[16] Divali is the feast of lamps in the month of Kartih.
[17] Saripat is a kind of draughts.
[18] Apsaras are attendants on the gods.
[19] Kartakswami was really Parwati's step-son (see Preface).
[20] The Indians do not associate the Great Bear constellation with a
bear, but they believe it to be the habitation of seven rishis. The
seven rishis vary in different works. In the Mahabharat the names
given are Marichi, Atri, Angiras, Pulaha, Kratu, Pulatya, and Vasishta.
[21] Aposhani. This is the water which a Brahman sips from his hand
before and after his meal.
[22] Shravan corresponds roughly with August. The death of the child
nullified all the virtue of the Shradh feast, which had at once to
be stopped.
[23] Zhoting is really the unquiet ghost of a Musulman, but hobgoblin
is probably a sufficiently close translation.
[24] A tree sacred to Shiva.
[25] The Asuras, who are now reckoned petty demons, had once upon
a time a much higher position. They are the same as Ahura-Magda,
the Jupiter of the Iranians.
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