Vikram and the Vampire Part 24

[Footnote 29: In the original, "Div"--a supernatural being G.o.d, or demon. This part of the plot is variously told. According to some, Raja Vikram was surprised, when entering the city to see a grand procession at the house of a potter and a boy being carried off on an elephant to the violent grief of his parents The King inquired the reason of their sorrow, and was told that the wicked Div that guarded the city was in the habit of eating a citizen per diem. Whereupon the valorous Raja caused the boy to dismount; took his place; entered the palace; and, when presented as food for the demon, displayed his pugilistic powers in a way to excite the monsters admiration.]

[Footnote 30: In India, there is still a monastic order the pleasant duty of whose members is to enjoy themselves as much as possible. It has been much the same in Europe. "Representez-vous le convent de l'Escurial ou du Mont Ca.s.sin, ou les cen.o.bites ont toutes sortes de commodities, necessaires, utiles, delectables, superflues, surabondantes, puisqu'ils ont les cent cinquante mille, les quatre cent mille, les cinq cent mille ecus de rente; et jugez si monsieur l'abbe a de quoi laisser dormir la meridienne a ceux qui voudront."--Saint Augustin, de l'Ouvrage des Moines, by Le Camus, Bishop of Belley, quoted by Voltaire, Dict. Phil., sub v. "Apocalypse."]

[Footnote 31: This form of matrimony was recognized by the ancient Hindus, and is frequent in books. It is a kind of Scotch wedding--ultra-Caledonian--taking place by mutual consent, without any form or ceremony. The Gandharbas are heavenly minstrels of Indra's court, who are supposed to be witnesses.]

[Footnote 32: The Hindu Saturnalia.]

[Footnote 33: The powders are of wheaten flour, mixed with wild ginger-root, sappan-wood, and other ingredients. Sometimes the stuff is thrown in syringes.]

[Footnote 34: The Persian proverb is--"Bala e tavilah bar sat i maimun": "The woes of the stable be on the monkey's head!" In some Moslem countries a hog acts prophylactic. Hence probably Mungo Park's troublesome pig at Ludamar.]

[Footnote 35: So the moribund father of the "babes in the wood" lectures his wicked brother, their guardian: "To G.o.d and you I recommend My children deare this day: But little while, be sure, we have Within this world to stay."

But, to appeal to the moral sense of a goldsmith!]

[Footnote 36: Maha (great) raja (king): common address even to those who are not royal.]

[Footnote 37: The name means. "Quietistic Disposition."]

[Footnote 38: August. In the solar-lunar year of the Hindu the months are divided into fortnights--light and dark.]

[Footnote 39: A flower, whose name frequently occurs in Sanskrit poetry.]

[Footnote 40: The stars being men's souls raised to the sky for a time pro portioned to their virtuous deeds on earth.]

[Footnote 41: A measure of length, each two miles.]

[Footnote 42: The warm region below.]

[Footnote 43: Hindus admire only glossy black hair; the "bonny brown hair"

loved by our ballads is a.s.signed by them to low-caste men, witches, and fiends.]

[Footnote 44: A large kind of bat; a popular and silly Anglo-Indian name. It almost justified the irate Scotchman in calling "prodigious leears"

those who told him in India that foxes flew and tress were tapped for toddy.]

[Footnote 45: The Hindus, like the European cla.s.sics and other ancient peoples, reckon four ages:--The Satya Yug, or Golden Age, numbered 1,728,000 years: the second, or Treta Yug, comprised 1,296,000; the Dwapar Yug had 864,000 and the present, the Kali Yug, has shrunk to 832,000 years.]

[Footnote 46: Especially alluding to prayer. On this point, Southey justly remarks (Preface to Curse of Kehama): "In the religion of the Hindoos there is one remarkable peculiarity. Prayers, penances, and sacrifices are supposed to possess an inherent and actual value, in one degree depending upon the disposition or motive of the person who performs them. They are drafts upon heaven for which the G.o.ds cannot refuse payment. The worst men, bent upon the worst designs, have in this manner obtained power which has made them formidable to the supreme deities themselves." Moreover, the Hindu G.o.ds hear the prayers of those who desire the evil of others. Hence when a rich man becomes poor, his friends say, "See how sharp are men's teeth!" and, "He is ruined because others could not bear to see his happiness!"]

[Footnote 47: A pond, natural or artificial; in the latter case often covering an extent of ten to twelve acres.]

[Footnote 48: The Hindustani "gilahri," or little grey squirrel, whose twittering cry is often mistaken for a bird's.]

[Footnote 49: The autumn or rather the rainy season personified--a hackneyed Hindu prosopopoeia.]

[Footnote 50: Light conversation upon the subject of women is a persona offence to serious-minded Hindus.]

[Footnote 51: Cupid in his two forms, Eros and Anteros.]

[Footnote 52: This is true to life in the East, women make the first advances, and men do the begueules.]

[Footnote 53: Raja-hans, a large grey goose, the Hindu equivalent for our swan.]

[Footnote 54: Properly Karnatak; karna in Sanskrit means an ear.]

[Footnote 55: Danta in Sanskrit is a tooth.]

[Footnote 56: Padma means a foot.]

[Footnote 57: A common Hindu phrase equivalent to our "I manage to get on."]

[Footnote 58: Meaning marriage maternity, and so forth.]

[Footnote 59: Yama is Pluto; 'mother of Yama' is generally applied to an old scold.]

[Footnote 60: Snake-land: the infernal region.]

[Footnote 61: A form of abuse given to Durga, who was the mother of Ganesha (Ja.n.u.s); the latter had an elephant's head.]

[Footnote 62: Unexpected pleasure, according to the Hindus, gives a bristly elevation to the down of the body.]

[Footnote 63: The Hindus banish "flasks," et hoc genus omne, from these scenes, and perhaps they are right.]

[Footnote 64: The Pankha, or large common fan, is a leaf of the Corypha umbraculifera, with the petiole cut to the length of about five feet, pared round the edges and painted to look pretty. It is waved by the servant standing behind a chair.]

[Footnote 65: The fabulous ma.s.s of precious stones forming the sacred mountain of Hindu mythology.]

[Footnote 66: "I love my love with an 'S,' because he is stupid and not pyschological."]

[Footnote 67: Hindu mythology has also its Cerberus, Trisisa, the "three headed"

hound that attends dreadful Yama (Pluto)]

[Footnote 68: Parceque c'est la saison des amours.]

[Footnote 69: The police magistrate, the Catual of Camoens.]

[Footnote 70: The seat of a Hindu ascetic.]

[Footnote 71: The Hindu scriptures.]

[Footnote 72: The G.o.ddess of Prosperity.]

[Footnote 73: In the original the lover is not blamed; this would be the Hindu view of the matter; we might be tempted to think of the old injunction not to seethe a kid in the mother's milk.]

[Footnote 74: In the original a "maina "-the Gracula religiosa.]

[Footnote 75: As we should say, buried them.]

[Footnote 76: A large kind of black bee, common in India.]