[401] The Dabistán (p. 269, edit. of Calc.) affords a curious specimen of a Sanskrit prayer transcribed in Persian characters; this prayer is here restored to its original form in Devanagari. The literal translation of it, subjoined, shows that it is composed of a series of epithets encomiastical of the sun; these epithets have been most freely amplified in the paraphrase which the author of the Dabistán has given of the original prayer:
महज्योतिः उत्तमोदयः नृस्वादः लोकनः आहारः सुदर्शनः दृष्टिः मिथनः महावतारः उत्तमप्रकासः पथ्वी स्मरणः महादातामुक्तसङ्गः आत्मदाता शरीरज्योतिः स्व आत्म वुधनाथः सर्व ज्योतिः आतपः प्रकाशः औपमिकः स्वर्ग दाता देवसहायः
“_Thou art_ the great light――most gloriously rising――the delight of men――resplendent――_granter of_ food――agreeable to sight――the eye _of heaven_――the promoter of union――the great incarnation――the most excellent manifestation――mindful of the earth――the chief bestower of the devotion to emancipation――the dispenser of life――the light of bodies――the lord of intellect and of interior life――all illuming――the radiance of the day――the effulgency――the supreme light――only like thyself――the donor of heaven――the companion of the gods.”
[406] The Dict. gives only सनकाः and सनत्कुमाराः the four sons of Brahma, inhabiting the Janaloka.
[414] तारा फलं also तारा पथः _ta ra patha_.
[415] आहरणं means literally “taking, seizing;” in logical language, “compassing, comprehending,” that is applying an organ to the object to which it is adopted. This is the special function of the organs or instruments of action. We have (see note, p. 122) enumerated “intelligence, egotism, and mind;” these are the three internal organs; and “five organs of perception, with five organs of action,” the ten external organs. Those of action, _compass_, and _maintain_; those of perception, _manifest_: therefore “compassing, maintaining, and manifesting,” are the functions of the thirteen-fold instrument――(See the work quoted, _Sank’hya Karika_, 32. p. 110).
[428] This passage seems to allude to the Hindu creed about the souls’ journey from the earth to the uppermost heaven. According to this, a hundred and one arteries issue from the heart, one of which passes to the crown of the head. By that passage, the soul of the wise issues and meets a solar ray, by which it proceeds to the realm of fire, and by several other stages to the _moon_; thence to the region of lightning, and higher up, through Varuna’s watery region, to the realm of Indra, so as to reach at last the abode of Brahma.――(Transact. R. A. Soc., vol. II. pp. 31. 32.)