There is amongst the Hindoos a goddess called Prit'hvi, who is said to personify the Earth; she had many names which we need not describe, and she was also furnished with a consort, whose birth is thus described (Moor, H. P., p. 111.)--"Vena being an impious and tyrannical prince, was cursed by the Brahmans, and, in consequence, died without issue. To remedy this, his left arm was opened, and churned with a stick till it produced a son, who, proving as wicked as his father, was set aside; and the right arm* was in like manner churned, which also produced a boy, who proved to be a form of Vishnu, under the name of Prit'hu." We may add that Prit'hvi treated him badly, and he had to beat and tear her before she would be comfortable with him. Hence the necessity for ploughing and digging before crops of cereals, &c., will abound. We can understand the last part of the legend better than the first. In the Vedic Mythology, we may say generally, that the means of producing offspring are curiously numerous; for example, we find in Goldstucker's _Sanscrit and English Dictionary_, page 20, under the word _angiras_--a statement that an individual bearing this cognomen, is named in the Vaidik legends, as one of the 'Prajâpatis', or progenitors of mankind, engendered, according to some, by Manu; according to others, by Brahma himself, either with the female half of his body, _or from his mouth, or from the space "between his eyebrows._"
* As these legends generally are based upon something which Europeans would designate a vile pun, I turned to the Sanscrit Lexicon (Monier Williams), first to ascertain the names of "the arm;" and, secondly, if there were any words allied to it, however remotely, which had a certain meaning. Amongst others, I find that _buja_ signifies "an arm," and _bhaga_ is a name of Siva--one of whose epithets, _bhagan- dara_ = "rending the vulva." _Dosha_ also means "the arm" and "night." Another word having the same meaning, is _praveshta_, and this not only signifies the arm, but one "who covers over." We can then, I think, see why the device of the churning, referred to in the text, made a process available for the production of a child. The legend is a clumsy one, but not more so than that in Exodus xxxiii. 23, wherein we are told that Jehovah showed to Moses "His back parts,"--Vulgate, _posteriora mea_--inasmuch as no one could see His face and live!