Part 17 (1/2)

[Footnote 54: p. 18. l. 2. _As they parted thence, with Kali_.

Dwapara and Kali are the names of the third and fourth ages of the world. The latter is here personified as a male deity.]

[Footnote 55: p. 18. l. 17. _--the Puranas too the fifth_. In the original 'Akhyana, history, legend.' The four Vedas are the Rig-veda, the Yajur Veda, the Sama Veda, and the Atharvana. Akhyana is, as it were, tradition superadded to scripture.]

[Footnote 56: p. 20. l. 5. _Nala in the dusky twilight, etc._ This is rather an unmanageable pa.s.sage; but the Latin translation has not rendered its purport correctly. 'Upaspris' can in no case mean 'calcare:' it implies touching, and especially touching or sipping water, as part of the ceremony of purification. As Menu; ”Let each man sprinkle the cavities of his body, and taste water in due form, etc.”

In the text of this pa.s.sage, 'upaspris' is used for touching or sprinkling. In others, it is used in the sense of ablution, bathing.

In the lexicons it is explained 'upasparsa sparsamatre, snanachamanay-orapi, touch in general, ablution, sipping water.' In the Mitakshara, on the subject of personal purification, the direction is, after evacuations, 'Dwijo nityam upaspriset, Let the man of two births always perform the upaspersa,' i. e. says the commentator, 'achamet, let him sip water.' The sense of the pa.s.sage of the text is, 'that Nala sat down to evening prayer; (as Menu directs, he who repeats it sitting at evening twilight, etc.,) after performing his purifications, and sipping water, but without having washed his feet, such ablution being necessary not because they had been soiled, but because such an act is also part of the rite of purification. As the Mitakshara, 'etasmat pada prakshalana prapti, after that purification, comes the was.h.i.+ng of the feet,' especially prior to any religious act. So Colebrooke: ”Having washed his hands and feet, and having sipped water, the priest sits down to wors.h.i.+p.” A. R. v. 363.

WILSON.]

[Footnote 57: p. 20. l. 12. _In the dice of dice embodied_. 'Sicut taurus boum:' the literal translation of the phrase is explained by the commentator Nilakantha, as 'talus inter talos eximius.' I have adopted Schlegel's reading, which subst.i.tutes Dwapara for Kali, as possessing the dice.]

[Footnote 58: p. 20. l. 23. _Then the charioteer advancing_. The charioteer appears as one of the great officers of state: the master of the horse would convey as lofty a meaning to an English ear.]

[Footnote 59: p. 21. l. 1. _Ill they brook this dire misfortune_.

Vyasana is a misfortune in a king: neglect of his duty for the pleasures of the chase, gambling, etc.]

[Footnote 60: p. 22. l. 1. _Punyasloka, king of men_. Punyasloka is a t.i.tle applied to other kings celebrated in Hindu poetry, to Yudishthira, and also to Vishnu: it means, celebrated in sacred poems.

WILSON, Dict. in voce.]

[Footnote 61: p. 23. l. 13. _--to Cundina's city go_. Cundina is the capital of the kingdom of Vidarbha.]

[Footnote 62: p. 23. l. 23. _Thence departing, to Ayodhya_. Ayodhya, or Oude, is famous in all the early poetry of India. ”On the banks of the Suruyoo is a large country called Koshula, gay and happy, and abounding with cattle, corn, and wealth. In that country was a famous city called Ayodhya, built formerly by Munoo, the lord of men. A great city, twelve yojanas in extent, the houses of which stood in triple and long-extended rows. It was rich, and perpetually adorned with new improvements; the streets and valleys were admirably disposed, and the princ.i.p.al streets well watered. It was filled with merchants of various descriptions, and adorned with abundance of jewels; difficult of access, filled with s.p.a.cious houses, beautified with gardens, and groves of mango trees, surrounded by a deep and impa.s.sable moat, and completely furnished with arms; was ornamented with stately gates and porticoes, and constantly guarded by archers, etc. etc.” Ramayana, translated by CAREY and MARSHMAN, vol. i. p. 60.]

[Footnote 63: p. 25. l. 16. _--to the region of the south_.

Daks.h.i.+naptha signifies properly the land on the right hand; as in the Semitic language the south is that which is on the right hand. It means here the land to the south of the Nerbudda. Daks.h.i.+napatha is very probably meant in the word used by Arrian, Dachinabades.

KOSEGARTEN.]

[Footnote 64: p. 25. l. 17. _Pa.s.sing by Avanti's city_. Avanti, which Bopp makes a mountain, according to Kosegarten and Mr. Wilson is a city, Oujein. Bopp draws a somewhat fanciful a.n.a.logy between Avanti and the Aventine at Rome. He refers also to Himavan, qu. Mavanten, 'montem.' The philological student will do well to consult this note of Bopp. In the Meghaduta, Oujein is Aventi:

Behold the city, whose immortal fame, Glows in Avanti's or Visala's name. line 193.

The synonyms of Oujein are thus enumerated by Hemachandra: Ujjayini, Visala, Avanti, and Pashparavandini. Rikshavan, i. e. bear-having, the mount of bears, is part of the Vindhya chain, separating Malwa from Kandesh and Berar. WILSON.]

[Footnote 65: p. 25. l. 18. _Vindhya here, the mighty mountain_. See note to 'Cloud-Messenger,' page 92 to 94. Compare likewise Asiatic Researches, i. p. 380, where, in one of the famous inscriptions on the staff of Feroz Shah, it is named as one of the boundaries of Aryaverta, the land of virtue, or India. It is named also in the curious Indian grant of land found at Tanna. Asiatic Researches, i.

366.]

[Footnote 66: p. 25. l. 18. _--and Payoshni's seaward stream_.

Payoshni, a river that flows from the Vindhya, mentioned in the Brahmanda Purana. Asiatic Researches, viii. 341.]

[Footnote 67: p. 25. l. 20. _--this to Cosala away_. Cosala, a city of Ayodhya, or Oude. Cosala is mentioned in the Brahmanda Purana as beyond the Vindhya mountains. Asiatic Researches, viii. 343.]

[Footnote 68: p. 27. l. 7. _Both together by one garment_. The poet supposes that Damayanti had bestowed half her single garment upon Nala. BOPP. This, however, does not appear to be the case.]

[Footnote 69: p. 28. l. 4. _From her virtue none dare harm her_.

Spenser's Una, and still more the lady in Comus, will recur to the remembrance of the English reader. See Quarterly Review, vol. xlv. p.

20.]