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A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature c5: Hindu Classical Dictionary

A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature c5

Language
English

Contents

Hindu Classical Dictionary

c5.1

ĀBHĀSWARAS. A class of deities, sixty-four in number, of whose nature little is known.

c5.2

ABHIDHĀNA. A dictionary or vocabulary. There are many such works. One of the oldest of them is the *Abhidhāna ratna-mālā* of Halāyudha Bhatta (circa 7th cent.), and one of the best is the *Abhidhāna Chintā-mani* of Hema-chandra, a Jaina writer of celebrity (13th cent.). The former has been edited by Aufrecht; the latter by Colebrooke and by Böhtlingk and Rieu.

c5.3

ABHIMĀNĪ. Agni, the eldest son of Brahmā. By his wife Swāhā he had three sons, Pāvaka, Pavamāna, and Suchi. "They had forty-five sons, who, with the original son of Brahmā and his three descendants, constitute the forty-nine fires." See Agni.

c5.4

ABHIMANYU. Son of Arjuna by his wife Su-bhadrā, and known by the metronymic Saubhadra. He killed Lakshmana, the son of Dur-yodhana, on the second day of the great battle of the Mahā-bhārata, but on the thirteenth day he himself fell fighting heroically against fearful odds. He was very handsome. His wife was Uttarā, daughter of the Rāja of Virāta. His son, Parīkshit, succeeded to the throne of Hastināpura.

c5.5

ABHĪRA, ĀBHĪRA. A cowherd; according to Manu the offspring of a Brāhman by a woman of the Ambashtha or medical tribe. A people located in the north of India along the Indus. There has been a good deal of misapprehension respecting this people. Hindu writers have described them as living in the north and in the west, the quarter varying according to the locality of the writer, and translators have mixed them up with a neighbouring people, the Sūdras, sometimes called Sūras, with whom they are generally associated, and have called them Sūrābhīras. Their modern representatives are the Ahīrs, and perhaps there is something more than identity of locality in their association with the Sūdras. It has been suggested that the country or city of the Abhīras is the Ophir of the Bible.

c5.6

ABHIRĀMA-MANI. A drama in seven acts on the history of Rāma, written by Sundara Misra in 1599 A.D. “The composition possesses little dramatic interest, although it has some literary merit.”—Wilson.

c5.7

ĀCHĀRA. ‘Rule, custom, usage.’ The rules of practice of castes, orders, or religion. There are many books of rules which have this word for the first member of their titles, as Āchāra-chandrikā, ‘moonlight of customs,’ on the customs of the Sūdras; Āchārādarsa, ‘looking-glass of customs;’ Āchāra-dīpa, ‘lamp of customs,’ &c., &c.

c5.8

ĀCHĀRYA. A spiritual teacher or guide. A title of Drona, the teacher of the Pāndavas.

c5.9

ACHYUTA. ‘Unfallen;’ a name of Vishnu or Krishna. It has been variously interpreted as signifying “he who does not perish with created things,” in the Mahā-bhārata as “he who is not distinct from final emancipation,” and in the Skanda Purāna as “he who never declines (or varies) from his proper nature.”

c5.10

ADBHUTA-BRĀHMANA. ‘The Brāhmana of miracles.’ A Brāhmana of the Sāma-veda which treats of auguries and marvels. It has been published by Weber.

c5.11

ADHARMA. Unrighteousness, vice; personified as a son of Brahmā, and called “the destroyer of all beings.”

c5.12

ADHIRATHA. A charioteer. The foster-father of Karna, according to some he was king of Anga, and according to others the charioteer of King Dhritarāshtra; perhaps he was both.

c5.13

ADHWARYU. A priest whose business it is to recite the prayers of the Yajur-veda.

c5.14

ADHYĀTMAN. The supreme spirit, the soul of the universe.

c5.15

ADHYĀTMA RĀMĀYANA. A very popular work, which is considered to be a part of the Brahmanda Purāna. It has been printed in India. See Rāmāyana.

c5.16

ĀDI-PURANA. ‘The first Purāna,’ a title generally conceded to the Brahma Purāna.

c5.17

ADITI. ‘Free, unbounded.’ Infinity; the boundless heaven as compared with the finite earth; or, according to M. Müller, “the visible infinite, visible by the naked eye; the endless expanse beyond the earth, beyond the clouds, beyond the sky.” In the Rig-veda she is frequently implored “for blessings on children and cattle, for protection and for forgiveness.” Aditi is called Deva-mātri, ‘mother of the gods,’ and is represented as being the mother of Daksha and the daughter of Daksha. On this statement Yāska remarks in the Nirukta:—“How can this be possible? They may have had the same origin; or, according to the nature of the gods, they may have been born from each other, have derived their substance from one another.” “Eight sons were born from the body of Aditi; she approached the gods with seven but cast away the eighth, Mārttānda (the sun).” These seven were the Ādityas. In the Yajur-veda Aditi is addressed as “Supporter of the sky, sustainer of the earth, sovereign of this world, wife of Vishnu;” but in the Mahābhārata and Rāmāyana, as well as in the Purānas, Vishnu is called the son of Aditi. In the Vishnu Purāna she is said to be the daughter of Daksha and wife of Kasyapa, by whom she was mother of Vishnu, in his dwarf incarnation (wherefore he is sometimes called Āditya), and also of Indra, and she is called “the mother of the gods” and “the mother of the world.” Indra acknowledged her as mother, and Vishnu, after receiving the adoration of Aditi, addressed her in these words: “Mother, goddess, do thou show favour unto me and grant me thy blessing.” According to the Matsya Purāna a pair of ear-rings was produced at the churning of the ocean, which Indra gave to Aditi, and several of the Purānas tell a story of these ear-rings being stolen and carried off to the city of Prāg-jyotisha by the Asura king Naraka, from whence they were brought back and restored to her by Krishna. Devaki, the mother of Krishna, is represented as being a new birth or manifestation of Aditi. See Max Müller’s Rig Veda, i. 230; Muir’s Texts, iv. 11, v. 35.

c5.18

ĀDITYA. In the early Vedic times the Ādityas were six, or more frequently seven, celestial deities, of whom Varuna was chief, consequently he was the Āditya. They were sons of Aditi, who had eight sons, but she approached the gods with seven, having cast away the eighth, Mārttānda (the sun). In after-times the number was increased to twelve, as representing the sun in the twelve months of the year. Āditya is one of the names of the sun. Dr. Muir quotes the following from Professor Roth :—" There (in the highest heaven) dwell and reign those gods who bear in common the name of Ādityas. We must, however, if we would discover their earliest character, abandon the conceptions which in a later age, and even in that of the heroic poems, were entertained regarding these deities. According to this conception they were twelve sun-gods, bearing evident reference to the twelve months. But for the most ancient period we must hold fast the primary signification of their name. They are the inviolable, imperishable, eternal beings. Aditi, eternity, or the eternal, is the element which sustains or is sustained by them. . . . The eternal and inviolable element in which the Ādityas dwell, and which forms their essence, is the celestial light. The Ādityas, the gods of this light, do not therefore by any means coincide with any of the forms in which light is manifested in the universe. They are neither sun, nor moon, nor stars, nor dawn, but the eternal sustainers of this luminous life, which exists, as it were, behind all these phenomena."

c5.19

The names of the six Ādityas are Mitra, Aryaman, Bhaga, Varuna, Daksha, and Ansa. Daksha is frequently excluded, and Indra, Savitri (the sun), and Dhātri are added. Those of the twelve Ādityas are variously given, but many of them are names of the sun.

c5.20

ĀDITYA PURĀNA. One of the eighteen Upa-purānas.

c5.21

AGASTI, AGASTYA. A Rishi, the reputed author of several hymns in the Rig-veda, and a very celebrated personage in Hindu story. He and Vasishtha are said in the Rig-veda to be the offspring of Mitra and Varuna, whose seed fell from them at the sight of Urvasī; and the commentator Sāyana adds that Agastya was born in a water-jar as "a fish of great lustre," whence he was called Kalasi-suta, Kumbha-sambhava, and Ghatodbhava. From his parentage he was called Maitrā-varuni and Aurvasīya; and as he was very small when he was born, not more than a span in length, he was called Māna. Though he is thus associated in his birth with Vasishtha, he is evidently later in date, and he is not one of the Prajāpatis. His name.

c5.22

Agastya, is derived by a forced etymology from a fable which represents him as having commanded the Vindhya mountains to prostrate themselves before him, through which they lost their primeval altitude; or rather, perhaps, the fable has been invented to account for his name. This miracle has obtained for him the epithet Vindhya-kūṭa; and he acquired another name, Pītābdhi, or Samudra-chuluka, ‘Ocean drinker,’ from another fable, according to which he drank up the ocean because it had offended him, and because he wished to help the gods in their wars with the Daityas when the latter had hidden themselves in the waters. He was afterwards made regent of the star Canopus, which bears his name. The Purāṇas represent him as being the son of Pulastya, the sage from whom the Rākshasas sprang. He was one of the narrators of the Brahma Purāṇa and also a writer on medicine.

c5.23

The Mahā-bhārata relates a legend respecting the creation of his wife. It says that Agastya saw his ancestors suspended by their heels in a pit, and was told by them that they could be rescued only by his begetting a son. Thereupon he formed a girl out of the most graceful parts of different animals and passed her secretly into the palace of the king of Vidarbha. There the child grew up as a daughter of the king, and was demanded in marriage by Agastya. Much against his will the king was constrained to consent, and she became the wife of the sage. She was named Lopā-mudrā, because the animals had been subjected to loss (lopa) by her engrossing their distinctive beauties, as the eyes of the deer, &c. She was also called Kausītakī and Vara-pradā. The same poem also tells a story exhibiting his superhuman power, by which he turned King Nahusha into a serpent and afterwards restored him to his proper form. See Nahusha.

c5.24

It is in the Rāmāyaṇa that Agastya makes the most distinguished figure. He dwelt in a hermitage on Mount Kunjara, situated in a most beautiful country to the south of the Vindhya mountains, and was chief of the hermits of the south. He kept the Rākshasas who infested the south under control, so that the country was “only gazed upon and not possessed by them.” His power over them is illustrated by a legend which represents him as eating up a Rākshasa named Vātāpi who assumed the form of a ram, and as destroying by a flash of his eye the Rākshasa’s brother, Ilvala, who attempted to avenge him. (See Vātāpi.) Rāma in his exile wandered to the hermitage of Agastya with Sītā and Lakshmana. The sage received him with the greatest kindness, and became his friend, adviser, and protector. He gave him the bow of Vishnu; and when Rāma was restored to his kingdom, the sage accompanied him to Ayodhyā.

c5.25

The name of Agastya holds a great place also in Tamil literature, and he is “venerated in the south as the first teacher of science and literature to the primitive Drāvidian tribes;” so says Dr. Caldwell, who thinks “we shall not greatly err in placing the era of Agastya in the seventh, or at least in the sixth century B.C.” Wilson also had previously testified to the same effect: “The traditions of the south of India ascribe to Agastya a principal share in the formation of the Tamil language and literature, and the general tenor of the legends relating to him denotes his having been instrumental in the introduction of the Hindu religion and literature into the Peninsula.”

c5.26

AGHĀSURA. (Agha the Asura.) An Asura who was Kansa’s general. He assumed the form of a vast serpent, and Krishna’s companions, the cowherds, entered its mouth, mistaking it for a mountain cavern: but Krishna rescued them.

c5.27

AGNĀYĪ. Wife of Agni. She is seldom alluded to in the Veda and is not of any importance.

c5.28

ĀGNEYA. Son of Agni, a name of Kārttikeya or Mars; also an appellation of the Muni Agastya and others.

c5.29

ĀGNEYĀSTRA. ‘The weapon of fire.’ Given by Bharadwāja to Agnivesa, the son of Agni, and by him to Drona. A similar weapon was, according to the Vishnu Purāna, given by the sage Aurva to his pupil King Sagara, and with it “he conquered the tribes of barbarians who had invaded his patrimonial possessions.”

c5.30

ĀGNEYA PURĀNA. See Agni Purāna.

c5.31

AGNI. (Nom. Agnis = Ignis.) Fire, one of the most ancient and most sacred objects of Hindu worship. He appears in three phases—in heaven as the sun, in mid-air as lightning, on earth as ordinary fire. Agni is one of the chief deities of the Vedas, and great numbers of the hymns are addressed to him, more indeed than to any other god. He is one of the three great deities—Agni, Vāyu (or Indra), and Sūrya—who respectively preside over earth, air, and sky, and are all equal in dignity. “He is considered as the mediator between men and gods, as protector of men and their homes, and as witness of their actions; hence his invocation at all solemn occasions, at the nuptial ceremony, &c. Fire has ceased to be an object of worship, but is held in honour for the part it performs in sacrifices.” Agni is represented as having seven tongues, each of which has a distinct name, for licking up the butter used in sacrifices. He is guardian of the south-east quarter, being one of the eight lokapalas (q.v.), and his region is called Pura-jyotis.

c5.32

In a celebrated hymn of the Rig-veda attributed to Vasishtha, Indra and other gods are called upon to destroy the Kravyāds ‘the flesh-eaters,’ or Rakshas enemies of the gods. Agni himself is also a Kravyād, and as such he takes an entirely different character. He is represented under a form as hideous as the beings he is invoked to devour. He sharpens his two iron tusks, puts his enemies into his mouth and swallows them. He heats the edges of his shafts and sends them into the hearts of the Rakshas.

c5.33

“He appears in the progress of mythological personification as a son of Angiras, as a king of the Pitris or Manes, as a Marut, as a grandson of Sandila, as one of the seven sages or Rishis, during the reign of Tāmasa the fourth Manu,” and as a star. In the Mahā-bhārata Agni is represented as having exhausted his vigour by devouring too many oblations, and desiring to consume the whole Khāndava forest as a means of recruiting his strength. He was prevented by Indra, but having obtained the assistance of Krishna and Arjuna, he baffled Indra and accomplished his object. In the Vishnu Purāna he is called Abhimānī, and the eldest son of Brahmā. His wife was Swāhā; by her he had three sons, Pāvaka, Pavamāna, and Suchi, and these had forty-five sons; altogether forty-nine persons, identical with the forty-nine fires, which forty-nine fires the Vāyu Purāna endeavours to discriminate. He is described in the Hari-vansa as clothed in black, having smoke for his standard and head-piece, and carrying a flaming javelin. He has four hands, and is borne in a chariot drawn by red horses, and the seven winds are the wheels of his car. He is accompanied by a ram, and sometimes he is represented riding on that animal. The representations of him vary.

c5.34

The names and epithets of Agni are many—Vahni, Anala, Pāvaka, Vaiswānara, son of Viswānara, the sun; Abja-hasta, ‘lotus in hand;’ Dhūma-ketu, ‘whose sign is smoke;’ Hutāsa or Huta-bhuj, ‘devourer of offerings;’ Suchi or Sukra, ‘the bright;’ Rohitāswa, ‘having red horses;’ Chhāga-ratha, ‘ram-rider;’ Jāta vedas (q.v.); Sapta-jihva, ‘seven-tongued;’ Tomara-dhara, ‘javelin-bearer.’

c5.35

AGNI-DAGDHAS. Pitris, or Manes, who when alive kept up the household flame and presented oblations with fire. Those who did not do so were called An-agni dagdhas. See Pitris.

c5.36

AGNI PURĀNA. This Purāna derives its name from its having been communicated originally by Agni, the deity of fire, to the Muni Vasisṭha, for the purpose of instructing him in the twofold knowledge of Brahmā. Its contents are variously specified as “sixteen thousand, fifteen thousand, and fourteen thousand stanzas.” This work is devoted to the glorification of Siva, but its contents are of a very varied and cyclopædical character. It has portions on ritual and mystic worship, cosmical descriptions, chapters on the duties of kings and the art of war, which have the appearance of being extracted from some older work, a chapter on law from the text-book of Yājñawalkya, some chapters on medicine from the Susruta, and some treatises on rhetoric, prosody, and grammar according to the rules of Pingala and Pānini. Its motley contents “exclude it from any legitimate claims to be regarded as a Purāna, and prove that its origin cannot be very remote.” The text of this Purāna is now in course of publication in the Bibliotheca Indica, edited by Rājendra Lāl Mitra.

c5.37

AGNISHWĀTTAS. Pitris or Manes of the gods, who when living upon earth did not maintain their domestic fires or offer burnt-sacrifices. According to some authorities they were descendants of Marīchi. They are also identified with the seasons. See Pitris.

c5.38

AGNIVESA. A sage, the son of Agni, and an early writer on medicine.

c5.39

AHALYĀ. Wife of the Rishi Gautama, and a very beautiful woman. In the Rāmāyana it is stated that she was the first woman made by Brahmā, and that he gave her to Gautama. She was seduced by Indra, who had to suffer for his adultery. One version of the Rāmāyana represents her as knowing the god and being flattered by his condescension; but another version states that the god assumed the form of her husband, and so deceived her. Another story is that Indra secured the help of the moon, who assumed the form of a cock and crowed at midnight. This roused Gautama to his morning’s devotions, when Indra went in and took his place. Gautama expelled Ahalyā from his hermitage, and deprived her of her prerogative of being the most beautiful woman in the world, or, according to another statement, he rendered her invisible. She was restored to her natural state by Rāma and reconciled to her husband. This seduction is explained mythically by Kumārila Bhatta as Indra (the sun’s) carrying away the shades of night—the name Ahalyā, by a strained etymology, being made to signify ‘night.’

c5.40

AHI. A serpent. A name of Vritra, the Vedic demon of drought: but Ahi and Vritra are sometimes “distinct, and mean, most probably, differently formed clouds.”—Wilson.

c5.41

AHI-CHHATRA, AHI-KSHETRA. A city mentioned in the Mahā-bhārata as lying north of the Ganges, and as being the capital of Northern Panchāla. It is apparently the Adisadra of Ptolemy, and its remains are visible near Rām-nagar.

c5.42

AINDRI. ‘Son of Indra.’ An appellation of Arjuna.

c5.43

AIRĀVATA. ‘A fine elephant.’ An elephant produced at the churning of the ocean, and appropriated by the god Indra. The derivation of this name is referred to the word Irāvat, signifying ‘produced from water.’ He is guardian of one of the points of the compass. See Loka-pāla.

c5.44

AITAREYA. The name of a Brāhmana, an Āranyaka, and an Upanishad of the Rig-veda. The Brāhmana has been edited and translated by Dr. Haug; the text of the Āranyaka has been published in the *Bibliotheca Indica* by Rājendra Lāla, and there is another edition. The Upanishad has been translated by Dr. Roer in the same series. “The Aitareya Āranyaka consists of five books, each of which is called Āranyaka. The second and third books form a separate Upanishad, and a still further subdivision here takes place, inasmuch as the four last sections of the second book, which are particularly consonant with the doctrines of the Vedānta system, pass as the Aitareyopanishad.”—*Weber.*

c5.45

AJA. ‘Unborn.’ An epithet applied to many of the gods. A prince of the Solar race, sometimes said to be the son of Raghu, at others the son of Dilipa, son of Raghu. He was the husband chosen at her swayam-vara by Indumatī, daughter of the Rāja of Vidarbha, and was the father of Dasaratha and grandfather of Rāma. The Raghu-vansa relates how on his way to the swayam-vara he was annoyed by a wild elephant and ordered it to be shot. When the elephant was mortally wounded, a beautiful figure issued from it, which declared itself a gandharva who had been transformed into a mad elephant for deriding a holy man. The gandharva was delivered, as it had been foretold to him, by Aja, and he gave the prince some arrows which enabled him to excel in the contest at the swayam-vara. When Dasaratha grew up, Aja ascended to Indra’s heaven.

c5.46

AJAGAVA. The ‘primitive bow’ of Siva, which fell from heaven at the birth of Prithu.

c5.47

AJĀMILA. A Brāhman of Kanauj, who married a slave and had children, of whom he was very fond.

c5.48

AJĀTA-SATRU. ‘One whose enemy is unborn.’ 1. A king of Kāsī, mentioned in the Upanishads, who was very learned, and, although a Kshatriya, instructed the Brāhman Gārgya-bālāki. 2. A name of Siva. 3. Of Yudhi-shthira. 4. A king of Mathurā who reigned in the time of Buddha.

c5.49

AJAYA-PĀLA. Author of a Sanskrit vocabulary of some repute.

c5.50

AJĪGARTTA. A Brāhman Rishi who sold his son Sunah-sephas to be a sacrifice.

c5.51

AJITA. ‘Unconquered.’ A title given to Vishnu, Siva, and many others. There were classes of gods bearing this name in several Manwantaras.

c5.52

AKRŪRA. A Yādava and uncle of Krishna. He was son of Swa-phalka and Gāndinī. It was he who took Krishna and Rāma to Mathurā when the former broke the great bow. He is chiefly noted as being the holder of the Syamantaka gem.

c5.53

AKSHA. The eldest son of Rāvana, slain by Hanumān. Also a name of Garuda.

c5.54

AKSHAMĀLĀ. A name of Arundhati (q.v.).

c5.55

ĀKULI. An Asura priest. See Kilātākuli.

c5.56

AKŪPĀRA. A tortoise or turtle. The tortoise on which the earth rests.

c5.57

ĀKŪTI. A daughter of Manu Swāyambhuva and Sata-rūpā, whom he gave to the patriarch Ruchi. She bore twins, Yajna and Dakshinā, who became husband and wife and had twelve sons, the deities called Yāmas.

c5.58

ALAKĀ. The capital of Kuvera and the abode of the gandharvas on Mount Meru. It is also called Vasu-dhārā, Vasu-sthali, and Prabhā.

c5.59

ALAKA-NANDĀ. One of the four branches of the river Gaṅgā, which flows south to the country of Bhārata. This is said by the Vaishnavas to be the terrestrial Gaṅgā which Siva received upon his head.

c5.60

ALAMBUSHA. A great Rākshasa worsted by Sātyaki in the great war of the Mahā-bhārata, and finally killed by Ghaṭotkacha. He is said to be a son of Rishyasringa.

c5.61

ALĀYUDHA. A Rākshasa killed after a fierce combat by Ghatotkacha in the war of the Mahā-bhārata (Fauche, ix. 278).

c5.62

AMARA-KANTAKA. ‘Peak of the immortals.’ A place of pilgrimage in the table-land east of the Vindhyas.

c5.63

AMARA-KOSHA. This title may be read in two ways—‘the immortal vocabulary,’ or, more appropriately, ‘the vocabulary of Amara or Amara Sinha.’ “The oldest vocabulary hitherto known, and one of the most celebrated vocabularies of the classical Sanskrit.” It has been the subject of a great number of commentaries. The text has been often printed. There is an edition published in India with an English interpretation and annotations by Colebrooke, and the text with a French translation has been printed by Deslongchamps.

c5.64

AMARA SINHA. The author of the vocabulary called Amara-kosha. He was one of the nine gems of the court of Vikrama. (See Nava-ratna.) Wilson inclines to place him in the first century B.C. Lassen places him about the middle of the third century A.D., and others incline to bring him down later.

c5.65

AMARĀVATĪ. The capital of Indra’s heaven, renowned for its greatness and splendour. It is situated somewhere in the vicinity of Meru. It is sometimes called Deva-pura, ‘city of the gods,’ and Pūsha-bhāsā, ‘sun-splendour.’

c5.66

AMARESWARA. ‘Lord of the immortals.’ A title of Vishnu, Siva, and Indra. Name of one of the twelve great lingas. See Linga.

c5.67

AMARU-SATAKA. A poem consisting of a hundred stanzas written by a king named Amaru, but by some attributed to the philosopher Sankara, who assumed the dead form of that king for the purpose of conversing with his widow. The verses are of an erotic character, but, like many others of the same kind, a religious or philosophical interpretation has been found for them.

c5.68

There is a translation in French by Apudy with the text, and a translation in German by Rückert.

c5.69

AMBĀ. ‘Mother.’ 1. A name of Durgā. 2. The eldest daughter of a king of Kāsī. She and her sisters Ambikā and Ambālikā were carried off by Bhīshma to be the wives of Vichitra-vīrya. Ambā had been previously betrothed to a Rāja of Salwa, and Bhīshma sent her to him, but the Rāja rejected her because she had been in another man’s house. She retired to the forest and engaged in devotion to obtain revenge of Bhīshma. Siva favoured her, and promised her the desired vengeance in another birth. Then she ascended the pile and was born again as Sikhandin, who slew Bhīshma.

c5.70

AMBĀLIKĀ. The younger widow of Vichitra-vīrya and mother of Pāndu by Vyāsa. See Mahā-bhārata.

c5.71

AMBARĪSHA. 1. A king of Ayodhyā, twenty-eighth in descent from Ikshwāku. (See Sunahsephas.) 2. An appellation of Siva. 3. Name of one of the eighteen hells.

c5.72

AMBASHTHA. A military people inhabiting a country of the same name in the middle of the Panjāb; probably the ’Αμβάσται of Ptolemy. 2. The medical tribe in Manu.

c5.73

AMBIKĀ. 1. A sister of Rudra, but in later times identified with Umā. 2. Elder widow of Vichitra-vīrya and mother of Dhrita-rāshtra by Vyāsa. See Mahā-bhārata.

c5.74

AMBIKEYA. A metronymic applicable to Ganesa, Skanda, and Dhrita-rāshtra.

c5.75

ĀMNĀYA. Sacred tradition. The Vedas in the aggregate.

c5.76

AMRITA. ‘Immortal.’ A god. The water of life. The term was known to the Vedas, and seems to have been applied to various things offered in sacrifice, but more especially to the Soma juice. It is also called Nir-jara and Pīyūsha. In later times it was the water of life produced at the churning of the ocean by the gods and demons, the legend of which is told with some variations in the Rāmāyana, the Mahā-bhārata, and the Purānas. The gods, feeling their weakness, having been worsted by the demons, and being, according to one authority, under the ban of a holy sage, repaired to Vishnu, beseeching him for renewed vigour and the gift of immortality. He directed them to churn the ocean for the Amrita and other precious things which had been lost. The story as told in the Vishnu Purāna has been rendered into verse by Professor Williams thus:—

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“ The gods addressed the mighty Vishnu thus— ‘Conquered in battle by the evil demons, We fly to thee for succour, soul of all ; Pity, and by thy might deliver us !’ Hari, the lord, creator of the world, Thus by the gods implored, all graciously Replied—‘Your strength shall be restored, ye gods ; Only accomplish what I now command. Unite yourselves in peaceful combination With these your foes ; collect all plants and herbs Of diverse kinds from every quarter ; cast them Into the sea of milk ; take Mandara, The mountain, for a churning stick, and Vāsuki, The serpent, for a rope ; together churn The ocean to produce the beverage— Source of all strength and immortality— Then reckon on my aid ; I will take care Your foes shall share your toil, but not partake In its reward, or drink th’ immortal draught.’ Thus by the god of gods advised, the host United in alliance with the demons. Straightway they gathered various herbs and cast them Into the waters, then they took the mountain To serve as churning-staff, and next the snake To serve as cord, and in the ocean’s midst Hari himself, present in tortoise-form, Became a pivot for the churning-staff. Then did they churn the sea of milk ; and first Out of the waters rose the sacred Cow, God-worshipped Surabhi, eternal fountain Of milk and offerings of butter ; next, While holy Siddhas wondered at the sight, With eyes all rolling, Vārunī uprose, Goddess of wine. Then from the whirlpool sprang Fair Pārijāta, tree of Paradise, delight Of heavenly maidens, with its fragrant blossoms Perfuming the whole world. Th’ Apsarasas, Troop of celestial nymphs, matchless in grace, Perfect in loveliness, were next produced. Then from the sea uprose the cool-rayed moon, Which Mahā-deva seized ; terrific poison Next issued from the waters ; this the snake-gods Claimed as their own. Then, seated on a lotus, Beauty’s bright goddess, peerless Srī, arose Out of the waves ; and with her, robed in white, Came forth Dhanwantari, the gods’ physician.

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High in his hand he bore the cup of nectar—
Life-giving draught—longed for by gods and demons.
Then had the demons forcibly borne off
The cup, and drained the precious beverage,
Had not the mighty Vishnu interposed.
Bewildering them, he gave it to the gods ;
Whereat, incensed, the demon troops assailed
The host of heaven, but they with strength renewed,
Quaffing the draught, struck down their foes, who fell
Headlong through space to lowest depths of hell!"

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There is an elaborate article on the subject in Goldstücker's Dictionary. In after-times, Vishnu's bird Garuda is said to have stolen the Amrita, but it was recovered by Indra.

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ANĀDHRISHTI. A son of Ugrasena and general of the Yādavas.

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ĀNAKA-DUNDUBHI. 'Drums.' A name of Vasu-deva, who was so called because the drums of heaven resounded at his birth.

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ĀNANDA. 'Joy, happiness.' An appellation of Siva, also of Bala-rāma.

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ĀNANDA GIRI. A follower of Sankarāchārya, and a teacher and expositor of his doctrines. He was the author of a Sankara-vijaya, and lived about the tenth century.

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ĀNANDA-LAHARI. 'The wave of joy.' A poem attributed to Sankarāchārya. It is a hymn of praise addressed to Pārvatī, consort of Siva, mixed up with mystical doctrine. It has been translated into French by Troyer as *L'Onde de Beatitude*.

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ANANGA. 'The bodiless.' A name of Kāma, god of love.

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ANANTA. 'The infinite.' A name of the serpent Sesha. The term is also applied to Vishnu and other deities.

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ANARANYA. A descendant of Ikshwāku and king of Ayodhyā. According to the Rāmāyana, many kings submitted to Rāvana without fighting, but when Anaranya was summoned to fight or submit, he preferred to fight. His army was overcome and he was thrown from his chariot. Rāvana triumphed over his prostrate foe, who retorted that he had been beaten by fate, not by Rāvana, and predicted the death of Rāvana at the hands of Rāma, a descendant of Anaranya.

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ANARGHA RĀGHAVA. A drama in seven acts by Murāri Misra, possibly written in the thirteenth or fourteenth century. Rāghava or Rāma is the hero of the piece. "It has no dramatic merit, being deficient in character, action, situation, and interest.

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As a poem it presents occasionally poetic thoughts, but they are very few, and are lost amid pages of flat commonplace, quaint conceit, hyperbolical extravagance, and obscure mythology.”—*Wilson*. It is also called, after its author, Murāri Nāṭaka.

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AN-ĀRYA. ‘Unworthy, vile.’ People who were not Āryans, barbarians of other races and religion.

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ANASŪYĀ. ‘Charity.’ Wife of the *Rishi* Atri. In the Rāmāyaṇa she appears living with her husband in a hermitage in the forest south of Chitra-kūṭa. She was very pious and given to austere devotion, through which she had obtained miraculous powers. When Sītā visited her and her husband, she was very attentive and kind, and gave Sītā an ointment which was to keep her beautiful for ever. She was mother of the irascible sage Durvāsas. A friend of Sakuṇtalā.

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ANDHAKA. 1. A demon, son of Kasyapa and Diti, with a thousand arms and heads, two thousand eyes and feet, and called Andhaka because he walked like a blind man, although he saw very well. He was slain by Śiva when he attempted to carry off the Pārijāta tree from Swarga. From this feat Śiva obtained the appellation Andhaka-ripu, ‘foe of Andhaka.’ 2. A grandson of Kroshṭri and son of Yudhājit, of the Yādava race, who, together with his brother Vrishṇi, is the ancestor of the celebrated family of Andhaka-Vrishṇis. 3. The name was borne by many others of less note.

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ANDHRA, ĀNDHRA. Name of a country and people in the south of India, the country of Telingana. It was the seat of a powerful dynasty, and the people were known to Pliny as *gens Andaræ*.

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ANDHRA-BHRITYA. A dynasty of kings that reigned in Magadha somewhere about the beginning of the Christian era. The name seems to indicate that its founder was a native of Andhra, now Telingana.

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ANGA. 1. The country of Bengal proper about Bhāgalpur. Its capital was Champā, or Champā-purī. (*See* Anu.) 2. A supplement to the Vedas. *See* Vedāṅga.

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ANGADA. 1. Son of Lakshmaṇa and king of Aṅgadi, capital of a country near the Himālaya. 2. Son of Gada (brother of Krishna) by Vṛihatī. 3. Son of Bālī, the monkey king of Kishkindhyā. He was protected by Rāma and fought on his side against Rāvaṇa.

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ANGIRAS. A Rishi to whom many hymns of the *Rig-veda* are attributed. He was one of the seven Maharshis or great Rishis, and also one of the ten Prajāpatis or progenitors of mankind. In later times Angiras was one of the inspired lawgivers, and also a writer on astronomy. As an astronomical personification he is Brihaspati, the regent of the planet Jupiter, or the planet itself. He was also called "the priest of the gods," and "the lord of sacrifice." There is much ambiguity about the name. It comes from the same root as *agni*, 'fire,' and resembles that word in sound. This may be the reason why the name Angiras is used as an epithet or synonyme of Agni. The name is also employed as an epithet for the father of Agni, and it is found more especially connected with the hymns addressed to Agni, Indra, and the luminous deities. According to one statement, Angiras was the son of Uru by Āgneyī, the daughter of Agni, although, as above stated, the name is sometimes given to the father of Agni. Another account represents that he was born from the mouth of Brahmā. His wives were Smriti, 'memory,' daughter of Daksha; Sraddhā, 'faith,' daughter of Kardama; and Swadhā 'oblation,' and Satī, 'truth,' two other daughters of Daksha. His daughters were the Richas or Vaidik hymns, and his sons were the Manes called Havishmats. But he had other sons and daughters, and among the former were Utathya, Brihaspati, and Mārkandeya. According to the Bhāgavata Purāna "he begot sons possessing Brahmanical glory on the wife of Rathī-tara, a Kshatriya who was childless, and these persons were afterwards called descendants of Angiras."

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ANGIRASAS, ANGIRASES. Descendants of Angiras. "They share in the nature of the legends attributed to Angiras. Angiras being the father of Agni, they are considered as descendants of Agni himself, who is also called the first of the Angirasas. Like Angiras, they occur in hymns addressed to the luminous deities, and, at a later period, they become for the most part personifications of light, of luminous bodies, of divisions of time, of celestial phenomena, and fires adapted to peculiar occasions, as the full and change of the moon, or to particular rites, as the Aswa-medha, Rāja-sūya, &c."—*Goldstücker*. In the Satapatha Brāhmana they and the Ādityas are said to have descended from Prajāpati, and that "they strove together for the priority in ascending to heaven."

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Some descendants of Angiras by the Kshatriya wife of a childless king are mentioned in the Purāṇas as two tribes of Angirasas who were Brāhmans as well as Kshatriyas.

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The hymns of the Atharva-veda are called Angirasas, and the descendants of Angiras were specially charged with the protection of sacrifices performed in accordance with the Atharva-veda. From this cause, or from their being associated with the descendants of Atharvan, they were called distinctively Atharvāngirasas.

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ĀNGIRASAS. A class of Pitṛis (q.v.).

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ANILA. ‘The wind.’ See Vāyu.

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ANILAS. A gaṇa or class of deities, forty-nine in number, connected with Anila, the wind.

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ANIMISHA. ‘Who does not wink.’ A general epithet of all gods.

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ANIRUDDHA. ‘Uncontrolled.’ Son of Pradyumna and grandson of Krishna. He married his cousin, Su-bhadrā. A Daitya princess named Ushā, daughter of Bāṇa, fell in love with him, and had him brought by magic influence to her apartments in her father’s city of Soṇita-pura. Bāṇa sent some guards to seize him, but the valiant youth, taking an iron club, slew his assailants. Bāṇa then brought his magic powers to bear and secured him. On discovering whither Aniruddha had been carried, Krishna, Bala-rāma, and Pradyumna went to rescue him. A great battle was fought; Bāṇa was aided by Śiva and by Skanda, god of war, the former of whom was overcome by Krishna, and the latter was wounded by Garuḍa and Pradyumna. Bāṇa was defeated, but his life was spared at the intercession of Śiva, and Aniruddha was carried home to Dwārakā with Ushā as his wife. He is also called Jhashāṅka and Ushā-pati. He had a son named Vajra.

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ANJANA. 1. The elephant of the west or south-west quarter. 2. A serpent with many heads descended from Kadru.

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ANJANĀ. Mother of Hanumat by Vāyu, god of the wind.

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ANNA-PŪRṆA. ‘Full of food.’ A form of Durgā, worshipped for her power of giving food Cf. the Roman Anna Perenna.

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ANSUMAT, ANSUMĀN. Son of Asamanjas and grandson of Sagara. He brought back to earth the horse which had been carried off from Sagara’s Aswa-medha sacrifice, and he discovered the remains of that king’s sixty thousand sons, who had been killed by the fire of the wrath of Kapila.

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ANTAKA. ‘The ender.’ A name of Yama, judge of the dead.

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ANTARĪKSHA. The atmosphere or firmament between heaven and earth, the sphere of the Gandharvas, Apsarases, and Yakshas.

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ANTARVEDĪ. The Doāb or country between the Ganges and the Jumna.

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ANU. Son of King Yayāti by his wife Sarmishṭhā, a Daitya princess. He refused to exchange his youthful vigour for the curse of decrepitude passed upon his father, and in consequence his father cursed him that his posterity should not possess dominion. Notwithstanding this, he had a long series of descendants, and among them were Anga, Banga, Kalinga, &c., who gave their names to the countries they dwelt in.

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ANUKRAMANI, ANUKRAMANIKĀ. An index or table of contents, particularly of a Veda. The Anukramanis of the Vedas follow the order of each Sanhitā, and assign a poet, a metre, and a deity to each hymn or prayer. There are several extant.

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ANUMATI. The moon on its fifteenth day, when just short of its full. In this stage it is personified and worshipped as a goddess.

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ANUSARA. A Rākshasa or other demon.

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ANUVINDA. A king of Ujjayinī. See Vinda.

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APARĀNTA. ‘On the western border.’ A country which is named in the Vishnu Purāna in association with countries in the north; and the Vāyu Purāna reads the name as Aparita, which Wilson says is a northern nation. The Hari-vansa, however, mentions it as “a country conquered by Parasu-rāma from the ocean,” and upon this the translator Langlois observes: “Tradition records that Parasu-rāma besought Varuna, god of the sea, to grant him a land which he might bestow upon the Brāhmans in expiation of the blood of the Kshatriyas. Varuna withdrew his waves from the heights of Gokarna (near Mangalore) down to Cape Comorin” (As. Researches, v. 1). This agrees with the traditions concerning Parasu-rāma and Malabar, but it is not at all clear how a gift of territory to Brāhmans could expiate the slaughter of the Kshatriyas by a Brāhman and in behalf of Brāhmans.

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APARNĀ. According to the Hari-vansa, the eldest daughter of Himavat and Menā. She and her two sisters, Eka-parnā and Eka-pātalā, gave themselves up to austerity and practised extraordinary abstinence; but while her sisters lived, as their names denote, upon one leaf or on one pātalā (*Bignonia*) respectively, Aparnā managed to subsist upon nothing, and even lived without a leaf (*a-parnā*). This so distressed her mother that she cried out in deprecation, ‘U-mā,’ ‘Oh, don’t.’ Aparnā thus became the beautiful Umā, the wife of Siva.

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ĀPASTAMBA. An ancient writer on ritual and law, author of Sūtras connected with the Black Yajur-veda and of a Dharma-sāstra. He is often quoted in law-books. Two recensions of the Taittirīya Sanhitā are ascribed to him or his school. The Sūtras have been translated by Bühler, and are being reprinted in the *Sacred Books of the East* by Max Müller.

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ĀPAVA. ‘Who sports in the waters.’ A name of the same import as Nārāyana, and having a similar though not an identical application. According to the Brahma Purāna and the Hari-vansa, Āpava performed the office of the creator Brahmā, and divided himself into two parts, male and female, the former begetting offspring upon the latter. The result was the production of *Vishnu*, who created Virāj, who brought the first man into the world. According to the Mahā-bhārata, Āpava is a name of the Prajāpati Vasistha. The name of Āpava is of late introduction and has been vaguely used. Wilson says: “According to the commentator, the first stage was the creation of Āpava or Vasistha or Virāj by *Vishnu*, through the agency of Brahmā, and the next was that of the creation of Manu by Virāj.”

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APSARAS. The Apsarases are the celebrated nymphs of Indra’s heaven. The name, which signifies ‘moving in the water,’ has some analogy to that of Aphrodite. They are not prominent in the Vedas, but Urvasī and a few others are mentioned. In Manu they are said to be the creations of the seven Manus. In the epic poems they become prominent, and the Rāmāyana and the Purānas attribute their origin to the churning of the ocean. (*See Amrita.*) It is said that when they came forth from the waters neither the gods nor the Asuras would have them for wives, so they became common to all. They have the appellations of Surānganās, ‘wives of the gods,’ and Sumad-ātmajās, ‘daughters of pleasure.’

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“Then from the agitated deep up sprung
The legion of Apsarases, so named

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That to the watery element they owed
Their being. Myriads were they born, and all
In vesture heavenly clad, and heavenly gems :
Yet more divine their native semblance, rich
With all the gifts of grace, of youth and beauty.
A train innumerous followed ; yet thus fair,
Nor god nor demon sought their wedded love :
Thus Rāghava! they still remain—their charms
The common treasure of the host of heaven.”
—(*Rāmāyaṇa*) WILSON.

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In the Purāṇas various gaṇās or classes of them are mentioned with distinctive names. The Vāyu Purāṇa enumerates fourteen, the Hari-vansa seven classes. They are again distinguished as being *daivika*, ‘divine,’ or *laukika*, ‘worldly.’ The former are said to be ten in number and the latter thirty-four, and these are the heavenly charmers who fascinated heroes, as Urvaśī, and allured austere sages from their devotions and penances, as Menakā and Rambhā. The Kāsī-khaṇḍa says “there are thirty-five millions of them, but only one thousand and sixty are the principal.” The Apsarases, then, are fairylike beings, beautiful and voluptuous. They are the wives or the mistresses of the Gandharvas, and are not prudish in the dispensation of their favours. Their amours on earth have been numerous, and they are the rewards in Indra’s paradise held out to heroes who fall in battle. They have the power of changing their forms; they are fond of dice, and give luck to whom they favour. In the Atharva-veda they are not so amiable; they are supposed to produce madness (love’s madness?), and so there are charms and incantations for use against them. There is a long and exhaustive article on the Apsarases in Goldstücker’s *Dictionary*, from which much of the above has been adapted. As regards their origin he makes the following speculative observations:—“Originally these divinities seem to have been personifications of the vapours which are attracted by the sun and form into mist or clouds; their character may be thus interpreted in the few hymns of the Rig-veda where mention is made of them. At a subsequent period . . . (their attributes expanding with those of their associates the Gandharvas), they became divinities which represent phenomena or objects both of a physical and ethical kind closely associated with that life” (the elementary life of heaven).

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ĀRANYAKA. ‘Belonging to the forest.’ Certain religious and philosophical writings which expound the mystical sense of the ceremonies, discuss the nature of God, &c. They are attached to the Brāhmanas, and intended for study in the forest by Brāhmans who have retired from the distractions of the world. There are four of them extant: 1. Brihad; 2. Taittirīya; 3. Aitareya; and 4. Kaushītaki Āranyaka. The Āranyakas are closely connected with the Upanishads, and the names are occasionally used interchangeably: thus the Brihad is called indifferently Brihad Āranyaka or Brihad Āranyaka Upanishad; it is attached to the Satapatha Brāhmana. The Aitareya Upanishad is a part of the Aitareya Brāhmana, and the Kaushītaki Āranyaka consists of three chapters, of which the third is the Kaushītaki Upanishad. “Traces of modern ideas (says Max Müller) are not wanting in the Āranyakas, and the very fact that they are destined for a class of men who had retired from the world in order to give themselves up to the contemplation of the highest problems, shows an advanced and already declining and decaying society, not unlike the monastic age of the Christian world.” “In one sense the Āranyakas are old, for they reflect the very dawn of thought; in another they are modern, for they speak of that dawn with all the experience of a past day. There are passages in these works unequalled in any language for grandeur, boldness, and simplicity. These passages are the relics of a better age. But the generation which became the chronicler of those Titanic wars of thought was a small race; they were dwarfs, measuring the footsteps of departed giants.”

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ARANYĀNI. In the Rig-veda, the goddess of woods and forests.

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ARBUDA. Mount Ābu. Name of the people living in the vicinity of that mountain.

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ARBUDA. ‘A serpent.’ Name of an Asura slain by Indra.

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ARDHA-NĀRĪ. ‘Half-woman.’ A form in which Siva is represented as half-male and half-female, typifying the male and female energies. There are several stories accounting for this form. It is called also Ardhanārīsa and Parāngada.

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ARISHTA. A Daitya, and son of Bali, who attacked Krishna in the form of a savage bull, and was slain by him.

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ARJUNA. ‘White.’ The name of the third Pāndu prince. All the five brothers were of divine paternity, and Arjuna’s father was Indra, hence he is called Aindri. A brave warrior, high-minded, generous, upright, and handsome, the most prominent and the most amiable and interesting of the five brothers. He was taught the use of arms by Drona, and was his favourite pupil. By his skill in arms he won Draupadi at her Swayamvara. For an involuntary transgression he imposed upon himself twelve years' exile from his family, and during that time he visited Parasu-rāma, who gave him instruction in the use of arms. He at this period formed a connection with Ulūpī, a Nāga princess, and by her had a son named Irāvat. He also married Chitrāngadā, the daughter of the king of Manipura, by whom he had a son named Babhru-vāhana. He visited Krishna at Dwārakā, and there he married Su-bhadrā, the sister of Krishna. (See Su-bhadrā.) By her he had a son named Abhimanyu. Afterwards he obtained the bow Gāndīva from the god Agni, with which to fight against Indra, and he assisted Agni in burning the Khāndava forest. When Yudhi-shthira lost the kingdom by gambling, and the five brothers went into exile for thirteen years, Arjuna proceeded on a pilgrimage to the Himālayas to propitiate the gods, and to obtain from them celestial weapons for use in the contemplated war against the Kauravas. There he fought with Siva, who appeared in the guise of a Kirāta or mountaineer;

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but Arjuna, having found out the true character of his adversary, worshipped him, and Siva gave him the pāsupata, one of his most powerful weapons. Indra, Varuna, Yama, and Kuvera came to him, and also presented him with their own peculiar weapons. Indra, his father, carried him in his car to his heaven and to his capital Amarāvatī, where Arjuna spent some years in the practice of arms. Indra sent him against the Daityas of the sea, whom he vanquished, and then returned victorious to Indra, who “presented him with a chain of gold and a diadem, and with a war-shell which sounded like thunder.” In the thirteenth year of exile he entered the service of Rāja Virāta, disguised as a eunuch, and acted as music and dancing master, but in the end he took a leading part in defeating the king's enemies, the king of Trigarta and the Kaurava princes, many of whose leading warriors he vanquished in single combat. Preparations for the great struggle with the Kauravas now began. Arjuna obtained the personal assistance of Krishna, who acted as his charioteer, and, before the great battle began, related to him the Bhagavad-gītā. On the tenth day of the battle he mortally wounded Bhīshma; on the twelfth he defeated Susarman and his four brothers; on the fourteenth he killed Jayadratha; on the seventeenth, he was so stung by some reproaches of his brother, Yudhi-shthira, that he would have killed him had not Krishna interposed.

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On the same day he fought with Karna, who had made a vow to slay him. He was near being vanquished when an accident to Karna’s chariot gave Arjuna the opportunity of killing him. After the defeat of the Kauravas, Aswatthāman, son of Drona, and two others, who were the sole survivors, made a night attack on the camp of the Pandavas, and murdered their children. Arjuna pursued Aswatthāman, and made him give up the precious jewel which he wore upon his head as an amulet. When the horse intended for Yudhi-shthira’s Aswa-medha sacrifice was let loose, Arjuna, with his army, followed it through many cities and countries, and fought with many Rājas. He entered the country of Trigarta, and had to fight his way through. He fought also against Vajradatta, who had a famous elephant, and against the Saindhavas. At the city of Manipura he fought with his own son, Babhrū-vāhana, and was killed; but he was restored to life by a Nāga charm supplied by his wife Ulūpī. Afterwards he penetrated into the Dakshina or south country, and fought with the Nishādas and Drāvidians: then went westwards to Gujarāt, and finally conducted the horse back to Hastināpura, where the great sacrifice was performed. He was subsequently called to Dwārakā by Krishna amid the internecine struggles of the Yādavas, and there he performed the funeral ceremonies of Vasudeva and of Krishna. Soon after this he retired from the world to the Himālayas.

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