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.s1.442
An Index to the Names in the Mahābhārata, with Short Explanations and a Concordance to the Bombay and Calcutta Editions and P. C. Roy's Translation c5.s1.442
- Language
- English
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§ 764: Asked by *Yudhiṣṭhira* about the behaviour of good and chaste women, *Bhīṣma* said: Once *Sumanā Kaikeyī* in *Devaloka* asked the omniscient *Caṇḍīlī* by what course of acts she had attained to heaven (description). *Caṇḍīlī* said that it was not by wearing yellow robes or barks of trees, or by shaving her head, or by means of matted hair, that she had attained to this state, but by never saying any disagreeable word to her husband; by always worshipping D., P., and brahmans; by always obeying her mother-in-law and father-in-law, etc. (enumeration). By adhering to this path of duty a woman is honoured in heaven like a second *Arundhatī*. Then *Caṇḍīlī* disappeared* (XIII, 123).—§ 765: Asked by *Yudhiṣṭhira* which is of superior efficacy, gentleness or gifts, *Bhīṣma* said that some become gratified by gentleness, others by gifts, and related the ancient narrative of how a brahman, who had been seized in a forest by a Rā., was released [on account of his gentleness], after answering the question put to him by the Rā., "Why am I pale nf hue and so lean?" [a long and very curious enumeration of causes that may render a man pale and lean]. Rā. worshipped that brahman and making him his friend and bestowing wealth upon him, let him off (XIII, 124).—§ 766: *Yudhiṣṭhira* asked about the following "mysteries": how a poor man, desirous of achieving his own good, should act; what is the best of all gifts, and what should be given under various circumstances;
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and who are truly deserving of honour and worship. *Vaiśampāyana* said: Thus questioned by *Yudhiṣṭhira*, *Bhīṣma* explained those high mysteries. *Bhīṣma* said: *Vyāsa* explained them to me in days of yore; it is a mystery to the very gods; *Yama*, by vows and yoga, had acquired the knowledge thereof as the fruit of his penances; what pleases each god, etc. (α). The scale of sinfulness in the giver is this: 1 [territorial] chief = 10 courtezans; 1 courtezan = 10 drinkers of alcohol; 1 drinker = 10 oilmen; 1 oilman = 10 butchers; a king is reckoned to be half more [sinful as a giver] than these all; hence, one should not accept gifts from such. In the *śrāddha* ritual the mysteries of D., P., and R. have been declared. Once a celestial messenger, sent by the *Aśvins*, came to the court of *Indra* (where men, P., and D. assembled together), and, remaining invisible, asked *Indra* why sexual intercourse is interdicted to the man who performs a *śrāddha* and to him who eats a *śrāddha*, and to whom each of the three rice-balls offered separately at a *śrāddha* should be sacrificed. D. (seated towards the east) and P. applauded him. P. said: lest the P. of that man should have to lie for a whole month on his vital seed; the first rice-ball > the water > the moon > the other gods and P.; the second should be eaten by the spouse; P. confer a son on him who is desirous of a son; the third is thrown into the fire; P. grant all wishes. The *ṛtvij* at a *śrāddha* becomes the P.
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of the *yajamāna*, and, therefore, should abstain for that day from sexual intercourse. R. *Vidyutprabha* asked what the atonement is for slaying worms, ants, snakes, sheep, deer, birds, etc. *Indra* answered: "Thinking of *Kurukṣetra*, etc." (β) (specification); *Vidyutprabha* recommended another rite (specification), and a "mystery" discovered by R., who he had heard from *Bṛhaspati* in the presence of *Śiva* (standing on one foot on a mountain, etc.). Asked by *Indra*, *Bṛhaspati* discoursed on the wicked persons who make water facing the sun [*Sūrya*], etc. (γ). The D., M., and R., as to what gifts at a *śrāddha* become inexhaustible. P. said: By setting free dark-coloured bulls, by gifts of sesame seeds and water on the day of new moon, and of lamps in the season of rains, men free themselves from the debt to P. Asked by *Vṛddhagārgya*, P. said: If a blue bull [upon being set free] raises water with its tail, P. become gratified by that [water] for 60,000 years; if the mud from a river bank is attached to its horns, P. go to *Somaloka*; by giving lamps in the season of rain, one shines like the moon; those who on the day of new moon make gifts of sesame seeds and water, mixed with honey, using a vessel of *uḍumbara* (*Ficus glomerata*, PCR. copper), have duly performed a *śrāddha* with its mysteries, and get cheerful and healthy children (XIII, 125). Asked by *Indra* how he becomes gratified, *Viṣṇu* said that he hates the destruction of brahmans;
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that he is gratified by the worship of brahmans, with those who worship and make offerings in the circle besmeared with cow-dung (because it was with his circular disc that the Dai. were slain), those who reverence their own feet (because it was with his two feet that the world was covered); those who behold a boar that has just emerged from water and on his head carries a quantity of mud from the bank (reminding of the form of a boar in which *Viṣṇu* slew *Hiraṇyākṣa*), or a brahman that is a dwarf in stature (*Viṣṇu* having conquered king *Bali* as a dwarf), have never to meet with any evil (the explanations were given as answer to *Indra*). The man who every day worships the *aśvattha* (*Ficus religiosa*) and *gorocana* and the cow is considered to worship the whole universe with D., As., and men; "staying within such, I, in my own form, accept the worship that is offered to them; the worship of other kind I never accept." *Baladeva* points out the importance of touching a cow, ghee, etc., at early dawn. The gods point to the importance of using an *uḍumbara* vessel in presenting offerings to D. and P. *Dharma* said that the offerings in honour of D. and P. should never be given to a brahman who has accepted service under the king, or who rings the bell, etc.; from the house of a person from whom a guest returns unsatisfied, P., D., and the sacred fires all return disappointed. *Agni* declared that P.
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of one who raises his foot to kick a cow or a brahman or a fire become filled with fear; that D. become highly dissatisfied, and that he himself has to be roasted in hell (*narake pacyate*) for 100 ages; fire refuses to accept his libations. *Viśvāmitra* said: He who offers rice boiled in sugared milk to P., facing the south, at noon, in the first "elephant shade" (*gajacchāyāyām pūrvasyām*, v. BR.), when in the month of *Bhādrapada* [the conjunction of the moon with] *Maghā* takes place in the dark fortnight, has [thereby] performed a great *śrāddha* [every year] for thirteen years [in succession]. The cows said: († v. 6042-5) that man becomes free from his sins who adores a cow, saying: ". . . in *Brahmapura* (city of *Brahmán*), in days of yore, thou wast present; thy calf at the sacrifice of *Indra*; thou who stood *Viṣṇupada* and in the path of *Agni* (? *Vibhāvaso*); gods with *Nārada* call thee *Sarvasahā*"; he in regions (*lokān*) of *Indra*, etc. They that ambulated Brahman, and *Vasiṣṭha* asked how men may acquire the merits attaching to a bath, answered: If one, in the bright fortnight of *Pauṣa*, when *Rohiṇī* is in conjunction with a bath, lies under the open sky, wearing a garment, with faith, and contemplates the rays of the sun, he attains the sacrifices. This is the path of the recommended.