The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v1.c19.s2.26

v1.c19.s2.26

The nature of the Gandharva cannot well be expressly defined: there can be no doubt whatever that he is in his origin a creature of the heaven: the light side of his nature is obvious and persistent despite other traits. The connexion with water can be traced to various sources: either the waters of the sky are the basis on which his activity has been transferred to the waters of earth, or his association with the Apsarases has led to his connexion with the waters, or as is quite possible the obscuration of his original nature has rendered it possible to associate him with elements not originally his own. It is more difficult to see how the demons of the Atharvaveda who are no better than Piçācas—indeed in a Buddhist text¹ Piçācas replace Gandharvas in conjunction with the Apsarases—can be developed from the Gandharva of the Rigveda. It is most probable that this is simply a case where demons have been allowed to obtain a name which is not theirs by right, the point of contact being found in the connexion of the Gandharva with marriage, which leads to the doubtless secondary connexion of the Gandharva with the embryo. The Gandharva, therefore, is not in the secondary period of the Vedic religion any longer a single concept: he is compounded of different and in essence disparate ideas.