Gāṇḍīva1 falls from my hand, and my skin is burning. I am not able to stand upright and my mind is whirling round. 30 I see, too, unfavourable omens (j), Keśava! nor do I foresee any good from slaying my kinsmen in the fight.

35

I desire not victory, Krishna! nor dominion, nor delights. Of what avail can dominion be to us, Govinda,2 or delights, or even life?

They for whose sake dominion, wealth, and pleasures are desired by us are here arrayed in battle, giving up their lives and wealth.

Tutors, fathers, sons, and even grandsires, uncles, fathersin-law, grandsons, brothers-in-law, and allies too;

These I do not wish to kill, O slayer of Madhu! though (otherwise) I should myself be slain, even for the sake of dominion over the three worlds; how much less for that of earth?

If we slay these Dhartarashtrans, what joy can then be ours, Janardana (k)? Sin even will cleave to us if we slay these men, (though) felons ().

It is not meet then for us to slay these Dhartarashtrans, our kinsmen; for how can we prosper if we slay our kin, O slayer of Madhu ?

1 The name of the bow which he had received from his father Indra. It was supposed to have miraculous powers.

2 A name of Krishna, who was said to have been brought up in the household of a cowherd, Nanda; hence his name Govinda (cowherd or cow-owner).

3 The three worlds are heaven, earth, and hell. Sometimes they are explained as earth, the intermediate space, and heaven. According to

mythological fable, the three kingdoms had become the possession of a demon, Bali. Vishnu, desiring to repossess them, appeared before Bali in the form of a dwarf, and asked for as much land as he could step over in three steps. Bali granted the request with laughter, and Vishņu, rising continuously, stepped over the three worlds, but gave an abode in Pātāla or hell to Bali (Rāmāyaṇa i. 32). Probably a tradition of a war of races and religions.

Even if they whose minds are stricken by greed see no evil in the destruction of a tribe or in the oppression of friends,

Should not we resolve to turn away from this sinful deed, we who look on the destruction of a tribe as a sin, Janardana ?

By the slaughter of a tribe the tribal rites, eternal (in obligation) are destroyed; by the destruction of rites the tribe becomes impious;

40 By the prevalence of impiety, Krishna! the women of the tribe become corrupt, and when the women are corrupt, confusion of castes arises, Varshneya ! 1

This confusion 2 brings the tribe-destroyers and the tribe down to hell, for their forefathers, deprived of libations and pindas, fall (from heaven).3

1 A name of Krishna, from Vrishni, one of his ancestors.

else

By the destruction of the males the rites of both tribe and family would cease, because women were not allowed to perform them; and confusion of castes would arise, for the women would marry men of another caste. Such marriages were considered impure (Manu x. 1-40). Such marriages produced where a confusion of classes. Livy tells us that the Roman patricians, at the instance of Canuleius, complained of the intermarriages of the plebeian class with their own, affirming that "omnia divina humanaque turbari, ut qui natus sit, ignoret, cujus sanguinis, quorum sacrorum sit" (iv. c. 1 and 2).

3 This refers to the neglect of the Sraddha, a religious rite on behalf of a deceased father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, and some

times to ancestors in general, in which libations of water and pinḍas, or balls of rice-meal, &c., mixed with clarified butter, were offered to the manes of deceased ancestors, with many pious ceremonies. We are informed in the Institutes of Manu (iii. 189) that the spirits of deceased ancestors are present at these rites, hovering round the offerers and the attendant Brahmans, and sitting by them when they are seated. The food offered is supposed to give a real nourishment to these manes, who are dismissed at the end of the rite with the following prayer:"Fathers, to whom food belongs, guard our food and the other things offered by us, venerable and immortal as ye are and conversant with holy truths. Quaff the sweet essence (of the food); be cheerful and depart contented along the path wherein the gods travel" (Colebrooke, Asiat.

45

By these caste-confusing sins of the destroyers of a tribe the eternal rites of tribe and family (m) are lost.

The dwelling of the men who destroy family rites, Janardana! is eternally in hell: thus we have heard from sacred books.

Alas! we have resolved to commit a great sin, who are striving to slay our kindred from the lust of dominion and pleasures.

It were better for me if the Dhartarashtrans, with arms in hand, should slay me, unresisting and unarmed, in the fight.

SANJAYA spoke.

Having spoken thus in the (midst of the) fight, Arjuna sat down upon his car-bench, letting fall his bow and arrow, being overwhelmed in heart by grief.

Soc. Res. vii. 269). This path is supposed to be the Via Lactea or Milky Way. It is not explained by Hindu writers why deceased ancestors should fall from the heaven to which they have ascended if these

rites should be withheld; but it is believed that they will fall, on this account, even to the lower regions. The heaven of the ancient fathers (Pitris) was in the moon (Asiat. Res. vii. 267).

1 Thus the sacred Bhagavad Gītā, among the Upanishads, in the science of Brahma, in the book of devotion, in the discourse of Krishna and Arjuna, Reading the First, whose title is

T

"THE DESPONDENCY OF ARJUNA.”

1 The title at the end of each reading or chapter varies in different MSS. The usual form is that which

I have subjoined. Sometimes a shorter form is used, but in all cases it is a modern addition.

PHILOLOGICAL NOTES.

(a) Adhyaya (reading) is used in books such as the Institutes of Manu, &c., in which formal instruction is given, or in the Sacred Books. The minor divisions, says Lassen, of the epic poems are called sargas (emanations, creations). The latter term is not used, however, in the Mahabharata.

(b) OM. This mystic monosyllable, formed by the union of the letters a, u, m, is supposed to represent the Hindu triad, Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva; probably it represented in an earlier age the triad of Agni (fire), Varuna (watery atmosphere or investing sky), and Marut (wind). It is prefixed to works of a religious kind only; and sometimes from a feeling of awe, such as that with which the Jews regarded the name Jehovah, it was not spoken, or only in a low tone. Sometimes it is omitted, as in the Paris codd. A. and D. and a MS. in my possession. The constant use of it is, however, enjoined. "Let the Brahman always perform pranava (lit. praise, i.e., pronounce the syllable OM) at the beginning and end (of a reading). If the OM be omitted at the beginning, (his learning) flows away; if at the end, it is broken in pieces (Manu ii. 74).

The poem is generally preceded in Hindu MSS. by a rather long introduction, formed partly of verses taken from the poem, and partly of a dhyana, or pious meditation. As it is not a part of the poem itself, it is here omitted.

(c) Aparyāptam, "impar certamini" (Lassen); "not suffi cient" (Thomson); "unhinreichend" (Lorinser); “innumerable" (Burnouf and Telang). In the Peters. Dict. paryāpta is translated by "erfüllt," "hinreichend," "genugend." The literal translation is "inadequate," "unmeet;" but the unfitness may be either in the want of preparation or of numbers.

Paryāptabhoga (Manu iii. 40), having ample enjoyments, is in favour of the meaning "insufficient in numbers;" but Sridhara and other commentators explain the word as "vast," "unlimited."

The

(d) Ayaneshu cha sarveshu yatha bhagam avasthitās. translation in the Petersburg Dict. is "per tramites aciei. cunctos secundum ordines collocati."

(e) Hrishikeśa, a word variously explained. Hindu commentators derive it from hṛishīka (a sense) and isha (a lord), making Krishna, of whom it is an epithet, "Lord of the senses," as identical with the supreme Brahma. But hṛishika is a doubtful word, and the meaning assigned to the term is not especially applicable to Krishna or Brahma. More probably from hṛish, to become strong or stiff, and kesa, hair of the head (cæsaries). (See Peters. Dict. s. v.) Krishna is represented as having strong curly hair, and we may compare this epithet with auricomus, applied to Apollo.

(f) Achyuta. "O Dive" (Lassen); "O Immortal One" (Thomson); "nie Fehlender" (Lorinser). Telang translates it, "O undegraded one," but this is, I think, incorrect. It is compounded of the neg. a and chyuta, p.p. of chyu, to fall, drop off, perish. It is found in the Rig-Veda (i. 52. 2), where a mountain is said to be achyuta, unshaken or unmoved by the torrents. Mr. Muir (Sans. Texts, iv. 168) quotes a passage in the Rāmāyaṇa where it is applied to Madhusudana (Vishnu), and he translates it by "unfalling." In the Pali Dāṭhāvansa (i. 3), achchuta is applied to the state of nibbāna (nirvāna). The Peters. Dict. expresses the exact meaning in translating it by "feststehend," "unvergänglich."

(g) Nirikshe, and (h) avekshe. The root iksh, when compounded with nis (nir), means to look at; when comp. with ava, to regard, to consider, to look at earnestly or with solicitude,