Philosophies of India

SR No.: 007309
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Heinrich Zimmer, Joseph Campbell
Publisher: Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd
Publication Year: 1953
Total Pages: 709
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 34 MB

Page 141

TIIE PHILOSOPHY OF SUCCESS
ing-glass painted with poison, his own queen killed Jālūtha; and with a weapon hidden under the knot of her hair, his own queen slew Vidūratha. Hence the king should always be watchful for such lurking dangers. He should keep his wives away from ascetics with shaven hicad or braided hair, as well as from buffoons and prostitutes. Nor shall women of high birth have occasion to see his wives, unless they be appointed midwives.” 30
"Every person in the harem shall live in the place assigned to him, and shall never move to a place assigned to others. No one in the harem shall at any time keep company with an outsider. The passage of commodities of any kind from or into the harem shall be controlled, and only objects marked with a seal (inudrā) after careful inspection shall be allowed to reach their destination." 40
"The king shall partake of fresh dishes only after making an oblation out of them, first to the fire and then to the birds. Fire, birds, the food, and the servants will betray the presence of poison by various reactions, symptoms, and manners of behavior." 41
“All undertakings depend upon finance. Hence foremost at89 1b. 1. 20.41; transl., p. 46. 40 lb. 1. 20. 42; transl., p. 47. 41 16. 1. 21. 43; transl., p. 48.
Robert Graves, in 1, Claudius (a novel of the life of the emperor Claudius, based on Suctonius and Tacitus), tells how Augustus, fearing lest he should be poisoned by Livia, took only figs that he plucked him. self. But Livia then had the figs on the trees of the imperial villa-garden coated with poison, and thus the aged Augustus met his death. Claudius was served a plate of mushrooms, his favorite dish, by his wife, Agrippina the younger. The largest mushroom, on the top of the portion, was poisoned. The qucen lovingly put the poisoned mushroom on his plate herself, while taking some of the smaller ones from the same dish to keep him confident. We remember, also, that the cupbearers of medieval monarchs had to guarantee the drink they served their sovercign by first pouring a small quantity into the shallow lid of the cup and emptying it before the monarch's eyes with a drink to his health.
126