AN ESSENCE OF THE DUSK TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT BV F. W. BAIN METHUEN CO. LTD. 36 ESSEX STREET W. C, LONDON Originally Published by Messrs. J. Parker Co. October 1906 Second Edition J I W First Published ey Methuen Co. Ltd. . - 9 Third Edition October Fourth Edition. J y qi5 Fifth Edition . - f 9 DEDICATED TO THE OTHER SEX. PREFACE. MORE generally known, perhaps, than any other Hindoo legend, is the story of the demon, RAHU, who brings about ECLIPSES, by devouring the Sun and Moon, For when the gods had ...
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AN ESSENCE OF THE DUSK TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT BV F. W. BAIN METHUEN CO. LTD. 36 ESSEX STREET W. C, LONDON Originally Published by Messrs. J. Parker Co. October 1906 Second Edition J I W First Published ey Methuen Co. Ltd. . - 9 Third Edition October Fourth Edition. J y qi5 Fifth Edition . - f 9 DEDICATED TO THE OTHER SEX. PREFACE. MORE generally known, perhaps, than any other Hindoo legend, is the story of the demon, RAHU, who brings about ECLIPSES, by devouring the Sun and Moon, For when the gods had upchurned the nectar, the de lectable Butter of the Brine, Rjihus mouth watered at the very sight of it and in the guise of a god he mingled unperceived among them, to partake. But the Sun and Moon, the watchful Eyes of Night and Day, detected him, and told Wishnu, who cast at him his discus, and cut his body from his head but not until tie nectar was on the way down his throat. Hence, though the body died, the head became immortal and ever since, a thing unique, no body and all head, a byword among philosophers, he takes revenge on Sun and Moon, the great Taletellers, by gripping them in his horrid jaws, and holding on, till he is tired, or can be persuaded to let go. Hence, in some parts of India, the doleful shout of the country people at eclipses Chor do chor do and hence, also, the primary and surface meaning of our title A Digit of the Moon in the Demons grip in plain English, an eclipse of the moon. And yet, Let go let go viH PREFACE. legend though it be, there is something in the old mytho logical way of putting the case, which describes the situ ation in eclipses, far better than our arid scientific prose. I shall not easily forget, how, as we slid like ghosts atmidnight, through the middle of the desert, along the Suez Canal I watched the ghastly pallor of the wan unhappy moon, as the horrible shadow crept slowly over her face, stealing away her beauty, and turning the lone and level sands that stretched away below to a weird and ashy blue, as though covering the earth, with a sepulchral sympathetic pall. For we caught the griesly terror, Raliu, at his horrid work, towards the end of May, four years ago. But our title has yet another meaning underneath the first, for Ahi the name employed for Ra hu like all other figures in Indian mythology, he is known by many names, also means a snake. Beauty persecuted by a snake is the subject of the story. That story will presently explain itself but the relation between Rdhv, or eclipses, and a snake is so curiously illustrated by a little insignificant occurrence that happened to myself, that the reader will doubtless forgive me for making him ac quainted with it. Being at Delhi, not many years ago, I seized the oppor b Though nothing can be less romantic than a canal, gliding through that of Suez Is a strange experience at night. Your great ship seems to move, swift and noiseless, through the very sand and if only you could get there without knowing where you were, you would think that you were dreaming. ix tunity to visit the Kutub Minar. There was famine in the land. At every station I had passed upon the way were piled the hides of bullocks, and from the train you might see their skeletons lying, each one bleaching where it died for want of fodder, scattered here and there on the brown and burning earth for even every river bed was waterless, and not a single blade of green could you descry, formany hundred miles. And hence it came about, that as I gazed upon the two emaciated hacks that were to pull me from the station, a dozen miles out, and as many more back, I could bring myself to sit behind them only by the thought that thereby I should save them from a load far greater than my own, that would have been their fate on my refusal. Therefore we started, and did ultimately arrive, in the very blaze of noon...
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Add this copy of An Essence of the Dusk to cart. $14.00, good condition, Sold by bookbooth rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Berea, OH, UNITED STATES, published 1914 by Riccardi Press.
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Good. Issued without a dust jacket. 6 1/2" x 9 1/2" Ex-library w/usual stamps & stickers. Text clean & bright; binding tight; moderate wear to covers. 73 pages. Volume VI of Bain's Indian Stories.
Add this copy of An Essence of the Dusk to cart. $16.02, new condition, Sold by Ingram Customer Returns Center rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from NV, USA, published 2019 by Outlook Verlag.
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Add this copy of An Essence of the Dusk to cart. $30.47, good condition, Sold by Books From California rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Simi Valley, CA, UNITED STATES, published 1909 by James Parker.
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Good. Ex-library copy with usual markings. Half-leather cover with marbled boards shows heavy wear and tear, edgewear and rubbing. Pages are lightly tanned and foxed. Very Clean Copy-Over 500, 000 Internet Orders Filled.
Add this copy of An Essence of the Dusk to cart. $32.12, new condition, Sold by Ingram Customer Returns Center rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from NV, USA, published 2019 by Outlook Verlag.
