thology. According to Irish tradition, the black BoG RUSH (schoenus nigricans) furnishes the shaft of the elf arrows, which are tipped with white flint, and bathed in the dew that lies on the hemlock. And in Sweden the Elle maidens, or Elfin women, are represented as bearing in their hands and on their heads plaits of the COMMON RUSH (juncus effusus). It is the pith of this species which is the best adapted of all the rush tribe for making wicks for our night lights, by whose gleams the thoughtful watcher sees SHADOWS ON THE WALL. M. E. M. When busy day hath sunk to sleep, Their shadows on the wall. Thus to our soul in musings come The phantoms of the past; They come, but show in mem'ry's light, And they, the parted, and the dead, Around them still Love's light is shed, How dim and silent,all; Like shadows on the wall. The radiant sun of glowing days, They shine, too sure they image there Lights of this world! since thus ye be O for yon realm, wherein to see A better light display'd! There tears and sorrows pass away, REEDS, the near neighbours of rushes, have likewise their anecdotes and reminiscences. Ovid has thus fabled their origin: Syrinx, a beautiful Naiad, was beloved by Pan, but treated him with disdain, and fled from him. Her flight, however, being stopped by the river Ladon (of Arcadia), she invoked the aid of the river nymphs, and they transformed her into a bunch of reeds. As Pan lingered on the bank, bewailing her loss, he heard the reeds, moved by the breeze, emit a low, mournful, but musical sound. He improved the idea thus presented to him, and framed the rustic pipe of seven unequal reeds, cemented with wax, with which he is usually represented by painters and sculptors, and which was called after the name of the Naiad. * The reeds of the river Cephisus, in Boeotia, were celebrated for yielding material for pipes and flutes, that excelled all others. Midas, King of Phrygia, being called upon by Apollo and Pan to decide between them in a musical contest for superiority, was so tasteless as to award the preference to Pan and his pipe over Apollo and his lyre. Apollo was so displeased with the unwise connoisseur, that he affixed a pair of asses' ears to his head. Midas endeavoured to conceal his disgrace by letting his hair grow long, and made his barber swear solemnly never to divulge it to any human being. The man, overpowered with the weight of the royal confidence, and at length unable to contain it unspoken, yet dreading the consequence of telling it to any person who might repeat it, bethought himself of a middle course; and digging a hole in the ground, he whispered into it, "King Midas has the ears of an ass," and then closed up the hole. But a bunch of reeds grew up from it, which, whenever stirred by the lightest breeze, murmured, audibly and distinctly, the words of the barber, and gave publicity to the mystery-a lesson to those who have the keeping of State secrets. Crowns of reeds were worn by the Tritons and submarine deities in the classic mythology. Reeds were said by the Greeks to have tended to subjugate nations by Dum que ibi suspirat, motos in arundine ventos Arte nova vocisque deum dulcidine captum Hoc mihi consilium tecum, dixisset, manebit," &c.-Ovid Metam. lib. i. furnishing arrows for war; to soften their manners by the means of music, and to enlighten their understandings by supplying implements for writing for pens* * of quills are of much later introduction among scribes than the writing-reeds. These three modes of employment for reeds mark three dif ferent stages in civilisation. A reed of an unknown species, found drifted on the shore of one of the Canary isles, inspired Columbus with the idea of a new world to the west. A pretty French device represents a reed on the margin of a lake, shaken by the winds; motto, "souvent agité, jamais abattu" (often agitated, never cast down). The REED-MACE (typha latifolia) is a showy aquatic plant, from three feet to six feet high, with a round, smooth, leafy stem, and handsome leaves, sword-shaped below and flat above. It is usually represented by painters in the hand of our Lord, as supposed to be the reed with which he was smitten by the Roman soldiers, and on which the sponge filled with vinegar was reached to him. In Poland, where the plant is not to be had, or is very rare, artists substitute for it the stalk of the leek in flower. Many foreign reeds are of much utility. We need only mention the names of the sugar-cane ; those noble Indian reeds, the bamboos; and the famous Egyptian papyrus, whence our "paper" is derived, and which, though once so abundant in Egypt, has now become very rare. Reeds being aquatic plants, we will terminate our notice of them by a translation of a little poem on a rivulet, with which we conclude this paper, because it speaks peaceful and auspicious words: THE RIVULET. FROM THE GERMAN OF FREDERICK LEOPOLD, COUNT OF STOLBERG.† (Trautes Roschen, sich wie hell, &c.) See, dearest! how the streamlet clear Where blue forget-me-nots are growing, But sweeter far to me the stream It doth our own calm life resemble: Beneath my upturn'd eyelids tremble. THE DREAM OF RAVAN-A MYSTERY. PART IV. ANANTA RISHI COMMENCES THE SYMBOLIC INTERPRETATION OF THE DREAM-A HINDU SAGE'S VIEWS OF HUMAN LIFE-GLIMPSES OF VEDANTIC PHILOSOPHY. THE morning following the night on which Ravan had concluded the narration of his dream, rose with that full flush of orient splendour which is only to be witnessed in the East; where the magnificence and grateful coolness of the hours of sunrise and sunset, and the pearly lustre of the clear moonlight nights, come, in accordance with that remarkable principle of compensation which pervades all the arrangements of the universe, to atone for the dazzling glare, the oppressive heat, and the listless monotony of the tropical day. Long before the first glimmer of the dawn reddened the tops of the eastern hills, or flung a glow upon the waters, the symptoms of the coming day began to show themselves. The flying foxes, or supposed vampire bats, that had been out all night preying upon the ripening custard-apples and other fruit in the orchards round the city, or stealing the toddy or palm wine from the gourd-vessels in which it was extracted, as by so many cupping-glasses, from the incised tops of the palm-trees, now flocked screeching home to the old banyan and other trees that surrounded * From penna, a quill or feather. † He died in 1819. the tanks and temples of Lanka; and hanging themselves up in the branches, by the hooks attached to the extremity of their leathern wings, with their heads downward, gave themselves up to an unmolested sleep for the day. The long thin earthworms, leaving their holes, could be seen by the early traveller crossing all the roads and bypaths outside the city, all laboriously winding along in one direction, as if performing some painful penance, renewed daily before the dawn. Flocks of pigeons, waking up from their slumber, covered the tops of the houses and temples, or winged their flight to the gardens. Here and there, upon the roof of house or temple, a peacock might be seen stalking in his gorgeous beauty, or heard screaming from his metallic throat. The water-carriers, with their bellcollared bullocks, trudged hastily through the dusky streets, anxious to fill their water-skins at the tanks and fountains of the city ere the sun rose. The Titan youth galloped out, or drove their war-chariots to the plains outside the city wall, to exercise their steeds, or practise archery; while at every well and tank throughout and round the city were gathered crowds of early women, youthful and aged, withering and blooming, come to fill their pitchers; and mixed with them crowds of Brahmins, young and old, performing their ablutions without taking off the garments that cinctured their waists and descended to their ankles, and intent on contemplation; for, as already remarked, the Titanic court attracted to its neighbourhood crowds of priests, and devotees, and holy men, anxious, doubtless, to convert such eminent sinners. The outposts of the two armies were now near each other; and as the sun became visible above the hills, deep rolls of the nagara drum, and a simultaneous burst of martial music rose from either camp to greet its appearance; and this was soon followed by the whole auxiliary army of monkeys, who lay encamped next to the Titan forces, singing the Bhupali, or morning hymn, in honour of Rama, and their own enterprising leader, Hanuman. THE CHORUS OF MONKEYS SINGING THE BHUPALI, OR MATIN HYMN, TO RAMA. Rama in his whole body of an azure hue! Yellow ornaments of gold thereon! There the sparkling of many gems! There jewels beautifully show! A yellow tiara cresting a yellow crown: Yellow saffron on his forehead streaked. The splendour of yellow earrings; Yellow wreaths of wild flowers round his neck. A garment of yellow silk around his loins: A yellow bangle on his ankle-worn as a badge of excellence: Yellow armlets tinkle. A yellow medal beautifies his arm. A yellow hero's bracelet on his wrist. Wearing yellow signet rings; A yellow bow and arrows in his hand. A yellow pavilion wide outspread; Rama, Sita, Lakshmana seated thereupon; Dasa, which signifies slave or devoted worshipper, is also the name of the author. The yellow complexion of this hymn has probably a mystic, as well as pictorial, sense; for Dnyanadeva, in describing the five successive phases of, or stages of transit to, the beatific vision of spirit, makes the last and central one yellow, thus Red, white, grey, blue, the colour; VOL. XLIII.-NO. CCLVI. 2 H This note of defiance was answered by the Rakshas warriors singing, in return, the Bhupali, or matin hymn in honour of Krishna, the eighth and greatest Avatar, who had not yet appeared on earth. Since the two armies had come into this close vicinity, the Titan chiefs had from policy studied to imitate all the discipline, the regular ordinances, and the religious observances of the hostile army, which brought with it to the south of the peninsula all the institutions of the Aryan or Brahminical civilisation, and introduced them even among the auxiliary army of monkeys whom Sugriva, the king of Monkeydom, and Hanuman, his prime minister, led on to the assistance of Rama. [In these fighting, debating, and devout monkeys, we see probably the wild. aboriginal tribes of Southern India, whom Rama in his march southward from Oude encountered, won over to a state of semi-civilisation, attached to his person, and engaged in his aid in his expedition against Ravan, the giant monarch of Lanka, or Ceylon. Their descendants may still be seen in the Bheels, Colis, and other hill-tribes, who possess still the wild habits and agility of their monkey ancestors.] But as all the songs and hymns in the invading force were connected with praise and worship of Rama as the seventh Avatar of Vishnu, the wily counsellors of Ravan advised him at once to counteract the effect of this religious enthusiasm in favour of Rama, and to disparage him in the eyes of the Titans, if not of his own troops, by celebrating with constant and ostentatious honours and worship that greater Avatar, Krishna, who was to succeed Rama, and surpass him by the totality of his divinity. The result was, that while the Titans were fighting against one manifestation of Vishnu, they were singing hymns in honour of the other. And never was Krishna worshipped with so much ardour by devout men, while upon earth, as he was, before he was born, by this generation of Titans [naturally the enemies of all the celestials], from pure enmity to Rama. Hatred, or rather political rivalry, had blinded their intellects, and they perceived not that Rama and Krishna— and Hari, and Narhari, and Vamanaare all but different names of the one eternal Vishnu, the pervading and immanent spirit, who assumes many forms on earth for the sake of his sincere worshippers, the extirpation of evil and Titanic oppression, the maintenance of virtue and religion, and the protection of cows and Brahmins. From the eternal Bhagavata, and from Maricha and his clairvoyant disciples, who could look with clearness into futurity, and transport themselves at pleasure into any age- and in this instance made it their special business to instruct them they knew all the predestined events of Krishna's life, were familiar with all his words to his beloved friend and disciple Arjuna; and with the songs and hymns that in future ages should be sung in his praise by his young playfellows the Gopalas, or herdsmen; by the enamoured Gopis, or herdswomen of Gokula, and by pious men through all succeeding time. From these they selected, on this occasion, the following Bhupali, or matin hymn, which his foster-mother Yashoda in after ages sung to his cradle, and which to this day is often sung by the sari-clad maidens and matrons of Hindustan as their morning tribute of devotion, after they have darkened their eyelashes with powder of antimony, and adorned their hair with a circlet of white jasmine flowers, or pale yellow blossoms from the beautiful and fra grant champa: THE CHORUS OF TITANS SING THE BHUPALI, OR MATIN HYMN, TO KRISHNA. Arise! arise! dear wearer of the wild-flower garland, Fondle thy mother's cheek. The sun has risen above the orient hills, II. Awake thou whose colour is the dark purple of the thunder-cloud, Haste and look at Balirama [thy brother], Thou abode of the virtues! thou brother of the meek! As the last echo of this matin hymn died away, a loud rustle was heard in the wood skirting the Rakshas outposts, and a stir was perceived among the branches. The Rakshas sentinel, imagining it was an ambuscade of the monkeys, fired an arrow into the thicket; but to his astonishment and terror, it came back, and glanced close to his cheek. Thinking it must be a powerful Yaksha, or treasure-guarding goblin that inhabited the wood, the sentinel threw down his bow, and was about to fly, when a voice called out, "It is only Vayu, the king's messenger." Ravan had subdued and enslaved all the elemental deities, and compelled them to serve as domestic servants in his establishment. Thus Agni, or Fire, was his cook; Varuna, the Water Deity, his dhobi, or washerman; and this Vayu, or Wind, he made a sort of hamaul. In the morning he was compelled to sweep the floors and brush the furniture of the palace with invisible brooms and brushes; and all the day afterwards he either wheeled about his Vimana, or air-chariot, or pulled an invisible punka, or large Indian fan, to cool him, or ran on errands and messages through his kingdom and to his army. Speculation was immediately at work as to the destination or object of Vayu's present mission: In this piece we have many phrases which are constantly applied to Krishna, some in a double sense. Thus Vanamali, the wearer of the forest garland; Megha Shama, the thundercloud dark-blue in colour; Yadu Raya, the Yadu King, or chief of the tribe of that name; and Kanha, or Kanhoba, the youth, are common substitutes for his own name. The term Atmarama, soul-delighter, or soul of the soul, employed in the second line of stanza ii. besides its ostensible, has a mystic sense, which is here meant to be insinuated under the affectionate utterrances of Yashoda; soul of my soul is in this sense equivalent to "soul of the universe which lives and moves in my own soul." The phrase Saguna also, rendered "Full of Perfection" in stanzas iii. and v., has a double mystic sense- - viz., the deity manifested with all perfections, or attributes, as contradistinguished from that ultimate and inaccessible depth of divine being, in which there is neither form, passion, nor attribute [in this latter point curiously agreeing with some of the European mystics treated of in the writings of Bossuet]; and which is accordingly distinguished as nirakara, without form; nirguna, without property or attribute; and nirvikara, without change or passion. The term used in the last stanza to signify Lord of Life, Jivana Suta, also indicates, by an equivoque frequent in these lyrics, the name of the author. |