[1] Probably a poor pun.
[2] Cf. Uttara Ráma Charita (Vidyáságara’s edition) Act III, p. 82, the speech of the river-goddess Tamasá. Lenormant in his Chaldæan Magic and Sorcery, p. 41, (English Translation), observes: “We must add to the number of those mysterious rites the use of certain enchanted drinks, which doubtless really contained medicinal drugs, as a cure for diseases, and also of magic knots, the efficacy of which was firmly believed in, even up to the middle ages.” See also Ralston’s Songs of the Russian people, p. 288.
[3] In the story of the Beautiful Palace East of the Sun and North of the Earth, (Thorpe, Yule-tide Stories, p. 158) an old woman sends the youth, who is in quest of the palace, to her old sister, who again refers him to an older sister dwelling in a small ruinous cottage on a mountain. In Signora von Gonzenbach’s Sicilianische Märchen, p. 86, the prince is sent by one “Einsiedler” to his brother, and this brother sends him to an older brother and he again to an older still, who is described as “Steinalt” see also p. 162. Compare also the story of Hasan of El Basra in Lane’s Arabian Nights. Cp. also Kaden’s Unter den Olivenbäumen, p. 56. We have a similar incident in Melusine, p. 447, The story is entitled La Montagne Noire on Les Filles du Diable. See also the Pentamerone of Basile, Tale 49, Ralston’s Russian Folk-Tales, p. 76; Waldau’s Böhmische Märchen, pp. 37 and 255 and ff; and Dasent’s Norse Tales, pp. 31–32, 212–213, and 330–331.
[4] Wild aboriginal tribes not belonging to the Aryan race.
[5] Destiny often elevates the worthless, and hurls down men of worth.
[6] The usual story is that Indra cut off the wings of all except Maináka the son of Himavat by Mená. He took refuge in the sea. Here it is represented that more escaped. So in Bhartrihari Níti Śataka st. 76 (Bombay edition).
[7] For Śaktideva’s imprisonment in the belly of the fish cp. Chapter 74 of this work, Indian Fairy Tales by Miss Stokes, No. XIV, and Lucian’s Vera Historia, Book I. In this tale the fish swallows a ship. The crew discover countries in the monster’s inside, establish a “scientific frontier,” and pursue a policy of Annexation. See also Lane’s Arabian Nights, Vol. III, p. 104.
[8] Cf. Grimm’s Märchen, No. 60, Sicilianische Märchen, Nos. 39 and 40, with Dr. Köhler’s notes.
[9] If such a word can be applied to a place where bodies are burnt.
[10] Samáśvasya, the reading of a MS. in the Sanskrit College, would perhaps give a better sense.