The Kathá Sarit Ságara; or, Ocean of the Streams of Story
the Chinese emperor Tunghwan. He refers also to Huon of Bordeaux, Ysaie
le Triste, and Grimm's Kindermärchen 130 and 133. (Liebrecht's Dunlop,
p. 184). See also Milton's Paradise Lost, IV. 220 and 256. Cp. Thalaba
the Destroyer, Book I, 30. The passage in the Pseudo-Callisthenes
will be found in III, 28, Karl Mueller's Edition.
[708] See page 445.
[709] Cp. the story of Seyf ul Mulk in the Persian Tales, and
the Bahar-Danush, c. 35 (Dunlop, Vol. II, p. 208, Liebrecht's
translation, p. 335) see also Dunlop's remarks upon the Polexandre of
Gomberville. In this romance Abdelmelec, son of the emperor of Morocco,
falls in love with Alcidiana by seeing her portrait (Vol. II, p. 276,
Liebrecht's translation, p 372.) A similar incident is found in the
romanco of Agesilaus of Colchos, (Liebrecht's Dunlop, p. 157.) See
Prym und Socin, Syrische Märchen, p. 3; Rohde, Der Griechische Roman,
p. 49; Coelho, Contos Populares Portuguezes, p. 109.
[710] For the vidruteshu of Brockhaus's edition I read nihateshu,
which I find in the Sanskrit College MS.
[711] An elaborate pun. Rasika also means "full of (poetical) flavour."
[712] Dim traditions of this mountain seem to have penetrated to Greece
and Rome. Aristophanes (Acharnians v. 82) speaks of the king of Persia
as engaged for 8 months epi chrysôn orôn. Clark tells us that Bergler
quotes Plautus, Stichus 24, Neque ille mereat Persarum sibi montes
qui esse perhibentur aurei. (Philological Journal, VIII. p. 192.) See
also Ter. Phormio I, 2, 18, Pers. III, 65. Naraváhanadatta's journey
through the air may remind the reader of the air-voyage of Alexander
in the Pseudo-Callisthenes, II, 41. He sees a serpent below him,
and a halôs in the middle of it. A divine being, whom he meets,
tells him, that these objects are the earth and the sea.
[713] I. e. Siva.
[714] See note on page 488.
[715] i. e. city of heroes. See Cunningham's Ancient Geography of
India, p. 99.
[716] Cp. the properties of the magic ring given to Canace in the
Squire's tale, and Grimm's story of "Die drei Sprachen," (No. 33,
Kindermärchen). See also Tylor's Primitive Culture, Vol. I, pp. 18,
423. In the Edda, Sigurd learns to understand the language of birds
by tasting the blood of Fafner. For other parallels see Liebrecht's
Dunlop, p. 184, and note 248.
[717] Cp. the 77th chapter of this work, the second in the Vetála
Panchavinsati, and Ralston's exhaustive note, in his Russian
Folk-tales, pp. 231, 232, 233. Cp. also Bernhard Schmidt's Griechische
Märchen, p. 114, and Bartsch's Sagen, Märchen, und Gebräuche aus
Meklenburg, Vol. I, p. 486. The Pseudo-Callisthenes (Book II, c. 40)
mentions a fountain that restored to life a salt fish, and made one of
Alexander's daughters immortal. This is perhaps the passage that was
in Dunlop's mind, when he said (page 129 of Liebrecht's translation)
that such a fountain is described in the Greek romance of Ismenias
and Ismene, for which Liebrecht takes him to task. See the parallels
quoted by Dunlop and Liebrecht. Wheeler, in his Noted Names of Fiction,
tells us that there was a tradition current among the natives of
Puerto Rico, that such a fountain existed in the fabulous island of
Bimini, said to belong to the Bahama group. This was an object of
eager and long-continued quest to the celebrated Spanish navigator,
Juan Ponce de Leon. By Ismenias and Ismene Dunlop probably means
Hysminias and Hysmine. See also Birlinger, Aus Schwaben, p. 185. Kuhn
in his "Herabkunft des Feuers" traces this story back to the Satapatha
Bráhmana.
[718] Here there is an elaborate pun. "King" may also mean "mountain,"
"race" may mean "wings," and the whole passage refers to Indra's
clipping the wings of the mountains.
[719] Compare the remarkable passage which M. Lévêque quotes from
the works of Empedocles (Les Mythes et les Légendes de l'Inde, p. 90).
Estin anankês chrêma, theôn psêphisma palaion,
aidion, plateessi katesphrêgismenon horkois,
eute tis amplakiêsi phonô phila gyia miênê
haimasin ê epiorkon hamartêsas epomossê
daimôn, hoi te makraiônos lelachasi bioio,
tris min myrias hôras apo makarôn alalêsthai,
phyomenon pantoia dia chronou eidea thnêtôn,
argaleas biotoio metallassonta keleuthous.
I have adopted the readings of Ritter and Preller, in their Historia
Philosophiæ, in preference to those of M. Lévêque. It is clear that
Empedocles supposed himself to be a Vidyádhara fallen from heaven in
consequence of a curse. As I observed in an article in the Calcutta
Review of 1875, "The Bhagavad Gítá and Christianity," his personality
is decidedly Indian.
[720] Cp. Odyssey IX. 27, 28.
[721] Comprising the modern provinces of Allahabad, Agra, Delhi
and Oude.
[722] For anrityata I should like to read anartyata.
[723] i. e., one who has obtained a prize.
[724] Badarínátha is a place sacred to Vishnu in the Himálayas. The
Badarínátha peaks, in British Gurwhal, form a group of six summits,
from 22,000 to 23,400 feet above the sea. The town of Badarínátha is
55 miles north-east of Srínagar, on the right bank of the Vishnuganga,
a feeder of the Alakananda. The temple is situated in the highest
part of the town, and below it a tank, supplied by a sulphureous
thermal spring, is frequented by thousands of pilgrims. The temple
is 10,294 feet above the sea. (Akbar, an Eastern Romance, by Dr. Van
Limburg-Brouwer, with an introduction by Clements Markham, p. 1, note.)
[725] Prajá means subjects and also offspring.
[726] The word artha means wealth, and also meaning.
[727] The story of Anangaprabhá may be the origin of the seventh
Novel of the IInd day in the Decameron of Boccacio.
[728] Prayága--Allahabad, the place of sacrifice kat' exochên. Here
the Gangá and Yamuná unite with the supposed subterranean Sarasvatí.
[729] The word in the original is kárpatika. Böhtlingk and Roth
explain it in this passage as "ein im Dienste eines Fürsten
stehender Bettler." It appears from Taranga 81, that a poor man
became a kárpatika by tearing a karpata, a ragged garment, in a king's
presence. The business of a kárpatika seems to have been to do service
without getting anything for it.
[730] Cp. the 1st Novel in the 10th Day of the Decameron and Ralston's
Russian Folk Tales, p. 197.
[731] There is a pun here. The word palása also means "cruel,
unmerciful."
[732] The word used shews that he was probably a Buddhist mendicant.
[733] Cp. Miss Frere's Old Deccan days, p. 171, and Giles's Strange
Stories from a Chinese Studio, p. 430, where the young lady says to Ma;
"You have often asked me for money, but on account of your weak luck
I have hitherto refrained from giving you any."
[734] This story is found in the Hitopadesa, p. 89 of Johnson's
translation.
[735] These two lines are an elaborate pun--ku = evil, and also earth,
guna = virtue, and also string, avichára = injustice, also the movement
of sheep.
[736] I follow the MS. in the Sanskrit College which reads rodorandhre.
[737] Here with the Sanskrit College MS. I read ruditam for the
unmetrical kranditam.
[738] I read dhrishyan, i. e., rejoicing, from hrish.
[739] The word sattvavara here means "possessing pre-eminent virtue."
[740] In sl. 163 (a) I read mama for mayá with the Sanskrit College MS.
[741] The story, as told in Chapter 78, is somewhat different from
this.
[742] There is a pun in this word mahásattva. It means noble, good,
virtuous, and also full of great monsters.
[743] This reminds one of the description which Palladius gives of
the happy island of Taprobane. St. Ambrose in his version speaks of
it as governed by four kings or satraps. The fragment begins at the
7th chapter of the 3rd book of the History of the Pseudo-Callisthenes
edited by Carolus Müller. See Rohde, Der Griechische Roman, p. 239.
[744] i. e. Lakshmí or Srí.
[745] Hansa--means swan and also supreme soul, i. e., Vishnu.
[746] War, peace, marching, encamping, dividing one's forces, seeking
the alliance of a more powerful king.
[747] Or sects. The word used for "bee" means literally the
six-footed. The whole passage is full of double meanings, charana
meaning foot, line, i. e., the fourth part of a stanza, and also sect.
[748] Darsana utsukah should probably be read here for the sake of
the metre.
[749] Here there is a pun.
[750] This passage is an elaborate pun throughout.
[751] I read phalam which I find in the Sanskrit College MS. instead
of param.
[752] i. e., possessor of much gold.
[753] i. e., Durgá. For mritajátir I read mritajánir which is the
reading of the MS. in the Sanskrit College. In the next line jívitá
should be jívatá.
[754] Cp. the story of Dhanagupta and Upabhuktadhana, Benfey's
Panchatantra, Vol. II, p. 197. It is part of the fifth story, that
of Somilaka. See Benfey, Vol. I, p. 321, where he traces it to a
Buddhist source.
[755] I read tapahstha-púrva-drishtáyás one word.
[756] Siva is invoked by a different name for each limb which he is
asked to protect. See the quotations in Brand's Popular Antiquities
(Bohn's Edition, Vol. I, pp. 365 and 366) from Moresini Papatus and
Melton's Astrologaster. Brand remarks, "The Romanists, in imitation of
the heathens, have assigned tutelary gods to each member of the body."
[757] Víra means hero.
[758] The puns here defy translation.
[759] Here the Sanskrit text has "and so resembled himself." Each
of the Sanskrit compounds may be taken in another sense. The "heat"
is valour; the "swans" subject kings; the sight of the king delighted
his subjects, and he possessed furious elephants.
[760] The Sanskrit College MS. reads Asíkalahayárúdhah.
[761] Cp. The Lament of Moschos for Bion, 1. 99-104.
[762] I. e. Female snake, somewhat of the nature of the Echidna of
our boyhood;
hêmisy men nymphên helikôpida kalliparêon
hêmisy d' aute pelôron ophin, deinon te megan te.
Hesiod. Theog. 298.
[763] Cp. the following passage which Wirt Sikes (British Goblins,
p. 385) quotes from the Mabinogion. "Take the bowl and throw a bowlful
of water on the slab," says the black giant of the wood to Sir Kai,
"and thou wilt hear a mighty peal of thunder, so that thou wilt think
that heaven and earth are trembling with its fury. With the thunder
will come a shower so severe that it will be hardly possible for thee
to endure and live. And the shower will be of hailstones; and after
the shower the weather will become fair, but every leaf that was
upon the tree will have been carried away by the shower." Cp. Prym
und Socin, Syrische Märchen, p. 116, and Gaal, Märchen der Magyaren,
pp. 101 and 102.
[764] I read with the Sanskrit College MS. ajayyah.
[765] Böhtlingk conjectures súrpa for súrya; súrpa is a
winnowing-basket.
[766] This is the sense, but--épsur cannot be right; the Sanskrit
College MS. reads--echchhum. Perhaps--echchhuh will do.
[767] I read tadá for padá, a conjecture of Babu S. C. Mookerjea's. The
Sanskrit College MS. reads atyánandabhrite yuktam návartetám yadátmani.
[768] I. e. showerer of riches.
[769] The MS. in the Sanskrit College reads svasainyam which saves
the metre.
[770] Svasuravesmavartmásritas is the reading of the MS. in the
library of the Sanskrit College.
[771] I read mánitaprakritih, following the MS. in the Sanskrit
College.
[772] I. e. earth-protector, king.
[773] Compare for the idea Richard II. Act III, Sc. 2. line 41 and ff.
[774] Here I have omitted a short story.
[775] He seems to correspond to the Junker Voland or Herr Urian of
the Walpurgisnacht; (see Bayard Taylor's notes to his translation
of Goethe's Faust). See also, for the assembly of witches and their