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

tei-hi">arbuda is a hundred millions. 651. Anuhláda or Anuhráda is one of the four sons of the mighty Hiraṇyakaśipu, an Asur or a Daitya son of Kaśyapa and Diti and killed by Vishṇu in his incarnation of the Man-Lion Narasinha. According to the Bhágavata Puráṇa the Daitya or Asur Hiraṇyakaśipu and Hiraṇyáksha his brother, both killed by Vishṇu, were born again as Rávaṇ and Kumbhakarṇa his brother. 652. Puloma, a demon, was the father-in-law of Indra who destroyed him in order to avert an imprecation. Paulomí is a patronymic denoting Śachí the daughter of Puloma. 653. “Observe the variety of colours which the poem attributes to all these inhabitants of the different mountainous regions, some white, others yellow, &c. Such different colours were perhaps peculiar and distinctive characteristics of those various races.” Gorressio. 654. Susheṇ. 655. Tára. 656. Kesarí was the husband of Hanúmán's mother, and is here called his father. 657. “I here unite under one heading two animals of very diverse nature and race, but which from some gross resemblances, probably helped by an equivoque in the language, are closely affiliated in the Hindoo myth … a reddish colour of the skin, want of symmetry and ungainliness of form, strength in hugging with the fore paws or arms, the faculty of climbing, shortness of tail(?), sensuality, capacity of instruction in dancing and in music, are all characteristics which more or less distinguish and meet in bears as well as in monkeys. In the Rámáyaṇam, the wise Jámnavant, the Odysseus of the expedition of Lanká, is called now king of the bears (rikshaparthivah), now great monkey (Mahákapih).” De Gubernatis: Zoological Mythology, Vol. II. p. 97. 658. Gandhamádana, Angad, Tára, Indrajánu, Rambha, Durmukha, Hanumán, Nala, Da mukha, Śarabha, Kumuda, Vahni. 659. Daityas and Dánavas are fiends and enemies of the Gods, like the Titans of Greek mythology. 660. I reduce the unwieldy numbers of the original to more modest figures. 661. Sarayú now Sarjú is the river on which Ayodhyá was built. 662. Kauśikí is a river which flows through Behar, commonly called Kosi. 663. Bhagírath's daughter is Gangá or the Ganges. The legend is told at length in Book I Canto XLIV. The Descent of Gangá. 664. A mountain not identified. 665. The Jumna. The river is personified as the twin sister of Yáma, and hence regarded as the daughter of the Sun. 666. The Sarasvatí (corruptly called Sursooty, is supposed to join the Ganges and Jumna at Prayág or Allahabad. It rises in the mountains bounding the north-east part of the province of Delhi, and running in a south-westerly direction becomes lost in the sands of the great desert. 667. The Sindhu is the Indus, the Sanskrit s becoming h in Persian and being in this instance dropped by the Greeks. 668. The Sone which rises in the district of Nagpore and falls into the Ganges above Patna. 669. Mahí is a river rising in Malwa and falling into the gulf of Cambay after a westerly course of 280 miles. 670. There is nothing to show what parts of the country the poet intended to denote as silk-producing and silver-producing. 671. Yavadwipa means the island of Yava, wherever that may be. 672. Śiśir is said to be a mountain ridge projecting from the base of Meru on the south. Wilson's Vishnu Puráṇa, ed. Hall, Vol. II. p. 117. 673. This appears to be some mythical stream and not the well-known Śone. The name means red-coloured. 674. A fabulous thorny rod of the cotton tree used for torturing the wicked in hell. The tree gives its name, Śálmalí, to one of the seven Dwípas, or great divisions of the known continent: and also to a hell where the wicked are tormented with the pickles of the tree. 675. The king of the feathered creation. 676. Viśvakarmá, the Mulciber of the Indian heaven. 677. “The terrific fiends named Mandehas attempt to devour the sun: for Brahmá denounced this curse upon them, that without the power to perish they should die every day (and revive by night) and therefore a fierce contest occurs (daily) between them and the sun.” Wilson's Vishṇu Puráṇa. Vol. II. p. 250. 678. Said in the Vishṇu Puráṇa to be a ridge projecting from the base of Meru to the north. 679. Kinnars are centaurs reversed, beings with equine head and human bodies. 680. Yakshas are demi-gods attendant on Kuvera the God of wealth. 681. Aurva was one of the descendants of Bhrigu. From his wrath proceeded a flame that threatened to destroy the world, had not Aurva cast it into the ocean where it remained concealed, and having the face of a horse. The legend is told in the Mahábhárat. I. 6802. 682. The word Játarúpa means gold. 683. The celebrated mythological serpent king Sesha, called also Ananta or the infinite, represented as bearing the earth on one of his thousand heads. 684. Jambudwípa is in the centre of the seven great dwípas or continents into which the world is divided, and in the centre of Jambudwípa is the golden mountain Meru 84,000 yojans high, and crowned by the great city of Brahmá. See Wilson's Vishṇu Puráṇa, Vol. II. p. 110. 685. Vaikhánases are a race of hermit saints said to have sprung from the nails of Prajápati. 686. “The wife of Kratu, Samnati, brought forth the sixty thousand Válakhilyas, pigmy sages, no bigger than a joint of the thumb, chaste, pious, resplendent as the rays of the Sun.” Wilson's Vishṇu Puráṇa. 687. The continent in which Sudarśan or Meru stands, i.e. Jambudwíp. 688. The names of some historical peoples which occur in this Canto and in the Cantos describing the south and north will be found in the Additional Notes. They are bare lists, not susceptible of a metrical version. 689. Suhotra, Śarári, Śaragulma, Gayá, Gaváksha, Gavaya, Susheṇa, Gandhamádana, Ulkámukha, and Ananga. 690. The modern Nerbudda. 691. Krishṇaveṇí is mentioned in the Vishṇu Puráṇa as “the deep Krishṇaveṇí” but there appears to be no clue to its identification. 692. The modern Godavery. 693. The Mekhalas or Mekalas according to the Paráṇas live in the Vindhya hills, but here they appear among the peoples of the south. 694. Utkal is still the native name of Orissa. 695. The land of the people of the “ten forts.” Professor Hall in a note on Wilson's Vishṇu Puráṇa, Vol. II. p. 160 says: “The oral traditions of the vicinity to this day assign the name of Daśárna to a region lying to the east of the District of Chundeyree.” 696. Avantí is one of the ancient names of the celebrated Ujjayin or Oujein in Central India. 697. Not identified. 698. Ayomukh means iron faced. The mountain is not identified. 699. The Káverí or modern Cauvery is well known and has always borne the same appellation, being the Chaberis of Ptolemy. 700. One of the seven principal mountain chains: the southern portion of the Western Gháts. 701. Agastya is the great sage who has already frequently appeared as Ráma's friend and benefactor. 702. Támraparṇí is a river rising in Malaya. 703. The Páṇḍyas are a people of the Deccan. 704. Mahendra is the chain of hills that extends from Orissa and the northern Sircars to Gondwána, part of which near Ganjam is still called Mahendra Malay or hills of Mahendra. 705. Lanká, Sinhaladvípa, Sarandib, or Ceylon. 706. The Flowery Hill of course is mythical. 707. The whole of the geography south of Lanká is of course mythical. Súryaván means Sunny. 708. Vaidyut means connected with lightning. 709. Agastya is here placed far to the south of Lanká. Earlier in this Canto he was said to dwell on Malaya. 710. Bhogavatí has been frequently mentioned: it is the capital of the serpent Gods or demons, and usually represented as being in the regions under the earth. 711. Vásuki is according to some accounts the king of the Nágas or serpent Gods. 712. Śailúsha, Gramiṇi, Siksha, Suka, Babhru. 713. The distant south beyond the confines of the earth is the home of departed spirits and the city of Yáma the God of Death. 714. Suráshṭra, the “good country,” is the modern Sura 715. A country north-west of Afghanistan, Baíkh. 716. The Moon-mountain here is mythical. 717. Sindhu is the Indus. 718. Páriyátra, or as more usually written Páripátra, is the central or western portion of the Vindhya chain which skirts the province of Malwa. 719. Vajra means both diamond and thunderbolt, the two substances being supposed to be identical. 720. Chakraván means the discus-bearer. 721. The discus is the favourite weapon of Vishṇu. 722. The Indian Hephaistos or Vulcan. 723. Panchajan was a demon who lived in the sea in the form of a conch shell. Wilson's Vishṇu Puráṇa, V. 21. 724. Hayagríva, Horse-necked, is the name of a Daitya who at the dissolution of the universe caused by Brahmá's sleep, seized and carried off the Vedas. Vishṇu slew him and recovered the sacred treasures. 725. Meru stands in the centre of Jambudwípa and consequently of the earth. “The sun travels round the world, keeping Meru always on his right. To the spectator who fronts him, therefore, as he rises Meru must be always on the north; and as the sun's rays do not penetrate beyond the centre of the mountain, the regions beyond, or to the north of it must be in darkness, whilst those on the south of it must be in light: north and south being relative, not absolute, terms, depending on the position of the spectator with regard to the Sun and Meru.” Wilson's Vishṇu Puráṇa, Vol. II. p. 243. Note. 726. The Viśvadevas are a