Another horse often spoken of in the early legends is Syâma Karna, “he with the black ears,” which alone was considered a suitable victim in the horse sacrifice or Asvamedha. One hundred horse sacrifices entitled the sacrificer to displace Indra from heaven, so the deity was always trying to capture the horse which was allowed to roam about before immolation. The saint Gâlava, who was a pupil of Visvamitra, when he had completed his studies, asked his tutor what fee he should pay. The saint told him that he charged no fee, but he insisted in asking, till at last the angry Rishi said that he would be content with nothing less than a thousand black-eared horses. After long search Gâlava found three childless Râjas, who had each two hundred such horses, and they consented to exchange them for sons. Gâlava then went to Yayâti, whose daughter could bear a son for any one and still remain a virgin. By her means the three Râjas became fathers of sons, Visvamitra took them, and to make up the number, had himself two sons by the same mystic bride.
In the Mahâbhârata, Uchchaihsravas, “he with the long ears,” or “he that neighs loudly,” is the king of the horses, and belongs to Indra. He is swift as thought, follows the path of the sun, and is luminous and white, with a black tail, made so by the magic of the serpents, who have covered it with black hair. In the folk-tales he consorts with mares of mortal birth, and begets steeds of unrivalled speed, like the divine Homeric coursers of Æneas.[7] In the tales of Somadeva we find the king addressing his faithful horse, and praying for his aid in danger, as Achilles speaks to his steeds Xanthos and Balios, and in the Karling legend of Bayard.[8] We meet also with the horse of Manidatta, which was “white as the moon; the sound of its neighing was as musical as that of a clear conch or other sweet-sounding instrument; it looked like the waves of the sea of milk surging on high; it was marked with curls on the neck, and adorned with the crest jewels, the bracelet, and other signs, which it seemed it had acquired by being born in the race of Gandharvas.”
At a later mythological stage we meet Kalki, the white horse which is to be the last Avatâra of Vishnu, and reminds us of the white horse of the Book of Revelation. We meet in the Rig Veda with Yatudhanas, the demon horse, which feeds now upon human flesh (like the Bucephalus of the legend of Alexander), now upon horseflesh, and now upon milk from cows. He has a host of brethren, such as Arvan, half horse, half bird, on which the Daityas are supposed to ride. Dadhyanch or Dadhîcha has a curious legend. He was a Rishiand. Indra, after teaching him the sciences, threatened to cut his head off if he communicated the knowledge to any one else. But the Aswins tempted him to disobey the god, and then, to save him from the wrath of Indra, cut off his head and replaced it with that of a horse. Finally Indra found his horse-head in the lake at Kurukshetra, and using it as Sampson did the jaw-bone of the ass, he slew the Asuras. We have, again, Vishnu in the form of Hayagrîva, or “horse-necked,” which he assumed to save the Veda, carried off by two Asuras, and in another shape he is Hayasiras or Hayasîrsha, which vomits forth fire and drinks up the waters. In the Purânas we meet the Daitya Kesi, who assumes the form of a horse and attacks Krishna, but the hero thrusts his hand into his mouth and rends him asunder. A large chapter of Scottish folk-lore depends on the doings of magic horses such as these.[9]
The flying horse of the Arabian Nights has been transferred into many of the current folk-tales, and has found its way into European folk-lore.[10] In the same connection we meet the magic bridle; the flying car, such as Pushpaka, the flying vehicle of Kuvera, the god of wealth; the flying bed, the Urân Khatola of the Indian tales; the flying boat, and the flying shoes.[11]
There are numerous other horses famous in Hindu legend. The saint Alam Sayyid of Baroda was known as Ghorê Kâ Pîr, or the horse saint. His horse was buried near him, and Hindus hang images of the animal on trees round his tomb.[12] We have already spoken of Gûga and his mare Javâdiyâ. The horse of the king of Bhilsa or Bhadrâvatî was of dazzling brightness, and regarded as the palladium of the kingdom, but in spite of all the care bestowed upon it, it was carried off by the Pândavas.
There is a stock horse miracle story told in connection with Lâl Beg, the patron saint of the sweepers. The king of Delhi lost a valuable horse, and the sweepers were ordered to bury it, but as the animal was very fat, they proceeded to cut it up for themselves, giving one leg to the king’s priest. They took the meat home and proceeded to cook it, but being short of salt, they sent an old woman to buy some. She went to the salt merchant’s shop and pressed him to serve her at once, “If you do not hurry,” said she, “a thousand rupees’ worth of meat will be ruined.” He informed the king, who, suspecting the state of the case, ordered the sweepers to produce the horse. They were in dismay at the order, but they laid what was left of the animal on a mound sacred to Lâl Beg, and prayed to him to save them, whereupon the horse stood up, but only on three legs. So they went to the king and confessed how they had disposed of the fourth leg. The unlucky priest was executed, and the horse soon after died also.[13]
The horse is regarded as a lucky and exceedingly pure animal. When a cooking vessel has become in any way defiled, a common way of purifying it is to make a horse smell it. In the Dakkhin it is said that evil spirits will not approach a horse for fear of his foam.[14] In Northern India, the entry of a man on horseback into a sugar-cane field during sowing time is regarded as auspicious. This taking of omens from horses was well known in Germany, and Tacitus says, “Proprium gentis equorum praesagia ac monitus experiri, hinnitus ac fremitus observant.”[15] There does not appear to be in India any trace of the idea prevalent in England that the horse has the power of seeing ghosts, or that it can cure diseases such as whooping cough.[16] But, like the bull, the stallion is believed to scare the demon of barrenness. In the Râmâyana, Kausalyâ touches the stallion in the hope of obtaining sons, and with the same object the king and queen smell the odour of the burnt marrow or fat of the horse. The water in which a fish is washed has the same effect on women in Western folk-lore. With the same object, at the Asvamedha, the queen lies at night beside the slain sacrificial horse.[17]
It is popularly supposed that the horse originally had wings, and that the chestnuts or scars on the legs are the places where the wings originally grew. Eating horseflesh is supposed to bring on cramp, and when a Sepoy at rifle practice misses the target, his comrades taunt him with having eaten the unlucky meat.[18]