SESHA, SESHA-NAGA King of the serpent race or Nagas, and of the infernal regions called Patala. A serpent with a thousand heads which is the couch and canopy of Vishnu whilst sleeping during the intervals 9f creation. Sometimes Sesha is represented as supporting the world, and sometimes as upholding, the seven patalas or hells. Whenever he yawns he causes earth-quakes. At the end of each kalpa he vomits venomous fire, which destroys all creation. When the gods churned the ocean they made use of Sesha as a great rope, which they twisted round the mountain Mandara, and so used it as a churn. He is represented clothed in purple and wearing a white necklace, holding in one hand a plough and in the other a pestle. He is also called Ananta, ‘the endless,’ as the symbol of eternity. His wife was named Ananta-sirsha. He is sometimes distinct from Vasuki but generally identified with him. In the Puranas he is said to be the son of Kasyapa and Kadru, and according to some authorities he was incarnate in Bala-rama. His hood is called Mani-dwipa, ‘the island of jewels,’ and his palace Mani-bhitti, ‘jewel-walled,’ or Mani-mandapa, ‘jewel palace.’ 

SETU-BANDHA ‘Rama's bridge.’ The line of rocks between the continent and Ceylon called in maps “Adam's bridge.” It is also know as Samudraru. There is a poem called Setu-bandha or Setu-kavya on the subject of the building of the bridge by Rama's allies. 

SHAD-DARSANA See Darsana. 

SHAD-VINSA ‘Twenty-sixth.’ One of the Brahmanas of the Sama-veda. It is called “the twenty-sixth” because it was added to the Praudha Brahmana, which has twenty-five sections. 

SHAT-PURA ‘The sixfold cities,’ or ‘the six cities’ granted by Brahma to the Asuras, and of which Nikumbha was king. It was taken by Krishna and given to Brahma-datta, a Brahman. -Hari-vansa.

SIDDHAS A class of semi-divine beings of great purity and holiness, who dwell in the regions of the sky between the earth and the sun. They are said to be 88,000 in number.

SIDDHANTA Any scientific work on astronomy or mathematics. 

SIDDHANTA KAUMUDl A modern and simplified form , If panini's Grammar by Bhattoji Dikshita. It is in print. 

SIDDHANTA-SlROMANI A work on astronomy by Bhaskaracharya. It has been printed, and has been translated for the Bibliotheca Indica. 

SIKHANDIN, SIKHANDINI Sikhandini is said to have been the daughter of Raja Drupada, but according to another statement she was one of the two wives whom Bhishma obtained for his brother Vichitra-virya. "She (the widow) perished in the jungle, but before her death she had been assured by Parasu-rama that she should become a man in a future birth, and cause the death of Bhishma, who had been the author of her misfortunes." Accordingly she was born again as Sikhandin, son of Drupada. Bhishma fell in battle pierced all over by the arrows of Arjuna, but according to this story the fatal shaft came from the hands of Sikhandin. See Amba. 

SIKSHA Phonetics; one of the Vedangas. The science which teaches the proper pronunciation and manner of reciting the Vedas. There are many treatises on this subject. 

SlLPA-SASTRA The science of mechanics; it includes architecture. Any book or treatise on this science. 

SINDHU 1. The river Indus; also the country along that river and the people dwelling in it. From Sindhu came the Hind of the Arabs, the Hindoi or Indoi of the Greeks, and our India. 2. A river in Malwa. There are others of the Dame. See Sapta-sindhava. 

SINHALA, SINHALA-DWlPA Ceylon. 

SINHASANA DWATRINSAT The thirty-two stories told by the images which supported the throne of King Vikramaditya. It is the Singhasan Battisi in Hindustani, and is current in most of the languages of India. 

SINHIKA 1. A daughter of Daksha and wife of Kasyapa; also a daughter of Kasyapa and wife of Viprachitti. 2. A Rakshasi who tried to swallow Hanuman and make a meal of him. He allowed her to do so and then rent her body to pieces and departed. Her habit was to seize the shadow of the object she wished to devour and so drag the prey into her jaws. 

SIPRA The river on which the city of Ujjayini stands. 

SIRA-DHWAJA ‘He of the plough-banner.’ An epithet for Janaka. 

SISUMARA ‘A porpoise.’ The planetary sphere, which, as Vishnu Purana, has the shape of a porpoise, Vishnu being seated in its heart, and Dhruva or the pole star in its tail. “As Dhruva revolves, it causes the sun, moon, and other planets to turn round also; and the lunar asterisms follow in its circular path, for all the celestial luminaries are, in fact, bound to the polar star by aerial cords.” 

SISU-PALA Son of Dama-ghosha, king of Chedi, by Sruta-deva, sister of Vasu-deva; he was therefore cousin of Krishna, but he was Krishna's implacable foe, because Krishna had carried off Rukmini, his intended wife. He was slain by Krishna at the great sacrifice of Yudhi-shthira in punishment of opprobrious abuse. The Maha-bharata states that Sisu-pala was born with three eyes and four arms. His parents were inclined to cast him out, but were warned by a voice not to do so, as his time was not come. It also foretold that his superfluous members should disappear when a certain person took the child into his lap, and that he would eventually die by the hands of that same person. Krishna placed the child on his knees and the extra eye and arms disappeared; Krishna also killed him. The Vishnu Purana contributes an additional legend about him. "Sisu-pala was in a former existence the unrighteous but valiant monarch of the Daityas, Hiranya-kasipu, who was killed by the divine guardian of creation (in the man-lion Avatara). He was next the ten-headed (sovereign Ravana), whose unequalled prowess, strength, and power were overcome by the lord of the three worlds (Rama). Having been killed by the deity in the form of Raghava, he had long enjoyed the reward of his virtues in exemption from an embodied state, but had now received birth once more as Sisu-pala, the son of Dama-ghosha, king of Chedi. In this character he renewed with greater inveteracy than over his hostile hatred towards Pundarikaksha (Vishnu ), ...and was in consequence Blain by him. But from the circumstance of his thoughts being constantly engrossed by the supreme being, Sisu-pala was united with him after death, .., for the lord bestows a heavenly and exalted station even upon those whom he slays in his displeasure," He was called Sunitha, ‘virtuous.’ 

SISUPALA-BADHA ‘The death of Sisu-pala;’ an epic poem by Magha, in twenty cantos. It has been often printed, and has been translated into French by Fauche.

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