The Brihat jataka of Varaha Mihira / translated into English by N. Chidambaram Iyer.

  • Brihat Jataka
Date:
1885
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The Brihat jataka of Varaha Mihira / translated into English by N. Chidambaram Iyer. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    curse of a human incarnation, attended with much suffering from separation from wife, Horn the sage Bhrigu, whose wife lie killed when she refused to deliver up to his wrath an Asura who had sought her protection. The Devas suffering much from Ravana and his giant hosts proceed to Vishnu and entreat relief. As Brahma had granted to Ravana the boon of exemption from death from all except from men and monkeys, and as Dasaratha had prayed to Vishnu for the blessing of a son, Vishnu enters on his human incarnation as Rama, the son of Dasaratha- From family dissensions he quits his kingdom and enters the forest of Dandaka with his bride- Grieved at his son’s separation, Dasaratha dies. Ravana carries away Seet a and Rama is grieved at her separation. He proceeds to Lanka, slays his enemy and recovers his wife. Most of the eminent astronomers of the East and West believed in a double Sun, a double Moon, Mars and other planets—the one is the Sthula or the physical one, and the other is the Sukshma or the astral one. The difficulty in conceiving active agency as possessed by the planets when viewed in the light of huge inert balls, will be removed when we suppose that each planet possesses a soul. Besides, there is nothing repugnant to our mind in the idea that the planets together form a body of executive officers charged with the duty of rewarding and punishing humanity for their past karma by the command of the Most High, who at the same time allows each man the chance to improve his own condition by making him a free agent in many matters. A man is whipped for theft by the order of the Magistrate. He suffers for his karma—the deed of theft. But the whipping officer is an active agent. Take another instance : A man does a piece of valuable service to the state ; the sovereign commands a local officer to invest the person with the order of knighthood; the officer obeys ;
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