Essay name: Purana Bulletin
Author:
Affiliation: University of Kerala / Faculty of Oriental Studies
The "Purana Bulletin" is an academic journal published in India. The journal focuses on the study of Puranas, which are a genre of ancient Indian literature encompassing mythological stories, traditions, and philosophical teachings. They represent Hindu scriptures in Sanskrit and cover a wide range of subjects.
Purana, Volume 6, Part 2 (1964)
184 (of 234)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
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434
啶啶班ぞ啶｀ぎ啷� - [pur膩峁嘺m - ] 笔鲍搁膧狈础
[Vol. VI., No. 2
hypocoristics Devaka and Devala; add Deva 艣ravas. One might
here add that while 艣ravas names, like Deva, are about equally
br膩hma峁嘺 and ksatriya, they do not seem to bear a god as first
element; the only exception I have is the not certain Soma艣ravas
of Bharad. GS tarpa峁嘺, which could be paralled with Havih峁avas;
nor is the type so common in Greece as might be thought,
Hermokles, Athenokles, Heliokles Dionysiokles, Herakles can be
found, but are not common; only Diokles is.
KINNAR膧艢VA, king c. 720 is an isolated name; I do
not know what advantage might be expected from having a
kinnara as one's horse, perhaps something connected with sexual
vigour. Bh奴tas and Siddhas do not appear in these names, nor
do Ganas or Yaksas; the Jains have Ganadeva c. 150, (not before
230), but Ganadhara is a title; they also have Siddhasena
Div膩kara, connected with Vikramaditya, which is at least enough
to show the name is late.
The Vasus might appear in VASUMITRA and VASU-
JYE峁⑨宫HA, Sungas c. 140, VASUDEVA of 1260, 1010 & 75,
VASU艢RUTA, heard by the Vasu (s), VASUKRA, approaching
the Vasu (s), both RV; all are br膩hma峁嘺s except the first two
Vasudevas. I can not find them in Mitanni, but there is perhaps
the hypocoristic DEVYA (te wi ia), and DEV膧TITHI
(te u at ti).
Finally we may
add an antiquated theophoric in
DIVOD膧SA, servant of Zeus. We find the name in 1410 & 1330,
and in Paijavana of 1170; but the worship of Dyaus is negligable
in RV; Indra seems early to have usurped his feats. Of about
95 names above, 75 belong to br膩hma峁嘺s, and 30 to k峁triyas,
(of whom one or two are br膩hma峁嘺 k峁triyas); about 10% therefore
are shared.
Names connected with the ritual are much commoner than
theophoric; they may belong to k峁triyas or br膩hma峁嘺s; the
householder had religious duties, and indeed, kingship was also
a ritual. So, when a king is ABHAYA(DA), giving freedom
from fear, he is performing a part of the ritual perfection of
