The African Black Shield Plant (Alocasia x amazonica) is a beautiful member of the Elephant Ear family. It makes a wonderful addition to any tropical landscape. They may be container grown indoors or out, provided they have bright, but not direct sunlight. A. amazonica will grow to 18 – 22 inches tall and produce new shoots periodically, creating a dense cluster in no time. A 20-20-20 soluble is the best fertilizer for them, once per month. As with all elephant ears, they do not take well to col
Full text of "Supplement to a Classical dictionary of India: illustrative of the mythology, philosophy, literature, antiquities, arts, manners, customs &c. of the Hindus"
Earth:(sáns. hindú). The Earth, considered as one of the ancient * elements,' occupies nearly the same place in all the Puranas. The order is, ether, (akas) air, (vayu) fire, (tejas) water and earth. The order of Empedocles was ether, fire, earth, water, air. The Puranas describe the earth as having been raised from the lowest regions on the ample tusks of the Varaha (boar) avatar. The Bhagavata states that, when the earth, oppressed by the weight of the mountains, sunk down into the waters, Vishnu was seen in the sub-terrene regions, or Rasatala, by Hiranyaksha, in the act of carrying it off. The demon claimed the Earth, and defied Vishnu to combat: and a conflict took place in which Hiranyaksha was slain. There are legends which relate the subjugation of the Earth by the mighty Prithu, when he was invested with universal dominion. Prithu levelled or uprooted mountains; defined boundaries on the irregular surface of the Earth; introduced cultivation, pasture, highways, commerce, in a word, civilization.
The Vishnu Purana states, " This Earth, the mother, the nurse, the receptacle, and nourisher of all existent things, was produced from the sole of the foot of Vishnu. And thus was born the mighty Prithu, the heroic son of Vena, who was the lord of the Earth, and who, from conciliating the affections of the people, was the first ruler to whom the title of Raja was ascribed.
Five chapters in the Vishnu Purana are devoted to a description of the Earth; its people and countries. Jamba-dwipa is placed in the centre of the seven great insular continents (see Dwipas) and in the centre of Jamba-dwipa is the golden mountain Meru - the shape of which is variously described in the different Puranas; though all represent it as if enormous size and great beauty. The apples of the Jamba-tree are as large as elephants; from their expressed juice is formed the Jamba river, the waters of which are drunk by the inhabitants; and in consequence of drinking of that stream they pass their days in content and health, neither exposed to decrepitude or decay. Ample details of the Varshas or countries, are given in most of the Puranas, but they are all of an equally fanciful and extravagant character.
The Vishnu Purana says, " Sesha bears the entire world like a diadem, upon his head * * * * when Ananta, his eyes rolling with intoxication, yawns, then Earth, with all her woods and seas, and mountains, and riversj trembles." In another place, "At the end of a thousand periods of four ages the Earth is for the most part exhausted, A total dearth then ensues which lasts a hundred years: and in consequence of the failure of food all beings become languid, and at last entirely perish. The eternal Vishnu then assumes the character of Rudra the destroyer, and descends to re-unite all his creatures with himself. He enters into the seven rays of the sun; drinks up all the waters of the glolie, and causes all moisture to evaporate, thus drying up the whole earth. ***** The destroyer of all things, Hari, in the form of Rudra, becomes the scorching breadth of the serpent Sesha, and thereby reduces Patala to ashes. The great fire, when it has burnt all the divisions of Patdla proceeds to the earth, and consumes it also." V. P., 632.
Ear-rings:(sáns. hindú). Among the various articles produced at the churning of the ocean, ear-rings are enumerated; these were taken by Indra and given to Aditi; the daughter of Daksha and wife of Kasyapa.
The ear-rings were stolen by Naraka, son of the Earth, and conveyed by him to Pragjyotisha, "an impregnable, formidable and unassailable city of the Asuras." Krishna attacked the place, overcame all opposition, slew Naraka, recovered the jewelled ear-rings, and returning to the heaven of the gods, restored them to Aditi, who praised Krishna in verses which contain some remarkable sentiments. They will be found in the V. P., 5S4-5.
Egg of the World:(sáns. hindú). In the Rig Veda the Supreme Spirit is represented as producing an egg, and from the egg is evolved a world. At a later period, Brahma is set forth as depositing in the primordial waters an egg shining like gold. The Puranas all contain accounts of the first aggregation of the elements in the form of an egg. The Vishnu Purana says, " This vast egg, compounded of the elements, and resting on the waters, was the excellent natural abode of Vishnu in the form of Brahma; and there Vishnu, the lord of the universe, whose essence is inscrutable, assumed a perceptible form, and even he himself abided in it in the character of Brahma. ** Its woiAb, vast as the mountain Meru, was composed of the mountains; and the mighty oceans were the waters that filled its cavity. In that egg, O Brahman, were the continents and seas and mountains, the planets and divisions of the universe, the gods, the demons, and mankind. And this egg was externally invested by seven natural envelopes, or by water, air, fire, ether, and Ahankara the origin of the elements, each tenfold the extent of that which it invested; next came the principle of intelligence; and, finally, the whole was surrounded by the indiscreet principle: resembling thus the cocoanut, filled interiorly with pulp, and exteriorly covered by husk and rind."
" It seems impossible," says Professor Wilson, " not to refer this notion to the same origin as the widely diffused opinion of antiquity, of the first manifestation of the world in the form of an egg." " It seems" says Bryant, " to have been a favourite symbol, and very ancient, and we find it adopted among many nations."
Traces of it occur among the Syrians, Persians and Egyptians; and besides the Orphic egg amongst the Greeks, and that described by Aristophanes, part of the ceremony in the Dionysiaca and other mysteries, consisted of the consecration of an egg by which, according to Porphyry, was signified the world."
*' The shell of the mundane egg is said to be outside of the seven spheres of which this system is composed; In the V. P. ii, 7, 19 it is said " These seven spheres have been described by me; and there are also seven Patalas; this is the extent of Brahma's egg. The whole is surrounded by the shell of the egg at the sides, above and below, just as the seed of the wood apple is covered by the rind."
This system, however, it appears is only a very small part of the whole of the universe; in verse 24 it is added " There are thousands and ten thousands of thousands of such mundane eggs; nay hundreds of millions of millions."
" Indian mythology, when striving after sublimity, and seeking to excite astonishment, often displays an extravagant and puerile facility in the fabrication of large numbers. But in the sentence last quoted, its conjectures are substantially in unison with the discoveries of modern astronomy; or rather they are inadequate representations of the simple truth, as no figures can express the contents of infinite space." Muir, O. S. T., vol. i, p. 504.
Eka:(sáns. hindú). " The one:" a synonym of Mahat, from its singleness. See Mahat.
Ekachakra:(sáns. hindú). One of the renowned Danavas, son of Danu and Kasyapa.
Ekachakra:(sáns. hindú). The city in which Bhima and his mother and brethren were advised by the sage Vyasa to reside; they dwelt there for a long time in the house of a brahman. It was in this city that Bhima destroyed the cannibal Vaka. " In the neighbourhood there lived a giant, - the same sort of being as the modern earth-goddess of Orissa; that is a demon who feeds on human beings." One day, it is said, the Pandavas heard a great noise in the house in which they were dwelling, and enquiring into its cause, were told that the demon compelled the king of Ekachakra every day to send him a great quantity of provisions; and that Vaka daily devoured the man as well as the provisions; and that on that very day the family of the brahman was required to supply the man. While reposing in an inner apartment the Pandavas overheard the father, the mother, and the daughter, each urging a separate claim to be allowed to suffer for the rest.
The father commences, saying, that never would he be so base as to give a victim from his house and consent himself to live; but still he expresses anxiety at not knowing how to provide a place of refuge for his wife, daughter, and little son, after his removal. He cannot, he says, surrender his faithful wife, - the sweet friend given to him by the gods; nor his daughter, - whom Brahma made to be a bride, and the mother of heroes; not yet his son: ...but if he offer himself, sorrow will pursue him in the world to come, and his abandoned wife and children will be unable to live without him. The wife next speaks, and chides her husband for yielding to grief, like one of lowly caste; for, whoever knows the Vedas, must know that - "
Fate, inevitable, orders ;- all must yield to death in turn. Hence the doom, the irrevocable,- it beseems not thee to mourn. Man hath vrife, and son, and daughter, - for the joy of his own heart; "Wherefore, wisely check thy sorrow, - it is I must hence depart. 'Tis the wife's most holy duty,- law on earth without repeal, - That her life she offer freely, - when demands her husband's weal."
She goes on to argue, that he can support and guard the children when she is gone, but that she would have no power to guard and support them without him. Deprived of his protection, " rude and reckless men," she says, would come seeking their blameless daughter; and helpless, and beset on every side, she would be unable to check the suit of Sudra lovers... She concludes, by saying, that her honored husband will find another wife, to whom he will be as gentle and kind as he has been to her.
"Hearing thus his wife, the husband fondly clasp'd her to his breast: And their tears they pour'd together - by their mutual grief oppress'd."
When the daughter overheard the troubled discourse of her parents, she put in her claim to be the offered victim; for, if they died before her, she would sink to bitterest misery: but, if she died to preserve them, she would " then become immortal, and partake of bliss divine."
Whilst they were all thus weeping, the little son opened wide his eyes, and lisped out in broken accents:
" Weep not, father, weep not, mother; oh, my sister, weep not so First to one, and then to th' other, - smiling went he to and fro. Then a blade of spear-grass lifting, thus in bolder glee he said; With this spear-grass will I kill him- this man-eating giant- dead.' Though o'erpowered with bitterest sorrow, as they heard their prattling boy, Stole into the parents' bosom- mute and inexpressive joy."
Happily the child's chivalry was not required. After some discussion the brahman reluctantly consented that Bhima should go himself to the Asura, and he set out with the ordained quantity of provisions, and went on until he came to the banyan tree under which Vaka was accustomed to eat his meals. Bhima then ate up all the victuals that were in the waggon and refilled it with dirt.
Vaka then came forward ravenous with hunger, and finding nothing but dirt, struck Bhima in a great rage. They then tore up large trees by the roots and fouglit together until not a tree was left. They then fought with their fists until the Asura was spent; when Bhiraa seized him by the legs and rent him asunder.
The date of the story is fixed in the age of Buddhism. Ekachakra has been identified as the modern Arrah. It was occupied by Brahmans who may be regarded as the later representatives of the Aryan population, while the jungle was evidently in the possession of the Asuras or Aborigines.*
Ekadanta:(sáns. hindú). The single-tusked. A name of Ganesa.
Ekadasi:(sáns. hindú). A ceremony performed on the eleventh day after the death of a relative. During the previous ten days the relatives are supposed to be mourning, and in a state of asaucha or impurities, so that no one can communicate with them. When Ekadasi is performed the period of uncleanness ceases.
Ekadasi is also the eleventh day after the new and full moon, observed by the Vaishnavas as a fast day.
Ekalavya:(sáns. hindú). The king of the Nishadas; he was regarded as invincible by mortals but was attacked and slain by Krishna.
Ekapadakas:(sáns. hindú). A nickname or term of derision, found in the geographical accounts of the Puranas; it means one-footed or rather, one-slippered, and is probably an exaggeration of national ugliness, or allusion to some peculiar custom, in the people to whom the term is applied. Professor Wilson thinks that such terms, of which there are many in the Puranas, may have furnished the oMandevilles of ancient and modern times, with some of their monsters.
Ekaparna, Ekapatala:(sáns. hindú). Two of the daughters of Mena, the eminent wife of the great mountain Himavat. They performed great austerities such as could not be accomplished by gods or Danavas, and distressed both the stationary and moving worlds.
Ekaparna (One leaf) fed upon one leaf. Ekapatala took only one patala (Bignonia) for her food. The former was given as a wife * Mrs. Manning. A. & M. I.
to Asita Devala, the wise teacher of the Yoga. The latter was in like manner bestowed on Jaigishavya. Muir, 0. S. T., vol. iv, p. 367.
Ekashtaka:(sáns. hindú). The daughter of Prajapati, who through practising austere-fervour, became the mother of the glorious Indra, and of Soma. According to other authorities, Indra is one of the sons of Kasyapa and Dakshayani. 0. S. T., vol. v, p. 80.
Ekavinsa:(sáns. hindú). The name of the collection of hymns created from the northern mouth of Brahma.
Ekoddishta-sradda:(sáns. hindú). Obsequial offerings on account of a kinsman recently deceased. These are performed monthly. The proper period of mourning is ten days, on each of which offerings of cakes and libations of water are to be made to the deceased, augmenting the number of cakes each day, so that in the last day ten cakes are presented.
Elapatra:(sáns. hindú). One of the progeny of Kadru, a powerful serpent, with many heads.
Elephanta:(sáns. hindú). " A small island about 7 miles in circumference, situated between the island of Bombay and the Mahratta shore, from which it is distant 5 miles, and 7 miles from the castle of Bombay. Its name among the natives is Gorapori; that by which it is known to Europeans was derived from the figure of an elephant twice the size of life cut out of the solid black rock on the acclivity of a hill about 250 yards from the landing-place. This figure is now completely dilapidated. At a short distance from the elephant stands the figure of a horse, also cut out of the rock. On this island is a remarkable temple-cave. The entrance to this cave, or temple, occurs about half way up the steep ascent of the mountain or rock out of which it is excavated. Its length, measuring from the entrance, which is on the north side, is 130 feet, and its breadth 123 feet; the floor not being level the height varies from 1 5 to 1 7 feet. The roof was supported by 26 pillars and 8 pilasters, disposed in four rows; but several of the pillars are broken. Each column stands upon a square pedestal and is fluted, but instead of being cylindrical is gradually enlarged towards the middle. Above the tops of the columns a kind of ridge has been cut to resemble a beam about 1 2 inches square, and this is richly carved. Along the sides of the temple are carved between 40 and 50 colossal figures varying in height from 12 to 15 feet; none of them are entirely detached from the wall. On the south side, facing the main entrance, is an enormous bust with three faces, which is supposed to represent the triple deity, Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva. The centre face is 5 feet in length. At the west side of the temple is a recess, 20 feet square, having in the centre an altar. The entrance to this recess is guarded by eight naked figures, each 13 feet high, sculptured in a superior manner.
The origin of this cave is quite unknown: it is frequently visited by devotees for the purpose of offering prayers and oblations. - English Encyclopcedia.
Ellamma:(sáns. hindú). One of the gramadevatas in Southern India - identified with Renuka, wife of Jamadagni, mother of Parasuraraa, Ellamma is represented in a sitting posture, with a red skin, a fiery face, and four arms and hands. If any one is bitten by a poisonous serpent he calls on Ellamma for aid. Fishermen when in danger call on Ellamma and make vows to her.
Ellora:(sáns. hindú). A town in the province of Aurangabad, and near to the city of Dowlatabad. In one instance, about a mile to the eastward of the village the side of a great mountain has been excavated, so as to give a level floor 1 50 feet wide by 270 feet in length. In the centre stands the rock-cut temple called Kailas, similar in form to the Pagoda at Tanjore It is between 80 and 90 feet high, and is preceded by a large square porch, supported by sixteen columns. In the front of this stands a detached porch, reached by a bridge; and again, in front of the whole, a gateway, connected with the last porch by a rock-cut bridge, and flanked on either side by pillars or deepdaus (which word is literally lamp-post.)
Two elephants, the siae of life, are also mentioned; and all around the court are cloisters, with cells. And the whole, - pillars, cloisters, halls, bridges, and vimana, - are sculptured out of the rock. - Mrs. Manning. A. ayid M. /., Vol. I, p, 420.
Elu:(sáns. hindú). A dialect of the ancient Singhalese, which differs from the colloquial Singhalese, rather in style than in structure, having been liberally enriched by incorporations from Sanskrit and Pali. Mr.
Spence Hardy mentions a number of Buddhist works which are written in Elu.
Emusha:(sáns. hindú). The name of the boar in which Prajipati became incarnate when he raised up the earth and extended it. " Formerly this earth was only so large, of the size of a span. A boar called Emusha, raised her up. Her lord Prajapati, therefore, prospers him with (the gift of) this pair, the object of his desire, and makes him complete." O. S. T., vol. i, p. 53.
Ettaia:(sáns. hindú). A place in the North-west of India, said to be the scene of a conflict between Krishna and Kali; where some fine ruins still exist.
Expiation:(sáns. hindú). The Vishnu Purana says that *' suitable acts of expiation have been enjoined by the great sages for every kind of crime. Arduous penances for great sins, trifling ones for minor offences, have been propounded by Swayambhuva and others: but reliance upon Krishna is far better than any such expiatory acts, as religious austerity or the like. Let any one who repents of the sin of which he may have been culpable, have recourse to this best of all expiations, remembrance of Hari; by addressing his thoughts to Narayana at dawn, at night, at sunset, and midday, a man shall be quickly cleansed from all guilt: the whole heap of worldly sorrows is dispersed by meditating on Hari; and his worshipper, looking upon heavenly fruition as an impediment to felicity, obtains final emancipation."
*' This remembrance of Vishnu," says Professor Wilson, "is the frequent reiteration of all his names; hence the lower orders of Hindus procure a starling or parrot, that in the act of teaching it to cry Rama or Krishna or Radha, they may themselves repeat these appellations; the simple recitation of which, even if accidentally, irreverently, or reluctantly performed, is meritorious.'*
F
Faith:(sáns. hindú). The paramount efficacy of faith is a tenet of the Vedanta school; particularly that branch of it which follows the authority of the Bhagavat Gita. In that work, and in many of the Puranas, passages relating to faith constantly recur.
Fakir:(sáns. hindú). The word Fakir is derived from an Arabic term signifying " poor people," and belongs strictly to those who profess Mahomedanism, not to Hindus. But the word is sometimes used by Europeans to designate all classes of monks, who subject themselves to austerities and mortifications. Some of them vow to preserve a standing posture during their whole lives, supported only by a stick or rope under their armpits. Some mangle their bodies with scourges or knives. Others wander about in companies, telling fortunes, and in other ways imposing on the people. Some go about as mendicants asking alms in the name of God. See Sanyasl.
Fenngahi:(sáns. hindú). A name of Parvati or Devi.
Fever:(sáns. hindú). In the Vishnu Purana, Fever is personified, as an emanation from Maheswara, having three feet and three heads, (alluding, says Dr. Wilson, to the three stages of febrile paroxysms, or to the recurrence of tertian ague). Fever fought desperately with Vishnu in defence of the city of Bana. Baladeva, upon whom his ashes were scattered, was seized with burning heat, and his eyelids trembled: but he obtained relief by clinging to the body of Krishna. The fever emanating from Siva was quickly expelled from the person of Krishna by fever which he himself engendered.
Brahma beholding the impersonated malady, bewildered by the beating inflicted by the arms of the deity, entreated the latter to desist; and the foe of Madhu refrained, and absorbed into himself the fever he had created. The rival fever then departed, saying to Krishna, " Those men who call to memory the combat between us shall be for ever exempt from febrile disease." .
Fires:(sáns. hindú). According to the Vishnu Puiina there are forty-nine fires. The Agni named Abhimini, who is the eldest born of Brahma, had, by Swaha, three sons of surpassing brilliancy, Pavaka Pavamana, and Suchi, who drinks up water: they had forty-five sons, who, with the original son of Brahma and his three descendants, constitute the forty-nine fires. According to the Vaya Purana, Pavaka is electric, or Vaidyuta fire; Pavamina is that produced by friction, or Nirmathyaya, and Suchi is solar, or Saura fire. The Bhigavata explains these different fires to be so many appellations of fire employed in the invocations with which different oblations to fire are offered in the ritual of the Vedas.
Fire-Sacrificial:(sáns. hindú). The ceremony of consecrating the fire and hallowing the sacrificial implements is the groundwork of all religious acts amongst the Hindus, and may therefore be particularly described: - " First, the priest smears with cow-dung a level piece of ground four cubits square, free from all impurities, and sheltered by a shed. Having bathed and sipped water, he sits down with his face towards the east, and places a vessel of water with hum grass on his left; then, dropping his right knee, and resting on the span of his left hand, he draws with a root of kusa grass a line, one span or twelve fingers long, and directed towards the east. From the nearest extremity of this line he draws another at right angles to it, twenty-one fingers long, and directed towards the north. Upon this line he draws three others, parallel to the first, equal to it in length, and distant seven fingers from each other. The first line is really, or figuratively, made a yellow line, and is sacred to the earth; the second is red, and sacred to fire; the third black, and sacred to Brahma the creator; the fourth blue, and sacred to Indra, the regent of the firmament; the fifth white, and sacred to S6ma. He next gathers up the dust from the edges of these lines, and throws it away towards the north-east, saying, " What was (herein) bad, is cast away :" and he concludes by sprinkling water on the several lines.
Having thus prepared the ground for the reception of the sacrificial fire, he takes a lighted ember out of the covered vessel which contains the fire, and throws it away, saying, " I dismiss far ** away carnivorous fire j may it go to the realm of Yama, bearing "sin (hence)." He then places the fire before him, saying, " Earth ! Sky ! Heaven !" and adding, " this other (harmless) fire " alone remains here; well knowing (its office), may it convey my " oblation to the gods." He then denominates the fire according to the purpose for which he prepares it, saying, " Fire ! thou art named so and so ;" and he concludes this part of the ceremony by silently burning a log of wood, one span long and smeared with clarified butter.
He next proceeds to place the Brahman or superintending priest Upon very solemn occasions, a learned Brahman does actually discharge the functions of superintending priest; but, in general, a bundle containing fifty blades of hum grass is placed to represent the Brahman. The officiating priest takes up the vessel of water, and walks round the fire keeping his right side turned towards it: he then pours water near it, directing the stream towards the east; he spreads kusa grass thereon; and crossing his right knee over his left without sitting down, he takes up a single blade of grass between the thumb and ring finger of his left hand, and throws it away towards the south-west corner of the shed, saying, " What was herein bad, is cast away." Next, touching the water, resting the sole of his right foot on his left ankle, and sprinkling the grass with water, he places the Brahman on it, saying, "Sit on (this) seat until (thy) fee (be paid thee)." The officiating priest then returns by the same road by which he went round the fire; and sitting down again with his face towards the east, names the earth inaudibly.
If any profane word have been spoken during the preceding ceremony, atonement must be now made by pronouncing this text: " Thrice did Vishnu step, and at three strides traversed the " universe: happily was his foot placed on the dusty (earth)."
" The meaning is, since the earth has been purified by the contact of Vishnu's foot, may she (the earth so purified) atone for any profane word spoken during this ceremony.
If it be intended to make oblations of rice mixed with milk, curds, and butter, this too is the proper time for mixing them; and the priest afterwards proceeds to name the earth in the following prayer, which he pronounces with downcast look, resting both hands on the ground: " We adore this earth, this auspicious and most excellent earth: do thou, O fire ! resist (our) enemies. Thou dost take (on the) the power (and office) of other (deities)."
With blades of kma grass held in his right hand, he must next strew leaves of the same grass on three sides of the fire, arranging them regularly, so that the tip of one row shall cover the roots of the other. He begins with the eastern side, and at three times strews grass there, to cover the whole space from north to south; and in like manner distributes grass on the southern and western sides. He then blesses the ten regions of space; and rising a little, puts some wood on the fire with a ladle-full of clarified butter, while he meditates in silence on Brahma, the lord of creatures.
The priest then takes up two leaves of kiim grass, and with another blade of the same grass cuts off the length of a span, saying, " Pure leaves ! be sacred to Vishnu ;" and throws them into a vessel of copper or other metal. Again he takes two leaves of grass, and holding the tips between the thumb and ring finger of his right hand, and the roots between the thumb and ring finger of his left, and crossing his right hand over his left, he takes up clarified butter on the curvature of the grass, and thus silently casts some into the fire three several times. He then sprinkles both the leaves with water, and throws them away. He afterwards sprinkles wuth water the vessel containing clarified butter, and puts it on the fire, and takes it off again, three times, and thus concludes the ceremony of hallowing the butter; during the course of which, while he holds the leaves of grass in both hands, he recites this prayer: " May the divine generator (Vishnu) purify thee by means of (this) faultless pure leaf; and may the sun do so, by means of (his) rays of light: be this oblation efficacious."
The priest must next hallow the wooden ladle by thrice turning therein his fore-finger and thumb, describing with their tips the figure of 7 in the inside, and the figure of 9 on the outside of the bowl of the ladle. Then dropping his right knee, he sprinkles water from the palms of his hands on the whole southern side of the fire, from west to east, saying, " Aditi ! (mother of the gods !) grant me thy approbation." Ho does the same on the whole western side, from south to north, saying, " A?iumati ! grant me thy approbation ;" and on the northern side, saying, " Sarasivati I grant me thy approbation." And lastly he sprinkles water all round the fire, while he pronounces this text, " Generous sun ! approve this rite; approve the performer of it, that he may share its reward. May the celestial luminary, which purifies the intellectual soul, purify our minds. May the lord of speech make our prayers acceptable."
Holding hisa grass in both hands, he then recites an expiatory prayer; and throwing away the grass, he thus finishes the hallowing of the sacrificial implements: a ceremony which necessarily precedes all other religious rites.
He next makes oblations to fire, with such ceremonies, and in such form as are adapted to the religious rite which is intended to to be subsequently performed. The sacrifice, with the three mysterious words, usually precedes and follows the particular sacrifice which is suited to the occasion; being most generally practised, it will be the most proper specimen of the form in which oblations are made.
Having silently burnt a log of wood smeared with clarified butter, the priest makes three oblations, by pouring each time a ladle-full of butter on the fire, saying, " Earth ! be this oblation efficacious :" " Sky ! be this oblation efficacious :" " Heaven ! be this oblation efficacious." On some occasions he makes a fourth offering in a similar mode, saying, " Earth ! Sky ! Heaven ! be this oblation efficacious." If it be requisite to offer a mixture of rice, milk, curds and butter, this is now done; and the oblations, accompanied with the names of the three worlds, are repeated.
There are five fires, which were overcome and demolished by Vishnu. Their names are the Ahavaniya, Garhapatya, Dakshina, Sabhya and Avasathya; of which the three first have a religious, and the other two a secular character. The first is a fire prepared for oblations at an occasional sacrifice: the second is the household fire, to be perpetually maintained: the third is a sacrificial fire, in the centre of the other two, and placed to the south: the Sabhya is a fire lighted to warm a party: and the Avasathya, the common domestic or culinary fire. Manu, iii, 100, 185, and KuUuka Bhatta's explanation.
Brahmans who devote themselves to the priesthood have to maintain a perpetual fire. They have also to worship fire, making an oblation to it with this prayer: Fire ! seven are thy fuels; seven thy tongues; seven thy holy sages; seven thy beloved abodes; seven ways do seven sacrifices worship thee. Thy sources are seven. Be content with this clarified butter. May this oblation be efficacious.
The seven tongues of fire are enumerated Pravaha Avaha, Udvaha, Samvaha, Vivaha, Parivaha, Nivaha, all of which imply the power of conveying oblations, to the deities to whom offerings are made. Fire, like the sun itself, is supposed to emit seven rays; this perhaps may account for the number seven being so often repeated." - Colebrooke's Essays, vol, 1, p, 153.
Free-will:(sáns. hindú). The Mimansa philosophy in effect denies the doctrine of free-will; but endeavours to reconcile the existence of moral evil under the government of an all-wise, all-powerful and benevolent Providence, with the absence of free-will, by assuming the past eternity of the universe, and the infinite renewals of worlds, into which every individual being has brought the pre-dispositions contracted by him in earlier states, and so retrospectively, without beginning or limit.
G
Gabhastimat:(sáns. hindú). One of the nine divisions of Bharata varsha* Also the Dame of one of the divisions of Patala.
Gachchas:(sáns. hindú). On? of the peoples enumerated in the Vishnu Puranaj but not identified.
Gada:(sáns. hindú). l, A son of Vasudeva by Bhadra; 2, The name of Bhima's formidable weapon.
Gadhi:(sáns. hindú). An incarnation of Indra, born as the son of Raja Kusimba. Kusamba being desirous of a son, engaged in devout penance to obtain one who should be equal to Indra. Observing .
the intensity of his devotions, Indra was alarmed, lest a prince of power like his own should be engendered, and determined therefore to take upon himself the character of Ku samba's son, Gadhi, the father of Viswamitra.
Gahvaras:(sáns. hindú). Dwellers in mountain caves. The mountains from Cabul to Bamian furnish numerous instances of cavern habitations*
Gajavithi:(sáns. hindú). The second division (or Vithi) of the lunar mansions, in the northern Avashtana.
Galava:(sáns. hindú). A Teacher of the white Yajusha a branch of the Yajur Veda, imparted by the sun in the form of a horse.
Games:(sáns. hindú). There are many public games described in the various Puranas; and an account of each will be found under its native name.
Gananathas:(sáns. hindú). Messengers of the gods. See Dutas.
Ganapatyas:(sáns. hindú). The worshippers of Ganesa, or Ganapati; all the Hindus in fact, worship this deity as the obviator of impediments, and never set off on a journey without invoking his protection.
Gandaki:(sáns. hindú). A large river in Oude.
Gandhamadana:(sáns. hindú). A high mountain south of the great mount Meru; an extensive forest of the same name is placed in close proximity to the mountain.
Gandhamadana:(sáns. hindú). One of the generals in Rama's army at the siege of Lanka; he was wounded by the magical weapons of Indrajit and left on the field for dead, but was restored to life by the medicinal herbs brought by Hanuman from the golden hill Rishaba, on the crest of Kailasa. Although he is represented as being a large and powerful monkey, he is said to have been the son of Ku vera, the god of wealth " Of Gandhamadau brave and bold The father was the Lord of gold."
Gandhamojavaha:(sáns. hindú). A son of Swaphalka, by his wife Gandini, Gandhara - A prince, the son of Aradwat, a descendant of Druhyu. Also, a large country in the west of the Indus, named after Gandhara, famous for its breed of horses; now Kandahar.
Gandharba:(sáns. hindú). One of the nine divisions, or dwipas, of Bharata Varsha.
Gandharbas or Gandharvas:(sáns. hindú). (Southey's Glendoveer's.) A race born from Bramhi, described in the Vishnu Parana as ** born imbibing melody; drinking of the goddess of speech they were born, and thence their appellation." (Gam dhayantah). They are a species of demi-gods or angels, the musicians of heaven, inhabiting India loka, the paradise of the deities, and witnesses of the actions of men. They form the orchestra at the banquet of the gods. In the creation of the second Manwantani they are called the illustrious Gandharbas, the children of Arishti and Kasyapa.
In the Vishnu Purana it is said, " in the regions below the earth, the Gandharbas, called Maneyas (or sons of the Muni Kasyapa) who were sixty millions in number, had defeated the tribes of the Nagas or snake-gods, and seized upon their most precious jewels, and usurped their dominion." Narmadi, the personified Nerbudda river, was the sister of the Nigas, and on her aid being solicited, ehc went to Purukutsa, and conducted him to the regions below i})o PHitli, wheic, beinja filled wKli fho mialif of fho dcilv. li(" destroyed the Gandharbas- They originally belong to the latter Epic period, but figure more prominently in the Puranas.
"The Gandharvas or heavenly bards had originally a warlike character, but were afterwards reduced to the office of celestial musicians cheering the banquets of the gods. Dr. Kuhn has shown their identity with the Centaurs in name, origin, and attributes." - Gorresio.
Gandharba loka:(sáns. hindú). The region of celestial spirits, the sphere or loka above the earth to which Sudras are elevated after death.
Gandharba marriage:(sáns. hindú). A form of wedlock requiring no public ceremony, but which is nevertheless, recognised in ancient Hindu law as legal for kings and warriors.
Gandharba veda:(sáns. hindú). The drama, and the arts of music, dancing, etc., of which the Muni Bharata was the author; and the Artha Sastrum, or Science of Government, as laid down first by Vrihaspati.
Gandharbi:(sáns. hindú). The daughter of Surabhi, and parent of horses.
Gandhari:(sáns. hindú). The daughter of the Raja of Gandhara, who was married to the Maharaja Dhritarashtra; she blindfolded herself on hearing that he was blind. She was the mother of the Kauravas, and is represented as a woman of superior character and abilities.
She was summoned to the Council to try to overcome the obduracy of her eldest son Duryodhana. The Mahabharata relates an affecting interview which she had with Krishna after the slaughter of her sons in the great war.
Gandini:(sáns. hindú). Daughter of Kasiraja: the following legend of her birth is told in the V. P., " when the time of delivery arrived the child issued not from the womb, twelve years passed away and still the girl was unborn. Then Kasiraja spoke to the child * Daughter, why is your birth thus delayed ? come forth. I desire to behold you; why do you inflict this protracted suffering upon your mother ? Thus addressed, the infant answered, if, father, you will present a cow every day to the brahmans I shall at the end of three years more be born.' The king accordingly presented daily a cow to the brahmans, and at the end of three years the damsel came into the world. Her father called her Gandini, and he subsequently gave her to Swaphalka when he came to his palace.
Gandini as long as she lived, gave a cow to the brahmans every day."
Gandiva:(sáns. hindú). The name of a miraculous bow which Aijuna received as a present from Agni the god of fire.
Gandusha:(sáns. hindú). One of the ten sons of Sura, and brother of Vasudeva.
Ganesa:(sáns. hindú). The son of Siva and Parvati the god of good luck, and remover of difficulties and obstacles; addressed at the commencement of all undertakings, and at the opening of all compositions. He is thus the patron of learning. He is called Gariha, as presiding over the troop of deities attendant on Siva - the ganas, or companies of celestials in Siva's paradise. He is also designated Vindyaka, the god of difficulties. Ganesa is represented by an outrageous figure, half-man and half-elephant, in a sitting posture, with a large belly. His head is that of an elephant, and on it he wears a crown, while his ears are adorned with jewels and his forehead with sacred ashes; of his four arms he elevates two, holding in the left hand a rope and in the right an elephant goad. In his other two hands he holds in the right, a piece of his own elephant's tooth which he once broke himself in a rage, and in the left, a pancake; he is said to be fond of pancakes. His image stands in almost every house, and is worshipped by men and women, with offerings and all the prescribed ceremonies, especially when they are about to begin something important. This eminent position was assigned him as a compensation for the strange head he wears, which was put upon his shoulders when he lost his own, in infancy, by a look of the celestial Sini - the Hindu Saturn. The goddess, seeing her child headless, was overwhelmed with grief, and would have destroyed Sini, but Brahma prevented her, telling Sani to bring the head of the first animal he should find lying with its head northwards. He found an elephant in this position, cut off its head, and fixed it on Ganesa, who then assumed the shape he at present wears. Durga was but little soothed when plae saw her son with an elephant's head; but, to pacify her, Brahma said that, amongst the worship of all the gods, that of Ganesa should for ever have the preference. Shop-keepers and others paint the name or image of this god over the doors of their shops or houses, expecting from his favour protection and success.
He is worshipped especially at the commencement of a wedding, as well as when the bride is presented to the bridegroom. No public festivals, however, in honour of Ganesa are held, nor any temples dedicated to him in Bengal, though stone images of the god are worshipped in the temples on the banks of the Ganges at Benares.
Sir William Jones calls Ganesa the god of wisdom, referring, as a proof, to his having an elephant's head. The Hindus, however, in general, consider the elephant a stupid animal; and to be called "as stupid as an elephant" is a bitter taunt. He corresponds rather to the Roman Janus. In the south Ganesa is usually termed Vignesvara as he can prevent literary fame, if his worship be neglected.
When Parasurdma, who was a favorite disciple of Siva, went to Kailasa to visit his master, on arriving at the inner apartments, his entrance was opposed by Ganesa, as his father was asleep.
Parasurama nevertheless urged his way, and the parties came to blows. Ganesa had at first the advantage, seizing Parasurama in his trunk, and giving him a twirl that left him sick and senseless; on recovering, Rama threw his axe at Ganesa, who recognizing it as his father's weapon (Siva having given it to Parasurama) received it with all humility upon one of his tusks, which it immediately severed, and hence Ganesa has but one tusk, and is known by the names Ekadanba and Ekadanshtra, (the single-tusked).- Wilsons Worhs, Vol. Ill, ;?. 107.
Ganesa:(sáns. hindú). A distinguished Hindu mathematician and astronomer who lived in a. d. 1520.
Ganesa-upa-Purana:(sáns. hindú). The main subject of this work is the greatness of Ganesa; and pi-ayers and formulae appropriated to him are abundantly detailed. It appears to be a work originating with the Ganapatya sect, or followers of Ganesa. Preface to Vishnu Tur&na.
Ganga:(sáns. hindú). The following is a brief summary of the origin of the Ganges, as detailed in several sections of the first part of the Ramayana. Ganga was the daughter of Himavat king of mountains, and given by him to the gods.
Sagara king of Ayodhya had by one of his wives sixty thousand sons. Whilst performing the horse sacrifice, the horse was stolen.
He commanded his sons to go and search for it. Not finding it on the earth, they dug down to Patala, where they found the horse feeding, and Kapila Muni near it in profound meditation. On being charged with the theft, he by one glance reduced them all to ashes. On account of their long absence, Sagara sent his grandson, Ansumat, to seek for them. He found their ashes, and the horse feeding near them. Unable to find water to pour on the ashes, he was directed by Kapila (who was a minor incarnation of Vishrm,) not to pour common water upon them, but now to take the horse and complete his grandfather's sacrifice; and be assured that his (Ansumat's) grandson should obtain for their ashes the heavenly Ganges. Sagara reigned 30,000 years; Ansumat 32,000; his son Dilipa 30,000; his grandson Bhagiratha intent, as his ancestors had been, on bringing down the Ganges, persevered in a long course of austerities. After 1000 years Brahma signified his pleasure by commanding him to ask a boon. He begged that the sons of Sagara might obtain water for their funeral rites; that, their ashes being wetted by the celestial Ganges, they might ascend to heaven. Brahma granted his request on condition that he prevailed on Siva to break the fall of the waters; else the earth would be washed away.
By further austerities he propitiated Siva, who engaged to receive the goddess, and commanded her to descend. In anger she resolved to bear him down by her stream; but he, aware of her proud resolve, detained her in his hair. When Bhagiratha applied to him for the waters, Siva reminded him that his request was only that he should " receive" the Ganges. Bhagiratha engaged in further austerities, and Siva being pleased with them discharged the waters from his locks in seven streams; one of which followed the king. As he led the way in a splendid chariot. the Ganges followed; but, overflowing a sacrifice which Jahnu was performing, the enraged Muni drank up the whole, but was afterwards prevailed upon to discharge it from his ear. Thence the stream followed the king to Patala, washed the ashes, and liberated his ancestors the sous of Sagara.
Gangadwara:(sáns. hindú). A sacred spot near Himavan, frequented by the Rishis. It is the place where the Ganges descends to the plains, and celebrated as the scene of Daksha's great sacrifice. It is now called Haridwar.
Gara:(sáns. hindú). One of the five sons of Usinara, a descendant of Anu.
Garddhabas, Garddhabhins:(sáns. hindú). A race of kings in the west of India, but not yet satisfactorily identified, though many learned conjectures have been made respecting them.
Garga:(sáns. hindú). An ancient sage, who having propitiated Sesha, acquired from him a knowledge of the principles of astronomical science, of the planets, and of the good and evil denoted by the aspects of the heavens. He is one of the oldest writers on Astronomy amongst the Hindus. According to Mr. Bentley his Sanliita dates 548 b. c. The initiatory rites of Krishna and Rama were performed by the sage Garga, who was sent to Gokula by Vasudeva for that purpose. In the Bhagavata Garga describes himself as the Purohita or family priest of the Yadavas. Garga was also the name of one of the sous of Bhavanmanyu.
Gargabhumi, Gargya:(sáns. hindú). Two of the descendants of Alarka, according to the list in the Vayu Purana.
Gargya:(sáns. hindú). A disciple of Bashkali, and teacher of the Rig Veda; also a Brahman, who, through arduous penance, living upon iron sand for twelve years, became the father of the hero Kalayavana.
Gargya:(sáns. hindú). An etymologist and grammarian of much celebrity in Sanscrit Literature.
Gargyas:(sáns. hindú). The descendants of Gargya, who although Kshatriyas by birth became Brahmans. Professor Wilson says that all the authorities concur in this statement; thus furnishing an additional instance of one caste proceeding from another.
Garmanas:(sáns. hindú). Hindu or Buddhist priests mentioned by the geographer Strabo. They are represented as feeding on fruits, and wearing only a covering made of the bark of a tree.
Garuda:(sáns. hindú). The king of the feathered tribes and the remorseless enemy of the serpent race. He was the son of Kasyapa and Vinati. Garuda is always represented as the bird on which Vishnu is carried and described as something between a man and a bird.
Garuda is the vehicle of Krishna, appearing whenever he is wanted, and conveying his master with incredible speed to the most distant localities. When Krishna recovered the jewel mountain, he placed it, with the umbrella of Varuna, upon Garuda, and mounting him himself, he set off to the heaven of the gods to restore the ear-rings of Aditi. Garuda is represented as a large white-necked kite or eagle. On the walls of many Vaishnava temples he is represented by the figure of a young man seated, with the palms of the hands closed, and fingers pointed upwards, denoting reverence. " He may be compared with the Simurgh of the Persians, the Anka of the Arabs, the Griffin of chivalry, the Phoenix of Egypt, and the bird that sits upon the ash Yggdrasil of the Edda."- Griffiths.
Garuda Purana:(sáns. hindú). -Professor Wilson doubts whether a genuine Garuda Purana exists. The one he examined contained no account of the birth of Garuda. Only a brief notice of the creation; and the greater part being occupied with a description of Vratas, oi* religious observances, of holidays, of sacred places, &c. It contained also treatises on astrology, palmistry, precious stones, and medicine.
Garutwanta:(sáns. hindú). A name of Garuda.
Gathin:(sáns. hindú). The same as Gadhi, q. v.
Gati:(sáns. hindú). (Movement.) An allegorical personage, one of the daughters of Devahtiti, and wife of Pulaka.
Gatra:(sáns. hindú). One of the seven pure sages, a son of Vasishta*
Gatravat:(sáns. hindú). A son of Krishna by Lakshmana.
Gauri:(sáns. hindú). The name of Parvati as a girl before she became the bride of Siva. Also the name of a wife of Virajas. The wife of Yuvaniswas was named Gauri, and having incurred the imprecation of her husband became the Bahudu river,
Gautama Sakya Sinha:(sáns. hindú). See Buddha.
Gautama:(sáns. hindú). The founder of the Nyaya school of philosophy. Little is known of his personal history. He was born at Himalaya about the same time as Rama. He married Ahalya the daughter of Bramha, and lived as a very austere ascetic, the Ramayana states, for thousands of years, in a holy hermitage adorned with fruits and flowers, daily performing religious austerities.
One day when the sage was absent from his dwelling, the mighty Indra passed by, and burned with an impure passion for the wife of Gautama; and he entered the hut in the disguise of the sage, and began to entreat Ahalya: and she, knowing him to be king of heaven, in the wantonness of her heart yielded to his desires. As he was leaving the hermitage Gautama entered, and he was invincible even to the gods through the power of his austerities.
Indra was overwhelmed with sadness; and the sage beholding the profligate celestial, addressed him thus; O depraved wretch, assuming my form you have perpetrated this great crime ! therefore from this moment you become a eunuch ! The sage then pronounced this curse upon his wife Ahalya; sinful wretch, for thousands of years shall you remain in this forest, abandoned by all and invisible to all, until Rama the son of Dasaratha, shall enter here, and you from beholding him shall be cleansed from all sin and again approach me without fear. These words of the illustrious Gautama were all fulfilled. Ramayana 49. For an account of Gautama's philosophical system, see Nyaya.
Kumarila says: * In the same manner, if it is said that Indra was the seducer of Ahalya, this does not imply that the God Indra committed such a crime, but Indra means the sun, and Ahalya(from ahan and li) the night; and as the night is seduced and ruined by the sun of the morning, therefore is Indra called the paramour of Ahalya.'- Max Muller, A. S. L., p, 530.
The legend is thus versified by Mr. Grifllths:
"This was the grove-most lovely then- Of Gautam, thou best of men, Like heaven itself, most honoured by The Gods who dwell above the sky. Here with Ahalya at his side His fervid task the ascetic plied. Years fled in thousands. On a day It chanced the saint had gone away, When Town-destroying Indra came, And saw the beauty of the dame. The sage's form the God endued, And thus the fair Ahalya wooed: ¡Love, sweet! should brook no dull delay. But snatch the moments when he may." She knew him in the saint's disguise. Lord Indra of the Thousand eyes, But touched by love's unholy fire, She yielded to the God's desire
"Now, Lord of Gods!' she whispered, "flee. From Gautam save thyself and me.' Trembling with doubt and wild with dread Lord Indra from the cottage fled; But fleeing in the grove he met The home-returning anchoret. Whose wrath the Gods and fiends would shun. Such power his fervent rites had won. Fresh from the lustral flood he came. In splendour like the burning flame. With fuel for his sacred rites, And grass, the best of eremites. The Lord of Gods was sad of cheer To see the mighty saint so near. And when the holy hermit spied In hermit's garb the Thousand-eyed, He knew the whole, his fury broke Forth on the sinner as he spoke: "Because my form thou hast assumed, And wrought this folly, thou art doomed. For this my curse to thee shall cling, Henceforth a sad and sexless thing."
No empty threat that sentence came, It chilled his soul and marred his frame, His might and god-like vigour fled, And every nerve was cold and dead,
Then on his wife his fury burst, And thus the guilty dame he cursed: "For countless years, disloyal spouse, Devoted to severest vows. Thy bed the ashes, air thy food, Here shalt thou live in solitude. This lonely grove thy home shall be, And not an eye thy form shall see. When Rama, Dasaratha's child. Shall seek these shades then drear and wild, His coming shall remove thy stain. And make the sinner pure again."
Gautama:(sáns. hindú). A Prajipati; one of the seven Rishis of the seventh Manwantara.
Gavya:(sáns. hindú). All that is derived from the cow; milk and all preparations of or from milk; these are proper to be offered as food to deceased ancestors. The sacrifice of a cow or calf formed part of the ancient Sraddha. It then became typical, or a bull was turned loose, instead of being slaughtered.
Gaya:(sáns. hindú). A son of Havirdhana by Disband a princess of the race of Agni; also the name of a prince the son of Nahta, descended from Bharata; also of one of the sons of Sudyumna, after his transformation from Ila to a man.
Gayatri:(sáns. hindú). A metre created from the eastern mouth of Bramha.
The Gayatri is also the holiest verse of the Vedas, not to be uttered to ears profane; it is a short prayer to the sun, identified as the Supreme, and occurs iii the 10th hymn of the 4th section of the third Ashtaka of the Sanhita of the Eig Veda.
" We meditate on that excellent light of the divine sun; may he illuminate our minds." Such is the fear entertained of profaning this text, that copyists of the Vedas not unfrequently refrain from transcribing it, both in the Sanhita and Bhashya. Pious brahmans every morning at sunrise scatter water, purified by the mystical Omkara and consecrated by the Gayatri; and by this water as by a thunderbolt the foul fiends are scattered.
GentooS:(sáns. hindú). The name formerly applied by Europeans to the Hindus, especially to the Telugu people.
Ghatasrinjayas:(sáns. hindú). A people from the north-west, amongst the ' warriors of the Mahibharata.
Ghatotkacha:(sáns. hindú). The son of Bhima by a Rakshasi, or female fiend, Hidimbi, whose brother he slew. The scene on these transactions was on the east of the Ganges, and the Eakshasi may therefore mean a princess of some of the bordering tribes east of Hindustan, or between Bhote and Ava; all of whom eating meat, and following other impure practices, might well be considered Rikshasas or cannibals, by the Hindus. Heramba is in fact applied geographically to designate the western portion of Asam.
Ghatotkacha was slain by Kama with the javelin he had received from Indra. See Kama. - Wilson's Works, Vol. Ill, p. 297.
Ghorata:(sáns. hindú). Terror. One of the properties assigned to perceptible objects by the Sinkya philosophy.
Ghosha:(sáns. hindú). A son of Lambi (an arc of the heavens.)
Ghosha:(sáns. hindú). (Ghosha.) A female mentioned in the Rig Veda to whom the Asvins gave a husband when she was growing old in her father's house. O. S. T., Vol. V., p. 247.
Ghoshavasu:(sáns. hindú). A prince, the son of Palindaka; one of the ten Sungas, who governed the earth for a hundred and twelve years.
Ghritachi:(sáns. hindú). A celestial nymph, one of those frequently engaged in the interruption of the penances of holy sages, Ghritachi- The wife of Raja Kusandbha and queen of Magadha; the mother of a hundred daughters, all of whom V6yu the god of wind, wished to " forsake their mortal lot, and accompany him to the sky," and on their refusal.
" He heard the answer they returned And mighty rage within him burned, On each fair maid a blast he sent Each stately form he bowed and bent."
They were afterwards married to Bramhadatta, Raja of Kampili, and by this means recovered their strength and beauty, " Soon as the hand of each young maid In Bramhadatta's palm was laid.
Deformity and cares away She shone in beauty bright and gay." - Griffiths.
Ghritaprishtha:(sáns. hindú). One of the ten sons of Priyavrata, according to the list in the Bhagavata; which says that Priyavrata drove his chariot seven times round the earth, and the ruts left by the wheels became the beds of the oceans, separating it into seven Dwipas; it is uncertain which of them was given to Ghritaprishtha.
Ghriteya:(sáns. hindú). A prince, one of the sons of Randraswa, a descendant ofPuru, Ghritasamada - A son of Suhotra, and father of Saunaka who first established the distinctions of the four castes. V. P. 406.
Giri:(sáns. hindú). One of the sons of Swaphalka by his wife Gandini.
Girigahvaras:(sáns. hindú). A race who lived in caves; probably between Cabul and Eamian, but their cavern habitations have not been satisfactorily identified.
Girivraja:(sáns. hindú). A city in the mountainous part of Magadha near the wood of Dharmaranya.
Girivraja:(sáns. hindú). The city of Raja Aswapati to which Bharata and Satrughna were sent. The Raja was the grandfather of the young princes and they were sent to him that they might be out of the way when it was resolved that Rama should be appointed Yuvardja at Ayodhya.
Gita-Govinda:(sáns. hindú). Sougs of Krishna. It is also the title of a pastoral mythological dramatic poem in Sanscrit in praise of Krishna by Jayadeva. Badha is in it identified with Lakshmi. - Sir W. Jones.
Gobhana:(sáns. hindú). A son of Vahni, and grandson of Turvasu, whose line failed and merged into that of Puru, in consequence of the malediction denounced on his son by Yayiti, for refusing to take his father's infirmities on him.
Goghuatas:(sáns. hindú). A people who formerly resided in Gumanta, part of the Konkan about Goa.
Godaveri:(sáns. hindú). The river which still bears that name; it is so called in all the Puranas.
Gohamukha:(sáns. hindú). A mountain mentioned in the Vishnu Purana, but not identified.
Gokarna:(sáns. hindú). A famous and venerated region near the Malabar Coast; celebrated as the scene of Raja Bhagirat's austerities,
"The good Bhagirath, royal sage. Had no fair son to cheer his age. He, great in glory, pure in will, Longing for sons was childless still. Then on one wish, one thought intent. Planning the heavenly stream's descent. Leaving his ministers the care And burden of his state to bear. Dwelling in far Gokarna he Engaged in long austerity."
Gokula:(sáns. hindú). The village in which the cowherd Nanda resided, when Krishna and Balarama were entrusted to his care, to be brought up as his own children, in order to escape the vengeance of Kansa. It was at Gokula that the female fiend Putana attempted the life of the child Krishna, by giving him her breast to suck; the infant Krishna sucked it with such violence that he drained it of the life and she expired.
Golaka:(sáns. hindú). A disciple of Sakalya, and teacher of the Rig Veda.
Goloka:(sáns. hindú). The highest world of all, and the residence of Krishna; represented as indestructible while all else is subject to annihilation.
Professor Wilson thinks this is an addition to the original system of seven worlds, in which we have probably some relation to the seven climates of the ancients, the seven stages or degrees of the earth of the Arabs, and the seven heavens of the Mahomedans, if not to the seven Amshaspends of the Parsis. Seven, suggested originally perhaps by the seven planets, seems to have been a favourite number with various nations of antiquity. Amongst the Hindus it was applied to a variety of sacred or mythological objects, which are enumerated in averse in the Hanumans Nitaka.
Rima is described there as piercing seven palm-trees with an arrow, in which other groups of seven take fright, as the seven steeds of the Bun, the seven spheres, the seven Munis, the seven seas, the seven continents and the seven mothers of the gods.
Gomanta:(sáns. hindú). A mountain in the Western Ghauts; the name is also applied to the country about Goa, the Konkan, The inhabitants are sometimes termed Gomantas."
Gomati:(sáns. hindú). A river in Ayodhya or Oude.
Gomatiputra:(sáns. hindú). One of the Andhra kings, the son of Sivaswiti, who reigned 21 yeai's.
Gonds, or Khonds:(sáns. hindú). One of the aboriginal or non-aryan tribes of India who now inhabit part of Orissa. They have partially preserved what may be regarded as the primitive religion of Hindustan - a religion that has been designated devil worship, as they sacrifice only to demons or malignant deities.
Gopas:(sáns. hindú). Herdsman; the designation of the inhabitants of Gokula, where Krishna spent his early days; they afterwards emigrated to Vrindavana and were the associates of Krishna and Balarama, who joined heartily in whatever sports amused the sons of the herdsmen, Gopala-kakshas- Tribes of eastern India.
Goparashtra:(sáns. hindú). -The district of. cowherds, that is of Nomadic tribes, Gova or Kuva is an ancient name of the southern Konkan.
Gopis:(sáns. hindú). The wives of the Gopas or cowherds. Their sports with Krishna are narrated in detail in the Vishnu Purana, as also in the Bhagavata, &c. The Gopis are said to have wept bitterly when he left Gokula for Mathura.
Goswala:(sáns. hindú). One of the five disciples of Sakalya, and teacher of the Rig Veda.
Gotama:(sáns. hindú). One of the twenty-eight Vyasas; the arranger of the Vedas in the twentieth Dwapara.
Gotras:(sáns. hindú). Families or tribes of brahmans. The names of the Goti'as were liable to confusion, particularly in later times, when their number had become very considerable. But the respect which the brahmans from the very earliest time paid to their ancestors, and the strictness with which they prohibited marriages between members of the same family, lead us to suppose that the genealogical lists, even at the present day, furnish in their general outlines, a correct account of the priestly families of India. All Brahmanic families who keep the sacred fires are supposed to descend from the seven Rishis. These are: - Bhrigu, Angiras, Visvamitra, Vasistha, Kasyapa, Atriy Agastya. The real ancestors, however, are eight in number: - Jamadagni, Gautama and BharadvajOf Visvamitra, Vasishta, Kasyapa, Atrif Agastya, The eight Gotras, which descend from these Rishis, are again subdivided into forty-nine Gotras, and these forty-nine branch off into a still larger number of families. The names gotra, vansa, varga, paksha, and gana, are all used in the same sense, to express the larger as well as the smaller families, descended from the eight Rishis.
A Brahman, who keeps the sacrificial fire, is obliged by law to know to which of the forty-nine Gotras his own family belongs, and in consecrating his own fire he must invoke the ancestors who founded the Gotra to which he belongs. Each of the forty-nine Gotras claims one, or two, or three, or five ancestors, and the names of these ancestors constitute the distinctive character of each Gotra. Max Muller. A. S. L., p. 80.
Gova:(sáns. hindú). An ancient name of the Southern Konkan; it may imply the district of cowherds, that is of Nomadic tribes.
Govardhana:(sáns. hindú). A mountain near Mathura. The Vishrin Purana states that Krishna thus addressed the Gopus: Cattle and mountains are our gods. Brahmans offer worship with prayer; cultivators of the earth adore their landmarks, but we, who tend our herds in the forests and mountains, should worship them and our kine. Let prayers and offerings then be addressed to the mountain Govardhana, and kill a victim in due form." * accordingly the inhabitauts of Yraja worshipped the mountain, presenting to it curds and milk and flesh: and they fed thousands of brahmans who came to the ceremony. Indra, offended by the loss of his offerings, caused a heavy rain to deluge Gokula.
Krishna then to calm the troubled cowherds held up the mountain Govardhana as a large umbrella to shelter them and their cattle.
For seven days and nights it rained incessantly at Gokula, but the inhabitants were protected by the elevation of the mountain. The threats of Indra having been fruitless, Krishna restored the great mountain to its original site. Professor Wilson says that it seems not unlikely that this legend has some reference to the caves or cavern temples in various parts of India. A remarkable representation of it occurs upon the sculptured rocks of Mahabalipur.
Govinda:(sáns. hindú). A name of Krishna, given to him by Indra after having preserved the cattle by raising the mountain Govardhana.
Govinda is he who knows, finds, or tends cattle. As the Indra of the cows he was called Govinda. Pilgrims invoke Govinda when travelling to Tripati, &c.
Govithi:(sáns. hindú). A division of the lunar mansions: in the Central or Jaradgava Avasthana.
Gramadevatas:(sáns. hindú). Tutelar deities which are supposed to protect the fields, villages and towns from evil spirits; and to ward off all sorts of plagues, famine, pestilence, war, conflagration, and inundation, and are, in short, regarded as beings Avho can avert much evil, though they may not be able to bestow positive blessings.
It is probable they are the gods worshipped by the Aborigines when the Aryans first came to India. In Southern India the Gramadevatas properly so called are Ayenar, with his two wives Puranic and Pudkalai; Ellamma, Mariamma, Ankalamma, Bhadrakali, Pidari, Chamundi, and Durga.
Gramanis:(sáns. hindú). The seven attendants on the sun's car; the agents in the distribution of cold, heat, and rain at their respective season. They are also called Yakshas.
Grammar:(sáns. hindú). The Hindus and the Greeks are the only two nations in the whole history of the world which have conceived independently, and without any suggestions from others, the two sciences of Logic and Grammar,* Carefully collecting the facts brought to light by critical and pains-taking observation, they have elaborated a system of Grammar, of gigantic dimensions, far surpassing anything that has ever been effected, in this branch of study, in any country or age of the world. Their greatest and most brilliant champion, in this science, is Panini: yet many other grammarians helped to rear the stupendous fabric which now excites the admiration of mankind. And while they emulated the genius of the Greeks in generalising upon the results of their observations, they far outshine them in the correctness and extent of their investigations.f See Panini.
Grantha:(sáns. hindú). In the later literature of India, Grantha was used for a volume, and in granthakuti, a library, we see clearly that it has that meaning. But in the early literature, grantha does not mean pustaka, or book; it means simply a composition as opposed to a traditional work.
Gridhrika:(sáns. hindú). A daughter of Kasyapa and his wife Tamra, the parent of vultures.
Grihastha:(sáns. hindú). A houseliolder; his duties are thus defined in the Vishnu Purana. " When the scriptural studies appropriate to the student have been completed, and he has received dismissal from his Guru, let the regenerate man enter into the order of the householder; and taking unto himself, with lawful ceremonies, house, wife, and wealth, discharge to the best of his ability the duties of Ills station; satisfying the manes with funeral cakes; the gods with oblations; guests with hospitality; the sages with holy study; the progenitors of mankind with progeny; the spirits with the residue of oblations; and all the world with words of truth.
A householder secures heaven by the faithful discharge of these obligations. There are those who subsist upon alms, and lead an erratic life of self-denial, at the end of the term during which they have kept house. They wander over the world to see the earth, and perform their ablutions, with rites enjoined by the Vedas, at sacred shrines: houseless, and without food, and resting for the night at the dwelling at which they arrive in the evening, The householder is to them a constant refuge and parent; it is his duty to give them a welcome, and to address them with kindness; and to provide them, whenever they come to his house, with a bed, a seat, and food. A guest disappointed by a householder, who turns away from his door, transfers to the latter all his own misdeeds, and bears away his religious merit. In the house of a good man, contumely, arrogance, hypocrisy, repining, contradiction, and violence arc annihilated: and the householder who fully performs this his chief duty of hospitality is released from every kind of bondage, and obtains the highest of stations after death."
Nota de: * Max Muller. + Sherring.
Gudaras:(sáns. hindú). A class of mendicants, deriving their name from a pan of metal, which they carry about with them, containing fire for burning scented woods at the house of those from whom they receive alms. They do not solicit alms directly, but repeat the word Alakh, " invisible" expressive of the indescribable nature of the deity.
Guha:(sáns. hindú). The Raja of the Bhils who welcomed Rama at Sringavera, the border town between the kingdom of Kosala and the country of the Bhils. After entertaining Rama with great liberality, the Raja provided a well-furnished boat in which his distinguished guest crossed the Ganges. He also afforded great assistance to Bharata when proceeding to the hermitage of Bharadwaja in search of Rama.
Guhas:(sáns. hindú). The kings of Kalinga and Mahendra; some parts of Orissa and Berar.
Guhyas:(sáns. hindú). The name of a class of demigods who attend on Kuvera the god of wealth, and whose city is Alakapura.
Guna:(sáns. hindú). Quality, virtue, excellence. A property of all created beings; three are particularized, the
1 . Satwa, principles of truth or existence. 2. Raja, passion or foulness. 3. Tamas, darkness or ignorance.
Gupta:(sáns. hindú). A name said in the Vishnu Purana to be suited to Vaisyas and Sudras.
Guptas:(sáns. hindú). A race of kings who reigned in Magadha. They were Rajas of the Vaisya caste. Of the existence and power of the Guptas we have recently had ample proofs from inscriptions and coins, as in the Chandragupta and Samudragupta of the Allahabad column, etc., in all which the legends are written in a character prior to the use of the modern Devanagiri and was current probably about the 5th century of our era. See Vislmu Parana, p. 480.
Guru:(sáns. hindú). " A spiritual preceptor occupying in some measure the place of the confessor of the middle ages. He is regarded as a representative and vehicle of divine power, and therefore entitled to receive the most implicit obedience from his disciples. The Gurus are a class of priests carefully to be distinguished from the Purohita, who is a sort of domestic chaplain and must be married.
The Gurus generally live in celibacy, though some are married.
Each caste and sect has its particular Guru, who may be either a Brahman or a Sudra, and who exercises great authority and influence. He superintends those under his jurisdiction and enforces the observance of the rules and customs of the sect. He can expel from caste, and some Gurus can restore those who have been expelled. All Gurus do not possess equal authority. There is a gradation amongst them and the inferior Gurus frequently derive their power from the superior, and are sometimes deposed by them and others appointed.
When the people come into the presence of the Guru, they make the SashtSnga, i. e., prostration of the eight members, and this, when followed by the Guru's Asirvada, i. e., benediction, is efFectual for the remission of all sins. The look even of a Guru has the same efficacy. The Prasada, i.e., the present which the Guru confers upon his disciples consists in things otherwise of small value, such as a portion of cow-dung ashes, to beautify the forehead, flowers that were previously offered up to idols, the crumbs from his meals, or the water in which he had washed his feetf which is preserved and sometimes drunk by those who receive it. These and other things of like nature coming from their holy hands, possess the virtue of purifying body and soul from all uucleauness.
But if the benediction of the Guru and the other little tokens of his favour, which he bestows on his disciples, have so wonderful an influence in attracting the respect and reverence of the populace, his curse is thought to be not less powerful, and fills them with terror and awe. The Hindus are persuaded that it never fails to take eflect, whether justly or unjustly incurred. Their books are full of stories which seem to have been invented for the express purpose of inspiring this belief; and, to add greater force to it, the attendants of the Guru, who are interested in the success of the impostor's game, do not fail to recount many marvellous stories respecting him, of which they pretend to have been eye-witnesses; and to avoid any possibility of detection, they lay the scene of the miracles in some distant country.
The Gurus, in general, rank as the first and most distinguished order of society. Those who are elevated to this great dignity, receive, in most cases, marks of reverence or rather of adoration which are hardly rendered to the gods themselves. But this is not surprising when it is understood that the power of controlling the gods is generally attributed to them, by which it is supposed they have the means of obtaining whatsoever the deities can bestow.
As a rule, the Gurus reside in a kind of monasteries or insulated hermitages, named Matas. The place of residence of the principal Gurus is commonly called Simhasana, z. e., throne, and that of the inferior ones Pitha, i.e., seat.
The great Gurus never appear in public except with great pomp; but It is when they proceed to a visitation of their district that they are seen surrounded with their whole splendour. They commonly make the procession on the back of an elephant, or seated in a rich palanquin. Some of them have a guard of horse, and are surrounded with troops both cavalry and infantry, armed with pikes and other weapons. Several bands of musicians precede them playing on all the instruments of the country. Flags in all the varieties of colour wave round them, adorned with the pictures of their gods. Some of their officers take the lead, singing odes in their praise, or admonishing the spectators to be prepared to pay the mighty Guru, as he comes up, the honor and reverence which are due to him. Incense and other perfumes are burnt in profusion; new cloths are spread before him on the road. Boughs of trees, forming triumphal arches, are expanded in many places on the way through which he passes. Bands of young women, the dancing girls of the temples, relieve each other, and keep up with the procession, enlivening it with lewd songs and lascivious dances.
During the visitation, their principal object is to amass money.
Besides the fines which are levied from persons guilty of offences or any breaches of the ceremonies of the caste or sect, they often rigorously exact from their adherents a tribute to the utmost extent of their means. This is called Pada-kanika, r. e., feet offering.
There is no affront or indignity which the Gurus are not disposed to inflict on any disciple, who fails, either from inability or unwillingness, to produce the sum at which he is rated, and in the last resort, they threaten to inflict the curse. And such is the credulity of the Hindu, and such is the dread of the evils ho supposes to spring from the malediction of a Guru, that this extreme denunciation seldom fails to exact the payment.
The dignity of Gui*u descends, among the married, from father to son; but upon the death of one who has lived single, a successor is appointed by some one of the grand Gurus, who, in the exercise of this power, generally nominates one of his own dependants." Abbe Dubois,
H1
Haihaya, Haya:(sáns. hindú). Two princes of the Yddava race, the sons of Satajit, the family in which Krishna was born.
Haihayas:(sáns. hindú). Descendants of Yadu. They conquered Bahu, and his country was overrun by them, in consequence of which he fled into the forests with his wives. The Haihayas were afterwards ahnost destroyed by Sagara, the posthumous son of Bahu. There were five great divisions of the Haihaya tribe; but from their common ancestor Yadu they are usually termed Yadavas. These tribes only appear after the Christian era. They are thought to be of Scythian origin. The word haya, a horse, is confirmatory evidence of this.
Haitakas:(sáns. hindú). Causalists; either the followers of the Nyaya or logical philosophy, or Bauddhas, those Avho take nothing upon authority, and admit nothing that cannot be proved; or it is explained, those who by argument cast a doubt upon the efficacy of acts of devotion.
Hala:(sáns. hindú). A prince, the son of Arishtakarman, one of the thirty Andhrabhritya kings, whose united reigns amounted to four hundred and fifty-six years.
Hansa:(sáns. hindú). A mountain in the north of Meru; projecting from its base like a filament from the root of the lotus. V. P.
Hanuman:(sáns. hindú). l. The son of the wind, or as he is sometimes represented, an incarnation of Vayu the god of the wind. He was the chief general of the monkey king Sugriva, who assisted Rama in his war with the giant Ravana. When Rama was in distress at the loss of his wife Sita, Hanuman was employed as a spy; and, after many researches discovered that Sita was kept a close prisoner in Lanka. Four armies of monkeys and bears were dispatched, but only that to the south, under the command of Hanuman, met with any success, and brought back tidings of the lost Sita. The story of Hanuman 's adventures in Lanka is one of the best sustained efforts of pure imagination to be found in the Ramayana. The exploits of the vast monkey hero, who could swell himself to the size of a mountain, or dwarf himself to the size of a man's thumb; are narrated in a Baron Munchausen style, sometimes ludicrous, sometimes almost sublime.
The following incidents may be mentioned: .
When Hanuman arrived at the sea-shore, opposite Ceylon, several of his companions offered to leap across, but Hanuman alone was equal to so great a leap.
" Then by Sampati's counsel led Brave Hanuman who mocked at dread. Sprang at one wild tremendous leap, Two hundred leagues across the deep."
Having discovered Sita in a grove of asoka trees attached to Ravana's palace, he gave proofs of his supernatural strength, and was then conducted into the presence of the king, where he announced himself as the ambassador of his master, king Sugrivu, who demanded the restoration of Sita on behalf of Rama. This so irritated Ravana fhat he ordered Hanuman to be put to death, but Vibhishana, Ravana's brother, reminded him that the life of an ambassador was always sacred. It was therefore decided that he should be punished by having his tail set on fire. Hanuman then escaped from his guards, jumped on the house-tops with his burning tail, and set the whole city on fire. After having satisfied himself that Sita had not perished in the conflagration, and exhorted her to maintain her spirits and firmness, he bade her adieu, and sprang from a mountain which staggered under the shock and sank into the earth. He then darted through the air, rejoined his companions on the opposite coast, and recounted to them the narrative of his adventures. When the monkeys returned to Sugriva, Rama learnt the hiding-place of Sita. Hanuman described his interview with her, and to attest the truth of his story, gave Sita's token to Rama, who praised the monkey general, enquired about the fortifications of Lanka, and soon marched southwards, attended by Hanuman and the monkey army, to fight for Sita's deliverance.
In the course of the battle when Indrajit the bravest of the sons of Ravana, had, by means of magical weapons, inflicted terrible wounds on all the leaders of Raraa*s army, Hanumat flew to the Himalaya mountains for four medicinal herbs by which the dead and wounded might be restored; but the divine plants suspected his object, and rendered themselves invisible. Upon this the irritated monkey chief tore up the mountain peak and carried it with all its contents into the camp of Rama and Lakshmana; who with all the dead and wounded generals were instantly restored by the exhalations issuing from the healing plants.
When Lakshmana was dangerously wounded, the physician Sushena said that a celebrated medicinal plant (mahaushadi), growing on the northern mountain Gandha-madana, would cure him, Hanuman undertook to fetch it and accordingly flew there.
As he passed over Ayodhya and Nandigramu he was observed by Bharata, who seeing a strange object in the sky prepared to shoot it; but Hanuman descended, and arresting the arrow, gave "Bharata tidings of his brothers. On reaching the mountain Gandha-madana, he was attacked by a terrible Rakshasa named Kala-nemi, who had been sent by Ravana to kill Hanuman. This demon first took the form of an anchorite, and persuaded Hanuman to drink some water out of a lake where there was a monstrous crocodile. Hanuman, however, killed both the crocodile and Kalanemi, and afterwards destroyed 30,000 gandharvas who attacked him. He then looked about for the plant, and not finding it, took up the whole mountain bodily in his arms, and deposited it, with its rocks, metals, forests, lions, elephants, and tigers, at the feet of Sushena, who knew well where to look for the plant, gathered it, and made Lakshmana breathe its healing exhalations. Hanuman then restored the mountain to its place, killing with his feet and tail more Rakshasas who attacked him on his way while he carried the mountain, and was unable to use his hands.
When Ravana was at last killed Hanuman was sent by Rama with a message to Sita, and subsequently sent to announce his return to Bharata.* * Williams; Indian Epic Poetry. A. and M. I.
" Hanuman, best of monkey kind, AVas son of him who breathes the wind, Like thunderbolt in frame was he, And swift as Garud's self could flee."
Hanuman is now regarded as a demi-god, and his whole race as sacred; and because of this monkeys are allowed to multiply indefinitely, and commit mischief of every kind, no one being willing to interfere with them.
Hara:(sáns. hindú). One of the eleven Rudras. Also a name of Siva, meaning the supremely powerful.
Hari:(sáns. hindú). A name of Vishnu, as to the origin of which nothing is known.
Hari-hara-putra:(sáns. hindú). Vishnu, Siva's son, because he is said to owe his origin to the union of Siva and Vishnu in a female form, called Mohini. A name of Ayenar, the chief male deity among the Gramadevatas. See Ayenar.
Harikesa:(sáns. hindú). The name of one of the seven solar rays.
Haris:(sáns. hindú). A class of deities in successive Manwantaras.
Harischandra:(sáns. hindú). The son of Trisanku, king of Ayodha, a Hindu king of the Solar dynasty, a descendant of Ikshwaku, and a prominent person in the legendary history of ancient India. In the Aitareya Brahmana he is described as a king without a son, though he had a hundred wives. In his house lived, Parvata and Narada. He asked Narada * Tell me what do people gain by a son whom they all wish for ?'
Being asked by one verse, Narada replied in ten verses:
* If a father sees the face of a son, born alive, ho pays a debt in him, and goes to immortality.
* The pleasure which a father has in his son is greater than all the pleasures that arc from the earth, from the fire, and from the waters.
* Always liave the fathers overcome the great darkness by a son; for a self is born from his self; it (the new-born self, (he "on) itt like a ship, full of food, to curry him over.
* What is the flesh ? What is the skin ? What are the hairs ?
What the heat ? Try to get a son, you Brahmans; he is undoubtedly the world.
* Food is life for men, clothing is protection, gold is beauty, cattle is strength. His wife is a friend, his daughter is a pity; but the son is his light in the highest world.
* As husband he embraces a wife, who becomes his mother, when he becomes her child. Having been renewed in her, he is born in the tenth month.
* A wife is a wife (jaya) because man is born (jayate) again in her. She is a mother (abhuti) because she brings forth (abhuti); a germ is hidden in her.
* The gods and the old ages brought great light unto her. The gods said to men: " In her you will be born again."
* There is no life for him who has no son, this the animals also know.
* The path which those follow who have sons and no sorrows, is widely praised and happy. Beasts and birds know it, and they have young ones everywhere.'
Having thus spoken, he said to him: ' Go to Varuna the king, and say: May a son be born to me, and I shall sacrifice him to you.' The king assented, he went to Varuna the king, and said:
* May a son be born to me and I shall sacrifice him to you.' Varuna said, * Yes.' A son was born to him, called Rohita.
Then Varuna said to Harischandra: ' A son is born to thee, sacrifice him to me.'
Harischandra said: * When an animal is more than ten days old, it can be sacrificed. May he be older than ten days and I shall sacrifice him to you.'
Varuna assented. The boy was more than ten days old, and Varuna said: * He is older now than ten days, sacrifice him to me.'
Harischandra said: ' When an animal's teeth come, then it can be sacrificed. May his teeth now come, and I shall sacrifice him to you.'
Varuna assented. His teeth came, and Varuna said: His teeth have come, sacrifice him to me.' Harischandra said: ' When an animal's teeth fall out, then it can be sacrificed. May his teeth fall out, and I shall sacrifice him to you.'
Varuna assented; his teeth fell out, and Varuna said: * His teeth have fallen out, sacrifice him to me.' Harischandra replied:
* When an animal's teeth come again, then it can be sacrificed.
May his teeth come again, and I shall sacrifice him to you.'
Varuna assented: His teeth came again, and Varuna said; * His teeth have come again, sacrifice him to me.' Harischandra said:
* When a warrior (kshatriya) is girt with his armour, then he can be sacrificed. May he be girt, and I shall sacrifice him to you.'
Varuna assented. He was girt, and Varuna said: * He has been girt, let him be sacrificed to me.'
Harischandra assented. He addressed his son and said: * Child, he gave you to me; Death ! that I sacrifice you to him.' The son said, ' No !' took his bow, and went to the forest, and lived there for a year.
And Varuna seized Harischandra, and his belly swelled. This Rohita heard and went from the forest to the village (grama).
Indra, in the form of a man, went round him, and said: * For a man who does not travel about there is no happiness, thus we have heard, O Rohita ! A good man who stays at home is a bad man.
Indra is the friend of him who travels. Travel.'
Rohita thought, a Brahman has told me to travel, and thus he travelled a second year in the forest. When he went from the forest to the village, Indra, in the form of a man, went round him, and said:
* A traveller's legs are like blossoming branches, he himself grows and gathers the fruit. All his wrongs vanish, destroyed by his exertion on the road. Travel !'
Rohita thought, a Brahman has told me to travel, and thus he travelled a third year in the forest. When he went from the forest to the town, Indra, in the form of a man, went round him, and said:
" The fortune of a man who sits, sits also; it rises, when he rises; it sleeps, when he sleeps; it moves well when he moves.
Travel !'
Rohita thought, a Brahman has told me to travel, and thus he travelled a fourth year in the forest. When he went from the forest to the town, Indra, in the form of a man, went round him, and said:
* A man who sleeps is like the Kali age; a man who awakes is like the Dvapara age; a man who rises is like the Treta age; a man who travels is like the Krita age. Travel !'
Rohita thought, a Brahman has told me to travel, and thus he travelled a fifth year in the forest. When he went from the forest to the town, Indra, in the form of a man, went round him, and said:
' A traveller finds honey, a traveller finds sweet figs. Look at the happiness of the sun, who travelling never tires. Travel !'
Rohita thought, a Brahman has told me to travel, and thus he travelled a sixth year. He met in the forest a starving Rishi, Ajigarta, the son of Suyavasa. He had three sons, Sunahpuccha, Sunahsepha, and Sunolangula. Rohita said to him: * Rishi, I give you a hundred cows, I ransom myself with one of these thy sons.' The father embraced the eldest son, and said: ' Not him.'
* Nor him,' said the mother, embracing the youngest. And the parents bargained to give Sunahsepha, the middle son. Rohita gave a hundred, took him, and went from the forest to the village.
And he came to his father, and said: * Father, Death ! I ransom myself by him.' The father went to Varuna, and said: * I shall sacrifice this man to you.' Varuna said, ' Yes, for a Brahman is better than a Kshatriya.' And he told him to perform a Rajasuya sacrifice. Harischandra took him to be the victim for the day, when the Soma is spent to the gods.
Visvamitra was his Hotri priest, Jamadagni his Adhvaiyu priest, Vasishtha, the Brahman, Ayasyua the Adyatri priest.
When Sunahsepha had been prepared, they found nobody to bind him to the sacrificial post. And Ajigarta, the son of Suyavasa said: * Give me another hundred, and I shall bind him.' They gave him another hundred, and he bound him, When he had been prepared and bound, when the Apri hymns had been sung, and he had been led round the fire, they found nobody to kill him.
And- Ajigarta, the son of Suyavasa said: * Give me another hundred, and I shall kill him/ They gave him another hundred, and he came whetting his sword.- Then Sunahsepha thought, * They will really kill me, as if I was not a man. Death ! I shall pray to the gods.' He went with a hymn to Prajapati (Lord of the world), the first of gods. Prajapati said to him: * Agni (fire) is the nearest of gods, go to him. He went with a hymn to Agni, and Agni said to him: * Savitri (the progenitor) rules all creatures, go to him.' He went with a hymn to Savitri, and Savitri said to him: * Thou art bound for Varuna the king,' and Varuna said to him: * Agni is the mouth of the gods, the kindest god, praise him, and we shall set thee free.' Thus he praised Agni, and Agni said to him: Praise the Visve Devah, and we shall set thee free.' Thus he praised the Visve Devah, and they said to him: * Indra is the greatest, mightiest, strongest, and friendliest of the gods, praise him, and we shall set thee free.'
Thus he praised Indra, and Indra was pleased, and gave him in his mind a golden car, which Sunahsepha acknowledged by another verse. Indra said to him: * Praise the Asvinau, and we shall set thee free.' Thus he praised the Asvinau, and they said to him: * Praise Ushas (dawn), and we shall set thee free.' Thus he praised Ushas with three verses. While each verse was delivered, his fetters were loosed, and Harischandra's belly grew smaller, and when the last verse was said, his fetters were loosed, and Harischandra well again." A. S. L., p. 408-414.
Harischandra is represented in all the legends as a king of great uprightness. The following story illustrates this. Once when all the gods and Rishis were assembled in Devendra's audience chamber, the latter asked Vasishtha, whether he knew of any one among men on earth who did never lust after another's wife, nor speak a lie; to which the Rishi replied: *' Yes, there is a disciple of mine, king Harischandra, he never spoke a lie." On hearing this Visvamitra called out: " Harischandra is a deceiver and liar.'*
Then said Vasishtha: " If Harischandra is found to speak the least untruth, I will cease to be a Rishi and to come into this assembly,"
" Well," answered Visvamitra, " if I find him altogether truthful, I will give him all the merit of my penance; but I am afraid, you will at once tell him that I am about to try him." Upon this Vasishtha took an oath, that he would not at all go near the king till the matter was settled; and Visvamitra went to Harischandra and tempted him in different ways, more especially through women, to speak an untruth; but the king did not swerve from the truth.
At last the Rishi asked him far a large sum of money, and having received it, he returned it to him with the request to take care of it till he would require it. After a very long time Visvamitra came and desired all the money, together with compound interest, which amounted to a sum exceeding the value of his kingdom; but Harischandra, in order to pay the sum, sold all he had, and also himself together with his wife and son. Subsequently he was separated from his wife Satyavati, and employed to burn corpses. Then, behold, one day, there comes a woman to have her dead child burnt, and he recognizes her as his wife by her Tali (the marriage-badge); which he requires of her as his wages for burning the child, and which she will not give away. While they yet talk, there come messengers to seize the v oman, because she was suspected of having kidnapped a royal prince who happened to be very similar to her child. Being found guilty, she is condemned to death, and Harischandra is ordered to behead her; and he is ready to obey: but, behold, suddenly the sword is turned into flowers, the child becomes alive, and the royal couple are restored to their former glory."
In consequence he was elevated with his subjects to heaven, from whence, having been insidiously led by Narada to boast of his merits, he was again precipitated. His repentance of his pride, however, arrested his downwards descent, and he and his train paused in mid-air. The city of Harischandra is popularly believed to be at times still visible in the skies. The indignation of Vasishtha at Viswamitra's insatiablcness produced a quarrel, in which their mutual imprecations changed them to two birds, the Sarali, a sort of Turdus, and the Baka, or Crane. In these forms they fought for a considerable term, until Brahma interposed, and reconciled them, The Bhagavata alludes to this story, in its notice of Harischandra ; but the Vayu refers the conflict to the reign of a different prince: According to the Siva Parana, Harischandra was an especial worshipper of that deity; and his wife Satyavati was a form of Jay a, one of Durga's handmaids.
