TRANSLITERATION AND PRONUNCIATION. xix

sounds of 'ch' and 'j' as in 'church' and 'just.' The cerebrals and the dentals are similar letters, but the former are drawn from the roof of the mouth and the latter from the tips of the teeth. In 'train' and 'drain' we have cerebrals; in 'tin' and 'due' we have dentals, or an approach to them. The ordinary English 't' and 'd' are more cerebral than dental, and the natives of India in transcribing English names use the cerebrals for our 't' and 'd.' The palatal sibilant 's' has a sound intermediate between 's' and 'sh,' resembling the double 'ss' in 'session.' The visarga, the final 'h,' has no distinct enunciation, but it is nevertheless a real letter, and changes in certain positions into 's' and 'r.' Thus the name Sunahsephas is sometimes written Sunassephas.

[In French the palatal 'ch' is represented by 'tch' and the 'j' by 'dj.' In German the 'ch' is expressed by 'tsch' and the 'j' by 'dsch.' These very awkward combinations have induced Max Müller and others to use an italic 'k' and 'g' instead of them.]

Some words will be found with varying terminations, as ‘Hanumat' and 'Hanuman,' 'Sikhandin' and 'Sikhandi.' The explanation of this is that Sanskrit nouns have what is called a crude form or stem independent of case termination, and the nominative case very frequently differs from it. So 'Hanumat' and 'Sikhandin' are crude forms; Hanuman' and 'Sikhandi' are their nominative cases. There are other such variations which need not be noticed.

The letters band v are often interchanged, so words not found under the one letter should be sought for under the other.

HINDU CLASSICAL DICTIONARY.

ĀBHASWARAS. A class of deities, sixty-four in number,

of whose nature little is known.

ABHIDHANA.

A dictionary or vocabulary.

There are

many such works. One of the oldest of them is the Abhidhāna ratna-mālā of Halāyudha Bhatta (circa 7th cent.), and one of the best is the Abhidhana Chinta-mani of Hema-chandra, a Jaina writer of celebrity (13th cent.). The former has been edited by Aufrecht; the latter by Colebrooke and by Böhtlingk and Rieu. ABHIMĀNĪ. Agni, the eldest son of Brahmā.

By his wife Swāhā he had three sons, Pāvaka, Pavamana, and Suchi. "They had forty-five sons, who, with the original son of Brahmā and his three descendants, constitute the forty-nine fires." See Agni.

ABHIMANYU. Son of Arjuna by his wife Su-bhadra, and known by the metronymic Saubhadra. He killed Lakshmana, the son of Dur-yodhana, on the second day of the great battle - of the Maha-bhārata, but on the thirteenth day he himself fell fighting heroically against fearful odds. He was very handsome. His wife was Uttarā, daughter of the Raja of Virāta. His son, Parikshit, succeeded to the throne of Hastinapura.

ABHIRA, ĀBHIRA. A cowherd; according to Manu the offspring of a Brahman by a woman of the Ambashtha or medical tribe. A people located in the north of India along the Indus. There has been a good deal of misapprehension. respecting this people. Hindu writers have described them as living in the north and in the west, the quarter varying according to the locality of the writer, and translators have mixed

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ABHIRAMA-MANI—ADHYĀTMĀ RĀMĀYANA.

them up with a neighbouring people, the Sudras, sometimes called Sūras, with whom they are generally associated, and have called them Sūrābhīras. Their modern representatives are the Ahīrs, and perhaps there is something more than identity of locality in their association with the Sudras. It has been suggested that the country or city of the Abhiras is the Ophir of the Bible.

ABHIRAMA-MANI. A drama in seven acts on the history of Rāma, written by Sundara Misra in 1599 A.D. "The composition possesses little dramatic interest, although it has some literary merit."-Wilson.

ĀCHĀRA. 'Rule, custom, usage.' The rules of practice of castes, orders, or religion. There are many books of rules which have this word for the first member of their titles, as Āchārachandrikā, 'moonlight of customs,' on the customs of the Sūdras ; Āchārādarsa, 'looking-glass of customs;' Āchāra-dīpa, lamp of customs,' &c., &c.

ACHARYA. A spiritual teacher or guide. A title of Drona, the teacher of the Pandavas.

ACHYUTA. 'Unfallen;' a name of Vishnu or Krishna. It has been variously interpreted as signifying "he who does not perish with created things," in the Maha-bhārata as "he who is not distinct from final emancipation," and in the Skanda Purana as "he who never declines (or varies) from his proper

nature."

ADBHUTA-BRĀHMANĀ. 'The Brahmana of miracles.' A Brahmana of the Sama-veda which treats of auguries and marvels. It has been published by Weber.

ADHARMA. Unrighteousness, vice; personified as a son of Brahmā, and called "the destroyer of all beings."

ADHIRATHA. A charioteer. The foster-father of Karna, according to some he was king of Anga, and according to others the charioteer of King Dhritarashtra ; perhaps he was both.

ADHWARYU. A priest whose business it is to recite the prayers of the Yajur-veda.

ADHYATMAN. The supreme spirit, the soul of the uni

verse.

ADHYATMA RĀMĀYANA. A very popular work, which is considered to be a part of the Brahmanda Purana. It has been printed in India. See Rāmāyaṇa.

ADI-PURANA-ADITYA.

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‚ĀDI-PURANA. 'The first Purana,' a title generally conceded to the Brahma Purana.

ADITI. 'Free, unbounded.' Infinity; the boundless heaven as compared with the finite earth; or, according to M. Müller, "the visible infinite, visible by the naked eye; the endless expanse beyond the earth, beyond the clouds, beyond the sky." In the Rig-veda she is frequently implored "for blessings on children and cattle, for protection and for forgiveness." Aditi is called Deva-mātri, mother of the gods,' and is represented as being the mother of Daksha and the daughter of Daksha. On this statement Yāska remarks in the Nirukta :-"How can this be possible? They may have had the same origin; or, according to the nature of the gods, they may have been born from each other, have derived their substance from one another." 'Eight sons were born from the body of Aditi; she approached the gods with seven but cast away the eighth, Mārttānda (the sun).” These seven were the Adityas. In the Yajur-veda Aditi is addressed as "Supporter of the sky, sustainer of the earth, sovereign of this world, wife of Vishnu;" but in the Mahābhārata and Rāmāyana, as well as in the Puranas, Vishnu is called the son of Aditi. In the Vishnu Purana she is said to be the daughter of Daksha and wife of Kasyapa, by whom she was mother of Vishnu, in his dwarf incarnation (wherefore he is sometimes called Aditya), and also of Indra, and she is called "the mother of the gods" and "the mother of the world." Indra acknowledged her as mother, and Vishnu, after receiving the adoration of Aditi, addressed her in these words: "Mother, goddess, do thou show favour unto me and grant me thy blessing." According to the Matsya Purana a pair of ear-rings was produced at the churning of the ocean, which Indra gave to Aditi, and several of the Puranas tell a story of these ear-rings being stolen and carried off to the city of Prag-jyotisha by the Asura king Naraka, from whence they were brought back and restored to her by Krishna. Devaki, the mother of Krishna, is represented as being a new birth or manifestation of Aditi. See Max Müller's Rig Veda, i. 230; Muir's Texts, iv. 11, v. 35.

ADITYA. In the early Vedic times the Adityas were six, or more frequently seven, celestial deities, of whom Varuna was chief, consequently he was the Aditya. They were sons of Aditi, who had eight sons, but she approached the gods with