1833.] A Legend of Himalaya—by Calidasa. 343 
15. 
His wind,—whether bearing along the chill spray 
Far scatter’d from where, on its snowy white way, 
Down dizzy heights plunging, great Ganges’ young river 
Full darts its precipitous torrent for ever,— 
Or shaking the fragrance of tall cedar trees,— 
Or spreading the peacocks’ tails out to the breeze,— 
Is hail’d in its cold, sweet, or languid career, 
By tir’d mountain-hunters that chase the swift deer. 
Tour to Himalaya. “‘ We had projected the ascent of a snowy peak directly behind 
Seran ; but on the day intended, the clouds fell down to the foot of the hills, enve- 
loping all in the most complete and impenetrable darkness. It was not like a 
common mist: it was really a sinking of the clouds from the rarefaction of the 
atmosphere (ill they quite shrouded us.” 
St. 15. Shaking the fragrance of tall cEDAR trees.—Sol render the word Sage 
déva-d4ru, which is the Pinus Deodaru of Dr. Roxburgh, and which, as Dr.’ 
Wallich informs me, is very nearly allied to the cedar of Lebanon so celebrated in 
Western Asia. It abounds in the high regions of Nipal and westward, but never. 
at a less elevation than 10,000 feet above the sea: its wood is hard and durable, 
retaining a lasting fragrance: the turpentine extracted from it, far exceeding 
other kinds in scent. A full account of the tree, (though not a good drawing) 
is given by Mr. Lambert in his splendid work on Pines. 
Célid4sa in his other great mythological poem the Raghu-vansa, Canto ii. St. 36 
and seq., tells a wonderful history of one of these Dévadaru cedars that was adopt- 
ed by our goddess Parvati, and nourished as her own daughter: and who, when 
lacerated by the forehead-rubbing elephants (in the manner described here, St. 
7and 8,) had a guard placed over her by Siva at the instance of his beloved Parva- 
ti, im the person of his servant Kumbhdédhara, turned for that special purpose into 
a fierce lion. [The whole however turns out at the end, to be but a magic 
scene got up by Nandini the sage cow of Vasistha, in order to try King Dilipa’s 
fidelity and devotion to her. See note on St. 23.] 
Ibid. Is haii’d, &c.—In repeating here the triple character of the light breezes 
of Himalaya, I follow the ideas of the Indian commentators. The “ tir’d moun- 
tain-hunters’’ are the same Kirdtas whom we had before in St. 6. The 
salutation of the refreshing breeze after a weary chase, as implied in the word 
Blaaa, may remind us of the invocation under the same circumstances of the 
hunter Cephalus, (so fatal to his jealous. wife Procris. Metamorph. vii. 837). 
Egredior, silvasque peto : victorque per herbas 
AURA, VENI, dixi, nostrogue medere labori. 
And I should remark, that it is the samekind of worshipful welcome and nothing: 
further, that is intended by the kindred word fa%q in St. 5—i.e. the holy de- 
votees first ‘‘ hailing’ (not religiously adoring) and willingly seeking for shelter the 
huge shades of the mountain clouds ; which, higher up, turn to chilling rain and 
mnist. 
