I9I0.] HOPKINS— MAGIC OBSERVANCES IN HINDU EPIC. S9 



Kaulika-Sastra, 3.32.4. The South Indian recension has for this 

 word a varied reading, the verse as there given being a niatrstanya- 

 pCindc ca yavac chayyopasarpanam for the reading in B : yavad 

 gostanapdnac ca ydvac chdyopasevanat (janatavah karmand vrttim 

 dpnuvanti). The adoration of the image of a teacher who has 

 become estranged from his pupil is made in the hope that the image 

 itself will act as the teacher, relent and give the desired instruction, 

 and such proves to be the result in the one recorded epic case of 

 Ekalavya who " made a teacher of earth, malnmaya, and by culti- 

 vating it with the adoration due to a (real ) teacher attained, through 

 faith and devotion, to great skill in weapons" (which he sought by 

 worshipping the earthen image), 1. 132. 33. 



Authority for Magical Observances. 



Apart from the magical practices mentioned above there is little 

 which can be classed as magic in the Great Epic. Ceremonies to 

 raise spirits are known and the use of a jewel, " which, when bound 

 upon one, preserves from danger of all sorts" (weapons, sickness, 

 hunger, gods, demons, serpents, etc.) is recognized, 10.15.29. But 

 there is no essential difference between Mantras to make demons 

 serve one and Mantras to control the gods, except that the latter are 

 employed without ceremony by a woman and the former by a priest 

 with the full paraphernalia of sacrificial ritual, kaniia vditdnasam- 

 bhavaui, 3.251.23 and 305.20. In both cases the rite is according to 

 the Atharva Veda, as declared by Brhaspati and Usanas, the teach- 

 ers, respectively, of the gods and demons, that is, this Veda is the 

 authority in all magical observances. 



Of these two, it is the gods' teacher who has most to do with 

 the magical practices recognized in the epic, which, so to speak, sets 

 the seal of orthodoxy on the cult. From the epic texts hitherto 

 known we may gather considerable information in regard to him. 

 Brhaspati was the son of Aiigiras, and the younger brother of Uta- 

 thya; also the husband of Taraka, and the brother of " that excellent 

 lady who was the wife of Prabhasa and the mother of the gods' 

 great Artificer." He is reckoned among the Adityas and is iden- 

 tified with the fire-god, though he is also called a divine seer. His 



