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GADA
A younger brother of Krishna.
GADHI,
GATHIN
A king of the Kusika race, and father of Viswamitra. He was son of
Kusamba, or, according to the Vishnu Purana, he was Indra, who took
upon himself that form.
GALAVA
A pupil of Viswamitra. It is related in the Maha-bharata that at the
conclusion of his studies he importuned his master to say what
present he should make him. Viswamitra was annoyed, and told him to
bring 800 white horses, each having one black ear. In his perplexity
Galava applied to Garuda, who took him to King Yayati at
Pratishthana. The king was unable to provide the horses, but he gave
to Galava his daughter Madhavi. Galava gave her in marriage
successively to Haryaswa, king of Ayodhya, Divo-dasa, king of Kasi,
and Usinara, king of Bhoja, receiving from each of them 200 of the
horses he was in quest of, upon the birth of a son to each from
Madhavi. Notwithstanding her triple marriage and maternity, Madhavi,
by a special boon, remained a virgin. Galava presented her and the
horses to Viswamitra. The sage accepted them, and had a son by
Madhavi, who was named Ashtaka. When Viswamitra retired to the
woods, he resigned his hermitage and his horses to Ashtaka, and
Galava having taken Madhavi back to her father, himself retired to
the forest as his preceptor had done. The horses were first obtained
by the Brahman Richaka from the god Varuna. They were originally
1000 in number, but his descendants sold 600 of them, and gave the
rest away to Brahmans.
According to the Hari-vansa, Galava was son of Viswamitra,
and that sage in a time of great distress tied a cord round his
waist and offered him for sale. Prince Satyavrata (q.v.) gave him
liberty and restored him to his father. From his having been bound
with a cord (gala) he was called
Galava.
There was a teacher of the White Yajur-veda named Galava, and
also an old grammarian named by Panini.
GANA-DEVATAS
`Troops of deities.’
Deities who generally appear, or are spoken of, in classes.
Nine such classes are mentioned:- (1.) Adityas, (2.) Viswas or
Viswe-devas; (3.) Vasus; (4.) Tushitas; (5.) Abhaswaras; (6.)
Anilas; (7.) Maharajikas; (8.) Sadhyas; (9.) Rudras. These inferior
deities are attendant upon Siva, and under the command of Ganesa.
They dwell on Gana-parvata, i.e.,
Kailasa.
GANA-PATI
See Ganesa.
GANAPATYA
A small sect who worship Gana-pati or Ganesa as their chief
deity.
GANAS
See Gana-devatas.
GANDAKI
The river Gandak (vulg. Gunduk), in
Oude.
GANDHA-MADANA
`Intoxicating with fragrance.’ 1. A mountain and forest in Ilavrita,
the central region of the world, which contains the mountain Meru.
The authorities are not agreed as to its relative position with
Meru. 2. A general of the monkey allies of Rama. He was killed by
Ravana’s son Indra-jit, but was restored o life by the medicinal
herbs brought by Hanuman from Mount
Kailasa.
GANDHARA,
GANDHARA
A country and city on the west bank of the Indus about Attock.
Mahomedan geographers call it Kandahar, but it must not be
confounded with the modern town of that name. It is the Gandaritis
of the ancients, and its people are the Gandarii of Herodotus. The
Vayu Purana says it was famous for its breed of
horses.
GANDHARI
Princess of Gandhara. The daughter of Subala, king of Gandhara, wife
of Dhrita-rashtra, and mother of his hundred sons. Her husband was
blind, so she always wore a bandage over her eyes to be like him.
Her husband and she, in their old age, both perished in a forest
fire. She is also called by the patronymics Saubali and Saubaleyi.
She is said to have owed her hundred sons to the blessing of Vyasa,
who, in acknowledgment of her kind hospitability, offered her a
boon. She asked for a hundred sons. Then she became pregnant, and
continued so for two years, at the end of which time she was
delivered of a lump of flesh. Vyasa took the shapeless mass and
divided it into 101 pieces, which he placed in as many jars. In due
time Dur-yodhana was produced, but with such accompanying fearful
portents that Dhrita-rashtra was besought, though in vain, to
abandon him. A month afterwards ninety-nine other sons came forth,
and an only daughter, Duh-sala.
GANDHARVA
The `heavenly Gandharva’ of the Veda was a deity who knew and
revealed the secrets of heaven and divine truths in general. He is
thought by Goldstucker to have been a personification of the fire of
the sun. The Gandharvas generally had their dwelling in the sky or
atmosphere, and one of their offices was to prepare the heavenly
soma juice for the gods. They had a great partiality for women, and
had a mystic power over them. The Atharva-veda speaks of “the 6333
Gandharvas.” The Gandharvas of later times are similar in character;
they have charge of the soma, are skilled in medicine, regulate the
asterisms, and are fond of women. Those of Indra’s heaven are
generally intended by the term, and they are singers and musicians
who attend the banquets of the gods. The Puranas give contradictory
accounts of the origin of the Gandharvas. The Vishnu Purana says, in
one place, that they were born from Brahma, “imbibing melody.
Drinking of the goddess of speech (gam dhayantah), they were born,
and thence their appellation.” Later on it says that they were the
offspring of Kasyapa and his wife Arishta. The Hari-vansa states
that they sprang from Brahma’s nose, and also that they were
descended from Muni, another of Kasyapa’s wives. Chitra-ratha was
chief of the Gandharvas; and the Apsarases were their wives or
mistresses. The “cities of the Gandharvas” are often referred to as
being very splendid. The Vishnu Purana has a legend of the
Gandharvas fighting with the Nagas in the infernal regions, whose
dominions they seized and whose treasures they plundered. The Naga
chiefs appealed to Vishnu for relief, and he promised to appear in
the person of Purukutsa to help them. Thereupon the Nagas sent their
sister Narmada (the Nerbudda river) to this Purukutsa, and she
conducted him to the regions below, where he destroyed the
Gandharvas. They are sometimes called Gatus and Pulakas. In the
Maha-bharata, apparently, a race of people dwelling in the hills and
wilds is so called.
GANDHARVA-LOKA
See Loka.
GANDHARVA-VEDA
The science of music and song, which is considered to include the
drama and dancing. It is an appendix of the Sama-veda, and its
invention is ascribed to the Muni
Bharata.
GANDINI
1. Daughter of Kasi-raja; she had been twelve years in her mother’s
womb when her father desired her to come forth. The child told her
father to present to the Brahmans a cow every day for three years,
and at the end of that time she would be born. This was done, and
the child, on being born, received the name of Gandini, `cow daily.’
She continued the gift as long as she lived. She was wife of
Swa-phalka and mother of Akrura. 2. The Ganga or
Ganges.
GANDIVA
The bow of Arjuna, said to have been given by Soma to Varuna, by
Varuna to Agni, and by Agni to
Arjuna.
GANESA
(Gana + Isa), GANA-PATI
Lord of the Ganas or troops of inferior deities, especially those
attendant upon Siva. Son of Siva and Parvati, or of Parvati only.
One legend represents that he sprang from the scurf of Parvati’s
body. He is the god of wisdom and remover of obstacles; hence he is
invariably propitiated at the beginning of any important
undertaking, and is invoked at the commencement of books. He is said
to have written down the Maha-bharata from the dictation of Vyasa.
He is represented as a short fat man of a yellow colour, with a
protuberant belly, four hands, and the head of an elephant, which
has only one tusk. In one hand he holds a shell, in another a
discuss, in the third a club or goad, and in the fourth a
water-lily. Sometimes he is depicted riding upon a rat or attended
by one; hence his appellation Akhu ratha. His temples are very
numerous in the Dakhin. There is a variety of legends accounting for
his elephant head. One is that his mother Parvati, proud of her
offspring, asked Sani (Saturn) to look at him, forgetful of the
effects of Sani’s glance. Sani looked and the child’s head was burnt
to ashes. Brahma told Parvati in her distress to replace the head
with the first she could find, and that was an elephant’s. Another
story is that Parvati went to her bath and told her son to keep the
door. Siva wished to enter and was opposed, so he cut off Ganesa’s
head. To pacify Parvati he replaced it with an elephant’s, the first
that came to hand. Another version is that his mother formed him so
to suit her own fancy, and a further explanation is that Siva slew
Aditya the sun, but restored him to life again. For this violence
Kasyapa doomed Siva’s son to lose his head; and when he did lose it,
the head of Indra’s elephant was used to replace it. The loss of one
tusk is accounted for by a legend, which represents Parasu-rama as
coming to Kailasa on a visit to Siva. The god was asleep and Ganesa
opposed the entrance of the visitor to the Inner apartments. A
wrangle ensued, which ended in a fight. “Ganesa had at first the
advantage, seizing Parasu-rama with his trunk and giving him a twirl
that left him sick and senseless. On recovering, Parasu-rama threw
his axe at Ganesa, who, recognising it as his father’s weapon (Siva
having given it to Parasu-rama), received it with all humility on
one of his tusks, which it immediately severed; hence Ganesa has but
one tusk, and is known by the name of Eka-danta or Eka-danshtra (the
single-tusked). These legends are narrated at length in the Brahma
Vaivartta Purana.
Ganesa is also called Gajanana, Gaja-vadana, and Kari-mukha,
`elephant-faced;’ Heramba; `boastful;’ Lamba-karna, `long-eared;’
Lambodara, `pendant-bellied;’ Dwi-deha, `double bodied;’ Vighnesa,
Vighna-hari, `remover of obstacles.’ A peculiar appellation is
Dwai-matura, `having two mothers,’ in allusion, it is said, to his
birth from the scurf of Parvati’s body.
GANESA-GITA
The Bhagavad-gita, but with the name of Ganesa substituted for that
of Krishna. It is used by the Ganapatyas or worshippers of
Ganesa.
GANESA
PURANA
An Upa Purana having especial reference to the glory and greatness
of Ganesa.
GANGA
The sacred river Ganges. It is said to be mentioned only twice in
the Rig-veda. The Puranas represent the Viyad-ganga, or heavenly
Ganges, to flow from the toe of Vishnu, and to have been brought
down from heaven, by the prayers of the saint Bhagiratha, to purify
the ashes of the sixty thousand sons of King Sagara, who had been
burnt by the angry glance of the sage Kapila. From this earthly
parent the river is called Bhagirathi. Ganga was angry at being
brought down from heaven, and Siva, to save the earth from the shock
of her fall, caught the river on his brow, and checked its course
with his matted locks. From this action he is called Ganga-dhara,
`upholder of the Ganges.’ The river descended from Siva’s brow in
several streams, four according to some, and ten according to
others, but the number generally accepted is seven, being the
Sapta-sindhava, the seven sindhus or rivers. The Ganges proper is
one of the number. The descent of the Ganges disturbed the sage
Jahnu as he was performing a sacrifice, and in his anger he drank up
the waters, but he relented and allowed the river to flow from his
ear, hence the Ganges has the name of Jahnavi. Personified as a
goddess, Ganga is the eldest daughter of Himavat and Mena, and her
sister was Uma. She became the wife of King Santanu and bore a son,
Bhishma; who is also known by the metronymic Gangeya. Being also, in
a peculiar way, the mother of Kartikeya (q.v.), she is called
Kumara-su. Gold, according to the Maha-bharata, was borne by the
goddess Ganga to Agni, by whom she had been impregnated. Other names
and titles of the Ganges are Bhadra-soma, Gandini, Kirata,
Deva-bhuti, `produced in heaven;’ Hara-sekhara, `crest of Siva;’
Khapaga, `flowing from heaven;’ Mandakini, `gently flowing;’
Tri-patha-ga or Tri-srotah, `triple flowing,’ running in heaven,
earth, and hell.
GANGA-DHARA
A name of Siva. See Ganga.
GANGA-DWARAThe
gate of the Ganges. The opening in the Himalaya mountains through
which the river descends into the plains, now known as
Haridwar.
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