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JANUARY, 1884.1
A LEGEND FROM THE TALAVAKÁRA.
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whereas that of the Satapatha shows a tenden- cy to accumulate epithete, & characteristic of the later Sanskrit, in which the general clear ness of statement is sacrificed to an attempt at precise details, such as, in the end, led to the sútra style, in which details are everything, and it is often all but impossible to get a clear general view of the matter discussed. In some respects, the style is irregular, like that of the gáthás-a name which the Sámavêda writers give to prose and to the Brāhmaṇas."
These differences in the condition of the text of the two Brahmanas show clearly the value of a definite form or style in preserving traditional literatures; the metres of the Vedas have saved the parts in verse from much change, whereas those in prose have suffered like the Brahmanas......
If the above legend be not of the very earliest times, yet the language and style mark it as belonging to the earliest part of the times when the Brahmanas were composed, or to a time when the earliest notions of the Brdhmans, BO far as we know, yet survived to a great extent, though a transition to polytheism had already commenced ; but there cannot be a better example of fetishism in the real sense of the word for it is strictly a technical term -than what we find here, where plants are seen by Bhrigu as human beings, and even . Sraddha' or faith and its contrary are perBonified. Such notions survive even in the later Sanskrit literature ;" but in the earlier or Vedic literature they are to be found almost in every line; the difficulty is not to find examples, but to choose the best. The names of the Vedic gods, for instance, are all names of natural objects," and Dr. Muir's Sanskrit Texts put in the clearest light the gradual growth from fetishist conceptions regarding these
objects or phenomena, up to the polytheistic notions of more advanced times. It is impossible to read the different allusions to the Vedic gods collected by Dr. Muir from the earliest Indian literature without perceiving that the Vedic mythology is a confused mass of inconsistent beliefs; there is nothing like a trace of harmony or subordination. But such a state of things can only be explained by what is to be understood by fetishism; if any metaphysical abstraction had been the beginning of the Vedic mythology, some artificial harmony must have been the result, and the supererogatory gods and the attribution of the same functions to several gods would not appear; as it is, the confusion is so great, that the greatest scholars have not yet reduced this chaos to order.
In the text there is a mention of a class of divine beings-Apsarases--to which references are rare in the Vedic literature. Various explanations have been assigned to account for them, and from Yaska' down to the present time various etymologies of the name have been proposed. Goldstücker supposed that they are intended to represent the vapours attracted by the sun, and Holtzmann compares them to the fairies of Europe. I would suggest - I cannot find that it has been done already --that they are the Indian counterparts of the naiads and nymphs of Europe. Thus (as in the text) we find them mentioned in connection with water," and like the water spirits of Europe they are dangerous and seductive." They are also mentioned in company with gandharvas" who seem to be the corresponding malo spirits, and who possess women like the Apsarases seduce men.
It is remarkable that these beings are sometimes represented as being the equals of the
* Samhitopanishadbrdhmana, p. 38, 8dmavéda Pretietkhya, setra 38.
1 I use the word without the usual inverted commas, for it is now a good English word. 'Fetiseo is to be found in Parchas (1625). Originally, it is Portuguese, but as a technical, philosophical term we owe it to A. Comte.-Cours de Phil. Posit. vol. V, p. 25.
13 Similar ideas survive elsewhere. Cf. the superstition about the mandrake.
* CH. Manu, ch. ii, 114. As regards plants-Vishnu Purdna, i, 15.
This has been often clearly stated : "La race indoeuropéenne Alt des forces de la nature ses premières divinités : elle adora lo Ciel, le Soleil, l'Aurore, la Tempête ; elle leur preta une Ame, une intelligence, une volonté libro, des sentimenta d'amitié ou de haine pour les hommes. Mais, tout on lour rendant hommage comme à des étros supériours, on no perdait pas de vue leur caractère
physique."-Bréal, Hercule et Caou (1863) p. 7. This view is supported by the more recent researches of Hillebrandt and others.
16 V. 13 (p. 84 ed. von Roth). This passage seems to be the origin of the obscene references to Apsarases in the later literature. Grassmann supports the etymology d-pearas, bat ap-saras (moving in water) seems more probable.
" Rigveda, 790, 8-samudriyd apsarasa). Invocations to the waters are mentioned in the Brahmanas.
* Rigveda, 949, 5-apaard jdram upa siahmiydnd, oto. So in the Atharva veda they win at dice and cause madness. Cf. the legends of the Lorelei and Melusine, alao the Nixies and Swan Maidena (Grimm, D. Myth, p. 404.)
* Rigveda, 940,4-5 : 962, 6. lit. Br. iii, 31...
** Ait. Br., v, 20-tadgrihawvdmind gandharvina (8&yana's C. A kind of domestic spirit!!!). cf. Rigv. 911, 40-1.
