[7] The Sanskrit word Asti meaning “thus it is” is a common introduction to a tale.
[8] The linga or phallus is a favourite emblem of Śiva. Flame is one of his eight tanus or forms.
[9] He was burnt up by the fire of Śiva’s eye.
[10] Compare Kumára Sambhava Sarga V, line 86.
[11] Reading tatsanchayáya as one word. Dr. Brockhaus omits the line. Professor E. B. Cowell would read priyam for priye.
[12] One of Śiva’s favourite attendants.
[13] Attendants of Śiva, presided over by Gaṇeśa.
[14] For the ativiníta of Dr. Brockhaus’s text I read aviníta.
[15] Pramatha, an attendant on Śiva.
[16] Kauśámbí succeeded Hastinápur as the capital of the emperors of India. Its precise site has not been ascertained, but it was probably somewhere in the Doabá, or at any rate not far from the west bank of the Yamuná, as it bordered upon Magadha and was not far from the Vindhya hills. It is said that there are ruins at Karáli or Karári about 14 miles from Allahábád on the western road, which may indicate the site of Kauśámbí. It is possible also that the mounds of rubbish about Karrah may conceal some vestiges of the ancient capital—a circumstance rendered more probable by the inscription found there, which specifies Kaṭa as comprised within Kauśámba maṇḍala or the district of Kauśámbí. [Note in Wilson’s Essays, p. 163.] See note on page [281].