The Sanskrit Epics

by Delphi Classics

  994

  The chariots of Rávaṇ’s present army are said to have been one hundred and fifty million in number with three hundred million elephants, and twelve hundred million horses and asses. The footmen are merely said to have been “unnumbered.”

  995

  It is not very easy to see the advantage of having arrows headed in the way mentioned. Fanciful names for war-engines and weapons derived from their resemblance to various animals are not confined to India. The “War-wolf” was used by Edward I. at the siege of Brechin, the “Cat-house” and the “Sow” were used by Edward III. at the siege of Dunbar.

  996

  Apparently a peak of the Himalaya chain.

  997

  This exploit of Hanumán is related with inordinate prolixity in the Bengal recension (Gortesio’s text). Among other adventures he narrowly escapes being shot by Bharat as he passes over Nandigrama near Ayodhyá. Hanumán stays Bharat in time, and gives him an account of what has befallen Ráma and Sítá in the forest and in Lanká.

  998

  As Garuḍ the king of birds is the mortal enemy of serpents the weapon sacred to him is of course best calculated to destroy the serpent arrows of Rávaṇ.

  999

  The celebrated saint who has on former occasions assisted Ráma with his gifts and counsel.

  1000

  Indra.

  1001

  Yáma.

  1002

  Kártikeya.

  1003

  Kubera.

  1004

  Varuṇ.

  1005

  The Pitris, forefathers or spirits of the dead, are of two kinds, either the spirits of the father, grandfathers and great-grandfathers of an individual or the progenitors of mankind generally, to both of whom obsequial worship is paid and oblations of food are presented.

  1006

  The Maruts or Storm-Gods.

  1007

  The Heavenly Twins, the Castor and Pollux of the Hindus.

  1008

  The Man par excellence, the representative man and father of the human race regarded also as God.

  1009

  The Vasus, a class of deities originally personifications of natural phenomena.

  1010

  A class of celestial beings who dwell between the earth and the sun.

  1011

  The seven horses are supposed to symbolize the seven days of the week.

  1012

  One for each month in the year.

  1013

  The garden of Kuvera, the God of Riches.

  1014

  The consort of Indra.

  1015

  The Swayamvara, Self-choice or election of a husband by a princess or daughter of a Kshatriya at a public assembly of suitors held for the purpose. For a description of the ceremony see Nala and Damayantí an episode of the Mahábhárat translated by the late Dean Milman, and Idylls from the Sanskrit.

  1016

  The Pitris or Manes, the spirits of the dead.

  1017

  Kuvera, the God of Wealth.

  1018

  Varuṇ, God of the sea.

  1019

  Mahádeva or Śiva whose ensign is a bull.

  1020

  The Address to Ráma, both text and commentary, will be found literally translated in the Additional Notes. A paraphrase of a portion is all that I have attempted here.

  1021

  Rávaṇ’s queen.

  1022

  Or Maináka.

  1023

  Here, in the North-west recension, Sítá expresses a wish that Tárá and the wives of the Vánar chiefs should be invited to accompany her to Ayodhyá. The car decends, and the Vánar matrons are added to the party. The Bengal recension ignores this palpable interruption.

  1024

  The arghya, a respectful offering to Gods and venerable men consisting of rice, dúivá grass, flowers etc., with water.

  1025

  I have abridged Hanumán’s outline of Ráma’s adventures, with the details of which we are already sufficiently acquainted.

  1026

  In these respectful salutations the person who salutes his superior mentions his own name even when it is well known to the person whom he salutes.

  1027

  I have omitted the chieftains’ names as they could not be introduced without padding. They are Mainda, Dwivid, Níla, Rishabh, Susheṇ, Nala, Gaváksha, Gandhamádan, Śarabh, and Panas.

  1028

  The following addition is found in the Bengal recension: But Vaiśravaṇ (Kuvera) when he beheld his chariot said unto it: “Go, and carry Ráma, and come unto me when my thought shall call thee, And the chariot returned unto Ráma;” and he honoured it when he had heard what had passed.

  1029

  Here follows in the original an enumeration of the chief blessings which will attend the man or woman who reads or hears read this tale of Ráma. These blessings are briefly mentioned at the end of the first Canto of the first book, and it appears unnecessary to repeat them here in their amplified form. The Bengal recension (Gorresio’s edition) gives them more concisely as follows: “This is the great first poem blessed and glorious, which gives long life to men and victory to kings, the poem which Válmíki made. He who listens to this wondrous tale of Ráma unwearied in action shall be absolved from all his sins. By listening to the deeds of Ráma he who wishes for sons shall obtain his heart’s desire, and to him who longs for riches shall riches be given. The virgin who asks for a husband shall obtain a husband suited to her mind, and shall meet again her dear kinsfolk who are far away. They who hear this poem which Válmíki made shall obtain all their desires and all their prayers shall be fulfilled.”

  1030

  The Academy, Vol. III., No 43, contains an able and interesting notice of this work from the pen of the Professor of Sanskrit in the University of Cambridge: “The Uttarakáṇḍa,” Mr. Cowell remarks, “bears the same relation to the Rámáyaṇa as the Cyclic poems to the Iliad. Just as the Cypria of Stasinus, the Æthiopis of Arctinus, and the little Iliad of Lesches completed the story of the Iliad, and not only added the series of events which preceded and followed it, but also founded episodes of their own on isolated allusions in Homer, so the Uttarakáṇḍa is intended to complete the Rámáyaṇa, and at the same time to supplement it by intervening episodes to explain casual allusions or isolated incidents which occur in it. Thus the early history of the giant Rávaṇa and his family fills nearly forty Chapters, and we have a full account of his wars with the gods and his conquest of Lanká, which all happened long before the action of the poem commences, just as the Cypria narrated the birth and early history of Helen, and the two expeditions of the Greeks against Troy; and the latter chapters continue the history of the hero Ráma after his triumphant return to his paternal kingdom, and the poem closes with his death and that of his brothers, and the founding by their descendants of various kingdoms in different parts of India.”

  1031

  Muir, Sanskrit Texts, Part IV., pp. 414 ff.

  1032

  Muir, Sanskrit Texts, Part IV., 391, 392.

  1033

  See Academy, III., 43.

  1034

  Academy, Vol. III., No. 43.

  1035

  E. B. Cowell. Academy, No. 43. The story of Sítá’s banishment will be found roughly translated from the Raghuvaṇśa, in the Additional Notes.

  1036

  E. B. Cowell. Academy, Vol, III, No. 43.

  1037

  Muir, Sanskrit Texts, Part IV., Appendix.

  1038

  Ghí: clarified butter. Gur: molasses.

  1039

  Haridwar (Anglicè Hurdwar) where the Ganges enters the plain country.

  1040

  Campbell in “Journ. As. Soc. Bengal,” 1866, Part ii. p. 132; Latham, “Descr. Eth.” Vol. ii. p. 456; Tod, “Annals of Rajasthan,” Vol. i. p. 114.

  1041

  Said by the commentator to be an eastern people between th
e Himálayan and Vindhyan chains.

  1042

  Videha was a district in the province of Behar, the ancient Mithilá or the modern Tirhoot.

  1043

  The people of Malwa.

  1044

  “The Káśikośalas are a central nation in the Váyu Puráṇa. The Rámáyaṇa places them in the east. The combination indicates the country between Benares and Oude.… Kośala is a name variously applied. Its earliest and most celebrated application is to the country on the banks of the Sarayú, the kingdom of Ráma, of which Ayodhyá was the capital.… In the Mahábhárata we have one Kośala in the east and another in the south, besides the Prák-Kośalas and Uttara Kośalas in the east and north. The Puráṇas place the Kośalas amongst the people on the back of Vindhya; and it would appear from the Váyu that Kuśa the son of Ráma transferred his kingdom to a more central position; he ruled over Kośala at his capital of Kúśasthali of Kuśavatí, built upon the Vindhyan precipices.” Wilson’s Vishnṇu Púraṇa, Vol. II. pp. 157, 172.

  1045

  The people of south Behar.

  1046

  The Puṇḍras are said to be the inhabitants of the western provinces of Bengal. “In the Aitareyabráhmaṇa, VII. 18, it is said that the elder sons of Viśvamitra were cursed to become progenitors of most abject races, such as Andhras, Puṇḍras, Śabaras, Pulindas, and Mútibas.” Wilson’s Vishṇu Puráṇa Vol. II. 170.

  1047

  Anga is the country about Bhagulpore, of which Champá was the capital.

  1048

  A fabulous people, “men who use their ears as a covering.” So Sir John Maundevile says: “And in another Yle ben folk that han gret Eres and long, that hangen down to here knees,” and Pliny, lib. iv. c. 13: “In quibus nuda alioquin corpora prægrandes ipsorum aures tota contegunt.” Isidore calls them Panotii.

  1049

  “Those whose ears hang down to their lips.”

  1050

  “The Iron-faces.”

  1051

  “The One-footed.”

  “In that Contree,” says Sir John Maundevile, “ben folk, that han but o foot and thei gon so fast that it is marvaylle: and the foot is so large that it schadeweth alle the Body azen the Sonne, when thei wole lye and rest hem.” So Pliny, Natural History, lib. vii. c. 2: speaks of “Hominumn gens … singulis cruribus, miræ pernicitatis ad saltum; eosdemque Sciopodas vocari, quod in majori æstu, humi jacentes resupini, umbrâ se pedum protegant.”

  These epithets are, as Professor Wilson remarks, “exaggerations of national ugliness, or allusions to peculiar customs, which were not literally intended, although they may have furnished the Mandevilles of ancient and modern times.”

  Vishṇu Puráṇa, Vol. II. p. 162.

  1052

  The Kirrhadæ of Arrian: a general name for savage tribes living in woods and mountains.

  1053

  Said by the commentator to be half tigers half men.

  1054

  The kingdom seems to have corresponded with the greater part of Berar and Khandesh.

  1055

  The Bengal recension has Kishikas, and places them both in the south and the north.

  1056

  The people of Mysore.

  1057

  “There are two Matsyas, one of which, according to the Yantra Samráj, is identifiable with Jeypoor. In the Digvijaya of Nakula he subdues the Matsyas further to the west, or Gujerat.” Wilson’s Vishṇu Puráṇa, Vol. II. 158. Dr. Hall observes: “In the Mahábhárata Sabhá-parwan, 1105 and 1108, notice is taken of the king of Matsya and of the Aparamatsyas; and, at 1082, the Matsyas figure as an eastern people. They are placed among the nations of the south in the Rámáyaṇa Kishkindhá-káṇda, XLI., II, while the Bengal recension, Kishkindhá-káṇḍa, XLIV., 12, locates them in the north.”

  1058

  The Kalingas were the people of the upper part of the Coromandel Coast, well known, in the traditions of the Eastern Archipelago, as Kling. Ptolemy has a city in that part, called Caliga; and Pliny Calingæ proximi mari. Wilson’s Vishṇu Puráṇa, Vol. II. 156, Note.

  1059

  The Kauśikas do not appear to be identifiable.

  1060

  The Andhras probably occupied the modern Telingana.

  1061

  The Puṇḍras have already been mentioned in Canto XL.

  1062

  The inhabitants of the lower part of the Coromandel Coast; so called, after them, Cholamaṇdala.

  1063

  A people in the Deccan.

  1064

  The Keralas were the people of Malabar proper.

  1065

  A generic term for persons speaking any language but Sanskrit and not conforming to the usual Hindu institutions.

  1066

  “Pulinda is applied to any wild or barbarous tribe. Those here named are some of the people of the deserts along the Indus; but Pulindas are met with in many other positions, especially in the mountains and forests across Central India, the haunts of the Bheels and Gonds. So Ptolemy places the Pulindas along the banks of the Narmadá, to the frontiers of Larice, the Látá or Lár of the Hindus, — Khandesh and part of Gujerat.” Wilson’s Vishṇu Puráṇa, Vol. II. 159, Note.

  Dr. Hall observes that “in the Bengal recension of the Rámáyaṇa the Pulindas appear both in the south and in the north. The real Rámáyaṇa K.-k., XLIII., speaks of the northern Pulindas.”

  1067

  The Śúrasenas were the inhabitants of Mathurá, the Suraseni of Arrian.

  1068

  These the Mardi of the Greeks and the two preceding tribes appear to have dwelt in the north-west of Hindustan.

  1069

  The Kámbojas are said to be the people of Arachosia. They are always mentioned with the north-western tribes.

  1070

  “The term Yavanas, although, in later times, applied to the Mohammedans, designated formerly the Greeks.… The Greeks were known throughout Western Asia by the term Yavan, or Ion. That the Macedonian or Bactrian Greeks were most usually intended is not only probable from their position and relations with India, but from their being usually named in concurrence with the north-western tribes, Kámbojas, Daradas, Páradas, Báhlíkas, Śakas &c., in the Rámáyaṇa. Mahábhárata, Puránas, Manu, and in various poems and plays.” Wilson’s Vishṇu Puráṇa Vol. II. p. 181, Note.

  1071

  These people, the Sakai and Sacæ of classical writers, the Indo-Scythians of Ptolemy, extended, about the commencement of our era, along the west of India, from the Hindu Kosh to the mouths of the Indus.

  1072

  The corresponding passage in the Bengal recension has instead of Varadas Daradas the Dards or inhabitants of the modern Dardistan along the course of the Indus, above the Himálayas, just before it descends to India.

  1073

  From the word yonder it would appear that the prayer is to be repeated at the rising of the Sun.

  1074

  The creator of the world and the first of the Hindu triad.

  1075

  He who pervades all beings; or the second of the Hindu triad who preserves the world.

  1076

  The bestower of blessings; the third of the Hindu triad and the destroyer of the world.

  1077

  A name of the War-God; also one who urges the senses to action.

  1078

  The lord of creatures; or the God of sacrifices.

  1079

  A name of the King of Gods; also all-powerful.

  1080

  The giver of wealth. A name of the God of riches.

  1081

  One who directly urges the mental faculties to action.

  1082

  One who moderates the senses, also the God of the regions of the dead.

  1083

  One who produces nectar (amrita) or one who is always possessed of light; or one together with Umá (Ardhanáríśvara).

  1084

  The names or spirits of depar
ted ancestors.

  1085

  Name of a class of eight Gods, also wealthy.

  1086

  They who are to be served by Yogís; or a class of Gods named Sádhyas.

  1087

  The two physicians of the Gods: or they who pervade all beings.

  1088

  They who are immortal; or a class of Gods forty-nine in number.

  1089

  Omniscient; or the first king of the world.

  1090

  He that moves; life; or the God of wind.

  1091

  The God of fire.

  1092

  Lord of creatures.

  1093

  One who prolongs our lives.

  1094

  The material cause of knowledge and of the seasons.

  1095

  One who shines. The giver of light.

  1096

  The hymn entitled the Ádityahridaya begins from this verse and the words, thou art, are understood in the beginning of this verse.

  1097

  One who enjoys all (pleasurable) objects; The son of Aditi, the lord of the solar disk.

  1098

  One who creates the world, i.e., endows beings with life or soul, and by his rays causes rain and thereby produces corn.

  1099

  One who urges the world to action or puts the world in motion, who is omnipresent.

  1100

  One who walks through the sky; or pervades the soul.

  1101

  One who nourishes the world, i.e., is the supporter.

  1102

  One having rays (Gabhasti) or he who is possessed of the all-pervading goddess Lakshmí.

  1103

  One resembling gold.

  1104

  One who is resplendent or who gives light to other objects.

  1105

  One whose seed (Retas) is gold; or quicksilver, the material cause of gold.

  1106

  One who is the cause of day.

  1107

  One whose horses are of tawny colour; or one who pervades the whole space or quarters.

  1108

  One whose knowledge is boundless or who has a thousand rays.