Handbook of History of Religions

SR No.: 007634
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Edward Washburn
Publisher: Sanmati Tirth Prakashan Pune
Total Pages: 678
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 2 MB

Page 428

[Footnote 18: In contrast one may note the frequent boast that a king 'fears not even the gods,' e.g., i. 199. 1.]
[Footnote 19: Later there are twenty-one worlds analogous lo the twenty-one hells.]
[Footnote 20: Elsewhere, oh the other hand, the islands are four or seven, the earlier view.]
[Footnote 21: iii. 142. The boar-shape of Vishnu is a favorite one, as is the dwarf-incarnation. Compare V[=a]mana, V[=a]manaka, Vishnupada, in the list of holy watering-places (iii. 83). Many of Vishnu's acts are simply transferred from Brahm[=a), to whom they belonged in older tales. Compare above, p.215.]
[Footnote 22: In i. 197, Prajl=a]pati the Father-god, is the highest god, to whom Indra, as usual, runs for help. Çiva appears as a higher god, and drives Indra into a hole, where he sees five former Indras; and finally Vishnu comes on to the stage as the highest of all, "the infinite, inconceivable, eternal, the All in endless forms." Brahm[=a) is invoked now and then in a perfunctory way, but no one really expects him to do anything. He has done his work, made the castes, the sacrifice, and (occasionally) everything. And he will do this again when the new aeon begins. But for this aeon his work is accomplished.]
[Footnote 23: Thus in XII. 785. 165: "Neither Brahm[=a] nor Vishnu is capable of understanding the greatness of Civa.")
[Footnote 24: Or "three eyes."]
[Footnote 25: Compare III. 39. 77: "The destroyer of Daksha's sacrifice." Compare the same epithet in the hymn to Çiva, X. 7. 3, after which appear the devils who serve Civa. Such devils, in the following, feast on the dead