Indian Mythology

by A. Berriedale Keith

Footnotes

Frequently Used Abbreviations

JAOS Journal of the American Oriental Society.
JRAS Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society.
SBE Sacred Books of the East.
ZDMG Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenlandischen Gesellschaft

The complete titles and descriptions of the works cited in the Notes will be found in the Bibliography.

Chapter 1

[page 355]

1. Original Sanskrit Texts, v. 356, note.

2. This is what F. Max Miiller (Ancient Sanskrit Literature, London, 1859, pp. 526 ff.) called "henotheism."

3. Original Sanskrit Texts, v. 64, note.

4. See M. Bloomfield, Religion of the Veda, pp. 12, 126 ff. For the Iranian Asha see infra, pp. 260, 264.

5. For the Iranian conceptions of Ahura Mazda and Mithra see infra, pp. 260-61, 275 ff., 287-88, 305 ff.

6. For Ouranos see Mythology of All Races, Boston, 1916, i. 5-6, and for Moira see ib. pp. 283-84.

7. See H. Winckler, in Mitteilungen der deutschen Orientgesellschaft, No. 35 (1907); E. Meyer, "Das erste Auftreten der Arier in der Geschichte," in Sitzungsberichte der koniglich-preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1908, pp. 14-19, and Geschichte des Altertums, I. ii. 651 ff. (3rd ed., Berlin, 1913) ; H. Jacobi, in JRAS 1909, pp. 721 ff., H. Oldenberg, ib. pp. 1095 ff., J. H. Moulton, Early Zoroastrianism, London, 1913, pp. 6 ff.

8. For the Amesha Spentas see infra, p. 260.

9. R. T. H. Griffith, Hymns of the Rigveda, ii. 87.

10. See infra, pp. 282, 294, 304.

11. See M. Bloomfield, in American Journal of Philology, xvii. 428 ( 1896), from vi+snu (cf. sanu, "back").

12. See Mythology of All Races, Boston, 1916, i. 26-27, 246~47-

13. See Mythology of All Races, Boston, 1916, i. 245-46.

14. See A. Hillebrandt, Vedische Mythologie, iii. 157 ff.

15. See Shahnamah, tr. J. Mohl, Paris, 1876-78, i. 69-70.

16. See infra, pp. 267, 340.

17. The word siva means "auspicious."

18. See L. von Schroeder, Mysterium und Mimus im Rigveda, pp. 47 ff., 124 ff.

Chapter 2


1. See A. Hillebrandt, Vedische Mythologie, ii. 122-23.

2. Cf. Mythology of All Races, Boston, 1916, i. 208-09,

[356] 3. See M. Bloomfield, in JAOS xvi. i ff. (1894); H. Usenet, in Rheinisches Museum, Lx. 26 ff. (1905).

4. See infra, pp. 265, 282.

5. See A. A. Macdonell and A. B. Keith, Vedic Index, ii. 434-37.

6. R. T. H. Griffith, Hymns of the Rigveda, iv. 355-56.

7. See J. Rhys, Lectures on the Origin and Growth of Religion as illustrated by Celtic Heathendom, London, 1888, pp. 114-15.

8. See L. R. Farnell, Cults of the Greek States, Oxford, 1896-1908, iii. 50 ff.

9. This expression denotes first five tribes famous in Vedic history, and then all men generally.

10. See A. Hillebrandt, Vedische Mythologie, iii. 418-19.

11. See A. B. Keith, in JRAS 1915, pp. 127 ff.

12. See infra, pp. 325-26.

13. See L. von Schroeder, Mysterium und Mimus im Rigveda, pp.

14. See L. von Schroeder, op. cit. pp. 52, 63.

15. See infra, pp. 306-09.

16. Indische Studien, iv. 341 (1858).

17. Hence istapurta, "sacrifice and baksheesh," go together; see M. Bloomfield, Religion of the Veda, pp. 194 ff.

18. R. T. H. Griffith, Hymns of the Rigveda, iv. 133.


Chapter 3

1. See A. Hillebrandt, Vedische Mythologie, iii. 430 ff. Unlike M. Haug (Essays on the Sacred Language, Writings, and Religion of the Parsis, 3rd ed., London, 1884, pp. 287 ff .), Hillebrandt places the hostile contact with Iran after the period of the Rgveda and associates it with an older form of Iranian religion, not with Zarathushtra's teaching.

2. In Videgha Mathava V. Henry (La Magie dans I'lnde antique, 2nd ed., p. xxi.) sees the Indian Prometheus.

3. See A. B. Keith, in JRAS 1911, pp. 794-800.

4. Kubera appears as king of the Raksases in Satapatha Brahmana, XIII. iv. 3. 10; cf. Atharvaveda VIII. x. 28.


Chapter 4

1. See Mythology of All Races, Boston, 1916, i. 17-18.

2. Apparently each of these years is equal to 360 years of man; so Manu, i. 69, and the Puranas (cf. H. H. Wilson, Visnu Purana, ed. F. Hall, i. 49-50, and E. W. Hopkins, in JAOS xxiv. 42 ff. [1903]).

3. See B. C. Mazumdar, in JRAS 1907, pp. 337-39; Sir R. G. [357] Bhandarkar, Vaisnavism, Saivism, and Minor Religious Systems, pp. 113-15.

4. Religions of India, pp. 465 ff.

5. Indien und das Christentum, pp. 215 if.; for another view see Bhandarkar, op. cit. p. 12.

6. See A. B. Keith, in JRAS 1908, pp. 172 ff., 1912, pp. 416 ff., 1915, pp. 547-49, 1916, pp. 340 ff., and in ZDMG Ixiv. 534-36 (1910).

7. Das Ramayana, pp. 127 ff. For a different view see J. von Negelein, in WZKM xvi. 226 ff. (1902).

Chapter 5


1. This story forms the subject of a Vedic imitation, the Suparnadhyaya (edited by E. Grube, Berlin, 1875); cf. J. Hertel, in WZKM xxiii. 299 ff. ( 1909), and H. Oldenberg, in ZDMG xxxvii. 54-86 ( I893).

2. See J. Charpentier, in ZDMG Ixiv. 65-83 (1910), Ixvi. 44-47 ( 1912).

3. This is a new element in the tale and gives the best ground for regarding the narrative as Babylonian in origin; see M. Winternitz, in Mitteilungen der anthropologischen Gesellschaft in Wien, xxxi. 321 ff. ( 1901).

4. See W. Caland, Uber das rituelle Sutra des Baudhayana, Leipzig, 1903, p. 21 ; A. B. Keith, in JRAS 1913, pp. 412-17.

5. See G. A. Grierson, in ZDMG lxvi. (1912) 49 ff.

6. This idea is based on a popular etymological connexion with Sanskrit yam, "to restrain"; but as a matter of fact the word Yama means "Twin."

Chapter 6


1. This explanation is based on a purely fanciful etymology of mam, "me," and dha, "to suck."

2. Cf. J. F. Fleet, in JRAS 1905, pp. 223-36; R. Garbe, Indien und das Christentum, pp. 131 ff.

3. See Sir G. A. Grierson, in JRAS 1913, p. 144.

4. See A. B. Keith, in JRAS 1908, pp. 172-73.

5. Sir R. G. Bhandarkar (Vaisnavism, Saivism, and Minor Religious Systems, pp. 35 ff.) seeks (though without success) to show that Krsna as a cowherd is late.

6. See C. Lassen, Indische Alterthumskunde, ii. 811, 1107ff. A. Barth (Religions of India, p. 200, note), while doubting this view, points out that the androgynous form of Siva was known to Bardesanes (in Stobaeus, Ecl. phys. 56).

7. [358] Sir R. G. Bhandarkar (Vaisnavism, Saivism, and Minor Religious Systems, pp. 147-49) ascribes the growth of a single deity to the period about the sixth century A. D. The Vinayakas, who appear reduced to one in Ganapati, or Ganesa, are found in the Manava Grhya Sutra (ii. 14), and the Mahabharata (xiii. 151. 26) mentions Vinayakas and Ganesvaras as classes. Cf. M. Winternitz, in JRAS 1898, pp. 380-84.

8. See Sir R. G. Bhandarkar, Vaisnavism, Saivism, and Minor Religious Systems, pp. 153-55; R. Chanda, The Indo-Aryan Races, Rajshahi, 1916, pp. 223 ff.

Chapter 7


1. Pali is the term used to describe the language in which the Buddhist texts are preserved. It is a literary dialect whose origin is uncertain, but which is certainly not the language spoken by the Buddha, being much later than his time.

2. Vaisnavism, Saivism, and Minor Religious Systems, pp. 8 ff.

3. Indien und das Ckristentum, pp. 215 ff.

4. Cf. Mythology of All Races, Boston, 1916, i. 174-75.

5. See L. de la Vallee Poussin, Bouddhisme, Opinions sur l'histoire de la dogmatique, p. 239.

6. The phrase in question is chaddanta; see J. S. Speyer, in ZDMG lvii. 308 (1903).

7. See H. Luders, in Nachrichten von der koniglichen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Gottingen, 1901, p. 50; A. Foucher, in Melanges d'indianisme . . . offerts a M. Sylvain Levi, Paris, 1911, pp. 246-47, for very clear cases of a difference in date.

8. This conception is often ascribed to Iranian influence, i.e. the concept of the Fravashis; see A. Griinwedel, Buddhistische Kunst, 2nd ed., pp. 169 ff. 9. See infra, pp. 261, 300, 336.

10. See infra, pp. 327, 338.

Chapter 8


1. SBE xxii., p. xxxi., note, Oxford, 1884.
2. Cf., however, J. Charpentier, in JRAS 1913, pp. 669-74, would connect the Ajivikas with the Saivite sects.
3. Cf. W. H. Schoff, in JAOS xxxiii. 209 (1913).
4. See M. Winternitz, in JRAS 1895, pp. 159 ff. Nejamesa is also obviously to be read for Nejameya in Baudhayana Grhya Sutra, ii. 2, as in W. Caland, Uber das rituelle Sutra des Baudhayana, Lei pzig, 1903, p. 31. [359] This passage, however, with its invocation of "mothers" ( apparently the diseases of children), is evidently late.

Chapter 9


1. See G. A. Grierson, in JRAS 1907, pp. 311 ff.; R. Garbe, Indien und das Ckristentum, pp. 271 ff.

2. The name of the river means "destroying (the merit of good) works."

3. On this mythological figure see I. Friedlander, "Khidr," in Encyclopadia of Religion and Ethics, vii. 693-95, Edinburgh, 1915.

Return to Keith Table of Contents
Return to Folklore and Mythology Page
Return to History Workshop Menu