Indian Mythology
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INDIAN MYTHOLOGY INDIAN MYTHOLOGY 2012 MSU LIBRARY 2013 A. BERRIEDALE KETTH LMJ MITTAL HWUCATIOm MITTAL PUBLICATIONS NEW DELHI -110059 (INDIA) 9 q S» *' ^e ta t •'v'is 4-/oS& Pbotographicallv reproduced in India in 1986 Reproduced again in 1990 Reproduced again in 1998 Published and Printed by K. M. Rai Mittal for Mittal Publications, A-110, Mohan Garden, New Delhi - 110059 (India) Showroom: 4594/9, Darya Ganj, New Delhi-110002 TO THE MEMORY OF FIELD MARSHAL THE RIGHT HONOURABLE EARL KITCHENER OF KHARTOUM K.G., K.P., O.M., G.C.B,, G.C.S.I., G.C.M.G., G.C.I.E., LL.D. LORD RECTOR OF THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH (1914-1916) CONTENTS PACE AuTHOR's PREFACE 5 TRANSCRIPTION AND PRONUNCIATION 9 INTRODUCTION 11 CHAPTER I. TbE RGVEDA — GODS OF SKY AND AIR 15 n. THE RGVEDA — GODS OF EARTH, DEMONS, AND DEAD 41 ffl. THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE BRAHMANAS 73 IV. HEE GREAT GODS OF THE EPIC 103 V. MINOR EPIC DFJTIES AND THE DEAD 131 VI. THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE PURANAS 162 VII. BUDDHIST MYTHOLOGY IN INDIA AND TIBET 187 Vffi. THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE JAINS 220 IX. THE MYTHOLOGY OF MODERN HINDUISM 230 NOTES 251 BIBLIOGRAPHY 259 ILLUSTRATIONS FULL PAGE TLLUSTRATIONS PLATE FACING PAGE I Durga-Photogiavuir Froniispiece n IdolCar 22 HI SOrya 26 IV India 34 V Apsarases 60 VI Brahma 78 Vn Kala-Siva 82 Vffl A.TorturesofHell 100 B.TorturesofHell , 100 LX Trimdrti 108 X MarriageofSivaandParvau 118 XI Birth of Brahma 120 xn Vaiahavataia 122 Xffl Laksmi 124 XIV Krspa 126 XV Hanuman 128 XVI Garuda 140 XVn Vasuki 154 XVm Yaks 156 XK Kubera 158 XX Vi»u Slays the Demons 164 XXI Laksmi 170 XXE Ganesa 182 XXm Tlie Great Buddha 188 XXIV IT* Buddha and Sujata 190 XXV Tlie Buddha on the Lotus 192 XXVI Temptation of the Buddha 196 XXVn Avalokitesvaia 202 XXVffl Tirthakara 220 XXLX DihvaiaTemple 226 XXX ShrineofBhumiya 234 XXXI Bhaiion 238 ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT FIGURE PAGE 1 Agni 42 2 The Churning of the Ocean 104 3 ThePropitiationofUma,orDevi 117 4 TheNarasimhaCMan-Lion-OAvatarofVispu 123 5TheMatsyaCTish”)AvatarofVisnu 167 AUTHOR’S PREFACE 'Mffi mythology of India claims unique interest by virtue I of its unparalleled length of life. It is true that not even the discoveries at Boghaz Kyoi render it prudent for us to place the ^goeda at an earlier period than 1Soo B.C., and in part at least that collection may come from three centuries later, so that as contrasted with the dates of Egyptian and Babylonian records the earliest monument of Aryan mythology is comparatively recent. In mass of content and in value for mythology, however, these cannot compare with the ^goeda. Of still more importance is the fact that from the period of the ^gveda to the present day, a space of some thirty-five hundred years^ we have a mythology which is in constant but organic development. The high mythic systems of Teuton, Celt, and Slav, of Greek and Roman, have perished before the onslaught of a loftier faith and survive in little else than folk-lore. In India, on the contrary, though foreign invasion has often swept over the north-west of the land, though Islam has annexed souls as well as territories, though Christianity (especially in the south) has contributed elements to the faith of the people, still it remains true that the religion and the mythology of the land are genuinely their own and for this reason have in them selves the constant potency of fresh growth. Moreover, amidst the ceaseless change which is the heritage of human things, there is relative stability in the simpler thoughts of the human mind, and as in many parts of India the peasant still labours with the implements and in the mode of his ancestors in periods far remote, so his mind frames the same hypotheses to account for those phenomena of nature which in India more than else where determine irrevocably his weal or his woe. 6 AUTHOR’S PREFACE The rich variety of the mythology, despite its attraction for the student of the history of myths, renders the task of concise exposition one of peculiar difficulty. For the mythology of the present day available material is enormous: each part of the vast area of India has its own abundant store of myth and tradition, and to give detail for this period would be impossible. The same consideration applies with but slightly lessened force for the earlier epochs: the Veda, the epics, the Puranas, the literature of the Buddhists and of the Jains, each present data in lavish abundance. It has been necessary, therefore, to cir cumscribe narrowly the scope of the subject by restricting the treatment to that mythology which stands in close connexion with religion and which conveys to us a conception of the manner in which the Indian pictured to himself the origin of the world and of life, the destiny of the universe and of the souls of man, the gods and the evil spirits who supported or menaced his existence. Gods and demons were very present to the mind of the Indian then as they are today« and they are inextricably involved in innumerable stories of folk-lore, of fairy tale, and of speculation as to the origin of institutions and customs. The task of selecting such myths as will best illustrate the nature of the powers of good and evil is one in which we cannot hope for complete success; and the problem is rendered still more hard by the essential vagueness of many of the figures of Indian mythology: the mysticism of Indian concep tion tends ever to a pantheism alien to the dear-cut creations of the Hellenic imagination. The difficult task of selecting suitable illustrations has been shared with the editor of this series, Dr. Louis H. Gray, of whose valuable assistance in this and other matters I desire to express my most sincere appreciation; and my friend Pro fessor Charles R. Lanman, of Harvard University, has gener ously lent us valuable volumes from his private library. Dr. Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, with his wonted generosity and devotion to the cause of promoting the knowledge of Indian VI— I AUTHOR’S PREFACE 7 art, not merely accorded permission for the reproduction of illustrations from his Rajput Paintings (published by the Oxford University Press), but placed at my disposal the resources of his admirable Vi'svakarma, a kindness for which I am deeply grateful. To the India Society and the Oxford University Press I am indebted for permission to reproduce illustrations from Lady Herringham’s splendid copies of the Ajanta frescoes, published by the Press for the Society. Messrs. W. Griggs and Sons, of Hanover Street, Peckham, London, S. E., have been good enough to permit the reproduction of certain illustrations from their Journal of Indian Art; and I owe to the generosity of the India Office the photographs which Messrs. Griggs and Sons have made for me from negatives in the collection of that Department. Lieut-Col. A. H. Milne, of Cults, Aber deenshire, Scotland, kindly permitted the photographing of one of the pieces of his rich collection; the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and the Peabody Museum in Salem, Mass., have been no less generous than he; and Mrs. Louis H. Gray placed her expert knowledge at our service in seeing the voK ume through the press. To my wife I owe thanks for help and criticism. A. BERRIEDALE KEITH. UNIVERSITY or EDINBUUGH, 22 September, 1916. TRANSCRIPTION AND PRONUNCIATION rpHE system of transcription followed is that used by the 1 Royal Asiatic Society and accords closely with the one adopted in the Grundriss der indo-arischen Philologie und Altertumskunde. The pronunciation is much as in English, but c is pronounced as ch, and g is always hard; the characters repre sented by kh, gh, ch,jh, th, dh, th, dh, ph, bh have the h sounded half-separately, somewhat as in pot-hook, madhouse, hap hazard, etc. Of the letters distinguished by diacritical marks t, th, d, dh, and n are pronounced very much like the ordinary dental's; / is sounded as sh, and s as sh or s; the s is always hard, never soft like z. The letter r denotes the vowel sound of r and is pronounced approximately like ri; and similarly I is almost lik<r/*\ The letters n and n denote a nasal assimilated to the following sound, guttural and palatal respectively, and m indicates a nasal sound which corresponds very roughly to ng. The “visarga,” h, was probably pronounced like the Scottish or German ch. The vowels e (pronounced like a in fate) and o, which represent an original ai and au, are always long. The vowel a is pronounced somewhat in the manner of the u in English but; other vowels have the same value as in Italian. INTRODUCTION -Mffi earliest record of Indian mythology is contained in the 1 Hgveda, or “Hymn Veda,” a series of ten books of hymns celebrating the chief Vedic gods. The exact motives of the collection are uncertain, but it is clear that in large measure the hymns represent those used in the Soma sacrifice, which formed a most important part of the worship of the gods in the ritual of the subsequent period. It is now recognized that the religion and mythology contained in this collection are not primitive in character and that they represent the result of a long period of development of sacred poetry. Thus it is that the gods who form the subject of this poetry often appear ob scure in character, though in the great majority of cases it is clear that the myths related of them refer to physical happen ings.