Indian Antiquary Vol 42

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 69

MAROH, 1913.)
THE ADVENTURES OF THE GOD OF MADURA
05
THE ADVENTURES OF THE GOD OF MADURA.
BY V. VENKATACHALLAM IYER, NELLOBE. Men are bat children of a larger growth.' The ancient priesthood of Egypt and India knew this truth quite as well as the poet Wordsworth. The priests of ancient civilisations exercised a paramount influence on the spiritual and temporal concerns of the community. They were the repositories of such learning as the period afforded. The masses were steeped in igaorance, of which superstition,-unthinking, unreasoning saperstition, is the natural offspring. It was not to the advantage of the priests to lift the veil, assuming them to have been able to do 80. They trafficked in the ignorance of the people. They profited by it.
Rawlinson in his commentary on Herodotas has some pertinent remarks." Priesteraft indeed” says he is always odious but especially so when people are taught to believe what the priests know to be mere fable, and the remark of Cato- It appears strange that one priest can refrain from laughing when he looks at another,' might well apply to those of Egypt." Let me add, to those of India also, for priestcraft everywhere was and is mach tbe same.
The Indian priests wrote their fables in the form of Puranas, in the number of which the Mahabharata as now extant has also to be included. They fathered their inventions on divine or semi-divine personages, the conventional creations of fancy. . Among the later contributions to the Paranic literature, the Thiruvilayadal-Puránami of Pandyanad, with its counterpart, the Halasya mdhdimyain, should be noted. It was a compilation of the Saiva-siddhanta period. The priests of this Order wrote the fables for the glorification ostensibly of the god Somasundara of Madura, but really of the Pandyan kings, from whose revenues the endowments of the monastic orders and of the temple were alike drawn.
I propose to give in these columns a few selections from this repertory of folk-lore. If they are not all very instructive, it is hoped they will be found to be at least amusing.
Indra in the height of his pride treated his guru and preceptor, Brihaspati, with positive discourtesy. The latter withdrew himself from Court. By degrees, Indra found that his prosperity declined all along the line. He complained to Brahma, the Creator, about his reverses of fortune. Brahmâ said to him that it was all due to the slight he had pat on the sage, his priest, and suggested to bim that he should entrust the priestship sub pro tem to one Visvarûpa, son of Trasbţa (Thot). Visvarûpa was one of the gods and of the priestly order, that is, of the Brahman caste; for the gods had caste among them the same as we have here below. He was, however, a partisan of the Asuras, the hereditary foes of Indra and the gods. Visvarûpa assumed charge of the priestly office and was duly installed as the domestic chaplain of Indra. On the occasion of a ceremonial sacrifice, be so managed the rite that the omens came out favoarably to the Asuras.
The cheat was discovered, and Indra promptly cut off his head. This gave rise to Brahma-hatyd or the sin of playing a Brahmaņ, the most heinous of all sins. Indra was in great distress. He cast about for expedients to rid himself of the sin. He distributed equal portions of it among four unfortunates, the earth, water, trees and women. In the case of the earth, the sin sho wa itself in pits and hollows contrived to receive the refuse and rubbish of sweepinge. It manifests itself on the waters as froth and foam. The trees exude it in the form of gums and resins. Women are troubled by it every month. The effect of this device was to give the transgressor only a slight reprieve, but cortainly no repose.
Trashţå barned with rage at the murder of his priestly son. He created another for himseli, Vpitrsura by name. The latter did not go into orders. He did better. He became king of the Asuras, as befitted one who was to avenge on Indra the murder of his brother, Vitrasura or - Vitra, as often written, proved to be the most inveterate and formidable foe of Indra. In fulness of time, however, the King of Heaven, with the help of all the greater and lesser gods, prevailed in battle and slew his enemy. But by this act he incurred, at the same time, the sin of