Hinduism: A Short History (15 page)

to cover, root

to roll, and root

to grow. Cf. Sāyaṇa on

I, 32.

31.

   R. N. Dandekar, “Vrtrahā Indra,” p. 175.

32.

   Ibid. D. D. Kosambi,

, pp. 70ff., sees in the Indra-Vṛtra myth an expression of the historical conquest of the Indus Valley by the Āryans. Vṛtra is an artificial irrigation dam, destroyed by the Āryans, who thereby took away the basis of agriculture. He quotes

II, 15, 8

= dam). Indra is praised for restoring to its natural course the river Vibali which had flooded land along its banks.

33.

   R. Söhnen in “Rise and Decline of the Indra Religion in the Veda” says: “Assuming the epithet

he absorbed the principle of ‘victory’ and became the national god of the Indo-Āryan invaders who certainly wanted to break the ‘resistance’ of the

or

34.

   V M. Apte,

, vol. I, p. 236.

35.

   Ajoy Lahiri, “Indian and Babylonian Demonology – a comparative study,” in

, vol. IV, 2 (Sept. 1966), pp. 186–197.

36.

   Ibid. Cf., _RV VII, 104, 20ff.

37.

I, 164, 45.

38.

   Ibid., X, 104, 10.

39.

   Ibid., I, 68.

40.

   Thus also Namuci can be called a

VIII, 14, 13; V, 30, 7. The same saving functions are attributed to Dyaus-Prithvi, to Rudra, Sun, Bṛhaspati.

41.

   R. Söhnen believes that the authors of the Brāhmaṇas “were not at all especially fond of Indra, but rather liked to degrade him in favour of the sacrifice and its mysterious and magical powers.” In M. Witzel (ed.),

..., p. 238.

42.

   Ibid., 8ff.

43.

   Ibid.

44.

   Ibid.

45.

   The quote is from

VI, 1, 1, 2.

46.

VIII, 7, Iff.

47.

   B. N. K. Sharma,

, pp. 160ff.

48.

   L. Renou,

, 9.

49.

   V S. Agrawala, “Original Purāṇa Saṃhitā,” in

VIII/2 (1966), pp. 232ff.

50.

   Agrawala considers (R)Lomaharsana to have been the original teacher of the

, who taught it to six pupils. Thus the

was rendered into six

of 4000–6000

with essentially the same contents:

and

. The

scheme is the original form – it is preserved in

and

. From the existing

one may recover the

by eliminating the approximately eighty spurious (interpolated) chapters.

51.

   According to R. C. Hazra,

, there have been two stages in the formation of the

from the third to the fifth century A.D. those matters were added to the “original

which formed the subject-matter of early

(Yajñlavalkya and Manu). From the sixth century onwards new topics were added: gifts, glorification of holy places,

, consecration of images, sacrifices, astrology, and so forth, which form the bulk of Purāṇic lore. The oldest and most original parts of the Purāṇas appear to be their mythology.

52.

   A. D. Pusalker, “Purānic Studies,” in Chinmulgund and Mirashi (eds.),

, pp. 689–773, writes: “In his

, B. C. Mazumdar states that

as a branch of sacred literature did exist in the Vedic days; that it was recognized as the fifth Veda when the Atharva Veda was recognized as the fourth division of the Veda; that for each Vedic school a separate

was organized such as

for

for

, and

for

and that the modern

received only a little additional matter by way of accretion from the fifth century onwards, though the modern

differ radically from the Vedic

Several scholars are of the opinion that the

grew out of the narrations during certain festivals, especially the

. Manu, for example, enjoins listening to the

during the

ceremony. See also “Purāṇas and their Authority in Religious Matters,” in

, August 1952.

53.

, II, 22, 13.

54.

   Ibid., III, 98, 9.

55.

   Ibid., 9, 4ff.

56.

   Ibid., V 10, Iff.

57.

   Ibid., V, 10, 47.

58.

   Ibid., XII, 270, 16ff.

59.

   Ibid., XII, 273, 39ff.

60.

   Ibid., XII, 329, 19ff. (one of the few prose portions of the

a so-called

.

61.

   Ibid., XII, 329, 41.

62.

   Ibid., XIV, 11.

63.

   The

is usually regarded as the oldest: “It has preserved much of its ancient, if not original materials, and as such can be rightly called the earliest of the extant Purāṇic works.” R. C. Hazra, “The Purāṇas,”

, vol. II, p. 253. Also A. D. Pusalkar, “Purānic Studies,” in Chinmulgund and Mirashi (eds.),

, pp. 735ff., “Researches in Vāyu-Purāṇa.”

64.

   “The

is an early work, composed most probably in the last quarter of the third or the first quarter of the fourth century A.D. ... it has preserved the best text, additions and alterations having been made in it much less freely than in the other

... it is a rich store of interesting myths and legends.” R. C. Hazra, ibid., pp. 257ff. Cf. A. D. Pusalker, ibid., p. 735: V R. Ramacandra Diksitar assigns the

to the sixth or seventh century B.C.E.

65.

   The

is “a conglomeration of chapters taken at different times from various sources, especially the

and the

.. either in the last quarter of the third or the first quarter of the fourth century A.D.” R. C. Hazra, ibid., p. 258. Cf. A. D. Pusalkar, ibid., p. 743.

66.

   A. D. Pusalker, “Purānic Studies,”, p. 736. R. C. Hazra,

, p. 258: “the most popular of the extant Purāṇic works, deserves special attention.” Its date of composition is between the sixth and tenth centuries C.E. but possibly it contains sections of an earlier

.

67.

, X, 24, also

II (Viṣṇuparvan) 18ff. But Indra is introduced as a friend of new-born Kṛṣṇa:

X, 3, 50. The rainbow is Indra’s bow: X, 20, 18. Indra and the birth of Maruts: VI, 18. In IX, 7, 17 Indra appears to Rohita in a forest. IX, 6, 13ft: in a battle between gods and demons Indra assumes the form of a bull.

68.

   Ibid., VI, 7, 25.

69.

   Ibid., VI, 7, 40 and 8, 42, where it is said: “Indra having learnt this prayer from Viśvarūpa completely and decidedly conquered the demons in battle and enjoyed the sovereignty of the three worlds.”

70.

   Ibid., VI, 9, 3.

71.

   Ibid., VI, 9, 12–19.

72.

   Ibid., VI, 12, 33ff.

73.

   Ibid., VI, 13, 12ff. Verses 1–11 seem to introduce a new narration.

74.

, Maheśvarakhaṇḍa-Kedarakhaṇḍa, 15ff.

75.

   The

itself claims to be a

, the real

mentioned in the lists of the eighteen

. Cf. A. D. Pusalkar, “Purānic Studies,” p. 738. R. C. Hazra, “The Upapurāṇas,”

, II, p. 281, assigns the

to the eleventh or twelfth century C.E. “Its author was a Smārta Śākta Brāhmaṇa of Bengal who lived for a long time in Benares and then wrote this work for infusing Śākta ideas into the members of different sects.”

76.

, VI, 1, 3–12.

77.

   Ibid., VI, 6.

78.

   According to the

the demon Bali, who had been defeated by Viṣṇu’s Vamana

, becomes Indra in the Savarni Manvantara (VIII, 22, 31ft). In the Purāṇas the Brahmans, however, are far more important than the gods. The great battles between demons and gods, upon which according to Vedic belief the fate and well-being of humankind depended, have hardly any importance with regard to salvation. A significant story is told in

IX, 17, 12ft Raji, a king of the solar dynasty, defeats the

and re-enthrones Indra in heaven. Indra “placed himself in his hands, afraid as he was of Prahrāda and other enemies. At the death of their father the sons of Raji did not return heaven to the great Indra, even though he asked for it, and fully appropriated the sacrificial offerings.”

79.

   Vṛtra is worshiped as a saint by

. Cf. “Vṛtrāsura” in

12 (1937), pp. 384–386.

80.

, Uttarakhanda 7, 34ft

81.

8, 4; 22, 61. According to

VI, 38, Citraketu becomes Vṛtra (also Prahrāda) and Hiraṇyakaśipu takes the role of Indra (VII, 4,12). As an

of Viṣṇu he defeats Prahrāda (III, 5, 55ft). According to the

Indra represents a face of Śiva (II, 23, 9).

82.

   Cf. J. N. Banerjea,

, pp. 45ft

83.

   The

(eighth century C.E.) describes the annual Indra festival of Kariappaumpattinam, the capital of the Cholas, which lasted 28 days. Cf. T. A. G. Gopinath Rao,

II/II, p. 516ff. According to

X, 53,

, the temple of Indra in Vidarbha was visited by Rukminl on the day before her marriage: Indra and Indrāṇī were

of Vidarbha.

84.

   Cf. J. Gonda,

, vol. II, p.

.

85.

   Ibid., vol. I, pp. 340ff.

86.

   The verse in question is

IV, 24, 10: “Who will buy this my Indra for ten cows? When he has slain the

he may give him back to me” (translation by R. T. H. Griffith).

87.

   The names Mitra, Varuna, Indra, Nasatya are mentioned on the Boghaz Köi inscriptions (fourteenth century B.C.E.). Cf.

, vol. II, p. 613.

88.

   Ibid., chap. 57, 42.

89.

   T A. G Rao,

, p. 520.

90.

   An English translation has been published by Ganganatha Jha in three volumes in the Gaekwad Oriental Series.