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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 name is also employed as an epithet for the father of Agni, and it is found more especially connected with the hymns addressed to Agni, Indra, and the luminous deities. According to one state- ment, Angiras was the son of Uru by Agne}a, the daughter of Agni, although, as above stated, the name is sometimes given to the father of Agni. Another account represents that he was born from the mouth of Brahma. His wives were Sm?7'ti, ' memory, ' daughter of Daksha ; iS'raddlia , ' faith,' daughter of Kardama ; and Swadlia ' oblation,' and Sati, ' truth,' two other daughters of Daksha. His daughters were the ^ichas or Vaidik hymns, and his sons were the Manes called Havishmats. But he had other sons and daughters, and among the former were Utathya, Brihaspati, and Marka?z^eya. According to the Bhaga- vata Purawa " he begot sons possessing Brahmanical glory on the wife of Rathi-tara, a Kshatriya who was childless, and these persons were afterwards called descendants of Angiras." ANGIRASAS, ANGIRASES. Descendants of Angiras. " They share in the nature of the legends attributed to Angiras. Angiras being the father of Agni, they are considered as descendants of Agni himself, who is also called the first of the Angirasas. Like Angiras, they occur in hjonns addressed to the luminous deities, and, at a later period, they become for the most part personifications of light, of luminous bodies, of divi- sions of time, of celestial phenomena, and fires adapted to peculiar occasions, as the full and change of the moon, or to particular rites, as the Aswa-medha, Raja-suya, &c." — Goldstilcher. In the /Sataj^atha Bralima?ia they and the Adityas are said to have descended from Prajapati, and that " they strove together for the priority in ascending to heaven." ANGIRASAS—ANSUMA T. ij Some descendants of Angiras by the Kshatriya wife of a childless king are mentioned in the Pura/^as as two tribes of Angirasas who were Brahmans as well as Kshatriyas, The hymns of the Atharva-veda are called Angirasas, and the descendants of Angiras were specially charged with the protec- tion of sacrifices performed in accordance with the Atharva-veda. From this cause, or from their being associated with the descen- dants of Atharvan, they were called distinctively Atharvrmgirasas. ANGIRASAS. A class of Pitris (q.v.). ANILA. ' The wind.' See Vayii. ANILAS. A ga?ia or class of deities, forty-nine in number, connected with Anila, the wind. ANIMISHA. 'Who does not wink.' A general epithet of all gods. ANIRUDDHA. 'Uncontrolled.' Son of Pradyiimna and grandson of K?'^sh?^a. He married his cousin, Su-bhadra. A Daitya princess named Usha, daughter of Ba?ia, fell in love with him, and had him brought by magic influence to her apartments in her father's city of Sonita-pura. Ba/ia sent some guards to seize him, but the valiant youth, taking an iron club, slew his assailants. Ba?ia then brought his magic powers to bear and secured him. On discovering whither Aniruddlia had been carried, Krish??a, Bala-rama, and Pradyumna went to rescue him. A great battle was fought ; Ba?ia was aided by /S'iva and by Skanda, god of war, the former of whom was overcome by Kr'/sh?m, and the latter was wounded by Garu(ia and Pradyumna. Bawa was defeated, but his life was spared at the intercession of /Siva, and Aniruddlia was carried home to Dwaraka with Usha as his wife. He is also called Jhashanka and Usha-pati He had a son named Vajra. AN J AN A. I. The elephant of the west or south-west quarter. 2. A serpent with many heads descended from Kadru. ANJANA. Mother of Hanumat by Vayu, god of the wind. ANNA-PURiVA. ' Full of food. ' A form of Durga, worshipped for her power of giving food Cf. the Roman Anna Perenna. AN-SUMAT, ANaSUMAN. Son of Asamanjas and grandson of Sagara. He brought back to earth the horse which had been carried off from Sagara's Aswa-medha sacrifice, and he discovered the remains of that king's sixty thousand sons, who had been killed by the fire of the wTath of Kapila. B i8 ANTAKA—APARNA. AXTAIvA. ' The ender.' A name of Yama, judge of the dead, ANTARlKSHA The atmosphere or firmament between heaven and earth, the sphere of the Gandharvas, Apsarases, and Yakshas. ANTARYEDI. The Doab or country between the Ganges and the Jumna. ANU. Son of King Yayati by his wife Sarmish/ha, a Daitya princess. He refused to exchange his youthful vigour for the curse of decrepitude passed upon his father, and in consequence his father cursed him that his posterity should not possess dominion. Notwithstanding this, he had a long series of de- scendants, and among them were Anga, Banga, Kalinga, &c., Avho gave their names to the countries they dwelt in. AXUKRAMAA^I, ANUKRAMAiVIKA. An index or table of contents, particularly of a Veda. The Anukrama?as of the Vedas follow the order of each Sanhita, and assign a poet, a metre, and a deity to each hymn or prayer. There are several extant. ANUMATI. The moon on its fifteenth day, when just short of its fuU. In this stage it is personified and worshipped as a goddess. ANU/S'ARA. A Rakshasa or other demon. ANUVINDA A king of Ujjayini. See Yinda APARANTA. 'On the western border.' A country which is named in the Yish?iu Puraa in association with countries in the north ; and the Yayu Pura7ia reads the name as Aparita, which Wilson says is a northern nation. The Hari-vansa, how- ever, mentions it as "a country conquered by Parasu-rama from the ocean," and upon this the translator Langiois observes : " Tradition records that Parasu-rama besought Yaru7ia, god of the sea, to grant him a land which he might bestow uj^on the Erahmans in expiation of the blood of the Kshatriyas. Yaru/^a withdrew his waves from the heights of Ookar^a (near Mangalore) down to Cape Comorin" {As. Researches, v. i). Tliis agrees with tlic traditions concerning Parasu-rama and jNIalabar, but it is not at all clear how a gift of territory to Erahmans could expiate the slaughter of the Kshatriyas by a Erahman and in behalf of Erahmans. APARYA. According to the liari-vansa, the eldest daughter of Ilimavat and Tvlena. She and her two sisters, Eka-par;ia and APASTAMBA—APSARAS. 19 Eka-pa/ala, gave themselves up to austerity and practised extraordinary abstinence; but while her sisters lived, as their names denote, upon one leaf or on one pa/ala (Blgnonia) re- spectively, Apar?ia managed to subsist upon nothing, and even lived without a leaf (a-parnd). This so distressed her mother that she cried out in deprecation, 'XJ-ma,' 'Oh, don't.' Aparwa thus became the beautiful Uma, the wife of *S'iva. APASTAMEA. An ancient writer on ritual and law, author of Siitras connected with the Black Yajur-veda and of a Dharma-sastra. He is often quoted in law-books. Two recen- sions of the Taittirlya Sanhita are ascribed to him or his school. The Sutras have been translated by Biililer, and are being re- printed in the Sacred Books of the Bast by Max Miiller. APAVA. *Wlio sports in the waters.' A name of the same import as Naraya?2a, and having a similar though not an identical application. According to the Brahma Pura^^a and the Hari-vansa, Apava performed the office of the creator Brahma, and divided himself into two parts, male and female, the former begetting offspring upon the latter. The result was the produc- tion of Vish?iu, who created Viraj, who brought the first man into the world. According to the Maha-bharata, Apava is a name of the Prajapati Vasishflia. The name of Apava is of late intro- duction and has been vaguely used. Wilson says : " According to the commentator, the first stage was the creation of Apava or Vasish/ha or Viraj by Yish?zu, through the agency of Brahma, and the next was that of the creation of Manu by Viraj." APSAEAS. The Apsarases are the celebrated nymphs of Indra's heaven. The name, which signifies ' moving in the water,' has some analogy to that of Aphrodite. They are not prominent in the Vedas, but Urvasi and a few others are mentioned. In Manu they are said to be the creations of the seven Manus. In the epic poems they become prominent, and the Eamaj^awa and the Purawas attribute their origin to the churning of the ocean. (See Am?'ita.) It is said that when they came forth from the waters neither the gods nor the Asuras would have them for wives, so they became common to all. They have the appella- tions of Suranganas, ' wives of the gods,' and Sumad-atmajas, * daughters of pleasure.' " Then from the agitated deep up sprung The legion of Apsarases, so named 20 APSARAS—ARANYAKA.