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RAM
167
RAS
Rámosvara-sangama-The confluence of the river Banas with the Cham bal. Rankshu-The Rangit, a tributary of the Tista in the Darjeeling district (Markand. P., ch. 57). Rantipura-Rintambur or Rintipur on the Gomati, a branch of the Chambal. It was the abode of Ranti Deva alluded to by Kalidasa in his Meghadůta (pt. I, 61. 47). The story of
Ranti Deva's sacrifice of cows is related in the Mahabharata (Drona P., ch. 67). Rase-The river Jazartes, the Ranha of the Avesta (Macdonnel and Keith's Vedic Index
of Names and Subjects, Vol. II, p. 209; Rig Veda, X, 75). Rasátala-Western Tartary, including Turkestan and the northern side of the Caspian Sea,
the country of the Huns who were also called Te le, the Sanskrit form of wbich is Tala. Rasktala or Patala was the general name of the country as well as the specific name of one of its provinces. The seven "spheres" or provinces of Rasatala derived their names from the different tribes of Huns and Scythians (Sakas) who dwelt there and belonged to the Turanian stock, (1) Atala derived its name from the A-telites ; (2) Bitala from the Ab-telites; (3) Nitala from the Neph-thalites; (4) Talatala from the To-charis (or the Takshakas of the Mahabharata and the Puranas, see Todd's Rajasthan, vol. I, ch. V, p. 01 note). The Vishnu P. (ii, ch. 8) has Gabhastimat instead of Talatala ; Gabhasti appears to be the same as the Jaxartes (ibid., ch.4), especially the upper portion of it; (5) Mahátala from the Hai-talites; (6) Sutala from the Ci-darites or su tribes who lived in the Upper Jazartes and the Oxus. They were the Surabhis or cows (Chorosmi of the classical writers) and Suparnas or Garudas or birds of the Mahabharata (Udyoga, chs. 100 and 101), who lived in the Trans-Caspian District. The names of the several tribes of Suparņas commence with Su (ibid., ch. 100). The Garudas were Sakas, but they followed the Zoroastrian religion : (7) Rasktala is the valley of the Rasa (q.v.) or the Jaxartes. It derived its name from the river Rasa, on the banks of which the Huns and the Scythians (Sakas) resided. They were called Nagas or serpents. The word Naga is evidently a corruption of Hiung-nu, the ancient name of the Huns, and according to some authority they believed that the Serpent.(Naga) was the symbol of the earth (Ragozin's Vedic India, p. 308). Each name of the serpents of PatAla as mentioned in the Mahabharata (Adi, ch. 35) represents a tribe of Ngas, as Sesha--the Sees of Sogdiana, Vasuki-the Usuivis, Takshakas-the Tocharis, Agvatara--the Agia, Tittirithe Tatars afterwards called Tartars, etc. For the different names of the Huns, or rather of their tribes, see Dr. Modi's Karly History of the Huns in JBBRAS., vol. XXIV (1916-17), pp. 566, 548. Some of the Scythians also were Hunnic tribes (ibid., p. 563). Patala, though a general name, is evidently derived from the Eph-thalitas or the White Huns; they were called white in contradistinction to the black or sun-burnt Huns of the North (ibid., p. 565). Rasktala or Patala wae also the abode of the Danavas (demons) who were also Turanians. (Dr. J. J. Modi's Ancient Patnliputra in JBBRAS., vol. XXIV (1916-17), pp. 519, 521). The classical name of the Caspian Sea wag Mare Cagpium or Hyrcanum, whicb shows that the name was derived from the two parts of the name of Hiranyakaśipu (a daitya), the son of Kasyapa ; and the ancient town of Hyrcania near the modern town of Asterabad to the south-east of the Caspian Sea must have been his capital, the ancient Hiranyapura (Padma P., Srishti, ch. 6) though tradition places it (q.v.) in India. Bali's palace was situated in Sutala or in the TransCaspian District (Harivamia, ch. 262). Kasyapa was the progenitor of the aforesaid tribes. The idea of Patala being below the surface of the earth, which can be entered through a subterranean passage and the conception that it contains seven spheres one above the other, have arisen out of a hazy memory of a primeval age, and the association
