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KA
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The interrogative pronoun “who?” This word has been raised to the
position of a deity. In the words of Max Muller, “The authors of the
Brahmanas had so completely broken with the past, that, forgetful of
the poetical character of the hymns (of the Veda) and the yearning
of the poets after the unknown god, they exalted the interrogative
pronoun itself into a deity, an acknowledged a god Ka or Who? In the
Taittiriya Brahmana, in the Kaushitaki Brahmana, in the Tandya
Brahmana, and in the Satapatha Brahmana, wherever interrogative
verses occur, the author states that Ka is Prajapati, or the lord of
the creatures. Nor did they stop here. Some of the hymns in which
the interrogative pronoun occurred were called Kadvat, i.e., having
kad or quid. But soon a new adjective was formed, and not only the
hymns but the sacrifice also offered to the god were called Kaya or
Who-ish….. At the time of Panini, this word had acquired such
legitimacy as to call for a separate rule explaining its formation.
The commentator here explains Ka by Brahman. After this we can
hardly wonder that in the later Sanskrit literature of the Puranas
Ka appears as a recognised god, as a supreme god, with a genealogy
of his own, perhaps even with a wife; and that in the laws of Manu
one of the recognised forms of marriage, generally known by the name
of the Prajapati marriage, occurs under the monstrous title of
Kaya.” The Maha-bharata identified Ka with Daksha, and the Bhagavata
Purana applies the term to Kasyapa, no doubt in consequence of their
great generative powers and similarity to
Prajapati.
KABANDHA
1. A disciple of Su-mantu, the earliest teacher of the Atharva-veda.
2. A monstrous Rakshasa slain by Rama. He is said to have been a son
of the goddess Sri. He is described as “covered with hair, vast as a
mountain, without head or neck, having a mouth armed with immense
teeth in the middle of his belly, arms a league long, and one
enormous eye in his breast.” He was originally a Gandharva, and his
hideous deformity arose, according to one account, from a quarrel
with Indra whom he challenged, and who struck him with his
thunderbolt, and drove his head and thighs into his body. According
to another statement, his deformity arose from the curse of a sage.
When mortally wounded, he requested Rama to burn his body, and when
that was done he came out of the fire in his real shape as a
Gandharva, and counselled Rama as to the conduct of the war against
Ravana. He was also called Danu.
KACHA
A son of Brihaspati. According to the Maha-bharata he became a
disciple of Sukra or Usanas, the priest of the Asuras, with the
object of obtaining from him the mystic power of restoring the dead
to life, a charm which Sukra alone possessed. To prevent this the
Asuras killed Kacha again and again, but on both occasions he was
restored to life by the sage at the intercession of Devayani, his
daughter, who had fallen in love with Kacha. They killed him a third
time, burnt his body, and mixed his ashes with Sukra’s wine, but
Devayani again implored her father to bring back the young man.
Unable to resist his daughter’s importunity, Sukra once more
performed the charm, and to his surprise heard the voice of Kacha
come out from his own belly. To save his own life, Sukra taught his
pupil the great charm. He then allowed himself to be ripped open,
and Kacha, upon coming out, performed the charm, and restored his
master to life. This incident is said to have caused Sukra to
prohibit the use of wine to Brahmans. Kacha resisted the proposals
of Devayani, and refused to make her his wife. She then cursed him,
that the charms he had learnt from her father should be powerless,
and he is turned condemned her to be sought by no Brahman, and to
become the wife of a Kshatriya.
KADAMBARI
A daughter of Chitra-ratha and Madira. Her name has been given to a
well-known prose work, a kind of novel, written by Vana or
Bana-bhatta, in the seventh century. The work has been printed at
Bombay.
KADRU
A daughter of Daksha, and one of the thirteen that were married to
Kasyapa. She was mother of “a thousand powerful many-headed
serpents, the chief amongst whom were Sesha, Vasuki, …. And many
other fierce and venomous serpents.” The Vishnu Purana, from which
this is taken, names twelve, the Vayu Purana forty. Her offspring
bear the metronymic Kadraveya.
KAHODA
A learned Brahman, father of Ashtavakra. He with many others was
overcome in argument at the court of Janaka by a Buddhist sage, and
as a penalty was thrown into the river. Some years afterwards he was
recovered by his son, who overcame the supposed Buddhist sage, and
thus brought about a restoration. See Ashtavakra.
KAIKASI
Daughter of the Rakshasa Su-mali and his wife Ketu-mati, wife of
Visravas and mother of Ravana. – Muir, iv. 487, 488.
KAIKEYA
Name of a country and of its king. He was father-in-law of Krishna,
and his five sons were allies of the pandavas. His real name appears
to have been Dhrishtaketu.
KAIKEYAS,
KEKAYAS
The people of Kaikeya, one of the chief nations in the war of the
Maha-bharata. The Ramayana places them in the west, beyond the
Saraswati and Byas.
KAIKEYI
A princess of Kaikeya, wife of King Dasa-ratha, and mother of
Bharata, his third son. She carefully tended Dasa-ratha when he was
wounded in battle, and in gratitude he promised to grant any two
requests she might make. Urged by the malignant counsels of
Manthara, a female attendant, she made use of this promise to
procure the exile of Rama, and to promote the advancement of her own
son, Bharata, to his place. See Dasa-ratha, Rama.
KAILASA
A mountain in the Himalayas, north of the Manasa lake. Siva’s
paradise is said to be on Mount Kailasa, so also in Kuvera’s abode.
It is called also Gana-parvata and Rajatadri, `silver
mountain.’
KAITABHA
Kaitabha and Madhu were two horrible demons, who, according to the
Maha-bharata and the Puranas, sprang from the ear of Vishnu while he
was asleep at the end of a kalpa, and were about to kill Brahma, who
was lying on the lotus springing from Vishnu’s navel. Vishnu killed
them, and hence he obtained the names of Kaitabha-jit and
Madhu-sudana. The Markandeya Purana attributes the death of Kaitabha
to Uma, and she bears the title of Kaitabha. The Hari-vansa states
that the earth received its name of Medini from the marrow (medas)
of these demons). In one passage it says that their bodies, being
thrown into the sea, produced an immense quantity of marrow or fat,
which Narayana used in forming the earth. In another place it says
that the medas quite covered the earth, and so gave it the name of
Medini. This is another of the many etymological inventions.
KAKSHIVAT,
KAKSHIVAN
A Vedic sage, particularly connected with the worship of the Aswins.
He was the son of Dirgha-tamas and Usij (q.v.), and is author of
several hymns in the Rig-veda. He was also called Pajriya, because
he was of the race of Pajra. In one of his hymns he lauds the
liberality of King Swanaya. The following legend, in explanation, is
given by the commentator Sayana and the Niti-manjara: - Kakshivat,
having finished his course of study, took leave of his preceptor and
departed homewards. As he journeyed night came on, and he fell
asleep by the roadside. In the morning he was aroused by Raja
Swanaya, who, being pleased with his appearance, treated him
cordially and took him home. After ascertaining his worthiness, he
married him to his ten daughters, presenting him at the same time
with a hundred nishkas of gold, a hundred horses, a hundred bulls, a
thousand and sixty cows, and eleven chariots, one for each of his
ten wives, and one for himself, each drawn by four horses. With
these he returned home to his father, and recited the hymn in praise
of the munificence of Swanaya.
KAKUDMIN
A name of Raivata (q.v.).
KAKUT-STHA
See Puranjaya.
KALA
`Time.’ A name of Yama, the judge of the dead. In the Atharva-veda
Time is addressed as the source and ruler of all things. “It is he
who drew forth the worlds and encompassed them. Being their father,
he became their son. There is no other power superior to him.” The
Vishnu, Bhagavata, and Padma Puranas state that Brahma existed in
the form of Time, “but the Puranas do not generally recognise Time
as an element of the first cause.”
KALAKA
A wife of Kasyapa. According to the Ramayana and Maha-bharata she
was a daughter of Daksha, but the Vishnu Purana states that she and
her sister Puloma were daughters of the Dana Vaiswanara, “who were
both married to Kasyapa, and bore him 60,000 distinguished Danavas,
called Paulomas and Kalakanjas, who were powerful, ferocious, and
cruel.” The Maha-bharata states that she obtained from the deity, in
reward for her severe devotion and penance, the privilege of
bringing forth children without pain. The giants or Danavas were
called after her Kalakeyas.
KALAKANJAS,
KALAKEYAS
Sons of Kasyapa by his wife Kalaka. There were many thousands of
them, and they were “distinguished Danavas, who were powerful,
ferocious, and cruel.”
KALA-MUKHAS
`Black faces.’ People who sprang from men and Rakshasa
females.
KALANAS
(Kalyana.) A Brahman who yielded to the inducements of Alexander the
Great and left his native country to accompany the court of the
conqueror. He afterwards repented of what he had done and burnt
himself at Pasargada.
KALA-NEMI
1. In the Ramayana a Rakshasa, uncle of Ravana. At the solicitation
of Ravana, and with the promise of half his kingdom, he endeavoured
to kill Hanuman. Assuming the form of a hermit-devotee, he went to
the Gandha-madana mountain, and when Hanuman proceeded thither in
search of medicinal herbs, the disguised Rakshasa invited him to his
hermitage and offered him food. Hanuman refused, but went to bathe
in a neighbouring pond. Upon his placing his foot in the water it
was seized by a crocodile, but he dragged the creature out and
killed it. From the dead body there arose a lovely Apsaras, who had
been cursed by Daksha to live as a crocodile till she should be
released by Hanuman. She told her deliver to be beware of Kala-nemi;
so Hanuman went back to that deceiver, told him that he knew him,
and taking him by the feet, sent him whirling through the air to
Lanka, where he fell before the throne of Ravana in the
council-room. 2. In the Puranas a great Asura, son of Virochana, the
grandson live again in Kansa and in Kaliya.
KALA-YAVANA
(Lit. `Black Yavana,’ Yavana meaning a Greek or foreigner.) A Yavana
or foreign king who led an army of barbarians to Mathura against
Krishna. That hero lured him into the cave of the mighty Muchukunda,
who being disturbed from sleep by a kick from Kala-yavana, cast a
fiery glance upon him and reduced him to ashes. This legend appears
to indicate an invasion from the Himalayas. According to the Vishnu
Purana and Hari-vansa, Kala-yavana was the son of a Brahman named
Garga, who had an especial spite against the Yadavas, and was
begotten by him on the wife of a childless Yavana king.
KALHANA
PANDIT
Author of the Raja Tarangini, a history of Kashmir. He is supposed
to have lived about 1148 A.D.
KALI
The Kali-yuga, personified as the spirit of evil. In playing dice
Kali is the ace, and so is a personification of ill
luck.
KALI
`The black.’ In Vedic days this name was associated with Agni
(fire), who had seven flickering tongues of flame for devouring
oblations of butter. Of these seven, Kali was the black or terrific
tongue. This meaning of the word is now lost, but it has developed
into the goddess Kali, the fierces and bloody consort of Siva. See
Devi.
KALI-DASA
The greatest poet and dramatist of India. He was one of “the nine
gems” that adorned the court of King Vikramaditya at Ujjayini.
Wilson inclines to the belief that this was the Vikramaditya whose
era begins in 56 B.C., but Dr. Bhan Daji argues in favour of Harsha
Vikramaditya who lived in the middle of the sixth century, so the
date of Kali-dasa is unsettled. Williams thinks that Kali-dasa wrote
about the beginning of the third century. Lassen places him half a
century earlier. Some believe that there was more than one poet who
bore this name as an honorary title. Kali-dasa was author of the
dramas Sakuntala an Vikramorvasi, and a third drama Malavikagnimitra
is attributed to him. Sakuntala was translated by Sir W. Jones, and
first brought Sanskrit literature to the notice of Europe. Wilson
has translated Vikramorvasi, and given a sketch of Malavikagnimitra.
The following poems are ascribed to Kali-dasa:- Raghu-vansa,
Kumara-sambhava, Megha-duta, Ritu-sanhara, Nalodaya, but his
authorship of all these, especially of the last, may well be
doubted. He was also author of the Sruta-bodha, a work on prosody.
The merits of Kali-dasa as a poet are well attested by his great
popularity in India, as well as by the great favour with which
Sakuntala was received in Europe, and the praise it elicited from
Goethe:-
“Willst
du die Bluthe des fruhen, die Fruchte des spateren Jahres, Willst du, was reizt und
entzuckt, willst du, was sattigt und nahrt, Willst du den Himmel, die
Erde, mit einem Namen begreifen, Nenn’ich Sakuntala dich, und
so ist Alles gesagt”.
“Wouldst thou the young year’s blossoms and the fruits of its
decline,And all by which the soul is charmed, enraptured, feasted,
fed?Wouldst thou the earth and heaven itself in one sole name
combine?I name thee, O Sakuntala! And all at once is said.” Lassen
in his Indische Alterthumskunde says, “Kali-dasa may be considered
as the brightest star in the firmament of Hindu artificial poetry.
He deserves this praise on account of the mastery with which he
wields the language, and on account of the consummate tact with
which he imparts to it a more simple or more artificial form,
according to the requirements of the subjects treated by him,
without falling into the artificial diction of later poets or
over-stepping the limits of good taste; on account of the variety of
his creations, his ingenious conceptions, and his happy choice of
subjects; and not less on account of the complete manner in which he
attains his poetical ends, the beauty of his narrative, the delicacy
of his sentiment, and the fertility of his imagination.” Many of his
works have been translated, and there is a French translation of the
whole by Fauche.
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