________________
118
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
certain, is the tree there described. It grows to a moderate size-say 30 or 40 feet in height, has slightly drooping branches, with opposite lanceolate leaves, and is in full flower at the end of February, when it presents a handsome appearance; the flowers being largish in size, dull-red and yellowish in colour, and dragon-mouth in form, with three drooping and two erect petals; the calyx gamosepalous. F. S. GROWSE.
Mathurd, N. W. P., February 25, 1875.
BOOK RELIGIOUS and MORAL SENTIMENTS freely translated from Indian Writers, by J. Mair, D.C.L., LL.D., Ph.D. Edinburgh, 1874. (12mo, pp. viii. and 33.)
This pamphlet contains part of a much larger collection of maxims which the gifted author is preparing for translation into prose. Of the seventytwo published, fifty-eight have already appeared in these pages (Ind. Ant. vol. III. pp. 182, 241, 335 ff.). In the appendix Dr. Muir has added faithful prose versions of all the passages," with the view of obviating the suspicion," he says, "which some may entertain, that in the metrical versions I have embellished the sentiments of the Indian writers, or imparted to them a closer resemblance to their Biblical counterparts than the tenor of the originals will justify."
The following are the additional sentiments :28. Narrow and large heartedness. Panchatantra V. 38 (and in other books); conf. Luke, x. 29 ff. :Small souls inquire "Belongs this man To our own race, or class, or clan ?" But larger-hearted men embrace
As brothers all the human race.
The next is analogous to that given (vol. III. p. 183) from the Mahabharata, III. 13445, and will remind the reader of Coleridge's verse,-"He prayeth well who loveth well," &c.
43. Austerities and rites are unavailing without purity. Vriddha Chanakya, XV. 1:
Those men alone the secret know
Which everlasting bliss will bring Whose hearts with pity overflow,
And love to every living thing:Not those a beggar's garb who wear, With ashes smeared, and matted hair. The following three are closely related in idea :49. The gods give wisdom to those whom they favour, and conversely. Mahábh. V. 1222 and II. 2679 ff.:
The gods no club, like cowherds, wield To guard the man they deign to shield: On those to whom they grace will show They understanding sound bestow;
NOTICES.
[APRIL, 1875.
Query.
Can any reader of the Antiquary favour me with the scientific names of
(1.) The Kine tree. This is a large tree common in the North Konkan. It has a dark heartwood, sometimes fraudulently substituted for blackwood.
(2.) Khurdsant. This is a small oilseed belong. ing, I rather fancy, to the order Compositæ, much grown upon the lofty plateaux of the Mawals, and also in the Konkan, especially by the forest tribes. W. F. SINCLAIR.
But rob of sense and insight all
Of whom their wrath decrees the fall. These wretched men, their mind deranged, See all they see distorted, changed; For good to them as evil looms, And folly wisdom's form assumes.
4
Verse 2679, as the author remarks, "reminds us of the well-known Latin adage, Quos Deus vult perdere prius dementat.' The same thought is stated in the following Greek lines, quoted by Grotius in his Annotationes on the Epistle to the Romane, xi. 8:
ὅταν γὰρ ὀργὴ δαιμόνων βλάπτῃ τινὰ, τούτῳ τὸ πρῶτον ἐξαφαιρεῖται φρενῶν τὸν νοῦν τὸν ἐσθλὸν, εἰς δὲ τὴν χείρω τρέπει γνωμην, ἵν ̓ εἰδῇ μηδὲν ὧν ἁμαρτάνει.
Compare Exod. vii. 1, 3, 4, and 13; and Rom. xi. 18. Also 1 Sam. ii. 25. The converse is expressed in the Mahabh. V. 1222"-given in the first four lines above.
50. A doomed man is killed by anything. Mahâbh. VII, 429:
When men are doomed without respite, Even straws like thnuderbolts will smite. 51. The same. Mahâbh. XII. 7607:A man until his hour arrives,
Though pierced by hundred darts, survives; While he whose hour of death is nigh
Touched only by a straw will die.
61. Men love enjoyment, not virtue, &c. Subhashitârnava, 43:
In virtue men have small delight;
To them her fruits alone are dear;
The fruits of sin they hate and fear, But sin pursue with all their might.
62. Effects of habitual sin and virtue respectively. Mahâbh. V. 1242-3. (Conf. Matt. xii. 43 ff., 2 Tim. iii. 13):
Sin practised oft,-experience shows,
Men's understanding steals at length; And understanding gone, the strength Of sin unchecked resistless grows.
