Ho. 34,-1887.] 



POLONNABUWA. 



79 



down in streamlets after many austerities had been performed by 

 Bhagiratha.* 



In the renowned Sanskrit vocabulary, " Amarakosha," the common 

 names for rivers are given as Nadi, Sarit, Tarangine, &c, and various 

 rivers are mentioned by name. The first is Gangd. Its synonyms are 

 also given, such as Vishnu pode, in allusion to the myth that it issues 

 from the foot of Vishnu ; BhdgiratM, in allusion to its coming down 

 from the skies, by virtue of the austerities performed by Bhagiratha. 



In the Pali vocabulary, " Abhidhanappadipika," the names of five 

 large rivers are mentioned, namely, Gangd, Achiravati, Yamuna, Sara- 

 bhu, and Mahi. 



The common names for rivers as given there are Savanti, Ninnagd, 

 Sindhd, Saritd, Apagd, and Nadi. One synonym for the river Gangd 

 is given there, and that is BhdgiratM. 



Monier Williams, in his " Sanskrit Dictionary," says " Gangd (said to 

 be from the root gam, 'to go'), the river Ganges — the Ganges personified 

 and considered as the eldest daughter of Himavat and Mana, 

 and wife of Santanu and mother of Bhisma, or as one of the wives of 

 Dharma. There is also a Gangd in the sky, Akasa Gangd, and one 

 under the earth." 



Professor Childers, in his " Pali Dictionary," explains the word 

 Gangd thus : "(f) The river Ganges, the celestial river, the milky way ; 

 Gangeyyo (adj.), belonging to the Ganges." 



Hence it would appear that neither in Sanskrit nor in ancient Pali 

 works could the word Gangd have been used as a synonym for nadi, 

 " river." If one were to write in Sanskrit or Pali Yamuna- Gangd, it 

 would not mean the river Yamunc,, but the Yamuna and the Ganges. 

 In the same way, Achiravati- gangd would not mean the river Irrawaddy, 

 hut the Irrawaddy and the Ganges ; for the simple reason that Gangd 

 is a proper name, and not a common name for a river. It is only in 

 Ceylon that the words gangd and gatiga — which latter is a corruption of 

 the former — are made to do duty as synonyms for nadi, " river." Hence 

 we have in Ceylon the Kelani-ganga, the river Kelani ; Kalu-ganga, "the 

 black river " ; Mahaveli-ganga, "the great sandy river." I concede that 

 in modern Ceylon Pali works written by Sinhalese who have made 

 gangd a common name for a river, it is erroneously used as a synonym 

 for nadi ; but this cannot affect the present question. 



The sun and the moon were deified by the ancients, and we have in 



" Ramayana," page 18. 



