l8 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 94 



seven adders or addancs are no doubt the twenty-one rivers of X, 5, 5, 64, 8, and 

 75, I, cf. X, 99, 4 where the young restless streams that Indra pours out 

 hitherward are as yet " footless and earless ", and IX, "JT, 3 where the Soma 

 streams are referred to as "beautiful like snakes" {ahyo tm caravo). If the 

 latter comparison seems strange in view of what has been said so far, it must 

 be remembered that the beauty of wginls becomes a cliche in later Indian 

 literature, and that at least a beaiite de diable must be attributed to Night, 

 with whom the Sun is in love before her transformation takes place; just as in 

 folk-lore the human hero is in love with the mermaid before she acquires a 

 human form and soul. Nirjarayavah is literally " freed from the chorion ", the 

 commentators supplying " with skin sloughed from the body, chorionwise " and 

 "as Devas, freed from the chorion". Comparison may be made with RV. X, 

 106, 6 "Do ye (Asvins) make my corrupted chorion to be incorruptible" 

 {jarayv ajaram mardyu) ; X, 123, i, where the Sun is new risen from the 

 chorion, or in a chorion of light (jyotir-jarayu) ; Atharva Veda, I, 12, i where 

 the Sun is jarayu-ja: Satapatha Brahmana, VI, 6, i, 24, where Agni is due to 

 be born from the chorion (jarayuno jdyamana) which is called " putrid ", like 

 SiJrya's cast off garment in X, 85, 34, cf. AV. I, 11, 4; and especially Jaiminiya 

 Brahmana. II, 438, where Sarama, " splitting open the chorion of the Waters " 

 sets them free to flow. The word jarayu itself derives from jr " to be inveter- 

 ated " ; such expressions as RV. I, 140, 8 jardm pra muncan, and Pahcavimsa 

 Brahmana, XXV, 17, 3, jaram apahat, "put off eld", and such expressions as 

 jarayu- ja cited above, equally imply a birth and rejuvenation. In other words, 

 the young unwedded streams are newly born ; Indra's bride is one of them, or one 

 like them, just as Urvasi in X, 95, 6 is one of the " seven " Apsarases, in V, 42, 9, 

 " Urvasi of the streams". " Unrobbed " (amiuita) has reference to the powers 

 of darkness that lie in wait to steal away the " names " of those that proceed, 

 as in V, 44, 4, where Krivi namam vane pravane mMsayati. 



25. For example, in VIII, 17, 5, prdaku-sdnu is an epithet of Indra; the 

 words appear to mean " serpent-shouldered " (sanu, primarily " high plain " 

 or "table-land", metaphorically the upper part of the back, as in RV. I, 32, 9). 

 There is an image answering to this description in the Mathura Museum (see 

 Vogel, Ars Asiatica, XV, PI. XXXIX and p. 46). The female counterpart of 

 this image {ib. PI. XL) has long been known as the "Serpent Queen". And 

 Sarparajni, or "Serpent Queen" is a designation of Vac and of Earth in 

 Satapatha Brahmana, IV, 6, 9, 16-17. The two images are then rightly to be 

 called those of Indra and Indrani. 



The Sarparajiii hymn is also called the Manasa Stotra or "mental laud", 

 because its verses are " recited mentally " {manasa stuyante, Taittirlya Samhita, 

 VII, 3, I, 4, cf. Satapatha Brahmana, II, 2, i, 30) ; hence the name of the well- 

 known Bengali snake-goddess, Manasa Devi, who is at once Indrani and the 

 Earth, and of whom the Mathura " Serpent Queen " may be regarded as one of 

 the earliest known representations. 



The Serpent Queen must also be recognized in Sasarpari " the daughter of 

 the Sun" and "Lunar Maiden" (paksya; paksa, according to Sayana, is here 

 the Sun, the usual sense of " Moon ", as in Buddha Carita, II, 20, seems to be 

 more acceptable, and would allude to Sasarpari's amrya origin), "who puts 

 forth the New Life" (tmvyam ayur dadJiana), RV. Ill, 53, 15-16; where Ayus 

 is primarily Agni (see Bloomfield in Journ. Amer. Oriental Soc, XX, p. 181), 

 "the one and only Life" (ekayu^, I, 31, 5), and "Universal Life" {visvdyus, 

 I, 67,5; IV, 28,2; VI, 4, 2). 



