288 



JOURNAL R A. S. (CEYLON) 



[Vol. Ill, 



Ararat or " Ambrosia," at the churning of the ocean, Hence 

 Rahu's enmity to those planets, whom the Buddhists believe 

 are periodically seized upon by Rahu to avenge the part 

 they are said to have taken in the detection of his theft. 



The names of this Deva, as of oilier deities, are descriptive. 

 He is Vas-deiv, "the son of Vasa-de>a, n and Uvindu " ranks. 

 Ti ; ext to the chief deva." He is Kamal-kal or Siri-piya, the 

 husband of Laksmi. He has Sim-fra, " four arms ; T ' Piyum-net? 

 "lotus eyes"; Dam&ra, " a sash round his belly Hem-salu, 

 " a golden mantle " on his body ; Sak-pana, u a ring y ' in one 

 band, and " a conch shell " in the other ; and Piyum-neba, " a 

 lotus navel." This last designation was owing to the part 

 Vishnu had taken in the reconciliation between Parvati and 

 Mahadeva, who found their concurrence essential to the per- 

 fection of their offspring. This was so far recognized by the 

 Egyptians and the Greeks, that the former, we learn from 

 Wilford's Essay on Egypt, had 4 a vast umbilicus made of stone/ 

 in their Temple of Jupiter-Ammon ; and that the latter kept 

 an umbilicus of white marble, at Delphi, in the sanctuary of 

 the Temple, where it was carefully wrapt up in cloth. He is 

 represented as being Kalu or Nilmga, ' blue ;' and as 

 Gurulu-dada, " riding on a Guruhi" between whom and the 

 serpent race is a deadly feud, originating in a dispute between 

 their respective parents Kadru and Vinata; the wives of 

 Kasyapa. In a Hindu legend (as in the following extract from 

 the Budugu)idla?ikdra,) 



<53\3* 032S5C, qJSjQ, CS55^Z)(%6j(& 0305^ Q 



he is described, as 



" pillowed on bis snake-couch mid the deep." — Muddra Rctkshasa. 

 and as 



reposing upon the thoiisi id heads of Sesha, amidst the' waters' by 

 which the earth is overspread 



The story, in reference to which he is called Govindu, or 

 ' chief of herdsmen,' is thus narrated by Miss Spier,, in her 

 u Life in Ancient India," p. 4661 



