therefore, most worshipped by the lowest classes. One such spirit with great local reputation is Bischha Barham, the spirit of a Brāhmaṇ, who died a violent death. Bischha Barham is one of the most dreaded of all the male violent deities, and has a famous temple in Motihari, where even Muhammadans make offerings through the Brāhmaṇ priest who presides there." With due deference to the aforementioned high authority, I now take the liberty to point out and correct the undermentioned inaccuracies which have crept into the foregoing account of Birchhe Deo : : (a) The name of this godling is not Bischha Barham but Birchhe Deo. (6) This godling is not the spirit of a Brahman who died a violent death, but is the spirit of a Bhumihar who died in the course of a fight. In fact, he is one of the "sainted dead". (c) He is not one of the most dreaded of all the malevolent deities; but, on the contrary, he is a benevolent deity who is always adored and prayed to for granting boons. VII. - Sisurangirasah Kavih: By Surendranath Majumdar, Sastri, M.A., P.R.S. There is an interesting topic, in the Second Book of the Manusamhitā, dealing with the question whether “ learning ” or "age" is to be respected. In that connexion we find the following sloka : पितृमध्यापयामास शिशुराङ्गिरसः कविः |:/ ८८ II 151. It has been thus translated by Dr. Burnell: Angirasa kavi, a child, taught his elders and said to them ' children ! ' having received them as pupils by reason of his knowledge." Dr. Bubler's version is: "young Kavi the son of Angiras, taught his (relatives who were old enough to be) fathers., and as be excelled them in (sacred ) knowledge, he called them ‘Little sons.' Now the passage in question is, like so many other passages of the Bhṛguproktā Manusaṁhita, a paraphrase of a Vedic text and as such the meaning of it is to be settled by comparing it with the original Vedic text and its context. The following is the Vedic original of the passage :शैशव ं भवति । शिशु-र्वा व्यङ्गिरसो मन्त्रकृतां मन्त्रकुदासीत् । स पितॄन पुत्रका इत्यामन्त्रयत । तं पितरोऽब्रुवन् अधम्मेङ्करोषि यो न: पितृन खत: पुत्रका इत्यामन्त्रयसीति । सोऽब्रवीदह वा वः पितासिम, यो मन्त्रकुदस मौति । ते देवेष्वपृचछन्त । ते देवा अब्र ू वन्नेव वा ष: पिता यो माकृदिति । तदुवस उदनयदुज्जयति शिव ेन तुष्टुवान : (Tapdya Mahābrāhmana 18, 3, 23 ; Bibliotheca Indica series, vol. II. p. 18.) It may be translated thus :-" It is the posed [or seen] by Sisu [शिशुना दुव साम Saman-song comशवम् — Sāyana] Sisu, the son [or descendant] of Angiras was the best of the composers of hymns. He called fathers Little sons.' The fathers told him' you who are calling the fathers little sons are not acting righteously. He said, I am your father, for I am a composer of mantras (Vedic hymns). They asked the gods. The gods said, 'He is your father who is the composer of hymns. So one is vietorious if he praises by [singing] the saman composed by Sisu. " Now this passage occurs in a section which deals with the names of various sāmans almost all of which are named after their composers. And this context would make Śiśu a proper name and not as meaning "young as all commentators and translators have taken it. Dr. Burnell and Dr. Buhler took But this word does not occur in the Hence it is not the name but the epithet of the Kavi as the proper name. Vedic text. Baudhayana Dharmasūtra I, 3, 42 Buhler in his footnote, that nickname. But though he pointed out the Indian commentators in taking the this fact, he followed word in the sense of On the young." But the Vedic passage is conclusive. authority of this passage of the Taṇḍya-Brahmaņa, its commentary by Sāyaṇa and the Dharmasūtra of Baudhāyana pointed out by Buhler, I propose to translate "fugife: afa: " शिशुराङ्गिरस कबि as "Sisu, the wise, descendant of Angiras." |