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Its extent, how- ever, is not half that specified, little exceeding 10,000 stanzas. It furnishes also itself evidence of the prior currency of some other work similarly denominated." " It may perhaps be referred to the early part of the twelfth century." VARAVASi. The sacred city of Benares ; also called KasT. VARAVAVATA. The city in which the Paw/avas dwelt in exile. VARARUCHI. A grammarian who is generally supposed to be one with Katyayana (q.v.). There was another Vararuchi who was one of " the nine gems " at the court of Vikramaditya. VARDDHA-KSHATRl. A patronymic of Jayad-ratha. VARKSHl. Daughter of a sage, who is instanced in the Maha-bharata as being a virtuous woman, and wife of ten husbands. 336 VARNA— VARUNA. YARA^A. ' Class or caste.' The Cliatiir-varwa, or four castes, as found established in the code of Manu, are — 1. Brahman. The sacerdotal and learned class, the members of which may be, but are not necessarily priests. 2. Kshatriya. The regal and warrior caste. 3. Yaisya. Trading and agricultural caste. 4. >S'udra. Servile caste, whose duty is to serve the other three. The first three castes were called dwi-ja, " twice born or rege- nerate," from their being entitled to investiture with the sacred thread which effects a second birth. The Brahmans maintain that their caste alone remains, that the other three have been lost or degraded, and it is generally believed that there are no pure Kshatriyas or Yai-syas now existing. The numerous castes which have sprung up from the intercourse of people of different castes or from other causes are called Yarwa-sankara, 'mixed castes. ' YARSHA. A region. I^ine varshas are enumerated as situated between the great mountain ranges of the earth : — (i.) Bharata-varsha, India ; (2.) Kim-purusha or Kin-nara ; (3.) Hari; (4.) Ramyaka ; (5.) Hiraw-maya; (6.) Uttara-kuru ; (7.) Ilav?'ita ; (8.) Bhadraswa ; (9.) Ketu-mala. YARSHiVEYA. A name of KrisliTia as a descendant of Y?*ish7il Name of King Nala's charioteer. YARTTIKAS. Supplementary rules or notes to the gram- mar of Pardni by later grammarians, as Katyayana, Patanjali, &c. Katyayana is the chief of these annotators, and is called Yiirttika-kara, 'the annotator.' YARUYA. Similar to Ohoavdg. ' The universal encom- passer, the all-embracer.' One of the oldest of the Yedic deities, a personification of the all-investing sky, the maker and up- holder of heaven and earth. As such he is king of the universe, king of gods and men, possessor of illimitable knowledge, the supreme deity to whom especial honour is due. He is often associated with Mitra, he being the ruler of the night and Mitra of the day ; but his name frequently occurs alone, that of Mitra only seldom. In later times he was chief among the lower celestial deities called Adityas, and later still he became a sort of Neptune, a god of the seas and rivers, who rides upon the ;Makara. This character he stiU retains. His sign is a fish. VARUNA. 337 He is regent of the west quarter and of one of the Nakshatras or lunar mansions. According to the Maha-bharata he was son of Kardama and father of Puslikara. The INIaha-bharata relates that he carried off Bhadra, the wife of Utathya (q.v.), a Brah- man, but Utathya obhged him to submit and restore her. He was in a way the father of the sage Yasish/ha (q.v.). In the Vedas, Yaru?2a is not specially connected with water, but there are passages in which he is associated with the element of water both in the atmosphere and on the earth, in such a way as may account for the character and functions ascribed to him in the later mythology. Dr. Muir thus sums up in the words of the hymns the func- tions and attributes of Yaru^ia : — " The grandest cosmical func- tions are ascribed to Yaru?za. Possessed of illimitable resources (or knowledge), this divine being has meted out (or fashioned) and upholds heaven and earth, he dwells in all worlds as sove- reign ruler ; indeed the three worlds are embraced within him. He made the golden and revolving sun to shine in the firma- ment. The wind which resounds through the atmosphere is his breath. He has opened out boundless paths for the sun, and has hollowed out channels for the rivers, which flow bv his com- mand. By his wonderful contrivance the rivers pour out their waters into the one ocean but never fill it. His ordinances are fixed and unassailable. They rest on him unshaken as on a mountain. Through the operation (of his laws) the moon walks in brightness, and the stars vfhich appear in the nightly sky mysteriously vanish in daylight. Neither the birds flying in the air, nor the rivers in their ceaseless flow can attain a know- ledge, of his power or his wrath. His messengers behold both worlds. He knows the flight of birds in the sky, the paths of ships on the ocean, the course of the far-travelling wind, and be- holds all the things that have been or shall be done. ]^o creature can even wink A^dthout him. He witnesses men's truth and false- hood. He instructs the it/shi Yasish/ha in mysteries ; but his secrets and those of Mitra are not to be revealed to the foolish." " He has unlimited control over the destinies of mankind. He has a hundred thousand remedies, and is suj^plicated to show his wide and deep benevolence and drive away evil and sin, to untie sin like a rope and remove it. He is entreated not to steal away, but to prolong Hfe, and to spare the suppliant who daily trans- Y 338 VARUNA—VARUNANI. gresses his laws. In many places mention is made of the bonds or nooses with which he seizes and punishes transgressors. Mitra and Yariuza conjointly are spoken of in one passage as heing barriers against falsehood, furnished with many nooses, which the hostile mortal cannot surmount ; and, in another place, Indra and Varu?ia are described as binding with bonds not formed of rojDe. On the other hand, Yaruwa is said to be gracious even to him who has committed sin. He is the wise guardian of immortality, and a hope is held out that he and Yama, reigning in blessedness, shall be beheld in the next world by the righteous." " The attributes and functions ascribed to Yaruwa impart to his character a moral elevation and sanctity far surpassing that attributed to any other Yedic deity." The correspondence of Yaruwa with Ouranos has been already noted, but " the parallel will not hold in all points. There is not in the Yedic mythology any special relation between YaruT^a and P?*ithivi (the earth) as husband and wife, as there is between Ouranos and Gaia in the theogony of Hesiod ; nor is Yaru?^a represented in the Yeda, as Ouranos is by the Greek poet, as the progenitor of Dyaus (Zeus), except in the general way in which he is said to have formed and to preserve heaven and earth" (Muir^s Texts, v. 58). IManu also refers to Yaru?ia as "binding the guilty in fatal cords." In the Pura?ias, Yaruwa is sovereign of the waters, and one of his accompaniments is a noose, which the Yedic deity also carried for binding offenders : this is called Naga-pasa, Pula- kanga, orYiswa-jit. His favourite resort is Pushpa-giri, 'flower mountain,' and his city Yasudha-nagara or Suklia. He also possesses an umbrella impermeable to water, formed of the hood of a cobra, and called Abhoga. The Yishmi Pura?za mentions an incident which shows a curious coincidence between Yaru?ia and Neptune. At the marriage of the sage ii'/chika, Yaruwa supplied him with the thousand fleet white horses which the bride's father had demanded of him. Yaru?ia is also called Prachetas, Ambu-raja, Jala-pati, Kesa, ' lord of the waters ; ' Ud-dama, ' the surrounder ; ' Pri6\a-bh?7't, ' tlie noose-carrier ; ' Yiloma, Yari-loma, ' watery hair ; ' Yada/i-pati, ' king of aquatic animals. His son is named Agasti. YARUA^ANI, YAEUAL Wife of Yaru?ia and goddess of X VASA VA-DA TTA— VASISHTHA. 339 wine. She is said to have sprung from tlie churning of the ocean. The goddess of wine is also called Mada and Sura. VASANTA. Spring and its deified personification. YASANTA-SENA. The heroine of the drama called M?-ich- chhaka^i, * the toy cart. ' YASAYA-DATTA. A princess of Ujjayini, who is the heroine of a popular story by Subandhu. The work has been printed by Dr. F. Hall in the Bihliotheca Indica. He considers it to have been written early in the seventh century. See Udayana. YASISHTHA. 'Most wealthy.' A celebrated Yedic sage to whom many hymns are ascribed.