Chapter 81

of this work. Cp. also the story of Saktideva in Book V. ch. 26, and Ralston's remarks on it in his Russian Folk-Tales, p. 99.

[126] Vishnu assumed the form of a dwarf and appeared before Bali, and asked for as much land as he could step over. On Bali's granting it, Vishnu dilating himself, in two steps deprived him of heaven and earth, but left the lower regions still in his dominion.

[127] This incident may be compared with one described in Veckenstedt's Wendische Sagen, p. 82.

[128] Ananta, endless, or infinite, is a name of the thousand-headed serpent Sesha.

[129] Reading khadgam for the khadge of Dr. Brockhaus's text.

[130] Female demon. The Rákshasas are often called "night-wanderers."

[131] Or more literally of the month Chaitra, i. e., March-April.

[132] At nine o'clock in the morning.

[133] Anas Casarca, commonly called the Brahmany duck. The male has to pass the night separated from its female: if we are to trust the unanimous testimony of Hindu poets.

[134] A name of Durgá. Cp. Prescott's account of the human sacrifices in Mexico, Vol. I pp. 62, 63.

[135] This incident reminds us of the fifth rule in Wright's Gesta Romanorum.

[136] Or it may mean "from a distance," as Dr. Brockhaus takes it.

[137] Pulinda, name of a savage tribe.

[138] Mr. Growse remarks: "In Hindi the word Nágasthala would assume the form Nágal; and there is a village of that name to this day in the Mahában Pargana of the Mathurá District."

[139] A common way of carrying money in India at the present day.

[140] Compare the last Scene of the Toy Cart in the 1st volume of Wilson's Hindu Theatre.

[141] The esculent white lotus (Sanskrit kumuda) expands its petals at night, and closes them in the daytime.

[142] In Sanskrit poetry horripilation is often said to be produced by joy. I have here inserted the words "from joy" in order to make the meaning clear.

[143] Literally drunk in.

[144] Alluding to his grey hairs. In all eastern stories the appearance of the first grey hair is a momentous epoch. The point of the whole passage consists in the fact that jará, old age, is feminine in form. Cp. the perturbation of King Samson in Hagen's Helden-Sagen, Vol. I, p. 26, and Spence Hardy's Manual of Buddhism (1860) pp. 129 and 130.

[145] There is a pun between the name of the king Udayana and prosperity (udaya).

[146] Not Vásuki, but his eldest brother.

[147] Chháyá means "colour;" he drank their colour, i. e., made them pale. It also means "reflection in the wine."

[148] i. e., given by Buddha.

[149] The four Upáyas or means of success are sáman, negotiation, which his pride would render futile, dána, giving, which appeals to avarice, bheda, sowing dissension, which would be useless where a king is beloved by his subjects, and danda, open force, of no use in the case of a powerful king like Udayana.

[150] The chief vices of kings denounced by Hindu writers on statecraft are: Hunting, gambling, sleeping in the day, calumny, addiction to women, drinking spirits, dancing, singing, and instrumental music, idle roaming, these proceed from the love of pleasure, others proceed from anger, viz., tale-bearing, violence, insidious injury, envy, detraction, unjust seizure of property, abuse, assault. See Monier Williams s. v. vyasana.

[151] Sudhádhauta may mean "white as plaster," but more probably here "whitened with plaster" like the houses in the European quarter of the "City of palaces."

[152] A linga of Siva in Ujjayiní. Siva is here compared to an earthly monarch subject to the vyasana of roaming. I take it, the poet means, Ujjayiní is a better place than Kailása.

[153] Cp. the way in which Kandar goes in search of a sword in Prym and Socin's Syrische Märchen, p. 205.

[154] Dr. Brockhaus translates it--Stürzte den Wagen des Königs um. Can Syandana mean horses, like magni currus Achilli? If so, áhatya would mean, having killed.

[155] Rasa means nectar, and indeed any liquid, and also emotion, passion. The pun is of course most intentional in the original.

[156] Cp. the story of Ohimé in the "Sicilianische Märchen" collected by Laura von Gonzenbach where Maruzza asks Ohimé how it would be possible to kill him. So in Indian Fairy Tales, collected by Miss Stokes, Hiralál Básá persuades Sonahrí Rání to ask his father where he kept his soul. Some interesting remarks on this subject will be found in the notes to this tale (Indian Fairy Tales, p. 260.) See also No. I, in Campbell's Tales of the Western Highlands, and Dr. Reinhold Köhler's remarks in Orient and Occident, Vol. II, p. 100. Cp. also Ralston's Russian Folk-Tales, pp. 80, 81 and 136. Cp. also Veckenstedt's Wendische Sagen, p. 72. In the Gehörnte Siegfried (Simrock's Deutsche Volksbücher, Vol. III, pp. 368 and 416), the hero is made invulnerable everywhere but between the shoulders, by being smeared with the melted fat of a dragon. Cp. also the story of Achilles. For the transformation of Chandamahásena into a boar see Bartsch's Sagen, Märchen und Gebräuche aus Meklenburg, Vol. II, pp. 144, 145, and Gubernatis, Zoological Mythology, Vol. II, p. 14. See also Schöppner's Geschichte der Bayerischen Lande, Vol. I, p. 258.

[157] They would not go near for fear of disturbing it. Wild elephants are timid, so there is more probability in this story, than in that of the Trojan horse. Even now scouts who mark down a wild beast in India, almost lose their heads with excitement.

[158] I. e., they sat in Dharna outside the door of the palace.

[159] Perhaps we should read samantatah one word.

[160] Sattva, when applied to the forest, means animal, when applied to wisdom, it means excellence.

[161] Vetála is especially used of a goblin that tenants dead bodies. See Colonel R. Burton's Tales of Vikramáditya and the Vampire. They will be found in the 12th book of this work. In the Vth Chapter of Ralston's Russian Folk-Tales will be found much interesting information with regard to the Slavonic superstitions about Vampires. They resemble very closely those of the Hindus. See especially p. 311. "At cross-roads, or in the neighbourhood of cemeteries, an animated corpse of this description often lurks, watching for some unwary traveller whom it may be able to slay and eat."

[162] Cp. the way in which the Ritter Malegis transmutes Reinold in the story of Die Heimonskinder (Simrock's Deutsche Volksbücher, Vol. II, p. 86). "He changed him into an old man, a hundred years of age, with a decrepit and misshapen body, and long hair." See also p. 114. So Merlin assumes the form of an old man and disguises Uther and Ulfin, Dunlop's History of Fiction, translated by Liebrecht, p. 66.

[163] Such people dance in temples I believe.

[164] Mr. Growse writes to me with reference to the name Lohajangha--"This name still exists on the spot, though probably not to be found elsewhere. The original bearer of the title is said to have been one of the demons whom Krishna slew, and a village is called Lohaban after him, where an ancient red sandstone image is supposed to represent him, and has offerings of iron made to it at the annual festival.

[165] Ráginí means affectionate and also red.

[166] Ataví is generally translated "forest." I believe the English word "forest" does not necessarily imply trees, but it is perhaps better to avoid it here.

[167] For the vritam of the text I read kritam. Cp. this incident with Joseph's adventure in the 6th story of the Sicilianische Märchen. He is sewn up in a horse's skin, and carried by ravens to the top of a high mountain. There he stamps and finds a wooden trap-door under his feet. In the notes Dr. Köhler refers to this passage, Campbell No. 44, the Story of Sindbad and other parallels. Cp. also Veckenstedt's Wendische Sagen, p. 124. See also the story of Heinrich der Löwe, Simrock's Deutsche Volksbücher, Vol. I, p. 8. Dr. Köhler refers to the story of Herzog Ernst. The incident will be found in Simrock's version of the story, at page 308 of the IIIrd Volume of his Deutsche Volksbücher.

[168] Names of Vishnu, who became incarnate in the hero Krishna.

[169] See