10 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 94 



her virtue. She is reborn a third time as the daughter of the Asura 

 Vepacittiya (it will not be overlooked that the three births correspond 

 to the three cleansings of Apala)/^ and because of her virtue is 

 very beautiful (abhirupa) ; her father (who corresponds to Tvastr 

 in the Surya versions) arrays her for marriage, and summons an 

 assembly of Asuras so that she may choose a husband for herself. 

 Indra assumes the "Asura colour, or appearance" {asiiravanmm = 

 asurya-varnam, and this corresponds to X, 85, 30 quoted above) and 

 takes his place in the assembly (really a svayauivara) where Sujata 

 chooses him to be her husband, and he makes her his chief queen. 

 Indra in this story represents a previous incarnation of the Buddha. 

 In the last incarnation where the Bodhisattva is no longer identified 

 with Indra (in the sense of the Vedic dual Indragni) the require- 

 ment of the narrative makes it impossible for Sujata to become 

 the Buddha's wife, and she remains Indra's, though we may suspect 

 that the Bodhisattva's actual wife Yasodhara is really the alter ego 

 of Sujata. 



Given the other parallels, it is worth noting that Usas is more than 

 once in RV. addressed as " well-born ", or if we treat this as a name, 

 as " Sujata " (I, 123, 3, nso devl .... siijate ; VII, yy, 6. d'lvo 

 duhitar .... itsah sujate) ; this merely confirmatory evidence was 

 remarked only after the identification had already been in mind for 

 some years. Conversely, the designation of Usas as Maghoni in VII, 

 75, 5, is already suggestive of Maghavan. i. e. Indra. We are also 

 inclined to identify the kanyd and sujata of our texts with the siikanyd, 

 daughter of Saryata, who becomes the wife of Cyavana in Satapatha 

 Brdhmana. IV, 1,5; but as this involves a discussion of the identity of 

 Cyavilna, Atri, and others, the possibility must remain to be taken 

 up on another occasion. It may, however, be pointed out that just as 

 the Sun is inglorious when he wears the guise of Krtya, so in Sa- 

 tapafha Brdhmana, IV, i, 5, i, the inveterated (jtrnah) Cyavana is 

 " of Krtya's aspect " (krtyd-rupah) ; that jahe, " he was left behind ", 

 corresponds to X, 53, 8, " leave we there the impotent " (atra jahdnia 

 .... asevah) and X, 124, 4, " I leave behind the Father " (pitaraiii 

 jahdmi) ; and that the name Cyavana or Cyavana, " fallen away "', cor- 

 responds to X, 124, 4 where "Agni, X'aruna, and Soma fall away " 

 {cyavantc). Cf. too the "five-fold offering " made by Sunrta to 

 Brahmanaspati " in RV. I, 40, 3. 



Atharva l^eda I, 27 ofifers unmistakably a condensed account of 

 Indrani's procession and marriage. Verse i opens, " On yonder shore 

 {amuh pdre) are thrice seven adders (prddkvah) that have cast their 

 skins "(nirjardyavah).'* All that the cast skins are good for is to 



