The Katha Sarit Sagara or Ocean of the Streams of Story Part 117

[666] It appears from the India Office MSS. that tav should be inserted after evam.

[667] I have adopted the reading andhakaritam which I find in the three India Office MSS.

[668] I read nihatasya which I find supported by two of the India Office MSS. No. 1882 has nihitasya, No. 2166 nihatasya and No. 3003 has anihatasya. The Sanskrit College MS. has tihatasya.

[669] Perhaps there is a pun here. The word ishta may also mean sacrifice, sacred rite.

[670] I. e., Brihaspati.

[671] The word for G.o.d here is amara, literally immortal. This may remind the cla.s.sical reader of the pa.s.sage in the Birds where Iris says all' athanatos eim', and Peisthetaerus imperturbably replies, all' h.o.m.os an apethanes.

[672] I read dattajhampo which I find in MS. No. 3003. The other two have dattajampo. The Sanskrit College MS. has dattajhampo.

[673] Cp. Ovid's Metamorphoses, V, 321-331, for the flight of the inhabitants of the Grecian heaven from the giant Typhoeus.

[674] All the India Office MSS. read prishtas.

[675] All the India Office MSS. read Vidyuddhvajantako.

[676] MS. No. 1882 here reads chiraprapyas: the other two agree with Brockhaus.

[677] I suspect this island is the same as the Whiteman's land of the Icelandic chronicles. See Baring Gould's Curious Myths of the Middle Ages (New Edition) p. 550 and following.

[678] A t.i.tle of Brahma. See Muir's Sanskrit Texts, Vol. IV, p. 18.

[679] For anyonya I read anyanya, but all the MSS. confirm Brockhaus's text.

[680] The three India Office MSS. have dasa kalpan.

[681] I read cyutam for cyuta. See Taranga 117, sl. 152 and ff. But all the India Office MSS. agree with Brockhaus's text. The tale itself will justify my correction.

[682] The word tejasa also means valour.

[683] Literally "the nectar-rayed one."

[684] Cp. Vol. I, p. 69 and Vol. II, p. 172. also Prym und Socin Syrische Marchen, p. 205, and Silius Italicus I, 430, quoted by Preller, Griechische Mythologie, II, 354.

[685] See the note in Vol. I, p. 465, also p. 578, and Zimmer's Alt-Indisches Leben p. 60, Preller, Romische Mythologie, pp. 102 and 103; the vultures will remind the English reader of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, V, I, 84 and ff.; for the ominous import of lightning see Smith's Dictionary of Antiquities, Art. Bidental; and Preller, Romische Mythologie, p. 172. There is a very similar pa.s.sage in Achilles Tatius, Lib. V. C. 3. Hos oun proelthomen ton thyron, oionos hemin ginetai poneros chelidona kirkos diokon ten Leukippen pata.s.sei to ptero eis ten kephalen. See also Sir Thomas Browne's Vulgar Errors, Book V, Chapter 23, Sec. 1; Webster's d.u.c.h.ess of Malfi, Act II, Sc. II.

How superst.i.tiously we mind our evils!

The throwing down salt, or crossing of a hare, Bleeding at nose, the stumbling of a horse, Or singing of a cricket, are of power To daunt whole man in us.

[686] I read tadanullanghayan with MSS. Nos. 1882 and 2166 and the Sanskrit College MS. No. 3003 has anullanghaya.

[687] I read patyus for pitus with the three India Office MSS. and the Sanskrit College MS.

[688] The India Office MSS. have kasmai datta va; but the sense is much the same.

[689] It appears from the beginning of the chapter that this was the charioteer of Vayu the chief G.o.d of the Wind. In Chapter 115, sl. 57, the wind-G.o.ds are opposed to the Daityas. B. and R. identify these wind-G.o.ds with the Maruts, s.v. Vayu.

[690] Dr. Kern corrects kavachanam to kavacham. The latter word is found in the three India Office MSS. and the Sanskrit College MS.

[691] I read mauktika for maulika. The three India Office MSS. and the Sanskrit College MS have mauktika.

[692] One of the seven h.e.l.ls, (not places of torment).

[693] A t.i.tle of Brahma.

[694] But the three India Office MSS. read ghurnad for purna. It could, I suppose, mean, "reeling with joy." The Sanskrit College MS. has puruva.

[695] The Lokapalas are the guardians of the four cardinal and four intermediate points of the compa.s.s. They appear to be usually reckoned as Indra, guardian of the East, Agni of the South-East, Varuna of the West, Yama of the South, Surya of the South-West, Pavana or Vayu of the North-West, Kuvera of the North, Soma or Chandra of the North-East. Some subst.i.tute Nirriti for Surya and Isani or Prithivi for Soma.

[696] The reed was no doubt used as a brush or pencil. The Sanskrit College MS. reads utkantha-sannapanir aham katham.

[697] The three India Office MSS. read atha srutam, which, I suppose, means, "and I heard something too."

[698] This line in Brockhaus's text is unmetrical. Nos. 1882 and 3003 read kim nu gahyate, No. 2166 has na for nu.

[699] I adopt Dr. Kern's conjecture of yam for ya. It is confirmed by the three India Office MSS. and by the Sanskrit College MS.

[700] This meaning is a.s.signed by Bohtlingk and Roth to the word nervati in this pa.s.sage.

[701] I follow MSS. Nos. 3003 and 2166 which give jano' nuvritto'pi.

[702] Bohtlingk and Roth consider that sakalyaka is the true rending. One MS. certainly has y and I think probably the others.

[703] By the canons of Hindu rhetoric a smile is white. Hence this frigid conceit.

[704] I read na for tu. Two out of the three India Office MSS. and the Sanskrit College MS. give na.

[705] Here MSS. Nos. 3003 and 2166 and the Sanskrit College MS. read aprekshapurvakarina, the nominative case of which word is found in Taranga 64, slokas 20 and 26. No. 1882 has aprekshyapurvakarina.

[706] Two of the India Office MSS. and the Sanskrit College MS. insert kinchit before tapasam.

[707] MS. No. 1882 reads garbhavase kleso; and this seems to give a sense more clearly in accordance with the sequel of the story.

[708] Literally, too careful guarding of his dinaras. Dinara is the Latin denarius.

[709] Of course we must read avilambitam which is found in two out of the three India Office MSS. and in the Sanskrit College MS. No. 1882 has vilambitam.

[710] Viniyate is a misprint for viniyete.

[711] We should probably read asranimnagah with two India Office MSS. No 3003 has asrunimnagah.

[712] The three India Office MSS. give Devasabhasanne, "near Devasabha."

[713] The three India Office MSS., read purasatair, "hundreds of cities?" In any case varais should he varair.