Hindu mythology, Vedic and Purānic . orming religious ceremo-nies) ; and he, who, by having a son might have setthem free, was given up to a life of austerity, and re-fused to marry. When they are told that Jagata-karu is the man through whose abstinence they aresuffering, they entreat him to seek a wife and securetheir deliverance. He consents to do so on conditionthat the parents of the girl he marries give her to himwillingly. Vasuki, hearing of this, offers his sister tothe sage, who marries her and has a son named Asika,This son effected the deliverance of his ancestors andalso rendered g
Hindu mythology, Vedic and Purānic . orming religious ceremo-nies) ; and he, who, by having a son might have setthem free, was given up to a life of austerity, and re-fused to marry. When they are told that Jagata-karu is the man through whose abstinence they aresuffering, they entreat him to seek a wife and securetheir deliverance. He consents to do so on conditionthat the parents of the girl he marries give her to himwillingly. Vasuki, hearing of this, offers his sister tothe sage, who marries her and has a son named Asika,This son effected the deliverance of his ancestors andalso rendered good service to the serpent race in sav-ing them from destruction when Janamejaya was wish-ful to exterminate them. * Ward, ii, 142. 492 MISCELLANEOUS MINOR DEITIES. 3. Sasti. SastI is peculiarly the goddess of married women ;she is the giver of children, assists at childbirth, andis the guardian of young children. She is representedas a golden-complexioned woman with a child in herarms, riding upon a cat ; hence no Hindu woman would. under any circumstances injure that animal, lest sheshould offend the goddess and be made to suffer for times a year festivals in honour of Sasti are held ;in addition to which, women who have lost their child-ren by death worship her monthly. When a childis six days old, the father worships her ; and when threeweeks old, the mother presents offerings to her. The THE SHALGRAMA. 493 ordinary representative of Sasti is a stone about thesize of a mans head, placed under a Banyan tree,which is decorated with flowers, and offerings of rice,,fruit, etc., are made to it.* 4. The Shalgrama, By the worshippers of Vishnu, the Shalgrama isregarded as a most sacred object. It does not deriveits sacredness from consecrating rites, as images andother representatives of deities, but is believed to beinherently holy. It is a black ammonite, found inMount Gandaki in Nepal. The popular belief is thatin this mountain there are insects which perforatethe stone
Size: 1302px × 1918px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookpublishercalcu, bookyear1913
