FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 13: This term would appear to apply generally to an inhabitant of Hindoostan. It is not meant only for a dweller in a city, like the Latin Urbanus as opposed to Rusticus.] [Footnote 14: Gift is peculiar to a Brahman, conquest to a Kshatrya, while purchase, deposit, and other means of acquiring wealth belongs to the Vaishya.] [Footnote 15: Natural garden flowers.] [Footnote 16: Such as quails, partridges, parrots, starlings, &c.] [Footnote 17: The calls of nature always performed by the Hindoos the first thing in the morning.] [Footnote 18: A colour made from lac.] [Footnote 19: This would act instead of soap, which was not introduced until the rule of the Mahomedans.] [Footnote 20: Ten days are allowed when the hair is taken out with a pair of pincers.] [Footnote 21: These are characters generally introduced in the Hindoo drama; their characteristics will be explained further on.] [Footnote 22: Noonday sleep is only allowed in summer, when the nights are short.] [Footnote 23: These are very common in all parts of India.] [Footnote 24: In the 'Asiatic Miscellany,' and in Sir W. Jones's works, will be found a spirited hymn addressed to this goddess, who is adored as the patroness of the fine arts, especially of music and rhetoric, as the inventress of the Sanscrit language, &c., &c. She is the goddess of harmony, eloquence, and language, and is somewhat analogous to Minerva. For further information about her, see Edward Moor's 'Hindoo Pantheon.'] [Footnote 25: The public women, or courtesans (Vesya), of the early Hindoos have often been compared with the Hetera of the Greeks. The subject is dealt with at some length in H. H. Wilson's 'Select Specimens of the Theatre of the Hindoos,' in two volumes, Trubner & Co., 1871. It may be fairly considered that the courtesan was one of the elements, and an important element too, of early Hindoo society, and that her education and intellect were both superior to that of the women of the household. Wilson says, "By the Vesya or courtesan, however, we are not to understand a female who has disregarded the obligation of law or the precepts of virtue, but a character reared by a state of manners unfriendly to the admission of wedded females into society, and opening it only at the expense of reputation to women who were trained for association with men by personal and mental acquirements to which the matron was a stranger."] [Footnote 26: According to this description a Pithamarda would be a sort of professor of all the arts, and as such received as the friend and confidant of the citizens.] [Footnote 27: A seat in the form of the letter T.] [Footnote 28: The Vita is supposed to represent somewhat the character of the Parasite of the Greek comedy. It is possible that he was retained about the person of the wealthy and dissipated as a kind of private instructor, as well as an entertaining companion.] [Footnote 29: Vidushaka is evidently the buffoon and jester. Wilson says of him that he is the humble companion, not the servant, of a prince or man of rank, and it is a curious peculiarity that he is always a Brahman. He bears more affinity to Sancho Panza, perhaps, than any other character in western fiction, imitating him in his combination of shrewdness and simplicity, his fondness of good living and his love of ease. In the dramas of intrigue he exhibits some of the talents of Mercury, but with less activity and ingenuity, and occasionally suffers by his interference. According to the technical definition of his attributes he is to excite mirth by being ridiculous in person, age, and attire.] [Footnote 30: This means, it is presumed, that the citizen should be acquainted with several languages. The middle part of this paragraph might apply to the Nihilists and Fenians of the day, or to secret societies. It was perhaps a reference to the Thugs.]




Most Popular