FOOTNOTES
[1] I am told, by a pundit in these matters, that the term is found at least as early as Patanjali (the Mahábháshya;) that is probably, the latter half of the second century B.C.: and hence, it must have originated long before.
[2] In his Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce.
[3] I was sorely tempted to give it the title of Mere Foam: which, if the reader would kindly understand mere in its German, its Russian, its Latin, and its ordinary English sense, would be an exact translation. But it has an unfortunate suggestion (meerschaum) which made it impossible.
[4] Sat. The thesis of Socrates, that virtue is knowledge: probably borrowed, by steps that we cannot trace, through Pythagoras or "Orpheus" from the East.
[5] [ὁναρ ἑλευθεριαϛ ὁρὡνταϛ Plutarch.]
[6] Ganesha.
[7] i.e. the god of love, Kámadewa.
[8] It would have been useless for Brahma to turn away his face, since he has four; one on every side.
[9] Kupanditá, the exact equivalent of our word. Saraswati is the Hindoo Pallas Athene; with this distinction in her favour, that she is as gentle as the Greek lady is the reverse. The flava virago of Ovid becomes in India a lotus white and pure as her own celestial smile.
[10] Because Maheshwara had burned him, on a previous occasion, with fire from his eye.
[11] In these and similar ideas, the Hindoos resembled the ancient Romans: the letter was decisive and irremediable, uti lingua nuncupassit, ita jus esto.
[12] This exordium, which has points of resemblance with that of the insufferable Bána's Harsha-charita, is only the Hindoo method of declaring that the two characters presently to be brought upon the scene are mortal incarnations of love and charm: as we call a man, an Adonis, or a woman, a Venus.
[13] i.e. the disc of the moon, and victory. Pronounce Jaya to rhyme with eye.
[14] i.e. the Himálaya.
[15] i.e. of extraordinary and surpassing beauty. Pronounce Uttirupa.
[16] The Hindoo Aphrodite.
[17] There is here an untranslateable play on bimba, the fruit, (as we say, cherry lip) and pratibimba, a reflection in the water.
[18] All this depends on an elaborate play on the double meaning of Smara, a name for the God of Love, which means memory as well as love.
[19] Yoga. The germ of truth, and it is a large one, in the philosophy of Yoga is the doctrine, which is proved by all experience, that concentration is the secret of mastery.
[20] There is a ludicrous pedantry about the elaborate categories of Hindoo sages: they make grammatical rules even for every department of erotics: as if it were necessary for ladies to learn the grammar of the subject, before they could make love!
[21] Pronounce Chummoo.
[22] The goddess of Fortune and Beauty. She is the very incarnation of the abhisariká, since she comes of her own accord.
[23] Ahiphena, "snake-foam," said by Udoy Chand Dutt in his Materia Medica Indica to be derived from the Arabic afyoon, as it was apparently unknown in India before the Musulman invasion.
[24] An untranslateable play on darí, wood, and sundarí, a beautiful woman.
[25] Alipriyá, "beloved of the bees," a name of the trumpet flower, Bignonia suaveolens. Aranyání, a forest goddess, nymph, or dryad. Pronounce Urrun-nyání.
[26] Ekashrutadhará. This word exhibits the opinion entertained by the Hindoos as to the close connection existing between a powerful intellect and a retentive memory. Such a quality indicates the highest kind of pundit: and it should be recollected that Saraswati is the divinity of wisdom, the pundit par excellence.
[27] Sc. the Himálaya.
[28] The old epics are full of stories of these gatherings, held to enable the daughters of Kings to choose their own husbands. The story of the marriage in Herodotus, about which Hippocleides did not care, is one of the few parallels in the west.
[29] Tawny: reddish brown. Pronounce Bub-bhroo.
[30] Achcha, a corruption of Riksha, just as we say "Bruin" instead of "Bear."
[31] i.e. "little king," Prince of Wales or Dauphin. The story is a piece of old folklore, and one version may be found in Somadewa.
[32] The women's apartments, or gynæceum.
[33] i.e. Brahma, Shiwa, and Wishnu respectively.
[34] By moving round him, keeping him on the right: an established form of adoration.
[35] This curious and very beautiful legend may be found in the Puránas.
[36] The scene of the great battle in the Mahábhárata, where all the heroes killed each other.
[37] It should be remembered by the English reader that "sons of Kings" are more numerous, in India, than in the West. All Rajpoots are sons of Kings: and Aranyání herself a Rajpootni. To marry a King's son would be for her, not merely a desire, but a duty: an affair of caste. All this flavour evaporates in a translation.
[38] The point of these interpretations depends on the number five, which enters into all of them.
[39] There is a play here on wámá, which means the left hand and a beautiful woman.
[40] They appear to have been women, very often, in mediæval or ancient India.
[41] And yet, not so much in India as in Europe. Even now, incarnations of deity might be found all over India.
[42] The point of the flattery lies, of course, in the insinuation that Atirupa was the God of Love.
[43] All these sannyásís, byrágís, gosáwís, were as a rule wandering scoundrels who had, and have, much to do with politics.
[44] As we should say: Père Joseph, or âme-damnée.
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