1870.] The Vdstu Ydga. 203 



" A thousand-hooded, four-armed &c."* 



In Puranic mythology, he is the bed on which Ndrdyana is said to 

 have rested before creation, and will rest after the creation is de- 

 stroyed. 



?nr ^re fw-sp ^w=re^i 5pn^*f ii 



Here Ananta, (eternity) in the form of a serpent is described as 

 doing menial work and waving a fan. But elsewhere he is said 

 to be an incarnation of Vishnu. 



The myth of the Atlas serpent named S'esha (the end) is 

 acknowledged to be allegorical. Thus the Kurma Purana. 



f^ft^T SfrTW^T^T WTWt *"**ifWT I 



It is the Hindu form of chaos. The figure in it was, as usual, 

 soon forgotten, and the frequent earthquakes that visited parts 

 of India were accounted for by a slight extension of the idea 

 contained in the myth. The ifa, the serpent of eternity, has a 

 thousand hoods, and upon one of them he holds the earth. At 

 times he relieves himself by changing the load from one to another 

 hood, and the motion caused by his replacement of the load is said 

 to be the cause of earthquakes. 



Vishnu is repeatedly brought in contact with the serpent. As 

 the presiding god of the sun, in fact the sun himself (sun = Vish- 



■snrmcpiRT^Tt fair ^ajr^tiTwf 1 1 



<in;m -<$f<m ^ vztj TOT W 3TC 1 1 

 ^rsf ^%T%?t ^hh^Fkt ii 



