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『東洋文庫所蔵』貴重書デジタルアーカイブ

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SOUTH-WESTERN TIBET IN INDIAN ANTIQUITY.

even so late as I 30 years ago, its upper course has been confounded with those of the Indus and the Satlej that we cannot omit paying some attention to the history of human knowledge about the origin of this river. And as could be expected from the immense importance of this river for north-eastern India, the Ganges has been an object of illimited veneration of the Indians ever since the remotest antiquity. It

is said to be mentioned only twice in the Rig-vela.'

Ganga was Himavant's eldest daughter, and concerning her the following event

is related both by the Mahabharata and the Ramayana: King Sagara in Ayodhya, had 6o,000 sons. Once while they were searching for a horse that had been stolen from a sacrifice of horses, they met the sage Kapila. They accused him of having stolen the missing horse, and in consequence, in his anger, he transformed them into ashes. Only by the aid of Ganga's holy waters could they again come to life. It was Sagara's great-great-grandson. Bhagiratha, who at last succeeded in bringing

the stream Akaça-Gaga, Vyoma-Gaga, (Air-Ganges, Heaven-Ganges), down from heaven, and its violence was only restrained by Çiva receiving it in the curls of his hair. This tale is often referred to in the Mahabharata, as : »Her, who is difficult to bear even by mountains, bore after this the holder of Pinaka (Çiva) on his head for hundred thousand years.» Or: »Here Mahadeva received the down-powring, from heaven sent Gaga, and gave her to the world of men, o thou who is full of Brahma knowledge.» And: »That holy Bhagirathi, who is worshipped by gods and Gandharvas shines far and wide over the heavens like a pennant banner by the wind, it is perpetually conducted downwards over the lower mountain tops, lying like a serpent King's mistress, trembling on the rocks, she, the dear queen of the sea overflows all the southern district (nourishing it) like a mother after having first streamed from Çambhu's (Çiva's) hair». And at another place in the Mahabharata we read of a sacrifice performed Ion Himavant, in that place where Gaga bursts forth from the mountains.» 2

According to Wilson the legend of the descent of the Ganga is told, in its most ancient and authentic shape, in the Ramayana. The Ganges, he says, is called Bhagirathi, from King Bhagiratha, and the sea, which was formed by the river, is termed Sagara, after his great-grand sire.. 3 WHEELER says that the legend has no real value, excepting that it is universally believed by the Hindus. From the Ramayana Wheeler relates a poetical description of the divine Ganges, the river which Rama saw flowing in three directions, »the river which dashes against its strong banks with a terrific sound resembling a deep laugh, or smiling with its pure foam . . ., the river which abounds with the pure lotos, and where the gods perform their ablutions, . . . the river which removing every load of impurity is itself clear and pellucid, . . . the river which fell from the feet of the divine Vishnu, and

Dowson, op. cit. p. 108.

2 Fausboll, op. cit. p. 160 et seq.

3 Works by H. H. Wilson, Vol. II, London 1862 p. 168.