[2.] Sesame-oil is mentioned by Pliny in many places as in use in India for medicinal purposes: as, xiii. 2, 7: xv. 9, 4: xvii. 10, 1, &c.
[3.] Baling-cakes.—See note [6], and [note 9] to Tale IV.
[4.] The Brahmanical system of re-births was followed to a great extent by Buddhists, notwithstanding that it had been one chief aim and object of Shâkjamuni’s teaching to provide mankind with a remedy against their necessity. (See Lassen, Indische Alterthumskunde, ii. 60, and other places. Burnouf, Introd. à l’Hist. du Buddh. Ind. i. 153.) By its teaching, every living being had to be born again a countless number of times, leading them to higher or lower regions according to their dealings under each earlier form. The gods themselves were not exempt from the operation of this law.
[5.] Serpent-god. See [note 1] to Tale II., and [note 4] to Tale XXII.
[6.] Tiger-year. The Mongols reckon time by a cycle of sixty years, designated by a subdivision under the names of five necessary articles, and twelve beasts with the further adjuncts of male and female. The present cycle began in 1864 and will consequently go on till 1923.
The following may serve as a specimen:—
- 1864, male Wood-mouse-year, Mato khouloukhana po.
- 1865, female Wood-bullock-year, Moto oukhere mo.
- 1866, male Fire-tiger-year, Gal bara po.
- 1867, female Fire-hare-year, Gal tole mo.
- 1868, male Earth-dragon-year, Sheree lou po.
- 1869, female Earth-serpent-year, Sheree Mokhee mo.
- 1870, male Iron-horse-year, Temur mori po.
- 1871, female Iron-sheep-year, Temur knoui mo.
- 1872, male Water-ape-year, Oussou betchi po.
- 1873, female Water-fowl-year, Oussou takia mo.
- 1874, male Wood-dog-year, Moto nokhee po.
- 1875, female Wood-pig-year, Moto khakhee mo.
- 1876, male Fire-mouse-year, Gal khouloukhana po.
- 1877, female Fire-bullock-year, Gal oukhere mo.
- 1878, male Earth-tiger-year, Sheree bara po.
- 1879, female Earth-hare-year, Sheree tolee mo.
- 1880, male Iron-dragon-year, Temur lou po.
- 1881, female Iron-serpent-year, Temur mokhee mo.
And so on to the end. The date always being quoted in connexion with the year of each sovereign reigning at the time, to make the distinction more definite.
[7.] Nothing can be much more revolting to our minds than the idea of human sacrifices. Nevertheless, one of the grandest episodes of the great epic poem called the Ramajana, is that in which King Ashokja goes all the world over in search of a youth possessing all the marks which prove him worthy to be sacrificed: “wandering through tracts of country and villages, through town and wilderness alike, holy hermitages also of high fame.” When at last he has found one in the person of Sunasepha, son of Ritschika, a great prince of seers, Visvamitra, the great model penitent, calls on his own son to take his place, crying up the honour of the thing in the most ardent language. “When a father desires to have sons,” he says to him, “it is in order that they may adorn the world with their virtue and be worthy of eternal fame. The opportunity for earning that fame has now come to thee.” And when his son refuses the exchange, he pronounces on him the following curse, “Henceforth shalt thou be for many years a wanderer and outcast, and despised like to a dealer in dog’s flesh.”
Concerning the serpent-cultus in general, see [note 1], Tale II., and [note 4], Tale XXII.