Kama. ↩
An oath, meaning, “From such a falsehood preserve me, Ganges!” ↩
The Indian Neptune. ↩
A highly insulting form of adjuration. ↩
The British Islands—according to Wilford. ↩
Literally the science (veda) of the bow (dhanush). This weapon, as everything amongst the Hindus, had a divine origin; it was of three kinds—the common bow, the pellet or stone bow, and the crossbow or catapult. ↩
It is a disputed point whether the ancient Hindus did or did not know the use of gunpowder. ↩
It is said to have discharged balls, each 6,400 pounds in weight. ↩
A kind of Mercury, a god with the head and wings of a bird, who is the Vahan or vehicle of the second person of the Triad, Vishnu. ↩
The celebrated burning springs of Baku, near the Caspian, are so called. There are many other “fire mouths.” ↩
The Hindu Styx. ↩
From Yaksha, to eat; as Rakshasas are from Raksha to preserve.—See Hardy’s Manual of Buddhism, p. 57. ↩
Shiva is always painted white, no one knows why. His wife Gauri has also a European complexion. Hence it is generally said that the sect popularly called “Thugs,” who were worshippers of these murderous gods, spared Englishmen, the latter being supposed to have some rapport with their deities. ↩
The Hindu shrine is mostly a small building, with two inner compartments, the vestibule and the Garbagriha, or adytum, in which stands the image. ↩
Meaning Kali of the cemetery (Smashana); another form of Durga. ↩
Not being able to find victims, this pleasant deity, to satisfy her thirst for the curious juice, cut her own throat that the blood might spout up into her mouth. She once found herself dancing on her husband, and was so shocked that in surprise she put out her tongue to a great length, and remained motionless. She is often represented in this form. ↩
This ashtanga, the most ceremonious of the five forms of Hindu salutation, consists of prostrating and of making the eight parts of the body—namely, the temples, nose and chin, knees and hands—touch the ground. ↩
“Sidhis,” the personified Powers of Nature. At least, so we explain them; but people do not worship abstract powers. ↩
The residence of Indra, king of heaven, built by Wishwa-Karma, the architect of the gods. ↩
In other words, to the present day, whenever a Hindu novelist, romancer, or tale writer seeks a peg upon which to suspend the texture of his story, he invariably pitches upon the glorious, pious, and immortal memory of that Eastern King Arthur, Vikramaditya, shortly called Vikram. ↩
Colophon
Vikram and the Vampire
was published in 1870 by
Richard F. Burton.
This ebook was produced for
Standard Ebooks
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Animesh Baranawal,
and is based on a transcription produced in 2015 by
Charlene Taylor, Ramon Pajares Box, and The Online Distributed Proofreading Team
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Internet Archive.
The cover page is adapted from
A Waterfall, Moonlight,
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Uncopyright
May you do good and not evil.
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