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" They had forty-five sons, who, with the original son of Brahma and his three descendants, constitute the forty-nine fires." See Agni. ABHIMANYU. Son of Arjuna by his wife Su-bhadra, and known by the metronymic Saubhadra. He killed Lakshmawa, the son of Dur-yodhana, on the second day of the great battle of the Maha-bharata, but on the thirteenth day he himself fell fighting heroically against fearful odds. He was very hand- some. His wife was Uttara, daughter of the Raja of Virata. His son, Parikshit, succeeded to the throne of Hastinapura. ABHIRA, ABHiRA. A cowherd ; according to Manu the offspring of a Brahman by a woman of the Ambash^ha or medical tribe. A people located in the north of India along the Indus. There has been a good deal of misapprehension respecting this people. Hindu writers have described them as living in the north and in the west, the quarter varying accord- ing to the locality of the writer, and translators have mixed 2 ABHIRA^rA-^fAXT—ADHyAT^fA RAA/AYANA. them up witli a neighbouring people, the *Siidras, sometimes called <Siiras, with whom they are generally associated, and have called them Siirabhiras. Tlieir modern representatives are the Ahirs, and perhaps there is something more than identity of locality in their association with the /Siidras. It has been suggested tliat the country or city of the Abhiras is the Ophir of the Bible. ABHIRAMA-MAiVI. A drama in seven acts on tlie history of Rama, written by Sundara Misra in 1599 a.d. ''The com- position possesses little dramatic interest, although it has some literarv merit. " — JFilson. ACHARA. 'Rule, custom, usage.' The rules of practice of castes, orders, or religion. There are many books of rules whicli have this word for the first member of their titles, as Achdra- chandriJcd, ' moonlight of customs,' on the customs of the >Sudras ; Aclidrddarsa, 'looking-glass of customs;' Achdm-dij)a, 'lamp of customs,' &c., &c. ACHARYA. A spiritual teacher or guide. A title of Dro/m, the teacher of the Pa?ic?avas. ACHYUTA ' Unfallen ; ' a name of Vish?m or Knsh?m. It has been variously interpreted as signifying " he who does not perish with created things," in the Maha-bharata as "he who is not distinct from final emancipation," and in the Skanda Purawa as " he who never declines (or varies) from his proj)er nature." ADBHUTA-BRAHMAM. 'The Brahma?2a of miracles.' A Brahmawa of the Siima-veda which treats of auguries and marvels. It has been published by "Weber. ADIIARMA. Unrigliteousness, vice ; personified as a sou of Brahma, and called "the destroyer of all beings." ADHIRATIIA. A charioteer. The foster-father of Karwa , according to some he was king of Anga, and according to others the charioteer of King Dh^'itarash/ra ; perhaps he was both. ADHWARYU. A priest whose business it is to recite the prayers of the Yajur-veda. ADHYATMAN. The supreme sjiirit, tlie soul of the uni- verse. A]:)HYATMA RA^MAYA.YA. A very popular work, whicli is considered to be a part of the Brahmawrfa Puray/a. It has been printed in India. See Ramayana. ADI-PURANA—ADITYA. 3 ADI-PURAiVA. 'The first Pura?ia,' a title generally con- ceded to the Brahma Piira/za. ADITI. 'Free, unbounded.' Infinity; the boundless heaven as compared with the finite earth ; or, according to M. Mliller, "the visible infinite, visible by the naked eye; the endless expanse beyond the earth, beyond the clouds, beyond the sky.'' In the i^ig-veda she is frequently implored " for blessings on children and cattle, for protection and for forgiveness. " Aditi is called Deva-matri, ' mother of the gods,' and is represented as being the mother of Daksha and the daughter of Daksha. On this statement Yaska remarks in the Nirukta : — " Hovy' can this be possible ? They may have had the same origin ; or, according to the nature of the gods, they may have been born from each other, have derived their substance from one another." "Eight sons were born from the body of Aditi ; she approached the gods with seven but cast away the eighth, Martta726/a (the sun). " These seven were the Adityas. In the Yajur-veda Aditi is addressed as " Supj^orter of the sky, sustainer of the earth, sovereign of this world, wife of Vish^iu ; " but in the Maha- bharata and Ramaya?ia, as well as in the Pura?2as, Vish^iu is called the son of Aditi. In the Vishwu Purawa she is said to be the daughter of Daksha and wife of Kasyapa, by whom she was mother of Yish7iu, in his dwarf incarnation (wherefore he is sometimes called Aditya), and also of Indra, and she is called "the mother of the gods" and "the mother of the world.'' Indra acknowledged her as mother, and Yishwu, after receiving the adoration of Aditi, addressed her in these words : " Mother, goddess, do thou show favour unto me and grant me thy bless- ing." According to the Matsya Pura?ia a pair of ear-rings was produced at the churning of the ocean, which Indra gave to Aditi, and several of the Pura/ias tell a story of these ear-rings being stolen and carried off to the city of Prag-jyotisha by the Asura king Naraka, from whence they were brought back and restored to her by Krish/za. Devaki, the mother of K?ish72a, is represented as being a ncAv birth or manifestation of Aditi. See Max MiiUer's Fdg Veda, i. 230; Muir's I'exts, iv. 11, v. 35. ADITYA. In the early Yedic times the Adityas were six, or more frequently seven, celestial deities, of whom Yaru^ia was chief, consequently he was the Aditya. They were sons of Aditi, who had eight sons, but she approached the gods with 4 ADITYA—AGASTYA. seven, liaving cast away the eighth, ^Martta^zc/a (the sun). In after-times the number was increased to twelve, as representing the sun in the twelve months of the year. Aditya is one of the names of the sun. Dr. Muir quotes the following from Professor Koth : — " There (in the highest heaven) dwell and reign those gods who bear in common the name of Adityas. We must, however, if we would discover their earliest character, abandon the conceptions which in a later age, and even in that of the heroic poems, were entertained regarding these deities. According to this conception they were twelve sun-gods, bearing evident reference to the twelve months. But for the most ancient period we must hold fast the primary signification of their name. They are the inviolable, imperishable, eternal beings. Aditi, eternity, or the eternal, is the element which sustains or is sustained by them. . . . The eternal and inviol- able element in wliich the Adityas dwell, and which forms their essence, is the celestial light. The Adityas, the gods of this light, do not therefore by any means coincide with any of the forms in which light is manifested in the universe. They are neither sun, nor moon, nor stars, nor dawn, but the eternal sustainers of this luminous life, which exists, as it were, behind all these phenomena." The names of the six Adityas are Mitra, Aryaman, Bhaga, Varu7m, Daksha, and Ansa. Daksha is frequently excluded, and Indra, Savitri (the sun), and Dhatri are added. Those of tlie twelve Adityas are variously given, but many of them are names of the sun. AJJITYA PURAATA. One of the eighteen Upa-pur5as. AG A8TI, AG A8TYA. A i^ishi, the reputed author of several hymns in tlie itig-veda, and a very celebrated personage in Hindu story. He and Yasish^ia are said in the it/g-veda to be the offspring of Mitra and Varuiia, whose seed fell from them at the sight of Urva.si ; and the commentator Saya?ia adds that Agastya was born in a water-jar as "a fish of great lustre," wlicnce he was called KalasZ-suta, Kumbha- sambhava, and Gha/odbhava. From his parentage he was called ]\raitra-varu?ii and Aurvaslya ; and as he was very small when he was born, not more than a span in length, he was called Mfma. Though he is thus associated in his birth with Vasish^ha, he is evidently later in date, and he is not one of the Prajapatis. His name. AGASTYA, 5 Agastya, is derived by a forced etymology from a fable which represents him as having commanded the Vindhya mountains to prostrate themselves before him, through which they lost their primeval altitude; or rather, perhaps, the fable has been invented to account for his name.