Parvati.—X. p. 94.All the Devetas, and other inhabitants of the celestial regions, being collected, at the summons of Bhagavat, to arrange the ceremonials of the marriage of Seeva and Parvati, first came Brahma, mounted on his goose, with the Reyshees at his stirrup; next Veeshnu, riding on Garoor his eagle, with the chank, the chakra, the club, and the pedive in his hands; Eendra also, and Yama, and Cuvera, and Varuna, and the rivers Ganga and Jumna, and the Seven Seas. The Gandarvas also, and Apsaras, and Vasookee, and other serpents, in obedience to the commands of Seeva, all dressed in superb chains and habits of ceremony, were to be seen in order amidst the crowded and glittering cavalcade.And now, Seeva, after the arrival of all the Devetas, and the completion of the preparations for the procession, set out, in the utmost pomp and splendour, from the mountain Kilas. His third eye flamed like the sun, and the crescent on his forehead assumed the form of a radiated diadem; his snakes were exchanged for chains and necklaces of pearls and rubies, his ashes for sandal and perfume, and his elephant’s skin for a silken robe,so that none of the Devetas in brilliance came near his figure. The bridal attendants now spread wide abroad the carpet of congratulation, and arranged in order the banquet of bliss. Nature herself assumed the appearance of renovated youth, and the sorrowing universe recalled its long-forgotten happiness. The Gandarvas and Apsaras began their melodious songs, and the Genes and Keeners displayed the magic of their various musical instruments. The earth and its inhabitants exulted with tongues of glorification and triumph; fresh moisture invigorated the withered victims of time; a thousand happy and animating conceptions inspired the hearts of the intelligent, and enlightened the wisdom of the thoughtful: The kingdom of external forms obtained gladness, the world of intellect acquired brightness. The dwellers upon earth stocked the casket of their ideas with the jewels of delight, and reverend pilgrims exchanged their beads for pearls. The joy of those on earth ascended up to Heaven, and the Tree of the bliss of those in Heaven extended its auspicious branches downwards to the earth. The eyes of the Devetas flamed like torches on beholding these scenes of rapture, and the hearts of the just kindled like touchwood on hearing these ravishing symphonies. Thus Seeva set off like a garden in full blow, and Paradise was eclipsed by his motion.—Maurice,from the Seeva-Pooraun.Thereat the heart of the Universe stood still.—X. p. 94.After these lines were written, I was amused at finding a parallel passage in a sermon:Quando o Sol parou às vozes de Josuè, aconteceram no mundo todas aquellas consequencias, que parando o movimento celeste, consideram os Filosofos. As plantas por todo aquelle tempo nam creceram; as calidades dos elementos, e dos mixtos, nam se alteraram; a geraçam e corrupçam com que se conserva o mundo, cessou; as artes e os exercicios de hum e outro Emisferio estiveram suspensos; os Antipodas nam trabalhavam, porque lhes faltava a luz, os de cima cançados de tam comprido dia deixavam o trabalho; estes pasmados de verem o Sol que se nam movia; aquelles tambem pasmados de esperarem pelo Sol, que nam chegava; cuidavam que se acabàra para elles a luz; imaginavam que se acabava o mundo: tudo era lagrimas, tudo assombros, tudo horrores, tudo confusoens.—Vieyra, Sermoens,tom. ix. p.505.Surya.—X. p. 105.Surya, the Sun. The poets and painters describe his car as drawn by seven green horses, preceded byArun, or the Dawn, who acts as his charioteer, and followed by thousands of genii, worshipping him, and modulating hispraises. Surya is believed to have descended frequently from his car in a human shape, and to have left a race on earth, who are equally renowned in the Indian stories with the Heliadai of Greece. It is very singular that his two sons, calledAswinau, orAswinicumarau, in the Dual, should be considered as twin brothers, and painted like Castor and Pollux; but they have each the character of Æsculapius among the gods, and are believed to have been born of a nymph, who, in the form of a mare, was impregnated with sun-beams.—SirW. Jones.That sun, O daughter of Ganga! than which nothing is higher, to which nothing is equal, enlightens the summit of the sky—with the sky enlightens the earth—with the earth enlightens the lower worlds;—enlightens the higher worlds, enlightens other worlds;—it enlightens the breast,—enlightens all besides the breast.—SirW. Jones,from the Veda.Forgetful of his Dragon foe.—X. p. 105.Ra’huwas the son ofCas’yapaandDity, according to some authorities; but others representSinhica’(perhaps the sphinx) as his natural mother. He had four arms; his lower parts ended in a tail like that of a dragon; and his aspect was grim and gloomy, like thedarknessof the chaos, whence he had also the name ofTamas. He wasthe adviser of all mischief among theDaityas, who had a regard for him: but among theDe’vatasit was his chief delight to sow dissension; and when the gods had produced theamrit, by churning the ocean, he disguised himself like one of them, and received a portion of it; but the Sun and Moon having discovered his fraud,Vishnusevered his head and two of his arms from the rest of his monstrous body. That part of the nectareous fluid which he had time to swallow secured his immortality: his trunk and dragon-like tail fell on the mountain ofMalaya, whereMini, aBrahman, carefully preserved them by the name ofCe’tu; and, as if a complete body had been formed from them, like a dismemberedpolype, he is even said to have adoptedCe’tuas his own child. The head, with two arms, fell on the sands ofBarbara, wherePi’t’he’na’swas then walking withSinhica’, by some called his wife: They carried theDaityato their palace, and adopted him as their son; whence he acquired the name ofPaite’he’nasi. This extravagant fable is, no doubt, astronomical;Ra’huandCe’tubeing clearly thenodes, or what astrologers call theheadandtailof the dragon. It is added, that they appeasedVishnu, and obtained re-admission to the firmament, but were no longer visible from the earth, their enlightened sides being turned from it; thatRa’hustrives, during eclipses, to wreak vengeance on the Sunand Moon, who detected him; and thatCe’tuoften appears as a comet, a whirlwind, a fiery meteor, a water-spout, or a column of sand.—Wilford.Asiatic Researches.Suras.—X. p. 105.The wordSurain Sanscrit signifies both wine and true wealth; hence, in the firstC’handof theRamayanofValmic, it is expressly said that theDevetas, having received theSura, acquired the title ofSuras, and theDaityasthat ofAsura, from not having received it. TheVedais represented as that wine and true wealth.—Paterson.Asiat. Researches.Camdeo.—X. p. 106.EternalCama! or dothSmarabright,Or proudAnanga, give thee more delight?Sir W. Jones.He was the son ofMaya, or the generalattractingpower, and married toRetty, orAffection, and his bosom friend isBessent, orSpring. He is represented a a beautiful youth, sometimes conversing with his mother and consort in the midst of his gardens and temples; sometimes riding by moonlight on a parrot or lory, a attended by dancing girls or nymphs, the foremostwhom bears his colours, which are afishon a red ground. His favourite place of resort is a large tract of country roundAgra, and principally the plains ofMatra, whereKrishenalso, and the nineGopia, who are clearly theApolloandMusesof the Greeks, usually spend the night with music and dance. His bow of sugar-cane or flowers, with a string of bees, and hisfivearrows, each pointed with an Indian blossom of a heating quality, are allegories equally new and beautiful.It is possible that the wordsDipucandCupid, which have the same signification, may have the same origin; since we know that the old Hetrurians, from whom great part of the Roman language and religion was derived, and whose system had a near affinity with that of the Persians and Indians, used to write their lines alternately forwards and backwards, as furrows are made by the ploughs.—SirW. Jones.Mahadeva and Parvati were playing with dice at the ancient game of Chaturanga, when they disputed, and parted in wrath; the goddess retiring to the forest of Gauri, and the god repairing to Cushadwip. They severally performed rigid acts of devotion to the Supreme Being; but the fires which they kindled blazed so vehemently as to threaten a general conflagration. The Devas, in great alarm, hastened to Brahma, who led themto Mahadeva, and supplicated him to recall his consort; but the wrathful deity only answered, That she most come by her own free choice. They accordingly dispatched Gunga, the river goddess, who prevailed on Parvati to return to him, on condition that his love for her should be restored. The celestial mediators then employed Cama-Deva, who wounded Mahadeva with one of his flowery arrows; but the angry divinity reduced him to ashes with a flame from his eye. Parvati soon after presented herself before him in the form of a Cirati, or daughter of a mountaineer, and seeing him enamoured of her, resumed her own shape. In the place where they were reconciled, a grove sprang up, which was named Camavana; and the relenting god, in the character of Cameswara, consoled the afflicted Reti, the widow of Cama, by assuring her that she should rejoin her husband when he should be born again in the form of Pradyumna, son of Crishna, and should put Sambara to death. This favourable prediction was in due time accomplished, and Pradyumna having sprung to life, he was instantly seized by the demon Sambara, who placed him in a chest, which he threw into the ocean; but a large fish, which had swallowed the chest, was caught, in a net, and carried to the palace of a tyrant, where the unfortunate Reti had been compelled to do menial service.It was her lot to open the fish, and seeing an infant in the chest, she nursed him in private, and educated him, till he had sufficient strength to destroy the malignant Sambara. He had before considered Reti as his mother; but the minds of them both being, irradiated, the prophecy of Mahadeva was remembered, and the God of Love was again united with the Goddess of Pleasure.—Wilford.Asiatic Researches.Eating his very core of life away.—XI. p. 113.One of the wonders of this country is theJiggerkhar, (or liver-eater.) One of this class can steal away the liver of another by looks and incantations. Other accounts say, that, by looking at a person, he deprives him of his senses, and then steals from him something resembling the seed of a pomegranate, which he hides in the calf of his leg. TheJiggerkharthrows on the fire the grain before described, which thereupon spreads to the size of a dish, and he distributes it amongst his fellows, to be eaten; which ceremony concludes the life of the fascinated person. AJiggerkharis able to communicate his art to another, which he does by learning him the incantations, and by making him eat a bit of the liver-cake. If any one cut open the calf of the magician’s leg, extract the grain, and give it to the afflicted personto eat, he immediately recovers. ThoseJiggerkharsare mostly women. It is said, moreover, that they can bring intelligence from a great distance in a short space of time; and if they are thrown into a river, with a stone tied to them, they nevertheless will not sink. In order to deprive any one of this wicked power, they brand his temples, and every joint in his body, cram his eyes with salt, suspend him for forty days in a subterraneous cavern, and repeat over him certain incantations. In this state he is calledDetche-reh. Although, after having undergone this discipline, he is not able to destroy the liver of any one, yet he retains the power of being able to discover anotherJiggerkhar, and is used for detecting these disturbers of mankind. They can also cure many diseases, by administering a potion, or by repeating an incantation. Many other marvellous stories are told of these people.—Ayeen Acbery.An Arabian old woman, by name Meluk, was thrown in prison, on a charge of having bewitched, or, as they call it, eaten the heart of a young native of Ormuz, who had lately, from being a Christian, turned Mahommedan. The cause of offence was, that the young man, after keeping company some time with one of her daughters, had forsaken her: He himself, who was in a pitiable condition, and in danger of his life, was one of heraccusers. This sort of witchcraft, which the Indians call eating the heart, and which is what we call bewitching, as sorcerers do by their venomous and deadly looks, is not a new thing, nor unheard of elsewhere; for many persons practised it formerly in Sclavonia, and the country of the Triballes, as we learn from Ortelius, who took the account from Pliny, who, upon the report of Isigones, testifies, that this species of enchantment was much in use among these people, and many others whom he mentions, as it is at present here, especially among the Arabians who inhabit the western coast of the Persian gulph, where this art is common. The way in which they do it is only by the eyes and the mouth, keeping the eyes fixed steadily upon the person whose heart they design to eat, and pronouncing, between their teeth, I know not what diabolical words, by virtue of which, and by the operation of the devil, the person, how hale and strong soever, falls immediately into an unknown and incurable disease, which makes him appear phthysical, consumes him little by little, and at last destroys him. And this takes place faster or slower as the heart is eaten, as they say; for these sorcerers can either eat the whole or a part only; that is, can consume it entirely and at once, or bit by bit, as they please. The vulgar give it this name, because they believe that the devil, acting uponthe imagination of the witch when she mutters her wicked words, represents invisibly to her the heart and entrails of the patient, taken out of his body, and makes her devour them. In which these wretches find so delightful a task, that very often, to satisfy their appetite, without any impulse of resentment or enmity, they will destroy innocent persons, and even their nearest relatives, as there is a report that our prisoner killed one of her own daughters in this manner.This was confirmed to me by a similar story, which I heard at Ispahan, from the mouth of P. Sebastian de Jesus, a Portugueze Augustinian, a man to be believed, and of singular virtue, who was prior of their convent when I departed. He assured me, that, on one of the places dependent upon Portugal, on the confines of Arabia Felix, I know not whether it was at Mascate or at Ormuz, an Arab having been taken up for a similar crime, and convicted of it, for he confessed the fact, the captain, or governor of the place, who was a Portugueze, that he might better understand the truth of these black and devilish actions, of which there is no doubt in this country, made the sorcerer be brought before him before he was led to his punishment, and asked him, If he could eat the inside of a cucumber without opening it, as well as the heart of a man? The sorcerer said yes; and, in order toprove it, a cucumber was brought: he looked at it, never touching it, steadily for some time, with his usual enchantments, and then told the captain he had eaten the whole inside; and accordingly, when it was opened, nothing was found but the rind. This is not impossible; for the devil, of whom they make use in these operations, having, in the order of nature, greater power than all inferior creatures, can, with God’s permission, produce these effects, and others more marvellous.The same father told me, that one of these sorcerers, whether it was the same or not I do not know, having been taken for a similar offence, was asked, If he could eat the heart of the Portuguese captain? and he replied no; for the Franks had a certain thing upon the breast, which covered them like a cuirass, and was so impenetrable, that it was proof against all his charms. This can be nothing else than the virtue of baptism, the armour of the faith, and the privilege of the sons of the church, against which the gates of hell cannot prevail.To return, however, to my first subject:—This witch of Combru made some difficulty at first to confess her guilt; but seeing herself pressed with threats of death, and being led, in fact, to the public square, where I saw her with the sick young man, she said, that though she had not been the cause of his complaint, perhaps she could cureit, if they would let her remain alone with him, in his house, without interruption; by which she tacitly confessed her witchcraft: For it is held certain in these countries, that these wicked women can remove the malady which they have caused, if it be not come to the last extremity. And of many remedies which they use to restore health to the sufferers, there is one very extraordinary, which is, that the witch casts something out of her mouth, like the grain of a pomegranate, which is believed to be a part of the heart that she had eaten. The patient picks it up immediately, as part of his own intestines, and greedily swallows it; and by this means, as if his heart was replaced in his body, he recovers by degrees his health. I dare not assure you of these things as certainly true, not having myself seen them, surpassing as they do the course of nature. If they are as is said, it can be only in appearance, by the illusions of the devil; and if the afflicted recover actually their health, it is because the same devil ceases to torment them. Without dwelling longer upon these curious speculations,—the witch having given hopes that she would cure the patient, the officers promised that she should receive no injury, and they were both sent home; but an archer was set over her as a guard, that she might not escape.—Pietro Della Valle.The Calis.—XI. p. 114.The Calis and Pandaris are the protectresses of cities; each city has its own. They address prayers to these tutelary divinities, and build temples to them, offering to them blood in sacrifice, and sometimes human victims. These objects of worship are not immortal, and they take their name from the city over which they preside, or from the form in which they are represented. They are commonly framed of a gigantic stature, having several arms, and the head surrounded with flames; several fierce animals are also placed under their feet.—Sonnerat.Sani, the dreadful God, who rides abroadUpon the King of the Ravens.—XI. p. 114.Mr. Moor has a curious remark upon this subject:“Sani being among the astrologers of India, as well as with their sapient brethren of Europe, a planet of malignant aspects, the ill-omened raven may be deemed a fitVahanfor such a dreaded being. But this is not, I think, a sufficient reason for the conspicuous introduction of the raven into the mythological machinery of the Hindu system, so accurate, so connected, and so complete in all its parts; although the investigations that it hath hitherto undergone have not fully developed or reached such pointsof perfection. Now let me ask the reason, why, both in England and in India, the raven it so rare a bird? It breeds every year, like the crow, and is much longer lived; and while the latter bird abounds every where, to a degree bordering on nuisance, a pair of ravens, for they are seldom seen singly or in trios, are scarcely found duplicated in any place. Perhaps, take England or India over, two pair of ravens will not be found, on an average, in the extent of five hundred or a thousand acres. I know not, for I write where I have no access to books, if our naturalists have sought the theory of this; or whether it may have first occurred to me, which it did while contemplating the character and attributes of Sani, that the raven destroys its young; and if this notion be well founded, and on no other can I account for the rareness of the annual-breeding long-lived raven, we shall at once see the propriety of symbolizing it with Saturn, or Kronos, or Time, devouring or destroying his own offspring.—Moor’sHindu Pantheon, p. 311.A thousand eyes were quench’d in endless night,To form that magic globe.—XI. p. 117.A similar invention occurs in Dr. Beaumont’s Psyche, one of the most extraordinary poems in our language. I am far from claiming any merit for such inventions, whichno man can value more cheaply,—but such as it is, I am not beholden for it to this forgotten writer, whose strange, long, but by no means uninteresting work I had never read till after two editions of Kehama were printed.A stately mirror’s all-enamell’d caseThe second was; no crystal ever yetSmil’d with such pureness: never ladies’ glassIts owner flattered with so smooth a cheat.Nor could Narcissus’ fount with such delightInto his fair destruction him invite.For He in that and self-love being drown’d,Agenor from him pluck’d his doting eyes:And, shuffled in her fragments, having foundOld Jezabels, he stole the dog’s due prize.Goliah’s staring bacins too he got,Which he with Pharaoh’s all together put.But not content with these, from Phaeton,From Joab, Icarus, Nebuchadnezzar,From Philip and his world-devouring son,From Sylla, Cataline, Tully, Pompey, Cæsar,From Herod, Cleopatra, and Sejanus,From Agrippina and Domitianus,And many surly stoics, theirs he pull’d;Whose proudest humours having drained out,He blended in a large and polish’d mould;Which up he fill’d with what from Heaven he brought,In extract of those looks of Lucifer,In which against his God he breathed war.Then to the North, that glassy kingdom, whereEstablish’d frost and ice for ever reign,He sped his course, and meeting Boreas there,Pray’d him this liquid mixture to restrain.When lo! as Boreas oped his mouth and blewFor his command, the slime all solid grew.Thus was the mirror forged, and contain’dThe vigour of those self-admiring eyesAgenor’s witchcraft into it had strain’d;A dangerous juncture of proud fallacies;Whose fair looks so inamour’d him, that heThrice having kiss’d it, nam’d it Philanty.Inchanted Psyche ravish’d was to seeThe Glass herself upon herself reflectWith trebled majesty. The sun, when heIs by Aurora’s roseat fingers deckt,Views not his repercussed self so fairUpon the eastern main, as she did here.Be true unto yourselves.—XII. p. 127.The passage in which Menu exhorts a witness to speak the truth is one of the few sublime ones in his Institutes. “The soul itself is its own witness; the soul itself is its own refuge; offend not thy conscious soul, the supreme internal witness of men! . . The sinful have said in their hearts, none see us. Yes, the gods distinctly see them, and so does the spirit within their breasts . . The guardian deities of the firmament, of the earth, of the waters, of the human heart, of the moon, of the sun, and of fire, of punishment after death, of the winds, of night, of both twilights, and of justice, perfectly know the state of all spirits clothed with bodies. . . O friend to virtue! that supreme Spirit,which thou believest one and the same with thyself, resides in thy bosom perpetually, and is an all-knowing inspector of thy goodness or of thy wickedness. If thou beest not at variance, by speaking falsely, with Yama, the subduer of all, with Vaivaswata the punisher, with that great Divinity who dwells in thy breast,—go not on a pilgrimage to the river Ganga, nor to the plains of Curu, for thou hast no need of expiation.—Ch. viii. p.84, 85, 86, 91, 92.The Aunnay Birds.—XII. p. 128.The Aunnays act a considerable part in the history of the Nellah Rajah, an amusing romance, for a translation of which we are indebted to Mr. Kindersley. They are milk-white, and remarkable for the gracefulness of their walk.END OF VOLUME FIRST.FOOTNOTES.[1]Murresoo, orMursoo, in the Hala Canara, signifiesrude, uncivilized;—Wokul, ahusbandman.RETURN[2] Dignus vindice nodus.RETURN[3] In the Azanaga dialect of the Lybian tongue, Aseif signifies a river.RETURN[4] The Hindoos call a childBalatill it attains the age of fifteen years old. From the sixteenth year to the fiftieth,Youvuna, or a state of youth, is supposed to continue. Each of these has several subdivisions; and in certain cases the period admits of variation, as appears to have been the case here.RETURN[5] The horse intended for the sacrifice.RETURN[6] The Indian spade, formed like a hoe, with a short handle.RETURN[7] An instrument said to be formed like an ox's yoke.RETURN[8] A dart, or spear.RETURN[9] A club, or crow.RETURN[10] A weapon, now unknown.RETURN[11] The eight Vusoos, the eleven Roodras, the twelve Adityas, and Ushwinee and Koomæra.RETURN[12] This seems to have been spoken by these youths in the warmth of their imagination.RETURN[13] The Hindoos say, that Kupila, or Vasoo-deva, is an incarnation of Vishnoo, whom they describe as having been thus partially incarnate twenty-four times.RETURN[14] One towards each of the cardinal points, and the sun over his head, towards which he was constantly looking.RETURN[15] The heaven from which there can be no fall.RETURN[16] Shiva, from Shoola, the spear which he held.RETURN[17] Shiva.RETURN[18] Literally, three Gungas. Wherever a part of Gunga flows it is dignified with her name: Thus the Hindoos say, the Gunga of Pouyaga, &c.RETURN[19] The river of joy.RETURN[20] The purifier.RETURN[21] Abounding with water.RETURN[22] Beautiful eyed.RETURN[23] White.RETURN[24] Probably the Indus.RETURN[25] Shiva, the existant.RETURN[26] Sagura is one of the most common names for the sea which the Hindoos have.RETURN[27] From the rootgum, signifying motion.RETURN[28] The earth.RETURN[29] The end of thy vows is accomplished, therefore now relinquish thy vows of being an ascetic.RETURNEND OF FOOTNOTES.
Parvati.—X. p. 94.
All the Devetas, and other inhabitants of the celestial regions, being collected, at the summons of Bhagavat, to arrange the ceremonials of the marriage of Seeva and Parvati, first came Brahma, mounted on his goose, with the Reyshees at his stirrup; next Veeshnu, riding on Garoor his eagle, with the chank, the chakra, the club, and the pedive in his hands; Eendra also, and Yama, and Cuvera, and Varuna, and the rivers Ganga and Jumna, and the Seven Seas. The Gandarvas also, and Apsaras, and Vasookee, and other serpents, in obedience to the commands of Seeva, all dressed in superb chains and habits of ceremony, were to be seen in order amidst the crowded and glittering cavalcade.
And now, Seeva, after the arrival of all the Devetas, and the completion of the preparations for the procession, set out, in the utmost pomp and splendour, from the mountain Kilas. His third eye flamed like the sun, and the crescent on his forehead assumed the form of a radiated diadem; his snakes were exchanged for chains and necklaces of pearls and rubies, his ashes for sandal and perfume, and his elephant’s skin for a silken robe,so that none of the Devetas in brilliance came near his figure. The bridal attendants now spread wide abroad the carpet of congratulation, and arranged in order the banquet of bliss. Nature herself assumed the appearance of renovated youth, and the sorrowing universe recalled its long-forgotten happiness. The Gandarvas and Apsaras began their melodious songs, and the Genes and Keeners displayed the magic of their various musical instruments. The earth and its inhabitants exulted with tongues of glorification and triumph; fresh moisture invigorated the withered victims of time; a thousand happy and animating conceptions inspired the hearts of the intelligent, and enlightened the wisdom of the thoughtful: The kingdom of external forms obtained gladness, the world of intellect acquired brightness. The dwellers upon earth stocked the casket of their ideas with the jewels of delight, and reverend pilgrims exchanged their beads for pearls. The joy of those on earth ascended up to Heaven, and the Tree of the bliss of those in Heaven extended its auspicious branches downwards to the earth. The eyes of the Devetas flamed like torches on beholding these scenes of rapture, and the hearts of the just kindled like touchwood on hearing these ravishing symphonies. Thus Seeva set off like a garden in full blow, and Paradise was eclipsed by his motion.—Maurice,from the Seeva-Pooraun.
Thereat the heart of the Universe stood still.—X. p. 94.
After these lines were written, I was amused at finding a parallel passage in a sermon:
Quando o Sol parou às vozes de Josuè, aconteceram no mundo todas aquellas consequencias, que parando o movimento celeste, consideram os Filosofos. As plantas por todo aquelle tempo nam creceram; as calidades dos elementos, e dos mixtos, nam se alteraram; a geraçam e corrupçam com que se conserva o mundo, cessou; as artes e os exercicios de hum e outro Emisferio estiveram suspensos; os Antipodas nam trabalhavam, porque lhes faltava a luz, os de cima cançados de tam comprido dia deixavam o trabalho; estes pasmados de verem o Sol que se nam movia; aquelles tambem pasmados de esperarem pelo Sol, que nam chegava; cuidavam que se acabàra para elles a luz; imaginavam que se acabava o mundo: tudo era lagrimas, tudo assombros, tudo horrores, tudo confusoens.—Vieyra, Sermoens,tom. ix. p.505.
Surya.—X. p. 105.
Surya, the Sun. The poets and painters describe his car as drawn by seven green horses, preceded byArun, or the Dawn, who acts as his charioteer, and followed by thousands of genii, worshipping him, and modulating hispraises. Surya is believed to have descended frequently from his car in a human shape, and to have left a race on earth, who are equally renowned in the Indian stories with the Heliadai of Greece. It is very singular that his two sons, calledAswinau, orAswinicumarau, in the Dual, should be considered as twin brothers, and painted like Castor and Pollux; but they have each the character of Æsculapius among the gods, and are believed to have been born of a nymph, who, in the form of a mare, was impregnated with sun-beams.—SirW. Jones.
That sun, O daughter of Ganga! than which nothing is higher, to which nothing is equal, enlightens the summit of the sky—with the sky enlightens the earth—with the earth enlightens the lower worlds;—enlightens the higher worlds, enlightens other worlds;—it enlightens the breast,—enlightens all besides the breast.—SirW. Jones,from the Veda.
Forgetful of his Dragon foe.—X. p. 105.
Ra’huwas the son ofCas’yapaandDity, according to some authorities; but others representSinhica’(perhaps the sphinx) as his natural mother. He had four arms; his lower parts ended in a tail like that of a dragon; and his aspect was grim and gloomy, like thedarknessof the chaos, whence he had also the name ofTamas. He wasthe adviser of all mischief among theDaityas, who had a regard for him: but among theDe’vatasit was his chief delight to sow dissension; and when the gods had produced theamrit, by churning the ocean, he disguised himself like one of them, and received a portion of it; but the Sun and Moon having discovered his fraud,Vishnusevered his head and two of his arms from the rest of his monstrous body. That part of the nectareous fluid which he had time to swallow secured his immortality: his trunk and dragon-like tail fell on the mountain ofMalaya, whereMini, aBrahman, carefully preserved them by the name ofCe’tu; and, as if a complete body had been formed from them, like a dismemberedpolype, he is even said to have adoptedCe’tuas his own child. The head, with two arms, fell on the sands ofBarbara, wherePi’t’he’na’swas then walking withSinhica’, by some called his wife: They carried theDaityato their palace, and adopted him as their son; whence he acquired the name ofPaite’he’nasi. This extravagant fable is, no doubt, astronomical;Ra’huandCe’tubeing clearly thenodes, or what astrologers call theheadandtailof the dragon. It is added, that they appeasedVishnu, and obtained re-admission to the firmament, but were no longer visible from the earth, their enlightened sides being turned from it; thatRa’hustrives, during eclipses, to wreak vengeance on the Sunand Moon, who detected him; and thatCe’tuoften appears as a comet, a whirlwind, a fiery meteor, a water-spout, or a column of sand.—Wilford.Asiatic Researches.
Suras.—X. p. 105.
The wordSurain Sanscrit signifies both wine and true wealth; hence, in the firstC’handof theRamayanofValmic, it is expressly said that theDevetas, having received theSura, acquired the title ofSuras, and theDaityasthat ofAsura, from not having received it. TheVedais represented as that wine and true wealth.—Paterson.Asiat. Researches.
Camdeo.—X. p. 106.
EternalCama! or dothSmarabright,Or proudAnanga, give thee more delight?Sir W. Jones.
EternalCama! or dothSmarabright,Or proudAnanga, give thee more delight?Sir W. Jones.
He was the son ofMaya, or the generalattractingpower, and married toRetty, orAffection, and his bosom friend isBessent, orSpring. He is represented a a beautiful youth, sometimes conversing with his mother and consort in the midst of his gardens and temples; sometimes riding by moonlight on a parrot or lory, a attended by dancing girls or nymphs, the foremostwhom bears his colours, which are afishon a red ground. His favourite place of resort is a large tract of country roundAgra, and principally the plains ofMatra, whereKrishenalso, and the nineGopia, who are clearly theApolloandMusesof the Greeks, usually spend the night with music and dance. His bow of sugar-cane or flowers, with a string of bees, and hisfivearrows, each pointed with an Indian blossom of a heating quality, are allegories equally new and beautiful.
It is possible that the wordsDipucandCupid, which have the same signification, may have the same origin; since we know that the old Hetrurians, from whom great part of the Roman language and religion was derived, and whose system had a near affinity with that of the Persians and Indians, used to write their lines alternately forwards and backwards, as furrows are made by the ploughs.—SirW. Jones.
Mahadeva and Parvati were playing with dice at the ancient game of Chaturanga, when they disputed, and parted in wrath; the goddess retiring to the forest of Gauri, and the god repairing to Cushadwip. They severally performed rigid acts of devotion to the Supreme Being; but the fires which they kindled blazed so vehemently as to threaten a general conflagration. The Devas, in great alarm, hastened to Brahma, who led themto Mahadeva, and supplicated him to recall his consort; but the wrathful deity only answered, That she most come by her own free choice. They accordingly dispatched Gunga, the river goddess, who prevailed on Parvati to return to him, on condition that his love for her should be restored. The celestial mediators then employed Cama-Deva, who wounded Mahadeva with one of his flowery arrows; but the angry divinity reduced him to ashes with a flame from his eye. Parvati soon after presented herself before him in the form of a Cirati, or daughter of a mountaineer, and seeing him enamoured of her, resumed her own shape. In the place where they were reconciled, a grove sprang up, which was named Camavana; and the relenting god, in the character of Cameswara, consoled the afflicted Reti, the widow of Cama, by assuring her that she should rejoin her husband when he should be born again in the form of Pradyumna, son of Crishna, and should put Sambara to death. This favourable prediction was in due time accomplished, and Pradyumna having sprung to life, he was instantly seized by the demon Sambara, who placed him in a chest, which he threw into the ocean; but a large fish, which had swallowed the chest, was caught, in a net, and carried to the palace of a tyrant, where the unfortunate Reti had been compelled to do menial service.It was her lot to open the fish, and seeing an infant in the chest, she nursed him in private, and educated him, till he had sufficient strength to destroy the malignant Sambara. He had before considered Reti as his mother; but the minds of them both being, irradiated, the prophecy of Mahadeva was remembered, and the God of Love was again united with the Goddess of Pleasure.—Wilford.Asiatic Researches.
Eating his very core of life away.—XI. p. 113.
One of the wonders of this country is theJiggerkhar, (or liver-eater.) One of this class can steal away the liver of another by looks and incantations. Other accounts say, that, by looking at a person, he deprives him of his senses, and then steals from him something resembling the seed of a pomegranate, which he hides in the calf of his leg. TheJiggerkharthrows on the fire the grain before described, which thereupon spreads to the size of a dish, and he distributes it amongst his fellows, to be eaten; which ceremony concludes the life of the fascinated person. AJiggerkharis able to communicate his art to another, which he does by learning him the incantations, and by making him eat a bit of the liver-cake. If any one cut open the calf of the magician’s leg, extract the grain, and give it to the afflicted personto eat, he immediately recovers. ThoseJiggerkharsare mostly women. It is said, moreover, that they can bring intelligence from a great distance in a short space of time; and if they are thrown into a river, with a stone tied to them, they nevertheless will not sink. In order to deprive any one of this wicked power, they brand his temples, and every joint in his body, cram his eyes with salt, suspend him for forty days in a subterraneous cavern, and repeat over him certain incantations. In this state he is calledDetche-reh. Although, after having undergone this discipline, he is not able to destroy the liver of any one, yet he retains the power of being able to discover anotherJiggerkhar, and is used for detecting these disturbers of mankind. They can also cure many diseases, by administering a potion, or by repeating an incantation. Many other marvellous stories are told of these people.—Ayeen Acbery.
An Arabian old woman, by name Meluk, was thrown in prison, on a charge of having bewitched, or, as they call it, eaten the heart of a young native of Ormuz, who had lately, from being a Christian, turned Mahommedan. The cause of offence was, that the young man, after keeping company some time with one of her daughters, had forsaken her: He himself, who was in a pitiable condition, and in danger of his life, was one of heraccusers. This sort of witchcraft, which the Indians call eating the heart, and which is what we call bewitching, as sorcerers do by their venomous and deadly looks, is not a new thing, nor unheard of elsewhere; for many persons practised it formerly in Sclavonia, and the country of the Triballes, as we learn from Ortelius, who took the account from Pliny, who, upon the report of Isigones, testifies, that this species of enchantment was much in use among these people, and many others whom he mentions, as it is at present here, especially among the Arabians who inhabit the western coast of the Persian gulph, where this art is common. The way in which they do it is only by the eyes and the mouth, keeping the eyes fixed steadily upon the person whose heart they design to eat, and pronouncing, between their teeth, I know not what diabolical words, by virtue of which, and by the operation of the devil, the person, how hale and strong soever, falls immediately into an unknown and incurable disease, which makes him appear phthysical, consumes him little by little, and at last destroys him. And this takes place faster or slower as the heart is eaten, as they say; for these sorcerers can either eat the whole or a part only; that is, can consume it entirely and at once, or bit by bit, as they please. The vulgar give it this name, because they believe that the devil, acting uponthe imagination of the witch when she mutters her wicked words, represents invisibly to her the heart and entrails of the patient, taken out of his body, and makes her devour them. In which these wretches find so delightful a task, that very often, to satisfy their appetite, without any impulse of resentment or enmity, they will destroy innocent persons, and even their nearest relatives, as there is a report that our prisoner killed one of her own daughters in this manner.
This was confirmed to me by a similar story, which I heard at Ispahan, from the mouth of P. Sebastian de Jesus, a Portugueze Augustinian, a man to be believed, and of singular virtue, who was prior of their convent when I departed. He assured me, that, on one of the places dependent upon Portugal, on the confines of Arabia Felix, I know not whether it was at Mascate or at Ormuz, an Arab having been taken up for a similar crime, and convicted of it, for he confessed the fact, the captain, or governor of the place, who was a Portugueze, that he might better understand the truth of these black and devilish actions, of which there is no doubt in this country, made the sorcerer be brought before him before he was led to his punishment, and asked him, If he could eat the inside of a cucumber without opening it, as well as the heart of a man? The sorcerer said yes; and, in order toprove it, a cucumber was brought: he looked at it, never touching it, steadily for some time, with his usual enchantments, and then told the captain he had eaten the whole inside; and accordingly, when it was opened, nothing was found but the rind. This is not impossible; for the devil, of whom they make use in these operations, having, in the order of nature, greater power than all inferior creatures, can, with God’s permission, produce these effects, and others more marvellous.
The same father told me, that one of these sorcerers, whether it was the same or not I do not know, having been taken for a similar offence, was asked, If he could eat the heart of the Portuguese captain? and he replied no; for the Franks had a certain thing upon the breast, which covered them like a cuirass, and was so impenetrable, that it was proof against all his charms. This can be nothing else than the virtue of baptism, the armour of the faith, and the privilege of the sons of the church, against which the gates of hell cannot prevail.
To return, however, to my first subject:—This witch of Combru made some difficulty at first to confess her guilt; but seeing herself pressed with threats of death, and being led, in fact, to the public square, where I saw her with the sick young man, she said, that though she had not been the cause of his complaint, perhaps she could cureit, if they would let her remain alone with him, in his house, without interruption; by which she tacitly confessed her witchcraft: For it is held certain in these countries, that these wicked women can remove the malady which they have caused, if it be not come to the last extremity. And of many remedies which they use to restore health to the sufferers, there is one very extraordinary, which is, that the witch casts something out of her mouth, like the grain of a pomegranate, which is believed to be a part of the heart that she had eaten. The patient picks it up immediately, as part of his own intestines, and greedily swallows it; and by this means, as if his heart was replaced in his body, he recovers by degrees his health. I dare not assure you of these things as certainly true, not having myself seen them, surpassing as they do the course of nature. If they are as is said, it can be only in appearance, by the illusions of the devil; and if the afflicted recover actually their health, it is because the same devil ceases to torment them. Without dwelling longer upon these curious speculations,—the witch having given hopes that she would cure the patient, the officers promised that she should receive no injury, and they were both sent home; but an archer was set over her as a guard, that she might not escape.—Pietro Della Valle.
The Calis.—XI. p. 114.
The Calis and Pandaris are the protectresses of cities; each city has its own. They address prayers to these tutelary divinities, and build temples to them, offering to them blood in sacrifice, and sometimes human victims. These objects of worship are not immortal, and they take their name from the city over which they preside, or from the form in which they are represented. They are commonly framed of a gigantic stature, having several arms, and the head surrounded with flames; several fierce animals are also placed under their feet.—Sonnerat.
Sani, the dreadful God, who rides abroadUpon the King of the Ravens.—XI. p. 114.
Mr. Moor has a curious remark upon this subject:
“Sani being among the astrologers of India, as well as with their sapient brethren of Europe, a planet of malignant aspects, the ill-omened raven may be deemed a fitVahanfor such a dreaded being. But this is not, I think, a sufficient reason for the conspicuous introduction of the raven into the mythological machinery of the Hindu system, so accurate, so connected, and so complete in all its parts; although the investigations that it hath hitherto undergone have not fully developed or reached such pointsof perfection. Now let me ask the reason, why, both in England and in India, the raven it so rare a bird? It breeds every year, like the crow, and is much longer lived; and while the latter bird abounds every where, to a degree bordering on nuisance, a pair of ravens, for they are seldom seen singly or in trios, are scarcely found duplicated in any place. Perhaps, take England or India over, two pair of ravens will not be found, on an average, in the extent of five hundred or a thousand acres. I know not, for I write where I have no access to books, if our naturalists have sought the theory of this; or whether it may have first occurred to me, which it did while contemplating the character and attributes of Sani, that the raven destroys its young; and if this notion be well founded, and on no other can I account for the rareness of the annual-breeding long-lived raven, we shall at once see the propriety of symbolizing it with Saturn, or Kronos, or Time, devouring or destroying his own offspring.—Moor’sHindu Pantheon, p. 311.
A thousand eyes were quench’d in endless night,To form that magic globe.—XI. p. 117.
A similar invention occurs in Dr. Beaumont’s Psyche, one of the most extraordinary poems in our language. I am far from claiming any merit for such inventions, whichno man can value more cheaply,—but such as it is, I am not beholden for it to this forgotten writer, whose strange, long, but by no means uninteresting work I had never read till after two editions of Kehama were printed.
A stately mirror’s all-enamell’d caseThe second was; no crystal ever yetSmil’d with such pureness: never ladies’ glassIts owner flattered with so smooth a cheat.Nor could Narcissus’ fount with such delightInto his fair destruction him invite.For He in that and self-love being drown’d,Agenor from him pluck’d his doting eyes:And, shuffled in her fragments, having foundOld Jezabels, he stole the dog’s due prize.Goliah’s staring bacins too he got,Which he with Pharaoh’s all together put.But not content with these, from Phaeton,From Joab, Icarus, Nebuchadnezzar,From Philip and his world-devouring son,From Sylla, Cataline, Tully, Pompey, Cæsar,From Herod, Cleopatra, and Sejanus,From Agrippina and Domitianus,And many surly stoics, theirs he pull’d;Whose proudest humours having drained out,He blended in a large and polish’d mould;Which up he fill’d with what from Heaven he brought,In extract of those looks of Lucifer,In which against his God he breathed war.Then to the North, that glassy kingdom, whereEstablish’d frost and ice for ever reign,He sped his course, and meeting Boreas there,Pray’d him this liquid mixture to restrain.When lo! as Boreas oped his mouth and blewFor his command, the slime all solid grew.Thus was the mirror forged, and contain’dThe vigour of those self-admiring eyesAgenor’s witchcraft into it had strain’d;A dangerous juncture of proud fallacies;Whose fair looks so inamour’d him, that heThrice having kiss’d it, nam’d it Philanty.Inchanted Psyche ravish’d was to seeThe Glass herself upon herself reflectWith trebled majesty. The sun, when heIs by Aurora’s roseat fingers deckt,Views not his repercussed self so fairUpon the eastern main, as she did here.
A stately mirror’s all-enamell’d caseThe second was; no crystal ever yetSmil’d with such pureness: never ladies’ glassIts owner flattered with so smooth a cheat.Nor could Narcissus’ fount with such delightInto his fair destruction him invite.For He in that and self-love being drown’d,Agenor from him pluck’d his doting eyes:And, shuffled in her fragments, having foundOld Jezabels, he stole the dog’s due prize.Goliah’s staring bacins too he got,Which he with Pharaoh’s all together put.But not content with these, from Phaeton,From Joab, Icarus, Nebuchadnezzar,From Philip and his world-devouring son,From Sylla, Cataline, Tully, Pompey, Cæsar,From Herod, Cleopatra, and Sejanus,From Agrippina and Domitianus,And many surly stoics, theirs he pull’d;Whose proudest humours having drained out,He blended in a large and polish’d mould;Which up he fill’d with what from Heaven he brought,In extract of those looks of Lucifer,In which against his God he breathed war.Then to the North, that glassy kingdom, whereEstablish’d frost and ice for ever reign,He sped his course, and meeting Boreas there,Pray’d him this liquid mixture to restrain.When lo! as Boreas oped his mouth and blewFor his command, the slime all solid grew.Thus was the mirror forged, and contain’dThe vigour of those self-admiring eyesAgenor’s witchcraft into it had strain’d;A dangerous juncture of proud fallacies;Whose fair looks so inamour’d him, that heThrice having kiss’d it, nam’d it Philanty.Inchanted Psyche ravish’d was to seeThe Glass herself upon herself reflectWith trebled majesty. The sun, when heIs by Aurora’s roseat fingers deckt,Views not his repercussed self so fairUpon the eastern main, as she did here.
Be true unto yourselves.—XII. p. 127.
The passage in which Menu exhorts a witness to speak the truth is one of the few sublime ones in his Institutes. “The soul itself is its own witness; the soul itself is its own refuge; offend not thy conscious soul, the supreme internal witness of men! . . The sinful have said in their hearts, none see us. Yes, the gods distinctly see them, and so does the spirit within their breasts . . The guardian deities of the firmament, of the earth, of the waters, of the human heart, of the moon, of the sun, and of fire, of punishment after death, of the winds, of night, of both twilights, and of justice, perfectly know the state of all spirits clothed with bodies. . . O friend to virtue! that supreme Spirit,which thou believest one and the same with thyself, resides in thy bosom perpetually, and is an all-knowing inspector of thy goodness or of thy wickedness. If thou beest not at variance, by speaking falsely, with Yama, the subduer of all, with Vaivaswata the punisher, with that great Divinity who dwells in thy breast,—go not on a pilgrimage to the river Ganga, nor to the plains of Curu, for thou hast no need of expiation.—Ch. viii. p.84, 85, 86, 91, 92.
The Aunnay Birds.—XII. p. 128.
The Aunnays act a considerable part in the history of the Nellah Rajah, an amusing romance, for a translation of which we are indebted to Mr. Kindersley. They are milk-white, and remarkable for the gracefulness of their walk.
END OF VOLUME FIRST.
[1]Murresoo, orMursoo, in the Hala Canara, signifiesrude, uncivilized;—Wokul, ahusbandman.
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[2] Dignus vindice nodus.
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[3] In the Azanaga dialect of the Lybian tongue, Aseif signifies a river.
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[4] The Hindoos call a childBalatill it attains the age of fifteen years old. From the sixteenth year to the fiftieth,Youvuna, or a state of youth, is supposed to continue. Each of these has several subdivisions; and in certain cases the period admits of variation, as appears to have been the case here.
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[5] The horse intended for the sacrifice.
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[6] The Indian spade, formed like a hoe, with a short handle.
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[7] An instrument said to be formed like an ox's yoke.
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[8] A dart, or spear.
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[9] A club, or crow.
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[10] A weapon, now unknown.
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[11] The eight Vusoos, the eleven Roodras, the twelve Adityas, and Ushwinee and Koomæra.
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[12] This seems to have been spoken by these youths in the warmth of their imagination.
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[13] The Hindoos say, that Kupila, or Vasoo-deva, is an incarnation of Vishnoo, whom they describe as having been thus partially incarnate twenty-four times.
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[14] One towards each of the cardinal points, and the sun over his head, towards which he was constantly looking.
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[15] The heaven from which there can be no fall.
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[16] Shiva, from Shoola, the spear which he held.
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[17] Shiva.
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[18] Literally, three Gungas. Wherever a part of Gunga flows it is dignified with her name: Thus the Hindoos say, the Gunga of Pouyaga, &c.
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[19] The river of joy.
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[20] The purifier.
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[21] Abounding with water.
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[22] Beautiful eyed.
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[23] White.
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[24] Probably the Indus.
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[25] Shiva, the existant.
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[26] Sagura is one of the most common names for the sea which the Hindoos have.
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[27] From the rootgum, signifying motion.
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[28] The earth.
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[29] The end of thy vows is accomplished, therefore now relinquish thy vows of being an ascetic.
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END OF FOOTNOTES.