Page:TheBirth of the War-God.djvu/97

Rh E'en as on Earth, &c.] Thus the Commandment,—Thou shalt not kill, is abrogated by the injunction to kill cows for sacrifice.

The heavenly Teacher.] Vrihaspati, the son of Angiras.

His own dear flower.] The Lotus, on which Brahma is represented reclining.

Their flashing jewels.] According to the Hindú belief, serpents wear precious jewels in their heads.

Chakara.] A discus, or quoit, the weapon of Vishnu.

As Water bears to me.] "HE, liaving willed to produce various beings from his own divine substance, first with a thought created the waters, and placed in them a productive seed."—Manu, Ch. I.

Mournful braids.] As a sign of mourning, especially for the loss of their husbands, the Hindustani women collect their long hair into a braid, called in Sanskrit veni.

The Mango twig.] We shall meet with several allusions to this tree as the favourite of Love and the darling of the Bees.

CANTO THIRD. Who angers thee, &c.] To understand properly this speech of Káma, it is necessary to be acquainted with some of the Hindú notions regarding a future state. "The highest kind of happiness is absorption into the divine essence, or the return of that portion of spirit which is combined with the attributes of humanity to its original source. This happiness, according to the philosopher, is to be obtained only by the most perfect abstraction from the world and freedom from passion, even while in a state of terrestrial existence Besides this ultimate felicity, the Hindús have several minor degrees of happiness, amongst which is the enjoyment of Indra's Swarga, or, in fact, of a Muhammadan Paradise. The degree and duration of the pleasures of this paradise are proportioned to the merits of those admitted to it; and they who have enjoyed this lofty region of Swarga, but whose virtue is exhausted, revisit the habitation of mortals."—Prof. Wilson's Megha Dúta, Compare also "The Lord's Song."—Specimens of Old Indian Poetry, pp. 07, 08.

Indra, therefore, may be supposed to feel jealous whenever a