Zend Avesta Part 01

SR No.: 007671
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: James Darmesteter
Publisher: Oxford
Publication Year: 1895
Total Pages: 2695
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 49 MB

Page 2076

INTRODUCTION.
221
fully established. But, on the other hand, in the Vedic theogony, they are among the most prominent deities. In the Taittiriya-upanishad, we have in the very first sentence Mitra, Varuna, Vishnu, and Brahman (who may be identified with Pragapati) all mentioned together, and their blessings invoked. This does not help in fixing a date for the Anugità; but it lends some support to the conclusion already arrived at on that point, by showing that the theogony of the Anugita is not yet very far removed from the theogony of the Vedic times, while it is separated by a considerable interval from the theogony disclosed in the works of even such an early writer of the classical period as Kalidasa.
Another point of similar bearing on our present investi. gation is the mode in which the story of Parasurama is dealt with in the Anugita. There is in the first place no allusion to his being an incarnation of Vishnu, nor to the encounter between him and his namesake, the son of Dasaratha and the hero of the Ramayana. We have, on the contrary, an explicit statement, that after the advice of the • Pitris' he entirely abandons the slaughter of the Kshatriyas, and resorting to penance thereby achieves final emancipation. We have elsewhere argued ', that the theory of Parasurama being an incarnation of Vishnu, must have probably originated prior to the time of Bhartrihari, but later than the time of Kalidasa. The allusion to Parasurama in the work before us does not, however, enable us to judge of its chronological position with reference to Kalidasa. But the last point discussed renders it unnecessary to consider this question further. It may be noted, by the way, that the Anugita represents Parasurama, although living in the Asrama or hermitage of his father, who was a Rishi, as mounting a chariot for the purpose of sweeping away the kinsmen of Kartavirya. Whence he obtained a chariot in a hermitagc, the Anugita docs not explain.
In connexion with the episode of Parasurama, may be noted the list which occurs in the course of it, of the
See "Was the Ramayana copied from Homer i' pp. 56, 57.
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