The Ramayana, Valmiki [best authors to read txt] 📗

Tripathaga, Three-path-go, flowing in heaven, on earth, and under the earth. See Canto XLV. 153. Tennyson's “Indian Cama,” the God of Love, known also by many other names. 154. Umá, or Parvatí, was daughter of Himálaya, Monarch of mountains, and wife of Śiva. See Kálidasa's Kumára Sambhava, or Birth of the War-God. 155. Stháṇu. The Unmoving one, a name of Śiva. 156. “The practice of austerities, voluntary tortures, and mortifications was anciently universal in India, and was held by the Indians to be of immense efficacy. Hence they mortified themselves to expiate sins, to acquire merits, and to obtain superhuman gifts and powers; the Gods themselves sometimes exercised themselves in such austerities, either to raise themselves to greater power and grandeur, or to counteract the austerities of man which threatened to prevail over them and to deprive them of heaven.… Such austerities were called in India tapas (burning ardour, fervent devotion) and he who practised them tapasvin.” Gorresio. 157. The Bodiless one. 158. “A celebrated lake regarded in India as sacred. It lies in the lofty region between the northern highlands of the Himálayas and mount Kailása, the region of the sacred lakes. The poem, following the popular Indian belief, makes the river Sarayú (now Sarjú) flow from the Mánasa lake; the sources of the river are a little to the south about a day's journey from the lake. See Lassen, Indische Alterthumshunde, page 34.” Gorresio. Manas means mind; mánasa, mental, mind-born. 159. Sarovar means best of lakes. This is another of the poet's fanciful etymologies. 160. The confluence of two or more rivers is often a venerated and holy place. The most famous is Prayág or Allahabad, where the Sarasvatí by an underground course is believed to join the Jumna and the Ganges. 161. The botanical names of the trees mentioned in the text are Grislea Tormentosa, Shorea Robusta, Echites Antidysenterica, Bignonia Suaveolens, Œgle Marmelos, and Diospyrus Glutinosa. I have omitted the Kutaja (Echites) and the Tiṇḍuka (Diospyrus). 162. Here we meet with a fresh myth to account for the name of these regions. Malaja is probably a non-Aryan word signifying a hilly country: taken as a Sanskrit compound it means sprung from defilement. The word Karúsha appears to have a somewhat similar meaning. 163.

“This is one of those indefinable mythic personages who are found in the ancient traditions of many nations, and in whom cosmogonical or astronomical notions are generally figured. Thus it is related of Agastya that the Vindhyan mountains prostrated themselves before him; and yet the same Agastya is believed to be regent of the star Canopus.” Gorresio.

He will appear as the friend and helper of Ráma farther on in the poem.

164. The famous pleasure-garden of Kuvera the God of Wealth. 165. “The whole of this Canto together with the following one, regards the belief, formerly prevalent in India, that by virtue of certain spells, to be learnt and muttered, secret knowledge and superhuman powers might be acquired. To this the poet has already alluded in Canto xxiii. These incorporeal weapons are partly represented according to the fashion of those ascribed to the Gods and the different orders of demi-gods, partly are the mere creations of fancy; and it would not be easy to say what idea the poet had of them in his own mind, or what powers he meant to assign to each.” Schlegel. 166. “In Sanskrit Sankára, a word which has various significations but the primary meaning of which is the act of seizing. A magical power seems to be implied of employing the weapons when and where required. The remarks I have made on the preceding Canto apply with still greater force to this. The MSS. greatly vary in the enumeration of these Sankáras, and it is not surprising that copyists have incorrectly written the names which they did not well understand. The commentators throw no light upon the subject.” Schlegel. I have taken the liberty of omitting four of these which Schlegel translates “Scleromphalum, Euomphalum, Centiventrem, and Chrysomphalum.” 167. I omit, after this line, eight ślokes which, as Schlegel allows, are quite out of place. 168. This is the fifth of the avatárs, descents or incarnations of Vishṇu. 169. This is a solar allegory. Vishṇu is the sun, the three steps being his rising, culmination, and setting. 170. Certain ceremonies preliminary to a sacrifice. 171. A river which rises in Budelcund and falls into the Ganges near Patna. It is called also Hiraṇyaráhu, Golden-armed, and Hiraṇyaráha, Auriferous. 172. The modern Berar. 173. According to the Bengal recension the first (Kuśámba) is called Kuśáśva, and his city Kauśáśví. This name does not occur elsewhere. The reading of the northern recension is confirmed by Foê Kouê Ki; p. 385, where the city Kiaoshangmi is mentioned. It lay 500 lis to the south-west of Prayága, on the south bank of the Jumna. Mahodaya is another name of Kanyakubja: Dharmáraṇya, the wood to which the God of Justice is said to have fled through fear of Soma the Moon-God was in Magadh. Girivraja was in the same neighbourhood. See Lasson's I, A. Vol. I. p. 604. 174. That is, the City of the Bent Virgins, the modern Kanauj or Canouge. 175. Literally, Given by Brahma or devout contemplation. 176.

Now called Kośí (Cosy) corrupted from Kauśikí, daughter of Kuś]a.

“This is one of those personifications of rivers so frequent in the Grecian mythology, but in the similar myths is seen the impress of the genius of each people, austere and profoundly religious in India, graceful and devoted to the worship of external beauty in Greece.” Gorresio.

177. One of the names of the Ganges considered as the daughter of Jahnu. See Canto XLIV. 178. The Indian Crane. 179. Or, rather, geese. 180. A name of the God Śiva. 181. Garuḍa. 182. Ikshváku, the name of a king of Ayodhyá who is regarded as the founder of the Solar race, means also a gourd. Hence, perhaps, the myth. 183. “The region here spoken of is called in the Laws of Manu Madhyadeśa or the middle region. ‘The region situated between the Himálaya and the Vindhya Mountains … is called Madhyadeśa, or the middle region; the space comprised between these two mountains from the eastern to the western sea is called by sages Áryávartta, the seat of honourable men.’ (Manu, II, 21, 22.) The Sanskrit Indians called themselves Áryans, which means honourable, noble, to distinguish themselves from the surrounding nations of different origin.” Gorresio. 184. Said to be so called from the Jambu, or Rose Apple, abounding in it, and signifying according to the Puránas the central division of the world, the known world. 185. Here used as a name of Vishṇu. 186.

Kings are called the husbands of their kingdoms or of the earth; “She and his kingdom were his only brides.” Raghuvaṅśa.