[147] p. 93. l. 6. —to the five elements returned. A common Indian phrase for death. The ether is the fifth element.
[148] p. 93. l. 15. Kshatriya. The second, or warrior-caste. The kings in India were usually of this caste.
[149] p. 93. l. 25. Raghu. One of the famous ancestors of Dasaratha. The poem of the Raghu Vansa has recently appeared, edited by M. Stenzler.
[150] p. 94. l. 3. My sire, a Brahmin hermit he—my mother was of Sudra race. This seems inconsistent with Menu: "A Brahmin, if he take a Sudra to his bed as his first wife, sinks to the regions of torment; if he begets a child by her, he loses even his priestly rank." iii, 17; also 18, 19.
[151] p. 96. l. 14. The miserable father now. See in Menu, the penalties and expiation for killing a Brahmin undesignedly, xi, 74, 82; compare 90. An assaulter of a Brahman with intent to kill, shall remain in hell a hundred years; for actually striking him with like intent, a thousand; as many small pellets of dust as the blood of a Brahmin collects on the ground, for so many thousand years must the shedder of that blood be tormented in hell. xi. 207, 8.
[152] p. 97. l. 23. I've reached the wished for realms of joy. Among the acts which lead to eternal bliss are these: "Studying and comprehending the Veda—showing reverence to a natural or spiritual father." Menu, xii, 83.
NOTES TO
THE BRAHMIN'S LAMENT.
[153] p. 104. l. 5.—a heaven-winning race may make. Literally: Whom Brahma has placed with me in trust for a future husband, and through whose offspring I may obtain with my progenitors the regions secured by ablutions made by a daughter's sons. Wilson.