Krishna Kanta's Will (Chatterjee, Knight)/Appendix

by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay

 

APPENDIX.

Note I.

Fractional quantities are frequently expressed in India by the fractional parts of a rupee, which consists of 16 annas. Thus, an 8-anna estate is half the estate; 3 annas is 3/16, and so on. Similarly, a farmer may say he expects to get only a 12-anna crop—that is, a quarter less than a full crop. If he has paid his rent in full, he will call it a 16-anna rent; if he only cultivates a fourth of his land, it is a 4-anna cultivation.

Note II.

To stretch out the hand to seize the moon is a common proverbial saying, denoting the vain attempt to do an impossibility, or to hope for something unattainable or hard to get.

Note III.

The hardships imposed on Hindu widows are most deplorable, and can be but faintly realised out of India. Intense misery and loneliness, domestic drudgery and reproach, and a total renunciation of all earthly enjoyments, and of the simplest luxuries in food and clothing, are all summed up in the word widowhood.

Note IV.

Draupadi, in Hindu mythology, was the wife of the five Pândava princes, the description of whose contests with their cousins, the Kauravas, is given in the Mahâbhârata. She is there said to be specially noted for her skill in cooking.

Note V.

The names here quoted are those of some of the leading warriors on each side in the war between the Kauravas and Pândavas, which forms the subject of the Mahâbhârata.

Note VI.

This refers to a practice occasionally resorted to by women of Bengal, who, when about to commit suicide by drowning, attach a Kalsi, or earthen water-jug, by a rope to their necks, that it may, when full of water, act as a weight to prevent the body from rising to the surface.

Note VII.

The Srâddha, or funeral ceremony performed on the death of a Brahman, is generally a most costly undertaking. Large sums are spent on gifts to priests and Brahmans, who flock thither from miles around. Besides this, a general feast of milk, rice, ghee, sweetmeats, &c., is provided, not only for all the relatives of the deceased, but for the poor and for beggars of every description. The respect shown to a departed relative is often measured by the sum spent on his srâddha.

Note VIII.

Tarakeswar is a village in the district of Hugli, not far from Calcutta, which contains a shrine of great sanctity, to which sick people and pilgrims flock in great numbers for recovery from disease, or the performance of vows to the god Siva. A great religious festival is held here in the month of April, at which severe penances and most cruel self-inflicted tortures are practised. The well-known barbarous Charak-puja, or swinging festival, used to be held at this fair, until put a stop to by the British Government in 1863.

Note IX.

Phulsajja is the name given to a [custom which] prevails amongst Hindus of adorning the bridal bed with flowers.

Note X.

This mythological allusion will best be explained by quoting from Dowson's "Hindu Mythology," under the heading Avatara, p. 36:

"Vishnu appeared in the form of a tortoise in the Satya Yug, or first age, to recover some things of value which had been lost in the Deluge. In the form of a tortoise he placed himself at the bottom of the sea of milk, and made his back the base or pivot of the mountain Mandara. The gods and demons twisted the great serpent Vâsuki round the mountain, and, dividing into two parties, each took an end of the snake as a rope, and thus churned the sea until they recovered the desired objects. These were (1) Amrita, the water of life; (2) Dhanwantari, the physician of the gods, and bearer of the cup of Amrita; . . . and (14) Visha, poison."

It would appear from this that all the objects were obtained, but finally a deadly poison was produced. This threatened to destroy the universe; whereupon the god Siva swallowed it up to avert that calamity, but the poison remained lodged in his throat, causing it to become of a dark-blue colour. Hence it is that Siva has received the epithet of the "blue-throated god."