. Indian myth and legend. onic legend,being associated with Kuvera, god of wealth, whose abodeis situated among the Himalayan mountains. In Kuverasdomain are found multitudes of spirits who do not visitthe world of men as a rule, but remain near the treasurefor purposes of defence; some are of dwarfish stature,some of fierce visage, some hunchbacked, some of blood-red eyes, some of frightful yells; some are feeding uponfat and flesh, and some are terrible to behold; and all arearmed with various weapons, and endued with the speedof the wind .^ The Gandharvas are grouped in tribes, and numberov
. Indian myth and legend. onic legend,being associated with Kuvera, god of wealth, whose abodeis situated among the Himalayan mountains. In Kuverasdomain are found multitudes of spirits who do not visitthe world of men as a rule, but remain near the treasurefor purposes of defence; some are of dwarfish stature,some of fierce visage, some hunchbacked, some of blood-red eyes, some of frightful yells; some are feeding uponfat and flesh, and some are terrible to behold; and all arearmed with various weapons, and endued with the speedof the wind .^ The Gandharvas are grouped in tribes, and numberover six thousand individuals. They are all of the malesex. They haunt the air, the forests, and the mountains,and, like the Rakshasas, have power to work illusions inthe grey twilight before nightfall. References are madein the Epics to their combats with human beings. Towarriors who overcome them they impart instruction inreligious matters; those whom they conquer they carry ^Mahahharata^ Roys trans. {Sakha Parva, p. 32),. C/2 < I ^ ^ < M-3 U wh A, ^ DEMONS AND GIANTS AND FAIRIES 69 away, like the Teutonic elves and dwarfs. The Gand-harvas are renowned musicians and bards and they play on their divine instruments the fairy-like Apsaras, who are all females, dance merrily. In thevarious Aryan heavens these elves and fairies delight andallure with music and song and dance the gods, and thesouls of those who have attained to a state of bliss. TheApsara dancing girls are voluptuous and beautiful, andinspire love in Paradise as well as upon earth. Theirlovers include gods, Gandharvas, and mortals. Arjuna,the human son of Indra, who was transported in a Celes-tial chariot to Swarga over Suravithi, the Milky Way,was enchanted by the music and songs and dances of theCelestial elves and fairies. He followed bands of Gand-harvas who were skilled in music sacred and profane,and he saw the bewitching Apsaras, including the notori-ous Menaka, with eyes like lotus blooms,
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Keywords: ., bookauthormackenzi, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookyear1913
