A History of Sanskrit Literature c7.129

c7.129

Gandharva appears to have been conceived originally as a single being. For in the *Rigveda* the name nearly always occurs in the singular, and in the *Avesta*, where it is found a few times in the form of Gandarewa, only in the singular. According to the *Rigveda*, this genius, the lover of the water-nymph, dwells in the fathomless spaces of air, and stands erect on the vault of heaven. He is also a guardian of the celestial soma, and is sometimes, as in the *Avesta*, connected with the waters. In the later Vedas the Gandharvas form a class, their association with the Apsarases being so frequent as to amount to a stereotyped phrase. In the post-Vedic age they have become celestial singers, and the notion of their home being in the realm of air survives in the expression "City of the Gandharvas" as one of the Sanskrit names for "mirage."