Page:The Indian Antiquary Vol 1.pdf/244

 212

THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.

Student bring in thy hand a gift to the good

Light of the sum on the mountain at night, The lord Dāsaratha went holding a lotus.

Krishna put his sandals at the root of the

[JULY 5, 1872.

guru.

--

I salute a myriad myriad times Debi Bisti Mā.

Kadambari tree,

Slowly slowly he advanced his feet in the Jamunā’s water.

“Sankat, kikat, kili” are nonsense words, which

though they are just translateable are stated to

In the Jamunā’s water was a snake foolish with illusions, Bharata informed him ; Sankat-kikat-kili ;

be here used in some mystic sense. Gorur is the Oriya pronunciation of Garuda, Debi Bisti

is another of the goddesses who have power over

He bit holding him the poison went twelve

demons.

fingers deep, The exorciser swept many incantations

and is so pronounced in open unaccented syl lables, though it sounds a in accented or closed

Then the lord Chakradhar did not move.

Ones.

The gods began to consult

The short Ö is the equivalent of *ſ

-

This spell for snakes is firmly believed in,

Where art thou, ho! Gorur come ho! they said.

Gorup was feeding in the Ramyak island His food tasted to him like poison.

His history I will tell, conqueror of the world ! I tell thee O lord of birds,

while it is being uttered the part affected must be lightly rubbed by the hand of the exorcist, and

this is what is meant by the expression “the exorcist swept many spells.” The continued belief in the efficacy of this spell may be due

Rushing enter the Himalaya mountain :

to the fact that several of the Orissa snakes are

In the mountain there was a pot of nectar

not deadly, though their bite causes pain and swelling. This is particularly the case with the grass-snakes, as well as with the blue and yellow snake found on the sea-shore which is only really dangerous when in the water.

With swords and maces ten thousand kan

darpas and Yakshas surround it Gorur spread his wings a little He gave the nectar, the lord Bhagwan arose.

LEGEND OF THE ORIGIN OF THE TUNGABHADRA RIVER,

ONCE upon a time in the remote past, the earth was carried away bodily to Patala, or the nether regions of the world, by the powerful giant Hiranyaksha. The Devas, ever noted for their pusillanimity, were in consequence deprived of their legitimate perquisites in the shape of h a v is, or sacrificial food, and, unable to redress their own wrongs, went to Kshira Sá

courses towards the east, unite at Kálli, about

eighty miles from the source, and become thence forward the compound river of Tungabhadrā. The last named stream goes in an opposite direc tion below the ghâts, and unites with another

sea-going river called Ku m fi r a dh ár 6. • In this manner, the aforesaid rivers, being of

gara, or the milky ocean, and laid their com plaint at the feet of V is h m u, who was living

divine origin, exist in the world for the spiritual (as well as temporal) benefit of sinful mankind. The foregoing history, contained in the Bha

in an island called S v ć t a D w i pā.

Vishnu

vishyāttara Purāna, and related to Shanmukha

was graciously pleased to grant their petition, and, incarnate in the form of a boar, conquered

to Dharmaráya, as having been inculcated to

the giant, and rescued

Kurukutsa Mahārāja by Närada.

grasp.

the earth

from his

When the earth was unrolled, the deli

verer found that Védapāda Pârvata was the land's

end, and therefore rested on its summit for a while. While in this posture, the right tusk of the boar broke [for some unexplained reason], and presently there gushed forth from it the river B had ra. From the left tusk, which was

longer than the other, sprang at the same time the sister river Tun ga. Simultaneously, a third stream issued from the eyes of the boar, called N et r a v a ti. The two former, taking different

by his father Rudra, was repeated by Krishna

The rival rivers Tungā and Bhadrā take their rise in the same alpine tract of country, in the extreme west of the province of Maisàr, about 250 miles as a crow flies from Bangalor. The source is called G a ng a M. f. 1 a, and is scarcely acces sible for two or three months in the hot weather.

It is however frequented by pilgrims, who seek to wash off their sins by bathing in the rivers at their sources. It is certainly no easy task to unravel the tangled mass of mystery and superstition involved in the above legend. But it is suggested that the ear

ly Brahmans, wishing to secure for the region a