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F. S. Growse — The Tirthas of Vrinda-vana and OoJcula. [No. 4, 
things for a bathe in the river, and seeing the Jamuna at some little distance, 
he shouted for it to come near. The stream, however, remained deaf to his 
summons ; whereupon the infuriated god took up his ploughshare and 
breaking down the bank drew the water into a new channel, and forced it to 
follow wherever he led. In the Bhigavata it is added that the Jamuna is 
still to be seen following the course along which she was thus dragged. 
Professor Wilson in his edition of the Vishnu Purana says, “ The legend pro- 
bably alludes to the construction of canals from the Jamuna for the purpose 
of irrigation ; and the works of the Muhammadans in this way, which are 
well known, were no doubt preceded by similar canals dug by order of Hindi! 
princes.” Upon this suggestion, it may be remarked first that in Upper India 
no irrigation works of any extent are known ever to have been executed 
either by Hindus or Muhammadans ; certainly, there are no traces of any 
such operations in the neighbourhood of Brinda-ban ; and secondly, both 
legends represent the Jamuna itself as diverted from its straight course into 
a single winding channel, not as divided into a multiplicity of streams. 
Hence it may more reasonably be inferred that the still existing involution 
of the river is the sole foundation for the myth. 
Like most of the local names in the vicinity, the word Brinda-ban is 
derived from an obvious physical feature and, when first attached to the spot, 
signified no more than the “ tulsl grove,” Irindu and tulsi being synonymous 
terms, used indifferently to denote the sacred aromatic herb, known to bota- 
nists as Ocymwn sanctum. 
But this explanation is far too simple to find favour with the more mo- 
dem and extravagant school of Vaishnava sectaries ; and in the Brahma 
Vaivanta Purana, a mythical personage has been invented bearing the name 
ofVrinda. According to that spurious composition (Brah. Vai., v. iv. 2) 
the deified ltadha, though inhabiting the Paradise of Goloka, was not 
exempt from human passions, and in a fit of jealousy condemned a Gopa by 
name Srfdama to descend upon earth in the form of the demon Sankhachura. 
He in retaliation sentenced her to become a nymph of Brinda-ban ; and there 
accordingly she was bom, being as was supposed the daughter of Kedara, 
but in reality the divine mistress of Krishna ; and it was simply his love for 
her which induced the god to leave his solitary throne in heaven and be- 
come incarnate. Hence in the following exhaustive list of Kadha’s titles as 
given by the same authority (Brah. Vai., v. iv. 17) there are several which 
refer to her predilection for Brinda-ban : 
Jtadhd, Sasesvari, Itdsavdsini, ltdsikesvari, 
hr is h. n a -p ru n a d h ih a , Krishna-priya, Krishna-swarupini, 
Krishna, Vrindiivani, Vrindd, Vrinddvana-vinodini, 
Chanddvati, Chandra-Jcantd, Sata-chandra-nibhdnand, 
Krishna-vdmdnya-sambhutd, Parcmdnanda-rupini. 
