The Religions of India: Handbooks on the History of Religions, Volume 1, Edited by Morris JastrowHopkins, Edward Washburn
Religion
The Religions of India: Handbooks on the History of Religions, Volume 1, Edited by Morris Jastrow
Hopkins, Edward Washburn
India -- Religion
than the pseudo-epic, there stands with these gods Kubera, the god of
wealth, the 'jewel-giver,' who is the guardian of travellers, the king
of those demons called Yakshas, which the later sect makes servants of
Çiva. He is variously named;[16] he is a dwarf; he dwells in the
North, in Mt. K[=a]il[=a]sa, and has a demoniac gate-keeper,
Macakruka. Another newer god is the one already referred to, Dharma
V[=a]ivasvata, or Justice (Virtue, Right), the son of the sun, a title
of Yama older than the Vedas. He is also the father of the new
love-god, K[=a]ma. It is necessary to indicate the names of the gods
and their functions, lest one imagine that with pantheism the Vedic
religion expired. Even that old, impious Brahmanic fable crops out
again: "The devils were the older brothers of the gods, and were
conquered by the gods only with trickery" (in. 33. 60), an interesting
reminiscence of the fact that the later name for evil spirit was
originally the one applied to the great and good spirit (Asura the
same with Ahura).[17] According to a rather late chapter in the second
book each of the great Vedic gods has a special paradise of his own,
the most remarkable feature of the account being that Indra's heaven
is filled with saints, having only one king in it--a view quite
foreign to the teaching that is current elsewhere in the epic. Where
the sectarian doctrine would oppose the old belief it set above
Indra's heaven another, of Brahm[=a], and above that a third, of
Vishnu (i. 89. 16 ff.). According to one passage Mt. Mandara[18] is a
sort of Indian Olympus. Another account speaks of the Him[=a]layas,
Himavat, as 'the divine mountain, beloved of the gods,' though the
knight goes thence to Gandham[=a]dana, and thence to Indrak[=i]la, to
find the gods' habitat (III. 37. 41). Personified powers lie all
around the religious Hindu. And this is especially true of the epic
character. He prays to Mt. Mandara, and to rivers, above all to the
Ganges. Mt. Kol[=a]hala is divine, and begets divine offspring on a
river (I. 63). The Vindhya range of mountains rivals the fabled Meru
(around which course the sun and all the heavenly bodies), and this,
too, is the object of devotion and prayer.[19] In one passage it is
said that in Beh[=a]r (M[=a]gadha) there was a peak which was
continuously 'worshipped with offerings of flowers and perfumes,'
exactly as if it were a god. The reason why flowers are given and worn
is that they bring good luck, it is said in the same chapter (II. 21.
15, 20, 51).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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