ORIENTAL SERIES.

370
VYAKARANAVYA VAHARA-CHINTAMANL
t( He uttered the word bhur, which became this earth. ;
which became this firmament; and swar, which became that
sky." A fourth word, mahar, is sometimes added, and is
probably
intended to represent the Atharva-veda. See Loka.
YYAKAKAJVA. '
Grammar.' One of the Vedangas. The
science of grammar has been carefully studied among the Hindus
from very ancient times, and studied for its own sake as a science
rather than as a means of acquiring or regulating language. The
grammar of Pamni is the oldest of those known to survive, but
Parani refers to several grammarians who preceded himself. One
of them was named $akatfayana, a portion of whose work is
said to have been discovered lately.
YYASA * An arranger/ This title is common to many old
authors and compilers, but it is especially applied to Veda-vyasa
the arranger of the Yedas, who, from the imperishable nature of
his work, is also called $aswatas, (
the immortal,' The name is
given also to the compiler of the Maha-bharata, the founder of
the Vedanta philosophy, and the arranger of the Purarcas ; all
these persons being held to be identical with Veda-vyasa, But
this is impossible, and the attribution of all these works to one
person has arisen either from a desire to heighten their antiquity
and authority, or from the assumed identity of several different
" arrangers." Veda-vyasa was the illegitimate son of the Eishi
Parasara and Satyavati, and the child, who was of a dark colour,
was brought forth on an island (dwipa) in the Yamuna, Being
illegitimate he was called e
'
Kanlna, the bastard , from his com-
plexion he received the name Krishrai, and from his birthplace
he was called Dwaipayana. His mother afterwards married King
$antanu, by whom she had two sons. The elder was killed in
battle, and the younger, named Yichitra-virya, died childless,
K?ishwa Dwaipayana preferred a life of religious retirement,
but in accordance with law and at his mother's request, he took
the two childless widows of her son, Yichitra-virya. By them
he had two sons, Dhrita-rashfra and Pawrfu, between whose
descendants the great war of the Maha-bharata was fought.
The Purawas mention no less than twenty-eight Vyasas,
incarnations of Vishnu or Brahma, who descended to the earth
in different ages to arrange and promulgate the Yedas.
YYAYAHAEA-CHINTAMAJV1 A law-book of the Benarea
school by Yachaspati Misra