as a Bráhman, and to his conduct with Ahalyá.
[636] I. q. Siva.
[637] i. e., Siva.
[638] One of the seven under-worlds.
[639] I. q. Acesines and Hydraotes.
[640] I. e., a day of Brahmá consisting of 1000 yugas.
[641] Cp. the halo or aureole round the heads of Christian saints,
the circle of rays and nimbus round the head of Greek divinities,
and the beam that came out of Charles the Great's mouth and illumined
his head. (Grimm's Teutonic Mythology, translated by Stallybrass,
p. 323.) Cp. Livy I, 39; and Le Lotus de la Bonne Loi (Burnouf) p. 4.
[642] Kála means Time, Fate, Death.
[643] I divide sa sivákhyánám and take sa to be the demonstrative
pronoun.
[644] I. e. the Yoga system.
[645] This superstition appears to be prevalent in China. See
Giles's Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio, Vol. I, p. 23, and
other passages. It was no doubt carried there by the same wave of
Buddhism that carried there many similar notions connected with the
transmigration of souls, for instance the belief that children are
born able to speak, and that this is very inauspicious. (Cp. Giles's
Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio, Vol. I, p. 184 with the story of
Dharmagupta and Chandraprabhá in the 17th chapter of this work.) The
existence of this latter belief in Europe is probably to be ascribed
to the influence of Buddhism.
[646] Here I read Srutasarma-sapakshatvam.
[647] Usanas here means Sukra, the spiritual guide of the Asuras.
[648] I read pasyásya rúpam. This gives a better sense. It is partly
supported by a MS. in the Sanskrit College. The same MS. in the
next line reads tvám tu pasyati chaiko'pi--I read tvám tu pasyatu
chaisho'pi.
[649] Lit. "the shape of the moon"; put for the moon, because the
author is speaking of a woman. See Böhtlingk and Roth s. v.
[650] I. e. áryaputra, used by a wife in addressing a husband.
[651] A MS. in the Sanskrit College reads asau where Brockhaus
reads amúr.
[652] The Petersburg lexicographers remark that sampadád is "wohl
fehlerhaft." A MS. in the Sanskrit College has sádarád. But this
seems improbable with sádare in the line above. Babu Syámá Charan
Mukhopádhyáya conjectures sammadád which I have adopted.
[653] The eight Lokapálas or guardians of the world.
[654] I. e. the Vidyádharas.
[655] His charioteer.
[656] I read samárúdha-Bhútásana-vimánakáh.
[657] Reading rabhasokti for nabhasokti. Perhaps siddhimitam in sl. 78,
a, should be siddhamidam.
[658] In the MS. lent me from the Sanskrit College I find
sodháhidansasya and visodhavahnes.
[659] Reading aneko dhanyártho.
[660] Cp. Odyssey 4. 841 hôs hoi enarges oneiron epessyto nyktos
amolgô, where some suppose amolgos to mean the four hours before
daybreak.
[661] I read cha ranadíksháyám.
[662] The MS. in the Sanskrit College reads tatrásyástu sivam távat;
let him succeed in the battle.
[663] I. e. attendants of Siva.
[664] The word, which I have translated "human sacrifice," is
purushamedha. For the prevalence of human sacrifices among all nations
of antiquity see Grimm's Teutonic Mythology, translated by Stallybrass,
Vol. I, p. 44 and ff; see also Tylor's Primitive Culture, Vol. II,
p. 246, 353, 361, 365. Dr. Rajendralála Mitra. Rai Bahadúr, in an
essay in the Journal of the Asiatic Society for 1876, entitled "Human
Sacrifices in India," traces the history of the practice in India, and
incidentally among the principal nations of antiquity. The following
is his own summary of his conclusions with respect to the practice
in India. (1) That, looking to the history of human civilization,
and the rituals of the Hindus, there is nothing to justify the belief
that in ancient times the Hindus were incapable of sacrificing human
beings to their gods. (2) That the Sunahsepha hymns of the Rig Veda
Sanhitá most probably refer to a human sacrifice. (3) That the Aitareya
Bráhmana refers to an actual, and not a typical human sacrifice. (4)
That the Purushamedha originally required the actual sacrifice of
men. (5) That the Satapatha Bráhmana sanctions human sacrifice in some
cases, but makes the Purushamedha emblematic. (6) That the Taittiríya
Bráhmana enjoins the sacrifice of a man at the Horse sacrifice. (7)
That the Puránas recognise human sacrifices to Chandiká but prohibit
the Purushamedha rite. (8) That the Tantras enjoin human sacrifices
to Chandiká, and require that, when human victims are not available,
an effigy of a human being should be sacrificed to her. Of the
sacrifices to Chandiká we have enough and to spare in the Kathá
Sarit Ságara. Strange to say, it appears that human sacrifices were
offered in Greece on Mount Lykaion in Arcadia even in the time of
Pausanias. Dim traditions with respect to the custom are still found
among the inhabitants of that region, (Bernhard Schmidt, Griechische
Märchen, p. 27). Cp. the institution of the pharmakoi connected with
the worship of Apollo! Preller, Griechische Mythologie, Vol. I, p. 202;
see also pp. 240 and 257 and Vol. II, pp. 310 and 466; Herodotus VII,
197; Plato, Min. p. 315, C; Preller, Römische Mythologie, p. 104.
[665] Cp. chapter 45. In chapter 73 will be found another instance
of a "rifted rock whose entrance leads to hell." Cp. the Hercules
Furens of Seneca, v. 662 & ff.
[666] For a parallel to the absurdities that follow, see Campbell's
West Highland Tales, p. 202.
[667] The personified energies of the principal deities, closely
connected with the worship of the god Siva. Professor Jacobi compares
them with the Greek goddesses called mêteres, to whom there was a
temple in the Sicilian town of Engyion. (Indian Antiquary, January
1880.)
[668] For ávaham I read áhavam.
[669] Labdhakakshyáh is probably a misprint for baddhakakshyáh.
[670] I read abhikánkshá for abhikánksho which is found in Brockhaus's
text. This is supported by a MS. in the Sanskrit College.
[671] The MS. in the Sanskrit College reads jagme.
[672] Possibly an arrow with a head resembling two hands joined.
[673] There is probably a pun here. Kshetra, besides its astrological
sense, means a wife on whom issue is begotten by some kinsman or duly
appointed person, as in the Jewish law.
[674] Tvashtri is the Vulcan of the Hindus. Bhaga is an Áditya regarded
in the Vedas as bestowing wealth, and presiding over marriage,
his Nakshatra is the Uttara Phálguní. Aryaman is also an Áditya;
Púshan, originally the sun, is in later times an Áditya. The "canopy
of arrows" reminds us of the saying of Dieneces, Herodotus, VII. 227,
and of Milton, P. L., VI. 666.
[675] An epithet of Siva in his character of the destroying deity.
[676] There are three different styles of music called tára, udára,
and mudára. So the word márga contains a pun.
[677] Ogha means current and also quick time in music.
[678] Chhaláhatah is a mistake for chhaládritah. See Böhtlingk
and Roth, (s. v. han with á). The MS. in the Sanskrit College has
chhaládatah.
[679] Here Brockhaus makes a hiatus.
[680] I read Gunasarmanah or Gunasarmane.
[681] The old story of Hippolyte, the wife of Acastus, (the "Magnessa
Hippolyte" of Horace,) and Peleus, of Antea and Bellerophon, of Phædra
and Hippolytus, of Fausta and Crispus. See also the beginning of
the Seven Wise Masters, Simrock's Deutsche Volksbücher, Vol. XII,
pp. 128, 129. Cp. also Grössler, Sagen der Grafschaft Mansfeld,
p. 192. See the remarkable statement in Rohde, Der Griechische Roman,
p. 31, quoted from Pausanias I, 22, 1, to the effect that the story
of Phædra was known to "Barbarians."
[682] Cp. the English superstitions with regard to the raven, crow
and magpie (Henderson's Folk-lore of the Northern Counties, pp. 95
and 96, Hunt's Romances and Drolls of the West of England, p. 429,
Thiselton Dyer, English Folk-lore, pp. 80 and 81). See also Horace,
Odes, III, 27. In Europe the throbbing or tingling of the left
ear indicates calamity, (Liebrecht, Zur Volkskunde, p. 327, Hunt's
Romances and Drolls of the West of England, p. 430, Thiselton Dyer,
English Folk-lore, p. 279). See also Bartsch's Sagen, Märchen und
Gebräuche aus Meklenburg, Vol. II, p. 313, and Birlinger, Aus Schwaben,
pp. 374-378, and 404. For similar superstitions in ancient Greece see
Jebb's Characters of Theophrastus, p. 163, "The superstitious man,
if a weasel run across his path, will not pursue his walk until some
one else has traversed the road, or until he has thrown three stones
across it. When he sees a serpent in his house, if it be the red snake,
he will invoke Sabazius, if the sacred snake, he will straightway place
a shrine on the spot * * * * If an owl is startled by him in his walk,
he will exclaim "Glory be to Athene!" before he proceeds." Jebb refers
us to Ar. Eccl. 792.
[683] The Sanskrit College MS. reads nyáyam for práptam "hear my suit
against Gunasarman." This makes a far better sense.
[684] Daridryo is probably a misprint for daridro.
[685] Cp. Thiselton Dyer's English Folk-lore, p. 280. He remarks: "A
belief was formerly current throughout the country in the significance
of moles on the human body. When one of these appeared on the upper
side of the right temple above the eye, to a woman it signified good
and happy fortune by marriage. This superstition was especially
believed in in Nottinghamshire, as we learn from the following
lines, which, says Mr. Briscoe, (author of 'Nottinghamshire Facts
and Fictions') were often repeated by a poor girl at Bunny:--
'I have a mole above my right eye,
And shall be a lady before I die.
As things may happen, as things may fall
Who knows but that I may be Lady of Bunny Hall?'
The poor girl's hopes, it is stated, were ultimately realized, and
she became 'Lady of Bunny Hall.' See Brand's Popular Antiquities,
Vol. III, pp. 252-255.
[686] I read dehatyágam and vánchasi.
[687] I. e. "beautiful." There is a pun here.
[688] Pátála = Hades, i. e., the world below, vasati = dwelling.
[689] Here Brockhaus supposes a hiatus.
[690] Savará should probably be saraká.
[691] Here Brockhaus supposes a hiatus.
[692] The god of Death.
[693] i. e. Destruction (a goddess of death and corruption).
[694] i. e. the god of the wind.
[695] The god of wealth.
[696] Cp. Homer's Iliad, Book XV, 113-141.
[697] For anyonyais I read anye' anyais.
[698] Or perhaps--with arrows having ten million points.
[699] Cp. Thiselton Dyer's English Folk-lore, p. 203.
[700] Probably some kind of sparkling gem.
[701] Said to mean, planets or demons unfavourable to children.
[702] Cp. Odyssey VII, 117. The same is asserted by Palladius of
the trees in the island of Taprobane, where the Makrobioi live. The
fragment of Palladius, to which I refer, begins at the 7th Chapter
of the IIIrd book of the History of the Pseudo-Callisthenes edited
by Carolus Mueller.
[703] i. e., connected in some way with Buddha. See Böhtlingk and
Roth s. v.
[704] i. e., the Himálaya.
[705] This seems to agree with the story as told in the Bhágavata
Purána. For various forms of the Ráma legend, see the translation of
the Uttara Ráma Charita by M. Félix Nève.
[706] The story of Genovefa in Simrock's Deutsche Volksbücher, Vol. I,
p. 371, bears a striking resemblance to that of Sítá. The way in
which Schmerzensreich and his father retire to the forest at the
end of the story is quite Indian. In the Greek novel of Hysminias
and Hysmine the innocence of the heroine is tested by the fountain
of Diana (Scriptores Erotici, p. 595). For parallels to the story
of Genoveva or Genovefa see Prym und Socin, Syrische Märchen, LII,
and the Introduction, p. xxii.
[707] One of the five trees of Paradise. For the golden lotuses, see
Chapter XXV. In Ch. LII we find trees with trunks of gold and leaves
and fruit of jewels. A similar tree is found in the mediæval romance
of king Alexander. Dunlop compares the golden vine carried away by
Pompey. Liebrecht remarks that there was also a golden vine over the
gate of the temple at Jerusalem, and compares the golden lotus made by
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
uncanny president, Birlinger, Aus Schwaben, pp. 323 and 372. In
Bartsch's Sagen &c. aus Meklenburg, pp. 11--44, will be found the
recorded confessions of many witches, who deposed to having danced
with the Teutonic Bhairava on the Blocksberg. The Mothers of the
second part of Faust probably come from Greece.
[776] Mukta for yukta, which is clearly a misprint.
[777] This story is identical with the story of "The merchant who
struck his mother," as given by the Rev. S. Beal in the Antiquary
for September 1880. It is also found in the Avadána Sataka: see
Dr. R. L. Mitra's Buddhist Literature of Nepal, p. 28, where the above
MS. is described. See also Dr. R. Morris's remarks in the Academy of
the 27th of August, 1881.
[778] A similar transferable wheel is found in the Panchatantra,
Vth Book, 3rd Story. Benfey's Panchatantra, Vol. II, p. 331.
[779] Cp. Ralston's Russian Folk-Tales, p. 358. "Great stress is laid
in the skazkas and legends upon the terrible power of a parent's
curse. The hasty word of a father or mother will condemn even an
innocent child to slavery among devils and when it is once uttered,
it is irrevocable." Throughout the present work curses appear to
be irrevocable but susceptible of modification and limitation. See
Waldau's Böhmische Märchen, p. 537, and the remarks of Preller in
his Griechische Mythologie, Vol. II, p. 345.
[780] Perhaps we should read mrishyatám, forgive me, be patient.
[781] This character is probably taken from the Mahábhárata (see
Dowson's Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology, p. 90).
[782] I have followed the Sanskrit College MS. which gives ádarsa.
[783] I. e. Benevolent, and also satisfied at heart.
[784] Sadguna means good quality, also "good thread."
[785] The epithet refers also to the arrows and means "bright with
excellent heads."
[786] So in Heliodorus, Æthiopica, Lib. III, cap. XIII.
alla tois t' aphthalmois an gnôstheien atenes diolou blepontes kai to
blepharon ou pot' epimyontes.--In the third canto of the Purgatorio
Dante is much troubled at finding that Virgil, being a disembodied
spirit, casts no shadow.
[787] Kali is the side of the die marked with one point. Dvápara
is the side marked with two. They are personified here as demons of
gambling. They are also the present, i. e., the fourth and the third
Yugas or ages of the world.
[788] Cp. Milton's Comus, v. 421 and ff. The word "might" also means
"fire". This "fire" burnt up the hunter.
The pun in the previous sentence cannot be rendered in English.
[789] Here there is a pun. Ambara also means the sky.
[790] Preller in his Griechische Mythologie, Vol. II, p. 475, refers
to a Servian story, in which a shepherd saves the life of a snake in
a forest fire. In return for this service, the snake's father gives
him endless treasures, and teaches him the language of birds.
[791] For the jewels in the heads of reptiles see the long note in
Benfey's Panchatantra, Vol. I, p. 214. The passage in "As you like it"
will occur to every one. Snakes' crowns are mentioned in Grössler,
Sagen der Grafschaft Mansfeld, p. 178, in Veckenstedt's Wendische
Märchen, pp. 403-405, and in Grohmann, Sagen aus Böhmen, pp. 219
and 223.
[792] Dasa means "ten," and also "bite."
[793] In Prester John's letter quoted by Baring Gould, Curious Myths
of the Middle Ages, New Edition, p. 43, we find, "In one of our lands,
hight Zone, are worms called in our tongue Salamanders. These worms
can only live in fire, and they build cocoons like silkworms, which
are unwound by the ladies of our palace, and spun into cloth and
dresses, which are worn by our Exaltedness. These dresses, in order
to be cleansed and washed, are cast into flames."
[794] Or robe. The pun is obvious.
[795] Cp. the 28th story in the 1st Part of Sicilianische Märchen by
Laura Gonzenbach, "Von der Tochter der Sonne." Here Lattughina says
"Fire, be lighted," and immediately a clear fire burned upon the
hearth. Then she said "Come along, pan," and a golden pan came and
placed itself upon the fire. "Come along oil," and the oil came and
poured itself into the pan. In "The story of Shams ul dín and his son,"
Hasan Badr ul dín is discovered by his skill in cooking (Lane's Arabian
Nights, Vol. I, p. 266.) De Gubernatis (Zoological Mythology, Vol. I,
p. 158,) remarks that service in the kitchen is especially dear to
the young hero. Bhíma disguises himself as a cook in the Viráta parvan
of the Mahábhárata. Pausanias tells us, Book I, ch. 16, Seleukô gar,
hos hôrmato ek Makedonias syn Alexandrô, Thyonti en Pellê tô Dii,
ta xyla epi tou bômou keimena proubê te automata pros to agalma,
kai aneu pyros hêphthê.
[796] The Petersburg lexicographers think that samvritti should
be sadvritti.
NOTES TO VOLUME II
[1] I read mada for madya.
[2] Nrisinha, Vishnu assumed this form for the destruction of
Hiranyukasipu.
[3] See the note on page 14 of this work. Parallels will be found also
in the notes to No. 52 of the Sicilian Tales, collected by Laura von
Gonzenbach. I have referred, in the Addenda to the 1st Fasciculus,
to Ralston's Russian Folk-tales, p. 230, and Veckenstedt's Wendische
Sagen, p. 152. The Mongolian form of the story is found in Sagas from
the Far East, p. 148. See also Corrigenda and Addenda to Vol. I,
and Dasent's Norse Tales, pp. 12, 264, and 293-295, and xcv of the
Introduction. The first parallel is very close, as the hero of the
tale lets out his secret, when warmed with wine. For the most ancient
example of this kind of tale, see Rhys Davids, Buddhist Birth Stories,
Introduction, pp. xvi-xxi. Cp. Prym und Socin Syrische Märchen,
p. 343; Grimm, Irische Märchen, No. 9, "Die Flasche," p. 42. In
the Bhadraghatajátaka, No. 291 Sakko gives a pitcher, which is lost
in the same way. Grimm in his Irische Elfenmärchen, Introduction,
p. xxxvii, remarks that "if a man discloses any supernatural power
which he possesses, it is at once lost."
[4] In Bartsch's Sagen, Märchen und Gebräuche aus Meklenburg, Vol. I,
p. 41, a man possesses himself of an inexhaustible beer-can. But as
soon as he told how he got it, the beer disappeared. Another (page 84)
spoils the charm by looking into the vessel, at the bottom of which
he sees a loathsome toad. This he had been expressly forbidden to do.
[5] Wealth in her case, salvation in that of the hermit.
[6] Cp. Winter's Tale, Act VI, Scene 4, line 140.
[7] i. e., beautiful.
[8] I find in the Sanskrit College MS. kimmuchyate for vimuchyate.
[9] In La Fontaine's Contes et Nouvelles III, 13, there is a little
dog qui secoue de l'argent et des pierreries. The idea probably
comes from the Mahábhárata. In this poem Srinjaya has a son named
Suvarnashtívin. Some robbers treat him as the goose that laid the
golden eggs was treated. There are also birds that spit gold in
the Mahábhárata. (See Lévêque, Les Mythes et Légendes de l'Inde,
pp. 289-294.) There is an ass with the same gift in Sicilianische
Märchen, No. 52. For the wishing-stone see Dasent's Norse Tales,
Introduction, p. xcv. He remarks that the stone in his tale No. LIX,
which tells the prince all the secrets of his brides, "is plainly
the old Okastein or wishing-stone."
[10] The reading should be Makarakatyevam.
[11] There is a certain resemblance between this story and the
Xth Novel of the VIIIth day in Boccacio's Decameron. Dunlop traces
Boccacio's story to the Disciplina Clericalis of Petrus Alphonsus
(c. 16). It is also found in the Arabian Nights (story of Ali Khoja,
the merchant of Baghdad) in the Gesta Romanorum (c. 118), and in the
Cento Novelle Antiche (No. 74), see also Fletcher's Rule a Wife and
have a Wife. (Dunlop's History of Fiction, p. 56, Liebrecht's German
translation, p. 247).
[12] An elaborate pun.
[13] Ralston remarks (Songs of the Russian people, p. 327.) "The fact
that in Slavonic lands, a thousand years ago, widows used to destroy
themselves, in order to accompany their dead husbands to the world
of spirits, seems to rest upon incontestable evidence, and there
can be no doubt that 'a rite of suttee, like that of modern India'
prevailed among the heathen Slavonians, the descendant, perhaps as
Mr. Tylor remarks (Primitive Culture, I, 421) of 'widow-sacrifice'
among many of the European nations, of 'an ancient Aryan rite belonging
originally to a period even earlier then the Veda'". See also Zimmer,
Alt-Indisches Leben, pp. 329-331.
[14] i. e., of bad character.
[15] The Sanskrit College MS. inserts nícho after kritam.
[16] Cp. the falcon in Chaucer's Squire's Tale and the parallels
quoted by Skeat in his Introduction to Chaucer's Prioresses Tale &c.,
p. xlvii.
[17] An elaborate pun on dvija and sákhá.
[18] For the conception of the sun as an eye see Kuhn, Die Herabkunft
des Feuers und des Göttertranks, pp. 52, 53. The idea is common in
English poetry. See for instance Milton, P. L. V. 171, Spenser's
Faery Queene, I, 3, 4. For instances in classical poetry, see Ovid,
Met. IV, 228, Ar. Nub. 286, Soph. Tr. 101.
[19] I read tvadvákyam with the Sanskrit College MS. and ahitásanki
tachcha in sl. 141 with the same MS.
[20] Cp. Aristophanes, Aves, pp. 169, 170.
anthrôpos ornis astathmêtos, petomenos
atekmartos, ouden oudepot' en tautô menôn
[21] This is also found in the Panchatantra and the Hitopadesa. See
Benfey's Panchatantra, Vol. I, (Einleitung), p. 100. In fact the
present chapter corresponds to the 2nd book of the Hitopadesa, "The
separation of friends," Johnson's Translation, p. 40, and to the 1st
book of the Panchatantra. In sl. 15, I read, with Dr. Kern, sashpán.
[22] Weber supposes that the Indians borrowed all the fables
representing the jackal as a wise animal, as he is not particularly
cunning. He thinks that they took the Western stories about the fox,
and substituted for that animal the jackal. Benfey argues that this
does not prove that these fables are not of Indian origin. German
stories represent the lion as king of beasts, though it is not a
German animal. (Benfey's Panchatantra, Vol. I, pp. 102, 103). See
also De Gubernatis, Zoological Mythology, p. 122.
[23] This story is found in the Hitopadesa, the Panchatantra,
the Kalilah and Dimnah, Anvár-i-Suhaili, Livre des Lumières,
p. 61, Cabinet des Fées, XVII. 152, and other collections (Benfey's
Panchatantra, Vol. I, p. 105.) For the version of the Panchatantra,
see Benfey, Vol. II, p. 9, for that of the Hitopadesa, Johnson's
Translation, p. 44. For that of the Kalíla and Dimna Benfey refers us
to Knatchbull's translation, p. 88, for that of the Anvár-i-Suhaili
to Eastwick's translation, p. 86. Benfey considers a fable of Æsop,
in which an ape tries to fish and is nearly drowned, an imitation of
this. It reminds one of the trick which the fox played the bear in
Reineke Fuchs, (Simrock's Deutsche Volksbücher, Vol. I, p. 148.)
[24] Cp. Panchatantra, Vol. II, p. 21. In the 1st volume Benfey tells
us that in the old Greek version of the fables of Bidpai, the fox,
who represents the jackal, loses through fear his appetite for other
food, and for a hen in the Anvár-i-Suhaili, 99. The fable is also
found in Livre des Lumières, p. 72, Cabinet des Fées, p. XVII, 183,
and other collections. The Arabic version and those derived from
it leave out the point of the drum being found on a battle-field
(Benfey's Panchatantra, Vol. I, p. 132).
Cp. also Campbell's West Highland Tales, p. 268, "A fox being hungry
one day found a bagpipe, and proceeded to eat the bag, which is
generally made of hide. There was still a remnant of breath in the
bag, and when the fox bit it, the drone gave a groan, when the fox,
surprised but not frightened, said--'Here is meat and music.'"
[25] I follow the reading of the Sanskrit College MS. múdhabuddih
prabhur nyáyam ukshnánenádya sikshyate. This satisfies the metre,
which Brockhaus's reading does not.
[26] This word generally means crocodile. But in the Hitopadesa the
creature that kills the crane is a crab.
[27] This fable is the 7th in Benfey's translation of the Panchatantra,
Vol. II, p. 58. It is found in the 4th book of the Hitopadesa,
Johnson's translation, p. 103. It is also found in the Arabic version
(Wolff, I, 41, Knatchbull, 114), Symeon Seth (Athenian edition, p. 16,)
John of Capua, c. 4, b., German translation (Ulm., p. 1483. D.,
V, b.,) Spanish translation, XIII, 6, Firenzuola, 39, Doni, 59,
Anvár-i-Suhaili, 117, Livre des Lumières, 92, Cabinet des Fées, XVII,
221, Thousand and one Nights (Weil, III, 915.) Cp. Lafontaine, X,
4. (Benfey, Vol. I, p. 175). Benfey shews that it may be Buddhistic in
origin, quoting a story from Upham's Sacred and Historical Books of
Ceylon, III, 292. He also shews that it may have come into Buddhist
books from the Greek, as Alcæus appears to have been acquainted
with a similar Greek fable, (Æsopus, Furia 231, Cor., 70). See also
Weber's Indische Studien, III, 343. I may as well mention that in
the notes taken from Benfey's Panchatantra I substitute Johnson's
translation of the Hitopadesa for Max Mueller's. The story is found
in Rhys Davids' translation of the Játakas, (pp. 317-321,) which has
just been published.
[28] Here he is called a jhasha which means "large fish."
[29] Cp. Hitopadesa, Johnson's translation, Fable, IX, p. 61, Arabic,
(Wolff., 46, Knatchbull, 117,) Symeon Seth, 18, John of Capua c., 5,
b., German translation (Ulm edition) 1483, E., II, a, Spanish, XIII,
6, Firenzuola, 43, Doni, 62, Anvár-i-Suhaili, 124, Livre des Lumières,
99, Cabinet des Fées, XVII, 236, Baldo 4th Fable, Livre des Merveilles
(in Edéléstand du Méril, Poésies Inédites, 234), also Sukasaptati,
31. Benfey considers it to be Buddhistic in origin, referring
to Memoires sur les contrées occidentales traduits du Sanscrit
par Hiouen Thsang et du Chinois par Stan. Julien I, 361, Köppen,
Religion des Buddha, p. 94, Note I, (Benfey's Panchatantra, Vol. I,
p. 179 and ff.) This is the 30th story in my copy of the Sukasaptati.
[30] Dr. Kern conjectures abhigarjinam but the Sanskrit College
MS. reads matvá tatrátigarjitam iti sinham, thinking that he was
outroared there, however, the word sinham must be changed if this
reading is to be adopted.
[31] I prefer the reading kas of the Sanskrit College MS., and would
render, "Whom can the king make his equal? Fortune does not proceed
in that way."
[32] I read dosham for dosho with the Sanskrit College MS.
[33] Cp. the ninth in Benfey's translation, Vol. II, p. 71. Cp. also
Kalilah and Dimnah, (Wolff. I, 59, Knatchbull, 126), Symeon Seth,
p. 22, John of Capua d, 1, b, German translation (Ulm, 1483) E., V.,
a, Spanish translation, XVI a, Firenzuola, 49, Doni, 75, (Benfey,
Vol. I, p. 223).
[34] Cp. Johnson's translation of the Hitopadesa, Fable XI,
p. 110. Benfey compares Kalilah and Dimnah (Wolff. 1, 78, Knatchbull
138), John of Capua, d., 3, Symeon Seth, p. 25, German translation
(Ulm 1483) F. 1, 6, Spanish translation, XVII, 6 and ff, Firenzuola,
57, Doni 54, Anvár-i-Suhaili, 153, Livre des Lumières, 118, Cabinet
des Fées, XVII, 294, (Benfey's Panchatantra, Vol. I, p. 230.) Cp. also
Sagas from the Far East, Tale XIX. In sl. 145, I read vairaktyam;
see Böhtlingk and Roth s. v. vairatya.
[35] I adopted this translation of desajna, in deference to the opinion
of a good native scholar, but might not the word mean simply "knowing
countries?" The crow then would be a kind of feathered Ulysses,
cp. Waldau's Böhmische Märchen, p. 255. The fable may remind some
readers of the following lines in Spenser's Mother Hubberd's Tale.
He shortly met the Tygre and the Bore
That with the simple Camell raged sore
In bitter words, seeking to take occasion
Upon his fleshly corpse to make invasion.
[36] Benfey (Panchatantra, Vol. I, p. 231) quotes the following
passage from John of Capua's version, "Dicitur autem, melior omnium
regum est qui aquilæ similatur in cujus circuitu sunt cadavera,
pejor vero omnium est qui similatur cadaveri in cujus circuitu sunt
aquilæ." It is wanting in De Sacy's edition of the Arabic version,
and in the old Greek translation. This looks as if the Hebrew version,
from which John of Capua translates, was the best representation of
the original Indian work.
[37] This corresponds to the 2nd Fable in the IVth book of the
Hitopadesa, Johnson's translation, page 99. Benfey considers that the
fable of Æsop, which we find in Babrius, 115, is the oldest form of
it. He supposes that it owes its present colouring to the Buddhists. It
appears in the Arabic version (Wolff. I, 91, Knatchbull, 146), Symeon
Seth, p. 28, John of Capua d., 5, b., German translation (Ulm., 1483)
F., VIII, 6, Spanish translation, XIX a, Firenzuola, 65, Doni 93,
Anvár-i-Suhaili, 159, Livre des Lumières, 124, Cabinet des Fées, XVII,
309. (Benfey's Panchatantra, Vol. I, pp. 239, 240). See also Weber,
Indische Studien, III, 339. This story is found in the Avadánas
translated from the Chinese by Stanislas Julien No. XIV, Vol. I,
pp. 71-73, (Liebrecht, Zur Volkskunde, p. 111.) It is the 3rd in La
Fontaine's tenth book. The original source is probably the Kachchhapa
Játaka; see Rhys Davids' Introduction to his Buddhist Birth stories,
p. viii. In Coelho's Contos Portuguezes, p. 15, the heron, which is
carrying the fox, persuades it to let go, in order that she may spit
on her hand. (A similar incident on page 112 of this volume.) Gosson
in his School of Abuse, Arber's Reprints, p. 43, observes, "Geese
are foolish birds, yet, when they fly over mount Taurus, they shew
great wisdom in their own defence for they stop their pipes full of
gravel to avoid gagling, and so by silence escape the eagles."
[38] i. e., the provider for the future, the fish that possessed
presence of mind, and the fatalist, who believed in kismat. This
story is found in the Hitopadesa, Book IV, Fable 11, Johnson's
translation. Benfey has discovered it in the Mahábhárata, XII, (III,
538) v. 4889, and ff. He compares Wolff., I, 54, Knatchbull, 121,
Symeon Seth, p. 20, John of Capua, c., 6, b., German translation
(Ulm., 1483), E. III, a., Spanish, XV, b, Firenzuola, 47, Doni, 73,
Anvár-i-Suhaili, 130, Livre des Lumières, 105, Cabinet des Fées,
XVII, 250. (Benfey, Vol. I, pp. 241 and 242)
[39] For the story of the pair of tittibha birds, cp. Hitopadesa,
Book II, fable X, Johnson's translation, p. 65. Benfey compares
Wolff, I, 84, Knatchbull 145, Symeon Seth, 28, John of Capua d.,
5, a., German translation (Ulm 1483) F., VII, a., Spanish, XIX, a.,
Firenzuola, 63, Doni, 92, Anvár-i-Suhaili, 158, Livre des Lumières,
123, Cabinet des Fées, XVII, 307, (Benfey's Panchatantra, Vol. I,
p. 235) Benfey adduces evidence in favour of its Buddhistic origin.
[40] The following story is the 17th in the 1st Book of the
Panchatantra, Benfey's translation. He compares the Arabic version
(Wolff, I, 91, Knatchbull, 150,) Symeon Seth, 31, John of Capua e.,
1., German translation (Ulm 1483) G., IV., Spanish translation,
XX, a., Firenzuola, 70, Doni, 98, Anvár-i-Suhaili, 170; Cabinet des
Fées, XVII, 329. Symeon Seth has for the firefly lithon stilbonta:
the Turkish version in the Cabinet des Fées "Un morceau de crystal
qui brillait." (Benfey's Panchatantra, Vol. I, pp. 269, 270).
[41] Benfey compares the Arabic version, (Wolff, I, 93, Knatchbull,
151,) Symeon Seth, 31, John of Capua, o., 2., German translation
(Ulm 1483) G., VI, b., Spanish, XXI, a., Firenzuola, 73, Doni, 104,
Anvár-i-Suhaili, 172, Livre des Lumières, 129, Cabinet des Fées,
XVII, 333, Baldo, Fab. XIX, in Edéléstand du Méril. Benfey points out
that that Somadeva agrees wholly or partly with the Arabic version in
two points. The judges set the tree on fire (or apply smoke to it,)
not Dharmabuddhi, (as in Panchatantra, Benfey, Vol. II, pp. 114 &
ff.) Secondly, in the Panchatantra the father dies and the son is
hanged, in De Sacy's Arabic and the old Greek version both remain
alive, in Somadeva, and John of Capua, and the Anvár-i-Suhaili, the
father dies and the son is punished. Here we have a fresh proof that
the Hebrew version, from which John of Capua translated, is the truest
representative of the oldest Arabic recension. (Benfey's Panchatantra,
Vol. I, p. 275 and ff.) This story has been found in Tibet by the
Head Master of the Bhútia School, Darjiling, Babu Sarat Chandra Dás.
[42] I read with the Sanskrit College MS. asadvyayi.
[43] i. e., "Virtuously-minded." His brother's name
means--"Evil-minded."
[44] Cp. Hitopadesa, Johnson's translation, Fable, VIII, p. 60. Benfey
appears not to be aware that this story is in Somadeva. It corresponds
to the sixth in his 1st Book, Vol. II, p. 67. He thinks that Somadeva
must have rejected it though it was in his copy. Benfey says it
is of Buddhistic origin. It is found in the Arabic version (Wolff,
p. 40, Knatchbull, p. 113), Symeon Seth, (Athenian edition, p. 16),
John of Capua, e., 4, a., German translation, Ulm, 1483 D., IV. b.,
Spanish, XIII, 6, Firenzuola, 38, Doni, 57, Anvár-i-Suhaili, p. 116,
Livre des Lumières, 91, Cabinet des Fées, XVII, 220. It is connected
with the 20th of the 1st book in Benfey's translation, in fact it is
another form of it. (Somadeva's fable seems to be a blending of the
two Panchatantra stories). Cp. also Phædrus, I, 28, Aristophanes,
Aves, 652. (Benfey's Panchatantra, Vol. I. pp. 167-170.)
[45] This corresponds to the 21st of the first book in Benfey's
translation, Vol. II, p. 120. Cp. Arabic version (Wolff, I, 98,
Knatchbull, 156.), Symeon Seth, 33, John of Capua, e., 4, German
translation (Ulm, 1483) H., II, b., Firenzuola, 82, Doni, 113,
Anvár-i-Suhaili, 187, Livre des Lumières, 135, Cabinet des Fées, XVII,
353, Robert, Fables inédites, II, 193-196. (Benfey, I, 283). It is the
1st of the IXth Book of La Fontaine's Fables, Le depositaire infidèle.
This is the 218th Játaka. A gámavásí deposits ploughshares with a
nagaravásí who sells them and buys músikavaccam. "Phálá te músike hi
kháditá ti músikavaccam dassesi." The rest much as in our tale. A
kulalo is said to have carried off the son. (Fausböll, Vol. II,
p 181.) If Plutarch is to be believed, the improbability of the
merchant's son's story is not so very striking, for he tells us,
in his life of Marcellus, that rats and mice gnawed the gold in the
temple of Jupiter Capitolinus.
[46] The argument reminds one of that in "Die kluge Bauerntochter,"
(Grimm's Märchen, 94). The king adjudges a foal to the proprietor of
some oxen, because it was found with his beasts. The real owner fishes
in the road with a net. The king demands an explanation. He says,
"It is just as easy for me to catch fish on dry land, as for two
oxen to produce a foal." See also Das Märchen vom sprechenden Bauche,
Kaden's Unter den Olivenbäumen, pp. 83, 84.
[47] This is No. 84 in Stanislas Julien's translation of the Avadánas.
[48] This is No. 67 in Stanislas Julien's translation of the
Avadánas. This story is found in Coelho's Contos Portuguezes,
p. 112. So Ino persuaded the women of the country to roast the
wheat before it was sown, Preller Griechische Mythologie, Vol. II,
p. 312. To this Ovid refers, Fasti, II, 628, and III, 853-54.
[49] This is No. 70 in Stanislas Julien's translation of the Avadánas.
[50] Cp. The Two Noble Kinsmen, Act IV, Scene 2, 1. 110,
His nose stands high, a character of honour.
[51] This is No. 57 in Stanislas Julien's translation of the Avadánas.
[52] This is No. 71 in the Avadánas.
[53] The MS. in the Sanskrit College reads
rájakuládishtakharjúránayanam. This is No. 45 in the Avadánas
translated by Stanislas Julien.
[54] The reading of the Sanskrit College MS. is ádritánoparenate, but
probably the reading is ádritá no, panena te they were not honoured
but on the contrary punished with a fine.
[55] I think tad should be tam. The story is No. 58 in the Avadánas.
[56] The Sanskrit College MS. reads gahvaragrámavásí, but below sa
gahvarah. This story is No. 38 in the Avadánas.
[57] This story is No. 98 in the Avadánas.
[58] Benfey shews that this introduction is probably of Buddhistic
origin. He quotes from Upham's Sacred and Historical books of Ceylon
a story about some snipe, which escape in the same way, but owing to
disunion are afterwards caught again. Cp. also Mahábhárata, V (II,
180) v. 2455 and ff., also Baldo Fab. X, in Edéléstand du Méril,
Poésies Inédites, pp. 229, 230, La Fontaine, XII, 15. (Benfey,
Vol. I, p. 304, and ff.) See the first book of the Hitopadesa,
(page 3, Johnson's translation) and the 2nd book of the Panchatantra
(page 176, Benfey's translation). It is to be found in Rhys Davids'
translation of the Játakas, which has just reached India, pp. 296-298.
[59] Cp. Wolff, I, 159, Knatchbull, 201, Symeon Seth, 47, John of
Capua, g., 3, b., German translation (Ulm, 1483) M., IV, b., Spanish
translation, XXXI, b., Doni, 18, Anvár-i-Suhaili, 273, Livre des
Lumières, 211, Cabinet des Fées, XVII, 410, Hitopadesa (Johnson)
Fable V, p. 22. (Benfey, Vol. I, p. 316.)
[60] For jata we must read játa. Cp. for the power given by a treasure
the 18th chapter of this work, see also Benfey, Vol. I, p. 320.
[61] The Sanskrit College MS. has ullambya, having hung it upon a peg.
[62] Cp. Wolff, I, 160, Knatchbull, 202, Symeon Seth, 48, John of
Capua, g., 6, German translation (Ulm) M., IV, b., Anvár-i-Suhaili,
275, Livre des Lumières, 214, Cabinet des Fées, XVII, 412. (Benfey,
Vol. I, p. 318.)
[63] Cp. Hitopadesa, Fable VII, p. 30. Benfey compares Wolff, I,
162, Knatchbull, 203, Symeon Seth, 48, John of Capua, g., 6, German
translation (Ulm, 1483) M., V, Spanish translation, XXXII, a, Doni,
p. 20, Anvár-i-Suhaili, 275, Livre des Lumières, 216, Cabinet des
Fées, XVII, 413, Camerarius, Fab. Æsop., 388, Lafontaine, VIII, 27,
Lancereau, French translation of the Hitopadesa, 222, Robert, Fables
Inédites, II, 191. (Benfey, Vol. I, p. 320). Cp. also Sagas from the
Far East, p. 189.
[64] Perhaps we should read--sáyake.
[65] Here Somadeva departs from the Panchatantra, (Benfey, Vol. I,
p. 318.)
[66] As he does the lion in Babrius, 107.
[67] Benfey compares Grimm R. F. CCLXXXIV, Renart, br. 25, Grimm
Kinder- und Hausmärchen, 58, (III, 100) Keller, Romans des sept Sages,
CLII, Dyocletian, Einleitung, 48, Conde Lucanor, XLIII. (Benfey,
Vol. I, p. 333). See also Lafontaine's Fables, XII, 15. This is
perhaps the story which General Cunningham found represented on a
bas-relief of the Bharhut Stúpa. (See General Cunningham's Stúpa of
Bharhut, p. 67.) The origin of the story is no doubt the Birth-story
of "The Cunning Deer," Rhys Davids' translation of the Játakas,
pp. 221-223. The Kurunga Miga Játaka, No. 206 in Fausböll Vol. II,
p. 152 is a still better parallel. In this the tortoise gnaws through
the bonds, the crane (satapatto) smites the hunter on the mouth as
he is leaving his house; he twice returns to it on account of the
evil omen; and when the tortoise is put in a bag, the deer leads
the hunter far into the forest, returns with the speed of the wind,
upsets the bag, and tears it open.
[68] Benfey compares with this the fifth story in the 4th book of
his Panchatantra, Wie eine Frau liebe belohnt. But the very story is
found in Taranga 65, which was not published when Benfey wrote his
book. For parallel stories see Liebrecht, Zur Volkskunde, p. 39 and
ff. where he is treating of a tale in the Nugæ Curialium of Gualterus
Mapes. The woman behaves like Erippe in a story related by Parthenius
(VIII). In the heading of the tale we are told that Aristodemus of
Nysa tells the same tale with different names.
[69] The Sanskrit College MS. reads pallím for patním.
[70] Nága in the original--a fabulous serpent demon with a human
face. Cp. Ralston's Russian Folk-Tales, p. 65. "He flies as a fiery
snake into his mistress's bower, stamps with his foot on the ground
and becomes a youthful gallant."
[71] Cp. Arrian's Indika, chapter xvii, McCrindle's translation.
[72] This story corresponds to No. XLIII, in the Avadánas.
[73] This to a certain extent resembles the 129th story in the Gesta
Romanorum, "Of Real Friendship." Douce says that the story is in
Alphonsus. A story more closely resembling the story in the Gesta is
current in Bengal, with this difference, that a goat does duty for
the pig of the Gesta. A son tells his father he has three friends,
the father says that he has only half a friend. Of course the half
friend turns out worth all the three put together. The Bengali story
was told me by Pandit Syámá Charan Mukhopádhyáya. See also Liebrecht's
Dunlop, p. 291, and note 371. See also Herrtage's English Gesta,
p. 127, Tale 33.
[74] A perpetually recurring pun! The word can either mean "oiliness"
or "affection."
[75] Cp. what Sganarelle says in Le Mariage Forcé:
"La raison. C'est que je ne me sens point propre pour le mariage,
et que je veux imiter mon père et tous ceux de ma race, qui ne se
sont jamais voulu marier."
[76] This story bears a certain resemblance to the European stories of
grammarians who undertake to educate asses or monkeys. (See Lévêque,
Les Mythes et Légendes de l'Inde et de la Perse, p. 320.) La Fontaine's
Charlatan is perhaps the best known. This story is found in Prym und
Socin's Syrische Märchen, p. 292, where a man undertakes to teach a
camel to read.
[77] This story is No. LI in the Avadánas.
[78] See Felix Liebrecht, Orient und Occident, Vol. I, p. 135 on
the Avadánas translated from the Chinese by Stanislas Julien, Paris,
1859 where this story is found (No. LXIX.) He compares a story of an
Irishman who was hired by a Yarmouth Malster to assist in loading his
ship. As the vessel was about to set sail, the Irishman cried out from
the quay. "Captain, I lost your shovel overboard, but I cut a big notch
on the rail-fence, round stern, just where it went down, so you will
find it when you come back." Vol. II, p. 544, note. Liebrecht thinks
he has read something similar in the Asteia of Hierokles. See also
Bartsch, Sagen, Märchen und Gebräuche aus Meklenburg, Vol. I, p. 349.
[79] See Liebrecht, Zur Volkskunde, pp. 119 and 120, also Benfey's
Panchatantra. Vol. I, p. 391, Nachträge II, 543. This is No. CIII. in
the Avadánas.
[80] This is No. XLIX in the Avadánas.
[81] This is No. XXXVII in the Avadánas.
[82] In the original the husband is called a "vessel of alms," i. e.,
"receiver of alms," but the pun cannot be retained in the translation
without producing obscurity.
[83] See Benfey's Panchatantra, IIIrd book, page 213, Vol. II. Benfey
points out that in the Mahábhárata, Drona's son, one of the few
Kauravas that had survived the battle, was lying under a sacred
fig-tree, on which crows were sleeping. Then he sees one owl come and
kill many of the crows. This suggests to him the idea of attacking
the camp of the Pándavas. In the Arabic text the hostile birds are
ravens and owls. So in the Greek and the Hebrew translation. John
of Capua has "sturni," misunderstanding the Hebrew. (Benfey, Vol. I,
335). Rhys Davids states in his Buddhist Birth Stories (p. 292 note,)
that the story of the lasting feud between the crows and the owls is
told at length in Játaka, No. 270.
[84] For Pradívin the Petersburg lexicographers would read Prajívin,
as in the Panchatantra.
[85] Benfey remarks that this fable was known to Plato; Cratylus, 411,
A, (but the passage might refer to some story of Bacchus personating
Hercules, as in the Ranæ,) and he concludes that the fable came from
Greece to India. He compares Æsop, (Furia, 141, Coraes, 113,) Lucianus,
Piscator, 32, Erasmus, "Asinus apud Cumanos," Robert, Fables Inédites,
I, 360. (Benfey, Vol. I, p. 463.) I cannot find the fable in Phædrus
or Babrius. The skin is that of a tiger in Benfey's translation, and
also in Johnson's translation of the Hitopadesa, p. 74 in the original
(Johnson's edition). See also Liebrecht, Zur Volkskunde, p. 119. It
is No. 189 in Fausböll's edition of the Játakas, and will be found
translated in Rhys Davids' Introduction to his Buddhist Birth Stories,
p. v.
[86] Benfey compares Grimm's Märchen, Vol. III, 246, where parallels
to story No. 171 are given; Thousand and one Nights (Weil, III,
923). In a fable of Æsop's the birds choose a peacock king. (Æsop,
Furia, 183, Coraes, 53). (Benfey, Vol. I, p. 347.) See also Liebrecht,
Zur Volkskunde, p. 110, Veckenstedt's Wendische Märchen, p. 424, De
Gubernatis, Zoological Mythology, Vol. II, p. 206. See also p. 246 for
an apologue in which the owl prevents the crow's being made king. See
also Rhys Davids' Buddhist Birth Stories, p. 292. See also Brand's
Popular Antiquities, Vol. III, pp. 196, 197. The story of the crow
dissuading the birds from making the owl king is Játaka, No. 270. In
the Kosiya Játaka, No. 226, an army of crows attacks an owl.
[87] Cp. Hitopadesa, 75, Wolff, I, 192; Knatchbull, 223, Symeon Seth,
58, John of Capua, h., 5, b., German translation (Ulm 1483) O., II,
Spanish translation, XXXVI, a.; Doni, 36, Anvár-i-Suhaili, 315, Livre
des Lumières, 246; Cabinet des Fées, XVII, 437. This fable is evidently
of Indian origin. For the deceiving of the elephant with the reflexion
of the moon, Benfey compares Disciplina Clericalis XXIV. (Benfey,
Vol. I, pp. 348, 349.) See also De Gubernatis, Zoological Mythology,
Vol. II, p. 76.
[88] i. e. moon-lake.
[89] Common epithets of the moon. The Hindus find a hare in the moon
where we find a "man, his dog, and his bush."
[90] This story is found in Wolff, I, 197, Knatchbull, 226, Symeon
Seth, 60, John of Capua, h., 6, b, German translation (Ulm 1483) O.,
IV, 6, Spanish translation, 36, b, Doni, 38, Anvár-i-Suhaili, 322,
Livre des Lumières, 251, Cabinet des Fées, XVII, 442, Baldo Fab. XX,
in Edéléstand du Méril, Poesies Inédites, p. 249. Benfey finds three
"moments" in the Fable; the first is, the "hypocritical cat"; this
conception he considers to be "allgemein menschlich" and compares
Furia, 14, Coraes, 152, Furia, 15, Coraes, 6, Furia, 67, Coraes,
28, Robert, Fables Inédites, I, 216; also Mahábhárata V. (II, 283)
5421 and ff., where the cat manages to get herself taken to the
river, to die, by the rats and mice, and there eats them. The second
moment is the folly of litigiousness: here he compares a passage
in Dubois's Panchatantra. The third is the object of contention,
the nest, for which he compares Phædrus, I, 21. (Benfey, Vol. I,
pp. 350-354). I should compare, for the 1st moment, Phædrus, Lib. II,
Fabula, IV, (recognovit Lucianus Mueller) Aquila, Feles et Aper,
La Fontaine, VII, 16. See also for the "hypocritical cat" Liebrecht,
Zur Volkskunde, p. 121. The cat's tactics are much the same as those
of the fox in Reineke Fuchs (Simrock, Deutsche Volksbücher, Vol. I,
p. 138.) See also De Gubernatis, Zoological Mythology, Vol. II,
p. 54. The story is No. CXXV in the Avadánas. From De Gubernatis,
Zoological Mythology, pp. 227-228 it appears that kapinjala means
a heath-cock, or a cuckoo. Here the word appears to be used as a
proper name. There is a very hypocritical cat in Prym und Socin,
Syrische Märchen, p. lx. See especially p. 242, and cp. p. 319.
[91] This is the 3rd story in Benfey's translation of the third book
of the Panchatantra. See Johnson's translation of the Hitopadesa,
p. 110. Wolff, I. 205, Knatchbull, 233. Symeon Seth, 62, John of Capua,
i., 1, b., German translation O., VI, 6, Spanish, XXXVII, a., Doni,
42, Anvár-i-Suhaili, 331, Livre des Lumières, 254, Cabinet des Fées,
XVII, 444. Benfey translates a reference to it in Pánini. He shews
that there is an imitation of this story in the Gesta Romanorum,
132. In Forlini, Novel VIII, a peasant is persuaded that his kids are
capons. Cp. also Straparola, I, 3; Loiseleur Deslongchamps, Essai,
47, 2. Liebrecht's translation of Dunlop, note 356, Lancereau on
the Hitopadesa, 252. (Benfey, Vol. I, pp. 355-357.) See also Till
Eulenspiegel, c. 66, in Simrock's Deutsche Volksbücher, Vol. X,
p. 452. In the XXth tale of the English Gesta Romanorum (Ed. Herrtage)
three "lechis" persuade Averoys that he is a "lepre;" and he becomes
one from "drede," but is cured by a bath of goat's blood. The 69th
tale in Coelho's Contos Populares, Os Dois Mentíroses, bears a strong
resemblance to this. One brother confirms the other's lies.
[92] Benfey compares this with the story of Zopyrus. He thinks that the
Indians learned the story from the Greeks. See also Avadánas. No. V,
Vol. I, p. 31.
[93] Benfey compares Wolff, I, 210, Knatchbull, 237, Symeon Seth,
p. 64, John of Capua i., 2, German translation (Ulm., 1483) No. VIII,
6, Spanish translation, XXXVIII, a., Doni, 44, Anvár-i-Suhaili,
336, Livre des Lumières, 259, Cabinet des Fées, XVII, 449. (Benfey's
Panchatantra, Vol. I, p. 366.) See also La Fontaine, IX, p. 15.
[94] Dr. Kern suggests vyatíta-pushpa-kálatvád. The Sanskrit College
MS. has the reading of Dr. Brockhaus's text.
[95] Cp. Wolff, I, 212, Knatchbull, 238, Symeon Seth, p. 64, John of
Capua i., 2, b., German translation (Ulm, 1483) P., I, b., Spanish
translation, XXXVIII, a., Doni, 45, Anvár-i-Suhaili, 338, Livre des
Lumières, 261, Cabinet des Fées, XVII, 451. (Benfey, Vol. I, p. 368.)
[96] See Chapter VII of this work.
[97] Benfey compares the Arabic version, Wolff, I, 214, Knatchbull,
240, Symeon Seth, 65, John of Capua i., 3, b., German translation
(Ulm, 1483), P., II. b., Spanish translation, XXXVIII, b., Doni, 47,
Anvár-i-Suhaili, 340, Livre des Lumières, 264; Cabinet des Fées, XVII,
453, cp. also Hitopadesa, (Johnson's translation, p. 78). (Benfey,
Vol. I, p. 371.)
[98] This story is found in the Arabic version, Wolff, I, 219,
Knatchbull, 243, Symeon Seth, 68, John of Capua, i., 4, b., German
translation (Ulm, 1483) P. IV, b., Spanish translation, XXXIX, a.,
Doni, 50, Anvár-i-Suhaili, 355, Livre des Lumières, 279, Cabinet des
Fées, XVII, 466, La Fontaine, IX, 7, Polier, Mythologie des Indes,
II, 571, Hitopadesa, (similar in some respects) Johnson, p. 108,
Mahábhárata, XII, (III, 515) v. 4254 and ff. Benfey compares also
the story of the cat which was changed into a virgin, Babrius,
32. It is said to be found in Strattis (400 B. C.) (Benfey, Vol. I,
pp. 373 and ff.) See also De Gubernatis, Zoological Mythology, Vol. II,
p. 65. This bears a strong resemblance to A Formiga e a Neve, No. II,
in Coelho's Contos Portuguezes.
[99] This reminds one of Babrius, Fabula LXXII.
[100] I follow the Sanskrit College MS. which reads bhajámi not
bhanjámi.
[101] See Liebrecht's notes on the Avadánas, translated by Stanislas
Julien, on page 110 of his "Zur Volkskunde." He adduces an English
popular superstition. "The country people to their sorrow know the
Cornish chough, called Pyrrhocorax, to be not only a thief, but an
incendiary, and privately to set houses on fire as well as rob them
of what they find profitable. It is very apt to catch up lighted
sticks, so there are instances of houses being set on fire by its
means." So a parrot sets a house on fire in a story by Arnauld of
Carcassès (Liebrecht's translation of Dunlop's History of Fiction,
p. 203.) Benfey thinks that this idea originally came from Greece
(Panchatantra, Vol. I, p. 383.) Cp. also Pliny's account of the
"incendiaria avis in Kuhn's Herabkunft des Feuers, p. 31.
[102] This story is found in Wolff, I, 226, Knatchbull, 250, Symeon
Seth, 70, John of Capua, i., 6, German translation (Ulm, 1483) Q. I,
Spanish translation, XL, b., Anvár-i-Suhaili, 364, Livre des Lumières,
283, Cabinet des Fées, XIII, 467, Hitopadesa, Johnson's translation,
p. 112. Benfey compares the western fable of the sick lion. This
fable is told in the Kathá Sarit Ságara, X, 63, sl. 126, and ff.,
and will be found further on. (Benfey, Vol. I, p. 384.)
[103] This is No. XVII in the Avadánas. Cp. Grohmann, Sagen aus Böhmen,
p. 35.
[104] i. e. sweet, salt, acid, astringent, bitter, and pungent.
[105] This is No. XLVI in the Avadánas.
[106] Naukaha should be no doubt 'anokaha on Dr. Brockhaus's system.
[107] This is No. CIV in the Avadánas.
[108] This is No. LXVI in the Avadánas.
[109] Cp. the 37th story in Sicilianische Märchen, part
I. p. 249. Giufá's mother wished to go to the mass and she said to him
"Giufá, if you go out, draw the door to after you." (Ziehe die Thür
hinter dir zu.) Instead of shutting the door, Giufá took it off its
hinges and carried it to his mother in the church. See Dr. Köhler's
notes on the story.
[110] For the superstition of water-spirits see Tylor's Primitive
Culture, p. 191, and ff.
[111] Does this throw any light upon the expression in Swift's Polite
Conversation, "She is as like her husband as if she were spit out of
his mouth." (Liebrecht, Volkskunde, p. 495.)
[112] The fact of this incident being found in the Arabian Nights is
mentioned by Wilson (Collected Works, Vol. IV, p. 146.) See Lane's
Arabian Nights, Vol. I, p. 9. Lévêque (Les Mythes et les Légendes de
l' Inde et de la Perse, p. 543) shews that Ariosto borrowed from the
Arabian Nights.
[113] I follow the Sanskrit College MS. which reads
rakshatyubhayalokatah.
[114] This is the beginning of the fourth book of the
Panchatantra. Benfey does not seem to have been aware that it was to be
found in Somadeva's work. It is also found, with the substitution of a
boar for the porpoise, in the Sindibad-namah and thence found its way
into the Seven Wise Masters, and other European collections. (Benfey's
Panchatantra, Vol. I, p. 420.) See also Liebrecht, Zur Volkskunde,
pp. 122, 123. For the version of the Seven Wise Masters see Simrock's
Deutsche Volksbücher, Vol. XII, p. 139. It is also found in the
Mahávastu Avadána, p. 138 of the Buddhist Literature of Nepal by
Dr. Rajendra Lál Mitra, Rai Bahadúr. (I have been favoured with a
sight of this work, while it is passing through the press.) The wife
of the kumbhíla in the Varanindajátaka (57 in Fausböll's edition) has a
longing for a monkey's heart. The original is, no doubt, the Sumsumára
Játaka in Fausböll, Vol. II, p. 158. See also Mélusine, p. 179,
where the story is quoted from Thorburn's Bannu or our Afghan Frontier.
[115] The Sanskrit College MS. reads cákshipan where Brockhaus reads
ca kshipan.
[116] In Bernhard Schmidt's Griechische Märchen, No. 5, the Lamnissa
pretends that she is ill and can only be cured by eating a gold fish
into which a bone of her rival had been turned. Perhaps we ought to
read sádyá for sádhyá in sl. 108.
[117] For stories of external hearts see Ralston's Russian Folk-Tales,
pp. 109-115, and the notes to Miss Stokes's XIth Tale.
[118] Benfey does not seem to have been aware of the existence of this
story in Somadeva's work. It is found in the Sanskrit texts of the
Panchatantra (being the 2nd of the fourth book in Benfey's translation)
in the Arabic version, (Knatchbull, 264, Wolff I, 242,) Symeon Seth,
75, John of Capua, k., 2, b., German translation (Ulm 1483) Q.,
VII, Spanish translation, XLIV, a, Doni, 61, Anvár-i-Suhaili, 393,
Cabinet des Fées, XVIII, 26; Baldo fab. XIII, in Edéléstand du Méril,
p. 333; Benfey considers it to be founded on Babrius, 95. There
the fox only eats the heart. Indeed there is no point in the remark
that if he had ears he would not have come again. The animal is a
stag in Babrius. It is deceived by an appeal to its ambition. In the
Gesta Romanorum the animal is a boar, which returns to the garden of
Trajan, after losing successively its two ears and tail. (Benfey's
Panchatantra, Vol. I, p. 430 and ff.) See also Weber's article in
Indische Studien, Vol. III, p. 338. He considers that the fable came
to India from Greece. Cp. also De Gubernatis, Zoological Mythology,
Vol. I, p. 377. An ass is deceived in the same way in Prym und Socin,
Syrische Märchen, p. 279. In Waldau's Böhmische Märchen, p. 92, one of
the boys proposes to say that the Glücksvogel had no heart. Rutherford
in the Introduction to his edition of Babrius, p. xxvii, considers
that the fable is alluded to by Solon in the following words:
hymeôs d' heis men hekastos alôpekos ichnesi bainei
sympasin d' hymin chouros enesti noos·
es gar glôssan horate kai eis epos aiolon andros,
eis ergon d' ouden gignomenon blepete.
But all turns upon the interpretation of the first line, which
Schneidewin renders "Singuli sapitis, cuncti desipitis."
[119] I have followed the Sanskrit College MS. in reading
nirbádhasukham.
[120] For parallels to this story compare Liebrecht, Zur Volkskunde,
p. 33, where he treats of the Avadánas, and the Japanese story in
the Nachträge. In this a gentleman who had much enjoyed the smell
of fried eels, pays for them by exhibiting his money to the owner of
the cook-shop. See also p 112 of the same work. M. Lévêque shews that
Rabelais' story of Le Facquin et le Rostisseur exactly resembles this
as told in the Avadánas. He thinks that La Fontaine in his fable of
L'Huître et les Plaideurs is indebted to the story as told in Rabelais:
(Les Mythes et les Légendes de l'Inde, pp. 547, 548.) A similar idea is
found in the Hermotimus of Lucian, chapters 80 and 81. A philosopher
is indignant with his pupil on account of his fees being eleven days
in arrear. The uncle of the young man, who is standing by, being a
rude and uncultured person, says to the philosopher--"My good man,
pray let us hear no more complaints about the great injustice with
which you conceive yourself to have been treated, for all it amounts
to is, that we have bought words from you, and have up to the present
time paid you in the same coin." See also Rohde, Der Griechische
Roman, p. 370 (note). Gosson in his School of Abuse, Arber's Reprint,
pp. 68-69, tells the story of Dionysius.
[121] There is a certain resemblance between this story and a joke in
Philogelos, p. 16. (Ed. Eberhard, Berlin, 1869.) Scholasticus tells
his boots not to creak, or he will break their legs.
[122] This corresponds to the 14th story in the 5th book of the
Panchatantra, Benfey, Vol. II, p. 360. At any rate the leading idea
is the same. See Benfey, Vol. I, p. 537. It has a certain resemblance
to the fable of Menenius. There is a snake in Bengal with a knob at
the end of his tail. Probably this gave rise to the legend of the
double-headed serpent. Sir Thomas Browne devotes to the Amphisbæna
Chapter XV of the third book of his Vulgar Errors, and craves leave to
"doubt of this double-headed serpent," until he has "the advantage
to behold, or iterated ocular testimony." See also Liebrecht, Zur
Volkskunde, p. 120, where he treats of the Avadánas. The story is
identical with that in our text. M. Lévêque shews that this story,
as found in the Avadánas, forms the basis of one of La Fontaine's
fables, VII, 17. La Fontaine took it from Plutarch's life of Agis.
[123] This story is No. LIX in Sir G. Cornewall Lewis's edition of
the Fables of Babrius, Part II. The only difference is that the tail,
when in difficulties, entreats the head to deliver it.
[124] I read hanum, the conjecture of Dr. Kern.
[125] This story appears to have been known to Lucian. In his Demonax
(28) he compares two unskilful disputants to a couple, one of whom is
milking a goat, the other holding a sieve. So Aristophanes speaks of
onou pokai and ornithôn gala. It must be admitted that some critics
doubt Lucian's authorship of the Demonax. Professor Aufrecht in
his Beiträge zur Kenntniss Indischer Dichter quotes a Strophe of
Amarasinha in which the following line occurs,
Dugdhá seyam achetanena jaratí dugdhásayát súkarí. Professor Aufrecht
proposes to read gardabhí for súkarí.
[126] Benfey does not appear to have been aware that this story was to
be found in Somadeva's work. It is found in his Panchatantra, Vol. II,
p. 326. He refers to Wolff, II, 1; Knatchbull, 268; Symeon Seth, 76;
John of Capua, k., 4; German translation, (Ulm, 1483) R., 2; Spanish
translation, XLV. a; Doni, 66; Anvár-i-Suhaili, 404; Cabinet des Fées,
XVIII, 22; Baldo fab. XVI, (in Edéléstand du Méril p. 240). Hitopadesa,
IV, 13, (Johnson's translation, page 116.) In Sandabar and Syntipas
the animal is a dog. It appears that the word dog was also used in
the Hebrew translation. John of Capua has canis for ichneumon in
another passage, so perhaps he has it here. Benfey traces the story
in Calumnia Novercalis C., 1; Historia Septem Sapientum, Bl. n.;
Romans des Sept Sages, 1139; Dyocletian, Einleitung, 1212; Grässe,
Gesta Romanorum II, 176; Keller, Romans, CLXXVIII; Le Grand d' Aussy,
1779, II, 303; Grimm's Märchen, 48. (Benfey, Vol. I, pp. 479-483.) To
Englishmen the story suggests Llewellyn's faithful hound Gelert, from
which the parish of Bethgelert in North Wales is named. This legend
has been versified by the Hon'ble William Robert Spencer. It is found
in the English Gesta, (see Bohn's Gesta Romanorum, introduction, page
xliii. It is No. XXVI, in Herrtage's Edition.) The story (as found
in the Seven Wise Masters) is admirably told in Simrock's Deutsche
Volksbücher, Vol. XII, p. 135. See also Baring Gould's Curious Myths
of the Middle Ages, 1st Series, p. 126.
[127] Here, as Wilson remarked, (Collected Works, Vol. IV, p. 149) we
have the story of Rhampsinitus, Herodotus, II, 121. Dr. Rost compares
Keller, Dyocletianus Leben, p. 55, Keller Li Romans des Sept Sages,
p. cxciii, Liebrecht's translation of Dunlop's History of Fiction,
pp. 197 and 264. Cp. also Sagas from the Far East, Tale XII; see also
Dr. R. Köhler in Orient und Occident, Vol. II, p. 303. He gives many
parallels to Campbell's Gaelic Story of "the Shifty lad," No. XVIII,
d., Vol. I, p. 331, but is apparently not aware of the striking
resemblance between the Gaelic story and that in the text. Whisky does
in the Highland story the work of Dhattúra. See also Cox's Mythology
of the Aryan Nations, I, p. 111 and ff. and Liebrecht, Zur Volkskunde,
p. 34. A similar stratagem is described in Grössler's Sagen aus der
Grafschaft Mansfeld, p. 219.
[128] Of course Karpara is the Sanskrit for pot. In fact the
two friends' names might be represented in English by Pitcher and
Pott. In modern Hindu funerals boiled rice is given to the dead. So
I am informed by my friend Pandit Syámá Charan Mukhopádhyáya, to whom
I am indebted for many kind hints.
[129] I read áhritendhanah. The Sanskrit College MS. seems to me to
give hritendhana.
[130] So Frau Claradis in "Die Heimonskinder" advises her husband not
to trust her father (Simrock's Deutsche Volksbücher, Vol. II, p. 131.)
[131] The Sanskrit College MS. has mama for the mayá of Dr. Brockhaus.
[132] Mr. Gough has kindly pointed out to me a passage in the
Sarvadarsana Sangraha which explains this. The following is Mr. Gough's
translation of the passage; "We must consider this teaching as regards
the four points of view. These are that
(1) Everything is momentary and momentary only:
(2) Everything is pain and pain only:
(3) Everything is individual and individual only:
(4) Everything is baseless and baseless only."
[133] This story is identical with the 5th in the 4th book of the
Panchatantra in Benfey's translation, which he considers Buddhistic,
and with which he compares the story of the Bhilla in chapter 61 of
this work. He compares the story of Dhúminí in the Dasakumára Charita,
page 150, Wilson's edition, which resembles this story more nearly even
than the form in the Panchatantra. Also a story in Ardschi Bordschi,
translated by himself in Ausland 1858, No. 36, pages 845, 846. (It will
be found on page 305 of Sagas from the Far East.) He quotes a saying
of Buddha from Spence Hardy's Eastern Monachism, page 166, cp. Köppen,
Religion des Buddha, p. 374. This story is also found in the Forty
Vazírs, a collection of Persian tales, (Behrnauer's translation,
Leipzig, 1851, page 325.) It is also found in the Gesta Romanorum,
c. 56. (But the resemblance is not very striking.) Cp. also Grimm's
Kinder- und Hausmärchen, No. 16. (Benfey's Panchatantra, Vol. I,
pp. 436 and ff.) This story is simply the Cullapadumajátaka, No. 193
in Fausböll's edition. See also Ralston's Tibetan Tales, Introduction,
pp. lxi-lxiii.
[134] In La Fontaine's Fables X, 14, a man gains a kingdom by carrying
an elephant.
[135] In the story of Satyamanjarí, a tale extracted by Professor
Nilmani Mookerjee from the Kathá Kosa, a collection of Jaina stories,
the heroine carries her leprous husband on her back.
[136] This story is found, with the substitution of a man for a woman,
on p. 128 of Benfey's Panchatantra, Vol. 11; he tells us that it is
also found in the 17th chapter of Silvestre de Sacy's Kalila o Dimna
(Wolff's Translation II, 99; Knatchbull, 346,) in the 11th section
of Symeon Seth's Greek version, 14th chapter of John of Capua; German
translation Ulm, 1483 Y., 5; Anvár-i-Suhaili, p. 596 Cabinet des Fées,
XVIII, 189. It is imitated by Baldo, 18th fable, (Poesics Inédites
du Moyen Age by Edéléstand du Méril, p. 244.) Benfey pronounces it
Buddhistic in origin, though apparently not acquainted with its form
in the Kathá Sarit Ságara. Cp. Rasaváhini, chap. 3. (Spiegel's Anecdota
Paliea). It is also found in the Karma Sataka. Cp. also Matthæus Paris,
Hist. Maj. London, 1571, pp. 240-242, where it is told of Richard
Coeur de Lion; Gesta Romanorum, c. 119; Gower, Confessio Amantis,
Book V; E. Meier Schwäbische Volksmärchen. (Benfey's Panchatantra,
Vol. I, p. 192 and ff.) Cp. also for the gratitude of the animals the
IVth story in Campbell's Tales of the West Highlands. The animals are
a dog, an otter and a falcon, p. 74 and ff. The Mongolian form of the
story is to be found in Sagas from the Far East, Tale XIII. See also
the XIIth and XXIInd of Miss Stokes's Indian Fairy Tales. There is a
striking illustration of the gratitude of animals in Grimm's No. 62,
and in Bartsch's Sagen, Märchen und Gebräuche aus Meklenburg, Vol. I,
p. 483. De Gubernatis in a note to p. 129 of Vol. II, of his Zoological
Mythology, mentions a story of grateful animals in Afanassief. The hero
finds some wolves fighting for a bone, some bees fighting for honey,
and some shrimps fighting for a carcase; he makes a just division,
and the grateful wolves, bees, and shrimps help him in need. See
also p. 157 of the same volume. No. 25 in the Pentamerone of Basile
belongs to the same cycle.
See Die dankbaren Thiere in Gaal's Märchen der Magyaren, p. 175, and
Der Rothe Hund, p. 339. In the Saccamkirajatátaka No. 73, Fausböll,
Vol. I, 323, a hermit saves a prince, a rat, a parrot and a snake. The
rat and snake are willing to give treasures, the parrot rice, but
the prince orders his benefactor's execution, and is then killed by
his own subjects. See Bernhard Schmidt's Griechische Märchen, p. 3,
note. See also Ralston's Tibetan Tales, Introduction, pp. lxiii-lxv.
[137] In Giles's Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio, a tiger, who
has killed the son of an old woman, feeds her henceforth, and appears
as a mourner at her funeral. The story in the text bears a faint
resemblance to that of Androclus, (Aulus Gellius. V, 14). See also
Liebrecht's Dunlop, p. 111, with the note at the end of the Volume.
[138] Cp. Gijjhajátaka, Fausböll, Vol. II, p. 51.
[139] Cp. the 46th story in Sicilianische Märchen gesammelt von Laura
von Gonzenbach, where a snake coils round the throat of a king, and
will not let him go, till he promises to marry a girl, whom he had
violated. See also Benfey's Panchatantra, Vol. I, p. 523.
[140] The Petersburg lexicographers explain takka as Geizhals, Filz;
but say that the word thaka in Marathi means a rogue, cheat. The
word kadarya also means niggardly, miserly. General Cunningham
(Ancient Geography of India, p. 152) says that the Takkas were once
the undisputed lords of the Panjáb, and still subsist as a numerous
agricultural race in the lower hills between the Jhelum and the Rávi.
[141] So in the Russian story of "The Miser," (Ralston's Russian
Folk-tales, p. 47.) Marko the Rich says to his wife, in order to avoid
the payment of a copeck; "Harkye wife! I'll strip myself naked, and
lie down under the holy pictures. Cover me up with a cloth, and sit
down and cry, just as you would over a corpse. When the moujik comes
for his money, tell him I died this morning." Ralston conjectures
that the story came originally from the East.
[142] This resembles the conclusion of the story of the turtle
Kambugríva and the swans Vikata and Sankata, Book X, chap. 60, sl. 169,
see also Ralston's Russian Folk-Tales, p. 292. A similar story is
told in Bartsch's Sagen, Märchen und Gebräuche aus Meklenburg, Vol. I,
p. 349, of the people of Teterow. They adopted the same manoeuvre to
get a stone out of a well. The man at the top then let go, in order
to spit on his hands.
[143] I follow Dr. Kern's conjecture avikritânanâ.
[144] In the Sicilianische Märchen, No. 14, a prince throws a stone
at an old woman's pitcher and breaks it. She exclaims in her anger,
"May you wander through the world until you find the beautiful
Nzentola!" Nos. 12 and 13 begin in a similar way. A parallel will be
found in Dr. Köhler's notes to No. 12. He compares the commencement
of the Pentamerone of Basile.
[145] Cp. the Yaksha to whom Phalabhúti prays in Ch. XX. The belief in
tree-spirits is shewn by Tylor in his Primitive Culture to exist in
many parts of the world. (See the Index in his second volume.) Grimm
in his Teutonic Mythology (p. 70 and ff) gives an account of the
tree-worship which prevailed amongst the ancient Germans. See also
an interesting article by Mr. Wallhouse in the Indian Antiquary for
June 1880.
[146] The Sanskrit College reads anena for asanena. Dr. Kern wishes
to read suhitasyápy asanena kim. This would still leave a superfluity
of syllables in the line.
[147] This part of the story may be compared with the story of As
tres Lebres in Coelho's Contos Portuguezes, p. 90, or that of the
Blind Man and the Cripple in Ralston's Russian Folk Tales.
[148] In the notice of the first ten fasciculi of this translation
which appeared in the Saturday Review for May 1882, the following
interesting remark is made on this story:
"And the story of the woman, who had eleven husbands, bears a curious
but no doubt accidental likeness to an anecdote related by St. Jerome
about a contest between a man and his wife as to which would outlive
the other, she having previously conducted to the grave scores of
husbands and he scores of wives."
[149] So in the Novellæ Morlini, No. 4, a merchant, who is deeply
involved, gives a large sum of money to the king for the privilege of
riding by his side through the town. Henceforth his creditors cease
their importunities. (Liebrecht's Dunlop, p. 494.)
[150] I follow the Sanskrit College MS. which reads vidyábhih saha
samsmritá.
[151] An allusion to the custom of choosing a husband in the Svayamvara
ceremony, by throwing a garland on the neck of the favoured suitor.
[152] Dr. Kern would read ásata.
[153] Compare Book III of the novel of Achilles Tatius, c. 5.
[154] Cp. Enmathius' novel of Hysminias and Hysmine, Book IX, ch. 4.
Epi dê toutois pasin ophthalmos hêlato mou ho dexios, kai ên moi to
sêmeion agathon, kai to promanteuma dexiôtaton
See also Theocritus III, 37.
halletai ophthalmos meu ho dexios· ê rha g' idêsô
autan?
Where Fritsche quotes Plant. Pseudol. 1.1.105. Brand in his
Popular Antiquities, Vol. III, p. 172, quotes the above passage
from Theocritus, and a very apposite one from Dr. Nathaniel Home's
Demonologie--"If their ears tingle, they say they have some enemies
abroad that doe or are about to speake evill of them: so, if their
right eye itcheth, then it betokens joyful laughter."
Bartsch in his Sagen, Märchen, und Gebraüche aus Mecklenburg, says,
"Throbbing in the right eye betokens joy, in the left, tears." In
Norway throbbing in the right ear is a good sign, in the left a bad
sign (Liebrecht, Zur Volkskunde, p. 327.) Forcellini s. v. Salisatores
quotes from Isidor. VIII, 9. Salisatores vocati sunt, qui dum eis
membrorum quæcunque partes salierint, aliquid sibi exinde prosperum,
seu triste significare prædicunt.
[155] i. e., under the protection of a Buddha.
[156] So Malegis in Die Heimonskinder represents that his blind brother
will be freed from his affliction when he comes to a place where
the horse Bayard is being ridden. (Simrock's Deutsche Volksbücher,
Vol. II, p. 96.)
[157] See note in Vol. I, p. 121. So Balder is said to be so fair of
countenance and bright that he shines of himself. (Grimm's Teutonic
Mythology, translated by Stallybrass, p. 222.) In Tennyson's Vivien
we find
"A maid so smooth, so white, so wonderful,
They said a light came from her when she moved."
[158] This probably means that she was burnt with his corpse.
[159] Böhtlingk and Roth read sákinísiddhisamvará.
[160] We have had many transformations of this kind and shall have many
more. A very amusing story of a transformation is found in Campbell's
Highland Tales, Vol. II, p. 60 which may be compared with this. The
biter is bit as in our text, and in the story of Sidi Noman in the
Arabian Nights, which closely resembles this.
[161] I read kritvá for kírtvá.
[162] Cp. the story of the Porter and the Ladies of Baghdad in the
Arabian Nights. (Lane's translation, Vol. I, page 129.) The bitches
are solemnly beaten in the same way as the mare in our story. They
are the sisters of the lady who beats them.
[163] Professor Cowell informs me that there is a passage in the
Sankara Dig Vijaya which explains this. A seer by means of this
vidyá gains a life equivalent to 11 years of Brahmá. It seems to be
a life-prolonging charm.
[164] So "one who dwelt by the castled Rhine" called the flowers,
"the stars that in earth's firmament do shine."
[165] This story extends to the end of the book.
[166] The word tejas also means "courage."
[167] An elaborate pun, only intelligible in Sanskrit.
[168] Cp. the long black tongue which the horrible black man protrudes
in Wirt Sikes's British Goblins, p. 177. In Birlinger's Aus Schwaben,
Vol. I, p. 341, the fahrende schüler puts out his tongue in a very
uncanny manner.
[169] Cp. Ralston's Russian Folk-Tales, p. 15, Giles's Strange
Stories from a Chinese Studio, p. 294, and the classical legend of
the birth of Adonis. A similar story will be found in Liebrecht,
Zur Volkskunde, p. 306. In Bernhard E. Schmidt's Griechische Märchen,
No. 5, three maidens come out of a citron, and one of them again out
of a rosebush. For other parallels see the Notes to No. XXI, in Miss
Stokes's Indian Fairy Tales. Cp. also Das Rosmarinsträuchlein in
Kaden's Unter den Olivenbäumen, (Stories from the South of Italy),
p. 10. In the 49th Story of the Pentamerone of Basile a fairy comes
out of a citron. The word I have translated "tear" is in the original
vírya. See Rohde, Der Griechische Roman, p. 195, and Ralston's Tibetan
Tales, Introduction, p. lii.
[170] See the story of Polyidos, in Preller, Griechische Mythologie,
Vol. II, p. 478. Preller refers to Nonnus, XXV, 451 and ff. The
story terminates psychê d' eis demas êlthe to deuteron. See also
Baring Gould's Curious Myths of the Middle Ages, New Edition, 1869,
pp. 399-402, and Rohde, Der Griechische Roman, pp. 112 and 126.
[171] Dr. Kern conjectures evam.
[172] In Bengal no animal sacrifices are offered to Siva at the
present day.
[173] Cp. "The Story of the First Royal Mendicant," Lane's Arabian
Nights, Vol. I, p. 136.
[174] I follow the Sanskrit College MS. which reads kesakapáládi;
perhaps for kesa we should read vesa. The skulls have been mentioned
before.
[175] For ásvasto I read visvasto. Perhaps we ought to read asvastho,
i. e., sick, ill.
[176] The wanderings of Herzog Ernst are brought about in a very
similar manner. (See Simrock's Deutsche Volksbücher, Vol. III, p. 278).
[177] Compare the myths of Attis and Cyparissus. In the story called
"Der rothe Hund," Gaal, Märchen der Magyaren, p. 362, the queen
becomes a dry mulberry tree. See also Grohmann, Sagen aus Böhmen,
p. 116. In Ovid's Metamorphoses, XIV, 517 an abusive pastor is turned
into an oleaster.
[178] Triphalá according to Professor Monier Williams means the three
myrobalans, i. e., the fruits of Terminalia Chebula, T. Bellerica,
and Phyllanthus Emblica; also the three fragrant fruits, nutmeg,
areca-nut, and cloves; also the three sweet fruits, grape, pomegranate
and date. The first interpretation seems to be the one usually accepted
by the Pandits of Bengal.
[179] i. e., Nága a kind of snake demon. See Ralston's Russian
Folk-Tales, page 65, Veckenstedt's Wendische Märchen, pp. 400-409,
Prym und Socin, Syrische Märchen, pp. 100, 101. The sword with a name
may remind the reader of Balmung, Excalibur, Durandal &c.
[180] The Sanskrit College MS. reads sámpusáraih perhaps for
sámbusârasaih i. e., with the water-cranes.
[181] Anáyata is a misprint for anáyatta.
[182] I read kulamandiram with the MS. in the Sanskrit College.
[183] i. e., Máyá.
[184] For vanopamám I conjecture vanopamát.
[185] i. q., Ganesa.
[186] Or "the elephants of his enemies." Here there is probably a pun.
[187] Literally, "water-men." Perhaps they were of the same race as
Grendel the terrible nicor. See also Veckenstedt's Wendische Märchen,
p. 185 and ff., Grimm's Irische Märchen, p. cv, Kuhn's Westfälische
Märchen, Vol. II, p. 35, Waldau's Böhmische Märchen, p. 187 and ff.,
and the 6th and 20th Játakas. See also Grohmann's account of the
"Wassermann," Sagen aus Böhmen, p. 148.
[188] The MS. in the Sanskrit College seems to me to read púrnosya.
[189] I read 'nyuvesustham, which is the reading of the Sanskrit
College MS.
[190] The silk-cotton tree.
[191] Or Hansávalí.
[192] Or Kamalákara.
[193] It may also mean a host of Bráhmans or many birds and bees. It
is an elaborate pun.
[194] Another pun! It may mean "by obtaining good fortune in the form
of wealth."
[195] For vátáyanoddesát the Sanskrit College MS. reads
cháyatanoddesát; perhaps it means "entering to visit the temple."
[196] Cp. Die Gänsemagd, Grimm's Kinder- und Hausmärchen, No. 89. See
also Indian Fairy Tales, by Miss Stokes, No. 1; and Bernhard Schmidt's
Griechische Märchen, p. 100. In the 1st Tale of Basile's Pentamerone,
Liebrecht's translation, a Moorish slave-girl supplants the princess
Zoza. See also the 49th tale of the same collection. In Gonzenbach's
Sicilianische Märchen, Nos. 33 and 34, we have tales of "A substituted
Bride;" see Dr. Köhler's notes.
[197] i. e., Vishnu.
[198] The sword seems to be essential in these rites: compare the
VIth book of the Æthiopica of Heliodorus, where the witch Cybele
raises her son to life, in order that he may prophesy; see also the
story of Kálarátri, Chapter 20 of this work.
[199] The debased form of Buddhism found throughout this work is no
doubt the Tantra system introduced by Asanga in the sixth century
of our era (Rhys Davids' Manual of Buddhism, pp. 207, 208, 209.) To
borrow Dr. Rajendralála Mitra's words, who is speaking of even worse
corruptions, (Introduction to the Lalita Vistara, p. 12) it is a wonder
"that a system of religion so pure and lofty in its aspirations as
Buddhism could be made to ally itself with such pestilent dogmas and
practices." The whole incantation closely resembles similar practices
in the West. See Brand's Popular Antiquities, Vol. III, pp. 56 and
ff. especially the extract from Mason's Anatomie of Sorcerie, 1612,
p. 86--"Inchanters and charmers, they which by using of certaine
conceited words, characters, circles, amulets, and such like wicked
trumpery (by God's permission) doo worke great marvailes: as namely
in causing of sicknesse, as also in curing diseases in men's bodies.
[200] Here there is a pun, as Kamalákara means a bed of lotuses, the
word paksha meaning wing and also "side." She was of good lineage by
her father's and mother's side. Manorathasiddhi means "the attainment
of desire."
[201] Compare the Soldier's Midnight Watch in Ralston's Russian
Folk-Tales, p. 274.
[202] In the Golden Ass of Apuleius, Pamphile turns herself into an
owl; when Apuleius asks to be turned into an owl, in order to follow
her, Fotis turns him by mistake into an ass. See also the Ass of
Lucian. The story of Circe will occur to every one in connection with
these transformations. See also Baring Gould's Myths of the Middle
Ages, 1st Series, p. 143.
[203] I read prátah for práyah.
[204] This city is identified by General Cunningham with Adikot near
Ramnagar in Rohilcund. (Ancient Geography of India, p. 359 and ff.)
[205] The male and female of this bird are represented by Hindu poets
as separated at night.
[206] The sword may be compared with that of Chandamahásena in
the eleventh chapter, and with Morglay, Excalibur, Durandal, Gram,
Balmung, Chrysaor &c. (See Sir G. Cox's Mythology of the Aryan nations,
Vol. I, p. 308.) The same author has some remarks upon Pegasus and
other magic horses in his IInd Vol. p. 287 and ff. See also Ralston's
Russian Folk-Tales, p. 256 and ff.
[207] Excessive rain, drought, rats, locusts, birds, and foreign
invasion.
[208] I have before referred to Ralston's remarks on snakes in
his Russian Folk-Tales, p. 65. Melusina is a clear instance of
a snake-maiden in European Folk-lore. See her story in Simrock's
Deutsche Volksbücher, Vol. VI. There is a similar marriage in Prym
und Socin, Syrische Märchen, p. 246.
[209] Compare the commencement of the story of the Blind Man and
the Cripple in Ralston's Russian Folk-Tales, and Waldau's Böhmische
Märchen, p. 445. This tale appears to belong to the Atalanta cycle.
[210] The passage is full of puns, which it is impossible to translate:
the "ornaments" may be rhetorical ornaments, there is also a reference
to the gunas of rhetorical writers. "Sweetly-tinkling" might mean
"elegant words." Gunákrishtá in sloka 76 b, may also mean that the
princess was attracted by the good qualities of her opponent.
[211] Dr. Kern conjectures udaghátayat, which is as far as I can make
out, the reading of the Sanskrit College MS.
[212] There is probably a pun here. It may mean that his joints and
body were relaxed by old age.
[213] This seems to be the meaning of mánava here. See Böhtlingk and
Roth s. v.
[214] The word also means "dust."
[215] Or "by great sorrow."
[216] Mára, the god of Love, is the Buddhist devil.
[217] The Kumuda remains with its petals closed during the day.
[218] I follow the Sanskrit College MS. reading dhrityá.
[219] A being recording the vices and virtues of mankind in Yama's
world. Kuhn, in his Westfälische Sagen, p. 71, speaks of "a devil
who records the evil deeds of men." Böhtlingk and Roth say that
utpunsayati in sl. 323 should be utpánsayati.
[220] Compare the story in Waldau's Böhmische Märchen, p. 242, Gut
dass es den Tod auf Erden gibt!
[221] Cp. the speech of Chi, the scribe of the realms below, in
Giles's Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio, p. 366.
[222] I substitute Bauddham for bodhum.
[223] I follow the Sanskrit College MS. which reads lopatah for
lobhatah.
[224] This idea is found in the story of Jímútaváhana in the 21st
Taranga of this work, where see note. Cp. also "Das Wasser des Lebens,"
Grimm. 97, and the notes in his 3rd volume. See also note on page
499 of Vol. I; and Herrtage's edition of the English Gesta, page 344.
[225] I read ullághayan, which is found in the Sanskrit College MS.
[226] I read with the MS. in the Sanskrit College bhuktottaram.
[227] It also means "the virtues of good or learned men."
[228] It also means "without wealth;" vritta also means "metre."
[229] i.e. female Yaksha.
[230] The notion which Lucretius ridicules in his famous lines,
(Book III, 776 and ff,)
Denique conubia ad Veneris partusque ferarum
Esse animas præsto deridiculum esse videtur,
Expectare immortales mortalia membra &c.
would, it is clear, present no difficulty to the mind of a Hindu. Nor
would he be much influenced by the argument in lines 670-674 of the
same book,
Præterea si immortalis natura animai
Constat, et in corpus nascentibus insinuetur,
Cur super anteactam ætatem meminisse nequimus,
Nec vestigia gestarum rerum ulla tenemus?
[231] i.e. vision of the goddess of Fortune: something like Fortunatus.
[232] I read báhú and vidhvastatá: kim tad in sl. 78 should probably
be tat kim.
[233] In the original there is a most elaborate pun: "free from
calamity" may mean also "impolitic" or "lawless."
[234] A name of Siva.
[235] My native friends tell me that the hand is waved round the head,
and the fingers are snapped four or ten times.
[236] Possibly this story is the same as that of Tannhäuser,
for which see Baring-Gould's Curious Myths of the Middle Ages,
pp. 196-208. He remarks that the story of Tannhäuser is a very ancient
myth christianized.
[237] For the consequences entailed in European Stories by eating
fruit in the under-world, see Kuhn, Westfälische Märchen, Vol. 1,
p. 127; Grimm, Irische Märchen, p. ciii.
[238] The Sanskrit College MS. has dantadríshtádharotkatán. Perhaps
drishta should be dashta. It would then mean terrible because they
were biting their lips.
[239] The Sanskrit College MS. reads vimánavijigíshayá.
[240] Descendants of Vrishni and relatives of Krishna. In Achyuta
there is a pun: the word may mean "Vishnu" and also "permanent":
rámam may also refer to Balaráma, who is represented us a drunkard.
[241] Pátála, like Milton's lower world, "wants not her hidden lustre,
gems and gold."
[242] Kumudiní means an assemblage of white water-lilies: female
attendants may also mean bees, as the Sandhi will admit of ali or áli:
rajendram should probably be rájendum, moon of kings, as the kumudiní
loves the moon.
[243] Cp. the story of Saktideva in Chapter 26.
[244] By the laws of Hindu rhetoric a smile is regarded as white.
[245] We have an instance of this a little further on.
[246] I read dúrabhrashtá. The reading of the Sanskrit College MS. is
dúram bhrashtá.
[247] See Vol. I. pp. 327 and 577, also Prym und Socin, Syrische
Märchen, p. 36, and Southey's Thalaba the Destroyer, Book I, 30,
with the notes.
[248] The moon suffers from consumption in consequence of the curse
of Daksha, who was angry at his exclusive preference for Rohiní.
[249] Here there is a pun: upachitam means also "concentrated."
[250] Cp. a story in the Nugæ Curialium of Gualterus Mapes, in which a
corpse, tenanted by a demon, is prevented from doing further mischief
by a sword-stroke, which cleaves its head to the chin. (Liebrecht's
Zur Volkskunde, p. 34 and ff.) Liebrecht traces the belief in vampires
through many countries and quotes a passage from François Lenormant's
work, La Magie chez les Chaldéens, which shews that the belief in
vampires existed in Chaldæa and Babylonia.--See Vol. I, p. 574.