English
) The name of several persons. Of the brother of Nala to whom Nala lost his kingdom and all that he possessed in gambling. Of a son of Bharata and nephew of Rama-chandra, who reigned over the Gandharas. PUSHKARAVA TI—RAGA, 251 PUSHKARAVATL A city of the Gandliaras not far from tlie Indus. It is the Tli\)-A.iKaZ)ri? of Ptolemy, and the Poiise- kielofati of Hiouen Thsang. PUSHPA-DANTA. 'Flower-teeth.' i. One of the chief attendants of AS'iva. He incurred his master's displeasure by listening to his private conversation with Parvati and talking of it afterwards. Por this he was condemned to become a man, and so appeared in the form of the great grammarian Katyayana. 2. One of the guardian elephants. See, Loka-pala. PUSHPAKA. A self-moving aerial car of large dimensions, vrhich contained within it a palace or city. Ivuvera obtained it by gift from Brahma, but it was carried off by Eava/za, his half-brother, and constantly used by him. After Rama-chandra had slain Rava^ia, he made use of this capacious car to convey himself and Sita, with Lakslima?ia and all his allies, back to Ayodliya ; after that he returned it to its owner, Kuvera. It is also called Ratna-varslmka, " that rains jewels." PUSHPA-KARAiVDIKI. A name of Ujjayini. PUSHPA-MITRA. The first of the ^unga kings, who suc- ceeded the Mauryas, and reigned at Pa/ali-putra. In his time the grammarian Patanjali is supposed to have lived. PUSHP0TKA2A. A Rakshasi, the wife of Yi.sravas and mother of Ravawa and Kumbha-ka?'na. PUT. A hell to which childless men are said to be condemned. '- A name invented to explain the word ^w//7'(X, son (hell-saver)." PUTAI^A. A female demon, daughter of Bali. She attempted to kill the infant K?-ish7?a by suckling him, but was herself sucked to death by the child. RADHA. I. Wife of Adhiratha and foster-mother of Ivar7?a. 2. The favourite mistress and consort of Krish??a while he lived as Go-pala among the cowherds in Vrmda-vana. She was wife of Ayana-ghosha, a cowherd. Considered by some to be an in- carnation of LakshniT, and worshipped accordingly. Some have discovered a mystical character in Radha, and consider her as the type of the human soul drawn to the ineffable god, Kf/sh?ia, or as that pure divine love to which the fickle lover returns. RADHEYA. a metronymic of Ivar?2a. RADHIKA. a diminutive and endearing form of the name Radha. RAG A (mas.), RAGINl (fern.). Tlie Ragas are the musical 252 RAGHAVA—RAHU. modes or melodies personified, six or more in number, and tlie Rasfinis are their consorts. RAGHAYA. Descendant of Eaglm, a name of Rama. RAGHAYA-PAA^DAYiYA, A modern poem by Kavi Raja, which is in high repute. It is an artificial work, which exhibits extraordinary ingenuity in the employment of words. As its name implies, the poem celebrates the actions of Raghava, i.e.^ Rama, the descendant of Raghu, aiid also those of the Vknd- ava princes. It thus recounts at once in the same words the story of the RamayaTia and that of the Maha-bharata ; and the com- position is so managed that the words may be understood as applying either to Rama or the Pa72(iavas. It has been printed. RAGHAYA-YILASA. A poem on the life of Rama by Yiswa-natha, the author of the Sahitya-darpawa. RAGHU. A king of the Solar race. According to the Raghu-vansa, he was the son of Dilipa and great-grandfather of Rama, who from Raghu got the patronymic Raghava and the title Raghu-pati, chief of the race of Raghu. The authorities disagree as to the genealogy of Raghu, but all admit him to be an ancestor of Rama. RAGHU-PATL See Raghu. RAGHU-YAN.SA. 'The race of Raghu.' The name of a celebrated poem in nineteen cantos by Kali-dasa on the ancestry and life of Rama. It has been translated into Latin by Stenzler, and into English by Griffiths. There are other translations and many editions of the text. RAIIU. Rclhu and Ketu are in astronomy the ascending and descending nodes. Rahu is the cause of eclipses, and the term is used to designate the eclipse itself. He is also considered as one of the planets, as king of meteors, and as guardian of the south-west quarter. MythologiaUy Rahu is a Daitya who is supposed to seize the sun and moon and swallow them, thus obscuring their rays and causing eclipses. He was son of Yipra- chitti and Sinhika, and is called by his metronymic Sainhikeya, He had four arms, and his lower part ended in a tail He was a great mischief-maker, and when the gods had produced the Amrita by churning the ocean, he assumed a disguise, and in- sinuating himself amongst them, drank some of it. The sun and moon detected him and informed Yish?m, who cut off his head and two of his arms, but, as he had secured immortality, RAIBHYA—RAJARSHL 253 his "body was placed in the stellar sphere, the upper parts, re- presented by a dragon's head, being the ascending node, and the lower parts, represented by a dragon's tail, being Ketu the de- scending node. Eiihu wreaks his vengeance on the sun and moon by occasionally swallowing them. The Yish?iu Purawa says, " Eight black horses draw the dusky chariot of Rahu, and once harnessed are attached to it for ever. On the Parvans (nodes, or lunar and solar eclijDses) Kahu directs his course from the sun to the moon, and back again from the moon to the sun. The eight horses of the chariot of Ketu, swift as the wind, are of the dusky red colour of lac, or of the smoke of burning straw." Rahu is called Abhra-pisacha, ' the demon of the sky ; ' Eharam-bhu, 'born from the asterism Bharam;' Graha, 'the seizer;' Kabandha, 'the headless.' RAIBHYA. A sage who was the friend of Bharadwaja. He had two sons, Arvavasu and Paravasu. The latter, under the curse of Bharadwaja, killed his father, mistaking him for an antelope, as he was walking about at night covered with an antelope's skin. Arvavasu retired into the forest to obtain by devotion a remission of his brother's guilt. When he returned, Paravasu charged him with the crime, and he again retired to his devotions. These so pleased the gods that they drove away Paravasu and restored Raibhya to life. See Yava-krita. RAIYATA. I. Son of Reva or Revata. Also called Kakud- min. He had a very lovely daughter named Revati, and not deem- ing any mortal worthy of her, he went to Brahma to consult him. At the command of that god he bestowed her upon Bala- rama. He was king of Anarta, and built the city of Ku5asthali or Dwaraka in Gujarat, which he made his capital 2. One of the Manus (the fifth). RAIYATA, RAIYATAKA. The range that branches off from the western portion of the Yindhya towards the north, extending nearly to the Jumna. RAJA-Gi?/HA. The capital of Magadha. Its site is stiU traceable in the hills between Patna and Gaya. RAJANYA. A Yedic designation of the Kshatriya caste. RAJARSHI (Raja-?ishi). A it?shi or saint of the regal caste ; a Kshatriya who, through pure and holy life on earth, has been raised as a saint or demigod to Indra's heaven, as Yiswa-mitra, Puru-ravas, &c. 254 RAJA SEKHARA—RAKSHASAS. KAJA /S'EKHAK^L A di^amatist who was the author of the dramas Yiddha->Salabhanjika and Pracha7Zf?a-Paw(iava. He was also the writer of KarjDura-Manjarl, a drama entirely in Prakrit, Another play, Bala-Ramajawa, is attributed to him. He appears to have been the minister of some Eajput, and to have lived about the beginning of the twelfth century. EAJA-StJYA. 'A royal sacrifice.' A great sacrifice per- formed at the installation of a king, religious in its nature but pohtical in its operation, because it implied that he who in- stituted the sacrifice was a supreme lord, a king over kings, and his tributary princes were required to be present at the rite. EAJA-TAEANGIiVl. A Sanskrit metrical history of Kash- mir by Kalhana Pa?^it. It commences with the days of fable and comes down to the year 1027 a.d. The author probably lived about 1148 a.d. This is the only known work in Sans- krit which deserves the name of a history. The text has been printed in Calcutta. Troyer published the text with a French translation. Wilson and Lassen have analysed it, and Dr. Eiililer has lately reviewed the work in the Indian Antiquarj/. EAJI. A son of Ayus and father of 500 sons of great valour. In one of the chronic wars between the gods and the Asuras it was declared by Brahma that the victory should be gained by that side which Eaji joined. The Asuras first sought him, and he undertook to aid them if they promised to make him their king on their victory being secured. They dechned.