c. xii. d. 20. dharmyāmṛi- | dharmyāmṛitam, a

manaḥshashṭānī, a and b manaḥshashṭāni,

c. xvii. d. 11. yashṭavyama and b, id. c. xvii. d. 13. asṛishṭānnam a and b, id.

c. xviii. d. 13. panchemāni panchaitani, a and b

| nyāyam, a and b

c. xviii. d. 66. mochayish- mokshayishyāmi, a and b mokshayishyāmi, yāmi

c. xviii. d. 67. nātapaskāya a and b, id.

bhūtirdruvānītirmatir, a
bhūtirdruvanītimatir, b1

NOTE

WHILE this work was going through the press, the translation of the Bhagavad Gītā which K. T. Telang has prepared for Max Müller's "Sacred Books of the East" came into my hands. It is much superior, I think, to the translation which he published in Bombay (1875), but it is based on a principle which will not be accepted by European scholars. "My aim has been," he writes, "to make the translation as close and literal a rendering as possible of the Gīta, as interpreted by the commentators Sankaracharya, Srīdharasvāmin, and Madhusūdana Sarasvati, . In some places these commentators differ among themselves, and then I have made my own choice" (Introd., p. 35). I, too, have consulted Hindu commentators largely, but have found them deficient in critical insight, and more intent on finding or forming Vedāntist doctrines in every part than in giving the true sense of the author. I have examined their explanations with the freedom of inquiry that is common to Western habits of thought, and thus, while I have sometimes followed their guidance, I have been often obliged to reject their comments as misrepresenting the doctrines of the author. I append some instances of this kind, that my readers may be able to form their own judgment.

(1.) "When your mind, confounded by what you have heard, will stand firm and steady in contemplation" (ii. 53). Here the reference is to śruti, which means (1) hearing, (2) revelation, the sacred books. Hindu commentators say that the meaning is, what του have heard about the means of obtaining desirable things; assuming as a certain proposition that the Vedas could not be attacked. The doctrine of the Bhagavad Gītā is, however, that the devotee (yogin), when fixed in meditation, lays aside the Vedas and Vedic ritual. Lassen's version is, "Sententiis theologicis antea distracta quando mens," &c.

...

(2.) "Others perform the sacrifice. of Vedic study" (iv. 28). The word is swādhyāya, reading to one's self. There is no mention of the Vedas, and the author of the Bhagavad Gita would probably have preferred the Yoga-sutra of Patanjali.

(3.) "Although he only wishes to learn devotion, he rises above the (fruits of action laid down in the) divine word” (vi. 44). This is the interpretation of Hindu commentators, but the words included between brackets are not in the text. This has only, "He rises above (or passes beyond) the Brahma-word," which here means the Vedas. "Ii transgresse la doctrine brāhmanique" (Burnouf).

(4.) "The offering (of an oblation to any divinity) which is the cause of the production and development of all things is named action" (viii. 3). The word translated "offering," and explained as the offering of an oblation to a god, is visarga, which means the divine emanation into the varied forms of life, i.e., the creation of the world, according to Hindū ideas. There is no reference to a gift, whether to gods or men. The interpretation given to the word in the Peters. Dict. is this: "Neben sarga (der primitiven Schöpfung durch Brahman) so v. a, secundäre Schöpfung, die Schöpfung im einselnen durch Purusha," and reference is made to the Bhāgavata Purāņa, ii. 10, 1, 3.

(5.) "Entering the earth, I by my power support all things, and becoming the juicy moon, I nourish all herbs" (xv. 13). The words translated "juicy moon" are in the original soma (bhūtwa) rasātmakam, (having become) savoury juice. "Conversus in succum, qui saporem iis impertit" (Lassen). There is no reason for supposing that the author of the Bhagavad Gita believed the moon to be juicy, or that it had anything to do with the vegetation of plants. Brahma is said to nourish them by entering in the form of the sap, which is their life. Soma very seldom denotes the moon; it is generally (1) sap, (2) the sacred juice of the Asclepias acida.

INDEX.