[35]. I have already mentioned these fires (see p. [89]), which the northern nations believed to issue from the tombs of their heroes, and which seemed to guard their ashes; them they called Hauga Elldr, or ‘the sepulchral fires,’ and they were supposed more especially to surround tombs which contained hidden treasures. These supernatural fires are termed Shihaba by the Rajputs. When the intrepid Scandinavian maiden observes that she is not afraid of the flame burning her, she is bolder than one of the boldest Rajputs, for Sri-kishan, who was shocked at the bare idea of going near these sepulchral lights, was one of the three non-commissioned officers who afterwards led thirty-two firelocks to the attack and defeat of 1500 Pindaris.
[36]. Like the Rajput Khanda, Tyrfing was double-edged; the poison of these edges is a truly Oriental idea.
[37]. This poem is from the Hervarer Saga, an ancient Icelandic history. See Edda, vol. ii. p. 192.
[38]. The Vulcan of the Hindus.
[39]. For an account of the initiation to arms of Bappa, the founder of the Guhilots, see p. [264] [Vol. I.].
[41]. The Mori prince, from whom Bappa took Chitor, was of the Tak or Takshak race [?], of whom Nagnaicha or Nagini Mata was the mother, represented as half woman and half serpent; the sister of the mother of the Scythic race, according to their legends; so that the deeper we dive into these traditions, the stronger reason we shall find to assign a Scythic origin to all these tribes. As Bappa, the founder of the Guhilots, retired into Scythia and left his heirs to rule in India, I shall find fault with no antiquary who will throw overboard all the connexion between Kanaksen, the founder of the Valabhi empire, and Sumitra, the last of Rama’s line. Many rites of the Rama’s house are decidedly Scythic.
[42]. [Lovely maidens.]
[44]. [“The kernel of the Rāmāyana was composed before 500 B.C., while the more recent portions was probably not added till the second century B.C., and later” (Macdonell, Hist. Sanskrit Literature, 309).]