The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa (4 vols., libros 1–18) · 4 · 46

444. Well-fried paddy, reduced to powder, is sometimes used for giving a coating to dishes of meat.

445. It will be remembered that the only chastisement that was in vogue in the Krita age was the crying of 'Fie' on an offender.

446. The Bombay text has vatsakah for utsavah. If the former reading be adopted, it would mean those rites that are performed for the prosperity and longevity of children. Of course, in such rites also the deities are worshipped and propitiated.

447. For Dwijaya some text read Grahaya meaning guests.

448. 'Jwalante' has 'dwipah' for its nominative understood. A twinkle occupies an instant of time. What is said here is that the giver of lights becomes endued with beauty and strength for as many years as the number of instants for which the lights given by him are seen to burn.

449. 'Kshatrabandhu' implies a low or vile Kshatriya.

450. Literally, 'Why dost thou dip such parts of thy body into a pond of water?'

451. The study of the Vedas is regarded as equivalent in merit of gifts. Hence actual gifts of articles are spoken of as 'gifts of other kinds.'

452. Literally 'friendship is seven-word.' Sometimes the same expression is understood as meaning 'seven-paced,' The sense, of course, is that if the righteous meet and exchange seven words (or, walk with each other for only seven steps), they become friends.

453. The Bombay text has Somapithi and upavati instead of upayanti. The Bengal text reads Somavithi which seems to be inaccurate. The sense seems to be that of Somapithi or drinker of (sacrificial) soma.

454. The Ekaratra, Pancharatra, and Ekadasaratra, sacrifices consist of fasts and gifts for the periods indicated by the names, viz., one night, five nights, and eleven nights.

455. 'Golden moons' imply those well-carved and beautifully fringed discs of gold that are worn by Hindu ladies on the forehead and that hang by thin chains of gold attached to the hair. In Bengal, ladies of respectable houses wear a kind of ornament called 'Chandrahara' or the moon-wreath. This ornament is worn round the waist, on the hip. Several chains of gold, from half a dozen to a dozen, having a large disc of well-carved gold to which they are attached, constitute this really very beautiful ornament. The disc is divided into two halves, attached to each other by hinges, so that in sitting down, the ornament produces no inconvenience.

456. In the Santi Parva it has been explained that in ancient times kings sometimes performed sacrifices causing altars to be raised at small distances from one another. These distances were measured by hurling a heavy piece of wood called Sami, so that throwing the Sami from one altar, the next altar would be created upon the spot where it fell.

457. i.e. if a sinful man mends his conduct, he succeeds in warding off the misery and evils to which he would otherwise be subject in consequence of his sins.

458. What is said here is this: certain persons have the ugly habit of picking up little clods of earth and pound them into dust, while sitting on the ground and engaged in talking. The habit also of tearing the grass while sitting on the ground may be marked. It should be remembered that the people of India in ancient times used often to sit on the bare ground. As to cutting off the nails with the teeth, it is an ugly habit with many young men.

459. The Brahma Muhurta is that when the sun is just below the horizon.

460. The prayers said in the morning and the evening are also spoken of as adoring the two twilights.

461. 'One should always observe the vow of Brahmacharya' means that one should abstain from sexual congress except with one's wedded wives and in the proper season.

462. The Bombay text reads the second line differently. What is meant, is that the wounds inflicted by wordy shafts rankle and fester and lead to death.

463. Samyava is a thin cake of unleavened bread, fried with ghee, pounded and again made up into an oblong form with fresh bread, sugar and spices, and again fried with ghee. Krisara is a kind of liquid food made of milk, sesame, rice, sugar, and spices. Sashkuli is a kind of pie. Payasa is rice boiled in sugar and milk.

464. Antarddhane implies 'in darkness'; hence one should always examine the bed with a light before one lies down on it.

465. Pranan, the commentator explains, implies the upper holes of the body, such as the nostrils, the ear-holes and the eyes.

466. The Brahmana is more powerful than the other two, for while the other two cannot injure except when they have their foe within sight, the Brahmana can do so even by not seeing his enemy.

467. The custom in India, with especially all orthodox Brahmanas, is to wear a single flower on the head, inserted into the coronal lock. This flower may be a red one, it is said, after the prohibition in the previous verse about the wearing of garlands made of red flowers.

468. What is stated here is that dry perfumes should not be used, but those which are pounded with water and made into a paste.

469. The cloth worn by a Hindu has two lateral fringes which contain a lesser number of threads than the body of the cloth.

470. It has been said that Hinduism is a vast system of personal hygiene. These directions about change of attire are scrupulously observed by every rigid Hindu to this day. No change seems to have taken place in the daily habits of the people.

471. Priyangu is the Aglaia Roxburghiana. Vilwa is the Egle marmelos. Tagara is the Taberuaemontana coronaria, Linn. Kesara is probably the Eclipta alba, Hassk.

472. Na is the nom. sing. of Nri, implying man.

473. One of the Vernacular translations takes valena as signifying child and para-sraddha as meaning the first or adya sraddha.