Studies in the Epics and Puranas c13.s1.92

c13.s1.92

Edgerton has started "Epic Studies: Second Series" of which Nos. 1, 2 and 3 deal respectively with (1) Grammar and Syntax, (2) Metre, and (3) Vocabulary in the Sabhāparvan.⁵⁴ S. K. De has given a list of words and phrases peculiar to epic usage in "Some Lexicographical Notes on the Udvogaparvan of the Mbh", the main purpose of the notes being to register and tabulate usages, rather than to attempt authoritative interpretation. The critical text has been used throughout.54* In his "Mbh Notes," of which three have so far appeared in the *Annals*, and in another article, V. S. Agrawala discusses the words occurring in the Mbh. His "Śiṁśumāraśiraḥ" disputes the reading *śiṁśumāra-puram* in the critical edition (I. 176. 15), and maintains the reading *Śiṁśumāraśiraḥ* as preserved in the vulgate (I. 185. 16) on the ground that *śiṁśumāraśiraḥ* means *makaratoraṇa*, "the architrave of the gateway adorned with fish-tailed crocodile."56 "Mbh Notes I" deals with (i) *vāraṇau ṣaṣṭihāyanau*, (ii) *dvaipa* and *vaiyāghra*, (iii) *upasṛtāḥ*, (iv) *haraṇa*, and (v) story of Yavakrita. It is shown that (i) at sixty an elephant is full grown; (ii) *dvaipa* and *vaiyāghra* mean chariots covered with the skins of *dvipin* and *vyāghra* respectively; (iii) suggests *upasṛtāḥ* for *upasṛtān* in the vulgate (III. 240. 4-5), observing that Sukthankar has preferred *upasṛtāḥ* (Cr. Ed., III. 229. 5) as "undoubtedly the correct reading" "though rather feebly supported by the MS evidence"; (iv) *haraṇa* means a dowry or nuptial presents.⁵⁶ In "Mbh Notes II" Agrawala justifies the reading *prākāravapra* in the critical edition (IV. 10. 1) in preference to *prākāravakṣa* of the Kashmiri MS. It is shown that the term *prākāravapra* as the qualifying epithet of *kuṇḍala* was used in a technical sense as the name of a particular kind of ear-ornament (*kuṇḍala*). Illustrations of *prākāravapra kuṇḍala*, which is not found in post-Śuṅga art, have been given from Bharhut.⁵⁷ "Mbh Notes III" deals with (i) *Śiṁśumāraśiraḥ*, (ii) *vaiyāghra*, (iii) *Pūrva-Yāvāta* and *Uttara-Yāvāta* legends, (iv) *praveritā*, (v) *mahānārāhna*, and (vi) *prati*. Agrawala shows that (i) *Śiṁśumāraśiraḥ* is to be preferred to *Śiṃśumārapuraḥ* stating that it is a very fit example of *lectio difficilior* and that the oldest extant MS of the Ādiparvan from Nepal reads *śiṃśumārasiraḥ* and sets the seal of final approval on this debated reading. It is pointed out that feeble textual support is not the final argument in rejecting an otherwise superior reading; (ii) there are other references to *vaiyāghra* in the epic; (iii) Pūrva-Yāyāta and Uttara-Yāyāta legends are authenticated by the critical edition; (iv) *praveritā* in I. 68. 73, meaning "thrown about, cast hither and thither, cast away", has connection with the dialectical Hindi root *pabeḍanā* also written as *paveranā*; (v) *mahāparāhṇa* in I. 181. 40 is the Āṣāḍhī day; and (vi) *prati* in II. 5. 68 is the name of a coin.⁵⁸