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D. D. KOSAMBI
god Tvaştı who is identificd as crcator with Varuna(iv.42.3) as well as the later Prajāpati, who appcars as a Rudra as well as an Aditya, and who is connected with multiplc-headed gods from Trisiras to Bșhaspati, is not originally an Aryan god with fixed position in the pantheon, but a figure from the preAryan background which could not be suppressed altogether in spitc of his conflict with Indra. .
The three possible mothers of Tribiras could very well be the original of a femalc trícd which occurs repcatcdly in thic Rgveda(i.188.8 ;i.3.8 ;iij.4.8;X. 110.8), Iļā, Sarasvati and Bhāratī. Thc last is thc carth, perhaps herc as a spccial goddess of the Bharatas. Idā is also the mother of Agni (jii.29.3) as personification of the lower wood of the fire-drill. Mosè important of all, she is the mother of Purūravas(x.95.18). Since this Purūravasis virtually thc founder of the lunar linc of kings, we have a complicated sct of puránic lcgcnds making Ilā a son of Manu, but transformed into a woman by stepping
ng into a grove sacred to Pārvati. The original legend had to be twisted, presumably bccausc a line in the patriarchal world cannot be properly founded through a daughter of Manu. We have already seen the prototype of the metamorphosis in the ambivalence of the sky-god or goddess and such changes of sex are far too common. Indra himself (1.51.13; AV vii. 38.2. Sat.Bráh. iii.3.4.18); AsargaPlayogi(Sāyaṇa at the beginning of viii.l, and the Sarvānukramani; Bịhaddcvată vi.41); Nārada, king Bhangásvana(Mbh.13.12, vulgate) and the 'monkcy' Riksarajas (in a probably apocryphal addition to tic Rāmāyaṇa) after hathing in enchanted pools; Sikhandlin who killed Bhīşma(originally and significantly named Ambā in a previous birth) all change sex, and somctimes both bcget and bear children. The roots go very far back, for the Tiraści of viii. 95.4 is the scer of the hymn, but the name is femininc in dcclension and masculine in usage. The grove and particularly tlic pool which cffcct the metamorphosis (which will be found cvcn in a tale of the Arabian Nights, and thc Qissah Halim Tat) has somctimcs been equated to the fountain of youth, as with the rejuvenating immcrsion of Cyavana*. The actual transformation in the first instance being from malc to femalc, thcy are much more likely to rcpresent places dedicated to the mysteries and initiation rites connected with the cult of one or more mother-goddesses----places which men could enter only to cmcrgc cmasculated, performing thercaster the functions of women, presumably in the service of the goddess. Some such prc-patriarchal initiation must bc the proper cxplanation of the verscs at the end of viii.33, particularly 19: strī hi brahmā babhúvitha 'thou, O priest, art become a woman.'
The forcgoing, I believe, will suffice to show how correct and useful a guide Engels's "Origin Of the Family, Private Property And The State" has
Cuayana clory is not a parallel at all, for therejuvenation is performed by the ASvins and the immerhorepetir later (Mbh, 3, 123.15-17) than the Ryvedir, whicre the sage regains his
dinira hai kiedrawn off like a garment (7.74.5; 1,116,10). This is the older version, based uptoprimitive wonder al pake cacting off his skin to appear rejuvenated.
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