FOOTNOTES OF STORY VIKRAM AND THE VAMPIRE.

FOOTNOTES
[FN#1] Metamorphoseon, seu de Asino Aureo, libri Xl. The wellknown and beautiful episode is in the fourth. the fifth, and the sixthbooks.
[FN#2] This ceremony will be explained in a future page.
[FN#3] A common exclamation of sorrow, surprise, fear, andother emotions. It is especially used by women.
[FN#4] Quoted from view of the Hindoos, by William Ward, ofSerampore (vol. i. p. 25).
[FN#5] In Sanskrit, Vetala-pancha-Vinshati. "Baital" is themodern form of " Vetala.
[FN#6] In Arabic, Badpai el Hakim.
[FN#7] Dictionnaire philosophique sub v. " Apocryphes."
[FN#8] I do not mean that rhymes were not known before the daysof Al-Islam, but that the Arabs popularized assonance andconsonance in Southern Europe.
[FN#9] "Vikrama" means "valour " or " prowess."
[FN#10] Mr. Ward of Serampore is unable to quote the names ofmore than nine out of the eighteen, namely: Sanskrit, Prakrit,Naga, Paisacha, Gandharba, Rakshasa, Ardhamagadi, Apa, andGuhyaka - most of them being the languages of different orders offabulous beings. He tells us, however, that an account of thesedialects may be found in the work called Pingala.
[FN#11] Translated by Sir Wm. Jones, 1789; and by ProfessorWilliams, 1856.
[FN#12] Translated by Professor H. H. Wilson.
[FN#13] The time was propitious to savans. Whilst Vikramadityalived, Magha, another king, caused to be written a poem calledafter his name For each verse he is said to have paid to learnedmen a gold piece, which amounted to a total of 5,280l. - a largesum in those days, which preceded those of Paradise Lost. Aboutthe same period Karnata, a third king, was famed for patronizingthe learned men who rose to honour at Vikram's court. Dhavaka, apoet of nearly the same period, received from King Shriharsha themagnificent present of 10,000l. for a poem called the Ratna-Mala.
[FN#14] Lieut. Wilford supports the theory that there were eightVikramadityas, the last of whom established the era. For furtherparticulars, the curious reader will consult Lassen's Anthologia,and Professor H. H. Wilson's Essay on Vikram (New), As. Red..ix. 117.
[FN#15] History tells us another tale. The god Indra and the Kingof Dhara gave the kingdom to Bhartari-hari, another son ofGandhar-ba-Sena, by a handmaiden. For some time, the brotherslived together; but presently they quarrelled. Vikram beingdismissed from court, wandered from place to place in abjectpoverty, and at one time hired himself as a servant to a merchantliving in Guzerat. At length, Bhartari-hari, disgusted with theworld on account of the infidelity of his wife, to whom he wasardently attached, became a religious devotee, and left thekingdom to its fate. In the course of his travels, Vikram came toUjjayani, and finding it without a head, assumed the sovereignty.He reigned with great splendour, conquering by his arms Utkala,Vanga, Kuch-bahar, Guzerat, Somnat, Delhi, and other places;until, in his turn, he was conquered, and slain by Shalivahan.
[FN#16] The words are found, says Mr. Ward, in the HinduHistory compiled by Mrityungaya.
[FN#17] These duties of kings are thus laid down in theRajtarangini. It is evident, as Professor H. H. Wilson says, that theroyal status was by no means a sinecure. But the rules areevidently the closet work of some pedantic, dogmatic Brahman,teaching kingcraft to kings. He directs his instructions, not tosubordinate judges, but to the Raja as the chief magistrate, andthrough him to all appointed for the administration of his justice.
[FN#18] Lunus, not Luna.
[FN#19] That is to say, "upon an empty stomach."
[FN#20] There are three sandhyas amongst the Hindus--morning,mid-day, and sunset; and all three are times for prayer.
[FN#21] The Hindu Cupid.
[FN#22] Patali, the regions beneath the earth.
[FN#23] The Hindu Triad.
[FN#24] Or Avanti, also called Padmavati. It is the first meridianof the Hindus, who found their longitude by observation of lunareclipses, calculated for it and Lanka, or Ceylon. The clepsydra wasused for taking time.
[FN#25] In the original only the husband ''practiced austeredevotion." For the benefit of those amongst whom the "pious wife"is an institution, I have extended the privilege.
[FN#26] A Moslem would say, "This is our fate." A Hindu refersat once to metempsychosis, as naturally as a modernSwedenborgian to spiritism.
[FN#27] In Europe, money buys this world, and delivers you fromthe pains of purgatory; amongst the Hindus, it furthermore opensthe gate of heaven.
[FN#28] This part of the introduction will remind the reader of thetwo royal brothers and their false wives in the introduction to theArabian Nights. The fate of Bhartari Raja, however, is historical.
[FN#29] In the original, "Div"--a supernatural being god, ordemon. This part of the plot is variously told. According to some,Raja Vikram was surprised, when entering the city to see a grandprocession at the house of a potter and a boy being carried off onan elephant to the violent grief of his parents The King inquiredthe reason of their sorrow, and was told that the wicked Div thatguarded the city was in the habit of eating a citizen per diem.Whereupon the valorous Raja caused the boy to dismount; took hisplace; entered the palace; and, when presented as food for thedemon, displayed his pugilistic powers in a way to excite themonsters admiration.
[FN#30] In India, there is still a monastic order the pleasant dutyof whose members is to enjoy themselves as much as possible. Ithas been much the same in Europe. "Representez-vous le conventde l'Escurial ou du Mont Cassin, ou les cenobites ont toutes sortesde commodities, necessaires, utiles, delectables. superflues,surabondantes, puisqu'ils ont les cent cinquante mille, les quatrecent mille, les cinq cent mille ecus de rente; et jugez si monsieurl'abbe a de quoi laisser dormir la meridienne a ceux quivoudront."--Saint Augustin, de l'Ouvrage des Moines, by LeCamus, Bishop of Belley, quoted by Voltaire, Dict. Phil., sub v."Apocalypse."
[FN#31] This form of matrimony was recognized by the ancientHindus, and is frequent in books. It is a kind of Scotch wedding--ultra-Caledonian--taking place by mutual consent, without anyform or ceremony. The Gandharbas are heavenly minstrels ofIndra's court, who are supposed to be witnesses.
[FN#32] The Hindu Saturnalia.
[FN#33] The powders are of wheaten flour, mixed with wildginger-root, sappan-wood, and other ingredients. Sometimes thestuff is thrown in syringes.
[FN#34] The Persian proverb is-- "Bala e tavilah bar sat imaimun": "The woes of the stable be on the monkey's head!" Insome Moslem countries a hog acts prophylactic. Hence probablyMungo Park's troublesome pig at Ludamar.
[FN#35] So the moribund father of the "babes in the wood"lectures his wicked brother, their guardian: "To God and you I recommend My children deare this day: But little while, be sure, we have Within this world to stay." But, to appeal to the moral sense of a goldsmith!
[FN#36] Maha (great) raja (king): common address even to thosewho are not royal.
[FN#37] The name means. "Quietistic Disposition."
[FN#38] August. In the solar-lunar year of the Hindu the monthsare divided into fortnights--light and dark.
[FN#39] A flower, whose name frequently occurs in Sanskritpoetry.
[FN#40] The stars being men's souls raised to the sky for a timepro portioned to their virtuous deeds on earth.
[FN#41] A measure of length, each two miles.
[FN#42] The warm region below.
[FN#43] Hindus admire only glossy black hair; the "bonny brownhair" loved by our ballads is assigned by them to low-caste men,witches, and fiends.
[FN#44] A large kind of bat; a popular and silly Anglo-Indianname. It almost justified the irate Scotchman in calling "prodigiousleears" those who told him in India that foxes flew and tress weretapped for toddy.
[FN#45] The Hindus, like the European classics and other ancientpeoples, reckon four ages:--The Satya Yug, or Golden Age,numbered 1,728,000 years: the second, or Treta Yug, comprised1,296,000; the Dwapar Yug had 864,000 and the present, the KaliYug, has shrunk to 832,000 years.
[FN#46] Especially alluding to prayer. On this point, Southeyjustly remarks (Preface to Curse of Kehama): "In the religion ofthe Hindoos there is one remarkable peculiarity. Prayers, penances,and sacrifices are supposed to possess an inherent and actual value,in one degree depending upon the disposition or motive of theperson who performs them. They are drafts upon heaven for whichthe gods cannot refuse payment. The worst men, bent upon theworst designs, have in this manner obtained power which hasmade them formidable to the supreme deities themselves."Moreover, the Hindu gods hear the prayers of those who desire theevil of others. Hence when a rich man becomes poor, his friendssay, "See how sharp are men's teeth!" and, "He is ruined becauseothers could not bear to see his happiness!"
[FN#47] A pond. natural or artificial; in the latter case oftencovering an extent of ten to twelve acres.
[FN#48] The Hindustani "gilahri," or little grey squirrel, whosetwittering cry is often mistaken for a bird's.
[FN#49] The autumn or rather the rainy season personified - ahackneyed Hindu prosopopoeia.
[FN#50] Light conversation upon the subject of women is apersona offence to serious-minded Hindus.
[FN#51] Cupid in his two forms, Eros and Anteros.
[FN#52] This is true to life in the East, women make the firstadvances, and men do the begueules.
[FN#53] Raja-hans, a large grey goose, the Hindu equivalent forour swan.
[FN#54] Properly Karnatak; karna in Sanskrit means an ear.
[FN#55] Danta in Sanskrit is a tooth.
[FN#56] Padma means a foot.
[FN#57] A common Hindu phrase equivalent to our " I manage toget on."
[FN#58] Meaning marriage maternity, and so forth.
[FN#59] Yama is Pluto; 'mother of Yama' is generally applied toan old scold.
[FN#60] Snake-land: the infernal region.
[FN#61] A form of abuse given to Durga, who was the mother ofGanesha (Janus); the latter had an elephant's head.
[FN#62] Unexpected pleasure, according to the Hindus, gives abristly elevation to the down of the body.
[FN#63] The Hindus banish " flasks,'' et hoc genus omne, fromthese scenes, and perhaps they are right.
[FN#64] The Pankha, or large common fan, is a leaf of theCorypha umbraculifera, with the petiole cut to the length of aboutfive feet, pared round the edges and painted to look pretty. It iswaved by the servant standing behind a chair.
[FN#65] The fabulous mass of precious stones forming the sacredmountain of Hindu mythology.
[FN#66] "I love my love with an 'S,' because he is stupid and notpyschological."
[FN#67] Hindu mythology has also its Cerberus, Trisisa, the "three headed " hound that attends dreadful Yama (Pluto)
[FN#68] Parceque c'est la saison des amours.
[FN#69] The police magistrate, the Catual of Camoens.
[FN#70] The seat of a Hindu ascetic.
[FN#71] The Hindu scriptures.
[FN#72] The Goddess of Prosperity.
[FN#73] In the original the lover is not blamed; this would be theHindu view of the matter; we might be tempted to think of the oldinjunction not to seethe a kid in the mother's milk.
[FN#74] In the original a "maina "-the Gracula religiosa.
[FN#75] As we should say, buried them.
[FN#76] A large kind of black bee, common in India.
[FN#77] The beautiful wife of the demigod Rama Chandra.
[FN#78] The Hindu Ars Amoris.
[FN#79] The old philosophers, believing in a " Sat " (xx xx),postulated an Asat (xx xx xx) and made the latter the root of theformer.
[FN#80] In Western India, a place celebrated for suicides.
[FN#81] Kama Deva. "Out on thee, foul fiend, talk'st thou ofnothing but ladies?"
[FN#82] The pipal or Ficus religiosa, a favourite roosting-placefor fiends.
[FN#83] India.
[FN#84] The ancient name of a priest by profession, meaning "praepositus " or praeses. He was the friend and counsellor of achief, the minister of a king, and his companion in peace and war.(M. Muller's Ancient Sanskrit Literature, p. 485).
[FN#85] Lakshmi, the Goddess of Prosperity. Raj-Lakshmi wouldmean the King's Fortune, which we should call tutelary genius.Lakshichara is our " luckless," forming, as Mr. Ward says, anextraordinary coincidence of sound and meaning in languages sodifferent. But the derivations are very distinct.
[FN#86] The Monkey God.
[FN#87] Generally written "Banyan."
[FN#88] The daughter of Raja Janaka, married to Ramachandra.The latter placed his wife under the charge of his brotherLakshmana, and went into the forest to worship, when the demonRavana disguised himself as a beggar, and carried off the prize.
[FN#89] This great king was tricked by the god Vishnu out of thesway of heaven and earth, but from his exceeding piety he wasappointed to reign in Patala, or Hades.
[FN#90] The procession is fair game, and is often attacked in thedark with sticks and stones, causing serious disputes. At the supperthe guests confer the obligation by their presence, and areexceedingly exacting.
[FN#91] Rati is the wife of Kama, the God of Desire; and weexplain the word by "Spring personified."
[FN#92] The Indian Cuckoo (Cucuius Indicus). It is supposed tolay its eggs in the nest of the crow.
[FN#93] This is the well-known Ghi or Ghee, the one sauce ofIndia which is as badly off in that matter as England.
[FN#94] The European reader will observe that it is her puritywhich carries the heroine through all these perils. Moreover, thather :virtue is its own reward, as it loses to her the world.
[FN#95] Literally, "one of all tastes"--a wild or gay man, weshould say.
[FN#96] These shoes are generally made of rags and bits ofleather; they have often toes behind the foot, with other similarcontrivances, yet they scarcely ever deceive an experienced man.
[FN#97] The high-toper is a swell-thief, the other is a low dog.
[FN#98] Engaged in shoplifting.
[FN#99] The moon.
[FN#100] The judge.
[FN#101] To be lagged is to be taken; scragging is hanging.
[FN#102] The tongue.
[FN#103] This is the god Kartikeya, a mixture of Mars andMercury, who revealed to a certain Yugacharya the scripturesknown as "Chauriya-Vidya"--Anglice, "Thieves' Manual." Theclassical robbers of the Hindu drama always perform according toits precepts. There is another work respected by thieves and calledthe "Chora-Panchashila," because consisting of fifty lines.
[FN#104] Supposed to be a good omen.
[FN#105] Share the booty.
[FN#106] Bhawani is one of the many forms of the destroyinggoddess, the wife of Shiva.
[FN#107] Wretches who kill with the narcotic seed of thestramonium.
[FN#108] Better know as "Thugs," which in India means simply"rascals."
[FN#109] Crucifixion, until late years, was common amongst theBuddhists of the Burmese empire. According to an eye-witness,Mr. F. Carey, the puishment was inflicted in two ways. Sometimes criminals were crucified by their hands and feet beingnailed to a scaffold; others were merely tied up, and fed. In thesecases the legs and feet of the patient began to swell and mortify atthe expiration fo three or four days; men are said to have lived inthis state for a fortnight, and at last they expired from fatigue andmortification. The sufferings from cramp also must be verysevere. In India generally impalement was more common thancrucifixion.
[FN#110] Our Suttee. There is an admirable Hindu proverb,which says, "No one knows the ways of woman; she kill herhusband and becomes a Sati."
[FN#111] Fate and Destiny are rather Moslem than Hindu fancies.
[FN#112] Properly speaking, the husbandman should plough withnot fewer than four bullocks; but few can afford this. If he ploughwith a cow or a bullock, and not with a bull, the rice produced byhis ground is unclean, and may not be used in any religiousceremony.
[FN#113] A shout of triumph, like our "Huzza" or "Hurrah!" oflate degraded into "Hooray." "Hari bol" is of course religious,meaning "Call upon Hari!" i.e. Krishna, i.e. Vishnu.
[FN#114] This form of suicide is one of those recognized in India. So in Europe we read of fanatics who, with a suicidal ingenuity,have succeeded in crucifying themselves.
[FN#115] The river of Jaganath in Orissa; it shares the honours ofsanctity with some twenty-nine others, and in the lower regions itrepresents the classical Styx.
[FN#116] Cupid. His wife Rati is the spring personified. TheHindu poets always unite love and spring, and perhapsphysiologically they are correct.
[FN#117] An incarnation of the third person of the Hindu Triad,or Triumvirate, Shiva the God of Destruction, the Indian Bacchus.The image has five faces, and each face has three eyes. In Bengalit is found in many villages, and the women warn their children notto touch it on pain of being killed.
[FN#118] A village Brahman on stated occasions receives feesfrom all the villagers.
[FN#119] The land of Greece.
[FN#120] Savans, professors. So in the old saying, "Hanta, PanditSansara "--Alas! the world is learned! This a little antedates thewell-known schoolmaster.
[FN#121] Children are commonly sent to school at the age of five.Girls are not taught to read, under the common idea that they willbecome widows if they do.
[FN#122] Meaning the place of reading the four Shastras.
[FN#123] A certain goddess who plays tricks with mankind. If ason when grown up act differently from what his parents did,people say that he has been changed in the womb.
[FN#124] Shani is the planet Saturn, which has an exceedinglybaleful influence in India as elsewhere.
[FN#125] The Eleatic or Materialistic school of Hinduphilosophy, which agrees to explode an intelligent soparate FirstCause.
[FN#126] The writings of this school give an excellent view of the"progressive system," which has popularly been asserted to be amodern idea. But Hindu philosophy seems to have exhausted everyfancy that can spring from the brain of man.
[FN#127] Tama is the natural state of matter, Raja is passionacting upon nature, and Satwa is excellence These are the threegunas or qualities of matter.
[FN#128] Spiritual preceptors and learned men.
[FN#129] Under certain limitations, gambling is allowed hy Hindulaw and the winner has power over the person and property of theloser. No "debts of honour" in Hindustan!
[FN#130] Quotations from standard works on Hindu criminal law,which in some points at least is almost as absurd as our civilizedcodes.
[FN#131] Hindus carry their money tied up in a kind of sheet. whichis wound round the waist and thrown over the shoulder.
[FN#132] A thieves' manual in the Sanskrit tongue; it aspires to thedignity of a "Scripture."
[FN#133] All sounds, say the Hindus, are of similar origin, and theydo not die; if they did, they could not be remembered.
[FN#134] Gold pieces.
[FN#135] These are the qualifications specified by Hindu classicalauthorities as necessary to make a distinguished thief.
[FN#136] Every Hindu is in a manner born to a certain line of life,virtuous or vicious, honest or dishonest and his Dharma, or religiousduty, consists in conforming to the practice and the worship of hisprofession. The "Thug," for instance, worships Bhawani, who enableshim to murder successfully; and his remorse would arise fromneglecting to murder.
[FN#137] Hindu law sensibly punishes, in theory at least, for thesame offence the priest more severely than the layman--a hint for himto practice what he preaches.
[FN#138] The Hindu Mercury, god of rascals.
[FN#139] A penal offence in India. How is it that we English haveomitted to codify it? The laws of Manu also punish severely alldisdainful expressions, such as "tush" or "pish," addressed duringargument to a priest.
[FN#140] Stanzas, generally speaking, on serious subjects.
[FN#141] Whitlows on the nails show that the sufferer, in the lastlife, stole gold from a Brahman.
[FN#142] A low caste Hindu, who catches and exhibits snakes andperforms other such mean offices.
[FN#143] Meaning, in spite of themselves.
[FN#144] When the moon is in a certain lunar mansion, at theconclusion of the wet season.
[FN#145] In Hindustan, it is the prevailing wind of the hot weather.
[FN#146] Vishnu, as a dwarf, sank down into and secured in thelower regions the Raja Bali, who by his piety and prayerfulness wassubverting the reign of the lesser gods; as Ramachandra he built abridge between Lanka (Ceylon) and the main land; and as Krishna hedefended, by holding up a hill as an umbrella for them, his friends theshepherds and shepherdesses from the thunders of Indra, whoseworship they had neglected.
[FN#147] The priestly caste sprang, as has been said, from thenoblest part of the Demiurgus; the three others from lower members.
[FN#148] A chew of betel leaf and spices is offered by the master ofthe house when dismissing a visitor.
[FN#149] Respectable Hindus say that receiving a fee for a daughteris like selling flesh.
[FN#150] A modern custom amongst the low caste is for the brideand bridegroom, in the presence of friends, to place a flower garlandon each other's necks, and thus declare themselves man and wife. Theold classical Gandharva-lagan has been before explained.
[FN#151] Meaning that the sight of each other will cause a smile,and that what one purposes the other will consent to.
[FN#152] This would be the verdict of a Hindu jury.
[FN#153] Because stained with the powder of Mhendi, or theLawsonia inermis shrub.
[FN#154] Kansa's son: so called because the god Shiva, when struckby his shafts, destroyed him with a fiery glance.
[FN#155] "Great Brahman"; used contemptuously to priests whoofficiate for servile men. Brahmans lose their honour by thefollowing things: By becoming servants to the king; by pursuing anysecular business; by acting priests to Shudras (serviles); by officiatingas priests for a whole village; and by neglecting any part of the threedaily services. Many violate these rules; yet to kill a Brahman is stillone of the five great Hindu sins. In the present age of the world, theBrahman may not accept a gift of cows or of gold; of course hedespises the law. As regards monkey worship, a certain Rajah ofNadiya is said to have expended o10,000 in marrying two monkeyswith all the parade and splendour of the Hindu rite.
[FN#156] The celebrated Gayatri, the Moslem Kalmah.
[FN#157] Kama again.
[FN#158] From "Man," to think; primarily meaning, what makesman think.
[FN#159] The Cirrhadae of classical writers.
[FN#160] The Hindu Pluto; also called the Just King.
[FN#161] Yama judges the dead. whose souls go to him in fourhours and forty minutes; therefore a corpse cannot be burned till afterthat time. His residence is Yamalaya. and it is on the south side of theearth; down South, as we say. (I, Sam. xxv. 1, and xxx. 15). TheHebrews, like the Hindus, held the northern parts of the world to behigher than the southern. Hindus often joke a man who is seenwalking in that direction, and ask him where he is going.
[FN#162] The "Ganges," in heaven called Mandakini. I have no ideawhy we still adhere to our venerable corruption of the word.
[FN#163] The fabulous mountain supposed by Hindu geographersto occupy the centre of the universe.
[FN#164] The all-bestowing tree in Indra's Paradise which grantseverything asked of it. It is the Tuba of Al-Islam and is not unknownto the Apocryphal New Testament.
[FN#165] "Vikramaditya, Lord of the Saka." This is prevoyance onthe part of the Vampire; the king had not acquired the title.
[FN#166] On the sixth day after the child's birth, the god Vidhatawrites all its fate upon its forehead. The Moslems have a similar idea,and probably it passed to the Hindus.
[FN#167] Goddess of eloquence. "The waters of the Saraswati " isthe classical Hindu phrase for the mirage.
[FN#168] This story is perhaps the least interesting in the collection.I have translated it literally, in order to give an idea of the original.The reader will remark in it the source of our own nursery tale aboutthe princess who was so high born and delicately bred, that she coulddiscover the three peas laid beneath a straw mattress and four featherbeds. The Hindus, however, believe that Sybaritism can be carried sofar; I remember my Pandit asserting the truth of the story.
[FN#169] A minister. The word, as is the case with many in thiscollection, is quite modern Moslem, and anachronistic.
[FN#170] The cow is called the mother of the gods, and is declaredby Brahma, the first person of the triad, Vishnu and Shiva being thesecond and the third, to be a proper object of worship. "If a Europeanspeak to the Hindu about eating the flesh of cows," says an oldmissionary, "they immediately raise their hands to their ears; yetmilkmen, carmen, and farmers beat the cow as unmercifully as acarrier of coals beats his ass in England."The Jains or Jainas (from ji,to conquer; as subduing the passions) are one of the atheistical sectswith whom the Brahmans have of old carried on the fiercest religiouscontroversies, ending in many a sanguinary fight. Their tenets areconsequently exaggerated and ridiculed, as in the text. They believethat there is no such God as the common notions on the subject pointout, and they hold that the highest act of virtue is to abstain frominjuring sentient creatures. Man does not possess an immortal spirit:death is the same to Brahma and to a fly. Therefore there is noheaven or hell separate from present pleasure or pain. HinduEpicureans!--"Epicuri de grege porci."
[FN#171] Narak is one of the multitudinous places of Hindupunishment, said to adjoin the residence of Ajarna. The lesscultivated Jains believe in a region of torment. The illuminati,however, have a sovereign contempt for the Creator, for a futurestate, and for all religious ceremonies. As Hindus, however, theybelieve in future births of mankind, somewhat influenced by presentactions. The "next birth" in the mouth of a Hindu, we are told, is thesame as "to-morrow" in the mouth of a Christian. Themetempsychosis is on an extensive scale: according to some, a personwho loses human birth must pass through eight millions of successiveincarnationsŽfish, insects, worms, birds, and beastsŽbefore he canreappear as a man.
[FN#172] Jogi, or Yogi, properly applies to followers of the Yoga orPatanjala school, who by ascetic practices acquire power over theelements. Vulgarly, it is a general term for mountebank vagrants,worshippers of Shiva. The Janganis adore the same deity, and carryabout a Linga. The Sevras are Jain beggars, who regard their chiefsas superior to the gods of other sects. The Sannyasis are mendicantfollowers of Shiva; they never touch metals or fire, and. in religiousparlance, they take up the staff They are opposed to the Viragis,worshippers of Vishnu, who contend as strongly against theworshippers of gods who receive bloody offerings. as a Christiancould do against idolatry.
[FN#173] The Brahman, or priest, is supposed to proceed from themouth of Brahma, the creating person of the Triad; the Khshatriyas(soldiers) from his arms; the Vaishyas (enterers into business) fromhis thighs; and the Shudras, "who take refuge in the Brahmans," fromhis feet. Only high caste men should assume the thread at the age ofpuberty.
[FN#174] Soma. the moon, I have said, is masculine in India.
[FN#175] Pluto.
[FN#176] Nothing astonishes Hindus so much as the apparent wantof affection between the European parent and child.
[FN#177] A third marriage is held improper and baneful to a Hinduwoman. Hence. before the nuptials they betroth the man to a tree,upon which the evil expends itself, and the tree dies.
[FN#178] Kama
[FN#179] An oath. meaning, "From such a falsehood preserve me,Ganges!"
[FN#180] The Indian Neptune.
[FN#181] A highly insulting form of adjuration.
[FN#182] The British Islands--according to Wilford.
[FN#183] Literally the science (veda) of the bow (dhanush). Thisweapon, as everything amongst the Hindus, had a divine origin: itwas of three kinds--the common bow, the pellet or stone bow, and thecrossbow or catapult.
[FN#184] It is a disputed point whether the ancient Hindus did or didnot know the use of gunpowder.
[FN#185] It is said to have discharged balls, each 6,400 pounds inweight.
[FN#186] A kind of Mercury, a god with the head and wings of abird, who is the Vahan or vehicle of the second person of the Triad,Vishnu.
[FN#187] The celebrated burning springs of Baku, near the Caspian,are so called. There are many other "fire mouths."
[FN#188] The Hindu Styx.
[FN#189] From Yaksha, to eat; as Rakshasas are from Raksha, topreserve.--See Hardy's Manual of Buddhism, p. 57.
[FN#190] Shiva is always painted white, no one knows why. Hiswife Gauri has also a European complexion. Hence it is generallysaid that the sect popularly called "Thugs," who were worshippers ofthese murderous gods. spared Englishmen, the latter being supposedto have some rapport with their deities.
[FN#191] The Hindu shrine is mostly a small building, with twoinner compartments. the vestibule and the Garbagriha, or adytum, inwhich stands the image.
[FN#192] Meaning Kali of the cemetery (Smashana); another formof Durga.
[FN#193] Not being able to find victims, this pleasant deity, tosatisfy her thirst for the curious juice, cut her own throat that theblood might spout up into her mouth. She once found herself dancingon her husband, and was so shocked that in surprise she put out hertongue to a great length, and remained motionless. She is oftenrepresented in this form.
[FN#194] This ashtanga, the most ceremonious of the five forms ofHindu salutation, consists of prostrating and of making the eight partsof the body--namely, the temples, nose and chin, knees and hands--touch the ground.
[FN#195] "Sidhis," the personified Powers of Nature. At least, so weexplain them: but people do not worship abstract powers.
[FN#196] The residence of Indra, king of heaven, built by Wishwa-Karma, the architect of the gods.
[FN#197] In other words, to the present day, whenever a Hindunovelist, romancer, or tale writer seeks a peg upon which to suspendthe texture of his story, he invariably pitches upon the glorious, pious,and immortal memory of that Eastern King Arthur, Vikramaditya,shortly called Vikram.