[18] When I speak of the low castes, I hope the reader will not feel sensitive, for I know the very classes of men who are high in Christian countries are low in India. A great many men engaged in shoemaking business move about as the “upper ten,” and are high caste in this country, while among the Hindoos such persons, notwithstanding their opulence (which begets high caste here), are lowest indeed.
[19] There are a great many anecdotes of deeds of valor and of generosity attributed to this king. He is said to have destroyed the Khitrias three hundred times. I should think it was the same Por-oosh who had fought with the Macedonian hero on the frontier of India.
[20] Hoylas, the paradise of Shiba, is said to be a golden mountain, similar to the Olympus of the Grecian deities. There is a mountain of the above name in Thibet.
[21] The rice is made in a peculiar way, and called “authup.” The usual way of bringing out rice from the husk is, first to boil, then dry and thrash it. But this is not boiled at all, only dried and thrashed. Hence the particular care taken in preparing this kind of rice increases its price to some degree.
[22] The term worshipper, in the Hindoo sense, denotes the man who spends the money, brings the image, and entertains the people at his house, no matter whether he himself officiates and offers prayers or not.
[23] Oshoor means monster, or opposite to Shoor-god. The men of cruel characters, feared for their wicked deeds, are called Oshoor by the Hindoos.
[24] This and kindred incidents show the ancient Hindoos did not hold caste as favorable, nor regard it as objectionable in affairs of marriage, as they of the present age do. Now, as we have observed in the first part of the volume, wealth, learning, personal accomplishments, bow down to caste. A second-caste man cannot, on any account whatever, marry his children to those of the first, or to Brahmuns. But in the present case we see the young princess offers her hand to an unrivalled intellect, not caring as to the quarter or caste in which it might be found. There are several instances of this kind, of fathers offering their daughters to a suitable man. Thus Jŏnuk, the father of the goddess Shita, sent a proclamation to the world that “Whoever shall be able to break an arrow in two, shall have Shita for his recompense.” (This fatal arrow belonged to Shiba, the Destroyer, and was left in the palace of Jŏnuk.) In the legend we read of King Droupad offering his daughter to any who would pierce the eyes of a gold-fish which had been hung six miles above the ground, not looking at it directly for his aim, but only seeing its shadow in a vessel of water. Doymontie marries a king who, at her wish, boiled rice without fire and water. Bidda took a vow to enter into literary and theological controversy with a man before she would marry him. In the above cases invitations had of course been extended to kings and nobles in general, and not of any particular caste.
[25] The circumstances of the death of this noble poet are the following. He was in the habit of visiting a literary public woman, who was widely known for her acquisitions. One evening she was standing near a pond, looking at the lotus-buds, when the king with his nobles was passing by. The royal train halted by the pond to observe the rays of the moon on its placid bosom. The king asked this question of his friends: “Wind bloweth not, the water is calm, why then doth yon lotus tremble?” The woman immediately went to her home and asked Kalidass about it, who said it was for a Vromor, (kind of black wasp,) which had got in to extract honey, but being too much intoxicated as the shades of the eve were closing, the lotus made it a prisoner for the night. As it moved within the lotus, it caused it to tremble. She came and informed the king about the lotus. He was quite surprised, and asked again, “Why the Vromor which gnaws dry woods does not cut through the lotus and go out of it?” She flew to her chamber, and the great poet solved the question. “The Vromor does not use his sharp sting, for two reasons. Having drank too much honey from the lotus he is dissipated now, and unable to use his weapon; secondly, he is too polite to cut the tender lotus, the queen of flowers.” The king wanted to know if it were her genius or that of another which solved his questions, and desired to see her more at her home. She wickedly went first and cut the head off Kalidass, who was sleeping then, that he might not be seen by the king at her house.
[26] Mool Shun-nashee is the chief officer of the party called Shun-nash. He is the elect of the god, and takes the lead of the party year after year, until he leaves this world for another. After his death his son takes his post, or sometimes another is elected by the priest and the Shun-nashees.
[27] The punishment by fine is inflicted by the Zamindar, the landholder of the country. The British law does not authorize any private individual to fine another, except the legal officers; but, nevertheless, the poorer classes are in common cases fined and ill treated by their landholders. The excommunication from the society as well as from the caste is worse than the punishment by fine; for, over and above the sufferings consequent to an outcasted life, the man is to pay a certain sum of money to regain his lost position. The last state of that man is worse than the first!