ORIENTAL SERIES.

GAURIGAYATRL in
miraculously brought to life again. The hymns haye ben
translated by Max Muller in the Journal E. A. voL ii.
, 1866.
GAUKL The :
yellow '
or '
5
brilliant, a name of the consort
of $iva. (See Devi.) Varuna's wife also is called Gaun.
GAUTAMA, i. A name of the sage $aradwat, as son of
Gotama. He was husband of Ahalya, who was seduced by
India. This seduction has been explained mythologically as
signifying the carrying away of night by the morning sun, Indra
being the sun, and Ahalya being explained as meaning night.
Author of a Dharma-sastra, which has been edited by Stenzler.
3. A name common to many men,
GAUTAME&A.
twelve great Lingas.
'
Lord of Gautama.' Name of one of the
See Linga.
GAUTAMI. i. An epithet of Durga. 2. Name of a fierce
Rakshasi or female demon.
GAYA, A city in Bihar. It is one of the seven sacred cities,
and is still a place of pilgrimage, though its glory has departed
GAYATRL A most sacred verse of the jRig-veda, which it
is the duty of every Brahman to repeat mentally in his morning
and evening devotions. It is addressed to the sun as Savitn,
the generator, and so it is called also Savito'k Personified as a
goddess, SavitrZ is the wife of Brahma, mother of the four Vedas,
and also of the twice-born or three superior castes. Colebrooke's
translation of the is Gayatri " Earth, sky, heaven. Let us medi-
tate on (these, and on) the most excellent light and power of that
generous, sportive, and resplendent sun, (praying that) it may
guide our intellects." Wilson's version is, in his translation of
the J?ig-Yeda, "We meditate on that desirable light of the
divine Savitn who influences our pious rites." In the Yislmu
Purawa he had before given a somewhat different version, " We
meditate on that excellent light
of the divine sun : may he
illuminate our minds." A "
later version by Benfoy is, May we
receive the glorious brightness of this, the
generator, of the god
who shall prosper our works."
"
Wilson observes of it : The commentators admit some variety
of interpretation ; but it probably meant, in its original use, a
simple invocation of the sun to shed a benignant influence upon
the customary offices of worship ; and it is still employed by the
unphilosophical Hindus with merely that signification. Later
notions, and especially those of the Vedanta, have operated to
2.