranges the component parts of the universe, and, lastly, gives a discourse on the divine nature, which he divides into three heads: (1) that God is essentially possessed of wisdom (which, however, docs not comprise the whole of his nature or character); (2) that He is the ever blessed and supremely happy; and (3) that in all His works and His will He is irresistible and omnipotent. Emancipation from matter he held to be inseparably connected with complete deliverance from sorrow, and the enjoyment of final bliss. Several commentaries have been written, and are extant on the Sutras of Kanada, of which the principal are a large one called the Bhâshya, and a smaller one entitled the Vaisesheka Sûtrapushkara; but the only work now read in Bengal which has any relation to the Vaiseshika Philosophy is that of Visva Natha Siddhanta, which merely treats of the logical terms of this system, and of the Nyaya school. In the Nyaya Colleges of Bengal the students read that part of this work which relates to the Vaiseshika system, and then proceed to study the Nyaya system itself. - GOLDSTUCKER., in Chambers' Encyclopcedia. Vaishnavas: (sáns. hindú). Is the name of one of the great divisions of Hindu sects. The word, derived from Vishnu (q. v.,) designates the worshippers of this deity, and comprises a great variety of sects; but this variety itself differs according to the different periods of the medieval history of India, old divisions becomin"extinct, and new ones taking their place. Thus, the account of the Vaishnavas, as given in a celebrated work of Anandagiri, the Sankaradig-myaya, or the victory of the great theologian Saukara over his religious adversaries, would no longer apply in detail to the present condition of the Vaishnavas; and even some of those varieties mentioned by the late Professor Wilson in his Sketch of the Religious Sects of the Hindus, written in 1832, would seem to have disappeared already in our days. The common link of all the sects comprised under the name of Vaishnavas, is their belief in the supremacy of Vishnu over the other gods of the Trimurti (q. v.) Their difference' consists in the character which they assign to this supremacy, and to the god Vishnu himself, in the religious and other practices founded on the nature of their belief, and in their sectarian maiks. The following sects belonging to this category may especially be noticed here. 1. The Râmânujas, or Sri Vaishnavas, or Sri-Sampradayins, They derive thek' origin from Râmânuja, a celebrated reformer who was born at Perumbur, in the south of India, about the middle of the twelfth century, and is considered by his followers as an incarnation of Sesha (q. v.,) the serpent of Vishnu. He studied at Conjeveram, resided afterwards at Sriranga, and then travelled over different parts of India, where he was especially engaged in combatiug the professors of different creeds, particularly the Saivas. On his return to Sriranga, he was seized by the king Kerikala Chola, but effected his escape, and found refuge with the Jain king of Mysore, Vitala Deva, whom he converted to the Vaishnava faith. For twelve years he then remained at Mysore; but at the death of the Chola king, returned to Sriranga, where he spent the remainder of his life in religious seclusion. The Râmânujas address their worship to Vishnu and his consort, Lakshmi (q. v.,) and their respective incarnations, either singly or conjointly. Hence their sect consists of corresponding sub-divisions, according as Narayana or Lakshmi, or Lakshmi-Narayana, or Kama, or Sita or Sita-Râma, or any other incarnation of these deities, is the preferential object of the veneration of the votary. Their most striking peculiarity is the preparation and the scrupulous privacy of their meals; for should the meal during its preparation, or while they are eating, attract even the looks of a stranger, the operation is instantly stopped, and the viands buried in the ground. The marks by which they distinguish themselves from other sects are two perpendicular white lines, drawn with a white earth, Gopichandana, from the root of the hair to the commencement of each eyebrow, and a transverse streak connecting them across the root of the nose; in the centre is a perpendicular streak of red, made with red sanders, or a preparation of turmeric and lime; other marks, representing several of the attributes of Vishnu, they have either painted or impressed on the breast and each upper arm; and, besides, they wear a necklace of the wood of the Tulasi (holy basil,) and carry a rosary of the seeds of the same plant, or of the lotus. The sacred formula with which a member of this sect is initiated into it consists merely of the words Om rdmaya naniahy * Om, salutation to Râma.' Their principal religious tenet is the belief that Vishnu is the cause and creator of all worlds; that ho and the universe are one, though he is of a two-fold form: the supreme spirit or cause, and the gross one, the effect or matter. In distinction from the Vedanta, with which their doctrine has otherwise many points of contact, they regard their supreme deity as endowed with qualities, all of which are of course excellent; and teach that the universe consists of chitj thinking or spirit, achit, unthinking or matter, iswara, or god; the relation of which is that of eujoyer, the thing enjoyed, and the ruler of both. The deity, they assume, is or has been visibly present in five modifications: in the objects of worship, as images, &c.; in the incarnations; in certain forms called Vyuhas, viz., Vasudeva or Krishna; Balarama, Pradyumna, and Aniruddha; and in the subtle form which comprises six qualities - absence of passion, immortality, exemption from pain or care, absence of natural wants, love, and practice of truth - and the human soul; all of which have to bet worshipped seriatim, as the votary ascends in the scale of perfection. It is in the south that the followers of Râmânuja, and their temples and establishments, are still numerous; in the north of India, where they are better known as Sri Vaishnavas, they are not of frequent occurrence. 2. The Ramanandas, or Ramavats. They are by far the most numerous class of sectaries in Gangetic India: in the district of Agra, they alone constitute seven-tenths of the ascetic population. They belong chiefly to the poorer and inferior classes, with the exception of the Rajputs and military Brahmans. The founder of this sect was Ramananda, who, by some, is considered to have been the immediate disciple of Kamanuja; by others, the fifth in descent from that teacher, when he would have lived about the end of the thirteenth century; but other more reliable accounts place him toward the end of the fourteenth, or the beginning of the fifteenth century. According to common tradition, Ramcinanda seceded from the Râmânujas, to whom he originally belonged, because, having spent some time in travelling through various parts of India, and, in consequence, having been suspected by his fellow-disciples not to have conformed to the rule of the Râmânujas in taking his meals, he was condemned to feed in a place apart from the rest of them, but did not acquiescie in the afiront thus offered him. His residence was at Benares, at the Pancha Ganga Ghit, where a Math, or monastery, of his followers is said to have existed. The especial object of their worship is Vishnu, in his incarnation as Râmachandra, and his consort Sita and, as amongst the Râmânujas, these deities either singly or jointly. Some members of this sect also pay adoration to other forms of Vishnu; and the religious mendicants of the sect consider all form of adoration superfluous, being content with the incessant invocation of Krishna and Râma. Their practices are less precise than those of the Râmânujas; but the most important difference between them consists in the fact, that Ramananda abolished the distinction of caste amongst the religious orders, and taught that a VairdgiUf or one who quitted the ties of nature and society, shook off at the same time all personal distinction. The initiatory formula of a Ramananda is Ärî Râma, or * blessed Râma.' Their sectarian marks are the same as those of the Râmânujas; except that the red perpendicular streak on the forehead is varied in shape and extent, and generally narrower than that of the Râmânujas. There are various sub-divisions of this sect, believed to have been founded by several eminent disciples of Ramananda. Their doctrines vary often from that of the latter, but they maintain an amicable intercourse with the Râmânujas and with each other. Besides these Vaishnava sects there are others of less importance who are sometimes included, on the ground of paying more respect to Vishnu than to any other god of the Trimurti, (q. v.) - Chambers' Encyclopcedia. Vaisravana: (sáns. hindú). The eldest son of Pulastya, who deserted his father and went to Brahmi, who as a reward made him immortal, and appointed him the god of riches, with Lanka for his capital and the car Pushpaka for his vehicle. He was afterwards expelled from Lanka by his younger brother Ravana, and retired to Gandhamadana. - (Kuvera.) Vaiswadeva: (sáns. hindú). A ceremony in the observance of a Ärâddha, which comprehends offerings to both paternal and maternal ancestors, and to ancestors in general. Vaiswanara: (sáns. hindú). 1, A Danava, the father of Puloma and Kalika; 2, The Southern Avashthana. Vaiswanari: (sáns. hindú). A division of the lunar mansions, comprising the last three in the Southern Avasthana. Vaisyas: (sáns. hindú). The third of the regenerate caste- said to have been born from the thighs of Brahmi. The occupations of commerce and agriculture, the feeding of flocks and herds, are the duties of the Vaisyas. No opposition seems ever to have arisen between the Vaisyas and the other two castes, like that which broke out between the Brahmans and the Kshatriyas. Indeed the wealth of the Vaisyas rendered them at a later period of considerable influence, inasmuch as they employed Brahmans to perform sacrifices, and took Kshatriyas into their pay as soldiers and guards. - ( Wheeler.) Vaitalika: (sáns. hindú). A poetical watchman or crier or bell-man - one who announces in verse the change of the seasons and the hours of the day - when not retained for the purpose he is a public singer. - Wilson. Vaitalaki: (sáns. hindú). A teacher of the Rig Veda. Vaitandya: (sáns. hindú). The eldest son of the Vasu Apa. Vaitarani: (sáns. hindú). One of the Narakas, that for the punishment of the man who destroys a bee-hive or pillages a hamlet. Vaitarani: (sáns. hindú). A sacred river at Tripishtapa in the country of the Kalingas. It is connected with the worship of Äiva, and the act of bathing there and worshipping the god who wields the trident and whose ensign is the bull, (Mahadeva) is said to ensure ' purification from all sin and the attainment of the highest felicity. - 0. S. T., IV, 241. Vaivaswata: (sáns. hindú). l, The son of the celestial luminary, (the Sun), and Manu of the seventh (or present) Manwantara; 2, Also an appellation of one of the Rudras. Vajasaneyi: (sáns. hindú). A portion of the Yajur Veda. Vajins: (sáns. hindú). Students of the white Yajush; this Veda was revealed by the sun in the form of a horse, (vaji) hence the name applied to the brahmans. Vajra: (sáns. hindú). The son of Aniruddha, who by order of Krishna was installed sovereign of the Yadavas at Indraprastha, and thus escaped the destruction which overwhelmed their kinsmen at Dwaraka. This, says Wilson, was a fortunate reservation for the tribes which in various parts of Hindustan, both in the Ganges and in the Dakhin, profess to derive their origin from the Yddavas. Vajramitra: (sáns. hindú). One of the ten Sunga princes, the son of Ghoshavasu. Vajranabha: (sáns. hindú). A prince, the son of Uktha, of the line of Kusa. Vaktrayodhi: (sáns. hindú). An eminent Danava, one of the sons of Viprachitti. Valaka: (sáns. hindú). A teacher of the Rig Veda, and disciple of Sakapurni. Valakaswa: (sáns. hindú). A prince, the son of Ajaka, descendant of Pururavas. Vallabha: (sáns. hindú). A celebrated Vaishnava teacher who lived in the sixteenth century. Vallabhas: (sáns. hindú). A people mentioned in the Purâòas, and supposed to be inhabitants of Vallabhi in Rajputana. See Tods Bajasthan* Valmiki: (sáns. hindú). The Vyasa of the twenty-fourth Dwapara age, called also Reksha, a descendant of Bhrigu. Valmiki: (sáns. hindú). A sage and bard, famous as the author of the Râmâyaòa; he lived at Chitra Kuta, a celebrated hill in Bundlekuud, to the south of the river Jumna. He was surrounded by a band of Brahman disciples, who led the ideal life of austerity, sacrifice and devotion, so frequently described and recommended by Brahmanical writers. It was in this hill, that Râma, with his wife and brother, took up their abode, when exiled from Ayodhya. According to the Râmâyaòa they spent some pleasant years there. The locality is said to have abounded in game, fruit, honey, and other products of the jungle which were suitable for food. Long after, when Râma and Sita had returned in triumph to Kosala, and Sita was about to become a mother, she was repudiated by Râma, though she had passed the ordeal of fire and been declared innocent; she was conveyed to the jungle by Lakshmana, who left her in a panic of surprise and fear, near the hill Chitra Kuta; in this state she was found by Valmiki, who had been the brahman preceptor of her father Janaka, he took her to his own house and placed her in charge of his wife and female servants. It was then that Sita's two sons, were born; Valmiki gave them the names of Lava and Kusa, and brought them up, and educated them with the greatest care. It is said he taught his poem, the Râmâyaòa, to them. There are however many chronological difficulties connected with the history of Yalmiki, though it seems certain he was a real person. Vama: (sáns. hindú). One of the eleven Rudras, according to the list in the Bhagavata. Vamana: (sáns. hindú). Vishnu, at the request of the deities, was born as a dwarf, Vamana, the son of Aditi by Kasyapa; when Vamana applied to Raja Bali, the monarch of the Daityas, for alms, he was promised by the Raja whatever he might demand, notwithstanding Sukra, the preceptor of the Daityas, apprised him whom he had to deal with. The dwarf demanded as much space as he could step over at three steps; and upon the assent of Bali, enlarged himself to such dimensions as to stride with one pace over the earth, with a second over the intermediate space (the atmosphere), and with a third over the sky, thus leaving for Bali only the subterranean regions, which he assigned him for his future abode. " The demons endeavoured to frustrate this result, after Vishnu had taken his first two strides, but they were overcome by the followers of Vishnu; and Bali, when resigning himself to his fate, in reply to a reproach addressed to him by the dwarf for trying to break his promise, uttered - according to the Bhagavata-Purâòa - the following words, which may serve as one of many instances to shew how sacred a promise was held by the Hindus when once given, and even though artfully obtained: 'If, renowned chief of the gods, you consider the word which I uttered to be deceitful, I now do what is sincere, and can be no deception - place your third step on my head. Fallen from my position, I fear not the infernal regions, or binding in bonds, or misfortune difficult to escape, or loss of wealth, or your restraint, so much as I am afflicted by a bad name.' (See J. Muir's Original Sanscrit Texts, Vol. IV, p. 128.) For his righteousness, lie was then rewarded by Vishnu with the promise, that after a temporary residence in one of the most delightful places of Patila (q. v.), he should be born as the Indra, in the reign of the eighth Manu. In this incarnation as dwarf, Vishnu is considered to have been a son of the same Kasyapa who is also the father of Hiranyakasipu and Hiranyaksha; but while their mother is Diti, the dwarfs mother is Aditi (space); and since she previously had brought forth Indra, Vishnu is sometimes called Upendra, or the younger or later Indra. As a son of Aditi, Vishnu becomes one of the Adityas (see before). - The Vedic conception of the three strides of Vishnu, is doubtless the basis of the idea whence this Avatara arose." - Goldstucker. Vamana Purâòa: (sáns. hindú). This contains an account of the dwarf incarnation of Vishnu: Wilson thinks its contents scarcely establish its claim to the character of a Purâòa. " There is little or no order in the subjects which this work recapitulates, and which arise out of replies made by Pulastya to questions put, abruptly and unconuectedly, by Narada. The greater part of them relate to the worship of the Liuga; a rather strange topic for a Vaishnava Purâòa, but engrossing the principal part of the compilation. They are, however, subservient to the object of illustrating the sanctity of certain holy places; so that the Vamana Purâòa is little else than a succession of Mahatmyas. Thus, in the opening, almost, of the work, occurs the story of Daksha's sacrifice, the object of which is to send Äiva to Pipamochana Tirtha, at Benares, where he is released from the sin of Brahmanicide. Next comes the story of the burning of Kamadeva, for the purpose of illustrating the holiness of a Äiva-linga at Kedareswara in the Himalaya, and of Badarikasrama. The larger part of the work consists of the Saro-mahatmya, or legendary exemplifications of the holiness of Sthanu Tirtha; that is, of the sanctity of various Lingas and certain pools, at Thanesar and Kurukhet, the country north-west from Delhi. There are some stories, also, relating to the holiness of the Godavari river: but the general site of the legends is in Hindusthan. In the course of these accounts, we have a long narrative of the marriage of Äiva with Uma, and the birth of Karttikeya. There are a few brief allusions to creation and the Manwantaras; but they are merely incidental: and all the five characteristics of a Purâòa are deficient. In noticing the Swarochisha Manwantara, towards the end of the book, the elevation of Bali as monarch of the Daityas, and his subjugation of the universe, the gods included, are described; and this leads to the narration that gives its title to the Purâòa, the birth of Vishnu as a dwarf, for the purpose of humiliating Bali by fraud, as he was invincible by force. The story is told as usual; but the scene is laid at Kurukshetra. A more minute examination of this work than that which has been given to it, might, perhaps, discover some hint from which to conjecture its date. It is of a more tolerant character than the Purâòas, and divides its homage between Äiva and Vishnu with tolerable impartiality. It is not connected, therefore, with any seetarial principles, and may have preceded their introduction. It has not, however, the air of any antiquity; and its compilation may have amused the leisure 6f some Brahman of Benares three or four centuries ago." - Wilson. Vanakapivat: (sáns. hindú). The son of the patriarch Pulaka. Vanaprastha: (sáns. hindú). Heimit. The third stage of Brahmanical life. " When the householder, after performing the acts incumbent on his condition, arrives at the decline of life, let him consign his wife to the care of his sons, and go, himself, to the forests. Let him there subsist upon leaves, roots, and fruit; and suffer his hair and beard to grow, and braid the former upon his brows; and sleep upon the ground. His dress must be made of skin, or of Kasa or Kusa grasses; and he must bathe thrice a day; and he must offer oblations to the gods and to fire, and treat all that come to him with hospitality. He must beg alms, and present food to all creatures; he must anoint himself with such unguents as the woods afford; and, in his devotional exercises, he must be endurant of heat and cold. The sage who diligently follows these rules, and leads the life of the hermit (or Vanaprastha,) consumes, like fire, all imperfections, and conquers, for himself, the mansions of eternity." V. P. Vaneyu: (sáns. hindú). One of the ten sons of Raudraswa, a descendant of Puru. Vapra: (sáns. hindú). The Vyasa of the fourteenth Dwapara age. Vapu: (sáns. hindú). Body; a (laughter of Daksha, married to Dharma. Vapushmat: (sáns. hindú). One of the sons of Priyavrata and Kamya; he was installed by his father in the sovereignty over the Dwipa of Salmali, (q. v.) He had seven sons, whose names gave designations to seven varshas or divisions. Varaha: (sáns. hindú). A boar. The Varaha Avatar is the third incarnation of Vishnu in the shape of a boar. It is supposed to have taken place when, at the period of creation, the earth was immersed in water, and Vishnu, in order to raise it up, assumed the form of a gigantic boar. The boar is said to be a type of the ritual of the Vedas. " The elevation of the earth from beneath the ocean, in this form, was therefore, probably, at first, an allegorical representation of the extrication of the world from a deluge of iniquity, by the rites of religion. Geologists may perhaps suspect, in the original and unmystified tradition, an allusion to a geological fact, or the existence of lacustrine mammalia in the early periods of the earth." - Wilson, The boar is described as the sacrifice personified; his feet being the Vedas; his tusks the sacrificial posts to which the victim is tied; his teeth, the sacrificial offerings; his mouth, the altar; his tongue, the fire; his hairs, the sacrificial grass; his eyes, day and night; his head, the place of Brahma; his mane, the hymns of the Vedas; his nostrils, all the oblations; his snout, the ladle of oblation; his voice, the chanting of the Sama-veda; his body, the hall of sacrifice; his joints, the different ceremonies; and his ears as having the properties of voluntary and obligatory rites. According to a legend in the Bhagavata Purâòa, Jaya and Vijaya, two doorkeepers of Vishnu, once offended some Munis who claimed admission to the paradise of Vishnu, and in consequence were doomed to lose their position in heaven, and to be reborn on earth. They became thus the sous of Kasyapa and Diti, under the names of Hiranyakasipu and Hiranyaksha. The former subdued the three worlds, and the latter went straight to heaven to conquer the gods also. The gods implored the assistance of Vishnu, who at that period was the mysterious boai' and slew Hiranyaksha. A similar contest between Vishnu and numerous demons, the progeny of Diti, always ending in the defeat of the latter, is also described, showing that the boar-avatara had gradually lost its original character, and assumed that common to the remaining avatars. Varaha: (sáns. hindú). One of the six minor Dwipas, peopled by Mlechchhas who worship Hindu deities. Varahamihira: (sáns. hindú). A celebrated astronomer and astrologer, born at Ujein a. d. 530 and died in 587. Dr. Kern observes that " he was in the awkward position of a man who has to reconcile the exigencies of science with the decrees, deemed infallible, of the Rishis ;" for curious examples of which he refers to the BrihatSanhita, chapters v and ix.* With a strong taste for astrology, and falling into errors which Aryabhata had exposed, Varahamihira made some remarkable observations on the moon and on eclipses - thus , " One-half of the moon whose orbit lies between the sun and the earth, is always bright by the sun's rays; the other half is dark, by its own shadow; like the two sides of a pot standing in the sunshine." After alluding to the popular notion of Rahu as the demon that causes eclipse by devouring part of the sun or moon, he says " The true explanation of the phenomena is this: in an eclipse of the moon he enters into the earth's shadow; in a solar eclipse the same things happen to the sun. Hence the commencement of a lunar eclipse does not take place from the west side, nor that of a solar eclipse from the east." Brihat Sanhita, quoted in A. and M. I., Vol. I, p. 371.: Varana: (sáns. hindú). The ninth division in Bharata Varsha. Varanavata: (sáns. hindú). The modern Allahabad, " the sacred city at the junction of the Ganges and Jumna, and one of the most famous places of pilgrimage in Hindustan. It is said to have been celebrated for gold and jewels. The visit of the Pandava princes to (* A work which Dr. Kern edited and published at Calcutta in 1865, and is understood to be now translating into English.) this city as related in the Mahabharata is considered by Mr. Wheeler to be a later interpolation for the sole purpose of associating the Pandavas with the famous city of Varanavata. Vararuchi: (sáns. hindú). A celebrated brahraan, the son of Somadatta, distinguished for a wonderful memory, which enabled him to recite perfectly any discourse he had once heard. He instructed Vyadi, and both of them were writers of note on philological topics. They were contemporaries of Nanda who reigned at Pataliputra - a fact which Professor Wilson regards as of considerable interest in the literary history of the Hindus. Vararuchi is also called Katyayana (q. v.) who is one of the earliest commentators of Panini (q. V.) Nanda is the predecessor, or one of the predecessors of Chandragupta; and consequently the chief institutes of Sanskrit Grammar are thus dated from the fourth century before the Christian era. - Wilson, 111, 166. Varchas: (sáns. hindú). Light; the son of Vasu Soma, and father of Varchaswi. Radiance. Varenya: (sáns. hindú). Most Excellent; a name of Vishnu; said to be the same as supreme felicity. Varhadrathas: (sáns. hindú). A dynasty of kings of Magadha, who according to the Vishnu Purâòa were to reign for a thousand years. Varhaspatyas: (sáns. hindú). Heretics; followers of Vrihaspatti, who seem to have been numerous and bold at some period anterior to the fourteenth century. - Wilson. Varishads: (sáns. hindú). A class of Pitris, identified by some with the months. They are formless or incorporeal Pitris, sons of Atri, and Pitris of the demons. Varishmati: (sáns. hindú). The wife of Priyavrata, according to the Bhagavata, which states that she was the daughter of Visvakarman. Variyas: (sáns. hindú). One of the sons of the patriarch Pulaha, according to the Bhlgavata. Varman: (sáns. hindú). This designation is said in the Vishnu Purâòa to be an appropriate name for a Kshatrya. Vamam: (sáns. hindú). Colour- -Caste. Varshas: (sáns. hindú). Countries; a term applied to the divisions in Jambu Dwipa. Varuòa: (sáns. hindú). The Neptune of Hindu mythology. The god of ocean, the god of rain and clouds. He is distinctly termed the god of Ocean in the Vishnu Purâòa, and Wilson in noticing the circumstance that it was Varuòa who supplied the sage Richika with a thousand fleet horses, remarks that the agency of the god of ocean in procuring horses is a rather curious additional coincidence between Varuòa and Neptune. The Vedic Aryans were evidently acquainted with the sea, for the hymns contain allusions to merchants, to sea voyages, and to ships with a hundred oars. Professor Max Müller in his History of Sanskrit Literature, has translated a beautiful hymn to Varuòa in which this deity is addressed in the two-fold character of controlling tempests and punishing sin. " The grandest cosmical functions are ascribed to Varuòa* Possessed of illimitable resources (or knowledge), this divine being has meted out, (or fashioned), and upholds, heaven and earth; he dwells in all worlds as sovereign ruler, indeed, the three worlds are embraced within him; he made the golden and revolving sun to shine in the firmament. The wind which resounds through the atmosphere is his breath. He has opened boundless paths for the sun, and has hollowed out channels for the rivers, which flow by his command. By this wonderful contrivance the rivers pour their waters into the one ocean, but never fill it. His ordinances are fixed and unassailable. They rest on him, unshaken, as upon a mountain; through their operation, the moon walks in brightness, and the stars which appear in the nightly sky mysteriously vanish in daylight. Neither the birds flying in the air, nor the rivers in their sleepless flow, can attain a knowledge of his power or his wrath. His messengers behold both worlds. He knows the flight of birds in the sky, the path of ships on the ocean, the course of the far-travelling wind, and beholds all the secret things that have been, or shall be done. No creature can even wink without him. He witnesses men's truth and falsehood. He instructs the rishi Vasishtha in mysteries. But his secrets and those of Mitra are not to be revealed to the foolish." In the sixteenth hymn of the fourth book of the Atharva-veda, his power and omniscience are thus celebrated: - " 1, The great one who rules over these worlds beholds as if he were close at hand. When any man thinks he is doing aught by stealth, the gods know it all; 2, (and they perceive) every one who stands, or walks, or glides along secretly, or with draws into his house, or into any lurking-place. "Whatever two persons, sitting together, devise, Varuòa the king knows it, (being present there as) a third; 3, This earth, too, belongs to the king Varuòa, and that vast sky whose ends are so remote. The two oceans (the aerial and terrestrial) are Varuòa's stomachs; he resides in this small pool of water; 4, He who should flee far beyond the sky, would not there escape from Varuòa the king. His messengei's, descending from heaven, traverse this world; thousand-eyed, they look across the whole earth; 5, King Varuòa perceives all that exists within heaven and earth and all that is beyond. The winkings of men's eyes are all numbered by him. He handles (all) these (things) as a gamester throws his dice; 6, May thy destructive nooses, O Varuòa, which are cast seven-fold, and three-fold, ensnare the man who speaks lies, and pass by him who speaks truth," Varuòa is represented as having unlimited control over tha destinies of mankind. He is said to have a hundred, a thousand remedies, and is supplicated to shew his wide and deep benevolence, and drive away evil and sin; to untie like a rope, and remove sin; he is entreated not to steal away, but to prolong, life; and to spare the supplicant who daily transgresses his laws. In many places mention is made of the bonds, or nooses, with which he seizes and punishes transgressors. Mitra and Varuòa conjointly are spoken of in one passage as being barriers against falsehood, furnished with many nooses, which the hostile mortal cannot surmount; and in another place Indra and Varuòa are described as binding with bonds not formed of rope. On the other hand, Varuòa is said to be gracious even to him who has committed sin. He is the wise guardian of immortality, and a hope is held out that he and Yama reigning in blessedness shall be beheld in the next world by the righteous. " The attributes and functions ascribed to Varuòa impart to his character a moral elevation and sanctity for sui-passing that attributed to any other Vedic deity. This appears not only from the passages to which I have already referred, but also from the two hymns translated by Professor Muller in his Anc. Sansk. Lit., pp. 540 ƒ., and Chips, I, 39 ƒƒ.; in which the rishi, who is said to be Vasishtha, while palliating his sins, implores the god's forgiveness, and entreats that his life may be spared. I shall quote a part of the first and the whole of the second: " Seeking to perceive that sin, O Varuòa, I inquire; I resort to the wise to ask. The sages all tell me the same; it is Varuòa who is angry with thee. 4. What great sin is it, Varuòa, for which thou seekest to slay thy worshipper and friend ? Tell me, O unassailable and selfdependent god; and, freed from sin, I shall speedily come to thee with adoration; 5, Release us from the sins of our fathers, and from those which we have committed in our own persons. O king, release Vasishtha like a robber who has fed upon cattle; release him like a calf from its tether; 6, It was not our will, Varuòa, but some seduction, which led us astray, - wine, anger, dice, or thoughtlessness. The stronger perverts the weaker. Even sleep occasions siu"" " Let me not, O king Varuòa, go to the house of earth. Be gracious, O mighty god, be gracious; 2, I go along, O thunderer, quivering like an inflated skin; be gracious, &c.; 3, O bright and mighty god, I have transgressed through want of power, be gracious, &c. 4. Thirst has overwhelmed thy worshipper when standing even in the midst of the waters; be gracious, &c.; 5, Whatever offence this be, O Varuòa, that we mortals commit against the people of the sky (the gods): in whatever way we have broken thy laws by thoughtlessness, be gracious, O mighty god, be gracious." In another place the same rishi alludes to his previous friendship with Varuòa, and to the favours the god had formerly conferred upon him, and enquires why they had now ceased: " Varuòa placed Vasishtha on his boat: by his power the wise and mighty deity made him a rishi to offer praise in an auspicious period of his life, that his days and dawns might be prolonged; 5, Where are those friendships of us two ? Let us seek the harmony which (we enjoyed) of old. I have gone, O selfsustaining Varuòa, to thy vast and spacious house with a thousand gates; 6, He who was thy friend, intimate, thine own, and beloved, has committed offences against thee. Let not us who are guilty reap the fruits of our sin. Do thou, a wise god, grant protection to him who praises thee." The same or nearly the same functions and attributes as are ascribed to Varuòa are also attributed to him and Mitra conjointly. They uphold and rule over the earth and sky, the shining and the terrestrial regions, and place the sun in the heavens. In his paper on " the highest gods of the Arian races," Professor Roth has the following ingenious and interesting observations on Mitra and Varuòa: " Within the circle of the Adityas there subsists the closest connection between Mitra and Varuòa, who are invoked more frequently together than Varuòa is invoked singly. We find only one hymn in which Mitra is invoked by himself. The essential character of the two gods, as distinguished from one another, is nowhere distinctly expressed in the hymns, and was in fact originally one which could not be defined with intellectual precision. But the stage of religious culture which lies before us in the Rig Veda, enables us to distinguish this difference as one already existing, viz., that Mitra is the celestial light in its manifestation by day, while Varuòa, though the lord of light and of all time, yet rules especially over the nightly heaven. A hymn of Vasishtha: ' One of you (Varuòa) is the lord, and unassailable guide, and he who is called Mitra, (i, e., the friend) calls men to activity.' Here so much at least is declared (and the same thing is expressed in nearly the same words in other places), that the light of day, which awakens life, and brings joy and activity into the world, is the narrower sphere of Mitra's power; though, however, Varuòa is not thereby relegated to the night alone, for he continues to be the lord and the first. "Though therefore such representations as are expressed in Indian exegesis, (as for instance, when Suyaria says on R. V., vii. 87, 1, that Varuòa is the setting sun), are far too narrow and onesided, they still contain some truth; and we may guess by what process they are to be developed. If Varuòa is, as his name shews, that one among the lucid Adityas whose seat and sphere of authority is the bright heaven, in whose bosom is embraced all that lives, and therefore also the remotest boundary, beyond which human thought seeks nothing further, then is he also one who can scarcely be attained either by the eye or by the imagination. By day the power of vision cannot discover this remotest limit, the bright Leaven presents to it no resting place. But at night this veil of the world, in which Varuòa is enthroned, appears to approach nearer, and becomes perceptible, for the eye finds a limit. Varuòa is closer to men. Besides, the other divine forms which, in the clouds, the atmosphere, the rays of light, filled the space between the earth and yonder immeasurable outermost sphere, have disappeared: no other god now stands between Varuòa and the mortal who gazes at him."- 0. S. T., Vol. V, p. 70. Varuni: (sáns. hindú). The goddess of wine, produced from the churning of the ocean. She was in the later mythology the wife of Varuòa, and was sent by him to promote the enjoyments of Balarama when lie lived for two months at Vraja. Vashatkara: (sáns. hindú). Deified oblation; one of the thirty-three divinities who are born again at the end of a thousand ages, according to their own pleasure. Vashkala: (sáns. hindú). A Daitya, the son of Sanhrada, or Prahlada, according to the Padma Purâòa. Vasishtha: (sáns. hindú). One of the most celebrated Vedic Rishis, the author of several hymns of the Rig Veda, and a personage who played an important part in the early history of the Brahmanic or priestly caste of the Hindus. In the account given of him, historical events and mythological fictions are so much blended together that it is scarcely possible to gather more from it than that he was a sage of high reputation and a priest jealous of the privileges and the position of his caste, and ever ready to assist its superiority over the second or military and royal caste. In one of his Rig Veda hymns he claims to have been enlightened by the god Varuòa, and in another he is called the son of Mitra and Varuòa, born from the mind of Urvasi. - (Goldstucker.) Vasishtha was the family priest of Nimi, son of Ikshvaku, who was the son of Manu Vaivasvata, and the first prince of the solar race of kings; and in a passage of the Mahabharata, he is stated to have been the purohita of all the kings of that family. He is accordingly mentioned in the Vishnu Purâòa, as the religious teacher of Sagara, the thirty-seventh in descent from Ikshvaku; and as conducting a sacrifice for Sandasa or Mitrasaha, a descendant in the fifteenth generation of the same prince. Vasishtha is also spoken of in the Râmâyaòa, as the priest of Râma, who appears from the Vishnu Purâòa, to have been a descendant of Ikshvaku in the sixty-first generation. Vasishtha, according to all these accounts, must have been possessed of a vitality altogether superhuman; for it does not appear that any of the accounts, intend under the name of Vasishtha to denote merely a person belonging to the family so called, but to represent the founder of the family himself as taking part in the transactions of many successive ages. It is clear that Vasishtha, although he is frequently designated in post-vcdic writings as a Brahman, was, according to some other authorities, not really such in any proper sense of the word, as in the accounts which are there given of his birth he is declared to have been either a mind-born son of Brahma, or the son of Mitra, Varuòa, and the Apsaras Urvasi, or to have had some other supernatural origin." Vasishtha was the preceptor of the Maharaja Dasaratha. He identified Râma as an incarnation of Vishnu, and educated him and his brothers. He invested him with the sacred thread, taught him the Gayatri, and directed the preparations for his installation as Yuvaraja. On the death of the Maharaja he directed the funeral ceremonies, and endeavoured to persuade Râma to accept the Raj. He also conducted the installation of Râma after his return from exile. The seven sous of Vasishtha were the sages of the first Manwantara; and were born again as Rishis in the third period. He was the Vyasa of the eighth Dwapara age. Numerous legends are related of Vasishtha, some of which have been given under the names to which they refer: See Kalmashapada, Nimi, &c. It is said he was changed to a starling by the curse of Visvamitra, who was himself transformed into a crane by the imprecation of Vasishtha. In these forms they fought for a considerable time until Brahma interposed and reconciled them. Wilson says if the tradition have any import it may refer to the ensigns of the contending parties; as banners with armorial devices were invariably borne by princes and leaders.- See Visvamitra. Vasu: (sáns. hindú). A celestial; a leader; a sort of demi-god. There are eight Vasus, so called because they are always present in light, or luminous radiation: or according to the Vishnu Purâòa, because preceded by fire they abound in splendour and might. Their names are Apa, Dhruva, Soma, Dhava (fire,) Anila (wind,) Anala (fire,) Pratyusha (day break,) and Prabhasa (light.) Vasu: (sáns. hindú). 1, A daughter of Daksha who was married to Dharma; 2, One of the sons of Kusa. Vacubhridyana: (sáns. hindú). One of the sons of Vasishtha, who was devoured by Raja Kalmashapada. Vasudeva: (sáns. hindú). 1, One of the sons of Sura; at his birth the gods, to whom the future is manifest, foresaw that the Divine Being would take a human form in his family, and thereupon they sounded with joy the drums of heaven ; from this circumstance Vasudeva was also called Auakadundubhi ; Vasudeva had seven wives ; by one of them Devaki, he had Balarama and Krishna, the two divine incarnations. Vasudeva was imprisoned by Kansa, who also destroyed many of his children and attempted to kill Krishna too. Vasudeva lived to see the power and greatness of Krishna and Rama, and at their death he and his wife committed themselves to the flames ; 2, The first prince of the Kanwa dynasty. V. P Vasudeva: (sáns. hindú). A name of Vishnu: it means, says the Vishnu Purâòa, that all beings abide in that supreme being, and that he abides in all beings. " The form or sensible type of Vasudeva is here considered to be the monosyllable Om, and which is one with the three mystical words Bhuh, Bhuvar, Swar, and with the Vedas: consequently the Vyahritis and the Vedas are also forms of Vasudeva, diversified as to their typical character, but essentially one and the same." - Wilson, Vasuki - One of the progeny of Kadru; a powerful manyheaded snake; he was the snake king according to some authorities: but chiefly celebrated from having been used as a cord or rope, around Mount Mandara as a churn, when the gods and Asuras churned the ocean for the Amrita. Vasumitra One of the ten Sunga princes. Vasava: (sáns. hindú). Vayu, a name of the god of the winds. Vata: (sáns. hindú). Another name of Vayu or Pavana, the god of the wind. Vata-tree: (sáns. hindú). The Ficus Indica; the enormous tree which is fabled to grow in the mountain Suparswa, to the south of Meru, and described as spreading over eleven hundred yojanas, is a Vata tree. Vatapi: (sáns. hindú). 1, A celebrated demon, the son of Hlada; 2, A powerful Danava, the son of Viprachitti; 3, A cruel Rakshasa, a dcvourcr of brahmans; he lived in the forest near the Vindhya mountains, and was himself eaten, according to the Râmâyaòa, by the sage Agastya. Vatsa: (sáns. hindú). Child; a name of Pratarddana, from his father's frequently calling him by that name. Vatsabalaka: (sáns. hindú). A son of Sura and brother of Vasudeva. Vatsabhumi: (sáns. hindú). A prince, the eighth in descent from Alarka. Vatsapri: (sáns. hindú). A celebrated prince of the solar race, the son of Bhalandana. Vatsara: (sáns. hindú). 1, One of the sous of Dhruva; 2, The fifth cyclic year. Vatsavyuha: (sáns. hindú). An ancient Kaja of the solar race, the son of Vatsa. Vatsya: (sáns. hindú). l, A teacher of the Rig Veda; 2, One of the fifteen teachers of the White Yajush. Vavriddhas: (sáns. hindú). A class of deities in the fourteenth Manwantara. Vayu: (sáns. hindú). The god of wind; the -olus of Hindu mythology, while the Maruts are the breezes who attended upon Indra. Vayu was the mythical father of Bhima, and of Hanuman. It was Vayu who testified to the fidelity of Damayanti; who conveyed the palace of Indra to the earth, &c. In the Vedic mythology of the Hindus, Vayu is a deity who originally seems to have held an equal rank with Indra, but much more rarely occupies the imagination of the poets than this god, or Agni, or the Sun; for though, according to Yaska, ancient commentators of the Vedas hold that there are only three great deities - viz., Agni, fire, whose place is on earth; Surya, the sun, whose place is in heaven; and Vayu, or Indra, whose place is in the intermediate sphere - only a few hymns, comparatively speaking, are dedicated to Vayu, whereas the other deities named are the subject of manifold praise. The description given by the Rig Veda of the greatness of Vayu nevertheless answers the position which those ancient commentators assign to him. Vayu, is said to be the son-in-law of Tvashtri. He moves in a shining car, drawn by a pair of red or purple horses. His team is often said to consist of ninety-nine, of a hundred, or even of a thousand horses, yoked by his will. Vayu, like the other gods is a drinker of soma. In fact, he alone, or in conjunction with Indra, was, by the admission of the other gods, entitled to the first draught of this libation. It is remarkable that Vayu is but rarely connected with the Maruts or deities of the storm; but in one place he is said to have begotten them from the rivers of heaven; and in another place to be attended by Pushan, the Maruts and the Visva devas. The following hymns are addressed to Vata (another name of the god of the wind). The imagery in the first is highly poetical. "1, (I celebrate) the gloiy ofVata's chariot;' its noise comes rending and resounding. Touching the sky, he moves onward, making all things ruddy: and he comes propelling the dust of the earth; 2, The gusts (?) of the air rush after him, and congregate in him as women in an assembly. Sitting along with them on the same car, the god, who is king of this universe, is borne along; 3, Hasting forward, by paths in the atmosphere, he never rests on any day. Friend of the waters, first-born, holy, in what place was he born ? whence has he sprung ? 4, Soul of the gods, source of the universe, this deity moves as he lists. His sounds have been heard, but his form is not (seen): this Vata let us worship with an oblation." " 1, Let Vata, the wind, waft to us healing, salutary, and auspicious, to our heart: may he prolong our lives; 2, And, Vata, thou art our father, our brother, and our friend: cause us to live; 3, From the treasure of immortality, which is deposited yonder in thy house, Vata, give us to live." Here the same property is ascribed to Vata which is elsewhere ascribed to Budra, that of bringing healing.* Vayu-Purâòa: (sáns. hindú). The Vayu Purâòa is narrated, by Suta, to the Rishis at Naimisharanya, as it was formerly told, at the same place, to similar persons by Vayu; a repetition of circumstances not uncharacteristic of the inartificial style of this Purâòa. It is divided into four Padas, termed, severally, Prakriya, Upodghita, Anushanga, and Upasamhara; a classification peculiar to this work. These are preceded by an index, or heads of chapters, in the manner of the Mahabharata and Râmâyaòa - another peculiarity. *Dr. Muir, 0. S. T., Vol. V, p. 146. The Prakriya portion contains but a few chapters, and treats, chiefly, of elemental creation, and the first evolutions of beings, to the same purport as the Vishnu, but in a more obscure and unmethodical style. The Upodghata then continues the subject of creation, and describes the various Kalpas or periods during which the world has existed; a greater number of which is specified by the Saiva, than by the Vaishnava Purâòas. Thirty-three are here described, the last of which is the Sweta or ' white' Kalpa, from Äiva's being born in it, of a white complexion. The genealogies of the patriarchs, the description of the universe, and the incidents of the first six Manwantaras are all treated of in this part of the work; but they are intermixed with legends and praises of Äiva, as the sacrifice of Daksha, the Maheswara Mahatmya, the Nilakantha Stotra, and others. The genealogies, although, in the main, the same as those in the Vaishnava Purâòas, present some variations. A long account of the Pitris or progenitors is also peculiar to this Purâòa; as are stories of some of the most celebrated Rishis who were engaged in the distribution of the Vedas. The third division commences with an account of the seven Rishis and their descendants, and describes the origin of the different classes of creatures from the daughters of Daksha, with as profuse copiousness of nomenclature, not found in any other Purâòa. With the exception of the greater minuteness of detail, the particulars agree with those of the Vishnu Purâòa. A chapter then occurs on the worship of the Pitris; another, on Tirthas or places sacred to them; and several, on the performance of Ärâddhas, constituting the Ärâddha Kalpa. After this comes a full account of the solar and lunar dynasties, forming a parallel to that in the Vishnu Purâòa, with this difference, that it is, throughout, in verse, whilst that of our text, as noticed in its place, is, chiefly, in prose. It is extended, also, by the insertion of detailed accounts of various incidents, briefly noticed in the Vishnu, though derived, apparently, from a common original. The section terminates with similar accounts of future kings, and the same chronological calculations, that are found in the Vishnu. The last portion, the Upasamhara, describes briefly the future Manwantaras, the measures of space and time, the end of the world, the efficacy of Yoga, and the glories of Äivapura, or the dwelling of Äiva, with whom the Yogin is to be united. The manuscript concludes with a different history of the successive teachers of the Vayu Purâòa, tracing them from Brahmti to Vayu, from Vayu to Brihaspati, and from him, through various deities and sages, to Dwaipayana and Suta. - Wilson. Vayuna: (sáns. hindú). A sage, one of the sons of Krisaswa; the Râmâyaòa terms the sons of Krisaswa the Sastra devatas, or gods of the divine weapons. Vedabahu: (sáns. hindú). A son of the patriarch Pulastya. Vedamitra: (sáns. hindú). A teacher of the Rig Veda; who divided his Sanhita into five, which he distributed to as many disciples. Vedana: (sáns. hindú). Fortune; a daughter of Aurita (falsehood,) married to Naraka (hell). Vedanga: (sáns. hindú). From Veda and anga, limb; hence, literally, * the limb of (the body of) the Veda' - is the name of six Sanscrit works, the object of which is to teach how to read and understand correctly the Vedic texts, and how to apply them correctly to sacrificial purposes. Whether the number of these works was originally the same as it now is, and already was at the time of the Upanishads, may be doubtful. Tradition mentions the following Vedangas: 1, Siksha, or the science of proper pronunciation. It is represented by a short treatise of 35, or, in another recension, of 59 verses, which explains the nature of letters, accent, and pronunciation, and is ascribed to Panini; 2, Chhandas or (a work on) metre, which is ascribed to Fingala; 3, Vyakarana, or grammar, by which native authorities understand the celebrated work of Panini; but never those short books, especially concerned in Vedic peculiarities, called Pmtistikhyas, the existing repi'esentatives of which, in all probability, are posterior to Panini; 4, Nirukta; 5, Jyotisha, or astronomy. ' Its chief object is to convey such knowledge of the heavenly bodies as is necessary for fixing the days and hours of the Vedic sacrifices ;' 6, Kalpa, or works on the Vedic ceremonial, which systematise the ritual taught by the Brahmana portion of the Veda, omitting, however, all legendary or mystical detail. They are composed in the Sutra style. The Kalpa, or Srauta, Sutras belonging to the Rig Veda are the Aswalayana-, Sankhaymia and Saunaka Sutras; those relating to the Saraaveda, the Masaka-, Ldtyayana-, and Drahyayana Sutras; those of the Black Tajurveda, the Apastamba-, Baudhayana- Satyashadha-, Hiranyakesin-, Manava-, Bharadvdja-, Vadhuna-, Vaikhanasa-, LaugdksTii-, Maitra-, Katha-, and Vardha Sutras. The White Yajurveda has only one Kalpa, or Sranta, Sutras connected with it, the Katyayana Sutra, and the Atharvaveda likewise only one, the Kusika Sutra. - At a later period, these works were supplemented by a similar class of works, which, however, merely describe the domestic ceremonies, viz., * the marriage rite, the rites to be performed at the conception of a child, at various periods before- his birth, at the time of his birth, the ceremony of naming the child, of carrying him out to see the sun, of feeding him, of cutting his hair, and lastly, of investing him as a student, and handing him to a guru, under whose care he is to study the sacred writings.' Works of this kind are called Grihya-Sutras (from griha, house), and to these, again, were added the Samayacharika-Sutras (from samayachara conventional practice), which treat of customs sanctioned by the practice of pious men, but not enjoined or expressly stated in the Grihya-Sutras. The two last classes of Sutras, which are not comprised amongst the Kalpa works, then grew into the Dharmasastras, or law-books, of which that of Manu is the chief representative. - Chambers' Encyclopaedia, Vedanta - (From the Sanscrit veda, and anta, end; hence, literally, " the end or ultimate aim of the Vedas") is the second great division of the Mimamsa school of Hindu philosophy. It is chiefly concerned in the investigation of Brahman (neuter) or the Supreme Spirit, and the relation in which the universe, and especially the human soul, stands to it; and in contradistinction from the Purvamimansa, or the investigation (mimansa) of the former (purva) part of the Vedas - viz., the Sanhita, and especially the Brahmanas-' which contain the dharma or religious law, it is also called Uttara-mimansa, or the investigation {mwidnsd) of the latter (tittara) part of the Vedas - viz., Aranyakas and Upanishad which treat of (the neuter) Brahman, or the Supreme Spirit (not to be coufounded with (the masculine) Brahman, or the god of the mythological Trimurti). Sometimes, the name given to it is SarWaka-mimansa, or the investigation of the soul (Sariraka). In its method, the Vedanta differs from the Nyaya by endeavouring to explain the universe as a successive development from one ultimate source or principle - whereas the Nyaya, in both its divisions, treats of the object of human knowledge of which the universe is composed, under different topics, unconcerned about their mutual relation of effect and cause; and from the Sankhya, it is distinct, inasmuch as that system is based on the assumption of a duality of principles whence the universe derives its origin. The object-matter of the Vedcinta is the proof that the universe emanates in a successive development from a Supreme Spirit or soul, which is called Brahman, or paranidtman; that the human soul is therefore identical in origin with Brahman; that the worldly existence of the human soul is merely the result of its ignorance of this sameness between itself and the Supreme Spirit; and that its final liberation or freedom from Transmigration is attained by a removal of this ignorance, that is, by a proper understanding of the truth of the Vedanta doctrine. According to this doctrine, Brahman (neuter) is both the efficient and material cause of the world, creator and creation, doer and deed. It is one, self-existent, supreme, as truth, wisdom, intelligence, and happiness; devoid of the three qualities, in the sense in which created beings possess them; and at the consummation of all things, the whole universe is resolved or absorbed into it. From Brahman individual souls emanate, as innumerable sparks issue from a blazing fire. The soul, therefore, is neither born, nor does it die; it is of divine substance, and as such, infinite, immortal, intelligent, sentient, true. Its separate existence, as distinct from Brahman, is the cause of its ignorance; and this ignorance, which consists in regarding the world as a reality capable of subsisting without Brahman, has a double power - that of enveloping and projecting. By means of the former, it makes the soul liable to mundane vicissitudes, as to the sensations of pleasure, pain, &c. The projective power of ignorance, when encompassing the soul in its fourth condition, or that of pure intellect (its other conditions are: waking, dreaming, and dreamless sleep) produces out of the darkness which then prevails the five subtile elements - viz., ether, which is the substratum of the qualitysound; air, which arises from ether, the substratum of touch; from air, Jire or light, the substratum of colour; from Jight, water, the substratum of savour; and from water, earth, the substratum of smell. From these subtile elements are then produced seventeen subtile bodies and the five gross elements. The former, also called liugasarira, because they are bodies (sarira) which impart to existing beings their individual character {linya), are the five organs of perception - viz., the organs of hearing, touch, sight, taste, and smell, which arise severally from the pure or inactive particles of each of the subtile elements; further, two intellectual organs, which are produced from the mingled pure, or inactive particles of the subtile elements - viz., buddhi, understanding, the function of which is to arrive at a certainty or conclusion, and manas (an organ of volition and imagination), the function of which consists in willing and doubting - thinking and referring the external objects to one's own self, being two functions common to both of them; lastly, the five organs of action - viz., the voice, the hands, the feet, the organ of excretion and that of generation, which are severally produced from the foul or active particles of each of the subtile elements; and the five vital airs, which are produced from the mingled foal, or active particles of the subtile elements - viz., the air breathed forth, which has its place in the fore-part of the nose; the air breathed downwards, which has its place in the lower intestines; the air which circulates through the whole body; the ascending air, which has its place in the throat, and the descending air in the middle of the body, which causes assimilation and digestion of food, produces semen, excrements, &c. (Later Vedantists assume ten such vital airs - viz., besides the foregoing, the airs which severally cause retching, winking, hunger, yawning, and fattening.) The five gross elements are the five subtile elements, when, according to a theory derived from a scriptural text, they have become so divided and combined that each of them retains a preponderating portion of itself, and consequently of tho quality of which it is the substratum as ether of sound, &c. - and besides smaller portions of the other subtile elements, and the qualities of which they are the substrata. From these gross elements then arise the various (mythological) worlds, and this world too, with bodies which are distinguished as viviparous, or those produced from a womb, as men, beasts, &c.; oviparous, or those produced from an egg, as birds, snakes, &c.; those generated by * sweat* or liot moisture, as lice, gnats, &c.; and those germinating, as creepers, trees, &c. The soul, when existing in the body, is encased in a succession of * sheaths.' The first or interior * sheath' consists o buddhi, associated with the organs of perception; the second, of manas, associated with the organs of action; and the third, of the vital airs together with the organs of action. These three * sheaths' constitute the subtile body of the soul, which attends the soul in its transmigrations; and the collective totality of such subtile bodies is the supreme soul, as regarded in its relation to the world; when it is also called * the soul which is the thread,' or passes like the thread through the universe, or Hiranyagarbha, or life. The fourth and exterior * sheath' of the soul is composed of the gross elements; and the collective aggregate of such gross bodies is the gross body of the deity. This whole development being the result of ignorance,'the soul frees itself from its error by understanding that the different stages in which this development appears, do not represent real or absolute truth; and when its error has completely vanished, it ceases to be re-born, and becomes re-united with Brahman, whence it emanated. But since the means of arriving at a final deliverance can only be the complete mastery of the truths of the Vedanta, other means, such as the performance of sacrifices or other religious acts enjoined by the Vedas, or the practice of the Yoga, cannot lead to the same result. They may be meritorious, and are even recommended as such, but can effect only an apparent liberation. Of this, there are two kinds: one liberation which is effected in lifetime, and enables a man to perform supernatural actions or wonders, as the evocation of the shades of progenitors, going anywhere at will, and similar feats; and another which takes place after death, and enables the Boul, not divested of its subtile body, to reside in heaven; but after a time its effect ceases, and the soul has to renew its mundane existence. In order to fit the mind for meditating on these truths, various moral duties are enjoined, and various practices are recommended, especially by later Vedanta writers. Thus, the student of the Vedanta is told not to hurt a sentient being, to speak the truth, not to steal, to practise continence, and not to accept gifts; to remain pure and content, to do penance, and to study the Vedas; also to remain in certain postures, to practise various modes of suppressing his breath, and the like. These injunctions, however, are extraneous to the doctrine itself, and appear to be a compromise with the old orthodox faith, which requires the performance of religious acts, and a later stage of it, which favours such austere practices as are especially known by the name of Yoga. The doctrine of bhakti, or faith, does not belong to the older Vedanta; it is, however, an interesting feature of the later periods of this philosophy; and the same observation applies to the doctrine of Maya, or illusion, according to which the world has no reality whatever, but is merely the product of imagination; for the older Vedanta, as will have been seen, merely teaches that the world is not the truth, but does not deny its material reality."* The late Dr. J. R. Ballantyne published an able Lecture on the Vedanta, embracing the Text of the Vedanta Sara. Allahabad, 1850. There is an excellent article on the Ontology of the Vedanta, in the Benares Magazine for December 1851, written by Dr. F. E. Hall. Vedas: (sáns. hindú). The Vedas are four in number: the eldest is the Rigveda; next stands the Yajur-veda; the Sama-veda, and the latest is the Atharva-veda. Each Veda is divided into two parts; 1st, The hymns or Mantras, which express the wants and aspirations of the worshippers, and thereby throAV some light on the social condition of the people; 2nd, The Brahmanas which belong to a Ritualistic age, and refer to rites and ceremonies of an unmeaning or artificial character. *' The Veda has a two-fold interest; it belongs to the history of the world and to the history of India. In the history of the (* Qoldstucker in Chambers's Encyclopaedia) world the Veda fills a gap which no literary work in any other language could fill. It carries us back to times of which we have no records anywhere, and gives us the very words of a generation of men of whom otherwise we could form but the vaguest estimate by means of conjectures and inferences. " It is difficult no doubt to believe that the most ancient literary work of the Aryan race, a work more ancient than the Zendavesta and Homer, should, after a lapse of at least three thousand years, have been discovered, and for the first time published, in its entirety, not in one of the Parishads on the borders of the Ganges, but in one of the Colleges of an English University. It is difficult to believe that sufficient MSS. should have been preserved, in spite of the perishable nature of the material on Avhich they are written, to enable an editor to publish the collection of the Yedic hymns in exactly that form in which they existed at least 800 years before the Christian era; and, still more,, that this collection, which was completed at the time of Lykurgos, should contain the poetical relics of a pre-Homeric age; an age in which the names of the Greek gods and heroes had not yet lost their original sense, and in which the simple worship of the Divine powers' of nature was not yet supplanted by a worship of personal gods. It is difficult to believe this and we have a right to be sceptical. But it is likewise our duty to inquire into the value of what has been preserved for us in so extraordinary a manner, and to extract from it those lessons which the study of mankind was intended to teach to man."* ** The religion of the Vedas, as far as we are acquainted with it, differs in many very material points, from that of the present day. The worship they prescribe is, with a few exceptions, domestic, consisting of oblations to fire, and invocations of the deities of fire, of the firmament, of the winds, the seasons, the moon, the sun; who are invited by the sacrificer, if a brahman, or by his family priest if he is not a brahman, to be present and accept the offering, either oiled butter or the juice of the soma, a * Max Muller, Hist, Sans. Lit. species of asclepias, which are poured upon the sacrificial fire, in return for which they are supplicated to confer temporal blessings upon the worshipper, riches, life, posterity; the short-sighted vanities of human desire, which constituted the sum of heathen prayer in all heathen countries. " The titles and functions of the deities commonly addressed on these invocations give to the religion of the Vedas the character of the worship of the elements, and it is not unlikely that it was so in its earliest and rudest condition. It is declared in some texts that the deities are only three; whose places are earth, the middle region between heaven and earth, and the heaven; namely, fire, air, the sun. Upon this however seems to have been grafted some loftier speculation, and the elements came to be regarded as types and emblems of divine power, as there can be no doubt that the fundamental doctrine of the Vedas is monotheism.* " There is in truth," say repeated texts, " but one deity, the Supreme Spirit." " He from whom the universal world proceeds, who is Lord of the universe, and whose work is the universe, is the Supreme Being." Injunctions also repeatedly occur to worship Him, and Him only. " Adore God alone, know God alone, give up all other discourse ;" and the Vedant says, " it is found in the Vedas that none but the Supreme Being is to be worshipped, nothing excepting Him should be adored by a wise man." - Wilson's Works, Vol. II, pp. 50-52. " The simple patriarchal life of the Aryans is indicated in the Vedic hymns, precisely as it is depicted in the main ti'adition of the Mahabharata. They were a people partly pastoral and partly agricultural; keeping cows for the sake of their milk, butter, and curds, and sowing the land with grain. They also seem to have had some acquaintance with the manufacture of weapons and coats of mail, and to have sometimes undertaken sea-voyages for the sake of gain. These people prayed to their gods, as such a people might be expected to pray, for plenty of rain, abundant harvests, and prolific cattle; for bodily vigour, long life, numerous progeny, * Colebrooke's Essays, I, p, 12; Mux Muller, History of Ancient Sans. Lit,, pp. 558-71. and protection against all foes and robbers, such as the cattlelifting aborigines. Their gods appear to have been mere abstractions; personifications of those powers of nature on whom they relied for good harvests. They wanted seasonable rain, warmth, and fresh breezes. Accordingly, they prayed to the god of rain, the god of fire and light, and the god of wind. But from the very first, there appears to have been some confusion in these personifications, which led both to a multiplicity of deities, and the confounding together of different deities. Thus the conception of the god of rain was Indra, and he was identified with the firmament as well as with the unseen power which smote the rain-cloud and brought down the waters; and so important was the acquisition of rain in due season, that Indra is regarded as the sovereign of the gods, and subsequently became a type of sovereignty. But rain and water are frequently different things, and thus there was another, and perchance an older, deity, named Varuòa, who was particularly worshipped as the god of the waters, and deity of the ocean. Again, the conception of the god of fire was Agni, and Agni was not only the flame which burns upon the hearth or altar, but also the lightning which manifests itself in the clouds, and even the light of the sun, moon, and stars. Yet both the sun and moon appear as separate and individual deities, the latter under the name of Soma or Chandra. Again, there seems to have been a striking difference as regards wind. The god of wind, or air, was Vayu; but the different breezes which bring on or accompany the rain, are called Maruts, and are represented as the attendants of Indra. Thus, whilst there is a Pantheon of separate and individual deities, the conception of one deity frequently overlapped the conceptions of other deities; and whilst the more prominent powers of nature, such as water, fire, and wind, were separately individualized, a monotheistic tendency was always at work, ascribing the attributes of every deity to each one in turn. Of these deities, the following appear to be the most important: - The characteristics of Yama as a Vedic deity would open up a large field of inquiry; but the subject at present is vague and speculative. In the Epics, Yama appears distinctly as a judge of the dead; and men who are about to die are frequently said to be about to go to the mansions of Yama." *' In the Vedic period the Brahmans were scarcely known as a separate community; the caste system had not been introduced, and the gods who were worshipped were subsequently superseded by deities of other names and other forms."* |
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