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JABALI,
JAVALI A Brahman who was priest of King Dasa-ratha, and held
sceptical philosophical opinions. He is represented in the Ramayana
as enforcing his views upon Rama, who decidedly repudiated them.
Thereupon he asserted that his atheistical arguments had been used
only for a purpose, and that he was really imbued with sentiments of
piety and religion. He is said to have been a logician, so probably
he belonged to the Nyaya school.
JAGAD-DHATRI (DHATA) `Sustainer of the world.’ An
epithet given to both Saraswati and Durga.
JAGAN-MATRI (MATA) `Mother of the world.’ One of the
names of Siva’s wife. See Devi.
JAGAN-NATHA `Lord of the world.’ A particular form of
Vishnu, or rather of Krishna. He is worshipped in Bengal and other
parts of India, but Puri, near the town of Cuttack, in Orissa, is
the great seat of his worship, and multitudes of pilgrims resort
thither from all parts, especially to the two great festivals of the
Snana-yatra and Ratha-yatra, in the months of Jyaishtha and Ashadha.
The first of these is when the image is bathed, and in the second,
or car festival, the image is brought out upon a car with the images
of his brother Bala-rama and sister Su-bhadra, and is drawn by the
devotees. The legend of the origin of Jagan-natha is peculiar.
Krishna was killed by a hunter, and his body was left to rot under a
tree, but some pious persons found the bones and placed them in a
box. A devout king named Indra-dyumna was directed by Vishnu to form
an image of Jagan-natha and to place the bones of Krishna inside it.
Viswa-karma, the architect of the gods, undertook to make the image,
on condition of being left quite undisturbed till the work was
complete. After fifteen days the king was impatient and went to
Viswa-karma, who was angry, and left off work before he had made
either hands or feet, so that the image has only stumps.
Indra-dyumna prayed to Brahma, who promised to make the image
famous, and he did so by giving to it eyes and a soul, and by acting
as high priest at its consecration.
JAHNAVI The Ganges. See Jahnu.
JAHNU A sage descended from Pururavas. He was
disturbed in his devotions by the passage of the river Ganga, and
consequently drank up its waters. He afterwards relented, and
allowed the stream to issue from his ear, hence Ganga is called
Jahnavi, daughter of Jahnu. See Ganga.
JAIMINI A celebrated sage, a disciple of Vyasa. He is
said to have received the Sama-veda from his master, and to have
been its publisher or teacher. He was also the founder of the
Purva-mimansa philosophy. The text of Jaimini is printed in the
Bibliotheca Indica.
JAIMINIYA-NYAYA-MALA-VISTARA A work on philosophy by
Madhava. It has been edited by Goldstucker and Cowell.
JAJALI A Brahman mentioned in the Maha-bharata as
having by ascetism acquired a supernatural power of locomotion, of
which he was so proud that he deemed himself perfect in virtue and
superior to all men. A voice from the sky told him that he was
inferior to Tuladhara, a Vaisya and a trader. He went to this
Tuladhara and learnt wisdom from him.
JALA-RUPA The fish or the Makara on the banner of
Kama.
JALA-SAYIN `Sleeping on the waters.’ An appellation of
Vishnu, as he is supposed to sleep upon his serpent couch on the
waters during the rainy season, or during the submersion of the
world.
JAMAD-AGNI A Brahman and a descendant of Bhrigu. He
was the son of Richika and Satya-vati, and was the father of five
sons, the youngest and most renowned of whom was Parasu-rama.
Jamad-agni’s mother, Satya-vati, was daughter of King Gadhi, a
Kshatriya. The Vishnu Purana relates that when Satya-vati was
pregnant, her Brahman husband, Richika prepared a mess for her to
eat for the purpose of securing that her son should be born with the
qualities of a Brahman. He also gave another mess to her mother that
she might bear a son with the character of a warrior. The women
changed the messes, and so Jamad-agni, the son of Richika, was born
as a warrior-Brahman, and Viswamitra, son of the Kshatriya Gadhi,
was born as a priest. The Maha-bharata relates that Jamad-agni
engaged deeply in study and “obtained entire possession of the
Vedas.” He went to King Renu or Prasena-jit of the Solar race and
demanded of him his daughter Renuka. The king gave her to him, and
he retired with her to his hermitage, where the princess shared in
his ascetic life. She bore him five sons, Rumanwat, Sushena, Vasu,
Viswavasu, and Parasu-rama, and she was exact in the performance of
all her duties. One day she went out to bathe and beheld a loving
pair sporting and dallying in the water. Their pleasure made her
feel envious so she was “defiled by unworthy thoughts, and returned
wetted but not purified by the stream.” Her husband beheld her
“fallen from perfection and shorn of the lustre of her sanctity.” So
he reproved her and was exceeding wroth. His sons came into the
hermitage in the order of their birth, and he commanded each of them
in succession to kill his mother. Influenced by natural affection,
four of them held their peace and did nothing. Their father cursed
them and they became idiots bereft of all understanding. When
Parasu-rama entered, he obeyed his father’s order and struck off his
mother’s head with his axe. The deed assuaged the father’s anger,
and he desired his son to make a request. Parasu-rama begged that
his mother might be restored to life in purity, and that his
brothers might regain their natural condition. All this the father
granted. The mighty
Karta-virya, king of the Haihayas, who had a thousand arms, paid a
visit to the hermitage of Jamad-agni. The sage and his sons were
out, but his wife treated her guest with all proper respect.
Unmindful of the hospitality he had received, Karta-virya threw down
the trees round the hermitage, and carried of the calf of the sacred
cow, Surabhi, which Jamad-agni had acquired by penance. Parasu-rama
returned and discovered what had happened, he then pursued
Karta-virya, cut off his thousand arms with arrows, and killed him.
The sons of Karta-virya went in revenge to the hermitage of
Jamad-agni, and in the absence of Parasu-rama slew the pious sage
without pity. When Parasu-rama found the lifeless body of his
father, he laid it on a funeral pile and vowed that he would
extirpate the whole Kshatriya race. He slew all the sons of
Karta-virya, and “thrice seven times” he cleared the earth of the
Kshatriya caste.
JAMADAGNYA The patronymic of Parasu-rama.
JAMBAVAT King of the bears. A celebrated gem called
Syamantaka had been given by the Sun to Satra-jit. He, fearing that
Krishna would take it from him, gave it to his brother, Prasena. One
property of this jewel was to protect its wearer when good, to ruin
him when bad. Prasena was wicked and was killed by a lion, which was
carrying off the gem in its mouth, when he was encountered and slain
by Jambavat. After sena’s disappearance, Krishna was suspected of
having killed him for the sake of the jewel. Krishna with a large
party tracked the steps of Prasena, till it was ascertained that he
had been killed by a lion, and that the lion had been killed by a
bear. Krishna then tracked the bear, Jambavat, into his cavern, and
a great fight ensued between them. After waiting outside seven or
eight days, Krishna’s followers went home and performed his funeral
ceremonies. On the twenty-first day of the fight, Jambavat submitted
to his adversary, gave up the gem, and presented to him his
daughter, Jambavati, as an offering suitable to a guest. Jambavat
with his army of bears aided Rama in his invasion of Lanka, and
always acted the part of a sage counsellor.
JAMBAVATI Daughter of Jambavat, king of the bears,
wife of Krishna, and mother of Samba.
JAMBHA Name of several demons. Of one who fought
against the gods and was slain by Indra, who for this deed was
called Jambha-bhedin. Also of one who fought against Arjuna and was
killed by Krishna.
JAMBU-DWIPA One of the seven islands or continents of
which the world is made up. The great mountain, Meru, stands in its
centre, and Bharata-varsha or India is its best part. Its varshas or
divisions are nine in number:- (1.) Bharata, south of the Himalayas
and southernmost of all. (2.) Kim-purusha (3.) Hari-varsha. (4.)
Ila-vrita, containing Meru. (5.) Ramyaka. (6.) Hiran-maya. (7.)
Uttara-Kuru, each to the north of the preceding one. (8.) Bhadraswa
and (9.) Ketu-mala lies respectively to the east and west of
Ila-vrita, the central region.
JAMBU-MALI A Rakshasa general of Ravana. He was killed
by Hanuman.
JANAKA 1. King of Mithila, of the Solar race. When
Nimi, his predecessor, died without leaving a successor, the sages
subjected the body of Nimi to attrition, and produced from it a
prince “who was called Janaka, from being born without a
progenitor.” He was the first Janaka, and twenty generations earlier
than Janaka the father of Sita.
2. King of
Videha and father of Sita, remarkable for his great knowledge and
good works and sanctity. He is called Sira-dhwaja, `he of the plough
banner,’ because his daughter Sita sprang up ready formed from the
furrow when he was ploughing the ground and preparing for a
sacrifice to obtain offspring. The sage Yajnawalkya was his priest
and adviser. The Brahmanas relate that he “refused to submit to the
hier-archical pretensions of the Brahmans, and asserted his right of
performing sacrifices without the intervention of priests.” He
succeeded in his contention, for it is said that through his pure
and righteous life he became a Brahman and one of the Rajarshis. He
and his priest Yajnawalkya are thought to have prepared the way for
Buddha.
JANAKI A patronymic of Sita. (q.v.).
JANA-LOKA See Loka.
JANAMEJAYA A great king, who was son of Parikshit, and
great-grandson of Arjuna. It was to this king that the Maha-bharata
was recited by Vaisampayana, and the king listened to it in
expiation of the sin of killing a Brahman. His father, Parikshit,
died from the bite of a serpent, and Janemajaya is said to have
performed a great sacrifice of serpents (Nagas) and to have
conquered the Naga people of Taksha-sila. Hence he is called
Sarpa-sattrin, `serpent-sacrificer.’ There were several others of
the same name.
JANARDDANA `The adored of mankind.’ A name of Krishna,
but other derivations are offered, a `extirpator of the wicked,’ by
Sankaracharya.
JANA-STHANA A place in the Dandaka forest where Rama
sojourned for a while in his exile.
JARAS `Old age.’ The hunter who unwittingly killed
Krishna.
JARA-SANDHA Son of Brihad-ratha, and king of Magadha.
Brihad-ratha had two wives, who after being long barren brought
forth two halves of a boy. These abortions were regarded with horror
and thrown away. A female man-eating demon named Jara picked them up
and put them together to carry them off. On their coming in contact
a boy was formed, who cried out so lustily that he brought out the
king and his two queens. The Rakshasi explained what had happened,
resigned the child, and entired. The father gave the boy the name of
Jara-sandha, because he had been put together by Jara. Future
greatness was prophesied for the boy, and he became an ardent
worshipper of Siva. Through the favour of this god he prevailed over
many kings, and he especially fought against Krishna, who had killed
Kansa the husband of two of Jarasandha’s daughters. He besieged
Mathura, and attacked Krishna eighteen times, and was as often
defeated; but Krishna was so weakened that he retired to Dwaraka.
Jara-sandha had many kings in captivity, and when Krishna returned
from Dwaraka, he, with Bhima and Arjuna, went to Jara-sandha’s
capital for the purpose of slaying their enemy and liberating the
kings. Jara-sandha refused to release the kings, and accepted the
alternative of a combat, in which he was killed by Bhima.
JARAT-KARU An ancient sage who married a sister of the
great serpent Vasuki, and was father of the sage Astika.
JARITA A certain female bird of the species called
Sarngika, whose story is told in the Maha-bharata. The saint
Manda-pala, who returned from the shades because he had no son,
assumed the form of a male bird, and by her had four sons. He then
abandoned her. In the conflagration of the Khandava forest she
showed great devotion in the protection of her children, and they
were eventually saved through the influence of Manda-pala over the
god of fire. Their names were Jaritari, Sarisrikta, Stamba-mitra,
and Drona. They were “interpreters of the Vedas;” and there are
hymns of the Rig-veda bearing the names of the second and
third.
JATASURA A Rakshasa who disguised himself as a Brahman
and carried off Yudhi-shthira, Saha-deva, Nakula, and Draupadi. He
was overtaken and killed by Bhima.
JATA-VEDAS A Vedic epithet for fire. “The meaning is
explained in five ways: - (1.) Knowing all created beings; (2.)
Possessing all creatures or everything existent; (3.) Known by
created beings; (4.) Possessing vedas, riches; (5.) Possessing
vedas, wisdom. Other derivations and explanations are found in the
Brahmanas, but the exact sense of the word seems to have been very
early lost, and of the five explanations given, only the first two
would seem to be admissible for the Vedic texts. In one passage a
form, Jata-veda, seems to occur.” – Williams. This form of the term,
and the statement of Manu that the Vedas were milked out from fire,
air, and the sun, may perhaps justify the explanation, `producer of
the Vedas.’
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