10. Siddhî-kür, a dead body endowed with supernatural or magic powers
(Siddhi, Sanskr., perfection of power).
11. Mango-tree, Mangifera indica. Lassen (Indische Alterthumskunde,
i. 276) calls it "the Indians' favourite tree; their household
companion; rejoicing their existence; the cool and cheerful shade
of whose groves embowers their villages, surrounds their fountains
and pools with freshness, and affords delicious coolness to the
Karavan-halt: one of the mightiest of their kings (Ashôka, 246
B.C.) makes it his boast (in an Inscription given in "Journal of
Asiatic Soc. of Bengal," vi. 595) that besides the wide-spreading shade
of the fig-tree he had also planted the leafy mango." In Sanskrit,
âmra, kûta, rasâla (rich in juice). Crawford (Ind. Arch. i. 424)
says the fruit is called in Sanskrit mahâphala, "the great fruit,"
whence the Telingu word Mahampala and the Malay Mamplans and Manga,
whence the European Mango. It grows more or less all over India from
Ceylon to the Himâlajas, except perhaps in the arid north-east highland
of the Dekhan, but it reaches its most luxuriant development in Malabar
and over the whole west coast. Besides its luxuriant shade its blossoms
bear the most delicious scent, and its glorious gold-coloured fruit
often attains a pound in weight, though its quality is much acted upon
by site and climate. In Malabar it ripens in April; in Bengal, in May;
in Bhotan, not till August. There are also many kinds--some affording
nourishment to the poorest, and some appearing only on the tables of
the opulent. Bp. Heber ("Journey," i. 522) pronounces it the largest
of all fruit-bearing trees. To the high regard in which this tree was
held it is to be ascribed that the story makes the Siddhî-kür prefer
giving himself up to the Khan rather than let it be felled.
12. Gambudvîpa, native name for India. See infra, Note 6, Tale XXII.,
and Note 6 to "Vikramâditja's Birth."