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avas into the Kamvaka forest, and threatened that he would eat Bhima. A furious combat ensued, in which Bhima and he hurled large trees at each other, but the demon was at length strangled and had all his bones broken by Bhima. KISHKINDHYA. A country in the peninsula, thought to be in the Mysore, which was taken by Rama from the monkey king Ball, and given back to his brother Su-griva, the friend and ally of Rama. The capital city was Kishkindhya. KOHALA. An ancient sage, to whom the invention of the drama is attributed ; also a writer on music. KOSALA. A country on the iSarayu river, having Ayodhya for its capital. The name is variously applied to other countries in the east, and in the south, and in the Yindhya mountains. It probably widened with the dominions of its rulers, and part of Birar is called Dakshina-Kosala, the Southern Kosala. KOrAYl, KOrARl, KOrrAYI. *A naked woman.' A mystical goddess, the tutelary deity of the Daityas, and mother of BaTza the demon. The name is sometimes applied to Durga. KRAMA-PATHA. See Pa^ha. KRATU. One of the Prajapatis, and sometimes reckoned among the great itishis and mind-bom sons of Brahma. {See i?ishi.) The Yish?iu PuraTia says that his wife Samnati brought forth the 60,000 Yalikhilyas, pigmy sages no bigger than a joint of the thumb. KRAUjSTCHA. I . A pass situated somewhere in the Himalayas, said to have been opened by Parasu-rama with his arrows to make a passage from Kailasa to the southwards. The Yayu Purawa attributes the splitting of the mountain to Karttikeya. Indra and Karttikej^a had a dispute about their respective powers, and agreed to decide it by running a race round the mountain. They disagreed as to the result, and therefore appealed to the moimtain, who untruly decided in favour of Indra. "Karttikeya hurled his lance at the mountain and pierced at once it and the demon Mahisha." 2. A confede- rate of the demon Taraka, against whom Karttikeya led the gods and triumphed. 3, One of the seven Dwipas. See Dwij^a. 1 6o KRA WAD— KRISHNA. KEAYYAD. 'A flesh-eater.' A Eaksliasa or any carnivo- rous animal In the Yeda, Agni is in one place called a Kravyad of terrible power. Fire is also a Kravyad in consuming bodies on the funeral pile. See Agni K-K/PA. Son of the sage iS'aradwat, and the adopted son of King ^Santanu. He became one of the privy council at Hastina- pura, and was one of the tliree surviving Kuru warriors who made the murderous night attack upon the camp of the Pa?if?avas. He was also called Gautama and /Saradwata. See K?7'pa and Maha-bharata. Ki^/PA, KT^/PI. Wife of Dro?ia and mother of Aswattha- man. The sage /S'aradwat or Gotama so alarmed Indra by his austerities that the god sent a nymph to tempt him. Though she was unsuccessful, two children were found born to the sage in a tuft of grass. King ^Santanu found them and brought them up out of compassion {kripa), whence their names, Kr/pa and K?'/pa. The children passed as iS'antanu's own. Dro?2a was a Erahman and /Santanu a Kshatriya : the myth makes Kripi a Erahma?il, and so accounts for her being the wife of Dror^a. The Yishmi Pura?za represents them as children of Satya-dhriti, grandson of *S'aradwat by the n}Tiiph Urvasi, and as being exposed in a clump of long grass. Kit/SHiYA 'Black.' This name occurs in the it/g-veda, but without any relation to the great deity of later times. The earliest mention of Krish?ia, the son of Devaki, is in the Clihan- dogya Upanishad, where he appears as a scholar. There was a iiishi of the name who was a son of Yi.swaka. There was also a great Asura so named, who with 10,000 followers committed fearful devastation, until he was defeated and skinned by Indra. In another Yedic hymn, 50,000 K?'ish?2as are said to have been slain, and it is added in another that his pregnant wives were slain with him that he might leave no posterity. This is supposed to have reference to the Eakshasas or to the dark- coloured aborigines of India. The modern deity Krishna is the most celebrated hero of Indian mythology, and the most popular of all the deities. He is said to be the eighth Avatara or incarnation of Yish?m, or rather a direct manifestation of Yishwu himself. This hero, around whom a vast mass of legend and fable has been gathered, probably lived in the Epic age, when the Hindus had not ad- KRISHNA. i6i vanced far beyond their early settlements in the north-west. He appears prominently in the Maha-bharata, where his character is invested with a certain degree of mysticism. Additions and interpolations have raised him to divinity, and it is in the character of the " Divine One " that he delivered the celebrated song, Bhagavad-gita, a production of comparatively late date, now held to be part of the great epic. In this work he dis- tinctly declares himself to be the Supreme Being. He says : — " All this universe has been created by me ; all things exist in me;" and Arjuna addresses him as "the supreme universal spirit, the supreme dwelling, the eternal person, divine, prior to the gods, unborn, omnipresent." The divine character of Krishna having thus been established, it was still further deve- loped in the Hari-van5a, a later addition to the Maha-bharata ; and in the Purawas, especially in the Bhagavata Pura?^a, it attained full expansion. There the story of the life of Krish?ia, from his earliest days, is related with minute details, and it is upon this portion of his life that the popular mind delights to dwell. The mischievous pranks of the child, the follies of the boy, and the amours of the youth, are the subjects of boundless wonder and delight. All these stories, as told in the Bhagavata Pura?za, have been made accessible and popular by the Hindi translation known by the name Prem Sagar, ' ocean of love,' and by other versions. Much of the story of the early days of Krzshwa is thus of comparatively modern invention, while the incidents of his relations with the Pa^ic^ava princes are among the most ancient. Krishna was of the Yadava race, being descended from Yadu, one of the sons of Yayati. The Yadavas of old were a pastoral race, and dwelt on the river Yamuna (Junma), in V?'mdavana, on the western side, and in Gokula on the other. In those days, Kansa, Eaja of the Bhojas, having deposed his father, Ugrasena, ruled in the city of Mathura, near Yrindavana. Ugrasena had a brother named Devaka, and Devaka had a daughter named De- vaki, who married Vasu-deva, son of ASiira, also a descendant of Yadu. The history of K?-ish?ia's birth, as given in the Maha-bharata and followed by the Vish?iu Pura?ia, is that Vish7iu plucked out two of his own hairs, one white, the other black. These two hairs entered the wombs of Eohim and Devaki ; the white hair became Bala- rama and the black {krishna) hair (/jesa) became Krishna, orKesava. i62 KRISHNA. His reputed father, Vasu-deva, was brother of Kunti, the wife of PamZu, and so Krishna was cousin of the tliree elder PantZava princes. The Maha-bharata gives two summaries of his exploits, of which the following are abridgments : — " ^^^lile K?*/shwa was growing up as a high-souled boy in the tribe of cowherds, the force of his arms was rendered famous by him in the three worlds." He slew the king of the Hayas (horses), dwelling in the woods of the Yamuna. He slew the direful Danava, who bore the form of a bulL He also slew Pralambha, Naraka, Jambha, and Pitlia, the great Asura, and Muru. He overthrew ami slew Kansa, who was supported by Jara-sandha. With the help of Bala-rama he defeated and destroyed Su-naman, brother of Kan^a and king of the -S'iirasenas. He carried off the daughter of the king of the Gandharas at a swayam-vara, and princes were yoked to his car. He secured the death of Jara-sandha and slew ^Si-su- jjala. He overthrew Saubha, the self-suj^porting or flying city of the Daityas, on the shore of the ocean. He conquered the Anitas and Bangas, and numerous other tribes. Entering the ocean filled with marine monsters, he overcame Yaru/ia. In Patala he slew Panchajana, and obtained the divine shell Pan- chajanya. With Arjuna he propitiated Agni in the Ivha?^c?ava forest, and obtained the fiery weapon the discus. Mounted on Garut/a, he alarmed AmaravatI, the city of Indra, and brought away the Piirijata tree from thence. In another passage, Arjuna rehearses some of K7'/sh7ia's ex- ploits. He destroyed the Bhoja kings in battle, and carried off Rukmiwi for his bride.