The Rámáyan of Válmíki - 81

into the Ganges. To be consistent with geography it should be
written: Erannoboam sive Sonum, Condochatem (Gandakí), Cosoagum.”
SCHLEGEL.
245 “Daksha was one of the ancient Progenitors or Prajápatis created by
Brahmá. The sacrifice which is here spoken of and in which Śankar or
Śiva (called also here Rudra and Bhava) smote the Gods because he
had not been invited to share the sacred oblations with them, seems
to refer to the origin of the worship of Śiva, to its increase and
to the struggle it maintained with other older forms of worship.”
GORRESIO.
246 Sítá means a furrow.
“Great Erectheus swayed,
That owed his nurture to the blue-eyed maid,
But from the teeming furrow took his birth,
The mighty offspring of the foodful earth.”
Iliad, Book II.
247 “The whole story of Sítá, as will be seen in the course of the poem
has a great analogy with the ancient myth of Proserpine.” GORRESIO.
248 A different lady from the Goddess of the Jumna who bears the same
name.
249 This is another fanciful derivation, _Sa_—with, and _gara_—poison.
_ 250 Purushádak_ means a cannibal. First called _Kalmáshapáda_ on
account of his spotted feet he is said to have been turned into a
cannibal for killing the son of Vaśishṭha.
251 “In the setting forth of these royal genealogies the Bengal
recension varies but slightly from the Northern. The first six names
of the genealogy of the Kings of Ayodhyá are partly theogonical and
partly cosmogonical; the other names are no doubt in accordance with
tradition and deserve the same amount of credence as the ancient
traditional genealogies of other nations.” GORRESIO.
252 The tenth of the lunar asterisms, composed of five stars.
253 There are two lunar asterisms of this name, one following the other
immediately, forming the eleventh and twelfth of the lunar mansions.
254 This is another Ráma, son of Jamadagni, called Paraśuráma, or Ráma
with the axe, from the weapon which he carried. He was while he
lived the terror of the Warrior caste, and his name recalls long and
fierce struggles between the sacerdotal and military order in which
the latter suffered severely at the hands of their implacable enemy.
255 “The author of the _Raghuvaṅśa_ places the mountain Mahendra in the
territory of the king of the Kalingans, whose palace commanded a
view of the ocean. It is well known that the country along the coast
to the south of the mouths of the Ganges was the seat of this
people. Hence it may be suspected that this Mahendra is what Pliny
calls ‘promontorium Calingon.’ The modern name, _Cape Palmyras_,
from the palmyras Borassus flabelliformis, which abound there agrees
remarkably with the description of the poet who speaks of the groves
of these trees. _Raghuvaṅśa_, VI. 51.” SCHLEGEL.
256 Śiva.
257 Siva. God of the Azure Neck.
258 Śatrughna means slayer of foes, and the word is repeated as an
intensive epithet.
259 Alluding to the images of Vishṇu, which have four arms, the four
princes being portions of the substance of that God.
260 Chief of the insignia of imperial dignity.
261 Whisks, usually made of the long tails of the Yak.
262 Chitraratha, King of the Gandharvas.
263 The Chandrakánta or Moonstone, a sort of crystal supposed to be
composed of congealed moonbeams.
264 A customary mark of respect to a superior.
265 Ráhu, the ascending node, is in mythology a demon with the tail of a
dragon whose head was severed from his body by Vishṇu, but being
immortal, the head and tail retained their separate existence and
being transferred to the stellar sphere became the authors of
eclipses; the first especially by endeavouring to swallow the sun
and moon.
266 In eclipse.
267 The seventh of the lunar asterisms.
268 Kauśalyá and Sumitrá.
269 A king of the Lunar race, and father of Yayáti.
270 Literally _the chamber of wrath,_ a “_growlery_,” a small, dark,
unfurnished room to which it seems, the wives and ladies of the king
betook themselves when offended and sulky.
271 In these four lines I do not translate faithfully, and I do not
venture to follow Kaikeyí farther in her eulogy of the hump-back’s
charms.
272 These verses are evidently an interpolation. They contain nothing
that has not been already related: the words only are altered. As
the whole poem could not be recited at once, the rhapsodists at the
beginning of a fresh recitation would naturally remind their hearers
of the events immediately preceding.
273 The _śloka_ or distich which I have been forced to expand into these
nine lines is evidently spurious, but is found in all the commented
MSS. which Schlegel consulted.
274 Manmatha, Mind-disturber, a name of Káma or Love.
275 This story is told in the Mahábhárat. A free version of it may be
found in _Scenes from the Rámáyan, etc._
276 Only the highest merit obtains a home in heaven for ever. Minor
degrees of merit procure only leases of heavenly mansions terminable
after periods proportioned to the fund which buys them. King Yayáti
went to heaven and when his term expired was unceremoniously
ejected, and thrown down to earth.
277 See _Additional Notes_, THE SUPPLIANT DOVE.
278 Indra, called also Purandara, Town-destroyer.
279 Indra’s charioteer.
280 The elephant of Indra.
281 A star in the spike of Virgo: hence the name of the mouth Chaitra or
Chait.
282 The Rain-God.
283 In a former life.
284 One of the lunar asterisms, represented as the favourite wife of the
Moon. See p. 4, note.
285 The Sea.
286 The Moon.
287 The comparison may to a European reader seem a homely one. But
Spenser likens an infuriate woman to a cow “That is berobbed of her
youngling dere.” Shakspeare also makes King Henry VI compare himself
to the calf’s mother that “Runs lowing up and down, Looking the way
her harmless young one went.” “Cows,” says De Quincey, “are amongst
the gentlest of breathing creatures; none show more passionate
tenderness to their young, when deprived of them, and, in short, I
am not ashamed to profess a deep love for these gentle creatures.”
288 The commentators say that, in a former creation, Ocean grieved his
mother and suffered in consequence the pains of hell.
289 As described in Book I Canto XL.
290 Parasúráma.
291 The Sanskrit word _hasta_ signifies both _hand_, and the trunk of
“The beast that bears between his eyes a serpent for a head.”
292 See P. 41.
293 The first progeny of Brahmá or Brahmá himself.
294 These are three names of the Sun.
295 See P. 1.
296 The saints who form the constellation of Ursa Major.
297 The regent of the planet Venus.
298 Kuvera.
_ 299 Bali_, or the presentation of food to all created beings, is one of
the five great sacraments of the Hindu religion: it consists in
throwing a small parcel of the offering, _Ghee_, or rice, or the
like, into the open air at the back of the house.
300 In mythology, a demon slain by Indra.
301 Called also Garuḍ, the King of the birds, offspring of Vinatá. See
p. 53.
302 See P. 56.
303 See P. 43.
304 The story of Sávitrí, told in the Mahábhárat, has been admirably
translated by Rückert, and elegantly epitomized by Mrs. Manning in
_India, Ancient and Mediæval_. There is a free rendering of the
story in _Idylls from the Sanskrit_.
305 Fire for sacrificial purposes is produced by the attrition of two
pieces of wood.
306 Kaikeyí.
307 The chapel where the sacred fire used in worship is kept.
308 The students and teachers of the Taittiríya portion of the Yajur
Veda.
309 Two of the divine personages called _Prajápatis_ and _Brahmádikas_
who were first created by Brahmá.
310 It was the custom of the kings of the solar dynasty to resign in
their extreme old age the kingdom to the heir, and spend the
remainder of their days in holy meditation in the forest:
“For such through ages in their life’s decline
Is the good custom of Ikshváku’s line.”
_Raghuraṅśa._
311 See Book I, Canto XXXIX. An Indian prince in more modern times
appears to have diverted himself in a similar way.
It is still reported in Belgaum that Appay Deasy was wont to amuse
himself “by making several young and beautiful women stand side by
side on a narrow balcony, without a parapet, overhanging the deep
reservoir at the new palace in Nipani. He used then to pass along
the line of trembling creatures, and suddenly thrusting one of them
headlong into the water below, he used to watch her drowning, and
derive pleasure from her dying agonies.”—History of the Belgaum
District. By H. J. Stokes, M. S. C.
312 Chitraratha, King of the celestial choristers.
313 It is said that the bamboo dies after flowering.
314 “Thirty centuries have passed since he began this memorable journey.
Every step of it is known and is annually traversed by thousands:
hero worship is not extinct. What can Faith do! How strong are the
ties of religion when entwined with the legends of a country! How
many a cart creeps creaking and weary along the road from Ayodhyá to
Chitrakúṭ. It is this that gives the Rámáyan a strange interest, the
story still lives.” _Calcutta Review: Vol. XXIII._
315 See p. 72.
316 Four stars of the sixteenth lunar asterism.
317 In the marriage service.
318 The husks and chaff of the rice offered to the Gods.
319 An important sacrifice at which seventeen victims were immolated.
320 The great pilgrimage to the Himálayas, in order to die there.
321 Known to Europeans as the Goomtee.
322 A tree, commonly called _Ingua_.
323 Sacrificial posts to which the victims were tied.
324 Daughter of Jahnu, a name of the Ganges. See p. 55.
325 The _Mainá_ or Gracula religiosa, a favourite cage-bird, easily
taught to talk.
326 The Jumna.
327 The Hindu name of Allahabad.
328 The Langúr is a large monkey.
329 A mountain said to lie to the east of Meru.
330 Another name of the Jumna, daughter of the Sun.
331 “We have often looked on that green hill: it is the holiest spot of
that sect of the Hindu faith who devote themselves to this
incarnation of Vishṇu. The whole neighbourhood is Ráma’s country.
Every headland has some legend, every cavern is connected with his
name; some of the wild fruits are still called _Sítáphal_, being the
reputed food of the exile. Thousands and thousands annually visit
the spot, and round the hill is a raised foot-path, on which the
devotee, with naked feet, treads full of pious awe.” _Calcutta
Review_, Vol. XXIII.
332 Deities of a particular class in which five or ten are enumerated.
They are worshipped particularly at the funeral obsequies in honour
of deceased progenitors.
333 “So in Homer the horses of Achilles lamented with many bitter tears
the death of Patroclus slain by Hector:”
“Ἵπποι δ’ Αἰακίδαο, μάχης ἀπάνευθεν ἐότες,
Κλᾶιον, ἐπειδὴ πρῶτα πυθέσθην ἡνιόχοιο
Ἐν κονίνσι πεσόντος ὑφ’ Ἕκτορος ἀνδροφόνοιο”
ILIAD. XVII. 426.
“Ancient poesy frequently associated nature with the joys and
sorrows of man.” GORRESIO.
334 The lines containing this heap of forced metaphors are marked as
spurious by Schlegel.
335 The southern region is the abode of Yama the Indian Pluto, and of
departed spirits.
336 The five elements of which the body consists, and to which it
returns.
337 So dying York cries over the body of Suffolk:
“Tarry, dear cousin Suffolk!
My soul shall thine keep company to heaven:
Tarry, sweet soul, for mine, then fly abreast.”
_King Henry V, Act IV, 6._
338 Kauśalyá, daughter of the king of another Kośal.
339 Rájagriha, or Girivraja was the capital of Aśvapati, Bharat’s
maternal grandfather.
340 The Kekayas or Kaikayas in the Punjab appear amongst the chief
nations in the war of the Mahábhárata; their king being a kinsman of
Krishṇa.
341 Hástinapura was the capital of the kingdom of Kuru, near the modern
Delhi.
342 The Panchálas occupied the upper part of the Doab.
343 “Kurujángala and its inhabitants are frequently mentioned in the
_Mahábhárata_, as in the _Ádi-parv._ 3789, 4337, _et al._” WILSON’S
_Vishṇu Puráṇa,_ Vol. II. p. 176. DR. HALL’S Note.
344 “The Ὁξύματις of Arrian. See _As. Res._ Vol. XV. p. 420, 421, also
_Indische Alterthumskunde_, Vol. I. p. 602, first footnote.”
WILSON’S _Vishṇu Puráṇa_, Vol. I. p. 421. DR. HALL’S Edition. The
Ikshumatí was a river in Kurukshetra.
345 “The Báhíkas are described in the Mahábhárata, Karṇa Parvan, with
some detail, and comprehend the different nations of the Punjab from
the Sutlej to the Indus.” WILSON’S _Vishṇu Puráṇa_, Vol. I. p. 167.
346 The Beas, Hyphasis, or Bibasis.
347 It would be lost labour to attempt to verify all the towns and
streams mentioned in Cantos LXVIII and LXXII. Professor Wilson
observes (_Vishṇu Puráṇa_, p. 139. Dr. Hall’s Edition) “States, and
tribes, and cities have disappeared, even from recollection; and
some of the natural features of the country, especially the rivers,
have undergone a total alteration.… Notwithstanding these
impediments, however, we should be able to identify at least
mountains and rivers, to a much greater extent than is now
practicable, if our maps were not so miserably defective in their
nomenclature. None of our surveyors or geographers have been
oriental scholars. It may be doubted if any of them have been
conversant with the spoken language of the country. They have,
consequently, put down names at random, according to their own
inaccurate appreciation of sounds carelessly, vulgarly, and
corruptly uttered; and their maps of India are crowded with
appellations which bear no similitude whatever either to past or
present denominations. We need not wonder that we cannot discover
Sanskrit names in English maps, when, in the immediate vicinity of
Calcutta, Barnagore represents Baráhanagar, Dakshineśwar is
metamorphosed into Duckinsore, Ulubaría into Willoughbury.… There is
scarcely a name in our Indian maps that does not afford proof of
extreme indifference to accuracy in nomenclature, and of an
incorrectness in estimating sounds, which is, in some degree,
perhaps, a national defect.”
For further information regarding the road from Ayodhyá to
Rájagriha, see _Additional Notes_.
348 “The Śatadrú, ‘the hundred-channeled’—the Zaradrus of Ptolemy,
Hesydrus of Pliny—is the Sutlej.” WILSON’S _Vishṇu Puráṇa_, Vol. II.
p. 130.
349 The Sarasvatí or Sursooty is a tributary of the Caggar or Guggur in
Sirhind.
_ 350 Súryamcha pratimehatu_, adversus solem mingat. An offence expressly
forbidden by the Laws of Manu.
351 Bharat does not intend these curses for any particular person: he
merely wishes to prove his own innocence by invoking them on his own
head if he had any share in banishing Ráma.
352 The Sáma-veda, the hymns of which are chanted aloud.
353 Walking from right to left.
354 Birth and death, pleasure and pain, loss and gain.
355 Erected upon a tree or high staff in honour of Indra.
356 I follow in this stanza the Bombay edition in preference to
Schlegel’s which gives the tears of joy to the courtiers.
357 The commentator says “Śatrughna accompanied by the other sons of the
king.”
358 Not Bharat’s uncle, but some councillor.
_ 359 Śatakratu_, Lord of a hundred sacrifices, the performance of a
hundred _Aśvamedhas_ or sacrifices of a horse entitling the
sacrificer to this exalted dignity.
360 The modern Malabar.
361 Now Sungroor, in the Allahabad district.
362 Ráma, Lakshmaṇ, and Sumantra.
363 The _svastika_, a little cross with a transverse line at each
extremity.
364 When an army marched it was customary to burn the huts in which it
had spent the night.
365 Yáma, Varuṇa, and Kuvera.
366 “A happy land in the remote north where the inhabitants enjoy a
natural pefection attended with complete happiness obtained without
exertion. There is there no vicissitude, nor decrepitude, nor death,
nor fear: no distinction of virtue and vice, none of the
inequalities denoted by the words best, worst, and intermediate, nor
any change resulting from the succession of the four Yugas.” See
MUIR’S _Sanskrit Texts_, Vol. I. p. 492.
367 The Moon.
368 The poet does not tell us what these lakes contained.
369 These ten lines are a substitution for, and not a translation of the
text which Carey and Marshman thus render: “This mountain adorned
with mango, jumboo, usuna, lodhra, piala, punusa, dhava, unkotha,
bhuvya, tinisha, vilwa, tindooka, bamboo, kashmaree, urista, uruna,
madhooka, tilaka, vuduree, amluka, nipa, vetra, dhunwuna, veejaka,
and other trees affording flowers, and fruits, and the most
delightful shade, how charming does it appear!”
_ 370 Vidyadharis_, Spirits of Air, sylphs.
371 A lake attached either to Amarávatí the residence of Indra, or Alaká
that of Kuvera.
372 The Ganges of heaven.
373 Naliní, as here, may be the name of any lake covered with lotuses.
374 This canto is allowed, by Indian commentators, to be an
interpolation. It cannot be the work of Válmíki.
375 A fine bird with a strong, sweet note, and great imitative powers.
376 Bauhinea variegata, a species of ebony.
377 The rainbow is called the bow of Indra.
378 Bhogavatí, the abode of the Nágas or Serpent race.
379 “The order of the procession on these occasions is that the children
precede according to age, then the women and after that the men
according to age, the youngest first and the eldest last: when they
descend into the water this is reversed and resumed when they come
out of it.” CAREY AND MARSHMAN.
380 Vṛihaspati, the preceptor of the Gods.
381 Garuḍ, the king of birds.
382 To be won by virtue.
383 The four religious orders, referable to different times of life are,
that of the student, that of the householder, that of the anchorite,
and that of the mendicant.
384 To Gods, men, and Manes.
385 Gayá is a very holy city in Behar. Every good Hindu ought once in
his life to make funeral offerings in Gayá in honour of his
ancestors.
_ 386 Put_ is the name of that region of hell to which men are doomed who
leave no son to perform the funeral rites which are necessary to
assure the happiness of the departed. _Putra_, the common word for a
son is said by the highest authority to be derived from _Put_ and
_tra_ deliverer.
387 It was the custom of Indian women when mourning for their absent
husbands to bind their hair in a long single braid.
Carey and Marshman translate, “the one-tailed city.”
388 The verses in a different metre with which some cantos end are all
to be regarded with suspicion. Schlegel regrets that he did not
exclude them all from his edition. These lines are manifestly
spurious. See _Additional Notes_.
389 This genealogy is a repetition with slight variation of that given
in Book I, Canto LXX.
390 In Gorresio’s recension identified with Vishṇu. See Muir’s _Sanskrit
Texts, Vol. IV. pp 29, 30_.
391 From _sa_ with, and _gara_ poison.
392 See Book I. Canto XL.
393 A practice which has frequently been described, under the name of
_dherna_, by European travellers in India.
394 Compare Milton’s “_beseeching or beseiging_.”
395 Ten-headed, ten-necked, ten faced, are common epithets of Rávaṇ the
giant king of Lanká.
396 The spouse of Rohiṇí is the Moon: Ráhu is the demon who causes
eclipses.
397 “Once,” says the Commentator Tírtha, “in the battle between the Gods
and demons the Gods were vanquished, and the sun was overthrown by
Ráhu. At the request of the Gods Atri undertook the management of
the sun for a week.”
398 Now Nundgaon, in Oudh.
399 A part of the great Daṇḍak forest.
400 When the saint Máṇḍavya had doomed some saint’s wife, who was
Anasúyá’s friend, to become a widow on the morrow.
401 Heavenly nymphs.
402 The _ball_ or present of food to all created beings.
403 The clarified butter &c. cast into the sacred fire.
404 The Moon-God: “he is,” says the commentator, “the special deity of
Bráhmans.”
405 “Because he was an incarnation of the deity,” says the commentator,
“otherwise such honour paid by men of the sacerdotal caste to one of
the military would be improper.”
406 The king of birds.
_ 407 Kálántakayamopamam_, resembling Yáma the destroyer.
408 Somewhat inconsistently with this part of the story Tumburu is
mentioned in Book II, Canto XII as one of the Gandharvas or heavenly
minstrels summoned to perform at Bharadvája’s feast.
409 Rambhá appears in Book I Canto LXIV as the temptress of Viśvámitra.
410 The conclusion of this Canto is all a vain repetition: it is
manifestly spurious and a very feeble imitation of Válmíki’s style.
See _Additional Notes_.
411 “Even when he had alighted,” says the commentator: The feet of Gods
do not touch the ground.
412 A name of Indra.
413 Śachí is the consort of Indra.
414 The spheres or mansions gained by those who have duly performed the
sacrifices required of them. Different situations are assigned to
these spheres, some placing them near the sun, others near the moon.
415 Hermits who live upon roots which they dig out of the earth:
literally _diggers_, derived from the prefix _vi_ and _khan_ to dig.
416 Generally, divine personages of the height of a man’s thumb,
produced from Brahmá’s hair: here, according to the commentator
followed by Gorresio, hermits who when they have obtained fresh food
throw away what they had laid up before.
417 Sprung from the washings of Vishṇuu’s feet.
418 Four fires burning round them, and the sun above.
419 The tax allowed to the king by the Laws of Manu.
420 Near the celebrated Rámagiri or Ráma’s Hill, now Rám-ṭek, near
Nagpore—the scene of the Yaksha’s exile in the _Messenger Cloud_.
421 A hundred _Aśvamedhas_ or sacrifices of a horse raise the sacrificer
to the dignity of Indra.
422 Indra.
423 Gorresio observes that Daśaratha was dead and that Sítá had been
informed of his death. In his translation he substitutes for the
words of the text “thy relations and mine.” This is quite
superfluous. Daśaratha though in heaven still took a loving interest
in the fortunes of his son.
424 One of the hermits who had followed Ráma.
425 The lake of the five nymphs.
426 The holy fig-tree.
427 The bread-fruit tree, Artocarpus integrifolia.
428 A fine timber tree, Shorea robusta.
429 The God of fire.
430 Kuvera, the God of riches.
431 The Sun.
432 Brahmá, the creator.
433 Śiva.
434 The Wind-God.
435 The God of the sea.
436 A class of demi-gods, eight in number.
437 The holiest text of the Vedas, deified.
438 Vásuki.
439 Garuḍ.
440 The War-God.
441 One of the Pleiades generally regarded as the model of wifely
excellence.
442 The Madhúka, or, as it is now called, Mahuwá, is the Bassia
latifolia, a tree from whose blossoms a spirit is extracted.
443 “I should have doubted whether Manu could have been the right
reading here, but that it occurs again in verse 29, where it is in
like manner followed in verse 31 by Analá, so that it would
certainly seem that the name Manu is intended to stand for a female,
the daughter of Daksha. The Gauḍa recension, followed by Signor
Gorresio (III 20, 12), adopts an entirely different reading at the
end of the line, viz. _Balám Atibalám api_, ‘Balá and Atibilá,’
instead of Manu and Analá. I see that Professor Roth s.v. adduces
the authority of the Amara Kosha and of the Commentator on Páṇini
for stating that the word sometimes means ‘the wife of Manu.’ In the
following text of the Mahábhárata I. 2553. also, Manu appears to be
the name of a female: ‘_Anaradyam_, _Manum_, _Vañsám_, _Asurám_,
_Márgaṇapriyám_, _Anúpám_, _Subhagám_, _Bhásím iti_, _Prádhá
vyajayata_. Prádhá (daughter of Daksha) bore Anavadyá, Manu, Vanśá,
Márgaṇapriyá, Anúpá, Subhagá. and Bhásí.’ ” _Muir’s Sanskrit Text_,
Vol. I. p. 116.
444 The elephant of Indra.
_ 445 Golángúlas_, described as a kind of monkey, of a black colour, and
having a tail like a cow.
446 Eight elephants attached to the four quarters and intermediate
points of the compass, to support and guard the earth.
447 Some scholars identify the centaurs with the Gandharvas.
448 The hooded serpents, says the commentator Tírtha, were the offspring
of Surasá: all others of Kadrú.
449 The text reads Kaśyapa, “a descendant of Kaśyapa,” who according to
Rám. II. l0, 6, ought to be Vivasvat. But as it is stated in the
preceding part of this passage III. 14, 11 f. that Manu was one of
Kaśyapa’s eight wives, we must here read Kaśyap. The Ganda recension
reads (III, 20, 30) _Manur manushyáms cha tatha janayámása Rághana_,
instead of the corresponding line in the Bombay edition. _Muir’s
Sanskrit Text, Vol I, p. 117._
450 The original verses merely name the trees. I have been obliged to
amplify slightly and to omit some quas versu dicere non est; _e.g._
the _tiniśa_ (Dalbergia ougeiniensis), _punnága_ (Rottleria
tinctoria), _tilaka_ (not named), _syandana_ (Dalbergia ougeiniensis
again), _vandana_ (unknown), _nípa_ (Nauclea Kadamba), _lakucha_
(Artœarpus lacucha), _dhava_ (Grislea tomentosa), Aśvakarna (another
name for the Sál), _Śamí_ (Acacia Suma), _khadira_ (Mimosa catechu),
_kinśuka_ (Butea frondosa), _pátala_ (Bignonia suaveolens).
451 Acacia Suma.
452 The south is supposed to be the residence of the departed.
453 The sun.
454 The night is divided into three watches of four hours each.
455 The chief chamberlain and attendant of Śiva or Rudra.
456 Umá or Párvati, the consort of Śiva.
457 A star, one of the favourites of the Moon.
458 The God of love.