[76]. Kanhaiya ka kantha bāndhna, ‘to bind on [the neck] the chaplet of Kanhaiya,’ is the initiatory step.
[77]. I had one day thrown my net into this lake, which abounded with a variety of fish, when my pastime was interrupted by a message from the regent, Zalim Singh: “Tell Captain Tod that Kotah and all around it are at his disposal; but these fish belong to Kanhaiya.” I, of course, immediately desisted, and the fish were returned to the safeguard of the deity. [The killing of fish at certain lakes and streams is forbidden on account of their harmlessness (ahimsā), and thus naturally associated with the cult of a gentle deity like Krishna, and because they are believed to contain the spirits of the dead (Stein, Rājatarangini, i. 185; Crooke, Things Indian, 221 ff.).]
[78]. A Nishan, or standard, is synonymous with a company.
[79]. Sheopur or Sivapur, the city of Sheo or Siva, the god of war, whose battle-shout is Har; and hence one of Vishnu’s epithets, as Hari is that of Krishna or Kanhaiya.
[80]. Radha was the name of the chief of the Gopis or nymphs of Vraj, and the beloved of Kanhaiya.
[81]. In October 1807 I rambled through all these countries, then scarcely known by name to us. At that time Sheopur was independent, and its prince treated me with the greatest hospitality. In 1809 I witnessed its fall, when following with the embassy in the train of the Mahratta leader. [It is now included in the Gwalior State (IGI, xxii. 271 f.).]