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ASIATIC SOCIETIES.
JUNE, 1874.]
Siva, who was considered as the deity of the Kiratas. This episode of the Mahabharata was taken up by the poet Bhâravi, who describes it in detail in his celebrated poem Kirátárjuniya.
"Again, both the Himalaya-born goddesses Umâ and Gangâ have the nicknames of Kirâti applied to them by our lexicograpbers; and it is a question, therefore, whether these goddesses were the daughters of some Kirâta chieftain of the Himalaya, married to Siva, a Hindu divinity, affording an example of miscegenation among the two races effected at a very early period of history; or whether Śiva was himself a Mongolian.
"It is remarkable that the medicinal Chiretta is a corruption of Kirâta, which is the Sanskrit name for this drug. The only other synonyms in Sanskrit are Bhunimba, Andryya-tikta, and Kandalitikta: the first means that it is the nim or azadirachta of the earth; the second implies the bitter of the non-Aryans; and the third signifies that which contains bitter in its trunk. The second name is very suggestive. It is a wellknown fact that the Chiretta grows in the lower ranges of the Himalaya, the country of the modern Kirântis or Kirâtis.
"In the topographical lists of the Mahabharata, Bhisma Parva, separate mention of the Kirâtas occurs more than once; this leads me to infer that the aborigines now known under that appellation must have separated themselves and formed different clans before the great epic was composed. The Rdjmáld, which gives an analysis of the royal family of Tipperah, states that the ancient name of Tripura was Kirâta. According to Major Fisher the people of Tripurâ are of the same origin with the Kâchâris, but Colonel Dalton places the Kâchâris in the same group with the Kirântisthe latter are placed under the head of Northern borderers,' and the former under Population of the Assam valley.' The dispersion of a race of hunters like the Kirâtas was natural, and it was helped to a large extent by the Aryan settlers pushing them on further and further as they spread, and that will account for the wide range they now occupy.
"2. Hayâsyas, Haioos, or Hayas. The horsefaced race.
"Dr. Campbell gives a tradition that the Hayas originally came from Lanka, having left that country after the defeat of their king Râvana by Ramachandra: but the Raksha king Râvana is still their hero and god, and they have no other. They say that they remained a long time in the Dekhan, whence they journeyed on to Semroungadh, in the days of its glory, and that lastly, but a long time ago, reached the hills, their present abode.' Now the Kinnaras, or heavenly choristers, were
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described by the poets of India as living in the Himalaya under Kuvera, the Indian Plutus, and they were yclept Hayâsyas or horse-faced, an epithet which is well accounted for when we read the physical traits of the modern Haioos or Hyas in Hodgson. The tradition of their being the kinsmen of Râvana is explained by the fact that.. in the Ramayana, Kuvera, the lord of the Hyâsyas. is styled the step-brother of Râvana. Again, the Hylsyas were designated Kinnaras, which means. men of ugly features. Mr. Hodgson's description certifies the deformity of this people very plainly and pointedly, as will be seen in the following extract: The physiognomy of this tribe is rather of the Mongolian cast; the bridge of the nose is not perceptibly raised, the cheek bones are flattened and very high, the forehead narrow.'
"Mr. Hodgson defines the Kirant country thus:
"1.
2.
Sunkosi to Likhu.
Khombuan.
Likhu to Arun.
3.
Arun to Mechi.
}
Limbuan.
4.
Singilela ridge. "He observes that the Khombuan and the Limbuan are, at all events, closely allied races: and, according to Dr. Campbell, in the generic term Limbu are included the Kirântis, the Eakas (Hodgson Yukhas), i.e. Yakshas, and Kais. That the Kirâtas and Yakshas herded together or occupied the same region of Himalayas in Ancient India may be gathered from the following extract from Kalidasa:
"The Kimpurushas were the Kinnaras, i.e. the Hayâsyas, i.e. the modern Haioos. That they originally migrated from Mongolia may be de. duced from the fact of Hindu geographers placing the Kimpurusha varsha, or the country of the Kimpurushas, between the Himalaya and Hema. kuta or Altai mountains.
"3. Yakshas Eakas or Yakhas.
"These people are thus described in the Puranas:The Yakshas are the servants of Kuvera, moving in pairs, with storax and stones in their hands, dark as collyrium, their faces deform. ed, eyes a dull brown, their statures enormous : they are dressed in crimson robes and crystal beads. Some of them are of high shoulder-bones."
"The ancients knew well that the country of the Yakshas was the land of the pine and turpentine. The Sanskrit for Pinus longifolia and turpentine is Yaksha Dhupa or incense of the Yakshas. This is a native of the Himalayas, at elevations of 500 to 600 feet, and also found in the Kherri Pass. the entrance to Nepal. The wood is light, and being full of resinous matter, like the Pinus Deodara, both are frequently employed in the hills for making torches.'
