THE
METAMORPHOSIS OF SONA;
A HINDU TALE:
WITH
A GLOSSARY,
DESCRIPTIVE OF THE
MYTHOLOGY OF THE SASTRAS. BY JOHN DUDLEY,
VICAR OF SILEBY IX LEICESTERSHIRE.
The Divine Spirit alone is the whole assemblage of gods.
MENU, CHAP. 12. VER. 119.
LONDON: PRINTED FOR BLACK, PARRY, AND KINGSBURY,
BOOKSELLERS TO THE HONOURABLE BAST-INDIA COMPANY, LEADENH ALL-STREET;
TBp ft. Ipamilton, 1810.
PREFACE.
THE Author of this work was induced to relate in
fA verse, the following legendary tale from the Vaytra
Parana, at the suggestion of an ingenious and much esteemed friend; who, intending to write upon a sub- ject connected with Hindus? ha it, imagined such a poem might be properly introduced into it. The verses were not, however, expected to exceed the Dumber of two or three hundred lines; nor were they, by any means, intended to enter very deeply into the doctrines of the Hindu religion, or into a very accurate description or illustration of IJintlu manners. As, however, the work advanced, the contemplation of those subjects continued to af- ford increasing pleasure, and to excite fresh interest; and it \MIS <l( teiniiii«l t<> introduce .such ornaments,
A3
IV PREFACE.
as might serve, in some measure, to illustrate and explain the manners and opinions of the Hindus, and finish the pictures which the curious legend offered to the imagination. In consequence of this resolu- tion, the poem was extended to the present length, and thus far exceeded the purpose for which it was originally designed.
When it was finished, the necessity of notes and illustrations became immediately apparent. Without such assistances, the allusions to Indian opinions, and the description of Indian manners, must have been quite unintelligible to almost every one of the author's friends, to whom alone it was intended to be shown. Such notes and illustrations were accordingly under- taken, as might serve the purpose of agreeably com- municating whatever information the subject might absolutely require. But, in composing this prose appendage, the subjects necessarily examined, were still found highly interesting, and matter constantly occurred which solicited for insertion, and when in- serted, this part of the work, like the poem to which
PREFACE. V
it belonged, was increased far beyond its intended size. Almost every note became a dissertation, con- taining, not the doctrines and principles of the Sas- tra alone, but many of those of heathenism in gene- ral, whether of ancient or modern times. The vari- ous ideas that occurred during this kind of investiga- tion, afforded the most pleasing amusement ; and the author, thinking he had found a clue which might guide him with certainty and safety, ventured to en- ter the labyrinths of ancient mythologies, although doubt had been artfully placed there to perplex re- search, and to render unintelligible to profane minds, those meaning allegories which the ancient mysta- gogues published only as enigmas, except to such per- sons as had undergone the severe probations imposed on the aspirant, preparatory to the communication of the mysterious secret, whether given in the deep re- cesses of the woods and rocks of Druidism, or in tin- caves and cells of Mi thru or El« usk After having entered these recesses, and sported in them awhile, pleased \s ilh the conviction, that they will afford abund-
VI PREFACE.
ant space for any future range which curiosity may urge, or the business of collecting useful information impose; the author returned to the more humble task, of writing notes to his poem, chiefly from his disser- tations already written; and they were accordingly finished in the present form, in which the learned reader will perhaps see that they approach to the thresholds of some of the most important investiga- tions ever made by the antiquary, the philosopher, or the divine.
Before these notes were finished, or indeed almost before they began to wear their present form, some thoughts were entertained of their publication with the poem, and they were accordingly offered to the press ; certainly, not from that vain hope of applause, which a young author is apt very foolishly to enter- tain, when he finds he has written enough to make up something like a book ; but from a persuasion, that the poem and the notes together were calculated to convey a good deal of information respecting the Hindus, which our countrymen do not, but yet
PREFACE. Ml
ought to know. Reigning, as they now do, the sove- reigns in India, over fifty millions of people, who profess such doctrines as these, stated in this poem and notes; and are zealously bold, moreover, to maintain not only at the hazard, but with the sacri- fice of their lives, the truths, as they believe, of le- gends such as this, of the metamorphosis of Sona ; these doctrines and opinions become highly import- ant ; and, to acquire, at least, some slight knowledge of them, becomes a duty imperiously obligatory, not only on the persons who may be actually employed in the government of the Hindus, but on those also who, remaining at home, may only be called upon to legislate for their distant fellow-subjects (for such the Hindus certainly are) either immediately, as mem- bers of the British parliament, or mediately only, through their representatives. Of the force of this obligation, let us but only think, and there can be no doubt, but we shall be soon thoroughly persuaded, that as men and as Christians, we ought not to treat the religious principles of such a mass of population
Vlll PREFACE.
with indifference, or even regard them only as objects of idle curiosity.
To mention in the preface of a work, so slight as a poem with notes, the names of the learned author of the disquisition concerning ancient India, or the ingenious historian of ancient and modern Hindust'- hdn, may almost seem like an unbecoming assump- tion of consequence, in the author of this work. It is, however, but right to observe, that the notes here offered to the public, contain some articles not to be found in the works abovementioned, and some few stated with greater accuracy. In affirming this, however, let it be understood, that no intention what- ever is entertained of impeaching the diligence of those authors, or the accuracy of their information. Whatever advantages of this kind may be found in the present work, are entirely owing to the new and important communications received from India, since the time when those authors wrote. On saying this, it becomes the author to add, that he by no means pretends to any superiority over those distinguished
PREFACE. IX
writers, or even to any thing like a comparison with them. Indeed, his work will not bear any thing of the kind : it is rather a fanciful, than a serious per- formance, intended chiefly to amuse a leisure hour, but yet amusing, so as to inform, and especially to open the eyes of all the members of the British em- pire, to the undoubted fact, that our countrymen in India, and particularly those who have contributed to the publications of the Asiatic Society, have opened a mine far richer than those of Golconda ; a mine, which we at home ought to encourage them to explore, by paying every kind of attention and respect to their researches, and by affording every possible assistance and support to their honourable labours. Should these lines and lucubrations of a retired individual, contribute in the smallest degree to either of these, or to any other good and useful end, the author will place such success wholly on the side of gain, and, indeed, such is the only gain he much desires. Of the work itself, he is free to say, it owes him nothing: the aniii- UK nt it has afforded in the composition,
X PREFACE.
has cheered many an hour, and warded off the buf- fets of many a trouble, and therefore, whatever may be its fate, he will not consider the time spent in the composition as wholly lost, even though, hid by the magnitude, and eclipsed by the splendour, of other contemporary publications, it should come forth like a bubble upon the ocean, to burst unobserved at the very instant of its rise, and in the very next instant be forgotten and unknown.
XI
A Tallc of directions for the pronunciation of the Roman letters used in writing Sanscrit words, agreeably to the di- rections of Sir William Jones. (See Jones on the Orthogra- phy of Asiatic Words. As. Res. Vol. i. No. 1.)
a is to be pronounced like a in blast.
a a in America.
6 nearly like a, or like the French e.
e e in when.
i ea in sea, or ee in see.
i e in he.
1 i in merrily.
6 o in perform.
o o in some.
u u in full.
y is partly a consonant, as in yarn.
c c in capital.
ch tsh, or like ch in china.
cs . x.
Xll
g like g in gun.
j j in James.
n' ng in ring.
s' nearly like sh.
t' . . . with an obtuse sound resembling d.
When h is separated from its preceding letter by a comma affixed, as 'h, the subsequent letter or sylla- ble must be strongly aspirated, as Hindust'han.
The words of the following work printed in Italics, are so distinguished, to shew that they ought to be spoken according to these rules.
ADVERTISEMENT.
THE NERBUDDA or NARMADA, and the SOANE or SON A, are two of the principal rivers in India, and take their rise in the mountainous districts of the province of Allahabad, not far from the city or town of Rntt unpur. The former river springs from a well, enclosed by a wall, near a pagoda situate on the high table-land of a mountain, called Omercuntuc, or more correctly Omerchandaca, from which it pre- cipitates itself through the district of Mundilla into the provinces of Malwa and Guzerat, and discharges its \\aters by a north-westerly course into the gulf of Cambay. The SOANE rises on the east side, at the foot of the table-land of Omerc 'hatidaca , and run- ning through the Purgunna of Pindara, in a north- easterly direction, where it becomes a coasiderable river, by the junction of the vast number of mountain- streams, it enters the Subah of Behar, and unites its
XIV ADVERTISEMENT.
waters with those of the Ganges, at present near Mo- neah, twenty-two miles above, though anciently close to the walls of the city of Patna ; and after travers- ing with that river the two principal provinces of Bri- tish India, is discharged into the Bay of Bengal.
The temple or pagoda of Omerc'handaca is highly venerated by the Hindus, and is visited by many pil- grims, who come thither to make their offerings, and pay their adorations; to the goddess Bhavani, there worshipped under the symbol of the Nerbudda river. The images in the pagoda are said to represent Bhavani greatly enraged at her slave Jo HILL A, whose face she has disfigured, by depriving her of her nose, ears, and lips. Around her are a great va- riety of figures, representing slaves preparing a nup- tial banquet, all connected with the circumstances of the following romantic fable, which is religiously be- lieved to be true by all devout Hindus. Vide Ac- count of Captain Blunt's Journey, As. Res. Vol. viii.
Omercuntuc is the name given to this mountain in the journal of Captain Blunt. This, however, is not
ADVERTISEMENT. XV
only barbarous in its sound, but bears no resemblance to any Sanscrit word ; to which language it undoubt- edly belongs. Europeans not acquainted with that language, or not regulating their orthography by the rules of Sir William Jones, are very apt to use indis- criminately, the three vowels a, e, u, when short ; and Captain Blunt, writing only to express the sound of words, appears almost always to have used th( u, where Sir William Jones, knowing the true form, would have used an a, in the Sanscrit names. Hence it must be presumed, that had this learned writer written the name of the mountain, he would have given it the form of Omercantac, or Omercantaca, with the a final mute. But the word requires still farther correction. D and t are cognate letters, and if the aspirate be annexed to the c, it becomes Omerc'hfindtica, a form which the learned Jones would most probably have approved. In support of this opinion, various authorities may be adduced. Cinulnca is usrd in the Decent, to signify a plot of ground measuring about three acres, (see Bucha-
XVI ADVERTISEMENT.
nan's Journey). The word is evidently derived from the Sanscrit c'handa, signifying a portion, (As. Res. vol. viii. p. 379-) and C'harma chandaca is the name of a district in the vicinity of Omerchandaca, which may be interpreted the district of Omer. For these reasons, in the following poem, the more classical Sanscrit term of Omerc'handaca, or Omerc'kandac, omitting the last mute letter, agreeably to the prac- tice of Sir William Jones, has been used. Perhaps the former part of the word is not strictly correct, but it has not appeared adviseable to change the form any farther upon mere conjecture unsupported by good authorities.
NERBUDDA ;
OR,
THE METAMORPHOSIS OF SON A.
HONOUR to thee, Ganesa, sapient lord — But next be thou, Bhardni, most ador'd. Or if Nerbudda's name thou deign'st to bear, Nerbudda's praises gladly we declare. Proud on thy front sits majesty divine, And bright thine eyes with radiant lustre shine A third far brighter mid thy forehead beams ; As fire it blazes — or like lightning gleams. Thine is the Tresul sheen : thou bidst it rest, In conquering guise, on prostrate Bhyroe's breast. 10 Thy victory Para-Brahma's self approv'd ; And Malta Dira saw, admir'd, and Jov'd.
B
2 NERBUDDAJ
Since theft the Daityas fly thy awful face,
And numerous blessings glad the human race.
Tis thine to lead thy faithful votary train,
Far from the realms of punishment and pain j
To nurse their virtues, and to mark the road,
That leads to bliss, and Indra's bright abode.
Hence sagest Munis reverence thy name,
And spell in Sastra lore thy matchless fame. 2O
Learn that to thee Heaven's Indras owe their birth,
To thee the Dewtahs, demi-gods on earth.
Know thee to father Ocean's self allied ;
Know thee of Surya's race the boast and pride ;
Thee, Reba, child of Himdla they know,
That king of mountains and eternal snow*.
Mid Brahma's realms where mountains tower sublime And stretch their ridge down Decdn's southern clime, Stands Omerc'handac vast, in proud array j •His summit crown'd by pure blue fields of day. SO
* The principal part of this address to Nerludda is taken from an extract from Fay era Ptiruna, received from thePan- dits in the neighbourhood of Omerchandaca, by Capt. Blunt, of which he has inserted a translation in the account of his journey. — As. Res. Vol. vii. N° 3.
A HINDU TALE. 3
Not such his form as vulgar mountains own, Worn to a ridge, or fritter'd to a cone, But massive at all points he meets the eye, And lifts a plain to kiss the upper sky. His jutting breast, a bulwark bold and bare, Firm bides the storms that furious rove in air ; His lower sides, by step-like steeps upborne, Rich emerald groves with varied tints adorn. There the Tamdla * spreads his leaf of gloom, And fi-esh the clove-plant lends the gale perfume ; 40 The graceful palms their plumy summits rear, And flowering climbers weave their garlands fair ; Through circling shades the cocil's notes resound, And, blossom-fed, hum honeying swarms around. Such towers the Omerc'handac ; sacred height ! For many an age Nerbuddu's fond delight : Not more could Indra golden Meru love, Or Christina rural Gaverdhen approve. Here her Verandah sooth'd the scorching day j Here bow'd her Dewtah slaves in long array j 5O
* A species of the laurus or laurel. B2
4 NERBUDDA ;
Here she, high seated on her diamond throne, Daughter of gods, in heavenly glory shone ; Look'd down on realms below with gracious eye, Dispensing peace and plenty, wealth and joy : Hence wide as ocean spread Nerbudda's fame, And countless nations lov'd, ador'd her name.
Where smile the vales 'neath Pinddra's heights secure, Or wind the mazes of Sohaugepur; And widening still, and still extending far, Become the fertile plains of fair Bahdr, 60
The heaven-born Sana dwelt ; and held his place, Among the noblest of bright Chandra's race. He lov'd, kind sprite, to cheer the labouring swain, And feed the progress of the growing grain : He lov'd beneath the tufa's pillar'd shade Shelter'd to sit, and lend the herdsmen aid j And when the bright-beam'd god sent slant his ray, • And gentlest breezes fann'd the closing day, From the green eminence he lov'd to view Fair nature freshening with the falling dew 5 70
Then would he tune his pipe, and charm the vale With strains melodious floating on the gale.
A HINDU TALK. 5
Creation hears, and owns the lulling sound ; Sooth'd the gaunt wolf forgets his nightly round ; His feast of blood the prowling pard foregoes ; The hamlets rest secure, and won to sleep repose.
Such Sona was, and thus the swains he blest ; And rustic rites their gratitude express'd. Nor did he proud their offerings disdain: They more endear'd his rural fair domain ; 8O
Enhanc'd the beauty of the shady dell ; The mountain's group,— the green hill's simple swell ; The rock from crystal lake reflected truej And groves and meads veil'd soft in distance blue. But chief the Omerchandac, massive high ! His deep dells shadowing, wins his fondest eye. Whether it gleams with Surya's clearest ray, Or o'er its sides the fleecy vapours play ; Or when its top the gathering Versha shrouds In one wild world of deep mysterious clouds; 90
The partial Deva loves the object fair, And deems those beauties grand beyond compare.
But now great Cama, he whose magic sway All heaven's high deities by turns obey,
6 NERBUDDA ;
Resolv'd the Deva of the vale should prove
The soft — the keen anxieties of love.
Quick from his bee-strung bow an arrow flew,
Its point an amra* fresh with morning dew.
Right true it sped, and, with unalter'd force,
Reach'd all-creative Fancy's secret source. 100
At first, soft thrilling, through the Devas frame,
With warmth well pleasing spread the am'rous flame ;
Wak'd every sense, and bade each thought employ
Its busy powers in painting promis'd joy.
Thus fed, thus fami'd the pest, and stronger grown,
He glows with hopes and fears till now unknown }
Hopes, that the mistress of yon high abode
May crown with rapturous bliss a faithful God ;
Fears, lest she meet his truth with haughty scorn,
And bid a God exist a wretch forlorn. 110
As ere the coining storm obscures the sky,
Cross Indra's dome the clouds swift gathering fly,
* The spondias Myrobalanus of Linnaeus.
"The heart-born god who delights in giving pain, has fixed in his bow-string a new shaft, pointed with the blossom of an amra." Sacontald, Act IV. Scene II.
A HINDU TALE. 7
Admitting now bright Surya's darting ray, Now veiling dark in gloom the mourning day ; Thus o'er the Devas mind alternate reign Hope, bright with joy, or fear dark-rob'd in pain. Thus both their anxious power assert by turns ; Both feed the fire that, soul-consuming, burns.
The Deva now no more with eye serene Surveys the beauties of his favourite scene. 120
What though, with stedfast gaze, his eye be bent On Omerchandac, seeming all intent? Yet sense is shut. — By thought absorb' d entire He meditates, and fans Cdndarpa's fire ; Marks ev'ry incident with fondest care, That owns a reference to his imag'd fair, And dwells enraptur'd on each act of fame That gilds with honour lov'd Nerbuddas name. — The butter blazing oft in many a bower, With Cut a duly spread, proclaim'd her power. ISO Libations pour'd, and ofFrings frequent made, And prayer devout, her deeds benign display'd. Oft too the rich procession's festive throng, The sportive dance — the mystic Mantra song,
NERBUDDA;
Wide to the wondering earth her glories told, And bade e'en Swergds gods her worth behold. These rites indifferent had the Deva seen, Or own'd unmov'd the merits of the queen : But cool indifference Love permits no more ; These rites they rouse him now t' admire — adore ; 14O Nerbudda deeming fond a blazing star, Through heaven's high mansions beaming bright and far. But ah her beauties ! — through each throbbing vein, In mix'd disorder, trembling tumults reign. The sobbing sigh high heaves his mighty breast j Quick throbs his heart with raging flames distrest. Great Maya works — His picturing fancy warm Blends in Nerbudda splendour, grace, and form ; Gives to the garland* crown its braided place, And spreads the musky patches on her face ; 150
Bids them 'mong smiles live on each dimpling cheek, While o'er her forehead reigns the golden teic ; Hangs on each ear, to dance in gay delight, The Condal gemm'd with Indras flashing light ;
* " Yadava decked her braided hair and neck with fresh garlands." Gitagovindu.
A HINDU TALK.
Sheds the black dust* that brightens on her eyes, And o'er her temples leads the radiant dyes ; Forms her with neck of antelope, fawn-ey'd, Teeth that the c/iwndaf blossoms fair deride ; Shapes like rich pomegranates her bosom's swell, Bids there in sport her sapphire necklace dwell. — 160 See graceful wave the lotos' + stalk her arms ! Strive not, vain bracelet, to improve their charms. Fair lotos' flowers, her taper fingers glow, Ting'd bright by Lacsha, like each slender toe.
* " Madhai'a embellished her eyes with additional black- ness, and dyed her temples with radiant hues." Gitagovinda. These are probably the marks of sects, drawn in different coloured lines upon the forehead and temples. The former refers to the preparation of antimony, with which the Asiatic women tinge the inside of their eye-lids, to improve the bril- liancy of their eyes.
f " The chunda blossom yields to thy teeth." Gitagov.
J " Madhava binds on her arms, graceful as the stalks of the water-lily, adorned with hands glowing like the petals of its flowers, a bracelet of sapphires." Gitagov.
" Another wood-nymph pressed the juice of Lacsha, to dye her feet exquisitely red." Sacontola, Act IV. Scene I.
10 NERBUDDA;
Gay round the gem her form the garlands twine ;
And rings gold-beaming on her ancles shine.
Her waist-bells seem with tinkling mirth to move,
And call the soul to ecstasies of love :
While powder'd sandal-wood* and musk bespread
O'er her soft limbs their grateful fragrance shed. 170
The fair idea thus his fancy fills :
Such through his soul Nerbuddas image thrills.
Like oil it feeds the soul-consuming fire,
Like heat enflames the feverf of desire.
Thee, hapless Sona, drooping and forlorn, The wonted garlands now no more adorn. Sad sorrow hides the moon-beams of thy face, Thy form neglect and wretchedness disgrace. In vain thy slaves the sandal- wood + prepare, Thou deem'st it poison in thy wild despair : ISO
* " Powdered sandal-wood is sprinkled on my limbs." Ibid.
f " Radha sought him long in vain : her thoughts were con- founded by the fever of desire." Gitagov. " The fever of love." Ibid.
J " If powder of sandal-wood, finely levigated, be moistened
A HINDU TALE. II
The evening cool that wakes the mountain gales,
Seems but to pour infection through the vales.
Thy tlirobbing breast, it heaves with constant sighs,
And wings a breeze hot hissing as it flies.
O'er every limb extends the fatal flame
That erst consum'd Candarpcis heavenly frame.
His prey as strikes the pard* with darted paw,
While Ydma, death's grim genius, arms his jaw :
Thus, Sona, love with onset quick assails
Thy fainting powers, and o'er thy powers prevails, 19O
Rends thy strong strength, and sucks without control,
In savage joy, thy energies of soul.
Ye lovely A^les — once Sana's blest abode, Mourn the lost favour of your guardian god. No more his well- tun' d pipe with mirthful sound Pours, at cool eve, or joy or peace around,
and applied to the breasts, she starts and mistakes it for poi- son. Her sighs form a breeze long extended, and burn like the flame which reduced Candarpa to ashes." Gilagovinda.
• " Love is the tiger who springs on her like Yiima, the genius of death." Gitagovinda.
12 NERBUDDAj
But sad betrays, in many a broken strain,
His frantic passion and his stinging pain.
Mourn too, ye sickening plants, once Sana's care,
And learn your patron's keenest pangs to share : 200
Fresh health to you no more his power supplies,
The blossom droops and fades, and fruitless dies.
And you, O herds, in lowing moans express,
Since Sona guards you not, your sad distress.
Forth from the jungle now, in murderous mood,
The tiger springs, and dyes his step with blood.
Wide roams the wolf j and now with bold essay
E'en howling shakals seize the living prey.
Oft too your steps disturb the fatal snake
Stretch'd in the grass, or coil'd up in the brake. 210
While vex'd, your waning tribes, by furious storms,
Murrains assail, or leanness foul deforms.
Nor stays fair hope, with promis'd bliss to cheer
The woes you suffer, or the woes you fear :
For vainly strive the Devas slaves to move
Nerbudda's breast with tales of offer'd love ;
In vain permission, for their lord they crave,
To meet her face, and call himself her slave
A HINDU TALE. " 13
More hard than thunder-stone*, she stern denies Her imag'd beauties to his longing eyes. 220
Wrapp'd in her pride, she treads her mountain-plain ; And the five-arrow'd god is held in high disdain.
Meantime, admiring gods the Deva see Assume the duties of the strict Yogi.' His home he quits, and seeks a station lone, Deep sunk in woods, to human feet unknown. A pippdl staff directs his steps unshod, A gourd pours water for the famish'd god. Rude from his head, the hair uncomb'd descends, And but the Zenadr from his neck depends. 230
A belt of munj one scanty vestment ties, That asks affliction from the mildest skies. Tims unattir'd, he meets with steady gaze The utmost force of Surya's burning blaze ; He aids that force by four surrounding fires, Nor scorch'd, a statue, from their heat retires. When too the louring year loud thundering pours, From bursting clouds, the torrent-rushing showers,
* " If thou refuse it, thy heart must be harder than thun- der-stone." Gitagovinda
J4 NEKBUDDA ;
He, from their fury while all creatures fly,
Alone, unshelter'd, waits the drenching sky ; 240
Imbibes the flood at every heat-shrunk pore,
Till swoln the shape proclaims his sufferings sore.—
He next, as seasons change, with patience bold,
New pain solicits from contrasting cold.
Seeks where the lymph*, slow dripping, long may shed
Ingenious misery on his patient head.
Meanwhile, from forth his lips no accents come,
Save, in low tones, the dread symbolic OMi
No task occurs, the tedious hours to share,
Save due ablutions and the rites of prayer ; 25O
No change, but when the chandraydna tries
His ant-like form with more severities.
No soothing respite wearied nature knows,
Save when the night compels a brief repose :
Then yields the wretch an hour to conquering sleep,
His roof the sky, — his bed the craggy steep,
But forth ere Arun leads bright Surya's train,
He wakes to tread anew the path of pain.
* Practised by a penitent living at Benares, 17Q5. Vid. As. Res. Vol. v. N« 2.
A HINDU TALK. 15
Such is the Font's task ; and such was thine, To win, O Sona, Brahma's aid divine. 26O
Thus through ten yugs, great Deva, didst thou know The ceaseless stream of self-inflicted woe ; Thus didst thou pass, as sagest Munis prove, Ten yugs in deep devotion and in love ; Nor pass'd in vain — At length high Brahma saw Thy well earn'd worth, with reverence and awe; And bade (hence, mortals, learn the power of prayer) The oil of pity sooth th' obdurate fair. — She owns his truth — His merits stand eonfess'd, And Retis' influence warms her melting breast. 270 " Go, bid," she cried, " those faithful slaves that wait With Sana's suit before Nerbuddas gate ; Go, bid them tell the Deva of the vale, His years of pious penances prevail ; And great Himldyas daughter turns her ear To all he asks, and seeks his presence here : Nor shuns she now a spouse of Chandra's line ; But wills that Sona and Nerbudda join."
As, zephyr-urg'd, the clouds disperse and fly, And bright the sun rules o'er the azure sky 5 28o
16* KERBUDDAJ
As laughing flowers their ivory cups expand/
And gay Ragini's chant along the land,
When Fishnu from his annual slumber springs,
And, o'er creation wide, fresh influence flings ;
So from the soul of Sona sorrow fled,
And joy awaken' d, liveliest influence shed ;
When rapid borne, on wings of gay delight,
His faithful slaves from Omerchandac's height
Descending came, and bade the Deva hear,
" Thy lov'd Nirbudda is no more severe ; 290
She now no more Candarpas power defies,
No more she heeds not sorrowing Sana's sighs ;
But bids the happy Deva seek and prove,
In her high bowers, the richest sweets of love."
Straight from his rocky couch the god uprear'd His languid head, half doubting as he heard : But transient doubts alone his soul annoy ; Assur'd he hastes to meet the ofFer'd joy. The garb of joy supplants his weeds forlorn j The new-born year thus beauties fresh adorn. 300
Smiles on his lips with liquid radiance play ; Thus flowers expanding meet the wakening day.
A HINDU TALE. 17
His locks reclaim'tl the champac* garlands twine ;
Thus 'mong the clouds the gleaming moon-beams shine ;
His forehead bright with od'rous oil appears }
Th' horizon dark, thus rising Chandra chears.
O'er all his form Cuurra's splendour gleams ;
Thus sports bright day o'er Yamuna's purple streams.
Light graceful from his waist the jammah flows,
Thus on the lotos blue, the gold dust shows. 310
His every step new majesty unfolds ;
His course thus through the signs great Siirya holds.
Meanwhile the busy Devatas display Their master's pomp, and form the long array. Part stand prepar'd as active peons drest To tell th' approach — and bear their lord's behest : Or fierce and martial Rajah puts appear, And wield the scimitar, and point the spear.
* " Having bound his locks with forest flowers, he hasten- " to yon arbour, where a soft gale breathes over the bank* " of Yamuuti -, there again pronouncing thy name, he nuxlu- " lates his divine reed." Gilagnr.
" His locks intern o\ en with blossoms, were like a cloud " variegated with moon-beams." Ih. Whence also of the rest of these similes are borrowed.
C
18
Whate'er most worth, rich Sona's vales afford.
Others collect as offerings from their lord : 320
And full the silver vases bright contain
Perfumes and honey, fruits, and oil, and grain.
Others bring gems and gold, a glittering store..
Gifts meet for her whom Sona can adore.
And last the nuptial robe, that, duly tied,
Joins the fond Deva, and his heaven-born bride.
Now some the instruments of minstrels bear ;
And loud the Nagtfras thunder through the air.
Now some chaunt sweet his praise, or laughing flowers
Strew o'er his path in aromatic* showers. 330
Next numerous Cw/iesf,. tall and stout, are seen :
And forth they bear the pendant palanquin :
Prepar'd to share the toil in due relays,
While onward borne, the swinging mansion plays.
Then rang'd in order faithful Genii wait,
To serve the nobler purposes of state :
This the umbrella wide outspread assumes ;
That bears the betel — these the rich perfumes :
* According to the Purunas, these are the honours paid to great persons on extraordinary occasions.
•f- Culies, or coolies, are a race of men acting as porters.
A HINDU TALE. 19
Others the splendid banners wide unfold,
And load the breeze with sti-eaming silk and gold ; 340
Those following, bear what most their lord may please.
Supply liis wants — contribute to his ease ;
And last the Sirdar, big with full control,
Learns his lord's will, and ivgulates the whole
Forth splendid Sana comes — uplifted high
He fills his slave-borne car with dignity.
Now all prepar'd, his train, without delay,
Toward Omer-chaudac turns its winding way 5
Threads the deep mazes of the varying vale,
While floating music loads the passing gale: 3oO
Climbs now the rocks that fence the mountains' sides:
Now its long length in thickening forests hides.
The scene, exulting, kindred Devas view,
Wish every joy, and every blessing too :
Nor doubt that future times shall bless the hour
When thus were wedded truest worth and power.
Nor less is busy preparation seen In the high mansions of the mountain queen. The tain slu\ es are bummon'd, and fulfil Their mistress' \vi-h \\ith promptitude and skill : 3Go
2O . NERBUDDA;
Part to arrange the banquet quick advance,
Or plan the order of the festive dance.
Those practise song, and chaunt Nerbudda's praise ;
These tune the vene in concert with their lays.
Those bid the agate lamp new oil receive ;
These bring perfumes — or flowery garlands weave.
Part lead the votive cow in chaplets drest,
To greet with holy forms th' illustrious guest :
Or place the friendly seat in order due ;
Or spread the dower, rich glittering, full in view : 37(>
While holier bands more solemn rites prepare .
Construct the altar 'mid the hallow'd square,
Nurse the pure flame, the just oblations bring,
And bear lustrations from the limpid spring ;
The seven-fold circles draw, whose mystic ties
Bind ever firm the glad solemnities. —
Nor is Nerbudda's self without her cares, But anxious for the interview prepares : Calls studious to her aid each female .art, That deep may root her power in Sonas heart. 380 O'er her fair form, the bath warm freshness sheds : The sandal added, fragrant softness spreads.
A HINDU TALE. 21
The chosen vest improves her native grace ; And diamonds aid the splendour of her face. — As, lucid opening to the blaze of day, The lotos smiles with heavenly beauty gay ; So the queen, seated in her rich alcove, Awaits the offerings of the Deva's love.
She waits ; but waits by anxious cares opprest, And expectation agitates her breast. 39O
Rack'd by their force, she cried, " Johilla, friend, " Fairest of slaves that on my steps attend, ' ' Quick to the borders of the mountain hie, " And gather tidings of my destiny. " Observe the Deva of the vales, and say " Whether he hither comes in due array; " Such as ambition's wish might justly claim, " Such as becomes Nerbuddas birth and fame. " But joy shall crown my soul, O faithful slave ! " If, lion- like, his port be bold and brave j 400
" If the blue lotos blossom on his face; " If his form wear the palm's aspiring grace j " If he be such as Heri, when he strove " To win the tender fawn-ey'd Rddhas love.
22 NERBUDDA J
" Hence — haste — return ; and bid my cares subside, " And, in thy mistress, hail the happy bride."
Johilla heard Nerbuddas new behest ; And touch'd the earth, her forehead, and her breast. Then duteous forth she went, and soon espied, Scaling the mid-height of the mountain's side, 410 The Divas train. Long, numerous, richly gay, Stream-like, 'mong rocks and woods, it wound its way. The nymph, unseen, beheld with earnest eye The splendid Sana slowly passing nigh. Ah luckless hour ! — ah fatal — fatal view ! Parent of ills, hence destin'd to ensue : For while she gaz'd, Candarpa's keenest dart Pierc'dher soft breast, and rankled in her heart. — Love rules Johilla now with strong controlj Sways every motive, and possesses whole ; 420
Of faith and duty, palsies every sense ; Blinds her regard to every consequence ; Bids her resolve, though vengeance follow sure, To win the Devas love by fraudful lure 5 And bliss, however transient, boldly gain, Though follow'd instant by an age of pain.
A HINDU TALE. 23
By Maya urg'd, her feet with agile pace, By nearest paths, the steep in part retrace : Quick she assumes, such power the Dewtah's claim, The martial emblems of great Durgas fame. 43O
She grasps a spear —like Siiryas ray it beams : She wears a helm — like lightning bright it gleams : Studded with gems, the seven- fold quilted vest, That laughs at war, defends her swelling breast. She takes the port — the awe-commanding mien, And every semblance of the mountain queen. With step majestic, slow, she seems to come, To bring the god with welcomes to her home. She meets the train — and bids the peons hie Quick to their lord, and tell, the queen is nigh. 44O
As oft at eve, from forth the woodland shade, The antelope quick bounds across the glade ; When fed by spring, and far from fear and pain, He feels ecstatic life in every vein : So from his car, light darting, Sona flew To meet the queen, and pay her homage due. O'er her bright form his eyes approaching rove, And drink rich draughts of reverence and love :
24 KERBUDBA ;
For smiles adorn the beamy moon, her face,
Yet temper'd pure with dignity and grace j 450
Her limbs the waving lotos' grace combine
With the firm grandeur of the mountain pine.
Thrice Sona bow'd with salutation meet,
And touch' d with holy reverence her feet* :
And thrice his hand plac'd on his glowing breast,
The faithful fervour of his love exprest.
Then thus he spoke : " May glorious Chandra shed
' ' His amplest blessings on Nerbuddas head :
" For she hot only deigns, at length, to hear
" The suit most lowly of her slave sincere, 460
" But quitting now her mountain bright abode,
' ' Befitting well the daughter of a god,
' ' Meets my approach, and bids my soul receive
" Those joys the musk, her favour sweet can give."
* The practice of showing honour by touching the feet of the person honoured, is very ancient. Mentis, among the va- rious modes of respect which the Brahmachari, or religious student, is to pay toward the person and family of his precep- tor, orders, that the young wife of the preceptor must not be greeted even by the ceremony of touching the feet, but that, on his return from a journey, he must once touch the feet of his preceptor's aged wife. Menu: chap. 2. v. 212, 2l6\
A HINDU TALE. 25
Johilla answered, " Anxious forth I came " To meet thee, Sana, favourite of fame : " Attend, and hear, and trust Nerbuddas word ; " I joy to meet thee now, son of my lord*." — " And dost thou call me husband?" Sona cries, The diamond pleasure sparkling in his eyes : 470
" O happiness ! — O honour ! — glory ! — joy ! " Bright is the portion of my destiny. " Thy lot with mine, ne'er, Madhitva, compare, " Thou spouse of Rddhd, lotos-footed fairj " Nor you, ye sprites, that Amttravati hold " On Merit's heights 'mid glittering gems and gold ; " Or feast in verdant Nandtina's alcoves; " Or share true virtue's meed, celestial loves. " Your splendours, pleasures, gladly I'd resign, " For this my lot ; — Nerbudda now is mine !" 48O
O'er the nymph's face, half down ward bent, the smile Play'd in glad triumph at her prospering guile :
* Saconlala. " Let the son of my lord make haste to tie on the bracelet."
Dushmanta. " Now am I truly blessed." — That phrase, the son of my lord, is applied only to a husband.
Saconlala, Act III.
26 NERBUDDA;
Then thus with modest accent mild she strove
To rule the transports of the Dcvas love :
" Surely, my much-lov'd lord now needs repose,
" For fierce with Suryas beam the welkin glows j
" And steep th' acclivity, and long the road,
" That hither leafls from Sonas lov'd abode :
" Then hear of rest. — Hard by, a cavern wide
" Its deep space borrows from the mountain's side. 490
" From the arch'd roof, bright crystal spars depend,
" And dripping drops at intervals descend,
" Diffusing cool j — nor dare fell heat invade
' ' That guarded house of solitude and shade ;
" Where rapt Sandy ssi silence lone abides,
" And knows no sound, save of the rill that glides
" 'Mong the smooth pebbles, — and in tinkling lays
" Asks him to hear his reverential praise.
" 'Tis nature's Choultry.— On a mossy bed,
" Woo'd by the breeze, my lord shall rest his head ; 500
" Or half-reclined shall view, and bid me know,
" The distant prospects of the vale below." —
" Wait here, my slaves," th' exulting Deva cry'd ;
" And O ! delight dwells in thy words, my bride !
A HINDU TALB. 27
<s Seek we the cave, and there the countless hours " Shall roll in bliss : for heavenly love is ours !"
Meantime, the demon of impatience grim, Follow'd by madness, rage, vexation, whim, Reigns o'er Nerbuddas mind, and spiteful plies Her brain with painful possibilities. 510
" What stays," she weens, " Johillas wish'd return? " Is Sona faithless ? must I slighted mourn? " O, maddening thought ! —Perchance bewilder' d, lost, " He treads the \\ilds of Omerc handac s coast. " Nor yet Johilla comes. — Can she too stray ? " Slights she my orders ? — dare she disobey ? " Though fine like air her frame, perhaps with pain " The Ndgas poison thrills through every vein. " Perchance the tiger's bloody fangs may tear " Her sylph-h'ke form, and give her to despair. 520 " Ah dire mishap ! — No longer let me wait, " With coward fears, the dread awards of fate . " What ho, ye slaves ! my Vahdn quick prepare, — " My search shall traverse wide the realms of air ; " Nor shall it cease, until Nerbudda know " What fate awaits her, be it joy or woe."
28 NEHBUJODA ;
As o'er the steep of blest Cailasds side, With wheeling speed, the scatter'd vapours glide, When mighty Suryas all-prevailing ray Subdues the clouds, and vindicates the day ; 53O
So o'er her mountain steeps, in anxious haste, By pillowy clouds upborne, Nerbudda pass'd, Searching each dell : — ere long, with mad surprise, The twofold objects of her search she spies. Screen'd by the cavern's brow from burning day, On moss reclin'd, the amorous Deva lay ; And, all intent on fair Johillas charms, Fond woo'd his love, or clasp'd her in his arms.
Ah, spare me, goddess, should my vent'rous lay Thine anger mortal, dreaded, dare display : 540
For o'er thy brow the thickening tempests lour ; Wrathful thine eyes the streaming lightnings pour ; Loud in thy voice the bellowing thunders sound : Surprise and awe the amorous pair confound. " And canst thou, basest Deva, — canst thou dare " Permit that slave thy plighted love to share ? *' Dar'st thou for her Nerbudda' s self despise ? " And am I hateful to thy hated eyes ?
A HINDU TALE. 29
" Thou scorn's! my power. Know, son of Chandra s line, " Thy power is empty air oppos'd to mine. 55O
" Presumptuous wretch, this instant — instant know, " What ills betide when I appear thy foe."
Thus rag'd the queen. — Then from her car she strode,. And sudden seiz'd the wondering trembling god ; With grasp like Indra's, when he erst with ease Whirl'd Mandttra's mass — churning the foaming seas. Not with an arm more potent, Sina threw The thundering bolts on Dirt's impious crew, Than she the Deva hurl'd with sudden throw, Astonish'd — shrieking, to the vales below. 560
Urg'd onward by her anger's furious storm He hies — and whirling quits his god-like form. His limbs, to atoms shiver'd, scattering fly, A bloody shower, swift darting from the sky . O'er the grey rocks they pelting, pattering, bound, And what was Sona once, flows trickling wide around
Nerbudda saw the deed ; and scowling smil'd, Then turning quick, and looking vengeance wild, Her trembling slave she seiz'd, and scornful cast Full into th' arms of the careering bla- .".70
30 NEHBUUDAj
And bade the howling genius straight convey
To Omerchandacs halls his trusted prey.
Thither arriv'd — " O ! treacherous slave," she cry'd,
" What justest vengeance may inflict, abide ! (fair,
" Vain wretch — thou thoughtest once that thou werfc
" Thus — thus thy ears, thy nose, thy lips, I tear.
" Go now disfigur'd, foul, and strive to move,
". Bleeding aghast, thy paramour to love.
" And you, ye walls, once — once my fond delight,
" Proofs now of wrongs, and hateful to my sight ; 580
" And you, ye slaves, that grac'd my lov'd abode,
" And feign'd obedience to your mistress' nod,
f ' Begone — nor be your traces ever known,
" But leave that wretch unpitied and alone.
" Far from this spot your injur'd mistress flies,
" To happier realms, and happier destinies."
Then spoke she Mantras dire— The massy mound Of Omerc'handac shook convulsive round, And deep groans loudly, widely rumbling, heard, In awful tones his sorrowing soul declar'd. 59O
Pale fear awakes to triumph : — for behold, The shivering rocks their stony gates unfold
A HINDU TALE. 31
Wide-yawning ! and in caverns deep display Earth's darkling mysteries to the prying day. Shriek'd Call's sprites : — then first the day they knew : The pent volcanos to the passage flew ; In eddying smoke, fire flashing, thick they sped, And all around, unwonted darkness shed.
Nerbudda smil'd : then sprung, with darting bound, Down the dark horrors of the deep profound. 600 Then instant seem'd a thundering hiss to tear The liquid substance of the viewless air ; And mingling upward, slaves, tow'rs, vapours, fly, And, quick dissolving, mock th' astonish'd eye. — Thus when thou hast inflam'd, O Agni pure, The woodman's pile with many a sod secure, While watchful, day and night, with ceaseless care, His sooty toils the charring mass prepare ; Grateful he hastes to glittering Gdnga's side, And borrows largely from her copious tide : 61O
Then pours it o'er his task. — Hot hissing rise The vapours thick, and hold the clouded skies. Not clouded long : — the welkin's arid waste The reeky beverage quaffs, with greedy haste ;
32 NERBUJDDAj
And bids thin space again assert her reign ;
For see, the foe is gone that dar'd thy wild domain.
Johilla now, with sense awakening slow From trance-like terror, tastes her draught of woe. Prostrate, in pain, she notes, with eye forlorn, The blood warm trickling from her visage torn. 620 She rears her head, and, with a stranger's gaze, The desert naked all around surveys. In vain her anxious ranging eye. inquires For Omerchandacs walls, and glittering spires ; In vain for aid from those lov'd friends she prays, That shar'd her joys and cares in happier days : Those walls are vanish'd; — those her friends are gone : And sad, disfigur'd, houseless, and alone, She meets the rigours of a scorching sky ; And hears but Pavdris breezes doleful sigh, 630
As o'er the barren heath they wing their way, To sweep those mountains that in wide array Present around their host of summits rude, The realms of silence, and of solitude. " Ah wretched state ! — ah prospect horrid, drear," Johilla cry'd ; " but is Nerbudda here ?"
A HINDU TALE. 33
She trembled at the name. — With eye askance, She stole a fearful, hasty, partial glance Tow'rd tliat dread spot where late she seem'd t' have seen The fierce departure of the angry queen. 640
But vain her fears : no terrors now remain ; No yawning gulf deforms the mountain plain. One part alone unclos'd now meets the sight, Of size to suit Nerbudda's downward flight ; Whence — so the goddess will'd — a river flows j And bubbling, boiling, fierce her anger shows. Seen too is anger in the current's force, For rolling eddying, swift it holds its course. From hated Sana's eastern vale it hies, To realms that glow beneath the western skies. 650 Come to the mountain's verge, that high in air, Frowns o'er the vales, the heedless waters dare The dire descent. At first in smooth array, O'er the worn edge, they seize their rapid way; But soon the hostile rocks upswelling high In churlish forms the rushing mass annoy. Indignant and in scorn the waters wheel ; And brawling sounds their rising wrath reveal. D
34 NERBUDDA;
Now more oppos'd, they dash with furious rage
Full o'er the foe, and war incessant wage. 66O
Resistance scorning, surge leaps over surge,
And darting hosts their swift precursors urge.
The hurly swells ; — the waters war around ;
And loud the rocks return the echoing sound.
The shiver' d fluid foams ; — wide flies the spray ;
And showers prismatic dance on Suryas ray.
Triumphing 'mid the scene, confusion howls ;
And terror, bending o'er, astonied scowls.
Nerbudda's flashing stream they wond'ring view,
At perils fearless, still her course pursue ; 670
And rushing still unconquer'd, hurrying flow,
To lave Mundilla's deep hid vales below.
They trace her thence to Malwa's long domain,
And see her greeted by the shepherd swain.
Sooth'd by his pipe, her rapid course she stays;
And 'mong his herds meand'ring freely plays.
Now sleeps her wrath ; beneficent of soul,
She bids her copious, welcome waters roll
Through Gujerdta's realms ; with liberal hand
Diffusing plenty through the smiling land. 680
A HINDU TALE. 35
There hears she pleas'd, while slow her waters glide, The busy nations woo her favouring tide. Glad sees rich cities rise in bright array, To grace her union with thy waves, Cambay, When now the horrors of Nerbudda's rage No more Johilla's awe-struck soul engage, O'er the past scene her thoughts reverting rove, Fraught with the tenderest energies of love. Now fancy sees, the Deva fresh as morn ; , Then dreadful downward hurl'd, and scattering borne. " Yet this for me my Sona did endure" — 691
Then glows her breast with soft affection pure. " Could I but view once more his god-like grace • " Yet ah ! the ruins of my mangled face." 'Tis now she owns the reign of wild despair, And loud her laments rend the desert air. Exhausted now her grief, with many a sigh, She sinking yields to sad necessity ; Yet turns towards Sona's vales her hopeless gaze, And thitherward with feet unconscious strays ; 700 The fatal cavern seeks, forlornly slow, Scene of her greatest joy — her greatest woe. D2
36
NERBUDDA:
Thither arriv'd, she kens with wond'ring view, The steps whence downward hurl'd, the Deva flew. Hush'd are the howlings of the furious storm, And horrors now no more the scene deform. Clear arch the heavens — save where the vapours play, High round the rocks, and mitigate the day. Adown those steeps, where late with shuddering awe, The bloody shower, Johilla scatter'd saw, 710
The ribbon streamlets graceful, tumbling flow, And babbling feed the listening Tarn below. There on the bosom of a verdant glade, Encircled nearly by the tow' ring shade Of lonely heights, that round terrific nod, Convene the limbs, now liquid, of the god. There inky — solemn — silent they repose, The mournful emblems of the Devas woes.
High from the cliff, the nymph awhile surveys. The dell deep darkling with astounded gaze. 720
Till now reflection solemn painting shows, The frowning aspect of encircling woes ; Portrays her wretched, outcast, chearless, lone, Sona transform'd, and hope for ever gone.
A HINDU TALE. 37
Low sinks her soul. Now stands the wretch confest ; Yet soft emotions heave her throbbing breast. She seeks the spot where late the Deva woo'd, There fond reclines, by tenderness subdu'd.
But Sona is not Sona is not here-;
Swift down her gory cheek tear chases tear. 730
Behold she melts ! — her form eludes the eye !
Johilla flows all tear, — O prodigy !—
Sunk in the moss, her grief awhile she hides,
And o'er the rocks in secret streamlets glides j
Come to the brink — adown the stony steep
She dripping flows, and flowing seems to weep.
Now 'mong the clefted rocks she shuns the day,
Now o'er them steals, and wins her shelving way ;
This her sole wish — her dearest fond design,
To blend her waters with, lov'd Sona, thine. 740
Her fond design the sprites of Indra aid,
And guide her trickling o'er the verdant glade
To Sena's wat'ry arms: — there bid her know,
The soothing balms of partnership in woe.
Such fate was theirs — But now the cheering strain- Of kindred sprites, call So«a to the plains.
38 NEKBUDDAJ
" Come, much-lov'd Deva, hither come," they cry,
" And quaff with us, the cup of rural joy.
" Bask 'mid the glories of the blooming year ;
(< Inhale perfumes, and Nature's concerts hear. 750
" Let not ambitious love thy heart control,
" Or disappointment deaden all thy soul •
" Love reigns but one, mid crores of heavenly powers ;
" Various is joy ; — and many a joy is ours."
Glad Sona hears the voice of heavenly truth, And feels the light vivacities of youth. He quits the gloomy Tarn, and blithe and gay, Down toward the vales, brisk wins his various way. Though countless rocks in mingled ruin hurl'd, When changing Menus saw the shatter'd world, 760 Thick down the dells in spiteful tumult close, And rudely Sana's free escape oppose j Yet vain then* efforts : he, in laughing scorn, Springs o'er their heaps, in foamy splendour borne ; Or winds, clear sparkling, through their loose array, And murmuring chides their idle poor delay. These barriers pass'd, his dancing wave he leads 'Mong herds, disporting on the emerald meads ;
A HINDU TALE. 39
And bids them lave, when burns the noontide beam,
And drink sweet coolness from his limpid stream. 770
Meanwhile the fountain sprites, from urns well fill'd
With limpid wealth, 'mong cloud-capp'd heights distil'd,
Pour many a streamlet bright, and hurrying hie
To grace his train, and swell his dignity —
Them Sona welcomes : and, now full and bold,
Their powerful course his rapid waters hold.
They seek those scenes where kindred Devas hail
Hun, glad returning to the spacious vale.
Joy triumphs now, the reign of grief is o'er,
And Sona thinks of love and care no more : 730
For see, his kindred friends with busy toil
Scoop large his passage through the yielding soil ;
His willing waters lead, with friendly hand,
To give and gather pleasure through the land.
His willing waters own the kind control,
And golden-arm'd, meand'ring on, they roll,
Deep piercing now the forest's palmy shade,
Now bright disporting in the sunny glade ;
They now perfumes in ecstasy inhale,
Such as Malaya flings upon the gale ; 790
40 NERBUDDA;
Or now reflect the dark Tamdla's* grove,
While loud the Cocil chants his song of love.
Onward they fere, through fields of ripening grain,
Gi^eat Lacshmi greeting mid her rich domain,
To those fair realms, where Patna's walls unfold
Full peopled roofe, and towers high tipp'd with gold.
There Sona seeks, the heav'n-born Ganga's shores,
And offers, pious, all his wat'ry stores.
Nor can great Ganga such a gift disdain ;
She ranks him 'mong the worthiest of her train. 800
" Come genial god — blest son of Chandra's line,
ff I know," she cries, "thy will accords with mine :
" Like mine, thy streams beneficent I know,
" Like mine, full fraught with life and health they flow.
" Downward from hence, in many a league display 'd,
" The arid plains demand our annual aid :
<c Give we that aid. 'Tis Ganga's fond request;
" And Sona then shall see the nations blest :
' ' For o'er their realms our mingling streams shall pour,
" And load with rich abundance laughing Gowr." 810
* A species of laurel.
A HINDU TALE. 41
Sona, approving, hears the words benign, And blends him instant with the stream divine— Now tow'rd their purpose, mazy swift they hie ; And aided by the torrent-shedding sky, Assert, benevolent, their wond'rous reign Full o'er each district of Bengdla's plain. Lake Ocean's self, their floods stretch wide around, Lake Ocean's self, the far horizon bound. Raft-borne, the swain now traverses the field, That dusty late with panting steers he till'd ; 820
Marks how his rice its moated head uprearsj Or floating home, his wave-won harvest bears ; His bank-built home : just o'er the flood it peers, The plashy refuge of his wading steers. Still onward rolls the flood — and bids its wave, The heads, high branching, of the forest lave. Now o'er those scenes the buoyant trav'ler sails, Where late in shade he woo'd the welcome gales. The Seapoy, while he stalks his nightly round, Hears 'gainst hi> t'nrtiv--.' side, the waters bound; 830 And sees, as Arun spreads his morning beam, The city painted on the circling stream ;
42 NERBUDDA ;
Her wakening sons of trade or pleasure sees, Ply thick their sails, and fly before the breeze.
Meantime th' enrich'd, the saturated soil Prepares to recompense the ploughman's toil : Quaffs deep those liquid stores, that well shall feed Its nurslings bursting from the soften'd seed ; And rear the juicy stalk in green display, Luxuriant tossing in the blaze of day. 840
The shrubs revive, that droop'd in scorching hours, And form anew their essence-breathing flowers. With life renew' d, the woods their veins distend, And bid their boughs with future fruitage bend. Thus, Gdnga, flow thy streams with blessings stor'd, Those heaven-born streams, thro' countless realms ador'd.
But now the gods, their good accomplished all, From off the plains their duteous waters call; In many a current pour them on the main, And leave the earth, once more, to Suryas reign. 850 Variinas sprites the rushing deluge hear, With wond'ring awe, and far-retiring fear. But Ocean old his heaven-born children hails, And greets them welcome to those sea-deep vales ;
A HINDU TALE.
Where gleams his palace, whence with sceptred sway He rules the waves, that far and wide obey. There in his coral halls, high arching wide, Where pearly wealth rich gleains on every side ; Where countless lamps in crystal order shine, And pour pure splendour o'er the scene divine ; 860 Where Dewtahs bring their tributary flowers, And flitting scatter aromatic showers ; Enthron'd on gems and gold, estrang'd from pain, Repose great Gdnga, and her river train ; On living bowls of Amrita regale, And rich perfumes with sense refin'd inhale. Hear tun'd by Cinndras, the conchs resound, While Apsaras, light sportive, dance around ; Wakening the soul those heavenly joys to prove, That wait the blest in Swerga's realms above. S"(»
Such joys now Sona knows - his sorrows o'er, The Comas dart, flower-tipp'd, he feels no more. Mortals attend, and learn, in Wisdom's hour, To weigh the weight of dread Nerluddas power : For she is Durga, Sivas spouse severe, • An awful name, that Earth, Sky, Heaven, revere.
44 NERBUDDA ;
Her spear, not e'en Mahisha dare despise ; The grass is bitten* by her enemies : Then pilgrim visit Omerc'handac's shrine ; And bring thy offerings to the fount divine. 880
There fast in honour of Nerbuddas name ; Take of her stream, and go and tell her fame. Thus shalt thou Dtirga's favour more secure, Than might a hundred Asswamed'has pure, Thus shall thy sinful soul be freed from stain j Thy days long lengthen' d, pass exempt from pain. Fame, like th' extending Fata, guard thy head, Thy offerings round thee, like the Durva spread. And when dread Yama's mandate from below, Shall bid at length thy pyre funereal glow, 89O
Thy soul convey'd by Cdlis high decree, Shall share advanc'd some nobler destiny ; Shall rest on earth, to wear the monarch's crown, Wreath'd strong with power, or gemm'd with bright renown ;
* This alludes to the Indian custom of biting a blade of grass as a token of submission, and of asking quarter.
See inscription on the pillar called the Lat of Firoz Shah, near Delhi. As. Res. v. 7. N° 5.
A HINDU TALE. 45
Or, happier far, through high Nacshatrds borne, Shall reach those realms where Heri shines like morn ; There float on seas of buss that own no shore, Till Brahma sleep — and worlds exist no more. 898
GLOSSARY.
Agni — Is one of the eight guardian deities, so called from their supposed influence or care over the earth. He is the god of the element of fire. His s'acli, or wife, is Stcdha, or vital warmth ; thte same, perhaps, as the Roman Vesta. This god is called Pavdca, or the purifier ; obviously on account of the purifying power of fire. He is represented in the pagodas with four arms, indicative of power, his head encircled with flames, and sometimes seated on a ram ; alluding, perhaps, to the heats, which, in India, follow the entrance of the sun into that sign of the zodiac.
Amrtta — This is a liquor, and the same, to all intents and purposes, as the ambrosia of the Greeks ; for by drinking it the deities of llindusfhan become immortal ; and so effectual is its power, that when the Asswa Rahii tasted
48 GLOSSARY.
it, though, on his being observed of Wshnti, that god cut off his head, ere he could swallow the liquor taken into his mouth ; yet the head became immortal, and cele- brated for its oracular powers. Hence the fables of oracu- lar heads, of which that of the Oxford philosopher, Friar Bacon, has been familar to English legendists. The Amrita is sometimes mentioned as though it were milk or honey. Menti says it is the food taken at sacrifices. As the Amrtta, according to the legend of the Courma Avatara, was produced by hard labour, and next after Sr{, the goddess of Plenty, it seems that the idea of such a liquor arose from the salutary effects of the use of milk, as human sustenance, or of any other production ob- tained by human labour employed in cultivating the earth, and perfecting its produce.
Apsaras — Beautiful female spirits, yet not wholly immaterial; employed chiefly as the attendants on the beatified spirits residing in the realms of Indra. — Vide Indra.
Aswamedhas — The sacrifice of a horse, is called by Menu (chap. 11, v. 26) the king of sacrifices, to be able to remove all sin, and to secure to the devout votary, if duly performed, the high rank of a monarch in some future state of existence after death. At this sacrifice, the horse, according to some rites, is turned loose previous to immo-
GLOSSARY. 49
lation, and followed by the sacrificer, who is obliged to combat any person who may attempt to stop him. Ac- cording to the CdUca Purdna, the head of the victim having been struck off, if possible, by a single stroke of the axe, is offered, with some of the blood, in a dish, before the image or shrine of the god to whom the sacri- fice is made. In the same manner, the sacrifice of other animals is performed, and even of men, who seem to have been anciently immolated, by the disciples of Brahma, in dreadful numbers, exceeding even the waste of life, occa- sioned by the sacrifices of the Scandinavians and Druids of ancient, or the inhabitants of Mexico, and of the South Sea islands of modern times. The slaughtering supersti- tion which dictated these sacrifices, seems to have be- come so excessive in the practice of these rites, as to have excited the utmost horror in the minds of the philosophers of India, and induced Buddha, who is perhaps nothing more than what his name implies, a personification of a school of philosophers, in order to deprecate the cruelty of this worship, to teach, as a barrier against it, his precepts rigidly enjoining abstinence from injury toward any sen- tient creature. It is well known that the precepts of Buddha have been productive of the most extensive effects on the Hindu habits ; they have not, however, by any means
E
50 GLOSSARY.
eradicated the practice of bloody sacrifices. Men, in- deed, are not now slain for that purpose, but young lambs and kids are killed in great numbers yearly in Bengal, and other parts of India; nay, many acts approaching near to human sacrifices are practised upon the human species by the Saivas and worshippers of Cdli. Origin- ally every meal was a kind of sacrifice, and conversely every sacrifice became a meal and a feast — oftentimes a licentious feast ; and hence most probably originated the horrid and unnatural practice of cannibalism.
Bettl — Is a compound for mastication, much and long used in India. It consists of a leaf of a pungent plant, the piper betle of Linnaeus, wrapped round a piece of the kernel of the nut of the areca palm, and covered with a thin crust or shell of lime. It is considered in India as salutary to the breath, and a great preserver of the teeth, whose beauty it improves, according to the fancy of the inhabitants of Eastern Asia, by rendering them nearly black. The apparatus for using it consists of a box of gold, or other costly materials, in which it is carried, and another to receive the saliva of the person using it. These are borne by one, sometimes two attendants, who form part of the retinue of persons of rank in India, whether
QJ.QS3ABY. 51
male or female. Tbjs is sometimes, superseded by tJv? use of tobacco, which, however, seems to be comparatively modern, not being mentioned in any of the ancient San- tcrXt writings.
BhavuHi. Most of the personages qf the Hindu system of mythology are represented us married. Tp tlve male or husband U attributed the exciting power, or pri- mary cause of effects ; to the female, or wife, are Assigned the excitable qualities, operating in consequence of the exciting cause to the immediate production of the effect. The female is called, in Sancrtt, the sdcti, or effective power of the male. Bhavdni is a goddess, and the sdct(, or wife of St'na, a deity, the personified cause of destruc- tion and reproduction, or the changes which attend the course of nature. As the wife of Siva, considered in his reproductive character, this goddess is known by the name of Bhdvani, and is adored as Alma Muter, the great and powerful mother of all things, and even of the in- ferior orders of the gods ; and in this she certainly bears a great resemblance to the majestic, though wayward Herf or Juno of Greece and Italy. As the wife of Sinn, the destroyer, Bhavdni, is known by the names of Dtirga, that is, difficult of access, and Cdlt, dark or inky. Durgu, like the Roman Minerva and Greek Pallas, is represented
52 GLOSSARY.
in the pagodas of India clad in armour, and she particu- larly bears the formidable Tr6s6l, or three-pointed spear, significative, as it should seem, of her influence over air, water, earth. A third eye is said to be placed in her fore- head, evidently the emblem of wisdom and discernment. This D&rga is formidable; but Call, considered as the wife of Siva in the character of Cdl, or Cdla, that is, Time, is terrific. She is represented of a black complexion, and wearing a necklace of human heads ; her teeth are large and grinning, like most of the Hindu deities of the Bhai- rava, or terrible family of Siva. She has commonly four hands. One holds a human head, another a heavy mace, a third a bell for worship, and the fourth the bloody bowl of sacrifice, and she stands on the breast of a pro- strate monarch, evidently signifying the victory of Time over kings and kingdoms. All the maleficent spirits called the sdctts, whose displeasure many tribes of Hin- dfa very diligently strive to avert (Buchanan's Journey), are believed to be incarnations or forms assumed by Cull. As rivers, the great means of fertility in hot climates, usually take their rise among hills and mountains, Bha- vdni receives the title of Parvati, or mountain-born, and is called the daughter of Himachel or Himalaya, lord of the mountains lying on the north of Hindus fkdn, among
GLOSSARY. 53
which is the source of the Ganges. For the same reason, she is said to have assumed the form of the river Nerbud- da or Narmada, or rather to be the deity presiding over its waters. This is a striking instance, among many others, of the allegorical structure of the Hindu mytho-
losy-
Bhyroe. Whether this personage is the same as the mighty Mahtsha, over whom Durga triumphed, is not very cer- tain. Captain Blunt saw at Rvttunpura, in the neigh- bourhood of Omer'chandac, a building dedicated to the worship of this personage, and in it an enormous idol of blue granite, nine feet high. It was rubbed over with red paint, and adorned with flowers; circumstances which prove, that it was an object of adoration to the Hindus of the neighbourhood. Bhyroc must have been an evil spi- rit or Au&a, but this is no objection to the fact of his being worshipped, since evil beings of various orders are worshipped, especially in the Decdn, to avert their malignity, for the same reason as the ancient Egyptians worshipped Typhon, and various mischievous and noxious animals. — Jablonski, Panth. ./Egypt.
Brahma. Vide Maha-Deva.
Brahmd's Sleep. It is an article of belief with great part of the disciples of the Wda, that all things, the universe it- self not excepted, exist only in idea ; or rather are com-
54 GLOSSARY.
posed Of a system of ideas originating in Brahtne, the Su- preme Being, but actually or immediately produced by Brahmd, the efficient Creator, from whom, while he exerts his powers of combining ideas, things created proceed into being ; but that when he ceases to exert these his powers, things created die away, vanish from exist- 'ence, and return back to their first chief cause. These periods of the existence and ridn-exixtence of created be- ittgs, the philosophers of the Veda distinguish in their allegorical manner by the figure of the day and night, or 'the wakiftg and sleeping of Brahmd. Of these changes, ^irhich arc believed' to have been repeated a vast number of times, the institutes of Menu thus speak, (chap. 1. v. 5'C.) " When 'that power (Brahma} awakes ; for though slumber be not predicable of the sole eternal mind, infi- nitely wise and infinitely benevolent, yet it is predicated of Brahmd figuratively, as a general property of life, then has the world its full expansion; but when he slumbers v.ith tranquil spirit, then the whole system fades away." Whether the doctrine of the successive organization of this earth, taught by this allegory, be, or be not, wholly improbable and absurd, is a point which may not be wholly urtworthy the examination of the divine and the philosopher. Butter. In this, and the five following lines, most of the ar-
GLOSSARY. 55
tides used in the Hindu sacrifices, and the principal ob- servances of the Hindu worship, are enumerated ; conse- quently, the passage cannot be well understood, without some account of the rites and ceremonies of the Brakmfns. The religious duty of the Hindu consists of five principal rites, which the translator of the institutes of Menu dis- tinguishes by the name of the Jive great sacraments. These are enumerated by that legislator, in the following vcsse : 44 Teaching and studying Scripture, is the sacrament of the 1'tda ; offering cakes and water, the sacrifice of the manes ; an oblation to fire, the sacrament of the deities ; giving rice and other food to living creatures, the sacra- ment of spirits ; receiving guests with honour, the sacri- fice of men." (Menu, chap. 3. v. 70.) Of the last four of these five sacraments, it may be observed, that they comprise the ritual of pagan antiquity, and that they were generally practised at their sacrifices. The sacred cake and water were introduced at almost every sacrifice : fixe to consume part, or the whole victim, was an essential re- quisite ; and the libation, or pouring of part of the wine pr liquor used on the occasion, resembles, or at leas.t cor- responds with, that act of the Hindu, when he leaves part of the offering a prey to birds and dogs, the representatives of the invisible spirits which, as he supposes, inhabit the
GLOSSARY.
air. It may be farther added, that the hospitality of the ancient heathens of the western world, bears no very slight resemblance to the fifth of the sacraments; especially, as a sacrifice was an act of festivity, and generally served as an entertainment for the friends of the sacrificer. After these observations, it wiH be sufficiently obvious, that the short compass of a note will not serve as an explanation of these rites. This, therefore, must be relinquished, and a con- cise account of one of the five sacraments must suffice, in- stead of a full description, to convey a general idea of the ceremonies belonging to the others, which are very nu- merous, and minutely perplexing. When the oblation to fire is to be performed, in honour of all the gods*, the officiating priest first consecrates a level area of four cu- bits, by smearing it over with cow-dung; a substance, which, from its gelatinous nature, soon hardens in a hot climate, and forms a clean floor. Upon this area, he next draws several lines, in the directions prescribed by his ritual, and then sprinkles the area with water. This done, he throws away an ember from the sacred ftre in a
* All the gods, or the assembled gods termed in sanscrift viswede- vaf, are thus addressed arid described in a mantra used on certain occasions. " Assembled gods, listen to my invocation j ye who reside in the sky ; ye who abide near us (on earth), or far off (in heaven). As. Res. Vol. vii. No. 8.
GLOSSARY. 57
covered vessel, in which it had been brought from some sacred fire, lighted by the friction of two pieces of a parti- cular kind of wood, and maintained by fuel of the same ; he then places the fire upon the consecrated spot. Around this vessel, thus placed upon the floor, he next disposes in due order, several blades of the sacred ciua grass (Poa Cynosuroides) , and sitting down upon the ground, in the manner directed in the ritual, pronounces the names of the earth iuaudibly. Should any inauspicious word have been spoken during this process, he now atones for it, by reciting a prescribed mantra, or sacred text. At this time also, if any special act of worship is intended, the mate- rials for sacrifice are prepared, and a suitable mantra is pronounced. More blades of cusa are now placed in or- der, round the vessel containing the fire ; and the priest having laid on wood, and poured upon it a ladleful of gM or clarified butter, he sits down with his face towards the east, and meditates in silence on Brahma, lord of creatures.
After some interval, the officiating priest proceeds to consecrate the vessels and butter to be used in the sacrifice, a process not a little intricate, and accompanied with the recital of various mantras, or sacred texts, after which, having burned in silence a small log of wood smeared with
58 GXOSSABT.
the ghi, he makes three oblations, by pouring each time a ladleful of butter upon the fire, saying, " Earth! be this oblation efficacious. Sky! be this oblation effica- cious. Heaven ! be this oblation efficacious." Such is the H6ma, or oblation to fire ; sometimes performed alone, but always used as an introductory rite to other ceremo- nies, performed on a variety of occasions by the pious Hindti, — Colebroke, on the religious ceremonies of the Hindi's. As. Res. Vol. vii. No. 8.
In the rules for the performance of this ceremony, no mention is made of the image of the god, to whose ho- nour this is performed ; a proof, that the H6ma was an- terior in practice to the use of idols, or at least, that the Sastras do not consider them, as even requisite to reli- gious worship. Idols, however, have long formed an es- sential part of the furniture of every Hindu place of wor- ship, whether public or private ; and to prepare them for the purpose of receiving adoration, is one of the principal duties of the priests. For this purpose, previous to the hour of the ptija, or public worship at the temples, the idol is bathed with milk or water, especially that of the Ganges, if it can be procured. It is then anointed with ibntter and odoriferous oils, clad in the most cojtly robes, and adorned with the richest jewels, the pagoda may
GLOSSARY. 59
happen to possess. Attendant priests keep off the flies and insects from 'the honoured god with chouries or flappers, formed either of the "white hair of the black Thibet cow, or of peacocks' feathers. The Huma is then performed, but the consecrated ceremonies are omitted at the temples, since both the area and utensils are there already conse- crated. The ofierings of worshippers are then made. These consist of rioe, butter, camphire, fruit, and flowers, of which, certain sorts are sacred, or appropriated to the deity. These the votaries either bring with them, or purchase of the priests at the temple. In the mean lime, the Bayaderas, or dancing girts, move in the sacred dance to the sounds of various instruments, among which, Hhat of the conch, or of the bell, is generally heard. Some- time- thr whole assembly moves round the fire and the idol in procession, and the whole ceremony ends -with a mantra pronounced by the priest as a benedictiou.— Jnd. Ant. Vol. v. chap. 3.
It may be said to be impossible to enumerate all the dif- ferent modes of worship practised by the Z/MM/U*. It is not to be doubted, that they vary very much «ro«tig dif- ferent sects ; and these, notwithstanding the bigotry ef the Jlindut, are very numerous. The greater pan are termed sruddhas, or obsequies, and these, according to the learned
60 GLOSSABY.
Colebroke, may be classed under the twelve following heads, which may serve to convey an idea of the general •objects of Hindd worship. 1. Daily obsequies, either with food, or water only, in honour of ancestors ia gene- ral, but excluding the Viswediva. 2. Obsequies for a special cause, that is, in honour of a kinsman recently de- funct. 3. Voluntary obsequies, performed by way of su- pererogation for the greater benefit of the deceased. 4. Obsequies for increase of prosperity, performed upon any accession of wealth or prosperity, or upon other joyful occasions. 5. A sraddha to sanctify the food at an en- tertainment given to a company of reverend persons. 6. One performed, when stated numbers of priests are fed at the cost of a person, who needs purification from some defilement. 7. A sradcTha preparatory to the celebra- tion of any solemn rite. 8. Sradcfhas, in honour of deities. 9. Oblations of clarified butter, previous to the undertaking of a distant journey. 10. A sradd'ha to sanctify a meal of flesh meat, prepared simply for the sake •of nourishment. — As. Res. Vol. vii. No. 8.
Processions, in which the images of the deities are con- veyed with great solemnity in circuit, to visit holy places, must be reckoned among acts of public worship, paid to the gods of India. The image used on these occasions, is
GLOSSARY. 61
not always the principal idol of the pagoda, but one of secondary sanctity. It is sometimes conveyed on a ma- chine called a rat' ha, or waggon, often having six or eight wheels, and raised to a great height, by a pyramidal struc- ture of several stories, adorned with paintings and other representations, illustrative of the legendary history of the god. Those rafhas are drawn by the zealous votaries of the god, who consider this service as highly meritorious, and are often so animated by a frenzy of zeal, as to sacri- fice themselves, by laying down their heads so as to be mashed by the ponderous rolling wheels. On some oc- casions, the idols are carried on a stage or platform, rest- ing upon men's shoulders ; at others, they are laid in a d6la or palanquin. These processions conduct the idol to visit various temples, tanks, and other sacred places, at certain seasons of the year ; and after an absence of some- times several dap, the image is brought back to its former station. (Buchanan's Journey in the Decan, Vol. iii.) It is curious to remark, that no orders, or rules for the per- formance of these ceremonies, are to be met with in the Vedas, nor yet in the Institutes of Menu; from which, it may be inferred, that they are of a more modern institu- tion than those works ; though yet they are probably of great antiquity, since similar rites were practised in ho-
$9 GLOSSARY.
nour of the goddess Cybele, by the ancient Greeks of Asia (vid. Mythological Accounts of Cybele — Bell's Pantheon), and in the ieciisterma (vid. Livy, B. v. c. 13. Kennet, Ant. part ?. chap. 18, or Bell's Pan- theon) of the early ages of the republic of Home.
Cailasa. This is a mountain said to be the abode of the god Siva. It is on that account of great celebrity, and, of course, highly adorned and magnified by tKe Hindy le- gends. It is said, with the usual extravagance of those compositions, to consist of inestimable gems, and to ex- tend to the length of a hundred Yojdnas of eight or nine hundred miles each, and the breadth of fifty. Jt is gene- rally agreed, that it is situate on the north ofHindfathdn, and the name is given by pilgrims, to a mountain or hill of moderate size among the Himalaya tract, and from it . issues a stream, said to be the principal, or primary stream of the Ganges.
Cdma is the Cqpid or god of love, in the mythology of the Ptirdrtas. He is known by various other names, as Smdra, Candarpa, Ananga, and others, all significative, like Cdma, of love and desire, or alluding to the powers ascribable to such a deity. This god is most evidently the creature of ingenious allegory ; for he is feigned to be the
GLOSS AKT. C.I
son of Aldya, or the goddess of imagination (see Jones's Argument to Hymn to Camde) ; or, according to the Cash- mirian system, of Carydpa or Uranus, that is, of the hea- vens personified. By this, it is intimated, that the passion of love depends much upon the imagination, and that it is of heavenly origin, or owing to a higher motive than mere animal nature. In continuation of the allegory, it is taught, that the wife, that is, the sucti, or efficient power of Cdma, is Reti, or affection, and his intimate friend is Vasanta, or the spring; the meaning of which is very ob- vious. The person of Cdma is that of a beautiful youth, bearing a bow, made either of the sugar-cane or flowers, its string composed of connected stinging bees. His weapons are five arrows, each pointed with the blossoms of five different plants of a heating quality, but probably in different degrees, and productive of different degrees of passion. Cdma is usually engaged in conversation with his mother and consort in gardens and temples, especially those near Agra, his favourite residence ; but someiiuus he traverses the air by moonlight, mounted upon his fa- vourite bird the lory, or parrot, attended by twelve nymphs, or dancing girls, of whom the foremost bears his banner, a red flag, with the figure of.a fish in the middle. It is written in the Siva Puruna, that he once bad the
GLOSSARY.
audacity to direct an arrow at the breast of the stern Siva', who, although he yielded to the influence of the inflam- ing point, resented the attack with such fury, that he hurled at the unfortunate Cdma a flame of fire, by which he was instantly consumed to ashes, and thus reduced to a mental essence, signifying in plain terms, that his power wa* confined to the minds of mortals. The distress ofRe- ti at this disaster was extreme, and the gods, moved with pity, interceded for the pardon of the offender; which being obtained, Cdma was again restored to his bodily form, and appeared as before, in all the splendour of youth and beauty. — -See Jones's Hymn to Durga. Chandra. This deity, who is known also by the name of So- ma, is a personification of the moon, which he is sup- posed to rule or animate. According to some of the Hin- dti mythologies, he is considered as the son of At rt, the son of Brahma. (Jones on Chronology of the Hindis.) In the Rigvtda, the first of the three Vedas, it is written, " The moon is born of the sun." (As. Res. Vol. viii. p. 406.) But, whatever be the pedigree of this deity, he is always, with some rare exceptions, represented as a male. This, though a deviation from the Grecian system, is agreeable to the mythologies of the northern nations of Europe ; who, inverting the HindA system, consider Mane the moon as
GLOSSARY. 65
a male, and Sunna, the sun, as female. (Edda, Fable 5.) But though these nations differ as to the sex of this per- sonage, they agree in the opinion, that his office is to preside over waters. The Rtgveda writes, " Rain is pro- duced from the Moon." (As. Res. Vol. viii. p. 406.) And a Hindu commentator on this passage observes, that " rain enters the lunar orb, which consists of water." (Ibid.) This opinion, concerning the attribute or power of the moon, is to be found even in the writings of our dramatic poet Shakspearc; who, in the Midsummer Night's Dream, calls the moon, " Governess of the floods." Menu (ch. 3. ver. 76.) writes, " the smoke of oblations ascends to the sun, and from the sun it falls in rain ; and from rain comes vegetable food ;" but in tins, the intervention of the moon in producing rain, is only omitted, not denied : and consistently with the opinion, that the moon is the source of rain, he is the effective means of the growth of vegetables; and therefore Svma is called, in the V6da, " king of herbs and plants." (As. Res. Vol. v. p. 345.) This deity, who must always be a favourite in hot coun- tries, because the inhabitants experience the greatest plea- sure from their amusements taken in the evening by his light, is figured by the Hindus seated in a splendid car drawn by antelopes, and bearing in his bosom a sleeping
F
66 GLOSSARY.
fawn, named Sasin. By the former, they allegorically in- timate the irregular motions of this heavenly body, which the rapid leaping of the antelope not unaptly resembles ; and it is fancied, that the dark parts on the lunar disk, bear the form of a sleeping fawn. Under allegories like these, the philosophers of Asia and antiquity have always been wont to veil their knowledge. These allegories, the vulgar have always been apt to understand in a literal sense ; and modern Europeans, supposing that they are only to be so understood, have always been too ready to term them absurd.
Choultry. A choultry is a building erected for the accom- modation of travellers; and is a place where they may lodge their goods, place their beds, eat under shelter, and give provender to their beasts of burden. All these arti- cles the traveller must either bring with him, or procure from the neighbourhood; for the choultry generally affords nothing more than bare walls. In some instances, how- ever, the charity of individuals has appointed persons, ge- nerally Brahmins, to take care of such travellers as are sick ; and sometimes to let out to hire, at a low rate, beds or couches ; but these accommodations are by no means com- mon. The form of the choultry is usually square, but open towards the north, with sheds gf piazzas on the in-
GLOSSARY. 67
ner side of the walls, and sometimes small rooms for the security of goods. In the middle of the court is an en- closed space, where the beast brought by the traveller, may be placed and fed. These buildings are generally erected by the bounty of individuals, and sometimes at the expense of the state. But in either case, their construc- tion is considered as an act of charity ; as indeed are all such as contribute to the accommodation of the stranger. This opinion is founded upon a conviction of the obliga- tion to the practice of hospitality ; an opinion as general in Asia, as it is ancient. Owing to this, Timul Naik Rdja of Tanjora, who built a grand choultry near the pagoda of Madura for the accommodation of pilgrims and other religious visitants, has been almost deified ; and some de- gree of the same kind of praise is given to those persons who plant a Tope or grove, or open a well, near the way- side, for the convenience and refreshment of passengers. None of the British governors, or other residents in Hind- tisfhdn, have hitherto employed any part of their wealth to the construction of choultries ; and are, on that account, thought by the natives to be selfish and uncharitable. It might be well, if measures were taken to convince the Hindus, by the construction of choultries and similar works, that the Christian religion teaches the necessity of
F2
68 GLOSSAHY.
charitable acts ; and that the British Christians are not unmindful of such precepts. The choultry is called a se- rai, or caravansarai, in Mahometan or western Asia ; and is there constructed from the same charitable motives by the disciples of the Koran, as is the cfwultry by the votaries of Brahmd.
Chronology. The chronology of the Brahmins did, some years ago, very much engage the attention of Europeans ; chiefly because some French philosophers, of the school of Voltaire, had the boldness to affirm, that the chrono- logy of our sacred scriptures was completely invalidated by that of India, which afforded a systematic arrangement of periods, bearing all the marks of authenticity, and widely differing from that laid down in the books of the Hebrew lawgiver. The remarks of Sir William Jones, in his Essay upon the Chronology of the Hindus, may be said to have shown, that the immense periods described in the Sdstras, could not be considered as the records of real time; and the subsequent discovery, that several other systems, very different from that examined by the judge of Bengal, both in the structure and length of their pe- riods, has clearly proved his opinion to be true; and shown, that the vast, and almost infinite, series of ages feigned by \bs.Brahment and vaunted by the infidel Chris-
GLOSSABY. 69
tian, have owed their existence chiefly to a fanciful use of that arithmetical notation by figures, which the Hindus having invented, seem to delight almost wantonly to abuse. The proof of these positions, would lead into disquisi- tions much too long for the purposes here intended. The truth of these observations may, however, be rendered suf- ficiently evident, by an account of the manner in which the periods of the system at present received in Hindus t'- hdn are constructed ; and, for such an account, the first chapter of the Institutes of Menu affords materials most ample and authentic. " A year of mortals," writes the Hindu legislator (ch. 1. v. 67), "is a day and night of the gods." This fundamental position, is evidently nothing more than fancy, and such also must be the superstructure raised upon it. " Sages," continues he, " have given the name of Crita or Satya to a Yugu, or age, containing four thousand years of the gods; the twilight preceding it, consists of as many hundreds, and the twilight following it of the same number. In the other three ages, with their twilights preceding and following, are thousands and hundreds, diminished by one." The divine years in the four human ages just described, being added together, their sum, or twelve thousand, is called an age of the gods. By reckoning a thousand divine ages or Maha-yiigas, a
7° GLOSSARY.
day of Brahmd may be found ; his night is also of an equal duration. The before-mentioned age of the gods, or twelve thousand of their years, being multiplied by seventy- one, constitutes what is called a Menwantdra, or reign of a Menu. There are then four human ages, the Satya Yuga, Trita Yuga, Dudpard Yuga, and Cdli Yuga, in which the third is double, the second treble, and the first quadruple, of the last. These ages are distinguished by characteristics, exactly the same as those described by the Roman poet Ovid, in his Metamorphoses, a work formed on an idea most truly Hindu, and probably, like most of the Hindu poetry, allegorical. During the course of these ages through the several Menwdntaras, men, according to the Sastras, become degenerate ; are then reformed, and again degenerate ; but at the end of the Menwantdra, all living creatures are destroyed, the Menu excepted, who, with some other persons, escapes in a boat, and produces a new and pure race of men. This doctrine is evidently borrowed from, or is rather the heathen testimony to the truth of, the Mosaic history of the general deluge. Four- teen of these Menwantdras compose a day of Brahmd ; at the expiration of which, the whole creation vanishes, and ceases to exist during Brahma's night. When that night is past, Brahmd renews again the work of creation.
GLOSSARY. 71
These courses are continued in succession during the life of Brahmd ; at whose death, even the gods expire, and are all absorbed into the essence of Brahme the Supreme. The number of years in each of these periods, will appear from calculations made according to the foregoing rules, to be as follows :
The Salya Yuga will be determined by multiplying a year and day of the gods in the following manner : 4000X360= 1440000 years of mortals. 400X360= 144000 years the in morn ing twilight. 400X30*0= 144000 years in the evening twilight. The sum of these = 1728000 is the number of years in the Satya Yuga.
The length of the second, or Trita Yuga, is thus ascer- tained :
3000X360=1080000 years of mortals. 300X360= 108000 the morning twilight. 300X360= 108000 the evening twilight. The sum of these= 1296000 is the number of years in the Trita Yuga.
Again, 2000x360=720000 years of mortals. 200x360= 72000 morning twilight. 200x 360= 72000 evening twilight. The sum of these =864000 is the number of years in the Dudpdra Yuga.
72 GLOSSARY.
Again, 1000X 360=360000 years of mortals. 100X360= 36000 morning twilight. 100X360= 36000 evening twilight. The sum of these =432000 is the number of years in the . CuUYuga.
The sum of the number of years in these four ages, 4,320,000 years, is called a Mahd Yuga, or an age of the gods ; and the product of this multiplied by 10000, is 4320,000,000, and expresses the number of years in a CAlpa or day of Brahmd.
Of this system, it is obvious to observe, that although the Call Ydga seems to be the result of calculations made according to the foregoing rules, yet in reality, it is the basis of the whole ; a conjecture confirmed by the name of this Yuga, which signifies time, and intimates that it alone is real : and yet, even this is a fanciful period ; for it is itself deduced from combinations made of some of the most celebrated eras of antiquity. The number of years in the three other human ages, being the result of a re- peated addition of the Culi Yuga ; and the other periods being formed from the annexing of cyphers to the sum of these, or multiplying this sum by numbers in a decuple proportion ; it may with great reason be imagined, that all these Ytigas, or human ages, are measures of real time, artificially extended to their present enormous length.— If
GLOSSARY. 73
the Christian era be supposed to begin in the year of the world 4004, the Cali Yuga will have begun in the year of the world f)04.
Cinndras. These are happy spirits or genii, chiefly employed as musicians in the realms of Indrd. Their name is de- rived from a word signifying a harp. The conch, one of their instruments, is a shell much used in the religious solemnities at the pagodas. In the Grecian mythology, it is given only to Triton, the attendant of Neptune, the god of the sea.
Classes. Vide Slaves.
Cocil or Coa'la. " The bird of sweetest song in India," says Sir W. Joaes. — The translator of the ltdmayana, calls it the Indian cuckoo. — Cditdasa, the author of the drama of Saconlala, speaks thus of this bird, act 5 : " The female eocilas, before they fly toward the firmament (migrate pro- bably), leave their eggs to be hatched, and their young to be fed by birds who have BO relation to them." Another poet writes, "The cocil bursts into song when he sees the blossoms glistening on the lovely Rusdla." Gitagouin- da. A good description of this bird, so constantly cele- brated by the Hindu poets, is much wanted.
Creation. Vide Brahma's sleep.
Crtshna. It is a doctrine received by the Brahmins who be-
t GLOSSARY.
lieve in the Pwdnas, that the deity Vhhn'A frequently be- comes incarnate, or appears on earth in a bodily shape ; and that these incarnations or avatdrastoke place whenever the wickedness of mankind becomes so enormous, as to re- quire correction by the particular interference of heaven. The number of these incarnations is said to have been very great ; for in fact it is believed, that some portion of the deity is incarnate in the person of every man who becomes eminent for his wisdom or his power. Of these avatdras, nine are, however, held to be pre-eminent to all others j and a tenth of equal celebrity is yet to come, when Vish- nu will assume the form of a person named Cdlci, and punish that depravity, which, before the conclusion of the present or Call age, is to become universal. Another avatdra, not included in the number above mentioned, because not received generally by the Brahme'ns, although celebrated more than all the other by particular sects, is that in which Vishnti is said to have been embodied in the person of Crtshna, a prince born of the royal family of Mafhura, in the neighbourhood of Delhi; and who rendered himself highly renowned by his extensive con- quests, and also by the many wonderful or miraculous feats performed by him while he lived in concealment, and made a part of the family of the herdsman Nundi. Of
GLOSSARY. 75
these, many are recited from the Purdnas, by the British historian of ancient Hindus fhun. One of these miracu- lous exploits consisted in raising above the waters of an ex- cessive inundation, the mountain Govercfhan, near Mat'- hura, for the security of the shepherds, his friends and as- sociates, and this he is said to have effected with his little finger alone. This, like all the rest of the exploits of Crishna, is probably an allegory, enigmatically recording the improvement of the country by the divine monarch, during the early part of his reign, and probably by drain- age. CrXshna is celebrated by the Hindus, as a perfect model of youthful grace and beauty ; and as such, his praises are sung by the poet Culidiisa, in his poem called the Gilagoi'inda, describing the loves of the youthful god and the beautiful Rddha, (see Jones's Works, Vol. i.) The person of Crhhna is often exhibited among the images of the pagodas in the following form. Like most of the Hindu deities, he is naked to the waist, but his breast is adorned with a profusion of jewels, which, made into short or close, and long or loose necklaces, almost wholly cover the forepart of his body. Jewels also formed into pendants, adorn his ears, and a three-pointed crown with stars and rays encircles his head ; but sometimes a high- pointed cap or mitre is given him. Rings are placed upon
7<> GLOSSARY.
his arms, waist, and ancles, after the favourite fashion of the Hindus, and garlands of flowers hang loose around him. A loose mantle, or shawl of golden tissue, is cast over one shoulder ; and a long Jama, or skirt of yellow muslin, descends from his waist. Like most of the Hindu deities, he has four arms or rather hands (the arm from each shoulder dividing into two at the elbow), evidently an emblem of power. These hands bear the ring or quoit called the chacra, which seems to have been anciently used as a weapon in battle, and on this account, became one of the pentathla or five exercises of the Greeks ; the chdnca, or conch, used as a trumpet in the worship of the pagodas ; the gtda, or mace, used by monarchs to punish criminals, (Menu, chap. ii. v. iii.) probably the origin of the sceptre of European royalty ; and the cimela, or battle-axe, sig- nificative of military prowess. He is seated upon a low seat or sofa, with legs crossed, after the Hindu fashion. It might not be very difficult, to form very plausible conjec- tures concerning the hidden meaning of all these orna- ments, to which the Hindus assign very great importance; and it may with confidence be affirmed, that were it pos- sible to penetrate into the concealed mysteries of the Brah- menst it would be found, that the Crishna of Hindus? - hdn, like the Horus of Egypt, is a personification of the
GLOSSARY. 77
sun at that season, when, in countries nearly bordering upon the tropics, he diffuses, in the beginning of summer, life and vigour through every part of nature. Crown, The usual dress of a female Hindu, consists of a close-fitting vest or boddice, with short sleeves, and a kind of shawl, seven or eight yards long, and about one wide, wrapped several times round the waist, and the ends brought over the head and shoulders like a veil. To these are added a vast variety of ornaments, which render a Hin- du lady a very splendid being. These are almost all men- tioned in the following passage of th» Gi'lagovi'nda, (Jones's Works, Vol. i.) " Place, O son of Yadli with fingers cooler than sandal-wood, place a circlet of musk on this breast, which resembles a vase of consecrated water, crowned with fresh leaves, and fixed near a vernal bower to propitiate the god of fove. Place, my darling, the glossy powder (a preparation of antimony applied to the inside of the eye-lids) which would make the blackest bee envious, on this eye ; whose glances are keener than arrows darted by the husband of Ret(. Fix, O accomplished youth, the two gems, which form part of love's chain, in these cars, whence the antelopes of thine eyes may run down- wards, and sport at pleasure. Place now a fresh circle of musk, black as the lunar spots, on the moon of my fore-
78 GLOSSARY.
head, and mix gay flowers on my tresses, with peacocks' feathers in graceful order, that they may wave like the banners of Cdma. Now replace, O tender-hearted, ,the loose ornaments of my vesture ; and refix the golden bells of my girdle on their destined station, which resemble those hills, where the god with five shafts, who destroyed Samldr, keeps his elephant ready for battle." .
" While she spake, the heart of Yddava triumphed, and, obeying her sportful behests, he placed musky spots on her bosom and forehead, dyed her temples with radiant hues, and embellished her eyes with additional blackness ; decked her hair and her neck with fresh garlands, and tied on her wrists the loosened bracelet, on her ancles the beamy rings, and round her waist, the zone of bells that sounded with ravishing melody."
Respecting the ornaments enumerated in these passages, it may be proper to observe, that the Teica or Teic is an ornament of gold resting on the forehead above the nose, and that the " radiant hues" on the temples, are probably the marks of cast, drawn upon the forehead, without which, a Hindu is always considered en deshabille. The practice of wearing garlands of flowers is still frequent in India, and probably gave rise to the fancy of repreaenting flowers and plants upon their mnslin cloths. If reference
GLOSSARY. 79
be made to the third chapter of the prophet Isaiah, it will be seen, that the Hebrew women are charged with gratifying their vanity with the use of all the ornaments mentioned by Jayadtva, except that no mention is made of staining the nails of the fingers and toes with the juice of Lacsha, a practice now very common in Asia, where the feet and hands are not covered with the dress. Cutiet, or Coolies, act as porters.
Cuta, or Cusha. This is a grass named by Linnaeus, poa cynosuroides. Its leaves are very long, acutely jagged downwards, but smooth on the other parts. Their extremi- ties are sharp and tapering, so as to become proverbial . among the Hiudus, for acuteness of intellect. Its culm or stalk rises commonly to about the height of two feet, and is crowned by a panicle or head, often longer than the culm, and remarkable for its blood-red colour while in flower. It is a most beautiful grass, and perhaps owes its sacred character to this circumstance ; for the Hindus suppose every object to be animated by a spirit or divinity, and those which arc most excellent or remarkable, to be ani- mated by spirits of the highest orders, or by gods. It seems more reasonable to refer the use of the Cusa in sa- crifices, to this circumstance, particularly on account of the blood-colour of ita flowers, than, with Sir William
80 GLOSSARY.
Jones, to any reference to Cush, the father of the Hindu race ; though indeed this latter opinion would have been very probable, had it rested on any other ground than mere conjecture. Jones's Catalogue of Indian Plants, As. Res. Vol. iv. and Martyn's Millar's Diet.
Cuv&a. This personage is one of the eight guardian deities of M.en'u. He is the Hindd Plutus, but unlike the sordid, lame, and age-bent miser of the Greeks : he is a young, beautiful, and magnificent deity, residing in a splendid palace ; and when he travels, he passes through the skies in a vahdha, or self-moving car, richly ornamented and very elegant. Obedient to him, is a tribe of servile De- vatas, some good, and others evil, who are said to have yellow eyes, and to be well acquainted with all places, whether above or beneath the surface of the earth, that abound with precious metals and gems. This deity is called in the Hitopadesa, " the god adorned with the cres- cent ;" the emblem probably of increasing fortune ; and in the Institutes it is said, (chap. 7. v. 42.) " by virtues and humble behaviour, PritM and Menti acquired sove- reignty, and Cuvtra wealth inestimable:" words, seem- ingly implying, that he was some mortal distinguished for his great wealth, and on that account deified, and invest- ed with the character of the god of riches.
GLOSSARY. 81
Daityas. According to the mythology of the Brahmtns, the number of superhuman beings is immense, and almost infinite. They are divided into a variety of orders or classes, which it is difficult to enumerate with certainty or precision. They are generally distinguished into good or evil beings, each known by various names; marking very intricate and minute distinctions, about which, the Brahmtns themselves are not, perhaps, fully agreed. Evil beings are called Daityas, Asstiras, Rac'shasas, and some other names. Good beings are Adityas, (i. e. that may not be cut off,) Suras Yacshas, &c. It seems that these names are sometimes applied to human beings : thus Ravdna, the gigantic tyrant of Ceylon, a person of great celebrity in the Purdnas, or legends of the Brahmtns, is said to have been a Rac'shasa ; probably, from a suppo- sition, that such evil spirits animated those personages. When evil spirits or good spirits are supposed to animate whole nations, the Brahmins seem to be in the habit of assigning to them good or bad names ; in the choice of which, however, they are determined by their passions or inclinations. The Pifdas, or oldest sacred books of the Brahmtns, make little, or rather no mention of evil be- ings ; and the Institutes of Mtnu, a work of somewhat a later date, speak of them indirectly and slightry ; whereas
G
82 GLOSSARY.
the Purdna compositions, certainly of a much later date, are frequent in naming both. Hence, it seems probable, that the doctrine of evil spirits is comparatively of late in- vention. This observation applies with great force, to the Persian doctrine, of two principles operating in the works of the creation ; the one gentle and beneficent, the other cruel and malevolent. The Sdctts, or evil beings, wor- shipped according to Dr. Buchannan in the Decora (Jour- ney to the Decan), are females, personifications of Bha- vdni or Diirga, in her malevolent or destructive character.
Decan. This word, sometimes spelled Daeshin> means the south, and is the name of the peninsula, or southern dis- trict of India on this side the Ganges. According to Me- nd, it is not regarded as part of Aria Verta, or Hindus f- han Proper. No reason for this is given ; but, it may be conjectured, that the inhabitants of the Decan did not then acknowledge the authority, or perhaps receive the pre- cepts, of Brahmens.
Destiny. The doctrine of the transmigration of the soul, that prominent tenet of Pythagoras and his disciples, and equally inculcated by the Druids of Britain, very probably owed its origin to the speculative fancies of the Brahmeni- cal philosophers of India. It certainly was brought from thence by the Saurian sage, who very probably learned
GLOSSARY. 83
it from the Brahmfas themselves. What that doctrine was, and still is, our countrymen have been enabled t>> inform us from authentic documents; the Institutes of Menu contain all the rules of the whole system. The Hindu legislature teaches, that the soul is an' emanation from the supreme Brahme, who sends it into the world endued with qualities more or less good, as he sees most fit for the purpose of improvement and advancement, by trials in various states of existence. To .his end, it is made to occupy the bodies of men and animals, and even vegetables, according to its deserving. If in any particu- lar state it acquits itself well, it is on death, or separation from the body it had occupied in that state, appointed to inhabit the form of a being of more elevated rank : if it acquits itself ill, it is degraded, and assigned to a form of a lower order, and even compelled to abide in hell, a place of punishment, till by suffering in its " prison-house," it may hive atoned for its errors, become purged of many of its impurities, and become fit to be admitted to a more favourable, or less degraded destiny, and even to be placed upon earth in a condition of happiness and honour. The highest order of beings, in the state of human existence, is that of the Brahmen ; and if such a one acquits himself well of his duties, or does not incur degradation, he is, at
G2
84 GLOSSARY.
his next birth, a Deva or god; and such he continues for a limited period, if his virtues were of a middling degree ; but if they were highly eminent, and especially, if he were a pious Fog/, he obtains mticti, or ascends after death to the heaven of Vishnu or Brahme ; becomes incorporated with the Supreme Being; exists for ever in happiness, and never more returns to the earth to experience the troubles of life, or to be subjected to the hazard of temptation and trials. All the particular rules of this system are detailed
in the twelfth chapter of the Institutes of Meati.
i Dewtahs. Vide Indras.
Dress. Vide Crown.
D&rga. Vide Bhdvanf.
Durva, is the agrostis linearis of Linnaeus, a grass, whose flowers in their perfect state are among the loveliest ob- jects of the vegetable world ; appearing, through a mag- nifying glass, like minute rubies and emeralds, in constant motiopr from the least breath of air. It is the sweetest and most nutritious pasture for cattle, and so readily propa- gated by its creeping roots, that lands sown with pieces of them become completely swarded in a single season, Hence it is used as an emblem of fecundity or increase. Its usefulness and beauty induced the Hindds in their earlier ages, to believe that it was the mansion of a bene-
GLOSSARY. 85
volent nymph; an opinion, which the author of the fine poem on the Restoration of Learning in the East, has ingeniously noticed as illustrative of the allegorical and philosophical mythology of the Hindus.
Earth, Sky, Heaven, in sanserif, Bhur, Bhuva, Stoar, are names peculiarly holy, and are repeated at most of the re- ligious solemnities, performed agreeably to the directions of the VeJds. The universe is supposed to be divided into these three divisions, which probably took their rise from the three divisions made by Moses, of the waters above the firmament, the firmament, and the waters below the firmament See Genesis, chap. 1 .
Funerals. Vide Pyre.
Gandharvas. Vide Duityas.
Gantsa. This deity is the son of Si u a, one of the three per- sonages of the Hindu Triad ; and his wife, or sdcli, that is, his efficient power, is the goddess Par vat i. His name implies, that he is lord of spirits or Ji'nas, beings who have obtained an eminent, but not supreme degree of hap- piness, by the virtues of their former lives. Gantsa is esteemed the god of wisdom ; and as symbolical of this
86 GLOSSARY.
quality, he is represented with the head of the " half-rea- soning elephant," and attended by a rat, which the Hin- dus consider as a- very sagacious animal. Sir William Jones is of opinion, that Gane'sa is the Janus of the Ro- mans, partly from the resemblance between the two names, which, according to one mode of pronunciation, take nearly the same sound ; and partly, from the general worship generally paid to this deity by the Hindus, at the commencement of almost all their undertakings. (Jones on Deities of Greece, Italy, and India. As. Res. Vol.i.) There are, however, good reasons for believing, that Ja- nus was anciently god of an order superior to Ganesa, who holds a place in only the second rank of Hindu dei- ties. That the people may have an opportunity of inter- ceding for the favour, or rather of averting the enmity, of this deity ; representations of his person, usually images of a very corpulent shape, are placed by the sides of the highways, or in the fields, at the foot of some tree, ready to receive the adoration of passengers or labourers. Many of these images are very rude, both as to their form and materials. Sometimes the god is represented even by an upright stake of the Cacay, or Cassia Fistula, a plant pe- culiarly sacred to Ganesa. Round this stake, they level the ground, and purify it with cow-dung, and then burn
GLOSSARY. 87
incense and make offerings of rice, milk, and the like. (Buchanan's Journey into Mysore, &c. Vol. i. p. 52.) Cdnga. This word means in Sanscrit the river, and is given to many streams in India, although the celebrity of the great stream of Hindust'hdn seems to have almost exclu- sively appropriated the name to itself. Gunga, or the Ganges, rises among the sacred Himalaya mountains, •whence it is called heaven-born. It enters Hindust'hdn, at a fall from the mountains called the Cow's Mouth, on account of some Hindu fancies, at a place called Hurdwar, properly Heri-dudra, that is, the pass of Hen or Vishnti.. From thence, to its efflux into the Bay of Bengal, the length of its course is calculated to be thirteen hundred miles. The breadth of the stream, or the channel (for the stream is commonly reduced to a fourth part of its greatest width in the dry season) is two or three miles ; but in the lower provinces, especially Bengal, it is divided into numberless channels, which intersect that province in all directions ; so that it is difficult to say, which is properly the channel of the river, or to assign any aver- age to its breadth. Most of the particulars of the won- derful annual inundations of the Ganges, have been no- ticed in the preceding poem ; it may, however, be neces- sary here to observe, that the depth of the stream varies
88 GLOSSARY.
in every season ; that the waters begin to rise when the Himaldyan snows begin to melt, and that the rise is greatest after the summer rains in June and July, when the height of the inundation, above the level in the dry season, exceeds, in most places, thirty feet. The lower provinces are then generally covered with a flood more than a hundred miles broad. In July and August, the in- undation begins to subside ; and the country is generally uncovered, and fit for the purposes of agriculture, in Octo- ber and November. In January and February it is dry and dusty ; in April and May it is burnt up with heat and drought. In most of its circumstances, the Ganges resembles the river Nile : but it may be said to surpass that river in magnitude and importance, as much as the Egyptian river surpasses most of the rivers in Europe.
Gour. " The kingdom of Gour, or Gowr, anciently included all the countries which now form the kingdom of Bengdl, on this side the Brahmd Putra, except Mongir." (Mau- rice An. Hist. Hind. B. 3. ch. 6.)
Govtrdhen. A mountain in Mafhura. It is the Parnassus, or poetic mount, of the Hindus, and is fabled to have been raised by a single effort of Crishnds little finger. (Bha- gavdta Purdna.)
Guests. Vide Nuptial Role.
GLOSSARY. 89
Heri. Under this name, the divine CrVshna, an avalura or incarnation of Vishnu, is celebrated by the poet Jaya- deva in the Gitagovinda, a poem translated from the Sanscrit by Sir William Jones. (As. Res. Radha is described as the beautiful mistress of Hen, and their loves are painted with the liveliest colouring j in some parts, says the translator, too warmly for an European eye ; and those parts, he has therefore, from motives of delicacy, forborne to commit to English. Notwithstand- ing this circumstance, the poem is esteemed by the Hin- dus as devoutly religious, and is consequently very far from exciting in them any loose ideas. The same may almost be said of the Song of Solomon in our sacred scriptures ; which, though abounding with images which the Jews considered as improper to be offered to very youthful read- ers, has yet been supposed, and seemingly with great propriety, to be prophetically allusive to the Christian church. The dissertation of the learned Jones, on the mystical poetry of the Hindu, shows, most clearly, that a kind of allegory, which conveys under a garb even li- centious, the most sacred meanings, is, and long has been, very familiar to the Asiatics. Agreeably to this system, the loves of 7/m'and Rddha may (since Crtshna i» confessedly a personification of the sun, or rather vital
90 GLOSSARY.
heat) be considered as signifying the effects produced by the principle of life acting upon productive nature ; or, as other more profound and mystic Asiatic interpreters would perhaps explain it, the operation of the divine spirit upon the minds of devout persons.
Himola, Himaldya, are the names by which that part of theTauric range of mountains, which forms the most im- passable barrier to the north of Hindusfhdn, is distin- guished in Sanscrit writings. These names are derived from the words Malaya, which signifies a hilly district, and haimas, meaning snowy, (Vide Jones's Preface to hymn to Pracrtti) an epithet highly proper : for al- though they reach so low as thirty degrees of latitude, they are never wholly free from snow : a circumstance which renders the idea of snow familiar to the Hindtis. The author of the Indian Recreations gives the following interesting account of them, as seen from Anopshir, a military station of the Company's troops in the province of Delhi. " After about ten days rainy weather, we have a return of the north-wind, with a clear sky. The moun- tains to the north-east appear unusually plain. Their dis- tance is called two hundred miles, and the nearer ridge are here entirely unseen. Their appearance is exactly that cf snowy clouds towering to an immense height in the
GLOSSARY. 91
skies. It would seem, that Europeans had not sufficiently ascertained the height of the Thibetian mountains. They are situated in the centre of the largest continent in the world, and are probably the highest mountains upon its surface. Teneriffe, which I have seen, and which has the reputation of being the highest land in the old con- tinent, would not be at all visible at the distance of these mountains, which even here seem to soar above the clouds. They are eternally covered with snow ; and when the wind blows from their direction, the weather, to our feelings, is much colder than in Britain." (Ind. Rec. Vol. ii. sect. 43.) The Brahmlnicul mythology represents, with peculiar propriety, Bhavdnt as the daughter of these mountains; since the greater part of the waters, which render Nature effectively productive in Hindus fhdn, issue from among them.
Indras and Dewtahs. According to the doctrines taught by the Brahme'ns, every created object, whether animate or inanimate, or rather, as they make the distinction, every thing, whether it does or does not possess the power of motion, is governed, or rather owes its existence to the agency of a ruling or animating spirit. They consequently maintain, there are at least as many divine or super-hu- man personages, as there are distinct or individual objects ;
GLOSSARY.
and consequently, their number is almost infinite. An enumeration of the different kinds or orders of these be- ings, may be seen in the tenth Lecture of the Gita. Al- though the characters of these beings partake of all the shades of variety, from the excellence of the Great Supreme God, to the utmost malevolence and depravity of the demons of Nardca, or hell ; yet, they are generally distinguished into good and evil spirits, denominated Su- ras, or Assuras ; Adityas, or Dityas •, Yaeshas and Rac- shas, or Racshasas, according to particular circumstances, which it is difficult, and perhaps not necessary in a ge- neral account of them, to learn or recite. Among these spirits, or super-human beings, for they are not wholly
immaterial, the Indras, as their name implies, are such
i as are under the government or command of Indra, and
may be termed Genii of the air. The Deictaks, or Dfoatahs, are of an order inferior to the Devas, pro- nounced also in the various dialects of India, Ddla, Deb, and Deo, which is a specific name, says the translator of the Gita, comprising many of the higher orders of divine beings. The mythological system of the Brahmens is purely allegorical; it is therefore with peculiar propriety, the Genii of the air and earth are said to owe their ori- gin to Bhavdni, the Goddess of Nature.
GLOSSARY. 93
LaCshmi, is the Goddess of Plenty, and is the s&cti or wife, that is, the efficient power, of the protector Vishnti. She is known also by the names of Pedma and Camulu, in al- lusion to the holy and increasing Lotos. Srt, or 5rii, is another of her names, which naturally leads to the con- jecture, that she is the same as Ceres, the Latin Goddess of Plenty. Sri, or Lacshmi, is feigned to have sprung from the ocean, when churned by the Suras and Atsurus with the mountain Manddra ; and this legend favours the opinion, that this operation is figurative of agricultural improvements, effected, most probably, by drainage; and highly conducive to the fertility of some country, perhaps Bengdl. There seems great propriety, in making Lacshmi the wife of I'ishnu ; since protection and security are na- turally conducive to fertility and abundance.
Lotos. This plant is of the greatest celebrity among the Hin- du, and is honoured with a variety of names in santcrtt writings, of which Pcdma is most commonly used. It is that species of the nympha-a, or water-lily, distinguished by the epithet lotos ; though Sir William Jones sayt, the true lotos of Egypt is the uymphaea Niliier, or the blue nymphaea, which, however, seems only a variety. (As. Res. Vol. i.) The roots of this plant creep along the bottom of lakes or rivers ; they are fleshy, and put forth stalks with
94 GLOSSARY*
long tubular petioles ascending to the top of the water, and increasing in length as the waters deepen, so as to allow the leaves to float upon the surface. The leaves are heart- shaped, targeted, slightly waved, from four to twelve inches long, of a greenish purple, lighter underneath, de- fending the flower which grows from the centre. Flowers large as the palm of the hand, of a tulip-like form ; petals fifteen, rather pointed and keeled; the outer seems greenish, the inner beautifully azure ; when full-blown, often of a rose-colour, sometimes white or yellow j delicately fra- grant, especially the rose-coloured variety : stamens forty, or many more; germ of the pistil, inversely bell-shaped or hemispherical, with sixteen or seventeen cells, contain- ing seeds half an inch long, with a rind black and smooth ; when ripe, of a taste finer than almonds. These often ve- getate in the germ, and swelling, at length they burst out in a state considerably grown, and sink to the bottom of the water with roots already formed ; and thus their in- crease is very quick, and, when undisturbed, they soon cover the surface of the water. From the growth of the seed in the seed-vessel, which renders the plant a suitable emblem of that successive production of created beings taught in the Sdstras ; or from the legend, that Brahma, at the creation, was supported upon the primal waters by
GLOSSARY. 95
the leaf of lotos ; his plant is esteemed most sacred, and therefore highly celebrated in all religious writings ; and as the Hindu consider a slender pliability of form in the human person, the most beautiful, they constantly sig- nify whatever they esteem most elegant, by comparing it to, or even calling it by the name of, the pedma or lotos.
Mahu Diva. This name means the great God, a title which the sect, worshipping Siva, gives to their favourite deity, and is almost peculiar to him, although refused to him by the other sects. Mahd Dfoa is known by a variety of names, of which Sira, meaning the Destroyer, is the most commonly used. This god is one of the personages of the celebrated Hindu Triad, so often considered as a proof, that the notion of a trinity has been received by the Brah- mins from the earliest antiquity. But this Triad of the Hindu, seems not to bear any proper analogy to the Christian Trinity, because the three personages of which it is composed, are all created deities ; and of an order confessedly inferior to the supreme BrahnU, the first great cause of all things. This Triad is commonly called in Sanscrtt, theTWmHrt/, that is, the three forms; mean- ing the three stages through which all created beings pass. The name of the first of these personages is Brahmt, the
<)6 GLOSSARY.
personification of the creative power ; the second is Vlshnti, a personification of the preserving power; and the third is Siva, the personification of the destructive power. The Brahmins believe the doctrine of the transmigration of the soul, and consequently death is considered only as the passage to a new state of existence} hence, Stva the De- stroyer is considered only as the reproducer, or the author of new life : he bears, therefore, a double, and in some respects, an opposite character ; and agreeable to those characters, he is sometimes represented as odious and ter- rible ; at others, as delightfully splendid and magnificent. Siva is the husband of Bhavdn{, or the exciting cause of operating Nature ; a quality typified by various symbols, among which the bull, the means of the productiveness of the cow, is one ; and the Linga, " a male emblem of production too gross," to use the words of Dr. Robertson, " to be described," is another, and by far the most cele- brated, being placed in the principal shrine of most of the temples of Siva, and worn as the insigne of the god, by the greater part of his votaries. This practice, which is by no means confined to the male sex, naturally appears to Europeans abominably indecent, and likely to be pro- ductive of the grossest immoralities. Habit, however, in a great degree, prevents the Hindti from entertaining such
GLOSSARY. 97
opinions, or from experiencing any such eflect ; for the Hindus are not generally of debauched habits, at least they may shame too many of their European masters, who lead a life of licentiousness in despite of Christian decencies and Christian principles.
Malaya. This word is used to designate any hilly tract, but is more particularly applied to the western shores of the Decdn, called Mulalar, that is, the hilly district. The fragrance communicated to the air, by the many aromatic plants of this country, is thus mentioned by the poet Jt'yad&a. " The gale that has wantoned round the beautiful clove plants, breathes now from die hills of Ma- laya," and again, " A sweet breeze from the hills of Ma- laya comes wafting on his plumes the young god of De- sire." Gitagoviitda.
Mahiilia is a gigantic Aisura, or evil spirit, having th« head and horns of an ox. He is said to have fought with Durga, and to hare beea defeated by her. (As. Res. Vol. viii. No. 3.) His name is Suusint, and means Great Nature. It is ingeniously mentioned in the tract just mentioned, that as Horus was represented in the Egyptian temples attacking and slaying the Hippopotamus or river horse, as en em- blem of the [jower of the sun, in drying the waters of the Nile, so the cuiitcst of JJiirga with this Attura means
H
98 GLOSSARY.
the powers of Nature surviving the inundations of the Ganges ; a conjecture confirmed by a variety of circum- stances connected with this legend.
Mandara. This is one of the mountains esteemed sacred by the Hindus, and, like their other sacred mountains, is one of the Himalaya ridge on the north of HindAsf hdn. It de- rives its celebrity, from having been used, according to the Hindti legends, by the Assiiras and Sdras, and good or evil genii, or spirits, to churn the ocean for obtaining the Amrita, or liquor of immortality. The particulars of this transaction, are given in an episode to the Hindii epic poem called the MaMlardt, or great Hindd war ; and a translation of it may be seen in a note to the Gita by the learned Wilkins. The whole of this description, will probably appear to the European reader, to be a ridicu- lous farrago of fables : a more intimate acquaintance with the writings of the Sastras will suggest the idea, that the whole is an allegorical account of some mighty undertak- ing, carried on by the united efforts of several nations figured under the names of Swds or Assiiras, aided by Indra or the air, to drain and cultivate the countries in which they lived ; and that the wholesome produce of im- proved pasturage and agriculture, is the real Amrita in- tended by the allegory. The name is a compound of two
GLOSSARY. yy
Sanscrit words, man, water, and dara, to pierce ; and indicates the manner of its use, which was the same as that still practised in the Hindu dairies to churn their milk in making ghi, or butter. This is by turning round the dasher with a rope or thong, while its stem is kept in an upright position. Vide Buchanan's Journey. Mantra. The Vcdat consist of sentences which are distin- guished by the names of Mantra or Brahmdna. The lat- ter are moral precepts, the former prayers and invocations of the gods. Particular powers, or efficacies, are attributed to Mantras when duly recited, similar to those some- times ascribed to magical incantations ; on this account, the manner of reciting a mantra is esteemed of much more importance than an acquaintance with its meaning. Si- milar opinions were formerly entertained in Europe, and are said, by the author of the Lay of the Last Minstrel, to have been known to the wizard Michael Scott. They are alluded to in the following lines:
—Warrior, I could say to thec
The words «l»at cleft Eildon hills in three,
And bridled the Tweed with a curb of stone.
The words may not again be said ;
They would rend this abbaye* massy nave,
And pile it in heaps above his grave.
CANTO 2. § 13, 14.
100 GLOSSARY.
These fancies seem to have been founded on the belief, that the deity becomes peculiarly present when addressed hi prayer ; and it seems to be a natural consequence of the Hindti doctrine, that the deities become absolutely pre- sent when duly invited by rites and mantras 3 and that some of these mantras are able to compel them, when in- voked, to enter into, and abide in a statue, or a rude stone, or even a vessel of water duly prepared ; and this is evi- dently the principle on which the efficacy of holy water must be supposed to depend.
Marriages. Vide Nuptial Pole.
Mdtfa. This personage may properly be considered as a per- sonification of the powers of imagination ; or since, ac- cording to some HindA philosophers, whatever exists, ex- ists not in reality, but only in a system of perceptions, wholly dependent upon imagination ; and, consequently, all things may be said to be nothing but delusion, or ra- ther illusion. This doctrine is propounded as follows in the Bhaguvdta Pur ana. (< Except the First cause (Brahme), whatever may appear, or may not appear in the mind, know that it is the mind's Maya, or delusion, as light and darkness." Sir William Jones philosophi- cally explains the word Mdya, as " intending a system of perceptions of either primary or secondary qualities, which
GLOSSARY. 101
the deity is believed, by some philosophers and pious men, to raise by his omnipresent spirit in the minds of his crea- tures ; which perceptions, however, had not any existence independent of mind." This doctrine is beautifully illus- trated by the following passage in the prize poem of Charles Grant, Eaq. on the subject of the Restoration of JA-arninji in the East; a passage, which the author of this work quotes with pleasure, though he .is sensible the comparison must be unfavourable to his own poetry.
Ask the poor Hindu if material things Exist ? He answers, Their existence springs From m'md within that prompts, protects, provides, And moulds their beauties or their terrors guides— Blooms the red flowret ? Durva blushes there. Flash lightnings fierce ? Dread liulra fills tbr air. The morning wakes, or high the white wave s»«ll»; That Sitrya brightens, Gdiiga this impells. Thus in each part of this material scene, He owns that matter rests on wind unseen : And in each object views some go«l portray M ; This all in all, and that but empty shade. The mind extinct, the shadows too roust flee, And all this visible forget to lx\
Since sexual love confessedly derives much of its potver
102
GLOSSARY.
from the imagination, the Hindu mythology very ingeni- ously speaks of Mdya as the mother of Cdma, or the pa- rent of love. In this respect, we may perhaps, with the Pfodna, consider Mdya as Delusion.
Meru. According to the Ptirunas, Mer6 is a mountain ris- ing in the midst of JamMdwtpa, or the habitable world, to the height of 84,000 yojdnas, each yojdna being about nine miles. Different sastras vary in their accounts of its form ; some describing it as a pyramid or cone inverted, others, as standing on its base. This latter opinion is adopted by Sir William Jones, who, in his treatise on the Hindu zodiac, gives a representation of MerA ac- cording to this latter form. But whichever be the form adopted, it is agreed that this mountain is the abode of beatified spirits, and that the metropolis Amravdti, a city on its summit, is built of gold and gems. In, or around it, are the gardens of Nandana ; where good and virtuous persons abide after death, under the government of Indru, and in the enjoyment of the most exquisite pleasures, for a period proportioned to the degree of virtue attained by each, in the preceding state of his existence. When this period expires, it is taught, that each person returns again to this earth, and undergoes new trials of his virtue and obedience. The pleasures of Amravdta, are chiefly of the
GLOSSARY. 103
sensual kind, consisting of continued festivities, to which the beautiful nymphs called ApsXras, (the Houris of Ma- homet) and the skilful musicians and singers called Cin- naras and Gandharvas, principally contribute. The le- gendary allegories concerning this mountain further relate, lhal a river issuing from the head of Vishnu, or the feet of S/ro, for such are the different allegories of different sects, flows into a lake on the top of Meru, from which issue four rivers, each taking a course directed toward the se- veral quarters of the habitable world. In this respect, Meru bears some resemblance to what the Hebrew histo- rian writes concerning Paradise, or the Garden of Eden. The frequent pilgrimages of Hindu devotees into the mountainous districts on the north of Hindus fhdn, and some other circumstances, are favourable to the conjec- ture, that, by Meru is to be understood the Paradise of our Scriptures ; and that the mountains ofBochdra may be said to afford stronger evidences of having been the real Eden, than any other spot in the world. This idea may possi- bly receive additional support, from a farther investigation of Sanscrit literature. The Meru signifies, in that lan- guage, axis or pivot ; whence some Europeans have sup- posed, that Meru is the north pole of the earth ; an opi- nion which the French philosopliist-astronomer BailU would find favourable to his position, that the northern
104 GLOSSARY.
regions were once the abodes of fertility and delight. Others again maintain, that Mer& means the zenith. It seems reasonable to imagine, that each opinion finds its advocates among the various sects of philosophers and re- ligionists, with which India abounds.
Muni. The author of the Gtta writes, (Lect. 2,) " A man is said to be confirmed in wisdom, when he forsaketh every desire which entereth into his heart, and of himself is happy and contented in himself. His mind is undis- turbed in adversity ; he is happy and contented in pro- sperity, and he is a stranger to anxiety, fear, and anger. Such a wise man is called a Muni." Hence, this charac- ter resembles that of those men, whom the Greeks dis- tinguished by the name of philosophers. The Mdni is like the philosopher whom the poet Horace describes as " Totvis in se teres atque rotundus," (Horace, Lib. 2. Sat. 7) " one wholly smooth and round within himself."
Mltnj. The Muunji, or Brahme'nical girdle, is composed of the Miinja, or culm of the Sdra, or jungle plant, the saccharaum spontaneum of Linnaeus, formed into a triple cord. This is of such importance in the dress of a reli- gious person, that very particular directions, respecting the materials of which it ought to be composed, are given in the Sastras (2 Menu, ch. 2. v. 42. 43.).
Music. Vide Ragfatt.
GLOSSARY. 105
Nacskdtras. The interpretation of this word means, accord- ing to the learned translator of the Gita, " the dispellers of darkness:" it U given to the eighteen constellations through which the moon passes in its monthly course, and is also used to signify constellations in general, or any of the heavenly bodies, and especially the moon. (Gita, Lect. 1U, and Note 6l.) As these bodies were supposed to be informed or animated by spirits of a very eminent order, they became the objects of worship ; not primarily, or as being stars or heavenly bodies, but as being so ani- mated. The antiquity of the worship of the Nacthdttrtu, is certainly very great, but they most assuredly were net the first objects of adoration among idolaters. Fire was proba- bly the first, next light, as the supposed effect of fire, and then the sun and stars, as the supposed abodes of light. It should seem to have been imagined, thut the same spirit might possibly inform or animate a number of contigu- ous stars, which, being parcelled out according to the fancy of idolatrous astronomers, produced the constella- tions of the Grecian sphere; those strange and whimsical divisions of the heavens, to which Christian astronomers still adhere, certainly rather from habit than necessity.
Ndga is the name commonly given in Sanscrit to the hooded serpent, or cobra di capella, the most poisonous of all the
106 GLOSSARY.
serpent tribe in Asia. The name serves, however, to dis- tinguish serpents having only one head, while those with many heads are known by the name of Urdga. As none of these Urdgas are known in nature, it may be presumed that they are the creatures of allegory, which, indeed, has greatly extended the scale of created beings in India. Only one of these Urdgas has been familiar to the west- ern world, the celebrated Hydra, slain after a difficult conflict, by the mighty Hercules. It is a curious fact, that in the south of England, or at least in the county of Sussex, a snake is called a Nag-worm.
Nagfira, is the large or double-drum used in India.
Nuptial Robe. It has been already observed, that marriage is a sacrament with the Hindus, as with the Roman Ca- tholics ; and the rules relating to it, show, that they con- sider it as of the first importance. According to the pre- sent practice in India, the first overtures for marriage are usually made by the friends of the female, which seems to be the consequence of the law of Menu (chap. 9. v. 88.) where it is declared, that unless the father find a suitable match for his daughter within three years after she may haveattained to the proper age, which is commonly ateight years, he loses the power of disposing of her in marriage, and with that power, the right of claiming the sum
GLOSSARY. 107
usually given by the bridegroom, as a price for his bride. It is very necessary, that this duty be enforced by some penalties, or it might be often neglected ; since the se- lection of a proper husband for a daughter, is attended with a variety of difficulties arising from observances respect- ing class, affinity, consanguinity, personal qualities, and moral and religious character. These and other similar matters having been duly considered, it next becomes a point of no little interest, to select a lucky day for the commencement of the nuptial ceremonies ; and for this purpose, the astrologer is anxiously consulted, and he has recourse to all the subtilties of his art, to ascertain a pro- per day for the solemnities. On that day, the bridegroom proceeds to the house of the bride's father, who prepares for his reception with all the rites belonging to the sacra- ment of men, or of religious hospitality. A sacrifice is first offered, a seat for the guest prepared, and a cow is tied in or near the apartments where he is to be received ; a circumstance seemingly intimating, that anciently the cow was cut up and eaten, perhaps alive, after the manner of some feasts still practised in Abyssinia. This ceremony thus finished, the rites properly nuptial next commence. The intended bride having been bathed, and undergone some preparatory ceremonies, with prayers or holy texts
108 GLOSSARY.
repeated In private, is introduced ; and being led to the bridegroom and her right hand placed in his, they are bound together with some blades of the sacred ciisa grass, amid the sound of cheerful music. They then walk forth thus united, evidently for the purpose of publicly declar- ing their union, and then retire into an inner room of the house. Here an altar is prepared with the usual solem- nities ; various oblations are offered, and various ceremo- nies are performed, indicative either of the duties of the married state, or figuratively expressive of good wishes for the happiness and prosperity of the married couple. Among other customs, the bride is clad in a new gar- ment, belonging to the bridegroom, and the skirts of their mantles are tied together in a knot ; and this, with the ligature of cusa grass above mentioned, are actual re- presentations of the bands of wedlock, and the marriage knot, which among ourselves are known only as figura- tive expressions. These expressions may, however, very reasonably be considered as the remains of ancient usages •(similar to those described by the Hindu Sastras), prac- tised and observed by our ancestors. After this, the bride steps seven steps into seven concentric circles, a holy text being recited at every step, and the marriage is then com- pleted and irrevocable. When these rites are finished,
GLOSSARY. 109
the company depart, and the new-married pair are left in the company of their nearer relations, who continue the performance of ceremonies similar in form and import to those performed amid the more public assembly of neigh- bours and friends. These cqntinue for three days, during which time, the married pair continue in the house of the bride's father, and live abstemiously and chastely ; at the conclusion of the fourth day, the bride is conveyed to the house of the bridegroom, usually attended by a long train of friends, and with as much splendour and show, as the circumstances of the parties will allow. On arriving at his house, some of the former ceremonies are repeated, with others significative of attachment and fidelity. An infant is placed in the arms of the wife, to remind her of the duties of a mother. With this, the whole of the ce- remony terminates, which, it may be said, consists of rites significant of the general purposes of wedlock, and conducted throughout, as far, at least, as the rules of tbt Sastrat are observed, with the greatest decency and dc-
O AI. Menu writes (chap. 2. 76.), " Bruhmd milked out, as it were, from the three Vtdas, the letter A, the letter U, and the letter M ; which form by coalition the tri-literal
110 GLOSSARY.
monosyllable" Aum, pronounced as though it were spelled O M. This monosyllable, Mend declares, in a subse- quent verse, (v. 84.) to be " the symbol of God, the Lord of created beings." Each of the three compound letters has its mysterious signification. The first denotes Brahma, the second Vishnu, and the third Siva. This syllable is never pronounced by the Hindis, except inaudibly, or as it were inwardly, and never without much solemn pre- paration. " If," says Men-u, (ch. 2. v. ?5.) '•' he have sitten on culms of cifoa, with their points towards the east, and be purified by rubbing that holy grass in both his hands, and be further prepared by three suppressions of breath, he may then fitly pronounce O M." Whether this Indian monosyllable be the same as the Egyptian O N, will be inquired perhaps, rather from the near re- temblance, than from any positive authority. It is, how- ever, rendered in some degree probable, by the circum- stance that O N was significative of the sun, and the sun originally signified the author of heat and light and life.
Para Brahma. Vide Brahma.
Patna, is a city of the province of Allahalad, situate on the Ganges. Anciently the Sone joined the river Ganges at this place, but now at Moneah, a town eighteen miles
GLOSSARY. HI
higher up that river. This change is owing to the action of the waters on the very light soil, of which the greater part of the tracts of country contiguous to the Ganges con- sist : for these countries, and especially Behdr and Bengd- la, being extremely flat, and the stream at all times, par- ticularly during the inundation, very rapid, changes in the channel are continually taking place ; and these con- tinued changes are so great, that the geographer Rennel, in his Memoir on the Ganges, conjectures, with every appearance of probability and truth, that the whole of the soil of Bengdla has been, at different times, removed by the action of the waters.
Pavdna is one of the eight guardian deities : he presides over die winds, and as such, is deemed the chief minister of Indra, the god of the air. He is feigned, in an ingenious allegory, to ride furiously along the heavens on the back of an antelope, brandishing a scymeter gleaming like light- ning. His inferior genii, or ministers, are called M£- rfLti.
Peons. These are a sort of footmen attending persons of rank in India. The word means a messenger.
Pindara and Sohdgeptir, are mountainous districts in the province of Allahabad.
Pippal. The/™ religiosa. Vide Vdta. The rules of the
112 GLOSSARY.
sdstra are very particular respecting the staff, from a per- suasion, that a proper staff has great efficacy in controlling and driving away evil spirits. (VideMen6,ch.2.v.45,kc.)
. To the vast power the staff is supposed to have in driving away evil spirits, according to the old European system of Demonology, each conjuror or magician holds a thin staff or wand when he exercises his art ; evidently for the same reason.
Pyre. The Hindu funerals are attended and followed by so- lemnities, esteemed the most important of any in their ritu- al j and so essential to the happiness of the departed person, that it is considered the greatest misfortune to be destitute of a son or adopted heir, who may duly perform these im- portant rites. — When the sick person is about to die, he is carried from his house to the side of some tank, or river, if possible the Ganges ; he is sprinkled with water, and receives a kind of extreme unction with the mud. When dead, the corpse is washed, anointed with oils and perfumes, and after some pieces of gold have been put in his eyes, nostrils, and ears, and some other articles of va- lue in his mouth, probably for the same purposes as the Romans used to put a piece of money in the mouth of the dead person to pay the ferrying Charon, it is covered with a cloth, and is carried directly by the nearest relatious to
GLOSSARY. 113
some cemetery. On arriving there, a spot is prepared by drawing lines as for a sacrifice, a circumstance which seems to intimate, that the funereal rite is a kind of sa- crifice, and the body is laid on a pile and reduced to ashes. After this, and when the fire is nearly burnt out, the friends of the deceased, having performed various purifi- catory acts, and significant ceremonies, attended, accord- ing to the Hindu custom, with the recital of mantras, re- turn home, and commence the mourning rites, which properly last ten days, though they may be performed in a shorter time. On the last of these days, or on the third or fourth day after the funeral, the son or nearest relation of the deceased, accompanied by his kinsmen, proceeds to the cemetery, and with much solemnity gathers the bones, encloses them in a new earthen vessel or urn, and buries them deep in the earth. The ashes of the pyre are also collected, and cast into some running stream . With the days of mourning however, the funeral rites by no means terminate Various srdddhas or obsequies, \vitli prayers, are to be performed in a continued course for the benefit of the soul of the deceased ; and to embody it again in some fortunate form. Gifts are also to be made for religious uses, and especially of a cow, and various va- luable articles to obtain a passage for the deceased over I
1 14 GLOSSARY.
Vmtaranl, the Hindu Styx, or river of hell. Solemni- ties are next performed, to raise the soul from its purga- tory, or state among the dead, into the heaven of the Pi- trisor its ancestors, where, if admitted, it exists as a Z)/- va or divinity. A course of these sr&ddhas, which include addresses and invocations to almost all the personages of the Hindti mythology, commences the day after the mourn- ing ends, and a srdddha is performed in every month for a year after the death. Another course is performed at the end of the third fortnight, and another in the sixth and twelfth months. In many cases, however, these are com- pressed, and sometimes reduced within the compass of a few days. The son and heir of the deceased offers annual oblations for his honour ; and others are also performed for more remote progenitors, so that the dead are never totally neglected or forgotten. (As. Res. Vol. vii. No. 8.)
Rajaptits, more properly Rajapdtrat, that is, sons of Rajahs. They pretend to be of the Cshatriya class, but their claims are not generally supposed to be well founded. They hire themselves to attend upon wealthy persons armed, and un- dertake to act as soldiers in their train.
Rdgrnis. These personages are the nymphs of music, over whom Sereswuti, the goddess of invention and science,
GLOSSARY. 115
and the wife of the creator Brakmd, presides. Of the ori- gin of these nymphs, Sir William Jones, speaking of In- dian music, gives the following account, in the argument to his fine Hymn to the last-named goddess. It affords a curious specimen of the allegorical personifications of the Hindus.
" The different position of the two semitones, in the scale of seven notes, gives birth to seven primary modes, and so the whole series consists of ten semitones ; every one of which may be a model-note or tonic. There are in nature, though not universally in practice, seventy- seven other modes, which may be called derivative. The arrangement of these is elegantly formed by the Hindus on the variation of the Indian year, and the association of ideas, a powerful auxiliary to the ordinary effects of mo- dulation. The modes in this system are deified ; and as there are six seasons in India, namely, two springs, summer, autumn, and two winters, an original Pdga, or god of the mode, is attended by five RdgMs, or nymphs of har- mony. Each has eight sons or genii of the same art, and each Rdga and his family is appropriated to a particular season, in which alone, his melody can be sung or played at prescribed hours of the day and night. The mode of Cupid, or Dipuc the inflamer, is supposed to be lost, and
116 GLOSSARY.
a tradition is current in Hindusfhan, that a musician who , attempted to restore it, was consumed by fire from hea- ven."
Religious orders. Vide Yogi. Rtti. Vide Cdma.
Sacrifices. Vide Butter.
Sandal-wood. The santalum of Linnaeus, is a small tree, growing in the form of a myrtle, with leaves resembling privet. It principally grows in Maldya, or the hill coun- tries of the Decan, especially those lately conquered from Tippti, Sultdn ; so that our India Company may be said to possess the monopoly of an article in great request throughout India. The valuable part of the tree is the heart of the stem, and larger branches j which is of a red colour, and highly odorous; the outer parts are white, and of little value From the frequent mention of it in the Sanscrit writings, it seems to have been much used by the Hindis, from the earliest ages, in the state of a powder to be rubbed on the skin ; when, besides its fra- grance, it produces a coolness extremely pleasant in hot climates. It is probably the aloe wood of our Scriptures.
Sdstra, properly translated, means treatise. The word is de- rived from a root signifying to ordain, and is applied to
GLOSSARY. 117
all the books or treatises esteemed by the Hindus as sa- cred : thus it is a word of similar import to the word Scripture, as used by Christians. The books called the sdstras are very voluminous, and together with their nu- merous glosses and commentaries, the production of many writers of very different ages, compose a body of religious tracts, which may be said to be immense. It is agreed, that of these books, the three ledas are by far the most ancient. They seem to have been compiled in an age possibly anterior to that of Moses, from the tradi- tions of patriarchal times ; and when divested of their fabulous or allegorical garb, they appear to bear a near cor- respondence with the history of the Book of Genesis. The names of the Vidas are the RVgvtda, the Yajurvtda, and the Samavtda : with these, a fourth is now commonly classed, called the Afharvana Veda\ but this last seems to be of a later composition, and to have been compiled principally from the other three. Various treatises, considered as connected with the Vidat, but of a charac- ter less sacred, are known by the general names of upa- I'tdas, or inferior Vedas ; angas, or bodies of learning * and upangas, or inferior angas. These compositions re- late to whatever knowledge may, in any way, be service- able to religious worship, or is connected with.Teligion ;
118 GLOSSARY.
of course they include in their sweeping range, the whole circle of the arts and sciences. Among these may be in- cluded, the various books of the Dherma sustra, or scrip- tures of law, of which the Institutes of Men6, as they are certainly most ancient, so they deservedly hold the first rank. This work may be termed a digest of the Hindu law, religious and moral. It seems to be taken from the Vedas, and on this account, is said to have been a revela- tion from Brahmd. There are doubtless many interpo- lations, or rather additions to the original text of the work, which, however, a synod of Brahmens are allowed by law to make. The whole, however, the interpolations not excepted, is certainly of great antiquity, as is proved, ac- cording to the opinion of Sir William Jones, not only by the style, but by the glosses of a commentator, known to have lived in a distant age. Next to the Vedas rank the Pdrdnas, sometimes called a fifth Veda. These are to the Vtdas, what the legends of the Church of Rome are, compared with our Scriptures. They abound with nar- ratives which Europeans are apt to call extravagant and ab- surd, and, understood in a literal sense, they are truly so: but the fact is, they are not to be so understood ; since they are evidently a collection of allegories, covering un- der "a fabulous garb, the most solemn truths of religion
GLOSSARY. Ill'
and morality, and even deuils of serious history. They are eighteen in number, and are supposed by our Miwcrtt scholars, to have been written in an age quite modern compared with the Vedat j for though the Brakmtns af- firm, that they were written by the sage fytwa, who lived prior to the age of the poet Homer, yet some of them bear the marks of a date so modern, as about five hun- dred years. The opinion of the ingenious Wilfrid upon this head, may perhaps be true. He says, " the Purjnas are chiefly modern compositions, formed, however, from ancient materials, which I fear no longer exist." As. Res.
To learn the knowledge contained in the Sustras, is the exclusive privilege of the three first classes: to teach it, is the peculiar right of the Brahmen*, who are forbidden, under very heavy penalties, to teach it to the Sudras, and the greater part of the mixed classes. These, however, have treatises purposely for their own use, containing the same kinds of science and information, but divested of the sacred character ; and this, in the opinion of the Hindu, is to divest them of their greatest value ; for they ascribe to a repetition of the mantras of the Sdstras, an effect similar to those attributed to incantation* and words of magic. The several Sustras, and indeed all the ancient
120 GLOSSARY-.
Hindu compositions, are written in a language called San- scrft, now a dead language, and known only to a few of the most learned Brahmins. If a judgement may be formed, from the number of treatises extant in this lan- guage upon grammar and rhetoric, it must have been cul- tivated with the greatest care and study. Those who have learned it, describe it as possessing all the softness of the modern Italian, and all the fulness and elegance of the ancient Greek, to which, in many respects, it bears a near resemblance. Most of the Hindti names are of Sanscrit derivation, and it is the basis of most of the languages now spoken in India.
Seasons. Vide Versha.
Shakdl, or Shacdla, corrupted by the English into Jackall, is an animal nearly resembling in size and shape, that spe- cies of the dog called the turnspit ; in the head and tail it bears some resemblance to the fox. These animals herd together in packs of several hundreds, when, though not singly formidable, they became very much so from their numbers, committing depredations on the flocks, and dis- turbing the neighbourhood where they frequent, with their terrible bowlings. They often rouse cattle from their lair in the night, and may cause them occasionally to fall a prey to the prowling lion, and thus far, and thus
GLOSSARY. 121
only, does the shdkal deserve the title of the Lion's Provi- der. In the Hitopadtsa, (vide Jones' Works, Vol. vi.) the animal is described as cunningly mischievous ; by the Hin- dus it is deemed very unclean. Sha. Vide Mahd-De'va. •
Slavet. Perhaps no nation was ever so completely distin- guished into such a variety of orders or classes, as the Hin- dus. Of these, the four principal classes or casts, the Brahmfn, the Cshatriya, the Vaisya, and Sudra, are well known to almost every person who has only heard of In- dia. The following account of their origin and peculiar occupations, given in the Institutes of Menu, (chap. 1 . v. 31.) is more authentic than any usually quoted. " That the human race might be multiplied, He (the Creator Brahmd) caused the Brahmen, the Cshatriya, the Vuisya, and the Sudra, (so named from scripture, protection, wealth, and labour) to issue from his mouth, his arm, his thigh, and his foot." The origin here mentioned, often excites a smile in the European ; it is, however, an alle- gory accurately descriptive of the rank and degree of ex- cellence assigned to each class, and indicating the offices belonging to each. To the first belong the duties of in- struction and the religious functions ; to the second, the profession of arms ; to the third, the aflairs of agriculture
122 GLOSSARY.
and traffic ; and to the fourth, the duties of servitude to each of the other classes, but more particularly the JBrahmens. A variety of distinctions are made respect- ing the rank and business assignable to persons born from a sexual intercourse between the different classes. Of these distinctions, it may be observed, that they all rather tend to a degradation, than to an elevation of ranks. Hut, notwithstanding the Sddras form the lowest, and are a servile order, they are not slaves, though slavery is very common throughout India. The most usual means by which persons become such, are thus enumerated by Me- n6 (chap. 8. v. 415.) : " One made captive under a stand- . ard in battle; one maintained in consideration of service ; . one born of a female slave in the house ; one sold, or given, or inherited from ancestors ; one enslaved by way of punishment on his inability to pay a large fine." The voluntary sale of the person himself, or of parts of his fa- roily, to obtain food in times of scarcity, is one of the means which at present increases most considerably the number of slaves in India. The condition of slavery among the Hindus, is not in general at present very hard ; the slave fares nearly like the rest of his master's family. What society is upon earth, such, acccording to the sys- tem of the Purdnas, are the ranks and degrees in swerga,
GLOSSARY. 123
or heaven. Hence, the gods are assigned their slaves for various purposes, as with monarchs and great men on earth; with this difference, that the heavenly slaves are of a celestial or spiritual nature. Among the celestial slaves, the Apsaras, who are beautiful females, such as the Hourt's of Mahomet, are the most celebrated.
S&rya. Vide Strya's race.
Suryas race. Surya is the deity presiding in or ruling the sun. The historical records of the Brahmens speak of two lines or families of princes, one called Suryavdtuat, or children of the sun, the other Chandravdnsas, or child- ren of the moon. This distinction is rather owing, it may be presumed, to the religious worship peculiarly pa- tronised by these two families, who, on that account, were complimented by a flattering priesthood, with the title of sons of the deity which each adored. In the opening address of the poem, Ncrludda, or Bhavdnt, is called the pride of Stiryas nee, upon the authority of the following expressions of the Vayera Purdna. " Thou art united with the ocean, thou art decended from Surya." In these, however, it is not meant that the goddess was born of one of these families above-mentioned, and was a mortal deified ; but the expression is to be understood al- legorically, in allusion to the succession of natural produc-
124 GLOSSARY.
tkms mentioned in the following passage of the Rtgveda. (As. Res. Vol. viii. p. 406.) " The sun is born of fire ; the moon is born of the sun — Rain is produced from the moon — Lightning comes of rain, &c." The whole inti- mates, that the goddess Bhavdni or Nerludda, is a per- sonification of the highest and most important of all the energies of nature. Perhaps, when she is called " of S&- rya's race," she is regarded in the character of the moon, and as the female or secondary cause of natural effects, Swerga. Vide Indra.
Teic. Vide Crown.
Transmigration. Vide Destiny.
Trtsdl, is a three-pointed spear or halbert, like the trident of the Roman god Neptune. It is borne by Siva, and often affixed to the top of his temples. There seems to be good reason for believing, that the three points are symbolical of the threefold powers of the god, to whom all the powers of the triad are commonly ascribed by his sect. Perhaps the trident of Neptune, in Greek called the earth-shaking, signifies his authority over three elements, earth, air, water.
Triad. Vide Brahmd.
Umbrella, or Chef her, is directed to be used by magistrates,
GtOSSARY. 125
or princes, as an emblem of state (Gentu Law, Introd.). It is borne in different ways before persons of different ranks. As. Res. Vol. i. No. 5.
Vak&n, or Vahdna. This is a car endowed with the power of self-motion, in obedience to the will or wish of the per- sonage to whom it belongs. Most of the Devds of the Hin- dut have the privilege of using a vahdna, and mortals have sometimes been allowed the same glorious indulgence. Cars were assigned to the deities of Greece and Rome ; but differed from those ot India, in being drawn by various animals, and not absolutely self-moving. Thus, the car of Juno was drawn by peacocks ; that of Venus by doves or sparrows ; of Neptune by sea-horses. In the Hindu drama of Sacontald, king Duskmanla is borne through the air in the vahdna of Indra , and the legends of Greece speak of similar honours granted to their own votaries. The sorceress Medea had a vahdna of her own, drawn by dragons. The ingenious Wilford writes, that the English word Waggon is derived from vahdna, through some of the dialects of India. Perhaps the Sanscrit might enable our philologists to trace many words beyond the languages of Rome or Greece.
Vata. This name is given to several species of the fig, as the ficus religiosa, the ficus Bengalensis, and the ficus Indica,
126 GLOSSARY.
with some others. These are all held sacred by the Brah- mins, and especially the first, called by them the Pippd- la, (A. Res. Vol. iv. No.27.). The-ficus Indica may with confidence be pronounced to be one of the most curious productions of the vegetable world, on account of the ex- traordinary manner in which it extends its growth. Its branches spread very wide, about eighteen or twenty feet from the stem, and then bending down the extremities thicken, and continually approach nearer to the earth, probably from a collection of the retarded circulation of the sap. When they reach the ground they put forth roots, and the branches become a stem or trunk, growing to the size of the largest European oaks or elms. The branches, having thus become trees, again shoot out branches bending down, and rooting as before, still ex- tending themselves, often till the whole plant covers a very large space of ground. One of these grove-like trees growing on an island in the Nerbudda river, about ten miles from Baroach, in the province of Guzerat, has three hundred and fifty principal stems, each as large as timber trees ; and these occupy a space two thousand feet in cir- cumference, and the branches, whose hanging extremi- ties have not yet reached the ground, extend much far- ther. This tree was once much larger than it is at pre-
GLOSSARY. VXt
icnt, for many of the steins have been carried off by the floods of the river, which have washed away part of the soil of the island. The natives affirm, that it is three thousand years old, and very possibly it may; since, when any of the older central stems decay and leave a vacant space, this is in time re-occupied by fresh stems, pro- duced by the branches growing and rooting, as in the outer sides of the grove. A plant possessing such proper- ties as these, may be justly termed immortal. Sanctity is very probably ascribed to this tree, because of its aptness to represent the emanation of living beings from the pa- rent, or Creator Brahma, who, having received the prin- ciple of life from the Great Supreme Brahme, produced, by a succession of agents, all the worlds, and all creatures, both animate and inanimate. (Menu, chap. 1.) The Brahmins, however, assign a reason for the sanctity of this plant, more suited to the understandings of the vul- gar; and affirm, that V{shn&, the preserver, was born un- der its shade. Under this legend is couched an ingenious allegory, significative of the salutary shade afforded by its branches, impervious to the rays of the sun. On account of the reputed sanctity of the tree, pagodas or temples are com- monly erected beneath, orcontiguous to its shade; in some instances, one of these .trees is planted within the area
i28 GLOSSARY.
of the principal court of the pagoda. (As. Res. Vol. v. No. 20.) The yogis, or religious ascetics, practise theif austerities near it for the same reason, and any injury done to a twig or leaf is considered as a crime scarcely less atrocious than murder. Both the other species of the ficus above-mentioned, though less remarkable in their growth than the ficus Indica, resemble it in the rooting oi their extreme branches, (Martyn's Edit, of Millar's Gar- dener's Diet, ad voc. Ficus) and are held sacred probably for that very reason ; though some ascribe the sanctity of the ficus religiosa to the brown colour of the female flowrets, which bears some allusion to the preserver
Varuna is one of the eight guardian deities, and is the ruling lord of waters, chiefly .those of streams and straits of the ocean. As waters are conducive to the general operations of natural causes, Varuna is said, in the mingling allego- ries of Hind'u. mythology, to be the husband of Bhavuni. He is, however, inferior to the great monarch of the ocean, obscurely known to be the mighty Siva ; and this inferiority is indicated, by the manner in which he is usually
. represented in the pagodas; sitting on the back of a ma- rine monster resembling the crocodile, but with his legs bent under him, a posture of adoration or homage in all
GLOSSARY. 129
the countries of India. " Paruna," says Menti (chap. 7. v. 245,) " is lord of punishment, he holds a rod even over kings." Why he should be so considered, except that of- fenders were sometimes punished by drowning, is not easy to be conjectured.
. Vide Sdstra.
Vene, or Vina, is a sort of guitar consisting of a finger-board 214 inches long, large hollowed gourds fixed at each end, and seven strings or wires passing over the whole length, after the manner of European violins. It is a pleasing in- strument, and the best belonging to the Hindus. It is supposed to have been anciently more perfect than at pre- sent, (As. Res. Vol. i. No. 13,) and the grounds for this opinion, are similar to those urged by the advocates for the superiority of ancient Grecian over modern European music.
Vershn. The Hindtis divide their time into years of 365 days, six hours, twelve minutes, and some seconds. At present, their year begins about the vernal equinox ; but anciently it commenced about the winter solstice, as with the generality of European nations, both ancient and mo- dern. The year is subdivided into six rifus, or seasons of two months each. Of these, vasanta, or the spring, be- gins about the middle of February, and lasts till the mid- dle of April; Grtthma, or the hot season, lasts till themid-
K
130 GLOSSARY.
die of June; Versha, or the rainy season, till the middle of August ; Sardda, or the sultry season, till the middle of October; Hernanta, or the winter, till the middle of December; and Sisira, or the dewy season, till the mid- die of February. (Vide Jones's Supplement to Essay on Hindu Chronology.) The difference of latitude of the se- yeral countries of Hindus? hdn, and the position of moun- tains and highlands, occasion, in many parts, a consider- able variation of the seasons from this system, especially in the provinces of the Dec&n. It is, however, suitable to the provinces contiguous to the lower parts of the course of the Granges, and in those provinces was probably invented, perhaps at Mat' hunt in Agra, or at Delhi.
The Hindu time is further subdivided into months of thirty, or thirty-one days each ; into weeks of seven days, with names of exactly the same import, as those used in ancient and modern Europe, but which in India, it is evident, were derived from the fancies concerning the as- trological influences of the stars. Each day is divided into iixty parts of twenty-four minutes, which are distinguished into three day and three night watches, after the manner of the Jews and several other ancient nations. The fes- tivals, and all the religious ceremonies of the Hindus, are regulated by the lunations, or monthly courses of the moon, and by tifhis, or lunar days, consisting of the time which
GLOSSARY. 131
elapses, during the passage of the moon through portions of her orbit of twelve degrees each, into which it is di- vided. Hence it is obvious, that the tit'hi, or lunar day, •will not correspond with the solar day, hut may begin at noon, or at midnight, or any hour whatever. This occa- sions considerable difficulties, with respect to the proper times for the observance of religious ceremonies. They are, however, in a great measure removed by the Hindu almanacs, in which these matters are determined, gene- rally on principles sufficiently arbitrary, by the BrahmAt astronomers. The Purdnas represent each of these tit'hi* or lunar days, as a beautiful nymph, and give very flowery and allegorical descriptions of them, according to their usual manner of personifying every object which can by any means be considered as distinct. It may be proper to mention, that the lunar year of the Brahmtns com- mences at the autumnal equinox, as did the patriarchal, or antediluvian year, and also the year of the Israelites, pre- vious to their departure out of Egypt. Vishnu. Vide Maha Deva.
Vishnu as the sun. — The sun is called in the Fdrdha Parana, a form of Vishnu, and according to this and the Matty a Purdnas, he rises on the fourteenth of the lunar month cartica, (corresponding nearly with our October) from his sleep of four months ; according to other Purdnas, on
K«
3 GLOSSARY.
the eleventh of Bhadra, or September. " Vishnu sleep- ing turns his side." (Jones on the Lunar Year.) These allegories are doubtless expressive of the effects of the sun on the vegetation in the Gangetic provinces, which are inundated during the four months of what is called the sleep of Vishnu. This takes place according to the allegory when the beams of the sun are generally obscured by clouds.
Ydma is one of the eight deities, distinguished, according to Mend, by the title of guardian deities, from the parti- cular concern they bear in the government of the world. He is said to be the child of the sun, and his particular of- fice is the government of the regions of the dead, where he sits as judge over the souls of the dying, and assigns to each, its proper reward or punishment. According to the Hindu legends, the ministers of this god attend each person at his death, and convey him, if he has been virtu- ous and good, in a delightful self-moving car, or vahdna, to the tribunal of the judge, who, under the title ofDher- ma Raja, or the king of justice, receives the departed good spirit with a smiling countenance, and regulates his reward or recompense, according to his individual merit, placing him in a higher rank and more happy condition upon earth, or assigning him a residence for a limited
GLOSSARY. 133
term of years in the Steerga or heaven of Indra ; after which, he again returns to the earth and undergoes new trials of duty and obedience. The award of MfaH, or the admission into the highest heaven, from whence the soul never more returns to life upon earth, seems to be made only by deities of a higher order than Ydma, and is, per- haps, the gift of one of the three personages of the 7V?'- murti, or Triad alone. But, if the dying person has led a wicked life, the messengers of Ydma then hurry him over mountains, rocks, tempestuous seas, and the like, with ignominy, violence, and pain, into the presence of the judge; who, under the title of Ydma, receives him with a terrible aspect, and assigns him to sufferings in the various hells or places of punishment, of which, according to Me- nu ch. 4. v. 88, there are twenty-one, till the stains of past offences shall have been removed, and the offender be ren- dered by this purgatory, not unworthy of divine favour, and to be again permitted to live upon the earth ; usually, on his first return, under the form of some plant or baser animal. Ydma is called regent of the south, by which term the Brahmfns understand the regions of darkness, or the infernal regions, a fancy they probably adopted in those ages, when it is believed they inhabited countries of higher latitude than India, upon observing, that the day«
J34 GLOSSARY.
were shortened when the sun moved toward the southern tropic. In these various characteristics, it is very easy to trace the character of the Cretan Minos, and to perceive also that the Hindti Ydma is a being purely allegorical. As the sun is the principal cause of the life, growth, ma- turity and decay of vegetables, and in a certain degree, of animals also : there is a peculiar propriety in representing the god of the dead as the son of that luminary ; it is merely a personification of cause and effect. The pleas- ing or terrible aspect of this deity, and the characters of the ministers conducting the soul to Ydma, are. alle- gorical expositions of the different feelings of the good and
. . wicked at the hour of death, and of the comforts or ter- rors of a good or of a bad conscience. The doctrine of judgement after death, might be supposed to have been borrowed from the Christian revelation, were it not cer- tain, that the same belief was entertained by the Greeks ' long before the birth of our Saviour ; it must therefore be admitted, that the fables, both of Greece and India, were the result of a true knowledge concerning this subject, clearly and familiarly understood by the first patriarchs, but almost wholly lost, at least to the heathen world, till it was revived and brought to light by the gospel.
Yamuna, a river in upper Hindusfhdn, commonly called the
GLOSSARY. 135
Jumna, flowing into the Ganges in the vicinity of Delhi. In the Gila-govinda, it is called the daughter of the sun and sister of Ydma. Its waters are esteemed very sa- cred.
Yogi. No m^n can be more fond of nice distinctions, and fine, often frivolous discriminations, than the Hindus. This passion for discrimination has shown itself even in regard to the different degrees of the religious affections, and these serve to confer different titles, or, speaking the language of universities, degrees, upon the persons in whom these different degrees of piety are believed to exist. Of these, three are particularly distinguished in the sacred Sdstrcu by the names or titles of Muni, Pandit, and Yogi. The Muni is, among the Hindus, what a philosopher was with the Greeks, one deeply versed in the principles of moral and religious duty, which he taught and discussed to his disciples and hearers. The Pandit is a person, who has improved a thorough knowledge of the moral and re- ligious laws, by the diligent exercise of the mind in reli- gious meditations, and a due regulation of the affections ; and is supposed, by these means, to have attained to a very high eminence both in wisdom and integrity. On this account, Pandits are alone allowed to plead as counsellors in the Hindu courts of judicature, for which office, were
136 GLOSSARY.
they always such as their title imports, they would indeed be most proper.
The Yogi is a person, who, to all the foregoing quali- fications, has superadded the power of employing the mind in the most profound and mystic meditations upon the Deity, and is supposed to have become so deeply abs- tracted from the objects of sense, as to be joined in soul to the divine nature. To this his character, he owes his name : the word Yogi being derived from the substantive Yoga or Yuga, which signifies union or joining. But al- though the character or degree of Yogi is supposed to be the result of the acquirements and habits of the Muni and Pandita, yet those degrees are not thought to be neces- sarily preparatory to this; and certainly many persons claim the title of Yogi, without any pretensions to those of M&ni an& Pandita, which indeed is granted to anyone who can be supposed, by any means whatever, to have ac- quired a mental or spiritual union with the Deity. To this end, the austerities of the ascetic are supposed to be peculiarly, and indeed almost exclusively conducive ; and owing to this opinion, the name has been applied as a ge- neral term, signifying all the various orders of Hindu de- votees, who perform acts of personal mortification from religious motives. All these are, from a supposition of
GLOSSARY. 137
their eminent piety and union with the Deity, by medita- tion, termed Yogis. Fdkir or Fakeer, is another name given them by Europeans, but it is only properly applica- ble to the devotees of the religion of Mahomet.
It is difficult, in the present state of our knowledge of the several orders and descriptions of Yogfa, to describe, or even enumerate, the vast variety which have arisen among the disciples of Brahmd, since the fears or follies of superstition first led men beyond the rational bounds of penitential devotion, into the extravagances of the ascetic. It is known, however, that the Jangamas are followers of Siva, who do not acknowledge the authority of theBtahmt'ns, and that the Pandarams are Sudras devoted to the worship of the same deity. The like may be, per- haps, safely affirmed by the Nagh. The Satananus are worshippers of Vishnii. The order of Sanycusis aredivided in their worship of these two gods. The Firagfs, or By- ragees, as they are often called by persons le^s con in the SantcrM, are an order of religious composed of per- sons, either dedicated to the service of the Deity in cir- cumstances similar to those which devoted Samuel, the prophet of Israel, to the service of the Lord ; or else the descendants of such persons. The Cosseyns, that is, the Gauda-sivamis or great lords, are another powerful order of religious, the rivals of the Byragis; because, in conse-
138 GLOSSARY.
quence of near equality in power and eminence, they fre- quently have occasion to contest with them the question of precedency. (See Captain Hardwicke's Journey to Siri- nagur. As. Res. Vol. vi.) But although of these, and other similar orders, no very complete and authentic ac- counts have hitherto been obtained by Europeans ; yet, as they may all be supposed to have sprung from the four religious orders described by Menti, an idea tolerably ex- act may be formed of them, from what is written in the Institutes, which are, on this account, particularly worthy of attention.
The first of these orders is that of the Bramachari, that is, of the youthful or boyish student, who reads the V£da, and learns the practice of religious rites and duties, under the direction of a Gurti or religious preceptor. Into this order the young Hindii may be admitted at the age of nine years, and he may continue in it twenty or thirty years till he be sufficiently learned, or till he may choose to marry. During this time his diet must be simple, his dress plain, and his demeanor sober and respectful, and his ha- bits partaking not of absolute austerity, but yet of a con- siderable degree of hardihood.
The next order is called Gerisht, and consists in a con- tinuance of the duties of the Brahmachari, which persons entering into this order assume during life, with some ad-
GLOSSARY. 139
ditional observances. But the Institutes do not seem to approve this practice: they rather exhort (\\fJiruhmdchari to enter into what they term the order of the householder, or married man, a state not properly ascetic ; for its du- ties consist wholly in a diligent attention to the common concerns oflife and the management of a family, attended with the practice of liberality and benevolence, and the continual and punctual performance of the various rites of worship, whence the order is sometimes termed the order of the sacrifices
The next order is truly ascetic, and the devotees be- longing to it are properly Yogis. The Institutes direct' the Hindu to enter upon this when he begins to decline into the vale of years, and sees the son of his son. He is then bid to relinquish worldly concerns and worldly en- joyments ; to retire into a forest, and, with others of the same order, pass the whole of his time in devotional exer- cises, such as prayer, ablution, and sacrifice, and the prac- tice of acts of personal severity and mortification. These may be increased till the body be wholly exhausted, and the voluntary sufferer expire. These acts consist princi- pally in frequent and long-continued fasts, in exposure to the inclemencies of the season, and in painful and trou- blesome postures. The accounts given by the Greeks who attended Alexander the Great into India, prove the great
140 GLOSSARY.
antiquity of these practices; and numberless instances of the same in the present times, prove the almost immuta- bility of Hindi! manners, and render it impossible to doubt the testimony of Alexander's Greeks respecting these austerities, which, but for the evidence of undenia- ble facts, might be justly termed incredible. The Euro- pean of the present age beholds these practices with pity, wonder, and astonishment, sensations which have been excited in the breasts of Europeans occasionally visiting Hindusf hdn at various times, during a period exceeding two thousand years.
The austerities to be practised by the Yogi, or religious devotee of the third order, are thus prescribed by Menii : " Let him slide backwards and forwards on the ground ; or let him stand a. whole day on tiptoe ; or let him conti- nue in motion rising and sitting alternately; but at sun-rise, noon, and sun-set, let him go to the waters and bathe. In the hot season, let him sit exposed to five fires, four blaz- ing round him with the sun above ; in the rains, let him stand uncovered, even without a mantle, where the clouds pour the heaviest showers ; in the cold season, let < him wear a humid vesture j and let him increase by de- grees the austerity of devotion, performing his ablutions at the three Savanas (the sacrifice or oblation to fire, di- rected to be performed three times a day. Rdmayana, Sect.
GLOSSARY. 141
12.)- Let him give satisfaction to fire, to the manes, and to the gods ; and enduring harsher and harsher mortifications, let him dry up his bodily frame ; let him live without a mansion, wholly silent, feeding on roots and fruits, or a scanty pittance received as alms ; chaste as a student ; sleep- ing on the bare earth, in the haunts of pious hermits, without one selfish affection ; dwelling at the roots of trees, occasionally studying, for the purpose of uniting his soul to the divine spirit, the various upanishads of scripture. Should these severities bring on incurable disease, let him advance in a straight path toward the invincible north- eastern point, feeding on water and air, till his mortal frame decay, and his soul be united to the Supreme." Men£, ch. 6. v. 22, 23, 24, 29, 31. The exhortation to a gradual increase of the austerity of these devotions, will be found to authorise the varieties, of exercises different from those here described ; it seems, however, principally to relate to the continued repetition of sacred texts, which are counted by beads, in the manner of the Avc Marias of the Romanists, and the observance of fasts. Of the fasts variously distinguished both by severity and continuance, that which is called the Chandrayana, or monthly, is one of the most severe. During this fast, the devotee eats only fifteen mouth fuls on the first day of the moon, and diminishes these till only one is taken on the day of the
142 GLOSSARY.
full, after which, the number of mouthfuls is increased w the end of the month to fifteen ; or he begins with one mouthful and increases the number to fifteen, and then regularly diminishes the number to one on the last day of the moon. Menti, chap. 11. v. 21, 22, &c.
The fourth religious order is that of an anchoret or Sannydssf, so called from the Sanscrit word Sannydssa, signifying, forsaking the world. The devotee of this or- der wholly forsakes society, and lives without a compa- nion ; he ceases also to perform any religious rites, or to practise the austerities of the hermit, and is supposed to be chiefly employed in mystic meditation, endeavouring to abstract his attention from worldly objects. . To this end, he sits motionless, with his eyes turned toward the extre- mity of his nose, and thus endeavours to become united, (as the Sastras speak) with the Supreme. His dress must consist of a coarse vesture, and his beard, hair, and nails, unlike those of the hermit, must be pared and cut. He may eat only once a day, and then sparingly, of such food as may be accidentally given him; his manners must be those of humility and meekness, and he must carefully avoid hurting or killing any animal, even the minutest insect.
There is much impropriety in calling these exercises pe- nitential, as though they were undejtaken for the cxpia-
GLOSSARY. 143
tion of sinful offences. The Yogi acts from higher mo- tives, than the wish to escape punishment ; he is emulous of obtaining the highest eminence in the next state of existence, or of being perfectly and eternally happy in an union with the Supreme Being, and of returning no more into a state of trouble and trial upon earth. Sometimes, however, and perhaps often, the austerities of the Yogi are undertaken from worldly motives. It is believed, that the most difficult undertakings may be achieved by means of powers obtainable through these practices. M.en'u affirms, that the creator Brahmd became enabled to produce the world, and that other eminent personages gave birth to man and all creatures, through the same means. The Purdnas, more modern in composition, and less pure in doctrine, teach that it is possible, by these means, to ob- tain the faculty of working even bad purposes, and that not only good, but bad beings, have thus become enabled to accomplish their several designs. To these motives maybe added another, which seems to have induced many modern Yogh to enter upon these habits, namely, the gratification of vanity and ambition. These purposes, de- votional austerities are calculated most effectually indeed to promote ; for the Yogi is commonly considered as a being of an order superior to man ; is almost worshipped
144 GLOSSARY.
as a god, and is obeyed often with an obedience more im- plicit and faithful than worldly power can secure to the most mighty monarch. Yugu. Vide Chronology.
Zenadr. This is the name of what is called in the Institutes the sacrifical thread, which is a band hanging round the neck, and placed differently in different parts of the cere- monies of sacrifice, to whose efficacy it is supposed most materially to contribute It is composed of three threads, of a length just sufficient to be put over the head. That worn by the Brahmen, is directed to be made of cotton ; that of the Cshatriya of sdna, thread only ; that of a Vaisya, of woollen thread. Metvi, chap. 2. v. 24. The ceremony of investiture with the Zenadr is very solemn, and is preparatory to their instruction in the V&da, and their admission to the rites of sacrifice. The Sudras, ne- ver being allowed to attend at sacrifices, are never invested with the Zenadr.
THE END.
Printeed by S. Hamilton, Weybridge.
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Dudley, John
The metamorphosis of Sona