DADHYANCH, DADHICHA (Dadhicha is a later form.) A vedic Rishi, son of Atharvan, whose name frequently occurs. The legend about him, as it appears in the Rig-veda, is that Indra taught him certain sciences, but threatened to cut off his hand if he taught them to any one else. The Aswins prevailed upon Dadhyanch to communicate his knowledge to them, and, to preserve him from the wrath of Indra, they took off his own head and replaced it with that of a horse. When Indra struck off the sage’s equine head the Aswins restored his own to him. A verse of the Rig-veda says, “Indra, with the bones of Dadhyanch, slew ninety times nine Vritras;” and the story told by the scholiast in explanation is, that while Dadhyanch was living on earth the Asuras were controlled and tranquillised by his appearance; but when he had gone to heaven, they overspread the whole earth. Indra inquired for Dadhyanch, or any relic of him. He was told of the horse’s head, and when this was found in a lake near Kuru-kshetra, Indra used the bones as weapons, and with them slew the Asuras, or, as the words of the Vedic verse are explained, he “foiled the nine times ninety stratagems of the Asuras or Vritras.” The story as afterwards told in the Maha-bharata and Puranas is that the sage devoted himself to death that Indra and the gods might be armed with his bones as more effective weapons than thunderbolts for the destruction of Vrita and the Asuras. According to one account he was instrumental in bring about the destruction of “Daksha’s sacrifice.” See Daksha.

DAITYAS Titans. Descendants from Diti by Kasyapa. They are a race of demons and giants, who warred against the gods and interfered with sacrifices. They were in turn victorious and vanquished. They and the Danavas are generally associated, and are hardly distinguishable. As enemies of sacrifices they are called Kratu-dwishas.

DAKINI A kind of female imp or fiend attendant upon Kali and feeding on human flesh. The Dakinis are also called Asra-pas, `blood drinkers.’

DAKSHA `Able, competent, intelligent.’ This name generally carried with it the idea of a creative power. Daksha is a son of Brahma; he is one of the Prajapatis, and is sometimes regarded as their chief. There is a great deal of doubt and confusion about him, which of old the sage Parasara could only account for by saying that “in every age Daksha and the rest are born and are again destroyed.” In the Rig-veda it is said that “Daksha sprang from Aditi, and Aditi from Daksha.” Upon this marvellous mutual generation Yaska in the Nirukta remarks, “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, and have derived their substance from each other.” Roth’s view is that Aditi is eternity, and that Daksha (spiritual power) is the male energy which generates the gods in eternity. In the Satapatha Brahmana, Daksha is identified with Prajapati, the creator. As son of Aditi, he is one of the Adityas, and he is also reckoned among the Viswadevas.

        According to the Maha-bharata, Daksha sprang from the right thumb of Brahma, and his wife from that deity’s left thumb. The Puranas adopt this view of his origin, but state that he married Prasuti, daughter of Priya-vrata, and grand-daughter of Manu. By her he had, according to various statements, twenty-four, fifty, or sixty, daughters. The Ramayana and Maha-bharata agree in the large number; and according to Manu and the Maha-bharata he gave ten of his daughters to Dharma and thirteen to Kasyapa, who became the mothers of gods and demons, men, birds, serpents, and all living things. Twenty-seven were given in marriage to Soma, the moon, and these became the twenty-seven Nakshatras or lunar mansions. One of the daughters, named Sati, married Savi, and killed herself in consequences of a quarrel between her husband and father. The Kasi Khanda represents that she became a sati and burnt herself.

        Another legend of the Maha-bharata and Puranas represents Daksha as being born a second time, in another Manwantara, as son of the Prachetasas and Marisha, and that he had seven sons, “the allegorical persons Krodha, Tamas, Dama, Vikrita, Angiras, Kardama, and Aswa.” This second birth is said to have happened through his having been cursed to it by his son-in-law Siva. Daksha was in a certain way, by his another Marisha, an emanation of soma, the moon; and as twenty-seven of his daughters were married to that luminary, Daksha is sometimes referred to as being both the father and the offspring of the moon, thus reiterating the duality of his nature.

        In the Hari-vansa Daksha appears in another variety of his character. According to this authority, Vishnu himself became Daksha, and formed numerous creatures, or, in other words, he became the creator. Daksha, the first of males, by virtue of yoga, himself took the form of a beautiful woman, by whom he had many fair daughters, whom he disposed of in marriage in the manner related by Manu and above stated.

        An important event in the life of Daksha, and very frequently referred to, is “Daksha’s sacrifice,” which was violently interrupted and broken up by Siva. The germ of this story is found in the Taittiriya Sanhita, where it is related that the gods, having excluded Rudra from a sacrifice, he pierced the sacrifice with an arrow, and that Pushan, attempting to eat a portion of the oblation, broke his teeth. The story is found both in the Ramayana and Maha-bharata. According to the latter, Daksha was engaged in sacrifice, when Siva in a rage, and shouting loudly, pierced the offering with an arrow. The gods and Asuras were alarmed and the whole universe quaked. The Rishis endeavoured to appease the angry god, but in vain. “He ran up to the gods, and in his rage knocked out the eyes of Bhaga with a blow, and, incensed, assaulted Pushan with his foot and knocked out his teeth as he was eating the offering.” The gods and Rishis humbly propitiated him, and where he was appeased “they apportioned to him a distinguished share in the sacrifice, and through fear resorted to him as their refuge.” In another part of the same work the story is again told with considerable variation. Daksha instituted a sacrifice and apportioned no share to Rudra (Siva). Instigated by the sage Dadhichi, the god hurled his blazing trident, which destroyed the sacrifice of Daksha and fell with great violence on the breast of Narayana (Vishnu). It was hurled back with violence to its owner, and a furious battle ensued between the two gods, which was not intermitted till Brahma prevailed upon Rudra to propitiate Narayana. That god was gratified, and said to Rudra, “He who knows thee knows me; he who loves thee loves me.”

        The story is reproduced in the Puranas with many embellishments. Daksha instituted a sacrifice to Vishnu, and many of the gods repaired to it, but Siva was not invited, because the gods had conspired to deprive him of sacrificial offerings. The wife of Siva, the mountain goddess Uma, perceived what was going on. Uma was a second birth of Sati, daughter of Daksha, who had deprived herself of life in consequence of her father’s quarrel with herself and her husband, Siva. Uma urged her husband to display his power and assert his rights. So he created Vira-bhadra, “a being like the fire of fate,” and of most terrific appearance and powers. He also send with him hundreds and thousands of powerful demigods whom he called into existence. A terrible catastrophe followed; “the mountains tottered the earth shook, the winds roared, and the depths of the sea were disturbed.” The sacrifice is broken up, and, in the words of Wilson, “Indra is knocked down and trampled on, Yama has his staff broken, Saraswati and the Matris have their noses cut off, Mitra or Bhaga has his eyes pulled out, Pushan has his teeth knocked down his throat, Chandra (the moon) is pummelled, Vahni’s (fire’s hands are cut off, Bhrigu loses his beard, the Brahmans are pleted with stones, the Prajapatis are beaten, and the gods and demigods are run through with swords or stuck with arrows.” Daksha then, in great terror, propitiated the wrathful deity and acknowledged his supremacy. According to some versions, Daksha himself was decapitated and his head thrown into the fire. Siva subsequently restored him and the other dead to life, and as Daksha’s head could not be found, it was replaced by that of goat or ram. The Hari-vansa, in its glorification of Vishnu, gives a different finish to the story. The sacrifice was destroyed and the gods fled in dismay, till Vishnu intervened, and seizing Siva by the throat, compelled him to desist and acknowledge his master.

“This,” says Wilson, “is a legend of some interest, as it is obviously intended to intimate a struggle between the worshippers of Siva and Vishnu, in which at first the latter, but finally the former, acquired the ascendancy.”

Daksha was a lawgiver, and is reckoned among the eighteen writers of  Dharma-sastras. He name Daksha was borne by several other persons.

DAKSHA-SAVARNA The ninth Manu. See Manu.

DAKSHAYANA Connected with Daksha. A son or descendant of that sage.

DAKSHAYANI A name of Aditi as daughter of Daksha.

DAKSHINA A present made to Brahmans; the honorarium for the performance of a sacrifice. This is personified as a goddess, to whom various origins are assigned.

DAKSHINACHARIS Followers of the right-hand form of Sakta worship. See Tantra.

DAMA A son, or, according to the Vishnu Purana, a grandson of King Marutta of the Solar race. He rescued his bride Su-mana from his rivals, and one of them, named Vapushmat, subsequently killed Marutta, who had retired into the woods after relinquishing his crown to his son. Dama in retaliation killed Vapushmat and offered his blood in the funeral rites of Marutta, while he made an oblation of part of the flesh, and with the rest fed the Brahmans who were of Rakshasa descent.

DAMA-GHOSHA King of Chedi and father of Sisu-pala.

DAMAYANTI Wife of Nala and heroine of the tale of Nala and Damayanti. She is also known by her patronymic Bhaimi. See Nala.

DAMBHODBHAVA A king whose story is related in the Maha-bharata as an antidote to price. He had an overweening conceit of his own prowess, and when told by his Brahmans that he was no match for Nara and Narayana, who were living as ascetics on the Gandha-madana mountain, he proceeded thither with his army and challenged them. They endeavoured to dissuade him, but he insisted on fighting. Nara then took a handful of straws, and using them as missiles, they whitened all the air, and penetrated the eyes, ears, and noses of the assailants, until Dambhodbhava fell at Nara’s feet and begged for peace.

DAMODARA A name given to Krishna because his foster-mother tried to tie him up with a rope (dama) round his belly (udara).

DANAVAS Descendants from Danu by the sage Kasyapa. They were giants who warred against the gods. See Daityas.

DANDA-DHARA `The rod-bearer.’ A title of Yama, the god of death.

DANDAKA The aranya or forest of Dandaka, lying between the Godavari and Narmada. It was of vast extent, and some passages of the Ramayana represent it as beginning immediately south of the Yamuna. This forest is the scene of many of Rama and Sita’s adventures, and is described as “a wilderness over which separate hermitage are scattered, while wild beasts and Rakshasas everywhere abound.”

DANTA-VAKTRA A Dana king of Karusha and son of Virddha-sarma. He took a side against Krishna, and was eventually killed by him.

DANU A Danava. Also the mother of the Danavas. The demon Kabandha (q.v.). 

DARADA A country in the Hindu Kush, bordering on Kashmir. The people of that country, “the Durds, are still where they were at the date of the text (of the Vishnu Purana) and in the days of Strabo and Ptolemy; not exactly, indeed, at the sources of the Indus, but along its course above the Himalaya, just before it descends to India.” – Wilson. 

DARBAS `Tearers.’ Rakshasas and other destructive demons. 

DARDURA Name of a mountain in the south; it is associated with the Malaya mountain in the Maha-bharata.