History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c37.51

v3.c37.51

The tortoise avatāra was probably suggested by the legend that Prajāpati having assumed the form of a tortoise created living beings and that as the words *kūrma* (tortoise) and *kaśyapa* mean the same object all creatures are said to be descended from (or to belong to) Kaśyapa (Śat. Br. VII. 5. 1. 5, S. B. E. vol. 41, p. 390).¹⁷¹⁶ The peculiar exploit of the Boar incarnation, viz. raising up the earth from the bottom of the ocean, is alluded to in the Śat. Br. XIV. 1. 2. 11 (S. B. E. vol. 44, p. 451) 'a boar called Emūṣa raised the earth up and he was her lord Prajāpati.'¹⁷¹⁷ In the Ṛg. Viṣṇu is said to have pierced Varāha (I. 61. 7) and that he being incited by Indra brings to the worshipper a hundred buffaloes, rice cooked in milk, and the boar (called) Emūṣa (VIII. 77. 10). The Tai. Ār. X. 1 refers to this myth. In the Kāṭhaka S. VIII. 2 Prajāpati is said to have become a boar and plunged in water. Vide also Tai. S. VII. 1. 5. 1 and Tai. Br. I. 1. 3. Some elements of the story of the destruction of Hiraṇyakaśipu by Viṣṇu in the man-lion form are supplied by the story of the slaughter of the demon Namuci by Indra at dawn with the foam of waters, since Indra had agreed with Namuci that 'he would not slay him by day or by night, with the dry or moist or with the palm or with the fist, or with staff or bow &c.' (Śat. Br. XII. 7. 3. 1-4, S. B. E. vol. 44, pp. 222-223). Śat. Br. XII. 7. 3. 4 quotes Ṛg. VIII. 14. 13 which narrates that Indra cut off the head of Namuci with the foam of waters.¹⁷¹⁸ In the ancient Tamil work Śilappadikāram (translated by Prof. V. R. Diksitar) there is a reference to the Narasiṁha *avatāra*. The special achievement of the dwarf incarnation, viz. the request of the dwarf for as much space as would be covered by his three steps, has its counter-part in the Ṛgveda, where the principal exploits of Viṣṇu are the taking of three steps and making the earth steady or fast.¹⁷¹⁹ Vide Śat. Br. I. 2. 5. 1 for the Dwarf incarnation. In the Chāndogya Up. III. 17. 6 it is stated that the sage Ghora Āṅgirasa imparted a certain instruction to Kṛṣṇa, the son of Devakī.¹⁷²⁰ This may have supplied some part of the legends about Kṛṣṇa in the Great Epic and the Purāṇas.