Indian Antiquary Vol 13

SR No.: 032505
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: John Faithfull Fleet, Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1984
Total Pages: 492
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 22 MB

Page 51

FEBRUARY, 1884.)
BUDDHIST LEGENDS.
45
scarcely the traces in the place where he the Brahman presiding at the sacrifice was the reposed, there was the ndbhi, the hole opened on highest heaven of the voice only as representthe top of the highest mound, like a single ative on the earth of the god who made his footprint of this god, who there became voice heard on the earth. This voice is the extinct.
vágámbhriņi, the "voice of the cloud," sung in Thus hymn 164 of Mandala I of the Rigvéda hymn 125 of the Mandala X of the Rigveda, says in Rich 34:-"I ask thee for the farthest and in hymn 30 of the Kanda IV of the extremity of the earth; I ask thee where is the Atharvaréda. It is the voice which announces navel of the world; I ask thee for the seed of the the will of the gods, it is the messenger of horse; I ask thee for the highest heaven of the heaven, the inspirer by whom is revealed the voice." And in Rich 35 it is answered :-"This sacred word, the divine messenger of whom vedi is the farthest end of the earth; this the Rishis, the Vedic poets, speak, and also sacrifice is the navel of the world;" this sóma is Homer; it is the one who proclaims the law the seed of the horse; this Brahman is the of universal order, both cosmogonic and litarhighest heaven of speech."
gic. It is like the voice from the burning My professor in Munich, the late Dr. Martin bush, terrible and threatening; but yet soft Haug, the Orientalist who has best explained und magic as the sound of the flute of the this hymn, so beset with thorny difficulties and Maruts and of Yama. It is that which makes mysterious problems, does not say, in the study itself heard, descending to the earth, from the devoted to the hymn and published by him height there, from the déva-sadanam, the shortly before his death under the title of "abode of the gods," to which ascended the Vedische Räthselfragen und Räthselsprüche, os mortals who had become immortal, and where what is the horse. But this is no loss. It is sôma runs in floods, and where echo the songs the cloud which by its rains brings fertility to and melodies of the divine flute of Yama, where the earth, and hence the horse of Agni or Agni is the tree of shining leaves." himself, the celestial messenger fire of the And if we record finally that in mythology sacrifice or conductor of the gods over the altar (Aryan, at least), tree, mountain, and altar are of sacrifice.
synonyms and expressions almost identical, the It is prolific, because to the celestial fire connection will then be plainly seen of the the ray succeeds the seed, that is, the rain horse of the hero and of the footprints of the which makes the earth suitable for production, god on the top of mountains, symbols almost and which raises the fire, as is mentioned in inseparable in the Buddhist religion. different passages of the Vedas, in the bosoms
NOTES BY THE TRANSLATOR. of the plants.
I. The Cloud-horse Jataka." The highest heaven of the voice is the “Those who will not carry out the advice." Thus Brâhman, says Rich 35. And Dr. Martin Hang spake the Teacher, while dwelling in Jetavana, explains :-"The Brahmaņ treated of here is concerning a certain unhappy monk. This monk probably the Brâhman presiding at the sacri- having been asked by the Teacher: "Is it true fice; in him are combined all the sacred sacri
that you are unhappy P” replied: "It is true!"
When asked, "Wherefore P" he said: “ On fice, all the hymns, sentences, &c., which only
account of having looked with desire upon a he with his voice can chant and cause to be
beautiful woman." Then the Teacher said to him : heard."
"O monk, these women who allure men by their I may, however, add to this explanation that
form, voice, odour, taste, and touch, 100 and also by * Compare the Greek conception by which the temple " Rigveda, I, 151, 4, 6, with 1, 3, 3. of Delphos was the centre of the world. The Buddhists
" Cf. Riguida, X, 11, with X, 135. thought, however, that the centre of the world was strictly marked by the sacred tree of the temple near Buddha " Ante p. 36b and note 40. "Cloud-horsb" :-PAli Gaya.
valdhassa, & compound of valaha and assa, but waldha • It is a Separatabdruck of the Sitsungaberichten der is not recorded by Childers, though he gives valdhaka, philosophischen und historischen Klasse der Königlich cloud. Dr. Morris says valdha means "horse," and it baierischen Akademie der Wissenschaften wu München, occurs, with the meaning of mare," apparently, and has the subsequent title of " Übersetxung und Erklä- further on in this Jataka; but in the title of the Jataka rung des Dirghatomie Liedes, Rigv. I. 161-München,
taldha seems to stand for valdhakr, cloud. 1876."
200 “ Womon who allure men by their form, &c. See * See the magnificent translation of Whitney in the Anguttara Niklya, Ekanipdta Vagga, I, ed. by Morris Essays of Colebrooke, vol. I, p. 113.
for the PAli Text Society, 1883, pp. 1-2 and 86-91.