[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.