Vikram and the Vampire Part 26

[Footnote 126: The writings of this school give an excellent view of the "progressive system," which has popularly been a.s.serted to be a modern idea. But Hindu philosophy seems to have exhausted every fancy that can spring from the brain of man.]

[Footnote 127: Tama is the natural state of matter, Raja is pa.s.sion acting upon nature, and Satwa is excellence These are the three gunas or qualities of matter.]

[Footnote 128: Spiritual preceptors and learned men.]

[Footnote 129: Under certain limitations, gambling is allowed by Hindu law and the winner has power over the person and property of the loser. No "debts of honour" in Hindustan!]

[Footnote 130: Quotations from standard works on Hindu criminal law, which in some points at least is almost as absurd as our civilized codes.]

[Footnote 131: Hindus carry their money tied up in a kind of sheet which is wound round the waist and thrown over the shoulder.]

[Footnote 132: A thieves' manual in the Sanskrit tongue; it aspires to the dignity of a "Scripture."]

[Footnote 133: All sounds, say the Hindus, are of similar origin, and they do not die; if they did, they could not be remembered.]

[Footnote 134: Gold pieces.]

[Footnote 135: These are the qualifications specified by Hindu cla.s.sical authorities as necessary to make a distinguished thief.]

[Footnote 136: Every Hindu is in a manner born to a certain line of life, virtuous or vicious, honest or dishonest and his Dharma, or religious duty, consists in conforming to the practice and the worship of his profession. The "Thug," for instance, worships Bhawani, who enables him to murder successfully; and his remorse would arise from neglecting to murder.]

[Footnote 137: Hindu law sensibly punishes, in theory at least, for the same offence the priest more severely than the layman--a hint for him to practice what he preaches.]

[Footnote 138: The Hindu Mercury, G.o.d of rascals.]

[Footnote 139: A penal offence in India. How is it that we English have omitted to codify it? The laws of Manu also punish severely all disdainful expressions, such as "tush" or "pish," addressed during argument to a priest.]

[Footnote 140: Stanzas, generally speaking, on serious subjects.]

[Footnote 141: Whitlows on the nails show that the sufferer, in the last life, stole gold from a Brahman.]

[Footnote 142: A low caste Hindu, who catches and exhibits snakes and performs other such mean offices.]

[Footnote 143: Meaning, in spite of themselves.]

[Footnote 144: When the moon is in a certain lunar mansion, at the conclusion of the wet season.]

[Footnote 145: In Hindustan, it is the prevailing wind of the hot weather.]

[Footnote 146: Vishnu, as a dwarf, sank down into and secured in the lower regions the Raja Bali, who by his piety and prayerfulness was subverting the reign of the lesser G.o.ds; as Ramachandra he built a bridge between Lanka (Ceylon) and the main land; and as Krishna he defended, by holding up a hill as an umbrella for them, his friends the shepherds and shepherdesses from the thunders of Indra, whose worship they had neglected.]

[Footnote 147: The priestly caste sprang, as has been said, from the n.o.blest part of the Demiurgus; the three others from lower members.]

[Footnote 148: A chew of betel leaf and spices is offered by the master of the house when dismissing a visitor.]

[Footnote 149: Respectable Hindus say that receiving a fee for a daughter is like selling flesh.]

[Footnote 150: A modern custom amongst the low caste is for the bride and bridegroom, in the presence of friends, to place a flower garland on each other's necks, and thus declare themselves man and wife. The old cla.s.sical Gandharva-lagan has been before explained.]

[Footnote 151: Meaning that the sight of each other will cause a smile, and that what one purposes the other will consent to.]

[Footnote 152: This would be the verdict of a Hindu jury.]

[Footnote 153: Because stained with the powder of Mhendi, or the Lawsonia inermis shrub.]

[Footnote 154: Kansa's son: so called because the G.o.d Shiva, when struck by his shafts, destroyed him with a fiery glance.]

[Footnote 155: "Great Brahman"; used contemptuously to priests who officiate for servile men. Brahmans lose their honour by the following things: By becoming servants to the king; by pursuing any secular business; by acting priests to Shudras (serviles); by officiating as priests for a whole village; and by neglecting any part of the three daily services.

Many violate these rules; yet to kill a Brahman is still one of the five great Hindu sins. In the present age of the world, the Brahman may not accept a gift of cows or of gold; of course he despises the law. As regards monkey worship, a certain Rajah of Nadiya is said to have expended 10,000L in marrying two monkeys with all the parade and splendour of the Hindu rite.]

[Footnote 156: The celebrated Gayatri, the Moslem Kalmah.]

[Footnote 157: Kama again.]

[Footnote 158: From "Man," to think; primarily meaning, what makes man think.]

[Footnote 159: The Cirrhadae of cla.s.sical writers.]

[Footnote 160: The Hindu Pluto; also called the Just King.]

[Footnote 161: Yama judges the dead, whose souls go to him in four hours and forty minutes; therefore a corpse cannot be burned till after that time.

His residence is Yamalaya, and it is on the south side of the earth; down South, as we say. (I, Sam. xxv. 1, and x.x.x. 15). The Hebrews, like the Hindus, held the northern parts of the world to be higher than the southern. Hindus often joke a man who is seen walking in that direction, and ask him where he is going.]

[Footnote 162: The "Ganges," in heaven called Mandakini. I have no idea why we still adhere to our venerable corruption of the word.]

[Footnote 163: The fabulous mountain supposed by Hindu geographers to occupy the centre of the universe.]

[Footnote 164: The all-bestowing tree in Indra's Paradise which grants everything asked of it. It is the Tuba of Al-Islam and is not unknown to the Apocryphal New Testament.]

[Footnote 165: "Vikramaditya, Lord of the Saka." This is prevoyance on the part of the Vampire; the king had not acquired the t.i.tle.]

[Footnote 166: On the sixth day after the child's birth, the G.o.d Vidhata writes all its fate upon its forehead. The Moslems have a similar idea, and probably it pa.s.sed to the Hindus.]

[Footnote 167: G.o.ddess of eloquence. "The waters of the Saraswati" is the cla.s.sical Hindu phrase for the mirage.]

[Footnote 168: This story is perhaps the least interesting in the collection. I have translated it literally, in order to give an idea of the original.

The reader will remark in it the source of our own nursery tale about the princess who was so high born and delicately bred, that she could discover the three peas laid beneath a straw mattress and four feather beds. The Hindus, however, believe that Sybaritism can be carried so far; I remember my Pandit a.s.serting the truth of the story.]

[Footnote 169: A minister. The word, as is the case with many in this collection, is quite modern Moslem, and anachronistic.]

[Footnote 170: The cow is called the mother of the G.o.ds, and is declared by Brahma, the first person of the triad, Vishnu and Shiva being the second and the third, to be a proper object of worship. "If a European speak to the Hindu about eating the flesh of cows," says an old missionary, "they immediately raise their hands to their ears; yet milkmen, carmen, and farmers beat the cow as unmercifully as a carrier of coals beats his a.s.s in England." The Jains or Jainas (from ji, to conquer; as subduing the pa.s.sions) are one of the atheistical sects with whom the Brahmans have of old carried on the fiercest religious controversies, ending in many a sanguinary fight. Their tenets are consequently exaggerated and ridiculed, as in the text. They believe that there is no such G.o.d as the common notions on the subject point out, and they hold that the highest act of virtue is to abstain from injuring sentient creatures. Man does not possess an immortal spirit: death is the same to Brahma and to a fly. Therefore there is no heaven or h.e.l.l separate from present pleasure or pain. Hindu Epicureans!--"Epicuri de grege porci."]

[Footnote 171: Narak is one of the mult.i.tudinous places of Hindu punishment, said to adjoin the residence of Ajarna. The less cultivated Jains believe in a region of torment. The illuminati, however, have a sovereign contempt for the Creator, for a future state, and for all religious ceremonies.

As Hindus, however, they believe in future births of mankind, somewhat influenced by present actions. The "next birth" in the mouth of a Hindu, we are told, is the same as "to-morrow" in the mouth of a Christian. The metempsychosis is on an extensive scale: according to some, a person who loses human birth must pa.s.s through eight millions of successive incarnations--fish, insects, worms, birds, and beasts--before he can reappear as a man.]

[Footnote 172: Jogi, or Yogi, properly applies to followers of the Yoga or Patanjala school, who by ascetic practices acquire power over the elements. Vulgarly, it is a general term for mountebank vagrants, worshippers of Shiva. The Janganis adore the same deity, and carry about a Linga. The Sevras are Jain beggars, who regard their chiefs as superior to the G.o.ds of other sects. The Sannyasis are mendicant followers of Shiva; they never touch metals or fire, and, in religious parlance, they take up the staff They are opposed to the Viragis, worshippers of Vishnu, who contend as strongly against the worshippers of G.o.ds who receive b.l.o.o.d.y offerings, as a Christian could do against idolatry.]

[Footnote 173: The Brahman, or priest, is supposed to proceed from the mouth of Brahma, the creating person of the Triad; the Khshatriyas (soldiers) from his arms; the Vaishyas (enterers into business) from his thighs; and the Shudras, "who take refuge in the Brahmans," from his feet. Only high caste men should a.s.sume the thread at the age of p.u.b.erty.]