(i) Guḍākesa, a name of Arjuna. Derived by the Hindū grammarians from guḍāka (sleep), and isha (lord); but more probably, as by Lassen and in the Peters. Dict., from guḍa, a round mass, a ball, and keśa, hair of the head: "cujus capilli globulorum instar intorti sunt" (Lassen). It is similar in meaning to Hrishikeśa (1. 29).

(j) Nimittäni. Nimitta has the double meaning of "cause" and "sign" or "omen." It is not certain whether Arjuna is speaking of some omens then present before him, or of the causes of evil that seemed to lie in the condition of affairs. The Hindus were wont, as the Latins and other races, to divine by birds and other animals, or by natural appearances. "Vulgatam fuisse inter Indos auguriorum superstitionem e Ramëide discimus (i. c. 74). Describitur congressus mirabilis. Rāma Jāmadegneii cum Rāma Dasarathida, quem prænuntiant Dasarathæ volucres horrendo undique vocibus obstrepentes. Quo facto, Vasishthas, fatorum gnarus, declarat eminere periculum horrendum, e divinarum volucrum ore emissum" (Lassen). See Sakuntala, p. 20, Prof. Williams's ed. Keśava (having a large bush of hair), an epithet of Krishna.

(k) Janardana, a name of Krishna. Schlegel translates the epithet by "O mortalium votis expetite!" following the Hindu scholiasts. The Peters. Dict. more correctly by "die Menschen aufregend, bedrängend," from jana (a man) and ard (to vex, to wound). Schlegel would connect the two meanings by saying that perhaps we ought to understand the word as applied to Krishna, "ut sit, qui desiderio sui corda hominum vexat." The forced explanation of the scholiasts probably arose from a desire to soften down what seemed a hard expression. "Vexer of his foes" seems to be the correct interpretation. "Because he made the Dasyus tremble, he is Janardana" (Mahābh. v. 2565).

(1) Atatayinas, lit. bearing an outstretched bow, and hence

threatening the lives of men; robbers, murderers. Sridhara, a scholiast, says that the term included incendiaries, poisoners, assassins, thieves, robbers of land and of other people's wives, and that the Kurus had acted all these parts against the sons of Pandu.

(m) Jātidharma, kuladharma; jāti = varņa (caste), kula= family or tribe, say the Hindu commentators.

5

READING THE SECOND.

SANJAYA spoke.

To him, thus deeply affected by pity, with his troubled eyes filled with tears and desponding, the slayer of Madhu addressed these words:

"Whence, Arjuna! has come to thee in a difficulty (a) this vile depression, unmeet for one of noble race, debarring from heaven1 and causing disgrace?

"Yield not to unmanliness, O son of Pritha! it becomes thee not. Cast off this base faint-heartedness and arise, O destroyer of foes!"

ARJUNA spoke.

O slayer of Madhu! how shall I assail with my arrows in the battle Bhishma and Droņa, who are worthy of honour, O slayer of foes?

2 For it were better to feed on the food even of beggary for life than to slay these much-honoured teachers (gurus); yea, if I were to slay these teachers, though greedy of wealth, I should eat of viands stained with blood.

We know not which would be the better lot for us, that we should conquer them or they should conquer us. If we should slay these Dhārtarashtrans, here drawn up in array before us, we should not wish to live.

1 Warriors dying bravely in battle were supposed to go to the heaven of Indra, as the Scandinavian heroes to the Valhalla of Odin (Vishņu P. i. 6. 33).

2 Here the metre is changed to one called Trishțubh. (See Introd. p. 16.)

ΙΟ

I, who am stricken in soul by pity and (the sense of) guilt (b), and confused in mind about duty, pray thee to tell me certainly what is the better (course). Declare this to me: I am thy disciple;1 teach me now prostrate before thee.

For I see not what can avail to drive away this grief that dries up my senses, though I should attain on earth to a vast, unrivalled dominion, and even to the supreme rule of the gods (suras).

SANJAYA spoke.

Guḍakeśa (Arjuna), having spoken thus to Hrishikeśa (Krishna), O destroyer of foes! said to Govinda, "I will not fight," and became silent.

Then Hrishikeśa, gently smiling, O son of Bharata ! addressed him, thus desponding, with these words, between the two armies.

THE HOLY ONE spoke.

Thou grievest for those who need no grief, but thou speakest words of wisdom. The wise grieve not for the dead or the living.

1 Arjuna was not, in a strict sense, the disciple of Krishņa, but he puts himself in the position of one, that he might be guided in his present perplexed and troubled state. The honour claimed for the Guru, or spiritual guide, was excessive. In the Bhagavata Purāņa he is put on a level with Deity itself.

2 Here the poem begins as an exposition of philosophy. It may

be divided into three parts, each containing six chapters or readings. The first treats mainly of the Yoga system; the second, of the Supreme Being; the third, of the Sānkhya system of philosophy. The author, however, regards all these subjects from his own standpoint as an independent thinker, and his system is therefore eclectic.

But I was never non-existent, nor thou, nor these rulers of men, nor shall any of us hereafter cease to be.

As in this (present) body, childhood, youth, and old age appertain to the embodied (soul), so also it obtains another body. The wise man is not troubled thereat.

But the contacts (c) of matter,3 O son of Kunti! causing cold and heat, pain and pleasure, come and go, being only temporary: these bear with firmness, O son of Bharata!

15 For the man whom these things afflict not, O chief of men! who is steadfast, the same in pain and pleasure, is formed for immortality (d).

That which is unreal has no (proper) existence, and that which is real never ceases to be:5 but the limit (e) of both is seen by those who know the truth.

1 The first doctrine of the poem is the immortality of the soul, which Kapila affirmed to be eternal, both e parte ante and e parte post.

2 The second doctrine is the transmigration of the soul to different bodies. The body formed in the womb is absolutely dissolved into its primary elements after death; but the linga, or "spiritual body," formed of the finer elements of matter, accompanies the soul in all its migrations, until the latter has attained to nirvāṇa, or absorption into the supreme Brahmă. The linga is then dissolved into the primary material essence, called Prakriti or Nature (Introduction, p. 12). The literal translation of these lines is: "As childhood, youth (or prime), and age in this (the present) body are (the accidents) of the embodied soul," &c. The sou has in reality no change, and there

fore remains the same in the successive changes of the (gross) body, and in migrating to another body.

3 "Matter-contacts," the contacts of the soul with matter by means of the organs of sense. The Sanskrit matra (Lat. materia), from mā, to measure, denotes the measurable or finite, in opposition to the infinite Brahma.

4 Here the result of the yoga, or devotional system of Patanjali, is expressed. The soul, being absorbed in meditation on the Supreme, becomes indifferent to all earthly things.

5 This accords in part with the systems of Kapila and Patanjali. According to the former, Prakṛiti or primeval matter is eternal and indestructible. The various forms of matter have only a conditional, not an absolute or real, existence. In the Theistic form of his system,