Mandara

“ The Mandara mountain is said to have been the resort of the remnants of men at the great deluge, and was used by them as their churning stick, to recover their lost properties from the depth of the waters. ”

“ That is, Mandára, one of the five ever-blooming trees of Nandana, or Swarga, Indra's heaven. The two most celebrated of these trees were the Párijáta and the Kalpa-druma, or tree granting all desires. Each of the superior Hindú gods has a heaven, paradise, or elysium of his own. ”

“ In the Cosmogony the gods are the sons of the
Manes, xii. 312. 9.]
[Footnote 18: When the gods churn the ocean to get ambrosia,
an ancient tale of the epic, Mandara is the twirling-stick.
It is situated in modern Beh [=a] r, near Bhagalpur.]
[Footnote 19: III. 42; 139. 14, where the Ganges and Jumna are invoked together with the Vedic gods. So in III. 104 (Vindhya) ; and Damayanti prays to mountains. Mt. Meru is described in III. 163. 14 (compare I. 17. 5 ff.) . In I. 18. 1 ff., is related the churning of the ocean, where Indra (vs. 12) places Mt. Mandara on Vishnu, the tortoise.] ”

“ For all sciences are destroyed by crossing this dwelling-place of Śiva. So you must pass to the other side of the mountain by the cave of Triśírsha. And it is guarded by a king named Devamáya, who is exceedingly haughty; so how can you advance further without conquering him?” When Mandara said this, Dhanavatí approved it, and Naraváhanadatta waited there for a day. ”

“ Mr. Johnston purchased a site for his plantation after some bargaining, and then settled down to work. Mandara presented the stranger with a cow and some goats and sheep, the Zanzibari porters built houses, a kitchen garden was started with a great variety of seeds of the tropical [Pg 426] and temperate zones, and before a week had passed the explorer was eating a salad of his own growing. At first he was greatly annoyed by the attendants of Mandara's court, who came daily to him on begging excursions. ”

“ It was a great pity that we had purposely avoided the more frequented and general road, which passes by several settlements of the Fúlbe or Felláta, in order not to give any trouble to the latter; for no doubt that tract would have been far more interesting, as well from a natural point of view, as with regard to the political state of the country, as it would have given us the clearest insight into the way in which that enterprising and restless people is pushing on every day more and more, and strangling, as it were, the little kingdom of Mándará. ”

“ Then even the gods in the air fled in all directions, seeing that Dhanavatí, if angry, had power to destroy a world.
But Mandaradeva, seeing that the emperor Naraváhanadatta was left alone, ran upon him with uplifted weapon. Naraváhanadatta, for his part, descended from his chariot, and drawing the sword which was one of his imperial jewels, quickly met him. Then Mandaradeva, wishing to gain the victory by magic arts, assumed by his science the form of a furious elephant maddened with passion. ”

“ Mandaras has no sooner landed than he is accosted by two clerics (ordensgeistliche) , who wish to acquire the honour and glory of making a convert. But, unhappily for their success, like his predecessor Amabed, he had already [Pg 275] on his voyage discovered that the religion of the people, among whom he was destined to reside, did not exclude certain horrible barbarisms hitherto unknown to him in his own unchristian land:—
“While still on board ship I had been startled when I saw the rest of the passengers feeding on the flesh of animals. ”

“ Listen, I will tell you the whole story. I am in the habit of wandering about the whole of this earth and the islands, for the sake of visiting sacred bathing-places and other holy spots. And in the course of my travels I happened to visit Hansadvípa. There I saw the daughter of king Mandáradeva, a suitable match for the sons of gods, not to be beheld by those who have done evil works; she bears the name of Mandáravatí, and has a form as charming as the presiding goddess of the garden of the gods ”

“ And the next day, hearing from the scouts that Mandaradeva, having found out what had taken place, was advancing to meet him in fight, Naraváhanadatta marched out against him with the chiefs of the Vidyádharas, determined to conquer him. And after he had gone some distance, he beheld in front of him the army of Mandaradeva, accompanied by many kings, attacking in order of battle. Then Naraváhanadatta, with the allied kings at his side, drew up his forces in an arrangement fitted to encounter the formation of his enemies, and fell upon his army. ”

“ According to Gessi, they are immigrants from Baghirmi, near Lake Tsad, who, flying from the slave-traders, took refuge in a country which, however, had been most devastated by the slavers. It was a hunting-ground where the Sultan of Darfur formerly hunted human beings to pay his debts. The Mandaras are nearly all Mahommedans, like their neighbours on the banks of the Bahr-el-Arab. They have allied themselves with the Baggara and Nuer to attack the Egyptian garrisons in the riverain ”

“ Leaving the mercantile and moneyed classes, and coming to the rank and file, there are in Mandalay some thousands of natives from many different parts of India, speaking many languages, and engaging in a great variety of callings. Europeans often think of India as a country, but it is really a continent, and has as great, if not a far greater, variety of peoples and tribes than Europe presents. There is the Bengalee Baboo, probably a clerk, the Hindustanee doorkeeper or messenger, the Tamil overseer or coolie. Even in our Sepoy army in Mandalay one sees great variety. ”

“ Thirty years had passed over Mandu since that strange time of death, when, in a single day and night, a Rajah, his minister, his Ranee, and his favorite slave had perished, each in his own way. During those thirty years Bhavani, the only son of Rai-Khizar-Pál, had been nominal ruler of Mandu. A boy of eleven at the time of his father’s death, he had of his own will placed himself and Mandu under the guardianship of Manava, a minister grown old in service, who acted as regent till, on his twentieth birthday, the young man took the cares of government upon his own shoulders. ”

“ The Mandans (people of the pheasants) were the first people created in the world, and they originally lived inside of the earth; they raised many179 vines, and one of them had grown up through a hole in the earth, over head, and one of their young men climbed up it until he came out on the top of the ground, on the bank of the river, where the Mandan village stands. He looked around, and admired the beautiful country and prairies about him—saw many buffaloes—killed one with his bow and arrows, and found that its meat was good to eat. ”

“ It is not, however, certain that the Hebrew word “dudaim” should be translated mandrake. Various Biblical scholars have questioned this which was the Septuagint rendering. Lilies, violets, truffles, citrons, and other fruits have been suggested. In Cant., vii, 14, the same plant is described as fragrant, and the odour of the mandrake is said to be disagreeable. Mandragora is described in Chinese books of medicine, and from Hippocrates down to almost modern times every writer on the art of healing treats it with reverence. ”

“ The Mandan tribe differed materially in its habits and customs from the Indians to the north, who supported themselves mainly, if not entirely, by hunting, who cared very little for agriculture, and moved continually like nomads over great stretches of country, living chiefly in tents or temporary villages. The Mandans, on the other hand, were a people who practised agriculture, and had permanent and well-constructed towns. ”

“ Fidá el-Asra, thou hast been in Mandu, in my service, scarce half a year as yet; but because thou art of high birth and noble training, I repose confidence in thee. I cannot take thee with me upon my campaign, because I should fear to lose thee in the north. But, in leaving thee behind, I am about to place thee in a position of great trust. Manava, whom thou seest standing upon my right hand, is, in my absence, to be part ruler of Mandu. To Kasya here, my faithful eunuch, I intrust the guardianship of my women. ”

“ The mandrake, like the moly, the magical herb of the Odyssey, is ‘hard for men to dig.’ He who desires to possess a mandrake must stop his ears with wax, so that he may not hear the deathly yells which the plant utters as it is being dragged out of the earth. Then before sunrise, on a Friday, the amateur goes out with a dog, ‘all black,’ makes three crosses round the mandrake, loosens the soil about the root, ties the root to the dog’s tail, and offers the beast a piece of bread. The dog runs at the bread, drags out the mandrake root, and falls dead, killed by the horrible yell of the plant. ”

“ The Padada people say the term diwata is a name which may be applied to the timanEm, of whom there are two, a male and a female.
Mandalangan, also called Siling or Manobo Siring, is much like the Bagobo divinity of similar name. He is fond of war and bloodshed and when there has been a great slaughter he feasts on the flesh and drinks of the blood of the slain. Only warriors can address him and make the offerings of red food which he demands. Once a year, usually after the rice harvest and when the moon is full, a raid must be made and victims slain so that this spirit can feast. ”

“ One of love and woman's power,
To Mandalla's sleeping hour.
Joyless and dark was his jewelled throne
When Mandalla awakened and found him alone.
He drank the perfume that around him swept,
'Twas not sweet as the sigh he drank as he slept;
There was music, but where was the voice, at whose thrill
Every pulse in his veins was throbbing still?
Dim was the home at his native star
While the light of woman and love was afar;
And lips of the rosebud, and violet eyes
Are the sunniest flowers in Paradise. ”

“ The southern end of Mandalay touches the northern limit of Amarapoora, which was the capital up to 1860. Here are to be seen the remains of a great royal city nearly as large as that at Mandalay, and after the same model exactly,—square; set so as to face the four cardinal points; the ruins of a great wall around; a deep moat outside, now dry; the palace in the centre; pagodas and other sacred buildings here and there, scattered over the place; and everywhere broken bricks strewn about; some of the ground now cultivated, and the rest covered with dense tangled jungle ”

“ Like baboons, mandrills appear to be indiscriminate eaters, feeding on fruit, roots, reptiles, insects, scorpions, &c., and inhabit open rocky ground rather than forests. Not much is known of the mandrill’s habits in the wild state, nor of the exact limits of its geographical distribution; the specimens brought to Europe coming from the west coast of tropical Africa, from Guinea to the Gaboon. (See also Primates.)
(W. H. F.; R. L.*)
MANDU, or Mandogarh, a ruined city in the Dhar state of Central India, the ancient capital of the Mahommedan kingdom of Malwa. ”

“ On entering this vast city in its present state of solitude (the natives call it the "dead town") we all experienced a peculiar feeling, not unlike the sensation of a man who enters Pompeii for the first time. Everything shows that Mandu was once one of the wealthiest towns of India. The town wall is thirty-seven miles long. Streets ran whole miles, on their sides stand ruined palaces, and marble pillars lie on the ground. Black excavations of the subterranean halls, in the coolness of which rich ladies spent the hottest hours of the day, peer from under dilapidated granite walls. ”

“ At the foot of Mandalay hill is a temple with a large seated statue of Buddha, carved from the white marble of the Tsagain hills. The [Pg 16] hill itself is crowned by a gilded pagoda, and a statue of Buddha. The Golden King stands with outstretched finger pointing down to the golden htee that marks the royal abode, the centre of the city and of the Burman kingdom.
On the hill is a vast colony of fowls, numbers of which are purchased by the royal piety every morning, and maintained at the king’s expense. ”

“ The population of Mandalay is principally Burmese, as might be expected; but there are great numbers of Chinese living there, and most of the commerce of the place is in their hands. Then there are many Malays, and people from other parts of Asia; as for the Europeans, there are not more than twenty or thirty, and they include a few men engaged in trade, two or three missionaries, and the English resident and his official assistants. At present there is not a single European in Mandalay, as you are already aware, on account of the danger of war with King Theebaw. ”

“ MANDAN CHIEF. At a period late in the twenties, the Mandans, one of the most intelligent tribes of Indians on the continent, were almost swept out of existence by the smallpox. The story comes down to us in the form of a tradition among other savages, but it is nevertheless true, as there are a few old trappers yet living who remember all the particulars of the event. ”

“ The Mandan tribe of Indians has always been more or less of a mystery to those historians who have tried to figure where the people inhabiting the country at the time of the discovery of America, and its later development, originally came from. They were of a much lighter hue than any of the other Indians, and, while some students have declared their positive belief that they must have sprung from the lost tribe of Israel, others claim to see certain similarities in customs and even language between the Mandans and the Welsh. ”