The History of Indian Literature c9.424

c9.424

³⁵⁷ As an epithet of Indra (but *not* as a name for him) Vásava occurs once in Ath. S., vi. 82. 1. In the Nirukti also, xii. 41, it appears in direct connection with him, but at the same time also with Agni; indeed, it is with Agni and not with Indra that the Vasus are chiefly associated in the Bráhmaṇas; see *I. St.*, v. 240, 241. [‡]: The Mára so frequently mentioned would almost appear to be a purely Buddhistic invention; in Bráhmanical writings I have nowhere met with him. [Minayeff’s conjecture, in the introduction to his *Grammaire Pâlie*, *trad. par* Stan. Guyard, p. viii., that the name Mára is directly related to *Mairya*, an epithet of Ahriman in the Avesta, and in such a way that both “*remontent à une époque antérieure à la séparation des Iraniens et des Hindous*,” is rendered extremely doubtful by the mere circumstance that nothing of the sort occurs anywhere in the Veda (Gopatha-Br., i. 28, see note 166, is only an apparent exception, due probably to Buddhistic influence). If, therefore, a direct connection really exists between Mára and Aṅra Mainyu, it can only have come about in historic times; and for this there is nowhere any analogy.