Note 7 — CHAPTER 2

The legend of this monarch stealing his son-in-law’s, the hermit’s, cow (of which the Ramayana gives another version), the incarnation of Parasuram, son of Jamadagni, and his exploits, appear purely allegorical, signifying the violence and oppression of royalty over the earth (prithivi), personified by the sacred gao, or cow; and that the Brahmans were enabled to wrest royalty from the martial tribe, shows how they had multiplied. On the derivatives from the word gao, I venture an etymology for others to pursue:

ΓΑῙΑ, γέα, γῆ (Dor. γᾶ), that which produces all things (from γάω, genero); the earth.—Jones’s Dictionary.

ΓΆΛΑ, Milk. Gaola, Herdsman, in Sanskrit. Γαλατικοῖ, Κέλτοι, Galatians, or Gauls, and Celts (allowed to be the same) would be the shepherd races, the pastoral invaders of Europe [?].