Shastamuni, in Hindu mythology, is a surname of Budilha, signifying " the instructor of the Munis."
Shastava, in Hindu mythology, is a surname of Siva, denoting " the avenger."
Shastias, or Shasters, The Great (from the Sanscrit sds, " to teach"), the sacred books of the Hin- diis. They are all of them written in the Sanscrit lan- guage, and believed to be of divine inspiration. Tliej* are usually reduced to four classes, which again are subdivided into eighteen heads. The first class consists of the four Vedas, which are accounted the most ancient and the most sacred compositions. The second class consists of the four Upa-vedas, or sub-Scriptures , and
the third class of the six Ved-angus, or bodies of learn- ing. The fourth class consists of the four Up-angus, or appended bodies of learning. The first of these embraces the eighteen Puranas, or sacred poems. Besides the Pu- riinas, the first Up-anga comprises the Ramaydna and Mahubhdi'ata. The second and third Uji-ungas consist of the principal works on logic and metaphysics. The fourth and last Uj)-anga consists of the body of law, in eighteen books, compiled by Manu, the son of Brahma, and other sacred personages. — Gardner, Faiths of the Woi-ld, s. v.
Shatrani, in Hindu mythology, was the wife of the man Shutri, or Kshetri, wliom Brahma formed out of his right arm, and who became the ancestor of the Kshetri, or warrior caste. Shatrani was created by Brahma out of his left arm.
Sha'ul (Heb. Shaiil', h^i<^, asked; Sept. HaovX), the name of three men thus designated in the A. V. For others, see Saul.
1. The son of Simeon by a Canaanitish woman (Gen. xlvi, 10; Exod. vi, 15; Numb, xxvi, 13; 1 Chron. iv, 24), and founder of the familj^ of the Shaulites. B.C. cir. 1880. The Jewish traditions identify him with Zimri, " who did the work of the Canaanites in Shittim" (Targ. Pseudo-Jon. on Gen. xlvi).^ — Smith.
2. Shaul of Rehoboth by the river was one of the kings of Edom, and successor of Samlah (1 Chron. i, 48, 49). In the A.V. of Gen. xxxvi, 37 he is less accurately called Said (q. v.).
3. A Kohathite, son of Uzziah (1 Chron. vi, 24). B.C. cir. 1030.
Sha'ulite (Heb. Shaiili', "'bixd ; Sept. ^novXi). a designation of the descendants of Shaid 1 (Numb, xxvi, 13).
Sha'veh (Heb. Shaveh', iTlTT, ;;?«/??, ; Sept. Yavr^ v. r. I.avlji' and 2«/3i>: Vulg. Sare^, a name found thus alone in Gen. xiv, 17 only, as that of a place where the king of Sodom met Abraham. It occurs also in the name Shavehkiriathaim (q. v). The Samar. Codex inserts the article, tllirri; but the Samaritan Version has JniS^. The Targum of Onkelos gives the same equivalent, but with a curious addition, " the plain of Mefana, which is the king's place of racing," recalling the iTviroSpofioQ so strangely inserted by the Sept. in Gen. xlviii, 7. It is one of those archaic names with which this venerable chap- ter abounds — such as Bela, En-niishpat, Ham, Hazezon- tamar — so archaic that many of them have been eluci- dated by the insertion of their more modern equivalents in the body of the document by a later but still very ancient hand. If the signification of Shaveh be " val- ley," as both Gesenius and Fiirst assert, then its extreme antiquity is involved in the very expression " the Emek- shaveh," which shows that the word had ceased to be intelligible to the writer, who added to it a modern word of the same meaning with itself. It is equivalent to such names as " Puente de Alcantara," " the Greesen Steps," etc., where the one part of the name is a mere repetition or translation of the other, and which cannot exist till the meaning of the older term is obsolete. In the present case the explanation does not throw any very definite light upon the locality of Shaveh: "The vallej- of Shaveh, that is the valley of the king" (xiv, 17). True, the " valley of tlie king" is mentioned again in 2 Sam. xviii, 18 as the site of a pillar set up by Ab- salom; but this passage again conveys no clear indica- tion of its position, and it is by no means certain that the two passages refer to the same spot. The extreme obscurity in which the whole account of Abraham's route from Damascus is involved has already been no- ticed under Sai^eji. A notion has long been prevalent that the pillar of Absalom is the well-known pyramidal structure which forms the northern nicniher of the group of monuments at the western foot of ( tlivot. This is ai)parenth' first mentioned b_v Benjamin of Tudela (A.D. 1160), and next by Maundeville (1323), and is perhaps originally founded on the statement of Josephus
SHAVEH-KIRIATHAIM
623
SHAW
(Ant. vii, 10, 3) that Absalom erected ('tarT]Ks) a column ((Tr»;X;/) of marble (XiBov fiapnapiron) at a distance of two stadia from Jerusalem. But neither the spot nor tlie structure of the so-called " Absalom's tomb" agrees either with this description or with the terms of 2 Sam. xviii, 18. The " valley of the king" was an I^mek — that is, a broad, open valley, having few or no features in common with the deep, rugged ravine of the Kedron, unless, perhaps, in its lower part. See Valley. The pillar of Absalom — which went by the name of " Absa- lom's hand" — was set up, erected (3iJ"^), according to Josephus, in marble, while the lower existing part of the monument (which alone has any pretension to great antiquity) is a monolith not erected, but excavated out of the ordinary limestone of the hill, and almost exactly similar to the so-called -'tomb of Zechariah," the second from it on the south. Yet even this cannot claim any verj- great age, since its Ionic capitals and the orna- ments of the frieze speak with unfaltering voice of Ro- man art. — Smith. Nevertheless, in the absence of any better indication, we are perhaps warranted in holding this traditionary location. See King's Dale.