Sagas from the Far East Part 33

TALE VI.

1. Brschiss. I know not what country it is which is thus designated, unless the word be derived from brizi, the ancient Persian for rice, and is intended to denote a rice-producing territory.

2. Palm-tree. India grows a vast number of varieties of the palm-tree; the general name is trinadruma, "gra.s.s-tree" (Ritter iv. 1, 827). The date-palm was only introduced by the Arabians (La.s.sen, iii. 312). The fan-palm (bora.s.sus flabelliformis) is called trinaraga = "the gra.s.s-king," in Sanskrit also tala; the Buddhist priests in Dekhan and also in China and Mongolia use its leaves as fans and sunshades, and hence are often called talapatri, palm-bearers. Talanka and Taladhvaga are also t.i.tles of Krishna, when he carries a banner bearing a palm-tree in memory of a legend which makes him the discoverer of the means of utilizing the fruit of the cocoa-nut palm. "The mountain Govardhana on the banks of the Jamuna was thickly grown over with the cocoa-nut palm, but it was kept in guard by a daemon, named Dhenuka, in the form of an a.s.s, at the head of a great herd of a.s.ses, so that no one could approach it. Krishna, however, in company with Rama, went through the wood unarmed, but when they would have shaken down the fruit from the trees, Dhenuka, who was sitting in its branches, kicked them with his hoofs and bit them. Krishna pulled him down from off the tree, and wrestled with him till he had crushed him to death; in the same way he dealt with the whole herd. A lurid light gleamed through the whole wood from the bodies of the dead a.s.ses, but from that time forward, all the people had free use of the trees." (Hari, v. 70, v. 3702 et seq. p. 577.)

3. The brandy spoken of is, probably, koumis, distilled from mare's milk, and makes a very intoxicating drink. Concerning its preparation, see Pallas, Sammlung historischer Nachrichten uber die Mongolen.

TALE VII.

1. Compare note 10, Tale IV.

2. Legends of transformed maidens being delivered from the power of enchantment and married by heroes and knights are common enough, but we less frequently meet with stories presenting a reversed plot. I have met with one, however, nearly identical with that given in the text, attached to a ruined castle of Walsch-Tirol.

3. The Buddhist idea of the soul is very difficult to define. In other legends given later in the present volume (e. g. the episode of the burying of Vikramaditja's body and the action of the fourth youth in "Who invented Women?") we find it, just as in the present one, spoken of as a quite superfluous and fantastic adjunct without which a man was to all intents and purposes the same as when he had it. Spence Hardy affirms as the result of conversations with Buddhists during half a life pa.s.sed among them in Ceylon, as well as from the study of their writings, that "according to Buddhism there is no soul."

4. Compare note 7 to "Vikramaditja's Birth."

5. Obo. "A heap of stones on which every traveller is expected of his piety to throw one or more as he goes by." (Julg.) Abbe Huc describes them thus: "They consist simply of an enormous pile of stones heaped up without any order, surmounted with dried branches of trees, while from them hang other branches and strips of cloth on which are inscribed verses in the Tibet and Mongol languages. At its base is a large granite urn in which the devotees burn incense. They offer besides pieces of money which the next Chinese traveller, after sundry ceremonious genuflexions before the Obo, carefully collects and pockets. These Obos are very numerous."

6. The sacred mountain of Meeru. See note 4, Tale III.

TALE VIII.

1. Kun-smon, all-wis.h.i.+ng (Tibetian). } } 2. Kun-snang, all-enlightening (Tibetian). } } 3. Chamuk-Ssakiktschi, all-protecting (Mongolian). } (Julg.) } 4. Ananda, gladness (Sanskrit). } } 5. Kun-dgah, all-rejoicing (Tibetian). }

6. Chotolo has the same meaning as Chamuk, the one in Kalmuck and the other in Tibetian.

7. See note 4 to Tale V., and note 7 to "Vikramaditja's Birth."

8. Kun-tschong = all-protecting (Tibetian). (Julg.)

TALE IX.

1. Heaven-G.o.ds, sky-G.o.ds, devas. They hold a transition position between men and G.o.ds, between human and Buddha nature. Their etherial body enables these lowest of G.o.ds, or genii, to withstand the effects of age better than mortals; also they can a.s.sume other forms and make themselves invisible, powers seldom allotted to mortals, but they are subject to illusion, sin, and metempsychosis like every other creature. (Schott, Buddhaismus in Hoch-Asien, p. 5, quoted by Julg.)

2. Garuda.--Garut'man (whence Garuda), means the winged one. In the epic mythology of India Garuda was son of Kashj.a.pa and Vinata, daughter of Daxa, king of the Suparn'a ("beautiful winged ones"), divine birds, whose habitation was in the lower heavens. They were the standing foes of the serpent-G.o.ds, on whose flesh they fed. In the Veda it is spoken of as a bird with beautiful golden wings. A Gaudharba of high degree, bearing s.h.i.+ning weapons, was placed over the higher heaven. It is said that inhaling the balmy vapours, he gave birth to the refres.h.i.+ng rain; and that when gazing through s.p.a.ce with his eagle eye he broods over the ocean, the rays of the sun pierce through the third heaven. From this it may be gathered that the Garuda originally represented the morning mist preceding the sunrise over land and sea. The Garuda, was also the bearer of Vishnu, as the following legend from the Maha Bharata tells:--"Matali, Indra's charioteer, had fixed his eyes on Sumuka, grandson of the serpent-G.o.d Arjaka, to make him his son-in-law by marrying his daughter, Gun'aka's.h.i.+, to him. Garuda, however, had already devoted him for his food, purposing to kill him in a month's time; but at Matali's request Indra had given promise of long life to Sumukha. When Garuda heard this he went and stood before Indra and told him that by such a promise he had destroyed himself and his race; that he Garuda, alone possessed the strength to bear him up through all worlds, even as he bore up Vishnu, and that by his means he might become lord of all and as great as Vishnu. But Vishnu made him feel the weight of (only) his left arm, and straightway he fell down senseless before him. After this he acknowledged that he was only the servant of Vishnu, and promised not to talk rebellious words any more."

The descriptions of him do not give him entirely the form of a bird, but rather of some combination with the human form; in what he resembles a bird he seems to partake of the eagle, the vulture, and the crane. (Schlegel, Ind. Bibl. i. 81.)

TALE X.

1. That the Indians were apt to yield to the temptation of drink is a.s.serted by the Greek writers on India, who also mention that, in spite of the prohibition of their religion, wine was an article of their import trade. See La.s.sen, ii. 606; iii. 50, and 345, 346.

2. That the wife should give herself to be burned with the body of her husband was a very ancient custom, as it is alluded to as such by the Greek writers on India. Nevertheless it was far from universal.

3. Comp. Manu, dh. sh. viii. 29, concerning the punishment of the false witness.

4. Shaving off the hair was reckoned the most degrading of punishments. (La.s.sen, vi. 344.)

TALE XI.

1. Chongschim Bodhisattva. Chongschim is probably derived from the Chinese, Kuan-schi-in, also by the Mongols, called Chutuku niduber usek tschi (He looking with the sacred eye), the present representative of Shakjamuni, the spiritual guardian and patron of the breathing world in general; but, as Lamaism teaches, the Particular Protector of the northern countries of Asia; and each succeeding Dalai Lama is an incarnation of him. (Schott, Buddhaismus, and Koppen, Die Religion des Buddha, i. 312; ii. 127.) Bodhisattva, from Bodhi, the highest wisdom or knowledge, and Sattva, being. It is the last but one in the long chain of re-births. (See Schott, Buddhaismus, quoted by Julg.; also Koppen, i. 312 et seq., 422-426, and ii. 18 et seq.; Wa.s.siljew, p. 6, 106, 134.)

It designates a man who has reached the intelligence of a Buddha and destined to be re-born as such when the actual Buddha dies. This intermediate time some have to pa.s.s in the Tus.h.i.+ta-heaven, and none of those thus dignified can appear on earth so long as his predecessor lives. (Burnouf, Introduction a l'Histoire du Buddhisme Ind. i. 109.)

2. Suvarnadhari (Sanskr.), possessed of gold. (Julg.)

3. Chutuktu, holy, consecrated, reverend, honourable--the Mongolian designation of the priesthood in general. (Schott, Buddhaismus, p. 36.)

4. It requires nothing less than the creative power of an Eastern imagination first to see a difficulty in a situation simple enough in itself, and then set to work to remove it by means of a proceeding calculated to create the most actual difficulties: it is a leading characteristic of Indian tales. It would seem much more rational to have made the poor man keep up the original story of Buddha having designated him for the girl's husband, which the people at the mouth of the stream would have been as p.r.o.ne to believe as those at its source, than to resort to the preposterous expedient of leaving her buried in a box.

TALE XII.

1. Kuwon-ojotu, of child intellect. (Julg.)

2. Sandal-wood is a princ.i.p.al production of India. The finest grows on the Malabar coast. Among its many names gos.h.i.+rsha is the only one in use in the Buddhistic writings, being derived from a cow's head, the smell of which its scent was supposed to resemble. (Burnouf, Introd. a l'Hist. du Buddhisme i. 619.) Kandana is the vulgar name. It was also called valguka = beautiful, and bhadrashri = surpa.s.singly beautiful. Its use, both as incense in the temples and for scent in private houses, particularly by spreading a fine powdering of it on damp mats before the windows, is very ancient and widespread.

3. Gegen uchatu, of bright intellect. (Julg.)

4. Cap woven of gra.s.s. Probably the Urtica (Boehmeria) utilis, which is used for weaving and imported into Europe under the name of China-gra.s.s. See Revue Horticole, vol. iv. ann. 1855.

TALE XIII.

1. Shrikantha, "one whose cup contains good fortune" = born with a silver spoon in his mouth.

2. The merchant cla.s.s acquired an important position in India at an early date, as the Manu concerns itself with laws for their guidance. The Manu, however, distinctly defines trading as the occupation of the third caste (i. 90), "The care of cattle, sacrifice, reading the Veda, the career of a merchant, the lending of gold and silver, and the pursuit of agriculture shall be the occupation of the Vaishja." Similarly in the Jalimala legend given in Colebrooke's "Miscellaneous Essays," it is said "The Lord of Creation viewing them (the various castes) said, 'What shall be your occupation?' These replied, 'We are not our own masters, O G.o.d. Command what we shall undertake.' Viewing and comparing their labours he made the first tribe superior over the rest. As the first had great inclination for the divine sciences (brahmaveda) it was called Brahmana. The protector from ill was Kshatriga (warrior). Him whose profession (vesa) consists in commerce, and in husbandry, and attendance on cattle he called Vaisga. The other should voluntarily serve the three tribes, and therefore he became Sudra." That a Brahman's son, therefore, should condescend to engage in trade must be ascribed either to the degeneracy of later times or to the ignorance of or indifference to Brahmanical peculiarities of the Buddhist tale-repeater; or else his parents were of mixed castes.

In legendary tales Banig is a typical merchant, and the name ultimately came to designate the subdivision of the Vaishja caste, in which trading had become hereditary. The word is derived from pani, which means both to buy and to play games of hazard, and ga, born or descended; hence Banig meant, literally, merchant's son. This designation later became corrupted into Banyan.

It is not possible to learn very much about the merchant's early status, as the subject of trade would naturally seem unworthy of frequent mention in the great epic poems; nevertheless the Ramajana (ii. 83, v. 11) speaks of "the honourable merchants"

(naigamah). Mercantile expeditions, especially by sea, however, partook of the heroic, and as such find a place even in the Maha Bharata; and there is a hymn in the Veda (Rig. V. i. 116, 5) praising Asvin for protecting Bhugju's hundred-oared s.h.i.+p through the immeasurable, fathomless ocean, and bringing it back safely to land.