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A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History and Literature - John Dowson, 1820 - Complete Book

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• The two other females are Anjana and Tamra-kar?ii, whose spouses are doubtful. Anjanilvatl is sometimes assigned to Su-pratlka.. In the Ramiiya^za (t.) Indra's eastern elephant is called Yirupaksha; (2.) Yaru??a' s elephant at the west, Saumanasa; (3.) Yama's at the south is jMalia-padma, and (4.) Kuvera's at the north is Ilima-piiTifZara. LO^MA-HARSITAiVA (or Roma-harsha?za). A bard or pane- gyrist who first gave forth the Purfuias. LOMA-PADA—MADHA VA. i8i LOMA-PADA (or Roma-pada). A king of Anga, chiefly remarkable for his connection with itishya-srmga (q.v.). LOPAMUDRA. A girl whom the sage Agastya formed from the most graceful parts of different animals and secretly introduced into the palace of the king of Vidarbha, where the child was believed to be the daughter of the king. Agastya had made this girl with the object of having a wife after his own heart, and when she was marriageable he demanded her hand. The king was loath to consent, but was obliged to yield, and she became the wife of Agastya. Her name is explained as signifying that the animals suffered loss {lopa) by her engross- ing their distinctive beauties (mudra), as the eyes of the deer, &c. She is also called Kaushitaki and Vara-prada. A hymn in the J^ig-veda is attributed to her. MAD A. * Intoxication.' Described in the Maha-bharata as " a fearful open-mouthed monster, created by the sage Chyavana, having teeth and grinders of portentous length, and jaws one of which enclosed the earth and the other the sky," who got Indra and the other gods into his jaws " like fishes in the mouth of a sea monster." MADAYANTI. Wife of King Saudasa or Kalmasha-pada. She was allowed to consort with the sage Yasish/ha. According to some this was a meritorious act on the king's part and a favour to Vasish/ha ; according to others it was for the sake of obtaining progeny. See Kalmasha-pada. MAD HAY A. A name of Krishwa or Yish?iu. MADHAYA, MADHAYACHARYA. A celebrated scholar and religious teacher. He was a native of Tuluva, and became prime minister of Yira Bukka Raya, king of the great Hindu state of Yijaya-nagara, who lived in the fourteenth century. He was brother of Sayawa, the author of the great commentary on the Yeda, in which Avork Madliava himself is believed to have shared. Wilson observes, " Both the brothers are celebrated as scholars, and many im^^ortant works are attributed to them ; not only scholia on the Sanhitas and Brahma?ias of the Yedas, but original works on grammar and law ; the fact no doubt being, that they availed themselves of those means which their situation and influence secured them, and employed the most learned Brahmans they could attract to Yijaya-nagara upon the works which l^ear their names, and to Avhich they contributed their own labour and learning; their works were i82 MADHA vi—madhvandina. therefore compiled under peculiar advantages, and are deservedly held in the highest estimation." Among the works of Mad- hava are the Sarva-darsana-sangraha and the Sankshepa iS'ankara- vijaya. jSIadhava was a worsliipper of Yishmi, and as a re- ligions pliilosopher he held the doctrine of dwaita or dualism, according to which the supreme soul of the universe and the human soul are distinct. Thus he was opposed to the teaching of >S'ankaracharya, who was a follower of -Siva, and upheld the Vedanta doctrine of a-dtvaita, "no duality," according to which God and soul, spirit and matter, are all one. MADHAYI. A name of Lakshmi. MADHU. I. A demon slain by Kr/shna. (See Kai/ahha.) 2. Another, or the same demon, said to have been killed by >Satru-ghna. MADHU-CHHAXDAS. A son of Yiswamitra, who had fifty sons older and fifty younger than this one ; but they are spoken of as " a hundred sons." He is the reputed author of some hymns of the ^ig-veda. MADHU-KA/SA. Described in the Atharva-veda as "the brilliant grand-daughter of the Maruts, the mother of the Adityas, the daughter of the Vasus, the life of creatures, and the centre of immortality." She " sprang from the sky, the earth, the air, the sea, fire, and wind ; " and it is added, " all creatures, worship- ping her who dwells in immortality, rejoice in their hearts." MADHUEANIRUDDHA. A drama in eight acts by ^a- yani Chandra ASekhara. It is quite a modern work. " The sub- ject is the secret loves of tjsha, daughter of the Asura Ba??a and Aniruddlia, grandson of K?'/sh?za. The piece abounds too much with description to be a good play; the style lias con- siderable merit." — Wilson. MADHU-StJDANA. ' Slayer of Madhu.' A name of Knsliwa. MADHYA-DES^A. The middle country, described by Mann as " the tract situated between the Himavat and the Yindliya ranges to the east of Yinasana and to the west of Prayilga (Allahabad)." Another authority makes it the Doab. ISIADHYANDmA. A Yedic school, a subdivision of the Yajasaneyi school, and connected with the ^atapatha Brah- mawa. It had also its own system of astronomy, and obtained its name from making noon (madhya-dina) the starting-point of the planetary movements. MAD IRA— MA HA-BHARA TA. 183 MADIRA. A name of Varum, wife of Varu?ia, and goddess of wine. MADKA. Name of a country and people to the north-west of Hindustan. Its capital was iS'akala, and the territory ex- tended from the Biyas to the Chinab, or, according to others, as far as the Jhilam. made! a sister of the king of the Madras, and second wife of Pa?z^u, to Avhom she bore twin-sons, jSTakula and Saha- deva ; but the Aswins are alleged to have been their real father. She became a sati on the funeral pile of her husband. MAGADHA. The country of South Bihar, where the Pali language was spoken. MAGHA. A poet, son of Dattaka, and author of one of the great artificial poems called, from its subject, >S'isupala-badha, or, from its author, Magha-kavya. MAGHAYAT, MAGHA VAX. A name of Indra. MAHA-BALI. A title of the dwarf Bali, whose city is called Maha-bali-pura, which name is applied to the Tamil *' Mamallai-pura," or Seven Pagodas near Madras. See Bali. MAHA-BHAKATA. 'The great (war of the) Bharatas.' The great epic poem of the Hindus, probably the longest in the w^orld. It is divided into eighteen ^arvas or books, and con- tains about 220,000 lines. The poem has been subjected to much modification and has received numerous comparatively modern additions, but many of its legends and stories are of Vedic character and of great antiquity. They seem to have long existed in a scattered state, and to have been brought together at different times. Upon them have been founded many of the poems and dramas of later days, and among them is the story of Rama, upon which the Ramayawa itself may have been based. According to Hindu authorities, they were finally arranged and reduced to writing by a Brahman or Brahmans. There is a good deal of mystery about this, for the jDoem is attributed to a divine source. The reputed author was KrisliTia Dwaipayana, the Vyasa, or arranger, of the Vedas. He is said to have taught the poem to his pupil Vaisampayana, who afterwards recited it at a festival to King Janamejaya. The leading subject of the poem is the great war between the Kauravas and Pa?zf/avas, who were descendants, through Bharata, from Puru, the great an- cestor of one branch of the Lunar race. The object of tlie i84 MAHA-BHARATA. great struggle was the kingdom whose capital was Hastina-pura (elephant city), the ruins of which are traceable fifty-seven miles north-east of Dellii, on an old bed of the Ganges. KWshwa Dwaipayana Vyasa is not only the author of the poem, but the source from whom the chief actors sprung. He was the son of the itislii Parasara by a nymph named SatyavatI, who, although she had given birth to a son, remained a virgin. There was a king, a descendant of Bharata, named ^SUntanu, who had a son called ^Santavana, better known as Bhishma. In his old age jS^antanu wished to marry again, but the hereditary rights of Bhishma were an obstacle to his obtaining a desirable match. To gratify his father's desire, Bhishma divested himself of all rights of succession, and AS'antanu then married SatyavatI. She bore him two sons, the elder of whom, Chitrangada, succeeded to the throne, but was soon killed in battle by a Gandharva king who bore the same name. Vichitra-virya, the younger, succeeded, but died childless, leaving two widows, named Am- bika and Ambalika, daughters of a king of Kasi. SatyavatI then called on K?'ish?ia Dwaipayana Vyasa to fulfil the law, and raise up seed to his half-brother.