Page:Alexander and Dindimus (Skeat 1878).djvu/27

 is in the name Dindimus; given to the supposed king of the Brahmans. It should rather be Dandamis, answering to Dandamis in the Latin, and Δανδαμις in the Greek texts. It is not really a proper name, but a sort of title. It is the Sanskrit dandin, signifying 'bearing a staff,' or, as a sb. 'mace-bearer.' It occurs in the sense of 'warder' or 'door-keeper' in the Tale of Nala, iv. 25. It is an adj. formed from teh sb. danda, a staff, mace, sceptre of justice; and this again is from the root dand, to chastise. It thus has the sense of 'sceptre-bearer' or 'dispenser of justice.' Even in Sanskrit it is used as an epithet of Yama, and also as a proper name. This compound tri-dandin. lit. 'three-staves-bearing,' was applied in particular to an ascetic, as being one who has command over the three seats of action, viz. mind, speech, and body; see Benfey's Dict. p. 385. Hence the particular application of the epithet to a chief of ascetics is very appropriate However, the simple form of dandin was likewise used to signify an ascetic; and Prof. Cowell kindly refers me to a passage showing that it was, in fact, a name for a man in the fourth (and highest) stage of Brahmanical life—the religious devotee. "His nails, hair, and beard being clipped, bearing with him a dish, a staff, and a waterpot, his whole mind being fixed on God, let him wander about continually, without giving pain to any living thing."—Manu, vi. 32.

I here attempt an account of the illustrations or coloured pictures which occur in the MS. There are nine of these, viz. at'll. 137, 249, 355, 568, 681, 822, 973, 1078, and 1139, as indicated in the text itself. The subjects of them are as follows.

I. King Alexander stands just before his tent. At his feet flows a stream, in which swims a large ell, to represent the 'hound-fish' (l. 164), and just on the further bank stand two dragons (156). A man is rowing across the stream in a boat (168); two others, both naked, stand a little back from the stream, one of them bearing an offering of fruits (165).