OF THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF BOMBAY. THE FULLMOON FESTIVAL OF THE A PROBABLE RELIC OF THE STRUGGLE BY RAO BAHADUR P. B. JOSHI, Ph.D.., F.R.G.S. Hitherto we have been accustomed to see at our festivals and rituals strictly from an orthodox point of view, that is, we have generally attached to them the same meaning which was assigned to them by our orthodox priests and pedantic pandits. The researches of scholars in the field of archæology, antiquity, anthropology, ethnology, astronomy, chemistry and other branches of science, have revealed to our view many new objects and facts, and the time has come when we must begin to change our methods and ways of thinking. Although our Puranas are not a mere collection of idle myths or superstitious legends, as some western writers imagine, yet it must be admitted that they contain a good deal of exaggeration and, being written by poets, they are full of metaphors, coloured or fanciful ideas and symbolic language. They do no doubt contain some fragments of history but the grains of historical Thus, for gold require to be picked up from a mass of chaff. example, Ravana, the king of Lanka, who is described in our epics as Dashamukha or ten-headed monster, was not in reality a monster with ten heads. Then how is the expression Dashamukha to be explained? It is to be explained in this way :The vedas are four in number and the vedangas are six. Thus the vedic literature consists of ten parts or branches, and as Ravana was well versed in all these branches, he was designated Dashamukha or endowed with ten heads. Even at the present time we speak of learned Brahmins well versed in the ten branches of the vedic literature as Dashagranthis (s) or "Ten-Books Men"; and there are several families of brahmins in India who bear the surnames of Dwivedis (Two vedis) and Trivedis (three-vedis). * It has already been stated that some of our rituals and festivals contain relics of historical events requiring a careful research and investigation in order to be able to trace a correct origin; and the festival of the Tripuris is one of them. In this festival; in our opinion, we can find traces of the struggle between the Indo-Aryans the followers of the Devas, and Iranian Aryansthe followers of the Asuras. There are two narratives of this festival, (1) as given in the Dronaparva of the Mahabharat, and (2) as given in the Puranas. The Mahabharat account is earlier and more reliable of the two, and here we shall give a summary of the account given in the Mahabharat. In ancient times a great struggle took place between the Devas and the Asuras and it lasted for a long time. Eventually the Asuras having sustained a defeat, their chief May âsura, along with his friends Târaka, Vidyunmâli and Kamalâksha, practised penance and thereby pleased Brahmâ, the god of creation. Mayâsura then requested the god Brahmâ to grant him the power and skill for constructing three flying cities, each at a distance of 100 Yojanâs (800 miles) and the god of creation complied with his request. By the favour of the Creator, Mayâsura constructed three flying cities which were immune from the attacks of the Devas, and the curses of the Brahmanas, though they were liable to destruction under certain circumstancesfrom the arrow of Siva. May âsura then created three flying cities of gold, iron, and silver respectively, one above the other, and gave them in charge of his three friends, Vidyunmâli, Târakâsura, and Kamalâksha respectively. After this he created for himself a separate city above all of them. But as Mayâsura had some friends among the Devas, he pursuaded his Asura-Kinsmen not to disturb or fight with the Devas. For a time this salutary advice was strictly obeyed by the countrymen of Mayâsura, but after the lapse of some time they disregarded this peaceful advice and began to tease and trouble the Devas. The Devas, therefore, headed by Indra, went to the god Brahmâ, and the latter took them to Siva, the god of destruction. Leaving all their differences aside, Vishnu, Brahmâ, Indra, Varuna, and other gods, became united and held a consultation for destroying the three flying cities of the Asuras. Eventually it was resolved that Siva, the god of destruction should lead the army of the Devas. Siva, then made the two mountains, Gandham âdan, and Vindhya the two bamboo poles of his car, the earth with all the oceans and forests his chariot, and the snake Sêsa the axle of his chariot. The sun and the moon were made the wheels, Malaya the yoke, and the great Takshaka the chord for fastening the yoke to the poles. The four vedas were made to serve as the four steeds, and the auxiliaries of the Vedas the bridlebits of his steeds. Gayatri and Savitri were made the reins and Brahmâ the driver. The Mandara mountain was made the bow, Vasuki the string, Vishnu its excellent arrows and the god of Fire the arrow-head. With all this equipment Siva took his army against the Asuras, and, by the discharge of the arrow composed of the Fire of Dissolution, caused the three flying cities to be burnt to ashes along with the Asuras. But as the Asura Maya (Ahura Mayas) was not hostile towards the Devas, no harm was done to him. This event occurred on the full-moon night of the bright half of the month of Kartika (November) during the Pushya constellation, and in order to commemorate this great victory over the Asuras, the full-moon festival of the Tripuris was founded. Here the name Maya-Asura or Ahura-Maya is interesting. This Asura Maya appears to be the same skilful architect who constructed the wonderful Durbar Hall called Maya-Sabha at Indraprastha for the Pandavas on the occasion of the installation of Yudhishthira as King of Bharat-varsha (India); and a detailed account of this Maya-Sabha is narrated by the Sage Vyas in the Sabhaparva of the Mahabharat. Asura Maya is the same as Ahura Maya (Ahur Mazd) and, as Asura Maya was considered to be an inhabitant of a foreign country, that is, the land of the Asurās, in all likelihood he was an Iranian Aryan by nationality. The Iranians were skilful in art and science, and it is probable that this skilful architect, with a view to help his kinsmen, must have utilised his ingenuity in the construction of the three flying cities which seem to have resembled the modern æroplanes. We have already stated that Asura-Maya was a foreigner and the following verses from the Sabhaparva (chap. 3) of the Mahabharat support this view : इत्युक्त्वाऽसुरः पार्थ प्रागुदीचीं दिशं गतः ॥ अथोत्तरेण कैलासान्मैनाकं पर्वतं प्रति ॥ हिरण्यभ्रंगः सुमहान्महामणिमयो गिरिः ॥ रम्यं बिन्दुसरो नाम यत्र राजा भगीरथः ॥ This means that Asura (Maya) went to Bindusara which is situated on the mountain Maināka and close to the summit of the mountain Himālayās called Hiranyashringa. It should be noted that there were two Bindusarās, one on the river Saraswati and the other on the mount Maināka. The account given in the Skanda Purana of the full-moon festival of the Tripuris is as follows: In ancient times there lived a monster named Tarakasur. He had three sons who afterwards came to be known as Tripuras. Every morning They were staunch devotees of the god Shiva. they used to worship the god Shiva with a thousand lotuses each. On one occasion one lotus was wanting to make up the number one thousand, so each of them took out his right eye and offered it to the god, and on another occasion when a similar deficiency occurred they cut off their own heads and offered them to Shiva. The god Shiva was mightily pleased with this extraordinary devotion, and he ordered the god of creation to build for them three cities in the sky. Shiva further observed that no one, mortal or immortal, shall be able to kill or conquer them, except the hero, who after fighting for a thousand years, was able to pierce the three cities simultaneously, with one arrow. After the receipt of this boon the Tripuras became arrogant. They killed innumerable human beings, and molested the celestial immortals. All the gods, now, headed by Indra, went to Vaikuntha the heaven of Vishnu-the guardian deity of the Hindus. And Vishnu taking all the gods with him went to Shiva. Vishnu and all the other gods now implored Shiva the god of destruction to destroy the wicked Tripuras. Shiva consented to destroy the Tripuras provided the gods furnished him with a unique chariot and bow. The gods agreed to do so. The mother earth was now requested to become the chariot and the Sun and Moon its wheels, the mountain Mandar became its axle, the four Vedas the horses, and the god of creation, Brahma, became the charioteer. The mountain Kaṇakādri was turned into a bow, with the divine serpent Shesha as its string, and the guardian Vishnu became the fatal arrow. Equipped with this chariot and bow, god Shiva fought with the demons for a thousand years, and yet the Tripuras were not vanquished. The god Shiva was so much fatigued that his whole body became wet with perspiration, and from his eyes tears dropped down. These divine tears became the sacred beads called rudraksha and the divine perspiration was turned into the holy Ganges. The gods now held a consultation and it was found out that so long as the wives of the Tripuras and other demons were chaste and pious, there was no hope of victory for the gods. It was necessary to use diplomacy and |