Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v2.c27.s4.t1: Invocation of the Bard to Ganesa
Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v2.c27.s4.t1
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- English
Invocation of the Bard to Ganesa
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“ Oh, Ganesa ! thou art a mighty lord ; thy single tusk ¹ is beautiful, and demands the tribute of praise from the Indra of song.² Thou art the chief of the human race ; the destroyer of unclean spirits ; the remover of fevers, whether daily or tertian. Thy bard sounds thy praise ; let my work be accomplished ! ”
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¹ This elephant-headed divinity has but one tusk.
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² The bard thus modestly designates himself.
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Thus Ganesa is the chief of the Di minores of the Hindu pantheon, as the etymology of the word indicates,³ and like Janus, was entrusted with the gates of heaven [591] ; while of his right to preside over peace and war, the fable related affords abundant testimony. Ganesa is the first invoked and propitiated ⁴ on every undertaking, whether warlike or pacific. The warrior implores his counsel ; the banker indites his name at the commencement of every letter ; the architect places his image in the foundation of every edifice ; and the figure of Ganesa is either sculptured or painted at the door of every house as a protection against evil. Our Hindu Janus is represented as four-armed, and holding the disk (chakra), the war-shell, the club, and the lotos. Ganesa is not, however, bifrons, like the Roman guardian of portals. In every transaction he is adi, or the first, though the Hindu does not, like the Roman, open the year with his name. I shall conclude with remarking that one of the portes of every Hindu city is named the Ganesa Pol, as well as some conspicuous entrance to the palace : thus Udaipur has its Ganesa dwara, who also gives a name to the hall, the Ganesa deori ; and his shrine will be found on the ascent of every sacred mount, as at Abu, where it is placed close to a fountain on the abrupt face about twelve hundred feet from the base. There is likewise a hill sacred to him in Mewar called Ganesa Gir, tantamount to the Mons Janiculum of the eternal city. The companion of this divinity is a rat, who indirectly receives a portion of homage, and with full as much right as the bird emblematic of Minerva.⁵
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³ Chief (isa) of the gana (genii) or attendants on Siva.
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⁴ So he was at Rome, and his statue held the keys of heaven in his right hand, and, like Ganesa, a rod (the ankus) in his left.
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⁵ [The rat is the emblem of Ganesa probably because, like Apollo Smintheus, he protects the crops from vermin (Frazer, The Golden Bough, 3rd ed. Part v. vol. ii. 282 f.).]
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We have abandoned the temple of the warlike divinity (Devi), the sword of Mars, and the triumphal toran, to invoke Ganesa. It will have been remarked that the Rana aids himself to dismount by placing his hand on one of the columns of the toran, an act which is pregnant with a martial allusion, as are indeed the entire ceremonials of the “ worship of the sword.”
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Analogies to Western Customs. Oaths by the Sword.—It might be deemed folly to trace the rites and superstitions of so remote an age and nation to Central Asia ; but when we find the superstitions of the Indo-Scythic Getae prevailing within the Indus, in Dacia, and on the shores of the Baltic, we may assume their common origin ; for although the worship of arms has prevailed among all warlike tribes, there is a peculiar respect paid to the sword amongst the Getic races. The Greeks and Romans paid devotion to their arms, and swore by them. The Greeks brought their habits from ancient Thrace, where the custom existed of presenting as the greatest gift that peculiar kind of sword called acinaces,¹ which we dare not derive from the Indo-Scythic or Sanskrit asi, a [592] sword. When Xenophon,² on his retreat, reached the court of Seuthes, he agreed to attach his corps to the service of the Thracian. His officers on introduction, in the true Oriental style, presented their nazars, or gifts of homage, excepting Xenophon, who, deeming himself too exalted to make the common offering, presented his sword, probably only to be touched in recognition of his services being accepted. The most powerful oath of the Rajput, next to his sovereign’s throne (gaddi ka an), is by his arms, ya silah ka an, ‘ by this weapon ! ’ as, suiting the action to the word, he puts his hand on his dagger, never absent from his girdle. Dhal, tarwar, ka an, ‘ by my sword and shield ! ’ The shield is deemed the only fit vessel or salver on which to present gifts ; and accordingly at a Rajput court, shawls, brocades, scarfs, and jewels are always spread before the guest on bucklers.³
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¹ [Persian āhanak, ‘ a sword of steel.’]
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² [Anabasis, vii. 2.]
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³ The Gothic invaders of Italy inaugurated their monarch by placing him upon a shield, and elevating him on their shoulders in the midst of his army.
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In the Runic “ incantation of Hervor,” daughter of Angantýr, at the tomb of her father, she invokes the dead to deliver the enchanted brand Tyrfing, or “ Hjalmr’s bane,” which, according to Getic custom, was buried in his tomb; she adjures him and his brothers “by all their arms, their shields, etc.” It is depicted with great force, and, translated, would deeply interest a Rajput, who might deem it the spell by which the Khanda of Hamira, which he annually worships, was obtained.