VRATYA-VYAHRITIS.

369

VRATYA. "Persons whom the twice-born beget on women of their own classes, but who omit the prescribed rites and have abandoned the Gayatri, are to be designated as Vratyas." -Manu.

VRIDDHA.

'Old.' An epithet frequently found prefixed to the books of ancient writers, and evidently implying that there are one or more versions or recensions-as Vriddha Manu, Vriddha Harita. See Dharma-sastra.

VRIHAT-KATHĀ. 'Great story.' A large collection of tales from which the Katha-sarit-sagara was drawn. There is a critical examination of this work by Dr. Bühler in the Indian Antiquary, vol. i.

VRIHAT-SANHITĀ. The astronomical work of Varāha

Mihira.

VRIHAN NÄRADĪYA PURANA. An Upa-purana. See

Purāna.

VRIHASPATI. See Brihaspati.

VRIKODARA. 'Wolf belly.' An epithet of Bhima.

VRINDĀ-VANA. A wood in the district of Mathura where Krishna passed his youth, under the name of Gopāla, among the cowherds.

VRISHNI. A descendant of Yadu, and the ancestor from whom Krishna got the name Vārshneya.

VRISHNIS, VRISHNAYAS. The descendants of Vrishni, son of Madhu, whose ancestor was the eldest son of Yadu.` Krishna belonged to this branch of the Lunar race.

VRITRA. In the Vedas he is the demon of drought and ungenial weather, with whom Indra, the god of the firmament, is constantly at war, and whom he is constantly overpowering, and releasing the rain. Sometimes called Vritrāsura.

VRITRA-HAN. The slayer of Vritra. A title of Indra. VYĀDI. An old grammarian and lexicographer, somewhat later in time than Panini. A story in the Vrihat-kathā represents him as contemporary with Vararuchi.

VYAHRITIS. Three mystical words said by Manu to have been milked from the Vedas by Prajapati—the word bhūr, from the Rig-veda; the word bhuvah, from the Yajur-veda; and the word swar, from the Sama-veda (Manu, ii. 76). The Satapatha Brahmana defines them as "three luminous essences "" which Prajapati produced from the Vedas by heating them.

2 A

370 VYAKARANA-VYAVAHĀRA-CHINTĀMANI.

"He uttered the word bhūr, which became this earth; bhuvah, which became this firmament; and swar, which became that sky." A fourth word, mahar, is sometimes added, and is probably intended to represent the Atharva-veda. See Loka.

VYAKARANA. Grammar.' One of the Vedangas. The science of grammar has been carefully studied among the Hindus from very ancient times, and studied for its own sake as a science rather than as a means of acquiring or regulating language. The grammar of Panini is the oldest of those known to survive, but Panini refers to several grammarians who preceded himself. One of them was named Sākaṭāyana, a portion of whose work is said to have been discovered lately.

VYASA. 6 'An arranger.' This title is common to many old authors and compilers, but it is especially applied to Veda-vyāsa the arranger of the Vedas, who, from the imperishable nature of his work, is also called Saswatas, 'the immortal.' The name is given also to the compiler of the Maha-bharata, the founder of the Vedanta philosophy, and the arranger of the Purānas; all these persons being held to be identical with Veda-vyāsa. But this is impossible, and the attribution of all these works to one person has arisen either from a desire to heighten their antiquity and authority, or from the assumed identity of several different arrangers." Veda-vyāsa was the illegitimate son of the Rishi Parasara and Satyavati, and the child, who was of a dark colour, was brought forth on an island (dwipa) in the Yamuna. Being illegitimate he was called Kānīna, the 'bastard;' from his complexion he received the name Krishna, and from his birthplace he was called Dwaipayana. His mother afterwards married King Santanu, by whom she had two sons. The elder was killed in battle, and the younger, named Vichitra-vīrya, died childless. Krishna Dwaipayana preferred a life of religious retirement, but in accordance with law and at his mother's request, he took the two childless widows of her son, Vichitra-virya. By them he had two sons, Dhrita-rashtra and Pandu, between whose descendants the great war of the Maha-bharata was fought.

The Puranas mention no less than twenty-eight Vyāsas, incarnations of Vishnu or Brahmā, who descended to the earth in different ages to arrange and promulgate the Vedas.

VYAVAHĀRA-CHINTAMANI. A law-book of the Benares school by Vachaspati Misra.

VYAVAHARA-MAYŪKHA-YAJNA-SENA.

371

VYAVAHĀRA-MAYŪKHA. A law-book of the Mahratta

school by Nilakantha Bhatta. VYAVAHĀRA-TATWA.

Translated by Borrodaile.

A modern work on law according to the Bengal school by Raghunandana, who is also called Smarta-Bhattacharya.

YADAVA. A descendant of Yadu. The Yadavas were the celebrated race in which Krishna was born. At the time of his birth they led a pastoral life, but under him they established a kingdom at Dwārakā in Gujarat. All the Yadavas who were present in that city after the death of Krishna perished in it when it was submerged by the ocean. Some few were absent, and perpetuated the race, from which many princes and chiefs still claim their descent. The great Rajas of Vijaya-nagara asserted themselves as its representatives. The Vishnu Purāna

says of this race, "Who shall enumerate the whole of the mighty

men of the Yadava race, who were tens of ten thousands and hundreds of hundred thousands in number?"

He

YADU. Son of King Yayati of the Lunar race, and founder of the line of the Yadavas in which Krishna was born. refused to bear the curse of decrepitude passed upon his father by the sage Sukra, and in consequence he incurred the paternal curse, "Your posterity shall not possess dominion." Still he received from his father the southern districts of his kingdom, and his posterity prospered.

YĀJA. A Brāhman of great sanctity, who, at the earnest solicitation of King Drupada, and for the offer of ten millions of kine, performed the sacrifice through which his "altar-born " children, Dhrishta-dyumna and Draupadi, came forth from the sacrificial fire.

YAJNA. 'Sacrifice.' Sacrifice personified in the Puranas as son of Ruchi and husband of Dakshina. He had the head of a deer, and was killed by Vira-bhadra at Daksha's sacrifice. According to the Hari-vansa he was raised to the planetary sphere by Brahmā, and made into the constellation Mriga-siras (deer-head).

YAJNA-DATTA-BADHA. 'The death of Yajna-datta.' An episode of the Rāmāyana. It has been translated into French by Chézy.

YAJNA-PARIBHĀSHĀ. A Sūtra work by Āpastambha. YAJNA-SENA. A name of Drupada.

372

YAJNAWALKYA.

YAJNAWALKYA. A celebrated sage, to whom is attributed the White Yajur-veda, the Satapatha Brahmana, the Brihad Aranyaka, and the code of law called Yajnawalkyasmriti. He lived before the grammarian Katyayana, and was probably later than Manu; at any rate, the code bearing his name is posterior to that of Manu. He was a disciple of Bashkali, and more particularly of Vaisampayana. The Mahā-bhārata makes him present at the Rāja-sūya sacrifice performed by Yudhi-shthira; and according to the Satapatha Brahmana he flourished at the court of Janaka, king of Videha and father of Sītā. Janaka had long contentions with the Brahmans, in which he was supported, and probably prompted, by Yajnawalkya. This sage was a dissenter from the religious teaching and practices of his time, and is represented as contending with and silencing Brahmans at the court of his patron. A Brahman named Vidagdha Sakalya was his especial adversary, but he vanquished him and cursed him, so that "his head dropped off, and his bones were stolen by robbers." Yajnawalkya also is represented as inculcating the duty and necessity of religious retirement and meditation, so he is considered as having been the originator of the Yoga doctrine, and to have helped in preparing the world for the preaching of Buddha. He had two wives, Maitreyi and Katyayani, and he instructed the former in his philosophical doctrine. Max Müller quotes a dialogue between them from the Satapatha Brahmana (Ancient Sanskrit Literature, p. 22), in which the sage sets forth his views.

The White Yajur-veda originated in a schism, of which Yajnawalkya was a leader, if not the author. He was the originator and compiler of this Veda, and according to some it was called Vājasaneyī Sanhitā, from his surname Vājasaneya. See Veda.

What share Yajnawalkya had in the production of the Satapatha Brāhmaṇa and Brihad Āranyaka is very doubtful. Some part of them may, perhaps, have sprung directly from him, and they were probably compiled under his superintendence; but it may be, as some think, that they are so called because they treat of him and embody his teaching. One portion of the Brihad Āranyaka, called the Yajnawalkiya Kānda, cannot have been his composition, for it is devoted to his glorification and honour, and was probably written after his death.

The Smriti, or code of law which bears the name of Yajnawalkya, is posterior to that of Manu, and is more precise and stringent in its provisions. Its authority is inferior only to that of Manu, and as explained and developed by the celebrated commentary Mitāksharā, it is in force all over India except in Bengal proper, but even there the original text-book is received. The second century A. D. has been named as the earliest date of this work. Like Manu, it has two recensions, the Brihad and Vriddha, perhaps more. The text has been printed in Calcutta, and has been translated into German by Stenzler and into English by Roer and Montriou.

YAJUR or YAJUSH.

The second Veda. See Veda.

YAKSHAS. A class of supernatural beings attendant on Kuvera, the god of wealth. Authorities differ as to their origin.

They have no very special attributes, but they are generally considered as inoffensive, and so are called Punya-janas, good people,' but they occasionally appear as imps of evil. It is a Yaksha in whose mouth Kāli-dāsā placed his poem Megha-dūta (cloud messenger).

See Loka.

YAKSHA-LOKA.
YAKSHI, YAKSHINI

1. A female Yaksha. 2. Wife of Kuvera. 3. A female demon or imp attendant on Durgā. YAMA. 'Restrainer.' Pluto, Minos. In the Vedas Yama is god of the dead, with whom the spirits of the departed dwell. He was the son of Vivaswat (the Sun), and had a twin-sister named Yami or Yamuna. These are by some looked upon as the first human pair, the originators of the race; and there is a remarkable hymn, in the form of a dialogue, in which the female urges their cohabitation for the purpose of perpetuating the species. Another hymn says that Yama "was the first of men that died, and the first that departed to the (celestial) world." He it was who found out the way to the home which cannot be taken away: "Those who are now born (follow) by their own paths to the place whither our ancient fathers have departed.” “But," says Dr. Muir, "Yama is nowhere represented in the Rig-veda as having anything to do with the punishment of the wicked." So far as is yet known, "the hymns of that Veda contain no prominent mention of any such penal retribution. ... Yama is still to some extent an object of terror. He is represented as having two insatiable dogs with four eyes and wide nostrils,