Page:The Indian Antiquary, Vol. 4-1875.djvu/232

This page needs to be proofread.

Jult, 1875] CORRESPONDENCE AND MISCELLANEA, 219

    • J ^JJ &. •*"* **f t^ W* K

dj# oil* o»*i ^|^i| *♦* ^jj ^jji. oil* *i|»j jf ^^ j$ ca 1 *^ UtriW t^rf y j £*fa jl ^UJ [Jbb jj £*. d r* wW t>* J w - ^ OJ L» ^ W** J^ J& f*& U> Man foods on blood as embryo, Believers thus by dirt get pore ! Whilst in the womb, man feeds on blood, His warp and woof of blood consists ; When weaned of blood he milk consumes ; He morsels eats when weaned of milk; Bat weaned of morsels Lokm&ri* he becomes, Investigates things hidden and revealed. Were one to say to embryos in the womb : — H Without, there is a well-arranged world, An earth quite joyous, long and broad, Of blessings full, aud various food ; With mountains, lakes, and prairies green. Parks, gardens, cultivated fields, The firmament so high and bright. The sun, the moon, with hundred winds, Zephyrs from north and south and west, With gardens, banquets, nuptials,— Its wonders cannot be described.

  • Lokmin, the name of a sago, stand* here as the em-

blem of intellect How tried you are in this darkness ! Blood you consume in this closet, In dirt and misery confined ; " It would deny its state and case. Reject this message with full force As false, deceit, impossible. It has no sense, but understanding blind Its mind cannot conceive the thing, — The negative mind hearing scorns. Just such the crowd is in this nether world When Abdulsf moot the world beyond i— " This world is but a narrow and dark well ; Without, the immaterial world exists." Such words their ears will Dot accept, — A hope like this is thickly veiled j Present enjoyments plug the ear, The eye is dimmed by interests j Just as the embryo's greed for blood, Which was its food in womb's dark cave, Concealed from it the present world, The body's blood to it endeared ; Thus, unaware of blessings all, No other nourishment it had but blood. Man's lust for joys of present life Eternal joys has veiled from him. Tour greed for this deceitful life From true life has removed you ; Be quite aware that lust is blinding yon. Concealing certainty from you. Truth false appears to you from greed, Which hundredfold is blinding you. Oh, free yourself from greed, like all just men, That you your foot on that threshold may place, And saved he on entering the gate From all terrestrial joys and griefB ; Your soul's eye bright and true will see, Unsoiled by unbelief, the light of Faith. [Tha translator does not tatc it on himself to correct the metre, when it happens to be faulty.] Mr. r. W. ELLIS. My attention has been directed to an interesting description, by Mr. R.C. Caldwell, in tibsSAAmumm of December 5. of a Tamil MS. in the Library of the India Office, in tho course of which he refers to me for a confirmation of some of his statements. I am glad to have an opportunity of expressing tho pleasure I have received from perusing tho careful analysis of Beschi's work by so competent a Tamil scholar, and of confirming the accuracy of his narrative as far as relates to the portion with which I am connected. Mr. Caldwell is right in correcting my version of the occasion on which the MS. came into the possession of Muttusami Pillei, an error into which I ought not to havo fallen, since the sketch of Beschi in the eleventh t The Abdil« are UJominati.