Topic: Indian Mythology

[Prometheus]

https://archive.org/details/mythologyofallra06gray/page/n19

PLATE I

DURGA

The wife of Siva, in her dread aspect, slays the
Asura Mahisa. Standing in an attitude of triumph on
the demon, who, as his name implies, is in the shape
of a buffalo, she drags his soul (symbolized in human
form) from him. From a Javanese lava sculpture,
probably from Prambanan, in the Museum of Fine
Arts, Boston. See p. ii8.



THE MYTHOLOGY
OF ALL RACES

IN THIRTEEN VOLUMES
LOUIS HERBERT GRAY, A.M., PH.D., Editor

GEORGE FOOT MOORE, A.M., D.D., LL.D., Consulting Editor



INDIAN



BY

A. BERRIEDALE KEITH

D.C.L., D.LiTT.



BY



ALBERT J. CARNOY



Ph.D., Litt.D.



VOLUME VI




BOSTON

MARSHALL JONES COMPANY

M DCCCC XVII



THE ^-iW VOIJ.K
Asros, LfiNoS: A>n)



Copyright, 1917
By Marshall Jones Company



Entered at Stationers' Hall, London



All rights reserved



Printed in January, 1917



PRIKTED IN TEIE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA BY THE UNIVERSITY PRESS
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS

BOUND BY THE BOSTON BOOKBINDING COMPANY



CONTENTS

INDIAN

Author's Preface 5

Transcription and Pronunciation 9

Introduction . 11

Chapter I. The Rgveda — Gods of Sky and Air .... 15
II. The Rgveda — Gods of Earth, Demons, and

Dead 41

III. The Mythology of the Brahmanas .... 73

IV. The Great Gods of the Epic 103

V. Minor Epic Deities and the Dead .... 131

VI. The Mythology of the Puranas 162

VII. Buddhist Mythology in India and Tibet ... 187

VIII. The Mythology of the Jains 220

IX, The Mythology of Modern Hinduism . . . 230

IRANIAN

Author's Preface 253

Transcription and Pronunciation 257

Introduction •. 259

Chapter I. Wars of Gods and Demons 263

II. Myths of Creation 275

III. The Primeval Heroes 293

IV. Legends of Yima 304

V. Traditions OF THE Kings AND Zoroaster . . . 320
• VI. The Life to Come 344

VII. Conclusion 348

Notes, Indian ^SS

Notes, Iranian 360

Bibliography, Indian 371

Bibliography, Iranian 395

V



ILLUSTRATIONS

FULL PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS

PLATE FACING PAGE

I Durga — Photogravure Frontispiece

II Idol Car 22

III Surya . 26

IV Indra — Coloured 34

V Apsarases — Coloured 60

VI Brahma — Coloured 78

VII Kala-Siva 82

VIII A. Tortures of Hell 100

B. Tortures of Hell 100

IX Trimurti 108

X Marriage of Siva and Parvati 118

XI Birth of Brahma — Coloured 120

XII Varahavatara 122

XIII Laksmi — Coloured 124

XIV Krsna 126

XV Hanuman 128

XVI Garuda 140

XVII Vasuki 154

XVIII Yaksi 156

XIX Kubera 158

XX Visnu Slays the Demons — Coloured 164

XXI Laksmi 170

XXII Ganesa 182

XXIII The Great Buddha — Coloured 188

XXIV The Buddha and Sujata — Coloured 190

XXV The Buddha on the Lotus 192

XXVI Temptation of the Buddha — Coloured 196



viii ILLUSTRATIONS

PLATE FACING PAGE

XXVII Avalokitesvara 202

XXVIII Tirthakara 220

XXIX DilwSra Temple •. 226

XXX Shrine of Bhiimiya 234

XXXI Bhairon 238

XXXII Iranian Deities on Indo-Scythian Coins 260

1. Mithra

2. Apam Napat

3. Mah

4. Vata or Vayu

5. Khvarenanh

6. Atar

7. Vanainti (Uparatat)

8. Verethraghna

XXXIII I. Typical Representation of Mithra 264

2. Scenes from the Life of Alithra

XXXIV Iranian Deities on Indo-Scythian and Sassanian

|, Coins 272

^ I. Tishtrya

2. Khshathra Vairya

"" ., 3. Ardokhsho

'^ 4. Asha Vahishta

5. Ahura Mazda

6. Fire Altar

7. Fire Altar

8. Fravashi

XXXV Ancient Fire Temple near Isfahan 284

XXXVI I. Mithra Born from the Rock 288

2. Alithra Born from the Rock

XXXVII The Simurgh — Coloured 290

XXXVIII Tahmurath Combats the Demons — Coloured . . 302

XXXIX I. Dahhak (Azhi Dahaka) — Coloured 310

2. Jamshid on His Throne — Coloured

XL Rustam and the White Demon — Coloured ... 328

XLI The Death of Suhrab — Coloured 332

XLII Kai Kaus Attempts to Fly to Heaven — Coloured 336



ILLUSTR.\TIOXS

PLATE

XLIII Gushtasp Kills a Dragon — Coloured . . .
XLIV Sculpture Supposed to Represent Zoroaster



IX
FACING PAGE



340
342



ILLUSTRATIONS IX THE TEXT

FIGURE PAGE

1 Agni 42

2 The Churning of the Ocean 104

3 The Propitiation of Uma, or Devi 117

4 The Narasirhha ("Man-Lion") Avatar of Visnu .... 123

5 The Matsya ("Fish") Avatar of Visnu 167



INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

BY
A. BERRIEDALE KEITH, D.C.L., D.Lirr.

REGIUS PROFESSOR OF SANSCRIT AND COMPARATIVE PHILOLOGY
EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY



TO THE MEMORY

OF

Field Marshal The Right Honourable
EARL KITCHENER OF KHARTOUM

K.G., K.P., O.M., G.C.B., G.C.S.I., G.C.M.G., G.C.I.E., LL.D.

LORD RECTOR OF THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH

(19I4-I916)



AUTHOR'S PREFACE

THE mythology of India claims unique interest by virtue
of its unparalleled length of life. It is true that not even
the discoveries at Boghaz Kyoi render it prudent for us to
place the Rgveda at an earlier period than 1500 B.C., and in
part at least that collection may come from three centuries
later, so that as contrasted with the dates of Egyptian and
Babylonian records the earliest monument of Aryan mythology
is comparatively recent. In mass of content and in value for
mythology, however, these cannot compare with the Rgveda.
Of still more importance is the fact that from the period of the
J^gveda to the present day, a space of some thirty-five hundred
years, we have a mythology which is in constant but organic
development. The high mythic systems of Teuton, Celt, and
Slav, of Greek and Roman, have perished before the onslaught
of a loftier faith and survive in little else than folk-lore. In
India, on the contrary, though foreign invasion has often swept
over the north-west of the land, though Islam has annexed
souls as well as territories, though Christianity (especially in
the south) has contributed elements to the faith of the people,
still it remains true that the religion and the mythology of the
land are genuinely their own and for this reason have in them-
selves the constant potency of fresh growth. Moreover, amidst
the ceaseless change which is the heritage of human things,
there is relative stability in the simpler thoughts of the human
mind, and as in many parts of India the peasant still labours
with the implements and in the mode of his ancestors in periods
far remote, so his mind frames the same hypotheses to account
for those phenomena of nature which in India more than else-
where determine irrevocably his weal or his woe.



6 AUTHOR'S PREFACE

The rich variety of the mythology, despite its attraction for
the student of the history of myths, renders the task of concise
exposition one of pecuUar difficulty. For the mythology of the
present day available material is enormous: each part of the
vast area of India has its own abundant store of myth and
tradition, and to give detail for this period would be impossible.
The same consideration applies with but slightly lessened force
for the earlier epochs: the Veda, the epics, the Purdnas, the
literature of the Buddhists and of the Jains, each present data
in lavish abundance. It has been necessary, therefore, to cir-
cumscribe narrowly the scope of the subject by restricting the
treatment to that mythology which stands in close connexion
with religion and which conveys to us a conception of the
manner in which the Indian pictured to himself the origin of
the world and of life, the destiny of the universe and of the
souls of man, the gods and the evil spirits who supported or
menaced his existence. Gods and demons were very present
to the mind of the Indian then as they are today, and they are
inextricably involved in innumerable stories of folk-lore, of
fairy tale, and of speculation as to the origin of institutions and
customs. The task of selecting such myths as will best illustrate
the nature of the powers of good and evil is one in which we
cannot hope for complete success; and the problem is rendered
still more hard by the essential vagueness of many of the
figures of Indian mythology: the mysticism of Indian concep-
tion tends ever to a pantheism alien to the clear-cut creations
of the Hellenic imagination.

The difficult task of selecting suitable illustrations has been
shared with the editor of this series. Dr. Louis H, Gray, of
whose valuable assistance in this and other matters I desire
to express my most sincere appreciation; and my friend Pro-
fessor Charles R. Lanman, of Harvard University, has gener-
ously lent us valuable volumes from his private library. Dr.
Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, with his wonted generosity and
devotion to the cause of promoting the knowledge of Indian



AUTHOR'S PREFACE 7

art, not merely accorded permission for the reproduction of
illustrations from his Rajput Paintings (published by the Oxford
University Press), but placed at my disposal the resources of
his admirable Visvakarma^ a kindness for which I am deeply
grateful. To the India Society and the Oxford University
Press I am indebted for permission to reproduce illustrations
from Lady Herringham's splendid copies of the Ajanta frescoes,
published by the Press for the Society, Messrs. W. Griggs and
Sons, of Hanover Street, Peckham, London, S. E., have been
good enough to permit the reproduction of certain illustrations
from their Journal of Indian Art; and I owe to the generosity
of the India Office the photographs which Messrs. Griggs and
Sons have made for me from negatives In the collection of
that Department. Lieut.-Col. A. H. Milne, of Cults, Aber-
deenshire, Scotland, kindly permitted the photographing of
one of the pieces of his rich collection; the Museum of Fine
Arts in Boston and the Peabody Museum in Salem, Mass.,
have been no less generous than he; and Mrs. Louis H. Gray
placed her expert knowledge at our service In seeing the vol-
ume through the press.

To my wife I owe thanks for help and criticism.

A. BERRIEDALE KEITH.

University of Edinburgh,
22 September, 19 16.



TRANSCRIPTION AND PRONUNCIATION

THE system of transcription followed is that used by the
Royal Asiatic Society and accords closely with the one
adopted in the Grundriss der indo-arischen Philologie und
Altertumskuiide. The pronunciation is much as in English, but
c is pronounced as ch, and g is always hard; the characters repre-
sented by kh, gh, ch, jh, th, dh, th, dh, ph, bh have the h sounded
half-separately, somewhat as in pot-hook, madhouse, hap-
hazard, etc. Of the letters distinguished by diacritical marks
t, th, d, dh, and n are pronounced very much like the ordinary
dentals; s is sounded as sh, and i as sh or s; the s is always hard,
never soft like z. The letter r denotes the vowel sound of r and
is pronounced approximately like ri; and similarly / is almost
like li. The letters n and n denote a nasal assimilated to the
following sound, guttural and palatal respectively, and m
indicates a nasal sound which corresponds very roughly to ng.
The "visarga," h, was probably pronounced like the Scottish
or German ch. The vowels e (pronounced like a in fate) and o,
which represent an original ai and au, are always long. The
vowel a is pronounced somewhat in the manner of the u in
English hut; other vowels have the same value as in Italian.



INTRODUCTION

THE earliest record of Indian mythology is contained in the
^gveda, or "Hymn Veda," a series of ten books of hymns
celebrating the chief Vedic gods. The exact motives of the
collection are uncertain, but it is clear that in large measure
the hymns represent those used in the Soma sacrifice, which
formed a most important part of the worship of the gods in
the ritual of the subsequent period. It is now recognized that
the religion and mythology contained in this collection are not
primitive in character and that they represent the result of a
long period of development of sacred poetry. Thus it is that
the gods who form the subject of this poetry often appear ob-
scure in character, though in the great majority of cases it is
clear that the myths related of them refer to physical happen-
ings. The date of the Rgveda is much disputed and admits of
no definite determination; it may be doubted whether the old-
est poetry contained in it is much earlier than 1200 B.C., but it
is not probable that it was composed later than 800 B.C., even
in its most recent portions.

Both in its mythology and in its composition the Rgveda
is clearly older than the other three Vedas, the Sdmaveda, the
Yajurveda, and the Atharvaveda — the "Chant Veda," the
"Formula Veda," and the "Veda of the Atharvan Priests" —
and, in point of date, these three stand much on a level with
the Brdhmanas, or explanatory prose texts which are attached
to or form part of them. In them are to be found many specu-
lations of a more advanced kind than those of the Rgveda^ yet
at the same time the Atharvaveda contains a mass of popular
religion which has been taken up and worked over by the same
priestly classes to whose activity the other texts are due. It



12 INTRODUCTION

must, therefore, be recognized that the Rgveda gives only an
Imperfect Impression of Indian mythology and that. In a sense,
It is the work of an aristocracy; but at the same time it is im-
possible to regard the Atharvaveda as a direct complement of
the Rgveda and as giving the popular side of the Rgvedic reli-
gion. The Atharvaveda was probably not reduced to Its present
form much, If at all, earlier than 500 B.C., and the popular
worship included in it is one which Is at once separated by a
considerable period In time from that of the Rgveda and is pre-
sented to us, not In Its primitive form, but as It was taken up
by the priests. The other Vedas and the Brdhmanas may be
referred roughly to a period which runs from 800 to 600 B.C.
To the Brdhmanas are attached, more or less closely, treatises
called Aranyakas ("Silvan"), which were to be studied by
oral tradition in the solitude of the forests, and Upanisads,
treatises of definitely philosophical content, whose name is de-
rived from the "session" of the pupils around their teacher.
The oldest of these works probably date from before 500 B.C.
On the other hand, the Sutras, or rules regarding the sacrifice
both In Its more elaborate and In Its more domestic forms, and
regulations concerning custom and law give Incidental infor-
mation as to the more popular side of religion.

The Sutras, at any rate, and possibly even the Brdhmanas,
in their later portions, are contemporaneous with the begin-
nings of the two great epics of India, the Mahdbhdrata and the
Rdmdyana. The first composition of these works as real epics,
made up from ballads and other material, may be assigned to
the fourth century b.c, and It Is probable that the Rdmdyana
was practically complete before the Christian era. In the case
of the Mahdbhdrata, however, there is no doubt that the orig-
inal heroic epic has been overwhelmed by a vast mass of relig-
ious, philosophical, and didactic matter, and that it was not
practically complete before the sixth century a.d., though
most of it probably may be dated In the period from 200 B.C. to
200 A.D. These works reveal, to an extent which cannot be



INTRODUCTION 13

paralleled in the texts of the preceding periods, the religion of
the warrior class and of the people generally. It cannot be as-
sumed that the religion thus described is a later development,
in point of time, than the Vedic religion, so far as the chief
features of this religion are concerned; but much of the myth-
ology is clearly a working over of the tales reported in the
period of the Brdhmanas, of which, in so far, the epic period is a
legitimate successor.

The epic period is followed by that of the Purdnas, which
show undoubted signs of the development of the religion and
mythology of the epics. No doubt the material in these texts
is often old, and here and there narratives are preserved in a
form anterior to that now seen in the Mahdbhdrata. Yet, on
the whole, it is probable that no Purdna antedates 600 a.d.,
and there is little doubt that portions of some of them are much
later, falling within the last few centuries. Nor, indeed, is there
any definite check to the continuance of this literature: at
least two of the Purdnas have no definite texts, and any author,
without fear of positive contradiction, is at liberty to compose
a poem in honour of a place of worship or of pilgrimage, and
to call it a portion of either of these Purdnas. This is the
literature which, to the present day, contains the authorita-
tive sacred texts of Hindu myth and worship. Yet it is essen-
tially priestly and learned, and the popular religion which it
embodies has been elaborated and confused, so that it is neces-
sary, for a clear view of modern Hindu mythology, to supple-
ment the account of the Purdnas with records taken from the
actual observation of the practices of modern India.

Besides the main stream of Hindu mythology there are im-
portant currents in the traditions of the Buddhists and the
Jains. Buddhism has left but faint traces of its former glories
in India itself; undoubtedly from about 500 B.C. to 700 a.d.
it must be ranked among the greatest of Indian religions,
and in the school of the Mahayana, or "Great Vehicle," it de-
veloped an elaborate mythology which displays marked orig-



14 INTRODUCTION

inal features. In comparison with Buddhism Jainism has added
little to the mythology of India, but in its own way it has de-
veloped many themes of Indian mythology, with the main
doctrines of which it remains in much closer contact than does
Buddhism.

The subject, therefore, divides itself, in accordance with the
literary sources upon which any treatment must be based, into
seven divisions:

I. The Period of the Ilgveda (Chapters I and II) ;
II. The Period of the Brdhmanas (Chapter III) ;

III. The Period of the Epics (Chapters IV and V);

IV. The Period of the Purdnas (Chapter VI) ;

V. The Mythology of Buddhism (Chapter VII) ;
VI. The Mythology of Jainism (Chapter VIII);
VII. The Mythology of Modern India (Chapter IX).

[Prometheus]

INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

CHAPTER I
THE RGVEDA

GODS OF SKY AND AIR

IN his Nirukta (the oldest extant Vedic commentary, written
about 500 B.C.) Yaska tells us that earlier students of the
mythology of the Rgveda had resolved all the deities into three
classes according to their position in the sky, in the atmosphere,
or on the earth; and he further treats all the different mem-
bers of each class as being only divergent aspects of the three
great gods, Agni ("Fire") on earth, Indra ("Storm") or Vayu
("Wind") in the atmosphere, and Surya ("Sun") in the sky.
This apportionment of the universe is, in fact, widely accepted
in the Rgveda, where, as a rule, a threefold distribution is pre-
ferred to the simpler view which contrasts the earth with all
that is seen above it. To the division immediately over the
earth are referred the manifestations of wind, rain, and light-
ning, while solar phenomena are assigned to the highest of the
three parts. Each of these three classifications may again be
subdivided into three: thus it is in the highest luminous space
or sky that the "fathers" (the kindly dead), the gods, and
Soma reside. In the atmosphere also there are three spaces, or
often only two — one the heavenly and one the earthly — and
in either case the highest is sometimes treated as if it were the
heaven or sky itself. Like the earth it has rocks and mountains;
streams (clouds) flow in it; and the water-dripping clouds are
constantly compared to and identified with cows. It seems
clear that the earthly as well as the heavenly portion of the



i6 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

atmosphere is above, not below, the earth, so that the sun does
not return from west to east under the earth, but goes back
by the way it came, turning its light side up to the sky and
thus leaving earth in darkness. The earth, conceived as ex-
tended, broad, and boundless, is compared in shape to a wheel,
but no ocean surrounds it, as in Greek and later Indian myth-
ology. The earth has four points, or five when we include the
place where the speaker stands.

An older conception is that of the earth and the sky alone as
constituting the universe. In that case the idea of the shape of
the earth varies, for when it is united with the sky, it is com-
pared to two great bowls turned toward each other; while from
another point of view earth and sky are likened to the wheels
at the ends of an axle. So closely united are the pair that, as a
deity, Dyavaprthivl ("Sky and Earth") is far more frequently
invoked than either Dyaus ("Sky") or Prthivl ("Earth").
The joint deity can claim six hymns in the Rgveda, the Earth
only one, and the Sky none. Even in her solitary hymn (v. 84)
the Earth is praised for sending the rain from her cloud, though
that is, as a matter of fact, her husband's function. The two
are called the primeval parents, who make and sustain all crea-
tures; and the gods themselves are their children: they are the
parents of Brhaspati ("Lord of Devotion") and with the waters
and Tvastr ("Fashioner") they engendered Agni. Yet with
characteristic Impartiality they are said themselves to be
created, for a poet marvels at the skill which wrought them,
and others attribute their fashioning to Indra, to Visvakarman
("All-Maker") or to Tvastr. They are far-extending, unaging,
yielding milk, ghee (clarified butter), and honey in abundance.
The one is a prolific bull, the other a variegated cow; and both
are rich in seed. They are wise also, and they promote right-
eousness and accord protection and aid to their worshippers.

The constant problem of the fashioning of the world is ex-
pressed in many ways. With the suns Varuna measures the
WQrld; Indra made the wide expanse of earth and the high



GODS OF SKY AND AIR 17

dome of the sky after measuring the six regions; or, again, the
earth is said to have been spread out, as by Agni, Indra, the
Maruts (storm-deities), and other gods. The similitude of a
house leads to the question from what wood it was fashioned,
and the doors of this house of the world are the portals of the
east, through which comes the morning light. Both sky and
earth are often said to be propped up, but the sky is also de-
clared to be rafterless, and the marvel of its being unsupported
is remarked. The earth is made fast with bands by Savitr (a
form of the sun), and Visnu fixed it with pegs. In the last and
latest book of the Rgveda, however, these simple concepts are
replaced by speculations in which mythology passes into phi-
losophy. The most important of these theorizings is that
contained in x. 129, which tells that nothing existed in the be-
ginning, all being void. Darkness and space enveloped the
undifferentiated waters. By heat the first existing thing came
into being, whereupon arose desire, the first seed of mind, to
be the bond of the existent and the non-existent. Thus the gods
had their origin, but at this point the speculation concludes
with an assertion of doubt. The hymn itself runs thus, in Muir's
metrical rendering:

"Then there was neither Aught nor Nought, no air nor sky beyond.

What covered all? Where rested all? In watery gulf profound?

Nor death was then, nor deathlessness, nor change of night and day.

That One breathed calmly, self-sustained; nought else beyond It lay.

Gloom hid in gloom existed first — one sea, eluding view.

That One, a void In chaos wrapt, by inward fervour grew.

Within It first arose desire, the primal germ of mind.

Which nothing with existence links, as sages searching find.

The kindling ray that shot across the dark and drear abyss, —

Was it beneath? or high aloft? What bard can answer this?

There fecundating powers were found, and mighty forces strove, —

A self-supporting mass beneath, and energy above.

Who knows, who ever told, from whence this vast creation rose?

No gods had then been bom, — who then can e'er the truth disclose?

Whence sprang this world, and whether framed by hand divine or

no, —
It's lord in heaven alone can tell, if even he can show."



i8 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

As in this hymn the gods are said to come into being after the
creation of the universe, so in other philosophic hymns they are
brought into existence from the waters, and in one place they
are divided into groups born from Aditi ("Boundless"), the
waters, and the earth. The Adityas in particular are constantly
derived from Aditi. Yet speculation is free and changes easily:
Dawn is the mother of the sun and is born of Night, by reason
of temporal sequence; while for local causes Sky and Earth are
the all-parents. Or the greatest of a class is parent of the rest,
as the storm-god Rudra ("Roarer") of the Rudras, the wind
of the storm-gods, Sarasvati of rivers, and Soma of plants.
A certain mysticism and love of paradox result in a declaration
that Indra produced his parents, Sky and Earth, or that Daksa
(a creator-god) is at once father and son of Aditi. Similar
vagueness prevails regarding men. They must be included in
the general parentage of Sky and Earth, but the priestly family
of the Angirases are sprung directly from Agni, and the sage
Vasistha is the child of Mitra and Varuna by UrvasI, an
Apsaras, or heavenly nymph. Yet they are also descended
from Manu, son of Vivasvant, or from Yama, the brother of
Manu, and his sister Yami, and this pair claim kinship with the
Gandharva (celestial bard) and the water-nymph.

There is too little distinction between gods and men for us
to be surprised that the gods were once mere mortals, or that
there are ancient as well as more recent gods. How they won
immortality is uncertain: Savitr or Agni bestowed it upon
them, or they obtained it by drinking soma, whereas Indra
gained it by his ascetic practices. Yet it seems clear that they
did get it and that when the gods are called unaging, it does
not mean, as in the mythology of the epic, that they endure
only for a cosmic age; for this latter concept is bound up
with the philosophy which sees no progress in the world and
which, therefore, resolves all existence into a perpetual series of
growth and passing away.

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



GODS OF SKY AND AIR 19

have in common as they are presented to us In a poetry which
has gone so far as to recognize an essential unity among the
multiplicity of the divine forms. "The bird — that is, the sun
— which is but one, priest and poets with words make into
many," we are told, and "Priests speak in diverse ways of that
which is but one: they call it Agni, Yama, Matarisvan." Yet
this is not so much monotheism as pantheism, for we learn
that Aditi is everything, gods and men, that which has been
and that which shall be; and that Prajapati ("Lord of Crea-
tures") embraces all things within himself. From this point of
view it is easy to understand the fact ^ that here and there one
god is treated as if he were the highest god, or that one god can
be identified with any of the others, and all the others be said to
be centred in him. There is no real monotheistic strain in a
declaration that "Agni alone, like Varuna, is lord of wealth."
The same syncretism is seen in the constant addressing of
prayers to groups of gods, In the stereotyping of the invocation
of the gods in pairs, and in the reckoning of the gods as thirty-
three, i.e. three sets of eleven each in the sky, the waters of the
air, and the earth.

Normally, and subject to certain exceptions, the gods are
conceived as anthropomorphic; they wear garments, carry
weapons, and drive in cars. Yet their personality is very differ-
ently developed in the several cases: Indra Is much more an-
thropomorphic than Agni, whose tongue and whose limbs merely
denote his flames. The abode of the gods Is In the highest realm
of sky, and the offerings of men are either carried thither to them
by Agni or, in a concept which is perhaps older, they are deemed
to come to the straw on which the pious worshipper has set out
his gifts. The food which they eat Is that of man — milk, bar-
ley, butter, cattle, sheep, and goats — chosen now and then for
special fitness, as when Indra, often called a bull, receives heca-
tombs of bulls. The drink of the gods is the soma.

Of feuds among the gods we hear little or nothing: Indra
alone reveals traits of disorderliness, perhaps not unnatural In



20 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

one who boasts of having drunk himself into intoxication with
soma. He seems once to have fought with all the gods, to have
shattered the car of Dawn, and even to have slain his father;
and he actually quarrelled with his faithful henchmen, the
Maruts. To their worshippers the gods are good and kind, and
for them they slay the demons, with whom they wage a war
which is triumphant if seemingly incessant. They richly bless
the sacrificer and punish the niggard. They are true and not
deceitful, although Indra again departs from the highest stand-
ard by his use of wiles, even without a good end to justify
the means. Moral grandeur is practically confined to Varuna,
and the greatness and the might of the gods are extolled far
more often than their goodness. Their power over men is un-
limited: none may defy their ordinances or live beyond the
period allotted by them, nor is there aught that can subdue
them, save in so far as they are said sometimes not to be able to
transgress the moral order of Mitra and Varuna.

The pantheon which the J^gveda presents is essentially arti-
ficial, for as regards by far the greater part of the collection it
contains hymns used in the Soma ritual, whence it gives only
an imperfect conception of the gods as a whole. Thus, except-
ing in the tenth book, which contains a short group of hymns
(14-18) constituting a sort of collection for Yama (the prime-
val man and the king of the departed), we learn nothing of
the dead and very little of the spirits. Moreover, It is only in
quite Inadequate measure that we meet with the more domestic
side of religion or with the belief in magic and witchcraft in
their application to the needs of ordinary life. We cannot,
therefore, feel any assurance that the comparative importance
of the gods as they might be judged from their prominence in
the Rgveda affords any real criterion of their actual position in
the life of any Vedic tribe, though doubtless it does reflect
their rank in the views of the group of priestly families whose
traditions, united in a whole, are presented to us in the Rgveda.
From the text Itself it would seem that Indra, Agnl, and Soma



GODS OF SKY AND AIR 21

are by far the greatest gods; then come the Asvins (the twin
celestial "Horsemen"), the Maruts, and Varuna; then Usas
("Dawn"), Savitr, Brhaspati, Surya, Pusan ("Nourisher");
then Vayu, Dyavaprthivl, Visnu, and Rudra; and finally Yama
and Parjanya (the rain-god). Even this list, based on numeri-
cal considerations, is open to objection, for some of the deities,
such as Varuna, are obviously greater, though less closely con-
nected with the sacrifice, so that, despite their true rank, they
are less often mentioned than others, such as the Asvins, who
are more frequently invoked in the sacrifice.

Of the gods of the sky Dyaus ("Sky") corresponds In name
to Zeus, and like Zeus he is a father. Indeed, this is by far the
most important characteristic of Zeus's counterpart in the
Rgveda. Usas ("Dawn") is most often the child mentioned,
but the Asvins, Agnl, Parjanya, Surya, the Adltyas,the Maruts,
Indra, and the Angirases are among his ofi'spring, and he Is the
parent of Agni. Normally, however, he is mentioned with Earth
in the compound Dyavaprthivl, and on the solitary occasion
when he Is hailed In the vocative as Dyaus pitar ("Father Sky,"
the exact equivalent of the Greek ZeO irdrep and the Latin
luppiter), "Mother Earth" Is simultaneously addressed.
Scarcely any other characteristic is ascribed to him; it Is simply
stated that he is a bull who bellows downward, or a black steed
decked with pearls (I.e. the dark sky set with stars), that he
smiles through the clouds, and that he bears the thunderbolt.
Thus he Is hardly anthropomorphized at all, whether named
alone, or when conjoined with earth, and his worship is little
removed from the direct adoration of the sky as a living being.
No moral attribute belongs to him, nor is there any trace of
sovereignty over the world or the other gods. The position of
power and elevation which Greek mythology ascribes to Zeus
is not accorded in full to any Vedic deity, but in so far as Zeus
has a parallel, It Is in Varuna, not In Dyaus.

In comparison with Dyaus Varuna has far more anthropo-
morphic traits. He wears a golden mantle and a shining robe;



22 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

with Mitra ("Sun") he mounts his shining car; in the highest
heaven they abide in a golden mansion, with a thousand pillars
and a thousand doors; and the all-seeing Sun, rising from his
abode, goes to the dwellings of Mitra and Varuna to tell of the
deeds of men; the eye of Mitra and Varuna is the sun, and
Varuna has a thousand eyes. Both gods have fair hands, and
Varuna treads down wiles with shining foot. Yet no myths are
told of him, and the deeds ascribed to him are all intended to
show his power as a ruler. He is lord of all, both gods and men —
not only an independent ruler, a term more often given to Indra,
but a universal ruler, an epithet used also of Indra, though
peculiarly Varuna's. Moreover, the terms Ksatriya ("Ruler")
and Asura ("Deity") are his, the first almost exclusively, and
the second predominantly. As Asura he possesses, in company
with Mitra, the mdyd, or occult power, wherewith they send
the dawns, make the sun to cross the sky, obscure it with cloud
and rain, or cause the heavens to rain. The worlds are sup-
ported by Varuna and Mitra; Varuna made the golden swing
(the sun) to shine in the heaven and placed fire in the waters;
the wind is his breath. He establishes the morning and the
evening; through him the moon moves and the stars shine at
night; he regulates the months of the year. He is only rarely
connected with the sea, for the Rgveda knows little of the ocean,
but his occult power keeps the ever-flowing rivers from filling
it up. Despite this, Varuna and Mitra are greatly concerned
with the waters of the atmosphere and make the rain to fall;
they have kine yielding refreshment and streams flowing with
honey.

So great is Varuna that neither the flying birds nor the flow-
ing rivers can reach the limit of his dominion, his might, and his
wrath. The three heavens and the three earths alike are depos-
ited in him; he knows the flight of the birds in the sky, the path
of the ships, the track of the wind, and all secret things. The
omniscience and omnipotence, no less than the omnipresence,
of Varuna receive admirable expression in a hymn which, by



PLATE II

Idol Car

In the worship of many deities an important occa-
sion is their ceremonial visit to other divinities, and
for this purpose elaborate vehicles are requisite for
their conveyance. This car, whose wheels are of
stone, has been chosen to illustrate the intricacy
of Indian carving in wood. After Architecture of
Dharwar and Mysore^ Photograph L.



THE NEW YORK

PUBLIC LlBKAKr



A«roB, LBNOX AND

HLDlia* FOUNDAnONS
* L



GODS OF SKY AND AIR 23

accident, is preserved only as degraded into a spell in the
Atharvaveda (iv. 16), and thus rendered by Muir:^

"The mighty Lord on high, our deeds, as if at hand, espies:

The gods know all men do, though men would fain their deeds disguise.

Whoever stands, whoever moves, or steals from place to place,

Or hides him in his secret cell, — the gods his movements trace.

Wherever two together plot, and deem they are alone,

King Varuna is there, a third, and all their schemes are known.

This earth is his, to him belong those vast and boundless skies;

Both seas within him rest, and yet in that small pool he lies.

Whoever far beyond the sky should think his way to wing,

He could not there elude the grasp of Varuna the king.

His spies descending from the skies glide all this world around,

Their thousand eyes all-scanning sweep to earth's remotest bound.

Whate'er exists in heaven and earth, whate'er beyond the skies,

Before the eyes of Varuna, the king, unfolded lies.

The ceaseless winkings all he counts of every mortal's eyes:

He wields this universal frame, as gamester throws his dice.

Those knotted nooses which thou fling'st, o god, the bad to snare, —

All liars let them overtake, but all the truthful spare."

[Prometheus]

With Mitra Varuna is a barrier against falsehood, and in one
passage he, together with Indra, is said to bind with bonds not
made of rope. Mitra and Varuna hate, drive away, and punish
falsehood, and they also afflict with disease those who neglect
their worship. On the other hand, Varuna is gracious to the
repentant sinner; like a rope he unties the sin committed and
pardons the faults of the forefathers not less than those of the
children. He is gracious to those who thoughtlessly break his
ordinances. No hymn addressed to him fails to include a prayer
for forgiveness. He can take away or prolong life by his thou-
sand remedies; he is a guardian of immortality, and in the
next world the righteous may hope to see Yama and Varuna.
He is a friend to his worshipper and gazes on him with his
mental eye.

Mention is often made of the ordinances of Varuna, which
even the immortal gods cannot obstruct. Both he and Mitra
are called "Lords of Rta," or "Holy Order," and "Upholders
of l^ta," an epithet which they share with the Adityas or with



24 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

the gods in general. They are also termed "Guardians of Holy
Order," a term used likewise of Agni and Soma, and "Follow-
ers of Holy Order," an epithet given predominantly to Agni.
This "Order" must, therefore, be regarded as something
higher even than Varuna, and it is clearly the Asha of the
Avesta. Its first aspect is cosmic order: the dawns shine in
accordance with B-ta and rise from Ilta's abode; the sun, with
the twelve spokes of his wheel (the months), moves in accord
with 51-ta; it is Rta that gives the white cooked milk to the
red raw cow. The sacrifice is under the guardianship of !Rta;
Agni is the observer of it and is its first-born. Prayers take
effect in accordance with ^^ta, and the pious sacrificer claims
that, discarding witchcraft, he oifers with Ilta. In the sphere
of man Rta is a moral order and, as truth, it stands in perpetual
opposition to untruth. When Agni strives toward Rta, he is
said to become Varuna himself; when Yama and YamI contend
on the question whether incest may be allowed to the first
pair of mankind, it is to Rta that Yama appeals against his
sister's persuasions. The same features mark I^ta in the
Avesta, and the antiquityof the concept may be very great.^ Un-
like the Greek Moira,^ or Fate, we never find Rta coming into
definite conflict with the will or wish of the gods, and the con-
stant opposition of Anrta ("Disorder") shows that the idea is
rather one of norm or ideal than of controlling and overriding
fate. This may be due to the transfer of ^^ta to the moral from the
physical world, or to the fact that, even as applied to the physical
world, full necessity of cause and eff"ect was not accepted.

It is perfectly clear that Varuna corresponds in character
and in the epithet Asura too closely with Ahura Mazda, the
great deity of the Iranians, to be other than in the nearest rela-
tion to him, nor can there be much real doubt that the physical
basis of the god is the broad sky. Mitra is, indeed, so faint a
figure apart from him that it would be difiicult to be certain
that he is the sun, were it not for the undoubted solar nature
of the Persian Mithra.^ Yet if Mitra is the sun, the sky is nat-



GODS OF SKY AND AIR 25

urally the greater deity, and this not only well accounts for the
connexion of Varuna with the waters, which, from the Athar-
vaveda onward, becomes his chief characteristic, but also ac-
cords with the attributes of a universal monarch. Nor is there
anything in the name of the god to render this view doubtful.
It seems to be derived from the root &r, "to cover," and to de-
note the covering sky, and many scholars have maintained that
the name of the Greek deity Ouranos^ can be identified with it.

The antiquity of MItra and Varuna has been carried back to
about 1400 B.C., when their names occur on an Inscription
as gods of the Mitanni in northern Mesopotamia, but whether
they were then Aryan or Iranian or Vedic gods is not clear.^ It
has been suggested, however, that the peculiar character of
Varuna is due, like the character of Ahura Mazda, to borrow-
ing, during the Indo-Iranian period, from a Semitic people, and
that he and MItra and the other Adityas, seven in all corre-
sponding to the Amesha Spentas of Iran,^ were in origin the
moon, the sun, and the five planets. Yet this view does not
accord well with the physical side of Varuna in the Rgveda^ in
which his connexion with night is only slight; the Indians'
knowledge of the five planets Is very doubtful; and the Amesha
Spentas seem purely abstract and Avestan deities. Nor is it
necessary to see in Varuna's spies the stars, or in his bonds the
fetters of night; both are the necessary paraphernalia of an
Indian king, and, when thought of concretely, his fetter seems
to be disease, in special perhaps dropsy.

Indra occurs in the same record of the MItannian gods, and
this shows that even then he must have been a great god. In
the Rgveda there can be no comparison between Varuna
and Indra in moral grandeur, but the latter is far more often
mentioned and is clearly by all odds the more popular god. In-
deed, in one hymn (iv. 42) the claims of the two divinities seem
to be placed before us In their own mouths, Varuna as the
creator and sustainer of the world, and Indra as the irresistible
deity of battle; and the poet seems inclined to recognize the



26 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

pre-eminence of Indra. Yet there is no real evidence, save per-
haps a certain diminution of mention in the tenth book of the
J^gveda, that the worship of Varuna was on the decline in this
period, and the real source of the loss of his greatness is to be
traced to the growth of the conception of the creator god,
Prajapati or Visvakarman, at the end of the period of the
Rgveda and in the following epoch. Driven thus from his high
functions, Varuna became connected with the night and the
waters.

Mitra has but one hymn addressed to him alone (iii. 59), and
in it he is said to bring men together when he utters speech and
to gaze on the tillers with unwinking eye. The characteristics
of assembling men and regulating the course of the sun confirm
the view that, as suggested by the Persian evidence, he is a
solar god. The name is used repeatedly to denote "friend," but
it is not proved that the god is derived from that application of
the term.

Mitra's indefinite character and lack of personality may be
due in part to the co-existence of his rival Surya as the sun-god
par excellence. Siirya is constantly the actual solar element and
is conceived in many forms, as a bird, a flying eagle, a mottled
bull, the gem of the sky, the variegated stone set in the heaven.
He is also the weapon of Mitra and Varuna, or the felloe of their
car, or the car itself. He shines forth in the lap of the dawns
and is the son of Aditi, and his father is Dyaus, even though
many other gods are said to produce the sun. He triumphs
over the darkness and the witches, drives away sickness and
evil dreams, and prolongs life. His evil power as burning heat
is not known to the Rgveda, unless it be hinted at in the myth
that Indra overcame him and stole his wheel, which may point
to the obscuration of the sun by the storm, here possibly re-
garded as tempering its excessive heat, though it is equally
susceptible of the opposite interpretation. In another aspect
Surya is Savitr, the "Impeller" or "Instigator," the golden-
handed, the golden-tongued, with chariot of gold. He it is who



PLATE III

SURYA

As the text-books enjoin, the Sun-God is "clad in
the dress of the Northerners [i.e. Persians], so as to
be covered from the feet upward to the bosom. He
holds two lotuses growing out of his hands, wears
a diadem and a necklace hanging down, has his face
adorned with ear-rings, and a girdle round his waist."
His figure thus suggests Iranian influence, especially
as the sacred girdle was worn by the Magas, who
traced their descent to the Magians of Persia. While
the sun-cult was known in India in the Vedic period,
it received new life from Iran. From a sculpture
at Modhera, Gujarat. After Burgess and Cousens,
The Architectural Antiquities of Northern Gujarat^
Plate LVI, No. 5. See also pp. 138-39, 183-84.






^.fv-^^



,SM^



^0^. ^c^
^o^^






GODS OF SKY AND AIR 27

wins immortality for the gods, length of life for man, and raises
the !^bhus (the divine artificers) to immortality. In the usual
exaggeration of the poet it is declared that Indra, Mitra,
Varuna, Aryaman, and Rudra cannot resist the will and inde-
pendent rule of Surya. He is closely connected with Pusan and
Bhaga, and one verse (III. Ixli. 10),

"May we attain that excellent glory of Savitr the god:
So may he stimulate our prayers," ^

has become the most famous in Vedic literature and is used to
preface all Vedic study. Once he is called Prajapati, "Lord
of Offspring," or of the world; yet it seems undoubted that
he is not a mere abstract god in origin, but the active power
of the sun elevated into a separate deity.

Pusan, the "Nourisher," is also, it would seem, allied in
origin to Savitr. His personality is indistinct: he wears braided
hair (like Rudra) and a beard; and in addition to a spear he
carries an awl or a goad. His car is not drawn by horses, as one
would expect, but by goats; and his food is gruel. His connex-
ion with pastoral life is shown by his epithets. He loses no
cattle, but directs them; he saves and smooths the clothing of
sheep; and he is also the deliverer, the guardian of the way,
who removes the wolf and the robber from the path. Accord-
ingly it is he who conducts the dead to the fathers, just as Agni
and Savitr take them to where the righteous have gone; and he
fares along the path of heaven and earth between the two
abodes. Like Siirya and Agni he woos his mother and his sis-
ter, and receives from the gods the sun-maiden in marriage,
whence in the wedding-rite he is asked to take the hand of the
bride and lead her away and bless her. He is often invoked
with Soma and Indra, but most frequently with Bhaga and
Visnu. He is called glowing and once bears the name Agohya
("Not to be Concealed"), which is elsewhere Savitr's epithet.
He is also the "Prosperer" par excellence and may well repre-
sent the sun in its aspect as beneficent to the flocks and herds



28 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

of men, gracious to them in marriage, and the leader of their
souls in death to the world of the sun and heaven. The Avestan
Mithra has the characteristics of increasing cattle and bringing
them back home.

Yet another form of the sun is Vivasvant, the father of Yama
and of Manu, and thus in a sense the forefather of the human
race. He is identical with the Avestan Vivanghvant, the father
of Yima, who first prepared the haoma,^° and in the Rgveda also
he is connected with the sacrifice. His messenger is Agni or
Matarisvan; in his abode the gods rejoice; and Soma, Indra,
and the Asvins are his close companions; yet his nature must
have had a dread trait, for a worshipper prays that the arrow
of Vivasvant may not smite him before old age. He shines out
at the beginning of the dawn as Agni, nor is it improbable that
he is no more than the rising sun. His character as sacrificer,
which is not as prominent in the Rgveda as in the Avesta, can
easily have been a special development, while, if he was no more
in origin than the first of sacrificers like Manu in the Rgveda,
his celestial character becomes difficult to explain.

Much more faint are the figures of Bhaga ("Bountiful"),
Amsa ("Apportioner"), Aryaman ("Comrade"), and Daksa
("Skilful"), who with Mitra and Varuna are hailed in one
hymn (II. xxvii. i) as the Adityas. Aryaman is a faint double
of Mitra, but is the wooer of maidens. Arhsa is practically a
mere name, but is called bountiful. Bhaga is the giver of wealth
whom men desire to share, and Dawn is his sister. In the Avesta
his name is Bagha, an epithet of Ahura Mazda, and it corre-
sponds to the Old Church Slavonic word hogil, "god." Dak§a
is born of Aditi, although he is also her father. His existence
is probably due to the fact that the Adityas are called "having
intelligence" for their father, thus giving rise to the concep-
tion that Daksa is a person.

The Adityas, however, are a group of uncertain number and
sense. Once only in the Rgveda are they said to be seven, and
once eight, the eighth being Martanda, the setting sun, whom



GODS OF SKY AND AIR 29

Aditi throws away and then brings back to the gods. Mitra,
Varuna, and Indra are called Adityas, and the same name is
given to Savitr and to Siarya. Sometimes the Adityas form a
group in conjunction with other gods like the Maruts, Rudras,
Vasus, and Rbhus, or again they seem occasionally to include
all the gods. From Varuna they appear to have derived the
moral duties of punishing sin and rewarding the good; they
spread fetters for their enemies, but protect their worshippers
as birds spread their wings over their young. They are bright,
golden, many-eyed, unwinking, and sleepless, kings with in-
violable ordinances, pure, and overseers of Holy Order.

In comparison with his future greatness Visnu appears of
slight importance in the Rgveda, in which only five hymns and
part of a sixth are given to him. His great feat is his triple
stride, the third of which places him beyond the ken of man or
the flight of birds. Yet it is also described as an eye fixed in
heaven, where there is a well of honey, where Indra dwells, and
where are the many cows desired of the worshipper. In his strid-
ing Visnu moves swiftly but also according to law; he is an
ordainer who, like Savitr, metes out the earthly spaces; or,
again, he sets in motion, like a revolving wheel, his ninety steeds
with their four names, who can be nothing else than the year.
These traits reveal him beyond doubt as a sun-god, whether
his name be explained as "the Active," from the root vis, or as
"One Who Crosses the Backs of the Universe."" His three
strides were interpreted by Aurnavabha, one of the earliest
expounders of Vedic mythology, as the rising, culminating, and
setting of the sun, but Sakapuni, another exegete, already gave
the far more probable version of earth, atmosphere, and sky.

The steps taken by Vi§nu are for man in distress, or to be-
stow on him the earth as a dwelling-place, or to make room for
existence, and in this conception lies, no doubt, the germ of the
dwarf incarnation of Visnu. His closeness to man is also attested
by his connexion with Indra and the Maruts. Urged by Indra,
Visnu, having drunk of the soma, carried off one hundred buffa-



30 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

loes and a brew of milk belonging to the boar (i.e. Vrtra), while
Indra, shooting across the cloud-mountain, slew the fierce boar.
In the period of the Brdhmanas Visnu is conceived as assuming
the form of a boar, and the way for such transformations is
paved by the view of the Rgveda (VII. c. 6) that in battle Visnu
assumes a different shape and has to be asked to reveal his own
form to the worshipper. Though, therefore, not yet in Vedic
circles one of the great gods, his relation to man, his close con-
nexion with the three worlds, and his power of change of form
are traits which explain that in other circles he may have been
a much greater deity.

Among the gods listed in the Mitanni inscription we find the
Nasatyas, thus confirming the early existence of the divine
pair who in the Avesta have degenerated into a demon, Naong-
haithya. Their normal name in the Rgveda is the Asvins
("Horsemen"), though they are also called "the Wonder-
Workers" (Dasra), and later mythology has invented Dasra
and Nasatya as the names of the pair. They are beautiful,
strong, and red and their path is red or golden. They have a
skin filled with honey and touch the sacrifice and the wor-
shipper with their honey-whip. Their chariot alone is described
as honey-hued or honey-bearing, and it also has the peculiarity
of possessing three wheels, three felloes, and all the other parts
triple. The time of the Asvins' appearance is at dawn; they
follow dawn in their car; at the yoking of their car the dawn is
born; but yet, despite this, they are invoked to come to the
ofi"ering not only at the morning but also at noon and at sunset.
Their parentage is not definitely decided: they are children of
Sky or of Ocean, or of Vivasvant and Saranyu, or of Piisan; and
though normally inseparable like the eyes or the hands, never-
theless they are once or twice said to be variously born or born
here and there. They are wedded to a deity described as Surya,
the sun-maiden, or the daughter of the Sun, and it is for her
perhaps that their car has three seats and three wheels. In the
marriage-rite they are accordingly invoked to conduct the bride



GODS OF SKY AND AIR 31

home on their chariot, and they are also asked to make the
young wife fertile, while among their feats is to give a child to
the wife of a eunuch, to cause the barren cow to yield milk, and
to grant a husband to the old maid. Moreover they are physi-
cians who heal diseases, restore sight to the blind, and ward off
death from the sick. The decrepit Cyavana they released from
his worn-out body, prolonged his life, made him young again
and the husband of maidens. By means of their winged ship
they saved Bhujyu, son of Tugra, from the log to which he was
clinging in the midst of the ocean. They rescued and refreshed
Atri, whom demons had bound in a burning pit. At the prayer
of the she- wolf they restored his sight to Rjrasva, whom his
father had blinded for slaying a hundred and one sheep and
giving them to the wolf. They gave a leg of iron to Vispala
when her leg was cut off in battle. They placed a horse's head
on Dadhyanc, who told them in reward where the mead of
Tvastr was; and they rescued Rebha from death, befriended
Ghosa, who was growing old childless in her father's house,
gave Visnapu back to Visvaka, and saved the quail from the
wolf's jaws. Many other names oi proteges are mentioned, and
the deeds recited may have been historical in some cases, while
mythical traits doubtless exist in others.

The Indian interpreters of the early period were at a loss to
decide the nature of the Asvlns, whom they regarded as heaven
and earth, sun and moon, day and night, or even as two kings
who were performers of holy acts. It Is clear that in essence they
are one with the Dloskourol^^ and with the two sons of the Lettic
god who came riding on steeds to woo for themselves the
daughter of the Sun or the Moon and who, like the DIoskouroI,
are rescuers from the ocean. The older identification with sun
and moon has been supported, and they have been regarded
merely as succouring giants who have no mythical basis, but the
more probable view Is either that they represent the twilight
(half dark, half light), or the morning and the evening star. The
latter interpretation offers the grave difficulty of the contrast

[Prometheus]

32 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

between the unity of the Asvins and the diversity of the two
stars, which Is only slenderly diminished by the curious traces
of separate birth and worship in the Rgveda.

There is but one goddess of the celestial world, the maiden
Usas, the most poetical figure in the whole pantheon. Decking
herself In gay attire like a dancer, she displays her bosom, and
like a maiden adorned by her mother she reveals her form.
Clothed in light, she appears in the east and shows her
charms; immortal and unaging, she awakes before the world.
When she shines forth, the birds fly up, and men bestir them-
selves; she removes the black mantle of night and banishes
evil dreams and the hated darkness. She follows ever the path
of Order, though once she is asked not to delay lest the sun
scorch her as a thief or an enemy. She is borne on a car with
ruddy steeds or kine, and the distance which the dawns trav-
erse in a day is thirty yojanas (leagues). She is the wife or the
mistress of the Sun who follows her, but sometimes is also his
mother; she is the sister of Bhaga, the kinswoman of Varuna,
and the mightier sister of Night. She is likewise closely associ-
ated with Agni, as the fire of the sacrifice which is Ht at dawn,
and with the Asvins, whom she is besought to arouse. Her
name denotes "the Shining" and is in origin one with Aurora
and Eos.^^

Of the gods of the atmosphere by far the greatest is Indra,
whose name occurs among the list of MItannian gods. He Is
more anthropomorphic than any other Vedic deity. His head,
his arms, and his hands are mentioned, as is his great belly in
which he puts the soma; he moves his jaws after drinking
soma, and his lips are beautiful. His beard waves in the air,
he has tawny hair and beard. His long, strong, well-shaped
arms wield the thunderbolt, which was fashioned for him by
Tvastr or Usanas. This Is his chief weapon, and it is described
as a stone, as hundred-jointed and thousand-pointed, hundred-
angled, sharp, and metallic; rarely it is said to be of gold.
Occasionally he bears a bow and arrows, hundred-pointed and



GODS OF SKY AND AIR 33

winged with a thousand feathers, and sometimes he carries a
goad. He travels in a golden chariot drawn by two or more
horses, as many as eleven hundred being mentioned. He is a
gigantic eater and drinker; at his birth he drank soma and for
the slaying of Vrtra he drank three lakes or even thirty. He
eats the flesh of twenty or a hundred buffaloes, and when he
was born the worlds quaked with fear. His mother is described,
as a cow and he as a bull; she is also called Nistigri, and he
willed to be born unnaturally through her side. His father is
Dyaus or Tvastr; from the latter he stole the soma and even
slew him and made his mother a widow; more than this he
fought against the gods, perhaps for the soma. His wife In-
dranl is mentioned, and he is often called Sacipati, or "Lord of
Strength," whence later mythology coined a wife SacI for him.
He is closely connected with the Maruts and with Agni, and is
actually identified with Surya.

The might and power of Indra are described everywhere in
terms of hyperbole. He is the greatest of the gods, greater even
than Varuna, lord of all that moves and of men, who won in
battle wide space for the gods. Occasionally he bears Varuna's
title of universal ruler, but more often he has his own of inde-
pendent ruler. The epithet "of a hundred powers" is almost his
alone, and his also is that of "very lord." The deed which wins
him his high place is the feat, ever renewed, of slaying the
dragon which encompasses the waters. He smites him on the
head or on the back, he pierces his vitals. After slaying Vrtra
he lets loose the streams; he shatters the mountains, breaks
open the well, and sets the waters free; he kills the dragon
lying on the waters and releases the waters. He cleaves the
mountain to liberate the cows; he loosens the rock and makes
the kine easy to obtain; he frees the cows which were fast within
the stone; he slays Vrtra, breaks the castles, makes a channel
for the rivers, pierces the mountain, and makes it over to his
friends the cows. Again, however, he wins the light by his deed;
he gains the sun as well as the waters by freeing the demons;



34 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

when he slew the chief of the dragons and released the waters
from the mountain, he generated the sun, the sky, and the
dawn; he finds the light in the darkness and makes the sun to
shine. He also wins the dawns; with the sun and the dawn he
discovers or delivers or wins the cows; the dawns again go
forth to meet Indra when he becomes the lord of the kine.
Moreover he gains the soma and he establishes the quaking
mountains, a feat which the Brdhmanas explain as denoting
that he cut off their wings. He supports the earth and props up
the sky, and is the generator of heaven and earth.

Indra, however, does not war with demons only, for he at-
tacked Usas, shattered her wain with his bolt, and rent her
slow steeds, whereupon she fled in terror from him, this being,
perhaps, a myth of the dawn obscured by a thunder-storm or
of the sunrise hastening the departure of the lingering dawn.
Indra also came into conflict with the sun when he was running
a race with the swift steed Etasa, and in some unexplained way
Indra caused the car of the sun to lose a wheel. He also seems
to have murdered his father Tvastr, and, though the Maruts
aid him in his struggle with Vrtra, in a series of hymns we
find a distinct trace that he quarrelled with them, used
threatening language to them, and was appeased only with
difficulty.

Other foes of Indra's were the Panis, who kept cows hidden
in a cave beyond the Rasa, a mythical stream. Sarama, Indra's
messenger, tracks the kine and demands them In Indra's name,
only to be mocked by the Panis, but Indra shatters the ridge of
Vala and overcomes his antagonists. Elsewhere the cows are
said to be confined by the power of Vala without reference to
the Panis and are won by Indra, often with the help of the
Angirases. Vala ("Encircler") is clearly the name of the
stronghold in which the cows are confined.

As becomes so great a warrior, Indra is a worthy helper to
men on earth. He is the chief aid of the Aryans in their
struggles against the Dasas or Dasyus, and subjects the black



PLATE IV

Indra

The deity appears crowned as king of the gods
and enthroned on his vahana (" vehicle "), the
elephant Airavata. The middle one of his left hands
holds the thunderbolt. He is further characterized
by the multitude of marks on his body, which origi-
nally represented the yoni (possibly because of the
fertility which the rain brings to earth), though later
they were changed into eyes. The heavy beard shows
the Persian influence in the painting. From an oil-
painting of the Indo-Mughal school in the collection
of the Editor. See pp. 32-35.



GODS OF SKY AND AIR 35

race to the Aryan; he leads Turvasa and Yadu over the rivers,
apparently as patron of an Aryan migration. Moreover he as-
sists his favourites against every foe; and his friend Sudas is
aided in his battle with the ten kings, his foes being drowned
in the Parusni. To his worshippers he is a wall of defence, a
father, mother, or brother. He bestows wealth on the pious
man, and, as with a hook a man showers fruit from a tree, so he
can shower wealth on the righteous. He is the lord of riches
and at the same time is "the Bountiful One," whence in later
literature the epithet Maghavan becomes one of his names.
He richly rewarded a maiden who, having found soma beside a
river, pressed it with her teeth and dedicated it to him. Yet he
has few moral traits in his character and is represented as
boasting of his drinking feats. Indeed it is most significant that
we have proof, even in the Vedic period, of men doubting his
existence.

It is almost certain that In Indra we must see a storm-god,
and that his exploit of defeating Vftra Is a picture of the burst-
ing forth of the rain from the clouds at the oncoming of the
rainy season, when all the earth Is parched, and when man and
nature alike are eager for the breaking of the drought. The
tremendous storms which mark the first fall of the rain are
generally recognized as a most fitting source for the conception
of the god, while the mountains cleft and the cows won are the
clouds viewed from different standpoints. But Indra appears
also as winning the sun, a trait representing the clearing away
of the clouds from the sun after the thunder-storm, with which
has been confused or united the idea of the recovery of the sun
at dawn from the darkness of night. That some of the terminol-
ogy reflects an earlier view that Vrtra is the winter ^'^ which
freezes the stream, and that Indra Is the sun, is not proved, nor
need we hold that the poets of the Rgveda really meant only
that the god freed the rivers from the mountains and did not
realize that the mountains were clouds, as even the commen-
tators on the Rgveda knew.



36 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

In the ^gveda we find a close parallel of Indra, though in a
faded form, in Trita Aptya. He slays the three-headed son of
Tvastr as does Indra; Indra impels him and he Indra, who is
twice said to act for him. He is associated with the Manits, but
especially with soma, which he prepares; and this last feature
associates him with Thrita in the Avesta, who was the "third
man," as his name denotes, to prepare soma, the second being
Athwya. His slaying of the demon identifies him with the
Thraetaona of the Avesta, who kills the three-headed, six-
mouthed serpent, and he has a brother Dvita, " Second," while
Thraetaona has two, who seek to slay him as in the Brdhmanas
his brothers seek to murder Trita. ^^ The parallelism points
strongly to his identification with the lightning which is born
among the waters, as his second name, Aptya ("Watery"),
indicates; but he has been held to be a water-god, a storm-
god, a deified healer, and the moon. In all likelihood much of
his glory has been taken from him by the growth of Indra's
greatness.

The lightning seems also to lie at the base of the deity Apaih
Napat, who likewise appears in the Avesta, ^^ where he is a spirit
of the waters, dwelling in their depths and said to have seized
the brightness in the abysses of the ocean. He is also " Son of
the Waters," born and nourished in them, but he shines and is
golden, and is identified with Agni, who is often described as
abiding in the waters of the air. The identification with a water-
spirit pure and simple is, therefore, improbable, nor has he any
clear lunar characteristics. Yet another form of the lightning
is Mararisvan ("He that Grows in his Mother"), the thunder-
cloud. He is the messenger of Vivasvant and he brings Agni
down to men, as the Prometheus of India; by friction he pro-
duces Agni for the homes of men. The lightning may likewise
be represented by the "One-Footed Goat" (Aja Ekapad),
which is occasionally mentioned among aerial deities, the goat
symbolizing the swift movement of the flash and the single foot
the one place of striking the earth, although this obscure god



GODS OF SKY AND AIR 37

may also be a solar phenomenon. With Aparh Napat and Aja
Ekapad occurs the "Serpent of the Deep" (Ahi Budhnya), who
is born in the waters and sits in the bottom of the streams in the
spaces, and who is besought not to give his worshippers over to
injury. Such an invocation suggests that there is something
uncanny about the nature of the god, and his name allies him
to Vrtra, whose beneficent aspect he may represent, the dragon
in this case being conceived as friendly to man.

The other great aspect of the air, the wind, is represented by
Vata or Vayu, the former being more markedly elemental, the
latter more divine. So Vayu is often linked with Indra, being,
like him, a great drinker of soma, but Vata is associated only
with Parjanya, who is, like himself, a god of little but nature.
Vayu, the son-in-law of Tvastr, is swift of thought and thousand-
eyed; he has a team of ninety-nine or even a thousand horses
to draw his car; he drinks the clear soma and Is connected with
the nectar-yielding cow. Vata rushes on whirling up the dust;
he never rests; the place of his birth is unknown; man hears
his roaring, but cannot see his form. He is the breath of the
gods; Hke Rudra, he wafts healing and he can produce the
light. The identification with the Eddie Wodan or Odhin is
still unsubstantiated.

Parjanya personifies the cloud, flying round with a watery car
and drawing the waterskin downward. He Is often viewed as a
bull or even as a cow, the clouds being feminine. He quickens
the earth with seed, and the winds blow forth and the lightnings
fall; he Is a thunderer and a giver of Increase to plants, to grass,
to cows, mares, and women. He is even called the divine father
whose wife is the earth, and he Is said to rule over all the world;
he produces a calf himself, perhaps the lightning or the soma. He
is sometimes associated with the Maruts and is clearly akin to
Indra, of whom he later becomes a form. It is doubtful If the
Lithuanian thunder-god Perkunas can be identified with him.

The waters are also hailed as goddesses on their own account
and they are conceived as mothers, young wives, and granters of



38 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

boons. They nourish Agni and they bear away defilement and
purify; they bestow remedies and grant long life. They are
often associated with honey, and it may be that they were
sometimes regarded as having the soma within them.

Though Rudra, the prototype of Siva, is celebrated in only
three hymns of the Rgveda, he already bears remarkable traits.
He wears braided hair, hke Pusan; his lips are beautiful, and
his colour is brown. His car dazzles, and he wears a wonderful
necklace. He holds the thunderbolt and bears bow and arrows;
and his lightning-shaft shot from the sky traverses the earth.
He generated the Maruts from Prsni, and himself bears the
name Tryambaka (VII. lix. 12), denoting his descent from
three mothers, presumably a reference to the triple division of
the universe. He is fierce and strong, a ruler of the world, the
great Asura of heaven, bountiful, easily invoked and auspi-
cious, but this latter epithet, Siva,^^ is not yet attached to him
as his own.

None the less, Rudra is a very terrible deity and one whose
anger is to be deprecated, whence he is implored not to slay or
injure in his wrath the worshippers, their parents, men, children,
cattle, or horses. His ill will is deprecated, and his favour is
sought for the walking food, and he is even called man-slaying.
On the other hand, he has healing powers and a thousand reme-
dies; he is asked to remove sickness and disease; and he has a
special remedy called jaldsa, which may be the rain. This side
of his nature is as essential as the other and lends plausibility
to the view that he is the lightning, regarded mainly as a de-
stroying and terrible agency, but at the same time as the power
by which there is healing calm after storm and as propitious
in that the lightning spares as well as strikes. Yet his nature
has also been held to be a compound of a god of fire and a god
of wind, his name denoting "the Howler" (from rud, "to cry"),
as the chief of the spirits of the dead who storm along in the
wind, and as a god of forest and mountain whence diseases
speed to men.



GODS OF SKY AND AIR 39

Rudra's sons are the Maruts, the children of Prsni, the
storm-cloud, the heroes or males of heaven, born from the
laughter of lightning. All are equal In age, in abode, in mind,
and their number is thrice seven or thrice sixty. They are asso-
ciated with the goddess IndranI, though their lovely wife is
RodasI, who goes on their car. They are brilliant as fire; they
have spears on their shoulders, anklets on their feet, golden
ornaments on their breasts, fiery lightnings in their hands, and
golden helmets on their heads. Spotted steeds draw their
chariots. They are fierce and terrible, and yet playful like chil-
dren or calves. They are black-backed swans, four-tusked boars,
and resemble lions. As they advance they make the mountains
to tremble, uproot trees, and like wild elephants hew the forest;
they whirl up dust, and all creatures tremble before them.
Their great exploit is the making of rain, which they produce
amid the lightning; and a river on earth is styled Marudvrdha
("Rejoicing in the Maruts"). They are close associates of
Indra, whose might they increased when they sang a hymn;
singing they made the sun to shine and clove the mountain.
Not only do they help Indra to slay Vftra, but now and then
the exploit seems attributed to them alone; yet they failed
him once in the moment of struggle, whence, it seems, a quarrel
arose. When not associated with Indra they exhibit, in less
degree, the malevolent side of their father Rudra. Thus they
are implored to avert the arrow and stone which they hurl;
their wrath, which is like that of the serpent, is deprecated;
and evil is said to come from them; although, again like
Rudra, they have healing remedies which they bring from the
rivers Sindhu, Asikni, the sea, and the mountains.

There can be little doubt that the Maruts are the storm-gods,
the winds in this qualified use. The only other view of impor-
tance is that they are the souls of the dead who go in the storm-
wind,^^ but of this at least the Rgveda has no hint; nor is the
etymology from mr, "to die," enough to serve as a base for the
explanation, since their appellation may equally well come

VI — 4



40 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

from a root mr, "to shine," or "to crush," either of which
meanings would well enough accord with their figure. In later
days they sank from their estate, as we shall see, and became
the celestial counterparts of the Vaisyas, the common folk of
earth as distinguished from the two higher castes of Brahmans
(priests) and Ksatriyas (warriors). Finally they degenerated
into mere wind-godlings, their very name becoming a synonym
for "wind"; and at the present day memory of them has all
but vanished.

[Prometheus]

CHAPTER II
THE RGVEDA

{Continued)
GODS OF EARTH, DEMONS, AND DEAD

AMONG the gods connected with earth the first place be-
longs to Agni, who, after Indra, receives the greatest num-
ber of hymns in the Rgveda, more than two hundred being in
his honour. Unlike Indra, however, anthropomorphism has
scarcely aflFected Agni's personality, which is ever full of the
element from which it is composed. Thus he is described as
butter-haired or as flame-haired, tawny-bearded, and butter-
backed; in one account he is headless and footless, but in an-
other he has three heads and seven rays; he faces in all direc-
tions; he has three tongues and a thousand eyes. He is often
likened to animals, as to a bull for his strength or to a calf as
being born, or to a steed yoked to the pole of the sacrifice; or
again he is winged, an eagle or an aquatic bird in the waters;
and once he is even called a winged serpent. His food is ghee
or oil or wood, but like the other gods he drinks the soma.
Brilliant In appearance, his track is black; driven by the wind,
he shaves the earth as a barber a beard. He roars terribly, and
the birds fly before his devouring sparks; he rises aloft to the
sky and licks even the heaven. He is himself likened to a char-
iot, but he is borne in one and in it he carries the gods to the
sacrifice. He is the child of sky and earth or of Tvastr and the
waters, but VIsnu and Indra begat him, or Indra generated
him between two stones. On earth he is produced in the two
fire-sticks who are figured as his father (the upper) and his
mother (the lower), or as two mothers, or as a mother who can-




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GODS OF EARTH, DEMONS, AND DEAD 43

not suckle. The ten maidens who generate him are the ten
fingers, and as "Son of Strength" his name bears witness to
the force needed to create the flame. As thus produced for the
sacrifice every morning he has the title of youngest, although
as the first sacrificer he is also the oldest. Or, again, he is born
in the trees or the plants or on the navel of earth, the place of
the sacrifice.

But Agni is bom also in the waters of the atmosphere; he is
Aparii Napat ("Child of the Waters"), the bull which grows
in the lap of the waters. Possibly, however, in some cases at
least, the waters in which he is found are those of earth, for he
is mentioned as being in the waters and the plants. He is born
likewise from heaven in the form of lightning; Matarisvan
brought him down, doubtless a reminiscence of conflagrations
caused by the lightning. He is also identified sometimes with
the sun, though the solar luminary is more often conceived as
a separate deity. Thus he has three births — in the sky, in the
waters, and on earth, though the order is also given as sky,
earth, and waters. This is the earliest form of triad in Indian
religion, and probably from it arose the other form of sun,
wind, and fire, for which (though not in the Rgveda) sun, Indra,
and fire is a variant. The three fires in the ritual correspond
with the three divine forms. On the other hand, Agni has two
births when the air and the sky are taken as one; he descends
in rain and is born from the plants, and rises again to the sky,
whence we have the mystic commands that Agni should sacrifice
to himself or bring himself to the sacrifice. Or, again, he can
be said to have many births from the many fires kindled on
earth. Yet the number three reappears in the conception of
the brothers of Agni. Indra is said to be his twin, and from
him Agni borrows the exploit of defeating the Panis. Mysti-
cally Agni is Varuna in the evening, Mitra in the morning,
Savitr as he traverses the air, and Indra as he illumines the
sky in the midst.

Agni is closely connected with the home, of which he is the



44 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

sacred fire. He alone bears the title of Grhapati, or "Lord of
the House"; and he is the guest in each abode as kinsman,
friend, or father, or even as son. Moreover he is the ancestral
god, the god of Bharata, of Divodasa, of Trasadasyu, and of
other heroes. He brings the gods to the sacrifice or takes the
sacrifice to them; and thus he is a messenger, ever busy trav-
elling between the worlds. Beyond all else he is the priest of
the sacrifice, and one legend tells that he wearied of the task,
but consented to continue in it on receiving the due payment for
which he asked. In another aspect he eats the dead, for he
burns the body on the funeral pile, and in this character he is
carefully distinguished from his form as bearer of oblations.
He is, further, not merely a priest, but a seer omniscient, Jata-
vedas ("Who Knows All Generations"). He inspires men and
delivers and protects them. Riches and rain are his gifts, as
are offspring and prosperity; he forgives sin, averts the wrath
of Varuna, and makes men guiltless before Aditi.

To the gods also Agni is a benefactor; he delivered them
from a curse, won them great space in battle, and is even called
"the Slayer of Vrtra." His main feat, however, is the burning
of the Raksases who infest the sacrifice, a sign of the early use
of fire to destroy demons. By magic the lighting of Agni may
even bring about the rising of the sun in the sky.

As Vaisvanara Agni is the " Fire of All Men," and In him has
been seen a tribal fire ^ as opposed to the fire of each house-
holder, though the name is more normally thought to mean
" Fire in All its Aspects." As Tanunapat (" Son of Self") Agni's
spontaneous birth from wood and cloud seems to be referred
to; as Narasaihsa ("Praise of Men") he may be either the per-
sonification of the praise of man, or possibly the flame of the
southern of the three fires, which is particularly connected
with the fathers. Though Agni's name, which may mean
"agile," is not Avestan, the fire-cult is clearly Iranian, and the
Atharvan priests of the Rgveda, who are brought into close rela-
tion with the fire, have their parallel in the Athravans, or fire-



GODS OF EARTH, DEMONS, AND DEAD 45

priests, of Iran. There is also an obvious parallel to the fire of
the Indian householder in the domestic fire in the Roman
household and in Greece.^

Distinct from Agni in personality is the god Brhaspati, who
is described as seven-mouthed and seven-rayed, beautiful-
tongued, sharp-horned, blue-backed, and hundred-winged.
He has a bow the string of which is "Holy Order" (Rta),
wields a golden hatchet, bears an iron axe, and rides in a car
with ruddy steeds. Born from great light in the highest heaven,
with a roar he drives away darkness. He is the father of the
gods, but is created by Tvastr. He is a priest above others,
the domestic priest, or p^irohita, of the gods, and their Brahman
priest; he is "the Lord of Prayer" under the title Brah-
manaspati. He Is closely connected with Agni, with whom he
appears at times to be Identified, has three abodes like him, and
seems twice to be called Narasamsa. Yet he has also appro-
priated the deeds of Indra, for he opens the cow-stall and lets
the waters loose; with his singing host he tore Vala asunder
and drove out the lowing cows; when he rent the defences of
Vala, he revealed the treasures of the kine; being in the cloud,
he shouts after the many cows. He also seeks light in the dark-
ness and finds dawn, light, and Agni, and dispels the darkness.
Hence he is giver of victory in general, a bearer of the bolt, is
Invoked with the Maruts, and bears Indra's special epithet of
"bountiful." Like the other gods he protects his worshippers,
prolongs life, and removes disease. As "Lord of Prayer" he can
scarcely be anything more than a development of one side of
Agni's character, but it is clear that the process must have
been complete before the time of the Rgveda, since there is no
trace of a growth of this deity In that Sarhhita. The alterna-
tive is to lay stress on the Indra side of his nature and to regard
him as a priestly abstraction of Indra, or to find in him an ab-
stract deity, the embodiment of priestly action who has as-
sumed concrete features from the gods Agni and Indra, but
this hypothesis is unlikely.



46 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

Soma, the Avestan Haoma ("the Pressed Juice"), is the deity
of the whole of the ninth book of the Rgveda and of six hymns
elsewhere. The plant, which has not been identified for certain
with any modern species, yielded, when its shoots were pressed,
a juice which after careful straining was offered, pure or with
admixture of milk, etc., to the gods and drunk by the priests.
The colour was brown or ruddy, and frequent mention is made
of the stones by which it was pounded, though it seems also
to have been produced by mortar and pestle, as among the
Parsis. As passing through the filter or strainer, soma is called
pavamana ("flowing clear"). Besides milk, sour milk and
barley water were commonly added, and hence Soma is lord
of the waters, who makes the rain to stream from heaven. The
waters are his sisters, and he is the embryo or child of the
waters. The sound of the juice as it flows is likened to thunder,
its swiftness to that of a steed.

The exhilarating power of the soma doubtless explains his
divinity. It is a plant which confers powers beyond the natural,
and thus soma is the draught of immortality {amrta), the am-
brosia. The gods love it; it gives them immortality no less
than men, and one hymn depicts the ecstasy of feeling produced
in Indra by the drink, which makes him feel able to dispose of
the earth at his pleasure. Soma is also rich in healing and lord
of the plants. When quaifed, he stimulates speech and is the
lord of speech. He is a maker of seers, a protector of prayer,
and his wisdom is extolled. He gazes with wisdom on men and
so has a thousand eyes. The fathers, no less than men and
gods, love him, and through him they found the light and the
cows. The great deeds of the gods owe their success to their
drinking the soma, with three lakes of which Indra fills him-
self for the slaying of Vrtra. When drunk by Indra, Soma made
the sun to rise in the sky, and hence Soma is declared to per-
form the feat; he found the light and made the sun to shine.
So, too, he supports the two worlds and is lord of the quarters.
Like Indra he is a terrible warrior, ever victorious, winning for



GODS OF EARTH, DEMONS, AND DEAD 47

his worshippers chariots, horses, gold, heaven, water, and a
thousand boons. He bears terrible, sharp weapons, including
a thousand-pointed shaft. Again like Indra he is described as
a bull, and the waters are the cows, which he fertilizes. He
rides in Indra's car, and the Maruts are his friends; the winds
gladden him, and Vayu is his guardian.

The abode of Soma is in the mountains, of which Mujavant
is specially mentioned, nor need we doubt that the mountains
are primarily of earth. But Soma is also celestial, and his birth
is in heaven. He Is the child of the sky or of the sun or of Par-
janya. He is the lord, the bird of heaven, he stands above all
worlds like the god Surya; the drops, when purified in the
strainer (mystically the heaven), pour from the air upon the
earth. The myth of his descent from the sky is variously told :
the swift eagle brought the soma for Indra through the air
with his foot; flying swift as thought, he broke through the
iron castles, and going to heaven, he bore the soma down for
Indra. Yet the eagle did not perform his feat unscathed, for
as he fled with the soma, the archer Krsanu shot at him and
knocked out a feather. The myth seems to denote that the
lightning in the form of the eagle burst through the castle of
the storm-cloud and brought down the water of the cloud,
conceived as the ambrosia,^ while at the same time fire came
to earth.

Soma is also the king of rivers, the king of the whole earth,
the king or father of the gods, and the king of gods and mortals;
though often called a god, in one passage he is expressly styled
a god pressed for the gods.

As early as the Rgveda there is some trace of that identifica-
tion of the moon with Soma which is fully accomplished in the
Brdhviana period. Thus In the marriage hymn (x. 85) In which
Surya, the sun-maiden, Is said to be wedded to Soma he is
spoken of as in the lap of the naksatras, or lunar mansions, and
it Is stated that no one eats of that soma which is known by
the priest; while the same identification may be at the bottom



48 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

of the expressions used In some of the more mystic hymns.
The process of identification may have been brought about by
the practice of calling the soma celestial and bright, as dis-
pelling the darkness and dwelling in the water, and also by
naming it the drop. This may easily enough have given rise to
the concept that the soma was the drop-like moon, and so
soma In the bowls is actually said to be like the moon In the
waters. It has been held that Soma in the Ilgveda as a deity Is
really the moon, the receptacle of the ambrosia, which Is re-
vealed on earth in the form of the soma that is used in the ritual.
This view, however, runs counter to native tradition, which
still realizes the distinction between Soma and the moon in the
I^gveda, and to the clear language of the texts.

Comparison with the Avesta shows that In Iran also the
plant was crushed and mixed with milk, and that in Iran, as In
India, the celestial soma is distinguished from the terrestrial,
and the drink from the god: it grows on a mountain and Is
brought by an eagle; It gives light, slays demons, and bestows
blessings; but whereas in India the first preparers were two,
Vivasvant and Trita Aptya, in Iran they are three, Vivanghvant,
Athwya, and Thrita.^ Possibly the conception goes back to an
older period, to the nectar in the shape of honey mead brought
down from heaven by an eagle from its guardian demon, this
hypothesis being confirmed by the legend of the nectar brought
by the eagle of Zeus and the mead carried off by the eagle
metamorphosis of Odhin.

In comparison with the celestial waters the terrestrial
rivers play little part In the Rgveda. In one hymn (x. 75) the
Sindhu, or Indus, is celebrated with its tributaries, and an-
other hymn (11. 33) lauds the Vipas, or Beas, and the Sutudrl,
or Sutlej. The Sarasvati, however. Is often praised in terms of
hyperbole as treading with her waves the peaks of the moun-
tains, as sevenfold, best of mothers, of rivers, and of goddesses.
Even a celestial origin is ascribed^ to her, an anticipation of
the later myth of the heavenly birth of the Ganges. With the



GODS OF EARTH, DEMONS, AND DEAD 49

Asvins she gave refreshment to Indra, and she is invoked to-
gether with the Ida (or Ila), or sacrificial food, and Bharati,
who seems to be the Ida of the Bharatas living along her bank.
Sacrifices are mentioned as performed in the SarasvatI and
Drsadvati; and with her is invoked Sarasvant, who seems no
more than a male SarasvatI, or water-genius. The precise iden-
tification of the SarasvatI is uncertain. The name is identical
with the Harahvaiti of the Avesta, which is generally taken to
be the Helmund in Afghanistan, and if the SarasvatI is still
that river in the Rgveda, there must have been Indian settle-
ments in the Vedic period much farther west than is usually
assumed to be the case. On the other hand, the description of
the SarasvatI as of great size with seven streams and as seven-
fold accords better with the great stream of the Indus, and the
word may have been a second name of that river. When, how-
ever, it is mentioned with the Drsadvati, a small stream in the
middle country, it is clear that it is the earlier form of the mod-
ern river still bearing the same name, which at present loses
itself in the sands, but which in former days may well have
been a much more important stream running into the Indus.
It was in the land near these two rivers that the Vedic culture
took its full development, at least in the subsequent period,
and it is not improbable that as early as the Rgveda the stream
was invested with most of its later importance.^

The earth receives such worship as is hers in connexion with
the sky, but only one hymn (v. 84) is devoted to her praise
alone, and even in it reference is made to the rain which her
spouse sends. She bears the burden of the mountains and sup-
ports in the ground the trees of the forest; she is great, firm,
and shining. Her name, Prthivi, means "broad," and a poet
tells that Indra spread her out.

Apart from the obviously concrete gods we find a certain
number who may be described as abstract in that the physical
foundation has either disappeared or has never been present.
The great majority of these gods belong to the former type:



50 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

they represent the development of aspects of more concrete
deities which have come to be detached from their original
owners. Of these the most famous is Savitr, who is the sun,
and yet is a distinct god as the stimulating power of the solar
luminary. Tvastr represents a further stage of detachment
from a physical background. He is essentially the cunning
artificer, who wrought the cup which contains the ambrosia
of the gods, and which the Rbhus later divided into four; he
made the swift steed and the bolt of Indra, and he sharpens the
iron axe of Brahmanaspati. He shapes all forms and makes
the husband and wife for each other in the womb; and he also
creates the human race indirectly, for Yama and Yami, the
primeval twins, are children of his daughter Saranyu. It seems
even that he is the father of Indra, though the latter stole the
soma from him and even slew him, as afterward he certainly
killed his son, the three-headed Visvariipa. He is also closely
associated with the wives of the gods. Obscure as is his origin,
he presents many features of a solar character, and with this
would accord well enough the view that his cup is the moon,
where the ambrosia is to be found.

Much feebler personalities are those of Dhatr ("Estab-
lisher"), an epithet of Indra or Visvakarman, of Vidhatr
("Disposer"), also an epithet of these deities, Dhartr ("Sup-
porter"), and Tratr ("Protector"), an epithet of Agni or
Indra, and the leader-god who occurs in one hymn. Of these
Dhatr alone has a subsequent history of interest, as he later
ranks as a creator and is a synonym of Prajapati. That god's
name, "Lord of Offspring," is used as an epithet of Soma and
of Savitr, but as an independent deity he appears only in the
tenth and latest book of the Rgveda, where his power to make
prolific is celebrated. In one hymn (x. 121) is described a
"Golden Germ," Hiranyagarbha, creator of heaven and earth,
of the waters and all that lives. The "Golden Germ" is
doubtless Prajapati, but from the refrain "What god" {kasmai
devdya) a deity Who {Ka deva) was later evolved.

[Prometheus]

GODS OF EARTH, DEMONS, AND DEAD 51

"In the beginning rose Hiranyagarbha, born only lord of all created

beings.
He fixed and holdeth up this earth and heaven. What god shall we

adore with our oblation?
Giver of vital breath, of power and vigour, he whose commandments

all the gods acknowledge:
Whose shade is death, whose lustre makes immortal. What god shall

we adore with our oblation.''
Who by his grandeur hath become sole ruler of all the moving world

that breathes and slumbers;
He who is lord of men and lord of cattle. What god shall we adore

with our oblation?
His, through his might, are these snow-covered mountains, and men

call sea and Rasa his possession:
His arms are these, his are these heavenly regions. What god shall we

adore with our oblation?
By him the heavens are strong and earth is stedfast, by him light's

realm and sky-vault are supported:
By him the regions in mid-air were measured. What god shall we

adore with our oblation?
To him, supported by his help, two armies embattled look while

trembling in their spirit.
When over them the risen sun is shining. What god shall we adore

with our oblation?
What time the mighty waters came, containing the universal germ,

producing Agni,
Thence sprang the gods' one spirit into being. What god shall we

adore with our oblation?
He in his might surveyed the floods, containing productive force and

generating Worship.
He is the god of gods, and none beside him. What god shall we adore

with our oblation? ,

Ne'er may he harm us who is earth's begetter, nor he whose laws are

sure, the heavens' creator,
He who brought forth the great and lucid waters. What god shall we

adore with our oblation?
Prajapati! thou onlycomprehendest all these created things, and none

beside thee.
Grant us our hearts' desire when we invoke thee: may we have store

of riches in possession."^

This passage is the starting-point of his great history which
culminates in the conception of the absolute but personal
Brahma.



52 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

Another personification of the tenth book which later is
merged in the personality of Prajapati is Visvakarman ("All-
Maker"), whose name is used earlier as an epithet of Indra
and the sun. He is described as having eyes, a face, arms, and
feet on every side, just as Brahma is later four-faced. He Is
winged, and Is a lord of speech, and he assigns their names to
the gods. He is the highest apparition, establisher, and dis-
poser. Perhaps in origin he Is only a form of the sun, but in his
development he passes over to become one side of Prajapati
as architect.

Another aspect of the Supreme Is presented by the Purusa
Sukta, or "Hymn of Man" (x. 90), which describes the origin
of the universe from the sacrifice of a primeval Purusa, who is
declared distinctly to be the whole universe. By the sacrifice
the sky was fashioned from his head, from his navel the at-
mosphere, and from his feet the earth. The sun sprang from
his eye, the moon from his mind, wind from his breath, Agni
and Soma from his mouth; and the four classes of men were
produced from his head, arms, thighs, and feet respectively.
The conception Is important, for Purusa as spirit throughout
Indian religion, and still more throughout Indian philosophy,
is often given the position of Prajapati. On the other hand,
there Is primitive thought at the bottom of the conception of
the origin of the world from the sacrifice of a giant.''

Another and different abstraction Is found in the deification
of Manyu ("Wrath"), a personification which seems to owe
its origin to the fierce anger of Indra and which is Invoked in
two hymns of the Rgveda (x. 83-84). He Is of irresistible might
and Is self-existent; he glows like fire, slays Vrtra, Is accom-
panied by the Maruts, grants victory like Indra, and bestows
wealth. United with Tapas ("Ardour"), he protects his wor-
shippers and slays the foe. Other personifications of qualities
are In the main feminine and will be noted with the other
female deities.

The goddesses In the Rgveda play but a small part beside the



GODS OF EARTH, DEMONS, AND DEAD 53

gods, and the only great one Is Usas, though Sarasvati is of
some slight importance. To Indra, Varuna, and Agni are as-
signed IndranI, VarunanI, and Agnayi respectively, but they
are mere names. Prthivi ("Earth"), who is rather frequently
named with Dyaus, has only one hymn to herself, while RatrT
("Night") is invoked as the bright starlit night, at whose ap-
proach men return home as birds hasten back to their nests,
and who is asked to keep the thief and the wolf away. Orig-
inally a personification of the thunder. Vac ("Speech") is
celebrated in one hymn (x. 125) in which she describes herself.
She accompanies all the gods and supports Mitra and Varuna,
Indra and Agni, and the Asvins, besides bending Rudra's bow
against the unbeliever. Purandhi, the Avestan Parendi, is the
goddess of plenty and is mentioned with Bhaga, while Dhisana,
another goddess (perhaps of plenty), occurs a dozen times.
The butter-handed and butter-footed Ila has a more concrete
foundation, for she is the personification of the offering of but-
ter and milk in the sacrifice. Brhaddiva, Sinlvali, Raka, and
Gungii are nothing but names. Prsni is more real: she is the
mother of the Maruts, perhaps the spotted storm-cloud.
Saranyu figures in an interesting but fragmentary myth.
Tvastr made a wedding for his daughter with Vivasvant, but
during the ceremony the bride vanished away. Thereupon the
gods gave one of similar form to Vivasvant, but in some way
Saranyu seems still to have borne the Asvins to him, as well
perhaps as Yama and Yami, for the hymn (x. 17) calls her
"mother of Yama." The fragmentary story is put together by
Yaska in the following shape. Saranyu bore to Vivasvant
Yama and Yami, and then substituting one of like form for
herself, she fled away in the guise of a mare. Vivasvant, how-
ever, pursued in the shape of a horse and united with her, and
she bore the Asvins, while her substitute gave birth to Manu.
The legend may be old, for it has a curious similarity to the
story of the Tilphossan Erinys,^ though the names do not
philologically tally. At any rate the legend seems to have no



54 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

mythical intention, but to contain some effort to explain the
name of Manu as " Son of Her of Like Shape," which appears to
be known as early as the ^gveda. Perhaps she is another form
of the dawn-goddess.

Other goddesses are personifications of abstract Ideas, such
as Sraddha ("Faith"), who Is celebrated In a short hymn
(x. 151). Through her the fire Is kindled, ghee Is offered, and
wealth is obtained, and she is invoked morning, noon, and
night. Anumati represents the "favour" of the gods. Aramati
("Devotion") and Sunrta ("Bounteousness") are also per-
sonified. Asunltl ("Spirit Life") is besought to prolong life,
while NIrrti ("Decease" or "Dissolution") presides over death.
These are only faint figures in comparison with AdItI, if that
deity Is to be reckoned among the personifications of abstract
concepts. She Is singularly without definitive features of a
physical kind, though, in contrast to the other abstractions,
she Is commonly known throughout the Rgveda. She is ex-
panded, bright, and luminous; she Is a mistress of a bright stall
and a supporter of creatures; and she belongs to all men. She
Is the mother of MItra and Varuna, of Aryaman, and of eight
sons, but she is also said to be the sister of the Adityas, the
daughter of the Vasus, and the mother of the Rudras. She is
often Invoked to release from sin or guilt, and with MItra and
Varuna she is Implored to forgive sin. Evil-doers are cut off
from Aditi; and Varuna, Agni, and Savitr are besought to free
from guilt before her. She is Identified with the earth, though
the sky is also mentioned under the name Aditi. In many
places, however, she Is named together with (and therefore as
distinct from) sky and earth; and yet again It is said (I. Ixxxix.
10): "Aditi is the sky; Aditi is the air; Aditi Is the mother,
father, and son; Aditi is all the gods and the live tribes; ^ Aditi
is whatever has been born; Aditi Is whatever shall be born."
Elsewhere Aditi Is made both mother and daughter of Daksa
by a species of reciprocal generation which is not rare in the
Rgveda; and In yet other passages she Is hailed as a cow.



GODS OF EARTH, DEMONS, AND DEAD 55

The name AditI means "Unbinding" or "Boundlessness,"
and the name Aditya as applied to a group of bright gods de-
notes them, beyond doubt, as the sons of Aditi. Hence she has
been regarded as a personification of the sky or of the visible
infinite, the expanse beyond the earth, the clouds and the sky,
or the eternal celestial light which sustains the Adityas. Or,
if stress be laid not on her connexion with the light, but on the
view that she is a cow, she can be referred to earth, as the
mother of all. In these senses she would be concrete in origin.
On the other hand, she has also been derived from the epithet
Aditi, the "boundless," as applied to the sky, or yet more ab-
stractly from the epithet "sons of Aditi," in the sense of "sons
of boundlessness," referring to the Adityas. As Indra is called
"son of strength," and later "Strength" (Sad) is personified
as his wife (perhaps not in the Rgveda itself), so Aditi may have
been developed in pre-Rgvedic times from such a phrase, which
would account for her frequent appearance, even though a
more concrete origin seems probable for such a deity. On the
other hand, from her is deduced as her opposite Diti, who occurs
twice or thrice in the Rgveda, though in an indeterminate sense.

Another goddess of indefinite character is Surya. She cannot
be other than the daughter of the Sun, for both she and that
deity appear in the same relation to the Asvins. They are
Surya's two husbands whom she chose; she or the maiden as-
cended their car. They possess Surya as their own, and she ac-
companies them on their car, whose three wheels perhaps cor-
respond to its three occupants. Through their connexion with
Surya they are invoked to conduct the bride home on their car,
and it is said that when Savitr gave Surya to her husband, Soma
was wooer, while the Asvins were the groomsmen. The gods are
also said to have given Piisan to Surya, who bears elsewhere the
name Asvinl. The sun as a female is a remarkable idea, and
therefore Surya has often been taken as the dawn, but the
name presents difficulties, since it does not contain any patro-
nymic element; and, moreover, the conception contained in



56 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

the wedding-hymn of the union of Soma (no doubt the moon)
and the dawn would be wholly unusual.

The constant grouping of gods in the Rgveda comes to formal
expression In the practice of joint invocation, which finds its
natural starting-point in the concept of heaven and earth, who
are far oftener worshipped as joint than as separate deities.
Even Mitra and Varuna are much more frequently a pair than
taken individually, and this use may be old, since Ahura and
MIthra are thus coupled in the Avesta. A more curious com-
pound Is Indra and Varuna, the warlike god and the slayer of
Vrtra united with the divinity who supports men In peace and
wisdom. Indra is much more often conjoined with Agnl, and
the pair show In the main the characteristics of the former god,
though something of Agni's priestly nature is also ascribed to
them. With Visnu Indra strides out boldly, with Vayu he
drinks the soma, with Pusan he slays Vrtras, and to their joint
abode the goat conveys the sacrificial horse after death. Soma
is invoked with Pusan and with Rudra, Agni very rarely with
Soma and Parjanya. A more natural pair are Parjanya and
Vata ("Rain" and "Wind"), and similar unions are Day and
Night, and Sun and Moon. Naturally enough, these dualities
develop little distinct character.

Of groups of gods the most important are the Maruts, who
are numbered now as twenty-one and now as a hundred and
eighty and who are Indra's followers, although as Rudras they
are occasionally associated with Rudra as their father. The
Adityas are smaller in number, being given as seven or eight,
while the Vasus are indeterminate In number as in character,
the name denoting no more than "the Bright Ones." All the
deities are summed up in the concept Visve Devah ("All-
Gods"), but though originally intended to include all, the term
even in the Rgveda becomes applied to a special body who are
named together with other groups, such as the Vasus and the
Adityas.

An odd and curious group of deities is that of the Sadhyas,



GODS OF EARTH, DEMONS, AND DEAD 57

who occur in the Rgveda and occasionally in the later literature.
Neither their name nor the scanty notices of them justify any
conclusion as to their real nature, though it has been sug-
gested ^° that they may possibly be a class of the fathers (the
kindly dead).

Beside the great gods the Vedic pantheon has many minor
personages who are not regarded as enjoying the height of
divinity which is ascribed to the leading figures. Of these the
chief are the Rbhus, who are three in number, Rbhu or ELbhu-
ksan, Vibhvan, and Vaja. They are the sons of Sudhanvan
("Good Archer"), though once they are called collectively the
sons of Indra and the grandchildren of Might, and again they
are described as sons of Manu. They acquired their rank as
divine by the skill of their deeds, which raised them to the sky.
They were mortal at first, but gained immortality, for the gods
so admired their skilled work that Vaja became the artificer of
the gods, Rbhuksan of Indra, and Vibhvan of Varuna. Their
great feats were five: for the Asvins they made a car which,
without horses or reins, and with three wheels, traverses space;
for Indra they fashioned the two bay steeds; from a hide they
wrought a cow which gives nectar and the cow they reunited
with the calf, the beneficiary of this marvel being, we infer,
Bfhaspati; they rejuvenated their parents (apparently here
sky and earth), who were very old and frail; and finally they
made into four the one cup of Tvastr, the drinking- vessel of
the gods, this being done at the divine behest conveyed by
Agni, who promised them in return equal worship with the
gods. Tvastr agreed, it seems, to the remaking of the cup, but
it is also said that when he saw the four he hid himself among
the females and desired to slay the Rbhus for the desecration,
though the latter declared that they intended no disrespect.

In addition to their great deeds a wonderful thing befell
them. After wandering in swift course round the sky windsped,
they came to the house of Savitr, who conferred immortality
upon them: when, after slumbering for twelve days, they had



58 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

rejoiced in the hospitality of Agohya, they made fields and de-
flected the streams; plants occupied the dry ground and the
waters the low lands. After their sleep they asked Agohya who
had awakened them; In a year they looked around them; and
the goat declared the dog to be the awakener. Agohya can
hardly be anything but the sun, and the period of their sleep
has been thought to be the winter solstice, and has been com-
pared with the Teutonic twelve nights of licence at that period.
The nights, it has been suggested, ^^ are Intended to make good
the defects of the Vedic year of 360 days by Inserting Intercalary
days; and the goat and the dog have led to still wilder flights
of speculative Imagination. But as rbhu means "handy" or
"dexterous" and Is akin to the German Elbe and the English
elf, and as the ^bhus are much more than mere men, It Is not
improbable that they represent the three seasons which mark
the earliest division of the Indian year, and their dwelling in
the house of Agohya signifies the turn of life at the winter sol-
stice. The cup of Tvastr may possibly be the moon, and the
four parts Into which It is expanded may symbolize the four
phases of the moon. They may, however, have had a humbler
origin as no more than elves who gradually won a higher rank,
although their human attributes may be due to another cause:
it is possible that they were the favourite deities of a chariot-
making clan which was admitted into the VedIc circle, but
whose gods suffered some diminution of rank in the process, for
it is a fact that In the period of the Brdhmanas the chariot-
makers, or Rathakaras, form a distinct class by themselves.

Even more obscure than the Rbhus is the figure of the Gan-
dharva; he bears the epithet Visvavasu ("Possessing All
Good"), and this is later a proper name, while at the same time
the single Gandharva is converted into many. This idea is not
absolutely strange to the Rgveda, but it is found only thrice,
and the name Gandharva is practically unknown to books
ii-vii, the nucleus of the collection. Yet the figure Is old, for the
Gandarewa is found in the Avesta as a dragon-like monster.



GODS OF EARTH, DEMONS, AND DEAD 59

The Gandharva is heavenly and dwells In the high region of the
sky; he Is a measurer of space and Is closely connected with
the sun, the sun-bird, and the sun-steed, while in one passage
he Is possibly Identified with the rainbow. He is also associated
with the soma; he guards its place and protects the races of
the gods. It is In this capacity, it would seem, that he appears
as an enemy whom Indra pierces, just as in the Avesta the
Gandarewa, dwelling In the sea Vourukasha, the abode of the
White Haoma, battles with and is overcome by Keresaspa.^^
From another point of view Soma Is said to be the Gandharva of
the waters, and the Gandharva and the Maiden of the Waters
are claimed as the parents of Yama and YamI, the first pair on
earth. So, too, the Gandharva is the beloved of the Apsaras,
whence he is associated with the wedding ceremony and in the
first days of marriage is a rival of the husband.

The Gandharva has brilliant weapons and fragrant garments,
while the Gandharvas are described as wind-haired, so that it
has been suggested that the Gandharvas are the spirits of the
wind, closely connected with the souls of the dead and the
Greek Centaurs, with whose name (In defiance of philology)
their name is identified. Yet there is no sufficient ground to
justify this hypothesis or any of the other divergent views
which see In the Gandharva the rainbow, or the rising sun or
the moon, or the spirit of the clouds, or Soma (which he
guards).

The companion of the Gandharva, the Apsaras, is likewise an
obscure figure, though the name denotes "moving in the
waters," and the original conception may well be that of a
water-nymph, whence the mingling of the water with the soma
Is described as the flowing to Soma of the Apsarases of the
ocean. Of one, UrvasI, we have the record that she was the
mother of the sage Vaslstha, to whose family are ascribed the
hymns of the seventh book of the Rgveda, and an obscure hymn
(x. 95) contains a dialogue between her and her earthly lover
Pururavas, whom she seems to have forsaken after spending

[Prometheus]

6o INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

four autumns among mortals and whom she consoles by prom-
ising him bliss in heaven. From this story has been derived the
view that Pururavas is the sun and Urvasi the dawn, which
disappears at the rise of the sun.

Much less prominent than even the Gandharva and the
Apsarases is the "Lord of the Dwelling" (Vastospati), who is
invoked in one hymn (vii. 54) to afford a favourable entry, to
bless man and beast, and to grant prosperity in cattle and
horses. There can be no real doubt that he is the tutelary spirit
of the house. Another deity of the same type is the "Lord of
the Field," who is asked to bestow cattle and horses and to fill
heaven and earth with sweetness, while the "Furrow" itself,
Sita, is invoked to give rich blessings and crops. It would, of
course, be an error to conclude from the meagreness of their
mythology that these were not powerful deities, but it is clear
that they had won no real place in the pantheon of the tribal
priests whose views are presented in the Rgveda.

So also the divinities of the mountains, the plants, and the
trees are far from important in the Rgveda. Parvata ("Moun-
tain") is indeed found thrice coupled with Indra, and the
mountains are celebrated along with the waters, rivers, plants,
trees, heaven, and earth. The plants have a hymn to them-
selves (x. 97) in which they are hailed, for their healing powers,
as mothers and goddesses, and Soma is said to be their king;
and the forest trees, too, are occasionally mentioned as deities,
chiefly with the waters and the mountains. The "Goddess of
the Jungle," AranyanI, is invoked in one hymn (x. 146), where
she is described as the mother of beasts and as rich in food with-
out tillage, and her uncanny sights and sounds are set forth
with vivid force and power, though poetically rather than
mythologically.

A different side of religious thought is represented by the
deification of artificial objects, but the transition from such
worships as those of the tree to articles made of it is easy and
natural enough. It can be seen at work in the case of the adora-



PLATE V

Apsarases

The celestial nymphs, who are among the chief
adornments of Indra's heaven, are shown in frescoes
which are the oldest extant specimens of Indian
paintings. From a fresco at Ajanta, Berar. After
Ajanta Frescoes^ Plate II, No. 3.



K



\^^




GODS OF EARTH, DEMONS, AND DEAD 6i

tlon of the sacrificial post, which is invoked as Vanaspati or
Svaru and which is a god who, thrice anointed with ghee, is
asked to let the offerings go to the gods. The sacrificial grass
(the barhis) and the doors leading to the place of the sacrifice
are likewise divine, while the pressing stones are invoked to
drive demons away and to bestow wealth and offspring. Thus
also the plough and the ploughshare (Sunasira) as well as the
weapons of war, the arrow, bow, quiver, and armour, nay, even
the drum, are hailed as divine. Doubtless in this we are to see
fetishism rather than full divinity: the thing adored attains
for the time being and in its special use a holiness which is not
perpetually and normally its own. Such also must have been
the character of the image or other representation of Indra
which one poet offers to sell for ten cows, on condition that it
shall be returned to him when he has slain his foes.

The religion of the Rgveda is predominantly anthropomorphic
in its representations of the gods, and theriomorphism plays a
comparatively limited part. Yet there is an exception in the
case of the sun, who appears repeatedly in the form of a horse.
Thus the famous steed Dadhikra or Dadhikravan, who speeds
like the winds along the bending ways, is not only conceived as
winged, but is likened to a swooping eagle and is actually called
an eagle. He pervades the five tribes with his power as the sun
fills the waters with his light; his adversaries fear him like the
thunder from heaven when he fights against a thousand; and
he is the swan dwelling in the light. He is invoked with Agni
and with Usas, and his name may mean "scattering curdled
milk," in allusion to the dew which appears at sunrise. No
glorification of a famous racehorse could account for these
epithets. Tarksya seems to be another form of the sun-horse,
for the language used of him is similar to that regarding Da-
dhikra. Perhaps, too, Paidva, the courser brought by the Asvins
to Pedu to replace an inferior steed, may also be a solar horse;
nor is there any doubt that Etasa is the horse of the sun, who
bears along the chariot of the god.



62 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

After the horse the cow takes an important place in the myth-
ology. The rain-clouds are cows, and the gods fight for them
against the demons. The beams of dawn are also clouds, but it
is possible that the cow in itself had begun to receive reverence,
being addressed as Aditi and a goddess, and being described as
inviolable, nor later is there any doubt of direct zoolatry.
Indra, Agni, and rarely Dyaus are described as bulls; the boar
is used as a description of Rudra, the Maruts, and Vrtra.
Soma, Agni, and the sun are hailed as birds, and an eagle carried
down the soma for Indra, apparently representing Indra's
lightning. The crow and the pigeon are the messengers of
Yama, the god of death, and a bird of omen is invoked. The
"Serpent" (Ahi) is a form of the demon Vrtra, but there is no
trace of the worship of snakes as such. Animals serve also as
steeds for the gods: the Asvins use the ass, and Piisan the goat,
but horses are normal. Yama has two dogs, the ofi"spring of
Sarama, though she does not appear in the Rgveda as a bitch.
Indra has a monkey, of whom a late hymn (x. 86) tells a curious
story. Apparently the ape, Vrsakapi, was the favourite of
Indra and injured property of Indra's wife; soundly beaten,
it was banished, but it returned, and Indra effected a recon-
ciliation. The hymn belongs to the most obscure of the Rgveda
and has been very variously interpreted,^^ even as a satire on
a contemporary prince and his spouse.

The same vein of satire has been discerned in a curious hymn
(vii. 103) where frogs, awakened by the rains, are treated as able
to bestow cows and long life. The batrachians are compared to
priests as they busy themselves round the sacrifice, and their
quacking is likened to the repetition of the Veda by the student.
The conception is carried out in a genial vein of burlesque, yet
it is very possible that it contains worship which is serious
enough, for the frogs are connected with the rain and seem to
be praised as bringing with their renewed activity the fall of
the waters.

We have seen gods conceived as of animal form and, there-



GODS OF EARTH, DEMONS, AND DEAD 63

fore, in so far incarnate in these animals, not indeed perma-
nently, but from time to time. Accordingly, in the later ritual,
which seems faithfully to represent in this regard the meaning
of the Rgveda, the horse is not always or normally divine, but it
is so when a special horse is chosen to be sacrificed at the horse-
sacrifice and for this purpose is identified with the god. It is
possible, too, that direct worship of the cow and the frog (at
least in the rainy season) is recorded. The question then arises
whether the Vedic Indians were totemists. Did they conceive
a tie of blood between themselves and an animal or thing which
they venerated and normally spared from death, and which
they might eat only under the condition of some sacrament to
renew the blood bond? We can only say that there is no more
evidence of this than is implied in the fact that some tribal
appellations in the Rgveda are animal names like the Ajas, or
"Goats," and the Matsyas, or "Fishes," or vegetable like the
Sigrus, or "Horse-Radishes"; but we have no record that
these tribes worshipped the animals or plants whose name they
bear. Neither do we know to what extent these tribes were of
Aryan origin or religion. There may well have been totemistic
non-Aryan tribes, for we know that another worship which is
now accepted and bound up with the form of Siva — the
phallic cult — was practised in the time of the Rgveda, but by
persons whom it utterly disapproved and treated as hostile.^^

Beside the gods some priests and priestly families who are
more than real men figure in the Rgveda. Prominent among
these are the Bhrgus, whose name denotes "the Bright," and
who play the role of those who kindle Agni when he is discov-
ered by Matarisvan and establish and diffuse his use upon
earth. They find him in the waters; they produce him by fric-
tion and pray to him. They are invoked to drink soma with
all the thirty-three gods, the Maruts, the waters, and the As-
vins; they overcome the demon Makha and are foes of the his-
toric king Sudas. They are mentioned in connexion with
Atharvan, among others, and like them Atharvan is associated



64 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

with the production of fire, which he churns forth. Athravan
in the Avesta denotes "fire-priest," nor is there any doubt that
the Atharvan or Atharvans of the Rgveda are old fire-priests,
while the Bhrgus represent either such priests or possibly the
lightning side of fire itself. Yet another set of beings connected
with fire are the Angirases. Angiras as an epithet is applied to
Agni himself, and Angiras is represented as an ancient seer, but
the chief feat of the Angirases is their share in the winning of
the cows, in which act they are closely associated with Indra;
they are, however, also said to have burst the rock with their
songs and gained the light, to have driven out the cows and
pierced Vala and caused the sun to shine. They seem to bear
the traces of messengers of Agni, perhaps his flames, but they
may have been no more than priests of the fire-cult, like the
Atharvans. Like the Atharvans they are bound up with the
Atharvaveda, which is associated with that cult. The VirOpas
("Those of Various Form"), another priestly family, seem no
more than they in one special aspect.

A figure of great obscurity connected with Agni is that of
Dadhyaiic ("Milk-Curdling"), a son of Atharvan and a pro-
ducer of Agni. The Asvins gave him a horse's head, and with
it he proclaimed to them the place of the mead of Tvastr.
Again it is said that when Indra was seeking the head of the
horse hidden in the mountains, he found it in Saryanavant and
with the bones of Dadhyaiic he slew ninety-nine Vrtras. Dadh-
yanc opens cow-stalls by the power of Soma, and Indra gives
him cow-stalls. He has been interpreted as the soma because
of the allusion to curdled milk in his name, which again con-
nects him with the horse Dadhikra, but a more plausible view
is that he represents a form of lightning, the speed of which is
symbolized by the horse's head, while the thunder is his speech
and the bolt his bones. The legend is too fragmentary, how-
ever, to enable us to form any clear opinion of its significance.
Atri, another seer, is famed for being saved from burning in a
deep pit by the Asvins, who restored him with a refreshing



GODS OF EARTH, DEMONS, AND DEAD 65

draught. But he also performed a great feat himself, for he
rescued the sun when it was hidden by the Asura, Svarbhanu,
and placed it in the sky. The same deed is also ascribed to the
Atris as a family, and they are the traditional authors of the
fifth book of the Rgveda, which often refers to them. Their
name denotes "the eater" and may itself once have belonged
to Agni, who is perhaps hidden in the guise of the blind seer
Kanva, a protege of the Asvins, from whom he received back
his lost sight.

Indra also has mythical connexions with the seers called
Dasagvas and Navagvas who aided him in the recovery of the
kine and whose names perhaps denote that they won ten and
nine cows respectively in that renowned exploit. Still more
famous is his friendship with Kutsa, to whom he gave constant
aid in his struggles with Susna; it was for him that Indra per-
formed the feat of stopping the sun by tearing off its wheel,
giving the other to Kutsa to drive on with. The myth is a
strange one and seems to be a confusion of the story of the
winning of the sun for men by Indra with his friendship for a
special hero whom he aided in battle. Yet in other passages
Kutsa appears in hostility to Indra. In the fight with Susna,
as the drought-demon, Indra also had the aid of Kavya Usanas,
who likewise made for him the bolt for the slaying of Vrtra.

An independent position is occupied by Manu, who stands
out as the first of men who lived, in contrast with Yama (like
himself the son of Vivasvant), who was the first of men to die.
He is par excellence the first sacrificer, the originator of the cult
of Agni and of Soma, and to him indeed Soma was brought by
the bird. Men are his offspring, and their sacrifices are based
on his as prototype. Just as he embodies the concept of the first
sacrificer, so the group of seven priests who play the chief part
in the ritual are personified as the seven seers who are called
divine and are associated with the gods.

Against the gods and other spirits invoked as beneficent are
set the host of the demons, or more often individual spirits who



66 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

are enemies both to gods and to men and whom the gods over-
throw for the benefit of men no less than of themselves. The
Asuras, as the demons are called throughout Indian literature
subsequent to the age of the Rgveda, have not yet attained that
position at the earliest period. Asura there means a spirit who
is normally benignant; In four passages only (and three of those
are In the tenth and latest book) are the Asuras mentioned as
demons, and In the singular the word has this sense only thrice,
while the epithet "slaying Asuras" Is applied once each to
Indra, Agnl, and the sun. Much more commonly mentioned
are the Panis, whose cows are won by the gods, especially Indra.
Their name denotes "Niggard," especially with regard to the
sacrificial gifts, and thus, no doubt, an epithet of human mean-
ness has been transferred to demoniac foes, who are accused of
having concealed even the ghee In the cow. Other human ene-
mies who rank as demons are the Dasas and Dasyus; and by a
natural turn of language Dasa comes to denote "slave" and Is
found In this sense In the Rgveda Itself. Besides the historical
Dasas, who were doubtless the aborigines, rank others who seek
to scale heaven and who withhold the sun and the waters from
the gods; and the autumnal forts of the Dasas can hardly have
been mere human citadels. While, however, the transfer of
name from men to demons Is clear, can we go further and equate
the Panis and Dasas to definite tribes, and see In them Parnlans
and Dahae, against whom the Vedic Indians waged warfare in
the land of Arachosla.? The conjecture Is attractive, but It
shifts the scene of VedIc activity too far west and compels us
to place the events of the sixth book of the Rgveda far distant
from those described In book seven, the Interest of which centres
in the Indian "Middle Country," the home In all probability
of the greater part of the VedIc poetry.

Much more common as a generic name of the adversaries of
the gods Is Raksas, either "the Injurious," or "That Which
Is to be Guarded Against." Rarely these demons are called
Yatus or Yatudhanas ("Sorcerers"), who represent, no doubt,



GODS OF EARTH, DEMONS, AND DEAD d-]

one type of the demons. They have the shape of dogs, vultures,
owls, and other birds; appropriating the form of husband,
brother, or lover, they approach women with evil intent; they
eat the flesh of men and horses and suck the milk of cows.
Their particular time of power is the evening and above all else
they detest sacrifice and prayer. Agni, the Fire, is especially
besought to drive them away and destroy them, and hence
wins his title of "Slayer of Raksases." With the Raksases in
later literature rank the Pisacas as foes of the fathers, precisely
as the Asuras are the enemies of the gods and the Raksases of
men, but the Rgveda knows only the yellow-peaked, watery
Pisaci, whom Indra is invoked to crush. Other hostile spirits
are the Aratis ("Illiberalities"), the Druhs ("Injurious"), and
the Kimldins, who are goblins conceived as in pairs.

There is no fixed terminology in the description of individual
demons, so that Pipru and Varcin pass both as Asuras and as
Dasas. By far the greatest of the demons is the serpent Vrtra,
footless and handless, the snorter, the child of Danu, "the
stream," the encompasser of the waters, which are freed when
Indra slays him. There are many Vrtras, however, and the
name applies to earthly as well as to celestial foes. Vala ranks
next as an enemy of Indra: he is the personification of the cave
in which the cows are kept, and which Indra pierces or cleaves
to free the kine. Arbuda again was deprived of his cows by
Indra, who trod him underfoot and cleft his head, and he seems
but a form of Vrtra. More doubtful is the three-headed son of
Tvastr, Visvarupa ("Multiform"), who is slain by Indra with
the aid of Trita, and whose cows, are taken. In his figure some
scholars have seen the moon, but his personality is too shadowy
to allow of any clear result. The overthrowing of the demon
Svarbhanu is accomplished by Indra, while Atri replaces in the
sky the eye of the sun which that demon had eclipsed. The
Dasa Susna figures as a prominent foe of Kutsa, a protege of
Indra, but his mythical character is attested by the fact that
by overcoming him Indra wins the waters, finds the cows, and



68 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

gains the sun. He is also described as causing bad harvests,
while his name must mean either "Scorcher" or "Hisser"; and
apparently he is a demon of drought. With him is sometimes
coupled Sambara, the son of Kulitara, the Dasa of ninety-nine
forts, whom Indra destroys, though he deemed himself a god-
ling. Pipru and Varcin also fall before Indra, the first with fifty
thousand black warriors, and the second with a hundred thou-
sand. As either is at once Asura and Dasa, perhaps they were
the patron gods of aboriginal tribes which were overthrown
by the Aryans; but their names may mean in Sanskrit "the
Resister" and "the Shining." Dhuni and Cumuri, the Dasas,
were sent to sleep by Indra for the sake of the pious Dabhiti;
and their castles were shattered along with those of Sambara,
Pipru, and Varcin. Dhuni means "Roarer," but Cumuri is
not, it would seem, Aryan, and he perhaps, with Ilibisa, Srbinda,
and others of whom we know practically nothing, may be ab-
original names of foes or gods hostile to the Aryans.

[Prometheus]

A more perplexing figure and one famous in later literature
is Namuci, which Indian etymology renders as "He Who Will
Not Let Go." He is at once Asura and Dasa, and in vanquish-
ing him Indra has the aid of NamI Sapya. The peculiarity of
his death is that his head is not pierced, like Vrtra's, but is
twirled or twisted with the foam of the waters, and that Indra
is said to have drunk wine beside him when the Asvins aided
and Sarasvati cured him.

The king of the dead is Yama, who gathers the people to-
gether and gives the dead a resting-place in the highest heaven
amid songs and the music of the flute. He is the son of Vivas-
vant, just as in the Avesta Yima is the son of Vivanghvant, the
first presser of the soma. His sister is Yami, and a curious
hymn (x. lo) contains a dialogue in which she presses her
brother to wed her and beget offspring, while he urges religious
objections to her suit. The story suggests what is confirmed by
the later Persian record that Yama and Yima were really the
twin parents of mankind. The Avesta also tells us that he lives



GODS OF EARTH, DEMONS, .\XD DEAD 69

in an earthly paradise which he rules, ^ and though this trait is
not preserved in the Rgveda, it is hinted at in the epic. His real
importance, however, is that he is the first man who died and
showed to others the way of death. Death is his path, and he
is once identified with death. As death the owl or the pigeon
is his messenger, but he has two dogs, four-eyed, broad-nosed,
one brindle {sahala) and one brown, sons of Sarama, who watch
men and wander about as his envoys. They also guard the
path, perhaps hke the four-eyed, yellow-eared dog of the
Avesta, who stands at the Cinvat Bridge to prevent e\dl spirits
from seizing hold of the righteous. Yet it may be that, as is
suggested by Aufrecht,^^ the object of the dogs' watch is to
keep sinful men from the world of Yama. It does not seem that
the souls of the dead have (as in the epic) a stream Vaitarani to
cross, though it has been suggested that in X. x\-ii. 7 ff. Saras-
vati is none other than this river.

Though Yama is associated with gods, especially Agni
and Varuna, and though there is an obvious reference to his
connexion with the sun in the phrase "the heavenly courser
given by Yama," still he is never called a god, and this fact
lends the greatest probability to the view that he is what he
seems to be, the first of men, the first also to die, and so the
king of the dead, but not a judge of the departed. Nevertheless,
his connexion with the sun and with Agni has suggested that
he is the sun, especially conceived as setting, or that he is the
parting day, in which case his sister is the night. The only
other theor>' which would seem to have any plausibility is that
he is the moon, for the connexion of the moon with the souls of
the dead is deeply rooted in the Upajiisads. Moreover, the
moon actually dies and is the child of the sun. This identifica-
tion, however, rests in large measure on the unproved hypothe-
sis that the few references in the Rgveda to Soma as associated
with the fathers are allusions to their abode in the moon.

It is in keeping with the belief in the heaven of Yama that
the burning of the body of the dead is the normal, though not



70 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

the exclusive, mode of disposing of the corpse. The dead were,
however, sometimes burled, for the fathers are distinguished as
those who are burned by fire and those who are not burned.
The dead was burned with his clothes, etc., to serve him In the
future life; even his weapons and his wife. It would seem, were
once incinerated, although the Rgveda has abandoned that
practice, of which only a symbol remains In placing the wife
and the weapons beside the dead and then removing them from
him. Agni bears the dead away, and the rite of burning is thus
In part like a sacrifice; but as "eater of raw flesh" In this rite
Agni Is distinguished from that Agni who carries the oblations.
With the dead was burned a goat, which Agni is besought to
consume while preserving the body entire. On the path to the
world of the dead Pusan acts as guide, and Savitr as conductor.
A bundle of fagots Is attached to the dead to wipe out his track
and hinder the return of death to the living. Borne along the
path by which the fathers went In days gone by, the soul
passes on to the realm of light and In his home receives a rest-
ing-place from Yama. Though his corpse Is destroyed by the
flame, still In the other world he is not a mere spirit, but has
what must be deemed a refined form of his earthly body. He
abides In the highest point of the sun, and the fathers are united
with the sun and its rays. The place Is one of joy: the noise of
flutes and song resounds; there soma, ghee, and honey flow.
There are the two kings, Varuna and Yama, and the fathers are
dear to the gods and are free from old age and bodily frailty.
Another conception, however, seems to regard the fathers as
being constellations In the sky, an Idea which Is certainly found
In the later Vedic period.

Those who attain to heaven are, above all, the pious men who
offer sacrifice and reward the priest, for sacrifice and sacrificial
fee are indlssolubly connected; ^^ but heroes who risk their
lives in battle and those who practise asceticism also win their
way thither. Of the fate of evil-doers we hear very little, and
it would appear that annihilation was often regarded as their



GODS OF EARTH, DEMONS, AND DEAD 71

fate. Yet there is mention of deep places produced for the evil,
false, and untrue, and Indra and Soma are besought to dash
the evil-doers into the abyss of bottomless darkness, while the
prayer is uttered that the enemy and the robber may lie below
the three earths. From these obscure beginnings probably
arose the belief in hell which is expressed in clear terms in the
Atharvaveda and which is later elaborated at length in the epic
and in the Puranas.

But the fathers are more than spirits living in peace after the
toils of life. They are powerful to aid and receive offering,
while they are invoked with the dawns, streams, mountains,
heaven and earth, Pusan, and the Rbhus. They are asked to
accord riches, offspring, and long life; they are said to have
generated the dawn and, with Soma, to have extended heaven
and earth. They especially love the soma and come for it in
thousands. Yet though they are even called gods, they are
distinguished from the true divinities; their path is the Pitr-
yana, or "Way of the Fathers," as contrasted with the Deva-
yana, or "Way of the Gods"; and the food given to them is
termed svadhd, in contrast with the call svdhd with which the
gods are invited to take their portion. The fathers are de-
scribed as lower, higher, and middle, and as late and early; and
mention is made of the races of Navagvas, Vairupas, Athar-
vans, Angirases, Vasisthas, and Bhrgus, the last four of which
appear also in the Rgveda as priestly families.

In one passage of the Rgveda (X. xvi. 3) an Idea occurs which
has been thought to have served in some degree as stimulating
the later conception of metempsychosis, of which there is no
real trace in that Samhitd. It is there said, in the midst of
verses providing for the dead being taken by Agni to the world
above,

"The sun receive thine eye, the wind thy spirit; go, as thy merit is,

to earth or heaven.
Go, if it be thy lot, unto the waters; go, make thine home in plants

with all thy members." ^^
VI — 6



72 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

The conception seems natural enough as an expression of the
resolution of the body into the elements from which it is de-
rived, just as in later Sanskrit it is regularly said of man that
he goes to the five elements when he dies; and it is, therefore,
much more likely that the phrase is thus to be interpreted than
that we are to see in it the primitive idea that the soul of the
dead may go into plants and so forth. The passage is almost
isolated, however, so that the sense must remain uncertain.



CHAPTER III
THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE BRAHMANAS

WITHOUT exception the Brdhmanas presuppose the exist-
ence of a Rgveda Samhitd, in all probability similar
in essentials to the current text, and it is more than likely that
the other Samhitds — the Sdmaveda, the two schools of the
Yajurveda, and the Atharvaveda — were composed after the
formation of the Samhitd of the Rgveda. Nor can there be
much doubt that, while the Rgveda shows many traces of being
the product of an age which was far from primitive, the later
Samhitds, in those portions which do not accord with texts
already found in the Rgveda, stand generally on precisely the
same level as the leading Brdhmanas, or at least the oldest of
these texts. The most essential characteristic of them all from
the point of view of mythology is that the old polytheism is no
longer as real as in the Rgveda. It is true that there is no ques-
tion of the actuality of the numerous gods of the pantheon, to
whom others are indeed added, but the texts themselves show
plain tendencies to create divinities of more imposing and
more universal power than any Vedic deity. There are three
figures in the pantheon who display the results of this en-
deavour, those of Prajapati, Visnu, and Rudra. Of these the
first is distinguished from the other two by the essential fact
that he is a creation not so much of popular mythology as of
priestly speculation, and the result, as was inevitable, is that
his permanence as a great god is not assured; while the two
other divinities, being clearly popular deities in their essence,
have survived to be the great gods of India throughout the



74 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

centuries with only so much change as has proved unavoidable
in the development of creed during hundreds of years.

The essential feature of Prajapati is that he is a creator, a
"Lord of Offspring," and offspring includes everything. Yet
there is no consistent account of creation in the Brdhmanas,
nor even in any one text. Nevertheless, the importance of the
concept Prajapati does appear in the fact that he is definitely
identified with Visvakarman, the "All-Creator" of the Rgveda
(x. 8i, 82), or with Daksa, who is at once son and father of
Aditi in that Samhitd (x. 72); and the later Samhitds repeat
the hymn of the Rgveda (x. 121) which celebrates the "Golden
Germ," Hiranyagarbha, and identify with Prajapati the in-
terrogative Ka ("Who"), which in that hymn heads each line
in the question, "To what god shall we oifer with oblation.''"
Among the variants of the story of the creation of the world
there is one which becomes a favourite and which assigns to
the waters or the ocean the first place in the order of exist-
ence. The waters, however, desire to be multiplied, and produce
a golden egg by the process of tapas, a term which, with its
origin in the verb tap, "heat," shows that the first conception
of Indian ascetic austerity centres in the process of producing
intense physical heat. From this egg is born Prajapati, who
proceeds to speak in a year, the words which he utters being
the sacred vydhrtis, or exclamations, "Bhuh," "Bhuvah,"
and "Svar," which become the earth, the atmosphere, and
the sky. He desired offspring and finally produced the gods,
who were made divinities by reaching the sky; and he also
created the Asuras, whereby came the darkness, which re-
vealed to Prajapati that he had created evil, so that he pierced
the Asuras with darkness, and they were overcome. The tale,
one of many, is important in that it reveals qualities which
are permanent throughout Indian religion: the story of crea-
tion is variously altered from time to time and made to ac-
cord with philosophical speculation, which resolves the waters
into a primitive material termed Prakrti; but the golden egg,



THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE BRAHMANAS 75

though spiritualized, persists in the popular conception, while
the place of the creation of the god is taken by the concept
of Purusa, or "Spirit," which is one of the names of Prajapati,
entering into the material Prakrti. The creative power of Praja-
pati exercised by himself is actually compared to child-birth
and serves as the precursor of the androgynous character of
the deity, which is formally expressed in the figure of Siva
as half man and half woman both in literature and in art.

Another conception of the creative activity of Prajapati is
that he took the form of a tortoise or a boar: thus in the Sata-
patha Brdhmana (VH. v. i. 5) we learn that he created off-
spring after he had assumed the form of a tortoise; and that
as the word kasyapa means "tortoise," people say that all
creatures are descendants of Kasyapa. This tortoise is also
declared to be one with the sun (Aditya), which brings Praja-
pati into connexion with the solar luminary, just as he is iden-
tified with Daksa, the father or son of Aditi, the mother of
Aditya. The same Brdhmana (XIV. i. 2. 11) tells us that the
earth was formerly but a span in size, but that a boar raised
it up, and that Prajapati, as lord of earth, rewarded him.
In the Taittiriya Samhitd (VII. i. 5. i) and the Taittiriya
Brdhmana (I. i. 3. i) this boar is definitely identified with
Prajapati, and the later Taittiriya Aranyaka states (X. i.
that the earth was raised by a black boar with a hundred arms.
From these germs spring the boar and tortoise incarnations
of Visnu in the epic and in the Purdnas. Yet another avatar
is to be traced to the story in the Satapatha Brdhmana (I. viil.
I. i) of the fish which saves Manu from the deluge, though
that text does not give the identification of the fish with Praja-
pati, which is asserted in the epic.

There is, however, another side to the character of Prajapati
which exhibits him in an unfavourable light. The Brdhmanas
tell that he cast eyes of longing on his own daughter, reproduc-
ing here, no doubt, the obscure references in the Rgveda (X.
Ixi. 4-7) to the intercourse of Dyaus ("Sky") with his daughter



76 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

Usas ("Dawn"). The gods were deeply indignant at this
deed, and Rudra either threatened to shoot him, but was in-
duced to desist by being promised to be made lord of cattle; or
actually shot him, though afterward the wound thus caused
was healed. In the Aitareya Brdhmana (iii. 33) the story takes
a very mythic aspect: Prajapati turns himself into a deer to
pursue his daughter in the guise of an antelope (rohini), and
the gods produce a most terrible form to punish him, in the
shape, it is clear, of Rudra, though his name is too dangerous
to be mentioned; he pierces Prajapati, who flees to the sky
and there constitutes the constellation Mrga ("Wild Animal"),
while the archer becomes Mrgavyadha (" Piercer of the Mrga "),
the antelope is changed into Rohini, and the arrow is still to
be seen as the constellation of the three-pronged arrow.

Despite his creative activity, Prajapati was not immortal by
birth, for the conception of the Brdhmanas, as of India in later
days, does not admit of immortality won by birth alone. When
he had created gods and men, he formed death; and half of
himself — hair, skin, flesh, bone, and marrow — was mortal,
the other half — mind, voice, breath, eye, and ear — being
immortal. He fled in terror of death, and it was only by means
of the earth and the waters, united as a brick for the piling of
the sacred fire which forms one of the main ceremonies of the
sacrificial ritual, that he could be made immortal. But at the
same time Prajapati himself is the year, the symbol of time,
and by the year he wears out the lives of mortals, whether men
or gods. The gods, on the contrary, attained immortality from
Prajapati; they sought in vain to do so by many sacrifices,
but failed, even when they performed the piling of the fire
altar with an undefined number of fire-bricks, until at last
they won their desire when they followed the proper numbers
of the bricks. Death, however, objected to this exemption
from his control, for it left him without a portion; and the gods,
therefore, ordained that thenceforth no man should become
immortal without parting with his body, whether his immor-



THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE BRAHMANAS ^J

tallty was due to knowledge or to works. Thus it happens
that after death a man may either be reborn for immortality,
or he may be born only to be fated to die again and again.
This is but a specimen of the various means by which the gods
escape death, for they are ever afraid of the Ender and must
adopt rites of many kinds to be freed from his control.

Since both the gods and the Asuras ("Demons") were the
offspring of Prajapati, it becomes necessary to explain why they
are differentiated as good and bad, and this is done in several
ways. In one case the Asuras kept sacrificing to themselves
out of insolence, while the gods sacrificed to one another; and
as a result Prajapati bestowed himself upon them, and sacrifice
became theirs only. In another version the gods adopted the
plan of speaking nothing but the truth, while the Asuras re-
sorted to falsehood: because of this for a while the gods became
weaker and poorer, but in the end they flourished, and so it
is with man; while the Asuras, who waxed rich and pros-
perous, like salty ground came to ruin in the end. The gods,
again, won the earth from the Asuras: they had only as much
of it as one can see while sitting, and they asked the Asuras
for a share; the latter replied that the gods could have as much
as they could encompass, whereupon the gods encompassed
the whole earth on four sides. Another legend accounts for
the differences in greatness of the gods by the fact that three
of them — Indra, Agni, and Siirya — desired to win superior-
ity, and for that purpose they went on sacrificing until in the
long run they attained their aim.

Prajapati might, it is clear, have become a much greater figure
had it not been for the fact that the philosophic spirit which
conceived him soon went beyond the original idea and trans-
formed the male, as too personal for the expression of the ab-
solute, into the neuter Brahman Svayambhii ("Self-Existent
Prayer"). It still remained possible to ascribe the origin of the
world to this Brahman and to account for it by ascetic austerity
on its part, but the way was opened for the development of the

[Prometheus]

78 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

pantheistic philosophy of the Upanisads. The change of name
is significant and indicates that a new side of thought has
become prominent: Brahman is the "prayer," or the "spell,"
which is uttered by the priest and it is also the holy power of
the prayer or the spell, so that it is well adapted to become a
name for the power which is at the root of the universe. When,
therefore, this Brahman is converted into the subject of as-
ceticism, it is clear that it is assuming the features of Prajapati,
and that two distinct lines of thought are converging into one.
The full result of this process is the creation of a new god,
Brahma, which is the masculine of the neuter impersonal
Brahman. Yet this new deity is not an early figure: he is found
in the later Brdhmanas, such as the Kausltaki and the Taittiriya,
as well as in the Upanisads and the still later Sutra literature,
in which he is clearly identified with Prajapati, whose double,
however, he obviously is. Was there, as has been suggested,
ever a time when Brahma was a deity greater than all others
in the pantheon.? The answer certainly cannot be in the un-
restricted affirmative, for the epic shows no clear trace of a
time when Brahma was the chief god, and the evidence of the
Buddhist Sutras, which undoubtedly make much of Brahma
Sahampati (an epithet of uncertain sense), is not enough to do
more than indicate that in the circles in which Buddhism found
its origin Brahma had become a leading figure. It is, in fact,
not unlikely that in the period at the close of the age of the
Brdhmanas, just before the appearance of Buddhism, the pop-
ular form of the philosophic god had made some progress to-
ward acceptability, at least in the circles of the warriors and
the Brahmans. But if that were the case, it is clear that this
superiority was not to be of long duration, and certainly it
never spread among the people as a whole.

Of these rivals of Brahma in popular favour Visnu shows
clear signs of an increasing greatness. The gods, as usual, were
worsted in their struggles with the Asuras, and for the purpose
of regaining the earth which they had lost they approached the



PLATE VI

Brahma

In the presence of the sacred fire a worshipper
presents an offering to Brahma. The four faces of
the god are said to have come into being from his
desire to behold the loveliness of his daughter, vv^ho
sought in vain to escape his amorous gaze. He
originally had a fifth head, due to the same cause,
but this was removed by Siva, either because of wrath
or because the head acquired such splendour through
knowledge of the Vedas that neither gods nor demons
could endure it. From an Indian painting of a ragirii
("sub-mode" of Indian music) in the collection
of the Editor.



THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE BRAHMANAS 79

Asuras, who were engaged in meting out the world, and begged
for a share in it. The Asuras with meanness offered in return
only so much as Visnu, who was but a dwarf, could lie upon;
but the gods accepted the offer, and surrounding Visnu with
the metres, they went on worshipping, with the result that
they succeeded in acquiring the whole earth. The story is
further explained by another passage in the same text which
refers to the three strides of Visnu as winning for the gods the
all-pervading power that they now possess. Besides these
notices in the Satapatha Brdhmana (I. ii. 5; ix. 3. 9) we are told
in the Aitareya Brdhmana (vi. 15) that Indra and Visnu had
a dispute with the Asuras whom they defeated and with whom
they then agreed to divide the world, keeping for themselves
so much as Vis^u could step over in three strides, these steps
embracing the worlds, the Vedas, and speech. Moreover,
while the boar, as a cosmogonic power, is still associated with
Prajapati and not with Visnu, traces of the latter's connexion
with the boar occur in a legend, based on the Rgveda, which is
told in the Black Yajurveda (VI. ii. 4) : a boar, the plunderer of
wealth, kept the goods of the gods concealed beyond seven
hills; but Indra, taking a blade of ^wi^-grass, shot beyond the
hills and slew the boar, which Visnu, as the sacrificer, took and
offered to the god. This passage indicates the source of the
strength of Visnu in the Brdhmanas: he is essentially identified
with sacrifice and with all that that means for the Brahman.
In this connexion a strange story is told of the way in which
Visnu lost his head. He was acknowledged by the gods to be
the sacrifice, and thus he became the most eminent of the
divinities. Now once he stood resting his head on the end of
his bow, and as the gods sat about unable to overcome him,
the ants asked them what they would give to him who should
gnaw the bow-string. When the deities promised in return for
such an action the eating of food and the finding of water even
in the desert, the ants gnawed through the string, which ac-
cordingly broke, and the two ends of the bow, starting asun-



8o INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

der, cut off the head of the god. The sound ghrm, with
which Visnu's head fell, became the gharma, or sacrificial
kettle; and as his strength dwindled away, the mahdvira, or
"pot of great strength," acquired its name. The gods pro-
ceeded to offer with the headless sacrifice, or makha, but as
they did not succeed they had to secure the restoration of its
head either by the Asvins or by the pravargya rite. It is very
curious that this should be so, for Visnu takes only a small
part in the ritual and is not closely connected with the Soma
offering, which is, after all, the chief feature of the sacrifice;
yet we must, no doubt, recognize that the god had a strong body
of adherents who secured the growing attention paid to him.
The same trait is seen in the relations of Visnu and Indra:
Visnu now appears as supporting Indra in his attack on Vrtra,
and we have assurances that Visnu is the chief of the gods. His
dwarf shape also assimilated him in cunning to Indra, for it is
doubtless nothing but a clever device to secure the end aimed
at, just as Indra changes himself, in the version of the Tait-
tiriya Samhitd (VI. ii. 4. 4), into a sdldvrkl (possibly a hyena)
and in that form wins the earth for the gods from the Asuras
by running round it three times. Otherwise the god develops
no new traits: his characteristic feature remains his threefold
stride which seems to have been accepted in the sense of strid-
ing through the three worlds, though the alternative version
of striding through the sky is also recognized.

The name Narayana is not yet applied to Visnu in the early
texts; yet we hear in the Satapatha Brdhmana (XIII. vi. i. i)
of Purusa Narayana who saw the human sacrifice and offered
with it, thus attaining the supremacy which he desired. Here
we have, of course, a reflex of the Purusa Sukta of the Rgveda^
the Purusa who there is offered up being transferred into a
Purusa who sacrifices another, and in this aspect Narayana is
closely akin to Prajapati. As early as the Taittiriya Jranyaka,
however, which can scarcely be placed later than the third
century B.C., the name of Narayana, together with those of



THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE BRAHMANAS 8i

Vasudeva and Narasirhha, is ascribed to Visnu, which shows
that at the end of the Vedic period the conception of Visnu
had been enlarged to include the traits which appear in the
epic, where Visnu is not identified merely with Narayana,
but also with the Vasudeva Krsna and is revealed as the
"Man-Lion," Narasimha.

None the less it is certain that in the Brdhmanas Siva Is
really a greater figure than Visnu, perhaps because he is a
terrible god, an aspect never congenial to Visnu. Thus he is
implored to confer long life, the triple life of Jamadagni and
Kasyapa and the gods, and taking his bow, clad in his tiger's
skin, to depart beyond the Miijavants in the far north. Still
more significant is the Satarudriya, or "Litany to Rudra by a
Hundred Names," which occurs in variant but nearly identical
versions in the several texts of the Yajurveda. He here appears
as many-coloured and as the god who slips away, even
though the cowherds and the drawers of water catch a glimpse
of him; he is treated as lord of almost everything conceivable,
including thieves and robbers. He is a mountain dweller and,
above all, is the wielder of a terrible bow; he has hosts of
Rudras who are his attendants and who, like himself, are
terrible; moreover he has his abode in everything. Other
names are given which are not merely descriptive — Bhava,
Sarva, Pasupati — as well as such as Nilagrlva ("Blue-
Necked") and Sitikantha ("White-Throated"). Of these names
we find Bhava and Sarva repeatedly connected in the Atharva-
veda, both as archers, and brought into conjunction with Rudra;
while in another passage of that Veda (xv. 5) appellatives
of the same deity under different forms are not merely
Bhava and Sarva, but also Pasupati, Ugra, Rudra, Mahadeva,
and Isana. In the Satapatha Brdhmana (L vii. 3. we are told
that Rudra is Agni and that among the eastern people his
name is Sarva, but that among the westerners (the Bahlkas)
he is called Bhava; and he is also termed "Lord of Cattle."
Another account (VL i. 3. 7) says that from the union of the



82 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

"Lord of Creatures" (Prajapati) with Usas was born a boy,
Kumara, who cried and demanded to be given names. Then
Prajapati gave him the name Rudra because he had wept
{rud)] and he also called him Sarva ("AH"), Pasupati ("Lord
of Cattle"), Ugra ("the Dread"), Asani ("Lightning"), Bhava
("the Existent"), Mahadeva ("the Great God"), and Isana
("the Ruler"), which are the eight forms of Agni. In slightly
different order the names are given in a passage of the Kausi-
taki Brdhmana (vi. i ff.) as Bhava, Sarva, Pasupati, Ugradeva,
Mahadeva, Rudra, Isana, and Asani; although here the origin
of the being thus named is traced to the joint action of Agni,
Vayu, Aditya, Candramas (the moon), and Usas in the form
of an Apsaras. Yet another account tells of the origin of
Rudra from the deity Manyu ("Wrath"), who alone remained
in Prajapati after all the other gods left him when he was dis-
solved by the effort of creation. This fact explains why Rudra
is so savage and requires to be appeased. He is the cruel one
of the gods, and he is the boar, because the boar is wrath.

There are many other traces of the dread nature of the god.
Thus in the ritual Rudra is so far identified with the Raksases,
Asuras, and fathers that after uttering his name a man must
touch the purifying waters; but, on the other hand, he is dis-
tinguished from them by the fact that his region is the north,
not the south, and that the call used in his service is the svdhd,
which is normal for the gods. While Nabhanedistha, the son
of Manu, was absent from home as a student, his brothers de-
prived him of any share in the paternal estate which they en-
joyed during the lifetime of their father. When he complained
of this to his parent, he was told to go to the Angirases, who
were sacrificing with the object of obtaining heaven, and to
make good his loss by gaining from them a boon for teaching
them the proper recitation on the sixth day. He did so, but,
when he was taking possession of the thousand cattle which
the Angirases gave as the reward, a man in black raiment
(Rudra) claimed the prize to be his own, declaring that whatever



PLATE VII

Kala-Siva

Siva is represented in his dread aspect of Kala
("Time " or *?*? Death "). From a sculpture at Pram-
banan, Java. After a photograph in the Museum
of Fine Arts, Boston.



THE NI-:\V YOUK

PUB-LIC LIBRARY



AvSTOR, LEN""
TILDBiN' l\.-l-
R



THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE BRAHMANAS 83

was left on the place of offering belonged to him. Nabhanedls-
tha returned to his father, only to be told that the claim was
just, though he was also advised how to obtain an abandon-
ment of it in its full extent. Moreover, as we have seen, it
was Rudra who was created from the dread forms of the gods
in order to punish Prajapati when he sinned against the laws
of moral order. Even the gods fear him; as Mahadeva he de-
stroys cattle; and he has wide-mouthed, howling dogs who swal-
low their prey unchewed. He is conceived as separated from
the other gods, and at the end of the sacrifice offering of the
remnants is made to him, while his hosts receive the entrails
of the victim. The Atharvaveda attributes to him as weapons
fever, headache, cough, and poison, although it does not iden-
tify him with these diseases. He seems most dangerous at the
end of the summer, when the rains are about to set in and when
the sudden change of season is most perilous to man and to
beast. It cannot be said, however, that there is any substantial
change in the character of the god from the presentation of it
in the Rgveda, except that his dreadful aspect is now far more
exaggerated. It is certainly not yet possible to hold that a
new deity has been introduced into the conception of Rudra,
whose close association with Agni is asserted at every turn,
Rudra being the fire in its dread form.

In the Yajurveda we find that Rudra has a sister, Ambika,
and we have the assurance of the Satapatha Brdhmana (II. vi.
2. 9) that the name was due to the fact that he is called Try-
ambaka ("Three-Eyed"). It is not until the last period of the
texts of the Brdhmanas {Kena Upanisad, iii. 25) that we find
Uma Haimavati, who is the wife of Siva in the later tradi-
tion; while in the Taittiriya Aranyaka, which is still later,
we find Ambika as a wife, not as a sister, and other names,
such as Durga and Parvati. This, however, is merely another
sign — one of many — of the contemporaneity of the later
portions of the Vedic literature with the development of the
epic mythology, so that in the Asvaldyana Srauta Sutra (IV.



84 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

vili. 19) we find added to Rudra's names those of Siva,
Sankara, Hara, and Mrda, all appellatives of Siva.

In addition to the strong evolution of monotheistic tenden-
cies in the shape of the worship of these three great divinities,
we must note the definite setting up of the Asuras as enemies
to the gods. This trend is a marked change from the point of
view of the Rgveda, where the term "Asura" normally applies
to the gods themselves and where the conflict of the demons
and the gods takes the form of struggles between individual
Asuras and gods rather than between the host of the Asuras and
the gods, both sprung from Prajapati, as the Brdhmanas often
declare. In this phenomenon, coupled with the fact that the
Iranians treated daeva, the word corresponding to the Vedic
deva, "god," as meaning "devil," it is natural to see a result
of hostile relations between the Iranian reformed faith of Zo-
roaster and the older Vedic belief; but the suggestion is insep-
arably bound up with the further question whether or not the
Rgveda and the Brdhmanas show traces of close connexion
with Iran. In support of the theory may be adduced the fact
that the Kavis who are popular in Indian literature are heretics
in the Avesta; while, on the other hand, Kavya Usanas, who
is the purohita of the Asuras in the Pancavimsa Brdhmana
(VII. V. 20) , is famed as Kavi Usan, or Kai Kaus, in Iran.^ Other
Asuras with names possibly borrowed from Iran are Sanda
and Marka (with whom is compared the Avestan mahrka^
"death"), Prahrada Kayadhava, and Srma; but the evidence
is much too feeble to afford any positive conclusion, and the
other explanation of natural development of meaning in both
countries is possible enough, for in the Veda Asura is specially
connected with the word mdyd, "power of illusion," and may
well have denoted one of magic, uncanny power, a sense which
would easily lead to an unfavourable meaning. The degrada-
tion of Asuras from gods to demons was doubtless helped by
the apparent form of the word as a negative of sura, from the
base svar, denoting "light," for by the time of the Upanisads



THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE BRAHMANAS 85

we meet the word sura denoting " a god," derived by this popu-
lar etymology from asura, which is really connected with asu,
"breath."

As regards the individual gods we find a clear change in the
conception of Varuna, who, with Mitra, is now equated in
several places with the night and the day respectively. More-
over in the Atharvaveda and the Brdhmanas there is a distinct
tendency to bring Varuna into close connexion with the waters,
who are his wives, in whom he is said to dwell, and to whom he
is related as Soma to the mountains. His power of punishing
the sinner, furthermore, becomes especially prominent in the
final bath which terminates the sacrificial ceremony as a nor-
mal rule and by which the sacrificers release themselves from
Varuna's noose. At the horse sacrifice this bath takes the
peculiar form that a man is driven deep into the water and then
banished as a scapegoat; and, since the appearance of the scape-
goat is to be similar to that of the god, we learn that Varuna
was in this connexion conceived as bald-headed, white, yellow-
eyed, and leprous. The one festival which is specially his,
the Varunapraghasa, is again one of expiation of sin. Yet
in his relation to the sacrifice Varuna does not appear in any
of the moral splendour of the Rgveda, and he is manifestly
tending, as in the epic, to sink to the level of a god of the
waters, without special ethical quality.

In the other Adityas there is little change; but the number is
now usually either eight or (more often) twelve, which is to
be final for later times, when the term is not as often used
generically in a sense wide enough to cover all the gods, a
use which leads to the epic view that every deity is a child
of Aditi. One enumeration of eight gives Varuna, Mitra, Arya-
man,Bhaga,Amsa, Dhatr, Indra,andVivasvant. The introduc-
tion of Indra is interesting, and the Maitrdyanl Samhitd (H. i.
12) makes him a son of Aditi, but the connexion is not insisted
upon. Mitra decidedly recedes even from the small place
which he holds in the Rgveda, perhaps in accordance with



86 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

Vani^a's loss of position. Aryaman's nature as a wooer and
prototype of wooers is frequently mentioned, and two Arya-
mans occur in one phrase which may suggest a close alliance
with Bhaga, whose character as the deity who gives good for-
tune seems to be definitely implied in a legend of the Satapatha
Brdhmana (I. vii. 4. 6), according to which he is blind. Amsa
and Daksa almost disappear, although the latter is once iden-
tified with Prajapati, and the gods bear the epithet "having
Daksa for father," where his purely abstract character is
clearly seen. Vivasvant, who is several times called an Aditya,
is said to be the father of men.

[Prometheus]

From the Atharvaveda onward there is a distinct develop-
ment of Siirya as the sun-god par excellence, whether under
that name or under that of Aditya; and the Aitareya Brdhmana
(iii. 44) explains that there is no real rising or setting of the
sun, for it always shines, though it reverses its sides, so that
the shining one is now turned to and now from the earth,
whence comes the discrepancy of day and night. The same
Brdhmana is responsible for the view that the distance between
the earth and the heaven is that of a thousand days' journey
by horse, while the Pancavim'sa Brdhmana reduces it to the
height of a thousand cows standing one on top of another, a
mode of reckoning which has modern parallels. Naturally
enough, with the growth of importance of Surya as such
Savitr tends more and more to become the god of instigation,
and his solar character is not marked. Pusan is quite often
mentioned, but his nature is not appreciably altered.

Of the other denizens of the skies Dyaus is more evanescent
than ever, but Dyavaprthivl occupy a fair place in the ritual
and receive frequent shares in the offering. Usas steadily di-
minishes in importance, thus continuing a devolution which
had begun in the R.gveda itself, and no new mythology is made
regarding her. On the other hand, the Asvins are popular
gods, and the references to their activity in the Rgveda are
supplemented by further details, the most remarkable of these



THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE BRAHMANAS 87

stories being that of the rejuvenating of Cyavana, which is
told in the Jaiminlya Brdhmana and elsewhere. The account
of the Satapatha (IV. i. 5) is that when the Bhrgus or Angirases
went to heaven, Cyavana was left behind, old and decrepit.
Saryata Manava came to his place of abode, and the youths
of the tribe mocked the old man, who in revenge brought dis-
cord among the clan; but, when Saryata learned this, he pro-
pitiated the seer by the gift of his daughter Sukanya and hastily
departed to avoid further chance of discord. The Asvins,
however, wandering among men, came upon Sukanya, and after
seeking to win her love, agreed to make her husband young
again if she would tell them of a defect which she alleged in
them. They made Cyavana bathe in a pool whence he emerged
with the age desired, and in return she told them that they were
incomplete because the gods shut them out from the sacrifice.
They accordingly went to the deities, and by restoring the head
of the sacrifice obtained a share in it. The reason for their
exclusion from the sacrifice is interesting and is given re-
peatedly: they wandered too much among men to be pure, a
sign of the growing decline of the physician's standing as a
member of the highest class. Though the Asvins share in the
soma, the special offerings in their honour are surd (a kind of
brandy) and honey, and the Asvina ^astra, which is sung to
them in the Atiratra form of the Soma sacrifice, is recited by
the priest in the posture of a flying bird.

Of the gods of the atmosphere Indra is still in the height of
his power and develops an elaborate mythology in which the
old motives are rehandled. Of the new stories regarding him
the most noteworthy is that of his struggle with Tvastr's
son Visvarupa, whom he slew, and with Vrtra, who was created
by Tvastr from the remains of the soma left undrunk by
Indra. Visvarupa's avenger became very powerful and mas-
tered Agni and Soma, all sciences, all fame, and prosperity;
and gods, men, and fathers brought him food. But Indra at-
tacked Vrtra, and having obtained the aid of Agni and Soma
VI — 7



88 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

by the promise of a share In the cake at the sacrifice, he van-
quished Vrtra, who apparently then became his food. The
story of the death of Visvarupa, the three-headed son of Tvastr,
is variously told, but it is clear that Indra was afraid that this
demon was likely to betray the gods to the Asuras, whence
he cut off his three heads, which turned into different birds.
Nevertheless by this act Indra had been guilty of the sin of
slaying a Brahman, and, since all beings cried out upon him
for his deed, he besought the earth, trees, and women, each of
which took to themselves a third of the blood-stain which had
fallen on the deity. The slaying of Tvastr's son, however, is
only one of the sins of Indra known to the Brdhmanas: it is
said that he insulted his teacher Brhaspati; gave over the
Yatis, who are traditionally sages, to the hyenas; and slew the
Arurmaghas or Arunmukhas, of whom no further data are
recorded. For these sins, according to the Aitareya Brdhmana
(vi. 28), he was excluded by the gods from the soma, and with
him the whole of the warrior race; but later he managed to se-
cure the soma for himself by stealing it from Tvastr, though, if
we may believe one account, he paid dearly for the theft by
being seriously affected by the drink and requiring to be cured
by the Sautrdmanl rite.

Other new features of the Indra myth are the prominent
parts played by other gods in the conflict with Vrtra: the ap-
pearance of Agni and Soma as helpers is paralleled by the stress
laid on the aid of Visnu or of the Maruts. Moreover we hear
now of the consequences of his slaying of the dragon, which
is no longer regarded merely as a triumph. Indra himself flees
to the farthest distance, thinking that he has failed to lay his
opponent low, and all his strength passes from him and en-
ters the water, the trees, the plants, and the earth; or, again,
he feels that he has sinned in his action, which is parallel
to his disgrace for slaying Visvarupa. All the gods save the
Maruts abandon him at the decisive moment; and, when Vrtra
has been struck, it is Vayu who is sent to see if he is really dead.



THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE BRAHMANAS 89

On the other hand, the figures of Trita Aptya, Aparh
Napat, Aja Ekapad, and Ahi Budhnya become fainter and
fainter. Trita naturally leads to the invention of a legend ac-
cording to which there were three brothers, Ekata, Dvita, and
Trita, two of whom threw the third into a well. The gods of
the wind also, Vayu and Vata, remain unchanged, but Matari-
svan assumes the distinct new feature of a wind-god pure and
simple without trace of any connexion with the fire. Parjanya
as the rain is still recognized just as he is in the Buddhist texts,
and we find the importance of the waters duly acknowledged
by the many spells of various kinds devised to secure rain, In
one of which the colour black Is used throughout to resemble the
blackness of the clouds whence the rain must descend. In close
association with the waters stand the frog, which is used in
several cooling rites; the ants, who exact, In return for their
action In gnawing the bow-string which cuts off the head of
Visnu, the privilege of finding water even in the desert; many
plants; and the "Serpent of the Deep," Ahi Budhnya.

The Satarudriya litanies show us the Importance of the nu-
merous Rudras, who must be propitiated no less than Rudra
himself, and give them countless places of origin. They
dwell on earth, as well as In the atmosphere and In the sky,
and vex men on the roads and at sacred places, besides dis-
turbing them in the platters from which they eat. The ritual
of the householder provides that blood is to be offered to them
in all four directions, and they are described sometimes as
snakes and elsewhere as noisy eaters of raw flesh, etc. Despite
their connexion with the great god, they are no more than
imps and trolls, and It Is no high honour for the Maruts to
receive the same name as "the children of Rudra," as they
are called even in the Jigveda. Besides their special associa-
tion with Indra the Maruts now appear regularly as the sub-
jects among the gods, quite like the Vaisyas among men, and
they are said to dwell in the asvattha, or Ficus religiosa, which
is the tree normally found in an Indian village enjoying the



90 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

honour accorded in England to the oak. It may easily be that
it was the kinship of these gods, as the common folk of
heaven, to the Vaisyas of the village that helped the theolo-
gians to locate them there, while the popular imagination could
readily fancy that the storm-gods dwelt in the tree through
which their winds would whistle in time of tempest.

Of the terrestrial divinities Soma has converted himself into
a celestial deity by his definite identification with the moon,
which begins In the latest hymns of the Rgveda and is quite
common in the later VedIc literature; though of course the
plant itself still remains sacred and in a sense is Soma, just as
it was in the earlier period. There are few legends told re-
garding Soma which are of any interest, the most important
being that which concerns the buying of it. It is an essential
part of the ritual that the soma-plant should be represented
as bought; but that the seller should be reprobated, and his
price afterward even taken away from him. In this has been
seen a representation, one of the beginnings of Indian drama, of
the obtaining of the soma from the Gandharvas who, in the
Yajurveda, guard it. The price is a cow, which is, therefore,
called the soma-purchase cow, but in the Brdhmanas It appears
that Vac ("Speech") was the price with which the gods bought
the soma from the Asuras in days gone by, when she lived
with the Asuras, and that the cow is the modern representa-
tive of Vac. The reason why the gods had to purchase soma
with Vac was that the Gandharvas were fond of women and
would, therefore, prefer a woman as a price; but the divinities
parted with Vac only on the distinct secret agreement that
when they desired her she would return again, and she did so.
Hence in this world it is legitimate to repurchase the cow paid
for the soma, though normally a cow so given could not be
taken back again. It may be that the legend contains some
faint indication that it was necessary to buy the plant from the
hill tribes among whom it grew. But if Soma is the moon,
the moon and Soma also are Identified in whole or in part



THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE BRAHMANAS 91

with the demon Vrtra : in one passage (I. vi. 3.17) the Satapatha
Brdhmana divides the dead Vrtra into two parts, one of which
goes to make the moon, and the other (the belly) to trouble
mankind. The conception is also found in the Maitrdyanl
Samhitd (H. vii. , and it is clear proof that terror of the moon
was not unknown to the Indians of the Vedic period. The
moon as Candramas often appears with the sun, and the
Aitareya Brdhmana (viii. 24) — though in a passage which
may be a priestly fiction rather than a genuine belief — states
that the moon is born from the sun. A more important con-
ception, which figures largely in the eschatology of the Upani-
sads, is that the sun is the light of the gods and the moon the
light of the fathers, from which it is an easy step to the doc-
trine that the righteous dead dwell especially in the moon.
On the other hand, in its more primitive sense Soma still figures
as the heavenly drink in the story of his descent to earth, which
is now attributed to the Gayatrl metre; and since this metre
is used at the morning pressing of the soma and is closely as-
sociated with Agni, we thus have a variant of the legend which
is seen in the Rgveda (iv. 27) when Soma is brought down by
the eagle. The Gayatri is shot at by the archer who guards the
soma, and a nail of her left foot, being cut off, becomes a
porcupine, while the goat is born of the fat that drips from the
wound. The other metres, Jagati and Tristubh, failed in the
effort to obtain the soma, being wearied by the long flight to
heaven.

Agni does not change his essential features in the later Vedic
period, but his character is more fully set out. Thus while
the Rgveda mentions only one of the three fires, the Garhapatya,
the later texts name also the Ahavanlya and the Daksinagni;
and the three are brought into conjunction wilh the earth, the
sky, and the atmosphere respectively, besides being associated
with the three categories of men, gods, and fathers, and with
Agni, Siirya, and Vayu. It is a question how far in these equa-
tions we have to see mere priestly schematism: it has been sug-



92 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

gested that in the connexion, which is thus shown, of the
fathers and the wind (Vayu) we have a trace of the concep-
tion (which is certainly not the normal one of this period) that
the fathers live in the wind; and the Narasamsa has been re-
garded as a name of the fire for the fathers. The fire naturally
and inevitably serves to show the establishment of Aryan
civilization, and a famous story of the eastward movement of
the Aryans in the Satapatha Brdhmana (I. iv. i) tells of the
fire which Videgha Mathava ^ and Gotama Rahugana fol-
lowed and which introduced the Aryan beliefs into new lands.
Yet the Brdhmanas show no trace of any evolution of a public
as opposed to a private fire of the king. There is, however, a
new development of Agni, for his numerous aspects are fre-
quently described by epithets, such as "Lord of Vows,"
"Desire," or "the Pure"; and the ritual prescribes different
offerings to these several sides of his nature. This fact lends
plausibility to the view that the origin of Brhaspati ("Lord
of Devotion") lies in a feature of Agni which was developed
more completely into an independent deity. Brhaspati him-
self assumes in this period two of his later characteristics. He
is declared to be "Lord of the Metres," and also "Lord of
Speech" (Vacaspati), which is his prominent aspect in post-
Vedic literature, and he becomes the deity of the constellation
Tisya; while in post-Vedic literature he is the regent of the
planet Jupiter, although the suggestion that he is himself a
planet is inadmissible.^ The worship of the planets does not
appear for certain in any Vedic text, and is clearly set forth
for the first time in the law-book of Yajfiavalkya in the third
century a.d.

Though there is no real increase in the position of the god-
desses in this period, the wives of the gods obtain a definite
part in the ritual. Some importance attaches to Ida, the deity
of the oblation, who is described as the daughter of Manu,
with whom he re-created the world after the deluge, although
she also passes as the child of Mitra and Varuna. Aditi loses



THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE BRAHMANAS 93

anything of mystery which may have been hers in the Rgveda
and is constantly identified with the cow at the sacrifice. Sara-
svatl appears as in the Rgveda, and sacrifices on the banks of
the Sarasvati of special holiness are mentioned in the Brdh-
manas and described at length in the ritual texts. She is also
seen, however, in a new light: when Indra is compelled to resort
to the Sautramani to be cured from the ill efi"ects of drinking
soma, she, together with the Asvins, aids his recovery; and the
fact that her instrument was speech seems to have given rise
to her identity with Vac ("Speech"), as asserted by the
Brdhmanas, as well as to her later elevation to the rank of a
goddess of learning and culture. The prominence of the moon
in the mythology of the time may explain the appearance of the
names Anumati and Raka, Sinlvali and Kuhu as the deities
presiding over the two days of full and new moon respectively.
Of the gods who may be called personifications of abstrac-
tions Tvastr remains active as the creator of the forms of
beings and the causer of the mating of animals. His chief
feature is his enmity with Indra, who steals the soma when
Tvastr seeks to exclude him from it and slays his son Visvarupa
of the three heads, who has been interpreted (though with little
likelihood) as the moon, but who seems to be no more than
proof of the cunning of Tvastr's workmanship. His creation
of Vrtra for vengeance on Indra is likewise a failure. His ulti-
mate fate, as shown by the Kausika Sutra, is to be merged in
the more comprehensive personality of Prajapati, and the
same doom befalls Dhatr, Visvakarman, and Hiranyagarbha.
The Atharvaveda, with that curious mixture of theosophy and
magic which characterizes it, creates some new gods, such
as Rohita ("the Sun"), Kala ("Time"), Skambha (the "Sup-
port" which Prajapati used for fashioning the world), Prana
("Breath"), the Vratya (possibly Rudra under the guise of
non-Brahmanical Aryans), and others. The really important
figures thus created, however, are Kama and Sri. The former,
"Desire," perhaps has its origin in the cosmogonic hymn of



94 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

the Rgveda (x. 129) where Desire is said to be the first seed
of Mind. This god has arrows, and though he is a cosmic power,
he is to reappear as a lesser god in a Sutra and in the epic
period. The other deity is Sri ("Prosperity"), who, as we know
from the Buddhist sculptures, was a prominent divinity in the
following age.

It is a natural sign of growing formalism that the gods should
now be grouped in classes : the eight Vasus (now in connexion
with Agni, not with Indra), the eleven Rudras, and the twelve
Adityas, corresponding to earth, air, and sky respectively.
The Chdndogya Upanisad shows a further progress in adding
two new groups — the Maruts with Soma, and the Sadhyas
with Brahman. The Maruts are now usually distinguished from
the Rudras, although they are still connected with them.

When we pass to the minor deities of the period of the Brdh-
manas, we find a certain development clearly marked in the case
of the Gandharvas and the Apsarases. The solitary Gandharva,
who is only thrice made plural in the J^gveda, is now regularly
transformed into a body of beings who can be placed together
with the gods, the fathers, and the Asuras. Visvavasu, how-
ever, is still frequently mentioned, and appears to have been
conceived as one of the chief guardians of the soma, by whom,
indeed, in one account he was stolen. Soma is, therefore, be-
sought to elude him in the form of an eagle in the Taittiriya
Samhitd (I. ii. 9. i), and the Taittiriya Aranyaka (I. ix. 3)
tells us that Krsanu, the archer who shot at the eagle which
carried the soma to earth, was a Gandharva. Yet in one account
the gods succeed in buying the soma from the Gandharvas
by means of Vac, for the Gandharvas are lovers of women;
with the Apsarases they preside over fertility, and those who
desire ofi'spring pray to them. The Atharvaveda declares them to
be shaggy and half animal in form, though elsewhere they are
called beautiful. The Apsarases now appear in constant con-
junction with water, both in rivers, clouds, lightning, and
stars; while the Satapatha Brdhmana describes them as trans-

[Prometheus]

THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE BRAHMANAS 95

forming themselves into aquatic birds. Yet they have other as-
sociations also. They inhabit trees, especially the banyans
and the sacred fig-tree, in which their lutes and cymbals re-
sound; the Gandharvas live with them in these and other
trees of the fig kind and are asked to bless a wedding proces-
sion as it passes them. Dance, song, play, and dicing are their
sports; but they have a terrible side also, for they cause mad-
ness, so that magic is used against them.

But though the Apsarases are especially the loves of the
Gandharvas, they can be won by mortal man, and among other
names which are famous later are mentioned Menaka, Sakun-
tala (from whom sprang the Bharata race), and Urvasi. The
union of the latter with Pururavas is told in the ^atapatha
Brdhmana (XL v. i). She married him solely on the condition
that she should never see him naked; but the Gandharvas,
envying the mortal the enjoyment of her society, devised a
stratagem which made Pururavas spring from his couch beside
Urvasi in such haste that he deemed it delay that he should put
his mantle round him. Urvasi sees him illuminated in a flash
of lightning and vanishes; but he seeks her all over the earth
— a theme which is developed in detail in Kalidasa's famous
drama — and finds her at last swimming in a lotus lake with
other Apsarases in swan-shape. Urvasi reveals herself to him
and consents to receive him for one night a year later; and
when he returns at the appointed time, he learns from her
how to secure from the Gandharvas the secret of ritual by
which he himself becomes one of their number.

The Rbhus show no such change of nature; and though
they are more clearly brought into connexion with the Rtus,
or Seasons, than in the ^gveda, they are still regarded as being
not really of pure divinity, but akin to mankind, and as re-
ceiving only with difficulty a share in the draughts of soma
which are reserved for the gods proper. On the other hand, we
have, especially in the Sutras which represent the last stage
of the Vedic religion, constant references to many other minor



96 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

spirits, of whom Vastospati ("the Lord of the House"), Kset-
rasya Pati ("the Lord of the Field") Slta ("the Furrow"), and
Urvara ("the Ploughed Field") are the natural divinities of a
villager. Yet the place of plants and trees is still very slight,
though the Atharvaveda uses plants freely for medicinal and
magic purposes and ascribes a divine character to them, and
the blessing of trees is, as we have seen, sought in the mar-
riage ritual, while offerings are made both to trees and to plants.
In the Buddhist scriptures and stories special prominence is,
on the other hand, given to tales of divinities of plants, trees,
and forest. A distinct innovation is the direct worship of ser-
pents, who are classified as belonging to earth, sky, and at-
mosphere, and who doubtless now include real reptiles as well
as the snake or dragon of the atmosphere, which is found in the
Rgveda. The danger from snakes in India is sufficient to explain
the rise of the new side of the ritual: the offerings made to
them, often of blood, are to propitiate them and reduce their
destructive power, and Buddhism is also supplied with charms
against them. Isolated in comparison with the references to
the snakes are those to other vermin, such as worms or the
king of the mice or ants, all of which occasionally receive offer-
ings. A serpent-queen appears as early as the Brdhmanas and
is naturally enough identified by speculation with the earth,
which is the home of the snakes. Not until the Asvaldyana
Grhya Sutra (II. iv. i), however, do we hear in the Vedic religion
of the Nagas ("Serpents"), who are prominent in the epic.
A new form of being in the shape of the man-tiger is also found,
but not the man-lion. The boar is mentioned in cosmogonic
myths as the form assumed by Prajapati, who is also brought
into conjunction with the tortoise as the lord of the waters.
The cow is now definitely divine and is worshipped, but she
is also regarded as identical with Aditi and Ida. Tarksya,
the sun-horse, is named here and there, and Aristanemi, who
occurs in connexion with him, is a precursor of Aristanemi as
one of the Tirthakaras of the Jains.



THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE BRAHMANAS 97

Many other spirits of dubious character and origin are also
found, among whom Nirrti ("Decease") is the most promi-
nent: sacrifice is frequently made to her, and black is the colour
appropriate for use in such offerings; while dice, women, and
sleep, as evil things, are brought into association with her.
At the royal consecration the wife who has been degraded in
position is regarded as her representative, and in the house
of such a woman the offering to Nirrti is made. Other deities are
much less important and appear chiefly in the Sutras^ which
show their connexion with the life of the people. Thus the
Sdnkhdyana Grhya Sutra (ii. 14) describes an offering which,
besides the leading gods, enumerates such persons as Dhatr,
Vidhatr, Bharata, Sarvannabhuti, Dhanapati, Sri, the night-
walkers, and the day-walkers. The Kausika Sutra (Ivi. 13)
names Udankya, Sulvana, Satrurhjaya, Ksatrana, Mar-
tyumjaya, Martyava, Aghora, Taksaka, Vaisaleya, HahahGhu,
two Gandharvas, and others. The "Furrow," Sita, is replaced
by the four, Sita, Asa, Arada, Anagha; and so on. We even
find the names of Kubera,* the later lord of wealth, and
Vasuki, the later king of snakes, but only in Sutras and, there-
fore, in a period later than that of the Brdhmanas proper.
They serve, however, to show how full of semi-divine figures
was the ordinary life of the people, who saw a deity in each
possible form of action. Naturally, too, they regarded as divine
the plough and the ploughshare and the drum, just as in the
Ilgveda, and the ritual is full of the use of symbols, such as
the wheel of the sun, the gold plate which represents the sun,
and the like.

In the world of demons the chief change in the Brdhmanas
is the formal separation of Asuras and gods. Vrtra, whose
legend is developed, remains the chief Asura; but the story of
Namuci is also elaborated, stress being laid on the use of lead
in the ritual, apparently to represent the weapon (the foam
of the sea) with which Indra destroyed him when he had under-
taken to slay him neither with wet nor with dry. The myth of



98 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

Vala is distinctly thrust to the background, though the epic
constantly celebrates the slayer of Vala and Vrtra; Susna
now appears as a Danava who was in possession of the
soma. The Raksases are the more prominent fiends: they
are dangerous to women during pregnancy; in the shape of
dog or ape they attack women; they prowl round the bride
at the wedding, so that little staves are shot at their eyes.
Often, though human in figure, they are deformed, three-
headed, five-footed, four-eyed, fingerless, bear-necked, and
with horns on their hands. They are both male and female;
they have kings and are mortal. They enter man by the
mouth when he is eating or drinking; they cause mad-
ness; they surround houses at night, braying like donkeys,
laughing aloud, and drinking out of skulls. They eat the flesh
of men and horses and drink the milk of cows by their magic
power as ydtudhdnas, or wizards. Their time is the coming of
night, especially at the dark period of new moon; but in the
east they have no power, for the rising sun dispels them. The
Pisacas are now added to the numbers of demons as a regular
tribe: they eat the corpses of the dead; they make the living
waste away and dwell in the water of the villages. Magic
is used both against Pisacas and against Raksases, the latter
of whom are especial enemies of the sacrifice, and against whom
magic circles, fire, and imprecations of all kinds are employed.
More abstract are the Aratis, or personifications of illiberality.
Other spirits, like Arbudi in the Atharvaveda, can be made to
help against an enemy in battle. A few individual names of
demons are new, and although Makha, Araru, Sanda, and
Marka (the Asuras' purohitas) are all ancient, a vast number
are added by the Grhya Sutras — Upavira, Saundikeya,
Ulukhala, Malimluca, Dronasa, Cyavana, Alikhant, Animisa,
Kimvadanta, Upasruti, Haryaksa, Kumbhin, Kurkura, and
so forth. None of these has individual character: the spirits
of evil which surround human beings at every moment, and
particularly at times like marriage, child-birth, the leaving of a



THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE BRAHMANAS 99

spiritual teacher, sickness, and disease, are of innumerable
names and forms, and the prudent man mentions all he can.

The sages of the Rgveda are, on the whole, treated more
and more as mere men in subsequent literature and their myth-
ology shows little development. Nevertheless, Manu, the son
of Vivasvant, who is the hero of the tale of the deluge, is a
prominent figure throughout the entire period. One day, as
he was washing his hands, a small fish happened to be in the
water, and at its request he spared its life in return for a prom-
ise to save him in the flood which the fish predicted. In due
course the fish which Manu carefully brought up, first in a ves-
sel and then in a trench, grew great and was allowed to go
back to the sea, after warning its benefactor to build himself
a ship. In course of time the flood came, and Manu made a
ship which the fish dragged until it rested on the northern
mountain, whereupon the flood gradually subsided, and Manu,
going down from the heights, with Ida, the personification of
the sacrifice, renewed the human race. Manu now counts also
as the first lawgiver, for whatever he said was, we are
told, medicine. Atri likewise remains famous for his conflict
with the Asura Svarbhanu who eclipses the sun, while the
Angirases and the Adityas are distinguished by their ritual
disputes, in which, however, the Adityas win the day and first
attain heaven.

In the world of the dead Yama is still king, and we hear of
his golden-eyed and iron-hoofed steeds; but he is also duplicated
or triplicated by the abstract forms of Antaka ("the Ender"),
Mrtyu ("Death"), and Nirrti ("Decease"), which are placed
beside him; and Mrtyu becomes his messenger. The heaven
in which the virtuous dead rest is depicted in the same colours
as in the Rgveda: it is made clear that in it men reunite with
wives and children, and that abundance of joy reigns there.
Streams of ghee, milk, honey, and wine abound; and bright,
many-coloured cows yield all desires. There are neither rich
nor poor, powerful nor downtrodden; and the joys of the blest



956'4j)(^^



lOO INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

are a hundred times greater than the joys of earth. Those who
sacrifice properly are rewarded by unity with and identity of
abode with the sun, Agni, Vayu, Indra, Varuna, Brhaspati,
Prajapati, and Brahma, though this identification is common
only in the later Brdhmanas. On the other hand, we hear now of
hell: the Atharvaveda tells of it as the Naraka Loka (in con-
trast with the Svarga Loka, the place of Yama), the abode of
female goblins and sorceresses, the place of blind or black
darkness. It is described in slight detail in its horror in that
Veda (v. 19) and fully in the Saiapatha Brdhmana (XI. vi. i),
where Bhrgu, son of Varuna, sees a vision of men cutting up
men and men eating men. The same idea, which is clearly one
of retribution in the next world for actions in this, is paralleled
in the Kausltaki Brdhmana (xi. 3), where we learn that the
animals which man eats in this world will devour him in
yonder world if he has not a certain saving knowledge, though
how the reward or the penalty is accorded does not clearly ap-
pear. The Satapatha Brdhmana (VI. ii. 2. 27; X. vi. 3. i)
holds that all are born again in the next world and are rewarded
according to their deeds, whether good or bad; but no state-
ment is made as to who is to decide the quality of the acts.
In the Taittirlya Aranyaka (VI. v. 16) the good and the un-
truthful are said to be separated before Yama, though there is
no suggestion that he acts as judge; but the Satapatha (XL ii.
7. 33) introduces another mode of testing, namely, weighing
in a balance, though by whom the man is weighed is not de-
clared. Possibly this is a reference to some kind of ordeal.

In the Upanisads and in the legal text-books we find a new
conception — that of rebirth after death in the present, not
in yonder, world. It has no clear predecessor in the Brdhmanas
proper, but it is hinted at in the doctrine of the later Brdh-
manas that after death a man may yet die over and over again,
from which the doctrine of metempsychosis is an easy step;
while a further idea, also with some amount of preparation in
the Satapatha Brdhmana, regards the man who attains true



'in:. 3r.v ii-:iiv

PUI>LIC LIBFtARY



ASTin. LBNOX AND




(a)



PLATE VIII

A AND B

Tortures of Hell

Yudhisthira, the only one of the Pandavas to attain
alive to heaven, was submitted to a final test before
being permitted to join his brothers and the other
heroes of old. Through illusion he was caused to see
the tortures of the damned, for " hell must necessarily
be seen by all kings" {Mahabharata^ xviii. 27 ff.).
Passing through the repellent horrors of decay,
Yudhisthira stands aghast at the torments which he
beholds. Christian influence is evident in the use
of crucifixion as a punishment, and also in the figure
of the hero's guide, the messenger of the gods.
From a painting in the Jaipur manuscript of the
Kavcmnamah (a Persian abridgement of the Maha-
hharatd). After Hendley, Memorials of the feypore
Exhibition, iv. Plates CXXXII, CXXXIII.




(b)



VS'I ^'^"^^









THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE BRAHMANAS loi

knowledge of the nature of the Absolute as thereby winning
freedom from rebirth, and union at death with the Absolute.
These teachings are mingled in the Upanisads with the older
tenet of recompense in heaven and hell, and a conglomerate is
evoked which presents itself in the shape that those souls
which do not attain full illumination (or even all souls) go
after death to the moon, whence some proceed eventually to
Brahma, while others are requited in the moon and then are
born again, thus undergoing in each case a double reward.
One version, that of the Brhaddranyaka Upanisad (vi. 2),
refers to the existence of a third place for the evil. Later
this is rendered needless by the conception that the rebirth
is into a good or a bad form, as a Brahman, warrior, or house-
holder, or as a dog, pig, or Candala (member of the lowest
caste). The third place mentioned in the Chdndogya Upanisad
(v. 10) now becomes entirely meaningless, but that does not
prevent its retention. A new eflFort to unite all the views is
presented by the Kausltaki Upanisad (i. 2), which sends all
souls to the moon and then allows some to go by the path of
the gods to Brahma; while the others, who have been proved
wanting, return to earth in such form as befits their merit,
either as a worm, or fly, or fish, or bird, or lion, or boar, or
tiger, or serpent, or man, or something else. The law-books
show the same mixture of ideas, for, while heaven and hell are
often referred to as reward and punishment, they also allude
to the fact of rebirth. The intention is that a man first enjoys
a reward for his action in heaven, and then, since he must be
reborn, he is reincarnated in a comparatively favourable posi-
tion; while in the other instance after punishment in hell he
is further penalized by being born in a low form of life.

The fathers with Yama are, no doubt, conceived as in heaven,
but we hear also of fathers in the earth, atmosphere, and sky,
and various classes are known, such as the Umas, Urvas, and
Kavyas. The belief that the fathers are to be found in all three
worlds is natural enough as regards earth and heaven, and the



I02 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

souls of the dead In other mythologies are often connected
with the winds. In the Veda the only other reference to this
which presents itself is the possibility that the Maruts may
be the souls of the dead, regarded as riding in the storm-
winds, but for this there Is no clear evidence. A group of the
fathers, the "Seven Seers," is Identified with the stars of the
Bear, doubtless for no better reason than the similarity of
Tsi, "seer," and rksa, "bear," although from time to time the
idea occurs that the souls of the pious are the stars in heaven.



CHAPTER IV
THE GREAT GODS OF THE EPIC

IN the epic we find in developed and elaborate form a con-
ception which is entirely or at least mainly lacking in the
Vedic period, a doctrine of ages of the world which has both
striking points of contrast with and affinity to the idea of the
four ages set forth in Hesiod. In the Greek version, however,
the four ages are naively and simply considered as accounting
for all time,^ while in the Indian they are only the form in
which the Absolute reveals Itself, this revelation being followed
by a period of reabsorption, after which the ages again come
into being. In the process of evolution the first, or Krta, age
is preceded by a dawn of four hundred years and closes in a
twilight of equal duration, while its own length is four thousand
years. ^ This is the golden age of the world, in which all is
perfect. Neither gods nor demons of any kind yet exist, and
sacrifices are unknown, even bloodless offerings. The Vedas
themselves have no existence, and all human infirmities, such
as disease, pride, hatred, and lack of mental power, are absent.
None the less, the four castes — the priest, the warrior, the
husbandman, and the serf — come into being with their special
marks and characteristics, though this diff'erentiation is modi-
fied by the fact that they have but one god to worship, one
Veda to follow, and one rule. In this age men do not seek the
fruit of action, and accordingly they are rewarded by ob-
taining salvation through absorption in the absolute. On the
twilight of the Krta age follows the dawn of the Treta, which
lasts for three hundred years, while the age itself continues three
thousand and ends in a twilight of three hundred years. In




Fig. 2. The Churning of the Ocean

The gods (Siva, Visnu, and Brahma) stand to the left of Mount Mandara, which rests
on a tortoise (Visnu himself in his Kurma, or Tortoise, avatar); to the right are the
demons; and with the serpent Vasuki as the cord the two opposing sides twirl the
mountain to churn the ambrosia from the ocean of milk. In the lower part of the picture
are the various "gems" incidentally won in gaining the amrta. After Moor, Hindu
Pantheon, Plate XLIX.

[Prometheus]

THE GREAT GODS OF THE EPIC 105

this epoch virtue declines by a quarter from its full perfection
in the golden age. Sacrifices come into existence, and with
sacrifices the attaining of salvation, not as before by mere
meditation and renunciation, but by the positive actions of
offering and generosity. Moreover, duty is still strictly per-
formed, and asceticism is normally practised. In the next age,
the Dvapara, the bull of justice stands on two feet only, for
another quarter of virtue has departed. The Vedas are multi-
plied to four, yet many men remain ignorant of them alto-
gether or know but one or two or three. Ceremonies increase,
and treatises on duty multiply, but disease and sin grow rife,
and sacrifice and asceticism alike are performed not, as for-
merly, disinterestedly, but in hope of gain. It is in this age
that the need for marriage laws first makes itself felt, and the
dawn and twilight alike shrink to two hundred years, while
the age itself is reduced to two thousand. A dawn of only a
hundred years serves to introduce the Kali and worst of the
ages, when virtue has but one leg to stand upon, when religion
disappears, when the Vedas are ignored, when distress pre-
vails, and when the confusion of the castes begins. But the
age lasts only a thousand years, and its brief twilight of a hun-
dred years is a prelude to the absorption of all in the Absolute
Spirit. Seven suns appear in the heaven, and what they do not
burn is consumed by Visnu in the form of a great fire, the de-
struction being made complete by a flood. A new Krta age
cannot commence to dawn before the lapse of a period equal to
the thousandfold repetition of the total of the ages, that is,
twelve million years. In this complete reabsorption the gods
no less than men are Involved, to be reborn again in the course
of the ages.

The doctrine of the ages is only an emphatic assertion of the
idea which underlies all the mythology of the epic, that the
gods themselves are no longer independent eternal entitles,
but, however glorious and however honoured, are still, like
man, subject to a stronger power. Indeed, In the epic the



io6 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

gods are chiefly conspicuous by reason of their impotence to
intervene in the affairs of men: with the exception of Visnu
they can merely applaud the combatants and cannot aid or
succour them, in strange contrast with the gods of Homer.
There are real gods, however, as well as phantoms, and their
existence is clearly revealed to us in the legend of the churning
of the ambrosia which is preserved in the Rdmdyana (i. 45;
vii. i) and, in a more confused and fragmentary form, in the
Mahdbhdrata. The gods and Asuras were sprung from one
father, Kasyapa Marica, who married the daughters of Daksa
Prajapati, the gods being the children of Aditi, while the
Asuras (the children of Diti) were the older. They lived in
happiness in the Krta age, but being seized with the desire to
attain immortality and freedom from old age and sickness,
they decided that they should seek the ambrosia which was
to be won by churning the milky ocean, and accordingly they
set about this task by making the serpent Vasuki the churning
rope and Mount Mandara the churning stick. For a thousand
years they churned, and the hundred heads of Vasuki, spitting
venom, bit the rocks, whence sprang the deadly poison called
Halahala, which began to burn all creation, gods, men, and
Asuras alike. They fled to Rudra, "the Lord of Cattle,"
"the Healer" (Sankara), and at the request of Visnu, who
hailed him as chief of the gods, he drank the poison as though
it were the ambrosia. The churning then proceeded, but Mount
Mandara slipped into hell. To remedy the disaster Visnu lay
in the ocean with the mountain on his back, and Kesava pro-
ceeded to churn the ocean, grasping the top of Mandara with
his hand. After a thousand years there appeared the skilled
physician Dhanvantari, then the Apsarases, who were treated
as common property by the gods and the Asuras, and next
Varuna's daughter. Sura, whom the sons of Aditi married, thus
attaining the name of Sura, while those of Diti declined to
marry, whence their name of Asura (here popularly etymolo-
gized as "Without Sura"). Then came out the best of horses,



THE GREAT GODS OF THE EPIC 107

Uccalhsravas, and the pearl of gems, Kaustubha, and the am-
brosia itself. But over it strife arose between the half-brothers,
so that in the end Visnu by his magic power {mdya) secured
the victory of the gods and bestowed upon Indra the sover-
eignty of the three worlds.

Such in essence is the attitude of the epic to the Vedic gods,
who appear as feeble creatures, unable to overpower the Asuras
or to effect their purpose of winning immortality by the use of
the ambrosia until they are aided by Siva and Visnu, though
in the genealogy these two are no more divine than the others.
Indra himself who, as the god of the warrior, might have been
expected to retain some degree of real authority, can hold his
position only by the favour of Visnu and can exercise his
shadowy sway merely as a vicegerent. Beside Siva and Visnu
no Vedic god takes equal rank, and the only power which
can for a moment be compared with these two deities Is
Brahma, the personal form of the absolute Brahman, a god,
that is to say, of priestly origin and one who could never have
any real hold on the mythological instinct. Visnu and Siva,
on the contrary, were too real and popular to sink into the
deities of priestly speculation, and round them gathers an
evergrowing body of tales.

It is characteristic of the feeble personality of Brahma
that he finds a connexion with the classes of the gods only
through identification with Tvastr, who counts as one of the
twelve Adityas, the narrower group of the children of Aditi
and Kasyapa Prajapati. In reality, however, he Is a personifica-
tion of the abstract Absolute which is often described In the
Mahdhhdrata. It is eternal, self-existing, invisible, unborn,
unchanging, imperishable, without beginning or end; from it
all is sprung, and It is embodied in the whole universe; yet in
itself it has no characteristics, no qualities, and no contrasts.
As all springs from It, so Into It all Is resolved at the end of the
four ages. Thus it can be identified with Time and with Death,
both of which, like Itself, absorb all things and bring them to



io8 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

nothingness. Into the Brahman the Individual self may be
resolved when it casts aside even the apprehension of its own
Identity with the Brahman, abandons all resolves of body or
mind, and frees Itself from every attachment to objects of
sense. When a man withdraws all his desires as a tortoise all
its limbs, then the self sees the self in Itself; when a man fears
no one and, when none fear him, when he desires nothing and
has no hatred, then he attains the Absolute. Personified as
Brahma, the Absolute appears as a creator, as PrajapatI, the
maker of the worlds, the grandfather of the worlds. He creates
the gods, seers, fathers, and men, the worlds, rivers, oceans,
rocks, trees, etc. In other passages he created first the Brah-
mans called Prajapatis — endowed with radiance like the sun —
truth, law, penance, and the eternal Brahman, customs, puri-
fications, the Devas, Danavas, Gandharvas, Daityas, Asuras,
Mahoragas, Yaksas, Raksasas, Nagas, Pisacas, and the four
castes of men. It is characteristic that the Brahman is here
created by the personal Brahma who is sprung from Itself.
Brahma also appears as only one — and that the highest — of
the Prajapatis, and elsewhere we find an enumeration of
seven Prajapatis who are called his spiritual sons, Marici,
Atri, Anglras, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu, and Vaslstha, even
longer lists being given elsewhere.

Beyond this creative power mythology has little to say of
Brahma. Above heaven lie his beautiful worlds, and his as-
sembly hall stands on Mount Meru. Yet, as accords with one
who created the world by virtue of his magic power of Illusion,
the form of his palace is such that it cannot be described:
neither cold nor hot, it appears to be made of many brilliant
gems, but It does not rest upon columns; it surpasses In
splendour the moon, the sun, and fire, and In it the creator
ever dwells. Brahma's wife Is Savltri, and swans are harnessed
to his chariot, which is swift as thought. His altar Is called
Samantapaficaka, and It was from a great sacrifice which he
performed on the top of Mount Himavant (roughly to be Iden-



THE GREAT GODS OF THE EPIC 109

tified with the Himalayas) that there came into being a crea-
ture with the colour of the blue lotus, with sharp teeth and
slender waist, of enormous strength, at whose birth the earth
trembled, and the ocean rose in great waves. This being was
Asi ("the Sword"), born to protect the gods, and it was given
to Rudra by Brahma. Rudra handed it on to Visnu, and he to
Marici, whence it came to the seers, from them to Vasava and
the world guardians, and then to Manu in the shape of the law.

As contrasted with the Vedic gods Brahma shows some of
the features of the greatness of a creator. Thus in time of
distress the gods are apt to turn to him and to seek his advice,
but he yields in importance to the two great gods, Siva and
Visnu, even though here and there in the Mahdbhdrata phrases
occur which suggest that these gods owed their origin to him,
or rather to the Absolute, of which he is the personal form.
When worshipped as the greatest of gods, he himself responds
by adoration of Visnu, who, though sprung from the Brahman,
has created him as a factor in the process of world creation;
and it is stated that Brahma was born from the lotus which came
into being on the navel of Visnu as he lay sunk in musing.
Once only in the epic is the doctrine of a triad of Brahma,
Visnu, and Siva laid down in a passage of the Mahdbhdrata
(iii. 18524), where it is said: "In the form of Brahma he creates;
his human form [i.e. Visnu] preserves; in his form as Rudra
[i.e. Siva] will he destroy; these are the three conditions of
Prajapati." This view, however, is foreign to the epic as a
whole and to the Rdmdyana, and the creator-god is at most
regarded as one of the forms of the two great sectarian divinities.

It accords well with the faded position of the creator-god
that the account of Indian religion which we owe to the Greek
writer Megasthenes (about 300 b.c.) makes no mention of him
as a great god, even when it tells us of two deities who are
identified with Dionysos and Herakles and in whom we must
recognize Siva and Visnu, rather than, as has also been sug-
gested, Visnu and Siva, though the possibility of the double



no INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

identification reminds us that there is much in common in the
two Indian as in the two Greek gods themselves. The divinity
whom Megasthenes calls Dionysos was at home where the vine
flourished in the Asvaka country, north of the Kabul river,
in the north-west country north of Delhi, and further north
in Kasmir; and his worship also extended east to Bihar and
even as far as Kalinga in the south-east, and was prevalent
round Gokarna in the west. Herakles again was worshipped
in the Ganges valley and had as chief seats of his cult the towns
of Methora and Kleisobora, in which have been seen (doubt-
less rightly) Mathura and the city of Krsna, both on the
Jumna, the former being the capital of the Yadavas, among
whom Krsna ranked as hero and god. Consistent with this is
the fact that Megasthenes ascribes to Herakles a daughter
Pandale, for this accords with history, since the Pandyas of
southern India, whose connexion with the Pandavas of the epic
was recognized, were worshippers of Krsna, and In their coun-
try a second Mathura is found.

In the epic Siva, the ten-armed, dwells on the holy Himavant,
on the north side of Mount Meru, In a lovely wood, ever full of
flowers and surrounded by divine beings; or, again, he lives on
Mount Mandara. He is said to be born of Brahma, but also
from the forehead of Visnu. His hair flashes like the sun, and
he has four faces which came into being when he was tempted
by Tllottama, a beautiful nymph created by Brahma from all
that was most precious In the world. As she walked round the
great god, a beautiful countenance appeared on each side: of
the four, those facing east, north, and west are mild, but that
which faces south Is harsh; with that which faces east he rules,
with that which faces north he rejoices in the company of his
wife Uma; that which faces west is mild and delights all beings,
but that which faces south is terrible and destructive. He has
three eyes which shine like three suns, while, again, it is said
that the sun, moon, and fire are his three eyes. His third eye
he owes to the playful act of Uma. One day In jest she suddenly



THE GREAT GODS OF THE EPIC iii

placed her hands over his eyes, whereupon the world was
plunged in utter darkness, men trembled from fear, and all
life seemed to be extinct, so that, to save the world, a third
eye flamed forth on the god's forehead. His neck is blue, whence
his name Nilakantha, either because in the churning of the
ocean he swallowed the poison produced by the biting of the
rocks by the teeth of the serpent Vasuki when he was being
used as the churning string, or because Indra hurled his thun-
derbolt at him, or because he was bitten by the snake which
sprang from Usanas's hair.

Siva is clothed in skins, especially those of the tiger; but his
garments are also described as white, while his wreaths, his
sacred cord, his banner, and his bull are all said to be white,
and on his head he bears the moon as his diadem. His steed is
his white bull, which serves likewise as his banner and which,
according to one legend, was given to Siva by Daksa, the divine
sage; it has broad shoulders, sleek sides, a black tail, a thick
neck, horns hard as adamant, and a hump Hke the top of a
snowy mountain. It is adorned with a golden girth, and on its
back the god of gods sits with Uma. Siva's weapons are the
spear — named Pasupata because of his own title of Pasupati,
or "Lord of Creatures" — the bow Pinaka, the battle-axe, and
the trident. With the spear he killed all the Daityas in battle
and with it he destroys the world at the end of the ages; it is
the weapon which he gave to the heroic Arjuna after his con-
test with him. It was with his axe, which he gave to Rama,
that Parasu-Rama ("Rama of the Axe") annihilated the race
of warriors. His bow is coloured like the rainbow and is a
mighty serpent with seven heads, sharp and very poisonous
teeth, and a large body; and the weapon never leaves his
hand. The trident served to slay king Mandhatr and all his
hosts; it has three sharp points, and from it Siva derives his
names of Sulin, Sulapani, and Suladhara ("Owner of the
Spear," "With the Spear in his Hand," and "Spear-Holding").

As a ruler over Mount Himavant Siva is rich in gold and is



112 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

hailed as a lord of gold, wearing mail of gold, and golden-
crested, and is a close friend of Kubera, lord of treasures.

The names of Siva are countless and his shapes many: of the
former now one thousand and eight, now one thousand, are
mentioned, but names and forms alike simply illustrate either
the mild or the terrible aspect of his nature. The terrible
form is declared to be fire, lightning, and the sun; the mild
form is Dharma (or "Justice"), water, and the moon; or,
again, the terrible form is fire, and the mild is Soma as the
moon. His sovereign power gives him the name Mahesvara
("the Great Lord"); his greatness and omnipotence cause him
to be styled Mahadeva ("the Great God"); and his fierceness,
which leads him to devour flesh, blood, and marrow, is the
origin of the name Rudra; while his desire to confer blessings
on all men makes him to be termed "the Auspicious" (Siva),
or "the Healer" (Sahkara). As the devastating power which
finally destroys the universe he is Hara ("the Sweeper Away"
of all beings). Moreover he sends disease and death; the
deadly fever is his deputy, and he is actually personified as
death and disease, destroying the good and the bad alike.
As Kala ("Time") he is lord of the whole world, and as Kala
("Death") he visits impartially the young, children, the old,
and even those yet unborn. As Kala he is the beginning of the
worlds, and the destroyer; on the instigation of Kala everything
is done, and all is animated by Kala. He created the whole
world indeed, but at the end of the ages he draws it in and
swallows it; yet all that is thus absorbed is born again, save
only the wise who understand the origin and disappearance of
all things and so attain full union with him. He is the "Lord
of Creatures" (Pasupati), a term not merely denoting "the
Lord of Cattle" as a pastoral deity, but signifying also the com-
plete dependence of all human souls upon him.

Other epithets which proclaim his might are Isana ("the
Ruler"), Isvara ("the Lord"), Visvesvara ("the Lord of All"),
Sthanu ("the Immovable"), and Vrsa ("the Bull"), a name



THE GREAT GODS OF THE EPIC 113

which is also significant of the close connexion and partial iden-
tification of the god with the beast which he rides. The terrible
aspect of his character is likewise reflected in the nature of his
appearance: his ears are not merely large, but are shaped like
spears or pegs (sankti), or basins (kumbha); his eyes and ears
are frightful; his mouth is mis-shapen, his tongue is like a
sword, and his teeth are both large and very sharp.

On the other hand, in his mild form as Siva or Sankara, he
is friendly to all beings, bears a mild countenance, and re-
joices over the welfare of men. He is gay and is fond of music,
song, and dance; indeed, he is said to imitate the noise of the
drum with his mouth and to be skilled in song and dancing and
music, arts to which his followers are also addicted.

In the Mahdbhdrata (xiii. 7506) part of his mild form Is
reckoned to be his practice of the asceticism of a brahmacdririy
or chaste Brahmanical scholar, but his self-mortification is
distinctly of the horrible type and sets an example for the
worst excesses of the Indian fakir. The most fit place for
sacrifice which he can find in his wanderings over all the earth
is none other than the burning ghat, and he is believed to be
fond of ashes from the funeral pyre and to bear a skull in his
hand. He lives in burning ghats, goes either shaved or with
uncombed hair, is clothed in bark or skins, and is said not only
to have stood on one foot for a thousand years, but also to
endure heavy penances on Mount Himavant. All this is done
for the good of the world, but it affords a precedent for the
most painful renunciation and the most appalling austerities,
features which endear Siva to the Brahman as the ideal of the
true yogin, or ascetic.

It is characteristic of the god that the tales of him dwell
rather on his power than on his gentleness, although there is a
striking exception in a legend told in the Mahdbhdrata (xii.
5675 if.) which shows both Siva and his consort in a tender light.
After a long time a Brahman had been blessed with a son, but
the child soon died and was carried to the burning place. A

[Prometheus]

114 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

vulture, attracted by the lamentations of the relatives, bade
them depart, saying that no useful purpose would be served by
their staying, since all must die; but just as they were prepar-
ing to follow his advice, a black jackal appeared, and declaring
that the child might perhaps revive, asked them if they had
no love for it. They went back, and while the two animals con-
tinued their dispute Sankara, instigated by Uma, appeared
on the scene with eyes full of tears of pity, and as a boon be-
stowed on the child a hundred years of life, rewarding the
vulture and the jackal as well. In striking contrast with this
is the famous tale of Daksa's sacrifice. At the end of the Krta
Yuga the gods sought to perform a sacrifice and prepared it
in accordance with the prescriptions of the Vedas, while Praja-
pati Daksa, a son of Pracetas, undertook the ofi"ering and per-
formed it on Himavant at the very place where the Ganges
bursts forth from the mountains. The gods themselves de-
cided how the sacrifice was to be apportioned, but as they did
not know Rudra well they left him without a share. In anger
Rudra went to the place of offering, bearing his bow, and
straightway the mountains began to shake, the wind ceased to
blow, and the fire to burn, the stars quenched their light in
fear, the glory of the sun and the beauty of the moon departed,
and thick darkness filled the air. Siva shot right through the
sacrifice, which took the shape of a hart and sought refuge in
heaven together with Agni; in his wrath he broke the arms of
Savitr and the teeth of Pusan, and tore out the eyes of Bhaga.
The gods hastily fled with the remains of the preparations for
the sacrifice, pursued by Siva's mocking laughter. The string
of his bow, however, was rent by a word spoken by the gods,
and the deities then sought him and strove to propitiate him.
Mahadeva suffered his anger to be appeased, hurled his bow
into the sea, and restored to Bhaga his eyes, to Savitr his arms,
and to Pusan his teeth, and in return received the melted butter
as his share of the offering. Such is the tale in its simplest form
{Mahdbhdrata, x. 786 ff.), but it is a favourite theme of the



THE GREAT GODS OF THE EPIC 115

priests and is related elsewhere with differing details, while
both epics often refer to it.

Not only was Siva wedded to Uma, the younger daughter
of Himavant, but he was fated to be connected with her elder
sister Gahga, the sacred Ganges. King Sagara of Ayodhya
(the modern Oudh) sought to perform a horse sacrifice as sym-
bol of his imperial sway; but the horse was stolen, and his sixty
thousand sons sought for it. In their wanderings they came
upon the sage Kapila, whom they unwisely accused of having
been the thief, whereupon in just anger he transformed them
into ashes. Kapila was really Visnu, who had undertaken the
duty of punishing the sons of Sagara for piercing the earth
in their efforts to find the horse which Indra had taken away.
When the sons did not return, Sagara sent his grandson by
his first wife, KesinI, to seek them, and he discovered their
ashes; but, just as he was about to sprinkle them with water
as the last funeral rites, he was told by Suparna that he must
use the waters of the Ganges. He returned with the horse, thus
enabling Sagara to complete his sacrifice, but the king died after
a reign of thirty thousand years without having succeeded in
his quest for the water. His grandson and great-grandson like-
wise failed to accomplish the task, but his great-great-grandson
Bhaglratha by his asceticism secured from Brahma the fulfil-
ment of his desire, subject to the condition that Siva would
consent to receive the stream on his head, since the earth could
not support its weight. By devotion to Siva Bhaglratha then
proceeded to win his consent to this, and at last, after a long
period, the god granted him the boon which he desired. When,
however, the deity received the stream in his hair, it sought to
hurl him into the lower world, and in punishment for its misdeed
Siva made it wander for many years through his long locks, until
finally, at the earnest request of Bhaglratha, he allowed it to de-
scend on earth in seven streams, the southernmost of which is
the earthly Ganges. The gods flocked to see the wonderful sight
of the descent of the river and to purify themselves in the waters.



Ii6 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

The stream on earth followed the chariot of Bhaglratha until
it came to the offering place of Jahnu, who swallowed it and was
induced by the gods to allow it to issue forth again through his
ears only on condition that it should count as his daughter.
Bhaglratha then conducted the river into the underworld,
where he sprinkled the ashes of the sons of Sagara with it and
received the praise of Brahma for his great deed.

Siva performed another mighty feat when he made the
deity of love to lose his body. As the lord of the gods was en-
gaged in deep meditation, Kama approached him to induce him
to beget with Parvati a son powerful enough to overthrow the
Daitya Taraka, who had conquered the worlds. In deep anger
Siva with a glance of his eye burned Kama to ashes, whence
the god of love is called Ananga, or "Bodiless." The incident
is only briefly referred to in the Mahdbhdrata (xii. 6975-80)
and owes its fame to its handling by Kalidasa in the famous
epic Kumdrasambhava, which tells of the birth of the war-god
as the result of the love excited by the hapless Kama in Siva,
despite the penalty paid by him.

The first in rank among Siva's martial exploits was his de-
struction of the three citadels of the Asuras in the wars which
they waged against the gods. These citadels are already known
to the Brdhmanas as made of iron, silver, and gold, one in each
of the three worlds, but the epic places them all in heaven, and
makes Vidyunmalin, Tarakaksa and Kamalaksa their respec-
tive lords. Even Indra could not pierce these citadels, where-
fore the gods sought the aid of Rudra, who burned the forts
and extirpated the Danavas. Among the Asuras he had one
special foe in Andhaka, whom he slew; and he also had an en-
counter with the sage Usanas, who by means of his ascetic
power deprived Kubera of his treasure. In punishment Siva
swallowed him and not only refused to disgorge him until he
had long been entreated to do so, but even then would have
slain him had it not been for the intervention of Devi. A more
poetic tale is the encounter of Siva with Arjuna: Arjuna, the




Fig. 3. The Propitiation of Uma, or Devi

The goddess is seated in lier temple on the summit of a mountain and is adored by
(l) ^iva, (2) Visnu, (3) Brahma, (4) Indra, (5) Agni, and another deity. Above to
the left is Surya ("the Sun") with his charioteer Aruna, and to the right is Candra
("the Moon"). The mountain, which is shown to be the haunt of wild beasts, is the
home of various kinds of ascetics. After Moor, Hindu Pantheon, Plate XXXI.



ii8 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

noblest of the five Pandavas, by his ascetic practices created
panic among the gods, so that Siva, assuming the form of a
mountaineer, or Kirata, went to Arjuna and picked a quar-
rel with him over a Raksasa in boar-form whom Arjuna killed
without permitting the Kirata to share in the booty. The two
fought, finally wrestling with each other, and Arjuna fainted
in the god's embrace, to be revived by the deity and to receive
from him the divine weapons which were to stand him in good
stead in the great war which forms the main theme of the
Mahdhhdrata. At Siva's bidding Arjuna was borne to the
heaven of Indra, where he remained for five years, learning the
use of the celestial weapons.

Closely akin to Siva is his wife Uma, the younger daughter
of Himavant, whose gift of her to Rudra cost him the loss of
all his jewels through a curse of Bhrgu, the sage of the gods,
who came too late to seek her in marriage. As "Daughter of
the Mountain" she is also ParvatI, and Gaurl ("the Radiant
White One"), and Durga ("the Inaccessible"). The fancy of
the poet, however, derives this last epithet from the fact that she
guards her devotees from distress {durga), and she is proclaimed
as the refuge for those lost in the wilds, wrecked in the great
ocean, or beset by evil men. Yet her normal aspect is terrible:
she lives in trackless places, she loves strife and the blood of
the Asura Mahisa, and in battle she conquers Danavas and
Daityas. She is Kali or Mahakall, as her spouse is Kala, and
she is called the deep sleep of all creatures. She is also said to
live on Mandara or the Vindhya, and to be of the lineage of the
cowherd Nanda, a daughter of Yasoda and a sister of Vasudeva,
a descent which is clearly intended to connect her closely with
Visnu. Like her husband she has four faces, but only four arms,
she wears a diadem of shining colours, and her emblem is the
peacock's tail.

In the Mahdhhdrata sectarian influence has exalted both
Siva and Visnu at the expense of the other: it seems clear that
the Vaisnavas first exercised their influence on the text, but



PLATE X

Marriage of Siva and Parvati

The union of the deities is honoured by the presence
of the chief divinities. Visnu and LaksmT stand on the
left; on the right the Trimurti ("Triad") of Brahma,
Visnu, and Siva is seen. Gandharvas and Apsarases
float above in the sky, and among the gods Visnu
(riding on Garuda), Vayu (on an antelope), Agni
(on a ram), Indra (on an elephant), and Kama (on
a dolphin) are clearly recognizable. From the Dumar
Lena cave at Elura, in His Highness the Nizam's
Dominions. After a photograph in the Library of the
India Office, London.



THE GREAT GODS OF THE EPIC 119

the Saivas later made amends by freely interpolating passages
in which Siva is exalted to the position of all-god in a manner
too strikingly parallel to the encomia of Visnu to leave much
doubt as to the deliberate character of the change. Thus Siva
is praised by Visnu himself (vii. 2875 ff.) in terms of the highest
laudation; and elsewhere (vii. 9461 if.) he is lauded as the un-
born, the inconceivable, the soul of action, the unmoved; and
he who knows him as the self of self attains unity with the ab-
solute. Quite apart from this sectarian glorification it is clear
that in the earliest epic Siva already enjoyed the position of a
great god, and this is borne out even by the Rdmayana,
which, in its present form, is a Vaisnava text. This is in per-
fect accord with the growing greatness of his figure in the age
of the Brdhmanas, but in the epic a new motive in his character
appears undisguisedly: in addition to the dark and demoniac
side of his nature, in addition to his aspect as the ideal ascetic,
he is seen as a god of fertility whose worship is connected with
the phallus, or lijiga, and whose ritual, like that of Dionysos, is
essentially orgiastic. It is uncertain to what origin we should
trace this feature in his character: ^ the I^gveda already repro-
bates the phallus- worshippers (sisnadeva), and there is no evi-
dence of a phallic cult in the Brdhmana literature. There is,
therefore, reason enough to believe that the phallic element in
the Siva-cult was foreign to Vedic worship and that it prob-
ably owed its origin to the earlier inhabitants of the land, though
It is possible that it may have been practised by another stock
of the Aryan invaders and rejected by the Vedic branch. At
any rate it seems certain that Siva, as he appears in the epic,
includes the personality of a vegetation-god.

In Uma, the wife of Siva, we have, no doubt, a goddess of
nature and a divinity likewise foreign to the old Vedic religion,
since her name appears only in the last strata of the period of the
Brdhmanas. But though she was, we may well believe, an inde-
pendent deity in the beginning, in her development she has

evolved into a female counterpart of Siva and has lost her own
VI — 9



I20 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

personality in great measure in becoming a feminine expression
of her husband's character, especially in its dark and sinister
aspect. As her descent from Himavant denotes, like her hus-
band she was particularly a goddess of the north and of the earth
in its mountainous, and not in its peaceful, aspect, which explains
in part her wild and ferocious character. She seems also to
have been identified with a goddess of the non-Aryan tribes
of the Vindhya.

While Siva and his consort represent the ascetic side of In-
dian religion, Visnu and his spouse display the milder and more
human aspects of that faith. Like Indra he is reckoned as one
of the Adityas, and the youngest, but he is also the only Aditya
who is enduring, unconquerable, imperishable, the everlasting
and mighty lord. Though Indra's younger brother, it was he
who secured Indra in the kinship over the worlds. His abode
is on the top of Mount Mandara, to the east of Meru, and to
the north of the sea of milk. Higher even than Brahma's
seat is his place, in everlasting light, and thither they only go
who are without egoism, unselfish, free from <^allty, and with
restrained senses. Not even Brahmarsis or Maharsis attain
to it, but Yatis alone, that is, men who have completely over-
come the temptations of sense. He has four arms and lotus eyes,
and bears on his breast the vatsa ("calf") mark which he re-
ceived when the great sage Bharadvaja threw water at him
because he disturbed him at prayer. From his navel, when he
lay musing, sprang a lotus, and in it appeared Brahma with his
four faces. His raiment is yellow, and on his breast he bears
the Kaustubha gem which came forth on the churning of the
ocean. He has a chariot of gold, eight-wheeled, swift as thought,
and yoked with demons, and the couch on which he lies as he
muses is the serpent Sesa or Ananta, who holds the earth at
Brahma's command and bears up the slumbering god. His
standard is the bird Garuda. His weapons are a cakra, or
discus, with which he overwhelmed the Daityas, a conch, a
club, and a bow.



r •



PLATE XI

Birth of Brahma

Visnu rests, absorbed in meditation, on the cosmic
serpent Ananta ("Infinite"), who floats on the
cosmic ocean. LaksmI, the wife of the god, shampoos
his feet. From his navel springs a lotus, on which
appears the four-headed deity Brahma. From an
Indian water-colour in the collection of the Editor.



THE GREAT GODS OF THE EPIC 121

Like Siva Visnu must have a thousand names, which the
Mahdbhdrata enumerates and in part explains, ascribing the
name Visnu to the greatness (vrhattva) of the god. Sectarian
enthusiasm raises him to the position of all-god and subordi-
nates to himnot only Brahma buteven Siva himself. As Brahma
is born from the lotus on Visnu's navel, so Siva is born from
his forehead. A favourite name of his is Hari, and at the very-
close of the epic period the Harivamsa commemorates the
equality of the two great gods of the epic in the compound
Harihara, Hara, as we have seen, being an epithet of Visnu.
Another name with mystic sense is Narayana, which is used to
denote the god in his relation of identity with man.

While Siva is the ascetic in his gruesome aspect, the per-
former of countless years of hateful austerities, Visnu also is a
yogin, though in a very different way. When all the world has
been destroyed and all beings have perished, then Visnu muses
on the waters, resting on the serpent, thus personifying the
state of absorption of the soul in the Supreme Being. This,
however, is the less important side of his being, which expresses
itself in the desire to punish and restrain the bad and to reward
and encourage the good. He is represented as deliberately de-
ciding for this purpose to assume such forms as those of a boar,
a man-lion, a dwarf, and a man; and these constitute his ava-
tars, or "descents," which in ever increasing number reveal
Visnu in his character of the loving and compassionate god,
and which, by bringing him into close contact with humanity,
distinguish him from Siva, whom the epic never regards as
taking human shape.

The incarnations of Visnu known to the Mahdbhdrata are
as a boar, a dwarf, a man-lion, the head of a horse, and Krsna,
of which the first three only are normally reckoned among his
avatars. The boar incarnation was assumed when all the sur-
face of the earth was flooded with water, and when the lord,
wandering about like a fire-fly in the night in the rainy season,
sought some place on which to fix the earth, which he was fain



122 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

to save from the deluge. The shape which he took was ten
yojanas (leagues) broad and a hundred yojanas long, like a
great mountain, shining with sharp tusks, and resembling a
dark thunder-cloud. Assuming it, he descended into the water,
and grasping the sinking earth with one of his tusks, he drew it
up and set it back in its due place. In the dwarf incarnation
Visnu was born as a son of Kasyapa and Aditi, his original
parents, in order to deprive Bali, son of Virocana, of the sov-
ereignty of the three worlds which he had attained. He came
into being with matted hair, in the shape of a dwarf, of the
height of a boy, bearing staff and jar, and marked with the
(J^^^vatsa. Accompanied by Brhaspati, he strode to the Danavas*
place of sacrifice, and Bali, seeing him, courteously offered him
a boon. In reply Visnu chose three steps of ground, but when
the demon accorded them, Visnu, resuming his true shape, in
three great strides encompassed the three worlds, which he
then handed over to Indra to rule. The myth is clearly only a
variant of the three steps of Visnu in the J^gveda, and the boar
incarnation also has a forerunner in that text in so far as Visnu
is represented in close connexion with a boar.

The episode of the man-lion is only briefly related in the
Mahdhhdrata: Visnu assumed the form half of a lion and half
of a man and went to the assembly of the Daityas. There
Hiranyakasipu, the son of Diti, saw him and advanced against
him in anger, trident in hand and rumbling like a thunder-
cloud, only to be torn in pieces by the sharp claws of the lion-
man. This double form is a new motive in Indian mythology
and has no Vedic parallel.

The incarnation with a horse's head has a faint Vedic prede-
cessor in the legend that the doctrine of the Madhu ("Mead")
was told by a horse's head. In the epic story we are informed
that two Danavas, Madhu and Kaitabha, stole the Vedas from
Brahma and entered the sea, whereupon the deity was cast
into deep sorrow and bethought himself of seeking the aid of
Visnu. The latter, gratified by his adoration, assumed the

[Prometheus]

PLATE XII

Varahavatara

Visnu, incarnate as a boar, raises from the flood
the Earth, who, in the figure of a woman, clings to
his tusk. From a sculpture at Eran, Sagar, Central
Provinces. After Coomaraswamy, Visvakarma^ Plate
XCIII.




Fig. 4. TiTE Narasimha ("Man-Lion") Avatar of Visnu

Through his austerities the Daitya Hiranyakasipu had obtained the boon that he
should be slain neither by man nor by animal. His son, Prahlada, was a devout wor-
shipper of Visnu, whom Hiranyakasipu hated. Told by Prahlada that Visnu is omni-
present, Hiranyakasipu asked scornfully whether he was in a certain pillar of the
palace, and when told that he was even there, he struck it to destroy the deity. Im-
mediately Visnu appeared from the pillar in the guise of a being part man and part
lion and tore the unbeliever asunder. After Moor, Hindu Pantheon, Plate L.



124 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

head of a horse, and plunging into the sea, rescued the Vedas
and restored them to Brahma, after which he returned to his
proper form and assailed the two Danavas, whom he slew in
revenge for their insult to Brahma.

The Mahabhdrata (iii. 12746 ff.) has a version of the famous
story of the deluge, but the fish which saves Manu and the
seeds of all things from destruction reveals himself, when the
vessel which he ? supports rests upon Mount Naubandhana,
as Brahma rather than as Visnu, as in the later accounts of the
Purdnas. These, however, like the previous avatars, are mere
episodes in the life of the god, while the embodiments of Vi§nu
as Krsna and Rama belong to a different order of myths and
add materially to the godhead of Visnu. It is through them,
indeed, that the ancient Vedic sun-god attains his full great-
ness and becomes specially adapted for the position of supreme
divinity and the object of keen sectarian worship.

The wife of Visnu is Laksmi or Sri, who came forth, accord-
ing to one version, at the churning of the ocean, while in an-
other a lotus sprang from the forehead of Visnu, whence was
born Sri, who became the wife of Dharma, or "Justice." She
is the goddess of beauty and prosperity and can boast that no
god, Gandharva, Asura, or Rak§asa is able to overpower her.
Unlike Kali, however, she has no distinct personality in the
epic and is but a faint reflex of her husband, though possibly
enough she was once an independent and living goddess.

In the Mahabhdrata as we have it Krsna is recognized as an
incarnation of Narayana Visnu, and the Bhagavadgitd, which
is his song, declares his identity with the supreme principle
of the universe. He was, we are told, born in the family of the
Yadus as the son of Vasudeva and Devaki, and throughout
the body of the epic he plays the role of a partisan and most
energetic supporter of the Pandavas. His character is decidedly
unsatisfactory and is marked by every sort of deceit and
trickery. It was he who gave the advice how to secure the over-
throw of Drona and who proved to Arjuna that truth must



PLATE XIII

Laksmi

The Goddess of Wealth and Beauty, whose birth
at the churning of the ocean is represented in Fig. 2,
is here shown in her usual form as a lovely woman
seated on a lotus. On either side stands an elephant
holding a canopy over her head. The small, separate
figures have no mythological significance. For an-
other conception of her see Plate XXI. From
a painted alabaster group in the Peabody Museum,
Salem, Mass.



BIUfiY



TOR. LEXOX A>fB
DEN i^f-NDAnONS



THE GREAT GODS OF THE EPIC 125

not always be told, and against the reproof of Yudhlsthira
he defended the action of Bhima in unfairly defeating Duryo-
dhana in the final duel. Subsequently he saved BhIma from the
fate prepared for him by Dhrtarastra by substituting an iron
statue for him. Because of his share in the ruin of the Kaura-
vas he was cursed by Gandharl, their mother, and he admit-
ted that the doom was fated to be accomplished in the des-
truction of himself and his race. He was present at the
horse sacrifice by which Yudhisthira proclaimed his complete
sovereignty, and then retired to his country of Dvaraka.
There strife broke out among the Yadavas, this being followed
by the death of Krsna, who was accidentally pierced in the
sole of the foot (where alone he was vulnerable) by an arrow
shot by a hunter with the significant name of Jara ("Old
Age"). Later, in the Harivamsa and the Pur anas we have
details of the early days of Krsna, and there is evidence that
these stories were known even in the second century B.C.,
although, disregarding interpolations which are obviously late,
it is certain that the epic normally considers Krsna as essen-
tially heroic. It is, however, equally clear that his association
with Visnu is not primitive, but that it has been introduced
into the epic in the course of time: indeed, it is doubtful if
the Bhagavadgitd itself was originally Vaisnavite in tendency,
but even if that were the case, it is certain that the Krsnaite
redaction was an afterthought.

The origin of this new and most important deity is obscure
and probably insoluble. In the opinion of E. W. Hopkins *
Krsna was the chief god of the invading tribe of the Yadavas-
Pandavas who came from the hill country north of the Ganges
and overthrew the Kurus in the stronghold of Brahmanism
in the holy land about the present Delhi. But the conquerors,
as often, were merged in the Brahmanic society which they
had conquered, while the priests identified their divinity, who
— as in the case of most of the hill tribes of the Gangetic
region — was the tribal hero as a sun-god, with Visnu, the



126 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

Vedic and Brahmanic solar deity. Krsna, son of DevakI, is
mentioned in the Chdndojya Upanisad (III. xvii. 6) as having a
teacher named Ghora Angirasa, who taught him a doctrine
which is summed up by Hopkins as showing the vanity of
sacrifice and inculcating the worship of the sun-god; and in
this record may be seen a trace of a deity whose name in the
native tongue of the invaders may have been sufficiently close
to the Sanskrit Krsna to render the identification possible and
easy. On the other hand, R. Garbe^ insists that from the
first Krsna was nothing more than a man, and that his deifica-
tion was a process of euhemerism, carried out at an early date,
since the excavations at Rummindei indicate that the prede-
cessors of the Buddha worshipped Rukmini, the wife of Krsna.
The early date of his cult is clearly proved by the Herakles
of Megasthenes, who can certainly be none other than this
god. So far as it goes, the earliness of the date of the divinity
of Krsna seems rather to tell against the theory of his deifica-
tion and to suggest that he was always a god and, probably
enough, not so much a sun-god — a conception which ill fits
his name, which means "Black" — as a representation of the
spirit of the dark earth, a vegetation-god. For this hypoth-
esis a definite support is given by a notice in the Mahd-
bhdsya^ of Pataiijali (written about 150-140 B.C.), from which
it appears that Krsna and Karhsa, who in the later accounts
of the Harivamsa appears as his cruel uncle, were protagonists
in a ritual contest which is precisely parallel to the combats
which in many parts of Europe have symbolized the death of
the old and the victory of the new spirit of vegetation, and
from which the Greek and perhaps the Indian drama have
grown. The human character of the vegetation-spirit is a
marked characteristic of that spirit in all lands, and hence we
may readily understand how the god of the Pandavas was
conceived as aiding them in bodily presence even at the expense
of some diminution of his divinity, of which, however, the epic
never loses sight. His identification with Visnu was doubtless



PLATE XIV

Krsna

The deity is represented in characteristic pose with
crossed legs and playing his pipe, which is lost in the
carving here shown. From an old Orissan ivory.
After Watt, Indian Art at Delhi, Plate LXXVI.



THE GREAT GODS OF THE EPIC 127

effected easily enough, for in all times the Brahmans have
found no difficulty in finding a place for new gods. In the
epic the home of Kfsna in his latter days figures as Dvaraka
in Gujarat, but it is difficult to say whether this is safe ground
for inferring that his godhead was first recognized there; it is
at least clear that it was among the Pandavas and in the vicin-
ity of the Gangetic valley that his greatness grew.

In the epic the wife of Kfsna is Rukmini, but she shows no
divine features: she refused to survive her husband's death and
perished by fire with Gandharl and others.

The other great incarnation of Visnu is that as Rama, whose
story, as told both in the Rdmdyana and in a long episode in
the Mahdbhdrata, presents him as none other than Visnu.
Dasaratha, king of Kosala, with his capital at Ayodhya, was
a wise and powerful ruler, but he had no sons, wherefore, to
obtain children, he performed the horse sacrifice with the aid
of the sage Rsyasrnga. At the time the gods were in fear of the
demon Ravana, to whom Brahma had granted the gift of in-
vulnerability, and they sought a means of killing him. This,
they found, could be accomplished only by a man, and for
this end they begged Visnu to take human form. Visnu ac-
cordingly came to life as Rama, the son of Dasaratha by
Kausalya, while Kaikeyi and Sumitra, the other wives of the
king, bore Bharata and the twins Laksmana and Satrughna
respectively. Rama grew up to a glorious youth and won the
hand of Sita, who had sprung from the earth when King
Janaka of Videha ploughed the ground. Dasaratha, feeling
that his life was drawing near its close, contemplated the per-
formance of the ceremony of appointing Rama to be heir ap-
parent, but at this moment Kaikeyi intervened and demanded
from the King the execution of a promise which he had made
long before. The monarch felt that he must keep his word, in
which resolve he was strengthened by Rama's readiness to
aid him to fulfil his promise, so that Rama was banished for
fourteen years, the post of heir apparent being conferred on



128 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

Bharata. The separation from his son broke the heart of Dasa-
ratha, who soon passed away, whereupon Bharata, hastily
seeking Rama, endeavoured to persuade him to return to rule
the state, and when he refused, regarded himself as no more
than his vicegerent. In the meantime Rama, accompanied by
the faithful SIta and Lak§mana, proceeded to the Dandaka
forest, where Sita was stolen from him by Ravana and carried
away to Lanka, which (in later times at least) is reckoned as
Ceylon. Rama makes alliance with the apes under Sugriva,
who is at variance with Valin, his elder brother; and with the
ape army, and especially Hanuman, the son of Maruta by
Aiijana, succeeds after great struggles in reaching Lanka and
in slaying Ravana. By passing through the fire Sita proves
that her purity has been uninjured despite her captivity in
Lanka, and husband and wife are united. Later, however,
Rama is again troubled by the popular dissatisfaction at his
action in taking Sita back after her abduction and dismisses
her; she departs and stays at the hermitage of Valmiki, to
whom the Rdmdyana is ascribed, and there gives birth to the
children Kusa and Lava, in whose names can be seen a popular
etymology of the word kusilava, the name of the wandering
minstrels who sang the epic songs to princely courts and even
to the people. Rama prepares a horse sacrifice, and his two
sons, at the instigation of Valmiki, appear at the place of sacri-
fice and recite to him the story of his deeds. Learning the
identity of the boys, the king sends to Valmiki, desiring to
arrange that Sita should prove her purity by an oath before the
whole assemblage; and when Valmiki presents himself accom-
panied by Sita and declares her spotlessness, Rama admits
that he is now convinced. Then the gods all manifest them-
selves to lend their authority to the oath of Sita, but she, as-
serting her chastity, asks the divinity Madhavl to receive her
in proof of it. The goddess Earth then appears, embraces
Sita, and vanishes with her under the ground to the wonder
of the assembled gathering, while Rama's despair at her loss



PLATE XV

Hanuman

The monkey-god, the great ally of Rama, is here
shown in mild and attractive form. From a Ceylonese
copper figure in the Indian Museum, London. After
Coomaraswamy, V'lsvakarma^ Plate C.



THE VF.W YORK

PUBLIC LIBRARY



A?rOB, I'SXOX AND
TILDEN rCCNDATiONS



THE GREAT GODS OF THE EPIC 129

is lessened only by assurances of future reunion. This second
doubt of SIta and her tragic departure, is, however, like the
assertion of the identification of Rama and Visnu, clearly no
part of the earlier form of the Rdmdyana legend. Taking what
remains, it falls into two parts, the first of which is quite a
simple story of the intrigues which must have troubled many
a royal family, while the second is definitely mythical in nature.
By far the most probable explanation of the story is that sug-
gested by H. Jacobi.'^ Sita, it is clear, is no mere mortal woman,
for in the Rgveda (IV. Ivii. G-j) she is worshipped as the fur-
row made by the plough, and this conception was a popular
one, since in the much later and more popular texts, the Adbhutd-
dhydya of the KauHka Sutra and the Pdraskara Grhya Sutra
(ii. 17), she appears as the genius of the ploughed field and is
described as a being of wonderful beauty, wife of Indra or
Parjanya. The rape of Sita at once presents itself as the parallel
to an agricultural population to the Panis' theft of the cows
in the shape of the waters, and he who wins them back can
be none other than a form of Indra, while the thief must be
Vrtra. This again finds support in the fact that a son of Rav-
ana's is called Indra's foe or vanquisher, and one of his brothers,
Kumbhakarna, dwells, like the Vedic Vrtra, in a cave. Further
confirmation from the position of Hanuman is also forthcom-
ing. That god in modern India is essentially the guardian god
of every village settlement, and it may well be that in origin
he was the genius of the monsoon. This conception would be
quite in liirmony with his birth from the wind-god, his power
of assuming shape at will like the clouds, his long journeys
over the sea in search of Sita, and the bringing back of Sita
from the south (whence the monsoon comes) with the help of
the apes, that is, the rain-clouds. In the deeds of Hanuman
there may actually be a reflex of the journey of Sarama in the
Veda across the Rasa to seek the clouds when they were stolen
by the Panis. Rama may have been a local god similar in
character to Indra, but representing the views of a society



I30 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

which was essentially agricultural and not pastoral; and his
identification with Visnu was doubtless instigated by the same
motives which led to the identification of Krsna with that
great god and which has in the course of time brought many
other deities into the fold of Visnu.

Efforts have been made to find a mythological background
for the Mahdbhdrata in the conception of a struggle of the five
seasons of the year, represented by the Pandavas, against the
winter, which is thus supposed to be typified by Duryodhana,
but this interpretation can scarcely be maintained in face of
the extremely human characteristics of the figures of the great
epic, which in this respect stands in marked contrast to much
of the Rdmdyana.



CHAPTER V
MINOR EPIC DEITIES AND THE DEAD

MANY as are the deities recognized in the epic, no one of
them has any real supremacy in comparison with the
great gods, Siva and Visnu. The tradition of the greatness of
Indra survives indeed in the epithets which are freely bestowed
upon him, but in nothing else. He is called "the Head of the
Suras," "the God of the Gods," "the King of the Gods,"
"the Lord of All the Gods," and "the Powerful" (Sakra);
he is also said to have attained Indraship by surpassing all the
gods in sacrifice and to have become the overlord of the gods
through slaying Daityas and Danavas, while after the killing
of Vrtra he won the title of Mahendra ("Great Indra"). His
abode is "Heaven" (Svarga), and at the entrance stands his
elephant Airavata, with its four tusks like Mount Kailasa.
After his conflict with Siva in the form of a mountaineer, Arjuna
was conducted thither by Matali in Indra's chariot, the ascent
being made from Mount Mandara in the Himavant range.
The grove in Svarga is called Nandana ("the Place of Joy"),
and Indra's city itself is termed Amaravati. It has a thousand
gates and is a hundred yojanas in extent, is adorned with
jewels, and yields the fruit of every season. There the sun
does not scorch, and neither heat nor cold nor fatigue tor-
ments the dwellers. There there is neither grief, nor despond-
ency, nor weakness, nor anger, nor covetousness. In his
assembly hall, which he himself built and which can move
where it wills, sits Sakra with his wife SacI, wearing his crown
and with a white screen held over him. Old age, fatigue, and
fear are forgotten in that abode of bliss; and thither come



132 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

those who sacrifice, those who perform penance, and above all
those warrior heroes who meet their death in battle.

Besides Airavata, Indra has a steed named Uccaihsravas,
which came forth at the churning of the ocean. His chariot is
drawn by ten thousand reddish-yellow'horses who are as swift as
wind; the lightning and the thunderbolt are on the car, and as
it cleaves the sky it scatters the dark clouds. The flagstaff",
Vaijayanta, is bright blue and is decorated with gold. The
charioteer is Matali, councillor and friend of Indra, of whom a
pretty story is told. His daughter by Sudharma was of ex-
ceeding beauty, and neither among gods, demons, men, nor
seers could Matali find one whom he thought worthy of her.
Accordingly, after taking counsel with his wife, he decided to
go to the world of Nagas, or Serpents, in search of a son-in-
law, and by permission of Varuna he went thither with Narada,
in due course finding the handsome Sumukha who became the
husband of Gunakesl. The weapons borne by the god are the
thunderbolt, which Tvastr made from the bones of the seer
Dadhica and with which he struck ofi" the head of Vrtra and
cleaves even mountains, the spear Vijaya, and the conch
Devadatta.

As in the Veda, Indra is ever distinguished by his conflicts
with demons. He was engaged in the great struggle of the
Suras with the Asuras which broke out after the churning of the
ocean, but his weakness is shown by the fact that the victory
could be achieved only by the aid of Visnu, who on the over-
throw of the demons gave the rule of the three worlds to
Indra. Then followed for a time a golden age, when Indra,
seated on Airavata, gazed on a prosperous world, flourishing
towns and villages, kings devoted to their duty, and happy
and contented people. Sri came and dwelt with him, and Indra
wrought great deeds, such as the slaying of numbers of the
Asuras, the freeing of Brhaspati's wife Taraka, and the rescue
of the daughter of Puloman. But prosperity led Indra to
fall into evil courses: he set his desire upon Ruci, the wife of

[Prometheus]

MINOR EPIC DEITIES AND THE DEAD 133

Devasarman, and seduced Ahalya; and, worst of all, he slew
the son of Tvastr, Visvarupa Trisiras. Failing to tempt this
pious being by the wiles of an Apsaras, he smote him with his
thunderbolt and ordered a wood-cutter to chop off his head.
In revenge Tvastr created Vrtra and commanded him to slay
Indra. Then ensued a long war, and the gods sought the ad-
vice of Visnu in order to secure peace. Vrtra, however, would
not consent to any reconciliation unless he were promised
immunity from dry or wet, stone or wood, sword or javelin,
by day or by night. On these terms peace was made, but
Indra kept to his resolve to slay his rival, and meeting him on
the seashore, at the junction of wet and dry, at the twilight
between day and night, he killed him with the foam of the
sea and the thunderbolt into which Visnu had entered. Soon,
however, he realized the enormity of his own deed in slaying a
Brahman and fled in terror to the remotest part of the earth,
where he lived concealed in a lotus stalk in a lake. Then the
earth became desolate, the forest withered, the rivers ceased
to flow, and creatures perished for lack of rain; wherefore the
gods and seers went to Nahusa and persuaded him to accept
the kingship, seeing the evils caused by the lack of a monarch.
He consented, but after receiving the new rank he abandoned
himself to idle enjoyment, and seeing Saci, the wife of Indra,
he desired her. Saci, loyal to Indra, sought the protection of
BrhaspatI, but Nahusa replied that as Indra had been allowed
to seduce Ahalya, he also should be permitted to take Saci.
Sad in despair obtained a postponement by insisting that Indra
might still be discovered, and in the meantime the gods sought
the advice of Visnu, who promised that Indra should regain
his position by performing a horse sacrifice to him. Indra did
so and thus was purified from the sin of Brahman-slaying.
Sad then besought him to return and slay Nahusa, whereupon
he bade her induce the sage to cause himself to be drawn in
a chariot by the seven Rsis. The advice proved successful, for,
while Nahusa carried out the wish of Saci, he foolishly allowed



134 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

himself to be drawn into an argument with Agastya as to the
lawfulness of the eating of meat, and indignant with him, the
seer, whom he had kicked on the head, hurled him from heaven
to dwell in snake form for ten thousand years. Indra was
then restored to the kingship. Other demons were also slain
by Indra, the most important of them being Namuci, whose
story is a variant of that of Vrtra, of whom he is only another

form.

Indra has a famous wish-cow who is the daughter of Surabhi
and is called Sarvakamadugha or Nandini. She is fat, and the
potency of her milk is such that the mortal who drinks it will
be Hke a strong youth for a thousand years. Vasistha, son of
Varuna, obtained her as a sacrificial cow, but for a time she
was stolen by Dyaus, so that in atonement of his crime he was
doomed to a long sojourn on earth among mortals. Her mother,
Surabhi, was the daughter of Daksa Prajapati, and her home
is the seventh layer under the earth, Rasatala; but by her as-
ceticism she received from Brahma immortality and a world,
Goloka, above the three worlds. She created daughters, four
of whom — SurOpa, Harhsika, Subhadra, and Sarvakama-
dugha — support the east, south, west, and north corners of
the heavens, but she weeps because her son is tormented by
the ploughman with his goad.

Indra has a thousand eyes since, according to one version,
when Tilottama walked round him and the other gods, pro-
ducing the four heads of Siva, a thousand eyes burst forth on
his back, sides, and front; although another legend says that
Gautama cursed Indra for his inability to restrain his passions
and as punishment caused a thousand marks to appear on his
body which afterward in compassion he allowed to disappear.

Indra's wife is IndranI, MahendranI, or Saci ("the Power-
ful"). She proved her devotion to her husband and her quick-
ness of wit in the efforts which she made to repulse Nahusa.

In the epic Indra is constantly a god of rain, and in this
aspect he has completely swallowed up Parjanya, who is



MINOR EPIC DEITIES AND THE DEAD 135

indeed mentioned separately from him in the lists of the
Adityas, but who is no more in reality than another name for
Indra. Thus, when Agastya sacrificed liberally and the Thou-
sand-Eyed One still did not rain, the sages could say, "Agastya
offers generously in sacrifice, yet Parjanya does not rain; how,
then, can there be food?" Both epics have the most vivid de-
scriptions of the effects of the rain on the earth after the
drought, and of the misery caused by the failure of the rain
to fall; but the storm no longer produces mythology, and the
treatment is poetic.

Another god who has fallen on evil days in an age in which
the mere physical element is not enough to support a real
divinity is Vayu ("Wind"), who bears also the names of Marut,
Vata, Anila, and Pavana ("the Purifying"). It is said indeed
that neither Indra nor Yama nor Varuna is his peer in strength,
and his pleasant, comfort-bearing breath is mentioned, as
well as his friendship for Agni, but the deification is merely
formal.

Agni has survived with more reality, though not simply as
fire, his continued importance, such as it is, being due to the
fact that he represents on the one hand the sacrificial flame,
and on the other the cosmic fire. He is the eater of the obla-
tions, the mouth by which the god and the fathers partake of
the sacrifice; he upholds the sacrificial ceremonies and purifies
from sin; his wife is the Svaha call uttered at the sacrifice; and
he himself is the sacrifice. On the other hand, in his cosmic
aspect he is the creator of all the worlds and the ender of them.
Nevertheless, traces of his earlier nature still exist: he is the
lightning in the clouds, he hides within the sami-wood, and
though he fears the water which quenches him, still he is said
to have been born in the waters, and in case of need (as when
Indra had fled after the slaying of Vrtra, and the gods were
anxious to find him to overthrow the wicked Nahusa) he can
be persuaded to enter them once more. From a higher point
of view he is the real cause of the existence of water, and the



136 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

waters are said to be deposited In him. Again, Agni is the in-
ternal fire within each man, and as such he knows everything
and is Jatavedas. He is, as of old, lord of Vasus and is said to
be a child of Brahma.

As in the Veda, Agni was apt to disappear, and on one occa-
sion this was due to the curse of Bhrgu. That sage had suc-
ceeded in marrying Puloma, who had formerly been betrothed
to the Raksasa Puloman, but whom her father had later given
in due form to Bhrgu. While the latter was absent the Raksasa
came to his dwelling, where he was received hospitably by
Puloma, who was disclosed to him by Agni; but not knowing
whose wife she was, Puloman abducted her. In revenge for
Agni's action Bhrgu cursed him, and as a result the divinity
withdrew from the sacrifice and disappeared into the saml-
tree. Much disturbed, the gods sought him, and at their re-
quest he returned, so that the sacrifices were resumed once
more. Another story tells that Agni fell in love with King
Nila's beautiful daughter, whose lot it was to tend her father's
sacred fire. In the form of a Brahman he wooed and with dif-
ficulty won the maiden, and rewarded her father in his struggle
with Sahadeva by causing the horses, chariots, army, and
even the body of the latter to burst into flame, Sahadeva and
the other rivals of Nila being thus destroyed and eaten by the
god of fire.

Soma also ranks, like Vayu and Agni, as a Vasu: his father
was Atri, and in the epic he is the moon pure and simple, so
that at times he bears the names Candramas, Candra, or
Indu, all meaning simply "Moon." His fame rests on his mar-
riage with twenty-seven of the daughters of Daksa Prajapati,
the twenty-seven Naksatras, or lunar mansions. Soma un-
happily conceived an excessive affection for RohinI alone of
his wives, wherefore her sisters, going to their father, asked
him to redress their grievance. Thereupon Daksa, by a curse,
brought sickness on Soma, who appealed to his father-in-iaw,
only to be told that he had acted unfairly. Nevertheless, the



MINOR EPIC DEITIES AND THE DEAD 137

seers directed him to effect a cure by bathing at Hiranyatirtha
in the western region by the sea, and Soma did so, whence the
place won the name of Prabhasa (" Splendour ") . On account of
the curse, however, the moon Is still hidden when it is new, and
at Its full shows a body covered by a line of clouds, whence Is
derived the view that there is a hare in the moon. Another trial
of Soma's is his enmity with Rahu, a demon who ever seeks to
swallow him and who thus causes eclipses.

With Varuna Soma comes Into close relation: by drinking
all his six juices he Is born to kill the darkness at the beginning
of the light half of the month, and his daughter Jyotsnakali
married Puskara, Varuna's handsome and clever son. Trouble
arose, however, over his daughter Bhadra. Soma found for
her a suitable husband in the Brahman Utathya, but since
Varuna had long desired her, one day he came to the forest
where she lived and stole her after she had entered the water
in order to bathe. On hearing the news Utathya sent Narada
to demand the restoration of his wife, but Narada's embassy
was fruitless. Utathya then drank up all the waters; and since
even this drastic procedure had no effect, he caused the lakes
on earth, to the number of six hundred thousand, to dry up and
the rivers to disappear In the desert, whereupon Varuna at last
repented of his action and restored his wife to Utathya.

In this legend Varuna appears, just as In early days, as a
god of the waters, and this Is essentially his character through-
out the epic. Here and there, in company with Mitra, men-
tion Is made of his radiance and his light hue, and both are
Adityas; but, unlike the Vedic concept of these two deities,
neither stands In any relation with the light of day or night.
Varuna, on the contrary, bears many aqueous epithets, such
as "God of the Waters," "Lord of Water," "Lord of the
Rivers," and "Lord of Every Stream"; and it Is as "Lord of the
Waters " that he Is said to rule over the Asuras. To this suprem-
acy he was unanimously appointed at the beginning of the
Krta age. His realm Is in the west, and he dwells in the ocean,



138 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

filled with Nagas, aquatic monsters, precious stones, and fire,
and rich in salt; and in the sea is also an egg whence flames will
burst forth at the end of the world and destroy the whole of
the three worlds. His city is full of palaces and Apsarases, and
his own palace is made wholly of gold, while cooling waters
drip from his royal canopy. He sits with his wife, Siddhi, or
Gaurl, or Varum, in his hall of assembly, w^hich VIsvakarman
built in the midst of the waters and which contains divine
trees consisting of pearls and producing every kind of fruit.
He himself is dark blue in colour and like Yama he bears a
noose, while his conch was fashioned for him by Visvakarman
from a thousand pieces of gold. It was from him that Arjuna
obtained the bow Gandiva, as well as chariots and other gifts.
Besides his son Puskara he had another, who was named Bandin
and was the suta of King Janaka. Defeated by the young boy
Astavakra in a competition because of his inability to enu-
merate things which made up thirteen, Bandin proved his con-
nexion with his father by plunging into the waters- and thus
uniting himself with him.

The sun-deity of the epic is Surya or Aditya, son of Aditi,
the ruler of the flaming lights, the light of the world, the father
of beings who sustains them with his heat, the entrance to the
ways of the gods. In him are summed up the many aspects of
the Adityas, as Pusan, Bhaga, Savitr, Aryaman, Dhatr, and
VIvasvant. The sun is described as being as yellow as honey,
with large arms and with a neck like tortoise-shell, and as
wearing bracelets and a diadem. His ear-rings were the gift
of Aditl. A single Naga draws his chariot, which has but one
wheel, though elsewhere seven steeds are mentioned. He has a
special place in the epic in that he was the god whom KuntI
summoned to wed her and to whom she bore Karna, who was
thus the eldest brother of the Pandava Yudhisthira. His wife
is called Suvarcala ("the Resplendent") and is mentioned
as taking the form of a mare. His daughter is married to
Bhanu, i.e. to himself In another form, and his son Is Yama



MINOR EPIC DEITIES AND THE DEAD 139

Valvasvata. Like Soma he lives at enmity with Rahu, by whose
swallowing of him he is at times eclipsed.

Two other forms of the sun are to be seen in Aruna and
Garuda, the sons of Kasyapa by Vinata, daughter of Daksa
Prajapati. Aruna ("the Ruddy") was made the charioteer of
the sun because, in anger at the misery inflicted upon him by
Rahu, he threatened to burn the world, and the gods desired
to restrain his fury. It is even possible that the Rgveda al-
ludes to him. He is, however, but a faint figure, while his
younger brother, Garuda, figures in a great achievement, the
stealing of the ambrosia from the gods. His mother Vinata had
a sister Kadru who like herself was married to Kasyapa, who
gave each a boon: Kadru received as progeny a thousand ser-
pent sons, against Vinata's two children. In both cases the
offspring were produced as eggs, from which the snakes were
born in five hundred years; but Vinata unwisely broke one of
the two eggs and found Aruna only half grown. He doomed
her to become a slave until she should be set free by her second
son, Garuda, and his curse was soon fulfilled. Kadru and
Vinata staked their freedom ^ on the question whether the
horse Uccaihsravas, which came into being at the churning of
the ocean, was partly black or pure white. They crossed the
ocean to decide the wager, and as Kadrii had induced her sons,
the snakes, to fasten themselves on to the horse, it was found
to have a black tail, and Vinata fell into bondage. Then
Garuda came to life from the egg and shared his mother's
fate. He learned, however, that he could free himself by ob-
taining the ambrosia, and after many adventures he defeated
the gods, extinguished the fire which surrounded the ambrosia,
penetrated the whirling wheel of blades, and slaying the
snakes which guarded the soma, he bore it away without
drinking of it. In reward for this great deed Visnu gives him
immortality, sets him on his standard, and chooses him for
his steed. Indra, however, hurls the thunderbolt against him,
but Garuda lets only a single feather fall. Indra then makes



i^^o INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

peace with him and seeks to obtain the soma from him.
Garuda refuses to give It to Indra, but the deity steals it after
Garuda has gone to bathe, having set it out on kusa-^v^ss for
the snakes. The serpents lick the place where the soma has
lain, and thus their tongues become forked.

The legend shows clear traces of the Vedic tale of the brmg-
Ing down of the soma to earth by the GSyatrl: like the Giyatrl
Garuda is regarded as a bird and is called both Garutmant
("the Winged") and Suparna ("the Fair-Feathered"). With
the wind of the motion of his wings he can stay the rotation of
the three worlds, and his strength is so great that he seems to
drag the earth after him as he goes. VIsnu Indeed once had to
check his boast of his might by laying on him the weight of his
right arm. The main object of Garuda, however, as of his six
sons and their offspring, is to prey on the snakes.

An essentially new deity Is Skanda, who ranks both as the
son of Agni and of Siva, although as a matter of fact he was
brought to life In a mysterious way In order to create for
Devasena, daughter of Prajapati, a husband stronger than
gods and men alike. He was thought to be the son of the six
wives of the Seven Seers, ArundhatI being omitted; and the
seers having repudiated their spouses for their apparent in-
fidelity, they became stars In the constellation Kpttikas
("Pleiades"). Skanda is six-faced, but has only one neck; he
always wears red garments and rides on a peacock. His prowess
in war is great and marks him as the real war-god In the later
epic: he becomes the general of the army of the gods, who are
defeated in his absence, while the Asura Mahisa seeks to grasp
the chariot of VIsnu; but Skanda returns, and, slaying him, re-
establishes Indra in his position. He also killed Taraka, and
his spear never misses the mark, but, once thrown, returns to
him after slaying thousands of his foes.- When a boy, he thrust
his spear Into the ground In contempt for the three worlds and
challenged the whole world to remove it; the Daltya Prahlada,
Hiranyakasipu's son, fainted at the attempt, but, when VIsnu



PLATE XVI

Garuda

The mythic bird Garuda is the vahana ("vehicle")
of Visnu. He is the lord of birds, the brother of
Aruna, the charioteer of Surya (" the Sun "), and the
implacable foe of snakes, who are his half-brothers.
From an ebony carving in the collection of Lieut.-Col.
A. H. Milne, of Cults, Aberdeenshire, Scotland.



PUBLIC LllinARY



ASTOR, LENOX AND

TILOBN FHK>NDAriONS

B L



MINOR EPIC DEITIES AND THE DEAD 141

moved it with his left hand, the earth and its hills shook. With
his arrows Skanda split the rock Kraunca in Himavant; yet
he is not merely a war-god, for sometimes he is celebrated in
terms applicable to Siva himself as all-god and he seems to be
no more than a specialized form of Siva. The other form of
Siva, Ganesa, though prominent in the Purdnas, is not known
in the epic save in interpolated passages.

Another new god is Kama, who is called also Manmatha
("the Confusing"), Madana ("the Intoxicating"), and Kan-
darpa ("the Proud"), or Ananga ("the Bodiless"), who lost his
corporeal shape by his rash action in inspiring love in the heart
of Siva. He is the son of Dharma and has arrows like Cupid.
There can be little historical connexion between this somewhat
dilettante god of passion, who is a late comer in the epic, and the
Kama of the Atharvaveda (iii. 25), though both have arrows.
It is possible that Greek influence is here to be seen at work,
and it has even been suggested that it was the fame of Alexander
the Great that brought the name of Skanda into prominence
as a war-god.

[Prometheus]

The Asvins remain little changed: their old names of Nasatya
and Dasra have been turned into proper names of the pair,
but they are still the physicians of the gods and the healers of
mankind. Their origin is variously described. In one passage
they are called the children of Martanda, one of the Adityas
born from the nose of his wife Saiijna, whence the name Nas-
atya, since in Sanskrit ndsd means "nose." In another they are
Guhyakas, born of Savitr and the daughter of Tvastr; in yet
another account they are sprung from the tears of Agni. De-
spite their great beauty, they were Sudras, or members of the
lowest caste, and Indra would not allow them to share the
Soma oifering. One day, however, they came across Sukanya,
daughter of Saryati and wife of Cyavana, as she was bathing
and sought her in marriage; but when she refused to listen to
their advances, in reward they promised to make her aged and
decrepit husband fair and young. She then went and brought



142 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

Cyavana, who entered the water with the Asvins, all three emerg-
ing in the same youthful and lovely condition. She managed,
however, to choose her own husband from among them, and
in delight he secured for the Asvins a share in the soma drink.
In the epic special interest is given to them by the fact that
they were born as Madrl's two sons Nakula and Sahadeva, the
youngest of the Pandavas.

The Maruts, who have sunk to mere names, serve to aid
Indra in his conflicts with his foes. In one passage they are said
to be descended from the Seven Seers, and in another place
Marici is said to be the chief among them, which brings them
into connexion with the Prajapatis, of whom Marici is the most
important.

The Rudras form an indeterminate group, either eleven or
eleven thousand in number. They are children of Dharma,
and Siva is their protector, but they are effectively swallowed
up in his omnipotence. One list ascribes to their ranks Mrga-
vyadha, Sarpa, Nirrti, Aja Ekapad, Ahi Budhnya, Pinakin,
Dahana, Tsvara, Kapalin, Sthanu, and Bhaga, a curious con-
glomerate of epithets of Siva and the ancient Vedic gods.

The Vasus number eight, and are sons of Dharma or of
Prajapati Manu. In one list they appear as Dhara, Dhruva,
Soma, Aha, Anila, Anala, Pratyusa, and Prabhasa, but in
another Savitra replaces Aha, and in the Harivamsa Apas
takes his place. They sinned against the great sage Vasistha
by stealing his cow to please the wife of Dyaus, and were
doomed by him to be born on earth. Accordingly they became
the children of Ganga, who for another fault had been con-
demned to assume mortal form, and King Santanu. But their
mother cast the first seven into the water, and Santanu suc-
ceeded in saving only the eighth, who became Bhisma, the
famous sage and warrior of the epic. The Vasus, however,
showed their realization of their kinship with Bhisma by curs-
ing Arjuna for slaying him.

The Adityas number, as usual, twelve, but the lists of them



MINOR EPIC DEITIES AND THE DEAD 143

differ: one gives Indra, Visnu, Bhaga, Tvastr, Varuna, Amsa,
Aryaman, Ravi, POsan, Mitra, Manu, and Parjanya; while
another has Dhatr, Aryaman, Mitra, Varuna, Amsa, Bhaga,
Indra, Vivasvant, Piisan, Tvastr, Savitr, Parjanya, and Visnu,
making thirteen. Of these Arhsa, Aryaman, Pijsan, Bhaga,
Mitra, Ravi, Vivasvant, and Savitr are all equivalents of the
sun-god; Parjanya and Indra have no real solar character; and
Dhatr, Tvastr, and Manu are synonyms of the creator-god
Brahma.

The Gandharvas as heavenly musicians are often mentioned
as playing on their lutes and as singing, while the Apsarases
dance. They reside near Lake Manasa and also on Mount
Nisadha. Two of their leaders, Visvavasu and Tumburu, are
mentioned, and the Kinnaras and Naras are classed with
them. The mystic connexion of the Gandharva with birth has,
however, disappeared; and the Apsarases have also lost all
mystery and have sunk to be the dancers of the gods, beautiful
with lotus eyes, slender waists, and swelling hips, who enchant
mortals with their gestures and their honeyed words. They
serve Sakra in heaven and consort with the Gandharvas. It
is they who are called upon to interrupt from time to time the
devotions of saints when they threaten to acquire too much
sanctity. Yet they are often unsuccessful in these errands, and
even Urvasi herself failed when she sought to attract the love
of Arjuna on his visit to the heaven of Indra. Repulsed, she
cursed him to become a eunuch, but her malediction was only
nominally fulfilled. Long lists of names of Apsarases are
given, among which are Rambha, Menaka, Pufijikasthala,
VisvacI, Ghrtaci, Sahajanya, Pramloca, MisrakesI, and Ira.
Some of these are Vedic, and Ira is none other than the Ida,
or sacrificial food in the Vedic offering. It is a curious fate which
brings the holy consecrated essence of the offering into the
rank of a dancing girl.

The Caranas, wandering minstrels or troubadours, are men-
tioned with the Gandharvas, and the Siddhas and Sadhyas



144 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

also occur as blessed spirits, though without mention of their
special functions. The SIddhas, however, are said to dwell on
the south of the Nlla Mountain and the northern side of Mem
in the realm of the Uttara Kurus. In that land trees yield
fruits at pleasure, milk, and six kinds of food tasting like am-
brosia; the trees bear clothing, and In their fruits are ornaments.
The men there are beautiful and live ten thousand and ten
hundred years; children are born as twins and Intermarry;
at death birds called Bharundas come and carry away the dead,
throwing them Into mountain caves.

The Vidyadharas live in the Himavant on Mount Krauiica;
their chief is Cakradharman, but their only function Is to rain
flowers down on the warriors as they fight with one another.

Still less definitely divine are the Rsis, or seers, of whom
many classes are mentioned. The greatest are the Seven Seers,
normally given as Anglras, Atri, Kratu, Pulastya, Pulaha,
Marici, and Vaslstha. The names, however, vary, and in the
legend of the drawing of the chariot of Nahusa by the Seven
Seers it is Agastya who plays the chief role and hurls Nahusa
from heaven. Another famous story,^ which in its main lines
must have been known as early as the Aitareya Brdhmana
(v. 30) and which is preserved in variant versions in the Jdtaka,
tells of an adventure of Atri, Vaslstha, Kasyapa, Gautama,
Jamadagnl, Bharadvaja, and Visvamitra, with Arundhatl,
Once upon a time the seers found themselves threatened with
famine, and in the midst of It Saibya Vrsadarbhl, who had
been given to them as an ofi^ering by his royal father, died.
The king offered them large sums to prevent them eating human
flesh, but these they declined to take as transgressing the rule'
which forbade the acceptance of presents, and wandered away.
The king performed a sacrifice whence sprang a terrible demon
named Yatudhani, whom he sent after the seers. As they
went along, they were joined by a man with a dog, and finally
they came to a lake guarded by the Yatudhani, who allowed
them to enter it to pluck lotuses for the sake of the edible fibre



MINOR EPIC DEITIES AND THE DEAD 145

on condition that they should declare their identity. They all
gathered the lotuses, and then laying them down, went to
bathe, only to find them vanished on their return. Thereupon
the seers invoked terrible curses on him who had stolen the
fibres, but their new friend wished that man good luck, thus re-
vealing himself as the thief. He then declared himself to be
Indra and rewarded the seers by according heaven to them.

The seers are also classed as "Divine Seers" (Devarsis),
"Brahman Seers" (Brahmarsis), and "Royal Seers" (Rajarsis).
Brhaspati figures as the sage and protects Saci against Nahusa.
He was the son of Anglras and acted as Indra's charioteer.
Bhrgu was of higher origin, being a son of Brahma; and among
his feats were his curse of Agni, through whom Puloman ab-
ducted his wife Puloma, and his curse of the Himalaya. Narada
and his friend Parvata play a certain part in the Mahdbhdrata,
where they appear as high in honour among sages: Narada
gave to King Saibya Sriijaya a son Suvarnasthivin, whose
evacuations were all gold. Great riches thus accumulated in
the home of the king, but robbers seized the boy and slew him,
only to find no gold within. Finally Narada comforted Suvarna-
sthlvin's father and restored the lad to life. Narada also
cursed the Yadavas and so brought about their final destruc-
tion, which culminated In the death of Krsna, who was already
doomed by Gandharl's curse.

Gautama plays his part in a foolish tale which tells how he
rejuvenated his faithful pupil Utahka and gave him his
daughter in marriage; but for his mother-in-law Ahalya
Utanka had to seek the ear-rings of the wife of Saudasa, who
had become a man-eater. He succeeded in doing this, though
only after a quest in hell for the ear-rings which he had acci-
dentally lost, Ahalya has an evil notoriety through being se-
duced by Indra.

More interesting Is the strife of Vasistha with Visvamitra,
now king of Kanyakubja (the modern Kanauj). Visvamitra
seeks from Vasistha his famous cow, Nandlnl, and on his re-



146 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

fusal endeavours to take her by force, but his troops are de-
feated by hosts of Mlecchas ("Barbarians ") which the cow
produces. He therefore devotes himself to asceticism, and at
last attaining Brahmanhood, he revenges himself on his rival
by getting Kalmasapada to eat Vasistha's son Sakti and other
sons. In despair Vasistha seeks to slay himself, but the river
into which he casts himself bound rejects him and hence ac-
quires its name of Vipas, or "Unbound " (the modern Beas).
At last he is comforted by finding that Sakti's wife is to bear a
son Parasara. Visvamitra also distinguished himself by de-
vouring a dog's flesh when in hunger and by debating with a
Candala, or outcaste; by the Apsaras Menaka he was the
father of the famous Sakuntala. Vasistha, whose wife was
ArundhatI, cursed the Vasus and made them be born as men,
and he also cursed Hiranyakasipu.

Of Agastya wild legends are related. He created Lopamudra
to be his wife, but gave her as an adoptive daughter to the
king of Vidarbha (Berar), a tale doubtless meant to explain
the mixed marriage of persons of the Brahman and warrior
castes. To win treasure for her he made a pilgrimage to various
kings, but took nothing from them, since he found that they
spent their wealth in good deeds. 'Finally, however, he came
to king Ilvala, who had already destroyed many Brahmans by
causing them to eat, in the form of flesh, his brother Vatapi,
who then emerged from them, rending their bodies and killing
them. Ilvala sought to destroy Agastya in like manner, but
by his wondrous power of digestion the sage succeeded in
assimilating Vatapi, who could not, therefore, come forth at
his brother's call, whereupon Ilvala richly rewarded the seer.
The story of the theft of the lotuses is narrated of him also, and
it was he who prevented the Vindhya, which was growing up
to heaven, from actually reaching the sky. He had a son
Drdhasyu, who was of incomparable strength; and he drank
up the ocean and burnt the Asuras, besides bringing Nahusa
to ruin.



MINOR EPIC DEITIES AND THE DEAD 147

Vamadeva is the hero of a curious episode: in a thicket one
day King Pariksit comes upon a fair maiden who consents to
marry him on condition that she shall never see water. After
a time, however, she unhappily beholds a tank of water and
vanishes while bathing in it; the water is let out, and only a frog
is found. Pariksit orders the massacre of the frogs, whereupon
their king, Ayu, appears and explains that the maiden is his
daughter, who is then united in marriage to the king, but whose
offspring are fated by their grandfather's curse to be foes of
Brahmans. The children of Pariksit, Sala, Dala, and Bala,
grow up, and in hunting one day Sala borrows from Vamadeva
two horses which he refuses to return, even though the seer
causes a Raksasa to tear him to pieces. Dala aims a poisoned
arrow at Vamadeva, but kills only his own son; and Dala's wife,
at last propitiating the sage, returns the horses to him.

Manu plays a comparatively small role: he is the son of
Vivasvant, the brother of Yama, and the hero of the tale of
the deluge. On the advice of the fish he builds a ship and
places in it the seeds of all beings,^ so that he restores the world
again when, after the deluge, the ship rests on Naubandhana.
The fish reveals itself as Brahma, not (as in the later legend) as
Visnu. One of his children, Ila, was of double character, now
man now woman, and he was the father of Pururavas, who op-
pressed the Brahmans. With Ila's androgynous nature there
is a parallel in the Mahdhhdrata (xiii. 528 ff".) in the tale of
Bhangasvana who, with his sons, was turned into a woman and
who preferred to retain that sex. Later Siva is often androgy-
nous, and in the Vedic mythology Prajapati is, it would seem,
occasionally so conceived, but this double character of Ila
cannot be traced earlier in the Vedic legend of Puriiravas.^

Another Vedic story appears in an altered form in the tale
of Sunahsepa. As in the Mahdhhdrata^ Visvamitra is engaged
in rivalry with Vasistha and after the repulse of his efi'ort to
seize the cow of his rival he practises asceticism, rising through
the states of royal seer, great seer, and finally Brahman seer,



148 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

even Vasistha recognizing his position. In the course of this
process he has two adventures without a parallel in the Mahd-
bhdrata. Trisanku, a king who sought to attain heaven with his
own body by means of the sacrifice, found that Vasistha would
not help him to this end. Nevertheless, by a mighty offering
to which all the seers were invited, but from which Mahodaya
and the Vasisthas kept away, Visvamitra raised Trisanku
aloft toward the sky. Indra, however, struck him downward,
but Visvamitra arrested his flight in mid-air, where he hangs
in the southern sky, head down, among other stars and con-
stellations which Visvamitra made to accompany him. The
second experience was his encounter with Ambarisa, a king
whose sacrificial victim had been carried away by Indra from
the altar. As a substitute he decided to offer a human victim
to appease the god, and after long search was able to purchase
Sunahsepa, the second son of Rcika, for a thousand cows. On
being sold by his father, however, Sunahsepa entreated Visva-
mitra to help him, and the seer did so by giving him a couple of
gdthds, or verses, which saved him from death.

There is a curious exception to the rule that the Vedic gods
appear as of little account in the epic. In one passage in the
Mahdbhdrata (iii. 15457 ff.) we are told that in the world of
Brahma, which lies above the worlds of the Vedic gods, are
the seers and others, including the deities of the gods, the
Rbhus, whom even the divinities worship. They are described
as being exempt from old age, from death, from pain or happi-
ness, from love or hate, as living without sacrifice and without
ambrosia ; and — what is yet more wonderful — they do not
perish with the ages like the other gods, who accordingly seek
In vain to attain their rank. The passage is as remarkable as
it is isolated, and it contrasts strongly with the somewhat
lowly position occupied by the Rbhus in the Vedic pantheon.

Diverse as are their natures, there are certain things which
the gods have in common: they are all immortal, though this
must be taken with the qualification that they are subject to



MINOR EPIC DEITIES AND THE DEAD 149

the periodic absorption of the universe at the end of the cycle
of ages. They move freely in the air; and their place of life is
normally the heaven, whence they descend to earth at will.
Their pleasure-ground is Mount Meru in the Himalaya be-
tween Malayavant and Gandhamadana. This mountain, which
shines like the morning sun, is of gold and is as round as a ball;
it is eighty-four thousand yojanas high and as far below the
earth does it penetrate. The birds on it have golden feathers,
for which reason Sumukha, one of the six sons of Garuda,
refused to stay there because the ranks of the birds were not
distinguished. Round the mountain go the sun, the moon, and
Vayu, and on it gods, Gandharvas, Raksasas, and Asuras play
with bevies of Apsarases. There are lovely forests on its top,
and it rings with the songs of female Kinnaras.

Many signs distinguish the gods from mortals, these being
enumerated in the story of Nala, where DamayantI recognizes
the deities by their exemption from perspiration, their unwink-
ing eyes, their unfading garlands, their freedom from dust, and
their standing without touching the earth. Yet there is no
absolute division between gods and men, and the Mahdbhdrata
can tell us that the Rudras, Vasus, Adityas, Sadhyas, and royal
seers have all attained heaven by their devotion to duty.

While the epic has little to say of the old quasi-ahstvdiCt
deities, such as Aditi, who figures merely as the mother of the
Adityas, or Nirrti, who appears simply as a Rudra, there is
an abstraction which has a real existence and which develops
a slight mythology. This is Dharma, the personified concep-
tion of law, who married ten of the daughters of Daksa, but
who is more closely connected with the heroes of the epic by
the fact that by KuntI he was the father of Yudhisthira,
the chief of the Pandavas. On three occasions he tempted
Yudhisthira in order to test his true worth; and every time
Yudhisthira proved his character, refusing to enter the celestial
realms without his faithful dog, which alone arrived with him
at the entrance to Indra's heaven, and preferring to live in

[Prometheus]

I50 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

hell with his kindred than to dwell in heaven when he was told
that they could not share its pleasures with him. Dharma also
made proof of the virtue of other heroes, but his dealings were
severely criticized by the sage Mandavya. This seer, while en-
gaged on a penance which included complete silence, was
wrongly believed guilty of the theft of property which thieves
in their flight deposited in his place of abode, and was impaled
as a penalty. Nevertheless, he did not die, and the king, recog-
nizing the wrong done to him, had him removed from the stake,
a part of which, however, remained in his body. The sage
sought Dharma in order to learn for what atrocious crime in his
earlier life he had thus cruelly been punished, and was told by
Dharma that it was because, in his childhood, he had stuck a
thorn into the back of an insect. Naturally enraged at the
ridiculous disproportion between the offence and the punish-
ment, Mandavya cursed Dharma to be born as the son of a
Siidra woman, and accordingly he came to life as Vidura,
being born through the union of Vyasa with a slave woman,
instead of with Ambika, one of the widows of Vicitravirya,
who was too frightened to submit to marriage with the sage,
even for the purpose of securing a son for her dead husband
in accordance with the ancient practice of the levlrate. Vidura
proved a wise councillor of Dhrtarastra as well as a protector
of the Pandavas, and at the end, when the Kuru family had
fallen Into ruin. It was he who accompanied to the forest the
aged Dhrtarastra, and there by his power of yoga, or mystic
union, he gave up life and was united with Yudhlsthlra.
Contrary to custom, his body was not burnt.

Just as in the period of the Brdhmanas, the Asuras stand over
against the gods In a compact body and ever wage war with
them. The conflict is one which has no ending, despite the con-
stant slaying of the demons by the gods ; for as often as the fiends
are routed, others arise to take their place. Demon after demon
Is mentioned as causing fear to the gods, and though unquestion-
ably the deities have the superiority, just as they have in the



MINOR EPIC DEITIES AND THE DEAD 151

Brdhmanas, the ascendancy is only that of one set of Immor-
tals against another. In so far as the triumph of good is secured
in the universe, it is not in the sphere of the empirical world
with its apparatus of gods and demons, but in the absolute
as personified in the sectarian divinities. Moreover, the Asuras
are the elder brothers of the gods, being, like them, children of
Kasyapa Prajapati and of thirteen of the daughters of Daksa
Prajapati; the children of Diti are the Daityas, and those of
Danu the Danavas; and since Diti was the eldest daughter of
Daksa, the Daityas were older even than the gods. The
enmity of the gods and the Asuras commenced at the churning
of the ocean for the sake of the ambrosia and is briefly re-
lated in the Rdmdyana (i. 45 ff".) in concluding its account of
that great event. The Mahdhhdrata (i. 1103 fi".) has a fuller
version of the struggle. When the moon, LaksmI, the white
steed, the Kaustubha gem, and Dhanvantari had appeared —
the latter bearing the nectar in his hand — and when the dread
poison had been swallowed by Siva, the Asuras were filled with
despair and decided to war with the gods for the possession of
Laksmi and the ambrosia. Thereupon Narayana called to his
aid his bewitching power of Illusion {mdyd) and in ravishing
female form coquetted with the Daityas, who placed the nectar
in her hand. Then, with his counterpart Nara, Narayana
took away the amrta, but Rahu, a Danava, was drinking it In
the form of a god. The nectar, however, had reached only his
throat when the sun and the moon discovered his theft and
told the gods, whereupon Narayana with his discus clove the
head of Rahu, which leapt to the sky, where It ever wars with
the sun and moon, swallowing them and causing their eclipse.
Narayana then laid aside his female form and attacked the
demons; and after an appalling conflict Narayana and Nara
defeated their foes, securing the ambrosia for the gods.

The Asuras have strongholds and haunts in the mountain
caves, and they dwell in the depths In Patala, where are the
cities of Nirmocana, Pragjyotlsa, and HIranyapura. Or they



152 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

are within the sea, having been cast there and placed in the
keeping of Varuna. In heaven they made three fortresses, one
of gold, one of iron, and one of silver, and thence they assailed
the three worlds, only to fail in their attempt and to be cast
from heaven. It is characteristic, however, of the constant rela-
tionship in which they stand to the gods that on the divine
Mount Meru itself Asuras and Raksasas mingle in friendly
contact with gods and Gandharvas; and, demons though they
are, Visvakarman, who serves as divine architect, having fallen
to this humble position from his late Vedic rank, builds for
them, to plans devised by Maya, their town Hiranyapura.
It is equally significant that it was Dharma who bound the
demons and handed them over to Varuna to guard in the sea;
and Varuna's loss of rank is shown with special clearness by
the fact that it was with the nooses of Dharma, doubtless the
very ones which had been his own in the Vedic period, that
Varuna bound the Daityas and Danavas, while both Dharma
and Varuna act under the orders of the supreme lord.

Evil as they are, the demons are formidable fighters: Mahisa
attacks the gods with a mountain as his weapon; Kesin snatches
a mountain-peak for an assault. Not only are they numberless,
but they are skilled in sorcery and in every magic art, trans-
forming themselves into all manner of shapes, such as those
used by Ravana in the abduction of Sita, and spreading univer-
sal terror by their appalling roars. The Daityas and Danavas
become invisible and must be met with invisible weapons. An
episode in the Mahdbhdrata (iii. 11903 fi".) tells in detail of the
exploits of Arjuna against the demons: on the instigation of
Indra he attacks the Nivatakavacas in their fortress beneath
the sea, and though they strive against him with magic arts,
at last they are defeated, notwithstanding the fact that they
had taken their city from the gods and had held it despite them.
He then proceeds to destroy the city of Hiranyapura, which
was occupied by the Paulomas and Kalakaiijas and which
Brahma had given to Puloma and Kalaka as the reward of



MINOR EPIC DEITIES AND THE DEAD 153

asceticism. The practice of asceticism by individual Asuras
reminds us that they had once been virtuous, had practised
righteousness, and had sacrificed; with them Sri ("Fortune ")
dwelt at the beginning of the world. But as they grew in num-
bers they became proud and wicked, they ceased to sacrifice
or to visit Tirthas (holy places), and they set themselves in
defiance of the gods. That they sometimes won partial victory
is sufficiently proved by the tale of Bali, from whom Visnu
had to win back the earth by his three steps, but Sri definitely
forsook them because of their lack of righteousness, and thus
their successes were never lasting.

The names of the Asuras, whether classed as Daityas or as
Danavas, are curiously mixed. Some are clearly ancient Vedic
demons sunk to a lower level: Vrtra and Vala, Sambara,
Namuci, and Trisiras are all old enemies of Indra. It is more
surprising to find among them the pious Vedic sage Usanas,
who is identified with Sukra after emerging from Siva's body
when that god had swallowed him. He was the purohita, or
domestic priest, of the Asura Vrsaparvan and was chiefly
noted for his skill in bringing the dead to life, a feat performed
by him for Kaca, and by Kaca for him. Sunda and Upasunda,
children of Nikumbha, by their ascetic practices obtained from
Brahma the boon that they should be vulnerable only by each
other; but the god then induced Visvakarman to create in
Tilottama a woman of wondrous beauty, and she was revealed
one day to the two brothers as they amused themselves in
the Vindhya, with the fatal result that, casting aside their an-
cient love, the two brothers slew each other. Prahrada was
defeated by Indra, Madhu by Visnu, and Mahisa by Skanda;
while Vatapi, after killing many Brahmans, was devoured and
digested by Agastya. Maya the architect also appears as an
Asura, and it has been conjectured that In him we have a faint
reflex of the supreme god of Iran, the influence of Persian archi-
tecture having been claimed to exist at Patallputra, but the
suggestion seems to rest on no assured foundation. Other names



154 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

are those of Kamalaksa, Kalanemi, Jambha, Tarakaksa,
Talajangha, Darhsa, Naraka (apparently a personified hell),
Nahusa (the rival of Indra, overthrown by Agastya), Paka,
Mada, Virocana, VIra, Vegavant, Sarhhlada, Salva, and
Hiranyakasipu, the latter of whom was slain by Visnu in his
man-lion avatar.

The old Vedic Dasyus, who were often enough nothing but
human foes, but who were also doubtless demons, at least in
part, are practically mere men in the epic, where it is said that
Indra invented armour, arms, and the bow for their destruc-
tion. On the other hand, great importance now attaches to the
Nagas, who are described as serpents and also enumerated
with them. Many and various are their dwelling-places: they
live in Nagaloka ("Snake-World") in the depths of the earth,
where are many palaces, towers, and pleasure gardens, but their
home is also called Patala and Niraya. Their chief town is
Bhogavati, where the serpent king, Vasuki, lives. Yet they
are found also in caves, in inaccessible mountains, in the
valleys, in Kuruksetra, on the banks of the river Iksumati,
in the Naimisa forest, on the shores of the GomatI, on the north-
ern banks of the Ganges, and in the Nisadha district. The
strength of the snakes is great; they are huge in size, very vio-
lent, swift to strike, and full of deadly poison; but they are
also said to be handsome and of many shapes, and to wear
ear-rings. There are many kinds : of Vasuki's race some are blue,
some red, and some white; some have three, some seven, and
some ten heads.

The most famous episode connected with the snakes is the
sacrifice of them by Janamejaya in revenge for his father's
death. When pursuing a wounded gazelle Pariksit met an as-
cetic named Samlka, but since the latter could not help him to
know its path, he threw a dead snake on the hermit's neck.
In anger the son of Samlka cursed the king to die in seven days
from the bite of the serpent ruler Taksaka. Displeased with
this action, Samika warned the king of his fate, and Pariksit



PLATE XVII

Vasuki

Vasuki, the king of the Nagas ("Serpents"), is
represented, like his subjects generally, in human
form, the only trace of his original nature being his
serpent crest. This fact reflects the belief that the
Nagas assume human form at will. For the true
serpent shape of Vasuki, see Fig. 2. From the
temple rail at Bharhut, Baghelkhand. After Cunning-
ham, The Stupa of Bharhut^ Plate XXI.



fmmm-moK



/p4PM/ frflWK AMP

n^mi rM/KOAfMNi



MINOR EPIC DEITIES AND THE DEAD 155

retired into a carefully guarded palace raised on pillars. Kas-
yapa, who came to heal him from the threatened bite, was
bribed by Taksaka to depart, and the latter introduced him-
self into the palace in the shape of a worm in fruits presented
by snakes in Brahman guise as a gift to the sovereign. Then
appearing in his true form, he bit the king; but Pariksit's son,
Janamejaya, in his anger made so huge a sacrifice of the snakes
that even Taksaka would have perished if it had not been
for the intervention of Astika, who induced the young monarch
to spare him.

Sesa lies underneath the earth and supports it. He is the
son of Kadrii and at the churning of the ocean he performed the
important task of tearing out Mount Mandara so that it
might be placed on the great tortoise in preparation for the
churning. Vasuki also served as churning string at the churn-
ing and was grandfather of Kunti, the mother of the Pandavas.
He healed Bhima when the latter was poisoned. Another snake
is Arbuda, who is reminiscent of a figure of the Atharvaveda;
and Dhrtarastra appears as a serpent king, as in the Satapatha
Brdhmana. Others are Karkotaka, Kalaprstha, Jaya, Maha-
jaya, and Padmanabhi.

The snakes take part even in the epic conflict, and we are
told that the great serpents were for Arjuna and the little for
Karna. There is still a Naga people in India, and it may be
that the epic refers to the Naga tribes of the Ganges valley.
Doubtless many causes have combined to produce the belief
in Nagas. The cloud-snake is Rgvedic, and the serpent is
closely connected with rivers and streams as the genius loci.
Similarly it is a representative of the earth spirit, while, again,
the snake in itself Is a dangerous animal and worthy of wor-
ship for its own sake. It may well be that, in part at least, the
worship was totemlstic and was accompanied by a belief in the
ancestorship of the snake and in its kinship with the worship-
pers, though the epic says nothing directly on these points.

The Raksasas are of particularly terrible aspect: they have



156 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

red hair and eyes and a mouth stretching from ear to ear,
the latter being pointed like spears. Large and strong, they
wander in the darkness and are unconquerable at midnight,
and they are skilled sorcerers and wizards, changing shape at
will. They haunt the woods and the lonely mountains, but
they also lie in wait for the pious at places of pilgrimage and
worship. They delight in destroying the sacrifice and are
cannibals, desiring human flesh; yet they can appear in beauti-
ful form when they wish to deceive the unwary.

Of individual Raksasas by far the greatest is Ravana, the
enemy of Rama, though perhaps he was originally an Asura,
rather than a mere Raksasa. His son Indrajit performed
great deeds of strength before he finally fell in battle; his broth-
ers Khara and Vibhisana also fought on his side, and his sister
Surpanakha assisted him. Marica aided him in his plot to
steal Sita and finally was killed in the form of a golden ga-
zelle by Rama. In the Mahdhhdrata (i. 5928 ff.) Hidimba, a
Raksasa, made an attack on the Pandavas, but was brought
low by Bhima; his sister fell in love with the slayer of her
brother and bore to him Ghatotkaca. More interesting is the
tale of Jara. King Brhadratha had no son, but through the
favour of Candakausika each of his two wives bore a portion
of a boy. These fragments were thrown away as monstrosities,
but when Jara approached and placed them together in order
to carry them away, they formed a complete child who called
out, whereupon his parents came to see what had happened
and found him. Jara then explained that she had refrained
from devouring the child because as the house-deity she had
dwelt in painted form on the walls, surrounded with offerings;
and she declared that this was an infallible mode of securing
prosperity.

Closely akin with such female Raksasas as Jara are the
Matrs, or "Mothers," who appear in the Mahdbhdrata in
close connexion with Skanda. They dwell in cemeteries, at
cross-roads, or on the mountains, and practise witchcraft.



PLATE XVIII

Yaksi

This sculpture of the Yaksi Sirima Devata well
illustrates the Indian ideal of feminine beauty as
represented in sculpture and painting, and as described
in Sanskrit literature. From the temple rail at Bhar-
hut, Baghelkhand. After a photograph in the Library
of the India Office, London.






B






MINOR EPIC DEITIES AND THE DEAD 157

They are mentioned together with the Grahas, or "Seizers,"
spirits which afflict men and which are both male and female:
one class is dangerous to children up to the sixteenth year, and
others are perilous from then to the age of seventy, after
which the fever demon is alone to be dreaded. Their effects
are various and range from mere foolish and mischievous
sports, like those of fairies, to gluttony or lust. From the
point of view of religion the presence of the Grahas is signifi-
cant; but despite the identity of their name with the word for
"planet," it does not seem that they have astrological connex-
ions, and at times they are classified with Pisacas, Yaksas,
and similar minor beings.

The Pisacas are closely akin with the Raksasas and often
occur with them: like them they drink blood and rend human
flesh, and their appearance is hideous and revolting. Their
very name has been interpreted as "Eaters of Raw Flesh,"
and their origin traced to cannibal tribes,^ but this suggestion
is not convincing.

On the other hand, the Yaksas are free from savage traits,
and their lord Kubera stands on the verge of divinity. Their
duty is to guard him, and they are often mentioned along with
the Guhyakas, with whom they are sometimes identified. In
the first chapter of the Mahdbhdrata, which is of late origin,
the Yaksas, Sadhyas, Guhyakas, Pisacas, and fathers are
reckoned as manifestations of Siva.

Kubera has a history. He was, it is said, originally an Asura,
his father being the sage Visravas, and his mother Ilavila,
and his half-brothers being Ravana, Kumbhakarna, and
Vibhisana, all of whom figure in the legend of Rama. His half-
brothers were the children of KaikasI, and his grandfather was
Sumali, who lived in Patala, while Kubera dwelt in Lanka.
Incited by Sumali, however, Ravana drove Kubera forth from
his kingdom, and he departed thence with a train of Gan-
dharvas, Yaksas, Raksasas, and Kimpurusas, Vibhisana ac-
companying him and being given in reward the charge of the



158 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

Raksasa and the Yaksa armies. He went to the Himalaya range,
to the mountain Gandhamadana, and to Kailasa with the
lively Mandakini River, while Ravana entered Lanka with
those Raksasas who had espoused his cause, attacked both
gods and demons, and won his name by the roars of grief which
he caused

[Prometheus]

On Kailasa and Gandhamadana Kubera now dwells, en-
joying a quarter of the treasure of the mountain and giving one
sixteenth to man. Raksasas, Gandharvas, and KInnaras, as
well as Guhyakas and Yaksas, are in his service and attend him
amid scenes of the utmost beauty. His great forest is called
Nandana, and his grove is Caitraratha. The waters of his river,
the Mandakini, are covered with golden lotuses; and his lake,
Nalini or Jambiinadasaras (also known as Alaka), is full of
golden lotuses and lovely birds, is surrounded by dense trees,
has cool water, and is guarded by the Krodhavasa Raksasas
under their king Manibhadra. In his city of Alaka flags ever
flutter, and women dance. In his assembly hall he sits in solemn
state, surrounded by his retainers; and LaksmI, Siva, and Uma
all visit him there. His chariot Puspaka was wrought, like his
palace, by Visvakarman and was given to him by Brahma,
but Ravana took it from him on his defeat, only to be cursed
in consequence. His favourite weapon is a mysterious one
called Antardhana, with which Sankara once destroyed the
three fortresses of the Asuras. He has, ever guarded by poison-
ous snakes, a jar of honey, and if a mortal might taste of it,
he would win Immortality, a blind man would regain his sight,
and an old man would become young again.

Besides these groups of minor divine powers, more or less
well defined, the epic Is full of worship of anything that can be
regarded as charged with mysterious potency. Prominent
among these lesser beliefs is that In trees, which are deemed to
be not merely homes of spirits, but actual living beings, a relic
of an older stratum of thought. Thus in the days of Prthu
Vainya the trees were not only good, so that clothes pleasant to



PLATE XIX

KUBERA

Kubera, lord of the Yaksas and guardian of treas-
ures, was originally king of the gnomes who hide
metals and jewels in the mountains. As a mountain-
god, he is also a deity who promotes fertility. It is
not impossible that Kubera is the Indian counterpart
of the Greek Kabeiroi, even in name. From the
temple rail at Bharhut, Baghelkhand. After Cunning-
ham, The Stupa of Bharhut, Plate XXII.



TIIC ?,T;\V YORK

PUI>LIC LIBRARY



ASTOR, LENOX AND
TILDBN POLNDAriONa



MINOR EPIC DEITIES AND THE DEAD 159

touch could be made from all of them, but they themselves
came and had speech with Prthu Vainya, a culture hero of
great antiquity. Or, again, two wives desirous of children em-
brace trees, which, unfortunately, are interchanged, so that the
wife who seeks a heroic obtains a priestly son, and vice versa.
Many trees are sacred in the extreme : the worship of the Ficus
religiosa is equal to the worship of a god, and there are five
heavenly trees of special sanctity. The mountains, too, are
full of life, and the Vedic legend of their wings is still remem-
bered. Vindhya seeks the sky and is restrained only by the
cunning of Agastya; Mainaka is famed because when the other
mountains lost their pinions, it retained its own; and Kraunca
is renowned for being pierced by Skanda. All the mountains
were once reduced to ashes by a saint Dhanusaksa as the
only means to destroy Medhavin, son of Valadhi, who had se-
cured from the gods the promise that his son's life should last
as long as the mountains endured.

The lord of the dead is Yama Vaivasvata, even as In the
Vedic epoch; and he ranks as one of the four Lokapalas, or
"World-Protectors," who are normally reckoned as Indra,
Agnl, Varuna, and Yama, though In one version Kubera takes
the place of Agnl, while Ravana claims that he himself is the
fifth world-guardian. As his name denotes,^ Yama "restrains "
men and thus Is often nearly identified with Dharma, so that
when the sage Mandavya goes to question the latter he seeks his
place of judgement just as if it were Yama's. Yama is also the
king of the Pitrs, or "Fathers," who live in his realm, this being
in the south under the earth at a distance of eighty-six thousand
yojanas, along which the dead must travel. In it are the Vaita-
rani River and the Raurava Hell. His assembly hall is an abode
of bliss which sages and kings attend to pay homage to Yama,
and there Gandharvas and Apsarases sing and dance. He
himself Is of majestic appearance, red-eyed and of dark hue,
but he is also terrible to look at and with noose in hand he
strikes dread into the hearts of men. His messengers wear dark



i6o INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

apparel, and thus are unlike their master, whose clothes are
red; their eyes are red, their hair bristles, and their legs, eyes,
and noses are like a crow's; Yama carries the staff of justice and
a noose, and his charioteer is Roga ("Disease"). He has two
four-eyed dogs, the offspring of Sarama.

Two aspects are inextricably blended in the character of
Yama: he is the ender of the life of man, and therefore is ac-
companied by death and hundreds of dreadful diseases, and
his messengers drag the weary dead through a region with
neither water nor shade. On the other hand, he is also the just
judge, before whose throne all must go without friend or kin
to aid, save only their own deeds. As a ruler of the realm of the
dead he executes righteous punishment on the evil and re-
wards the good, and his staff metes out just judgement to all
mortals. Pleasant places are reserved for the good, while hell
awaits the bad, and the terrors of the infernal world are vividly
described: the evil man is threatened with a hell where he sinks
in the hot stream VaitaranI, where the forest of sword-leaves
wounds his limbs, and where he is bound to He on axes. Another
torture is that described by Agastya, who found that his an-
cestors were hanging head downward in a cave until such time
as he should perform the sacred duty of rearing a son to con-
tinue the race.

The Vedic views as to the future of the dead still survive in
parts of the epic. In one of the finest episodes of the Mahdhhdrata
(iii. 16616 ff.) we are told of the marriage of Savitri, the daugh-
ter of Asvapati of the Madras, to Satyavant. Though the sage
Narada approved the choice, nevertheless he foretold the
death of the husband in a year, but Savitri would not alter
her choice. With Satyavant she lived in happiness in the her-
mitage where he dwelt, for his royal father had lost his king-
dom to his foes. One day when he was cutting wood, he fell
asleep, wearied out, with his head on her lap. Then she saw
Yama approaching, noose in hand, and the dread deity, say-
ing he had come for the soul of her husband, drew it forth with



MINOR EPIC DEITIES AND THE DEAD i6i

his cord and went his way. Savitrl, however, followed him and
would not go back until he gave her as successive boons the
restoration of her father-in-law's kingdom, a hundred sons for
her own father, and the life of her husband as a reward for her
devotion.

In this tale it is assumed that all men must yield their lives
to Yama and go to the realm of the dead. Yet there is an in-
creasing tendency to confuse this simple picture by the growth
of the doctrine that the good depart at once to joy in the
world of Indra, while only the bad go to Yama, who thus be-
comes not a judge of right and wrong, but a punlsher of sin.
By a further development of thought the judicial or retributive
functions of the god usurp his part of ender of the lives of men,
this latter role being given to Mrtyu ("Death ") as an
independent power. With these ideas blends the philosophic
doctrine of release through true knowledge, which makes the
function of Yama wholly meaningless for the few who attain
freedom. A further complication arises from the cross-current of
the doctrine that retribution takes the form of rebirth in a less
fortunate life and reward that of reincarnation in a more for-
tunate existence; and these views are variously and tentatively
fitted Into the scheme of retribution in hell and reward in the
delights of paradise. The same problems had presented them-
selves to the philosophers who wrote the Upanisads, who were
as little able to evolve a harmonious system as were the sages
and saints of the epic.



CHAPTER VI
THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE PURANAS

THERE is no essential difference between the mythology of
the Purdnas and the mythology of the epic. Tradition
is strong in India, and the fame and popularity of the great
epics would in any case have served to make much of their
mythology a permanent inheritance of later ages. There is,
therefore, for the most part no substantial change in the myths
affecting the well known features of the epic pantheon: details
vary, and the outline of the stories tends to be further con-
fused by contamination of legends and by free invention and
rearrangement, but these divergencies, while not without
interest for literary history and folk-lore, seldom have mytho-
logical significance.

The most noteworthy feature of the Pauranic mythology is
the deepening of the sectarianism of the worship of the two
great gods. That worship Is sectarian as early as the epics, in
the latest parts of which there is a free use of language which
goes as far as anything in the Purdnas; but there is a differ-
ence in degree in the devotion when the main body of the epic
is compared with these poems, and sectarianism develops
more and more conspicuously the later the Purdna is. At the
same time these texts show a steadily increasing tendency to
deal with questions of philosophy and to dress out their doc-
trines as far as practicable in the garments of that compound
of the Sarhkhya and the Vedanta philosophical systems which
is seen in the Bhagavadgitd and in the long disquisitions of
the didactic books of the Mahdhhdrata. They unite with this
adoption of theory the rules of yoga practice which they find



THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE PURANAS 163

in the Yoga philosophy; and on the other hand they direct
polemics against the Buddhists, Jains, and more especially
the Carvakas, who are held to be the leading and most danger-
ous school of materialists, preaching a life of self-indulgence.

Of the two great gods Visnu has the greater number of
Purdnas as directed in the main in his honour, including the
Visnu, the Bhdgavata, the Brahma, the Brahmavaivarta, the
Brahmdnda, the Fardha, the Fdmana, the Kurma, the Padma,
the Garuda, and the Ndrada. Siva can claim only the Fdyu,
the Agni, the Linga, and perhaps the Matsya, though the latter
has much to say on Visnu. The Mdrkandeya treats both deities
without prepossession for either, and the Bhavisya, with the
Bhavisyottara, is not markedly sectarian. Yet despite the vast
number of legends contained in the Fisnu and the Bhdgavata,
which are par excellence the text-books of Vaisnavism, few of
them are more than quaint or foolish. The depth of the devo-
tion of his followers can, however, be gathered from a tale in
the "Uttarakhanda" of the Padma Purdna. The sage Bhrgu
was sent by the seers to ascertain which god possessed the
quality of goodness, in the highest degree, so that they could
decide whom to worship. The sage found Siva so deeply en-
grossed in his sport with his wife that he did not receive his
visitor, while Brahma was surrounded by seers and so taken
up with himself that he had no attention to pay to Bhrgu.
The latter then went to find Visnu, who was asleep, whereat
the angry sage aroused him with a kick. Instead of showing
anger at this rude awakening, the deity gently stroked the
foot of the seer and expressed the honour which he had felt at
his unusual method of calling his attention. It Is not sur-
prising that, overjoyed at this condescension, Bhrgu declared
that Visnu was by far the most worthy of worship of all the
gods. The Ndrada Purdna, however, goes further. This late
and worthless tract tells us a vapid tale of the daughter of a
king who obtained from her father a promise that he would
grant her anything she desired and who then insisted on her



i64 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

parent either breaking one of the fast-days of Visnu or slaying
his son, whereupon the monarch chose the latter alternative
as being the lesser sin. On the whole the Visnu Purdna is less
absurd in its legends, although it has extravagances enough.
The great name of Bharata is now degraded by a foolish story
(ii. 13-16) of how one day a frightened antelope died near
him, leaving a young fawn, which Bharata took home and
brought up, devoting his whole life to meditation upon it.
Justly enough in the next birth he was reincarnated as an
antelope, but by his practice of asceticism in this state he was
able to be born in his following reincarnation in the position
of the son of a pious Brahman. Nevertheless, though fully
acquainted with the knowledge of the self, he was heedless
of all mundane things, spoke indistinctly and confusedly, per-
formed no rites, went about dirty and in rags, and generally so
conducted himself as to earn the name of Fool Bharata. He
was accordingly engaged on the meanest tasks and in this way
came to be employed in the service of King Sauvlra. This
opportunity being afforded him, he displayed himself as a
skilled and most learned teacher by telling a story which
showed emphatically the unity of the whole of existence and
the lack of any real individuality amongst men. All this
Bharata won through his devotion to Visnu. In contrast the
demerits of such heretics as the Buddhists and the Jains are
revealed by the story of King Satadhanus (iv. 18). On
one sacred moment this true worshipper of Visnu, moved by
courtesy, said a few words to a heretic; and all his goodness
could not avail to prevent his being born successively as a dog,
a jackal, a wolf, a vulture, a crow, and a peacock, until the
devotion of his wife Saibya succeeded in securing his rebirth
into his royal rank. On the other hand, devotion to Visnu
sustains men through appalling trials, this being the case with
Prahlada, the pious son of Hiranyakasipu (i. 17-20). Unin-
structed by his teacher, the lad proclaimed before his father the
deity and supremacy of Visnu and would not desist. Every



PLATE XX

VisNu Slays the Demons

While Visnu slumbered on Ananta (see Plate XI),
two demons, Madhu and Kaitabha, sprang from his
ear and sought to destroy Brahma; but the deity
awakened and slew them. From a painting in a
Sanskrit manuscript. After Hendley, Ulwar and its
Art Treasures, Plate LXIII.



THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE PURANAS 165

effort was made to slay him: the snakes, Kuhaka, Taksaka,
and Andhaka bit him in vain; elephants' tusks were harmless
against him; fire could not overcome him; cast down from the
palace, he survived the shock; thrown fettered into the sea, he
rose on the waters. Finally Visnu revealed himself and justi-
fied Prahlada, who begged for his father's life, but ultimately
Hiranyakasipu was slain by the god in his man-lion incar-
nation. Another tale is that of Dhruva (i. 11-12). He was
the son of Uttanapada by his second wife, and for that reason
his father did not take him up on his lap as he did Uttama, his
son by his first wife, whom he was unwilling to annoy. Though
only four or five years old, the younger lad resented this inferior-
ity, but his mother explained to him that it was due to the
fact that his brother was more meritorious than himself
through reason of accumulated goodness. Dhruva then re-
solved, despite his tender years, to attain a virtue which
should surpass even that of his own father, and learning from
some seers the mode to venerate Visnu, he gave himself to
this task. Disturbed by the deepness of his devotions, the
gods attempted to terrify or cajole him to desist, but Visnu
appeared, calmed the fears of the deities, and duly rewarded
Dhruva by elevating him to the position of the pole-star.
The story is the more interesting since many of the Purdnas
merely say that Brahma raised Dhruva to the skies, showing
that Visnu has taken over from Brahma this feat as he has
other of his great deeds.

A further tale (i. 13) tells that Death had a daughter
Sunitha, who married Ahga and by him had a son who was
named Vena. This king unhappily inherited the evil disposi-
tion of his grandfather, and when he was established in the
realm he forbade the paying of sacrifice to Hari (Visnu) on the
ground that all the gods were effectively present in the person
of the king. The Brahmans strove to obtain permission at
least to offer to Hari, but the monarch proved so obdurate
that at last in deep wrath they slew him with the blades of



1 66 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

the sacred grass. Shortly afterward, however, the sages saw
clouds of dust, which, they were told, were raised by hordes of
robbers hastening to steal, now that the strong arm of the king
was removed. They accordingly rubbed the thigh of the corpse,
whence sprang a man with flattened countenance and of dwarf
size, representing the Nisadas, or aboriginal inhabitants of
the country, by whose production the guilt of the sin was
carried away. The sages then rubbed Vena's right arm, from
which came Prthu, at whose birth sacrifice the Siita ("Herald ")
and Magadha ("Minstrel ") were brought forth, and they
sang of the future deeds which he was to do, since they could
not tell of the achievements that a newly born child had
wrought. Prthu found that the earth was withholding all
vegetation because of the period of anarchy and with his
might he compelled her to submit to being milked. He is the
culture hero of India : he made the earth level by lowering the
mountains; he divided out the land and established bound-
aries; and he introduced agriculture.

Another tale (iv. 2) is of King Yuvanasva. Since he was
childless, the seers left on the altar a specially consecrated
draught which they meant his queen to swallow, but by error
he drank it instead, the result being that a boy was born from
his side who won the name Mandhatr from the fact that he
was nourished by sucking the thumb of Indra.^ The daughters
of this emperor were sought in marriage by the sage Saubhari,
who had spent a prolonged period of asceticism, but was
aroused to a desire for the joys of life by gazing at the gambols
of the great fish Sammada in the pool in which he was perform-
ing penance. By his magic might he assumed a lovely form so
that all the daughters of the king insisted on being wedded to
him, and by this same power he made each believe that he
was constantly with her. But from this dream of happiness
he awoke one day to the inutility and unending character of
human joy and with his wives assumed his old ascetic prac-
tices in devotion to Visnu, finally attaining liberation.




Fig. 5. The Matsya ("Fish") Avatar of Visnu

When the world had been destroyed by a deluge which spared only the ship con-
taining Manu, the seven Rsis ("Sages"), and their wives, Visnu assumed the form of
a fish and kept the vessel safe until the waters had subsided. Visnu has here taken the
place of Prajapati or Brahma in earlier myth (see pp. 74, 124). After Moor, Hindu
Pantheon, Plate XLVIII, No. i.
VI — 12

[Prometheus]

i68 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

The list and the details of the avatars naturally begins to
expand, and a very interesting account is given in the Matsya
Pur ana (ccxxxi-ccxxxv). In the interminable wars of the gods
and demons Sukra left the Asuras and went to the gods, but
was entreated by his former associates to return to their aid.
He finally did so and undertook to obtain from Siva spells
which would make him more powerful than Brhaspati, the
priest of the gods. Mahadeva imposed on him the horrible
penance of hanging for a thousand years head downward over
a fire of chaff", and while he was engaged in this the gods at-
tacked the Asuras, whom Sukra's mother sought to protect.
She rendered Indra powerless, and to prevent the complete
discomfiture of the divinities Indra had to seek aid from
Visnu, who with great hesitation cut off her head, for which
deed he was cursed by Sukra to be born seven times on earth
for the good of the world when unrighteousness should prevail;
therefore is Visnu born in this world. After Sukra's thousand
years of penance were over, he was beguiled for ten years by
Jayanti, daughter of Indra, to live with her concealed from all.
In this period Brhaspati took advantage of Sukra's absence to
palm himself off on the Asuras as Sukra, so that at first they
rejected Sukra when he came back to them. Finally they suc-
ceeded in pacifying him and after a thousand years of war they
won a victory over the gods, although this was soon undone
when the deities seduced the demons Sanda and Marka from
their allegiance; and thus the Asuras were finally driven from
heaven.

The list of avatars is then given by the Matsya as ten in all,
the last seven of which represent the results of the curse of
Sukra. They are a part sprung from Dharma, the man-lion,
the dwarf, Dattatreya, Mandhatr, Parasurama, Rama,
Vedavyasa, Buddha, and Kalki. The Bhdgavata (I. iii. 24)
gives twenty-two, namely, Purusa, the boar, Narada, Nara
and Narayana, Kapila, Dattatreya, the sacrifice, Rsabha,
Prthu, the fish, the tortoise, Dhanvantari (counting as two),



THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE PUR ANAS 169

the man-lion, the dwarf, Parasurama, Vedavyasa, Rama,
Balarama, Krsna, Buddha, and Kalki, the two latter being
ascribed to the future. It adds, however, that, like rivulets
flowing from an inexhaustible lake, the incarnations of Visnu
are innumerable, and seers, Manus, gods, sons of Manus, and
Prajapatis are all but portions of him. Of these varied avatars,
which are diflferently given in other Purdnas, that of Buddha
is a curious example of the desire to absorb whatever is good
in another faith: so far as the Buddha was divine, it is argued
in effect that he must have been Visnu. He is said to have
manifested himself as Buddha in order to encourage wicked
men to despise the Vedas, reject caste, and deny the existence
of the gods, and thus to bring about their own destruction.
As Kalki he will appear at the end of the Kali age, seated on
a white horse, carrying a drawn sword, and blazing like a
comet for the -final destruction of the wicked, the renovation
of creation, and the restoration of purity. The avatar as
Parasurama recalls a hero famous in the Mahdhhdrata and
mentioned also at some length in the Rdmdyana. He was a
son of Jamadagni, at whose bidding he struck off" the head of
his own mother, Renuka, as a punishment for her impurity;
but as a reward for his obedience his father revived Renuka
in purity and gave Rama invincibility in war. King Kartavirya
came to Jamadagni's hermitage and, dissatisfied with his
reception, took away the sacrificial cow. In revenge Rama
slew Kartavirya, whose sons then killed Jamadagni, only to be
themselves slain by Rama, who in his anger annihilated the
Ksatriyas twenty-one times and filled five lakes in Samanta-
pancaka with blood. He also gave the earth to Kasyapa and
made his own dwelling on Mahendra. His relations with the
younger Rama were unfortunate: enraged when the latter
broke Siva's bow, he came against him, but after a contest
was defeated and suff"ered spiritual degradation, though not
death. In his personality the tradition sees the action of
Visnu to humble the Ksatriyas, or warrior caste, when they



lyo INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

became unduly proud. Balarama, another of the incarnations,
is the brother of Krsna, and in this capacity alone is con-
sidered a representative of Visnu, especially when Krsna is
regarded not as a mere partial incorporation, but as the full
incarnation of the deity. The avatar as Dattatreya was due
to a penance performed by Atri, as a result of which the three
gods, Brahma, Visnu, and Siva, became incorporated in part
in his three sons, Soma, Datta, and Durvasas.

All these additions and modifications of the avatar theory
are in keeping with Indian tradition: just as the older attribu-
tion of the fish, the tortoise, and the boar incarnations to
Brahma or Prajapati gradually yields to the tendency to con-
fer them on a real living deity, so it was only natural that
other greater beings should be definitely ranked as incarnations
of Visnu, though originally no such character attached to
them. The process was gradual, as can be seen from the in-
crease in the number of the avatars in the later Purdnas, and
needs no explanation by external influence. Every trend
In Indian religion told toward the process of recognizing a
series of such "descents." From the Rgveda onward the
identification of one god with another was normal and of
increasing frequency, nor can we suppose that these identi-
fications were meaningless. On the other hand, it was the
natural aim of the Brahmans to admit into their pantheon, in
such a manner as to meet their views, the great gods of tribes
which fell under the Influence of their culture. Again, quite
apart from these two motives, from the first the gods are
powerful beings who can assume a multitude of shapes at
will and who may for their own purposes be present in strange
places; and, furthermore, we must not exclude the possibility
that the animal incarnations point to totemism and to the
incorporation of inferior gods into the Hindu pantheon. But
while the motives of the avatars cannot be assigned with cer-
tainty, it is wholly needless to seek to impute them to the
influence of Christianity. There was Indeed In the births of



PLATE XXI

Laksmi

The Goddess of Wealth and Beauty is shown with
her characteristic emblem, the lotus. This is particu-
larly appropriate, not merely because of the beauty
of the flower, but because it is a water-plant, while
Laksmi herself is sprung from the waters, having
come into being at the churning of the ocean (see
Fig. 2). For another conception of her see Plate
XIII. From a bronze statuette in the iMuseum of
Fine Arts, Boston.



THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE PURANAS 171

the Buddha, the tradition of which is undoubtedly long anterior
to the Christian era, a form of incarnation which, springing
immediately from the Hindu tenet of reincarnation, would '
have been sufficient to render reference to any external source
superfluous, but it is doubtful whether even this doctrine is
necessary to explain the incarnation of deities, which is already
presaged in texts older than Buddhism.

On the other hand, a new influence does seem to be at work
in the tales of the child Krsna, which are wanting in the genu-
ine portions of the epic and are first recorded in the Harivamsa
(before 500 a.d.) and then appear in the Fisnu and Bhdgavata
Purdnas in full detail, and more or less fully in the Brahma,
the Brahmavaivarta and other Purdnas. Narada, the sage,
warned King Karhsa of Mathura (the modern Muttra), the
land destined to be the holy state of the Krsna cult, that
death awaited him at the hands of the eighth child of DevakI
and A'^asudeva. To avert this evil, Karhsa kept Devaki under
strict watch, and six of her children were duly slain. The
seventh, however, was saved by the goddess Sleep, who re-
moved it before birth from the womb of Devaki to that of
Rohini, the other wife of Vasudeva, of whom it was born as
Balarama or Baladeva. The eighth child had to be saved in a
different way. A herdsman called Nanda had come with his
wife Yasoda up to the town to pay tribute to Kamsa, and so
immediately after the birth of the child Vasudeva bore it
across the deep and dangerous Jumna, which in regard to
him rose no higher than his knee, and exchanged the infant
for the daughter just born from Yasoda. The tiny girl was at
once cruelly slain by the King's order, while Nanda returned
to his home with the youthful Krsna and with Balarama also,
for Karhsa, in his anger at discovering that the child which
he had put to death was not the one destined to kill him, but
was really a form of the goddess Sleep, had given orders for
the slaughter of all male children which showed signs of special
vitality.



172 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

The two boys grew up together, and Krsna early gave signs
of his prowess. He slew the demon Putana, who came to offer
him suck with intent to slay him; he overturned a cart and
broke the pots and pans; when tied with a rope round his
waist, he dragged the mortar, to which it was fastened, between
two trees, and after it had thus become wedged fast, by hard
pulling he overthrew both trees. Not content with these
miracles, according to the Harivamsa he created hundreds of
wolves from his body until he persuaded the herdsmen to settle
in the Vrndavana, where he desired to be. Arrived there, he
leaps into the Jumna and defeats the great serpent Kaliya,
whom he bids depart to the ocean; he destroys the demon
Dhenuka, who was in ass form; he causes Rama to slay the
Asura Pralamba. When the time comes for the festival of
Indra, he persuades the cowherds to abandon the practice of
worshipping Indra, inculcating instead the adoration of the
mountains and of their own cattle as means of success. In
anger at his thus diverting sacrifice from him Indra sends a
terrible storm on the cattle, but Krsna upraises Mount Govar-
dhana and thus protects the kine and the herdsmen until after
seven days the storm dies away, and Indra recognizes the
greatness of the boy, who, however, declines to admit his
divine character to the herdsmen, with whom he continues to
live, enjoying sports of all kinds and in special indulging in
dances with the Gopis, or milkmaids. Here arose the Rasa or
Hallisa dances performed in honour of Krsna in many parts
of India, even to the present day. On one occasion a demon
Arista attacked Krsna in the midst of his dance, but was slain.

Learning of the deeds of Krsna, Kaihsa determines to fetch
him to his capital and there to procure his death, if he cannot
slay him before. He accordingly sends Akrura to fetch Krsna
and his brother to Mathura, and Kesin to attempt his life;
but Kesin, who attacks in horse shape, is destroyed by Krsna.
The boys accompany Akrura to Mathura, and they enter the
town, killing Kariisa's washerman who shows them disre-



THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE PURANAS 173

spect, but conferring a benediction on a flower-seller who pays
reverence to Krsna. They also meet a crooked woman, Kubja,
who is made straight by Krsna. Karhsa sets two skilled wres-
tlers to work to slay the brothers, but the bravoes are them-
selves laid low, while Karhsa, who, throwing aside all pretext
in anger at the sight of the death of his men, seeks to have
their conquerors killed, Is seized and dies at the hands of
Krsna. The hero then places a new king on the throne and
proceeds to Ujjayini (Ujjain), where he becomes the pupil of
Sandipani and recovers from the sea the son whom his teacher
had lost there; and he also kills the marine demon Pahcajana
and makes himself a conch from his shell. A new danger now
arises: Jarasandha of Magadha, the father-in-law of Karhsa,
determines to avenge his daughter's husband, and a long
struggle breaks out, ending in the failure of the attacks of
Jarasandha. In the course of this conflict, however, a king
named Kalayavana, "the dark Yavana" (or "Greek"),
advances against Mathura, and as a result Krsna decides, in
view of the strength of his enemy, to establish the Yadavas
at Dvaraka (Gujarat). Nevertheless, he succeeds in over-
throwing Kalayavana by leading him into a cave where the
ancient king Mucukunda, awakened from the sleep which,
at his own request, the gods had bestowed upon him, destroys
the Yavana and praises Krsna, who takes the army and treas-
ure of his enemy and repairs to Dvaraka. His next important
exploit is the wedding of RukminI against the wishes of
her brother, whom he finally conquers, but whose life he spares
at Rukmini's entreaty. By this wife he has a son Pradyumna,
in whom the mystic interpretation of Krsnaism sees Mind
(Manas). When six days old, this boy was stolen by the demon
Sambara, who foresaw that he would cause his death, and who
therefore cast him into the deep. Here Pradyumna was swal-
lowed by a great fish which, being captured, was cut up in the
presence of Sambara's queen, MayadevI, who found the boy
and reared him. When he grew to manhood, she manifested



174 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

her love to him and explained that he was not her son, where-
upon, in anger with Sambara, he slew him and carried Mayadevi
as his wife to Dvaraka, being received there with great joy,
since in reality he was none other than the god of love, reunited
to his wife Rati under the form of Mayadevi. From this mar-
riage was sprung young Aniruddha, who ranks as Egoism to the
mystics and who married Rukmin's granddaughter; but the
wedding-feast ended in bloodshed, for Rukmin challenged
Baladeva to dice, played him false, and was slain by him.

Then one day Indra came to Krsna and told him of the vile
deeds of Naraka of Pragjyotisa, who had robbed Aditi of her
ear-rings and had insulted Varuna and the other gods. After
a valiant fight Krsna destroyed Naraka and returned to Aditi
her ear-rings. This visit to the celestial world, however, leads
him to another adventure, for Satyabhama, one of his other
sixteen thousand one hundred wives, sees the Parijata tree in
heaven and desires him to take it home with them. He agrees to
do so in order to lessen her jealousy of his favourite Rukmini,
though for this purpose he has first to overthrow Indra and the
gods; but finally with the permission of Indra he takes the tree
to Dvaraka and marries the princesses held in captivity by Na-
raka. A greater struggle now awaited him: Usa, the daughter
of Bana, the Asura king, became enamoured of Pradyumna's
son Aniruddha, but Bana strongly opposed his daughter's wish,
and being a devotee of Siva, secured that god's aid. Bana
managed to find Aniruddha in his palace, where he had come
in secret, and bound him; and a terrible struggle then ensued
between Krsna, Balarama, and Pradyumna on the one side,
and Bana, Siva, and Skanda on the other. Finally the might
of Krsna prevailed, and he was about to slay the Asura king
when Siva intervened and asked for his life, which Krsna
graciously granted, as Siva had acknowledged his supreme
position. In the Harivamsa the scene ends differently: the
two gods are reconciled by the intervention of Brahma, who
points out their identity; and the whole ends with a hymn



THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE PURANAS 175

asserting their unity. The version of the Visnu Purdna, how-
ever, clearly asserts a victory of the Vaisnavas and doubtless
has some semi-historical basis. Here the Harivamsa ends, but
the Visnu Purdtia, after one or two more legends, narrates
the death of Krsna on the model of the Mahdbhdrata.

The study of Krsna's youth at once raises irresistibly the
question whether we have here a real growth of Indian religion,
derived from native sources, or whether we must look for
foreign, and particularly Christian, influence. The facts as
to Christianity in India are unhappily open to grave doubt:
the legend of the working of St. Thomas in western India,
much discussed as it has been,^ can and will yield no clear
proof of any actual contact of Christianity with India in the
apostolic period. The statement that in 190 a.d. Pantaenus
found Indians who were Christians depends upon the inter-
pretation to be given to the vague word " India " in a notice
of Eusebius, which may with more probability be assigned to
South Arabia. The assertion of Dio Chrysostom that Christian
texts were turned into their native tongue by Indians may
equally well be referred to the same source, if indeed it is any-
thing but a rhetorical exaggeration. Yet it is probable that
by the middle of the fourth century of the Christian era
Christians fleeing from Persian persecution had come to a
land which was to be guiltless of Intolerance until the advent
of Muhammadanism, and we have the conclusive evidence of
the Egyptian traveller Cosmas that about 525-530 a.d. there
were Christian communities on the Malabar coast and that
at Kalliana, which Is doubtless Kalyan near Bombay, there
was a bishop appointed from Persia. This proves that by that
date the Indian Church had become Nestorian, and probably
enough the event was of recent origin, for it was only in the
latter part of the fifth century that the Persian king Per5z
declared that Nestorianism should be the only legitimate form
of Christianity and in 498 a.d. the Bishop of Seleukia formally
declared his independence of the Bishop of Antlochia.



176 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

The fate of the Nestorlan Church was a chequered one: it
was very loosely connected with the parent body and in the
ninth century it seems to have evolved into a practically
autonomous communion at a time when those who professed
the faith were gaining political independence or semi-depend-
ence. Christian influence was also becoming more pronounced
in the north. There it can be fully assumed in 639 a.d., when
we have the first record of the visit of a body of Syrian Chris-
tians to the court of the Chinese emperor and of their setting
forth their doctrines;^ and in 781 a.d. a Nestorian joined with
a Buddhist in a translation of a Buddhist text in China. The
dates are of importance, for they enable us to judge the ex-
ternal probabilities of the introduction into Indian mythology
of conceptions taken from Christianity.

[Prometheus]

The influence of the Gospels has been sought in detail in
the Bhagavadgitd, but though the parallelisms of thought and
language are sometimes remarkable enough, they cannot be
said to prove borrowing, nor, as we have seen, is there any
need to assume that the idea of incarnation was borrowed
from Christianity. There is, however, one passage in the epic
which seems to hint at knowledge of the Christian faith. Here
we are told (xii. 12696 ff.) that Narada once journeyed to the
Svetadvlpa ("White Island"), where he learned the Pancara-
tra doctrine, a mystic form of Vaisnavism ; and it is also said that
three sons of Brahma, Ekata, Dvita, and Trita ("One," "Two,"
and "Three"), went to the same place, which is at a distance
of thirty-two thousand yojanas north or north-west of Mount
Meru on the north bank of the sea of milk. There dwell men
without organs of sense, white in colour, and of a brilliance
which dazzles the eyes of the sinful. They ever revere God in
muttered prayer and with folded hands; but their deity, for
whom they are filled with the deepest love, cannot be seen.
None of them has a higher rank than the others, but all are
equal. Laying aside the fabulous part of the tale, which prob-
ably belongs to one of the latest parts of the epic, it is not



THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE PURANAS 177

improbable that we have here a record of a Christian com-
munity, not of Alexandria, but in the vicinity of the Balkash
Sea, which by its physical characteristics may have suggested
the milky ocean of the epic. The episode is, however, of little
importance in Indian religious history and has at most a
faint echo in a story, preserved in the Kurma and Fdyu
Purdnas, that Siva proclaimed the Yoga system to four pupils
of his, Sveta, Svetasva, Svetasikha, and Svetalohita, in the
Himalaya. Nor is it possible to see any real Christian influence
in the legend of the death of Krsna, which bears not the slight-
est real similarity to the motives of the Gospel narrative, nor
in the story (I. 4305 ff.) of the Impaling of Mandavya. It
Is also needless to seek any such influence In the account
(xll. 5742 ff.) of the Sudra Sambuka, who, the epic tells us,
was slain for confusing the castes by seeming to raise himself
to an equality with the gods by the use of ascetic practices
allowed only to the Aryan classes. The Idea might Indeed be
Christian, but it is equally Indian.

It is at first a more attractive theory that the child god In
India Is borrowed from the youthful Christ. This hypothesis,
however, cannot be maintained In face of the evidence of the
Mahdhhdsya^ (of about 150 B.C.), which shows that at that
time Kaihsa and Krsna were deadly foes, and that the former
was the cruel uncle of the latter. That notice suggests irre-
sistibly the fact that there must have been some ground for
the enmity of uncle and nephew, and that basis can scarcely
have been other than the attempts made by Kaihsa to slay
the child. Again, one feature of Krsna's life, his dances with
the Gopis,^ Is already alluded to in an early passage of the
Mahdbhdrata (ii. 2291), and for that reason alone, as well as
for other considerations of probability, cannot be regarded as a
translation into terms of flesh and blood of the mystic doctrine
of the unity of Christ and the Church. Nevertheless, there
Is evidence that the Christian religion did not fail to affect
the theology and cult of Krsna, whose name Is pronounced as



178 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

Krsta in many parts of India at the present day and whose
bright and cheerful reHgion with its pronounced theism and
its doctrine of faith was naturally akin to Christianity in far
greater degree than Buddhism, Jainism, or Saivism with its
especial devotion to ceremonies and ascetic practices. For
the most part, though not without important exceptions, in-
cluding the Bhdgavata, the Purdnas describe the festival of
the birthday of Krsna in great detail: the essential feature
is that the child is represented as being born in a cow-stall
and as lying on the breast of his mother Devaki in indubi-
table imitation of the Madonna Lactans. The change from the
orthodox story of the exchange of the children by Vasudeva is
significant of the new influence. The same factor betrays itself
in the traditions of the Visnu Purdna that Nanda was going
to Mathura to pay his tribute to the king in accordance with
the Gospel of Luke, and of the healing of the crooked Kubja,
who presents him with a vessel of salve, in which seem to be
blended events recorded by Matthew (ix. 20; xv. 30-31) and
by Luke (vii. 37-38). To the borrowing may be added the tale
of the bringing to life of the son of Duhsala which is recounted
in the Jaimini Bhdrata, a work not later than the thirteenth
century. Later texts add other small points of resemblance,
but on the whole the influence of Christianity extends to
details, not to principles.

In comparison with the richness of the mythology which
has grown up round the person of Visnu it is astonishing that
Siva remains so poor in legends, though he is given twenty-
eight incarnations to enable him to compete with his rival.
The strength of his worship, however, lies in cult, not in
theory, and the centre of that cult is formed by the sacred
linga. Many of these are described by the Purdnas, and they
represent the god in his creative capacity, while with them
are connected the traditions of Siva's activity, such as that
recorded in the story of Daksa. In a late Pauranic passage the
Mahdhhdrata (xii. 10208 fF.) tells us that M^hen Daksa was



THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE PURANAS 179

sacrificing, but ignoring Siva, Uma incited the deity to secure
a part of the offering, and he then created a terrible being
called VIrabhadra, while Uma assumed her form as Bhadrakali,
and together the pair upset the sacrifice. In the result Daksa
recognized his error, and Virabhadra, who showed the
gentle as well as the terrible side of Siva's nature, took
him to Benares, where he erected a linga and by meditation
entered into it. In the Saura Purdiia, a work which is
not later than 1200 a.d., this episode is so narrated as to
bring out in great clearness the anxiety of the supporters
of Siva to prove that he was superior to Visnu, and this indeed
seems to be a trait of all the Saiva Purdnas, which seek to
make good the importance of the god whom they worship. As
in the later additions to the epic, Siva is set off against Visnu,
and it is insisted that he is the father of both Brahma and
Visnu : he created the first from his right side and the second
from his left, while from his heart he sent forth Rudra, the
first deity being formed to create, the second to protect, and
the third to destroy the world. The popular view, which the
Purdna Itself expresses, that Siva was born of Brahma is refuted
by a proof which demonstrates to Brahma that the only real
creator is Siva and that by his power of illusion he has brought
about the apparent birth of himself as the son of Brahma.
Like Visnu, Siva is the all-god, and the tenets of the Vedanta
and the Sarhkhya are fitted to him with as much skill as they
are adapted to Visnu, subject to the fact that he has no sons
like Pradyumna and Aniruddha to identify with Mind and
Egoism in the process of the descent of the Absolute into em-
pirical reality. As a creator, however, Siva has one advantage
over Visnu, for at times he is clearly conceived as being an-
drogynous. This idea is not new, for it is perhaps found on
coins of the so-called Scythian kings, probably about the begin-
ning of the Christian era,^ but stress now begins to be laid on
it. From the female side of his nature Siva created his con-
sort Siva, who serves as his feminine counterpart and who in



i8o INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

the philosophic interpretation of the deities represents Prakrti,
the material out of which the whole universe develops; while
Siva himself is the eternal Purusa, or spirit, for which Prakrti
unfolds itself in its unreal display. Like her husband, Siva is
a terrible foe of the demons: the Saura Purdna (xlix) tells
how Indra in fear of them is fain to go to beg her aid, and then
with her three heads and twenty arms she attacks the Daityas,
slays them in enormous numbers, despite the feats of their
leaders Raktaksa and Dhiimraksa, and dances a wild dance of
victory, a reminiscence of the dance of Siva which is recorded
as early as Megasthenes.

As in the case of Visnu, great rewards await the pious devotee
of Siva. Thus we are told (iii. 14 ff.) of a king who in his
previous birth had been a robber and hunter, a man without
the slightest tincture of virtue or culture. On his death he
comes before Dharma, who takes the place of Yama as judge
of the dead, the ancient lord of the departed being relegated
to the duty of punishment. Dharma's spy, Citragupta, can-
not relate a single virtuous act consciously done by the robber,
but he reveals the fact that day by day, while plying his
nefarious craft, he has been unwittingly invoking Siva as Hara
in the words dhara, "bring the booty," and prahara, "strike";
and this is enough to wipe out every other one of his sins and to
secure his ultimate birth in the royal palace. One Pulaha, who
had the fortune to be a fly in the temple of Siva, is for that
cause alone reborn as the son of Brahma (Ixvii. 14 ff.). Even
a dog-eater who reveres Siva ranks above a Brahman who
does not. Still more striking is the story of the origin of Kubera,
lord of riches (xlvii. 45 ff.). A Brahman in Avanti left home
in greed of gain, and his wife, deserted by him, formed a con-
nexion with a Sudra, bearing to him a son named Duhsaha,
who was disregarded by all his kinsfolk because of his low
origin. He turned to ways of wickedness and finally broke into
the temple of Siva to plunder it; but since the wick of his
lamp failed during his efforts to find the treasure, he had to



THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE PURANAS i8i

light no fewer than ten more, thus unconsciously paying
honour to the god. At last one who was sleeping in the temple
awoke and stunned the intruder with a blow from a club, and
the temple guards put him to death. He was born again as an
unrighteous and vile-living king, Sudurmukha of Gandhara,
but with a remnant of recollection of his deeds in his former
birth he maintained well-lighted lamps in Siva's temple. He
was ultimately slain by his foes, but by this time all his evil
deeds had been wiped out by his piety, and he was next born
as Kubera.

The other gods are of importance and interest only in so far
as they are closely connected with Siva. Thus Skanda is fre-
quently mentioned, and indeed is more and more brought into
the likeness of his father. His position as compared with the
older gods is significant: Indra foolishly seeks to war with him,
but is defeated with humiliation. Importance also attaches to
Nandin or Sailadi, who guards the door of Siva's palace; to
the Rudras, who act as his hosts; and to the Pramathas, his
famihar spirits. Another deity who is really Siva himself is
Ganesa, the lord of the troops who serve Siva; but as Ganesa's
figure has been developed in the mythology he has a distinc-
tive character and a cult of his own. In the Mahdbhdrata he
is mentioned as undertaking the task of writing down the great
work, but he is really foreign to it, and it is only in the Purdnas
— and there sporadically — that his importance is acknowl-
edged, though in course of time he becomes recognized as a
great divinity. This is probably due to the protection which he
gives to learning, for he is the god of wisdom and the remover of
obstacles. As a deity his worship is known in the legal text-
book of Yajnavalkya (i. 291 ff.), which perhaps dates from
300 A.D.,^ and it seems that Bardesanes had heard of him. The
legends which concern him are mainly intended to account for
his abnormal physical appearance: he was short and stout, with
protuberant stomach and four hands, and in place of a human
head he had that of an elephant with only one tusk. The loss



1 82 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

of his real head is variously explained : one story tells that his
mother ParvatI, from the scurf on whose body some believed
him to have been born, asked Sani, the planet Saturn, to look
upon him, forgetful of the effect of his glance. When Sani
obeyed, he burned the child's head to ashes, and Parvati,
on Brahma's advice, replaced it with the first head she could
find, this happening to be an elephant's. Again it is said that
ParvatI, when bathing, placed the boy at the door to guard
her privacy; but Siva sought to enter and in his anger at the
child for attempting to stay him cut off his head, for which he
then substituted an elephant's to propitiate his wife. Another
version attributes it to the punishment inflicted on Siva for
slaying Aditya (the sun), Ganesa losing his head as a result
and receiving in its place that of Indra's elephant. The loss
of the one tusk is explained by a further legend: Parasurama
once came late to see Siva, but since the deity was asleep, his
son Ganesa sought to prevent the visitor from disturbing his
father. Enraged as usual, Rama then attacked him, and while
at first the god had the advantage, his enmity was disarmed by
seeing flung at him the axe which his father had given to Rama,
so that he submissively allowed the weapon to tear away one
of his tusks. A further peculiarity of this deity is that he is
said to ride on the rat. Possibly enough some local variety of
the earth or corn spirit has been amalgamated with the con-
ception of the lord of Siva's hordes. A counterpart to Ganesa
as patron of learning and literature is Sarasvati, who can
trace her origin to the Vedic Vac; but in striking contrast to
Ganesa she is always depicted as a woman of great beauty,
seated on a lotus and with a crescent on her brow.

Among the other gods Agni shares a certain importance,
though merely because he is connected with the birth of Skanda,
who is produced by him and Siva; and in the Saura Purdna,
curiously enough, Varuna is somewhat often mentioned. Indra,
on the other hand, appears only as in constant need of help and
presents almost a comic figure. Himavant as the father of



PLATE XXII

Ganesa

The deity Ganesa is especially honoured as being
the god who averts obstacles, whence he becomes
a divinity of good fortune, who should be worshipped
before each new undertaking. Various legends, hard
to reconcile with each other, are told of his parentage
and to explain his elephant's head, which is apparently
a symbol of wisdom. He is probably a god of some
aboriginal tribe who was adopted by Hinduism. From
a bronze in the Peabody Museum, Salem, Mass.



PVCLiC LlliilARY



ASTOK, LENOX AN»
TILDBN P0l»JDAT10f«



THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE PURANAS 183

Gauri is of some consequence, and Kama is inseparably con-
nected with the Siva legend through his part in bringing about
the wedlock of Parvati with Siva, from which Skanda was fated
to spring. The literature also shows other traces of the prom-
inence of this god, whose role in the epic is small enough.

More important than these survivals of the old mythology
is the new stress laid on the cult of the sun. Sun-worship has
indeed from all time been practised in India, and we hear of
three classes of worshippers who adored the rising, the setting,
and the midday sun; while one form of the triad, or Trimurti,
was the veneration of the whole three forms of the sun. The
record of Hiian Tsang shows what importance at his time
attached to the cult of the sun in India. It appears, however,
that fresh life in that worship was derived from Persian in-
fluence. In a story told in the Bhavisya Purdna (cxxxix) we
learn that Samba, the son of Krsna, was afflicted by leprosy
as a result of the curse of the irascible sage Durvasas, and that
in order to secure healing he decided to apply himself to de-
votion to Surya, of whose power Narada had told him much.
Having obtained the permission of his father, he left Dvaraka,
crossed the Indus and the Candrabhaga (the modern Chenab),
and arrived at the grove of Mitra, where he was freed from his
disease. In gratitude he returned to the Chenab, having sworn
to erect a temple there in honour of the god and to found a
city. When he had done this, however, he was in doubt in
which form to worship the god until an image was miracu-
lously found by him when bathing; but since he was still in
need of priests to tend the idol, and as Brahmans were not avail-
able for such a duty, he was advised to seek "Magas" from
over the sea. By Krsna's aid and by using Garuda he suc-
ceeded in finding the Magas and inducing eighteen families to
come with him to Sambapura and to settle there. The Persian
origin of these Magas is proved by many details given regard-
ing them: they observed the vow of eating in silence, were

afraid of contamination by the dead, wore the sacred girdle
VI— 13



1 84 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

of the Parsis, covered the mouth at worship, etc.^ Moreover
they are found in Sakadvipa, which suggests that the legend
lays hold of the historic fact of the flight of Parsis to India.
The Saura Purdna, which is a purely Saivite work, though it
purports to be revealed by the sun, contains some references
to practices of Saura sects, and here and there it identifies
Siva with the sun. It is, however, significant for the inferior
position of the sun that to it is given the duty of destroying the
world at the end of a period, while the complete annihilation
of the universe is reserved for the great god himself.

In close connexion with the cult of Siva we find a develop-
ment of the Tantric rites and of their accompanying demonology.
For the history of religion in its lower phases the Tantras, the
dates of which are still wholly uncertain, but which doubtless
represent a form of literature belonging to the latter part of
the first millennium, are of great importance; but mythologi-
cally they are of little value. The worship inculcated is that
of the female side of Indra, his Saktl, which philosophically is
regarded as Prakrti and as Maya, or the Delusion which
created the apparent world and which is Identified with Siva
under her various names as Kali, Durga, Aghori, and many
others. She is SatI, daughter of Daksa, whose sacrifice Siva
destroyed, whereupon in anger she departed to be reborn as
Uma and thus to be reunited to her husband. In the ritual of
the Sakta sects human sacrifice has apparently been usual
from the earliest times and has prevailed down to the present
day, though in later years sporadically and by stealth. The
other feature of the cult Is the grave Immorality which it
exalts as a sacred duty, at least among the votaries of the
"left-hand " sect, who are the more numerous, though the
Tantric texts veil the ceremonies in a mass of pseudo-mysticism.
The character of the rites can only be explained, not by any
adoration of an abstraction, but by the continued practice
of a worship of a vegetation or earth spirit who Is identified
with Siva's wife, this nature cult being transformed and altered

[Prometheus]

THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE PURANAS 185

by being taken up into the Saivite faith. The primitive type
of the worship further shows itself in the fact that drunken-
ness is an essential feature of its Bacchanalian orgies, and that
the immorality is evidently a refinement on the old fertility
magic of simple and primitive communities, dignified — or
degraded — by being brought into connexion with mystic
principles. Even when human sacrifice is abandoned, blood-
letting is practised by the votaries, and the common phenome-
non of interchange of garments by the two sexes is found.

Not essentially distinct from the Sakta cult of Siva is the form
in which it has been adopted by certain of the adherents of
Rama, and in particular by the Radha Vallabhis. In accord-
ance with the genial character of the worship of Visnu in his
various forms the bloodthirstiness of the Saivite cult is want-
ing, but, on the other hand, the legend of Krsna and the
Gopis is considered to be the fullest justification for the ex-
treme of licence. The curious blend of mysticism with sensual-
ity which pervades this cult is preluded, though not equalled,
by Jayadeva's famous poem, the Gltagovinda, written in the
twelfth century a.d.

Another side of the worship of female divinities or demons
is the growing importance which attaches to such hideous
personalities as that of Putana, the ogress who kills children
after birth by giving them suck and who is slain by the infant
Krsna. The Matrs, or "Mothers," who are connected with
Skanda, are of increasing rank in an age which is nothing if not
catholic in its worship and which recognizes the power of these
disease-demons. It is also clear that the Gandharvas and
Apsarases, the more attractive forms of an earlier mythology,
are sinking to mere names.

The Purdnas show no change of view as to the position of
the dead. Among their miscellaneous and confused contents
many of them include instructions on the just mode of offering
to the dead, and they reveal the same mixture of eschatology
which marks earlier Hinduism. The chief development is in



1 86 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

the doctrine of hells, of which the Mdrkandeya Purdna de-
scribes seven in full detail, and with a certain power enu-
merates with care the tortures of the inhabitants of these
abodes. On the other hand, it gives a tale of remarkable beauty
(xv). It is that of the old king Vipascit ("the Wise"), who
dies and, much to his amazement, is dragged down to hell by
the retainers of Yama, who is still more completely identified
with Dharma than even in the epic. He inquires in wonder
why this treatment is inflicted upon him and learns that it is
a brief and slight penalty for the omission of a trifling domestic
duty during his lifetime. When, however, he is about to depart
from hell, the souls in torment ask him to stay, since from him
a refreshing breath emanates which lessens their pains; and
on learning this he refuses to obey the bidding of Yama's
attendants and will not leave. Dharma himself and Sakra
come to see him and point out that the sinners in hell suffer
for their evil acts, while his good deeds have earned him
celestial bliss, and urge him to go forth from his temporary
place of punishment. He declares, however, that he will not
do so without obtaining freedom from anguish for the souls
in hell, and eventually the gods give way and relieve the
damned of all their pain at the moment when the king goes to
heaven. The last book of the Mahdbhdrata appears to be an
echo of the tale.



CHAPTER VII

BUDDHIST MYTHOLOGY IN INDIA
AND TIBET

CAREFUL analysis of the texts of the Buddhist Pali^ Canon,
which at the present day represents the sacred scriptures
of the Buddhists in Ceylon, enables criticism to establish a
picture of the life and teaching of Gotama Sakyamuni, the
Buddha, or "Enlightened One," which deprives him of all
save human attributes. According to this view, which is most
brilliantly represented by the writings of H. Oldenberg,
Gotama was a purely human personage who, building on the
foundation of the thought of the Upanisads and on contem-
porary religious and philosophic movem.ents, arrived at a
theory of human life which, recognizing and accepting as its
basis the fact of human suffering, saw clearly that the attain-
ment of full self-control and the suppression of passion were
the true ends of mankind. Holding these views, he inculcated
them by teaching among a wide circle of pupils, founded a
religious order, and in due course died of a perfectly simple
disease, produced by indigestion, which acted fatally on the
constitution of the old man. A variety of historical considera-
tions lead to the conclusion that the death of the Buddha fell
in the third decade of the fifth century B.C., or possibly a few
years earlier, though it is admitted that this date is not ab-
solutely free from suspicion. Rigorously followed out, but
without real alteration of their principles, the teachings of
the "Enlightened One" show that not only are all life and
striving merely unhappy, but that the true end of existence is
the termination of that existence and the breaking of the chain



1 88 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

of action which keeps in perpetual motion and which the Bud-
dhists substituted for the conception of self which they had
Inherited from the current philosophy. The Buddha also in-
culcated a simple form of monastic discipline and a method
of life which Involves a strict morality and a steady process
of mental culture.

This version of early Buddhism, which reveals it as a faith
of extraordinary simplicity and purity of origin, laying aside
all futile belief in gods, abandoning outworn beliefs In souls,
and carrying to a logical conclusion the reasoning of the
Upanisads, which elevates the subject of thought Into a
meaningless Absolute, may possibly correspond with historical
reality, for we have not, and never can expect to have, any
conclusive proof as to the actual views and teachings of Gotama.
It Is true that high age has been ascribed to the earliest texts
of the Pali Canon, but the evidence for that date is conjectural
and doubtful, and we have no assurance that a single Bud-
dhist text which has come down to us is even as early as two
hundred years after Gotama had departed. There Is, therefore,
abundant room for alteration and change in the tradition. If
the Buddha were but a simple mortal, there was time for him
to be transformed Into something more-than human, and we
may, if we please, cite In favour of this view the opinion of Sir
R. G. Bhandarkar ^ and Professor R. Garbe ^ that the Krsna
myth has arisen from the personality of a simple head of a clan
and religious teacher .who at an early. If uncertain, date, though
still long before the Buddha, taught a religion in which bhakti,
or faith In and devotion to God, played a most Important part,
and who in the course of time was himself regarded as being
a form or incarnation of the divinity whom he preached. On
the other hand. It Is equally legitimate as a matter of hypothesis
to suppose that the rationalistic treatment of the Buddha shown
In part of the texts of the Pali Canon represents a deliberate
effort to place on a purely philosophic basis the fundamental
portion of his creed. Neither is It possible to ignore the force



PLATE XXIII

The Great Buddha

The Buddha here appears as in his youth, when
he was simply Prince Siddhartha and before he had
deserted all for the sake of salvation. His portrayal
is an admirable example of the Indian ideal of manly
beauty. From a fresco at Ajanta, Berar. After
Ajanta Frescoes^ Plate XI.



BUDDHIST MYTHOLOGY 189

of the argument that even if the supposed origin of the divinity
of Krsna be granted, yet it was clearly more easy for a preacher
of faith in a personal god to become regarded as himself a god
than to deify a man who ex hypothesi was no god and had no
real belief in the gods.

Whatever be the truth, it is at least certain that the Pali
Canon does not fail to reveal to us traces that Gotama was more
than a mere man. It is indeed clear that the system of the Pali
Canon, the HInayana, or "Little Vehicle," has no place for
devotion to a personal divinity, for the Buddha is not such a
divinity: no prayers can be addressed to him to be answered,
and no act of grace performed. Yet, on the other hand, the way
to salvation requires meditation upon the Buddha as an in-
dispensable part of it, as necessary as the Dharma, or "Law,"
itself or the Sangha, or "Congregation." This is very far from
constituting the Buddhism of the Pali Canon essentially a
religious system, but undoubtedly it must have had some in-
fluence in this regard.

What is more important, however, is that from the first in
the sacred books of the HInayana school itself obvious traces
appear that the "Enlightened One " is much more than a
mere man, despite all the homely traits which mark his life.
Nor is there any sign in that literature that the legend regarding
the person of the Buddha is of slow and gradual growth, so
that we could trace its development step by step and see how
humanity is merged in divinity. This fact does not preclude
the possibility that the legend did so develop, especially if the
Pali Canon is placed at a much later date than that assigned
to it by the majority of authorities, but it unquestionably
tells against the theory of an original humanity. At least it
proves that no such humanity was sufficient to satisfy the
Buddhists even of the HInayana.

Moreover the period in which the Buddha preached was
essentially one in which his qualities were such as to be reck-
oned divine. As early as the time of the Brdhmanas the gods



190 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

of India had definitely become subject to the need of account-
ing for their existence by some exploit of merit. These texts
are full of explanations of the reasons why the gods gained
immortality, of how they became gods, and why individual
gods have their functions and being. As in the religion of
ancient Rome, as in the religion of modern India, a deity is not
a creature which exists from birth or from all time and con-
tinues to be, irrespective of his actions: the gods must create
their divinity by the sacrifice or by ascetic feats, and the epic
is full of tales of sages of all kinds who seek to become divine
and whose efforts the gods strive to restrain by inducing them
to abandon their asceticism under temptation. These sages
are as powerful as gods and mingle freely with them: when
Indra is hurled from his throne and flees into hiding, and
when Nahusa usurps his place, it is no divine power that re-
stores him to his kingdom, but the anger of the seer Agastya,
with whom Nahusa had rashly entered into a theological dis-
putation. Indeed it must be remembered that the Brdhmanas
assert in all seriousness that the Brahmans are the gods on
earth, their location being the point of distinction between them
and the gods in the skies above, and the whole sacrificial con-
ception of the Brdhmanas is based on the view that by the
sacrifice the priests hold complete control over the gods. It
was inevitable that under these circumstances the Buddha,
with his triple perfection of knowledge, of virtue, and of aus-
terity, should be regarded by his followers as a being of a divine
character, and that a mythology should rapidly develop round
his person.

It might, however, be thought that, though the mythology
did grow, yet in that mythology it would not appear that the
Buddha himself ever made any claim to more than human
nature, that he was in his own opinion a simple man, and that
as a preacher of a system of rationalism any claim of divinity
or superiority in kind to other men would not be asserted by
him. Here again the expectation is disappointed: the texts not



PLATE XXIV

The Buddha and Sujata

Before attaining enlightenment (Bodhi) the Buddha
sought to win salvation by Brahmanic precepts.
While thus engaged, he was mistaken for a deity by
Sujata, the wife of a landholder, who sought of him
a boon and presented him an offering of milk, giving
him likewise a bowl of water to wash his hands.
Touched by her homage, he blessed her and granted
her request. After this he bathed, and when the
golden cup in which Sujata had brought the milk
floated up-stream, he knew that he was soon to gain
Buddhahood. From a painting by the modern Indian
artist Abanindro Nath Tagore. After International
Studio^ XVIII, Plate facing p. 26.



Y ^



BUDDHIST MYTHOLOGY 191

merely ascribe to Gotama traits which are mythological, but
they attribute to him claims which are incompatible with
humanity. Many as are the notices of the Buddha, we find
that at the most important periods of his life the non-human
characteristics have a practice of appearing, whether because
the fancy of the disciples then thought it fit to insert them or
whether from the beginning the Buddha felt himself to be
more than a man.

In the Samyutta Nikdya and elsewhere a comparison occurs
between the Buddha and the flowers: as the lotus grows up in
the water from which it is born, rises above It, and ceases to
be sullied by it, thus the Buddha grows above the world and
is no longer defiled by it. In itself the analogy might be satis-
fied by the view that the Buddha rises from the world into the
way of deliverance from all desire of any kind in Nirvana, that
is, he becomes an Arhat. This interpretation, however, is for-
bidden by an important dialogue in the Anguttara Nikdya
(ii. 37)5 in which the Buddha himself answers the question
as to his humanity and divinity. A certain Brahman named
Dona, seeing on the feet of the Blessed One " — for the
Buddha often bears the title of "Blessed " {Bhagavant), which
is peculiarly that of Krsna — thousands of wheels with their
spokes and their naves, cries out in wonder that, being but a
man, he should have these marks. He then proceeds to ques-
tion the Buddha and asks if he is a god. To this the Buddha
responds, "No." He then asks, "Art thou a Gandharva?"
and receives the same reply, which is repeated In answer to
his next inquiry whether the "Blessed One " is a Yaksa, a
term denoting a sort of demoniac being, which (sometimes at
least) is conceived as of mysterious and heavenly beauty.
The questioner therefore resorts to the only hypothesis which
seems available and suggests that, after all, the Buddha must
be a man; but this conclusion is at once rejected by Gotama,
who finally explains that from him have vanished the passions
which could bring about his being a Gandharva, a Yaksa,



192 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

or a man, and that, like the lotus, he has passed out from the
world and Is not affected by the world; in sum, he is a
Buddha. It is impossible to explain away this passage as a
mere reference to the condition of an Arhat, for Arhats as
men have no such remarkable physical features as the wheels
on the feet of the great god. Similarly, though the Buddha
is fain to eat and drink like other men, and though we have
the full details of his last days and of the efforts to heal him
made by human means, the texts can tell us without hesitation
that he is the first of beings, the controller and the sovereign
of the whole world and of everything which is contained in it,
of Mara who tempts him, of Brahma, of all the generations of
living beings — men and gods, ascetics and Brahmans. When
in the Anguttara Ananda rejoices to know that the Buddha is
able to spread his glory and make his voice heard in countless
worlds, Udayin questions the value of such a power; but the
"Blessed One," far from reproving Ananda's admiration,
declares that if Ananda should fail to secure emancipation
in the present existence, he will, by reason of his acquiescence
in the Buddha's wonderful power, be born for seven exist-
ences to come as king of the gods and for other seven as king
of Jambudvipa, or the world. Again, when the deities of the
sun and moon are assailed by the terrible demon Rahu, who
swallows them and thus from time to time causes their eclipse,
it is to the Buddha that they go seeking shelter. "Rahu,"
says Sakyamuni, "the deity of the moon has had recourse to
me; let go the moon, for the Buddhas pity the world"; and
the demon departs in terror, reflecting that had he harmed the
moon, his head would have flown into seven parts.

While various Buddhas may have their earthly life from
time to time, it is characteristic of these beings in all texts,
both early and late, that in this world there cannot be more than
a single Buddha at any one time, even as in the view of the
Brahmans the god Brahma exists and must exist alone. There
is, however, a distinction between the Brahmanical view and



PLATE XXV

The Buddha on the Lotus

The Buddha, seated on his lotus-throne, is repre-
sented in the "teaching attitude," expounding the
Law to the multitude who surround him. The small
figures in the upper corners show him in the "con-
templative attitude," and the second from the top on
the right portrays him in the attitude of benediction
(cf. Plate XXIV). The "witness attitude" is shown
in Plate XXV[. The principal other "attitude" is
reclining on the right side with the head to the north,
this representing the Buddha's death. From a Gan-
dhara sculpture now in the Lahore Museum. After
'Journal of Indian Art^ viii. No. 62, Plate V, No. 2.



THE v!:w YORK

PU&LJC LIBEAfiY



ASTOR, LENOX AND
TILDliN PODNDATIONa

[Prometheus]

BUDDHIST MYTHOLOGY 193

the Buddhist as regards the question of time. In the former,
Brahma's existence endures throughout a cosmic age, or kalpa,
at the end of which, he, Hke all things else, is absorbed for
the time in the Supreme Spirit or the Absolute. On the con-
trary, like the Jains and like the Vaisnavas, it is an article of
faith with the Buddhists that the Buddhas come into being
only at irregular intervals, when there is special cause for their
presence, and that they depart again when they have fulfilled
the purpose for which they came, have set in motion the wheel
of the gospel which they preach, and have founded an order
destined to last for some period of time. Nevertheless, the in-
fluence of the former conception breaks forth strongly in the
account given of the last days of Gotama. As he felt the end
approaching, he said to his favourite disciple, Ananda, that
the Buddha could remain in the world for a whole age or to
the end of the present age, and thrice he repeated these words.
Unhappily the heart of Ananda was possessed by the wicked
Mara, who had not forgiven his defeat by the " Blessed One,"
and he took no notice of an occasion so favourable to secure the
prolonged life of the Buddha : when the moment came that he
realized the force of the words, it was too late, for the "En-
lightened One " had decided not to live beyond the limit of
human life. This story, so significant of the Buddha's belief
in his own superhuman nature, is recorded in all the canons.
Moreover his divine character is attested by the transfigura-
tion which awaits his body upon death: it becomes brilliant
like a god, and the brocade in which it has been clothed by
Pukkusa fades in contrast. In the life of the Buddha this event
twice takes place, once when the future Buddha becomes a
Buddha and on the occasion of attaining Nirvana. But in addi-
tion to this, the same text, the Mahaparinibbdna, ascribes to the
Buddha himself the claim that he changes his form in accord-
ance with his audience, be it Brahmans, nobles, householders,
ascetics, gods of the entourage of the four world-guardians, gods
of the thirty-three gods, or gods of the heaven of Brahma,



194 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

and that, after he has finished his discourses, his hearers
wonder whether he be god or man. It is not surprising if the
obsequies of such a man were marked not merely by the honours
due to an earthly supreme king, but by miracles of different
kinds, testifying rather to his immortal nature than to a merely
human character.

The birth of the Buddha is no less remarkable than his death.
The "Buddha To Be," or Bodhisattva, had for some centuries
been living in glory in the world of the Tusita, or "Happy,"
gods, which he had attained by the only possible means, that
of good deeds in earlier births. In the fullness of time, and
after mature consideration of the time and place, and of the
caste, family, and personality of the mother, he selected for
this honour Maya, the wife of the Sakya king, and while she
slept he entered her womb in the guise of a six-tusked elephant.
Four celestial beings guarded the infant before birth, and he
eventually saw the light in the Lumbini grove while his mother
held in her hand a branch of the sacred sdl-tvee. The parallel-
ism with the myth of Leto ^ is made yet more striking in the
legend as told of another Buddha, Diparhkara, which signifies
either "Maker of Light " or "Island-Maker," who was born on
a mystic island in the Ganges. There is no tradition in the early
canon that Maya was a virgin, but although a single passage
in the Tibetan literature^ suggests a natural conception, that
appears to be a blasphemy. Moreover the mysterious na-
ture of the birth is heightened by the fact that Maya dies
seven days afterward.

It is, of course, possible to see in all this a distorted version
of actual facts: death of the mother of the Buddha in child-
birth is as legitimate an explanation of the tale of the death
of Maya as any interpretation based on the theory of a sun-
myth. Yet in the Pali Canon we have the authority of the
Buddha himself for his abode in the Tusita heaven and his
descent from it, and it is not easy to explain the six-tusked ele-
phant which Maya in vision saw entering her womb. The



BUDDHIST MYTHOLOGY 195

most plausible hypothesis is to refer the dream to the Indian be-
lief that a child before its conception already exists in an inter-
mediate condition, as follows naturally from the doctrine of re-
birth, and to find that the six tusks of the elephant arise from
a misunderstanding of a phrase denoting "one who has the six
organs of sense under control."^ These hypotheses, however,
ingenious as they are, seem needless in face of the natural ex-
planation that the Buddha, like his followers, regarded himself
as really divine.

The same difficulty presents itself in a new form regarding
the marks which can be seen on the body of the Buddha,
thirty-two of which are primary and eighty secondary. Can
these be resolved into the products of the Indian conception of
physical perfection combined with the historical tradition of
certain somatic peculiarities of Sakyamuni? These signs are
eagerly noted on the body of the infant Buddha by the sooth-
sayers, and they are found there without lack or flaw. Yet
the legend tells that they could not decide whether the boy
would become a universal monarch or a Buddha, although one
sage declared that the signs showed that if the prince stayed in
the secular life, he would be a universal monarch; but if he
abandoned this world, as he would do, he would be a Buddha.
Moreover the marks are described as being those of a Maha-
purusa, or "Great Male "; and their abnormal character is
clearly shown by the description given of some of them: thus
the feet of the Buddha are covered, as we have seen, by wheels
of great beauty, his hands have the fingers united by a mem-
brane, between his eyebrows extends a circle of soft, white
hair which emits marvellous rays of light, his spine is so rigid
that he cannot turn his head, and so forth.

In these features of the Buddha there is strong reason to see
mythology, for the marks are those of the "universal monarch,"
the Cakravartin, as he is described freely in the Buddhist
scriptures. The Mahdsudassana Sutta of the Digha Nikdya
gives us a picture of such a king in the shape of Sakyamuni in



1^6 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

an earlier birth as a Cakravartin. As he walks on the terrace of
his palace, the divine wheel appears; and the king, after paying
it due honour, bids it roll on and triumph. The wheel rolls to
the east, followed by the king and his army, and the east
yields to him; the wheel rolls then south, then west, then
north, and all the lands submit and accept the Buddhist doc-
trine; after which it comes back to rest on the terrace of the
palace with its sevenfold rampart of gems. It is difficult to
doubt that the conception of the wheel owes its origin to sun-
worship, for as early as the Brdhmanas the wheel is freely used
in the ritual to represent the solar luminary. This hypothesis
receives increased force when it is remembered that the term
Mahapurusa is applied in Brahmanical literature to Narayana,
that form of Visnu which recalls the Purusa of the Rgveda and
the Brdhmanas, the primeval being from which the world
was created, and the spirit which is eternal and unique. The
later northern Buddhist text, the Lalitavistara, actually iden-
tifies Narayana with the Buddha. Further the Brahmanic
character of the marks is interestingly shown by a piece of
ancient evidence — a Sutta in the Suttanipdta which tells how
the Brahman Sela was convinced of the truth of the nature of
the Buddha, not by any preaching of the "Blessed One," but
by the argument that he bore the special marks, a demonstra-
tion of which he gave to the Brahman, including the miracle
by which he covered the whole of his face with his tongue.

It is not surprising that such a saint as the Buddha should
have been subject to temptation, for, despite the fact that one
of the commandments laid down for his order is to avoid asceti-
cism as a means to secure Nirvana, it is certain that it was by a
great feat of self-mortification that he attained to his Buddha-
ship. For six years he practised ascetic rites and wore himself
nearly to a skeleton, though at the end of this time he became
satisfied that starvation was not the due means of securing
the desired end. Yet before Buddhaship is won he has a severe
contest with the evil Mara, the Vedic Mrtyu, or "Death," who



198 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

dhlst tradition: in the Cakkavattisutta of the Dlgha Nikdya
Sakyamuni predicts the coming of Metteya, the future Buddha,
and this is confirmed by the Buddhavamsa, for though the verse
(xxvii. 19) which gives his name is late, it is clear that his
existence is implied, since the text mentions three Buddhas
who have lived in this happy world-period before Gotama,
and a happy period is one in which there must be full five
Buddhas. Metteya, in whose name is recorded the Buddhist
?metta, or the "friendship " of the Buddha for all beings, is
later a subject of special reverence. Moreover the "Enlight-
ened One " himself tells of six prior Buddhas, a conception
hard to reconcile with the idea of a simple human doctrine.
The divine or supernatural character of the Buddha is in-
deed adequately proved by the signs of extreme devotion to his
relics which appeared immediately after his death, and which
are incompatible with the mere interest taken in the remains
of a famous teacher. The fact that only symbols, such as the
tree, the feet, or the wheel, are chosen for representation in
the sculptures of SanchI, Bharhut, and Bodh Gaya, which
afford the oldest examples of Buddhist religious art, shows
that the Buddha was still the centre of the devotion, though it
was not yet considered seemly to portray his bodily figure.
It is true that many of his followers adopted a rationalist
attitude, held that a Mahapurusa was merely a great man,
asserted that this was the Buddha's own interpretation of the
term, denied the mysterious conception and birth, and ex-
plained the reference of the "Blessed One " to his power to live
to the end of the age as meaning merely that he might have
lived to the full age of a hundred years, instead of dying at
eighty, as he actually did. At the same time, however, there
were schools of supernaturalists who held that the Buddha was
something remarkable and far from merely human: thus
some of the faithful asserted that the fact was that Sakyamuni
had never truly lived in the world of men, that during his
alleged stay on earth he was in reality dwelling in the Tusita



BUDDHIST MYTHOLOGY 199

heaven, and that a mere phantom appeared to gods and men.
This doctrine, if we may believe the tradition, was already
current by 256 B.C., and was condemned by the Council which
was held in that year.

Whatever may have been the date of the rise of docetism in
the Buddhist community, the simple, human side of the "En-
lightened One " has entirely disappeared when we find the
Mahayana, or "Great Vehicle," system set forth in the litera-
ture, as in The Lotus of the Good Law {Saddharmapundarikd)\
and we see instead a deity of singular greatness and power. This
Buddha came into being at the beginning, it may be presumed,
of the present age, but he can boast of having taught the true
law for endless millions of years. He possesses a body of de-
light {sambhoga), which has the famous thirty- two marks, in-
cluding the marvellous tongue, which now can reach forth to
the world of Brahma. This, however, is reserved for the vision
of beatified saints, and to men he shows only an artificial
body, which is a derivative, in far inferior nature, of the true
body. It was in this appearance that SakyamunI appeared on
earth, entered Nirvana, and left relics of himself in a Stupa;
but In reality his real body dwelt and dwells In a celestial
sphere and will, when his true Nirvana shall come, be changed
Into a divine Stupa (of which the earthly Stupa Is but a reflex),
where the "Blessed One" will repose after having enjoyed the
pleasures of Instruction. Nevertheless, he will sometimes arise
at the desire of one of the other Buddhas, for the number of
Buddhas now Increases to Infinity, just as space and time are
similarly extended. The oldest stage of the Buddhist canon
knew six earlier Buddhas, and they grew to twenty-four before
the Pall Canon was complete. In the Mahayana there is no
end to the numbers, for the heaping up of huge figures is one
of the most conspicuous features of the school. Thus the
"Blessed One" can remember having honoured eight thou-
sand Buddhas named Diparhkara, five hundred called Padmot-
tara, eighteen thousand Maradhvajas, eighty thousand

VI— 14



YORK



Til-i^^A r,;l.-,b^iii}S



BUDDHIST MYTHOLOGY 197

assails him with all his host as he sits under the tree of knowl-
edge, beneath which he is to attain to Buddhahood. The
gods flee before the terrors of Mara, but the prince remains
unmoved; the mountains and other weapons hurled at him
turn to garlands in his honour; and the enemy is forced to
parley with him and to claim that his liberality in past days
has won him the right to the seat under the tree usurped by
the prince. His hosts support their master's claim with loud
approbation, but when the "Buddha To Be " appeals to the
earth, she asserts his right to his place with such vehemence
that in affright the hosts of Mara are discomfited, and the
elephant on which Mara rides kneels in homage to the "Blessed
One." The tree and the bodhi (the "knowledge" which makes
the Buddhas) now become the property of Gotama, and the
serpent Mucalinda celebrates his victory by covering him with
its coils. A further legend states that Mara endeavoured to
retrieve his defeat by the use of three daughters, Desire,
Pining, and Lust, but these damsels failed wholly to have any
efl"ect upon the sage.

Rationalized, the story means no more than that, after real-
izing the futility of fasting as a means to salvation, in one
moment of insight the truth which he was to teach as his life-
work came home to the future Buddha as he sat, like many
another ascetic or student, under a fig-tree. Among his variant
names Mara has not only that of Namuci, one of Indra's ene-
mies in the Rgveda, but also that of Kama (" Desire ") , who, akin
to Death, is an enemy of that renouncement and enlighten-
ment which It Is the main object of the life of the Buddha to
attain. Did the episode stand alone, the suggested account
might be acceptable, but amid so much mythology it seems
unfair to reject the obvious conclusion that the tree Is no ordi-
nary tree, but the tree of life, and that the conflict with Mara
represents a nature-myth, and not the Inner struggles of an
Indian ascetic.

Yet another fact attests the religious character of the Bud-



iq8 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

dhist tradition: in the Cakkavattisutta of the D'lgha Nikdya
Sakyamuni predicts the coming of Metteya, the future Buddha,
and this is confirmed by the Buddhavamsa, for though the verse
(xxvii. 19) which gives his name is late, it is clear that his
existence is Implied, since the text mentions three Buddhas
who have lived in this happy world-period before Gotama,
and a happy period is one In which there must be full five
Buddhas. Metteya, In whose name Is recorded the Buddhist
metta, or the "friendship" of the Buddha for all beings, is
later a subject of special reverence. Moreover the "Enlight-
ened One " himself tells of six prior Buddhas, a conception
hard to reconcile with the Idea of a simple human doctrine.
The divine or supernatural character of the Buddha Is In-
deed adequately proved by the signs of extreme devotion to his
relics which appeared Immediately after his death, and which
are Incompatible with the mere Interest taken In the remains
of a famous teacher. The fact that only symbols, such as the
tree, the feet, or the wheel, are chosen for representation In
the sculptures of SanchI, Bharhut, and Bodh Gaya, which
afford the oldest examples of Buddhist religious art, shows
that the Buddha was still the centre of the devotion, though It
was not yet considered seemly to portray his bodily figure.
It is true that many of his followers adopted a rationalist
attitude, held that a Mahapurusa was merely a great man,
asserted that this was the Buddha's own Interpretation of the
term, denied the mysterious conception and birth, and ex-
plained the reference of the "Blessed One " to his power to live
to the end of the age as meaning merely that he might have
lived to the full age of a hundred years, instead of dying at
eighty, as he actually did. At the same time, however, there
were schools of supernaturalists who held that the Buddha was
something remarkable and far from merely human: thus
some of the faithful asserted that the fact was that Sakyamuni
had never truly lived In the world of men, that during his
alleged stay on earth he was in reality dwelling In the Tusita



BUDDHIST MYTHOLOGY 199

heaven, and that a mere phantom appeared to gods and men.
This doctrine, if we may believe the tradition, was already
current by 256 B.C., and was condemned by the Council which
was held in that year.

Whatever may have been the date of the rise of docetism in
the Buddhist community, the simple, human side of the "En-
lightened One " has entirely disappeared when we find the
Mahayana, or "Great Vehicle," system set forth in the litera-
ture, as in The Lotus of the Good Law (Saddharmapundarika)]
and we see instead a deity of singular greatness and power. This
Buddha came into being at the beginning, it may be presumed,
of the present age, but he can boast of having taught the true
law for endless millions of years. He possesses a body of de-
light (sambhoga), which has the famous thirty-two marks, in-
cluding the marvellous tongue, which now can reach forth to
the world of Brahma. This, however, is reserved for the vision
of beatified saints, and to men he shows only an artificial
body, which is a derivative, in far inferior nature, of the true
body. It was in this appearance that Sakyamuni appeared on
earth, entered Nirvana, and left relics of himself in a Stupa;
but in reality his real body dwelt and dwells in a celestial
sphere and will, when his true Nirvana shall come, be changed
into a divine Stupa (of which the earthly Stupa is but a reflex),
where the "Blessed One" will repose after having enjoyed the
pleasures of Instruction. Nevertheless, he will sometimes arise
at the desire of one of the other Buddhas, for the number of
Buddhas now increases to Infinity, just as space and time are
similarly extended. The oldest stage of the Buddhist canon
knew six earlier Buddhas, and they grew to twenty-four before
the Pali Canon was complete. In the Mahayana there Is no
end to the numbers, for the heaping up of huge figures is one
of the most conspicuous features of the school. Thus the
"Blessed One" can remember having honoured eight thou-
sand Buddhas named Diparhkara, five hundred called Padmot-

tara, eighteen thousand Maradhvajas, eighty thousand
VI — 14

[Prometheus]

200 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

Kasyapas, and so on up to three hundred million Sakyamunis.
His seeming entrance upon Nirvana while yet on earth Is ex-
plained by the great eagerness of the god to benefit men and
is Illustrated by the example of the physician who, being anxious
to persuade his sons to take medicine which they would not
receive so long as they had him to look to for help, withdrew
himself from them, so that, thinking him lost to them, they
made use of the healing agency. The path of salvation, too,
is a very different one from the old conception of moral disci-
pline: it Is true that this is still a means of deliverance, but to
hear the preaching of the Buddha, to honour relics, to erect
Stupas, to set up statues of gems or marble or wood, to offer
flowers or fragrant essences, all these will bring the supreme
reward; nay, even the children who in play build StOpas In the
sand or scrawl figures of the Buddha on the wall, and those
who by accident utter the words, "Reverence to the Buddha,"
are equally fortunate. The parallelism with the legends of the
Purdnas Is clear and convincing, and renders it probable that
the Mahayana texts (at least as they are preserved to us) are
not to be dated earlier than the third or fourth centuries of the
Christian era, even though mention is made of Chinese trans-
lations of some of the important documents at surprisingly
early times.

SakyamunI Is not, however, the greatest figure of the Maha-
yana faith: a certain monk, Dharmakara by name, in ages long
passed addressed to the then reigning Buddha, Lokesvararaja,
an intimation of his determination In due course to become a
Buddha who should be the ruler of a world in which all were
to be free from any trace of suffering and should be saints.
It is through this resolve of Dharmakara that he now exists
as Amitayus or Amitabha ("With Infinite Life " or "With
Infinite Glory") in the SukhavatI heaven, contemporaneously
with the Buddha known as SakyamunI. The glories of this
heaven are described in the Sukhdvativyuha, which was trans-
lated Into Chinese between 148 and 170 a.d., and in the



BUDDHIST MYTHOLOGY 201

Amitdyurdhydnasiltra, works which have had great influence
in China and Japan. The heaven is entirely flat, no mountains
being there; streams of water give lovely music, and trees of
beautiful gems abound. There is no hell, nor animal kingdom,
nor ghosts, nor demons; neither is there distinction between
men and gods, for all the beings in that land are of exceptional
perfection of mind and of body. Day and night are not, be-
cause there is no darkness to create the difference between the
two. Those who dwell in that happy realm are not born in
any natural manner, but are miraculously conceived in the
heart of lotuses, where they grow into maturity, nourished by
the echo of the teaching of the Buddha, until in course of time
they come forth when the fingers or the rays emanating from
the Buddha have brought the flowers to ripeness. Neverthe-
less, the heaven can be attained even by those who speak
Amita's name in blasphemy, so sacred is that utterance.

Another figure of high importance in this pantheon of Bud-
dhas is that of Avalokitesvara, to whose devotion is directed the
Kdrandavyuha, one version of which was translated into
Chinese by 270 a.d. We know also that this worship was a
real one by 400 a.d., for when the Chinese pilgrim Fa Hien
met with a storm on the journey from Ceylon to China, he
had recourse to Avalokitesvara, whose representations in art,
moreover, are dated in the fifth century a.d. He it is who has
decided to remain a "Buddha To Be," a Bodhisattva, until
such time as he has secured deliverance for all mankind. In
return for this he is the patron of those in shipwreck and of
those who are attacked by robbers; the sword of the execu-
tioner is arrested by calling on his name, fetters drop when he
is invoked, a woman who seeks a fair son or daughter need
only pray to him to secure her desire. He descends, into the
dreadful hell Avici to aid the sufferers there and converts it
into a place of joy; the appalling heat changes to agreeable
coolness; the kettle in which millions of the damned are boiling
becomes a lotus pond. In the world of the Pretas, which he



202 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

next visits, he comforts these hungry and thirsty hosts with
food and drink. In Ceylon he converts man-eating Raksasis;
and as the winged horse, Balaha, he rescues from disaster men
who have been shipwrecked and are troubled by evil demons;
while in Benares he preaches to those creatures who are em-
bodied as insects and worms. He ranks as the first minister of
Amitabha, for it is part of the Mahayana doctrine that each
Buddha has two Bodhisattvas as his attendants who visit the
hells, carry souls to paradise, and take care of the dying.
For some reason or other Avalokitesvara ranks high above
Maitreya (or Metteya), who is the only Bodhisattva rec-
ognized by the Buddha of the Hinayana canon. Curiously
enough, Chinese piety has converted this Bodhisattva into a
woman, a view which is contrary to both schools of Buddhism,
though the Mahayana acknowledges the Taras as feminine
deities of maternal tenderness, a point in which it shows agree-
ment with the j^^^i-worship of Saivism. After Avalokitesvara
the most important Bodhisattva is Manjusri, celebrated in
the Gandavyuha^ which was translated into Chinese between
317 and 420 A.D.

It is not surprising that from this mass of speculation and
religion should be evolved the conception of an Adibuddha,
that Is, a Buddha who should, in the fullest sense of the word,
be without beginning, and not merely (like the other Buddhas)
go back to an infinitely distant period In time. This figure was
probably developed as the view of some of the faithful by the
end of the fourth century a.d., for the Sutrdlamkdra of Asanga
refutes the idea, which at least suggests that it was a current
belief, and not merely a possible position, although It cannot
be said ever to have become orthodox or established.

The net result of the Mahayana tradition was to add to the
divine powers the Buddhas, raised to countless numbers, and
to swell the hosts of the deities by the Bodhisattvas in like
abundance, since not for a moment did either school abandon
belief in the ordinary gods. If we may trust the Hinayana



PLATE XXVII

AVALOKITESVARA

The Bodhisattva ("Buddha To Be") Avalokitesvara
bears the expression of calm and benevolence, which
is in conformity with his love for mankind. In his
left hand he bears a lotus, and his right hand is held
in the position which conventionally expresses favour
to suppliants. From a Nepalese jewelled figure of
copper gilt in the collection of Dr. Ananda K.
Coomaraswamy. After Coomaraswamy, Fisvakarma^
Plate XL



BUDDHIST MYTHOLOGY 203

canon, the Buddha himself was completely satisfied of the
existence of the gods, both the higher, of whom Brahma and
Indra are by far the most active and prominent, and the lower,
such as the horde of Nagas, Garudas, Gandharvas, Kinnaras,
Mahoragas, Yaksas, Kumbhandas (a species of goblin), Asuras,
Raksasas, and so forth. The Pretas, the ghosts of the dead, oc-
cupy a somewhat prominent place in Buddhist imagination,
and the Yaksas also are frequently mentioned, though the
word itself is sometimes applied even to a god like Indra, or to
Sakyamuni, in the more ancient sense of a being deserving
worship, or at least a powerful spirit. To the surprise of Bud-
dhaghosa, the great commentator of the Pali Canon, the Buddha
himself recommended that due worship should be paid to
these spirits to secure their good will. The Nagas fall into
several classes, those of the air, of the waters, of the earth, of
the celestial regions, and of Mount Meru; they are conceived
as half human, half snake in form. The point of view of the
Hinayana is shown to perfection in the methods used to guard
the monks against the evil beings around them. Thus the
Atdndtiya Sutta portrays the deities of the four cardinal points
as coming to the Buddha with their retinues and as declaring
to him that among the divine spirits some are favourable to
the Buddha and some unfavourable, since he forbids murder
and other wickednesses, and that, therefore, the monks need
some protection from these beings. Accordingly they offer a
formula which all the faithful should learn by heart, and which,
enumerating the creatures in the various quarters, declares that
they join whole-heartedly in the cult of the Buddha, ending
with a list of the chiefs of the spirits who are to be Invoked if
any of their subjects Improperly attack the monks despite
the assurances of the formula. Similarly the Khandaparittd
prevents danger from snakes by declaring friendship for their
various tribes, and In the Mora Jdtaka an old solar charm Is
converted Into a Buddhist spell to secure safety from all evils.
It Is not unnatural that, when the Hinayana school Is so



204 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

closely associated with the ordinary religion of the day, the
Mahayana is still more open to such influences. The "Great
Vehicle" is especially fond of bringing some quasi-dW'mQ
figure into connexion with its Buddhas, the most striking of
these being Vajrapani ("the Thunderbolt-Handed") who aids
in converting the doubtful, drags such demons as Mara-
Namuci before the Buddha, and assists in deep grief at the
funeral of the "Blessed One." His thunderbolt brings him into
close relation with Indra, the troops who attend him are like
the Ganas of Siva, and he has affiliations with Kubera. For
the Mahayana he is a great Bodhisattva, but though he ranks
high among the future Buddhas, he is nothing more in origin
than a Yaksa by race and a Guhyaka by caste. Another in-
stance of the steady working of the Indian pantheon is the
fact that in this period Narayana becomes definitely identified
with the Buddha.

It is clear, nevertheless, that at first this adoption of closer
connexion with the ordinary deities had no substantial effect
upon the theology of the Mahayana school nor upon its prac-
tice, which was inspired with the conception of benevolence
which difi"erentiates it from the individualistic and less emo-
tional Hinayana, whose aim is personal attainment of Nirvana,
and whose ideal is the Buddha, not the Bodhisattva. But the
development of the worse side of the Pauranic religion had its
influence on the theology of the Mahayana, and apparently
from the sixth century a.d. onward the whole system began
to be seriously altered by the efi"ect of the Tantric doctrines.
At any rate, as early as the eighth century we find in Pad-
masambhava, the converter of Tibet, no orthodox Buddhist,
but a sorcerer who defeats the magicians of Tibet on their own
ground and who, when he has accomplished this task, changes
himself into a horse in order to convert the people of some other
land. Both the literature and the art reveal a vast horde of
terrible forms, largely female, such as Pisacis, Matangis,
Pulkasis (the last two named after debased castes), the Par-



BUDDHIST MYTHOLOGY 205

nasabari (or "Savage Clad in Leaves "), the Jangull (or Snake-
Charmer), the "Maidens," the "Mothers," the "Sisters," the
four, six, eight, or even twenty-five Yoglnis, or "Sorceresses,"
and the naked Daklnis. Above these In rank are the five Taras,
who preside over the senses and the elements and are especially
suited for Incantations, and the gods He, Hum, and "He of
Seven Syllables," who are made to emerge from these syllables.
Naturally Siva and his wife, as Matangi or Candalika or some
one of her many other names, are present, and (what Is per-
haps more Important) the Bodhlsattvas are moulded Into the
likeness of Siva and associated, as he with his wife, with the
Taras as their female counterparts. The epithets of Siva are
freely transferred to the Bodhlsattvas: thus Avalokltesvara
is called "the Lord of the Dance," "the God of the Poison " or
"of the Blue Neck," "the Lord of the Worlds," and so forth.
A further development of this new theology prefixes to the
names the mystic word vajra ("thunderbolt") and places at the
head of the pantheon the Vajrasattva, who Is little else than
an Adibuddha, and then ranges below It the Vajrabodhisattvas,
down to the Vajrayoglnis and other demoniac beings. At
the same time the Tantric cult Is developed to the full with Its
devotion to wine and women, Its revolting ritual, and Its exalta-
tion of magic, which leads the teacher of this agreeable cult to
arrogate to himself the position of the Vajrasattva himself.

It is of course inevitable that the question should have pre-
sented Itself how far the growth of the system of the Mahayana
can be explained by Internal causes, and how far it owes its
development and its missionary force to outside elements.
With much ingenuity Dahlmann has sought to show that the
change In the spirit of the Mahayana as compared with the
Hinayana — its marked theism and its charity — is a reflex
of the Christian religion and that In Its success it really was
Indebted to elements which cannot be regarded as truly
Buddhistic. Yet if, as seems likely, there was from a very early
period a theistic element In the Buddhism of the time, it becomes



2o6 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

unnecessary to seek the thelstic stratum of the Mahayana
from an external source; and, as we have seen, the Pall Canon
already refers to Metteya as a "Buddha To Be." Nor Indeed,
unless we can accept the legend of St. Thomas as referring to
actual mission work In the north-west of India, Is there any
clear proof of Christian Influence there before the third cen-
tury. It would be idle to deny that the negative argument is not
complete, but, on the other hand, we must admit that there is
no conclusive ground to seek for any Christian modification to
explain the rise of the Mahayana. That in later times some
borrowing may have taken place is certainly possible: thus
in the late Mahayana texts we find the comparison of the
Buddha to a fisher, which is not Buddhistic, and the art
exhibits the Influence of the Madonna with the Christ, but
these facts do not affect the main body of the mythology.

It has, on the contrary, been contended that the legends of
the earlier Hlnayana school penetrated to the west and in-
fluenced In detail the Christian Gospels. As the claim Is put
forward by Its ablest expositors, it does not amount to more
than a belief that Buddhist legends had penetrated in some
shape to the east of the Mediterranean and were known In the
circles in which the Gospels of the Church were composed.
The best example adduced in support of this hypothesis is the
parallelism of the story of Simeon in the Gospel of Luke (II.
25-35) with the tale of Aslta, which is found as early as the
Sutta Nipdta and may, therefore, be presumed to be older than
the New Testament. In both cases the old man hears of the
birth of the child and worships it, but realizes that he must
die before the things which he foresees come to pass. There
is also a certain similarity In the account of the temptation of
the Buddha by Mara and that of the Christ by the devil. In
this Instance the evidence for the Buddhist story must be
pieced together from portions of the Tipitaka, and the analogy
is not very convincing. Other parallels which are alleged are
those of the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand



BUDDHIST MYTHOLOGY 207

(Matthew xiv. 15-21, Mark vi. 35-44, Luke ix. 12-17) ^^^
Peter's walking on the sea (Matthew xiv. 25-33), but the Bud-
dhist source from which these stories are cited is only the in-
troduction to two legends in the Pali Jdtaka. That text is a
collection, as we now have it, of five hundred forty-seven stories
of the adventures of the present Buddha of the Hinayana in
previous births, and it is a mine of treasures, though for folk-
lore rather than for mythology. The verses which it contains
are of uncertain date, but the prose commentary and the in-
troductions are not, as they stand, older than the fifth century
A.D. It is matter of conjecture to what extent the prose repre-
sents the older tradition,^ and the occurrence of the legends
in question in the Jdtaka prose is of no value as proof of bor-
rowing on the part of the Gospels. Some scholars hold that
in the stories of the Jdtaka we must seek the originals of the
legends of Placidus (who is canonized as St. Eustathius), of
St. Christopher, and of the attempts of the devil to assail saints
under the guise of the Holy One; and it has also been suggested
that it is to Buddhism that we must look for the origin of the
Christian community of monks, for the requirement of celibacy,
the custom of the tonsure, the veneration of relics, the use of
church bells and of incense, and the actual plan of church build-
ing. The proofs of borrowing in these cases are still to seek,
and the essential fact remains that neither Buddhism nor
Christianity appears to have contributed essentially toward
the mythology or the religion of the other.

The Buddhism of Tibet is an offshoot of the Mahayana
school of Indian Buddhism, but it represents the faith of that
sect in a form of marked individuality. In all its types, despite
considerable differences of tenets among the several schools
which have appeared from time to time, the Buddhism of
Tibet is penetrated with Hinduism, especially Saivism, and by
the aboriginal worship of the land, which, though compelled
to assume a Buddhist garb, retains much of its primitive force
and nature.

[Prometheus]

2o8 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

To King Sron-btsan-sgam-po, In the period from 629 to
650 A.D., belongs the credit of Introducing Buddhism into
Tibet, for he sent T'on-mi Sambhota to India to collect books
and pictures pertaining to the Buddhist faith, being assisted
in his work by his two wives, one the daughter of the king of
Nepal and one the daughter of the Chinese emperor. He
transferred the seat of government from Yar-lun to Lha-sa,
and when he died at an advanced age, he took up his abode
with his spouses in a statue of the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara,
which is still exhibited at Lha-sa. The legend is quite typical
of the fa^th, as is the story that both his wives were incarna-
tions of the goddess Tara, for the embodiment of the divinities
in human form Is a marked characteristic of Tibetan mythol-
ogy. These features appear fully developed In the account of
Padmasambhava, who in the eighth century a.d. gave the
Tibetans the decisive impulse to the Buddhist faith. He was
apparently a native of Udyana, which, like Kasmir, was the
home of magic arts, and he appears as par excellence a magician
who claimed to excel Gotama himself in this dubious accom-
plishment. The legendary account of his life makes him a spirit-
ual son of Amitabha, produced for the conversion of Tibet,
and he was born from a lotus as the son of the childless, blind
king IndrabhutI, whence his name, which means "Lotus-
Born." Educated as the heir of the monarch, he surpassed all
his equals in accomplishments and was married to a princess
of Ceylon; but a supernatural voice urged him to abandon
worldly things, and by killing some of his father's retainers,
whose past lives had earned them this punishment, he succeeded
in obtaining banishment from the kingdom. Daklnls and
JInns brought him the magic steed Balaha, on which he went
away. After resorting to meditation in cemeteries, and there
winning supernatural powers through the favour of Daklnis,
he travelled through all lands, and despite the fact that he was,
as a Buddha, already omniscient, he acquired each and every
science, astrology, alchemy, the Mahayana, the Hlnayana,



BUDDHIST MYTHOLOGY 209

the Tantras, and all languages. He likewise converted the
princess Mandarava, the incarnation of a Dakinl, who there-
after accompanied him in all his wanderings, now in human
form with a cat's head, now in other shapes. Then he set
himself to the conversion of India and accomplished this by
promulgating in each part the doctrine corresponding to the
local faith, to which he gave an external coat of Buddhism.
At last, on the invitation of the king of Tibet, K'ri-sron-lde-
btsan, he proceeded there to contend with the demons who
hindered the spread of the faith in that land; and though Mara
himself sought to frustrate his success, the fiend was defeated,
and the evil powers were forced to yield, Padmasambhava's
victory being marked by the building of the monastery of
bSam-yas, thirty-five miles from Lha-sa, the oldest of Tibetan
monasteries. On the completion of his mission he departed on
the steed Balaha from the sorrowful king in order to carry the
doctrine to the land of the western demons, among whom he
still dwells and preaches his faith.

It is probably in large degree from the form of Buddhism
promulgated by this teacher that the magic part of modern
Buddhism in Tibet is derived, although the present faith rep-
resents a reform due to the monk Tson-k'a-pa, who was born
in 1355 A.D., and among whose pupils were the two heads of
the monasteries at rNam-rgyal-c'os-sde and bKra-shis-lhun-po
(Ta-shi-lhun-po), whose successors are known as the Dalai
and Tashi Lamas. These dignitaries, the first of whom has
always held the highest rank in the Tibetan hierarchy, are re-
puted to be incarnations of the Bodhisattva Padmapani and
the Buddha Amitabha respectively.^ On the death of the
temporary incarnation of the Bodhisattva the spirit of the
latter passes over to a child who must be born not less than
forty-nine days after the departure of the soul of the last
Lama, the identity of this child being decided by divination,
and the diviner being the Dharmapala of gNas-c'un (near
Lha-sa), who is regarded as an incarnation of the god Pe-har.



2IO INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

The child denoted by the oracle is taken with his parents to a
temple east of the capital; at the age of four he is brought to
Potala and made a novice, and at seven or eight becomes a
monk and the titular head of the two great monasteries of
Lha-sa. The control exercised by China over Tibet led for-
merly to the taking of steps to prevent any Dalai Lama reaching
maturity, doubtless in order to obviate the growth of a power
hostile to Chinese claims. The same doctrine of successive rein-
carnation applies to the Tashi Lama, and the tenet is widely
applied to other spiritual heads, especially among the Mongo-
lians.

Naturallyenough,theTibetanshave added to their mythology

not merely the priests of Tibetan Buddhism proper, but also
the masters of the Mahayana school, from which the Bud-
dhism of Tibet is ultimately derived. Thus the great masters of
the Mahayana, Nagarjuna, Aryadeva, Asanga, and Vasu-
bandhu, are all elevated to the rank of Bodhisattvas. Other
saints of later origin than these are included in the group of
eighteen Arhats and of eighty-four Mahasiddhas; while addi-
tional famous individuals include Dharmakirti, a contemporary
of the king in whose reign Buddhism was first brought into
Tibet, and Abhayakara, a sage of the ninth century born in
Bengal, who is said to have assumed the form of a Garuda
to rout an army of Turuskas and to have rescued a large num-
ber of believers from slaughter by an atheistic king, a huge
snake appearing above the head of the saint as he interceded
for the captives and terrifying the ruler into compliance with
his request.

In Tibet the Indian practice of placing oneself under the
protection of a special god is carried to the furthest extent, and
each monk adopts some divinity as his patron, either generally
or for some special period of life or for a definite undertaking.
Such gods make up the class of guardian deities, or Yi-dam,
and these are of various kinds. On the one hand there are the
Dhyanibuddhas, and on the other divinities who are manifesta-



BUDDHIST MYTHOLOGY 211

tions of Buddhas or Bodhisattvas; both these classes are marked
out from other kinds of guardian deities in that they are regu-
larly represented in art as holding in their arms their saktis,
or energies in female form, this mode of presentation being
most characteristic of the influence of Saivism on the Bud-
dhism of Tibet.

It is also significant of the change in the faith that Gotama
plays a comparatively slight part in the religious life of Tibet.
A much more important place is taken by the five Dhyani-
buddhas, or "Meditative Buddhas," Vairocana, Aksobhya,
Ratnasambhava, Amitabha, and Amoghasiddha. They cor-
respond to the five Manusibuddhas of the present period,
Krakucchanda, Kanakamuni, Kasyapa, Sakyamuni, and the
future Buddha, Maitreya. There are also five Dhyanibo-
dhisattvas, of whom the chief are Samantabhadra, the Bo-
dhisattva of Vairocana, and Vajrasattva, that of Aksobhya.
Of the Dhyanibuddhas the chief is Amitabha, whose paradise,
Sukhavati, is as famous in Tibet as in China and Japan; nor
is it Improbable that in the development of this deity, as In
that of the Dhyanibuddhas, Iranian influences may be seen,
since the Iranian Fravashis, or spiritual counterparts of
those born on earth, ^ have some affinity to the conception of
Dhyanibuddhas. Along with Amitabha, or Amitayus, which
is his name in his perfect, or sambhoga, form, we frequently find
representations of a Buddha called Bhaisajyaguru ("Master
of Healing "), whose effigies his worshippers use as fetishes, rub-
bing on them the portions of their persons affected by disease.

Of the forerunners of Gotama, the first, Dipamkara, and
the six immediately preceding, Vipasyin, Sikhin, Visvabhu,
Krakucchanda, Kanakamuni, and Kasyapa, are often men-
tioned, although neither they nor Maitreya, the future Buddha,
play any considerable part in the mythology. Of Maitreya,
however, is related a legend with Iranian affinities. In the hill
Kukkutapada, near Gaya, lies the uncorrupted body of
Kasyapa, whether one of the pupils of Gotama or his prede-



212 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

cessor. When Maltreya has abandoned his home and made the
great renunciation expected of all Buddhas, he will proceed
to the place where Kasyapa lies, the hill will miraculously
open, Maitreya will take from his body the Buddha's dress,
and a wondrous fire will consume the corpse of the dead man
so that not a bone or ash shall remain over.^°

Much more prominent than Maitreya is the Dhyanibodhi-
sattva of Gotama, the spiritual son of Amitabha, Padma-
pani, or Avalokitesvara. In one of his forms this deity bears the
name Simhanada ("Lion's Roar"), and in this aspect he has the
half moon as his crest jewel, a sign of the Saivite origin of this
manifestation of the god. The old Buddhist legend of Sirh-
hanada is doubtless the source of the mediaeval story preserved
in the Physiologus, which tells how the lion by its roar vivifies
its lifeless young after their birth, a parable applied to the
Redeemer, who lies in the grave for three days until called to
life by the voice of His heavenly Father. Another Saivite
form of the god is that as Amoghapasa, and the same influence
appears in two other aspects of the deity as Natesa ("Lord
of the Dance") and Halahala, the name of the poison whence
Siva derives his name of Nilakantha, or "Blue Neck." In yet
another manifestation he appears with eleven heads, whose
origin is traced to the grief felt by the sage when, after his un-
wearying work for the freeing of creatures from ill, he found that
the hells were once more becoming full. Because of his sorrow
his head fell off, and from its fragments his spiritual father,
Amitabha, created ten heads, to which he added his own as
the eleventh.

Another Bodhisattva of high rank is Mafijusri, who is reputed
to have been a missionary of Buddhism in north China, and
into whose complex composition the record of a historic teacher
may perhaps have entered. He was born out of a lotus without
father or mother, and from his face a tortoise sprang. This and
other traits of the legends affecting him suggest that he has
been assimilated to the Hindu Brahma. While Avalokitesvara



BUDDHIST MYTHOLOGY 213

is incarnated in the Dalai Lama, the Chinese Emperor was an
embodiment of Mafijusri, as were the envoy to India of Sron-
btsan-sgam-po and the king who patronized Padmasambhava.
His lakti is Sarasvati, just as she is the wife of Brahma, and
hence one of his forms is that of Dharmadhatuvaglsvara, while
he appears also as Maiijughosa and Sirhhanada. Like other
Bodhisattvas, however, he has also a fierce form, in which he
appears as a foe of the enemies of the faith under the names of
Vajrabhairava, Yamantaka, or Yamari, the last two names
(both meaning "Foe of Yama") celebrating his conquest over
Yama, the demon of death who was depopulating the land.
It is characteristic of him that in his effigies he bears a sword,
and this feature of his nature seems connected with his repute
as founder of the civilization of Nepal, where he is credited with
emptying the valley of water.

Vajrasattva or Vajrapani is a Bodhisattva whose title, "the
Bearer of the Thunderbolt," clearly denotes his origin from
Indra. In the later period of Tibetan Buddhism this god sup-
plants Samantabhadra as the representative of the Adibuddha,
a conception which, however, never became generally accepted,
even in Tibet. Vajrapani often forms one of the triad with
Padmapani and Manjusri, although Amitabha is frequently
substituted for Mafijusri. From Vajrasattva the Dhyani-
buddhas are supposed to emanate. On the other hand, there
is a terrible side to the character of the god. In his benevolent
aspect he serves as one of the Yi-dam, or guardian deities, but in
his dread form as one of the Dharmapalas, or "Protectors of
Religion," who are Hindu or local Tibetan gods brought into
the Buddhist system as protectors of the true faith against the
demons of their several spheres. The device is obviously an
ingenious one, and apparently the same principle of distin-
guishing the two sides of the divine character was generally
adopted. The Dharmapalas are represented as beings of fero-
cious aspect, with broad and hideous heads, protruding tongues,
huge teeth, and hair erect. Their limbs are enormously strong,



214 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

but short, and their bodies are misproportioned; they are sur-
rounded with flames or smoke, and on their forehead they bear
a third eye; their appearance is that of readiness to fight.

The hate of Vajrapani for the demons is explained by the
fact that at the churning of the ocean he was entrusted with
the duty of guarding the ambrosia, but being deceived by the
demons, he became their deadly foe. Like his prototype Indra,
he is a god of rain and in this capacity protects the Nagas,
who send rain, from the onslaught of the giant Garuda birds.
The legend tells that when the Nagas came to hear the preach-
ing of Gotama, Vajrapani was given the function of guarding
them, when thus engaged, from the attack of the Garudas.
Yet this special position does not prevent the close association
of Vajrapani and the Garudas, and in one form he appears
with the wings of a Garuda and the head of a Garuda above
his own.

Another Dharmapala, who is also a Yi-dam, is Acala ("Im-
movable"), whose main characteristic is the fact that in his
effigies he always bears a sword, while his wrathful temper is
reflected in his name of Mahakrodharaja ("Great-Wrath-
King"). Better known than he is Hayagrlva ("Horse-Neck"),
a god with a horse's head arising from his hair. He Is described
as generally friendly to men, but he terrifies the demons by
neighing and by the same means he announces his presence
when he is summoned by the appropriate spell. The Mongols
regard him as the protector of the horse, and his name and
character suggest that an animal origin Is not Improbable.

Hayagrlva ranks as the first of the eight dreadful gods united
by the Tibetans In the group of Drag-gshhed. The second in this
list is the war-god ICam-srih, whose Indian prototype Is pos-
sibly Karttikeya, the son of Siva, but who may also be a
purely Tibetan divinity. The third is Yama, the old deity of
death and punisher of sin. Now, however, he is of diminished
importance, for the pains of hell will not endure forever, and
in the end he will be freed from his task; while again he him-



BUDDHIST MYTHOLOGY 215

self is one of the damned and, according to one legend, must
swallow molten metal every day. His sister YamI reappears
beside him, charged with the duty of taking away the clothes
of the dead. As of old, Yama bears the noose to grasp the
souls of the dead and he has retainers, two of whom are repre-
sented with the heads of a bull and a stag. Next to Yama
comes his enemy, Yamantaka, one form of Vajrabhalrava or
ManjusrI. He Is followed by the one female figure among the
dreadful gods, Devi, who rides on a mule over a sea of blood
which flows from the bodies of the demons which she slays.
She Is accompanied by two Daklnis, Slrhhavaktra and Makara-
vaktra, who have the heads of a Hon and a makara (a sort of
dolphin) respectively. Other Daklnis also appear with Slrh-
havaktra, two of whom have the heads of a tiger and a bear.

It is obvious that this goddess, though in part she approxi-
mates to the artistic type of SarasvatI, Is nothing but the dread
aspect of the wife of Siva, and appropriately enough two forms
of Siva are enumerated among the dreadful deities, the white
Mahakala and the six-armed protector. His essential char-
acteristic In Tibet is that of the guardian god and the giver of
inspiration, a feature which connects him closely with the
Indian legends attributing to him the patronage of grammar
and of learning generally. He is not only a Dharmapala, but
also a Yi-dam, and his form is likewise to be recognized In the
two Yi-dam Sambara and Hevajra.

The eighth of the dreadful gods Is a special white form of
Brahma or, more normally, Kubera or Valsravana, the god of
wealth. The latter, however, more commonly and more prop-
erly appears as one of the four Lokapalas, or "World-Guard-
ians." These four great kings are thought to dwell round
Mount Meru, ruling the demon hordes which live about that
mountain, the reputed centre of the Buddhist world. They are
VIrudhaka, lord of the Kumbhandas in the south; in the north
Kubera, lord of the Yaksas; In the west VIrupaksa, lord of the

Nagas; and in the east Dhrtarastra, lord of the Gandharvas.
VI — 15



2i6 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

Apparently sometimes identified with this group is another
of local origin, five in number, one of whom serves as their
head and the other four as the Lokapalas. The chief of these
deities is reputed to be incarnate in the head of the monas-
tery of gNas-c'un, who is the giver of oracles and in especial of
the one which determines on whom the spirit of the dead
Grand Lama has descended. The incorporation of this remark-
able body of divinities into the Buddhist pantheon is ascribed,
doubtless rightly, to Padmasambhava, who undertook the
difficult but essential task of assimilating the local deities to
his teaching, following the model adopted at an earlier date by
Asanga in introducing the Saivite pantheon into the Bud-
dhism of the Mahayana school. Another of these local divinities
is Dam-can rDo-rje-legs, who seems to stand in close rela-
tion to the group of five gods.

Tibet has also borrowed directly from India its chief and its
minor deities in various forms. Thus from Indra are derived
not merely Vajrapani of the Mahayana as an attendant of
Gotama, but also the Bodhisattva Vajradhara, the Dhyani-
bodhisattva, the Yaksa Vajrapani, and even Indra eo nomine.
Brahma, again, is not merely reproduced in part in Maiijusri,
but enters the pantheon independently; Rudra appears beside
Mahakala; deities like Agni, Varuna, Vayu, and Vasundhara
("Earth"), which are closely connected with natural phe-
nomena, are often mentioned. More interesting than these
are the minor deities who possess a special affinity for Tibetan
imagination. The Nagas are very conspicuous: they have
human forms with snakes appearing above their heads, or are
figured as serpents or as dragons of the deep. They have castes
and kings and can send famine and epidemics among men.
Their enemies are the Garudas, beings with the heads and
wings of birds, but with human arms and stout, semi-human
bodies. Among the snakes the chief are Nanda, Upananda,
Sagara, Vasuki, Taksaka, Balavant, Anavatapta, Utpala,
Varuna, Elapattra, and Sankhapala.

[Prometheus]

BUDDHIST MYTHOLOGY 217

The Raksasas, Yaksas, and Ganas are presented in two as-
pects : In the one they are assimilated to the appearance of the
Dharmapalas, while in the other they are regarded as the vic-
tims of the dreadful gods, who destroy them and drink their
blood. The Vetalas, as in Hindu legend, serve in conjurations
in cemeteries.

The female element plays a great part in the mythology of
Tibet. In addition to the saktis, which are inseparable from
the great gods, there exist separate female deities, the Taras
and the Dakinls. The term Tara is rendered in Tibet as
" Saviour," and the Tara par excellence is the sakti of the Bodhi-
sattva of Avalokitesvara, which has two forms, the white and
the green. The two wives, the Chinese and the Nepalese
princesses, of King Sron-btsan-sgam-po are held to have been
incarnations of these two aspects of the Tara, and the dis-
tinction may be traced to the pale colour of the Chinese on the
one hand and the sydmd colour of the Hindu lady on the other, if
(as is possible) "green " is an erroneous version of that difficult
term. In her artistic form the Tara borrows much from the
goddess Sri, who has a prominent role in the iconography of
early Buddhism, but her main features are, like the other ele-
ments of Tibetan Buddhism, rather Saivite. Additional as-
pects of the Tara, who are regarded also as separate deities,
are Marici, Mahamayiiri, Mahajangulitara, Ekajata, Khadi-
ravanatara, and Bhrkuti, though the latter is much more prom-
inent as a separate goddess, who is represented in company
with the Tara and Avalokitesvara. Another very important
divinity is Usnisavijaya, whose ancient fame is attested by the
fact that a dhdrani, or spell, bearing her name Is among those
preserved in the old palm-leaf manuscripts of the Japanese
monastery at Horiuzi, where they have been kept since 609
A.D. Another favourite deity is Sitatapattra Aparajita, who
is distinguished by the possession of eight arms. Much more
savage is the goddess Parnasabari, who is also called Pukkasi,
Pisaci, and Gandharl; her dress of leaves and her names justify



2i8 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

her claim to be the lady of all the Sabaras, or wild aboriginal
tribes of India. Kurukulla ranks as the goddess of wealth and
is closely connected with Vaisravana; it was her help which
secured great wealth for the Dalai Lama who first held that
office. She is the wife of Kamadeva and is clearly nothing
else than the Hindu Rati, the goddess of sexual love.

The sakti of the Bodhisattva Mafijusri is Sarasvati or Vac,
who is represented, in accordance with her Indian prototype,
as a beautiful woman with but one face and two arms, playing
on an Indian vind, or lute. She has a great part In the Srlva-
jrahhairavatantra because she is the wife of ManjusrI in his
aspect as Vajrabhairava.

A less reputable group of female divinities Is composed of
the Dakinls, who are all held to be the wives of a deity Daka,
and whose Sanskrit name, of unknown meaning, is trans-
lated in Tibetan as "Wanderers in the Air." These goddesses
are multiform, but while they can confer supernatural powers on
their worshippers, they are also prone to wrath and must be
assiduously cultivated to win their regard. Those who seek
from them their lore must expect to find them in hideous human
or animal shapes. They form two groups, those who have al-
ready left this earth and those who still remain on it. To the
first belong Buddhadaklnl, Vajradakini, Padmadakini, Rat-
nadaklni, and Karmadakinl. The most important of all
Dakinls is Vajravarahl, incarnate in the priestess who is the
head of the monastery bSam-ldin; she is not permitted to sleep
at night, but is supposed to spend that time in meditation. A
legend tells that a Mongolian raider who, in 1716 a.d., sought
to enter the monastery in order to satisfy himself as to whether
the priestess bore the characteristic mark of the goddess whose
incarnation she was, found nothing within the walls but a
waste space in which a herd of swine wandered, feeding under
the leadership of a large sow. When the danger was over, the
swine changed their shape and once more became monks and
nuns under the control of their abbess, while the Mongol, con-



BUDDHIST MYTHOLOGY 219

verted from his misbelief, richly endowed the monastery. In
Nepal this goddess seems to count as a form of Bhavani, the
wife of Siva. Her representations are characterized by the
presence of the snout of a hog, and her incarnate form must
bear a mark having a similarity to this.

Other Dakinis figure as attendants upon Devi in her aspect
as one of the eight dreadful gods. In all likelihood many of
these Dakinis are local spirits of Tibet, though naturally enough
they do not differ materially from the similar spirits of Hindu
mythology.



CHAPTER VIII
THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE JAINS

WHATEVER be the relative antiquity of the Jain and the
Buddhist sects and the trustworthiness of the tradition
which makes the founder of the Jain faith, as we now have it, a
contemporary of the Buddha, and whether or not he merely
reformed and revised a rehgion already preached in substance
by his predecessor Parsvanatha, there can be no doubt that the
mythology of the Jains has a great similarity with that of the
Buddhists and that it also shows close relations to the ordinary
mythology of India, The question is rendered more complex
by the fact that the Jain scriptures of the older type, the Pur-
vas, are confessedly lost, that the sacred texts which we now
possess are of wholly uncertain date, and that even if the com-
paratively early date of the third century B.C. be admitted for
the substance of their contents, nevertheless it is certain that
the documents were not finally redacted until the time of
Devarddhigana in the middle of the fifth century a.d., up to
which period they were always subject to interpolation in
greater or lesser degree. In their present form the Jain beliefs
are schematized to an almost inconceivable extent, and their
mythology, which centres in the personalities of the twenty-four
Tirthakaras, is connected with their remarkable views on the
formation of the world and on the nature of time. Thus the
number of Tirthakaras, or perfected saints, is increased to seven
hundred and twenty by the ingenious device of creating ten
worlds or continents, in each of which are twenty-four Tirtha-
karas, and three ages for each. The worlds are all modelled on
the continent of Jambudvipa, which is the continent on which



PLATE XXVIII

TlRTHAKARA

The gigantic statues of the Jain Tlrthakaras
("Perfected Saints") are invariably represented with
an expression of superhuman calm. As becomes the
oldest Jain sect, the Digambara ("Sky-Clad," i. e.
naked), they are nude. The elongated ears are inter-
esting as recurring in images of the Buddha. From
a statue at Sravana Belgola, Mysore. After a photo-
graph in the Library of the India Office, London.



^j«m^^<^




PlCLIC LIBHART



ASTOT?. -.SN'OX AND

TiLCb;, rjL--r>DAXio.va



J



THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE JAINS 221

we live, and are separated from It by impassable seas. It has two
parts, the Bharata and the Airavata, and the number ten is
made up by the divisions of Dhatakikhanda and Puskarardha,
each of which has the sections Airavata and Bharata, while
these are subdivided into east and west. In time again the
Jains delight, like the Mahayana Buddhist texts, in huge num-
bers: thus one year alone of the type described as "former"
(purva) embraces seven thousand five hundred and sixty
millions of normal years, a conception which has been com-
pared with the belief of advancing age that the earlier period
of life was the happier and the longer. To the Jain time is
endless and is pictured as a wheel with spokes, perhaps with
six originally corresponding to the six seasons, but at any
rate normally with twelve, divided into two sets of six, one
of which belongs to the avasarpini, or "descending," and
the other to the utsarpini, or "ascending." In the first of
these eras good things gradually give place to bad, while in
the latter the relation is reversed. Of these eras the fifth
"spoke," or ara, of the avasarpini is that in which we live.

The real gods of the Jains are the TIrthakaras of the pres-
ent avasarpini period, and the names of the whole twenty-four
are handed down with a multitude of detail. Yet the minutiae
are precisely the same for each, with changes of name and place,
and with variations in the colour assigned and the stature,
as well as in the designations of the attendant spirits, who are
a Yaksa and a Yaksini, of the Ganadhara, or leader of disciples,
and of the Arya, or first of the female converts. A minor altera-
tion here and there is quite remarkable: thus the twentieth
Tirthakara, Munisuvrata, and the twenty-second, Neminatha,
are said to have been of the Harivarhsa, and not, like all the
others, of the Iksvaku family. Nearly all the TIrthakaras ob-
tain consecration and saving knowledge at their native place,
though Rsabha is said to have become a Kevalin, that is, one
possessed of the highest knowledge, at Purimatala, Neminatha
at Girnar, and Mahavira (the last) on the Rjupalika River.



222 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

Twenty of them attained final release on Sametasikhara, or
Mount Parsvanatha, in the west of Bengal, but Neminatha
enjoyed this bliss at Girnar, Vasupujya at Campapurl in north
Bengal, Mahavira at Pavapuri, and Rsabha himself at Asta-
pada, which is identified with the famous Satrumjaya in
Gujarat. B-sabha, Nemi, and Mahavira agree also in the fact
that they attain release when seated on the lotus-throne and
not, like the others, in the kdyotsarga posture, that of a man
standing with all his limbs immovable, by which he fortifies him-
self against any sin. The Tirthakaras all differ, however, in
two further respects: the mark or cognizance which apper-
tains to them and which appears sculptured on their images,
and the tree under which they are consecrated. Nevertheless,
for the most part the economical Jains adopt the sage device
of narrating precisely the same wonders attending their birth,
their determination to become devotees of the life of a Tirtha-
kara, the obtaining of release, and so forth, so that, as handed
down, the canonical texts consist of fragments which may be
expanded, as occasion requires, from notices of other persons
contained in them.

The life of the last Tirthakara, Mahavira, is characteristic
of all. At a time precisely defined, though we cannot abso-
lutely ascertain it, Mahavira descended from his divine place
and, assuming the shape of a lion, took the form of an embryo
in the womb of Devananda of the Jalandharayana Gotra,
wife of the Brahman Rsabhadatta of the Gotra of Kodala.
The "Venerable One" knew when he was to descend and that
he had descended, but not when he was descending, for the
time so occupied was infinitesimally small. The place of his
descent was Kundagrama, which is now Basukund near
Besarh. Indra, however, was dissatisfied with this descent, since
he reflected that it was improper for a Tirthakara to be born
in a poor Brahmanical family; and accordingly, with the full
knowledge of Mahavira, he reverently conveyed the embryo
from the womb of Devananda to that of Trisala of the Vasistha



THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE JAINS 223

Gotra, wife of the Ksatrlya Siddhartha of the Kasyapa Gotra
and of the clan of the Jnatrs, and transferred the foetus in the
womb of Trisala to that of Devananda. In that night Trisala
beheld fourteen wonderful visions, and similarly the mother of
a Tirthakara always sees these dreams on the night in which
the Arhat enters her womb. She tells her husband, and sooth-
sayers predict the greatness of the child to be. When it is
born, the gods come in vast numbers, and the rites connected
with its nativity are performed with the utmost splendour,
out of all keeping with the real position of the father of Maha-
vira; while from the time of the conception of the child the
prosperity of the house is so augmented that the babe is given
the name Vardhamana ("He that Increases"). At the age of
thirty, with the permission of his elder brother Nandivardhana,
his father having died, Mahavira gave himself up to asceticism
and after a prolonged life of religious teaching, during which
he was for a period closely associated with the Ajlvika sect
under Gosala, he passed away. The gods descended at his
death as at his birth, and in the shape of a heap of ashes a
great comet appeared which has been rashly identified with
the horn-shaped comet that, according to Pliny, was seen at
the time of the battle of Salamis.

This narrative leaves no room for doubt that the Tirthakara
was deemed to be a divine being by his followers and, probably
enough, by himself as well. But what is to be made of the story
of the interchange of the embryos ? Professor H. Jacobi,Howhom
we are indebted for the eifort to make history from the legend
of Mahavira, sees in the account an endeavour to explain away
a fact which told against the advancement of Mahavira. In
his opinion Devananda never had any other husband than
Siddhartha, and the alleged Rsabhadatta is a mythical person.
In reality the boy was the child of Devananda, a Brahman
woman by origin, and the attempt to connect him with Tri-
sala was in order to obtain for him the powerful protection of
the noble relatives of Trisala, who was a Ksatriya lady. The



224 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

story would gain more ready credence since the parents of
Mahavira were dead before he revealed himself as a prophet,
but as the facts could not be wholly forgotten, the story of the
exchange of embryos was invented. Yet on the other hand,
as Jacobi himself notes, the exchange is an open borrowing
from the similar account of the birth of Krsna, and we must
recognize that it is idle to seek any such rational explanation
as that proposed. From whatever cause — most probably the
Krsna legend — it had become a doctrine of the school of the
Jains that the high nature of a Tirthakara required this transfer,
possibly to heighten the importance of the birth, and it is not
impossible that the belief was borrowed from the Ajivika sect,
who have been brought into connexion with the worship of
Narayana.2

The same close association with the Krsna sect is shown to
us by the biography of AristanemI (or Neminatha), the
twenty-second of the Tirthakaras, which is set forth at length
in the Jain Antagadadasdo. In connexion with it we learn of
the life and the death of Krsna, the son of Devaki, with (on the
whole) slight change, though of course the facts selected are only
a small number from the entire life of that hero. The interchange
of embryos is specially mentioned, and we hear of the futile
births of six children to Devaki who, as in the Purdnas, are
destroyed by Kamsa and whose death she mourns. As a result
of the Intervention of Krsna with Harinegamesi an eighth
child, Gaya Sukumala, is born, but his fate is somewhat un-
fortunate. His brother Krsna arranges for his marriage to
Soma, the daughter of the Brahman Somlla and his wife Soma-
slrl, but in the meantime the prince hears a discourse of Arista-
nemi and determines to abandon the worldly for the ascetic
life. In this desire he persists, despite every effort to hold him
back, and in the end Is allowed (as always in these tales) to
have his own will after he has enjoyed the royal state for only
a single day. Now he obtains the permission of the Arhat to
perform meditation in the graveyard of Mahakala for one



THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE JAINS 225

night, and while thus engaged he is seen by Somila who, deem-
ing him to be devising evil, in anger slays him. Next day the
fact is made known to Krsna, while by a parable the sage shows
him that the dead man has really been profited greatly by
death; but the evil-doer is driven by the terrors of a guilty
conscience to come before Krsna and to fall dead in his pres-
ence. Some interest attaches likewise to the prediction of the
death of Krsna, for the Arhat tells him that when Dvaraka Is
burnt, he shall go with Rama and Baladeva to the southern
ocean to Pandumahura, to the Pandavas, where In the Kosamba
forest he will be wounded in the left foot by a sharp arrow which
Jarakumara will shoot from his bow. Pandumahura Is doubt-
less Madura of the south, where the Pandyas were kings, and
the text assumes the identity of the Pandavas and the Pand-
yas.' Moreover it makes Krsna have as a companion not merely
Baladeva, who is his comrade in the Purdnas, but also Rama,
who is not directly associated with Krsna in the ordinary
mythology. The close connexion of the Krsna mythology and
the Jain Is further Illustrated by the fact that In the same
period as the twenty-four TIrthakaras twelve Cakravartlns
are born, including the well-known Bharata, Sagara, Maghavan,
and Brahmadatta; nine Vasudevas, including Purusottama,
Purusasirhha, Laksmana, and Krsna; nine Baladevas, including
Ramacandra and Balarama; and nine anti-Vasudevas, in-
cluding Ravana and Jarasandha.

The story of the first Tirthakara, Rsabha, leads us to the
very beginning of the first ara of the avasarpini era. In those
days the land was level, men were good and extremely tall and
strong, and lived for long periods of time, receiving from wish-
trees whatever they needed. This was the yugaliii ("pair")
period, for sons and daughters were born as pairs and inter-
married, but there was no pressure on the means of subsistence,
and contentment reigned, a picture of society and life obviously
similar to that of the Uttara Kurus in the epic. As time went
on the people increased, and at length the Kulakaras, the first



226 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

lawgivers, appeared, the last of whom was Nabhi. To his wife
was born a son called Rsabha ("Bull, Hero"), because she
had dreamt of a lion. He it was who taught, for the benefit of
the people, the seventy-two sciences, of which writing is the
first, arithmetic the most Important, and the knowledge of
omens the last; the sixty-four accomplishments of women;
the hundred arts. Including such as those of the potter, black-
smith, painter, weaver, and barber; and the three occupa-
tions. To him tradition also attributes the discontinuance of
the yugalin system of intermarriage. In due course he bestowed
kingdoms on his sons and passed into the ascetic life.

[Prometheus]

Of the legends regarding Parsvanatha special interest at-
taches to one told to show why he has Dharanendra and Pad-
mavati as his attendants. Two brothers, Marubhuti and Kam-
atha, were born as enemies in eight incarnations, the last being
as Parsvanatha and Sambaradeva respectively. Once, while
felling a tree for his fire-rite, an unbeliever, despite the pro-
test of the Jina, cut to pieces two snakes in it, but these the
Jina brought to life by a special Incantation. When, therefore,
Sambaradeva attacked Parsvanatha with a great storm while
he was engaged in the kdyotsarga exercise and was standing
immovable and exposed to the weather, much as Mara assailed
the Buddha at Bodh Gaya, then the two snakes, who had been
born again in the Patala world as Dharanendra and Padma-
vatl, came to his aid from their infernal abode, Dharanendra
holding his folds over the Jina and the Yaksini spreading a
white umbrella over him to protect him. Thereafter they be-
came his Inseparable attendants, just as Sakra in Buddhist
legend accompanies the "Blessed One." Hence in the figures of
the Jina Parsvanatha In the Jain sculptures at Badami, Elura,
and elsewhere he is often represented with the folds of a snake
over him. Curiously enough, the Digambara Jains, who fol-
low the stricter rule of the sect advocating nudity and who have,
therefore, nude statues, assign to the seventh Tirthakara a
smaller set of snake hoods.



PLATE XXIX

DiLWARA Temple

The wealth of detail in sculpture is strikingly
shown in the white marble temple of Dilwara
(Delvada or Devalvada) on Mount Abu, Sirohi,
Rajputana. The temple was built in 1 03 2 A. D. in
honour of the first Jain Tirthakara, Rsabhadatta,
whose statue is seen in the niche. After a photograph
in the Public Library, Boston (copyright, H. C. White
Co., New York).



THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE JAINS 227

Beside the real deities, the Tirthakaras, the ordinary divini-
ties are minutely and carefully subdivided into classes. In the
thirty-sixth chapter of the Uttarddhyayana Sutra they are enu-
merated as follows : there are four kinds, Bhaumeyikas (or Bha-
vanavasins), Vyantaras, Jyotiskas, and Vaimanikas. Of the
first category there are ten subdivisions, the Asura-, Naga-,
Vidyut-, Suparna-, Agni-, Dvlpa-, Udadhi-, Dik-, Vata-, and
Ghanika-Kumaras. Of the second class there are eight kinds:
Pisacas, Bhutas, Raksasas, Yaksas, Kinnaras, Kimpurusas,
Mahoragas, and Gandharvas. The moons, the suns, the
planets, the Naksatras, and the stars are the dwellings of the
Jyotiskas. The Vaimanika gods are of two kinds: those born
in the kalpas and those born above the kalpas. The former
category of divinities falls into twelve classes who live in the
kalpas after which they are named: Saudharma, Isana, Sanat-
kumara, Mahendra, Brahmaloka, Lantaka, Sukra (or Maha-
sukra), Sahasrara, Anata, Pranata, Araria, and Acyuta. The
gods born in the regions above the kalpas are again subdivided
into those who live in the " neck," or upper part, of the universe,
Graiveyakas, and the Anuttaras ("With None Higher"),
above whom there are no higher gods. The first group consists
of three sets of three, ascending from lowest to highest, and
the Anuttaras are classed as the Vijayas, the Vaijayantas, the
Jayantas, the Aparajitas, and the Sarvarthasiddhas. The
text proceeds to state the duration of the lives of these deities,
which in the case of the highest gods, those of the Sarvar-
thasiddha Vimana, increase to inconceivable numbers, but
still the divinities are subject to samsdra, or transmigration,
and cannot endure for ever.

Twelve yojanas above this Vimana is the place called Isat-
pragbhara, shaped like an umbrella, where go souls which are
finally perfected. It is four million five hundred thousand
yojanas long, as many broad, and rather more than thrice as
many in circumference, with a thickness of eight yojanas in
the middle, decreasing until at the ends it is only the size of



228 INDIAN MIT-HOLOGY

the wing of a fly. Above Isatpragbhara, which consists of
pure gold, is a place of unalloyed bliss, the Sila, which is
white like a conch-shell, and a yojana thence is the end of
the world. The perfected souls penetrate the sixth part of the
topmost krosa of the yojana and dwell there in freedom
from all transmigration. Individually each soul thus per-
fected has had a beginning but no end; collectively, how-
ever, there has not been even a beginning. They have no visible
form, they consist of life throughout, and have developed into
knowledge and faith.

On the other hand, the Jains provide for a series of hells
which lie below our earth, the Ratnaprabha, Sarkaraprabha,
Valukaprabha, Pahkaprabha, Dhumaprabha, Tamahprabha,
and Mahatamahprabha. With due precision it is specified that
in the lowest hell all the inmates have a stature of five hun-
dred poles, which decreases by half with each ascending step.

Apart from its truly remarkable schematism, the most won-
derful things about Jain mythology are the prominence which
it gives to the minor divinities whom it classes as Vyantaras
and who are described as wood-dwellers, and the importance
which it attaches to the sphere of thought corresponding to the
belief in fairies, kobolds, ghosts, spooks, and so forth. These
godlings are present in the Rgveda, though naturally they are
not salient there, and doubtless they have always been essen-
tial Items in the popular belief of India. Another notable figure
in the pantheon is the god Harinegamesi,'* who figures In the
Kalpa Sutra as the divine commander of the foot troops of
Indra and who is entrusted with the unmilitary duty of effect-
ing the transfer of the embryo of Mahavira, while in the
Antagadadasdo he appears as a god who has power to grant the
desire for children. In art he is represented with an antelope's
head, seemingly due to a false rendering of his name, which
Is Sanskritized from the original Prakrit as Harlnaigamaisin,
though he Is scarcely known to the Brahmanlcal books. An
additional deity who is practically — though not entirely —



THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE JAINS 229

confined to the Jain texts Is Nalakuvara, the son of Valsravana
or Kubera, who (In the Tibetan view at least) Is regarded as
a great general of the Yaksas. These latter beings play a con-
spicuous part, as in Buddhism, and a Yaksa and a Yaksini
form the attendants on every Tirthakara.

This close connexion with Brahmanical theology was charac-
teristic of the Jain attitude to the Brahmans. They allowed the
Brahmans to perform for them the ceremonies of birth, mar-
riage, and death, and used Brahmans In their temple worship.
In which Brahmanical deities are to be found side by side with
the saints of Jainism. Ultimately It Is clear that this close
contact with the Brahmans had its Inevitable effect In bringing
the mythology of the Jains Into closer association with that of
Brahmanism. The figure of the Jina begins to bear the ap-
pearance of the deity whom Jainism theoretically refuses to
recognize, though the Jina still remains bereft of the powers of
creation or destruction, of punishment or forgiveness of sins,
for the working of action is without exception and fully ex-
plains all existence. The Tamil poem Sinddmani, In the
twelfth or thirteenth century a.d., can already speak of a
god, uncreated and eternal, who can be represented with four
faces like Brahma, seated under an asoka-tree, and shaded by a
parasol. In theory, indeed, every man may become a Jina,
but there is a sensible difference between the actual conception
of a Jina and that of the potential alteration which may be pro-
duced by the full knowledge which gives the status of perfect
enlightenment. The thelstic conception which is so widely
developed In Buddhism thus attains, though In modest and
simple form, a foothold In Jainism and assimilates that faith
to the theism which constitutes the basis of Indian religion.



CHAPTER IX
THE MYTHOLOGY OF MODERN HINDUISM

THE religion of India as manifested to us in literary history
has been a constant process of the extension of the influence
of the Brahmanical creed over tribes, whether Aryan or (more
often) non-Aryan, who lay outside its first sphere of control.
Brahmanism has, on the whole, proved itself the most tolerant
and comprehensive of religions and has constantly known how
to absorb within its fold lower forms of faith. In doing so it
has received great assistance from the pantheistic philosophy
which has allowed many of its ablest supporters to look with
understanding and sympathy, or at least with tolerance, upon
practices which, save to a pantheist, would seem hopelessly
out of harmony with the Divine. Thus the doctrine of Devi
as the female side of Siva has enabled Brahmanism to accept
as part of its creed the wide-spread worship of Mother Earth,
which is no real component of the earlier Vedic faith ; the Vai§-
nava can regard as forms of Visnu even such unorthodox per-
sons as the Buddha himself. Of course, in thus incorporating
lower religions Brahmanism has done much to transform them
and has greatly affected the social practices of the tribes which
had become Hinduized, but it is still easy to find among these
peoples stages of the earliest forms of primitive religion, much
less developed than any type recorded for us in the Vedic texts.
In the result the pantheon of Hinduism is a strange and remark-
able thing: on the one hand, there are the great gods Visnu
and Siva with their attendants and assistants, who are in one
aspect regarded as nothing more than forms of the Absolute
and subjects of a refined philosophy, but who at the same time



THE MYTHOLOGY OF MODERN HINDUISM 231

are wide enough in character to cover deities of the most primi-
tive savagery. On the other hand, we have innumerable petty
deities (deotds), godHngs as contrasted with real gods, whose
close connexion with nature is obvious and who belong to a
very primitive stratum of religion. Many of these minor deities
represent the same physical facts as the great Vedic gods, but
the mythology of these divinities has perished, and folk-lore
makes a poor substitute.

During this period Vaisnavism passes through an important
period of deepening of the religious interest as a result of the
reforms of Ramanuja in the twelfth century and those of
Ramananda in the fourteenth, which emphasized the essence
of faith which had been a vital feature of the worship of Visnu,
but which now assumed a more marked character, perhaps
under Christian influence from the Syrian church in South
India. ^ The worship of Rama as the perfect hero has been finally
established by the Rdmcaritmdnas of Tulasi Das (1532-1623
A.D.) ; but, on the other hand, the cult of Krsna on its erotic side
has been developed by such sects as the Radha Vallabhis, who
have sometimes brought the worship into as little repute as
the excesses of the votaries of the saktis of Siva. The worship of
these saktis, the personifications of the female aspect of Siva's
nature, is the chief development of the Saivite cult, and it
forms the subject of the new literary species which comes into
prominence after the tenth century of the Christian era, the
Tantric text-books, of which the greater part are modern, but
which doubtless contain older material. The worship which
they seek to treat as philosophy is in itself made up of very
primitive rites, much of it seemingly at the best fertility magic,
but the philosophic guise into which these books seek to throw
it is not proved to be early. While the cult of Siva, as of Vis9u,
has continued to extend by the process of amalgamating with
itself the deities of ruder faiths, that of the sakti has grown
to such a degree as to place the god in the inferior position, the

Absolute now being conceived in the Tantras as essentially
VI — 16



232 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

feminine in character, a curious overthrowing of the older In-
dian religion, which, on the whole, gives very little worship to
the female deities. Brahma has of course disappeared more
and more from popular worship and at the present day has
but two shrines dedicated to him in the whole of India.

Of the celestial deities the sun, Surya or Suraj Narayan, still
has votaries and is worshipped at many famous sun temples.
The Emperor Akbar endeavoured to introduce a new character
into his cult, providing that he should be adored four times a
day, at morning, noon, evening, and midnight, but this exotic
worship naturally did not establish itself. There is a Saura
sect which has its headquarters in Oudh, while the Nimbarak
sect worships the sun in a nim-tree {Azidirachta indica) in
memory of the condescension of the luminary who, after the
time of setting, came down upon such a tree in order to afford
light for an ascetic to enjoy the meal to which he had been
invited, but which his rule of life forbade him to eat in the
night-time. In the villages of North India the villagers re-
frain from salt on Sundays and bow to the sun as they leave their
dwellings in the morning, while the more learned repeat the
famous Gayatri in his honour. In comparison with the sun
the moon has little worship, and that usually in connexion
with the sun. Yet it serves of course to suggest stories to ac-
count for the marks on its surface, which are generally ex-
plained as a hare and attributed to the punishment inflicted
on the moon for some sin; its different phases are used to guide
operations of agriculture; and there are many superstitions
regarding lucky and unlucky days. The demon Rahu, whose
function it is to eclipse the sun and moon, and Ketu, repre-
senting his tail, once turned into constellations, have fallen
on evil days : the latter is a demon of disease, and the former is
the divinity of two menial tribes in the eastern districts of the
North-Western Provinces, whose worship consists ina fire-offering
at which the priest walks through the fire, this ceremony being
clearly a device to secure abundance of sunlight and prosperity



THE MYTHOLOGY OF MODERN HINDUISM 233

for the crops. A further degradation reduces Rahu to the
ghost of a leader of the Dusadh tribe; while the Ghaslyas of
MIrzapur hold that the sun and moon once borrowed money
from a Dom but did not pay back, whence a Dom occasionally
devours these two heavenly bodies. Eclipses are, as every-
where, of bad omen and are counteracted by various ceremo-
nials, including the beating of brass pans by women to drive
Rahu from, his prey.

Of the minor luminaries of the sky popular religion knows
for purposes of worship practically only the Navagrahas ("the
Nine Seizers") : the sun and moon, Rahu and Ketu, regarded as
the ascending and descending nodes, and the five planets. The
other signs of the zodiac and the Naksatras have some astrologi-
cal interest, but are not objects of worship, though in Upper
India It is still the popular view that the stars are shepherded as
kine by the moon. The bright and picturesque figures of Usas
and the Asvlns have passed away without leaving a trace.

Indra still exists, but has ceased to be anything but a name,
a god who lives in a heaven of his own, surrounded by his
Apsarases as of old; no real worship is accorded to him. As a
rain-god he Is replaced In Benares by Dalbhyesvara, who must
be carefully arrayed to prevent disturbance of the seasons.
Prayer is no longer addressed to Indra to procure rain, which
is now obtained by many magic rites or by oiferlngs made to
the sun or to Devi, although here and there we find traces of
the old place of Indra as the god of rain par excellence. The
whirlwind and the hail once associated with the gods are now
produced by demons who are to be propitiated. Aerolites,
however, are still divine, and one which fell In 1880 at Sita-
marhi in Bengal is worshipped as Adbhut Nath ("Marvellous
Lord")-

Though the fire Is no longer the great deity that It was In the
early Vedic period, it is still produced in the old-fashioned way
from the fire-sticks by certain Brahmans, and Agnlhotri Brah-
mans are exceedingly careful to preserve the sacred flame. In



234 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

imitation of the Hindu fire-cult the Muhammadans of Gorakh-
pur have maintained for over a century a sacred fire un-
quenched, and its ashes are, like those of the fire of Indian
Yogis, believed to have magic qualities. Volcanic fire is also
revered, but the lightning is now attributed to demoniac
agency. The earth, however, has a fuller share of worship
than in the earlier faith: she is essentially "the Mother who
Supports " (Dharti Mai), and her sanctity is so great that the
dying are laid upon her, as are women at child-birth. The dust
of the earth has powerful curative properties. Hindu cooking-
vessels are regularly cleansed in this way, and in the crisis of
the engagement the Hindu troopers at the battle of Kampti
took dust from their grooms and cast it over their heads, thus
doubtless gaining courage from close contact with Mother
Earth. Among many tribes dust is also flung upon the dead.
The worship of the earth is very marked among the Dravidian
tribes and is beyond question most primitive in character.
' Of the rivers the most holy is Ganga Mai ("Mother Ganges ") ,
to whom temples have been raised all along the bank of the
stream. Her water is holy and is in great demand as a viaticum,
as pure for use in sacrifice, and as valuable for stringent oaths.
The full efficacy of the stream is, however, best obtained by
bathing in it during the full moon or at eclipses, and on these
occasions the ashes of the dead are brought from afar and
cast into the river. The Jumna is also sacred, but since, ac-
cording to modern legend, she is unmarried, she is not of the
highest sanctity, and so the water is heavy and indigestible.
The union of the two sacred streams is especially holy at the
modern Allahabad. The great rival of the Ganges is the
Narmada, which tore through the marble rocks at Jabalpur
in anger at the perfidy of her lover, the Son, who was beguiled
by another stream, the Johila. In the opinion of her supporters
the Narmada is superior to the Ganges, for both its banks are
equally efficacious for bathing, and not — as in the case of her
rival — only the northern shore. The Bhavisya Purdna, in-



PLATE XXX

Shrine of Bhumiya

The earth-deity of the aborigines is Bhumiya,
who is gradually being incorporated into the Hindu
pantheon. The shrine is of interest as showing the
humble character of the temples of the primitive
godlings, who are frequently represented merely by
rough stones and do not enjoy the honour of any
shrines whatever. After Crooke, The Popular Religion
and Folk-Lore of Northern India^ Plate facing i, 105.

[Prometheus]

n;>









THE MYTHOLOGY OF MODERN HINDUISM 235

deed, is credited with the prophecy that after five thousand
years of the KaU age, i.e. in 1895 a.d., the sanctity of the
Ganges should depart and the Narmada take her place, but
this has not yet come to pass. Most other rivers are sacred in
some degree, but there are ill-omened streams. The Vaitarani,
located in Orissa, is the river which flows on the borders of the
realm of Yama and over whose horrible tide of blood the dead
must seek the aid of the cow. The Karamnasa, which for part
of its course traverses the Mirzapur district, is said to represent
the burden of the sins of the monarch Trisahku, which Vis-
vamitra sought to wash away with holy water from all the
streams, or an exudation from the body of that king as he hangs
head downward in the sky where Visvamitra placed him. Even
to touch it destroys the merit of good deeds,^ so that people of
low caste can make a living by ferrying more scrupulous persons
across it. Yet although rivers as a rule are benevolent deities,
many dangerous powers live in them, such as the Nagas (or
water-serpents) and ghosts of men or beasts drowned in their
waters. Whirlpools in particular are held to harbour dangerous
spirits who require to be appeased, and floods are believed to be
caused by demons who are elaborately propitiated. Boatmen
have a special deity called Raja Kidar, or in Bengal Kawaj or
BIr Badr, who is said to be the Muhammadan Kwaja Khidr *
and who has also the curious function of haunting the market in
the early morning and fixing the price of grain, which he pro-
tects from the evil eye.

Wells are sacred if any special feature marks them, such as is
the case with hotsprings, and waterfalls are naturally regarded
as holy, a famous cataract being where the Chandraprabha
descends from the plateau of the Vindhya to the Gangetic
valley. Lakes are at once more common and more renowned.

At Pokhar in Rajputana, where Brahma's shrine and temple
stand, there is a very sacred lake, which, according to tradi-
tion, was once inhabited by a dragon. Still more famous is
Manasarovara, which, formed from the mind of Brahma, is the



236 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

abode not only of him, but of Mahadeva and the gods, and
from which flow the Sutlej and the Sarju. The Nairn Tal Lake
is sacred to Devi. In Lake Taroba in the Chanda district of
the Central Provinces all necessary vessels used to rise out of
the water at the call of pilgrims, but since a greedy man took
them home, this boon has ceased to be granted. Other objects
of reverence are the tanks at certain sacred places, as at Amrit-
sar. Some tanks have healing power, and others contain buried
treasure.

Mountains are likewise the object of worship both by the
Aryanized and the Dravidian tribes. The Himalayan peak
Nanda Devi is identified with Parvati, the wife of Siva, and
the goddess of the Vindhya is worshipped under the style of
Maharani Vindhyesvarl and was once the patron divinity of
the Thags. The Kaimur and the Vindhya ranges are fabled
to be an offshoot from the Himalaya: they were composed of
rocks let fall by Rama's followers when they were returning
from the Himalaya with stones for the bridging of the way to
Lanka; but before they had reached their destination Rama
had succeeded in his aim and he therefore bade them drop their
burdens. Another famous hill is Govardhana, the peak up-
raised by Krsna for seven days to protect the herdsmen from
the storm of rain sent by Indra to punish them for withholding
his meed of sacrifice.

In addition to these deities, and more important than they
for popular religion, must be reckoned the village deities.
Of these a notable figure is Hanuman, whose rude image is
to be found in most Hindu villages of the respectable class. He
is adored by women in the hope of obtaining offspring and he
is the favourite deity of wrestlers. He is a very popular divin-
ity among the semi-Hinduized Dravidian races of the Vindhya
range and he bears his old name of " Son of the Wind." This,
coupled with the fact that in the Panjab appeal is made to him
to stop the whirlwind, suggests that the theory that he is con-
nected with the monsoon has a good deal of probability. What



THE MYTHOLOGY OF MODERN HINDUISM 237

is most extraordinary is that the apes in India are regarded as
sacred, and weddings of apes are still occasionally performed at
great cost as a religious service. Bhimasen, who has a certain
amount of popularity in the Central Provinces, has apparently
borrowed his name mainly from the Bhima of the epic, but the
Bhisma of the epic has a real worship as a guardian deity.

Another divinity of the village is Bhumiya, who is either mas-
culine or feminine, in the latter case having the name BhiJmiya
Rani. This is clearly the earth god or goddess in a local form,
and the nature of the worship is shown by the fact that rever-
ence is especially paid when a village site is consecrated, when
a marriage takes place or a child is born, or at the harvest. In
the Hills he is a deity of benevolent character and modest pre-
tensions, being quite satisfied with simple cereal offerings; but
in Patna he is being elevated into a form of Visnu, in the hills
he is becoming identified with the aspect of Svayambhuva wor-
shipped in Nepal, and in the plains a Mahadeva Bhumisvara
and his consort are being created, so that the figure of the
earth god or goddess is being taken up into the bosom of the
Vaisnava and Saiva systems.

Similarly the local god Bhairon is metamorphosed into
Bhairava, a form of Siva, but his epithet Svasva ("Whose
Horse is a Dog ") indicates his real character, for in Upper
India the favourite way of appeasing this deity is to feed a
black dog until surfeit. In Benares he figures as Bhaironnath
("Lord Bhairon") or Bhut Bhairon ("Ghost Bhairon") and
serves as guardian to the temples of Siva. In Bombay he is
Bhairoba or Kala Bhairava, in which aspect he is terrible.
Elsewhere, however, he is called "Child Bhairon" and Nanda
Bhairon, names which suggest a connexion with the Krsna
cycle of legends.

In close fellowship with Siva stands Ganesa, who is often
depicted in Saivite shrines, and whose elephant head con-
tinues to be the subject of conjecture and suggestion, while his
association with the rat seems to imply some humble origin



238 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

for this deity. The "Mothers," who appear as early as the
epic in company with Skanda, have a steadily increasing wor-
ship. Their number ranges from seven to sixteen, and their
names vary, but in Gujarat the total exceeds one hundred
and forty. Some of these "Mothers " are no more than disease-
demons, and some are angry spirits of the dead, whereas others
appear to have a more exalted origin. Thus Porii Mai of Nadiya
seems clearly to be the goddess of the jungle, and in the North-
Western Provinces the title Vanaspati Mai declares her to
be "the Mother of the Forest." Mata Januvi (or Janami) is a
goddess of birth, as her name implies, while BhQkhi Mata
("the Hunger Mother") is a personification of famine. The
Rajputs have a supreme "Mother Deity," Mama Devi, the
mother of the gods, who is presumably a representation of
Mother Earth. In the plains Maya, the mother of the Buddha,
is often accepted as a village deity, and even the famous Bud-
dhist poet Asvaghosa has thus received adoration; while in
similar fashion the Gond deity Gansam Deo has been meta-
morphosed, according to one theory, into Ghanasyama
("Black Like the Rain-Cloud "), an epithet of Krsna.

The belief in the tree-spirit which is found in the Rgveda
is prominent throughout the popular religion. The Maghs of
Bengal would fell trees only at the instigation of Europeans
and in their presence: on cutting down any large tree one of
the party used to place a sprig in the centre of the stump
when the tree fell as a propitiation to the spirit which had been
displaced, pleading at the same time the orders of the stran-
gers for the work. Another example of the same belief in the life
of the tree is the constant practice of the performance of mar-
riage ceremonies with trees for the most various purposes,
either, as often, to enable a man to marry a third wife without
incurring ill luck or to prevent a daughter from remaining
unwed beyond the normal time of marriage. In many places
people object to the collection of toddy from the palm-trees
because it necessitates cutting their necks. Folk-lore is full of



PLATE XXXI

Bhairon

Originally a village godling of the aborigines,
Bhairon has become identified with Bhairava (" the
Fearful "), one of the dread forms of Siva. His
animal is the dog. He is essentially a deity whose
function is to keep guard and thus to give protection.
Accordingly he is usually represented as armed with
club or sword, while his terrible aspect appears in
the bowl of blood which he carries. After Crooke,
The Popular Religion and Folk-Lore of Northern India^
Plate facing ii, 218.



:^'^ NEW YmK



ASTOn. LKNOX AND



THE MYTHOLOGY OF MODERN HINDUISM 239

stories of tree-spirits, and there is no doubt that in many cases
trees have become closely connected with the souls of the
dead; groves of trees are often set aside and treated as sacred,
being a dwelling-place of the spirits of the wild when cultiva-
tion has limited their sphere. The pippala or asvattha {Ficus
religiosa) is said to be the abode of Brahma, Visnu, and Siva;
but the cotton-tree is the home of the local gods, who can more
effectively watch the affairs of the village since they are less
occupied than these great deities. The nlm-tret harbours the
demons of disease, but its leaves serve to drive away serpents.
The coco-nut is revered for its intoxicating qualities as well as
for its similarity to the human skull. The tulasi-plant, or
holy basil {Ocymum sanctum), has aromatic and healing proper-
ties, and in myth it figures as wedded to Visnu, by whose ordi-
nance its marriage to the infant Krsna in his image is still per-
formed. The bel {Aegle marmelos) is used to refresh the symbol
of Siva, and its fruit is fabled to be produced from the milk of
the goddess Sri. The paldsa {Butea frondosa), bamboo, sandal,
and many other trees are more or less sacred and are applied
to specific ceremonial uses or avoided as dangerous, just as in
the Brdhmanas we find many injunctions regarding the due
kinds of wood to be used for the sacred post, the fire-drill
(for which the hard khair, or mimosa [Acacia catechu], and the
pippala are still used), and the implements of sacrifice.

As in the Rgveda also, there is much worship of the work of
human hands. The pickaxe fetish of the Thags was wrought
with great care, consecrated, and tested on a coco-nut: if it
failed to split it at one blow, it was recognized that Devi
was unpropitious. Warriors revere their weapons, tanners their
hair-scrapers, carpenters their yard-measures, barbers their
razors, scribes their writing materials. So, in accordance with
Kfsna's advice to the herdsmen, in the Panjab farmers wor-
ship their oxen in August and their plough at the Dasahra festival,
and shepherds do reverence to their sheep at the full moon of
July. Among other implements the corn sieve or winnowing



240 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

basket, the broom used to sweep up the grain on the threshing-
floor or in cleaning the house, the plough, and the rice pounder
are all marked by distinct powers, as in many other lands.

Stones too are often worshipped, whether for their own sake
or for their connexion with some spirit or deity. The most
famous is the curiously perforated sdlagrdm, or ammonite,
found in the Gandak River and said to be Visnu's form as a
golden bee, for the god, when wandering in this shape, at-
tracted such a host of gods in the guise of bees that he assumed
the form of a rock, whereupon the gods made each a dwelling
in the stone. Visnu's footsteps are also revered at Gaya, and
those of his disciple, Ramanand, at Benares. A fetish stone in
each village represents the abode of the village deities; legends
are told of the stone statues of older gods and spirits found
in the great shrines, or of uncanny or weird-looking natural
rocks; while here and there even the tombs of modern English
dead receive some degree of worship.

As regards animal cults far more evidence of the characteristic
signs of totemism is available than in the Vedic period, but
these data are mainly to be found among the aboriginal tribes
which have been Hinduized. Thus many families are named
after the wolf, cat, rat, heron, parrot, tortoise, weevil,
frog, or other animal. Stories of animal descent are not rare,
as in the case of the royal family of Chota Nagpur, who use
as their seal a cobra with a human face under an expanded
hood, invested with the insignia of royalty. Some tribes refrain
from eating the animals which are their totems, though in
many cases they have different explanations of their refusal;
and other tribes observe exogamy as r-egards the totem of the
family, such as those of Berar, where the totems are trees and
plants. In Bombay the devak, or guardian deity, is held to be
the ancestor or head of the house: families with the same devak
do not intermarry; and if the devak is an animal, they do not
eat its flesh, though if it be a fruit-tree, the use of the fruit is
not generally forbidden. Similar reasons may underlie the non-



THE MYTHOLOGY OF MODERN HINDUISM 241

eating of various kinds of food by different tribes, and hence
the suggestion has been made that the avatars of Visnu and
the animals which are regarded as the vehicles of the gods
are traces of totemism grafted upon an original non-totemistic
cult, or even proofs of primitive totemism. Neither view, how-
ever, can be regarded as more than a speculation, the demon-
stration of which cannot be attempted with any prospect of
success in the absence of material bearing on early beliefs.

The Nagas, or " Snakes," are the reputed ancestors of a
people about whom much mythical history has been created,
but who were doubtless and still are a Himalayan tribe claiming
descent from Nagas. These snakes are often considered as
being controllers of the weather, especially of rain, and thus
they reveal, in part at least, an aerial origin: Karkotaka is their
king, but Sesnag, the old Sesa, is still worshipped, and there are
tales of Naga maidens as well as of Nagas. Vasuki survives as
Basuk Nag, and Taksaka Is still known. Serpents again are often
connected with the souls of the dead, especially the domestic
snake, which is the kindly guardian of the family and its goods
and which is naturally thought to be the spirit of an ancestor
returned to watch over the family fortunes. In the Panjab
dead men often become sinhas, or snake spirits, which must be
propitiated. Some snake-gods are legendary persons who per-
formed favours to serpents, like Giiga and Plpa in northern
India. Snakes are also, perhaps as embodying human spirits,
the great guardians of treasure, which in India is constantly
hidden and lost. On the other hand, much of the worship of
the serpent is doubtless due to fear of the uncanny and dan-
gerous beast, and in no small degree the ceremonials in its
honour partake of exorcisms. Inevitably Siva has grown to be
regarded as the sovereign of the snakes, and Devi is often
represented with the cobra.

Of other animals the tiger, as is natural from his ferocity,
comes into due honour, being worshipped in many parts of
India, though other tribes spare no eifort to kill him. He is



242 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

believed to be amenable to control by sorcerers; in Hoshanga-
bad the Bhomkas, who are priests of Bagh Deo ("the Tiger-
God"), can by offerings to the deity restrain the tigers from ap-
pearing for a certain period; and if a tiger is addressed as
"uncle," he will spare his victim. Men may easily turn into
tigers, who can be recognized by lacking a tail. The horse
and the ass both have worshippers, and the dog, curiously
enough, enjoys a good deal of reverence, both from wild tribes
(where it is the wild dog which is respected) and from those
which are more civilized. His connexion with death, his useful
characteristics, and his uncanny power of recognizing spirits
and barking at them are doubtless among the qualities which
give him fame. The Bedd Gelert legend, as told in India,
applies in its normal form to the ichneumon who slays the
cobra which would devour the child; in its application to the
dog it runs that it is mortgaged by a Banya or Banjara to a
merchant, that his goods are stolen, and that it recovers them.
The merchant dismisses it to its home with a paper round its
neck containing a release of the mortgage debt, but the owner
foolishly slays it in anger for failing in its duty. The bull and
the cow receive worship, the latter very widely, and the rule
against the slaying of a cow is in force in orthodox Hindu states
like Nepal to the present day. The wandering Banjara tribe
reveres the bull. Because of his wisdom the elephant is in-
separably associated with Ganesa, and men are also thought
to become elephants. The cat has demoniacal qualities; it is
the vehicle of the goddess Sasthi and is fed at dinner as part of
the orthodox Hindu rite. The rat is the vehicle of Ganesa, and
his sacredness leads to the difficulty of exterminating plague-
bearing rats. Among birds the peacock, the crow, the hoopoe,
and many others are occasionally revered. Alligators are quite
frequently worshipped in tanks, perhaps because of their dan-
gerous qualities, which prevent their destruction except in pur-
suance of a blood feud for the killing of a near relative. Fish
occasionally enjoy adoration, so that the Mundari Kols revere

[Prometheus]

THE MYTHOLOGY OF MODERN HINDUISM 243

the eel and tortoise as totems. Even insects like the silk-worm
are sometimes treated as divine. Much of this adoration of
animals seems clearly to be accorded to them in their own right,
but in other cases the devotion may be no more than a trace of
the temporary entry of the corn spirit into the body of the
animal in question.

No distinction of principle separates the reverence paid to
animals from the worship of saints, and it is still less distinct
from the cult of holy men after their death. The Hindu saint
is often venerated at the spot where he lies interred, for his
sanctity is so great that it is not necessary that he should be
burned, as ordinary people are, while other holy men are buried
in the Ganges enclosed in coffins of stone. The worship takes
place at a shrine or tomb, which is generally occupied by a dis-
ciple (if not by an actual descendant) of the sage, and there
prayers are made and offerings are presented. The grounds for
according the honours due to a saint are many and various.
One holy man is actually said to have won his rank at Meerut
on the strength merely of a prophecy that a mill belonging to
a Mr. Smith would cease shortly to work. Many saints, how-
ever, won their rank by harder means than that. Harsu Panre,
the local god of Chayanpur, was, according to tradition, a
Brahman whose house and lands were confiscated by the local
Raja on the instigation of one of his queens, who was jealous
of his influence with the Raja and insinuated that the priest
proposed to oust the prince from his throne. In revenge the
Brahman performed dharnd, that is, he starved himself to death
at the palace gate in 1427 a.d., but only to arise as a brahm, or
malignant ghost of a Brahman, and he brought to ruin the
family of the Raja, save one daughter who had befriended him
in his misfortunes. He now exorcizes evil spirits who cause dis-
ease, but who cannot resist his Brahmanical power. There are
other such spirits, while Nahar Khan of Marwar is revered
because, in his duty to his chief, he was willing to sacrifice his
life for him in expiation for his prince's crime. Vyasa, the edi-



244 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

tor of the Mahdbhdrata, Valmiki, the author of the Rdmdyana,
Dattatreya, an authority on Yoga or an incarnation of Visnu,
Kalidasa, Tulasi Das, Vasistha, Narada Muni, and Tukaram
are among those whose divinity is due to their learning. The
Pandavas, the heroes of the Mahdbhdrata, receive honour, but
so does their teacher Drona, who was their rival in the actual
fighting. The Banjaras have a saint named Mitthu BhQkhiya,
whom they worship and whom they consult before committing
a crime. A famous Kol deity is Raja Lakhan, who is apparently
none other than the son of Raja Jaichand of Kanauj, a strange
hero for a Dravidian race. Bela, the sister of this prince, has
a temple at Belaun on the banks of the Ganges, though her
only claim to renown is that she was the object of the dissen-
sion of the Rajput princes which preceded the Mussulman in-
vasion. Many of the Muhammadans have holy men who seem
nothing more than Hindu saints thinly veneered. An important
class of women saints are the satis who have burnt themselves
with their husbands on the funeral pyre: offerings are paid to
the memorials erected to them, and they are credited with
saving power. The tombs of saints, moreover, are deemed to
work miracles, and a new holy man will not receive full ac-
ceptance until the account of his marvellous deeds has been
spread abroad and more or less generally admitted to be true.
The demons of modern India are many and varied, but it is
characteristic that the Asuras should show little of their former
greatness; while it is on a par with this that the Devas, their
old rivals, have sunk to the rank of mere cannibal demons who
would be a serious danger, were it not for their stupidity, which
renders them liable to being hoaxed with ease. There are, as
of old, Danos, who represent the Danavas, but they are no
more than the Birs, or heroes, who are malignant village de-
mons. The Daits bear the name of the old Daityas, but are
mere goblins who are fond of residing in trees. Far more im-
portant are the Raksasas, who have retained much of their
primitive character. They are tree-dwellers and cause indiges-



THE MYTHOLOGY OF MODERN HINDUISM 245

tion to those who wander into their domain at night. They
are the constant enemies of the gods, and from the blood shed
in these conflicts is derived the Lohia, or "Blood-Red River,"
and the red ferruginous clay which is occasionally observed in
the Hills. The Raksasas often take the form of old women with
long hair, but their malignity is much lessened by their stupid-
ity, which causes them to be easily fooled by those who fall
into their power. They are fond of eating corpses and travel
through the air, but are powerful only at night. Both they
and the Asuras pass for the builders of old temples and tanks.
There are also female Raksasas who take the form of lovely
women and lure young men to destruction. Many Raksasas
have a human origin: not only are the souls of some Muham-
madans supposed by the Hindus to become Raksasas, but there
are cases of Hindus whose cruelty in life has brought them
that fate after death. One of these is Visaladeva, king of
Ajmer, who, turned into a Raksasa as retribution for his op-
pression of his subjects, resumed in that form the kingly task
of devouring his subjects until one of his grandchildren was
patriotic enough to offer himself as a victim, when the Raksasa,
recognizing the victim, departed to the Jumna. A temple at
Ramtek in the Central Provinces is connected in popular tradi-
tion with the Raksasa Hemadpant, who is believed to have been
the minister of Mahadeva, the Yadava king of Devagiri in the
thirteenth century. The Pisaca, which is closely allied in earlier
literature with the Raksasa, is now often regarded as the evil
spirit produced by a man's vices, the ghost of a liar, adulterer,
madman, or criminal of any kind.

One class of evil beings of special importance in a country so
ridden by disease as India is the category of disease-demons.
The most noteworthy of all these is Sitala ("the Cool"), a
word euphemistically appHed to the divinity, since she is the
demon which brings smallpox. She has, of course, many forms :
thus at Kankhal near Hardwar she is reputed to be a Muham-
madan lady who took up her abode there on the bidding of



246 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

Badarlnath, who rewarded her for her piety, as evinced by her
desire to interest herself in the gods of Hinduism, by making
her the incarnation of SItala and the guardian goddess of chil-
dren. In another shrine in the Dehra Diin district she is a
SatI named Gandhari, the wife of Dhrtarastra, the father of the
Kauravas in the epic. Yet she does not stand alone, for ac-
cording to one version of the story there are seven "Mothers "
who represent and control diseases similar to smallpox. In-
evitably she is recognized as a form of Devi, and Mahakali,
Bhadrakall, and Durga, as well as Kali, appear as names of
the seven "Mothers." In Bengal escape from the ravages of
smallpox is the purpose of the worship of the goddess Sasthi
("Sixth "), apparently a personification of the spirit presiding
over the critical sixth day after the birth of a child. Sitala
again is one form of Matangi Sakti, a modification of the
power of Devi as the female side of Siva. This deity is of horri-
ble aspect, with projecting teeth, a hideous face with wide-open
mouth, and ears as large as a winnowing fan. She also carries
such a fan and a broom together with a pitcher and a sword.
In the Panjab the disease is directly attributed to Devi Mata,
who is honoured in order to secure the departure of the malady.
It is clear, however, that the disease is considered to be a mani-
festation of the entry of Devi into the child, and thus, owing
to the holiness produced by the inward presence of the deity,
the bodies of those who die are, like those of saintly persons,
buried, and not cremated.

Cholera has its female divinity. Marl Bhavani, but it is also
represented by a male deity, Hardaul Lala, in the region north
of the Jumna. According to the legend, he is the ghost of a
prince who was murdered in 1627 a.d. by his brother, Jhajhar
Singh; and at one time he was so important that in 1829 it is
said that the village headmen were incited to set up altars to
him in every village at Hoshangabad in order to preserve the
cultivators, who were apt to run away if their fears of epi-
demics were not calmed by the respect paid to local gods.



THE MYTHOLOGY OF MODERN HINDUISM 247

Cholera is also sacred to Devi, and In addition to prayers the
ceremony of the formal expulsion of the demon Is often per-
formed. Besides the deities of the great diseases, we find gods
of minor maladies, such as he of the itch, who is solemnly
propitiated.

Other evil beings are the ghosts of the dead, the hhuts, in so
far as they are malignant. Such a spirit is that of a man
who has died a violent death, whether by suicide, accident, or
capital punishment; and the malevolence of a ghost of this
type Is inevitably increased greatly if he has been denied due
funeral rites. Indeed, if a man otherwise free from sin dies
without offspring to perform the srdddha for him he is liable to
become a gaydl, or sonless ghost, especially dangerous to the
young sons of other people. Many Birs are men killed by ac-
cident, as by a fall from a tree, by a tiger, and so on. The
bhiits are particularly feared by women and children, and at
the time of marriage, and a woman who weds a second time
must take steps to propitiate the spirit of her first husband.
Bhuts never rest on the ground, which is inimical to them.
Hence their shrines are provided with a bamboo or other
place to allow them to descend upon it; whereas, on the other
hand, people anxious to avoid ill from bhiits He on the ground,
as do a bride and bridegroom, or a dying man at the moment
of dissolution. Three signs of the nature of a bhut are his lack
of shadow, his fear of burning turmeric, and his speaking with
a nasal accent. A person beset by them should invoke Kali,
Durga, and especially Siva, who is the lord of bhuts. The vam-
pire of Europe has a parallel In the vetdl, who enters corpses,
often being the spirit of a discontented man who chooses such
a home Instead of retaining his own body.

The pret Is in some degree allied to the bhut In that It often
denotes the ghost of a deformed or crippled person or one de-
fective in some member, or of a child which dies prematurely
owing to the omission of certain of the ceremonies prescribed
for Its good during its life as an embryo. In another sense,

VI — 17



248 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

however, a pret is a spirit after death and before the accom-
plishment of the funeral rites. It wanders round its old home,
in size no larger than a man's thumb, until it is gradually raised
through the intermediate stage of a Pisaca to that of a "father."
One form of ghost with many European parallels is the
headless Diind, who is, according to one account, derived from
the wars of the great epic. He roves about at night and calls
to the householder, but it is dangerous to answer such a sum-
mons. When he visited Agra in 1882, much terror was caused,
and houses were shut at night. Other such demons are not
rare, and at Faizabad there is a road which country folk will
not travel at night, since on it marches the headless army of
Prince Sayyid Salar. In like manner Abu'1-Fadl tells of the
ghosts of the great slaughter at Panlpat, and in modern times
there are the ghosts of the hard-fought field of Chilianwala.
The spirits who haunt burning grounds are styled masdn
from the Sanskrit sma'sdna ("cemetery") and are dangerous
to children, whom they afflict with consumption. Among the
hhuts of the Hills is Airi, the ghost of a man killed in hunting,
who goes about with a pack of belled hounds and to meet whom
is death. The acheri are the ghosts of little girls, living on the
mountain-tops, but descending for revels at night. The
baghauts are the ghosts of men slain by tigers, for whom shrines
are erected on the spot of their sad end. Such spirits are
dangerous and require careful treatment. Still more perilous
is the churel. In origin the name seems to have denoted the
ghosts of some low caste people, whose spirits are always espe-
cially malignant, and whose bodies — like those of suicides in
England in former times — are buried face downward to hinder
the easy escape of the evil spirit. The modern acceptance of
the churel^ however, is that it is the ghost of a woman who dies
while pregnant or in child-birth or before the period of cere-
monial impurity has elapsed. Such a ghost may appear beau-
tiful, but it can be recognized by the fact that its feet are
turned round. She is apt to captivate handsome young men



THE MYTHOLOGY OF MODERN HINDUISM 249

and take them to her abode, where, If they eat the food she
offers, they fall under her power and will not be dismissed until
they are grey-haired old men. All sorts of spells are adopted to
prevent the ghost of a dead woman from becoming a chtirel
and to avert the spirits which threaten evil to children and to
mothers.

Ghosts are accustomed to haunt the deserts, where they can
be seen and heard at night. They also live In old dwellings,
whence the unwillingness In India to demolish ruinous- build-
ings, because the spirits which dwell there may be annoyed and
punish the man who destroys their home. Excavators In their
explorations have constantly found this difficulty In the way
of their work. Other places frequented by bhuts are the hearth
of the household, the roof of the house, cross-roads, and
boundaries; while empty houses and even flowers may be In-
fested by them.

The Hindu Idea of the dead remains quite unchanged. The
spirit of the departed Is still to be worshipped after death, and
It Is clearly believed that the ghost expects these offerings and
cannot be at peace without them. Nor Is there any reason to
doubt that the same view applies to the non-Aryan tribes,
whose worship differs (In so far as It does differ) In detail rather
than In principle. Thus the Dravldlan tribes are, as a rule, con-
vinced that the souls of the dead are mortal, or at any rate
that after a couple of generations there Is no need to trouble
about remote ancestors, so that worship can be restricted to
the later ones. The Gonds go the length of propitiating souls
for only a year, unless the deceased has been one of the Im-
portant people of the tribe. In which case a shrine will be erected
to his memory and annual offerings will be made. In contrast
In detail only Is the Hindu ritual proper with Its due care and
elaboration, which becomes more and more marked with the
passing of time. It Is Interesting to note that In practice
the last three ancestors of the offerer alone are taken Into
account In the performance of srdddhas, and that the modern



2SO INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

conception regards the oblations made during the first period
after death as being intended to create a body for the deceased,
which converts his spirit from a mere preta, or ghost, into a real
individual, capable of experiencing either the pleasures of
heaven or the pangs of hell. Heaven, however, is by no means
difficult of access to the man who believes in one of the secta-
rian divinities: the mere repetition of the name of the god at
the moment of death secures a favourable result, and similar
effects are predicated of the use of sacred water (especially that
of the Ganges) and of the employment of various plants at the
moment of death; while the same idea has led to the wide de-
velopment of the custom of casting the ashes of the dead into
the Ganges or some other holy river.