von Schlegel has often
remarked to me," says Lassen, "that without injuring the connexion of the
story all the chapters [of the Ramayan] might be omitted in which Rama is
regarded as an incarnation of Vishnu. In fact, where the incarnation of
Vishnu as the four sons of Dasaratha is described, the great sacrifice is
already ended, and all the priests remunerated at the termination, when
the new sacrifice begins at which the Gods appear, then withdraw, and then
first propose the incarnation to Vishnu. If it had been an original
circumstance of the story, the Gods would certainly have deliberated on
the matter earlier, and the celebration of the sacrifice would have
continued without interruption." LASSEN, _Indische Alterthumskunde, Vol.
I._ p. 489.

Yama, Page 68.

Son of Vivasvat=Jima son of Vivanghvat, the Jamshid of the later Persians.

Fate, Page 68.

"The idea of fate was different in India from that which prevailed in
Greece. In Greece fate was a mysterious, inexorable power which governed
men and human events, and from which it was impossible to escape. In India
Fate was rather an inevitable consequence of actions done in births
antecedent to one's present state of existence, and was therefore
connected with the doctrine of metempsychosis. A misfortune was for the
most part a punishment, an expiation of ancient faults not yet entirely
cancelled." GORRESIO.

Visvamitra, Page 76.

"Though of royal extraction, Visvamitra conquered for himself and his
family the privileges of a Brahman. He became a Brahman, and thus broke
through all the rules of caste. The Brahmans cannot deny the fact, because
it forms one of the principal subjects of their legendary poems. But they
have spared no pains to represent the exertions of Visvamitra, in his
struggle for Brahmanhood, as so superhuman that no one would easily be
tempted to follow his example. No mention is made of these monstrous
penances in the Veda, where the struggle between Visvamitra, the leader of
the Kusikas or Bharatas, and the Brahman Vasishtha, the leader of the
white-robed Tritsus, is represented as the struggle of two rivals for the
place of Purohita or chief priest and minister at the court of King Sudas,
the son of Pijavana." _Chips from a German Workshop_, _Vol. II._ p. 336.

Household Gods, Page 102.

"No house is supposed to be without its tutelary divinity, but the notion
attached to this character is now very far fr