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to a cow “That is berobbed of her youngling dere.” Shakspeare also makes King Henry VI compare himself to the calf's mother that “Runs lowing up and down, Looking the way her harmless young one went.” “Cows,” says De Quincey, “are amongst the gentlest of breathing creatures; none show more passionate tenderness to their young, when deprived of them, and, in short, I am not ashamed to profess a deep love for these gentle creatures.” 288. The commentators say that, in a former creation, Ocean grieved his mother and suffered in consequence the pains of hell. 289. As described in Book I Canto XL. 290. Parasúráma. 291. The Sanskrit word hasta signifies both hand, and the trunk of “The beast that bears between his eyes a serpent for a head.” 292. See P. 41. 293. The first progeny of Brahmá or Brahmá himself. 294. These are three names of the Sun. 295. See P. 1. 296. The saints who form the constellation of Ursa Major. 297. The regent of the planet Venus. 298. Kuvera. 299. Bali, or the presentation of food to all created beings, is one of the five great sacraments of the Hindu religion: it consists in throwing a small parcel of the offering, Ghee, or rice, or the like, into the open air at the back of the house. 300. In mythology, a demon slain by Indra. 301. Called also Garuḍ, the King of the birds, offspring of Vinatá. See p. 53. 302. See P. 56. 303. See P. 43. 304. The story of Sávitrí, told in the Mahábhárat, has been admirably translated by Rückert, and elegantly epitomized by Mrs. Manning in India, Ancient and Mediæval. There is a free rendering of the story in Idylls from the Sanskrit. 305. Fire for sacrificial purposes is produced by the attrition of two pieces of wood. 306. Kaikeyí. 307. The chapel where the sacred fire used in worship is kept. 308. The students and teachers of the Taittiríya portion of the Yajur Veda. 309. Two of the divine personages called Prajápatis and Brahmádikas who were first created by Brahmá. 310.

It was the custom of the kings of the solar dynasty to resign in their extreme old age the kingdom to the heir, and spend the remainder of their days in holy meditation in the forest:

“For such through ages in their life's decline

Is the good custom of Ikshváku's line.”

Raghuraṅśa.

311.

See Book I, Canto XXXIX. An Indian prince in more modern times appears to have diverted himself in a similar way.

It is still reported in Belgaum that Appay Deasy was wont to amuse himself “by making several young and beautiful women stand side by side on a narrow balcony, without a parapet, overhanging the deep reservoir at the new palace in Nipani. He used then to pass along the line of trembling creatures, and suddenly thrusting one of them headlong into the water below, he used to watch her drowning, and derive pleasure from her dying agonies.”—History of the Belgaum District. By H. J. Stokes, M. S. C.

312. Chitraratha, King of the celestial choristers. 313. It is said that the bamboo dies after flowering. 314. “Thirty centuries have passed since he began this memorable journey. Every step of it is known and is annually traversed by thousands: hero worship is not extinct. What can Faith do! How strong are the ties of religion when entwined with the legends of a country! How many a cart creeps creaking and weary along the road from Ayodhyá to Chitrakúṭ. It is this that gives the Rámáyan a strange interest, the story still lives.” Calcutta Review: Vol. XXIII. 315. See p. 72. 316. Four stars of the sixteenth lunar asterism. 317. In the marriage service. 318. The husks and chaff of the rice offered to the Gods. 319. An important sacrifice at which seventeen victims were immolated. 320. The great pilgrimage to the Himálayas, in order to die there. 321. Known to Europeans as the Goomtee. 322. A tree, commonly called Ingua. 323. Sacrificial posts to which the victims were tied. 324. Daughter of Jahnu, a name of the Ganges. See p. 55.

325. The Mainá or Gracula religiosa, a favourite cage-bird, easily taught to talk. 326. The Jumna. 327. The Hindu name of Allahabad. 328. The Langúr is a large monkey. 329. A mountain said to lie to the east of Meru. 330. Another name of the Jumna, daughter of the Sun. 331. “We have often looked on that green hill: it is the holiest spot of that sect of the Hindu faith who devote themselves to this incarnation of Vishṇu. The whole neighbourhood is Ráma's country. Every headland has some legend, every cavern is connected with his name; some of the wild fruits are still called Sítáphal, being the reputed food of the exile. Thousands and thousands annually visit the spot, and round the hill is a raised foot-path, on which the devotee, with naked feet, treads full of pious awe.” Calcutta Review, Vol. XXIII. 332. Deities of a particular class in which five or ten are enumerated. They are worshipped particularly at the funeral obsequies in honour of deceased progenitors. 333.

“So in Homer the horses of Achilles lamented with many bitter tears the death of Patroclus slain by Hector:”

“Ἵπποι δ' Αἰακίδαο, μάχης ἀπάνευθεν ἐότες,

Κλᾶιον, ἐπειδὴ πρῶτα πυθέσθην ἡνιόχοιο

Ἐν κονίνσι πεσόντος ὑφ' Ἕκτορος ἀνδροφόνοιο”

Iliad. XVII. 426.

“Ancient poesy frequently associated nature with the joys and sorrows of man.” Gorresio.

334. The lines containing this heap of forced metaphors are marked as spurious by Schlegel. 335. The southern region is the abode of Yama the Indian Pluto, and of departed spirits. 336. The five elements of which the body consists, and to which it returns. 337.

So dying York cries over the body of Suffolk:

“Tarry, dear cousin Suffolk!

My soul shall thine keep company to heaven:

Tarry, sweet soul, for mine, then fly abreast.”

King Henry V, Act IV, 6.

338. Kauśalyá, daughter of the king of another Kośal. 339. Rájagriha, or Girivraja was the capital of Aśvapati, Bharat's maternal grandfather. 340. The Kekayas or Kaikayas in the Punjab appear amongst the chief nations in the war of the Mahábhárata; their king being a kinsman of Krishṇa. 341. Hástinapura was the capital of the kingdom of Kuru, near the modern Delhi. 342. The Panchálas occupied the upper part of the Doab. 343. “Kurujángala and its inhabitants are frequently mentioned in the Mahábhárata, as in the Ádi-parv. 3789, 4337, et al.” Wilson's Vishṇu Puráṇa, Vol. II. p. 176. Dr. Hall's Note. 344. “The Ὁξύματις of Arrian. See As. Res. Vol. XV. p. 420, 421, also Indische Alterthumskunde, Vol. I. p. 602, first footnote.” Wilson's Vishṇu Puráṇa, Vol. I. p. 421. Dr. Hall's Edition. The Ikshumatí was a river in Kurukshetra. 345. “The Báhíkas are described in the Mahábhárata, Karṇa Parvan, with some detail, and comprehend the different nations of the Punjab from the Sutlej to the Indus.” Wilson's Vishṇu Puráṇa, Vol. I. p. 167. 346. The Beas, Hyphasis, or Bibasis. 347.

It would be lost labour to attempt to verify all the towns and streams mentioned in Cantos LXVIII and LXXII. Professor Wilson observes (Vishṇu Puráṇa, p. 139. Dr. Hall's Edition) “States, and tribes, and cities have disappeared, even from recollection; and some of the natural features of the country, especially the rivers, have undergone a total alteration.… Notwithstanding these impediments, however, we should be able to identify at least mountains and rivers, to a much greater extent than is now practicable, if our maps were not so miserably defective in their nomenclature. None of our surveyors or geographers have been oriental scholars. It may be doubted if any of them have been conversant with the spoken language of the country. They have, consequently, put down names at random, according to their own inaccurate appreciation of sounds carelessly, vulgarly, and corruptly uttered; and their maps of India are crowded with appellations which bear no similitude whatever either to past or present denominations. We need not wonder that we cannot discover Sanskrit names in English maps, when, in the immediate vicinity of Calcutta, Barnagore represents Baráhanagar, Dakshineśwar is metamorphosed into Duckinsore, Ulubaría into Willoughbury.… There is scarcely a name in our Indian maps that does not afford proof of extreme indifference to accuracy in nomenclature, and of an incorrectness in estimating sounds, which is, in some degree, perhaps, a national defect.”

For further information regarding the road from Ayodhyá to Rájagriha, see Additional Notes.

348. “The Śatadrú, ‘the hundred-channeled’—the Zaradrus of Ptolemy, Hesydrus of Pliny—is the Sutlej.” Wilson's Vishṇu Puráṇa, Vol. II. p. 130. 349. The Sarasvatí or Sursooty is a tributary of the Caggar or Guggur

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