called the lip of Love; its rouge is the blush of morning, and its darker beautifying powder the clustering bees. From the universal custom of dying the lips, the Sanskrit poets are constantly speaking of their "vermeil tints," &c., as will be sufficiently evident in the course of this work.
The Hermit's servant.] By name Nandi.
His neck of brightly-beaming blue.] An ancient legend tells us that after the Deluge the ocean was churned by Gods and Demons, in order to recover the Amrit and other treasures that had been lost in it:—
" Then loud and long a joyous sound
Rang through the startled sky,—
'Hail to the Amrit, lost and found ! '
A thousand voices cry.
But from the wondrous churning steamed
A poison fierce and dread.
Burning like fire; where'er it streamed
Thick noisome mists were spread.
The wasting venom onwards went,
And filled the Worlds with fear,
Till Brahma to their misery bent
His gracious pitying ear;
And Siva those destroying streams
Drank up at Brahma's beck.
Still in thy throat the dark flood gleams,
God of the Azure neck!"
Specimens of Old Indian Poetry—Churning of the Ocean.
Gates of sense]. The eyes, ears, &c.
CANTO FOURTH.
Late, dim, and joyless shall his rising he.] The Moon, in Hindu mythology, is a male deity.
This line of bees.] Kamá's bow is sometimes represented as strung in this extraordinary manner; at others, the string is said to be formed of fibres of the lotus.
One foot's untinted.] "Staining the soles of the feet with a red colour, derived from the Mehndee, the Lac, &c., is a favourite practice of the Hindú toilet."—Wilson.
