The Ramayana Part 197

_There by the gate the Saras screamed._

The Saras or Indian Crane is a magnificent bird easily domesticated and speedily const.i.tuting himself the watchman of his master's house and garden. Unfortunately he soon becomes a troublesome and even dangerous dependent, attacking strangers with his long bill and powerful wings, and warring especially upon "small infantry" with unrelenting ferocity.

Page 120.

_My mothers or my sire the king._

All the wives of the king his father are regarded and spoken of by Rama as his mothers.

Page 125.

_Such blessings as the G.o.ds o'erjoyed_ _Poured forth when Vritra was destroyed._

"Mythology regards Vritra as a demon or Asur, the implacable enemy of Indra, but this is not the primitive idea contained in the name of Vritra.

In the hymns of the Veda Vritra appears to be the thick dark cloud which Indra the G.o.d of the firmament attacks and disperses with his thunderbolt." GORRESIO.

"In that cla.s.s of Rig-veda hymns which there is reason to look upon as the oldest portion of Vedic poetry, the character of Indra is that of a mighty ruler of the firmament, and his princ.i.p.al feat is that of conquering the demon _Vritra_, a symbolical personification of the cloud which obstructs the clearness of the sky, and withholds the fructifying rain from the earth. In his battles with Vritra he is therefore described as 'opening the receptacles of the waters,' as 'cleaving the cloud' with his 'far-whirling thunderbolt,' as 'casting the waters down to earth,' and 'restoring the sun to the sky.' He is in consequence 'the upholder of heaven, earth, and firmament,' and the G.o.d 'who has engendered the sun and the dawn.' " CHAMBERS'S CYCLOPaeDIA, _Indra_.

"Throughout these hymns two images stand out before us with overpowering distinctness. On one side is the bright G.o.d of the heaven, as beneficent as he is irresistible: on the other the demon of night and of darkness, as false and treachorous as he is malignant.... The latter (as his name Vritra, from var, to veil, indicates) is pre-eminently the thief who hides away the rain-clouds.... But the myth is yet in too early a state to allow of the definite designations which are brought before us in the conflicts of Zeus with Typhon and his monstrous progeny, of Apollon with the Python, of Bellerophon with Chimaira of Oidipous with the Sphinx, of Hercules with Cacus, of Sigurd with the dragon Fafnir; and thus not only is Vritra known by many names, but he is opposed sometimes by Indra, sometimes by Agni the fire-G.o.d, sometimes by Trita, Brihaspati, or other deities; or rather these are all names of one and the same G.o.d." c.o.x'S _Mythology of the Aryan Nations. Vol. II. p. 326_.

Page 125.

_And that prized herb whose sovereign power_ _Preserves from dark misfortune's hour._ "And yet more medicinal is it than that Moly, That Hermes once to wise Ulysses gave; He called it Haemony, and gave it me, And bade me keep it as of sovereign use 'Gainst all enchantment, mildew, blast, or damp, Or ghastly furies' apparition." _Comus._

The _Moly_ of Homer, which Dierbach considers to have been the _Mandrake_, is probably a corruption of the Sanskrit _Mula_ a root.

Page 136.

_True is the ancient saw: the Neem_ _Can ne'er distil a honeyed stream._

The Neem tree, especially in the Rains, emits a strong unpleasant smell like that of onions. Its leaves however make an excellent cooling poultice, and the Extract of Neem is an admirable remedy for cutaneous disorders.

Page 152.

_Who of Nishada lineage came._

The following account of the origin of the Nishadas is taken from Wilson's _Vish?u Pura?a_, Book I. Chap. 15. "Afterwards the Munis beheld a great dust arise, and they said to the people who were nigh: 'What is this?' And the people answered and said: 'Now that the kingdom is without a king, the dishonest men have begun to seize the property of their neighbours. The great dust that you behold, excellent Munis, is raised by troops of cl.u.s.tering robbers, hastening to fall upon their prey.' The sages, hearing this, consulted, and together rubbed the thigh of the king (Vena), who had left no offspring, to produce a son. From the thigh, thus rubbed, came forth a being of the complexion of a charred stake, with flattened features like a negro, and of dwarfish stature. 'What am I to do,' cried he eagerly to the Munis. 'Sit down (nis.h.i.+da),' said they. And thence his name was Nishada. His descendants, the inhabitants of the Vindhya mountain, great Muni, are still called Nishadas and are characterized by the exterior tokens of depravity." Professor Wilson adds, in his note on the pa.s.sage: "The Matsya says that there were born outcast or barbarous races, Mlechchhas, as black as collyrium. The Bhagavata describes an individual of dwarfish stature, with short arms and legs, of a complexion as black as a crow, with projecting chin, broad flat nose, red eyes, and tawny hair, whose descendants were mountaineers and foresters. The Padma (Bhumi Kha??a) has a similar deccription; adding to the dwarfish stature and black complexion, a wide mouth, large ears, and a protuberant belly.

It also particularizes his posterity as Nishadas, Kiratas, Bhillas, and other barbarians and Mlechchhas, living in woods and on mountains. These pa.s.sages intend, and do not much exaggerate, the uncouth appearance of the Gonds, Koles, Bhils, and other uncivilized tribes, scattered along the forests and mountains of Central India from Behar to Khandesh, and who are, not improbably, the predecessors of the present occupants of the cultivated portions of the country. They are always very black, ill-shapen, and dwarfish, and have countenances of a very African character."

Manu gives a different origin of the Nishadas as the offspring of a Brahman father and a Sudra mother. See Muir's _Sanskrit Texts_, Vol. I. p.

481.

Page 157.

_Beneath a fig-tree's mighty shade,_ _With countless pendent shoots displayed._ "So counselled he, and both together went Into the thickest wood; there soon they chose The fig-tree: not that kind for fruit renowned, But such as at this day, to Indians known, In Malabar or Deccan spreads her arms Branching so broad and long, that in the ground The bended twigs take root, and daughters grow About the mother tree, a pillared shade High overarched, and echoing walks between."

_Paradise Lost_, Book IX.

Page 161.

_Now, Lakshma?, as our cot is made,_ _Must sacrifice be duly paid._

The rites performed in India on the completion of a house are represented in modern Europe by the familiar "house-warming."

Page 169.

_I longed with all my lawless will_ _Some elephant by night to kill._

One of the regal or military caste was forbidden to kill an elephant except in battle.

_Thy hand has made no Brahman bleed._

"The punishment which the Code of Manu awards to the slayer of a Brahman was to be branded in the forehead with the mark of a headless corpse, and entirely banished from society; this being apparently commutable for a fine. The poem is therefore in accordance with the Code regarding the peculiar guilt of killing Brahmans; but in allowing a hermit who was not a _Divija_ (twice-born) to go to heaven, the poem is far in advance of the Code. The youth in the poem is allowed to read the Veda, and to acc.u.mulate merit by his own as well as his father's pious acts; whereas the exclusive Code reserves all such privileges to _Divijas_ invested with the sacred cord." Mrs. SPEIR'S _Life in Ancient India_, p. 107.