ORIENTAL SERIES.

DIRGHA-SRA VASDIVO-DASA. 93
told in the Kaghu-vansa. There was another prince of the
name. See Khatfwanga.
DIRGHA-KAVAS. Son of Dlrgha-tamas, and therefore a
J&shi, but as in a time of famine he took to trade for a liveli-
hood, the J?ig-veda calls him " the merchant."
DlRGHA-TAMAS, DlKGHA-TAPAS. 'Long darkness/
A son of Kasi-raja, according to the Maha-bharata ; of Uchathya,
according to the JBig-veda; and of Utathya and Mamata in
the Puramis. His appellations of Auchathya and Mamateya
favour the latter parentage. He was born blind, but is said to
have obtained sight by worshipping Agni (JR. V. iii. 128). He
was father of Kakshivat and Dhanwantari ; and he is said (in
the V. P.] to have had five children by Su-deshrca, wife of
Bali, viz,, the countries Anga, Banga, Kalinga, Purafra, and
Suhma.
DITL A goddess or personification in the Yedas who is
associated with Acliti, and seems to be intended as an antithesis
or as a complement to her.
In the Ramayawa and in the Purams she is daughter of
Daksha, wife of Kasyapa, and mother of the Daityas. The
Vishmi Pura^a relates that having lost her children, she begged
of Kasyapa a son of irresistible prowess, who should destroy
Indra. The boon was granted, but with
"
this condition :
If,
with thoughts wholly pious and person entirely pure, you care-
fully carry the babe in your womb for a hundred years." She
but Indra knew what was
assiduously observed the condition ;
preparing for him. So he went to Diti and attended upon her
with the utmost humility, watching his opportunity. In the
last year of the century, Diti retired one night to rest without
washing
her feet. Indra then with his thunderbolt divided the
embryo in her womb into seven portions.
Thus mutilated, the
child cried bitterly, and Indra being unable to pacify it, became
angry, and divided each of the seven portions into seven, thus
forming the swift-moving deities called Maruts, from the words,
'Ma-rodl/i,' c
"Weep not/ which Indra used to quiet them.
B1YO-DASA. i. A pious liberal king mentioned in the Big-
for whom it is said that Indra demolished a hundred stone
veda,
cities, meaning perhaps the mythological
aerial cities of the
Asuras. 2. A Brahman who was the twin-brother of Ahalya.
He is represented in the Veda as a "very liberal sacrifice!/'