232. Vapra has various meanings. I think, it means here a field. Large waste lands often require to be enclosed with ditches and causeways. Unless so reclaimed, they cannot be fit for cultivation.
233. The river Chenab in the Punjab was known in former times by the name of Chandrabhaga. So the river Jhelum was known by the name of Vitasta.
234. The sense is that one proceeds to the region of the Apsaras and becomes an object of respect there.
235. i.e., one acquires sovereignty.
236. It is difficult to understand the connection of the second line of verse 31. It does not mean enters the eternal region called Andhaka that rests on nothing. Human sacrifices were performed sometimes in former days.
237. Nyastani has Gangayam understood after it.
238. The deities are supported by the offerings made in sacrifices. These offerings consist of the productions of the Earth and the butter produced by the cow. The deities, therefore, are said to be chiefly supported by the Earth and the Cow. The Asuras, by afflicting the Earth and killing kine, used to weaken the deities.
239. The river Ganga has three courses. On Earth it is called Bhagirathi or Ganga; in heaven it is called Mandakini; and in the nether regions it is known by the name of Bhogabati.
240. Devesh is lit. the lord of the deities; but here it means the King or Emperor.
241. Aranyaih is explained by the commentator as implying courses of conduct leading to Brahmaloka.
242. The story referred to is this: King Sagara of the solar (?) race had sixty thousand sons, all of whom were reduced to ashes by the curse of Kapila. Afterwards Bhagiratha, a prince of the same race, brought down Ganga from heaven for their redemption.
243. Identical with the universe because capable of conferring the fruition of every wish. Vrihati--literally, large or vast, is explained by the commentator as implying foremost or superior.
244. Madhumatim is explained as conferring the fruits of all good actions.
245. Viswam avanti iti. Here the absence of num is arsha.
246. Bhuvanasya is swargasya.
247. The construction of this verse is not difficult though the order of the words is a little involved. Both the vernacular translators have misunderstood it completely.
248. Kurute may mean also makes. The sense is that the Brahmana grants to others whatever objects are desired by them. In his own case also, he creates those objects that he himself desires. His puissance is great and it is through his kindness that others get what they wish or seek.
249. Ekaramah is one who sports with one's own self, i.e., who is not dependant on others for his joy or happiness; one who has understood the soul.
250. Dasatirdasa is ten times hundred or one thousand Dasati, like Saptati, Navati, etc., means ten times ten. Both the Vernacular translators have erred in rendering the word.
251. Teshu (Brahmaneshu) Vahumanaprah (san) kan namsvasi--this is the Grammar, as explained by the commentator.
252. Yajanti with reference to truth and righteousness means worship, and with reference to land kine means give away.
253. Pigeons pick up scattered grains and never store for the morrow. In the Sila and other vows, the picking up of scattered and cast off grains from the field after the crops have been taken away by the owners, is recommended as the means of filling the stomach.
254. The aggregate of three is Righteousness, Wealth, and Pleasure. Persons who, in all the acts they do, keep an eye upon these three, are said to have their aggregate of three existing in all their acts.
255. Some texts read vriddhan for Ishtan. If the former reading be adopted, the meaning would be that kings should worship all aged Brahmanas possessed of Vedic lore.
256. Though really conversant with all duties, and of righteous behaviour, the Brahmanas, nevertheless, for concealing their real natures or for protecting the world, are seen to be employed in diverse kinds of occupations.
257. The argument, therefore, is that anything given to the Brahmana to eat and that is eaten by him apparently, is really eaten by these deities.
258. Bhutatmanah is explained by the commentator as Bhuta praptahvasikritahatma yaih.
259. The second line of verse 18 is a crux. The commentator explains that prakshipya means dattwa; Kun is the Earth. Van is diptim ukrvan, ubhaya-loke iti seshah. Para- [This footnote appears to have been truncated, as the last line begins with a hyphenated word.--JBH.]
260. The dark spots on the Moon were due to the curse of Daksha. The waters of the Ocean became saltish owing to the curse of a Rishi.
261. The sense is that one becomes a Brahmana by birth alone, without the aid of those purificatory rites that have been laid down in the scriptures. When food is cooked, none else than a Brahmana is entitled in the first portion thereof.
262. The commentator thinks that saudram karma has especial reference to the service of others. Hence what is interdicted for the Brahmanas is the service of others.
263. In this country to this day, when food is prepared in view of guests invited to a house, no portion of such food can be offered to any one before it is dedicated to the deities and placed before those for whom it is intended. An exception, however, is made for children. What is stated here is that a good Brahmana can take the precedence of even children in the matter of such food.
264. What is stated here is that those Brahmanas that do not accept gifts are very superior. Their energy and might are great. Bhishma directs Yudhishthira to be always careful of how he would treat such superior Brahmanas. After rakshyam, the words swakulam are understood. The Burdwan translator misunderstands the second line of the verse.
265. The construction is Etat Brahmana-mukhat sastram, yat srutwaiha pravartate, prithivyam etc, etc. Both the vernacular translators have misunderstood the verse.
266. Etat karanam seems to refer to Brahmana-mukhat sastram. The sense seems to be that in the encounter between the deities and the Asuras the power of the Brahmanas was abundantly proved, for Sukra aided the Asuras with his Mantras and incantations, while Vrihaspati and others aided the deities by the same means.
267. In some of the Bengal texts for Bhumiretau the reading Bhumireto occurs. The fact is, the latter is a misprint or a mere clerical error. The etau has reference to the two mentioned in the second line. The Burdwan translator actually takes Bhumireto as a correct reading and makes nonsense of the verse.
268. I expand this verse. After kriya bhavati patratwam is understood. Kriya includes the diverse objects for which persons solicit alms or gifts. Upansuvratam is maunam parivrajyam.
269. It is said that food or other things, when given to an undeserving person, feels grief. What Yudhishthira asks is who the proper person is unto whom gifts may be made.
270. All these acts should be performed with purity of intention and according to the ordinances of the scriptures. For example, sacrifices should not be performed with vanity or pride. The Vedas should not be studied without faith. Children should not be procreated from lust, etc.
271. Such words are unseizable and unintelligible for their depth of meaning. Women are equally unseizable and unintelligible.
272. The sense is this: women agitate the hearts of those that treat them with respect as of those that treat them with disdain. The commentator explains that Pujitah dhikkritahva tulyavat vikaram janayati.
273. All living creatures are virtuous, for they are capable of progressing towards godship by their own acts.
274. Pura has little force here, implying 'first'. In the first place, know that I have come to thee, 275. Ladies spoke in Prakrita and not in Sanskrit. The latter is refined, the former is unrefined. Hence Indra's surprise at hearing Sanskrit words from the lady's lips.
276. The adana ceremony was a rite in course of which friends and kinsmen had to make presents unto the person performing the ceremony. The investiture with the sacred-thread, marriage, the rite performed in the sixth and the ninth month of pregnancy, are all ceremonies of this kind.
277. It would be curious to see how the commentator Nilakantha seeks to include within these five the eight forms of marriage mentioned by Manu. The fact is, such parts of the Mahabharata are unquestionably more ancient than Manu. The mention of Manu is either an instance of interpolation or there must have been an older Manu upon whose work the Manu we know has been based. The Asura and the Rakshasa forms are unequivocally condemned. Yet the commentator seeks to make out that the Rakshasa form is open to the Kshatriyas. The fact is, the Rakshasa was sometimes called the Paisacha. The distinction between those two forms was certainly of later origin.
278. Thus, there was no difference, in status, in ancient times, between children born of a Brahmana, a Kshatriya or a Vaisya mother. The difference of status was of later origin.
279. Nagnika is said to be one who wears a single piece of cloth. A girl in whom the signs of puberty have not appeared does not require more than a single piece of cloth to cover her. The mention of Nagnika, the commentator thinks, is due to an interdiction about wedding a girl of even ten years in whom signs of puberty have appeared.
280. When a father happens to have an only daughter, he frequently bestows her in marriage upon some eligible youth on the understanding that the son born of her shall be the son, for purposes of both Sraddha rites and inheritance, not of the husband begetting him but of the girl's father. Such a contract would be valid whether expressed or not at the time of marriage. The mere wish of the girl's father, unexpressed at the time of marriage, would convert the son into a son not of the father who begets him but of the father of the girl herself. A daughter reserved for such a purpose is said to be a putrikadharmini or 'invested with the character of a son.' To wed such a girl was not honourable. It was in effect an abandonment of the fruits of marriage. Even if dead at the time of marriage, still if the father had, while living, cherished such a wish, that would convert the girl into a putrikadharmini. The repugnance to wedding girls without father and brothers exists to this day.
281. For understanding the meanings of Sapinda and Sagotra see any work on Hindu law civil or canonical.
282. These verses are exceedingly terse. The commentator explains that what is intended is that under the third and fourth circumstances the giver of the girl incurs no sin; under the second, the bestower of the girl (upon a person other than he unto whom a promise had been made) incurs fault. The status of wife, however, cannot attach simply in consequence of the promise to bestow upon the promiser of the dower. The relationship of husband and wife arises from actual wedding. For all that, when the kinsmen meet and say, with due rites, 'This girl is this one's wife,' the marriage becomes complete. Only the giver incurs sin by not giving her to the promised person.
283. Hence, having promised to wed such a one, she is at liberty to give him over and wed another whom she likes.
284. In consequence of that boon no one incurs sin by retracting promises of bestowing daughters upon others in view of more eligible husbands.
285. Hence, no one should bestow his daughter upon a person that is not eligible, for the offspring of such marriage can never be good and such a marriage can never make the daughter's sire or kinsmen happy.
286. One of the most important rites of marriage is the ceremony of circumambulation. The girl is now borne around the bride-groom by her kinsmen. Formerly, she used to walk herself. All gifts, again, are made with water. The fact is, when a thing is given away, the giver, uttering the formula, sprinkles a drop of water upon it with a blade of Kusa grass.
287. Hence, what Savitri did at the bidding of her sire could not be against the course of duty or morality. The Burdwan translator has misunderstood the second line of this verse, while K.P. Singha has quietly dropped it.
288. Dharmasya refers to the true or correct or eternal Aryan usage, Pradanam is khandanam, from da, to cut. The sense is that the grant of liberty to women is an Asura practice.
289. Hence, no one should wed, led by desire alone. Nor should the maiden be permitted to choose for herself. She may be guided in her choice by improper considerations connected with only carnal pleasure.
290. The property is divided into five parts, two of which are taken by the daughter under such circumstances and three by the son.
291. I expand the verse for making it intelligible, by setting forth the reasons urged by Hindu lawyers and noticed by the commentator.
292. Valatah vasyam implies only those whose consent is obtained by force. Hence, such cases as those of Krishna abducting Rukmini and Arjuna abducting Subhadra, are excluded from this denunciation.
293. The maiden may herself accept ornaments. That would not convert the transaction into a sale.
294. Swalpa-kaupinah literally is covered with a small piece of cloth, hence, capable of being easily seduced.
295. i.e., he should not acquire for storing. He may acquire to spend in sacrifices and gifts or for maintaining himself and his family.
296. i.e., if the Brahmana, led by affection for any other wife, disregards the wife belonging to his own order and shows preference for those of the other orders, he then incurs the liability of being regarded as a Chandala that has come to be numbered among Brahmanas.
297. The sense of this verse seems to be this: If a Brahmana takes in succession three spouses all belonging to his own order, the son born of his first wife shall take the share that is allotted to the eldest; that born of the second wife shall take a share next in value; and that born of the youngest wife shall take the share allotted to the youngest. After such especial shares are taken, the residue of the property is to be distributed unto equal shares each of which shall be taken by each of the children. If this interpretation be correct, it would appear that the contention waged some years ago in Bengal, that the scriptures do not allow a person the liberty of taking more than one spouse from his own order, falls to the ground. Upon other grounds also, that contention was absurd, for Kshatriya kings often took more than one Kshatriya spouse.
298. i.e., each order was created for performing sacrifices. The Sudra is competent to perform sacrifice. Only his sacrifice should be by serving the three other orders.
299. For them there is no investiture with the sacred-thread.
300. Broken earthenpots are always cast off. They are some times utilised by persons of the lower orders.
301. The second line is exceedingly terse. The sense seems to be this: one who is of low birth must remain low in disposition. Absolute goodness may arise in his heart, but it disappears immediately without producing any effect whatsoever. The study of the scriptures, therefore, cannot raise such a person. On the other hand, the goodness which according to its measure has ordained for one (1) the status of humanity and (2) the rank in that status, is seen to manifest itself in his act.
302. The son begotten upon a maiden by one who does not become her husband, and born after her marriage, is regarded as belonging not to the begetter but to the husband.
303. Such a son becomes the property of the mother's husband and not of his begetter. If however, the begetter expresses a wish to have him and rear him, he should be regarded as the begetter's. The principle upon which he becomes the child of the mother's husband is that the begetter conceals himself and never wishes to have him.
304. The objects of Yudhishthira's question will appear clearly from the answer given to it by Bhishma.
305. There is no fault in kine, etc., and kine are like fire etc. The Hindu idea is that kine are cleansing or sanctifying. The Rishis discovered that the magnetism of the cow is something that is possessed of extraordinary virtues. Give the same kind of food to a cow and a horse. The horse-dung emits an unhealthy stench, while the cowdung is an efficacious disinfectant. Western science has not yet turned its attention to the subject, but there can be little doubt that the urine and dung of the cow possess untold virtues.
306. Saptopadam mitram means that by speaking only seven words or walking only seven steps together, two persons, if they be good, become friends.
307. Vajrasuchyagram may also mean furnished with an end like that of the needle with which diamonds and other hard gems are bored through.
308. The ever-changing beautiful masses of afternoon or evening clouds, presenting diverse kinds of forms almost every minute, are regarded as the abodes or mansions of the Gandharvas.
309. Some of these trees and creepers are identifiable. Sahakara is Mangifera Indica, Linn. Ketaka is a variety of Pandanus Odoratissimus, Linn. Uddalaka is otherwise called Vahuvara and sometimes Selu. It is the Cordia Myxa, Linn. It may be a misreading for Uddanaka, which is the well-known Cirisha or the Mimosa Sirisca of Roxburgh. Dhava is Conocarpus latifolia, Roxb. Asoka is Saraca Indica, Linn., syn, Jonesia Asoka, Roxb. Kunda is Jasminum pubescens, Linn. Atimukta is otherwise called Madhavi. It is Gaertinera racemosa, Roxb. Champaka is Michelia Champaca, Linn. Tilaka sometimes stands for Lodhra, i.e., Symplocos racemosa, Roxb. The word is sometimes used for the Aswattha or Ficus religiosa, Linn. Bhavya is Dillenia Indica, Linn. Panasa is Artocarpus integrifolia, Linn. The Indian Jack-tree. Vyanjula stands for the Asoka, also Vetasa (Indian cane), and also for Vakula, i.e., Mimusops Elengi, Linn. Karnikara is Pterospermum accrifolium, Linn. Cyama is sometimes used for the Pilu, i.e., Salvadora Persica, Linn. Varanapushpa or Nagapushpa or Punnaga is Colophyllum inophyllum, Linn. Astapadika or padika is otherwise called Bhardravalli. It is the Vallaris dichotoma, Wall., Syn., Echites dichotoma, Roxb.
310. Bhringaraja is the Lanius Malabaricus. Kokila is the well-known Indian Koel or cuckoo. Catapatra is the wood-pecker. Koyashtika is the Lapwing. Kukkubhas are wild-cocks (Phasinus gallus). Datyuhas are a variety of Chatakas or Gallinules. Their cry resembles the words (phatikjal). Jivajivaka is a species of partridges. Chakora is the Greek partridge. Sarasa is the Indian crane. Chakravaka is the Brahmini duck or goose.
311. In verse 39 and 40 for asmi and tapacchaitat read asi and tapasaccha.
312. The Grandsire spoke of somebody becoming a Kshatriya in Bhrigu's race, and referred to the incident as the result of a stain that would be communicated to that race from Kusika's. This is the full allusion.
313. The sense seems to be that Kusika wishes to know what person of Bhrigu's race will confer this high benefit upon his race.
314. By ancestors to the seventh degree also descendants to the same degree are meant.
315. Heaven and Hell are places of only enjoyment and endurance. There can be no acts there leading to merit or demerit. This world is the only place which is called the field of acts.
316. Vrikshas are large or small trees generally. Gulma is a shrub, or bushy plant. Lata is a creeper, which cannot grow without a support. Talli is of the same variety, with this difference, perhaps, that its stems are more tree-like than those of creepers. Twaksara is the bamboo. Trina includes all kinds of grass.
317. The commentator explains that the drift of Yudhishthira's query is this: the giver and the receiver do not meet in the next world. How then can an object given away return or find its way back to the giver in the next world or next life?
318. Abhimanat is differently understood by the commentator.
319. Yuktaih is the better reading, although muktaih may not be erroneous. Yuktain is charaih; while muktath is 'men charged with a commission to do a thing'.
320. This sacrifice is the sacrifices of gifts. 'Spreading out a sacrifice' means 'spreading out the articles and placing them in proper order in view of the sacrifice.' 'Dadatah vartotam' means datustaya saryanastu.
321. The sense is this: gifts made to such superior Brahmanas serve to free a person from the debts which he owes to the deities. The 'water of gifts' means the water that the giver sprinkles, with a blade of Kusa grass, over the article given away, saying, 'I give this away'. In the sacrifice constituted by gifts, such water is like the dedication of offerings to the Pitris. A knowledge of the ritual of sacrifice is needed to understand and appreciate the figures employed in such verses.
322. Some texts read tathabham, meaning abhayam or fearlessness is from them--Tathobhayam (which I adopt) is that both, Heaven and Hell become one's through them; if gratified, they bestow Heaven; if angry, they hurl into Hell.
323. Yachyam is yachanarupamkarma, Anisasya is daridrasya. Abhiharam is tirashkaram. Yachanti bhutani means those who beg or solicit. In the Santi Parva, Bhishma in one place directs beggars to be driven away from towns and cities as annoyers of respectable people. This, however, applies to professional beggars, and not persons in real distress.
324. Antarvedyan is within the platform; and Anrisamsyatah is vahirvedyan or outside the platform.
325. Sacrifices are a means of giving away unto the Brahmanas.
326. Weeping women means women of destitute condition and, therefore, unable to pay.
327. The first word in the first line is not kshatam but kritam.
328. The Commentator explains that because giver by one that is dear or given to one that is dear, therefore is she called Priyadatta.
329. This is evidently a crux. Prasamsanti means generally praise. Here it means reproach or censure. The second line may also mean, his enemies dare not attack his kingdom.
330. This is the utterance or declaration of the earth herself.
331. Rich with every taste; the idea is that things have six tastes, viz., sweet, sour, etc. The quality of taste is drawn by things from the soil or earth. The tastes inhere in earth, for it is the same earth that produces the sugarcane and the tamarind.
332. Sparsitam is dattam.
333. The Bombay reading adityatastansha is better than the Bengal reading adityataptansha.
334. What Yudhishthira wishes to know is what conjunctions should be utilized for making what particular gifts.
335. Payasa is rice boiled in sugared milk. It is a sort of liquid food that is regarded as very agreeable.
336. Vardhamana, Sarava or Saravika. It is a flat certain cup or dish.
337. Phanita is the inspissated juice of the sugarcane.
338. A prasanga is a basket of bamboo or other material for covering paddy.
339. Rajamasha is a kind of bean. It is the Vinga sinensis, syn. Dilicheos sinensis Linn.
340. There may be akama and sakama acts, i.e., acts without desires of fruit and acts with desires of fruit. A Sraddha with Tila or sesame should never be done without desire for fruit.
341. When a residential house is given away unto such a Brahmana and the receiver resides in it, the giver reaps the reward indicated. It does not refer to the hospitable shelter to such a Brahmana given by one in one's own house.
342. To this day, in Bengal at least, a tenant never performs the first Sraddha or a Puja (worship of the deities) without obtaining in the first instance the permission of the landlord. There is in Sraddhas a Rajavarana or royal fee payable to the owner of the earth on which the Sraddha is performed.
343. Tasyam is explained by the commentator as kritayam.
344. Kinasa is either one who tills the soil with the aid of bulls or one who slays cattle. Having first mentioned vadhartham, kinasa should here be taken for a tiller. Kasai, meaning butcher, seems to be a corruption of the word kinasa.
345. One need not dedicate unto one's deities any other food than what one takes oneself. In the Ramayana it has been said that Rama offered unto the Pitris astringent fruits while he was in exile. The Pisachas dedicate carrion unto their deities for they themselves subsist upon carrion.
346. The first line of 13 and the last line of 14 are very terse: Kalasya vihitam, as explained by the Commentator, is ayuh pramanam, na prapnami is na janami. The sense is that 'unurged by time, I cannot allow these to take up my residence here.'
347. i.e., invite Brahmanas to feasts in which sesame should predominate.
348. In Bengal, to this day, those who can afford, particularly pious ladies, establish shady resting places in the month of Vaisakha (the hottest month of the year), by the side of the public roads, for travellers, where good cool drinking water, a handfull of well-drenched oats, and a little of raw sugar, are freely distributed. Such institutions, on the old Benares Road and the Grand Trunk Road, considerably refresh travellers. There are miles upon miles along these roads where good water is not at all procurable.
349. What is meant by the giving of lamps is the placing of lighted lamps in dark places which are the resorts of men, such as roads and ghats, etc.
350. Of equal name, because the word go means cow, earth, and speech.
351. No particular number is intended. What is meant is--innumerable.
352. The 'hence' in the last line has reference to what has been said before on the subject of kine, and not to the first line of the verse.
353. Vitasokaih in the instrumental plural refers to Bhavanaih or some such substantive understood. It may also be read as a nominative plural, referring to Lokah.
354. Very probably what is said here is that only such kine are worthy of being given away unto Brahmanas, and not lean animals.
355. Kine produce food not only by assisting at tillage of the soil, but also by aiding in the performance of sacrifices. The ghee burnt in the sacrificial fire sustains the under-deities, who pour rain and cause crops to grow.
356. That heat is the originating principle of the growth of many things was well understood by the Rishis.
357. The sense seems to be this: in doing all pious acts, one should first take the aid of a preceptor, even if one be well-conversant with the ordinances one has to follow. Without the selection of a preceptor in the first place, there can be no pious act. In the matter, therefore, of making gifts of kine according to the ordinances laid down, one should seek the help of a preceptor as well as in the matter of every other act of piety.
358. When consciousness of body is lost in Yoga or Samadhi, a temporary Moksha or Emancipation succeeds. Men with cleansed minds behold at such times those regions of supreme felicity to which the speaker refers. Such felicity, of course, is the felicity of Brahma itself.
359. Govritti is imitating the cow in the matter of providing for the morrow. Hence, one, who never thinks of the morrow and never stores anything for future use, is meant.
360. Etachcha in 25 implies gift of a cow, and enam refers to a Brahmana. Dwijaya dattwa, etc, in the first line of 26 seems to be an elaboration of Etachcha.
361. Homyaheth prasute implies for a child born in consequence of a Homa. The fact is, ascetics sometimes created children without the intervention of women and by efficacy of the Homa alone. At such times should people make gifts of kine unto such sires. The mention of Vala-samvriddhaye afterwards implies the birth of children in the usual course.
362. Kshirapaih implies calves that are yet unweaned; that is, the cow should be given at such a time when she is still yielding milk; when, in fact, her calf has not learnt to eat or drink anything besides the milk or its dam.
363. The correct reading of the second line is kshanene vipramuchya as in the Bombay text, and not kshemena vipramuchyeran. The latter reading yields almost no sense. The Burdwan translator, who has committed grave blunders throughout the Anusasana, adheres to the incorrect reading, and makes nonsense of the verse.
364. In verse 3, vikrayartham is followed, as the Commentator rightly explains, by niyunkta or some such word. Vikrayartham hinsyat may mean 'killing for sale.' This, however should be pleonastic with reference to what follows.
365. Vratas (rendered as 'vows') and Niyamas (rendered as observances) differs in this respect that the former involves positive acts of worship along with the observance of, or abstention from, particular practices, while the latter involves only such observance or abstention.
366. The orthodox belief is that all rituals are literally eternal. As eternal, they existed before anybody declared them or set them down in holy writ. The ritual in respect of gifts of kine sprang in this way, i.e., in primeval time. It was only subsequently declared or set down in holy writ.
367. In verse 5, if instead of the reading swah, swa be adopted, the meaning would be knowing that he would have to die. A Rohini is a red cow. The words Samanga and Vahula are Vedic terms applied to the cow. The Sandh in vahuleti is arsha. The formula or Mantras that should be uttered in actually giving away the kine occur in the scriptures.
368. The Commentator explains that gavadinam in the first line refers to gopratindhinam. The second line is very terse. The sense is that at only the eight step in the homeward journey of the recipient, all the merits attaching to vicarious gift become his who gives an actual cow: what need, therefore, be said of that merit when the recipient reaches home and draws from the cow the means of worshipping his domestic fire, entertaining his guests, etc?
369. Ashtami is the eighth day of the lunar fortnight. There must be two Ashtamis in every lunar month. A particular Ashtami is known as the Kamya or the Goshtha. On that day, kine are worshipped with sandalpaste, vermilion, floral wreaths, etc.
370. Sikhi means a bull, so called from the hump it carries. The construction is sikhi Vrishaiva etc, 371. A Kapila cow is one that gives a copious measure of milk whenever she is milked, and is possessed of various other accomplishments and virtues.
372. For without ghee, which is produced from milk, there can be no sacrifice. The sa may refer to Soma, but sacrifice is evidently meant.
373. The idea of uchcchishta, is peculiarly Hindu and cannot be rendered into any other language. Everything that forms the remnant of meal after one has left of eating, is uchcchishta. The calf sucks its dam. The udders, however, are not washed before milking the dam, for the milk coming out of them is not held to be impure remnant.
374. Swastayana is a ceremony of propitiation, productive of blessing and destructive of misery of every kind.
375. The commentator explains that by a wet cowhide is meant a piece of cowhide that has been dipped in water and thus purified. Upavisya is understood after Charmani. The mention of bhumau implies the avoidance of dishes or plates or cups of white brass or other allowable metals. Gavam pushtim, I understand, means 'the prosperity in respect of kine.' i.e., the prosperity which kine confer.
376. The first line of verse 4 seems to be connected with verse 3. The second line of 4 seems to stand by itself. By connecting the first line of 4 with the second, the meaning will be--All mobile and immobile creatures that will give us away etc. Immobile creatures making gifts of kine would be utter nonsense.
377. Vallaki is the Indian lute. The Nupura is an ornament for the ankles.
378. Bhumidah is literally, a giver of land. King Saudasa, the commentator explains, was known by the name of Bhumidah in consequence of his liberality in the matter of giving away land unto the Brahmanas.
379. These are the several names by which kine are known. The first is probably derived from kine bearing the plough and thus assisting the tillage of the soil. The second implies beauty of form. The third is derived from the cow being regarded as the origin of all things in the universe: all things, therefore, are only so many forms of the cow. Viswarupa implies the same thing. Matara implies mothers, kine being regarded as the mothers of all.
380. Ghee is regarded so sacred because of its use in sacrifices. It is with the aid of ghee that the deities have become what they are. Itself sacred, it is also cleansing at the same time.
381. Sri is the goddess of Prosperity. The answer of Bhishma will explain the question fully.
382. Devendreshu is evidently a misreading for Daitendreshu.
383. The commentator explains that hence, by making gifts of gold, one comes to be regarded as making gifts of the entire universe.
384. i.e., into water, for water is identical with Agni.
385. This refers to the practice of making the sacrificial fire by rubbing two sticks of Sami. It is a very inflammable wood and is used hence in all sacred rites.
386. Hiranyaretas implies having gold for his vital seed.
387. Vasumati implies endued with wealth, so called because the seed of Agni, identified with gold, is wealth of the highest kind and fell on the Earth who from that time began to hold it.
388. Skanda is derived from Skanna or fallen out. Guha implies secret. The secrecy of his birth in the wilderness led to the bestowal of this name. He has many other names.
389. Jatarupa refers to the incident of its having assumed an excellent form after its birth from Agni.
390. The commentator explains,--Pravrittipradhanam jangamamabhut.
391. Sa guna refers to Sattwa. Tejas is identical with Buddhi, because Buddhi, like Light, discovers all things. Sattwa, again, being of the nature of space, or rather being space itself, is of universal form; that is, Sattwa is all-pervading.
392. Avasatmaka is explained by the commentator as bhranta.
393. These are different names of Brahman and Mahadeva.
394. The 'hence' here does not refer to what preceded immediately, but has reference to what has been said of the identity of Agni with Brahman and Rudra.
395. Pravartakam implies leading to Pravritti for righteous acts or Chittasuddhi.