An Index to the Names in the Mahabharata, with Short Explanations and a Concordance to the Bombay and Calcutta Editions and P. C. Roy's Translation c5.s1.436

c5.s1.436

avoided [in wedding] (v. 5086); one should accomplish all acts ordained in the Veda or by the Brāhmaṇas (v. 5092); one should study the Dhanurveda and the Veda (v. 5100); “you should know the science of reasoning (Yuktiçāstram), the science of words (Çabdaçāstram), the Gāndharvavāçatra, and the [64] Kalās, [and] one should always hear the Purāṇa and itihāsas and the narratives that exist (ākhyānāni yāni ca), and the biographies (caritam) of high-minded persons” (v. 5102-3); good conduct (ācāraḥ) is superior to all lore (āgamānām); this fame-producing, etc., [discourse] has been uttered by Brahmán out of compassion on all creatures (v. 5112) (XIII, 104). Asked by Yudhiṣṭhira, Bhīṣma expounded how the eldest brother should behave towards his younger brothers and the younger ones towards tho eldest; “the upādhyāya is superior to 10 ācāryas; the father to 10 upādhyāyas; the mother to 10 fathers or [even] to the whole earth; there is no guru equal to the mother” (v. 5126-7) (XIII, 105). Asked by Yudhiṣṭhira if only brahmans and kṣattriyas should observe fasts (the very Mlecchas observe them), Bhīṣma related what R. Aṅgiras had said to him in answer [essentially in the negative] to this same question, indicating the merits of fast on different days and different months (β), by which fasts the merit of different sacrifices (γ) are acquired, or the abode of the Aps., or Brahmaloka attained; there is no penance superior to fast: by fasts the gods became denizens of heaven, and R. attained to the highest success (siddhim); witness Viçvāmitra, and Cyavana, etc. (δ), who attained to heaven through fasts. In former days Aṅgiras declared so to M.-ṛ.†* (XIII, 106). Yudhiṣṭhira, saying that sacrifices are incapable of being performed by people that are poor, as they require a large storo of diverse kinds of articles, wherefore the merit attaching to them can only be acquired by kings and princes, asked Bhīṣma about acts fraught with merit equal to that of sacrifices and capable of being performed by persons destitute of means. Bhīṣma related the ordinances about fasts that were promulgated by Aṅgiras; the regions attainable by them (ε) and the sacrifices they are equal to (§) (XIII, 107). Asked by Yudhiṣṭhira about that which is the foremost of all tīrthas, Bhīṣma mentioned and described Mānasa tīrtha [in the figurative sense of the soul]; but also the tīrthas of the earth are possessed of merit; by bathing there, and by gladdening P. there, one casts off one’s sins and goes to heaven (v. 5365) (XIII, 108). Asked by Yudhiṣṭhira as to what is the highest, etc., kind of fast, Bhīṣma said: [A = “that man who fasts on the 12th day of the moon in the month so called”; B = “and, for the whole day and night, worships Kṛṣṇa as Keçava, etc.”; C = “obtains the merits of the horse sacrifice, etc.”; “and freedom from sin, etc.”]