Gandharva - Gandharva (English spelling)

A half-god, half-human spirit from ancient India. Transliterated as Qandaraba and Kandaba, and freely translated as incense god, incense smeller, and incense seeker. He is said to be a heavenly musician living in the void, and his spouse is the heavenly dancer Apsaras. He appeared in the ancient Vedas as the guardian of the divine wine Soma, and is closely related to rain and rain clouds. However, in wedding songs he appears as a proper name, Visbhavas, and is said to be a male spirit that clings to the bride. In Hinduism, he is a heavenly musician and is depicted iconographically as half-human, half-bird, but he is often feared as a spirit that possesses people, and is considered to be on the same level as Yakshas and Rakshasas. He has always been associated with marriage and sexual love, and always loves women. In Buddhism, he is considered one of the Tenryu Hachibushu, and does not eat alcohol or meat, but only desires incense, and is said to serve Taishakuten together with Kinnara (a half-human, half-bird beauty) and play gigaku. Sometimes it is also used in the meaning of the intermediate state between death in this life and being born in the next life, and the intermediate state, but the connection between the heavenly musicians and the intermediate state is still not clear.

[Hara Minoru]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

古代インドの半神半人の精霊。音訳は乾闥婆、犍達婆で、意訳は香神、嗅香(きゅうこう)、尋香(じんこう)。虚空に住む天界の音楽師とされ、天の踊り子アプサラスを配偶者とする。古くは『ベーダ』聖典に出て神酒ソーマの守護者とされ、雨や雨雲と関係が深い。しかし、婚礼の歌ではビシュバーバスという固有名詞となって現れ、新婦にまといつく男の精霊とされる。また、ヒンドゥー教では天の楽人となり、図像学的には半人半鳥の姿で描かれるが、しばしば人に憑(つ)く精霊として、夜叉(やしゃ)や羅刹(らせつ)などと同列視されて恐れられた。終始婚姻や性愛との関連を離れず、つねに女性を愛している。仏教に入ると天竜八部衆(てんりゅうはちぶしゅう)の一人とされ、酒肉を食せずただ香のみ求め、緊那羅(きんなら)（半人半鳥の美女）とともに帝釈天(たいしゃくてん)に奉侍(ほうじ)して伎楽(ぎがく)を奏するとされる。ときに今生(こんじょう)に死して次生(じしょう)に生まれる間の中有(ちゅうう)、中陰(ちゅういん)の義にも用いられ、天の楽人と中有の結び付きは、なおつまびらかにしえない。

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