ORIENTAL SERIES.

212 MUNINACHIKETAS.
Dr. Koer in the BiblwtJieca Indica and by Rammohun Roy.
There are several editions of the text.
MUNI. " A holy sage, a pious and learned person, endowed
with more or less of a divine nature, or having attained to it hy
rigid abstraction and mortification. The title is applied to the
.Zfe'shis, and to a great number of persons distinguished for their
writings considered as inspired, as Pa7zini, Yyasa." Their superhuman
powers over gods and men have been often displayed in
blessings, but more frequently in curses.
MURA, MURU. A great demon who had seven thousand
sons. He was an ally of the demon Naraka, who ruled over
Prag-jyotisha, and assisted him in the defence of that city
against Krishna. He placed in the environs of the city " nooses
the edges of which were as sharp as razors/' but ~Krish.no, cut
them to pieces with his discus, slew Muru, " and burnt his seven
thousand sons like moths with the flame of the edge of his discus."
< MURARL The foe of Mura.' An appellation of Kr/shna.
MURARI MI^RA. Author of the drama Murari Nafaka or
Anargha Raghava (q.v.).
MTJSALA The pestle-shaped club carried by Bala-rama.
was named Saunanda.
It
MUSALA-DHARA, MUSALAYUDHA, MTTSALIN.
iArmed with a pestle.' An appellation of Bala-rama.
MUSH7TKA, A celebrated boxer in the service of Kansa,
who directed him to kill Knslma or Bala-rama in a public en-
counter, but Bala-rama overthrew him and killed him,
NiBHAGADISBTA, ISTABHAaAKEDISHrHA, NABHA-
NEDISHTHA. A son of Manu, who, while he was living as
a Brahmachari, was deprived of his inheritance, by his father
according to the Yajur-veda, by his brothers according to the
Aitareya Brahman He subsequently acquired wealth by im-
parting spiritual knowledge.
JSTACHIKETAS. The story of Nachiketas is told in the
Taittiriya Brahmana and Katha Upanishad. Vaja-sravasa or
Aruwi, the father of Nachiketas, desirous of attaining heaven,
performed great sacrifices, and was profuse in his gifts to the
priests. The son told him thafr he had not given all, for that
he, his "
son, was left, and said, To whom shall I be ? given "
On repeating the question, the father angrily replied, "To death."
So the son departed to the abodes of death, and, after staying