CoiitiihittioiL^ from the Jaiuiiuiya Bnilmuuja. 175 



10. na 'rvail na paras : For arvaii as adverb instead of -ak see 

 note to [UB. i. 2. 4. The whole phrase (which, hke our ' This is 

 neither here nor there,' must mean ' to l3e of no consequence or 

 vakie ') occurs in RV. x. 71. 9. where ime ye n5 'rvan na para^ 

 caranti together with other objectionable people are excluded (vi 

 jahuh, vs. 8). 



///. Why the mule is barren (JB. i. 67). 



The Brahmanas give two legends in explanation of the fact that 

 the mule is barren.^ 



1. AB. iv. 9. 1 (in connection with the race of the gods at the 

 occasion of the marriage of Prajapati's daughter, Sur3'a) says : a^vata- 

 rlrathena 'gnir ajim adhavat. tasam prajamano yonim akujayat. tas- 

 mat ta na vijayante, ' Agni ran the race with a chariot [drawn by] 

 she-mules. As he was urging [them] on he singed their womb. 

 Therefore they are barren.' 



2. The second legend is reported in TS. vii. 1. 1. 2—3, 'By means 

 of the agnistoma Prajapati created the creatures. By means of the 

 agnistoma he enclosed them. Of them being enclosed the he-mule 

 escaped. [Pursuing and] catching it he took its seed. He trans- 

 ferred^ it to the ass; therefore the ass has two [kinds of] seed. 



^ This fact is frequently alluded to by the ancients. Cf., for India, SB. 

 v(vi). 7. 2 with A. Weber, Zwei vedische Texte fiber Otnina itnd Portenta in 

 Ahhandl. d. K. Akad. d. IF. zu Berlin, 18-58, published 1859, p. 327-8; for 

 classical antiquity the passages collected by H. O. Lenz, Zoologie der alien 

 Griechcn imd Roincr, 185(3. p. 212 ; A. Schlieben, Die Pferde des Alterthiuns, 

 1867, p. 72 : C. S. Kohler, Das Tierlehen im Sprichwort der Griechen iind 

 Romer, 1881, p. 121 ; in one of the defixiones published by AudoUent 

 {Dejixiomtin tabellae^ 1904, p. 374, no. 271, lines 15—16) the name of the 

 deity is paraphrased by as xov noLr\Gavxa zrji' rjfxiofoi' /ur] itxEiv. 



Whether the frequent comparison ' sa mrt;\^um upagrhnati garbham ac- 

 vatarl yatha ' (cf. the passages collected by Boehthngk, Indische Spriiche, 

 2d ed., 1870, nos 58, 2698, and 6656, and by Gildemeister, Orient nnd 

 Occident., II, 1864, p. 172—174), which is used of one who does an act sure 

 to result in his destruction, belongs here is a disputed point, because 

 some of the native scholars with whom Gildemeister agrees (cf. also 

 Stenzler, Zt. f. d. Kunde d. Morgenlandes., IV, 1842, p. 399) take a^vatari 

 in the sense of a ' female crab ' ; this is also Pratapa Chandra Roy's 

 rendering (Mbh. xii. 5276 = 140. 30). 



- Literally, ' smeared it on.' 



