Cook, Arthur B.: Zeus: a study in ancient religion (Band 3,1): Zeus god of the dark sky (earthquake, clouds, wind, dew, rain, meteorits): Text and notes (Cambridge, 1940)

g6 The Clouds personified in Cult and Myth

with Kusha blades inspired with Mantras. 95—96. Uttering Mantras all the while, those
Rishis pierced the right thigh of Vena. Thereupon, from that thigh, sprang a short-
limbed person on earth, resembling a charred brand, having blood-red eyes and black hair.
Those Brahmavadins said to him,—Nishida (sit) here. 97. From him have originated
the Nishadas, viz., those wicked tribes who live in the hills and the forests, as also those
hundreds and thousands of Mlecchas, living on the Vindhya ranges. 98. The great Rishis
then pierced the right arm of Vena. Thence originated a person who was a second
Indra in form' (sc. Prithu). H. H. Wilson Works London 1864 vi. 181 ff. = Vishnu
Parana 1. 13 'And they fell upon the king, and beat him with blades of holy grass,
consecrated by prayer, and slew him, who had first been destroyed by his impiety towards
god....The sages, hearing this, consulted, and together rubbed the thigh of the king,
who had left no offspring, to produce a son. From the thigh, thus rubbed, came forth a
being of the complexion of a charred stake, with flattened features (like a negro), and of
dwarfish stature. "What am I to do?" cried he eagerly to the Munis. "Sit down"
(nishida), said they: and thence his name was Nishada. His descendants, the inhabitants
of the Vindhya mountain, great Muni, are still called Nishadas, and are characterized by
the exterior tokens of depravity. By this means the wickedness of Vena was expelled;
those Nishadas being born of his sins, and carrying them away. The Brahmans then
proceeded to rub the right arm of the king, from which friction was engendered the
illustrious son of Vena, named Prithu, resplendent in person, as if the blazing deity of
Fire had been manifested. There then fell from the sky the primitive bow (of Mahadeva)
named Ajagava, and celestial arrows, and panoply from heaven. At the birth of Prithu, all
living creatures rejoiced; and Vena, delivered, by his being born, from the hell named
Put, ascended to the realms above.' H. H. Wilson adloc. cites the parallel passage in the
Bhdgavata-purdAa 4. 14. 43—46 with the rendering of E. Burnouf Le Bhdgavata Purdna
Paris 1844 ii- 2. 78: 'Ayant pris cette resolution, les Richis secouerent rapidement la cuisse
du roi qu'ils avaient tue, et il en sortit un nain. Noir comme un corbeau, ayant le corps d'une
extreme petitesse, les bras courts, les machoires grandes, les pieds petits, le nez enfonce,
les yeux rouges et les cheveux cuivres. Prosterne devant eux, le pauvre nain s'lkria: Que
faut-il que je fasse? et les Brahmanes lui repondirent: Assieds-toi, ami. De la lui vint le
nom de Nichada. C'est de sa race que sont sortis les Naichadas qui habitent les cavernes
et les montagnes; car c'est lui dont la naissance effaca la faute terrible de Vena,' ii. 4. 15.
1—6 (ii. 2. 79 Burnouf) 'Maitreya dit: Les Brahmanes ayant ensuite agite les bras du roi
Vena, qui etait mort sans posterite, en firent sortir deux enfants, un fils et une fille. A la
vue de ces deux enfants, les Richis qui expliquent le Veda, y reconnaissant une portion
de la substance de Bhagavat, s'ecrierent, pleins d'une extreme joie: Celui-ci est une
portion de la substance du bienheureux Vichnu, qui est faite pour purifier le monde;
celle-la est une creation de Lakchmi, la compagne fidele de Purucha. De ces deux
enfants, le male deviendra le premier roi; ce sera le Maharadja, nomme Prithu, dont la
gloire et la renommee seront repandues au loin. Celle-ci sera sa royale e'pouse; douee
d'une taille parfaite et de belles dents, faite pour rehausser les ornements et la vertu elle-
meme, elle sera, sous le nom d'Artchis, inviolablement attachee a Prithu. Cet enfant
est sans contredit une portion de Hari, qui est ne dans le d&ir de sauver le monde; et
cette fille est certainement <Jri son epouse devouee, compagne inseparable du Dieu qu'elle
a suivi [sur la terre].' H. H. Wilson op. cit. vi. 182 n. 1 further remarks: 'The Padma
(Bhumi Kharida) has a similar description [of Nishada]; adding to the dwarfish stature
and black complexion, a wide mouth, large ears, and a protuberant belly. It also
particularizes his posterity as Nishadas, Kiratas, Bhillas, Bahanakas, Bhrahmaras,
Pulindas, and other barbarians or Mlechchhas, living in woods and on mountains.'
A. Kuhnop. cit" p. 149 f- refers to the HarivamSa, a supplement to the Mahabharata,
for the same tale.

(3) Mandhatr, an ancient king, son of Yuvanagva, was born from his father's side.
Yuvanacva, when hunting, had drunk sacrificial butter and so become pregnant (Ma/ia-
6/tarata'tmns. M. N. Dutt Calcutta 1896 iii. 187 = Mahabh. 3. 126. 24—31 'O great king,
as you, being very thirsty, have drunk the water prepared with sacred hymns which was