Zoological Mythology Volume I Part 23

[550] Hira?yakar?am ma?igrivam ar?as; _?igv._ i. 122, 14.

[551] _Iliou Halosis_, 65-72.

[552] In the before-quoted collection of Radloff, _Taktabai Margan_.

[553]

Longa solitos caligine pasci Terruit orbis equos; pressis haesere lupatis Attoniti meliore polo; rursusque verendum In chaos obliquo pugnant temone reverti.

Claudia.n.u.s, _De Raptu Proserpinae_, ii. 193.

[554] _Phainomena_, 215.

[555] _Mbh._ i. 1470, 1471.

[556] Quelli cavalli che sono de pilo morello se fanno de humore colerico impero che e piu caldo humore et sicco che non e lo sangue et per questo produce ad nigredine el pelo. _I tre Libri della Natura Dei Cavalli et del Modo di medicar le Loro Infermita_, composti da Maestro Agostino Columbre; _Prologo._ 6, Vinegia, 1547.

[557]

Hippomanes phuton esti par Arkasi toi d'epi pasai Kai poloi mainontai an orea, kai thoai hippoi; ii. 48.

[558] Devennosi corrigere et emendare quelli li quali se posseno dire heretici, impero che voleno dire che quelle tal bestie che portano li crini advolte et atrezate; et con loro poco cognoscimento dicono che sono le streghe che li cavalcano et chiamanli cavalli stregari;"

_Prologo._ 10, the work quoted before.--Cfr. on the Damavoi, Ralston, _The Songs of the Russian People_, p. 120, 139.

[559]

Hippous melainas ou kalon pantos blepein Hippon de leukon opsis, aggelon phasis.

In Tuscany, flying horses, when seen in dreams, announce news; no doubt, this flying horse seen in dreams can only refer to the nocturnal voyage of the solar horse.

[560] Cfr. Menzel, _Die Vorchristliche Unsterblichkeits-Lehre_, Leipzig, 1870.

[561] The Hungarians call the bier of the dead St Michael's horse; Neo-Greek popular songs represent the ferryman of the dead, Charon, on horseback; in Switzerland, the sight of a horse is a harbinger of approaching death for a person seriously ill.--Cfr. Rochholtz, _Deutscher Glaube und Brauch_, i. 163, 164.

[562] _Afana.s.sieff_, v. 37.

[563] _Ib._ v. 54.

[564] _Afana.s.sieff_, i. 6.

[565] _Ib._ ii. 25.--Cfr. iii. 5, iv. 27.

[566] _Afana.s.sieff_, ii. 28.

[567] _Ib._ iv. 41.--In the twenty-first story of _Erlenwein_, the poor brother obtains wealth by means of a mare's head, while the rich brother, on the other hand, becomes poor.--In _Af._ v. 21, the dwarf-boy, who possesses great strength, enters into the ear of one of the two horses when in the act of ploughing; upon which they plough of their own accord, and the old father of the dwarf is at liberty to rest.--In the sixth Calmuck story, the head of the dead horse, when fallen from the tree, brings riches and good luck to him who lets it fall, who finds under it a golden cup: this is a form of the ambrosia which comes out of the horse's head, which we shall find farther on.

[568] The Russian text seems to me of too much importance, in the history of myths, not to deserve to be recorded here: "Iediet apiat vsadnik: sam cornoi, adiet va vsiem cornom; na cornom kanie; padskakal k varotam babijaghi i is-cesz, kak skvosz szemlin pravalilsia; nastala noc."

[569] Idiot ana i draszit. Vdrug skacet mimo ieja vsadnik sam bieloi, adiet v bielom, kon pod nim bieloi, i sbruja na kanie bielaja; na dvarie stalo raszvietat. Idiot ana dalshe, kak skacet drugoi vsadnik; sam krasnoi, adiet v krasnom i na krasnom kanie; stalo vshodit solntze.

[570] Ya? paurusheye?a kravisha samankte yo acvyena pacuna yatudhana?

yo aghnyaya bharati ks.h.i.+ram agne teshain cirsha?i harasapi v?icca; _?igv._ x. 87, 16.--Cfr. the dragon that torments the horses in the _Tuti-Name_ of Rosen, ii. 300.

[571] Tad agne cakshu? prati dhehi rebhe capharu?am yena pacyasi yatudhanam; _?igv._ x. 87, 12.--The demon Hayagrivas killed by Vish?us, which is the same as horse's neck, and Hayaciras, or horse's head, another monster giant in the _Ramaya?am_, iv. 43, 44, always refer to the Vedic acva-yatudhanas. We are already acquainted with the demon who, during the night, makes the horses sweat and grow lean, _i.e._, who makes them ugly. In the Latin tradition, after having a.s.sisted the Romans in the battle of the Lake Regillus, Castor and Pollux were seen, near the ambrosial lacus Iuturnae (Ovidius, _Fasti_, i.), to wash the sweat off their horses with the water of this lake, which was near the temple of Vesta. To this Macaulay alludes in his verses--

"And washed their horses in the well That springs by Vesta's fane."

--_Battle of the Lake Regillus_, x.x.xix.

The salutary water of the Dioscuri, or sons of the luminous one, would here occupy the place of the fire lighted by night in stables, and of the Vedic Agnis who kills the monster of horses. My friend Giuseppe Pitre writes me, that in Sicily, when an a.s.s, a mule, or a horse is to enter a new stable, salt is put upon its back (a form of Christian baptism), in order that the fairies may not lame it.--The Kullaros, the heroic horse of the Dioscuri, is perhaps not unrelated to the word _kullos_, which means lame and bent; the solar horse, before being heroic, is hump-backed, lame, lean, and ugly; the lame hero, the lame horse (a.s.s or mule), the lame devil, seem to me to be three _penumbrae_ of the solar hero, or of the sun in the darkness.

[572] Vibhir uhathur ?igrebhir acvai?; _?igv._ i. 117, 14.--Cfr. vii.

69, 7.

[573] Acvain na gu?ham acvina durevair ?is.h.i.+? nara v?is?a?a rebham apsu; _?igv._ i. 117, 4.--The Acvinau pa.s.s the sea upon a chariot, which resembles a s.h.i.+p; this chariot is said to have the sun for a covering--rathena suryatvaca; _?igv._ i. 47, 9.

[574] Yam acvina dadathu? cvetam acvam aghacvaya cacvad it svasti; _?igv._ i. 116, 6.

[575] Agnis tuvicravastamain tuvibrahma?am uttamam aturta? cravayatpatim putram dadati dacushe--Agnir dadati satpati? sasaha yo yudha n?ibhi?

agnir atya? raghushyada? ?etaram apara?itam; _?igv._ v. 25, 5, 6.

[576] _?igv._ i. 155, 6.

[577] i. 154, 4.

[578] Vish?or nu ka? virya?i pra vocam ya? parthivani vimame ra?a?si yo askabhayad uttara? sadhastha? vicakrama?as tredhorugayah; _?igv._ i. 154, 1.

[579] Yada te vish?ur o?asa tri?i pada vicakram ad it te haryata hari vavakshatu?; _?igv._ viii. 12, 27.

[580] _Ramay._ iv. 40.

[581] Yuktas te astu daks.h.i.+?a uta savya? catakrato tena ?ayam upa priyam mandano yahy andhaso yo?a; _?igv._ i. 82, 5.

[582] Tad u shu vam a?ira? ceti yanain yena pati bhavatha? suryayah; _?igv._ iv. 43, 6.--In the following hymn, strophe 1st, the aurora is called now daughter of the sun, now cow: Tam va? ratha? vayam adya huvema p?ithu?rayam acvina sa?gati? go?--Ta? surya? vahati.

[583] Rathasya naptya?; _?igv._ i. 50. 9.

[584] _?igv._ i. 116, 10.

[585] vi. 9.

[586] The lake of Brahman, visited by Hanumant in the _Ramaya?am_, vi.

53, has the form of a horse's snout (hayananam).

[587] Indro dadhico asthabhir v?itra?y apratishkuta? ?aghana navatir nava; _?igv._ i. 84, 13, 14, i. 117, 22, and the corresponding commentary of Saya?as.--The bones of the heroic horse possess strength equal to that of the horse itself; thus in the last chapter we have seen how, when the bones of the sacrificed bull or cow are kept, it springs up again with renewed strength.--Cfr. concerning this subject the interesting and copious details relating to European beliefs to be found in Rochholtz, _Deutscher Glaube und Brauch_, i. 219-253.

[588] ii. 24.

[589] Divo napata; _?igv._ i. 182, 1.

[590] As to the Vedic pa.s.sage, v. 76, 3, where it would seem that the Acvinau are invoked in the morning, at midday, and in the evening, there seems to me to be room for discussion. The text says: Uta yatam sangave pratar ahno (that is, in the early dawn, when the cows are gathered together), madhyandine (which, in my mind, is the middle term which separates the gloomy hours from the luminous ones), udita suryasya (which, meaning the rising of the sun, cannot express evening, but precisely the rising of the morning sun). We too would have thus expressed the three moments in the morning in which it was opportune to invoke the Acvinau.