Read Mahabharata Vol. 2 (Penguin Translated Texts) Online
Authors: Bibek Debroy
57
The three Vedas, the Atharva Veda not being counted.
58
A fee, remuneration or gift offered to brahmanas. A specific type of dakshina is offered to a teacher or preceptor on successful completion of one’s studies.
59
A pundarika is a lotus, usually the white lotus. But it is also the name of a sacrifice.
60
Covetousness on the part of those who should do the punishing, that is, there is no bribery.
61
Maintenance of the sacred fire and rendering offerings to it.
62
Literally, Brahma’s staff. However, the expression is used more for the curse of a brahmana.
63
In this context, varna clearly means caste.
64
Yama is the king of the ancestors.
65
Kubera, the lord of treasure and wealth, lives in Kailasa.
66
Brahma.
67
Yama’s father is Vivasvat, the sun. Hence, Yama is Vaivasvata.
68
Descendant of Kuru. In this case, Yudhishthira.
69
A yojana is a measure of distance and is between eight and nine miles.
70
Shachi is Indra’s wife. Mahendra means the great Indra and is one of Indra’s ephithets. Shri and Lakshmi were originally independent goddesses, but eventually became identical. Shri is the goddess of prosperity, while Lakshmi is the goddess of wealth.
71
The word used is
lohita
, which can also be translated as copper.
72
These are feminine personifications of modesty, fame and radiance respectively.
73
Faith.
74
Wisdom.
75
The goddess of learning, also a river.
76
A stobha is a sacrificial hymn.
77
Saptarshi or seven great sages.
78
Brahmana sages.
79
Region in north India, around Kumaon. Its capital was Alaka, located on the Alakananda river.
80
Sunitha has been mentioned before, so has Nala of Nishadha. It is of course possible that more than one person had the same name.
81
The region around the Punjab, though in the text the reference is to the king of the region.
82
That is, Rama, the son of Dasharatha.
83
That is, Parashurama, the son of Jamadagni.
84
Matsya and Virata are the names of the same kingdom, in today’s Rajasthan.
85
The name of a royal lineage, difficult to identify beyond that.
86
The name of a royal lineage, difficult to identify beyond that.
87
There were a hundred kings named Dhritarashtra.
88
There were eighty kings named Janamejaya.
89
There were one hundred kings named Brahmadatta.
90
It is not clear who these Iris were.
91
There were thousands of kings with this name.
92
Time or destiny, personified.
93
Death personified.
94
Agnishvatta
, a term used for brahmanas.
95
All these are classes of ancestors.
96
Havyavahana, the fire-god Agni.
97
Tree associated with cremation grounds.
98
The palasha tree is also called
kimshuka
.
99
Kind of grass.
100
Holy grass used in religious ceremonies.
103
Varuna’s queen and consort.
104
The name of a naga, not to be confused with the famous Krishna.
105
The name of a naga, not to be confused with Arjuna.
106
The name of a naga, not be confused with the famous Janamejaya.
107
Bali was the son of Virochana and Prahlada’s (or Prahrada) grandson. Vishnu subjugated him in his dwarf (
vamana
) incarnation.
108
There are different accounts of Naraka, all agreeing that he was the demon-king of Pragjyotisha and that Krishna killed him.
109
Dashagriva is Ravana’s name. But there is no indication that Ravana is meant here.
110
Not to be confused with the Bali mentioned earlier.
111
Vishnu killed two demons named Madhu and Kaitabha. But there is no indication that this is the same Kaitabha.
112
Varuna’s weapon is the noose (
pasha
).
113
The word used for ocean is
samudra
. Actually, there are seven oceans, not four. However, the word samudra also means four, perhaps explaining why four oceans are mentioned.
114
Another name for the Yamuna.
115
Vidisha is the capital of the Dasharna region, the eastern parts of Malava. Vidisha is located on the banks of the rivers Vetravati (Betwa) and Kadambari. However, Vidisha is also a river and is probably the Beas, which joins the Vetravati. However, the Beas is also mentioned separately later.
116
A river that joins the Krishna river.
117
Beas.
118
Sutlej.
119
Chenab.
120
Great river that has now dried up.
121
Jhelum.
122
Indus.
123
Devanada means the river of the gods. In the translation, Devanada has been listed as a separate river. But it is also possible that this is an adjective for the Sindhu, describing it as the river of the gods.
124
The river Krishna. The river Venna, which joins the Krishna, has already been mentioned earlier.
125
Kubera. Kubera’s father was the sage Vishrava, Pulastya’s son. Hence, Kubera is known as Vaishravana. Kubera’s mother was Idavida. However, Vishrava had another wife named Kaikasi and through her, had Ravana, Kumbhakarna, Vibhishana and Surpanakha as offspring.
126
Semi-divine species, companions of Kubera.
127
Alaka is the name of Kubera’s capital.
128
Beautiful gardens. Specifically, also the name of Indra’s garden.
129
Offer homage to Kubera.
130
The yakshas are a distinct species, companions of Kubera. They are not gandharvas. But the text here is not careful in maintaining these distinctions.
131
Kubera’s son.
132
Tryambaka, meaning three-eyed. One of Shiva’s names.
133
Pashupati is Shiva’s name and his consort is Uma. Umapati is thus Shiva’s name.
134
The name of a demon.
135
Uma.
136
The
bhuta
s, spirits and goblins that are Shiva’s companions.
137
Shiva.
138
Kubera.
139
Brahma’s.
140
Aditya is the son of Aditi and refers to gods in general. In this context, it means the sun-god.
141
Yudhishthira.
142
Gopati, or lord of cattle, a term also used for Indra, Krishna, Shiva and Varuna.
143
The sun-god.
144
The twenty-seven nakshatras or constellations.
145
Preceptor of the demons. But here, Venus.
146
Preceptor of the gods. But here, Jupiter.
147
Mercury.
148
Mars. Literally, the red-coloured one.
149
Saturn. The text actually says Shanaishchara, meaning the slow-moving one.
150
This has no exact counterpart in the planets. Rahu is the demon that causes eclipses.
151
Here, mantra means a hymn from the Rig Veda and rathantara means a hymn from the Sama Veda.
152
The meaning of Harimat isn’t clear, though it might be a proper name.
153
Probably meaning wealth and riches, unless it is a proper name.
154
Meaning Indra.
155
Mitra-Varuna being an example.
156
Itihasa
, usually equated with the two epics.
157
That is, the Savitri mantra.
158
The seven kinds of speech is a reference to languages spoken in seven different kingdoms, the languages named after the kingdoms—Magadhi, Avanti, Prachya, Shouraseni, Ardhamagadhi, Bahlika and Dakshinatya.
159
Instant, measure of time equal to four-fifths of a second.
160
Small measure of time, equal to one-sixth of a
kshana
.
161
Small measure of time, but also forty-eight minutes.
162
This probably means the four yugas or eras, with the intervening periods counted as a fifth yuga.
163
The four quarters into which twenty-four hours are divided.
164
Semi-divine species, followers of Kubera.
165
Demons, also referred to as the
kalakeya
s.
166
The word used in the text is Vrishadvaja, meaning the one with the bull on his flag. Vrishadvaja is one of Shiva’s names.
167
Kubera.
168
Great rishis.
169
The word dvipa means island. But it also means a continent or terrestrial region, the sense in which the expression is used here. With Mount Meru in the centre, the earth was divided into four, seven, nine, thirteen or eighteen dvipas, each dvipa separated from another with an ocean. Although the number of dvipas varies from description to description, seven is the usual number.
170
Royal sacrifice performed when a king instated himself as emperor over all other kings. An integral part of a royal sacrifice was the payment of tribute by all other kings to the undisputed and universal emperor.
171
This isn’t Narada’s message to Yudhishthira. It is Pandu’s message to Yudhishthira, being conveyed through Narada. The critical edition excises some shlokas available in other versions, where Pandu’s request to Narada to act as a messenger is explicitly mentioned.
172
Brahma rakshasas are demons, but had been born as brahmanas. But they were evil, abducting other men’s wives or stealing the property of brahmanas. Consequently, after death, they become demons.
173
A war is likely, since other kings are forced to offer tribute.
174
The Dasharhas are the Yadavas and the city of the Dasharhas is Dvaravati or Dvaraka.
1
Shatru
means enemy and
ajata
means not being born. So Ajatashatru means someone for whom no enemy has been born, one without foes.
2
The six types of sacrificial fires are named
agnishtoma, kshatradhriti, vyushti, dviratri, saptapeya
and
saptadashapeya.
3
That is, there is no need to wait for any prescribed date. Depending on one’s powers, the sacrifice can be started immediately.
4
Krishna.
5
Indrasena is Yudhishthira’s charioteer and is clearly the one who was sent as messenger.
6
Krishna.
7
Kunti.
8
Parashurama.
9
Pururava, the son of Ila and Budha, the first king of the lunar dynasty.
10
Son of Vaivasvata Manu and the first king of the solar dynasty.
11
The region around Mathura. Mathura was the land of the Yadavas and Jarasandha laid siege to it on eighteen occasions.
12
Jarasandha. Since
chatura
means clever, Chaturyu may be a reference to Jarasandha’s wiliness. Jarasandha was the son of Brihadratha. He was born in two halves that were united by a she-demon named Jara. Thus, the child came to be known as Jarasandha, the word
sandhi
meaning to join.
13
Probably Vakra being repeated.
14
Greek. More correctly, Ionian.
15
This is odd. Elsewhere in the Mahabharata, Bhagadatta is said to rule in the east.
16
To Jarasandha.
17
Shishupala. This is repetition again, since Shishupala has been mentioned earlier.
18
There was a Vasudeva of Pundra who was known as Vasudeva and also sported Krishna’s signs. He is referred to a little later. In the text, Vasudeva of Pundra’s crimes are ascribed incorrectly to Shishupala, though the commonality is that both were Krishna’s enemies.
19
The eastern part of Bengal.
20
Kiratas are mountainous tribes who lived through hunting.
21
Jarasandha has been referred to as Chaturyu earlier. This is clearly a different Chaturyu.
22
Kingdom in southern India, near today’s Tirunelveli. It was near the mountain Malaya and the river Tamraparni.
23
Jarasandha was the king of Magadha. Magadha is the southern part of Bihar.
24
Because the Bhojas are a line of the Yadavas.