Cox, George - Aryan Mythology Vol 2.pdf

CHIMAIRA. 34
Hipponoos is said to have slain, a being, like Geryon, Kerberos, CHAP.
Ortliros, and Echidna, of a double or triple bodj\ In the _ \
Chimaira the fore-part is that of a lion, the middle that of a
goat, while the hinder-part, like that of his mother Echidna
and all other cognate beings, is the tail of a fish or serpent. 1
The death of Vritra or the wool-weaver (Aurnavabha) is
followed by the loosening or the downfall of the rain ; but
although it is not said that this is the effect of the slaughter
of Chimaira, the idea of rain or moisture as repressed by the
monster is not absent from the myth of Bellerophon. His
victory is won by means of Pegasos, the winged horse,
whom he finds feeding by the fountain or waters (77-17717) of
Peirene, and from its back, as he soars aloft in the air,
Hipponoos pours down his deadly arrows on the offspring of
Echidna, as Indra from his chariot in the heaven hurls his
lance against the gloomy Vritra.
But Vritra, Ahi, the Panis and the other dark beings are Le<
all of them enemies (dasas) of the gods, and he who destroys
them is dasyuhan, the slayer of the dasas—a name which
translated into Greek would yield Leophontes. This epithet
is applied to Hipponoos as well as that of Bellerophon ; and it
is clear that he cannot be so called as killing lions, for he
would then be Leontophontes. Nor is it easy to connect
this Leo or Deo, of which he is the conqueror, with anything
but the Sanskrit dasa, which reappears in dasapati, the
Greek Despotes, or lord of subjects, in other words, of con-
quered enemies. 2 In the Theban legend this foe is re-
produced as Laios, 3 who is doomed, like Akrisios, to perish
1 It is possible that the introduction
2 With this wo must compare not
of the word Chimaira into this myth only the Greek \a6s, Keds, people, but
may be the result of a confusion like
those already noticed between Arkshas
the adjective Sifios, hostile. This
Professor Max Miiller {Chips, ii.
word
187;,
and Pukshas, Leukos and Lukos, &c. traces to the root das, to perish, although
At the least, Chimaira is a name not he adds that, 'in its frequent applicafor
goats of any age, but only for those tion to fire the adjective Sdios might
which are one year old. The older well be referred to the root du, to
goats are called Aiges. Theokr. i. 6.
A Chimaira then, is strictly a winterling,
(i.e. a yeaiiing), just as the Latin
burn.' The difference in meaning between
them is not greater than that
which separates Varuna from Vritra, or
bimus or trimus (bi-himus, hiems), Uranah from Uranah.
denotes things
old. But the
of two or three winters
sun is the slayer of
3 Laios, in the opinion both of Pro-
fessor Miiller and of M. Breal, is an
winter; and hence the creature which
he slays would be the Chimaira.
exact equivalent of the Sanskrit Dasyu.
To the assertion of M. Comparetti that
tes.