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K O V ID A R A .—The Kovidara [Bauhinia variegata) is one of
trees which are represented as growing in the Indian Paradise.
The flowers of this Mountain Ebony are of a purplish-red colour,
marked with white, and with yellow bottoms.
K O U N A L N IT Z A .—In Russia, a plant dedicated to the
Slave-God Kounala, protecflor of the harvest, is named after him
Kounalnitza. It would seem, however, to be now considered a herb
of St. John. De Gubernatis tells us that on the eve of St. John’s
Day it is customary in Russia to deck the floors of bath-rooms with
this plant. Kounalnitza is thus described by a Russian lad y :__
“ It is a herb as delicate as an arrow, having on each side nine
leaves and four colours—black, green, red, and blue. This herb is
very salutary. He who has gathered it on St. John’s Day, and carries
it about him with a piece of gold or silver money attached, need
neither fear the Devil nor wicked men at night. In course of time
he will prevail against all adversaries, and will become the friend of
Tzars and princes. The root of this plant is equally miraculous :
if a woman be childless, she has only to drink a potion in which
this plant has been powdered, and she will have children and be
able to protedf them frorn all infantile diseases. Kounalnitza is
also gathered as a protedlion against sorcerers, who by their cries
scare reapers and workers in the fields.”
K U D D U M .—The Kuddum, or Cadamba {Anthocephalus Cad-
amba), is one of the most sacred trees of India. According to the
Chinese Buddhist scriptures, there grows to the east of the mountain
Sume a great ring of trees called Kadamba, of vast proportions.
The tree of Buddha sprang spontaneously from a kernel of this
Kadamba, dropped in the soil. “ In one moment the earth split, a
shoot appeared, and-the giant tree raised itself, embracing within
its shadow a circumference of three hundred cubits. The fruits of
this miraculous tree are a source of bitter vexation to the enemies
of Buddha, and against these the Devas launch all the fury of the
tempest.” The yellowish-brown flowers of the Kuddum are small
and collecif ed in dense balls : they open at the commencement of the
rainy season, and they are represented by the Indian poets as
having the power of recalling to lovers, with irresistible vividness,
the beloved absent one. ’
K U S A G R A S S .—The sacred Vedic herb Kusa (Poa cynosu-
rotdes) is known in the Sanscrit writings as the Ornament of the
Sacrifice, the Pure Herb, the Purifier, &c. With its long pointed
leaves, the sacred beverages are purified, the altar is covered, and
the sacrificing priest is furnished with a natural carpet. According
to the Vedas, the sacrifices offered in the Hindu temples of the
Indian Trinity, Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva, consisted of a fire of
fragrant woods lighted at each of the cardinal points. The flames
were fed now and again with consecrated ointment, and around
the fire was scattered the sacred herb Kusa. Thus, in the drama
of ‘ bahuntald,' written by Kffiid&sa two thousand years ago, we
find that Kanva, the father of the heroine (who is the chief of the
hermits), offers one of these sacrifices, and exclaims :—
“ Holy flames, whose frequent food
Is the consecrated wood,
And for whose encircling bed,
Sacred Kusa-grass is spread ;
Hear, oh, hear me when I pray.
Purify my child this day !”
In those times it was apparently considered no sin to apply the
sacred grass to private purposes, for one of 5 akuntala’s handmaids
compounds perfumes and unguents with consecrated paste and the
Kusa-grass, to anoint the limbs of her mistress, previous to her
nuptials. In the Vedas, the Kusa-grass, or Darbha, is often invoked
as a god. According to the Atharvaveda, it is immortal, it never
ages, it destroys enemies, and Indra, the god of thunder, employs
it as his weapon. The Vedic rituals contain directions for the
employment of Kusa-grass for various mystic purposes. To cleanse
butter, the priest held a small stalk of the sacred Grass, without
nodes, in each hand, and, turning towards the east, he invoked
Savitar, Vasu, and the rays of the sun. At the new moon, and at
the full moon, they bound and fastened together the sacrificial
wood and the Kusa-grass. In the third year of its age, it was
customary for a Hindu child to be brought by its parents to the
priest, that its hair might be cut. Then the father, placed to the
south of the mother, held in his hand twenty-one stalks of Kusa-
grass, which symbolised the twenty-one winds, and an invocation
was made to Vayu, the god of the winds. The father, or, in his
absence, a Brahman, took three stalks at a time, and inserted them
in the child’s hair seven times, the points turned towards the
infant’s body; at the same time devoutly murmuring, “ May the
herb protecfi thee ! ” According to the Vedas, a house ought to be
eredted in a locality where the Kusa-grass abounds; the foundations
are sprinkled with it, and care is taken to extirpate all thorny
plants. When reading the sacred books, the devout Hindu should
be seated either on the ground or on a flooring strewn with Kusa-
grass, upon which once rested Brahma himself. It was customary,
upon leaving a seminary, for the Vedic student to take, among
other things, by way of memento, and as a presage of good fortune,
a few blades of Kusa-grass. Anchorites employed the sacred Grass
as a covering to their nudity, and it was also used as a purification
in funeral rites. In the Buddhist ritual, the Vedic Kusa appears
under the name of Barhis, and serves as a kind of carpet, on which
come Agni and all the gods to seat themselves. Of such importance
is the sacred Grass considered, that the name Barhis is sometimes
even employed to signify in a general manner the sacrifice itself.
K U SH T H A .—Wilson identifies the Indian mythological tree
Kushtha with the Costus speciosus, a swamp plant bearing snow-white
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