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ORIGIN OF BRAHMIN GOTRAS
been scen to be associated with Indra (x.99.6, x.8.8) which has been taken as sufficicnt for the identification by most scholars. The divinc Vāc, of which thc Rgvcda knows more than onc varicty, though not as thc wife of Triširas, is the specch monopolized by our Brahmins, latcr dcificd as Sarasvati. Thc lcgcnd descrves a littic closer analysis. The Avcstan Thrita is thc first licalcr and founder of medicinc (Vd.xx), but a member of thc Säma family, which again sounds familiarly vedic. Traitana occurs only once in the Rgveda, as thc prc-Aryan or dcmon (dasa) whose blow at Dirghatamas rccoils upon himsclf, Icaving the sage unharmcd, to float down thc river : 1.158.5 siro yad asya trailano vitaksat svayam dāsa uro amsiv api gdha. It is possiblc to scc thc discordant fcaturcs at a glancc; thc grcat difference of territory between thc fourcorncrcd Varona (Tabaristan), for which Thractona was born to smitc Azi Dahāka, and the castern portion of the Indo-Aryan domain is significant. In addition, Azi Dahāka survives to tcmpt Zarathustra : "Rcnounce the good Rcligion of thc worshippers of Mazda, and thou shalt gain such a boon as Vadhaghna gained, the ruler of the nations" (Vd.xix.6). Yct the historic substancc of thc lcgcnd is cnhanced by analysis. In the first placc, Azi is a king, as shown by his palace and grcat sacrifice, which was not only repeated by his slayer but (ncar lakc Urumiah= Caccasta) by Kavi Husravah, "He who united the Aryan nations into one kingdom" (Yt.v.49,32, ix.22); at the Whitc Forcst by the 'murderer' Aurvasira ficcing from Husravah (Yt.xv.31); and by Xerxes (Her.vii.43, 113; cf.i.50). His connection with Babylon is curiously supportcd by latcr lcgcnd, for the Shah Namch describes him (=Zohäk) as with two snakes springing from his shoulders (cf.p.27 of thc Shah Nameh translation into English versc by A. Rogers, London 1907). Zohāk is not an ordinary king but a successor to Yima-Jamshed himsclf. The black snakes that issucd from his shoulders (as the devil kissed him therc) appcar on Mesopotamian scals as shoulder-rays from the sun, dragons from the shoulders of Tispak-Ningiszida or rivers issuing from thc shoulders of Ea or the hero Gilgamcś of Sumcrian lcgcnd; from them to the four-armed characters of the Indus valley scals and later sculpture is only a step, the actual transition probably being in the oppositc direction. Siśupāla (Mbh.2.40.1) the Cedian was born four-armed and thrcc-cycd. The god (?Sun) on Hammurabi's stelc has curved slamcs issuing from his shoulders. Thus, the legend is rooted dccp in thc historic tradition of Aryan conflicts with grcat prc-Aryan civilizations in thc Indus vallcy as well as in Mesopotamia ; we know that thesc civilizations had long, continuous co-existence and intercourse, as well as many commom fcatures, probably some common origins. In this case, I should be inclined lo consider tlic event itself as having occurred in thc Indus valley.
Just what the snakc-dcmon significs I cannot venture to say in this context, cspecially as his connection with the cult of the Mother-Goddess and pro-patriarchal family life is known, but not prescrvcd in cither of the two Aryan sources under discussion. However, other hcrocs conquer multiple-headed
