Forgetful of his Dragon foe.—X. p. 105.
Ra’hu was the son of Cas’yapa and Dity, according to some authorities; but others represent Sinhica’ (perhaps the sphinx) as his natural mother. He had four arms; his lower parts ended in a tail like that of a dragon; and his aspect was grim and gloomy, like the darkness of the chaos, whence he had also the name of Tamas. He was the adviser of all mischief among the Daityas, who had a regard for him: but among the De’vatas it was his chief delight to sow dissension; and when the gods had produced the amrit, by churning the ocean, he disguised himself like one of them, and received a portion of it; but the Sun and Moon having discovered his fraud, Vishnu severed his head and two of his arms from the rest of his monstrous body. That part of the nectareous fluid which he had time to swallow secured his immortality: his trunk and dragon-like tail fell on the mountain of Malaya, where Mini, a Brahman, carefully preserved them by the name of Ce’tu; and, as if a complete body had been formed from them, like a dismembered polype, he is even said to have adopted Ce’tu as his own child. The head, with two arms, fell on the sands of Barbara, where Pi’t’he’na’s was then walking with Sinhica’, by some called his wife: They carried the Daitya to their palace, and adopted him as their son; whence he acquired the name of Paite’he’nasi. This extravagant fable is, no doubt, astronomical; Ra’hu and Ce’tu being clearly the nodes, or what astrologers call the head and tail of the dragon. It is added, that they appeased Vishnu, and obtained re-admission to the firmament, but were no longer visible from the earth, their enlightened sides being turned from it; that Ra’hu strives, during eclipses, to wreak vengeance on the Sun and Moon, who detected him; and that Ce’tu often appears as a comet, a whirlwind, a fiery meteor, a water-spout, or a column of sand.—Wilford. Asiatic Researches.
Suras.—X. p. 105.
The word Sura in Sanscrit signifies both wine and true wealth; hence, in the first C’hand of the Ramayan of Valmic, it is expressly said that the Devetas, having received the Sura, acquired the title of Suras, and the Daityas that of Asura, from not having received it. The Veda is represented as that wine and true wealth.—Paterson. Asiat. Researches.
Camdeo.—X. p. 106.
Eternal Cama! or doth Smara bright, Or proud Ananga, give thee more delight? Sir W. Jones.
He was the son of Maya, or the general attracting power, and married to Retty, or Affection, and his bosom friend is Bessent, or Spring. He is represented a a beautiful youth, sometimes conversing with his mother and consort in the midst of his gardens and temples; sometimes riding by moonlight on a parrot or lory, a attended by dancing girls or nymphs, the foremost whom bears his colours, which are a fish on a red ground. His favourite place of resort is a large tract of country round Agra, and principally the plains of Matra, where Krishen also, and the nine Gopia, who are clearly the Apollo and Muses of the Greeks, usually spend the night with music and dance. His bow of sugar-cane or flowers, with a string of bees, and his five arrows, each pointed with an Indian blossom of a heating quality, are allegories equally new and beautiful.
It is possible that the words Dipuc and Cupid, which have the same signification, may have the same origin; since we know that the old Hetrurians, from whom great part of the Roman language and religion was derived, and whose system had a near affinity with that of the Persians and Indians, used to write their lines alternately forwards and backwards, as furrows are made by the ploughs.—Sir W. Jones.
Mahadeva and Parvati were playing with dice at the ancient game of Chaturanga, when they disputed, and parted in wrath; the goddess retiring to the forest of Gauri, and the god repairing to Cushadwip. They severally performed rigid acts of devotion to the Supreme Being; but the fires which they kindled blazed so vehemently as to threaten a general conflagration. The Devas, in great alarm, hastened to Brahma, who led them to Mahadeva, and supplicated him to recall his consort; but the wrathful deity only answered, That she most come by her own free choice. They accordingly dispatched Gunga, the river goddess, who prevailed on Parvati to return to him, on condition that his love for her should be restored. The celestial mediators then employed Cama-Deva, who wounded Mahadeva with one of his flowery arrows; but the angry divinity reduced him to ashes with a flame from his eye. Parvati soon after presented herself before him in the form of a Cirati, or daughter of a mountaineer, and seeing him enamoured of her, resumed her own shape. In the place where they were reconciled, a grove sprang up, which was named Camavana; and the relenting god, in the character of Cameswara, consoled the afflicted Reti, the widow of Cama, by assuring her that she should rejoin her husband when he should be born again in the form of Pradyumna, son of Crishna, and should put Sambara to death. This favourable prediction was in due time accomplished, and Pradyumna having sprung to life, he was instantly seized by the demon Sambara, who placed him in a chest, which he threw into the ocean; but a large fish, which had swallowed the chest, was caught, in a net, and carried to the palace of a tyrant, where the unfortunate Reti had been compelled to do menial service. It was her lot to open the fish, and seeing an infant in the chest, she nursed him in private, and educated him, till he had sufficient strength to destroy the malignant Sambara. He had before considered Reti as his mother; but the minds of them both being, irradiated, the prophecy of Mahadeva was remembered, and the God of Love was again united with the Goddess of Pleasure.—Wilford. Asiatic Researches.
Eating his very core of life away.—XI. p. 113.