XO. I THE DARKER SIDE OF DAWN COOMARASWAM Y 9 



tvacani). According to the quite intelligible legend cited by Sayana, 

 Apfda, daughter of Atri, had in fact suffered from a skin-disease, and 

 the three skins that Indra removed from her became reptiles. In the 

 Jaiiiiin'iya BraJiuiana version (I, 220) we are told that Apala desired 

 to be rid of her " evil colour " (papaiii varnam) ; with the two first 

 cleansings she becomes successively a lizard (godhd) and a chameleon 

 (krkalasa), with the third cleansing she becomes saiiisvistikd (evi- 

 dently " whitened " ; the Safapatha Brdhmana version has samsUstikd, 

 apparently "fit to be fondled") and her form is called the "most 

 beautiful of all forms ". In the nearly identical version of Pancavimsa 

 Brdhmmia, IX, 2, 14, the woman's name is Akupara (in literal sig- 

 nificance identical with "Aditi ", ''In-finite"), she is an ArigirasT 

 (thus of Agni's kin), and it is expressly stated that her " skin was 

 like a lizard's" (godhS), that is reptilian and scaly. In X, 85, 34, 

 Surya's cast off garment (sdiiiulyaiii, to be connected rather with 

 samala. " foul ", than any word implying " woollen ") is significantly 

 described as " rasping, coarse, prickly, poisonous, and inedible " ; the 

 curious expression "inedible" {na .... attave) corresponding to 

 Atliarva Veda, I, 11, 4, where the chorion or after-birth {jardyu, a 

 term applied to the slough of a snake in ib. I. 27, i ) is said to be " for 

 the dog to eat" (sime .... attave). In any case, it is clear that 

 the old skins are removed, and a glorious skin revealed, making Apala 

 fit to be Indra's bride,^ i. e.. Surya to be the Sun's. With silrya- 

 tvacam above cf. Atharva Veda, II, 2, i. where the Gandharva Vis- 

 vavasu (=:Vena, the Sun, ih. II, i) is himself " sim-skinned " . . . . 

 (sfoya-tvak) ; in Pancavimsa Brdhmana, XXIII, 16, 5, where the 

 sacrificers "make a skin for themselves" (tvacani eva kiirute) a 

 " sun-skin " is to be understood ; like that of those who are sun- 

 skinned " in Vdjasaneyi Samhitd, X, ^r' 



We have long suspected that Apala becomes in the Buddha legend 

 Sujata, who in the Jataka (I, 69) is the daughter of a farmer, de- 

 sires a husband, and brings an offering of milk to the Bodhisattva, 

 seated beneath the Bodhi tree, on the eve of the Great Awakening. 

 Sujata, in fact, becomes the consort of Indra. The fullest account 

 occurs in Jataka No. 31. text I. p. 205. Here Sujata is the fourth 

 of Indra's handmaidens (pddaparicdrikd) ; three having died are re- 

 born in the same status, according to their virtue, but Sujata, " be- 

 cause she had performed no deed of virtue " (kusalakamassa akatattd, 

 cf. " akrtyd" discussed in Note 13) is reborn as a crane. Indra seeks 

 her, finds, and instructs her, and proves by a trial that she has ex- 

 perienced a change of heart. She is next reborn in a potter's family ; 

 Indra seeks her out. and makes her a gift in acknowledgment of 



