plants. Nothing is considered more disgraceful
among orthodox Hindus than drunkenness, and the use of wine is
forbidden not only to Brahmans but the two other orders as well.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} So
it clearly appears derogatory to the dignity of the Gods to have
received a nymph so pernicious, who ought rather to have been made
over to the Titans. However the etymological fancy has prevailed.
The word _Sura_, a God, is derived from the indeclinable _Swar_
heaven." SCHLEGEL.

208 Literally, high-eared, the horse of Indra. Compare the production of
the horse from the sea by Neptune.

209 "And Kaustubha the best
Of gems that burns with living light
Upon Lord Vishnu's breast."

_Churning of the Ocean._

210 "That this story of the birth of Lakshmi is of considerable
antiquity is evident from one of her names _Kshirabdhi-tanaya_,
daughter of the Milky Sea, which is found in _Amarasinha_ the most
ancient of Indian lexicographers. The similarity to the Greek myth
of Venus being born from the foam of the sea is remarkable."

"In this description of Lakshmi one thing only offends me, that she
is said to have four arms. Each of Vishnu's arms, single, as far as
the elbow, there branches into two; but Lakshmi in all the brass
seals that I possess or remember to have seen has two arms only. Nor
does this deformity of redundant limbs suit the pattern of perfect
beauty." SCHLEGEL. I have omitted the offensive epithet.

211 Purandhar, a common title of Indra.

212 A few verses are here left untranslated on account of the subject
and language being offensive to modern taste.

213 "In this myth of Indra destroying the unborn fruit of Diti with his
thunderbolt, from which afterwards came the Maruts or Gods of Wind
and Storm, geological phenomena are, it seems, represented under
mythical images. In the great Mother of the Gods is, perhaps,
figured the dry earth: Indra the God of thunder rends it open, and
there issue from its rent bosom the Maruts or exhalations of the
earth. But such ancient myths are difficult to interpret with
absolute certainty." GORRESIO.

214 Wind.

215 Indra, with _maha_, great, prefixed.

216 The Heavenly Twins.

217 Not banished from heaven as the inferior Gods and demigods sometimes
were.