Gandharva

“ As a unity Gandharva has no special attributes but many duties, and is in close relation with the great gods. Thus he is director of the sun’s horses; he is guardian of soma, the sacred liquor, and therefore is regarded as the heavenly physician, soma being a panacea. He is servant of Agni the god of light and of Varuna the divine judge. He is omnipresent: in the heavens, in the air and in the waters. He is the keeper of heaven’s secrets and acts as messenger between gods and men. He is gorgeously clothed and carries shining weapons. ”

“ The Gandharva is heavenly and dwells in the high region of the sky; he is a measurer of space and is closely connected with the sun, the sun-bird, and the sun-steed, while in one passage he is possibly identified with the rainbow. He is also associated with the soma; he guards its place and protects the races of the gods. It is in this capacity, it would seem, that he appears as an enemy whom Indra pierces, just as in the Avesta the Gandarewa, dwelling in the sea Vourukasha, the abode of the White Haoma, battles with and is overcome by Keresāspa. ”

“ He is the tutelary deity of women and presides over marriage ceremonies. In their collective capacity the Gandharva share the duties allotted to the single deity. They live in the house of Indra and with their wives, the Apsaras, beguile the time by singing, acting and dancing. Sometimes they are represented as numbering twelve, sometimes twenty-seven, or they are innumerable. In Hindu law a Gandharva marriage is one contracted by mutual consent and without formality.
GANDÍA, a seaport of eastern Spain, in the province of Valencia; on the Gandía-Alcóy and Alcira-Denia railways. ”

“ May I become a Gandharva, in order that I may be able to move through the air, and so slay with ease that kinsman of mine, Satyadhara !" When the holy god Śiva heard this, he said to him, " This boon shall be granted to thee, but that enemy of thine has to-day died a natural death. And he shall be again born in the city of Rádhá, as Samarabhața, the favourite son of king Ugrabhața. But thou shalt be born as Bhímabhata, his elder brother, by a different mother, and thou shalt kill him and rule the kingdom. ”

“ When Gandharva heard the prognostics of the hermit, he was struck with astonishment, and with indignation against the child, not understanding the intention of the words. Then he called together the people and announced the thing to them, adding these words, "Of a truth the child must be a hundredfold a schimnu; how could a man use fifteen thousand waggon-loads of salt for the seasoning of his food? It is not good for such an one to live. ”

“ The minister therefore set out on his way without stopping to take breath; but what haste soever he made the King’s eagerness was greater, and at the head of a great body of the people Gandharva himself took his way in all speed to the place in the thick grove where they had laid the child. And since he did not find him at the first, he broke out into loud lamentations, saying,—
“0 thou, mine own Bodhisattva! who so young yet speakest words of wisdom, even young as thou art exercise also mercy and forgiveness. ”

“ Happy truly are they from whose eyes thou art never absent. For in truth thy virtues, snowy, cold as the moon when thou art by, in thine absence burn like sunlight. Truly all yearn for the past day as though it were that day whereon fate with such toil brought forth amṛita. Without thee the royal Gandharva city is languid as at the end of a feast. (399) Thou knowest that I have surrendered all things; yet my heart, in my despite, desires to see thee who art so undeservedly kind. Kādambarī, moreover, is far from well. She recalls thee with thy smiling face like Love himself. ”

“ Come to me, O timid one, wedding me, O beautiful one, according to the Gandharva form. O thou of tapering thighs, of all forms of marriage, the Gandharva one is regarded as the first.'
"Sakuntala, hearing this, said, 'O king, my father hath gone away from this asylum to bring fruit. Wait but a moment; he will bestow me on thee.'
"Dushmanta replied, 'O beautiful and faultless one, I desire that thou shouldst be my life's companion. Know thou that I exist for thee, and my heart is in thee. One is certainly one's own friend, and one certainly may depend upon one's own self. ”

“ Thus he and Schalû set out to go to the immortal Gandharva's capital. Inquiring by the way what fate had befallen the kingdom, he found that Gandharva had no sooner entered Nirvâna, than his neighbour King Galischa, had made the design to obtain possession of his throne; but that the Schimnus' host had been beforehand with him, and had already commenced to take possession. They made a compact, however, by which the government was left to King Galischa, on condition of his sending to the Schimnus in Gandharva's palace, a tribute of a hundred men daily with a nobleman at their head. ”

“ What was her joy when she one day discovered that, whenever he went to visit her, he left his donkey's form outside the door, and appeared like other men. She was not slow to take advantage of the circumstance by burning the donkey's form: the spell was thus destroyed, and Gandharva delivered from the operation of the curse. After a time they had a son, whom Gandharva desired his wife to call Vikramâditja, telling her at the same time that her handmaid would also have a son, who was to be called Bhartrihari, and who should devote himself to his service. ”

“ Draupadi replied, ‘O fair lady, neither Virata nor any other person will be able to have me, for my five youthful husbands, who are Gandharvas and sons of a Gandharva king of exceeding power, always protect me. None can do me a wrong. It is the wish of my Gandharva husbands that I should serve only such persons as will not give me to touch food already partaken of by another, or tell me to wash their feet. Any man that attempts to have me like any common woman, meeteth with death that very night. ”

“ In the Rigveda there is a water-nymph, named Apsaras; she is the “spouse” of Gandharva, an atmospheric deity who prepares Soma for the gods and reveals divine truths to mortals. They vanish, however, in later times; the other Vedas deal with the spirit groups which figure so prominently in the Epics. No doubt the groups are older than Gandharva, the god, and Apsaras, the goddess, who may be simply the elf-king and the fairy-queen. The “black” Dasyus are sometimes referred to by modern-day writers as the dark aborigines who were displaced by the [Pg 70] Aryans ”

“ Hearing these words of the Gandharva, Arjuna said, 'Blockhead, whether
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it be day, night, or twilight, who can bar others from the ocean, the sides of the Himalayas, and this river? O ranger of the skies, whether the stomach be empty or full, whether it is night or day, there is no special time for anybody to come to the Ganga--that foremost of all rivers. As regards ourselves endued with might, we care not when we disturb thee. Wicked being, those who are weak in fighting worship thee. ”

“ On hearing these words of the Gandharva, Arjuna said, 'O Gandharva, if from satisfaction for having obtained thy life at my hands in a situation of danger, thou givest me thy science, and these horses, I would not accept thy gift.' The Gandharva replied, saying, 'A meeting with an illustrious person is ever a source of gratification ”

“ But Urvaśí, remaining in the country of the Gandharvas, afflicted at her separation, was as void of sense as if she had been dead, asleep, or a mere picture. She kept herself alive with hoping for the end of the curse, but it is wonderful that she did not lose her hold on life, while she remained like the female chákraváka during the night, the appointed time of her separation from the male bird. And Purúravas propitiated Vishnu by that penance, and, owing to Vishnu's having been gratified, the Gandharvas surrendered Urvaśí to him. ”

“ Those heroes in wrath will slay thee that art so rash." Thus addressed, Kichaka of wicked soul replied unto me, saying, "I have not the least fear of the Gandharvas, O Sairindhri of sweet smiles. I will slay hundred thousand Gandharvas, encountering them in battle. Therefore, O timid one, do thou consent." Hearing all this, I again addressed the lust-afflicted Suta, saying, "Thou art no match for those illustrious Gandharvas. Of respectable percentage and good disposition, I ever adhere to virtue and never wish for the death of any one. It is for this that thou I vest, O Kichaka!" ”

“ The minister took the message of the child word for word to the Gandharva, who when he heard it clasped his hands in agony and rose up, saying,—
"What is this that I have done! Of a certainty the child was a Bodhisattva [10] . But it is the truth that what I did to him I did in ignorance. Run now swiftly and fetch me back my son." The minister therefore set out on his way without stopping to take breath ”

“ When this occurred the deities and Gandharvas began to worship the angry Jahna, who, being propitiated by their attentions, allowed the river to flow off through his ears. Proceeding again in the wake of Bhagiratha’s chariot, Ganga, having reached the ocean, entered the under-world where the ashes of the sixty thousand sons of Sangara still lay. Her sanctifying waters flowed over their earthly remains and their spirits ascended to heaven. ”

“ But when Vikramâditja had made an end of the Schimnus, and resumed his own form again, he made a great offering of incense, and the earth resumed her stability; the people were called back to life, and all was gladness and thanksgiving. All the people, and King Galischa at their head, acknowledged Vikramâditja as their lawful sovereign, and he ascended the throne of his father Gandharva. ”

“ The region to which he attains is inhabited by diverse tribes of Apsaras and resounds with the melodious voice of Gandharvas. The car he rides in is possessed of the effulgence of the sun. His heart being freed from every anxiety, he is waited upon by the foremost of celestial damsels. Decked with celestial garlands, and possessed of beauty of form, he lives in such happiness for millions and millions of years. ”

“ Young men obtain the fruit of their birth, when they awake the sleeping fair one, embracing her as she sweetly scolds, with her eyes languidly opening." On hearing this encouraging prelude, he embraced that fair one with limbs trembling with excitement, and then she awoke. When she beheld that prince, there was a contest between shame and love in her eye, which was alternately fixed on his face and averted. When they had conversed together, and gone through the ceremony of the Gandharva marriage, that couple found their love continually increasing, as the night waned away. ”

“ But Arjuna who was conversant with the most efficacious weapons, soon checked that shower of maces and darts and broad-swords, and in return began to mangle the limbs of the Gandharvas with his crescent-shaped arrows. And heads and legs and arms began to drop down from above resembling a shower of stones. And at that sight, the foe was struck with panic. And as the Gandharvas were being slaughtered by the illustrious son of Pandu, they began to shower from the skies a heavy downpour of shafts upon Arjuna, who was on the surface of the earth. ”

“ In this all the three India Office MSS. substantially agree. No. 1882 writes gáyantí with both short and long i and gandharva, No. 2166 has káshtham̱ with short a, and all three have a short a in Gandharve. It is curious to see how nearly this agrees with Dr. Kern’s conjecture. I find that the MS. lent me by the Principal of the Sanskrit College agrees with the reading I propose, except that it gives gandharva.
4 In the Swayamvara the election used to be made by throwing a garland on the neck of the favoured suitor. ”

“ Frequent relays of horses along the route enable the driver to urge his animals from one station to the other with great speed, and the only other stoppages are at the dâk-bungalows.
"I have discovered," I said to Bhima Gandharva after a short experience of the dâk-gharri and the dâk-bungalows—"I have discovered a general remark about India which is not absurd: all the horses are devils and all the dâk-bungalow servants are patriarchs." ”

“ Ságaradatta the king of the Gandharvas, who lives here, has a daughter named Gandharvadattá, who eclipses the nymphs of heaven; it seems as if the Creator had blended nectar, the moon, and sandalwood, and other choice things, in order to compose her [431] body, as a specimen of his skill in making all that is fair. ”

“ India has now a divine nature, and now a human. The gandharvas is the guardian of riches and waters: inasmuch as he defends them from the demoniacal robbers, preserves them from mortals, and distributes them among the pious, he appears under a beneficent and divine aspect; inasmuch, on the other hand, as he carries them off and keeps them shut up like a miser, he resembles the monster that is fabled to guard fountains and treasures, the demon who keeps the waters shut up, the thieves who gather treasures together, and the devil, the master of all riches. ”

“ The Gandharvas are grouped in tribes, and number over six thousand individuals. They are all of the male sex. They haunt the air, the forests, and the mountains, and, like the Rakshasas, have power to work illusions in the grey twilight before nightfall. ”

“ Professor Kuhn (Die Herabkunft, d. f. &c.) has already compared to this the Zend Gandhrawa, who, in the Lake Vôuru-Kasha, keeps guard over the tree hom (the Vedic Somas) . Kuhn and Weber, moreover, have identified the Vedic gandharvas, Kṛiçânus, who wounds the ravisher of the Somas, with the Zend Kereçâni, who endeavours to destroy riches; here the gandharvas would appear to be a monstrous and demoniacal being. ”