The Katha Sarit Sagara or Ocean of the Streams of Story Part 106

[150] I follow the Sanskrit College MS. which reads vidyabhih saha samsmrita.

[151] An allusion to the custom of choosing a husband in the Svayamvara ceremony, by throwing a garland on the neck of the favoured suitor.

[152] Dr. Kern would read asata.

[153] Compare Book III of the novel of Achilles Tatius, c. 5.

[154] Cp. Enmathius' novel of Hysminias and Hysmine, Book IX, ch. 4.

Epi de toutois pasin ophthalmos helato mou ho dexios, kai en moi to semeion agathon, kai to promanteuma dexiotaton

See also Theocritus III, 37.

halletai ophthalmos meu ho dexios e rha g' ideso autan?

Where Fritsche quotes Plant. Pseudol. 1.1.105. Brand in his Popular Antiquities, Vol. III, p. 172, quotes the above pa.s.sage from Theocritus, and a very apposite one from Dr. Nathaniel Home's Demonologie--"If their ears tingle, they say they have some enemies abroad that doe or are about to speake evill of them: so, if their right eye itcheth, then it betokens joyful laughter."

Bartsch in his Sagen, Marchen, und Gebrauche aus Mecklenburg, says, "Throbbing in the right eye betokens joy, in the left, tears." In Norway throbbing in the right ear is a good sign, in the left a bad sign (Liebrecht, Zur Volkskunde, p. 327.) Forcellini s. v. Salisatores quotes from Isidor. VIII, 9. Salisatores vocati sunt, qui dum eis membrorum quaecunque partes salierint, aliquid sibi exinde prosperum, seu triste significare praedic.u.n.t.

[155] i. e., under the protection of a Buddha.

[156] So Malegis in Die Heimonskinder represents that his blind brother will be freed from his affliction when he comes to a place where the horse Bayard is being ridden. (Simrock's Deutsche Volksbucher, Vol. II, p. 96.)

[157] See note in Vol. I, p. 121. So Balder is said to be so fair of countenance and bright that he s.h.i.+nes of himself. (Grimm's Teutonic Mythology, translated by Stallybra.s.s, p. 222.) In Tennyson's Vivien we find

"A maid so smooth, so white, so wonderful, They said a light came from her when she moved."

[158] This probably means that she was burnt with his corpse.

[159] Bohtlingk and Roth read sakinisiddhisamvara.

[160] We have had many transformations of this kind and shall have many more. A very amusing story of a transformation is found in Campbell's Highland Tales, Vol. II, p. 60 which may be compared with this. The biter is bit as in our text, and in the story of Sidi Noman in the Arabian Nights, which closely resembles this.

[161] I read kritva for kirtva.

[162] Cp. the story of the Porter and the Ladies of Baghdad in the Arabian Nights. (Lane's translation, Vol. I, page 129.) The b.i.t.c.hes are solemnly beaten in the same way as the mare in our story. They are the sisters of the lady who beats them.

[163] Professor Cowell informs me that there is a pa.s.sage in the Sankara Dig Vijaya which explains this. A seer by means of this vidya gains a life equivalent to 11 years of Brahma. It seems to be a life-prolonging charm.

[164] So "one who dwelt by the castled Rhine" called the flowers, "the stars that in earth's firmament do s.h.i.+ne."

[165] This story extends to the end of the book.

[166] The word tejas also means "courage."

[167] An elaborate pun, only intelligible in Sanskrit.

[168] Cp. the long black tongue which the horrible black man protrudes in Wirt Sikes's British Goblins, p. 177. In Birlinger's Aus Schwaben, Vol. I, p. 341, the fahrende schuler puts out his tongue in a very uncanny manner.

[169] Cp. Ralston's Russian Folk-Tales, p. 15, Giles's Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio, p. 294, and the cla.s.sical legend of the birth of Adonis. A similar story will be found in Liebrecht, Zur Volkskunde, p. 306. In Bernhard E. Schmidt's Griechische Marchen, No. 5, three maidens come out of a citron, and one of them again out of a rosebush. For other parallels see the Notes to No. XXI, in Miss Stokes's Indian Fairy Tales. Cp. also Das Rosmarinstrauchlein in Kaden's Unter den Olivenbaumen, (Stories from the South of Italy), p. 10. In the 49th Story of the Pentamerone of Basile a fairy comes out of a citron. The word I have translated "tear" is in the original virya. See Rohde, Der Griechische Roman, p. 195, and Ralston's Tibetan Tales, Introduction, p. lii.

[170] See the story of Polyidos, in Preller, Griechische Mythologie, Vol. II, p. 478. Preller refers to Nonnus, XXV, 451 and ff. The story terminates psyche d' eis demas elthe to deuteron. See also Baring Gould's Curious Myths of the Middle Ages, New Edition, 1869, pp. 399-402, and Rohde, Der Griechische Roman, pp. 112 and 126.

[171] Dr. Kern conjectures evam.

[172] In Bengal no animal sacrifices are offered to Siva at the present day.

[173] Cp. "The Story of the First Royal Mendicant," Lane's Arabian Nights, Vol. I, p. 136.

[174] I follow the Sanskrit College MS. which reads kesakapaladi; perhaps for kesa we should read vesa. The skulls have been mentioned before.

[175] For asvasto I read visvasto. Perhaps we ought to read asvastho, i. e., sick, ill.

[176] The wanderings of Herzog Ernst are brought about in a very similar manner. (See Simrock's Deutsche Volksbucher, Vol. III, p. 278).

[177] Compare the myths of Attis and Cyparissus. In the story called "Der rothe Hund," Gaal, Marchen der Magyaren, p. 362, the queen becomes a dry mulberry tree. See also Grohmann, Sagen aus Bohmen, p. 116. In Ovid's Metamorphoses, XIV, 517 an abusive pastor is turned into an oleaster.

[178] Triphala according to Professor Monier Williams means the three myrobalans, i. e., the fruits of Terminalia Chebula, T. Bellerica, and Phyllanthus Emblica; also the three fragrant fruits, nutmeg, areca-nut, and cloves; also the three sweet fruits, grape, pomegranate and date. The first interpretation seems to be the one usually accepted by the Pandits of Bengal.

[179] i. e., Naga a kind of snake demon. See Ralston's Russian Folk-Tales, page 65, Veckenstedt's Wendische Marchen, pp. 400-409, Prym und Socin, Syrische Marchen, pp. 100, 101. The sword with a name may remind the reader of Balmung, Excalibur, Durandal &c.

[180] The Sanskrit College MS. reads sampusaraih perhaps for sambusarasaih i. e., with the water-cranes.

[181] Anayata is a misprint for anayatta.

[182] I read kulamandiram with the MS. in the Sanskrit College.

[183] i. e., Maya.

[184] For vanopamam I conjecture vanopamat.

[185] i. q., Ganesa.

[186] Or "the elephants of his enemies." Here there is probably a pun.

[187] Literally, "water-men." Perhaps they were of the same race as Grendel the terrible nicor. See also Veckenstedt's Wendische Marchen, p. 185 and ff., Grimm's Irische Marchen, p. cv, Kuhn's Westfalische Marchen, Vol. II, p. 35, Waldau's Bohmische Marchen, p. 187 and ff., and the 6th and 20th Jatakas. See also Grohmann's account of the "Wa.s.sermann," Sagen aus Bohmen, p. 148.

[188] The MS. in the Sanskrit College seems to me to read purnosya.

[189] I read 'nyuvesustham, which is the reading of the Sanskrit College MS.

[190] The silk-cotton tree.

[191] Or Hansavali.