350
Súryamcha pratimehatu, adversus solem mingat. An offence expressly forbidden by the Laws of Manu.
351
Bharat does not intend these curses for any particular person: he merely wishes to prove his own innocence by invoking them on his own head if he had any share in banishing Ráma.
352
The Sáma-veda, the hymns of which are chanted aloud.
353
Walking from right to left.
354
Birth and death, pleasure and pain, loss and gain.
355
Erected upon a tree or high staff in honour of Indra.
356
I follow in this stanza the Bombay edition in preference to Schlegel’s which gives the tears of joy to the courtiers.
357
The commentator says “Śatrughna accompanied by the other sons of the king.”
358
Not Bharat’s uncle, but some councillor.
359
Śatakratu, Lord of a hundred sacrifices, the performance of a hundred Aśvamedhas or sacrifices of a horse entitling the sacrificer to this exalted dignity.
360
The modern Malabar.
361
Now Sungroor, in the Allahabad district.
362
Ráma, Lakshmaṇ, and Sumantra.
363
The svastika, a little cross with a transverse line at each extremity.
364
When an army marched it was customary to burn the huts in which it had spent the night.
365
Yáma, Varuṇa, and Kuvera.
366
“A happy land in the remote north where the inhabitants enjoy a natural pefection attended with complete happiness obtained without exertion. There is there no vicissitude, nor decrepitude, nor death, nor fear: no distinction of virtue and vice, none of the inequalities denoted by the words best, worst, and intermediate, nor any change resulting from the succession of the four Yugas.” See Muir’s Sanskrit Texts, Vol. I. p. 492.
367
The Moon.
368
The poet does not tell us what these lakes contained.
369
These ten lines are a substitution for, and not a translation of the text which Carey and Marshman thus render: “This mountain adorned with mango, jumboo, usuna, lodhra, piala, punusa, dhava, unkotha, bhuvya, tinisha, vilwa, tindooka, bamboo, kashmaree, urista, uruna, madhooka, tilaka, vuduree, amluka, nipa, vetra, dhunwuna, veejaka, and other trees affording flowers, and fruits, and the most delightful shade, how charming does it appear!”
370
Vidyadharis, Spirits of Air, sylphs.
371
A lake attached either to Amarávatí the residence of Indra, or Alaká that of Kuvera.
372
The Ganges of heaven.
373
Naliní, as here, may be the name of any lake covered with lotuses.
374
This canto is allowed, by Indian commentators, to be an interpolation. It cannot be the work of Válmíki.
375
A fine bird with a strong, sweet note, and great imitative powers.
376
Bauhinea variegata, a species of ebony.
377
The rainbow is called the bow of Indra.
378
Bhogavatí, the abode of the Nágas or Serpent race.
379
“The order of the procession on these occasions is that the children precede according to age, then the women and after that the men according to age, the youngest first and the eldest last: when they descend into the water this is reversed and resumed when they come out of it.” Carey and Marshman.
380
Vṛihaspati, the preceptor of the Gods.
381
Garuḍ, the king of birds.
382
To be won by virtue.
383
The four religious orders, referable to different times of life are, that of the student, that of the householder, that of the anchorite, and that of the mendicant.
384
To Gods, men, and Manes.
385
Gayá is a very holy city in Behar. Every good Hindu ought once in his life to make funeral offerings in Gayá in honour of his ancestors.
386
Put is the name of that region of hell to which men are doomed who leave no son to perform the funeral rites which are necessary to assure the happiness of the departed. Putra, the common word for a son is said by the highest authority to be derived from Put and tra deliverer.
387
It was the custom of Indian women when mourning for their absent husbands to bind their hair in a long single braid.
Carey and Marshman translate, “the one-tailed city.”
388
The verses in a different metre with which some cantos end are all to be regarded with suspicion. Schlegel regrets that he did not exclude them all from his edition. These lines are manifestly spurious. See Additional Notes.
389
This genealogy is a repetition with slight variation of that given in Book I, Canto LXX.
390
In Gorresio’s recension identified with Vishṇu. See Muir’s Sanskrit Texts, Vol. IV. pp 29, 30.
391
From sa with, and gara poison.
392
See Book I. Canto XL.
393
A practice which has frequently been described, under the name of dherna, by European travellers in India.
394
Compare Milton’s “beseeching or beseiging.”
395
Ten-headed, ten-necked, ten faced, are common epithets of Rávaṇ the giant king of Lanká.
396
The spouse of Rohiṇí is the Moon: Ráhu is the demon who causes eclipses.
397
“Once,” says the Commentator Tírtha, “in the battle between the Gods and demons the Gods were vanquished, and the sun was overthrown by Ráhu. At the request of the Gods Atri undertook the management of the sun for a week.”
398
Now Nundgaon, in Oudh.
399
A part of the great Daṇḍak forest.
400
When the saint Máṇḍavya had doomed some saint’s wife, who was Anasúyá’s friend, to become a widow on the morrow.
401
Heavenly nymphs.
402
The ball or present of food to all created beings.
403
The clarified butter &c. cast into the sacred fire.
404
The Moon-God: “he is,” says the commentator, “the special deity of Bráhmans.”
405
“Because he was an incarnation of the deity,” says the commentator, “otherwise such honour paid by men of the sacerdotal caste to one of the military would be improper.”
406
The king of birds.
407
Kálántakayamopamam, resembling Yáma the destroyer.
408
Somewhat inconsistently with this part of the story Tumburu is mentioned in Book II, Canto XII as one of the Gandharvas or heavenly minstrels summoned to perform at Bharadvája’s feast.
409
Rambhá appears in Book I Canto LXIV as the temptress of Viśvámitra.
410
The conclusion of this Canto is all a vain repetition: it is manifestly spurious and a very feeble imitation of Válmíki’s style. See Additional Notes.
411
“Even when he had alighted,” says the commentator: The feet of Gods do not touch the ground.
412
A name of Indra.
413
Śachí is the consort of Indra.
414
The spheres or mansions gained by those who have duly performed the sacrifices required of them. Different situations are assigned to these spheres, some placing them near the sun, others near the moon.
415
Hermits who live upon roots which they dig out of the earth: literally diggers, derived from the prefix vi and khan to dig.
416
Generally, divine personages of the height of a man’s thumb, produced from Brahmá’s hair: here, according to the commentator followed by Gorresio, hermits who when they have obtained fresh food throw away what they had laid up before.
417
Sprung from the washings of Vishṇuu’s feet.
418
Four fires burning round them, and the sun above.
419
The tax allowed to the king by the Laws of Manu.
420
Near the celebrated Rámagiri or Ráma’s Hill, now Rám-ṭek, near Nagpore — the scene of the Yaksha’s exile in the Messenger Cloud.
421
A hundred Aśvamedhas or sacrifices of a horse raise the sacrificer to the dignity of Indra.
422
Indra.
423
Gorresio observes that Daśaratha was dead and that Sítá had been informed of his death. In his translation he substitutes for the words of the text “thy relations and mine.” This is quite superfluous. Daśaratha though in heaven still took a loving interest in the fortunes of his son.
424
One of the hermits who had followed Ráma.
425
The lake of the five nymphs.
426
The holy fig-tree.
427
The bread-fruit tree, Artocarpus integrifolia.
428
A fine timber tree, Shorea robusta.
429
The God of fire.
430
Kuvera, the God of riches.
431
The Sun.
432
Brahmá, the creator.
433
Śiva.
434
The Wind-God.
435
The God of the sea.
436
A class of demi-gods, eight in number.
437
The holiest text of the Vedas, deified.
438
Vásuki.
439
Garuḍ.
440
The War-God.
441
One of the Pleiades generally regarded as the model of wifely excellence.
442
The Madhúka, or, as it is now called, Mahuwá, is the Bassia latifolia, a tree from whose blossoms a spirit is extracted.
443
“I should have doubted whether Manu could have been the right reading here, but that it occurs again in verse 29, where it is in like manner followed in verse 31 by Analá, so that it would certainly seem that the name Manu is intended to stand for a female, the daughter of Daksha. The Gauḍa recension, followed by Signor Gorresio (III 20, 12), adopts an entirely different reading at the end of the line, viz. Balám Atibalám api, ‘Balá and Atibilá,’ instead of Manu and Analá. I see that Professor Roth s.v. adduces the authority of the Amara Kosha and of the Commentator on Páṇini for stating that the word sometimes means ‘the wife of Manu.’ In the following text of the Mahábhárata I. 2553. also, Manu appears to be the name of a female: ‘Anaradyam, Manum, Vañsám, Asurám, Márgaṇapriyám, Anúpám, Subhagám, Bhásím iti, Prádhá vyajayata. Prádhá (daughter of Daksha) bore Anavadyá, Manu, Vanśá, Márgaṇapriyá, Anúpá, Subhagá. and Bhásí.’ ” Muir’s Sanskrit Text, Vol. I. p. 116.
444
The elephant of Indra.
445
Golángúlas, described as a kind of monkey, of a black colour, and having a tail like a cow.
446
Eight elephants attached to the four quarters and intermediate points of the compass, to support and guard the earth.
447
Some scholars identify the centaurs with the Gandharvas.
448
The hooded serpents, says the commentator Tírtha, were the offspring of Surasá: all others of Kadrú.
449
The text reads Kaśyapa, “a descendant of Kaśyapa,” who according to Rám. II. l0, 6, ought to be Vivasvat. But as it is stated in the preceding part of this passage III. 14, 11 f. that Manu was one of Kaśyapa’s eight wives, we must here read Kaśyap. The Ganda recension reads (III, 20, 30) Manur manushyáms cha tatha janayámása Rághana, instead of the corresponding line in the Bombay edition. Muir’s Sanskrit Text, Vol I, p. 117.
450
The original verses merely name the trees. I have been obliged to amplify slightly and to omit some quas versu dicere non est; e.g. the tiniśa (Dalbergia ougeiniensis), punnága (Rottleria tinctoria), tilaka (not named), syandana (Dalbergia ougeiniensis again), vandana (unknown), nípa (Nauclea Kadamba), lakucha (Artœarpus lacucha), dhava (Grislea tomentosa), Aśvakarna (another name for the Sál), Śamí (Acacia Suma), khadira (Mimosa catechu), kinśuka (Butea frondosa), pátala (Bignonia suaveolens).
451
Acacia Suma.
452
The south is supposed to be the residence of the departed.
453
The sun.
454
The night is divided into three watches of four hours each.
455
The chief chamberlain and attendant of Śiva or Rudra.
456
Umá or Párvati, the consort of Śiva.
457
A star, one of the favourites of the Moon.
458
The God of love.
459
A demon slain by Indra.
460
Chitraratha, King of the Gandharvas.
461
Titanic.
462
The Sáriká is the Maina, a bird like a starling.
463
Mahákapála, Sthúláksha, Pramátha, Triśiras.
464
Vishṇu, who bears a chakra or discus.
465
Śiva.
466
See Additional Notes — Daksha’s Sacrifice.
467
Himálaya.
468
One of the mysterious weapons given to Ráma.
469
A periphrasis for the body.
470
Triśirás.
471
The Three-headed.
472
The demon who causes eclipses.
473
“This Asura was a friend of Indra, and taking advantage of his friend’s confidence, he drank up Indra’s strength along with a draught of wine and Soma. Indra then told the Aśvins and Sarasvatí that Namuchi had drunk up his strength. The Aśvins in consequence gave Indra a thunderbolt in the form of a foam, with which he smote off the head of Namuchi.” Garrett’s Classical Dictionary of India. See also Book I. p. 39.
474
Indra.
475
Popularly supposed to cause death.
476
Garuḍ, the King of Birds, carried off the Amrit or drink of Paradise from Indra’s custody.
477
A demon, son of Kaśyap and Diti, slain by Rudra or Śiva when he attempted to carry off the tree of Paradise.
478
Namuchi and Vritra were two demons slain by Indra. Vritra personifies drought, the enemy of Indra, who imprisons the rain in the cloud.
479
Another demon slain by Indra.
480
The capital of the giant king Rávaṇ.
481
Kuvera, the God of gold.
482
In the great deluge.
483
The giant Márícha, son of Táḍaká. Táḍaká was slain by Ráma. See p. 39.
484
Indra’s elephant.
485
Bhogavatí, in Pátála in the regions under the earth, is the capital of the serpent race whose king is Vásuki.
486
the grove of Indra.
487
Pulastya is considered as the ancestor of the
Rakshases or giants, as he is the father of Viśravas, the father of Rávaṇ and his brethren.
488
Beings with the body of a man and the head of a horse.
489
Ájas, Maríchipas, Vaikhánasas, Máshas, and Bálakhilyas are classes of supernatural beings who lead the lives of hermits.
490
“The younger brother of the giant Rávaṇ; when he and his brother had practiced austerities for a long series of years, Brahmá appeared to offer them boons: Vibhishaṇa asked that he might never meditate any unrighteousness.… On the death of Rávaṇ Vibhishaṇa was installed as Rája of Lanká.” Garrett’s Classical Dictionary of India.
491
Serpent-gods.
492
See p. 33.
493
The Sanskrit words for car and jewels begin with ra.
494
A race of beings of human shape but with the heads of horses, like centaurs reversed.
495
The favourite wife of the Moon.
496
The planet Saturn.
497
Another favourite of the Moon; one of the lunar mansions.
498
The Rudras, agents in creation, are eight in number; they sprang from the forehead of Brahmá.
499
Maruts, the attendants of Indra.
500
Radiant demi-gods.
501
The mountain which was used by the Gods as a churning stick at the Churning of the Ocean.
502
The story will be found in Garrett’s Classical Dictionary. See Additional Notes.
503
Mercury: to be carefully distinguished from Buddha.
504
The spirits of the good dwell in heaven until their store of accumulated merit is exhausted. Then they redescend to earth in the form of falling stars.
505
See The Descent of Gangá, Book I Canto XLIV.
506
See Book I Canto XXV.
507
Aśoka is compounded of a not and śoka grief.
508
See Book I Canto XXXI.
509
An Asur or demon, king of Tripura, the modern Tipperah.
510
Śiva.
511
See Book I, Canto LIX.
512
The preceptor of the Gods.
513
From the root vid, to find.
514
Rávaṇ.
515
Or Curlews’ Wood.
516
Iron-faced.
517
Kabandha means a trunk.
518
A class of mythological giants. In the Epic period they were probably personifications of the aborigines of India.
519
Peace, war, marching, halting, sowing dissensions, and seeking protection.
The Sanskrit Epics Page 151
