FLORAL ANTIQUITIES OF THE EAST. 
199 
panicle, or head composed of brilliant blood-red flowers.^ 
To its beauty it doubtless owes its sacred character, for 
the Hindoos suppose every object to be animated by a 
spirit or divinity, and those which are most excellent or 
remarkable, to be inhabited by spirits of the highest 
order, or by gods. The blood-red colour of the flowers 
of the cusa is frequently assigned as the origin of its 
use in sacrifices ; though Sir William Jones, the highest 
authority on such a subject, believes that its name of cusha 
is derived from Cush, the father of the Hindoo race ; and 
hence it is regarded in the rites of Brahma as a memo¬ 
rial of the patriarch-father of the people.f The Cushites, 
or descendants of Cush, came into Egypt under the 
name of Aurilse and Shepherds, as also Ethiopians; 
hence Egypt also inherited that name. The Cushites, 
styled iEthiopes, were the original inhabitants of India, 
and wherever any portion of the history of the Cushites 
appears, the name of India will be found likewise.J The 
reverence in which this grass was held originated the 
Indian custom of biting a blade of grass in token of 
submission, and in asking for quarter in the field of 
battle— 
M Her spear, not e’en Mahisha dare despise: 
The grass is bitten by her enemies.” § 
The cusa was also used in the preparation of the novi¬ 
ciate for the pronunciation of the most holy word in the 
creed of India. “ Brahma milked out, as it were, from 
* “ As. Res.” iv. “ Marfcyn Millar’s Diet.” 
+ “ Diodorus Siculus,” i. 17. “ Bryant’s Analysis,” iii. 212. 
I u Philostrati vita Apollon,” iii. 125. 
§ “ Metam. of Sona,” v. 878. “ St. John’s Indian Archipelago,” i. 
