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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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They built Rama's bridge, by which they passed over into Lanka, and after many battles and wholesale slaughter Rava?ia was brought to bay at the city of Lanka. Rama and Ravawa fought together on equal terms for a long while, victory sometimes inclining to one sometimes to the other. Rama with a sharp arrow cut off one of Ravawa's heads, " but no sooner did the head fall on the ground than another sprang up in its room." Rama then took an arrow which had been made by Brahma, and discharged it at his foe. It entered his breast, came out of his back, went to the ocean, and then returned clean to the quiver of Rama. " Ravawa fell to the ground and expired, and the gods sounded celestial music in the heavens, and assembled in the sky and praised Rama as Yish^iu, in that he had slain that Rava7ia Avho would otherwise have caused their destruction." Rava?za, though he was chief among Rakshasas, was a Brahman on his father's side ; he was well versed in Sansknt, used the Vedic ritual, and his body was burnt with Brahmanical rites. There is a story that Rava??.a made each of the gods perform some menial office in his household : thus Agni was his cook, Yaruwa supplied water, Kuvera furnished money, YajTi swept the house, &c. The Vishmi Pura?ia relates that Rava?ia, " elevated with wine, came on his tour of triumph to the city of Mahishmati, but there he was taken prisoner by King Karta-virya, and confined hke a beast in a corner of his capital." The same authority states that, in another birth, Rava?za was ^Sisu-pala. Ravawa's chief wife was ]\Iandodari, but he had many others, and they were buriit at his obsequies. His sons were Megha-nada, also called Indra-jit, Ravawi, and Aksha; Tri-sikha or Tri-siras, Deviintaka, ISTarantaka, and Atikaya. See Kandi^a. 266 RA VI—RIBHU. EAYI. The sun. See Surya. REiV^UKA. Daughter of King Prasenajit or Keren, wife of Jamad-agni, and mother of Parasu-rama. A sight of the connubial endearments of King Chitra-ratha and his wife inspired her with impure thoughts, and her husband, perceiving that she had "fallen from perfection," desired her sons to kill her. Ru- mawwat, Su-shena, and Yasu, the three seniors, declined, and their father cursed them so that they became idiots. Param- rfima, the fourth son, cut off her head, which act so gratified his father that Jamad-agni promised him whatever blessings he de- sired. Among other things, Parasu-rama asked that his mother might be brought back to life in ignorance of her death and in perfect purity. He also desired that his brothers might be restored to their senses. All this Jamad-agni bestowed. She was also called Konkana, REYA. The Narmadii river. REYA. I. Wife of Karrea. 2. A name of Rati. REYANTA. A son of Surya and Sanjna. He is chief of the Guhyakas, and is also called Haya-vahana. RE Y ATI Daughter of King Raivata and wife of Bala-rama. She was so beautiful that her father, thinking no one upon eartli worthy of her, repaired to the god Brahma to consult him about a husband. Brahma delivered a long discourse on the glories of Yish/m, and directed Raivata to proceed to Dwaraka, where a portion of Yishwu was incarnate in the person of Bala-rama. Ages had elapsed while Raivata was in heaven without his knowledge. When he returned to earth, " he found the race of men dwindled in stature, reduced in vigour, and enfeebled in intellect." He went to Bala-rama and gave him Revati, but that hero, " beholding the damsel of excessively lofty height, he shortened her with the end of his ploughshare, and she became his wife." She had two sons. Revati is said to have taken part with her husband in his drinking bouts. i^/BHAYAS. See 7^/bhus. it/BHU. 'Clever, skilful.' An epithet used for Indra, Agni, and the Adityas. In the Pura^iic mythology, T^ibhu is a " son of the supreme Brahma, who, from his innate disposition, was of a holy character and acquainted with true wisdom." His pupil was Nidagha, a son of Pulastya, and he took especial interest in his instruction, returning to him after two intervals RIBH US— R IS HA BHA . 267 of a thousand years "to instruct him further in true wisdom." The YishTiu Puraria, " originally composed by the ii/slii (Nara- yawa), was communicated by Brahma to itibhu." He was one of the four Kumaras (q.v.). it/BHUS. Three sons of Su-dhanwan, a descendant of An- giras, severally named i?/bhu, Vibhu, and Vaja. Through their assiduous performance of good works they obtained divinity, exercised superhuman powers, and became entitled to receive praise and adoration. They are supposed to dwell in the solar sphere, and there is an indistinct identification of them with the rays of the sun ; but, whether typical or not, they prove the admission, at an early date, of the doctrine that men might become divinities. — WiUon. They are celebrated in the i^ig-veda as skiKul workmen, who fashioned Indra's chariot and horses, and made their parents young again. By command of the gods, and with a promise of exaltation to divine honours, they made a single new sacrificial cup into four. They are also spoken of as supporters of the sky. i^/BHUKSHAN. The first of the three i^ibhus. In the plural, the three itfbhus. ii/CHIKA. A i?fshi descended from Bhrigu and husband of Satyavati, son of tJrva and father of Jamad-agni. {^te Viswamitra.) In the Maha-bharata and Yislmu PuraTza it is related that jR/chika was an old man when he demanded in marriage Satyavati, the daughter of Gadhi, king of Kanya-kubja. Unwilling to give her to so old a man, Gadhi demanded of him 1000 white horses, each of them having one black ear. i?/chika obtained these from the god Yarn??a, and so gained his wife. According to the Eamayawa, he sold his son /S'unaA-i'ephas to be a sacrifice. it/DDHI. ' Prosperity.' The wife of Kuvera, god of wealth. The name is also used for ParvatT, the wife of /Siva. 2?/G-VEDA. See Veda. jR/G-YIDHAISrA. Writings which treat of the mystic and jnagic efiicacy of the recitation of hymns of the iiig-veda, or even of single verses. Some of them are attributed to iS'aunaka, but probably belong only to the time of the PuraTzas. — Weher. it/SHABHA. Son of Nabhi and Meru, and father of a hundred sons, the eldest of whom was Bharata. He gave his kingdom to his son and retired to a hermitage, where he led a 268 RISHI—RISHYA-SRINGA. life of sucli severe austerity and abstinence, that lie became a mere " collection of skin and fibres, and went the way of all flesh." The Bhagavata Pura7za speaks of his wanderings in the western part of the Peninsula, and connects him with the estab- lishment of the Jain religion in those parts. The name of the first Jain Tirthakara or saint was i?isliabha. it/SHL An inspired poet or sage. The inspired persons to whom the hymns of the Vedas were revealed, and under whose names they stand. " The seven it/shis " (sajjtarshi), or the Praja-patis, " the mind-born sons " of Brahma, are often referred to. In the ^S'atapatha BrahmaTia their names are given as Go- tama, Bharadwaja, Viswamitra, Jamad-agni, Yasish/ha, Kas^'apa, and Atri. The Maha-bharata gives them as ]\larlchi, Atri, Angiras, Pulaha, Kratu, Pulastya, and Yasish/ha. The Yayu Purawa adds Bh?'/gu to this list, making eight, although it still calls them " seven." The Yishwu Pura?za, more consistently, adds Bhr/gu and Daksha, and calls them the nine Brahmarshis (Brahma-rishis). The names of Gautama, Kawwa, Yalmiki, Yyasa, Manu, and Yibha?ic?aka are also enumerated among the great itishis by different authorities. Besides these great jR?shis there are many other Bishis. The seven i?/shis are represented in the sky by the seven stars of the Great Bear, and as such are called itz'ksha and Chitra-sikha?if/inas, ' having bright crests.' ^/SHI-BRAHMAYA. An old Anukrama?^/, or Index of the Sama-veda. i^/SHYA-MUKA. A mountain in the Dakhin, near the source of the Pampa river and the lake Pampa. Eama abode there for a time with the monkeys. EISKYA-SBI^GA. ' The deer-horned.' A hermit, the son of Yibha?Z(iaka, descended from Kasyapa. According to the RamayaT^a and Maha-bharata he was born of a doe and had a small horn on his forehead. He was brought up in the forest by his father, and saw no other human being till he was verging upon manhood. There was great drought in the country of Anga, and the king, Lomapada, was advised by his Brahnians to send for the youth i^ishya-snnga, who should marry his daughter iSanta, and be the means of obtaining rain. A number of fair damsels were sent to bring him.