. Popular religion and folk-lore of Northern India . eight sons, of whom she throws seveninto the river, and her husband dares not remonstrate withher. When she is about to throw away the last child hechallenges her to tell him who she is and to have pity uponhim. She then tells him that she is Ganga personified, andthat the seven sons are the divine Vasavas, who by beingthrown into the river are liberated from the curse of humanlife. The eighth remains among men as Dyaus, the sky, inthe form of the eunuch Bhishma. It is remarkable that, as in Plutarchs legend, the Jumnais connected with a tal
. Popular religion and folk-lore of Northern India . eight sons, of whom she throws seveninto the river, and her husband dares not remonstrate withher. When she is about to throw away the last child hechallenges her to tell him who she is and to have pity uponhim. She then tells him that she is Ganga personified, andthat the seven sons are the divine Vasavas, who by beingthrown into the river are liberated from the curse of humanlife. The eighth remains among men as Dyaus, the sky, inthe form of the eunuch Bhishma. It is remarkable that, as in Plutarchs legend, the Jumnais connected with a tale of incest. Yami or Yamuna wasthe daughter of the Sun and sister of Yama, the god ofdeath. They were the first human pair and the progenitorsjf the race of men. It is needless to say that similartraditions of brother and sister marriage are found in Egypt,Peru and elsewhere. Yamuna, according to the modernstory told on her banks, was unmarried, and hence somepeople will not drink from her because she was not purified 1 Peri Potamon. * i. 3888 ■I. ac ;UJ22 OLa)H< LU az •a The Godlings of Nature. 37 by the marriage rite, and so the water is heavy and indiges-tible. Another tale tells how Balarama, in a state ofinebriety, called upon her to come to him that he mightbathe in her waters ; and as she did not heed, he, in hisrage, seized his ploughshare weapon, dragged her to him,and compelled her to follow him whithersoever he wanderedthrough the forest. The river then assumed a human formand besought his forgiveness; but it was some time beforeshe could appease the angry hero. This has been taken torepresent the construction of some ancient canal from theriver ; but Mr. Growse shows that this idea is The worship of Mother Ganges is comparatively is mentioned only twice in the Rig Veda, and then with-out any emphasis or complementary epithet. Apparentlyat this time the so-called Aryan invaders had not reachedher There are numerous t
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