The History of Indian Literature c9.421

c9.421

† In the Atharva-Saṃhitá, in particular, many prayers are addressed to the *Sarpas*; in the Śat. Br. they are once identified with the *lokas*: can the term have originally denoted 'the stars' and other spirits of the air? [Serpent-worship has unquestionably mythological, symbolical relations; but, on the other hand, it has also a thoroughly realistic background.] The Maitráyaṇí-Upanishad does, indeed, mention the Suras, Yakshas, and Uragas; but this Upanishad belongs (see p. 98) altogether to the later period. It is allied to these Buddhistic Sútras in contents, and probably also in age. [*]: A kind of dwarfs with ‘testicles as large as jars’ (?). In the later Brahmanical writings they are styled *Kushmáṇḍas*, *Kúshmáṇḍas* (‘gourd’?); see also Mahídhara on *Váj. Saṃh.*, xx. 14. [Cf. the *Kumbha-mushkas* in Ath., viii. 6. 15, xi. 9. 17, and perhaps also the *śiśnadevas* in Ṛik, vii. 21. 5, x. 99. 3; *Roth on Nir.*, p. 47.] [†]: The Taittiríya-Áraṇyaka, which contains several of these names, cannot exactly be ranked with the Bráhmaṇa literature.