A celebrated divine sage, usually reckoned among the ten patriarchs first created by Brahmá. He acted as a messenger of the gods.
105. _Tinged with celestial sandal from the breast_.
The breast of Indra was dyed yellow with a fragrant kind of sandal-wood (_hari-chandana_); and the garland by rubbing against it, became tinged with the same color. Wreaths and garlands of flowers are much used by the Hindús as marks of honorary distinction, as well as for ornament or festive occasions. They are suspended round the neck.
106. _The ever-blooming tree of Nandana_.
That is, Mandára, one of the five ever-blooming trees of Nandana, or Swarga, Indra's heaven. The two most celebrated of these trees were the Párijáta and the Kalpa-druma, or tree granting all desires. Each of the superior Hindú gods has a heaven, paradise, or elysium of his own. That of Brahmá is called Brahma-loka, situate on the summit of mount Meru; that of Vishnu is Vaikuntha, on the Himálayas; that of [S']iva and Kuvera is Kailása, also on the Himálayas; that of Indra is Swarga or Nandana. The latter, though properly on the summit of mount Meru, below Brahmá's paradise, is sometimes identified with the sphere of the sky or heaven in general. It is the only heaven of orthodox Bráhmanism.
The son of Indra by his favourite wife Paulomí or [S']achí.
Vishnu, in the monstrous shape of a creature half man, half lion (his fourth Avatár or incarnation), delivered the three worlds, that is to say, Earth, Heaven, and the lower regions, from the tyranny of an insolent demon called Hiranya-ka[S']ipu.
109. _We journey in the path of Parivaha_.
The Hindús divide the heavens into seven Márgas, paths or orbits, assigning a particular wind to each. The sixth of these paths is that of the Great Bear, and its peculiar wind is called Parivaha. This wind is supposed to bear along the seven stars of Ursa Major, and to propel the heavenly Ganges.
The Ganges was supposed to take its rise in the toe of Vishnu (whence one of its names, Vishnu-padí); thence it flowed through the heavenly sphere, being borne along by the wind Parivaha, and identified with the Mandákiní, or Milky Way. Its second course is through the earth; but the weight of its descent was borne by [S']iva's head, whence, after wandering among the tresses of his hair, it descended through a chasm in the Himálayas. Its third course is through Pátála, or the lower regions, the residence of the Daityas and Nágas, and not to be confounded with Naraka, 'hell,' 'the place of punishment.'