[1]. The picture drawn by Valmiki of the capital of the Solar race is so highly coloured that Ayodhya might stand for Utopia, and it would be difficult to find such a catalogue of metropolitan embellishments in this, the iron age of Oudh. "On the banks of the Surayu is a large country called Kosala, in which is Ayodhya, built by Manu, twelve yojans (forty-eight miles) in extent, with streets regular and well watered. It was filled with merchants, beautified by gardens, ornamented with stately gates and high-arched porticoes, furnished with arms, crowded with chariots, elephants, and horses, and with ambassadors from foreign lands; embellished with palaces whose domes resembled the mountain tops, dwellings of equal height, resounding with the delightful music of the tabor, the flute, and the harp. It was surrounded by an impassable moat, and guarded by archers. Dasaratha was its king, a mighty charioteer. There were no atheists. The affections of the men were in their consorts. The women were chaste and obedient to their lords, endowed with beauty, wit, sweetness, prudence, and industry, with bright ornaments and fair apparel; the men devoted to truth and hospitality, regardful of their superiors, their ancestors, and their gods.
“There were eight councillors; two chosen priests profound in the law, besides another inferior council of six. Of subdued appetites, disinterested, forbearing, pleasant, patient; not avaricious; well acquainted with their duties and popular customs; attentive to the army, the treasury; impartially awarding punishment even on their own sons; never oppressing even an enemy; not arrogant; comely in dress; never confident about doubtful matters; devoted to the sovereign.”
[2]. Mithila, the modern Tirhut in Bengal [including the modern districts of Darbhanga, Champāran, and Muzaffarpur].
[3]. Kusadhwaja, father of Sita (spouse of Rama), is also called Janaka; a name common in this line, and borne by the third prince in succession after Suvarna Roma, the ‘golden-haired’ chief Mithila.
[4]. [Rohtās in the modern Shāhābād district; Champapura in Bhāgalpur.]
[5]. Familiarly designated as Sahasra Bahu ki Basti, or ‘the town of the thousand-armed.’ [In Indore State (IGI, xvii. 8).]
[6]. The Haihaya race, of the line of Budha, may claim affinity with the Chinese race which first gave monarchs to China [?].
[7]. Of this I have heard the most romantic proofs in very recent times.
[8]. Puru became the patronymic of this branch of the Lunar race. Of this Alexander’s historians made Porus. The Suraseni of Methoras (descendants of the Sursen of Mathura) were all Purus, the Prasioi of Megasthenes [see p. 37, n.]. Allahabad yet retains its Hindu name of Prayag, pronounced Prag.