Part II 



The Literature and History of 

 the Bee 



XIV 

 IN HINDU LITERATURE 



The Latin writer Varro fancifully calls the bees the 

 Birds of the Muses, thus paying a poet's tribute to the airy 

 creatures that wing their way through the songs of many 

 nations ; and nowhere is the title better deserved than in 

 India, where from the earliest times the bees have been the 

 winged darlings of the muses. 



Figuring largely in the religion as well as the poetry of the 

 Hindus and constantly appearing in the accounts of the 

 gods the bee is a delightful and omnipresent feature in 

 Hindu literature. 



The " Vedas," the oldest literature of India, concerning 

 themselves with the great forces of nature, and drawing 

 their imagery mainly from the phenomena of the sky, are 

 full of allusions to honey and the bee, which play their parts 

 in the stately drama of men and gods. 



The word madhu, honey, and other words compounded 

 with it constantly occur. 



Honey, in the " Vedas," is intimately connected with 

 the symbolism of the sun and the moon, but particularly 

 of the moon. 



'5 



