Mahabharata: Volume 8 (87 page)

²⁰⁴
The king.

²⁰⁵
This is probably a reference to the son being regarded as the father reborn. Alternatively, it can be a division between brahmacharya and garhasthya.

²⁰⁶
Arjuna.

²⁰⁷
Yudhishthira’s.

²⁰⁸
Krishna’s.

²⁰⁹
This is Krishna speaking to Yudhishthira.

²¹⁰
This is Narada speaking now.

²¹¹
Marutta’s.

²¹²
Brihaspati’s younger brother.

²¹³
Chaitya
s or holy shrines. These were not necessarily temples.

²¹⁴
The gifts made by Marutta surpassed the collective gifts made by gods, men and gandharvas.

²¹⁵
Indra.

²¹⁶
Vasumati is the earth’s name and means someone (something) that possesses riches. When Suhotra ruled, the earth was prosperous.

²¹⁷
The seven sacrifices at which soma was offered were
agnishtoma, atyagnishtoma, ukthya, shodashi, vajapeya, atiratra
and
aptoryama.

²¹⁸
That is, he conquered the entire earth and became its emperor.

²¹⁹
Within Narada’s statement, this doesn’t belong, since we haven’t been told that King Srinjaya belonged to the Bharata lineage.

²²⁰
When Duhshanta had deserted Shakuntala, the sage Kanva had given shelter to Shakuntala and Bharata.

²²¹
Bhagiratha.

²²²
Urvashi means someone who is seated on the thigh (lap). In an attempt to rescue his ancestors, who had been reduced to ashes by the sage Kapila, Bhagiratha performed austerities in the Himalayas and persuaded Ganga to descend from heaven.

²²³
Ganga flows in heaven, the earth and the nether regions.

²²⁴
Chief of the gandharvas.

²²⁵
The kingdom was safe.

²²⁶
Yuvanashva had no son and some sages gave him some consecrated clarified water, meant for his wife. Thirsty, Yuvanashva drank this by mistake and conceived.

²²⁷
Etymologically,
mandhata
can be broken up as—he will suck me.

²²⁸
The rohita fish is a kind of carp,
Cyprinus rohita (rohu).
A yojana is a measure of distance, usually between 8 and 9 miles.

²²⁹
Stick from the wood of a shami tree, a tree similar to the acacia.

²³⁰
Yayati had five sons—Yadu, Turvasu, Druhyu, Anu and Puru. Puru was the youngest. When Yayati became old, and was still addicted to worldly pleasures, he asked his sons to temporarily accept his old age and give him their young age. Since all except Puru refused, they were disinherited and Puru succeeded Yayati.

²³¹
After dying, they went the way of their ancestors.

²³²
Exclamation made when the ancestors are offered oblations.

²³³
This is the boon Rantideva asked for.

²³⁴
The Chambal.
Charma
means hide or skin and Charmanvati is something that has hides or skins.

²³⁵
This is a reflection of the number of guests who were entertained.

²³⁶
The moon.

²³⁷
That is, Sagara was a universal emperor.

²³⁸
Searching for the horse used at the horse sacrifice, which was stolen by Indra, Sagara’s sons dug up the earth. The ocean is known as
saagara
, named after Sagara.

²³⁹
Vena was a wicked king and the earth suffered. The sages killed Vena and created Prithu from Vena’s dead body. The word Prithu is derived from a root that means extending or spreading. Prithu was so named because he would extend the earth and the earth (
prithivi
) is named after Prithu.

²⁴⁰
Literally, a kshatriya is someone who saves from injury (
kshata
). Prithu was thus a kshatriya.

²⁴¹
Raja means king. Here,
raja
is etymologically being derived from the word
raga
(affection) or the allied raja (affection).

²⁴²
Of a tree.

²⁴³
This might mean that Prithu fixed the boundaries between the ocean and the land.

²⁴⁴
A nala is a measure of distance, equal to six feet.

²⁴⁵
The sage Parvata.

²⁴⁶
Another name for Svarnashthivi. We have interpreted Hiranyanabha as a proper noun rather than as an adjective, meaning one with a golden navel.

²⁴⁷
Both
kanchana
and
svarna
mean gold, so Svarnashthivi is the same as Kanchanashthivi. Both words mean someone with golden excreta. Suvarnashthivi has the same meaning.

²⁴⁸
Narada was the maternal uncle and Parvata was his sister’s son.

²⁴⁹
That is, alive.

²⁵⁰
That is, his excreta were golden.

²⁵¹
Narada and Parvata.

²⁵²
At the prospect that the child might overthrow him.

²⁵³
The Ganga (Bhagirathi) was a mountainous stream there.

²⁵⁴
The king had more than one wife.

²⁵⁵
This is Narada speaking.

²⁵⁶
The stories of the kings, described in Chapter 1356(29).

²⁵⁷
That is, he died.

²⁵⁸
Kshatriyas must protect everyone in the pursuit of dharma and punish those who are against dharma.

²⁵⁹
The Kouravas.

²⁶⁰
The ones who committed the sin warranting punishment.

²⁶¹
There is no hereafter and no birth after death. Therefore, one might as well perform the good deed of ruling the kingdom. The three possibilities of deeds being done by the Lord, man or past deeds are being disposed of.

²⁶²
This is a different line of argument. If everything is based on past deeds, there are no good and bad deeds. Hence, if a classification of good and bad deeds is required, the only one who can do that is the king.

²⁶³
Prayaschitta.

²⁶⁴
If there have been evil deeds, it is better to atone for them in this life, instead of carrying forward the fruits to the next life.

²⁶⁵
The destruction in the war.

²⁶⁶
The ones who have been killed.

²⁶⁷
The gods and the demons were descended from the sage Kashyapa, but had different mothers.

²⁶⁸
The brahmanas who helped the demons. Literally, shala means jackal and vrika means wolf.

²⁶⁹
Indra’s name is Shatakratu,
shata
meaning one hundred and
kratu
meaning sacrifice.

²⁷⁰
The kingdoms of the kings who have been slain.

²⁷¹
The word didhishu has different meanings—a widow who has remarried, a woman who has married twice, or an elder sister who marries before the younger sister.

²⁷²
Probably meaning a traitor.

²⁷³
A good reason being a sacrifice.

²⁷⁴
That is, one who sells knowledge.

²⁷⁵
These are sins that require atonement.

²⁷⁶
The text uses the word
rasa
. This has multiple meanings, such as salt, juice and spices. Other than liquor, it is not obvious why the selling of any of these other items should be regarded as a sin.

²⁷⁷
Birds and animals, that is, killing them unnecessarily.

²⁷⁸
Presumably by a physician.

²⁷⁹
Shvetaketu was Uddalaka’s son and their stories figure in the Upanishads, particularly Chandogya Upanishad. However, this bit about Shvetaketu being born to Uddalaka through a disciple is not mentioned elsewhere.

²⁸⁰
Implicitly, a wife who is adulterous.

²⁸¹
That is, it should really be used in sacrifices to the gods.

²⁸²
To create pastureland.

²⁸³
This chapter is about atonement and there are several places where the shlokas are cryptic and not clear. Some liberties have therefore been taken with the text and there is some subjectivity.

²⁸⁴
A skull and khattanga (bedpost) being held as rod or staff are the signs of mendicancy. The broken bed is symbolic of the giving up of the bed and the comforts of a household.

²⁸⁵
The translation doesn’t capture the nature of the hardship (
krichchha
) diet. In this kind of practice, one only eats in the morning for three days, only in the evening for the next three days, nothing that is not obtained through begging in the next three days and fasts for three more days. This cycle of twelve days continues and one is purified in six years. If this cycle is modified by replacing a seven-day span in odd-numbered months and an eight-day span in even-numbered months, one is purified in three years.

²⁸⁶
The great journey (
mahaprasthana
) is death. The suggestion is of killing oneself.

²⁸⁷
By giving the preceptor an agreeable gift.

²⁸⁸
The elder brother.

²⁸⁹
Of the younger brother.

²⁹⁰
The brahmana texts associated with the Vedas.

²⁹¹
Another name for the
gayatri
mantra.

²⁹²
The atman.

²⁹³
Good and bad deeds.

²⁹⁴
A great sin is
pataka
or mahapataka, while a minor sin is
upapataka
. While it is agreed that there are five great or major sins, the listing of those sins varies. But something like killing a brahmana or having intercourse with a preceptor’s wife would figure in all such lists.

²⁹⁵
This is Manu speaking.

²⁹⁶
Death and rebirth, immortality meaning freedom from this cycle.

²⁹⁷
Class or ethnic group.

²⁹⁸
Guild or association.

²⁹⁹
Settlement.

³⁰⁰
The focus is thus on individual dharma, as opposed to dharma of groups or collectives.

³⁰¹
Fruit like a plum,
Cordia myxa.

³⁰²
The brahminy duck.

³⁰³
Two different kinds of vultures are mentioned,
bhasa
and
gridhra.

³⁰⁴
Payasa.

³⁰⁵
Krisara.

³⁰⁶
Without a sacrifice in mind.

³⁰⁷
Acacia.

³⁰⁸
This is Vyasa speaking again.

³⁰⁹
That is, spoke to Yudhishthira.

³¹⁰
Ganga’s.

³¹¹
Studied policy under Brihaspati.

³¹²
Shukracharya, the preceptor of the demons.

³¹³
The grandfather is Brahma and his eldest son (born through his mental powers) was Sanatkumara. We have translated
adhyatma
as transcendental.

³¹⁴
Parashurama.

³¹⁵
Krishna.

³¹⁶
Literally, the one whom the entire world has heard of. That is, Krishna.

³¹⁷
A sage.

³¹⁸
The moon.

³¹⁹
The names of Krishna’s horses.

³²⁰
Dhritarashtra.

³²¹
Hastinapura.

³²²
Goutami means Ahalya, the sage Goutama’s wife. There was a drought and there was no food. Because of a boon, Ahalya had plenty of food and tended to the suffering maharshis.

³²³
Krishnaa, Droupadi.

³²⁴
Clearly referring to some kind of temple inside the palace.

³²⁵
The family priest of the Pandavas.

³²⁶
Dhritarashtra.

³²⁷
The use of the word Bharati causes a problem of interpretation. In a straightforward way, Bharati is nothing but speech personified, especially Sanskrit speech. Meaning is artha, a line or quarter of a shloka is
pada
and syllable is an akshara. But does Bharati mean a reference to the goddess Sarasvati, especially since swans have been mentioned? This is possible, but not necessarily true.

³²⁸
There was a passing reference to Charvaka in Section 77 (Volume 7). There was a famous Charvaka, the founder of a materialist and atheist school of philosophy. This is not the famous Charvaka. The word
charvaka
means someone who is beautiful in speech.

³²⁹
A specific type of mendicant, not to be confused with the samkhya school of philosophy.

³³⁰
A rod with three staffs tied together is the mark of a mendicant.

³³¹
They saw through Charvaka’s disguise.

³³²
Though Duryodhana is dead, trying to ensure Duryodhana’s welfare by maligning Yudhishthira.