796 Some non-critical versions say left wheel.
797 Of shooting the weapon.
Chapter 1217(67)
798 Krishnaa, Droupadi.
799 To the gambling match.
800 The sun.
801 Ratni is a measure of distance and is equal to one cubit.
802 Karna.
803 A lotus.
Chapter 1218(68)
804 Shalya.
805 Actually, the text says kaddanga. This is a kind of liquor made from molasses. This doesn’t fit at all. So we have assumed that this is a typo and should actually read khadga.
806 Duryodhana’s.
807 Towards their camp.
808 Meaning that the woman was a courtesan.
809 Karna was devoted to the sun god.
810 The word used is Lakshmi. So it can also be translated as lustre or prosperity.
811 This must be a typo. Yama has no recorded son. It should probably read Soma, rather than Yama, as it does in some non-critical versions. Soma’s (the moon) son is Budha (Mercury). So Mercury arose. Yama can also be interpreted as ‘twin’. But one doesn’t know what to make of the son of twins. Finally, Yama is a name for Pluto. But no Pluto was known then and Pluto’s son makes no sense.
812 Brihaspati is Jupiter and Rohini is the fourth of the twenty-seven nakshatras, known in English as Aldebaran.
813 Demons.
814 Krishna killed a demon named Keshi.
815 Krishna/Vishnu has a bird (Garuda) on his banner.
816 Krishna and Arjuna’s conch shell respectively.
817 Vishnu.
Chapter 1219(69)
818 Indra.
819 Krishnaa, Droupadi.
820 Krishna’s.
821 Arjuna.
Chapter 1220(1)
1 Ashvatthama, Kripa and Kritavarma.
2 Hastinapura.
3 The ‘three’ is a typo, probably because Ashvatthama, Kripa and Kritavarma have been mentioned earlier. It should read stri (women) and not tri (three). That is, men and women were running around, not three men.
4 Dhritarashtra was blind.
5 Uluka was Shakuni’s son.
6 Vidura.
7 Vidura was also born in the same lineage, though through a servant-maid.
Chapter 1221(2)
8 In his lamentations, Dhritarashtra is addressing Duryodhana.
9 Vinda and Anuvinda.
10 Susharma.
11 A rakshasa who fought on the side of the Kouravas.
12 A lion.
13 The text uses both the words astra and shastra. Both means weapons. Broadly, an astra is hurled, while a shastra is held in the hand.
14 This is a typo. Since Dhritarashtra is speaking, there is no king he can be addressing.
15 Sanjaya was the son of Gavalgana.
16 Krishna and Satyaki.
17 Ashvatthama. Ashvatthama was Drona’s son and Drona was Bharadvaja’s son.
Chapter 1222(3)
18 Arjuna.
19 The slaying of Jayadratha has been described in Section 69 (Volume 6).
20 Metaphorically.
21 This is a reference to Bhima’s pledge of killing Duryodhana and his brothers.
22 The word used is tata.
23 Brihasapati is the preceptor of the gods.
24 Yudhishthira.
25 Dhritarashtra.
26 On the assumption that Duryodhana will not listen to the advice.
Chapter 1223(4)
27 Yudhishthira.
28 Described in Section 54 (Volume 4).
29 Krishnaa, Droupadi.
30 Abhimanyu.
31 Krishnaa, Droupadi.
32 Vasudeva’s sister is Subhadra and she serves Krishnaa, Droupadi. The reference to pride and honour is because Droupadi and Subhadra were Arjuna’s co-wives.
33 The word used is tata. It means father, but is used for anyone senior or older.
Chapter 1224(5)
34 Duryodhana.
35 Ashvatthama.
36 Shiva’s.
37 Aruna’s younger brother is Garuda. Aruna and Garuda were Vinata’s sons, through the sage Kashyapa.
38 Shukra, the preceptor of the demons.
39 Dhanurveda (the science of fighting) had different classifications. The four parts could mean chariots, cavalry, elephants and infantry. But it probably means four types of weapons—amukta (held in the hand while fighting), mukta (hurled from the hand), muktamukta (weapons that can either be held in the hand or hurled) and yantramukta (hurled through an implement). The ten divisions (anga) are more difficult to pin down. While each kind of weapon had different modes of fighting and different positions, described for example in the Agni Purana, there is no ready identification with the number ten.
40 The four Vedas are Rig, Sama, Yajur and Atharva. Itishasa (the epics and the Puranas), that is, accounts, are regarded as the fifth Veda. The six vedangas are shiksha (articulation and pronunciation), chhanda (prosody), vyakarana (grammar), nirukta (etymology), jyotisha (astronomy) and kalpa (rituals).
41 Drona was born in a pot from the sage Bharadvaja’s semen. Kripa and Kripi were also born in weeds, not a womb, through the sage Sharadvat’s semen. Drona married Kripi and their son was Ashvatthama. Drona obtained Asvatthama after worshipping Tryambaka or the three-eyed one, Shiva.
42 Shalya’s sister was Madri, Nakula and Sahadeva’s mother.
43 Kartikeya, the general of the gods. Skanda is also Kartikeya’s name.
44 Though not explicitly stated, this is Sanjaya speaking again.
45 This could mean either Rama or Parashurama.
46 Shalya was a maternal uncle by extension.
47 Pavaki means Pavaka’s son, Pavaka being Agni. Pavaki is another name for Kartikeya. There are different stories about Kartikeya’s birth. In some, he is directly born from Agni. In others, he is born from Shiva, but the semen is conveyed by Agni. In either case, Kartikeya can be described as Agni’s son.
Chapter 1225(6)
48 Shalya.
49 Satyaki.
50 Namuchi was a demon killed by Indra.
51 The text uses the word goshpada. This literally means the mark of a cow’s foot in the soil and the small puddle of water that fills up such a mark, that is, a trifle.
52 After crossing a river or an ocean.
Chapter 1226(7)
53 A great sin is pataka or mahapataka, while a minor sin is upapataka. While it is agreed that there are five great or major sins, the listing of those sins varies. But something like killing a brahmana or having intercourse with a preceptor’s wife would figure in all such lists.
54 The singular is used and it is not clear which of the two armies is being referred to.
55 The word used is sarvatobhadra. Used as an adjective, this does mean auspicious in every way. But the word can also be interpreted as a noun. In that case, a sarvatabhadra vyuha would be one symmetrical in every direction, implying either a circle, or perhaps a square.
56 Kripa.
57 Shakuni is being described as the gambler. His son is Uluka.
58 As described, the divisions amount to more than three. The threefold division probably means troops headed by Bhima, Arjuna and Yudhishthira.
59 The Kouravas started the war with roughly 1.5 times the size of the Pandava army. The relative destruction of rathas and elephants was more or less proportionate on both sides. However, for cavalry and infantry, there was relatively greater destruction among the Pandavas.
Chapter 1227(8)
60 The elephants were crazy.
61 This is a reference to the speed of the flying horses. They seemed to drink up the earth and were as fast as swans.
62 Marks left from a session of love.
63 Chariots, elephants, infantry and cavalry.
64 Bhima and Arjuna.
65 On the Kourava side.
Chapter 1228(9)
66 Karna’s son.
67 There is an inconsistency, because both Sushena
and Satyasena have been killed in Section 73.
68 Nakula.
69 Rathashakti.
70 Father by extension.
71 The Kourava soldiers.
Chapter 1229(10)
72 Yudhishthira.
73 That is, they were to the left of the army, an inauspicious omen, because the left is inauspicious.
74 Indra.
75 Shalya.
76 The text says patatri, bird. This may be a typo.
77 Ashvatthama.
78 Shalya.
79 The lord of the yakshas is Kubera and his capital is Alaka, in Kailasa. Kubera is Maheshavara’s (Shiva’s) friend. Bhima fought with the yakshas. The incident has been described in Section 35 (Volume 3). Bhima went in search of a flower, because Droupadi wanted it.
80 The club.
Chapter 1230(11)
81 Shiva.
82 Parashurama.
83 The prince of Chedi, Dhrishtaketu’s son.
84 As the next sentence makes clear, Chandrasena and Drumasena were guarding Shalya’s chariot wheels.
85 Indra killed a demon named Jambha.
Chapter 1231(12)
86 The siddhas were delighted that he could fight with them single-handed.
87 There is a pun on the word shalya, which means arrow, spear or dart.
88 Shalya.
89 Satyaki, Bhima, Nakula, Sahadeva and Yudhishthira.
90 However, we have earlier been told that the two who were guarding the chariot wheels had been killed.
Chapter 1232(13)
91 That is, the Kourava warriors rejoiced.
92 Ashvatthama climbed onto Suratha’s chariot.
Chapter 1233(14)
93 Satyaki’s.
Chapter 1234(15)
94 The Pandavas had apportioned out the Kouravas amongst themselves. Shalya was Yudhishthira’s share.
95 Madri’s.
96 Dhrishtadyumna.
97 Bhima’s.
98 Rathashakti.
99 He placed the enemy on the right.
Chapter 1235(16)
100 Indra.
101 Yudhishthira’s.
102 Shalya.
103 Vishnu, that is, Krishna.
104 That is, Shalya could have been reduced to ashes because of Yudhishthira’s sight alone.
105 Ishana is Shiva and Tvashtra is Vishvakarma, the architect of the gods.
106 Shiva.
107 Yudhishthira.
108 Shalya’s.
109 Skanda (Kartikeya) shattered Mount Krouncha, when he killed the demons who hid there. The Krouncha mountain is in the Bellary district of Karnataka.
110 Lakshmi, alternatively, beauty.
111 The Kourava soldiers.
112 Both Satyaki and Kritavarma were from the Vrishni lineage.
113 Another bow.
114 Satyaki.
Chapter 1236(17)
1 The word used is madhyama, meaning mild or moderate. The word used for formation is gulma, not vyuha. The entire army is arrayed in the form of a vyuha, while a gulma is a smaller division, something like a battalion. The suggestion probably is that the Pandavas did not take this attack very seriously.
2 The Kouravas who were trying to rescue the followers of the king of Madra.
Chapter 1237(18)
3 Yudhishthira.
4 There is no story that tells us that Maya was killed by Indra.
5 Belonging to the Kouravas.
6 There is a contradiction and a possible typo, because we have been told there were only foot soldiers on the Kourava side. It should perhaps read that Bhimasena and Dhrishtadyumna countered them with four kinds of forces.
Chapter 1238(19)
7 Indra’s elephant.
8 Dhrishtadyumna.
9 Shalva.
Chapter 1239(20)
10 Kritavarma.
11 On the Kourava side.
12 Satyaki.
13 Kritavarma. All the Yadavas were descended from Madhu.
14 Satyaki.
15 On the Kourava side.
16 The Panchalas are mentioned twice.
Chapter 1240(21)
17 The Pandava army.
18 Ashvatthama and Bhima.
19 Yudhishthira.
20 There are five senses and Droupadi had five sons.
Chapter 1241(22)
21 Because of the dust.
22 This requires explanation. Simanta is the parting of the hair and a marking on that indicates that the lady is married. The women were not deprived of the parting, but that marking. Stated simply, the women became widows.
23 Their own hair. They grasped their own hair with one hand and wielded a sword in the other.
Chapter 1242(23)
24 His own army.
25 Duryodhana.
26 On the Pandava side.
27 The text uses the word goshpada. This literally means the mark of a cow’s foot in the soil and the small puddle of water that fills up such a mark, that is, a trifle.
28 Vinda and Anuvinda.
29 Duryodhana.
30 The word used is tata. This means father, but is affectionately used towards anyone who is older or superior.
31 Parashurama.
32 There is an imagery of a forest.
Chapter 1243(24)
33 Duryodhana’s.
34 The five Pandava brothers.
35 According to belief, mountains once possessed wings.
36 They wanted to find out if Duryodhana was well.
37 This is one of the rare and anomalous instances of Sanjaya personally fighting. The five on the Kourava side clearly are Ashvatthama, Kripa, Kritavarma, Shakuni and Duryodhana. The two kinds of forces probably means elephants and chariots.
Chapter 1244(25)
38 The singular is used, presumably meaning Bhima.
39 Indra.
Chapter 1245(26)
40 The word used is tata. This means son, but is affectionately used towards anyone who is younger or junior.
41 Yudhishthira.
42 Hastinapura.
43 Since we have been told that all the other brothers have been killed, Sudarshana is the same as Sudarsha. That apart, the two words have the same meaning.
44 Duryodhana.
45 Prasthala was the capital of Trigarta and Susharma was the king of Trigarta.
46 Susharma’s.
Chapter 1246(27)
47 Uluka.
48 Sahadeva.
49 Sahadeva.
50 Shakuni was the share allotted to Sahadeva.
51 Shakuni.
52 Shakuni.
Chapter 1247(28)
53 The remaining Kourava soldiers.
54 Hastinapura.
55 Measure of distance, between 2 and 3 miles.
56 Sanjaya knew it too and didn’t need Vyasa to tell him this.
57 Dhritarashtra.
58 The Pandava soldiers were approaching.
59 Yuyutsu is addressing himself.
60 Because these two were older than him.
61 Yudhishthira.
62 Yuyutsu was the son of a vaishya lady.
63 That is, Vidura had come away from Dhritarashtra.
64 Vidura spoke to Yuyutsu.
65 Duryodhana.
66 The word used is tata. It means father, but is affectionately used towards anyone who is senior or elder.
67 However, earlier, Bhima rather than Krishna has been mentioned.
Chapter 1248(29)
1 That is, after Duryodhana had entered the lake, he used his powers to make the waters solid, so that, it no longer looked like a lake.
2 The hunters.
3 Meaning Bhima.
4 Presumably by the guards.
5 Yudhishthira.
Chapter 1249(30)
6 Meaning, Yudhishthira.
7 This great-souled one means Vishnu in his dwarf (vamana) incarnation, when he deprived Bali of the three worlds in three steps.
8 Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakashipu were
brothers. Hiranyakashipu was slain by Vishnu in his half-man half-lion (narasimha) incarnation and Hiranyaksha was slain by Vishnu in his boar (varaha) incarnation.
9 Ravana was the son of the sage Vishrava, and Vishrava (Poulastya) was the son of the sage Pulastya.
10 Vishnu’s role in the slaying of Taraka and Viprachitti can only have been indirect. Taraka was slain by Kartikeya, though there are some references to Taraka having been killed by Indra. There are also references to Viprachitti having been killed by Indra.
11 Ilvala and Vatapi were killed by the sage Agastya. The story has been recounted in Section 33 (Volume 3). The Sunda-Upasunda story has been recounted in Section 16 (Volume 1). Trishira was killed by Indra. The story has been recounted in Section 49 (Volume 4).
12 The word used is tata. This means son, but is used towards anyone who is younger or junior. Duryodhana was younger to Yudhishthira.
13 The sense is that a bird is given crumbs that it has not earned.
14 This is a reference to the attempt made to poison Bhima, described in Section 7 (Volume 1).
Chapter 1250(31)
15 Yudhishthira.
16 The ones who have been killed.
17 That is, the entire fight will be with clubs.
18 Shiva.
19 A mountain exuding minerals.
20 Vaivasvata is Yama and Kimkara is the name of Yama’s club.
21 Yudhishthira.
Mahabharata: Volume 7 Page 64