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Etymology of some Mythological Names. 
(By M. SESHAGIRI SASTRl.) 
The subject of this paper is the Etymology of some My- 
thological Names. Before treatiug of this subject, I shall 
introduce some general prefatory remarks which I consider 
necessary for a clear understanding of it. Mythology is the 
sum total of the knowledge which every nation has of the 
cosmogony of the world in their low and primitive condi- 
tion ; and the absence of such a knowledge in a people is 
a clear indication of the absence of any nationality. For, 
according to Schelling, a nation becomes a nation through 
community of consciousness between the individuals, and 
this community has its foundation in a common view of the 
world, and this, again, in mythology. In conformity, there- 
fore, to his theory there will be no nationality found in 
circles of men who have no mjrthology. We may, therefore, 
state that every nation has a mythology and that, at any 
rate, this is the case, as we all know, with the Aryans with 
whose mythology alone this paper is concerned. Mytho- 
logy, like every other branch of human knowledge, may 
be studied scientifically as well as historically. Different 
nations have different mythologies, and these, notwithstand- 
ing their divergences and dissimilarities, agree in many 
points and turn out to be identical. The historical student 
of myths was content merely with studying and recording 
them as they were. But in course of time when the science 
of comparative philology was established, the study of 
mythology assumed a new aspect. The young science led to 
very important ethnological conclusions and established the 
alliance and consanguinity of nations separated by thousands 
