Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB

terms frequently met with in works on the Hindu religion, and indicate that the party to whom it is applied has received the Zennaar or sacrificial cord. (See Poita or Zennaar, p. 154.)

Bohras, a religious sect found in the Rajpoot states, who represent themselves to be the descendants of the followers of the Seikh al Jabal, or the celebrated old man of the mountains. They acknowledge an Archamandrite or religious chief: they principally follow mercantile pursuits. Bragwan, a name of Vishnu.

Brahma, p. 5.

Brahmans (The), p. 140.

Brahmadicas, p. 8.

Brahmini, a name of Suraswati.

Brehm or Brahm, the Creator, p. 1.

Brigu, p. 7.

Brishput-Brihuspati. (See Vrihuspati), p.

133.

Brahmacharees or Bruhmacharees, an order of religious medicants.

:

Brahminicide. The sin of killing a Brahman. The Datyas were Brahmans, and were slain by the gods but were resuscitated by Sukra, their guru, and attacked the gods in Swerga, from which the latter fled in various disguises; Indra as a peacock, Yamunu as a crow, Kuvera a lizard, Agni a pigeon, Nairat a parrot, Varuna a partridge, Vayu a dove, &c. Indra thus lost his heaven: but he afterwards slew the Datya Vitra, and committed the crime of Brahminicide, on which account he withdrew from heaven and performed penance. Budh, p. 133.

Buddha, p. 184 to 219.

Bugis and Macassars, P. 343.
Bulbudder, a name of Bala Rama.

Bull. (See Nandi). The golden ditto of
Japan, p. 340, pl. 38.

Byragees. Hindu devotees. Some of these people find employment in conveying, for purposes of worship, the holy water of the Ganges to many of the most distant parts of Hindustan, in pitchers slung on bamboos. For an account of a family of Byragees at Ramisseram, see p. 191.

C

Calpi, an astronomical term of 4,320,000,000 years.

Calya, or Calinaga, a serpent slain by Krishna.

Camdenu. (See Kamdenu.)

Camdeo, or Kamadeva, p. 46.

Canon, a Japanese deity, p. 341, pl. 38.
Cartica, one of the lunar months of the
Hindus.

Cashi, or Kashi, a name of the holy city of
Benares, or Venares. (See Kashi.)
Catri, a sort of axe used in sacrifice.
Chakra, a discus resembling a wheel, or

quoit, a sort of missile weapon, imagined to have been whirled round the middle finger, and used as an instrument of war. The Chakra is mythologically described as a circular mass of fire, darting flame in all directions, which, thrown by the gods, slays the wicked, and then returns to the hand from which it issued. Chamara, or Chawrie, a kind of whisk, made

sometimes of peacock's feathers, sometimes of the shavings of sandal-wood, and commonly of a description of grass; used for

the purpose of driving away flies, musquitoes, and other insects. They are usually seen in the hands of the attendants of the gods,

Chamconda Mata, the goddess of harvest, worshipped by the Bheels. The first of every grain is sacred to her.

Chandica, one of the Sactis, sprung from the body of Devi. (See Sactis, p. 121.) Chandra, or Soma, p. 131.

Chandra Hasa, a kind of axe used in sacrifice.

Chank, the buccinum or wreathed shell, one of the emblems of Vishnu. It is much prized throughout India. When the convolutions are many, it is highly estimated. In fig. 2, pl. 5, an animal resembling a fox is issuing from one; and in fig. 7, pl. 38, illustrative of one of the Japanese idols, the form of a youth appears rising from a shell; this is probably the shell-king of the Siamese.

Charga, an axe used in sacrifice.

Charons, Rajpoot priests, p. 277.
Chawrie. (See Chamara.)

Chaya (shade), the consort of Surya. (See
Pradha and Surya, p. 129.)

Chila, or Chela, a pupil or disciple of a saint

or guru.

Chinnu Mustuka, p. 94.
Choitunya, p. 240.

Chundee, a vindictive form of Durga or Parvati. (See Parvati.)

Cinnaras, forms half human, half equine, having the latter sometimes the upper, and sometimes the lower part of the figure. Cochin Chinese, p. 369.

Coolies, p. 262.

Cow (The). (See Kamdenu.) Creation (The), p. 4.

Crerasaga, the sea of milk; the ocean churned by the gods and Asuras.

Critu, one of the seven Brahmadicas.
Cundoo, p. 290.

Curus. (See Pandus, p. 248.)
Cusa, grass used in Pujah, or worship.
Cuvera. (See Kuvera, p. 111.)

D

Dae-Boots-den, p. 335.

Daghopes, mounds of earth found in most parts of India, under which bones and relics are discovered, supposed to have been thrown up over deceased persons. Dahl, a small shield.

Daiboth (quere Dae-boots-den), a Japanese deity, p. 338, fig. 1, pl. 37.

Daityas, Asuras, demons or giants, sons of Diti, who made war on the gods, by whom they were finally overcome.

Daksha, p. 6.

Damara, or Damru, a small hand-drum, or rattle, usually seen in the hands of Siva or his avatars. This definition of the emblem is doubtful, as it has more the appearance of an hour-glass. One will be seen in one of the hands of fig. 3, pl. 14; fig. 6, pl. 15; and fig. 1, pl. 20. Danava, evil spirits. Danusha, or Danook, the unerring bow duced at the churning of the ocean. Daruka, a female Asura, who was, according to Colonel Vans Kennedy, the leader of a

pro

host of Amazonian Asuras, with whom the gods were afraid to engage in battle, from an apprehension of incurring the sin of feminicide. They in consequence applied to Siva, on whose solicitation Parvati produced from herself the form of Kali, bearing in her hands a trident and a skull. On beholding her, the affrighted gods ran away: Kali alone attacked Daruka and her hosts, and destroyed them.

Dasharata, king of Ayodhya, the father of Rama Chandra.

Day (A), of the gods or celestial beings is three hundred and sixty of the days of mortals; and a day of the Petris or Patriarch's, inhabiting the moon, is a month of earthly beings.

Daya (The), of Borneo, p. 346.

Deeruj, a tyrant destroyed by Parasu Rama,

in the sixth avatar, p. 20.

Dev-Deo, or Deu, synonymous with Deva. Deva, a title of a god, as Devi is of a goddess, Maha Deva, a name given to Siva by the Saivas, is the great or supreme god, as Maha Devi, a name of Bhavani or Parvati, is the supreme goddess.

Deva Dasi, women, or dancing girls, in attendance at the temples of the Hindu deities, who call themselves the servants or slaves of the gods. Next to the sacrificers, the most important persons about the temples, says the Abbé Dubois, are the dancing girls, who are known to the public by a much coarser name. "Their profession, indeed, requires of them to be open to the embraces of all castes; and, although originally they appear to have been intended for the gratification of the Brahmans only, they are now obliged to

more.

extend their favours to all who solicit them. Such are the loose females who are consecrated in a special manner to the worship of the gods of India. Every temple, according to its size, entertains a band of them, to the number of eight, twelve, or The service they perform consists of dancing and singing. The first they execute with grace, though with lascivious attitudes and motions. Their chaunting is generally confined to the obscene songs which relate to some circumstance or other of the licentious lives of their gods. They perform their religious duties at the temple to which they belong twice a day-morning and evening. They are also obliged to assist at all the public ceremonies, which they enliven with their dance and merry song. As soon as their public business is over, they open their cells of infamy, and convert the temple of worship into a den of licentiousness.

66

They are bred to this profligate life from their infancy. They are taken from any caste, and are frequently of respectable birth. It is nothing uncommon to hear of pregnant women, in the belief that it will tend to their happy delivery, making a vow, with the consent of their husband, to devote the child then in the womb, if it should turn out a girl, to the service of the Pagoda. And in doing so, they imagine they are performing a meritorious duty. The infamous life to which the daughter is destined brings no disgrace on the family. These women are the only females in India who may learn to read, to sing, and to dance. Such accomplishments belong to them exclusively, and are, for that reason, held by the rest of the sex in such abhorrence, that every virtuous woman would

consider the mention of them as an affront.
These performers are supported out of the
revenues of the temple, of which they re-
ceive a considerable share. But their dis-
solute profession is still more productive.
There are temples in some solitary places,
where the divinity requires to be honoured
with the most unbounded licentiousness.
He promises children to the barren women
who will lay aside the most inviolable rules
of decency and shame, and in honour of
him submit to indiscriminate embraces.
An annual festival is held, in the month of
January, at those infamous sinks of de-
bauchery; where I need not say, great
numbers of the libertines of both sexes
assemble from all quarters. Besides bar-
ren wives, who come in quest of issue, by
exposing their persons, some of them have
bound themselves by a vow to grant their
favours to numbers; many other dissolute
women also attend to do honour to the in-
famous deity, by prostituting themselves,
openly and without shame, before the
gates of his temple."-Dubois' India.
Devarshis, holy sages or saints.
Devatas or Dewtah, plural of Deva.
Devi-Kanail, a deity worshipped by the
Bheels to obtain the ripening of their corn.
Devukee or Devaki, the mother of Krishna
and the sister of Kansa or Cansa, king of
Mathura. (See Krishna, p. 35.)
Dewal, a temple.

Dewali or Kali Puja, a festival in honour of
Kali.

Dhamians (The), p. 310.

Dhanovantara, a physician; one of the gems produced at the churning of the ocean. Dharma Thakoor, a name of Siva.

Dhermaraja, a name of Yama in his beneficent form. He is the king of justice, whose countenance the virtuous only see: the wicked see him as the Pluto or king of the infernal regions. (See Yama, p. 112.) Dherna, p. 145.

Dhertrashta, a half-brother of the Pandus. (See Pandus, p. 248.)

Dhuna. The worship of a deity in which oblations are offered.

Diti, one of the wives of Kasyapa and the mother of the Daityas, or Asuras (demons and giants) as Aditi, another wife of Kasyapa, is of the gods and the Suras, by whom, after numerous sanguinary conflicts, the of the Asuras or demons was power destroyed. Indra was one of the sons of Aditi, whose kingdom, as will be seen in many parts of this work, the Asuras frequenly possessed themselves of, and sent him wandering about the earth like a beggar; but who at length was greatly instrumental in expelling the whole race of the children of Diti. Diti, it appears, had obtained a promise from Kasyapa, by the performances of austerities for a thousand years, that she should have a son who should destroy Indra. The god, aware of the threatened design, watched her motions, and when the time had nearly expired, caught her at a moment when her indiscretion gave him power over her, to destroy the fœtus which was intended to prove his own destruction. He divided it into forty-nine parts, which, being scattered, became the same number of Maruts, or regents of the wind.

The impurity which gave the power alluded to, was a monstrous one; being

no other than sleeping" with her head in the place of her feet," so that her head touched her feet; meaning thereby, it may be presumed, that she curled herself up like a serpent.

Divakara, one of the Adityas: a name of the

sun. (See Adityas.)

Divodasa, a virtuous king of the Asuras, overcome according to some accounts by Vishnu in the ninth avatar, and according to others by the machinations of Siva. Under him the sect of the Buddhas was dispersed by the Brahmans. During his extraordinary reign of eight thousand years vice was wholly expelled from his dominions of Kashi, and so much virtue and happiness prevailed therein, that even Ganesha and some of the gods took up their abode in it, (p. 186.) Doorvasu, a Brahman who lengthened the day that he might finish his religious cere

monies.

Gahyaca, satyrs; forms half human, half bestial.

Gana, a band of inferior deities attendant upon a superior.

Ganaputty or Gunness, names of Ganesha. Gandhavas, or Gundharvas, celestial choristers of beautiful forms and complexion, usually seen in Hindu sculptures attendant on the deities.

Ganesha, p 103.

Ganesha Junanee, p. 98.

Gant' ha, a bell used in holy ceremonies, which is rung at certain times to keep away evil spirits. These bells, as well as the Lustral spoons, are usually surmounted by the figure of the deity in whose worship they are used. See fig 6, plate 33. Garrows (The), p. 318.

Garuda or Gurura, p. 55.

Gautama or Gotama, one of the seven Rishis. Gawrie, (white or fair) a name of Parvati.

Drupdevi or Drawputty, the wife of the five Gayatri (The), a venerated text of the Veda,

Pandus, p. 249.)

Durga, p. 83.

Duryodhana. (See Pandus, p. 248.)

Dusarah, Desahara, or Dugotsava, the Durga Puja or festival in honour of Durga; in the tenth of Aswini (September or October.) (See Durga, p. 84.)

Dyupeti, a name of Indra, signifying the Lord of Heaven.

G.

Gabhasti, one of the Adityas, a name of the

sun.

Gadha, or Parasha, the mace or club of Vishnu.

called by Sir W. Jones the mother of those sacred writings. See O'M. p. 136.

Ghata, an earthern jar used in certain religious ceremonies.

Ghona, a deity worshipped by the Bheels against the small-pox.

Ghora Raja, worshipped by the Bheels against attacks and plundering. Girisha, a name of Siva.

Gounds (The), p. 296.

Godaveri, one of the sacred rivers of the Hindus, which falls into the Bay of Bengal. Gopa-nath, a form of Krishna, the worship of which was established by a follower of Choitunya. (See Choitunya, p. 240.)

« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »