Donald Alexander Mackenzie

Indian Myth and Legend


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took Gayatri, the milkmaid, as a second wife, because his chief wife, Saraswati, despite her wisdom, arrived late for a certain important ceremony, at which the spouse of the god was required.

109

Unfaithful wives were transformed into jackals after death.

110

Lokapala-Sabhakhyana section of Sabha Parva.

111

Sons of the goddess Aditi. They are attendants of Varuna, their chief, as the Maruts are attendants of Indra.

112

Adi Parva section of Mahabharata, Roy's trans., p. 635.

113

The Tribes and Castes of Bengal. H. H. Risley (1892), vol. i, lxv, et seq.

114

Muir's Original Sanskrit Texts, v, 15.

115

Professor E. Vernon Arnold's The Rigveda, p. 54.

116

In the combat between Thor and the giant Hrungner, the thunder-hammer similarly cleaves a mass of flint hurled by the enemy.—Teutonic Myth and Legend.

117

Mahabharata, Vana Parva section, pp. 679-80, Roy's trans.

118

“Overwhelmed by misfortune” (Roy).

119

Heaven, Earth, and the Underworld.

120

Mahabharata.

121

Asuras are sometimes called Rakshasas also.

122

Pron. pe-shatch'as.

123

Bloomfield's Atharvaveda iv, 36 (Sacred Books of the East, vol. xlii).

124

Mahabharata, Roy's trans. (Sabha Parva, p. 32).

125

Vana Parva section of Mahabharata.

126

Dasyu and Dasa are “applied in many passages of the Rigveda to superhuman enemies”. The colour reference in Dasa is probable, but it is also used in other senses. For a full discussion on conflicting views regarding Dasyu and Dasa see Vedic Index of Names and Subjects. Macdonell and Keith, vol. i, pp. 347-9 and 356-8.

127

Mahabharata, Roy's translation (Adi Parva, section, pp. 495-6).

128

Like an Egyptian Pharaoh, the rajah is here a god among men. His presence was necessary to ensure the success of rain-bringing ceremonies.