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THE DREAM OF RAVAN-A MYSTERY.

PART III. THE KAMATUR RAKSHAS AND THE SUPERNATURAL WEAPONS.

WHEN Ravan mentioned the name of the Kamatur Rakshas, a smile full of meaning passed round the assembly. KAMATUR Signifies "sick with love;" or "madly in love;" and since his hallucination about Sita, the epithet of Kamatur Rakshas, or "the love-sick Titan," had been stealthily applied to himself in all the gossiping coteries that formed round the Court of Lanka. For then, as now, though subjects would fight loyally, and die bravely for their monarch, they would freely canvass his faults. Indeed, the nickname was first tauntingly given him by his own virtuous brother, Bibbishana, who, though most devotedly attached to his person and his govern ment, never ceased to protest against his injustice in detaining Sita, and to warn him of the fatal results of persevering in such a course. But there was another reason for the furtive merriment. Among the auditors of the dream, standing in his place among the ancient Senapatis, or military chiefs, was the genuine Kamatur Rakshas himself, to whom Ravan's narrative alluded. He was the oldest friend and companion of the Titan king, and was a general favourite at the Rakshas' court; but of so humorous a turn of mind, and so eccentric in his conduct, that the mere introduction of a name so constantly associated with fun, into a recital so sombre, and almost tragic in its general character, produced a contrast of ideas that was too violent for the gravity of the assembly. The original name of this Titan was Kopa-dana, a title indicative of the combination in his character of anger and generosity; but since he had held the government of the pearlfisheries, it had been changed to Kamatur. For while exercising this government he had once entertained, for some months, a group of beautiful Apsaras, those celestial nymphs that

dance like mists upon the sunbeamswhose virtue was equal to their beauty

and became passionately attached to one of the number, named Ramaniya,* or the "Charmer." His love, however, was as chivalric as it was ardent; and, not being returned by the fair object of his passion, except by a grateful friendship, he limited the expres sion of his passion to keeping vigil at night (in full armour) outside the tower in which Ramaniya's chamber was situated, and driving away all the Yakshas and Pishachas that infested the neighbourhood, with the intention of carrying off the beauty.

One of the remarkable peculiarities about the Kamatur Rakshas was his (apparent) love for the brute creation. He collected together all the animals and birds of every description that he could lay his hands on-fed them sumptuously, erected extensive Pashu-shalas (the same as the modern Pinjura-purs, or animal hospitals of Surat and Bombay) for their accommodation, and passed a great part of his time in their company; so that he was as well known and beloved among the deer, wild boars, sheep, kids, peacocks, herons, doves, &c., as a Buddhist priest or a Muni living in forest hermitage. A friar, indeed, of the Buddhist order actually assisted him in these beneficent ministrations to the animals and birds; but, strange to say, all this attachment was, on his part, wholly deceptive. One after another, he slaughtered and feasted on his favourites, not only without remorse, but with a cruel zest that betrayed the latent Titan. The true solution of the inconsistency was this: He was a firm believer in the metempsychosis. But on this general doctrine he had engrafted a theory of his own, that the happiness of the wandering soul, after each emigration, depended on its condition (happy or otherwise) at the moment of making

* RAMANA signifies, in Sanscrit, a husband, a lover, a sporter, player, tumbler. RAMANI, a wife, sweetheart, agreeable woman, female player, dancer; from the root RAM, to sport. There can be no doubt this is the true origin of the term ROMANI, by which the Gypsies designate both a Gypsy and a husband. Their language, with a great portion of modern Hindu dialects, contains many words of pure Sanscrit, such as SHAKA (vegetable); Kashta (wood), &c.

its exit from one sphere of living being into another. So that the greatest possible mercy that could be shown to any animal was to cut it off when it was in the full flush of good feeding, and rolling in clover. The misery in which old and diseased animals linger out a wretched existence in the Pinjarapurs, or animal hospitals, had probably suggested this theory, and certainly af forded it no small justification. But it was found also to harmonise admirably with a very proper Titanic relish for good fat saddles of gram-fed mutton, haunches of venison, and boars roasted whole.

Another peculiarity was his power of using the "Mohan-Astra," and the delight which he took in it. The Astras are, as we may inform our readers, a kind of weapons that one constantly meets in the ancient Hindu legends, and which at first are very puzzling. They sometimes have a palpable shape, and from their effects in burning the enemy, &c., we are led to imagine, that they are nothing but rockets or shells, and that the ancient Hindus were well acquainted with the use of gunpowder. But a further acquain tance corrects this idea. We find the operator folding his arms on the field of battle, and, by mere inward meditation, despatching the Astra, which

is to arrest or consume the hostile army. We find such elemental Astras as "Wet Thunderbolt," "Dry Thunderbolt," "Rain Astra," " Drought Astra," "Frost Astra;" such spiritual Astras as 66 Fascination," "Allurement," "Maddening," or "Intoxica tion," "Trembling" or 66 Panic;" such physiological Astras as "Overpowering with Sleep," "Quieting," and " Paralysing;" and we are forced ultimately to conclude, that the whole armoury is spiritual, and is to be interpreted by three analogies in the Eu ropean sphere of thought and experi ence-namely, magic, mesmerism, and the modern electro-biology. We subjoin here a curious list of these wea pons, taken from the Ramayana. The manuscripts vary a good deal: even the printed editions of Schlegel and Gorresio differ somewhat as to the order, the number, and the names of the Astras. There is, however, a sufficient agreement, on the whole. Gorresio's edition, the typography of which is beautiful, but in which the text is, in general, less carefully and correctly edited than Schlegel's, contains the fuller list of the two. We have constructed the subjoined catalogue of the magical armoury from a comparison of both :

LIST OF ASTRAS, OR SUPERNATURAL WEAPONS,

DELIVERED BY THE SAGE VISH

VAMITRA TO RAMA, FOR HIS COMBAT WITH THE TITANS.

RAMAYANA-ADI-KANDA-SARGA. XXIX.-ED. SCHLEGEL-XXX. ED. GORRESIO.

The Bramh Astra;' terrible to the three collected worlds.

The Astra, or Discus of Judgment;' which causes the extermination of the people.
The Astra, or Discus, of Dharma (nemesis)—like fate itself.

The irresistible Astra, or Discus, of Fate.

The etherial Discus of Vishnu; the cruel Discus of Indra.

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The Thunderbolt,' hard to resist; the excellent Trident of Shiva.'

The terrible Bramhan's Head;' the 'arrow-resembling' Astra.

The Bramhanical Astra,' incomparable; the 'Shankar-Astra,' with flaming mouth.
The two beautiful clubs, Modaki and Shikara.

The iron-headed club of Vishnu-Kaumodaki.

The Noose of Law,' and the Noose of Fate.'

The most wonderful 'Noose of Varuna' (God of the water).

The two Thunderbolts of Indra, 'Dry' and 'Wet.'

The Astra of the Trident-bearer, and the Narayan-Astra.'

The fiery Astra, called Point,' and the windy Astra, called 'Whirl-about.'

The Astras Pounding to Atoms, Shaking to Pieces,' and 'Tearing asunder of Enemies.'

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The Horse's head' Astra; the Hammer,' the 'Heron's beak.'

The two-powers (or spears), 'Not sped in vain,' and 'Victorious.'

The terrible'Skeleton Pestle,' the Bracelet of Skulls,' and the 'Tinkling Waist-Chain o Rattling Bones,' worn by the Titans.

The great Astra, called 'the Delighting' of the Vidhyadharas

(Who ascend to heaven by holding a magical pill in their mouths).

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The Casting into deep sleep' Astra, the Thoroughly quieting,' and the 'Paralysing' Astras.

The 'Solar' Astra, the 'Rain,' and the Drought' Astras.

Maddening "* Astras, dear to Cupid.
Gandharvas, called 'MOHANA,' or Fascination.'

The Burning-up' and the 'Smearing-over' Astras.
The Allurement' and the

The cherished Astra of the

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The Sura Astra, which steals away lustre and beauty; the Blasting of enemies.'
The Paishacha,' or Devil's Astra; called 'Red-flesh-eater.'

The 'Kubera' Astra (for showering gold).

The 'Rakshas,' or Titan Astra, which destroyeth the fortune, the courage, and life of one's foes.

TheFainting' Astra, the 'Whipping,' the 'Trembling,' the 'Drawing along of Enemies.' The Diluvial' Astra, the 'Whirlpool,' the Paviour.'

The 'Truth' and the Lying' Astras; the Astra of 'Maha-Maya,' or 'Great magical illusion.'

The Heroism' Astra; the 'Splendour,' the 'Abstraction of others' splendour.'

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The Moon' and the Frost' Astras; the 'Twashtra,' or Chaos-demon' Astra, powerful to enemies.

The invincible 'Smiting' Astra; the 'Daitya,' the 'Danava' Astras.
And the Cold-pointed arrow ;' the peculiar Astra of man.

The purely spiritual nature of these weapons, that they are summoned and embodied by magical incantation, dwell in the mind alone, and perform their

service by inward volition, or mental summons, is evident from the following passage, which succeeds the enumeration of the Astras :

Then, turning with his face to the east, and purified, the eminent Muni
Gave unto Rama, well pleased, the incomparable assemblage of Astras;
The apprehension of which is hard to the gods themselves.

Those Astras, then, well pleased, to Rama he orally delivered,

While the Muni, muttering, repeated the whole collection of Mantras (or spells),
The Astras appeared in embodied shape, and stood in attendance upon the Prince.
And all those Astras, rejoicing, to Rama said, with hands submissively joined,
"Here we are, most generous Raghava! Thy servants are we-command us."
Rama, accepting them graciously, and touching them with his hand,†
He thus commanded them all-"DWELL YE WITHIN MY MIND;
AND, BEING REMEMBERED, SERVE ME.”

When, by a mere volition and word spoken, the professor of biology makes his victim not only believe that it freezes, but actually shiver with cold in the midst of summer, he merely launches the "Frost Astra" at him from his mind. When he forces him to take shelter under the table from the pelting of the pitiless storm, it is "Wet Thunderbolt" and the "Rain Astra." When he causes him to feel the taste of wine from a draught of pure water, and to reel and stagger from its effects, it is the "Intoxication Astra." When he nails his foot to the floor with a word, or shuts his eyes so that he cannot open them, it is the "Paralysing Astra."

The "casting into deep sleep," the "thoroughly quieting," and the "Paralysing Astras" have their co-relatives in mesmerism, also, to which biology evidently bears some relation.

In the "burning," " whipping," "pounding to atoms," "shaking to pieces," and other Astras of physical

* Or "Intoxication.",

torture, we are reminded of the plagues with which the magician, Prospero, threatens to visit the refractory Caliban, according to the well-known practice of his profession. The Astras of "allurement,' ""fascination," "bewitching," "maddening with love," are amongst the recognised powers of magic; love itself being, indeed, an admitted magical and mesmeric power, acting through the eyes. The power of affecting the BRAIN through the optic nerve, by fixing the eye on one point, if luminous so much the better, to which the biologist resorts, and which is only another form of Mr. Braid's HYPNOTISING, and of Jacob Behmen's looking into the bright tin dish to bring on ecstacy has been exercised, time out of mind, by the ecstatic schools of India: many of the Yogis, following the advice of Krishna, in the Gita, and gazing downward on the tips of their own noses, while others squint upwards at the corner of their eyebrows. But this is a very different matter from the

† Schlegel renders it—“taking them each by the hand”—Singulos manu prehendens.

"fascination" produced by two eyes looking intently and immovably into other two eyes of a different sex, and in which the SOUL itself is affected. Upon the very natural employment, and the result of this process in lovemaking, we need not dwell. But the modern adoption of this very method to induce the mesmeric sleep is more curious, and shows that there is an undoubted relation, which it would be worth while to understand, between magic, mesmerism, fascination, and love. What renders the adoption of this mode of mesmerism by the fascination of the eye more curious, is, that we find this also mentioned as having been practised in India, more than two thousand years ago, for the purpose of fascinating and paralysing a woman; and, singular to say, in order to preserve her from the counter fascinations of a lover.

A disciple named Vipula, left in solemn charge of his master's beautiful wife, and finding her inclined to give too great heed to the compliments and flattery of a celestial visitor, who comes peacocking in all his plumery during her husband's absence from his her mitage, mesmerises and paralyses her powers so completely that she can neither speak nor move, by looking steadily

into her two eyes. The story is given in the Mahabharata in the Anushasana Parva, Adhyaya XL., and is one of the greatest curiosities in the whole circle of Hindu literature. What is not a little singular, although the method adopted by Vipula, and the effects produced upon the woman, correspond exactly with those of mesmerism, the theory is quite different, and peculiarly Hindu. It is this, that the spirit or intelligence of Vipula, forsakes his own frame, and enters that of the woman through the eyes and mouth; his own body remaining, as it were, inanimate the while. Here is the story-It is only necessary to state that Shakra is another name for Indra; the Jupiter Pluvius and Tonans of the old elemental Hindu Pantheon, but a very secondary deity-a mere angel of thunder and rain, in that form of Hinduism which superseded the Vedic, and has now reigned, with some modifications, for nearly three thousand years. He is as great a rake as Olympian Jove, whose prototype, indeed, in this respect, he is; but is more consistently represented as a beautiful celestial youth-a Giovanni descended from Swarga. He is the discomfited lover in the tale.

Vipula, the ascetic Muni, mesmerises his Preceptor's Wife (Ruchi), in order to prevent her from giving heed to the fine speeches of Indra, or Shakra.

That Vipula, mighty ascetic, SEATED NEAR his Preceptor's wife,

FASCINATED, with all his might, the beautiful woman SEATED BEFORE HIM.

WITH HIS TWO EYES UPON HER TWO EYES, RAYS UNITING WITH RAYS,

Vipula entered her body, even as the wind pervadeth the empty space,

HER SIGHT WITH HIS SIGHT, and HER MOUTH WITH HIS MOUTH (pervading.)*

Motionless, then, the Muni remained, like a shadow vanishing inward:

Then Vipula, taking under his own control the body of his Preceptor's wife,

Abode therein, intent upon keeping her safe; but SHE WAS NOT AWARE OF HIS PRESENCE. He guarded her all the time, O King, his Preceptor remained away;

Till the mighty of spirit, having accomplished his sacrifice, home returned.

XLL.

Once about then, the Lord of the Devas, assuming a body of heavenly form,

66

Thinking now is the time for me," that hermitage approached.

Making his beauty beyond compare, and much to be loved, the lord of mankind,
Becoming most lovely to look upon, entered that hermitage.

There he beheld that body of Vipula Muni seated,

Motionless and with fixed eye, as if to a statue turned!

And Ruchi, with beautiful side-long glances, with rounded form, and bosom replete with milk,

With eyes like the lotus-leaf and large, and a face that shone like the moon at its full.

* These are the very remarkable words of the original :—

Guru-patnim samasino Vipulaha sa mahatapaha
Upasinam-anindyangim yatharthe samal obhayat.
Netrabhyam netrayorasya, rashnim sanyojya rashmibhihi,
Vivesha Vipulaha kayam-akasham pavanoyatha,
Lakshanam lakshane naiva, vadanam valanenacha.

She, as soon as she looked upon him, desired to rise up precipitate,

At his beauty astonished, and wishing to say to him, "Who art thou?"

BUT THE MATRON DESIROUS OF RISING UP, BY VIPULA WAS RESTRAINED;
BOUND DOWN, O King of men, she felt unablE TO MOVE.

Her the Lord of the Devas addressed, in tender speech, surpassingly sweet

"Know me, O purely smiling, the Lord of the Devas, come hither on thy account, Suffering anguish from love, the result of my passion for thee.

That me behold in thy presence-O haste! the time is passing away.”

That Shakra, as he addressed her thus, the Muni Vipula heard;

Within the body housed of his master's wife, he beheld the Lord of the Devas.

And that unslandered woman, O King, WAS UNABLE TO GET UP :

NOR WAS SHE ABLE TO UTTER A WORD, HELD BY VIPULA UNDER CONTROL.

THE SON OF Bhrigu, LOOKING WITHIN THE FRAME OF HIS MASTER'S WIFE.

THE MOST LUMINOUS SAGE, ABOUNDING IN POWER, BY YOGA, O SOVEREIGN, BOUND HER DOWN;

HE FASTENED DOWN, BY THE BONDS OF YOGA, ALL HER ORGANS OF SENSE.

The husband of Sachi, seeing her void of emotion, again

Addressed her, abashed, O King, AS FASCINATED SHE SAT BY THE power of YOGA.

Then she wished to reply to him" Come, O come!"

But Vipula CHANGED THAT SPEECH OF HIS MASTER'S WIFE,

And "Pray, Sir, what is the cause of your coming?" This reply,

Adorning her matron purity, went forth from her moon-like mouth.

But she was abashed, HAVING UTTERED THAT SPEECH WHILE UNDER ANOTHER'S CONTROL;

And the Shaker of Cities, standing there, became perplexed exceedingly.

That King of the Devas, O lord of men, perceiving this her aversion,

The Thousand-eyed One, then giving a glance with his [inward] celestial eye,

Beheld the Muni within her body, visible before him,

Like an image within a mirror, reflected him within the body of his Preceptor's wife;

With terrific mortification armed, the Shaker of Cities beholding,

Then trembled he, Sovereign, greatly alarmed, and dreading his terrible curse:

But, releasing the wife of his ghostly Preceptor, Vipula, glorious ascetic,

Entering his proper body again, thus spoke to the terrified Shakra

"O slave of thy senses, evil-disposed, sin-breathing Shaker of Citics!

Not long will the gods and men continue to worship thee!

What! Shakra, hast thou forgotten, is it not fixed in thy mind,

That thou by Gautama wert let go, branded all over with marks of shame?

I know thee, the lord of the boyish intellect, and the spirit uncollected:

Fool! this woman by me is guarded-begone as thou camest, mischievous wretch!

Thee let me not, O foolish of spirit, this day consume with my holy radiance.
Feeling compassion, I do not wish, O Vasava, to burn thee.

But if the more terrible Lord of Mind, the Preceptor, see thee sin devising,

He will this day consume thee utterly with an anger-enkindled eye:

And, Shakra, thou oughtest not to act thus again; but shouldest respect the Bramhans.

He, whom the Scripture calleth my son and minister,' smites with the power of God:
And for that thou goest forward [to sin] confiding in this idea, I am immortal.'
Beware and do not despise! there is nothing whatever too hard to accomplish by peniten-
tial austerities."

Shakra, on hearing this speech of Vipula, mighty in spirit,
Without uttering a single word, abashed, vanished on the spot.

To return, however, from this tale of fascination to the Astras. Among the list of these spiritual weapons, one, it will be observed, is described as preeminently the human Astra, and that is "the cold pointed arrow." This, it must be confessed, looks very like the "cold steel" which was such a favourite resource with our illustrious countryman, Lord Gough, and we are almost tempted to doubt its spirituality. But some undoubtedly spiritual are of a very formidable class. We have the "Smiting" or "Killing" Astra, like that exercised by the professors of

black magic; the "Trembling" Astra, which scattered panic among an enemy; the Astra of "Fainting" or "Insensibility," which struck the victim senseless in a moment the "blasting of enemies," some reminiscence or presentiment of which is expressed in the language of popular execration among ourselves.

Then, again, we have a class of goblin Astras, which must have operated terribly upon the imagination, such as the Devil's Astra, "red flesh-eater," and the Rakshas Astra of "KankalaMushala," which Schlegel translates

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