Epic Mythology c7.1

Language: English

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**§ 93. Gandharvas.** — Under Kubera it has been shown that he is lord of Gandharvas and that Gandharvas include Naras and Kiṃnaras. The name is derived from gandha, vapor. The poets take this in the sense of exhalation, or scent; Gandharvas and Apsarasas share the "scent" of the earth-mother in AV. 12, 1, 23. It has been shown also that AV. 8, 10, 27 is copied in the epic and again in the Hariv., and in the first of these passages the epic writer says that Gandharvas and Apsarasas got, in the milking of earth, puṇyagandha as their milk (7, 69, 25). It is probably from association with this idea of being possessed of pure odor that they are derived from the Creator's nose (H 11787), though Kaśyapa is also said to be their sire (ib. 11850). Their mothers are daughters of Dakṣa, Muni, Prādhā, Kapilā, and Ariṣṭā (1, 65, 42 f., H 234 and 11553). They have several chiefs or kings. Thus Viśvāvasu is a Gandharvarāja (1, 8, 6), both ascetic and skilled in the dance and instrumental music and song; he has a Tīrtha on the Sarasvatī (9, 37, 10 f.). The Gītā authoritatively makes Citraratha foremost of the Gandharvas (6, 34, 26) but refers to Nārada as a devarṣi (not a Gandharva as below). All Gandharvas have sweet voices, valguvādinaḥ, and are radiant as the sun, sūryavarcasaḥ; they sing on Meru, Mandara, Gandhamādana, or other mountains (1, 17, 6; 5, 109, 9; 7, 60, 7), though they are heard in the sky and frequent the woods (below).

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The lists of the Gandharvas do not give prominence to their various "kings"; probably out of the countless hosts of these beings (in Gandhamādana alone there are three millions of fighting Gandharvas under the kings Hāhā-Hūhū, RB 6, 82, 50), only kings are mentioned, though many of the names are of unimportant members apparently, some of them being of uncertain form (due to varied readings of the same list and metrical change). Sūryavarcas (above) is both epithet of all and name of one (in AV., as son of Citraratha). Deva-Gandharvas and Gandharvas are not as spirits differentiated; but as gandharvas are also human minstrels (1, 219, 7 f.; 7, 82, 28), the distinction may be merely between the minstrels of gods and of men. Gāndharva is music (2, 5, 9, yuddhagāndharvam "music of battle"; cf. R 1, 4, 10; R 6, 52, 24), and a gāndharvaśāstram, studied by kings, is known (13, 104, 149; cf. Gāndharva-Veda, 3, 91, 15; the word for musician is either gandharva or gāndharva, 2, 5, 1; 7, 57, 4; R 7, 94, 6). This is already indicated in the earlier distinction between "divine" and "human" Gandharvas (TUp. 2, 8, 1). Though lists of Gandharvas are obviously not meant to be complete, several formal lists are found (1, 65, 42 f.; ib. 123, 55 f.; 2, 10, 25; H 14156; R 2, 91, 16; ib. 45; R 4, 22, 27 f.;

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R 4, 41, 43), which, combined with occasional references (below), furnish the following catalogue (those found only in H are so marked): (Aṅgāraparṇa), Atibāhu, Anagha, Arkaparṇa, Alambuṣa, Ugrasena, Umbara (H, or Ḍ-), Ūrṇāyu, Ṛtvan (or Satvan), Karāla, Kali, Kārṣṇi, Gopa, Gopati, Golabha, Gomāyu (H), Grāmaṇī, Citrāṅgada, Citraratha, Citraśiras (H), Citrasena, Ḍumbara, Tamburu or Tum-, Tṛṇapa, Dhṛtarāṣṭra, Nandi, Nārada, Parjanya, Parvata, Pūrṇa, Pūrṇāyu, Prayuta, Babhru, Barhi, Bahuguṇa, Bṛhaka, Bṛhatvan, Brahmacārin, Bharaṇya (?), Bhānu, Bhīma, Bhīmasena, Bhumanyu (Su-), Mahāśruti (H), Yugapa, Ratiguṇa (Rā-), Varuṇa, Viśvāvasu, Śaru, Śāliśiras, Śikṣa (or Śighru or Sindhu), Śuka (or Śubhra or Sthāna), Śailūṣa, Satyavāc, Satvan (or Ṛtvan), Siddha, Sucandra, Sutanu, Suparṇa, Sumanyu (Bhu-), Suvarṇa, Sūryavarcas, Somavarcas (H), Haṁsa (H), Hahā (Hāhā), Huhū (Hūhū). Of these, Citraratha (originally called Aṅgāraparṇa), Viśvāvasu, and Sūryavarcas are the most important in legend and prestige as Gandharvas, though Nārada becomes more important as the later epic treats him as a god-seer. Probably Viśvaruci, the lord in the earth-milking, should be added (7, 69, 25); cf. Suruci, in H 388. Somavarcas is both Gandharva (H 14157) and a member of the Viśve Devas (13, 91, 33); Haṁsa is also a Dānava (H 9141) and a son of Ariṣṭā (1, 67, 83), who is mother of Gandharvas (H 234). Gopati is doubtless Gopa;

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he also is a Dānava (H ib.), a fact not unimportant, since the Gandharvas warred with gods (compare Asurā as name of an Apsaras). Alambuṣa and Ugrasena in 4, 56, 12 are probably Gandharvas (so Nīl.). Ūrṇāyu is the husband of Menakā and perhaps father of Somadā (cf. 5, 117, 16 and below). There are several Gandharvīs (below); the chief of these is the abstract Gandharvī or ancestress of all horses, which marks the centaur character of these spirits: "Rohiṇī produced cows; and Gandharvī, horses" (vājinaḥ, 1, 66, 68; R 3, 14, 28). Under Kubera it was shown that his steeds were Gandharvas or Guhyakas of half bird-like half horse-like appearance. As the number of Gandharvas in Vedic times was reckoned as twenty-seven, so a verse in the epic, 2, 4, 37, “Twenty-seven sit about him, Tumburu and Citrasena with his ministers, Gandharvas and Apsarasas”, seems to reflect this, but as if the author spoke with conscious uncertainty as to the real explanation of the twenty-seven; as how could he help doing when the epic mind held the doctrine that Gandharvas were everywhere and reckoned by millions? (S keeps the number twenty-seven; C omits it). Tumburu is here the special friend of the king and leads the Gandharvas in music and singing, which is performed by Gandharvas and Kiṃnaras, “skilled in song and in instrumental music, and in keeping time” (sāmyatālaviśāradāḥ, pramāṇe ’tha laye sthāne, etc., ib. 38 f.).

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At Kubera’s court the “lords of the Gandharvas” (2, 10, 25 f.) are Viśvāvasu, Hahā-Huhū, Tumburu, Parvata, Śailūṣa, Citrasena (gītajña) and Citraratha. Such groups of kings are often found. In 15, 29, 9, for example, Viśvāvasu, Tumburu, and Citrasena come with Nārada, Parvata, and Devala (the last three also in 15, 20, 1) to visit the exiled king; but here the later view has prevailed which regards them only as Munis. They are not spoken of as Gandharvas, and in the later epic Nārada and Parvata appear almost entirely as Munis rather than as Gandharvas, as they do often in the early epic (Devala is never a Gandharva). The chief Gandharvas are Viśvāvasu, Nārada, and Parvata in 1, 187, 7 (cf. 5, 11, 15, where the first two are mentioned as heading the music-makers at Nahuṣa’s court). Tumburu and Citrasena are mentioned as being in Indra’s court (2, 7, 14; 3, 45, 2), and Citraratha is called “Indra’s follower”, Vāsavānuga (2, 52, 23). The grove he made, called Caitraratha, is Indra’s special pleasaunce (R 6, 128, 28; but see below). The Gandharvas as Deva-Gandharvas playing at the court of the Northern king seem to be mythologically connected with the fact that the Buddhistic Gandharvas are chiefly at the court of Dhṛtarāṣṭra (the Northern Mahārāja). Bhāri of H 7220 may be the Barhi above.