18 Prannatli Pandit — Krishna-cultus in the JBrTiat Samhita. [No. 1 , 



15. Sridhara and then Hrishikeslia and Padmandbha and Ddmodara. 

 These are the months told in their respective order, 



16. A man fasting on the twelfth day of each lunar fortnight, duly 

 reciting the names of the months and worshipping Keshava, attains that 

 place where there is no fear arising from birth. 



The whole tenor of the passage makes it plain that the twelve names 

 predicated to the months of the year are so many synonyms for Narayana 

 or Vishnu. Now some of the synonyms given here have no meaning unless 

 they be applied to Krishna. If we succeed in establishing this proposition, 

 the conclusion is irresistible that Varahamihira identified Krishna with 

 Vishnu. The synonyms on which I would lay stress are, Keshava, Mddhava, 

 Govinda, and, last but not least, Ddmodara. 



Keshava. The usual grammatical etymology of this word traces its 

 origin to Kesa (hair) and the possessive affix va, as may be seen from Bhat- 

 togi's commentary* to Panini, V. 2. 109, and TJjjaladatta's commentarjt 

 to Unnadi Sutras, V. 33. KsMraswami in his commentary^: on the Amera- 

 Kosha following these authorities says : sj^^rr: ^'SH* ^T^T^f ^H^> I 

 "^Win'S^JfPC^T^ I. In the Vishnu Parana (Book V., Chap. XVI.) however, 

 another etymology is given accounting for the fact of Krishna's getting the 

 appellation of Kesava. " For this that thou hast slain the impious Kes'in, 

 thou shalt be known in the world by the name of Kes'ava."§ If preference 

 is to be given to this etymology, Kes'ava would be meaningless unless Krish- 

 na be intended. 



Mddhava. Kshiraswdnii gives two derivations. The one is Tir^T-' 

 ^Tgjjr: ^"3T *raT W$tT> I ; the other is ^r^T^Tcg ^T I. The following passage 

 from the Vishnu Purana (Book IV., Chap. XL) throws light on the latter 

 etymology. " The son of Vrisha was Madhu ; he had a hundred sons, the 

 chief of whom was Vrishni, and from him the family obtained the name of 

 Vrislmi. From the name of their father, Madhu, they were also called 

 Madhavas ; whilst from the denomination of their common ancestor Yadu, 

 the whole were termed Yadavas."|| If we are to follow this view of the 

 subject, Mddhava can be predicated to N~ardyana 7 only when he is identified 

 with Krishna. 



Govinda. The word go in Sanskrit is a veritable Kdmadhenu. Medi- 

 nikara gives a dozen meanings for it. The derivation of Govinda given by 

 Kshiraswdini is as follows: if ^ f^<ftf?T JITf^: l ^TCT^^W^TUrTi. 



* Taranatha's Siddhanta Kaumudi, Vol. I., p. 683. Second edition. 



f Aufrecht's Unnadi Sutras. 



% Sanskrit MS. ~No. 664, in the Society's Libraiy, leaf 7, p. 1. 



§ Wilson's Vishnu Purana, London, 1840, p. 540. The passage is also quoted by 

 Bharata Mallika in his commentary on the Amera Kosha, Sanskrita MS., No. 188, in the 

 Society's Library, p. 19. 



|| Wilson's Vishnu Piirana, p. 418. 



