37. This poem is from the Hervarer Saga, an ancient Icelandic history. See Edda, vol. ii. p. 192.
38. The Vulcan of the Hindus.
39. For an account of the initiation to arms of Bappa, the founder of the Guhilots, see p. 264 [Vol. I.].
41. The Mori prince, from whom Bappa took Chitor, was of the Tak or Takshak race [?], of whom Nagnaicha or Nagini Mata was the mother, represented as half woman and half serpent; the sister of the mother of the Scythic race, according to their legends; so that the deeper we dive into these traditions, the stronger reason we shall find to assign a Scythic origin to all these tribes. As Bappa, the founder of the Guhilots, retired into Scythia and left his heirs to rule in India, I shall find fault with no antiquary who will throw overboard all the connexion between Kanaksen, the founder of the Valabhi empire, and Sumitra, the last of Rama’s line. Many rites of the Rama’s house are decidedly Scythic.
42. [Lovely maidens.]
44. [“The kernel of the Rāmāyana was composed before 500 B.C., while the more recent portions was probably not added till the second century B.C., and later” (Macdonell, Hist. Sanskrit Literature, 309).]
45. One of the names of the divinity of war, whose images are covered with vermilion in imitation of blood. (Qy. the German roodur, ‘red’)[596]. [Rudra, ‘the roarer,’ originally “god of storms.”]
46. The Pleiades.
47. The festival of the birth of this son of Ganga, or Jahnavi, is on the 10th of Jeth. Sir W. Jones gives the following couplet from the Sancha: “On the 10th of Jyaishtha, on the bright half of the month, on the day of Mangala,[A] son of the earth, when the moon was in Hasta, this daughter of Jahnu brought from the rocks, and ploughed over the land inhabited by mortals.”
A. Mangala is one of the names (and perhaps one of the oldest) of the Hindu Mars (Kumara), to whom the Wodens-dag of the Northmen, the Mardi of the French, the Dies Martis of the Romans, are alike sacred. Mangala also means ‘happy,’ the reverse of the origin of Mongol, said to mean ‘sad’ [‘brave’]. The juxtaposition of the Rajput and Scandinavian days of the week will show that they have the same origin:
| Rajput | Scandinavian and Saxon. |
| Suryavar | Sun-day. |
| Som, or Induvar | Moon-day. |
| Budhvar | Tuis-day. |
| Mangalvar | Wodens-day. |
| Brihaspativar[a] | Thors-day. |
| Sukravar[b] | Frey-day. |
| Sani, or } -var | Satur-day[c] |
| Sanichara } |
(a) Brihaspati, ‘he who rides on the bull’; the steed of the Rajput god of war [probably ‘lord of prayer,’ or ‘of increase,’ confounded in the original note with Vrishapati, ‘Lord of the bull,’ a title of Siva.]]
(b) Sukra is a Cyclop, regent of the planet Venus.]
(c) [See Max Müller, Selected Essays, 1881, ii. 460 ff.]]
48. [Kumāra probably means ‘easily dying.’]
49. It will be recollected that the moon with the Rajputs as with the Scandinavians is a male divinity. The Tatars, who also consider him a male divinity, pay him especial adoration in this autumnal month.
50. [Apsaras means ‘going in the waters, or in the waters of the clouds.’]
51. [The owl is a bird of ill omen, and does not seem to be associated with Lakshmi except in Bengal.]
52. The Hindu god of riches.
53. Yamala is the great god of the Finlanders (Clarke).
54. From go, ‘a cow’ [dhūli, ‘the dust raised by them as they return to the stall’].F
55. See anecdote in Chap. 21, which elucidates this practice of princes becoming herdsmen.
56. Matsya Purana. [Vishnu is generally said to wake on the Deothān, 11th light half of Kārttik.]
57. [Makara, a kind of shark or sea-monster, marks the 10th sign of the Zodiac, Capricorn.]
58. Iswara, Isa, or as pronounced, Is.
59. [Monier-Williams in his Sanskrit Dict. records no such form as phalīsa. φαλλός = Lat. palus, English pole, pale. The Author follows Wilford (Asiatic Researches, iii. 135 f.).]
60. ‘The land of the sun’ (aditya). [This is impossible. The true derivation is unknown; to the Greeks the word meant ‘swarthy-faced.’]
61. Ferishta calls the Indus the Nilab, or ‘blue waters’; it is also called Abusin, the ‘father of streams.’
62. According to Diodorus Siculus. [Rudra-Siva has a benign side to his character, and may be associated with the Sun (R. G. Bhandarkar, Vaisnavism, Saivism and Minor Religious Systems, 105). But the Author, in his constant references to “Bāl”-Siva, has pressed this conception to an excessive length.]
63. The vulture and crane, which soar high in the heavens, are also called garuda, and vulgarly gidh. The ibis is of the crane or heron kind.
64. Phaeton was the son of Cephalus and Aurora. The former answers to the Hindu bird-headed messenger of the sun. Aruna is the Aurora of the Greeks, who with more taste have given the dawn a female character.
65. Also called Dolayatra.
66. Bhagavat and Matsya Puranas. See Sir W. Jones on the lunar year of the Hindus, Asiatic Researches, vol. iii. p. 286.
67. [Mr. F. Ll. Griffith tells me that this comes from a French translation of Plutarch, De Iside et Osiride, cap. xii. (birth of Osiris on the first of the epagomenal days). This entry of Osiris into the moon seems to mean his conception rather than his birth. Φαμενώθ is the name of the seventh month, about 25th February.]
68. Arka, ‘the sun,’ in Sanskrit. [This is due to Wilford (Asiatic Researches, iii. 134) and is, of course, impossible.]
69. Pha-ra is but a title, ‘the king.’ [Egyptian Pro, ‘the great house.’]
70. Des divinités génératives: ou du culte du Phallus chez les anciens et les modernes (Paris).
71. Of the former race the Ranas of Mewar, of the latter the princes of Narwar and Amber, are the representatives.
72. Aethiopia, ‘the country of the sun’; from Ait, contraction of Aditya. Aegypt may have the same etymology, Aitia [see p. 699 above].
73. [The Author may refer to Pārsvanātha, 23rd Jain Tīrthakara, whose symbol was his serpent; but his mother was Vāmadevi. Trisala was mother of the 24th Tīrthakara, Mahāvira or Vardhamāna, but his cognizance was a lion.]
74. It is absurd to talk of these being modern; decipher the characters thereon, and then pronounce their antiquity. [Ellora, 5th to 9th or 10th centuries A.D.; Elephanta, 8th to 10th (IGI, xii. 22, 4).]
75. Vulg. Sharifa.
76. Rama subjected her to the fiery ordeal, to discover whether her virtue had suffered while thus forcibly separated.
77. Vulg. Nariyal.
78. Palmyra is Sanskrit corrupted, and affords the etymology of Solomon’s city of the desert, Tadmor. The ﺙﺙ p, by the retrenchment of a single diacritical point, becomes ت t; and the ل (l) and د (d) being permutable, Pal becomes Tad, or Tal—the Palmyra, which is the Mor, or chief of trees; hence Tadmor, from its date-trees [?].
79. The Jayaphala, ‘the fruit of victory,’ is the nutmeg; or, as a native of Java, Javuphala, ‘fruit of Java,’ is most probably derived from Jayadiva, ‘the victorious isle.’ [The nutmeg is Jātiphala: Java is yavadwīpa, ‘island of barley.’]
80. The Kamari of the Saura tribes, or sun-worshippers of Saurashtra, claims descent from the bird-god of Vishnu (who aided Rama[A] to the discovery of Sita), and the Makara[B] or crocodile, and date the monstrous conception from that event, and their original abode from Sankodra Bet, or island of Sankodra. Whether to the Dioscorides at the entrance of the Arabian Gulf this name was given, evidently corrupted from Sankhadwara to Socotra, we shall not stop to inquire. Like the isle in the entrance of the Gulf of Cutch, it is the dwara or portal to the Sinus Arabicus, and the pearl-shell (sankha) there abounds. This tribe deduce their origin from Rama’s expedition, and allege that their Icthyiopic mother landed them where they still reside. Wild as is this fable, it adds support to this hypothesis. [The Sanskrit name of Bet Island (“Bate” in the text) is Sankhuddhāra, from the conch fishery. Socotra is Dwīpa Sukhadāra, ‘island of pleasure’ (not Sakhādāra, as in EB, xxv. 355) (Yule, Marco Polo, 1st ed. ii. 342).]
A. Rama and Vishnu interchange characters.
B. It is curious that the designation of the tribe Kamar is a transposition of Makar, for the final letter of each is mute.
81. See Lempriere, arts. Phagesia and Phallica. “L’Abbé Mignot pense que le Phallus est originaire de l’Assyrie et de la Chaldée, et que c’est de ce pays que l’usage de consacrer ce symbole de la génération a passé en Égypte. Il croit, d’après le savant Le Clerc, que le nom de ce symbole est phénicien: qu’il dérive de Phalou qui, dans cette langue, signifie une chose secrète et cachée, et du verbe phala, qui veut dire être tenu secret.”[A]
A. Des divinités génératives.
82. Anna, ‘food,’ and asa or isa, ‘the god.’ [Ananas comes from Brazilian Nana or Nanas (Yule, Hobson-Jobson, 2nd ed. 25).]
83. [It is unnecessary to discuss these theories, which are based on incorrect assumptions and obsolete etymologies.]
84. The Hindus divide the month into two portions called pakh or fortnights. The first is termed badi, reckoning from the 1st to the 15th, which day of partition is called amavas, answering to the Ides of the Romans, and held by the Hindus as it was by the Jews in great sanctity. The last division is termed sudi, and they recommence with the initial numeral, thence to the 30th or completion, called punim; thus instead of the 16th, 17th, etc., of the month, they say Sudi ekam (1st), Sudi duj (3rd).
85. Sogdiana and Transoxiana.
86. Hence the word Saka [?].
87. See Genealogical Table No. 2 for these names. The sons of the three Midas, pronounced Mede, founded kingdoms at the precise point of time, according to calculation from the number of kings, that Assyria was founded.
88. The former were more pastoral, and hence the origin of their name, corrupted to Keltoi. The Getae or Jats pursued the hunter’s occupation, living more by the chase, though these occupations are generally conjoined in the early stages of civilization.
89. Rubruquis and other travellers.
90. Colonel Mackenzie’s invaluable and gigantic collection.
91. Isis and Osiris, Serapis and Canopus, Apis and Ibis, adopted by the Romans, whose temples and images, yet preserved, will allow full scope to the Hindu antiquary for analysis of both systems. The temple of Serapis at Pozzuoli is quite Hindu in its ground plan.
92. In the reign of Theodosius.
93. Du Culte, etc., etc., p. 47.
“The manners of a people,” says the celebrated Goguet, “always bear a proportion to the progress they have made in the arts and sciences.” If by this test we trace the analogy between past and existing manners amongst the Rajputs, we must conclude at once that they have undergone a decided deterioration. Where can we look for sages like those whose systems of philosophy were the [609] prototypes of those of Greece: to whose works Plato, Thales, and Pythagoras were disciples? Where shall we find the astronomers, whose knowledge of the planetary system yet excites wonder in Europe, as well as the architects and sculptors, whose works claim our admiration, and the musicians, “who could make the mind oscillate from joy to sorrow, from tears to smiles, with the change of modes and varied intonation.”[2] The manners of those days must have corresponded with this advanced stage of refinement, as they must have suffered from its decline: yet the homage paid by Asiatics to precedent has preserved many relics of ancient customs, which have survived the causes that produced them.
A RAJPOOTNI,
Returned from Batlang in the Jumna.
DARAB KHAN, MEWATTI.
BUDDUN SING, RAHTORE.
SUDRAM GOSAEN.
PORTRAITS OF A RĀJPUTNI, A RĀJPUT, A MEWĀTI AND GUSĀĪN. To face page 708.
It is scarcely fair to quote Manu as an authority for the proper treatment of the fair sex, since many of his dicta by no means tend to elevate their condition. In his lengthened catalogue of things pure and impure he says, however, “The mouth of a woman is constantly pure,”[6] and he ranks it with the running waters and the sunbeam; he suggests that their names should be “agreeable, soft, clear, captivating the fancy, auspicious, ending in long vowels, resembling words of benediction.”[7]
“Where females are honoured” (says Manu), “there the deities are pleased; but where dishonoured, there all religious rites become useless”: and he declares, “that in whatever house a woman not duly honoured pronounces an imprecation, that house, with all that belongs to it, shall utterly perish.”[8] “Strike not, even with a blossom, a wife guilty of a hundred faults,”[9] says another sage: a sentiment so delicate, that Reginald de Born, the prince of troubadours, never uttered any more refined.
However exalted the respect of the Rajput for the fair, he nevertheless holds that
Could authority deemed divine ensure obedience to what is considered a virtue in all ages and countries, the conjugal duties of the Rajputs are comprehended in the following simple text: “Let mutual fidelity continue to death; this, in few words, may be considered as the supreme law between husband and wife.”[11]
The publication of Mr. Wilson’s specimens of the Hindu drama has put the English public in possession of very striking features of ancient Hindu manners, amongst which conjugal fidelity and affection stand eminently conspicuous. The Uttara Rama Charitra, the Vikrama and Urvasi, and the Mudra Rakshasa, contain many instances in point. In the latter piece occurs an example, in comparatively humble life, of the strong affection of a Hindu wife. Chandana Das, like Antonio in the Merchant of Venice, is doomed to die, to save his friend. His wife follows him to the scene of execution, with their only child, and the succeeding dialogue ensues:
The last Hindu emperor of Delhi, the chivalrous Prithiraj of the Chauhan race, had abducted the daughter of the prince of Sameta. Some of the wounded who had covered his retreat were assailed and put to death by Parmal, the Chandel prince of Mahoba.[12] In order to avenge this insult, the emperor had no sooner conveyed his bride to Delhi than he invaded the territory of the Chandel, whose troops were cut to pieces at Sirswa,[13] the advanced post of his kingdom. While [615] pursuing his success, the Chandel called a council, and by the advice of his queen Malandevi demanded a truce of his adversary, on the plea of the absence of his chieftains Alha and Udala. The brother of the bard of Mahoba was the envoy, who found the Chauhan ready to cross the Pahuj. He presented his gifts, and adjured him, “as a true Rajput, not to take them at such disadvantage.” The gifts were accepted, and the Chauhan pledged himself, “albeit his warriors were eager for the fight,” to grant the truce demanded; and having dismissed the herald, he inquired of his own bard, the prophetic Chand, the cause of the disaffection which led to the banishment of the Bannaphar; to which he thus replies: “Jasraj was the leader of the armies of Mahoba when his sovereign was defeated and put to flight by the wild race of Gonds; Jasraj repulsed the foe, captured Garha their capital, and laid his head at his sovereign’s feet. Parmal returning with victory to Mahoba, in gratitude for his service, embraced the sons of Jasraj, and placed them in his honours and lands, while Malandevi the queen made no distinction between them and her son.” The fief of the young Bannaphar[14] chieftains was at the celebrated fortress Kalanjar, where their sovereign happening to see a fine mare belonging to Alha, desired to possess her, and being refused, so far forgot past services as to compel them to abandon the country. On retiring they fired the estates of the Parihara chief who had instigated their disgrace. With their mother and families they repaired to Kanauj, whose monarch received them with open arms, assigning lands for their maintenance. Having thus premised the cause of banishment, Chand conducts us to Kanauj, at the moment when Jagnakh the bard was addressing the exiles on the dangers of Mahoba.