40. Dwelling beside the divine river, i.e., the Ganges, is equivalent to abandoning the world.

45. Raga-grâha-vant, "Love takes the place of crocodiles." Benfey in Lex. (sub Grâhavant) translates "Containing love instead of sharks." The first half of the word relates to men's desires, the second to the river to which they are compared. A man is drowned by the passions which meet him in the river of desire, as a swimmer across the Ganges would be eaten by the crocodiles.

46. Âlâna, “The post to which an elephant is tied." Cf. Mrich., act i. 39—

66

'Âlâne grihyate hastî vâjî valgâsu grihyate

hridaye grihyate nârî, yadîdam nâsti gamyatam."

"An elephant is held by a post, a horse is restrained by bridles, a woman by her heart. If these are not secureddepart."

47. The idea to be gained from this stanza is, that the suppliant of the rich thinks the days too long because he has to suffer the trouble of unsuccessful entreaties; the person engaged in worldly objects thinks the time too short to accomplish his numerous ends. On the other hand, the philosopher laughs at both sets of persons for their delusions.

53. Turaga-chala-chittaḥ. Chala-chitta means fickle, inconstant. Turaga means simply the swift goer; hence a horse; also the mind, from its swiftness of thought (Cf. Vair. S., sl. 77). Turaga-chala-chitta might mean, therefore, simply "fickle in mind." Telang remarks on the words as expressing an "unusual simile," suggesting that the mind is compared to a horse for swiftness. Probably a play on the words is meant.

55. The status of the man who thus obtains his livelihood by begging is laid down in Manu, vi. 87, where he is placed as occupying the third order in the Brâhman caste. The Vâna-prastha (the title by which he is designated) is the last stage but one in the Brâhman's life. He is directed, among other duties (Manu, ii. 187), on the morning and evening of each day to go round the villages in his neighbourhood, and

E

to beg food for himself and his spiritual teacher. The "doorposts blackened by the smoke of the offerings" is referred to, Raghuv., i. 53

“ Abhyutthitâgnipiśunaih atithin śramonmukhân
punânam pavanoddhatairdhumairâhutigandhibhiḥ.'

"(The hermitage) purifying the guests whose faces were turned towards the hermitage, through the smoke of the oblations, which was scented, borne upon the wind, showing where the fires were rising."

63. This śloka is identical with Nîti Ŝataka, śloka 26.

65. This sloka is literally, "You (are) we, we (are) you, thus was the mind of us two: how has it become now that you as you, we (are) we?"

66. Cf. Plato de Rep., Book i. cap. 3—Πῶς, ἔφη, ὦ Σοφόκλεις, ἔχεις πρὸς τάφροδίσια; ἔτι οἷος τ' εἶ γυναικὶ συγγίνεσθαι; καὶ ὅς, Ευφήμει, έφη, ἀσμενάιτατα μέντοι αὐτὸ ἀπέφυγον, ὥσπερ λυττῶντά τινα και ἄγριον δεσπότην ἀποφυγών.

69. "Supercilious contempt," "Vasa-pavana-ânartita-bhrûlatâni," lit. "Creeper-like eyebrows gently moved up and down with the wind of (their own) power (or conceit)."

73. "Thy foot may have been placed on the neck of thy enemies," "Nyastam padam sirasi vidviśhatâm tataḥ kim." For a parallel idea among other passages, cf. Ps. viii. 8 (Vulg.), "Omnia subjecisti sub pedibus ejus;" also Ps. xlvi. 4. For a collateral notion, cf. Ps. cix. 1, "Donec ponam inimicos tuos, scabellum pedum tuorum." This and the following śloka teaches that man may have gained everything to be desired, but yet not have attained to emancipation from worldly things and union with the Supreme Being. This is only to be gained by the methods inculcated in the following stanza.

74. Cf. Miscellaneous Śatakas, Vairâgya Śataka, śloka 29. 75. Vairagya (the subject of this Sataka) is the sole means of gaining union with the Supreme Soul; and what Vairagya Is this sloka explains.

Contrast with this sloka, Bhagavad., vi. 1-" He who pays no heed to the fruit of his acts, and who performs his duty, he is both the devotee and the ascetic."

77. Cf.

"... nec quicquam tibi prodest Aerias tentasse domos, animoque rotundum Percurrisse polum morituro."

-Hor. Car. i. 25, 4.

81. Cf. Bhagavad., ii. 46-"Not disposed to meditation and perseverance is the intention of those who are devoted to enjoyments and dominion, and whose minds are seduced from the right path by that flowery sentence which is proclaimed by the universe, who delight in texts from the Vedas, and say, 'There is nothing else than that,' being covetous-minded and considering heaven as the chief goal, and which offers. regeneration as the reward of actions, and enjoins many different ceremonies for the sake of obtaining pleasures and dominion. . . . Let the motive for action be in the action itself, never in its reward; . perform thy actions, being the same in success or failure. The performance of works is far inferior to mental devotion." Everything but the performance of actions without regard to future results, all virtuous acts, except those performed solely for the sake of virtue, are, as it were, the mere haggling of merchants, with the intention of making the highest profit."

Cf. also Bhagavad., xviii. 66—

"Sarvadharmân parityajya mân ekam śaraṇam vraja
aham tvâm sarvapâpebhyo mochayishyâmi."

"Abandon all religious duties, come to me as the only refuge, so will I deliver thee from all sin."

83. Saphart, a little fish, supposed to be a carp.

84.

"Women seemed the only objects," &c. The text literally translated is—“ Drishṭam nârîmayam idam aśesham jagadapi," "This world seemed altogether made up of women."

86. Cf. Bhagavad., ii. 15

"Yamhi na vyathayanty ete purusham purusharshabha samaduḥkasukham dhîram so mṛitatvâya kalpate."

"The man whom these outward things do not affect, and who is the same both in pain and pleasure, that man is fitted for immortality."

92. The removal of hunger and thirst are not really pleasure, only a temporary removal of a pain. Cf. Plato, Rep., 584—Πῶς οὖν ὀρθῶς ἔστι τὸ μὴ ἀλγεῖν ἡδὺ ἡγεῖσθαι, ἦ τὸ μὴ χαίρειν ἀνιαρόν ; οὐδαμῶς. οὐκ ἔστιν ἄρα τοῦτο, ἀλλὰ φαίνεται, ἦν δ ̓ ἐγὼ παρὰ τὸ ἀλγεινὸν ἡδὺ, καὶ παρὰ τὸ ἡδὺ ἀλγεινὸν τότε ἡ ἡσυχία, καὶ ὀυδὲν ὑγιὲς τούτων τῶν φαντασματων πρὸς ἡδονῆς ἀλήθειαν, ἀλλὰ γοητεία τις. Ως γοῦν ὁ λόγος ἔφη, σημαίνει. Ἰδὲ τόινυν, ἦν δ ̓ ἐγὼ, ἡδονάς ἅι ουκ ἐκ λυπῶν εἰσιν, ἵνα μὴ πολλάκις οἴηθῃς ἐν τῷ παρόντι οὕτω τούτω πεφυκέναι ήδονην μὲν παῦλαν λύπης εἶναι, λύπην δὲ ηδόνης.

96. Benares is chosen as a city of special holiness and the resort of mendicants. There are seven cities of so great sanctity in the popular belief, that to die in them leads to final union with the Supreme Being. The following verse gives them

'Ayodhyâ Mathurâ Mâyâ Kâsî Kânchî Avantikâ
pura Dvârâvatî chaiva saptaitâ mokshadâyikâh."

-" Meghaduta," Wilson, p. 31, note.

97. Cf. Juvenal, x. 160

66

. . . In exsilium præceps fugit, atque ibi magnus Mirandus que cliens sedet ad prætoria regis." Expressed by Dryden as follows:

:

"Repulsed by surly grooms, who wait before

The sleeping tyrant's interdicted door.”

101. This sloka gives the rule by which an ascetic should live. Avadhúta-charya means wandering about as a mendicant, separated from worldly feelings and obligations. This is the life of one who has attained to the fourth order in the Brâhman caste, and is called a Sannyâsin, or a Yati. "Let him remain without fire, without habitation; let him resort once a day to the town for food, regardless of hardships, resolute, keeping a vow of silence, fixing his mind on meditation."-Manu, vi. 43.

"With hair, nails, and beard well clipped, carrying a bowl, a staff, and a pitcher, let him wander about continually, intent on meditation, and avoiding injury to any being.”Manu,

vi. 52.

"In this manner, having little by little abandoned all worldly

attachments, and freed himself from all concern about pairs of opposites, he obtains absorption into the universal spirit."Manu, vi. 81.

With the life of the Hindû ascetic we may compare the instances given of Elijah in the Old Testament, and of St. John the Baptist in St. Mark i. 6.

103. Cf. Sak., 175-"Amsavyâpi sakuntanida nichitam bibhrajjațâmandalam," "Wearing a circular mass of matted hair enveloping his shoulders, filled with birds' nests." This is a portion of the description of the sage Kasyapa.

108. Telang explains brahmajnânavivekinah by "those who possess the discrimination (i.e., between things real and unreal) resulting from knowledge of the Brahma." This stanza says that it is more difficult to abandon the riches which we actually possess than to get rid of the desire for earthly possessions; but what we actually have is so uncertain, and of such doubtful duration, that it can hardly be said to be ours to give up; how much less those things which we only desire and wish for. The writer attempts to prove that the giving up of actual riches in possession may be a difficult matter, but the giving up of the desire for riches is, or ought not to be at all difficult.

112. Cf. Shakespeare, "As You Like It," act ii. sc. 7.

MISCELLANEOUS SLOKAS.

5. Cf. Chaucer, "Man of Lawes Tale,” 15—

“Herkneth what is the sentens of the wyse,
Bet is to dye than haven indigence."

8. Telang in his notes to the Vairagya Sataka explains this stanza as alluding to the idea that Siva and Pârvatî form a single body, half of which is male, half female. Siva, though he is so far under the dominion of love as to have his wife half of himself, is also the first as to withstanding love.

9. This śloka, slightly altered, occurs, Mrich., act iv. 124, in