Book 7 edition notes 1–100

Literally, like an oration teeming with unrefined expressions.

i.e., deprived of robes and ornaments because of her widowhood.

A Sarabha is a fabulous animal of eight legs supposed to be stronger than the lion.

The sense seems to be, that when such an one hath been slain, what is there on earth that is not subject to destruction? Ye, should, therefore, grieve for your wealth, children etc. as things already gone.

There is a slight difference of reading in this sloka as it occurs in the Bombay text. The sense seems to be, that since everything is destined to die, why should I fear to do my duty.

The last line is read incorrectly, I think, in the Bombay text.

The second fine of 12 is read incorrectly in the Bengal text. Instead of tathapi the true reading (as in the Bombay edition) is tavapi.

Kula-samhanana-jnana, i.e., 'knowledge of Kula,' as also of samhanana, which latter, as Nilakantha explains, means the body. A knowledge of the body, of vital and other limbs, was possessed by every accomplished warrior who wanted to smite effectually.

i.e., who will feel it humiliating for him to walk behind Drona?

A substantial difference of reading occurs here between the Bengal and the Bombay texts. Both have defects of their own. It seems to me that Drona, as leader, proceeded in the van. Karna, when described as proceeding at the head of all bowmen, must be taken marching at the head of the whole rear guard. In the case, his position would be immediately behind Drona's.

Lit, "placed army to their right," i.e., these birds wheeled to the left of thy host, which is an evil omen.

The first line of 23 is read with a slight variation in the Bengal text. The words 'nothing could be seen save Drona's arrows' are added here to make the sense clear.

Probably, a ready instrument.

The sense seems to be that having carefully attained Arjuna in arms he has got the fruit of his care and labour in the form of defeat and death at the hands of, or, at least, through, his own pupil.

This sentence comprises 7, 8 and the first line of 9. I have followed the exact order of the original. The peculiarity of the Sanskrit construction is that the Nominative Pronoun is made to stand in apposition with a noun in the objective case. The whole of this Section contains many such sentences.

10 and 11 also refer to Ajatasatru.

Ghatotkacha was the son of Hidimva by Bhimasena. Rakshasi women bring forth the very day they conceive, and their offspring attain to youth the very day they are born!

Hayaraja, lit., the prince of steeds. He was an Asura, otherwise called Kesi, in the form of a steed.

i.e., without weapons of any kind.

Kaliprasanna Singha, in his Bengali translation, makes a mess of this Sloka.

Jarasandha, the powerful king of the Magadhas, and the sworn foe of Krishna, was slain by Bhima through Krishna's instigation.

viz., the transplantation of the Parijata from Amaravati to the earth.

Though gods, they have taken their births as men, and, they must achieve their objects by human means. It is for this that they do not, by a fiat only of their will, destroy this host.

The Bengal Texts read this verse incorrectly. For Prataptam, the correct reading is satatam; and for anukarinas, the correct word is asukarinas.

The Bengal reading is Sura-vyala. The Bombay texts reads Sulav-yala. I adopt the latter. Vajinas, in Prani-vaji-nishevitam, is explained by Nilakantha to mean fowl or bird.

It is evident that the very minuteness with which the comparison is sought to be sustained, destroys the effect. Regarding the repetition, they are just such as one may expect to find in verses composed extempore.

This verse is read incorrectly in the Bengal texts. For hayan read Dhanus.

The word "heroic" occurs in the next verse.

The word in the original are Sampata, Abhighata, and Nipata.

Nishka, literally, a golden coin, whose weight is diversely stated by diverse authorities.

I adopt the Bengal reading which is Vidhayaivam. The Bombay reading is Vihayainam, meaning 'leaving Yudhishthira.'

Soldiers sworn to conquer or die. Instead of using a long-winded phrase each time the word occurs, it is better to repeat it in this form.

The second line reads differently in the Bombay text.

It seems that the text here is vicious. It certainly requires settling. One complete Sloka seems to be wanting.

The second line of this verse is certainly vicious.

Ekacharas is explained by Nilakantha as 'unable to bear the sight of others of their species,' i.e., walking by themselves, or solitarily or singly. Some of the vernacular translators are for taking this word as implying the Rhinoceros.

Literally, 'thought in his mind that his hour was come.'

Literally, 'half-moon-shaped.'

Cruel because it was a Brahmana with whom Satanika was fighting.

The Bengal reading Vahupellava is a mistake. The correct reading is Vahupannaga as in the Bombay text.

Using even these as implements for striking, for Bhima's might was superhuman.

Hemadandais is a mistake of the Bengal texts for Hemabhandiers.

The first line of 20 is vicious as it occurs in the Bengal texts. The Bombay reading is correct.

This seems to be a repetition of the 6th verse.

i.e., not to abandon their comrades in distress.

The last word of the first line of 74 is vicious as printed in the Bengal texts.

The custom, when one warrior attacked another, was invariably to give his name and lineage before striking.

All the printed texts, not excepting that of Bombay, read Drupadeyas. There can be no doubt, however, that it should be Draupadeyas.

The first line of 54 is read incorrectly in the Bengal texts. I follow the Bombay reading.

After 19 occurs a complete sloka in the Bombay text which does not appear to be genuine.

The second line of 46 is omitted in the Bengal texts.

The Bengali translators have made a mess of these two verses. Among others, K. P. Singha makes Ruchiparvan follow Bhima and suppose Suvarchas to be some Pandava warrior who slew Ruchiparvan. The reading Suvarchas is vicious. The correct reading is Suparva, meaning, as Nilakantha explains, "of beautiful limbs." Parvatapati is Bhagadatta himself.

The Bengal reading abhitas is incorrect. It should be Kshubitas.

I render 16 and 17 rather freely, as otherwise the sense would not be clear.

The Bengal texts read,--"he is either the first or the second, on the earth, I think."

The Bombay reading paritas is vicious. The Bengal texts read twaritas.

The Bengal texts read the second line differently. Lokam (accusative). For Gharmancubhis the Bengal reading is Gharmamvubhis. Nilakantha explains that varsha (whence varshika) means season. Hence Nigadavarshikau masau would mean the two months of summer. If the Bengal reading were adopted, the meaning would be "like summer and the rainy seasons afflicting the world with sweat and rain."

The Bengal reading Samprapte is vicious. The Bombay reading Sambhrante is evidently correct.

I render 5 a little freely, and expand it slightly to make the sense clear.

The Bengal reading Purvabhilashi is better than Purvabhilbhashi. Between Nila and Aswatthaman existed a rivalry since some time.

The word in the original is dhumaketu. Elsewhere I have rendered it comet. It would seem, however, that is wrong. In such passages the word is used in its literal sense, viz., "(an article) having smoke for its mark," hence fire.

The first half of the first line of 21 seems to be grammatically connected with 20.

The last half of the second line of 4 is vicious as occuring in the Bengal texts. The correct reading is ayuduha-viarada.

Janghas, etc., are diverse limbs of cars used in battle.

The second half of the second line of 2 is vicious in the Bengal texts.

I omit the names as they occur in the text. These are: (1) Kshurupras, i.e., arrows sharp as razors, (2) Vatsadantas, i.e., arrows having heads like the calf-tooth, (3) Vipathas, i.e., long arrows having stout bodies, (4) Narachas, long arrows; Ardhachandrabhais, i.e., looking like shafts furnished with heads of the form of the half-moon; it is an adjective qualifying Narachis, (5) Anjalikas were broad-headed shafts.

There are the names of diverse kinds of drums small and large.

I adopt the Bombay reading of the 1st line of 4.

The fruit being the present encounter with Abhimanyu in which Duhsasana, according to Abhimanyu, shall have to lay down his life.

Pravanddiva is explained by Nilakantha as nimnadeeam prapya. The meaning seems to be, as I have put it, "like an elephant in a low land, i.e., land covered with mud and water."

These words occur in 17 lower down.

These are limbs of cars.

The Bombay reading is slightly different.

Literally, "like another son of the Lord of Treasure".

I confess I do not understand what the meaning is of asiva vachvz Srijatam. The rendering I offer is tentative.

I follow the numbering of the Bengal texts. 23 consists of three lines.

I expand the 5th a little to make the sense clear.

I expand the 5th a little to make the sense clear.

In the first fine of 3, the correct reading is Karnanchapy akarot kradha, etc., the reading in the Bengal text is vicious and unmeaning.

Bengal text read Taru-tringani i.e., tree-tops.

The correct reading is Mahavalan Mahavalat.

The Bombay reading which I accept, is Valabudhischa. Of course Bengal reading is Avalabudhischa.

During the days of mourning a person is regarded as unclean, being unable to perform his ordinary worship and other religious rites. After the obsequies are performed the mourning is ended, he is supposed to be cleansed.

The first line of 6 is read differently in the Bombay edition. The Bengal reading, however, seems to me to be preferable.

Both the Bengal and Bombay editions, in the first line of 12, read prita, i.e., gratified. There can be no doubt, however, that the correct reading is Bhita, i.e., affrighted, as I have put it. I find that some of the Bengali translators have also made this correction.

Devas, in the first line of 46, means the senses, Vrittas, as explained by Nilakantha, means Vritavantus.

Verse 55, as occuring in both the Bengal and the Bombay text, requires corrections, 55 is incomplete. For the words tada Raja, therefore, I read Sokam tyaja, as suggested by K. P. Singha. Then the Visarga after Yudhishthira must be dropped to make it a vocative. Similarly, Pandavas in 58 should be Pandava, a vocative and not a nominative, upakramat should be upakrama. The last two corrections are made in the Bombay text. The fact, is, are 55 to 58 the words of Vyasa, or of Sanjaya? Evidently, it is Vyasa that speaks, and, hence the necessity of the corrections noted.

I follow Nilakantha in rendering these two verses.

Of golden excreta.

The Bengal reading is Samvartam. The Bombay text makes Samvarta a nominative. I have adopted the Bengal reading. If the Bombay reading be accepted, the meaning would be that Samvarta himself, piqued with Vrihaspati, caused Marutta to perform a sacrifice. K. P. Singha makes a ludicrous blunder in supposing Samvarta to have been a kind of sacrifice.

The word in the original Atavika, literally meaning one dwelling in the woods. It is very generally used in the sense of thieves or robbers, thus showing that these depredators from the earliest times, had the woods and the forests for their home.

Vahinyas rivers. Swairinyas, open to every body. The Bengal reading is abhavan; the Bombay reading Vyatahan. If the former reading be adopted, it would mean the rivers were of liquid gold.

i.e., sacrifices ordained for Kshatriyas.

Siksha, one of the six branches of Vedas; it may be called the orthoepy of the Vedas. Akshara, letters of the alphabet. The sense seems to be that these Brahmanas were good readers of the Vedas.

The word in the original Murddhabhishikta, which literally means one whose coronal locks have undergone the ceremony of the sacred investiture. Hence, it is used to denote Kshatriyas or persons of the royal order.

Havisha mudamavahat; or havisham udam avahat, which would mean, he poured libations unto Indra as copious as water.

Because juniors pre-deceased their seniors. The causative form of akarayan is a license.

The four kinds of creatures that owned Rama's sway were (1) those that were oviparous, (2) those that were viviparous, (3) those born of filth, and (4) the vegetables.

These were ghats for facilitating access to the sacred stream.

Both 5 and 6 are difficult slokas. But for Nilakantha I could never have understood their sense. The reading Jalaughena, occuring in both the Bengal and the Bombay editions, is a mistake for Janaughena. The construction of 5 is this: Dakshina Bhuyasirdadat: tena hetuna Janaughena akaranta. The story of the salvation of Bhagiratha's ancestors is a beautiful myth. King Sagara (whence Sagara or the Ocean) had sixty thousand sons. They were all reduced to ashes by the curse of the sage Kapila, an incarnation of Vishnu himself. Bhagiratha, a remote descendant, caused the sacred Ganga to roll over the spot where the ashes of his ancestors lay, and thus procured their salvation.