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RISHYA-SRINGA 'The deer-horned.' A hermit, the
son of Vibhandaka, descended from Kasyapa. According to the Ramayana
and Maha-bharata he was born of a doe and had a small horn on his
forehead. He was brought up in the forest by his father, and saw no
other human being till he was verging upon manhood. There was great
drought in the country of Anga, and the king, Lomapada, was advised
by his Brahmans to send for the youth Rishya-sringa, who should
marry his daughter Santa, and be the means of obtaining rain. A
number of fair damsela were sent to bring him. He accompanied them
back to their city, the desired rain fell, and he married Santa.
This Santa was the adopted daughter of Lomapada; her real father was
Dasa-ratha, and it was Rishya-sringa who performed that sacrifice
for Dasa-ratha which brought about the birth of
Rama.
RITU-PARNA A king of Ayodhya, and son of Sarva-kama,
into whose service Nala entered after he had lost his kingdom. He
was “skilled profoundly in dice.”
RITU-SANHARA ‘The round of the seasons.’ A poem
attributed to Ka1i-dasa. This poem was published by Sir W. Jones,
and was the first Sanskrit work ever printed. There are other
editions. It has been translated into Latin by
Bohlen.
ROHINl 1. Daughter of Kasyapa and
Surabhi, and mother of horned cattle, including Kama-dhenu, the cow
which grants desires. 2. Daughter of Daksha and fourth of the lunar
asterisms, the favourite wife of the moon. 3. One of the wives of
Vasu-deva, the father of Krishna and mother of Bala-rama. She was
burned with her husband's corpse at Dwaraka. 4. Krishna himself also
had a wife so called, and the name is common.
ROHITA ‘Red.’ A red horse; a horse of the
sun or of fire. 1. A deity celebrated in the Atharva-veda, probably
& form of fire or the sun. 2. Son of King Haris-chandra. He is
also called Rohitaswa. The fort of Rohtas is said to derive its name
from him. See Haris-chandra.
ROMA-HARSHANA See Loma-harshana.
RUDRA ‘A howler or roarer; terrible.’ In
the Vedas Rudra has many attributes and many names. He is the
howling terrible god, the god of storms, the father of the Rudras or
Maruts, and is sometimes identified with the god of fire. On the one
hand he is a destructive deity who brings diseases upon men and
cattle, and upon the other he is a beneficent deity supposed to have
a healing influence. These are the germs which afterwards developed
into the god Siva. It is worthy of note that Rudra is first called
Maha-deva in the White Yajur-veda. As applied to the god Siva, the
name of Rudra generally designates him in his destructive character.
In the Brihad-aranyaka Upanishad the Rudras are "ten vital breaths
(prana) with the heart (manas) as eleventh." In the Vishnu purana
the god Rudra is said to have sprung from the forehead of Brahma,
and at the command of that god to have separated his nature into
male and female, then to have multiplied each of these into eleven
persons, some of which were white and gentle others black and furious.
Elsewhere it is said that the eleven Rudras were sons of Kasyapa and
Surabhi, and in another chapter of the same Purana it is represented
that Brahma desired to create a son, and that Rudra came into
existence as a youth. He wept and asked for a name. Brahma gave him
the name of Rudra; but he wept seven times more, and so he obtained
seven other names: Bhava, Sarva, Isana, Pasupati, Bhima, Ugra, and
Maha-deva. Other of the Puranas agree in this nomenclature. These
names are sometimes used for Rudra or Siva himself, and at others
for the seven manifestations of him, sometimes called his sons. The
names of the eleven Rudras vary considerably in different
books.
RUDRA-SAVARNA The twelfth Manu. See Manu.
RUKMIN A son of King Bhishmaka and king
of Vidharbha, who offered his services to the Pandavas and Kauravas
in turn, but was rejected by both on account of his extravagant
boastings and pretensions. He was brother of Rukmini, with whom
Krishna eloped. Rukmin pursued the fugitives and overtook them, but
his army was defeated by Krishna, and he owed his life to the
entreaties of his sister. He founded the city of Bhoja-kata, and was
eventually killed by Bala-rama.
RUKMINI Daughter of Bhishmaka, king of
Vidarbha. According to the Hari-vansa she was sought in marriage by
Krishna, with whom she fell in love. But her brother Rukmin was a
friend of Kansa, whom Krishna had killed, He therefore opposed him
and thwarted the match. Rukmini was then betrothed to Sisu-pala,
king of Chedi, but on her wedding day, as she was going to the
temple, “Krishna saw her, took her by the hand, and carried her away
in his chariot.” They were pursued by her intended husband and by
her brother Rukmin, but Krishna defeated them both, and took her
safe to Dwaraka, where he married her. She was his principal wife
and bore him a son, Pradyumna (q. v.). By him also she had nine
other sons and one daughter. These other sons were Charu-deshna,
Su-deshna, Charu-deha, Su-shena, Charu-gupta, Bhadra-charu,
Charu-vinda, Su-charu, and the very mighty Charu; also one daughter,
“Charu-mati.” At Krishna's death she and seven other of his wives
immolated themselves on his funeral pile.
RUMA Wife of the monkey king
Su-griva.
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