CONCLUSION.

AtRaja Vikram’s silence the Baital was greatly surprised, and he praised the royal courage and resolution to the skies. Still he did not give up the contest at once.

‘Allow me, great king,’ pursued the Demon, in a dry tone of voice, ‘to wish you joy. After so many failures you have at length succeeded in repressing your loquacity. I will not stop to inquire whether it was humility and self-restraint which prevented your answering my last question, or whether it was mere ignorance and inability. Of course I suspect the latter, but to say the truth your condescension in at last taking a Vampire’s advice, flatters me so much, that I will not look too narrowly into cause or motive.’

Raja Vikram winced, but maintained a stubborn silence, squeezing his lips lest they should open involuntarily.

‘Now, however, your majesty has mortified, we will suppose, a somewhat exacting vanity, I also will in my turn forego the pleasure which I had anticipated in seeing you a corpse and in entering yourroyal body for a short time, just to know how queer it must feel to be a king. And what is more, I will now perform my original promise, and you shall derive from me a benefit which none but myself can bestow. First, however, allow me to ask you, will you let me have a little more air?’

Dharma Dhwaj pulled his father’s sleeve, but this time Raja Vikram required no reminder: wild horses or the executioner’s saw, beginning at the shoulder, would not have drawn a word from him. Observing his obstinate silence, the Baital, with an ominous smile, continued:

‘Now give ear, O warrior king, to what I am about to tell thee, and bear in mind the giant’s saying, “A man is justified in killing one who has a design to kill him.” The young merchant Mal Deo, who placed such magnificent presents at your royal feet, and Shanta-Shil the devotee-saint, who works his spells, incantations, and magical rites in a cemetery on the banks of the Godavari river, are, as thou knowest, one person—the terrible Jogi, whose wrath your father aroused in his folly, and whose revenge your blood alone can satisfy. With regard to myself, the oilman’s son, the same Jogi, fearing least I might interfere with his projects of universal dominion, slew me by the power of his penance, and has kept me suspended, a trap for you, head downwards from the siras-tree.

‘That Jogi it was, you now know, who sent you tofetch me back to him on your back. And when you cast me at his feet he will return thanks to you and praise your valour, perseverance and resolution to the skies. I warn you to beware. He will lead you to the shrine of Durga, and when he has finished his adoration he will say to you, “O great king, salute my deity with the eight-limbed reverence.”’

Here the Vampire whispered for a time and in a low tone, lest some listening goblin might carry his words if spoken out loud to the ears of the devotee Shanta-Shil.

At the end of the monologue a rustling sound was heard. It proceeded from the Baital, who was disengaging himself from the dead body in the bundle, and the burden became sensibly lighter upon the monarch’s back.

The departing Baital, however, did not forget to bid farewell to the warrior king and his son. He complimented the former for the last time, in his own way, upon the royal humility and the prodigious self-mortification which he had displayed—qualities, he remarked, which never failed to ensure the proprietor’s success in all the worlds.

Raja Vikram stepped out joyfully, and soon reached the burning-ground. There he found the Jogi, dressed in his usual habit, a deerskin thrown over his back, and twisted reeds instead of a garment hanging round his loins. The hair had fallen from his limbs and his skin was bleached ghastly white by exposure to theelements. A fire seemed to proceed from his mouth, and the matted locks dropping from his head to the ground were changed by the rays of the sun, to the colour of gold or saffron. He had the beard of a goat and the ornaments of a king; his shoulders were high and his arms long, reaching to his knees: his nails grew to such a length as to curl round the ends of his fingers, and his feet resembled those of a tiger. He was drumming upon a skull, and incessantly exclaiming, ‘Ho, Kali! ho, Durga! ho, Devi!’

There he found the Jogi.

As before, strange beings were holding their carnival in the Jogi’s presence. Monstrous Asuras, giant goblins, stood grimly gazing upon the scene with fixed eyes and motionless features. Rakshasas and messengers of Yama, fierce and hideous, assumed at pleasure the shapes of foul and ferocious beasts. Nagas and Bhutas, partly human and partly bestial, disported themselves in throngs about the upper air, and were dimly seen in the faint light of the dawn. Mighty Daityas, Bramha-daityas, and Pretas, the size of a man’s thumb, or dried up like leaves, and Pisachas of terrible power guarded the place. There were enormous goats, vivified by the spirits of those who had slain Brahmans; things with the bodies of men and the faces of horses, camels, and monkeys; hideous worms containing the souls of those priests who had drunk spirituous liquors; men with one leg and one ear, and mischievous blood-sucking demons, who in life had stolen church property. There were vultures, wretches that had violated the beds of their spiritual fathers, restless ghosts that had loved low-caste women, shades for whom funeral rites had not been performed, and who could not cross the dread Vaitarani stream,[188]and vital souls fresh from the horrors of Tamisra, or utter darkness, and the Usipatra Vana, or the sword-leaved forest. Pale spirits, Alayas, Gumas, Baitals, and Yakshas,[189]beings of abase and vulgar order, glided over the ground, amongst corpses and skeletons animated by female fiends, Dakinis, Yoginis, Hakinis, and Shankinis, which were dancing in frightful revelry. The air was filled with supernatural sights and sounds, cries of owls and jackals, cats and crows, dogs, asses, and vultures, high above which rose the clashing of the bones with which the Jogi sat drumming upon the skull before him, and tending a huge cauldron of oil whose smoke was of blue fire. But as he raised his long lank arm, silver-white with ashes, the demons fled, and a momentary silence succeeded to their uproar. The tigers ceased to roar and the elephants to scream; the bears raised their snouts from their foul banquets, and the wolves dropped from their jaws the remnants of human flesh. And when they disappeared, the hooting of the owl, and ghastly ‘ha! ha!’ of the curlew, and the howling of the jackal died away in the far distance, leaving a silence still more oppressive.

As Raja Vikram entered the burning-ground, the hollow sound of solitude alone met his ear. Sadly wailed the wet autumnal blast. The tall gaunt trees groaned aloud, and bowed and trembled like slaves bending before their masters. Huge purple clouds and patches and lines of glaring white mist coursed furiously across the black expanse of firmament, discharging threads and chains and lozenges and balls of white and blue, purple and pink lightning, followedby the deafening crash and roll of thunder, the dreadful roaring of the mighty wind, and the torrents of plashing rain. At times was heard in the distance the dull gurgling of the swollen river, interrupted by explosions, as slips of earth-bank fell headlong into the stream. But once more the Jogi raised his arm and all was still: nature lay breathless, as if awaiting the effect of his tremendous spells.

The warrior king drew near the terrible man, unstrung his bundle from his back, untwisted the portion which he held, threw open the cloth, and exposed to Shanta Shil’s glittering eyes the corpse, which had now recovered its proper form—that of a young child. Seeing it, the devotee was highly pleased, and thanked Vikram the Brave, extolling his courage and daring above any monarch that had yet lived. After which he repeated certain charms facing towards the south, awakened the dead body, and placed it in a sitting position. He then in its presence sacrificed to his goddess, the White One,[190]all that he had ready by his side—betel leaf and flowers, sandal wood and unbroken rice, fruits, perfumes, and the flesh of man untouched by steel. Lastly, he half filled his skull with burning embers, blew upon them till they shot forth tongues of crimson light, serving as a lamp,and motioning the Raja and his son to follow him, led the way to a little fane of the Destroying Deity, erected in a dark clump of wood, outside and close to the burning-ground.

They passed through the quadrangular outer court of the temple whose piazza was hung with deep shade.[191]In silence they circumambulated the small central shrine, and whenever Shanta Shil directed, Raja Vikram entered the Sabha, or vestibule, and struck three times upon the gong, which gave forth a loud and warning sound.

They then passed over the threshold, and looked into the gloomy inner depths. There stood Smashana-Kali,[192]the goddess, in her most horrid form. She was a naked and very black woman, with half-severed head, partly cut and partly painted, resting on her shoulder; and her tongue lolled out from her wide yawning mouth;[193]her eyes were red like those of a drunkard; and her eyebrows were of the same colour: her thick coarse hair hung like a mantle to her heels. She was robed in an elephant’s hide, driedand withered, confined at the waist with a belt composed of the hands of the giants whom she had slain in war: two dead bodies formed her earrings, and her necklace was of bleached skulls. Her four arms supported a scimitar, a noose, a trident, and a ponderous mace. She stood with one leg on the breast of her husband, Shiva, and she rested the other on his thigh. Before the idol lay the utensils of worship, namely, dishes for the offerings, lamps, jugs, incense, copper cups, conchs and gongs; and all of them smelt of blood.

As Raja Vikram and his son stood gazing upon the hideous spectacle, the devotee stooped down to place his skull-lamp upon the ground, and drew from out his ochre-coloured cloth a sharp sword which he hid behind his back.

‘Prosperity to thine and thy son’s for ever and ever, O mighty Vikram!’ exclaimed Shanta Shil, after he had muttered a prayer before the image. ‘Verily thou hast right royally redeemed thy pledge, and by the virtue of thy presence all my wishes shall presently be accomplished. Behold! the Sun is about to drive his car over the eastern hills, and our task now ends. Do thou reverence before this my deity, worshipping the earth through thy nose, and so prostrating thyself that thy eight limbs may touch the ground.[194]Thus shall thy glory and splendour begreat; the Eight Powers[195]and the Nine Treasures shall be thine, and prosperity shall ever remain under thy roof-tree.’

Raja Vikram, hearing these words, recalled suddenly to mind all that the Vampire had whispered to him. He brought his joined hands open up to his forehead, caused his two thumbs to touch his brow several times, and replied with the greatest humility,

‘O pious person! I am a king ignorant of the way to do such obeisance. Thou art a spiritual preceptor: be pleased to teach me and I will do even as thou desirest.’

Then the Jogi, being a cunning man, fell into his own net. As he bent him down to salute the goddess, Vikram drawing his sword struck him upon the neck so violent a blow, that his head rolled from his body upon the ground. At the same moment Dharma Dhwaj, seizing his father’s arm, pulled him out of the way in time to escape being crushed by the image, which fell with the sound of thunder upon the floor of the temple.

A small thin voice in the upper air was heard to cry, ‘A man is justified in killing one who has the desire to kill him.’ Then glad shouts of triumph and victory were heard in all directions. They proceeded from the celestial choristers, the heavenly dancers, the mistresses of the gods, and the nymphs of Indra’s Paradise, who left their beds of gold and precious stones, their seats glorious as the meridian sun, their canals of crystal water, their perfumed groves, and their gardens where the wind ever blows in softest breezes, to applaud the valour and good fortune of the warrior king.

As he bent him down to salute the goddess.

At last the brilliant god, Indra himself, with the thousand eyes, rising from the shade of the Parigat tree, the fragrance of whose flowers fills the heavens, appeared in his car drawn by yellow steeds and cleaving the thick vapours which surround the earth—whilst his attendants sounded the heavenly drums and rained a shower of blossoms and perfumes—bade the king Vikramajit the Brave ask a boon.

The Raja joined his hands and respectfully replied,

‘O mighty ruler of the lower firmament, let this my history become famous throughout the world!’

‘It is well,’ rejoined the god. ‘As long as the sun and moon endure, and the sky looks down upon the ground, so long shall this thy adventure be remembered over all the earth. Meanwhile rule thou mankind.’

Thus saying Indra retired to the delicious Amrawati.[196]Vikram took up the corpses and threw them into the cauldron which Shanta Shil had been tending. At once two heroes started into life, and Vikram said to them, ‘When I call you, come!’

With these mysterious words the king, followed by his son, returned to the palace unmolested. As the Vampire had predicted, everything was prosperous to him, and he presently obtained the remarkable titles, Sakaro, or foe of the Sakas, and Sakadhipati-Vikramaditya.

And when, after a long and happy life spent in bringing the world under the shadow of one umbrella, and in ruling it free from care, the warrior king Vikram entered the gloomy realms of Yama, fromwhom for mortals there is no escape, he left behind him a name that endured amongst men like the odour of the flower whose memory remains long after its form has mingled with the dust.[197]

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FOOTNOTES[1]Metamorphoseon, seu de Asino Aureo, libri XI.The well known and beautiful episode is in the fourth, the fifth, and the sixth books.[2]This ceremony will be explained in a future page.[3]A common exclamation of sorrow, surprise, fear, and other emotions. It is especially used by women.[4]Quoted fromView of the Hindoos, by William Ward, of Serampore (vol. i. p. 25).[5]In Sanskrit,Vétála-pancha-Vinshatí. ‘Baital’ is the modern form of ‘Vétála.’[6]In Arabic,Bidpai el Hakim.[7]Dictionnaire philosophique, sub v. ‘Apocryphes.’[8]I do not mean that rhymes were not known before the days of El Islam, but that the Arabs popularised assonance and consonance in Southern Europe.[9]‘Vikrama’ means ‘valour’ or ‘prowess.’[10]Mr. Ward of Serampore is unable to quote the names of more than nine out of the eighteen, namely: Sanskrit, Prakrit, Naga, Paisacha, Gandharba, Rakshasa, Ardhamágadi, Apa, and Guhyaka—most of them being the languages of different orders of fabulous beings. He tells us, however, that an account of these dialects may be found in the work calledPingala.[11]Translated by Sir Wm. Jones, 1789; and by Professor Williams, 1856.[12]Translated by Professor H. H. Wilson.[13]The time was propitious to savans. Whilst Vikramaditya lived, Mágha, another king, caused to be written a poem called after his name. For each verse he is said to have paid to learned men a gold piece, which amounted to a total of 5,280l.—a large sum in those days, which preceded those ofParadise Lost. About the same period, Karnáta, a third king, was famed for patronising the learned men who rose to honour at Vikram’s court. Dhavaka, a poet of nearly the same period, received from King Shriharsha the magnificent present of 10,000l.for a poem called theRatna-Malá.[14]Lieut. Wilford supports the theory that there were eight Vikramadityas, the last of whom established the era. For further particulars, the curious reader will consult Lassen’sAnthologia, and Professor H. H. Wilson’sEssay on Vikram, (New) As. Res. ix. 117.[15]History tells us another tale. The god Indra and the King of Dhara gave the kingdom to Bhartari-hari, another son of Gandharba-Sena, by a handmaiden. For some time, the brothers lived together; but presently they quarrelled. Vikram being dismissed from court, wandered from place to place in abject poverty, and at one time hired himself as a servant to a merchant living in Guzerat. At length, Bhartari-hari, disgusted with the world on account of the infidelity of his wife, to whom he was ardently attached, became a religious devotee, and left the kingdom to its fate. In the course of his travels, Vikram came to Ujjayani, and finding it without a head, assumed the sovereignty. He reigned with great splendour, conquering by his arms Utkala, Vanga, Kuch-behar, Guzerat, Somnat, Delhi, and other places; until, in his turn, he was conquered and slain by Shalivaban.[16]The words are found, says Mr. Ward, in theHindu Historycompiled by Mrityungaya.[17]These duties of kings are thus laid down in theRajtarangini. It is evident, as Professor H. H. Wilson says, that the royal status was by no means a sinecure. But the rules are evidently the closet work of some pedantic, dogmatic Brahman, teaching kingcraft to kings. He directs his instructions, not to subordinate judges, but to the Raja as the chief magistrate, and through him to all appointed for the administration of his justice.[18]Lunus, not Luna.[19]That is to say, ‘upon an empty stomach.’[20]There are three sandhyas amongst the Hindus—morning, midday, and sunset; and all three are times for prayer.[21]The Hindu Cupid.[22]Patala, the regions beneath the earth.[23]The Hindu Triad.[24]Or Avanti, also called Padmavati. It is the first meridian of the Hindus, who found their longitude by observation of lunar eclipses, calculated for it and Lanka, or Ceylon. The clepsydra was used for taking time.[25]In the original only the husband ‘practised austere devotion.’ For the benefit of those amongst whom the ‘pious wife’ is an institution, I have extended the privilege.[26]A Moslem would say, ‘This is our fate.’ A Hindu refers at once to metempsychosis, as naturally as a modern Swedenborgian to spiritism.[27]In Europe, money buys this world, and delivers you from the pains of purgatory; amongst the Hindus, it furthermore opens the gate of heaven.[28]This part of the introduction will remind the reader of the two royal brothers and their false wives in the introduction to theArabian Nights. The fate of Bhartari Raja, however, is historical.[29]In the original, ‘Div’—a supernatural being, god, or demon. This part of the plot is variously told. According to some, Raja Vikram was surprised, when entering the city, to see a grand procession at the house of a potter, and a boy being carried off on an elephant, to the violent grief of his parents. The king inquired the reason of their sorrow, and was told that the wicked Div that guarded the city was in the habit of eating a citizen per diem. Whereupon the valorous Raja caused the boy to dismount; took his place; entered the palace; and, when presented as food for the demon, displayed his pugilistic powers in a way to excite the monster’s admiration.[30]In India, there is still a monastic order the pleasant duty of whose members is to enjoy themselves as much as possible. It has been much the same in Europe. ‘Représentez-vous le couvent de l’Escurial ou du Mont Cassin, où les cénobites ont toutes sortes de commodités, nécessaires, utiles, délectables, superflues, surabondantes, puisqu’ils ont les cent cinquante mille, les quatre cent mille, les cinq cent mille écus de rente; et jugez si monsieur l’abbé a de quoi laisser dormir la méridienne à ceux qui voudront.’—Saint Augustin, de l’Ouvrage des Moines, by Le Camus, Bishop of Belley, quoted by Voltaire,Dict. phil., sub v. ‘Apocalypse.’[31]This form of matrimony was recognised by the ancient Hindus, and is frequent in books. It is a kind of Scotch wedding—ultra-Caledonian—taking place by mutual consent, without any form or ceremony. The Gandharbas are heavenly minstrels of Indra’s court, who are supposed to be witnesses.[32]The Hindu Saturnalia.[33]The powders are of wheaten flour, mixed with wild-ginger root, sappan-wood, and other ingredients. Sometimes the stuff is thrown in syringes.[34]The Persian proverb is—‘Bala e tavilah bar sar i maimun:’ ‘The woes of the stable be on the monkey’s head!’ In some Moslem countries a hog acts prophylactic. Hence probably Mungo Park’s troublesome pig at Ludamar.[35]So the moribund father of the ‘babes in the wood’ lectures his wicked brother, their guardian:‘To God and you I recommendMy children deare this day:But little while, be sure, we haveWithin this world to stay.’But to appeal to the moral sense of a goldsmith![36]Maha (great) raja (king): common address even to those who are not royal.[37]The name means, ‘Quietistic Disposition.’[38]August. In the solar-lunar year of the Hindu the months are divided into fortnights—light and dark.[39]A flower, whose name frequently occurs in Sanskrit poetry.[40]The stars being men’s souls raised to the sky for a time proportioned to their virtuous deeds on earth.[41]A measure of length, each two miles.[42]The warm region below.[43]Hindus admire only glossy black hair; the ‘bonny brown hair’ loved by our ballads is assigned by them to low-caste men, witches, and fiends.[44]A large kind of bat; a popular and silly Anglo-Indian name. It almost justified the irate Scotchman in calling ‘prodigious lecars’ those who told him in India that foxes flew and trees were tapped for toddy.[45]The Hindus, like the European classics and other ancient peoples, reckon four ages:—The Satya Yug, or Golden Age, numbered 1,728,000 years; the second, or Treta Yug, comprised 1,296,000; the Dwapar Yug had 864,000; and the present, the Kali Yug, has shrunk to 832,000 years.[46]Especially alluding to prayer. On this point, Southey justly remarks (Preface toCurse of Kehama): ‘In the religion of the Hindoos there is one remarkable peculiarity. Prayers, penances, and sacrifices are supposed to possess an inherent and actual value, in one degree depending upon the disposition or motive of the person who performs them. They are drafts upon heaven for which the gods cannot refuse payment. The worst men, bent upon the worst designs, have in this manner obtained power which has made them formidable to the supreme deities themselves.’ Moreover, the Hindoo gods hear the prayers of those who desire the evil of others. Hence when a rich man becomes poor, his friends say, ‘See how sharp are men’s teeth!’ and, ‘He is ruined because others could not bear to see his happiness!’[47]A pond, natural or artificial; in the latter case often covering an extent of ten to twelve acres.[48]The Hindustani ‘gilahri,’ or little grey squirrel, whose twittering cry is often mistaken for a bird’s.[49]The autumn or rather the rainy season personified—a hackneyed Hindu prosopopœia.[50]Light conversation upon the subject of women is a personal offence to serious-minded Hindus.[51]Cupid in his two forms, Eros and Anteros.[52]This is true to life; in the East, women make the first advances, and men do thebégueules.[53]Raja-hans, a large grey goose, the Hindu equivalent for our swan.[54]Properly Karnatak; karna in Sanskrit means an ear.[55]Danta in Sanskrit is a tooth.[56]Padma means a foot.[57]A common Hindu phrase equivalent to our ‘I manage to get on.’[58]Meaning marriage, maternity, and so forth.[59]Yama is Pluto; ‘mother of Yama’ is generally applied to an old scold.[60]Snake-land; the infernal region.[61]A form of abuse given to Durga, who was the mother of Ganesha (Janus); the latter had an elephant’s head.[62]Unexpected pleasure, according to the Hindus, gives a bristly elevation to the down of the body.[63]The Hindus banish ‘flasks,’ et hoc genus omne, from these scenes, and perhaps they are right.[64]The Pankha, or large common fan, is a leaf of the Corypha umbraculifera, with the petiole cut to the length of about five feet, pared round the edges and painted to look pretty. It is waved by the servant standing behind a chair.[65]The fabulous mass of precious stones forming the sacred mountain of Hindu mythology.[66]‘I love my love with an “S,” because he is stupid and not psychological.’[67]Hindu mythology has also its Cerberus, Trisisa, the ‘three-headed’ hound that attends dreadful Yama (Pluto).[68]Parceque c’est la saison des amours.[69]The police magistrate, the Catual of Camoens.[70]The seat of a Hindu ascetic.[71]The Hindu scriptures.[72]The Goddess of Prosperity.[73]In the original the lover is not blamed; this would be the Hindu view of the matter; we might be tempted to think of the old injunction not to seethe a kid in the mother’s milk.[74]In the original a ‘maina’—the Gracula religiosa.[75]As we should say, buried them.[76]A large kind of black bee, common in India.[77]The beautiful wife of the demigod Rama Chandra.[78]The HinduArs Amoris.[79]The old philosophers, believing in a ‘Sat’ (τὸ ὄν), postulated an Asat (τὸ μὴ ὄν) and made the latter the root of the former.[80]In Western India, a place celebrated for suicides.[81]Kama Deva. ‘Out on thee, foul fiend, talk’st thou of nothing but ladies?’[82]The pipal orFicus religiosa, a favourite roosting place for fiends.[83]India.[84]The ancient name of a priest by profession, meaning ‘præpositus’ or præses. He was the friend and counsellor of a chief, the minister of a king, and his companion in peace and war. (M. Müller’sAncient Sanskrit Literature, p. 485.)[85]Lakshmi, the Goddess of Prosperity. Raj-Lakshmi would mean the King’s Fortune, which we should call tutelary genius. Lakshichara is our ‘luckless,’ forming, as Mr. Ward says, an extraordinary coincidence of sound and meaning in languages so different. But the derivations are very distinct.[86]The Monkey God.[87]Generally written ‘Banyan.’[88]The daughter of Raja Janaka, married to Ramachandra. The latter placed his wife under the charge of his brother Lakshmana, and went into the forest to worship, when the demon Ravana disguised himself as a beggar, and carried off the prize.[89]This great king was tricked by the god Vishnu out of the sway of heaven and earth, but from his exceeding piety he was appointed to reign in Patala, or Hades.[90]The procession is fair game, and is often attacked in the dark with sticks and stones, causing serious disputes. At the supper the guests confer the obligation by their presence, and are exceedingly exacting.[91]Rati is the wife of Kama, the God of Desire; and we explain the word by ‘Spring personified.’[92]The Indian Cuckoo (Cuculus Indicus). It is supposed to lay its eggs in the nest of the crow.[93]This is the well-known Ghi or Ghee, the one sauce of India, which is as badly off in that matter as England.[94]The European reader will observe that it is her purity which carries the heroine through all these perils. Moreover, that her virtue is its own reward, as it loses to her the world.[95]Literally, ‘one of all tastes’—a wild or gay man, we should say.[96]These shoes are generally made of rags and bits of leather; they have often toes behind the foot, with other similar contrivances, yet they scarcely ever deceive an experienced man.[97]The high-toper is a swell thief, the other is a low dog.[98]Engaged in shoplifting.[99]The moon.[100]The judge.[101]To be lagged is to be taken; scragging is hanging.[102]The tongue.[103]This is the god Kartikeya, a mixture of Mars and Mercury, who revealed to a certain Yugacharya the scriptures known as ‘Chauriya-Vidya’—Anglice, ‘Thieves’ Manual.’ The classical robbers of the Hindu drama always perform according to its precepts. There is another work respected by thieves, and called the ‘Chora-Pancha-shika,’ because consisting of fifty lines.[104]Supposed to be a good omen.[105]Share the booty.[106]Bhawani is one of the many forms of the destroying goddess, the wife of Shiva.[107]Wretches who kill with the narcotic seed of the stramonium.[108]Better known as ‘Thugs,’ which in India means simply ‘rascals.’[109]Crucifixion, until late years, was common amongst the Buddhists of the Burmese empire. According to an eye-witness, Mr. F. Carey, the punishment was inflicted in two ways. Sometimes criminals were crucified by their hands and feet being nailed to a scaffold; others were merely tied up, and fed. In these cases the legs and feet of the patient begin to swell and mortify at the expiration of three or four days; men are said to have lived in this state for a fortnight, and at last they expired from fatigue and mortification. The sufferings from cramp also must be very severe. In India generally impalement was more common than crucifixion.[110]Our Suttee. There is an admirable Hindu proverb, which says, ‘No one knows the ways of woman; she kills her husband and becomes a Sati.’[111]Fate and Destiny are rather Moslem than Hindu fancies.[112]Properly speaking, the husbandman should plough with not less than four bullocks; but few can afford this. If he plough with a cow or a bullock, and not with a bull, the rice produced by his ground is unclean, and may not be used in any religious ceremony.[113]A shout of triumph, like our ‘Huzza’ or ‘Hurrah!’ of late degraded into ‘Hooray.’ ‘Hari bol’ is of course religious, meaning ‘Call upon Hari!’ i.e. Krishna, i.e. Vishnu.[114]This form of suicide is one of those recognised in India. So in Europe we read of fanatics who, with a suicidal ingenuity, have succeeded in crucifying themselves.[115]The river of Jaganath in Orissa; it shares the honours of sanctity with some twenty-nine others, and in the lower regions it represents the classical Styx.[116]Cupid. His wife Rati is the spring personified. The Hindu poets always unite love and spring, and perhaps physiologically they are correct.[117]An incarnation of the third person of the Hindu Triad, or Triumvirate, Shiva the God of Destruction, the Indian Bacchus. The image has five faces, and each face has three eyes. In Bengal it is found in many villages, and the women warn their children not to touch it on pain of being killed.[118]A village Brahman on stated occasions receives fees from all the villagers.[119]The land of Greece.[120]Savans, professors. So in the old saying, ‘Hanta, Pandit Sansara.’—Alas! the world is learned! This a little antedates the well-known schoolmaster.[121]Children are commonly sent to school at the age of five. Girls are not taught to read, under the common idea that they will become widows if they do.[122]Meaning the place of reading the four Shastras.[123]A certain goddess who plays tricks with mankind. If a son when grown up act differently from what his parents did, people say that he has been changed in the womb.[124]Shani is the planet Saturn, which has an exceedingly baleful influence in India as elsewhere.[125]The Eleatic or Materialistic school of Hindu philosophy, which agrees to explode an intelligent separate First Cause.[126]The writings of this school give an excellent view of the ‘progressive system,’ which has popularly been asserted to be a modern idea. But Hindu philosophy seems to have exhausted every fancy that can spring from the brain of man.[127]Tama is the natural state of matter, Raja is passion acting upon nature, and Satwa is excellence. These are the three gunas or qualities of matter.[128]Spiritual preceptors and learned men.[129]Under certain limitations, gambling is allowed by Hindu law, and the winner has power over the person and property of the loser. No ‘debts of honour’ in Hindostan![130]Quotations from standard works on Hindu criminal law, which in some points at least is almost as absurd as our civilised codes.[131]Hindus carry their money tied up in a kind of sheet, which is wound round the waist and thrown over the shoulder.[132]A thieves’ manual in the Sanskrit tongue; it aspires to the dignity of a ‘Scripture.’[133]All sounds, say the Hindus, are of similar origin, and they do not die; if they did, they could not be remembered.[134]Gold pieces.[135]These are the qualifications specified by Hindu classical authorities as necessary to make a distinguished thief.[136]Every Hindu is in a manner born to a certain line of life, virtuous or vicious, honest or dishonest; and his Dharma, or religious duty, consists in conforming to the practice and the worship of his profession. The ‘Thug,’ for instance, worships Bhawani, who enables him to murder successfully; and his remorse would arise from neglecting to murder.[137]Hindu law sensibly punishes, in theory at least, for the same offence the priest more severely than the layman—a hint for him to practise what he preaches.[138]The Hindu Mercury, god of rascals.[139]A penal offence in India. How is it that we English have omitted to codify it? The laws of Manu also punish severely all disdainful expressions, such as ‘tush’ or ‘pish,’ addressed during argument to a priest.[140]Stanzas, generally speaking on serious subjects.[141]Whitlows on the nails show that the sufferer, in the last life, stole gold from a Brahman.[142]A low caste Hindu, who catches and exhibits snakes and performs other such mean offices.[143]Meaning in spite of themselves.[144]When the moon is in a certain lunar mansion, at the conclusion of the wet season.[145]In Hindostan, it is the prevailing wind of the hot weather.[146]Vishnu, as a dwarf, sank down into and secured in the lower regions the Raja Bali, who by his piety and prayerfulness was subverting the reign of the lesser gods; as Ramachandra he built a bridge between Lanka (Ceylon) and the main land; and as Krishna he defended, by holding up a hill as an umbrella for them, his friends the shepherds and shepherdesses from the thunders of Indra, whose worship they had neglected.[147]The priestly caste sprang, as has been said, from the noblest part of the Demiurgus; the three others from lower members.[148]A chew of betel leaf and spices is offered by the master of the house when dismissing a visitor.[149]Respectable Hindus say that receiving a fee for a daughter is like selling flesh.[150]A modern custom amongst the low caste is for the bride and bridegroom, in the presence of friends, to place a flower garland on each others necks, and thus declare themselves man and wife. The old classical Gandharva-lagan has been before explained.[151]Meaning that the sight of each other will cause a smile, and that what one purposes the other will consent to.[152]This would be the verdict of a Hindu jury.[153]Because stained with the powder of Mhendi, or theLawsonia inermisshrub.[154]Kansa’s son; so called because the god Shiva, when struck by his shafts, destroyed him with a fiery glance.[155]‘Great Brahman;’ used contemptuously to priests who officiate for servile men. Brahmans lose their honour by the following things: By becoming servants to the king; by pursuing any secular business; by acting priests to Shudras (serviles); by officiating as priests for a whole village; and by neglecting any part of the three daily services. Many violate these rules; yet to kill a Brahman is still one of the five great Hindu sins. In the present age of the world, the Brahman may not accept a gift of cows or of gold; of course he despises the law. As regards monkey worship, a certain Rajah of Nadiya is said to have expended 10,000l.in marrying two monkeys with all the parade and splendour of the Hindu rite.[156]The celebrated Gayatri, the Moslem Kalmah.[157]Kama again.[158]From ‘Man,’ to think; primarily meaning, what makes man think.[159]The Cirrhadæ of classical writers.[160]The Hindu Pluto; also called the Just King.[161]Yama judges the dead, whose souls go to him in four hours and forty minutes; therefore a corpse cannot be burned till after that time. His residence is Yamalaya, and it is on the south side of the earth; down South, as we say. (I Sam. xxv. 1, and xxx. 15.) The Hebrews, like the Hindus, held the northern parts of the world to be higher than the southern. Hindus often joke a man who is seen walking in that direction, and ask him where he is going.[162]The ‘Ganges,’ in heaven called Mandakini. I have no idea why we still adhere to our venerable corruption of the word.[163]The fabulous mountain supposed by Hindu geographers to occupy the centre of the universe.[164]The all-bestowing tree in Indra’s Paradise, which grants everything asked of it. It is the Tuba of El Islam, and is not unknown to the Apocryphal New Testament.[165]‘Vikramaditya, Lord of the Saka.’ This isprévoyanceon the part of the Vampire; the king had not acquired the title.[166]On the sixth day after the child’s birth, the god Vidhata writes all its fate upon its forehead. The Moslems have a similar idea, and probably it passed to the Hindus.[167]Goddess of eloquence. ‘The waters of the Saraswati’ is the classical Hindu phrase for the mirage.[168]This story is perhaps the least interesting in the collection. I have translated it literally, in order to give an idea of the original. The reader will remark in it the source of our own nursery tale about the princess who was so high born and delicately bred, that she could discover the three peas laid beneath a straw mattress and four feather beds. The Hindus, however, believe that Sybaritism can be carried so far; I remember my Pandit asserting the truth of the story.[169]A minister. The word, as is the case with many in this collection, is quite modern Moslem, and anachronistic.[170]The cow is called the mother of the gods, and is declared by Bramha, the first person of the triad, Vishnu and Shiva being the second and the third, to be a proper object of worship. ‘If a European speak to the Hindu about eating the flesh of cows,’ says an old missionary, ‘they immediately raise their hands to their ears; yet milkmen, carmen, and farmers beat the cow as unmercifully as a carrier of coals beats his ass in England.’The Jains or Jainas (from ji, to conquer; as subduing the passions) are one of the atheistical sects with whom the Brahmans have of old carried on the fiercest religious controversies, ending in many a sanguinary fight. Their tenets are consequently exaggerated and ridiculed, as in the text. They believe that there is no such God as the common notions on the subject point out, and they hold that the highest act of virtue is to abstain from injuring sentient creatures. Man does not possess an immortal spirit: death is the same to Bramha and to a fly. Therefore there is no heaven or hell separate from present pleasure or pain. Hindu Epicureans:—‘Epicuri de grege porci.’[171]Narak is one of the multitudinous places of Hindu punishment, said to adjoin the residence of Ajarna. The less cultivated Jains believe in a region of torment. The illuminati, however, have a sovereign contempt for the Creator, for a future state, and for all religious ceremonies. As Hindus, however, they believe in future births of mankind, somewhat influenced by present actions. The ‘next birth’ in the mouth of a Hindu, we are told, is the same as ‘to-morrow’ in the mouth of a Christian. The metempsychosis is on an extensive scale: according to some, a person who loses human birth must pass through eight millions of successive incarnations—fish, insects, worms, birds, and beasts—before he can reappear as a man.[172]Jogi, or Yogi, properly applies to followers of the Yoga or Patanjala school, who by ascetic practices acquire power over the elements. Vulgarly, it is a general term for mountebank vagrants, worshippers of Shiva. The Janganis adore the same deity, and carry about a Linga. The Sevras are Jain beggars, who regard their chiefs as superior to the gods of other sects. The Sannyasis are mendicant followers of Shiva; they never touch metals or fire, and, in religious parlance, they take up the staff. They are opposed to the Viragis, worshippers of Vishnu, who contend as strongly against the worshippers of gods who receive bloody offerings, as a Christian could do against idolatry.[173]The Brahman, or priest, is supposed to proceed from the mouth of Bramha, the creating person of the Triad; the Khshatriyas (soldiers) from his arms; the Vaishyas (enterers into business) from his thighs; and the Shudras, ‘who take refuge in the Brahmans,’ from his feet. Only high caste men should assume the thread at the age of puberty.[174]Soma, the moon, I have said, is masculine in India.[175]Pluto.[176]Nothing astonishes Hindus so much as the apparent want of affection between the European parent and child.[177]A third marriage is held improper and baneful to a Hindu woman. Hence, before the nuptials they betroth the man to a tree, upon which the evil expends itself, and the tree dies.[178]Kama.[179]An oath, meaning, ‘From such a falsehood preserve me, Ganges!’[180]The Indian Neptune.[181]A highly insulting form of adjuration.[182]The British Islands—according to Wilford.[183]Literally the science (veda) of the bow (dhanush). This weapon, as everything amongst the Hindus, had a divine origin; it was of three kinds—the common bow, the pellet or stone bow, and the crossbow or catapult.[184]It is a disputed point whether the ancient Hindus did or did not know the use of gunpowder.[185]It is said to have discharged balls, each 6,400 pounds in weight.[186]A kind of Mercury, a god with the head and wings of a bird, who is the Vahan or vehicle of the second person of the Triad, Vishnu.[187]The celebrated burning springs of Baku, near the Caspian, are so called. There are many other ‘fire mouths.’[188]The Hindu Styx.[189]From Yaksha, to eat; as Rakshasas are from Raksha to preserve. See Hardy’sManual of Buddhism, p. 57.[190]Shiva is always painted white, no one knows why. His wife Gauri has also a European complexion. Hence it is generally said that the sect popularly called ‘Thugs,’ who were worshippers of these murderous gods, spared Englishmen, the latter being supposed to have somerapportwith their deities.[191]The Hindu shrine is mostly a small building, with two inner compartments, the vestibule and the Garbagriha, or adytum, in which stands the image.[192]Meaning Kali of the cemetery (Smashana); another form of Durga.[193]Not being able to find victims, this pleasant deity, to satisfy her thirst for the curious juice, cut her own throat that the blood might spout up into her mouth. She once found herself dancing on her husband, and was so shocked that in surprise she put out her tongue to a great length, and remained motionless. She is often represented in this form.[194]This ashtanga, the most ceremonious of the five forms of Hindu salutation, consists of prostrating and of making the eight parts of the body—namely, the temples, nose and chin, knees and hands—touch the ground.[195]‘Sidhis,’ the personified Powers of Nature. At least, so we explain them; but people do not worship abstract powers.[196]The residence of Indra, king of heaven, built by Wishwa-Karma, the architect of the gods.[197]In other words, to the present day, whenever a Hindu novelist, romancer, or tale writer seeks a peg upon which to suspend the texture of his story, he invariably pitches upon the glorious, pious, and immortal memory of that Eastern King Arthur, Vikramaditya, shortly called Vikram.

[1]Metamorphoseon, seu de Asino Aureo, libri XI.The well known and beautiful episode is in the fourth, the fifth, and the sixth books.

[2]This ceremony will be explained in a future page.

[3]A common exclamation of sorrow, surprise, fear, and other emotions. It is especially used by women.

[4]Quoted fromView of the Hindoos, by William Ward, of Serampore (vol. i. p. 25).

[5]In Sanskrit,Vétála-pancha-Vinshatí. ‘Baital’ is the modern form of ‘Vétála.’

[6]In Arabic,Bidpai el Hakim.

[7]Dictionnaire philosophique, sub v. ‘Apocryphes.’

[8]I do not mean that rhymes were not known before the days of El Islam, but that the Arabs popularised assonance and consonance in Southern Europe.

[9]‘Vikrama’ means ‘valour’ or ‘prowess.’

[10]Mr. Ward of Serampore is unable to quote the names of more than nine out of the eighteen, namely: Sanskrit, Prakrit, Naga, Paisacha, Gandharba, Rakshasa, Ardhamágadi, Apa, and Guhyaka—most of them being the languages of different orders of fabulous beings. He tells us, however, that an account of these dialects may be found in the work calledPingala.

[11]Translated by Sir Wm. Jones, 1789; and by Professor Williams, 1856.

[12]Translated by Professor H. H. Wilson.

[13]The time was propitious to savans. Whilst Vikramaditya lived, Mágha, another king, caused to be written a poem called after his name. For each verse he is said to have paid to learned men a gold piece, which amounted to a total of 5,280l.—a large sum in those days, which preceded those ofParadise Lost. About the same period, Karnáta, a third king, was famed for patronising the learned men who rose to honour at Vikram’s court. Dhavaka, a poet of nearly the same period, received from King Shriharsha the magnificent present of 10,000l.for a poem called theRatna-Malá.

[14]Lieut. Wilford supports the theory that there were eight Vikramadityas, the last of whom established the era. For further particulars, the curious reader will consult Lassen’sAnthologia, and Professor H. H. Wilson’sEssay on Vikram, (New) As. Res. ix. 117.

[15]History tells us another tale. The god Indra and the King of Dhara gave the kingdom to Bhartari-hari, another son of Gandharba-Sena, by a handmaiden. For some time, the brothers lived together; but presently they quarrelled. Vikram being dismissed from court, wandered from place to place in abject poverty, and at one time hired himself as a servant to a merchant living in Guzerat. At length, Bhartari-hari, disgusted with the world on account of the infidelity of his wife, to whom he was ardently attached, became a religious devotee, and left the kingdom to its fate. In the course of his travels, Vikram came to Ujjayani, and finding it without a head, assumed the sovereignty. He reigned with great splendour, conquering by his arms Utkala, Vanga, Kuch-behar, Guzerat, Somnat, Delhi, and other places; until, in his turn, he was conquered and slain by Shalivaban.

[16]The words are found, says Mr. Ward, in theHindu Historycompiled by Mrityungaya.

[17]These duties of kings are thus laid down in theRajtarangini. It is evident, as Professor H. H. Wilson says, that the royal status was by no means a sinecure. But the rules are evidently the closet work of some pedantic, dogmatic Brahman, teaching kingcraft to kings. He directs his instructions, not to subordinate judges, but to the Raja as the chief magistrate, and through him to all appointed for the administration of his justice.

[18]Lunus, not Luna.

[19]That is to say, ‘upon an empty stomach.’

[20]There are three sandhyas amongst the Hindus—morning, midday, and sunset; and all three are times for prayer.

[21]The Hindu Cupid.

[22]Patala, the regions beneath the earth.

[23]The Hindu Triad.

[24]Or Avanti, also called Padmavati. It is the first meridian of the Hindus, who found their longitude by observation of lunar eclipses, calculated for it and Lanka, or Ceylon. The clepsydra was used for taking time.

[25]In the original only the husband ‘practised austere devotion.’ For the benefit of those amongst whom the ‘pious wife’ is an institution, I have extended the privilege.

[26]A Moslem would say, ‘This is our fate.’ A Hindu refers at once to metempsychosis, as naturally as a modern Swedenborgian to spiritism.

[27]In Europe, money buys this world, and delivers you from the pains of purgatory; amongst the Hindus, it furthermore opens the gate of heaven.

[28]This part of the introduction will remind the reader of the two royal brothers and their false wives in the introduction to theArabian Nights. The fate of Bhartari Raja, however, is historical.

[29]In the original, ‘Div’—a supernatural being, god, or demon. This part of the plot is variously told. According to some, Raja Vikram was surprised, when entering the city, to see a grand procession at the house of a potter, and a boy being carried off on an elephant, to the violent grief of his parents. The king inquired the reason of their sorrow, and was told that the wicked Div that guarded the city was in the habit of eating a citizen per diem. Whereupon the valorous Raja caused the boy to dismount; took his place; entered the palace; and, when presented as food for the demon, displayed his pugilistic powers in a way to excite the monster’s admiration.

[30]In India, there is still a monastic order the pleasant duty of whose members is to enjoy themselves as much as possible. It has been much the same in Europe. ‘Représentez-vous le couvent de l’Escurial ou du Mont Cassin, où les cénobites ont toutes sortes de commodités, nécessaires, utiles, délectables, superflues, surabondantes, puisqu’ils ont les cent cinquante mille, les quatre cent mille, les cinq cent mille écus de rente; et jugez si monsieur l’abbé a de quoi laisser dormir la méridienne à ceux qui voudront.’—Saint Augustin, de l’Ouvrage des Moines, by Le Camus, Bishop of Belley, quoted by Voltaire,Dict. phil., sub v. ‘Apocalypse.’

[31]This form of matrimony was recognised by the ancient Hindus, and is frequent in books. It is a kind of Scotch wedding—ultra-Caledonian—taking place by mutual consent, without any form or ceremony. The Gandharbas are heavenly minstrels of Indra’s court, who are supposed to be witnesses.

[32]The Hindu Saturnalia.

[33]The powders are of wheaten flour, mixed with wild-ginger root, sappan-wood, and other ingredients. Sometimes the stuff is thrown in syringes.

[34]The Persian proverb is—‘Bala e tavilah bar sar i maimun:’ ‘The woes of the stable be on the monkey’s head!’ In some Moslem countries a hog acts prophylactic. Hence probably Mungo Park’s troublesome pig at Ludamar.

[35]So the moribund father of the ‘babes in the wood’ lectures his wicked brother, their guardian:‘To God and you I recommendMy children deare this day:But little while, be sure, we haveWithin this world to stay.’But to appeal to the moral sense of a goldsmith!

[35]So the moribund father of the ‘babes in the wood’ lectures his wicked brother, their guardian:

‘To God and you I recommendMy children deare this day:But little while, be sure, we haveWithin this world to stay.’

‘To God and you I recommend

My children deare this day:

But little while, be sure, we have

Within this world to stay.’

But to appeal to the moral sense of a goldsmith!

[36]Maha (great) raja (king): common address even to those who are not royal.

[37]The name means, ‘Quietistic Disposition.’

[38]August. In the solar-lunar year of the Hindu the months are divided into fortnights—light and dark.

[39]A flower, whose name frequently occurs in Sanskrit poetry.

[40]The stars being men’s souls raised to the sky for a time proportioned to their virtuous deeds on earth.

[41]A measure of length, each two miles.

[42]The warm region below.

[43]Hindus admire only glossy black hair; the ‘bonny brown hair’ loved by our ballads is assigned by them to low-caste men, witches, and fiends.

[44]A large kind of bat; a popular and silly Anglo-Indian name. It almost justified the irate Scotchman in calling ‘prodigious lecars’ those who told him in India that foxes flew and trees were tapped for toddy.

[45]The Hindus, like the European classics and other ancient peoples, reckon four ages:—The Satya Yug, or Golden Age, numbered 1,728,000 years; the second, or Treta Yug, comprised 1,296,000; the Dwapar Yug had 864,000; and the present, the Kali Yug, has shrunk to 832,000 years.

[46]Especially alluding to prayer. On this point, Southey justly remarks (Preface toCurse of Kehama): ‘In the religion of the Hindoos there is one remarkable peculiarity. Prayers, penances, and sacrifices are supposed to possess an inherent and actual value, in one degree depending upon the disposition or motive of the person who performs them. They are drafts upon heaven for which the gods cannot refuse payment. The worst men, bent upon the worst designs, have in this manner obtained power which has made them formidable to the supreme deities themselves.’ Moreover, the Hindoo gods hear the prayers of those who desire the evil of others. Hence when a rich man becomes poor, his friends say, ‘See how sharp are men’s teeth!’ and, ‘He is ruined because others could not bear to see his happiness!’

[47]A pond, natural or artificial; in the latter case often covering an extent of ten to twelve acres.

[48]The Hindustani ‘gilahri,’ or little grey squirrel, whose twittering cry is often mistaken for a bird’s.

[49]The autumn or rather the rainy season personified—a hackneyed Hindu prosopopœia.

[50]Light conversation upon the subject of women is a personal offence to serious-minded Hindus.

[51]Cupid in his two forms, Eros and Anteros.

[52]This is true to life; in the East, women make the first advances, and men do thebégueules.

[53]Raja-hans, a large grey goose, the Hindu equivalent for our swan.

[54]Properly Karnatak; karna in Sanskrit means an ear.

[55]Danta in Sanskrit is a tooth.

[56]Padma means a foot.

[57]A common Hindu phrase equivalent to our ‘I manage to get on.’

[58]Meaning marriage, maternity, and so forth.

[59]Yama is Pluto; ‘mother of Yama’ is generally applied to an old scold.

[60]Snake-land; the infernal region.

[61]A form of abuse given to Durga, who was the mother of Ganesha (Janus); the latter had an elephant’s head.

[62]Unexpected pleasure, according to the Hindus, gives a bristly elevation to the down of the body.

[63]The Hindus banish ‘flasks,’ et hoc genus omne, from these scenes, and perhaps they are right.

[64]The Pankha, or large common fan, is a leaf of the Corypha umbraculifera, with the petiole cut to the length of about five feet, pared round the edges and painted to look pretty. It is waved by the servant standing behind a chair.

[65]The fabulous mass of precious stones forming the sacred mountain of Hindu mythology.

[66]‘I love my love with an “S,” because he is stupid and not psychological.’

[67]Hindu mythology has also its Cerberus, Trisisa, the ‘three-headed’ hound that attends dreadful Yama (Pluto).

[68]Parceque c’est la saison des amours.

[69]The police magistrate, the Catual of Camoens.

[70]The seat of a Hindu ascetic.

[71]The Hindu scriptures.

[72]The Goddess of Prosperity.

[73]In the original the lover is not blamed; this would be the Hindu view of the matter; we might be tempted to think of the old injunction not to seethe a kid in the mother’s milk.

[74]In the original a ‘maina’—the Gracula religiosa.

[75]As we should say, buried them.

[76]A large kind of black bee, common in India.

[77]The beautiful wife of the demigod Rama Chandra.

[78]The HinduArs Amoris.

[79]The old philosophers, believing in a ‘Sat’ (τὸ ὄν), postulated an Asat (τὸ μὴ ὄν) and made the latter the root of the former.

[80]In Western India, a place celebrated for suicides.

[81]Kama Deva. ‘Out on thee, foul fiend, talk’st thou of nothing but ladies?’

[82]The pipal orFicus religiosa, a favourite roosting place for fiends.

[83]India.

[84]The ancient name of a priest by profession, meaning ‘præpositus’ or præses. He was the friend and counsellor of a chief, the minister of a king, and his companion in peace and war. (M. Müller’sAncient Sanskrit Literature, p. 485.)

[85]Lakshmi, the Goddess of Prosperity. Raj-Lakshmi would mean the King’s Fortune, which we should call tutelary genius. Lakshichara is our ‘luckless,’ forming, as Mr. Ward says, an extraordinary coincidence of sound and meaning in languages so different. But the derivations are very distinct.

[86]The Monkey God.

[87]Generally written ‘Banyan.’

[88]The daughter of Raja Janaka, married to Ramachandra. The latter placed his wife under the charge of his brother Lakshmana, and went into the forest to worship, when the demon Ravana disguised himself as a beggar, and carried off the prize.

[89]This great king was tricked by the god Vishnu out of the sway of heaven and earth, but from his exceeding piety he was appointed to reign in Patala, or Hades.

[90]The procession is fair game, and is often attacked in the dark with sticks and stones, causing serious disputes. At the supper the guests confer the obligation by their presence, and are exceedingly exacting.

[91]Rati is the wife of Kama, the God of Desire; and we explain the word by ‘Spring personified.’

[92]The Indian Cuckoo (Cuculus Indicus). It is supposed to lay its eggs in the nest of the crow.

[93]This is the well-known Ghi or Ghee, the one sauce of India, which is as badly off in that matter as England.

[94]The European reader will observe that it is her purity which carries the heroine through all these perils. Moreover, that her virtue is its own reward, as it loses to her the world.

[95]Literally, ‘one of all tastes’—a wild or gay man, we should say.

[96]These shoes are generally made of rags and bits of leather; they have often toes behind the foot, with other similar contrivances, yet they scarcely ever deceive an experienced man.

[97]The high-toper is a swell thief, the other is a low dog.

[98]Engaged in shoplifting.

[99]The moon.

[100]The judge.

[101]To be lagged is to be taken; scragging is hanging.

[102]The tongue.

[103]This is the god Kartikeya, a mixture of Mars and Mercury, who revealed to a certain Yugacharya the scriptures known as ‘Chauriya-Vidya’—Anglice, ‘Thieves’ Manual.’ The classical robbers of the Hindu drama always perform according to its precepts. There is another work respected by thieves, and called the ‘Chora-Pancha-shika,’ because consisting of fifty lines.

[104]Supposed to be a good omen.

[105]Share the booty.

[106]Bhawani is one of the many forms of the destroying goddess, the wife of Shiva.

[107]Wretches who kill with the narcotic seed of the stramonium.

[108]Better known as ‘Thugs,’ which in India means simply ‘rascals.’

[109]Crucifixion, until late years, was common amongst the Buddhists of the Burmese empire. According to an eye-witness, Mr. F. Carey, the punishment was inflicted in two ways. Sometimes criminals were crucified by their hands and feet being nailed to a scaffold; others were merely tied up, and fed. In these cases the legs and feet of the patient begin to swell and mortify at the expiration of three or four days; men are said to have lived in this state for a fortnight, and at last they expired from fatigue and mortification. The sufferings from cramp also must be very severe. In India generally impalement was more common than crucifixion.

[110]Our Suttee. There is an admirable Hindu proverb, which says, ‘No one knows the ways of woman; she kills her husband and becomes a Sati.’

[111]Fate and Destiny are rather Moslem than Hindu fancies.

[112]Properly speaking, the husbandman should plough with not less than four bullocks; but few can afford this. If he plough with a cow or a bullock, and not with a bull, the rice produced by his ground is unclean, and may not be used in any religious ceremony.

[113]A shout of triumph, like our ‘Huzza’ or ‘Hurrah!’ of late degraded into ‘Hooray.’ ‘Hari bol’ is of course religious, meaning ‘Call upon Hari!’ i.e. Krishna, i.e. Vishnu.

[114]This form of suicide is one of those recognised in India. So in Europe we read of fanatics who, with a suicidal ingenuity, have succeeded in crucifying themselves.

[115]The river of Jaganath in Orissa; it shares the honours of sanctity with some twenty-nine others, and in the lower regions it represents the classical Styx.

[116]Cupid. His wife Rati is the spring personified. The Hindu poets always unite love and spring, and perhaps physiologically they are correct.

[117]An incarnation of the third person of the Hindu Triad, or Triumvirate, Shiva the God of Destruction, the Indian Bacchus. The image has five faces, and each face has three eyes. In Bengal it is found in many villages, and the women warn their children not to touch it on pain of being killed.

[118]A village Brahman on stated occasions receives fees from all the villagers.

[119]The land of Greece.

[120]Savans, professors. So in the old saying, ‘Hanta, Pandit Sansara.’—Alas! the world is learned! This a little antedates the well-known schoolmaster.

[121]Children are commonly sent to school at the age of five. Girls are not taught to read, under the common idea that they will become widows if they do.

[122]Meaning the place of reading the four Shastras.

[123]A certain goddess who plays tricks with mankind. If a son when grown up act differently from what his parents did, people say that he has been changed in the womb.

[124]Shani is the planet Saturn, which has an exceedingly baleful influence in India as elsewhere.

[125]The Eleatic or Materialistic school of Hindu philosophy, which agrees to explode an intelligent separate First Cause.

[126]The writings of this school give an excellent view of the ‘progressive system,’ which has popularly been asserted to be a modern idea. But Hindu philosophy seems to have exhausted every fancy that can spring from the brain of man.

[127]Tama is the natural state of matter, Raja is passion acting upon nature, and Satwa is excellence. These are the three gunas or qualities of matter.

[128]Spiritual preceptors and learned men.

[129]Under certain limitations, gambling is allowed by Hindu law, and the winner has power over the person and property of the loser. No ‘debts of honour’ in Hindostan!

[130]Quotations from standard works on Hindu criminal law, which in some points at least is almost as absurd as our civilised codes.

[131]Hindus carry their money tied up in a kind of sheet, which is wound round the waist and thrown over the shoulder.

[132]A thieves’ manual in the Sanskrit tongue; it aspires to the dignity of a ‘Scripture.’

[133]All sounds, say the Hindus, are of similar origin, and they do not die; if they did, they could not be remembered.

[134]Gold pieces.

[135]These are the qualifications specified by Hindu classical authorities as necessary to make a distinguished thief.

[136]Every Hindu is in a manner born to a certain line of life, virtuous or vicious, honest or dishonest; and his Dharma, or religious duty, consists in conforming to the practice and the worship of his profession. The ‘Thug,’ for instance, worships Bhawani, who enables him to murder successfully; and his remorse would arise from neglecting to murder.

[137]Hindu law sensibly punishes, in theory at least, for the same offence the priest more severely than the layman—a hint for him to practise what he preaches.

[138]The Hindu Mercury, god of rascals.

[139]A penal offence in India. How is it that we English have omitted to codify it? The laws of Manu also punish severely all disdainful expressions, such as ‘tush’ or ‘pish,’ addressed during argument to a priest.

[140]Stanzas, generally speaking on serious subjects.

[141]Whitlows on the nails show that the sufferer, in the last life, stole gold from a Brahman.

[142]A low caste Hindu, who catches and exhibits snakes and performs other such mean offices.

[143]Meaning in spite of themselves.

[144]When the moon is in a certain lunar mansion, at the conclusion of the wet season.

[145]In Hindostan, it is the prevailing wind of the hot weather.

[146]Vishnu, as a dwarf, sank down into and secured in the lower regions the Raja Bali, who by his piety and prayerfulness was subverting the reign of the lesser gods; as Ramachandra he built a bridge between Lanka (Ceylon) and the main land; and as Krishna he defended, by holding up a hill as an umbrella for them, his friends the shepherds and shepherdesses from the thunders of Indra, whose worship they had neglected.

[147]The priestly caste sprang, as has been said, from the noblest part of the Demiurgus; the three others from lower members.

[148]A chew of betel leaf and spices is offered by the master of the house when dismissing a visitor.

[149]Respectable Hindus say that receiving a fee for a daughter is like selling flesh.

[150]A modern custom amongst the low caste is for the bride and bridegroom, in the presence of friends, to place a flower garland on each others necks, and thus declare themselves man and wife. The old classical Gandharva-lagan has been before explained.

[151]Meaning that the sight of each other will cause a smile, and that what one purposes the other will consent to.

[152]This would be the verdict of a Hindu jury.

[153]Because stained with the powder of Mhendi, or theLawsonia inermisshrub.

[154]Kansa’s son; so called because the god Shiva, when struck by his shafts, destroyed him with a fiery glance.

[155]‘Great Brahman;’ used contemptuously to priests who officiate for servile men. Brahmans lose their honour by the following things: By becoming servants to the king; by pursuing any secular business; by acting priests to Shudras (serviles); by officiating as priests for a whole village; and by neglecting any part of the three daily services. Many violate these rules; yet to kill a Brahman is still one of the five great Hindu sins. In the present age of the world, the Brahman may not accept a gift of cows or of gold; of course he despises the law. As regards monkey worship, a certain Rajah of Nadiya is said to have expended 10,000l.in marrying two monkeys with all the parade and splendour of the Hindu rite.

[156]The celebrated Gayatri, the Moslem Kalmah.

[157]Kama again.

[158]From ‘Man,’ to think; primarily meaning, what makes man think.

[159]The Cirrhadæ of classical writers.

[160]The Hindu Pluto; also called the Just King.

[161]Yama judges the dead, whose souls go to him in four hours and forty minutes; therefore a corpse cannot be burned till after that time. His residence is Yamalaya, and it is on the south side of the earth; down South, as we say. (I Sam. xxv. 1, and xxx. 15.) The Hebrews, like the Hindus, held the northern parts of the world to be higher than the southern. Hindus often joke a man who is seen walking in that direction, and ask him where he is going.

[162]The ‘Ganges,’ in heaven called Mandakini. I have no idea why we still adhere to our venerable corruption of the word.

[163]The fabulous mountain supposed by Hindu geographers to occupy the centre of the universe.

[164]The all-bestowing tree in Indra’s Paradise, which grants everything asked of it. It is the Tuba of El Islam, and is not unknown to the Apocryphal New Testament.

[165]‘Vikramaditya, Lord of the Saka.’ This isprévoyanceon the part of the Vampire; the king had not acquired the title.

[166]On the sixth day after the child’s birth, the god Vidhata writes all its fate upon its forehead. The Moslems have a similar idea, and probably it passed to the Hindus.

[167]Goddess of eloquence. ‘The waters of the Saraswati’ is the classical Hindu phrase for the mirage.

[168]This story is perhaps the least interesting in the collection. I have translated it literally, in order to give an idea of the original. The reader will remark in it the source of our own nursery tale about the princess who was so high born and delicately bred, that she could discover the three peas laid beneath a straw mattress and four feather beds. The Hindus, however, believe that Sybaritism can be carried so far; I remember my Pandit asserting the truth of the story.

[169]A minister. The word, as is the case with many in this collection, is quite modern Moslem, and anachronistic.

[170]The cow is called the mother of the gods, and is declared by Bramha, the first person of the triad, Vishnu and Shiva being the second and the third, to be a proper object of worship. ‘If a European speak to the Hindu about eating the flesh of cows,’ says an old missionary, ‘they immediately raise their hands to their ears; yet milkmen, carmen, and farmers beat the cow as unmercifully as a carrier of coals beats his ass in England.’The Jains or Jainas (from ji, to conquer; as subduing the passions) are one of the atheistical sects with whom the Brahmans have of old carried on the fiercest religious controversies, ending in many a sanguinary fight. Their tenets are consequently exaggerated and ridiculed, as in the text. They believe that there is no such God as the common notions on the subject point out, and they hold that the highest act of virtue is to abstain from injuring sentient creatures. Man does not possess an immortal spirit: death is the same to Bramha and to a fly. Therefore there is no heaven or hell separate from present pleasure or pain. Hindu Epicureans:—‘Epicuri de grege porci.’

The Jains or Jainas (from ji, to conquer; as subduing the passions) are one of the atheistical sects with whom the Brahmans have of old carried on the fiercest religious controversies, ending in many a sanguinary fight. Their tenets are consequently exaggerated and ridiculed, as in the text. They believe that there is no such God as the common notions on the subject point out, and they hold that the highest act of virtue is to abstain from injuring sentient creatures. Man does not possess an immortal spirit: death is the same to Bramha and to a fly. Therefore there is no heaven or hell separate from present pleasure or pain. Hindu Epicureans:—‘Epicuri de grege porci.’

[171]Narak is one of the multitudinous places of Hindu punishment, said to adjoin the residence of Ajarna. The less cultivated Jains believe in a region of torment. The illuminati, however, have a sovereign contempt for the Creator, for a future state, and for all religious ceremonies. As Hindus, however, they believe in future births of mankind, somewhat influenced by present actions. The ‘next birth’ in the mouth of a Hindu, we are told, is the same as ‘to-morrow’ in the mouth of a Christian. The metempsychosis is on an extensive scale: according to some, a person who loses human birth must pass through eight millions of successive incarnations—fish, insects, worms, birds, and beasts—before he can reappear as a man.

[172]Jogi, or Yogi, properly applies to followers of the Yoga or Patanjala school, who by ascetic practices acquire power over the elements. Vulgarly, it is a general term for mountebank vagrants, worshippers of Shiva. The Janganis adore the same deity, and carry about a Linga. The Sevras are Jain beggars, who regard their chiefs as superior to the gods of other sects. The Sannyasis are mendicant followers of Shiva; they never touch metals or fire, and, in religious parlance, they take up the staff. They are opposed to the Viragis, worshippers of Vishnu, who contend as strongly against the worshippers of gods who receive bloody offerings, as a Christian could do against idolatry.

[173]The Brahman, or priest, is supposed to proceed from the mouth of Bramha, the creating person of the Triad; the Khshatriyas (soldiers) from his arms; the Vaishyas (enterers into business) from his thighs; and the Shudras, ‘who take refuge in the Brahmans,’ from his feet. Only high caste men should assume the thread at the age of puberty.

[174]Soma, the moon, I have said, is masculine in India.

[175]Pluto.

[176]Nothing astonishes Hindus so much as the apparent want of affection between the European parent and child.

[177]A third marriage is held improper and baneful to a Hindu woman. Hence, before the nuptials they betroth the man to a tree, upon which the evil expends itself, and the tree dies.

[178]Kama.

[179]An oath, meaning, ‘From such a falsehood preserve me, Ganges!’

[180]The Indian Neptune.

[181]A highly insulting form of adjuration.

[182]The British Islands—according to Wilford.

[183]Literally the science (veda) of the bow (dhanush). This weapon, as everything amongst the Hindus, had a divine origin; it was of three kinds—the common bow, the pellet or stone bow, and the crossbow or catapult.

[184]It is a disputed point whether the ancient Hindus did or did not know the use of gunpowder.

[185]It is said to have discharged balls, each 6,400 pounds in weight.

[186]A kind of Mercury, a god with the head and wings of a bird, who is the Vahan or vehicle of the second person of the Triad, Vishnu.

[187]The celebrated burning springs of Baku, near the Caspian, are so called. There are many other ‘fire mouths.’

[188]The Hindu Styx.

[189]From Yaksha, to eat; as Rakshasas are from Raksha to preserve. See Hardy’sManual of Buddhism, p. 57.

[190]Shiva is always painted white, no one knows why. His wife Gauri has also a European complexion. Hence it is generally said that the sect popularly called ‘Thugs,’ who were worshippers of these murderous gods, spared Englishmen, the latter being supposed to have somerapportwith their deities.

[191]The Hindu shrine is mostly a small building, with two inner compartments, the vestibule and the Garbagriha, or adytum, in which stands the image.

[192]Meaning Kali of the cemetery (Smashana); another form of Durga.

[193]Not being able to find victims, this pleasant deity, to satisfy her thirst for the curious juice, cut her own throat that the blood might spout up into her mouth. She once found herself dancing on her husband, and was so shocked that in surprise she put out her tongue to a great length, and remained motionless. She is often represented in this form.

[194]This ashtanga, the most ceremonious of the five forms of Hindu salutation, consists of prostrating and of making the eight parts of the body—namely, the temples, nose and chin, knees and hands—touch the ground.

[195]‘Sidhis,’ the personified Powers of Nature. At least, so we explain them; but people do not worship abstract powers.

[196]The residence of Indra, king of heaven, built by Wishwa-Karma, the architect of the gods.

[197]In other words, to the present day, whenever a Hindu novelist, romancer, or tale writer seeks a peg upon which to suspend the texture of his story, he invariably pitches upon the glorious, pious, and immortal memory of that Eastern King Arthur, Vikramaditya, shortly called Vikram.

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