Vedic Mythology c5.s8.t2.20

c5.s8.t2.20

§ 48. Gandharvas. — With the Apsaras or Apsarases are associated even in the RV., as has been shown, a male being or beings named Gandharva. Of the twenty occurrences of the word in the RV. only three are in the plural, while of the thirty-two occurrences in the AV. half are in the plural. The name is found a few times in the Avesta as Gandarewa¹ (a dragon-like monster) and only in the singular. This points to the Gandharvas as a class having been gradually developed from a single being. In the later Saṃhitās they are spoken of as forming a distinct class by the side of Gods, Fathers and Asuras (AV. 11, 5²; TS. 7, 8, 25²). Their number is fixed as 27 in some Yajus texts and is even said to be 6333 in the AV. (11, 5²)². The fact that the conception goes back to the Indo-Iranian period, accounts to some extent for its obscurity. The evidence of the RV. is, moreover, so scanty and vague that no certain result as to its definite original character is attainable. It is worthy of note that the name is found only once in books II to VII, while in book VIII it occurs twice as that of a being hostile to Indra. The word seems sometimes to be only an appellative³. It is occasionally accompanied by the epithet *viśvāvasu*, 'possessing all goods' (9, 86³⁶; 10, 139⁴· ⁵; AV. 2, 2⁴; VS. 2, 3). This epithet is in one hymn used alone to designate Gandharva (10, 85²¹· ²² cp. ⁴⁰· ⁴¹); and in the later Saṃhitās, the Brāhmaṇas, and the post-Vedic literature, it frequently occurs as the name of an individual Gandharva.