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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
ending in in. And the correctness of this view is proved by the occurrence of the Sanskrit words Naigamesha and Nejamesha," which in the Grihya Sutras and the medical Samhitae are the names of a deity with a ram's head," particularly dangerous to children. Our word Nemeso corresponds exactly with Naigamesha according to the analogy of the Pali emeva for evameva, ajjhena for adhyayana, lena for layana, and so forth (see EMüller's Simplified Grammar, pp. 41, 43), the intermediate form being Neyameso.
There can be no doubt that the Naigames ha or Nejamesha of the Brahmans, who seizes children and sorely afflicts them with disease 13 and the son-granting and embryoexchanging Naigamesha-Naigameshin of the Jainas are in reality identical. They represent two different aspects of the same deity, which was conceived both as beneficent and as hurtful or destructive. Their identity comes out still more fully, if one takes into account another Brahmanical deity, Naigameya, whose name, as the larger Petersburg Dictionary points out sub voce, is certainly only a variant of Naigamesha. This Naiga meya is declared to be another form, or a son and companion, of the war-god Skanda, which latter likewise is represented as dangerous to children. A passage of the Mahábharata, quoted in the Dictionary, sub voce naigamesha, asserts that he is chhagavaktra orgoat-faced,' just like the Nemeso of our sculpture. The goat's head excellently suits a deity, who has to do with the procreation of children, as the strong sexual instincts of the goat did not escape the notice of the ancient Hindus." Hence, it may be inferred that the goat's head was the original attribute of Naigamesha-Naigameshin, the Brahmans substituting later a ram's head on account of the seeming connection of the name with mesha, a ram,' 15 and the Jainas a deer's head on account of the compound Harinegamesi, seemingly connected with harina, 'a gazelle.' I may add that Naigameshin's position as Indra's general offers another point of contact with Naigameya, who is either considered as identical or as closely connected with Skanda, the field marshal of the gods.
If we now return to our sculpture, Nemesa-Naigameshin's divine rank is indicated (1) by his ornaments, bracelets on the upper arm and a very broad necklace (see above the story of Krishna), (2) by the elaborately carved throne on which he sits, (3) by the female attendant to his proper left, who apparently fans him with a Chauri, and (4) by the fragment of a canopy or chhattra, which, I think, is visible above his head. Nemesa's face is turned to the right, and he lifts his hand apparently addressing somebody who was represented on the lost right half of the slab. At his left knee stands a small naked male, characterised by the cloth in his left hand as an ascetic," and with uplifted right hand. Below this figure is a fragment of an inscription, showing on Dr. Führer's rubbings very plainly the syllables bhaga. The first word was therefore bhaga
11 See the two Petersburg Dictionaries under these words. The identity of Harinegamesi with Naigamesha has already been hinted by Böhtlingk, sub voce Harinaigumeshin. The latter word is a faulty form, given by Mr. Colebrooke in his Essay on the Jainas, probably in accordance with a bad MS. of one of the commentaries of the Kalpasútra.
For a representation of Naigamesha, as represented in the Elura sculptures, see Trans. R. As. Soc., vol. II, p. 326,
1st plate.-J. B,
See, in addition to the passages quoted in the Dictionaries from the Sufruta Samhita, and the Ashtangahridaya, Uttarasthana, ii, 63, and iii, 12-14.
Apastamba, Dh. 84. II, 14, 13, quotes a Vedic passage to this effect: "Therefore, a he-goat and a learned Brahmana evince the strongest sexual desires."
1 I am not able to offer any etymology for naigamesha and naigameya. Compare the figures of monks on Dr. Bhagvanlal's slab from Mathura.
