Phutra

“ Out into the broad avenue they conducted me, where, amid huge throngs of Mahars, Sagoths, and heavily guarded slaves, I was led, or, rather, pushed and shoved roughly, along in the same direction that the mob moved. I had seen such a concourse of people once before in the buried city of Phutra; I guessed, and rightly, that we were bound for the great arena where slaves who are condemned to death meet their end. ”

“ The Mahars of Phutra are not supposed to eat human flesh, yet slaves are brought here by thousands and almost always you will find Mahars on hand to consume them. I imagine that they do not bring their Sagoths here, because they are ashamed of the practice, which is supposed to obtain only among the least advanced of their race ”

“ I laughed, “whether we be walking with our feet up or down, here we are, and the question of greatest importance is not so much where we came from as where we are going now. For my part I wish that you could guide me to Phutra where I may give myself up to the Mahars once more that my friends and I may work out the plan of escape which the Sagoths interrupted when they gathered us together and drove us to the arena to witness the punishment of the slaves who killed the guardsman. ”

“ Whether a male or a female, whatever sins one may commit since birth, are all destroyed as soon as one batheth in Pushkara. As the slayer of Madhu is the foremost of all the celestials, so is Pushkara, O king, the foremost of all tirthas. A man by residing with purity and regulated vows for twelve years in Pushkara, acquireth the merit of all the sacrifices, and goeth to the abode of Brahma. The merit of one who performeth the Agni-hotra for full one hundred years, is equal to that of him who resideth for the single month of Karttika in Pushkara. ”

“ Curious to know why even he had been forbidden to enter at that time without any apparent reason, Pushpadanta immediately entered, making use of his magic power attained by devotion to prevent his being seen, and when he had thus entered, he heard all the extraordinary and wonderful adventures of the seven Vidyádharas being narrated by the trident-bearing god, and having heard them he in turn went and narrated them to his wife Jayá; for who can hide wealth or a secret from women? ”

“ Do not wander in the night through a strange city, for Thou wilt fall into the hands of the police or of thieves, but make use of that which the gods give thee at home. Dost Thou wish?"
"But will thy daughter go with me to Harran?" inquired Phut.
The innkeeper looked at him with astonishment. All at once he struck his forehead, as if he had divined a secret, and seizing the traveler by the hand, he drew him to a quieter place at the window.
"I know all," whispered he, excitedly. "Thou art dealing in women. ”

“ Seldom are the tales of the gods indecent. The story of Praj [=a] pati's incest with his daughter is a remnant of nature worship which survives, in more or less anthropomorphic form, from the time of the Rig Veda (x. 61.) to that of mediaeval literature, [38] and is found in full in the epic, as in the Brahmanic period; but the story always ends with the horror of the gods at the act. [39]
Old legends are varied. The victory over Vritra is now expounded thus: Indra, who slays Vritra, is the sun. Vritra is the moon, who swims into the sun's mouth on the night of the new moon. ”

“ This entity is neither matter nor spirit; it is neither Ego nor non-Ego; and it is neither object nor subject. In the language of Hindn philosophers it is the original and eternal combination of Purusha and Prakriti. As the Adwaitees hold that an external object is merely the product of our mental state, Prakriti is nothing more than illusion, and Purush ia the only reality; it is the one existence which remains eternal in this universe of Ideals. ”

“ It is the Purushottama beyond the Self that acts not, beyond the Prakriti that acts, foundation of the one, master of the other, the Lord of whom all is the mani- festation, who even in our present subjection to Maya sits in the heart of His creatures governing the works of Prakriti, He by whom the armies on the field of Kurukshetra have already been slain while yet they live and who uses Arjuna only as an instrument or immediate, occasion of this great slaughter. ”

“ With these words, the hermit Nárada cheered up Purúravas, and then went with him into the presence of the king of the gods.
Then he communicated the order of Vishṇu to Indra, who received it with reverent mind, and so the hermit caused Urvaśí to be given to Purúravas. That gift of Urvaśí deprived the inhabitants of heaven of life, but it was to Urvaśí herself an elixir to restore her to life. Then Purúravas returned with her to the earth, exhibiting to the eyes of mortals the wonderful spectacle of a heavenly bride. ”

“ But in our case, there are no grounds for suspecting the correctness of so general and old a tradition as that about the Pûrvas. For the Aṅgas do not derive their authority from the Pûrvas, but are believed to be coeval with the creation of the world. As a fraud, the tradition about the Pûrvas would therefore be unintelligible; but accepted as truth, it well falls in with our views about the development of the Gaina literature. The name itself testifies to the fact that the Pûrvas were superseded by a new canon, for pûrva means former, earlier ”

“ Vedic Mythology, p. 66.
In reading the Indra hymns in the Veda, and in trying to fit them to the explanation given in the passages quoted, a constant and very disagreeable strain is put on the imagination; it must, for instance, attempt to grasp and hold, at the same time, two very far apart opinions as to the nature of the demon Vritra. Vritra is to be thought of as a demon of darkness, and as a demon of drought; the cows are clouds, they are also ruddy beams of light!
Darkness and drought are not to be easily [115] bracketed together. ”

“ Pushkara-dvîpa is a terrestrial paradise: the inhabitants live a thousand years, are of the same nature as the gods and free from sorrow and sin. "The three Vedas, the Purânas, Ethics and Polity are unknown" among them and "there are no distinctions of caste or order: there are no fixed institutes." The turn of fancy which located this non-Brahmanic Utopia in the north seems akin to that which led the Greeks to talk of Hyperboreans. ”

“ As both Poles belong to the same and one earth, so spirit and matter, or Purusha and Prakriti, are the two ends that lose themselves, in the eternity of unmanifested and the cycles of manifested matter. But like some of our distinguished Western metaphysicians, our opponent seems to regard matter and energy as two distinct things, whereas the Esoteric doctrine recognizes but one substratum for everything visible as invisible—"Purush-Prakriti" and vice versa. ”

“ If there were only one Purusha, there would not be this central independence and separativeness, but all would see the world in an identical fashion and with a common subjectivity and objectivity. Because Prakriti is one, all witness the same world ; because her principles are everywhere the same, the general principles which constitute internal and external experience are the same for all ”

“ Pushpavati—for that was the name of the young lady that had been brought from beyond the ocean—told the king—for she knew the whole history—how his seventh queen had been persuaded by the other six queens to ring the bell twice before her time, how she was delivered of a beautiful boy and girl, how pups were substituted in their room, how the twins were saved in a miraculous manner in the house of the potter, how they were well treated in the bazaar, and how the youth with the moon on his forehead rescued her from the clutches of the Rakshasas. ”

“ Futteghur, as will be seen by reference to a map, is situated higher up the Ganges than Cawnpore, near Furruckabad. Practically, it is not so much a distinct town, as the military station or cantonment for the place last named. Furruckabad itself is a city of sixty thousand inhabitants; handsome, cleaner, and more healthy than most Indian cities, carrying on a considerable trading and banking business, and standing in the centre of a fertile and cultivated region. ”

“ Men of self-control, by even thinking mentally of Pushkara, are cleansed from their sins, and regarded in heaven. O king, the illustrious grand-sire having the lotus for his seat, had dwelt with great pleasure in this tirtha. O blessed one, it was in Pushkara that the gods with the Rishis having acquired of old great merit, finally obtained the highest success. The person who, devoted to the worship of the gods and the Pitris, batheth in this tirtha, obtaineth, it hath been said by the wise, merit that is equal to ten times that of the horse-sacrifice. ”

“ Think for a moment of those days at Cruta. Did I not refuse to confess you? Why? You know! Because of those long, dreamy days we spent together, not as priest and penitent, but as man and woman. Do you remember them—the cliffs, with their giant shadows standing out across the blue waters of the harbour; the hollows, where we sat amongst the perfumed wild flowers, gazing across the sea, and watching the white sails in the distance; the nights, with their white moonlight and silent grandeur! Ay, Adrea! look me in the face, if you can, and tell me that you have forgotten them! You cannot! ”

“ The more so because this shadow of hidden virtue fettered me in argument, for Futteh Deen was an eager patriot, full of enthusiasms for India and the Indians. Once the sham fortifications were scaled, he assured me that Hindustan, and above all its women, would come to the front and put the universe to shame. Yet, despite his successes, he looked haggard and anxious; at the time I thought it was too much progress and plum-pudding combined, but afterwards I came to the conclusion that his conscience was ill at ease, even then. ”

“ When it is done, ask Hrut if that were rightly summoned, and he will answer, `There is no flaw to be found in it.' Then thou shalt say in a loud voice, so that thy companions may hear, `I summon thee in the suit which Unna, Mord's daughter, has made over to me with her plighted hand.'
"But when men are sound asleep, you shall rise and take your bridles and saddles, and tread softly, and go out of the house, and put your saddles on your fat horses in the fields, and so ride off on them, but leave the others behind you. ”

“ I tell thee thy trouble will pass over, and thou wilt find thyself high in favor with the Rani. In the meantime enjoy thy enforced absence from her court as becomes a noble of high spirit. Drink of the Foreigner's spirits, and," he added in a lower tone, "if thou wilt, of the charms of the fair Ganga. There are hundreds who would envy thy present opportunity."
"A curse upon all this mischief," Prasad returned impatiently.
"Hath not the learned astrologer told thee all will come well"? asked the Mohammedan reassuringly. ”

“ The Rani drew from her girdle Prasad's dagger, and gazed upon it thoughtfully.
"Keen is this blade," she murmured, "and relentless. Ah Prasad! How hath this day gone with thee, I wonder? Far hence our next meeting may be destined to take place. If living, I pray thou hast redeemed thine honor by a score of wounds. If dead, that thy body lies upon the field of battle." ”

“ Young Bhavani wanders by accident into Ragunáth’s rooms. My lord himself goes for a walk. By accident he meets the Ranee Ahalya in the poppy field. They scarcely speak. She returns home with her woman and me;—my lord remains there on whatever business is his. Bah, Kasya! The fool is punished now. Doubt it not. The Ranee can lash a man with her eyes, an she will; and Ragunáth was not favored to-day. I swear that by Lakshmi. A turmoil is never the result of wisdom. Let it rest, Kasya.”
Churi was committed in good earnest, now. For his own sake the affair must not go up to the Rajah. ”

“ It is the self-centred, self-satisfied light, which never seeks any other end and never leaves itself. But prakṛti is not such; it is always undergoing endless, complex modifications and as such does not exist for itself but for purusha, and is dependent upon him. The mind is unconscious, while purusha is the pure light of intelligence, for the three guṇas are all non-intelligent, and the mind is nothing but a modification of these three guṇas which are all non-intelligent. ”

“ Prasad waved his hand impatiently.
"Tell me quickly," he cried. "Bad news is like decaying fruit. It becomes the more rotten with the keeping. Did the Rani refuse to hearken to my request"?
"Aye, she did even more than that," came the reply. "She refused to have thy name mentioned in her presence."
"So"! ejaculated Prasad. "What else hast thou to tell, my emissary"?
"Why, good Prasad, as I hold thy interest at heart it pains me deeply to speak thus, but it doth seem the Rani hath cast herself body and soul into the arms of this new favorite, Dost Ali. ”

“ Purusha is unchanging. It is the light which remains unchanged amidst all the changing modifications of the mind, so that we cannot distinguish purusha separately from the mind. This is what is meant by saying buddheḥ pratisaṃvedī purushaḥ, i.e. purusha reflects or turns into its own light the concepts of mind and thus is said to know it. Its knowing is manifested in our consciousness as the ever-persistent notion of the self, which is always a constant factor in all the phenomena of consciousness. Thus purusha always appears in our consciousness as the knowing agent. ”

“ It generally happens that when such signs manifest themselves, the king cometh by a terrible calamity, and may meet with death itself. Therefore, O Rāghava, my thoughts change, be thou installed (in the kingdom) , for fickle is the mind of all creatures. To-day, before meeting Pushyā, the moon, has entered the Punarvasu asterism; and the astrologers say that to-morrow it will certainly be in conjunction with Pushyā. My heart urgeth me to instal thee during the Pushyā conjunction, so Oh! afflicter of foes, I shall instal thee to-morrow as heir- apparent. ”