A Draught of the Blue – An Essence of the Dusk

46

Still the name of Marwar.

47

Durgá or Párwatí.

48

A Ghandarwa, or heavenly musician, and the dancing master of the Apsarases. [Pronounce tum- to rhyme with room, rather short.]

49

April.

50

It may not be superfluous to remind the English reader that, according to Hindoo ideas, there is no disgrace like that of possessing an unmarried daughter. Hence the practice, among the Rajpoots and adjacent peoples, of destroying the female infants, to avoid it.

51

Intending, of course, a son. Unfortunately he employed a word of indeterminate gender: hence the lamentable dénouement. For in ancient India, as in ancient Rome, the spoken word, the letter, determined everything.

52

Nothing in Hindoo mythology is more absurd than the implacable fury of the most holy men for the most trifling slights, unless it be the accuracy with which their most dreadful imprecations are literally fulfilled. This was, I believe, characteristic also of the saints of Erin.

53

An English lady having called, not long ago, at the house of a Hindoo lady, to enquire how she was, after an interesting event, and what was the result, received for answer: Alas, memsahib, nothing at all: a girl. Had she been a partisan of "woman's rights," she would probably never have recovered from the shock.

54

A play on words, not transferable to English.

55

It is a very bad omen, in India, for a vulture to settle on a house.

56

A female vulture. I retain the original word, because it seems to be peculiarly expressive of the thing.

57

That is, marry her.

58

This was the privilege of kings' daughters.

59

A play on words: meaning also more affectionate.

60

An actress and a dancer are in Sanskrit denoted by the same word.

61

This method of disposing of objectionable suitors is unfortunately not available in Europe. A great swallowing capacity is a feature of the species Rákshasa. The "coming as soon as thought of" (dhyátágata) is the Indian equivalent of "rubbing the lamp" in the Arabian Nights.

62

Who ever loved that loved not at first sight? Every Oriental would side with Shakespeare in this matter: love, in the East is not love, unless it comes like a flash of lightning.

63

This might be either that of a woman or a snake, for the Nagas, to whom she belonged, waver between the two. The Naga, it may be well to remind the reader, is a being possessed of magic powers, especially that of glamour or blearing the eye, which appealed so powerfully to Spenser and Sir Walter Scott.

64

Krishna, whose colour, it is to be noted, is blue.

65

In every sense of the word: mohaiálamáyá is stronger than any English equivalent.

66

The Underworld, the home of the snakes.

67

A tree with very black bark and white blossoms, dear to erotic poets, such as, e. g., Jayadewa.

68

It is a wonderful thing to see a cobra move. Nothing can describe it.

69

That is, the Beauty of the arched eyebrows. (Pronounce Nat- to rhyme with but.)

70

In Sanskrit, hunting and wooing can be mixed up together by plays on words.