[1] Soothsaying.
[2] An Indian hour equal to twenty-four minutes.
[3] It is the custom amongst widows to use betel leaves instead
of plates.
[4] In English, Benares.
[5] The Deccan.
[6] A small vessel.
[7] Storey is here put for divisions in an Indian well. These
divisions are little projecting ledges of stone made for natives to
stand on so that they can get down close to the water if the well
is not full. There are sometimes six or seven divisions, or ledges,
of this sort.
[8] The first serpent--the king of serpents.
[9] Literally the stealer of gold--a practice very common in India
among that class. There is a proverb to the effect that even from
the gold given by their mothers to be turned into jewels, they will
pilfer a little.
[10] The distance of a kas being equal to 2000 Indian poles.
[11] Dungeon.
[12] A period of time equal to an hour and a half.
[13] King of tigers.
[14] A ghatika is equal to twenty-four minutes.
[15] Siva.
[16] The eldest son of Siva commonly known as the belly god.
[17] Another name of Ganapati.
[18] Worship.
[19] Attendants of Ganesa.
[20] Classical name of Karur, a small, but very ancient, town in the
Koyambatur District of the Madras Presidency.
[21] Naraka of Put--Naraka is hell, and Put is a certain kind of
hell to which, according to Hindu mythology, son-less persons are
hurled down.
[22] Putra-son, so-called as he protects the father from the hell
of Put.
[23] Ficus religiosa.
[24] The fair.
[25] Voluntary cremation of widows with the dead bodies of their
husbands on the funeral pile.
[26] Karor is equal to ten lacs (lakhs); mohur is an old gold coin.
[27] Spring.
[28] The king's court.
[29] Council chamber.
[30] My darling prince.
[31] The creator of the Hindu mythology.
[32] A Hindu feast.
[33] Fee.
[34] Vedas--The sacred books of the Hindus.
[35] Minister.
[36] The chief officer of the realm next to the minister.
[37] The image of the belly-god.
[38] The world of Indra, the regent of the sky.
[39] Names of divine damsels.
[40] Cinnamon-stone.
[41] Diamond.
[42] A precious stone (cat's eye).
[43] A sort of paint for the eye (Hindustani--Surma).
[44] A mark on the forehead.
[45] Serpent sacrifice.
[46] Sacrifice.
[47] Brahman woman.
[48] Throne.
[49] Tevai is the classical name of the modern town of Ramnad in the
district of Madura.
[50] Kodamundan.
[51] Vidamundan.
[52] Vayalvallan.
[53] Kaiyalvallan.
[54] There is no such word as kuta in Tamil. The Tamil and other
Dravidian languages allow rhyming repetitions of word, like
this--bhuta-kuta.
[55] [Compare the tale of Fattu, the Valiant Weaver, Indian Antiquary,
Vol. XI., p. 282 ff.--R. C. T.]
[56] Which in Tamil are exclamations of lamentation, meaning, Ah! Alas!
[57] A place of public feeding.
[58] Among high caste Hindus, when girls leave one village and go to
another, the old woman of the house--the mother or grandmother--always
places in her bundles and on her head a few margosa leaves as a
talisman against demons.
[59] A ghatika is twenty-four minutes. The story being Hindu, the
Hindu method of reckoning distance is used.
[60] A "watch" is a yama, or three hours.
[61] Tamil, to'sai.
[62] A fragrant herb, held in great veneration by the Hindus; Ocymum
sanctum. This herb is sacred alike to Siva and Vishnu. Those species
specially sacred to Siva are--Vendulasi, Siru-tulasi, and Siva-tulasi;
those to Vishnu are Sendulasi, Karundulasi and Vishnu-tulasi.
[63] Compare the Singalese folktale given on p. 62, Vol I. of the
Orientalist.--Ed.
[64] Uparani or upavastra, an upper garment.
[65] This kind of statement often occurs in stories in proof of the
just reign of a monarch. The Hindu idea is that so long as justice
and equity characterise a king's rule, even beasts naturally inimical
are disposed to live in friendship. When timely rain fails or famine
stalks through the land, turning his eyes from the natural causes,
the orthodox Hindu will say that such a king is now reigning over
them unjustly, and hence the calamity.--Translator.
[66] "Distinguishing the peculiarities of an animal by its footsteps,
&c., is often met with in Indian stories. Precisely the reverse of
this is the tale of the four blind men who disputed about the form
of an elephant. One of them had felt only the elephant's ears, and
said it was like a winnow; another examined the breast and a foreleg,
and said it was like a thick stump of wood; the third felt the trunk,
and said it was like a heavy crook; while the fourth, having touched
only the tail, declared it was like a sweeping rake."--W. A. Clouston.
[67] The night-watch hearing the tutelary goddess of the village
mourning, is a very ancient idea. It also occurs, for example,
in the story of Viravara, in the Sanskrit book of fables entitled
"Hitopadesa." Sambhavi and Mahamayi are different names of Kali--a
fierce goddess, much worshipped as the presiding deity of cholera
and smallpox.--T.
[68] A ghatika = 24 minutes.--T.
[69] Apparently the arrows were attached to some kind of mechanism
which discharged them on the opening of the jar. There is "nothing
new under the sun." Dynamite is perhaps a discovery of our own times,
but "infernal machines," which served the purpose of king-killers,
are of ancient date.
[70] The Hindus, at their meals, squat on the ground, with leaves in
place of earthenware dishes, on which their food is served.--T.
[71] A sum of money varying in different localities of the South of
India. In the Chola grants "pon" also occurs.
[72] An Indian word meaning clumps of trees.
[73] It is a very common practice to dupe the ordinary people in
this manner in Hindu temples. Some impostor will proclaim to the
crowd that the spirit of a god, or goddess, is upon him, and utters
whatever comes uppermost in his mind. He occasionally contrives to
accomplish his private ends by such "revelations." The ignorant are
greatly misled by these impostors, and learned Hindus condemn the
practice as gross superstition.--T.
[74] Corresponding to the English proverb: "Quarrelling with one's
bread and butter."
[75] Full grown and ripe bamboo bears a kind of corn which when
collected and shelled resembles wheat. Hunters cook a most excellent
food of bamboo grain and honey.--T.
[76] Compare the story of "The Rat's Wedding" from the Panjab, The
Indian Antiquary, Vol. XI., pp, 226ff: where, however, a better moral
from the tale is drawn.
[77] A low caste man; Pariah.
[78] In response to the sound of the tom-tom.
[79] Traders have also certain secret symbols for marking their prices
on their cloths.
[80] This story, apart from its folklore value, is specially
interesting as showing that the customs mentioned in the Indian
Antiquary, Vol. XIV., pp. 155ff., as being prevalent at Delhi,
regarding secret trade language are universal in India.
[81] i.e., lover of his wife.
[82] i.e., a shudder at sin.
[83] Worship of the household gods or devotion.
[84] The eleventh lunar day of every fortnight, on which a fast is
observed by orthodox Hindus.
[85] Bhusura, bhudeva; a generic name for a Brahmin.
[86] Oil of sesamun; til and gingely oil are the ordinary names for
this common product of India.
[87] Dvadasi is the twelfth lunar day, on which early in the morning,
before even the fifth ghatika is over, every orthodox Hindu is obliged
by his religious codes to break the previous day's fast.
[88] Lit. a "chombu-full;" the chombu is a small vessel.
[89] A sacred hymn.
[90] A panam is generally worth two anas.
[91] See also the second tale in this series.
[92] Learned woman.
[93] There would of course be no real marriage between a dancing girl
and a Brahmin. Hence the insult.
[94] In stories of a master falling in love with the girl he has been
teaching, he is usually himself made a soothsayer. In that capacity
he asks the guardian (father or mother) to put the girl in a light
box and to float her down a river. The girl in the box is taken by
a young man, sometimes a prince, and becomes his wife. A tiger or a
lion is then put into the box, and when the teacher, a great way down
the river, takes the box and wishes to run away with the girl inside,
he is torn to pieces, as a fit reward for his evil intentions, by
the beast. But here the story takes a different turn.
[95] From this point up to the end we shall find the story to be
similar to "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" in the Arabian Nights,
though the plot is different.
[96] Ganga snana Tunga pana. The Ganges for bath and Tunga
(Tungabhadra) for drink.
[97] A Kanarese tale related by a risaldar.
[98] Headman of the village.
[99] Dakshinas (fees given in donation to Brahmins) are ordinarily
given to priests.
[100] A yellow grain, peculiar to India.
[101] It is not generally known that the "Birnam Wood" incident in
Shakespeare's "Macbeth" occurs in the same Arabian historical work.