are, also, made up of the same triform essence. In creation, it is Brahmá, consisting of the Rig-veda; in preservation, it is Vishnu, composed of the Yajur-veda; and, in destruction, Rudra, formed of the Sáma-veda, the utterance of which is, consequently, inauspicious. 1*

Thus, the energy of Vishnu, made up of the three Vedas, and derived from the property of goodness, † presides in the sun, along with the seven beings belonging to it; and, through the presence of this power, the planet shines with intense radiance, dispersing, with his beams, the darkness that spreads over the whole world: and hence the Munis praise him, the quiristers and nymphs of heaven sing and dance before him, and fierce spirits and holy sages§ attend upon his path. Vishnu, in the form of his active energy, never either rises or sets, and is, at once, the sevenfold sun and distinct from it. In the same manner as a man, approaching a mirror, placed upon a stand, beholds, in it, his own image, so the energy (or reflection) of

The formulæ of the Sáma-veda are not to be used, along with those of the Rich and Yajus, at sacrifices in general.

For a closer rendering of the last paragraph and this, see Dr. Muir's Original Sanskrit Texts, Part III., p. 16.

+ Sáttwika.

Niśáchara, 'night-rovers'. Then follows the line, left untranslated: वहन्ति पन्नगा यचैः क्रियतेऽभीषुसंग्रहः ।

"The Serpents bear him, i. e., serve his chariot; the Yakshas gather up his reins.'

See p. 289, supra, and my notes and ¶.

§ Válikhilya. Vide p. 289, supra, text and note **.
|| नोदेता नास्तमेता च कदाचिच्छक्तिरूपधृक् ।
विष्णुर्विष्णोः पृथक्तस्य गणः सप्तमयोऽ प्ययम् ॥

Vishnu is never disjoined (from the sun's car, which is the stand of the mirror), but remains, month by month, in the sun, (as in the mirror), which is there stationed.

The sovereign sun, O Brahman, the cause of day and night, perpetually revolves, affording delight to the gods, to the progenitors, and to mankind. Cherished by the Sushumna* ray of the sun,' the moon is fed

'The Váyu, Linga, † and Matsya Puráñas specify several of

“According to the Nirukta, II., 6, it is one ray of the sun (that named Sushumna) which lights up the moon; and it is with respect to that that its light is derived from the sun. The Puránas have adopted the doctrine of the Vedas.” Professor Wilson's Translation of the Rigveda, Vol. I., p. 217, first foot-note.

+ Prior Section, LX., 19–25:

रवे रश्मिसहस्रं यत्प्राङ्मया समुदाहृतम् ।

तेषां श्रेष्ठाः पुनः सप्त रश्मयो ग्रहयोनयः ॥
सुषुम्णो हरिकेशश्च विश्वकर्मा तथैव च
विश्वत्र्यचीः पुनश्चान्यः संनद्धश्च ततः परः ॥
सर्वावसुः पुनश्चान्यः स्वराडन्यः प्रकीर्तितः ।
सुषुम्णः सूर्यरश्मिस्तु दक्षिणां राशिमेधयन् ॥
न्यगूर्ध्वाधः प्रचारोऽस्य सुषुम्णः परिकीर्तितः ।
हरिकेशः पुरस्ताद्यो ऋचयोनिः प्रकीर्त्यते ॥
दक्षिणे विश्वकर्मा च रश्मिर्वर्धयते बुधम् ।
विश्वत्र्यचास्तु यः पश्चाच्छुक्रयोनिः स्मृतो बुधैः ॥
संनद्धश्च तु यो रश्मिः स योनिलोहितस्य तु ।
षष्ठः सर्वावसू रश्मिः स योनिस्तु बृहस्पतेः ॥
शनैश्चरं पुनश्चापि रश्मिराप्यायते स्वराट् ।
एवं सूर्यप्रभावेन नक्षत्रग्रहतारकाः ॥

Here the seven chief rays are: Sushumna, Harikeśa, Viswakarman, Viswatryarchas, Sannaddha, Sarvavasu, and Swaraj Variants are: Harakesa, for Harikeśa; Samyama, for Sannaddha ; Arvávasu, for Sarvavasu. The Commentator explains दक्षिणां राशिं, in 7. 3, चन्द्ररूपाम् . In my copies of the Vayu and Matsya I have found Sushumna alone mentioned.

(to the full, in the fortnight of its growth); and, in the fortnight of its wane, the ambrosia of its substance is perpetually drunk by the immortals, (until the last day of the half month), when the two remaining digits are drunk by the progenitors: hence these two orders of beings are nourished by the sun. The moisture of the earth, which the sun attracts by his rays, he again parts with, for the fertilization of the grain and the nutriment of (all terrestrial) creatures; and, consequently, the sun is the source of subsistence to every class of living things, -to gods, progenitors, mankind, and the rest. The sun, Maitreya, satisfies the wants of the gods for a fortnight (at a time); those of the progenitors, once a month; and those of men and other animals, daily.

the rays of the sun from amongst the many thousands which they say proceed from him. Of these, seven are principal, termed Sushumna, Harikeśa, Viswakarman, Viśwakárya, Sampadwasu, Arvavasu, and Swaráj, supplying heat, severally, to the moon, the stars, and to Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.

CHAPTER XII.

Description of the moon: his chariot, horses, and course: fed by the sun drained, periodically, of ambrosia by the progenitors and gods. The chariots and horses of the planets: kept in their orbits by aerial chains attached to Dhruva. Typical members of the planetary porpoise. Vásudeva alone real. PARÁSARA.-The chariot of the moon has three wheels, and is drawn by ten horses,* of the whiteness of the Jasmine, five on the right half (of the yoke), five on the left. It moves along the asterisms, divided into ranges, as before described; and, in like manner as the sun, is upheld by Dhruva; the cords that fasten it being tightened or relaxed in the same way, as it proceeds on its course. The horses of the moon, sprung from the bosom of the waters,' drag the car

So is the car, according to the Váyu: qui niagaft TY:.

Their names are given in the Váyu-puráňa:

ययुश्चित्रमनाश्चैव वृषो राजी बलो हयः ।

अश्वो वामस्तुरण्यश्च हंसो व्योमी मृगस्तथा ॥

They are, thus, called Yayu, Chitramanas, "Vŕisha, Rajin, Bala, Váma, Turanya, Hamsa, Vyomin, Mriga.

+ रथस्त्रिचक्रः सोमस्य कुन्दाभास्तस्य वाजिनः ।
वामदक्षिणतो युक्ता दश तेन चरत्यसौ ॥
वीध्याश्रयाणि ऋचाणि ध्रुवाधारेण वेगिना ।
ह्रासवृद्धिक्रमस्तस्य रश्मीनां सवितुर्यथा ॥

'The chariot of the Moon is three-wheeled; and ten horses, resembling the jasmine in colour, are yoked to it on the right and on the left. With that rapid car, upstayed by the pole-star, he, the Moon, travels through the asterisms, located in the vithis. The successive shortening and lengthening of the cords bound to his chariot are as in the case of the sun.'

Compare the beginning of Chapter IX., at p. 278, supra.

for a whole Kalpa, as do the coursers of the sun. The radiant sun supplies the moon,-when reduced, by the draughts of the gods, to a single Kalá,—with a single ray; and, in the same proportion as the ruler of the night was exhausted by the celestials, it is replenished by the sun, the plunderer of the waters: for the gods, Maitreya, drink the nectar and ambrosia* accumulated in the moon, during half the month; and, from this being their food, they are immortal. Thirty-six thousand, three hundred, and thirty-three divinities drink the lunar ambrosia.† When two digits remain, the moon enters the orbit of the sun, and abides in the

The orb of the moon, according to the Linga, § is only congealed

water:

घनतोयात्मकं तत्र मण्डलं शशिनः स्मृतम् ।

as that of the sun is concentrated heat:

*

घनतेजोमयं शुक्लं मण्डलं भास्करस्य च ।

सुधामृतं, ie, according to the smaller commentary, सुधारूपममृतं Hi, amrita—a prophylactic against death—in the form of sudha. And this view does not clash with the fact that the food of the gods is implied, in the second half of the stanza, to be simply sudhá:

संवृतं चार्धमासेन तत्सोमस्थं सुधामृतम् ।

पिबन्ति देवा मैत्रेय सुधाहारा यतो ऽमराः ॥

Where named conjointly, sudha and amrita, being alike potable, can never be so sharply distinguished as the nectar and ambrosia of Olympian gastronomy, whose ordinarily recognized consistency, however, Sappho and Alcman reverse. Amrita is "not a solid substance, like außoooía, though both words are kindred in origin." Goldstücker's Sanskrit Dictionary, p. 380. In the chapter under annotation, amrita and sudhá are used as though they were, respectively, generic and specific. + Literally, 'the moon', kshańadákara.

Read orb of the sun', súrya-mandala. From this point, down to and including "Brahmanicide", we have a parenthesis.

§ Prior Section, LX., 7.