POSITION AND STRUCTURE OF HORSE 69 



Europe, a closer one in North America, their 

 centre of dispersal lay far enough north to spread 

 into Europe on the one hand, and North America 

 on the other, but that the latter was nearer and 

 more accessible ; i.e. that centre of dispersal was 

 North-eastern Asia or Alaska." 



To deal adequately with the subject of the im- 

 portant part played by the horse in the development 

 of civilisation would require as much space as is 

 contained in the whole of the present volume ; but it 

 may be of interest to refer to certain Hindu myths 

 relating to the origin of the horse, especially as 

 these have a curious bearing on the classical fable 

 of Pegasus, the flying horse. 



In the introduction to an Indian work on the 

 horse Colonel D. C. Phillott ^ writes on this subject 

 as follows : — 



"According to Hindu legends, the horse was 

 created a winged animal, one that could fly and 

 run, and no man or god could snare it. Indra 

 wanted horses for his chariots, and requested the 

 sage Salihotra to deprive the horses of their wings. 

 Accordingly Salihotra, by yoga, a supernatural 

 power, derived by his austerities, accomplished 

 Indra's wish. The horses, now deprived of the 

 ability to visit far-off jungles in search of medicinal 

 herbs, approached Salihotra and entreated him to 



^ The Faras-Nama-e Rangin, or the Book of the Horse, London, 

 1911. 



