Reading section 99

61 This exploit is related in Canto XL.

62 The Sarjú or Ghaghra, anciently called Sarayú, rises in the Himalayas, and after flowing through the province of Oudh, falls into the Ganges.

63 The ruins of the ancient capital of Ráma and the Children of the Sun may still be traced in the present Ajudhyá near Fyzabad. Ajudhyá is the Jerusalem or Mecca of the Hindus.

64 A legislator and saint, the son of Brahmá or a personification of Brahmá himself, the creator of the world, and progenitor of mankind. Derived from the root _man_ to think, the word means originally _man_, the thinker, and is found in this sense in the Rig-veda.

Manu as a legislator is identified with the Cretan Minos, as progenitor of mankind with the German Mannus: “Celebrant carminibus antiquis, quod unum apud illos memoriæ et annalium genus est, Tuisconem deum terra editum, et filium Mannum, originem gentis conditoresque.” TACITUS, _Germania_, Cap. II.

65 The Sál (Shorea Robusta) is a valuable timber tree of considerable height.

66 The city of Indra is called Amarávatí or Home of the Immortals.

67 Schlegel thinks that this refers to the marble of different colours with which the houses were adorned. It seems more natural to understand it as implying the regularity of the streets and houses.

68 The _Śataghní_ _i.e. centicide_, or slayer of a hundred, is generally supposed to be a sort of fire-arms, or the ancient Indian rocket; but it is also described as a stone set round with iron spikes.

69 The Nágas (serpents) are demigods with a human face and serpent body. They inhabit Pátála or the regions under the earth. Bhogavatí is the name of their capital city. Serpents are still worshipped in India. See Fergusson’s _Tree and Serpent Worship_.

70 The fourth and lowest pure caste whose duty was to serve the three first classes.

71 By forbidden marriages between persons of different castes.

72 Váhlí or Váhlíka is Bactriana; its name is preserved in the modern Balkh.

73 The Sanskrit word Sindhu is in the singular the name of the river Indus, in the plural of the people and territories on its banks. The name appears as _Hidku_ in the cuneiform inscription of Darius’ son of Hystaspes, in which the nations tributary to that king are enumerated.

The Hebrew form is _Hodda_ (Esther, I. 1.). In Zend it appears as _Hendu_ in a somewhat wider sense. With the Persians later the signification of _Hind_ seems to have co-extended with their increasing acquaintance with the country. The weak Ionic dialect omitted the Persian _h_, and we find in Hecatæus and Herodotus Ἴνδος and ἡ Ἰνδική. In this form the Romans received the names and transmitted them to us. The Arabian geographers in their ignorance that Hind and Sind are two forms of the same word have made of them two brothers and traced their decent from Noah. See Lassen’s Indische Alterthumskunde Vol. I. pp. 2, 3.

74 The situation of Vanáyu is not exactly determined: it seems to have lain to the north-west of India.

75 Kámboja was probably still further to the north-west. Lassen thinks that the name is etymologically connected with _Cambyses_ which in the cuneiform inscription of Behistun is written Ka(m)bujia.

76 The elephants of Indra and other deities who preside over the four points of the compass.

77 “There are four kinds of elephants. 1 _Bhaddar_. It is well proportioned, has an erect head, a broad chest, large ears, a long tail, and is bold and can bear fatigue. 2 _Mand_. It is black, has yellow eyes, a uniformly sized body, and is wild and ungovernable. 3 _Mirg_. It has a whitish skin, with black spots. 4 _Mir_. It has a small head, and obeys readily. It gets frightened when it thunders.” _Aín-i-Akbarí._. Translated by H. Blochmann, Aín 41, _The Imperial Elephant Stables_.

78 Ayodhyá means _not to be fought against_.

79 Attendants of Indra, eight Gods whose names signify fire, light and its phenomena.

80 Kaśyap was a grandson of the God Brahmá. He is supposed to have given his name to Kashmír = Kaśyapa-míra, Kaśyap’s Lake.

81 The people of Anga. “Anga is said in the lexicons to be Bengal; but here certainly another region is intended situated at the confluence of the Sarjú with the Ganges, and not far distant from Daśaratha’s dominions.” GORRESIO. It comprised part of Behar and Bhagulpur.

82 The Koïl or _kokila_ (Cuculus Indicus) as the harbinger of spring and love is a universal favourite with Indian poets. His voice when first heard in a glorious spring morning is not unpleasant, but becomes in the hot season intolerably wearisome to European ears.

83 “Sons and Paradise are intimately connected in Indian belief. A man desires above every thing to have a son to perpetuate his race, and to assist with sacrifices and funeral rites to make him worthy to obtain a lofty seat in heaven or to preserve that which he has already obtained.” GORRESIO.

84 One of the Pleiades and generally regarded as the model of wifely excellence.

85 The Hindu year is divided into six seasons of two months each, spring, summer, rains, autumn, winter, and dews.

86 It was essential that the horse should wander free for a year before immolation, as a sign that his master’s paramount sovereignty was acknowledged by all neighbouring princes.

87 Called also Vidcha, later Tirabhukti, corrupted into the modern Tirhut, a province bounded on the west and east by the Gaudakí and Kauśikí rivers, on the south by the Ganges, and on the north by the skirts of the Himálayas.

88 The celebrated city of Benares. See Dr. Hall’s learned and exhaustive Monograph in the _Sacred City of the Hindus_, by the Rev. M. A. Sherring.

89 Kekaya is supposed to have been in the Panjáb. The name of the king was Aśvapati (Lord of Horses), father of Daśaratha’s wife Kaikeyí.

90 Surat.

91 Apparently in the west of India not far from the Indus.

92 “The Pravargya ceremony lasts for three days, and is always performed twice a day, in the forenoon and afternoon. It precedes the animal and Soma sacrifices. For without having undergone it, no one is allowed to take part in the solemn Soma feast prepared for the gods.” Haug’s _Aitareya Bráhmaṇam_. Vol. II. p. 41. note _q.v._

_ 93 Upasads_. “The Gods said, Let us perform the burnt offerings called Upasads (_i.e._ besieging). For by means of an _Upasad_, _i.e._ besieging, they conquer a large (fortified) town.”—_Ibid._ p. 32.

94 The Soma plant, or Asclepias Acida. Its fermented juice was drunk in sacrifice by the priests and offered to the Gods who enjoyed the intoxicating draught.

95 “Tum in cærimoniarum intervallis Brachmanæ facundi, sollertes, crebros sermones de rerum causis instituebant, alter alterum vincendi cupidi. This public disputation in the assembly of Bráhmans on the nature of things, and the almost fraternal connexion between theology and philosophy deserves some notice; whereas the priests of some religions are generally but little inclined to show favour to philosophers, nay, sometimes persecute them with the most rancorous hatred, as we are taught both by history and experience.… This śloka is found in the MSS. of different recensions of the Rámáyan, and we have, therefore, the most trustworthy testimony to the antiquity of philosophy among the Indians.” SCHLEGEL.

96 The _Angas_ or appendices of the Vedas, pronunciation, prosody, grammar, ritual, astronomy, and explanation of obscurities.

97 In Sanskrit _vilva_, the _Ægle Marmelos_. “He who desires food and wishes to grow fat, ought to make his Yúpa (sacrificial post) of Bilva wood.” Haug’s _Aítareya Bráhmanam. Vol. II._ p. 73.

98 The _Mimosa Catechu_. “He who desires heaven ought to make his Yúpa of Khádira wood.”—_Ibid._

99 The _Butea Frondosa_. “He who desires beauty and sacred knowledge ought to make his Yúpa of Paláśa wood.”—_Ibid._

100 The _Cardia Latifolia_.

101 A kind of pine. The word means literally the tree of the Gods. Compare the Hebrew עצי יהוה “trees of the Lord.”

102 The Hindus call the constellation of Ursa Major the Seven Rishis or Saints.

103 A minute account of these ancient ceremonies would be out of place here. “Ágnishṭoma is the name of a sacrifice, or rather a series of offerings to fire for five days. It is the first and principal part of the Jyotishṭoma, one of the great sacrifices in which especially the juice of the Soma plant is offered for the purpose of obtaining Swarga or heaven.” GOLDSTÜCKER’S DICTIONARY. “The _Ágnishṭoma_ is Agni. It is called so because they (the gods) praised him with this Stoma. They called it so to hide the proper meaning of the word: for the gods like to hide the proper meaning of words.”

“On account of four classes of gods having praised Agni with four Stomas, the whole was called _Chatushṭoma_ (containing four Stomas).”

“It (the Ágnishṭoma) is called _Jyotishṭoma_, for they praised Agni when he had risen up (to the sky) in the shape of a light (_jyotis_).”

“This (Ágnishṭoma) is a sacrificial performance which has no beginning and no end.” HAUG’S _Aitareya Bráhmaṇam_.

The Atirátra, literally _lasting through the night_, is a division of the service of the Jyotishṭoma.

The Abhijit, _the everywhere victorious_, is the name of a sub-division of the great sacrifice of the Gavámanaya.

The Viśvajit, or _the all-conquering_, is a similar sub-division.

Áyus is the name of a service forming a division of the Abhiplava sacrifice.

The _Aptoryám_, is the seventh or last part of the Jyotishṭoma, for the performance of which it is not essentially necessary, but a voluntary sacrifice instituted for the attainment of a specific desire. The literal meaning of the word would be in conformity with the _Prauḍhamanoramá_, “a sacrifice which procures the attainment of the desired object.” GOLDSTÜCKER’S DICTIONARY.

“The _Ukthya_ is a slight modification of the Ágnishṭoma sacrifice. The noun to be supplied to it is _kratu_. It is a Soma sacrifice also, and one of the seven Saṇsthas or component parts of the Jyotishṭoma. Its name indicates its nature. For _Ukthya_ means ‘what refers to the Uktha,’ which is an older name for Shástra, _i.e._ recitation of one of the Hotri priests at the time of the Soma libations. Thus this sacrifice is only a kind of supplement to the Ágnishṭoma.” HAUG. _Ai. B._

104 “Four classes of priests were required in India at the most solemn sacrifices. 1. The officiating priests, manual labourers, and acolytes, who had chiefly to prepare the sacrificial ground, to dress the altar, slay the victims, and pour out the libations. 2. The choristers, who chant the sacred hymns. 3. The reciters or readers, who repeat certain hymns. 4. The overseers or bishops, who watch and superintend the proceedings of the other priests, and ought to be familiar with all the Vedas. The formulas and verses to be muttered by the first class are contained in the Yajur-veda-sanhitá. The hymns to be sung by the second class are in the Sama-veda-sanhitá. The Atharva-veda is said to be intended for the Brahman or overseer, who is to watch the proceedings of the sacrifice, and to remedy any mistake that may occur. The hymns to be recited by the third class are contained in the Rigveda,” _Chips from a German Workshop._

105 The Maruts are the winds, deified in the religion of the Veda like other mighty powers and phenomena of nature.

106 A Titan or fiend whose destruction has given Vishṇu one of his well-known titles, Mádhava.

107 The garden of Indra.

108 One of the most ancient and popular of the numerous names of Vishṇu. The word has been derived in several ways, and may mean _he who moved on the (primordial) waters_, or _he who pervades or influences men or their thoughts_.

109 The Horse-Sacrifice, just described.