The Kathá Sarit Ságara; or, Ocean of the Streams of Story
exploits, in Thorpe's Yuletide Stories, page 341. Just as he was going
to sleep, twelve crows came flying and perched in the elder trees
over Svend's head. They began to converse together, and the one told
the other what had happened to him that day. When they were about to
fly away, one crow said, "I am so hungry; where shall I get something
to eat?" "We shall have food enough to-morrow when father has killed
Svend," answered the crow's brother. "Dost thou think then that such
a miserable fellow dares fight with our father?" said another. "Yes,
it is probable enough that he will, but it will not profit him much as
our father cannot be overcome but with the Man of the Mount's sword,
and that hangs in the mound, within seven locked doors, before each of
which are two fierce dogs that never sleep." Svend thus learned that
he should only be sacrificing his strength and life in attempting a
combat with the dragon, before he had made himself master of the Man of
the Mount's sword. So Sigfrid hears two birds talking above his head
in Hagen's Helden-Sagen, Vol. I, p. 345. In the story of Lalitánga
extracted by Professor Nilmani Mukerjea from a collection of Jaina
tales called the Kathá Kosha, and printed in his Sáhitya Parichaya,
Part II, we have a similar incident.
[64] Compare the "mole cinque-spotted" in Cymbeline.
[65] Compare Measure for Measure.
[66] Cp. the story of OEdipus and the Mahábhárata, Vanaparvan,
C. 312. where Yudhishthira is questioned by a Yaksha. Benfey compares
Mahábhárata XIII (IV, 206) 5883-5918 where a Bráhman seized by a
Rákshasa escaped in the same way. The reader will find similar
questioning demons described in Veckenstedt's Wendische Sagen,
pp. 54-56, and 109.
[67] Reading chuddhis for the chudis of Dr. Brockhaus' text.
[68] Sâmanta seems to mean a feudatory or dependent prince.
[69] Benfey considers that this story was originally Buddhistic. A very
similar story is quoted by him from the Karmasataka. (Panchatantra I,
p. 209) cp. also c. 65 of this work.
[70] Probably his foot bled, and so he contracted defilement.
[71] The preceptor of the gods.
[72] See the Mudrá Rákshasa for another version of this story. (Wilson,
Hindu Theatre, Vol. II.) Wilson remarks that the story is also told
differently in the Puránas.
[73] Sanskrit, Prákrit and his own native dialect.
[74] I change Dr. Brockhaus's Sákásana into Sákásana.
[75] As, according to my reading, he ate vegetables, his blood was
turned into the juice of vegetables. Dr. Brockhaus translates machte
dass das herausströmende Blut zu Krystallen sich bildete.
[76] A celebrated place of pilgrimage near the source of the Ganges,
the Bhadrinath of modern travellers. (Monier Williams, s. v.)
[77] Pratishthána according to Wilson is celebrated as the capital
of Saliváhana. It is identifiable with Peytan on the Godávarí, the
Bathana or Paithana of Ptolemy,--the capital of Siripolemaios. Wilson
identifies this name with Saliváhana, but Dr. Rost remarks that Lassen
more correctly identifies it with that of Srí Pulimán of the Andhra
dynasty who reigned at Pratishthána after the overthrow of the house
of Saliváhana about 130 A. D.
[78] Fabulous serpent-demons having the head of a man with the tail
of a serpent.--(Monier Williams, s. v.)
[79] It seems to me that tvam in Dr. Brockhaus' text must be a misprint
for tam.
[80] I. e., rich in virtues, and good qualities.
[81] From the Greek dênarion = denarius. (Monier Williams s. v.) Dramma
= Gr. drachmê is used in the Panchatantra; see Dr. Bühler's Notes to
Panchatantra, IV and V, Note on p. 40, l. 3.
[82] Literally wood-carriers.
[83] He had made money without capital, so his achievements are
compared to pictures suspended in the air?
[84] hetaira.
[85] The vita or roué meant "conciliation" but the chanter of the
Sáma Veda took it to mean "hymn."
[86] I. e., seize him with curved hand, and fling him out neck and
crop. The Precentor supposed them to mean a crescent-headed arrow.
[87] I.e., rich in accomplishments.
[88] Indra's pleasure-ground or Elysium. For a similar Zaubergarten see
Liebrecht's translation of Dunlop's History of Fiction, p. 251, and
note 325; and Gonzenbach's Sicilianische Märchen, Vol. I, p. 224. To
this latter story there is a very close parallel in Játaka No. 220,
(Fausböll, Vol. II, p. 188) where Sakko makes a garden for the
Bodhisattva, who is threatened with death by the king, if it is
not done.
[89] Guhyaka here synonymous with Yaksha. The Guhyakas like the
Yakshas are attendants upon Kuvera the god of wealth.
[90] The tilaka a mark made upon the forehead or between the eyebrows
with coloured earths, sandal-wood, &c., serving as an ornament or a
sectarial distinction. Monier Williams s. v.
[91] The negative particle má coalesces with udakaih (the plural
instrumental case of udaka) into modakaih, and modakaih (the single
word) means "with sweetmeats." The incident is related in Táránátha's
Geschichte des Buddhismus in Indien, uebersetzt von Schiefner, p. 74.
[92] So explained by Böhtlingk and Roth s. v. cp. Taranga 72 sl. 103.
[93] He afterwards learns to speak in the language of the Pisáchas,
goblins, or ogres.
[94] Called also Kumára. This was no doubt indicated by the Kumára
or boy, who opened the lotus.
[95] The chátaka lives on rain-drops, but the poor swan has to take
a long journey to the Mánasa lake beyond the snowy hills, at the
approach of the rainy season.
[96] Kártikeya.
[97] More literally sprinkling her with water. See also the 60th Tale
in Gonzenbach's Sicilianische Märchen, Vol. II, p. 17.
[98] Skanda is another name of Kártikeya.
[99] This grammar is extensively in use in the eastern parts of
Bengal. The rules are attributed to Sarvavarman, by the inspiration of
Kártikeya, as narrated in the text. The vritti or gloss is the work
of Durgá Singh and that again is commented on by Trilochana Dása and
Kavirája. Vararuchi is the supposed author of an illustration of the
Conjugations and Srípati Varmá of a Supplement. Other Commentaries
are attributed to Gopí Nátha, Kula Chandra and Visvesvara. (Note in
Wilson's Essays, Vol. I. p. 183.)
[100] Rishis.
[101] Sanskára means tendency produced by some past influence, often
works in a former birth. This belief seems to be very general in Wales,
see Wirt Sikes, British Goblins, p. 113. See also Kuhn's Herabkunft des
Feuers, p. 93, De Gubernatis, Zoological Mythology, Vol. II, p. 285.
[102] For the idea cp. Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act I. Sc. 1. (towards
the end) and numerous other passages in the same author.
[103] Brockhaus renders it Fromme, Helden und Weise.
[104] Vaisvánara is an epithet of Agni or Fire.
[105] Siva.
[106] Cp. the 1st story in the Vetála Panchavinsati, Chapter 75 of
this work. See also Ralston's Russian Folk-Tales, p. 241, where Prince
Ivan by the help of his tutor Katoma propounds to the Princess Anna
the fair, a riddle which enables him to win her as his wife.
[107] The god of justice.
[108] Benfey considers this story as Buddhistic in its origin. In the
"Memoires Sur les Contrées Occidentales traduits du Sanscrit par Hiouen
Thsang et du Chinois par Stanislas Julien" we are expressly told
that Gautama Buddha gave his flesh to the hawk as Sivi in a former
state of existence. It is told of many other persons, see Benfey's
Panchatantra, Vol. I, p. 388, cp. also Campbell's West Highland Tales,
p. 239, Vol. I, Tale XVI. M. Lévêque (Les Mythes et Légendes de L'Inde
p. 327) connects this story with that of Philemon and Baucis. He lays
particular stress upon the following lines of Ovid:
Unicus anser erat, minimæ custodia villæ
Quem Dîs hospitibus domini mactare parabant:
Ille celer penna tardos ætate fatigat,
Eluditque diu, tandemquo est visus ad ipsos
Confugisse deos. Superi vetuere necari.
See also Gubernatis, Zoological Mythology, Vol. II, pp. 187, 297
and 414.
[109] I. e., Siva.
[110] Vrihat Kathá.
[111] Compare the story of Orpheus.
[112] It is unnecessary to remind the reader of the story of the Sibyl.
[113] I. e., Durgá.
[114] I believe this refers to Arjuna's combat with the god when he
had assumed the form of a Kiráta or mountaineer. Siva is here called
Tripurári, the enemy or destroyer of Tripura. Dr. Brockhaus renders
it quite differently.
[115] Composed of rice, milk, sugar and spices.
[116] Certain female divinities who reside in the sky and are the
wives of the Gandharvas. Monier Williams, s. v.
[117] Brahmá. He emerges from a lotus growing from the navel of Vishnu.
[118] In the word sasnehe there is probably a pun; sneha meaning love,
and also oil.
[119] The charioteer of Indra.
[120] For illustrations of this bath of blood see Dunlop's Liebrecht,
page 135, and the note at the end of the book. The story of Der arme
Heinrich, to which Liebrecht refers, is to be found in the VIth Volume
of Simrock's Deutsche Volksbücher. Cp. the story of Amys and Amylion,
Ellis's Early English Romances, pp. 597 and 598, the Pentamerone of
Basile, Vol. I, p. 367; Prym and Socin's Syrische Märchen, p. 73;
Grohmann's Sagen aus Böhmen, p. 268; Gonzenbach's Sicilianische
Märchen, p. 354, with Dr. Köhler's notes.
[121] This is the Roc or Rokh of Arabian romance, agreeing in the
multiplicity of individuals as well as their propensity for raw flesh.
(See Sindbad's Voyages ed. Langlès, p. 149.) The latter characteristic,
to the subversion of all poetical fancies, has acquired, it may be
supposed, for the Adjutant (Ardea Argila) the name of Garuda. A
wundervogel is the property of all people, and the Garuda of the
Hindoos is represented by the Eorosh of the Zend, Simoorgh of the
Persians, the Anka of the Arabs, the Kerkes of the Turks, the Kirni
of the Japanese, the sacred dragon of the Chinese, the Griffin of
Chivalry, the Phoenix of classical fable, the wise and ancient bird
that sits upon the ash Yggdrasil of the Edda, and according to Faber
with all the rest is a misrepresentation of the holy cherubim that
guarded the gate of Paradise. Some writers have even traced the
twelve knights of the round table to the twelve Rocs of Persian
story. (Wilson's Essays, Vol. I, pp. 192, 193, note.)
Gigantic birds that feed on raw flesh are mentioned by the
Pseudo-Callisthenes, Book II, ch. 41. Alexander gets on the back of
one of them, and is carried into the air, guiding his bird by holding
a piece of liver in front of it. He is warned by a winged creature in
human shape to proceed no further, and descends again to earth. See
also Liebrecht's Dunlop, p. 143 and note. See also Birlinger, Aus
Schwaben, pp. 5, 6, 7. He compares Pacolet's horse in the story of
Valentine and Orson.
[122] A wild mountaineer. Dr. Bühler observes that the names of these
tribes are used very vaguely in Sanskrit story-books.
[123] Sovereign of the snakes.
[124] I. e., given by Fortune.
[125] Cp. the story of Sattvasíla, which is the seventh tale in
the Vetála Panchavinsati, and will be found in Chapter 81 of this
work. Cp. also the story of Saktideva in Book V. ch. 26, and Ralston's
remarks on it in his Russian Folk-Tales, p. 99.
[126] Vishnu assumed the form of a dwarf and appeared before Bali,
and asked for as much land as he could step over. On Bali's granting
it, Vishnu dilating himself, in two steps deprived him of heaven and
earth, but left the lower regions still in his dominion.
[127] This incident may be compared with one described in Veckenstedt's
Wendische Sagen, p. 82.
[128] Ananta, endless, or infinite, is a name of the thousand-headed
serpent Sesha.
[129] Reading khadgam for the khadge of Dr. Brockhaus's text.
[130] Female demon. The Rákshasas are often called "night-wanderers."