About this book

The Kathá Sarit Ságara; or, Ocean of the Streams of Story

active 11th century Somadeva Bhatta

Browne's Vulgar Errors, Book IV ch. 9, "Of saluting upon sneezing." [462] There is a story illustrating the "pertinacity" of goblins in Wirt Sikes's British Goblins, p. 191. [463] I have been obliged to omit some portion of this story. "It was," Wilson remarks, "acceptable to the couteurs of Europe, and is precisely the same as that of 'Le petit diable de Papefigue' of Fontaine." [464] Suvrittayá means virtuous, and beautifully-rounded. [465] Cp. Chaucer's Squire's Tale, line 316, "Ye moten trille a pin, stant in his ere." [466] This may remind the reader of the story of the pestle in Lucian's Philopseudes, that was sent to fetch water. When the Ægyptian sorcerer was away, his pupil tried to perform the trick. But he did not know the charm for stopping the water-carrying process. Accordingly the house was flooded. In despair he chopped the pestle in two with an axe. That made matters worse, for both halves set to work to bring water. The story has been versified by Goethe, and the author of the Ingoldsby Legends. [467] Here Dr. Brockhaus supposes a line to be omitted. The transition is somewhat abrupt. [468] Cp. with the story of Kírtisená the substance of two modern Greek songs given in Liebrecht, Zur Volkskunde, p. 187. [469] i. e. Wealth-preserved. [470] Böhtlingk and Roth in their Dictionary explain the passage as follows: imam, (i. e., patim) vyutthápya yátá iti, she was unfaithful to her husband. [471] Gotraja nearly equivalent to the Gentile of Roman law, and applied to kindred of the same general family connected by offerings of food and water; hence opposed to the Bandhu or cognate kindred. She represented that she was a prince whose clansmen were trying to disinherit him. [472] Cp. Thorpe's Yuletide Stories, p. 341, cited before on p. 25, also Sagas from the Far East, p. 162. The Mongolian version supplies the connecting link between India and Europe. In the Sagas from the Far East, the Rákshasas are replaced by crows. Compare also the way in which the gardener in "Das Rosmarinsträuchlein," Kaden's Unter den Olivenbäumen, p. 12, acquires some useful information. The story of Kírtisená from this point to the cure of the king closely resembles the latter half of Die Zauberkugeln in the same collection. A striking parallel will be found in Basile's Pentamerone, Vol. I, p. 166. See also Waldau's Böhmische Märchen, p. 272; Gaal, Die Märchen der Magyaren, p. 178; Coelho, Contos Populares Portuguezes, p. 47. In Waldau's Story there is a strange similarity in the behaviour of the king, on first seeing the young physician, to that of Vasudatta. See also the Sixth Tale in Ralston's Tibetan Tales and the remarks in the Introduction, p. li. [473] Names of Rákshasas mentioned in the Rámáyana. [474] Water is the principal ingredient of the offering called argha or arghya. [475] This gem is formed from the congelation of the rays of the moon, and dissolves under the influence of its light. There is of course an elaborate pun in Chandrakánta. [476] This is well known in India now. A crow alighted on a palm-tree when just about to fall, and so it appeared that his weight made it fall. For this and many other hints I am indebted to Pandit S. C. Mookerjea, of the Hindu School. [477] Benfey considers that this, as well as "Haripriya," means "blockhead," Orient und Occident, Vol. I, p. 374. [478] A MS. in the Sanskrit College reads jnánavijna, i. e., the knowing one, the astrologer. [479] This word means tongue. [480] Cp. Ralston's Russian Folk-Tales, p. 240. So Arthur in the Romance of Artus de la Bretagne (Liebrecht's Dunlop, p. 107) falls in love with a lady he sees in a dream. Liebrecht in his note at the end of the book tells us that this is a common occurrence in Romances, being found in Amadis of Greece, Palmerin of Oliva, the Romans de Sept Sages, the Fabliau of the Chevalier à la Trappe, the Nibelungen Lied, &c., and ridiculed by Chaucer in his Rime of Sir Topas. He also refers to Athenæus, p. 575, and the Hermotimus of Lucian. [481] The mountain Mandara which served as a churning-stick at the churning of the ocean of milk. [482] Velátá is evidently corrupt. [483] This is to be understood literally of Siva and Párvatí, but metaphorically of Ushá and Aniruddha. [484] I read evam for eva. [485] The wife of Indra. [486] i. e. Brihaspati. [487] For san I should prefer sa which is read in a MS. lent me by the Principal of the Sanskrit College. [488] Takshasilá has been identified by General Cunningham with the ruins of an ancient city near Shah-deri one mile to the north-east of Kála-ka-serai. Mr. Growse has pointed out to me that I made a mistake in stating (after Wilson) in a note on p. 5 of this translation, that the precise site of Kausámbí, the capital of the king of Vatsa, which Kalingasená reached in one day in the magic chariot, has not been ascertained. He says: "It has been discovered by General Cunningham. The place is still called Kosam, and is on the Yamuná, about 30 miles above Allahabad. The ruins consist of an immense fortress, with earthen ramparts from 30 to 35 feet high, and bastions considerably higher, forming a circuit of 23,100 feet, or exactly four miles and 3 furlongs. The parapets were of brick and stone, some of the bricks measuring 19 in. × 12 1/2 × 2 1/2, which is a proof of their great antiquity. In the midst of these ruins is a large stone monolith, similar to those at Allahabad and Delhi, but without any inscription. The portion of the shaft above ground is 14 feet in length, and an excavation made at the base for a depth of 20 feet did not come to the end of it. Its total length probably exceeds 40 feet. There was, I believe, some talk of removing it to Allahabad and setting it up there, but it was found to be too expensive an undertaking." Srávastí, which Kalingasená passed on the way from Takshasilá, has been identified by General Cunningham with Sáhet-Mahet on the south bank of the Rapti in Oudh. [489] Here there is a slight omission in my translation. Cp. the story of St. Macarius. [490] The country lying between the Himálayas on the north, the Vindhya mountains on the south, Vinasana on the west and Prayága (Allahabad) on the east. [491] A respectful offering to gods or venerable men of rice, dúrva-grass, flowers &c. with water. [492] Cp. for the artifice used to ruin Kadalígarbhá, Dusent's Norse Tales, pp. 65 and 66. [493] Cp. the 40th story in Grimm's Kinder- und Hausmärchen, where the girl finds her way by the peas and lentiles which had sprung up. See also the 2nd story in Gonzenbach's Sicilianische Märchen, where the girl scatters bran. The author of the notes to Grimm's Märchen mentions a story from Hesse in which the heroine scatters ashes. See also the 49th of the Sicilianische Märchen. See also Bartsch's Sagen, Märchen, und Gebräuche aus Meklenburg, Vol. I, pp. 265, 313, 441-444, and 447, where peas are used for the same purpose. See also De Gubernatis, Zoological Mythology, p. 165. See also Perrault's Le petit Poucet; Basile's Pentamerone, No. 48. [494] This is a reproduction of the story of Devasena and Unmádiní in the 3rd book. [495] Compare the "death-darting eye of cockatrice" in Romeo and Juliet. See also Schmidt's Shakespeare Dictionary under the word "basilisk." [496] Benfey found this story in the Arabic Version of the Panchatantra and in all the translations and reproductions of it. He finds it also in the Mahábhárata, XII (III, 589) sl. 4930 and ff. He expresses his opinion that it formed a portion of the original Panchatantra. See Benfey's Panchatantra, pp. 544-560, Orient und Occident, Vol. I. p. 383. The account in the Mahábhárata is very prolix. [497] For nihatya I conjecture nikhanya. [498] The plant Uraria Lagopodioides (Monier Williams). [499] For similar instances of forgetting in European stories, see Nos. 13, 14, 54, 55 in the Sicilianische Märchen with Köhler's notes, and his article in Orient und Occident, Vol. II, p. 103. [500] i. e. Káma the Hindu Cupid. [501] This probably means in plain English that she wore glittering anklets. [502] Cp. the conduct of the Meerweib in Hagen's Helden-Sagen, Vol. I, p. 55. [503] i. e. Siva. [504] Prajápati. [505] Literally--placing it upon his head.Cp. also the following passage from Brand's Popular Antiquities, Vol. II, p. 78. "Borlase quotes from Martin's Western Islands. 'The same lustration by carrying of fire is performed round about women after child-bearing, and round about children before they are christened, as an effectual means to preserve both the mother and the infant from the power of evil spirits.'" Brand compares the Amphidromia at Athens. See Kuhn's Westfälische Märchen, Vol. I, pp. 125, and 289: Vol. II, pp. 17 and 33-34. [506] The superstitious custom of lighting fires, lamps &c., to protect children against evil spirits is found in many countries. Liebrecht (Zur Volkskunde, p. 31,) refers us to Brand's Popular Antiquities, edited by Hazlitt, Vol. II, p. 144, for the prevalence of the practice in England. "Gregory mentions 'an ordinary superstition of the old wives who dare not trust a child in a cradle by itself alone without a candle.' This he attributes to their fear of the night-hag;" (cp. Milton, P. L. II, 662-665). He cites authorities to prove that it exists in Germany, Scotland, and Sweden. In the latter country, it is considered dangerous to let the fire go out until the child is baptized, for fear that the Trolls may substitute a changeling in its place. The custom exists also in the Malay Peninsula, and among the Tájiks in Bokhara. The Roman custom of lighting a candle in the room of a lying-in woman, from which the goddess Candelifera derived her name (Tertullian Adv. nation, 2, 11) is to be accounted for in the same way. See also Veckenstedt, Wendische Sagen, p. 446. The same notion will be found in Bartsch's Sagen, Märchen, und Gebräuche aus Meklenburg, Vol. I, pp. 17, 64, 89, 91; Vol. II, p. 43. [507] For treasures and their guardians see Veckenstedt's Wendische Sagen, pp. 356-374 and p. 394. For the candle of human fat see Benfey in Orient und Occident, Vol. I, p. 383. For treasures and their guardians see Bartsch's Sagen, Märchen, und Gebräuche aus Meklenburg, Vol. I, p. 243 and ff., and for the candle of human fat, Vol. II, pp. 333 and 335 of the same work. Cp. also Birlinger, Aus Schwaben, pp. 251 and 262-270. It appears from Henderson's Folk-lore of the Northern Counties, that in Europe a candle of human fat is used with the Hand of Glory by robbers for the purpose of preventing the inmates of a house from awaking. He gives several instances of its use. The following will serve as a specimen: "On the night of the 3rd of January 1831, some Irish thieves attempted to commit a robbery on the estate of Mr. Napier of Loughcrew, county Meath. They entered the house armed with a dead man's hand with a lighted candle in it, believing in the superstitious notion that a candle placed in a dead man's hand will not be seen by any but those by whom it is used, and also that if a candle in a dead hand be introduced into a house, it will prevent those who may be asleep from awaking. The inmates however, were alarmed, and the robbers fled, leaving the hand behind them." The composition of the candle is evident from the following extract from the Dictionnaire Infernal of Colin de Planey. "The Hand of Glory is the hand of a man who has been hanged, and is prepared in the following manner. Wrap the hand in a piece of winding-sheet, drawing it tight to squeeze out the little blood which may remain; then place it in an earthen-ware vessel with saltpetre, salt and long pepper all carefully and thoroughly powdered. Let