The Rámáyan of Válmíki, translated into English verse
LXI. Her proper name was _Satyavatí_ (Truthful); the patronymic,
Kauśikí was preserved by the river into which she is said to have
been changed, and is still recognized in the corrupted forms Kuśa
and Kuśí. The river flows from the heights of the Himálaya towards
the Ganges, bounding on the east the country of Videha (Behar). The
name is no doubt half hidden in the _Cosoagus_ of Pliny and the
_Kossounos_ of Arrian. But each author has fallen into the same
error in his enumeration of these rivers (Condochatem, Erannoboam,
Cosoagum, Sonum). The Erannoboas, (Hiraṇyaváha) and the Sone are not
different streams, but well-known names of the same river. Moreover
the order is disturbed, in which on the right and left they fall
into the Ganges. To be consistent with geography it should be
written: Erannoboam sive Sonum, Condochatem (Gandakí), Cosoagum.”
SCHLEGEL.
245 “Daksha was one of the ancient Progenitors or Prajápatis created by
Brahmá. The sacrifice which is here spoken of and in which Śankar or
Śiva (called also here Rudra and Bhava) smote the Gods because he
had not been invited to share the sacred oblations with them, seems
to refer to the origin of the worship of Śiva, to its increase and
to the struggle it maintained with other older forms of worship.”
GORRESIO.
246 Sítá means a furrow.
“Great Erectheus swayed,
That owed his nurture to the blue-eyed maid,
But from the teeming furrow took his birth,
The mighty offspring of the foodful earth.”
Iliad, Book II.
247 “The whole story of Sítá, as will be seen in the course of the poem
has a great analogy with the ancient myth of Proserpine.” GORRESIO.
248 A different lady from the Goddess of the Jumna who bears the same
name.
249 This is another fanciful derivation, _Sa_—with, and _gara_—poison.
_ 250 Purushádak_ means a cannibal. First called _Kalmáshapáda_ on
account of his spotted feet he is said to have been turned into a
cannibal for killing the son of Vaśishṭha.
251 “In the setting forth of these royal genealogies the Bengal
recension varies but slightly from the Northern. The first six names
of the genealogy of the Kings of Ayodhyá are partly theogonical and
partly cosmogonical; the other names are no doubt in accordance with
tradition and deserve the same amount of credence as the ancient
traditional genealogies of other nations.” GORRESIO.
252 The tenth of the lunar asterisms, composed of five stars.
253 There are two lunar asterisms of this name, one following the other
immediately, forming the eleventh and twelfth of the lunar mansions.
254 This is another Ráma, son of Jamadagni, called Paraśuráma, or Ráma
with the axe, from the weapon which he carried. He was while he
lived the terror of the Warrior caste, and his name recalls long and
fierce struggles between the sacerdotal and military order in which
the latter suffered severely at the hands of their implacable enemy.
255 “The author of the _Raghuvaṅśa_ places the mountain Mahendra in the
territory of the king of the Kalingans, whose palace commanded a
view of the ocean. It is well known that the country along the coast
to the south of the mouths of the Ganges was the seat of this
people. Hence it may be suspected that this Mahendra is what Pliny
calls ‘promontorium Calingon.’ The modern name, _Cape Palmyras_,
from the palmyras Borassus flabelliformis, which abound there agrees
remarkably with the description of the poet who speaks of the groves
of these trees. _Raghuvaṅśa_, VI. 51.” SCHLEGEL.
256 Śiva.
257 Siva. God of the Azure Neck.
258 Śatrughna means slayer of foes, and the word is repeated as an
intensive epithet.
259 Alluding to the images of Vishṇu, which have four arms, the four
princes being portions of the substance of that God.
260 Chief of the insignia of imperial dignity.
261 Whisks, usually made of the long tails of the Yak.
262 Chitraratha, King of the Gandharvas.
263 The Chandrakánta or Moonstone, a sort of crystal supposed to be
composed of congealed moonbeams.
264 A customary mark of respect to a superior.
265 Ráhu, the ascending node, is in mythology a demon with the tail of a
dragon whose head was severed from his body by Vishṇu, but being
immortal, the head and tail retained their separate existence and
being transferred to the stellar sphere became the authors of
eclipses; the first especially by endeavouring to swallow the sun
and moon.
266 In eclipse.
267 The seventh of the lunar asterisms.
268 Kauśalyá and Sumitrá.
269 A king of the Lunar race, and father of Yayáti.
270 Literally _the chamber of wrath,_ a “_growlery_,” a small, dark,
unfurnished room to which it seems, the wives and ladies of the king
betook themselves when offended and sulky.
271 In these four lines I do not translate faithfully, and I do not
venture to follow Kaikeyí farther in her eulogy of the hump-back’s
charms.
272 These verses are evidently an interpolation. They contain nothing
that has not been already related: the words only are altered. As
the whole poem could not be recited at once, the rhapsodists at the
beginning of a fresh recitation would naturally remind their hearers
of the events immediately preceding.
273 The _śloka_ or distich which I have been forced to expand into these
nine lines is evidently spurious, but is found in all the commented
MSS. which Schlegel consulted.
274 Manmatha, Mind-disturber, a name of Káma or Love.
275 This story is told in the Mahábhárat. A free version of it may be
found in _Scenes from the Rámáyan, etc._
276 Only the highest merit obtains a home in heaven for ever. Minor
degrees of merit procure only leases of heavenly mansions terminable
after periods proportioned to the fund which buys them. King Yayáti
went to heaven and when his term expired was unceremoniously
ejected, and thrown down to earth.
277 See _Additional Notes_, THE SUPPLIANT DOVE.
278 Indra, called also Purandara, Town-destroyer.
279 Indra’s charioteer.
280 The elephant of Indra.
281 A star in the spike of Virgo: hence the name of the mouth Chaitra or
Chait.
282 The Rain-God.
283 In a former life.
284 One of the lunar asterisms, represented as the favourite wife of the
Moon. See p. 4, note.
285 The Sea.
286 The Moon.
287 The comparison may to a European reader seem a homely one. But
Spenser likens an infuriate woman to a cow “That is berobbed of her
youngling dere.” Shakspeare also makes King Henry VI compare himself
to the calf’s mother that “Runs lowing up and down, Looking the way
her harmless young one went.” “Cows,” says De Quincey, “are amongst
the gentlest of breathing creatures; none show more passionate
tenderness to their young, when deprived of them, and, in short, I
am not ashamed to profess a deep love for these gentle creatures.”
288 The commentators say that, in a former creation, Ocean grieved his
mother and suffered in consequence the pains of hell.
289 As described in Book I Canto XL.
290 Parasúráma.
291 The Sanskrit word _hasta_ signifies both _hand_, and the trunk of
“The beast that bears between his eyes a serpent for a head.”
292 See P. 41.
293 The first progeny of Brahmá or Brahmá himself.
294 These are three names of the Sun.
295 See P. 1.
296 The saints who form the constellation of Ursa Major.
297 The regent of the planet Venus.
298 Kuvera.
_ 299 Bali_, or the presentation of food to all created beings, is one of
the five great sacraments of the Hindu religion: it consists in
throwing a small parcel of the offering, _Ghee_, or rice, or the
like, into the open air at the back of the house.
300 In mythology, a demon slain by Indra.
301 Called also Garuḍ, the King of the birds, offspring of Vinatá. See
p. 53.
302 See P. 56.
303 See P. 43.
304 The story of Sávitrí, told in the Mahábhárat, has been admirably
translated by Rückert, and elegantly epitomized by Mrs. Manning in
_India, Ancient and Mediæval_. There is a free rendering of the
story in _Idylls from the Sanskrit_.
305 Fire for sacrificial purposes is produced by the attrition of two
pieces of wood.
306 Kaikeyí.
307 The chapel where the sacred fire used in worship is kept.
308 The students and teachers of the Taittiríya portion of the Yajur
Veda.
309 Two of the divine personages called _Prajápatis_ and _Brahmádikas_
who were first created by Brahmá.
310 It was the custom of the kings of the solar dynasty to resign in
their extreme old age the kingdom to the heir, and spend the
remainder of their days in holy meditation in the forest:
“For such through ages in their life’s decline
Is the good custom of Ikshváku’s line.”
_Raghuraṅśa._
311 See Book I, Canto XXXIX. An Indian prince in more modern times
appears to have diverted himself in a similar way.
It is still reported in Belgaum that Appay Deasy was wont to amuse
himself “by making several young and beautiful women stand side by
side on a narrow balcony, without a parapet, overhanging the deep
reservoir at the new palace in Nipani. He used then to pass along
the line of trembling creatures, and suddenly thrusting one of them
headlong into the water below, he used to watch her drowning, and
derive pleasure from her dying agonies.”—History of the Belgaum
District. By H. J. Stokes, M. S. C.
312 Chitraratha, King of the celestial choristers.
313 It is said that the bamboo dies after flowering.
314 “Thirty centuries have passed since he began this memorable journey.
Every step of it is known and is annually traversed by thousands:
hero worship is not extinct. What can Faith do! How strong are the
ties of religion when entwined with the legends of a country! How
many a cart creeps creaking and weary along the road from Ayodhyá to
Chitrakúṭ. It is this that gives the Rámáyan a strange interest, the
story still lives.” _Calcutta Review: Vol. XXIII._
315 See p. 72.
316 Four stars of the sixteenth lunar asterism.
317 In the marriage service.
318 The husks and chaff of the rice offered to the Gods.
319 An important sacrifice at which seventeen victims were immolated.
320 The great pilgrimage to the Himálayas, in order to die there.
321 Known to Europeans as the Goomtee.
322 A tree, commonly called _Ingua_.
323 Sacrificial posts to which the victims were tied.
324 Daughter of Jahnu, a name of the Ganges. See p. 55.
325 The _Mainá_ or Gracula religiosa, a favourite cage-bird, easily
taught to talk.
326 The Jumna.
327 The Hindu name of Allahabad.
328 The Langúr is a large monkey.
329 A mountain said to lie to the east of Meru.
330 Another name of the Jumna, daughter of the Sun.
331 “We have often looked on that green hill: it is the holiest spot of
that sect of the Hindu faith who devote themselves to this
incarnation of Vishṇu. The whole neighbourhood is Ráma’s country.
Every headland has some legend, every cavern is connected with his
name; some of the wild fruits are still called _Sítáphal_, being the