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10
Devaki, for, in the Antagaḍadasão 3,8 §11 sqq. Devai, consort of Vasudeva, the king of Bāravai (Dvāravati), bore him six sons. Harinegamesī, however, seized them in order to transfer them to the rich lady Sulasā's womb. Because she gave birth only to still-born babies, she had had an image of the deity made and she worshipped it daily, intending to induce him to perform the said operation - everything conditioned by karman, of course.
89
With the inclusivism typical of the Indian way of thinking, Harinegames here unites the positive qualities of a bringer of children, as was expressed as early as the ṚV Khilāni ad 10,8488 with negative ones of a demon who seizes children, as he is known to Suśruta.8 In Vedic texts the deity is called Nejameṣa, but in the Mbh Naigameya and Naigameṣa, whereas Suśruta only knows of the latter form. Finally, a Mathura inscription has Nemesa; this means that the form ending in -eya may be due to a scribal error.
The name itself is nowhere explained, nor is the he-goat's (chagavaktra; Suśruta, Uttarasthana 36,2 ajanana) or ram's face (Id. 37,2 meşânana [cty. eḍaka-mukha]) the latter, adopted by PWB, probably being a later contamination, as the ram belongs to Varuna.90 The hegoat, however, especially belongs to Agni1 whose son is called Skanda or (Sanat)kumāra and his grandson Naigameṣa.92 Skanda, said to be Siva's son, is appointed general of the gods by Indra." Perhaps in
88 See Scheftelowitz 1906: 130. Here a woman says: Néjamesa, pára pata sú-putraḥ púnar á pata/asyai me putrá-kāmāyai gárbham á dhehi yáḥ púman // "Nejamesa, fly away and quickly return with an excellent son. Get me with child (...) !". - As the exposure motif as a symbol of the procedure of birth is known also to Indian stories (see, e.g. Bollée 1967: 138; 140), one can ask if Nejameșa is considered here a bird, like the stork with us. See e.g. Rank 1909: 88 sq., Fodor 1949: 144, and Neumann 1962: 22.
89 Śarirasthana 10,52. At Uttarasthana 37,2 Suśruta mentions scholars who assume two Naigamesas since a divine being generated by Agni and Rudra would not cause a dangerous disease. He himself, however, thinks that Naigamesa only shows his ugly side if the child's family is derelict in its religious duties (loc. cit.). See also Winternitz 1895: 149 sqq.
90 Mbh cr. ed. 12,79,6 ajo 'gnir, Varuno meṣaḥ.
91 SB 6,4,4, 15; SkandaP 6,4 Agneyam Kṛttika-putram Aindram kecid adhiyate,/ kecit Pasupatam Rudram; yo 'si so 'si: namo 'stu te.
=
92 Mbh (Poona, 1929) 1,66,24 VisnuP 1,15,116. Cf. Mbh cr. ed. 3,215,23 Agnir bhutva Naigameyaś chaga-vaktro bahu-prajaḥ/ ramayāmāsa saila-stham bālam (Skandam) kriḍanakair iva and 3,217,1 Skandasya pārṣadan ghoran śṛṇusvadbhutadarśanan/ vajra-prahārat Skandasya jajñus tatra kumārakāḥ / ye haranti siśūn jätan garbha-sthamś câiva daruṇāḥ.
93 See Banerjea 1956: 363, 367 and 562; Mani 1975: 748; Sontheimer 1987b: 124. - On the multiple transfer of Śiva's semen see Mani 1975: 747 and O'Flaherty 1980:
171.
94 Mbh cr. ed. 7,5,37.