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31
This form of matrimony was recognised 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 Indras court, who are supposed to be witnesses.
32
The Hindu Saturnalia.
33
The powders are of wheaten flour, mixed with wild-ginger root, sappan-wood, and other ingredients. Sometimes the stuff is thrown in syringes.
34
The Persian proverb is Bala e tavilah bar sar i maimun: The woes of the stable be on the monkeys head! In some Moslem countries a hog acts prophylactic. Hence probably Mungo Parks troublesome pig at Ludamar.
35
So the moribund father of the babes in the wood lectures his wicked brother, their guardian:
To God 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!
36
Maha (great) raja (king): common address even to those who are not royal.
37
The name means, Quietistic Disposition.
38
August. In the solar-lunar year of the Hindu the months are divided into fortnights light and dark.
39
A flower, whose name frequently occurs in Sanskrit poetry.
40
The stars being mens souls raised to the sky for a time proportioned to their virtuous deeds on earth.
41
A measure of length, each two miles.
42
The warm region below.
43
Hindus admire only glossy black hair; the bonny brown hair loved by our ballads is assigned by them to low-caste men, witches, and fiends.
44
A large kind of bat; a popular and silly Anglo-Indian name. It almost justified the irate Scotchman in calling prodigious lecars those who told him in India that foxes flew and trees were tapped for toddy.
45
The Hindus, like the European classics 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.
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 gods 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 Hindoo gods 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 mens teeth! and, He is ruined because others could not bear to see his happiness!
47
A pond, natural or artificial; in the latter case often covering an extent of ten to twelve acres.
48
The Hindustani gilahri, or little grey squirrel, whose twittering cry is often mistaken for a birds.
49
The autumn or rather the rainy season personified a hackneyed Hindu prosopopœia.
50
Light conversation upon the subject of women is a personal offence to serious-minded Hindus.
51
Cupid in his two forms, Eros and Anteros.
52
This is true to life; in the East, women make the first advances, and men do the bégueules.
53
Raja-hans, a large grey goose, the Hindu equivalent for our swan.
54
Properly Karnatak; karna in Sanskrit means an ear.
55
Danta in Sanskrit is a tooth.
56
Padma means a foot.
57
A common Hindu phrase equivalent to our I manage to get on.
58
Meaning marriage, maternity, and so forth.
59
Yama is Pluto; mother of Yama is generally applied to an old scold.
60
Snake-land; the infernal region.
61
A form of abuse given to Durga, who was the mother of Ganesha (Janus); the latter had an elephants head.