1S75.] Prannath. Pandit — Krislina-cultus in the Brhat Samhita. 17 



Pradyumna had any independent status in tlieir Pantheon, their wives be- 

 ing of course out of the question altogether. Baladeva too had more the 

 position of a satellite to Krishna than that of an independent divinity. It 

 would therefore he, to say the least, paradoxical if all these personages be 

 raised to the rank of popular divinities, when Krishna himself is left out in 

 the cold, and only thought worthy of an incidental mention. 



The question may be viewed from another point. Our author has been 

 giving detailed directions as to the mode in which various divinities are to 

 be modelled or sculptured. He first tells us that Vishnu may be represent- 

 ed with eight, four, or two hands. He then gives us details about these 

 allotropic modifications of that deity. We have then an account of Bala- 

 rarna, and after that we are told that the goddess ETcdnamga is to be 

 represented in a certain posture between Krishna and Balardma. Now 

 nowhere in the chapter, or even in the whole work, are we told as to how 

 Krishna is to be represented. I submit that we are bound not to inflict the 

 odium of this omission on Varahamihira, if we can help it. 



The solution that I propose of these difficulties is this : I put it that 

 Yaramihira thinks that he has already described Krishna, when he has 

 given us the description of the two-handed Vishnu. I see nothing which 

 can be urged against this supposition, always leaving out of account the 

 foregone conclusions of some writers that the Krishna-cultus must be post- 

 Christian. 



But there is still another passage in the Brhat Samhita from which, I 

 contend, the conclusion is legitimate, that Varahamihira recognised the 

 identity of Krishna with Ndrdyana. Krishna had said in the Gita : 



3n^T$f%l <lTSfn^riKT 3^! I* 

 which may be freely translated thus : 



" I am time the potent destroyer". 



Pursuant perhaps to this general idea, Varahamihira, in the one hun- 

 dred and fifth chapter of his work, names the twelve months of the year 

 after Ndrayana. 



^t^t t<^ **wt ! ymr< *rore^j^ n W n 

 wj^ht OTj^Tfrar >ttt -^-stYg fMtrro wt^i i 



#W* ^rfwr*9 fT*!^ ^rffT *R ^ f% 5PJP5T Vy\ II ^<* llf 

 14. Mrigas'irsha and the rest are Keshava, Ndrayana, Mddhava, Go- 

 vinda, Vishnu, Madhusudana, Trivicrama, and Vainana. 



* Gita, XI, 32. Also quoted hy Vijnana Bhikshu while commenting on the last 

 of the Sankhya Sutras. 



t Kern's Brhat Samhita, pp. 503 — 504. 



