28 



Charles R. Lanman — The NatnucM-wyth. 



[No. r, 



The Namuchi-myth ; or an attempt to explain the text of Bigveda viii. 

 14. 13.—% Chables R. Lanman, Professor in Harvard College, 

 Cambridge, Mass., U. S. A. 



The fact has been recognized, ever since the earliest days of Vedic 

 study, that the myths of the Veda are the poetic outgrowth of certain 

 natural phenomena. The fact appears, for example, from the work of 

 Yaska, when he quotes the opinion of his predecessors. And the na- 

 tural basis of any given myth is usually not difficult to ascertain. Such, 

 however, is not the case with the one now in question. The text cited 

 above reads : 



^mi q>3sr srir%: 



It is commonly understood and rendered as follows : ' With the 

 foam of the waters, Naniuchi's head, 0 Indra, thou didst cut off, when 

 thou wast conquering all thy foes.' 



There is no doubt about the incorrectness of this interpretation. 

 Nevertheless it is an exceedingly ancient one, as appears from the 

 legends into which this brief allusion of the Vedic Samhita is expanded 

 in the Brahmanas. From the Brahmana-passages* and from the ex- 

 plicit language of Sayauaf, it is clear that the water-foam was conceived 

 as the actual weapon with which Indra cut off the demon's head. The 

 fable says that Indra used this most remarkable weapon because he had 

 sworn to Namuchi, saying, " Neither by day nor by night will I slay 

 thee, neither with the mace nor with the bow, ... neither with the dry 

 nor with the wet." And so, in order to slay him, without perjuring 

 himself, Indra smote the demon at twilight, which was neither day nor 

 night, and with the foam of the water, which was neither dry nor wet. 

 ' He cast the water-foam into (the shape of) a thunderbolt ' — ^qf 

 ^flft^«T, — literally, ' The water-foam he made by pouring or founding 

 (as molten metal) to bo a bolt.' 



All this is quite in keeping with the style of the Brahmanas ; and 

 it follows naturally enough from the text of the Samhita, provided we 

 misunderstand it as did the authors of the Brahmanas. But to my mind 

 there is no conceivable natural phenomenon of which this may be re- 



* See Qatapatha Br., xii. 7. 3 ; Taittiriya Br., i. 7. 1. These passages, with one 

 from the Mahabharata, are conveniently assembled by Muir, in his Sanskrit Texts 

 iv 2 . 261. 



