491:1b I omit Cantos CIV. and CV. in which the fight is renewed and Rvan severely reprimands his charioteer for timidity and want of confidence in his master's prowess, and orders him to charge straight at Rma on the next occasion.
491:2b The celebrated saint who has on former occasions assisted Rma with his gifts and counsel.
491:3b Indra.
491:4b Yama.
491:5b Kartikeva.*
491:6b Kuvera.
492:1 Varun.
492:2 The Pitris, forefathers or spirits of the dead, are of two kinds, either the spirits of the father, grandfathers and great- grandfathers of an individual or the progenitors of mankind generally, to both of whom obsequial worship is paid and oblations of food are presented.
492:3 The Maruts or Storm-Gods.
492:4 The Heavenly Twins, the Castor and Pollux of the Hindus.
492:5 The Man "par excellence", the representative man and father of the human race regarded also as God.
492:6 The Vasus, a class of deities originally personifications of natural phenomena.
492:7 A class of celestial beings who dwell between the earth and the sun.
492:8 The seven horses are supposed to symbolize the seven days of the week.
492:9 One for each month in the year.
492:10 This Canto does not appear in the Bengal recension. It comes in awkwardly and may I think be considered as an interpolation, but I paraphrase a portion of it as a relief after so much fighting and carnage, and as an interesting glimpse of the monotheistic ideas which underlie the Hindu religion. The hymn does not readily lend itself to metrical translation, and I have not attempted here to give a faithful rendering of the whole. A literal version of the text and the commentary given in the Calcutta edition will be found in the Additional Notes.
A canto is here omitted. It contains fighting of the ordinary kind between Rma and Rvan, and a description of sights and sounds of evil omen foreboding the destruction of the giant.