Authors: Bibek Debroy

Mahabharata: Volume 7 (64 page)

Chapter 1160(10)

¹⁴³So we now know that this was a different Chitrasena and Chitra was his brother.

¹⁴⁴In non-Critical versions, there are shlokas that say that Chitrasena became unconscious.

¹⁴⁵Shrutakarma’s.

¹⁴⁶The text says Chitravarma. Either Chitravarma was another name for Chitrasena, or there is a typo.

¹⁴⁸The text uses the word
putra
(son) and not
poutra
(grandson). In an extended sense, Prativindhya was Dhritrarashtra’s grandson and assuming that putra is not a typo, the word son can also be interpreted in a broad sense. This shloka is stated such that it is not clear who is doing the hurling of the spear at whom. Given the context, Chitra must have hurled the spear towards Prativindhya. But it is also possible that Chitra from Abhisara was confused with the Chitra who was Dhritarashtra’s son, in which case, ‘son’ makes sense and Prativindhya did the hurling of the spear.

Chapter 1161(11)

¹⁴⁹The siddhas are a semi-divine species, inhabiting the area between the sun and the earth and 88,000 in number.

¹⁵⁰The text uses the word
kala.
The moon has sixteen kalas or phases and sixteen kalas constitute the whole.

Chapter 1162(12)

¹⁵¹However, in Section 66 (Volume 5), Arjuna had effectively destroyed the samshaptakas.

¹⁵²Arjuna.

¹⁵³Trivenu.
Literally, trivenu means something with three poles. A trivenu was a triangular piece made out of bamboo, used to provide strength to a chariot. The base was towards the chariot. The other two poles were extended in the direction of the horses and were fastened to the central yoke.

¹⁵⁴Divine sage.

¹⁵⁵Celestial singers.

¹⁵⁶Shiva.

¹⁵⁷Nara and Narayana are ancient sages. Nara is identified with Arjuna and Narayana with Krishna.

¹⁵⁸Krishna is also one of Arjuna’s names.

¹⁵⁹Since Drona and Ashvatthama obtained a livelihood from Duryodhana.

¹⁶⁰The one without decay, Krishna’s name.

¹⁶¹Measure of distance equal to two miles.

¹⁶²The image is that of an ocean.

¹⁶³Arjuna.

¹⁶⁴This translation doesn’t capture the entire nuance. The words used are
pankteya
(desirable or admissible), vis-à-vis
apankteya
(undesirable or inadmissible).
Pankti
means line or row. Pankteyas are those with whom one sits down in the same row to eat. Apankteyas are those with whom one does not eat together. One will serve pankteyas first.

¹⁶⁵Brihaspati is the son of the sage Angirasa and is the preceptor of the gods. Shukra is the preceptor of the demons and Brihaspati and Shukra are therefore rivals. Brihaspati is Jupiter and Shukra is Venus.

¹⁶⁶One of the translations of nakshatra is constellation. It can also be translated as a star.

¹⁶⁷Yama’s.

¹⁶⁸Samshaptakas did not retreat. The word ‘wishes’ needs an explanation, since, without the pun, its inclusion seems strange. Ratha is a chariot.
Manoratha
is a chariot of the mind, that is, a wish or a desire.

¹⁶⁹Kubera.

¹⁷⁰Ashvatthama.

¹⁷¹Ashvatthama.

¹⁷²There is no obvious connection between Arjuna and the sage Angirasa. However, Angirasa is also described as the first man. Hence, this probably means no more than that Arjuna was the best among men.

Chapter 1163(13)

¹⁷³Dandadhara was a king from Magadha and he and his brother, Danda, fought on the side of the Kouravas. The Magadhas were divided in the war. Sahadeva, Jarasandha’s son, fought on the side of the Pandavas. Jayatsena is also described as a son of Jarasandha. While he is usually described as having fought on the side of the Kouravas, there are also places where he is described as belonging to the Pandava side.

¹⁷⁴The text uses the word
vikacha
, which has several meanings, including brilliant. The word also means a kind of comet. Finally, the word can mean a hairless or headless person. Using the headless angle, this part of the text has sometimes been interpreted as a reference to Ketu, who does not possess a head. In that event, this is one of the rare instances where Ketu is mentioned, Rahu having been frequently mentioned.

¹⁷⁵Vikacha again.

¹⁷⁶Literally, black iron, interpreted as steel.

¹⁷⁷Girivraja (or Rajagriha or Rajgir) was the capital of Magadha.

¹⁷⁸Indra’s younger brother, referred to as Upendra, is Vishnu or Krishna.

¹⁷⁹The elephant was white.

¹⁸⁰Equal to the two elephants that had been brought down.

Chapter 1164(14)

¹⁸¹Mars.

¹⁸²A specific type of malignant snake called
dandashuka.

¹⁸³Ugrayudha’s.

¹⁸⁴The other warriors.

¹⁸⁵Parshni has different meanings. When four horses are attached to a chariot, it means one of the outside horses. It can also mean one of the two charioteers who drive the outside horses, as opposed to the main charioteer (
sarathi
), or someone who guards the axles.

¹⁸⁶If chakra has to be translated, it can only be translated as disc or discus. The chakra is Vishnu and Krishna’s weapon.

¹⁸⁷The hands having been severed. The heads have also been severed.

Chapter 1165(15)

¹⁸⁸Chariots, horses, elephants and infantry.

¹⁸⁹Ashvatthama.

¹⁹⁰The sense is of untimely showers destroying crops.

¹⁹¹Tryambaka, the three-eyed one, is one of Shiva’s names and Shiva killed a demon named Andhaka.

¹⁹²Pandya. Malayadhvaja was clearly his name and he was the king of Pandya. He is also described a little later as the lord of Malaya or the lord of the mountains, since Malaya is a mountain.

¹⁹³To make it clearer, Ashvatthama shot nine arrows. Five were cut down by Pandya, but the remaining four killed his horses.

¹⁹⁴Three hours.

¹⁹⁵Divine weapon named after Vayu, the wind god.

¹⁹⁶Pandya.

¹⁹⁷He being one of the peaks and the elephant, or its head, being the other.

¹⁹⁸By the spear.

¹⁹⁹Ashvatthama.

²⁰⁰Tarkshya is Garuda’s name.

²⁰¹Vishakha is the sixteenth of the twenty-seven nakshatras, but is being used here as a general term for a nakshatra. That is, he was as resplendent as the moon between two nakshatras.

²⁰²Bali was a king of the demons who conquered the three worlds and dislodged Indra. In his
vamana
(dwarf) incarnation, Vishnu vanquished Bali and obtained heaven back for Indra.

Chapter 1166(16)

²⁰³Shiva’s boon has been described in Section 31 (Volume 2).

²⁰⁴Yudhishthira.

²⁰⁵Of elephants.

²⁰⁶That is, they were killed with the first arrow.

²⁰⁷Dhrishtadyumna.

²⁰⁸A reference to Yama.

Chapter 1167(17)

²⁰⁹Barbarians, those who do not speak Sanskrit.

²¹⁰The king of Vanga’s.

²¹¹The king of Vanga.

²¹²The king of Anga.

²¹³One has to deduce what this means. The person killed was actually the prince of Anga, though referred to as the king of Anga. The king of Anga was the preceptor of all those from Anga. The Critical edition uses the expression
acharyaputra
, meaning the preceptor’s son. Some non-Critical versions directly say, the son of Anga.

²¹⁴Of the elephants.

²¹⁵The Kourava soldiers.

²¹⁶The Kourava soldiers.

²¹⁷By excising a shloka, the Critical edition has a break in continuity here. In the missing shloka, Duhshasana hurled the sword towards Sahadeva.

²¹⁸Mental fever.

²¹⁹The word used is tata and it means son. But it is also used to address anyone who is younger or junior.

²²⁰Karna.

²²¹That is, creatures like birds could not descend from the sky.

²²²Karna gave word to Kunti that he would not kill any of the Pandavas, with the exception of Arjuna. That promise has been described in Section 55 (Volume 4). The placing of the bowstring around the neck is a sign of subjugation.

²²³Shakra’s bow is the rainbow.

²²⁴Karna.

²²⁵Dragged around by the horses.

²²⁶Karna, born from Kunti, was the son of the sun god, Surya.

²²⁷The sun.

Chapter 1168(18)

²²⁸Yuyutsu was Dhritarashtra’s son through a vaishya woman. He fought the war on the side of the Pandavas. Uluka was Shakuni’s son.

²²⁹Arrow with a razor-sharp tip.

²³⁰Uluka.

²³¹Yuyutsu.

²³²This doesn’t quite fit. The standard listing of Duryodhana’s brothers doesn’t include Shrutakarma. The closest one gets is Rudrakarma. Shrutakarma or Shrutakirti is Arjuna’s son, through Droupadi. Shatanika is Nakula’s son.

²³³Vivitsu was one of Duryodhana’s brothers.

²³⁴Prativindhya was Yudhishthira’s son.

²³⁵Bhima’s son through Droupadi.

²³⁶Sutasoma.

²³⁷Shakuni.

²³⁸There were different types of motions prescribed for fighting with a sword, variously described as twenty-one, twenty-four and thirty-two.

²³⁹Garuda.

²⁴⁰Shakuni.

²⁴¹Shakuni’s.

²⁴²Sharabha has many meanings—young elephant, camel. It is also a mythical animal with eight legs, believed to be stronger than a lion. In this context, one probably means the mythical animal.

²⁴³Dhrishtadyumna.

²⁴⁴Kripa was the preceptor of the Pandavas and the Kouravas before Drona turned up.

²⁴⁵The word used is tata.

²⁴⁶Kritavarma, Hridika’s son.

²⁴⁷Shikhandi’s.

²⁴⁸Kritavarma’s.

²⁴⁹Kritavarma.

²⁵⁰Shikhandi.

²⁵¹Shikhandi.

Chapter 1169(19)

²⁵²Arjuna.

²⁵³Garuda.