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

“The Uttara Kurus, it should be remarked, may have been a real people, as they are mentioned in the Aitareya Bráhmaṇa, VIII. 14.… Wherefore the several nations who dwell in this northern quarter, beyond the Himavat, the Uttara Kurus and the Uttara Madras are consecrated to glorious dominion, and people term them the glorious. In another passage of the same work, however, the Uttara Kurus are treated as belonging to the domain of mythology.” Muir's Sanskrit Texts. Vol. I. p. 494. See Additional Notes. 742. The Moon-mountain. 743. The Rudras are the same as the storm winds, more usually called Maruts, and are often associated with Indra. In the later mythology the Rudras are regarded as inferior manifestations of Śiva, and most of their names are also names of Śiva. 744. Canto IX. 745. Udayagiri or the hill from which the sun rises. 746. Asta is the mountain behind which the sun sets. 747. Himálaya, the Hills of Snow. 748. Canto XI. 749. Hanumán was the leader of the army of the south which was under the nominal command of Angad the heir apparent. 750. The Bengal recension—Gorresio's edition—calls this Asur or demon the son of Márícha. 751. The skin of the black antelope was the ascetic's proper garb. 752. Uśanas is the name of a sage mentioned in the Vedas. In the epic poems he is identified with Śukra, the regent of the planet Venus, and described as the preceptor of the Asuras or Daityas, and possessor of vast knowledge. 753. Hemá is one of the nymphs of Paradise. 754. Merusávarṇi is a general name for the last four of the fourteen Manus. 755. Svayamprabhá, the “self-luminous,” is according to De Gubernatis the moon: “In the Svayamprabhá too, we meet with the moon as a good fairy who, from the golden palace which she reserves for her friend Hemá (the golden one:) is during a month the guide, in the vast cavern of Hanumant and his companions, who have lost their way in the search of the dawn Sítá.” This is is not quite accurate: Hanumán and his companions wander for a month in the cavern without a guide, and then Svayamprabhá leads them out. 756. Purandara, the destroyer of cities; the cities being the clouds which the God of the firmament bursts open with his thunderbolts, to release the waters imprisoned in these fortresses of the demons of drought. 757. Perceived that Angad had secured, through the love of the Vánars, the reversion of Sugríva's kingdom; or, as another commentator explains it, perceived that Angad had obtained a new kingdom in the enchanted cave which the Vánars, through love of him, would consent to occupy. 758. Vṛihaspati, Lord of Speech, the Preceptor of the Gods. 759. Śukra is the regent of the planet Venus, and the preceptor of the Daityas. 760. The name of various kinds of grass used at sacrificial ceremonies, especially, of the Kuśa grass, Poa cynosuroides, which was used to strew the ground in preparing for a sacrifice, the officiating Brahmans being purified by sitting on it. 761. Sampáti is the eldest son of the celebrated Garuḍa the king of birds. 762. Vivasvat or the Sun is the father of Yáma the God of Death. 763. Book III, Canto LI. 764. Daśaratha's rash oath and fatal promise to his wife Kaikeyí. 765. Vritra, “the coverer, hider, obstructer (of rain)” is the name of the Vedic personification of an imaginary malignant influence or demon of darkness and drought supposed to take possession of the clouds, causing them to obstruct the clearness of the sky and keep back the waters. Indra is represented as battling with this evil influence, and the pent-up clouds being practically represented as mountains or castles are shattered by his thunderbolt and made to open their receptacles. 766. Frequent mention has been made of the three steps of Vishṇu typifying the rising, culmination, and setting of the sun. 767. For the Churning of the Sea, see Book I, Canto XLV. 768. Kuvera, the God of Wealth. 769. The architect of the gods. 770. Garuḍa, son of Vinatá, the sovereign of the birds. 771. “The well winged one,” Garuḍa. 772. The god of the sea. 773. Mahendra is chain of mountains generally identified with part of the Gháts of the Peninsula. 774. Mátariśva is identified with Váyu, the wind. 775. Of course not equal to the whole earth, says the Commentator, but equal to Janasthán. 776. This appears to be the Indian form of the stories of Phaethon and Dædalus and Icarus. 777. According to the promise, given him by Brahmá. See Book I, Canto XIV. 778. In the Bengal recension the fourth Book ends here, the remaining Cantos being placed in the fifth. 779. Each chief comes forward and says how far he can leap. Gaja says he can leap ten yojans. Gavaksha can leap twenty. Gavaya thirty, and so on up to ninety. 780. Prahláda, the son of Hiraṇyakaśipu, was a pious Datya remarkable for his devotion to Vishṇu, and was on this account persecuted by his father. 781. The Bengal recension calls him Aríshṭanemi's brother. “The commentator says ‘Aríshṭanemi is Aruṇa.’ Aruṇa the charioteer of the sun is the son of Kaśyapa and Vinatá and by consequence brother of Garuḍa, called Vainateya from Vinatá, his mother.” Gorressio. 782. A nymph of Paradise. 783. Hanu or Hanú means jaw. Hanumán or Hanúmán means properly one with a large jaw. 784. Vishṇu, the God of the Three Steps. 785. Náráyaṇ, “He who moved upon the waters,” is Vishnu. The allusion is to the famous three steps of that God. 786. The Milky Way. 787. This Book is called Sundar or the Beatiful. To a European taste it is the most intolerably tedious of the whole poem, abounding in repetition, overloaded description, and long and useless speeches which impede the action of the poem. Manifest interpolations of whole Cantos also occur. I have omitted none of the action of the Book, but have occasionally omitted long passages of common-place description, lamentation, and long stories which have been again and again repeated. 788. Brahmá the Self-Existent. 789. Maináka was the son of Himálaya and Mená or Menaká. 790.

Thus Milton makes the hills of heaven self-moving at command: