The Rámáyan of Válmíki, translated into English verse
resembles the last of the divine fraternity of Greece, Aïdes the
brother of Zeus and Poseidon. “In all Greece, says Pausanias, there
is no single temple of Aïdes, except at a single spot in Elis.” See
Gladstone’s Juventus Mundi, p. 253.
48 The _argha_ or _arghya_ was a libation or offering to a deity, a
Bráhman, or other venerable personage. According to one authority it
consisted of water, milk, the points of Kúsa-grass, curds, clarified
butter, rice, barley, and white mustard, according to another, of
saffron, bel, unbroken grain, flowers, curds, dúrbá-grass,
kúsa-grass, and sesamum.
49 Sítá, daughter of Janak king of Míthilá.
50 “I congratulate myself,” says Schlegel in the preface to his, alas,
unfinished edition of the Rámáyan, “that, by the favour of the
Supreme Deity, I have been allowed to begin so great a work; I glory
and make my boast that I too after so many ages have helped to
confirm that ancient oracle declared to Válmíki by the Father of
Gods and men:
Dum stabunt montes, campis dum flumina current,
Usque tuum toto carmen celebrabitur orbe.”
51 “The sipping of water is a requisite introduction of all rites:
without it, says the Sámha Purána, all acts of religion are vain.”
COLEBROOKE.
52 The _darhha_ or _kuśa_ (Pea cynosuroides), a kind of grass used in
sacrifice by the Hindus as _cerbena_ was by the Romans.
53 The direction in which the grass should be placed upon the ground as
a seat for the Gods, on occasion of offerings made to them.
54 Paraśuráma or Ráma with the Axe. See Canto LXXIV.
55 Sítá. Videha was the country of which Míthilá was the capital.
56 The twin sons of Ráma and Sítá, born after Ráma had repudiated Sítá,
and brought up in the hermitage of Válmíki. As they were the first
rhapsodists the combined name Kuśílava signifies a reciter of poems,
or an improvisatore, even to the present day.
57 Perhaps the bass, tenor, and treble, or quick, slow and middle
times. we know but little of the ancient music of the Hindus.
58 Eight flavours or sentiments are usually enumerated, love, mirth,
tenderness, anger, heroism, terror, disgust, and surprise;
tranquility or content, or paternal tenderness, is sometimes
considered the ninth. WILSON. See the _Sáhitya Darpaṇa_ or _Mirror
of Composition_ translated by Dr. Ballantyne and Bábú Pramadádása
Mittra in the _Bibliotheca Indica._
59 Saccharum Munja is a plant from whose fibres is twisted the sacred
string which a Bráhman wears over one shoulder after he has been
initiated by a rite which in some respects answers to confirmation.
60 A description of an Aśvamedha or Horse Sacrifice is given in Canto
XIII. of this Book.
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