401 In the Second and Third Skandhas.
402 Pravritti is action with a desire for the fruits.
403 Prayashchitta.
404 Which becomes dirty again.
405 Rituals.
406 The linga sharira.
407 Alternatively, subsequent births.
408 From the present season, one can deduce the preceding and succeeding seasons.
409 Without birth, Brahma.
410 This is a complicated shloka and is subject to diverse interpretations. The reference seems to be to Yama, who resides in his capital city of Samyamini. He can contemplate a being’s past and future lives.
411 This is interpreted as a person who is dreaming. Since he does not know about his past and future lives, he identifies with what is manifest, the present physical body.
412 The mind.
413 The atman.
414 This can be interpreted as superior, medium and inferior, or happy, unhappy and mixed.
415 The three potencies are sattva, rajas and tamas. The sixteen have already been mentioned. They can also mean the five organs of action, the five senses, the five gross elements and the mind.
416 The five senses and the mind.
417 This is Bhagavad Gita 3.5, almost verbatim.
418 Resulting from former lives.
419 Destiny.
420 The linga sharira and the gross body.
421 The body may be like that of the mother or like that of the father, but innate nature is stronger than either.
422 Ajamila.
423 Alternatively, female servant.
424 Maireya is liquor made from molasses or grain.
425 Loose woman.
426 This is Bhagavad Gita 3.21, almost verbatim.
427 The master’s. In this case, Yama’s.
428 Not exactly, but roughly, akshara is a syllable.
429 Na-ra-ya-na.
430 Vishnu’s.
431 That is, the consequences of the acts.
432 Gangadvara usually refers to Har ki Pauri in Haridvara/Haridwar.
433 Sattva, rajas and tamas.
434 Acting chaotically and without cohesion.
435 The words used are ota (cross-threads or woof) and prota (length-wise or warp).
436 Varuna.
437 The Prajapatis.
438 Sanatkumara.
439 Shuka himself.
440 The three Vedas.
441 The sage Agastya.
442 Ugrashrava, the son of Romaharshana or Lomaharshana. A suta was a charioteer, but also a bard and raconteur. Here, it is a proper name for Ugrashrava.
443 Marisha. Her mother was the apsara Pramlocha.
444 A chant or mantra.
445 The body.
446 Subtle elements.
447 Prakriti, Mahat, ahamkara, the mind and the five tanmatras (the five subtle elements).
448 This shloka has complicated interpretations, as do some subsequent ones. The way we have translated it, Vishnu is the fifteenth principle, the other fourteen being the ten sense organs, the mind, intelligence, the breath of life and Pradhana. Alternatively, there is a samidheni hymn, recited when a sacrificial fire is ignited from kindling, and this has fifteen verses.
449 Smells and fragrances, which are not actually the wind.
450 The Prajapatis.
451 Before creation.
452 Narada.
453 Their effects are transient.
454 This is a reference to the fourth (turiya) state, explained in the Seventh Skandha. The three preceding ones are vishva, taijasa and prajna. Progressively, the atman identifies with the gross (vishva), merges the gross into the subtle (taijasa), merges into the subtle (prajna) and so on.
455 With an exit, since one has to be born again.
456 Five organs of perception (eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin), five organs of action (hands, legs, stomach, genital organs, organ of excretion), five gross elements and five tanmatras (subtle elements). In addition, the mind, Prakriti, Purusha, Mahat and ahamkara.
457 This is the reference to the swan (hamsa), since a swan is believed to possess the ability to distinguish between milk and water.
458 Of creation.
459 Brahma.
460 A night that is over.
461 To sages, gods and ancestors. Studying for the first and oblations for the last two.
462 Hari’s.
463 You have separated me from my sons twice.
464 To curse Daksha back.
465 Kashyapa.
466 Tarkshya is one of Kashyapa’s names. Therefore, 13+4=17 daughters were married to Kashyapa.
467 The divinities of the clouds.
468 The divinities of the forts.
469 The mother is Sankalpaa and the son is Sankalpa.
470 The divinities of the cities, Dharani means the earth.
471 Another of Agni’s wives.
472 There is a contradiction with what has been said a little earlier.
473 The eleven Rudras.
474 Four out of seventeen.
475 Meaning Vinata’s.
476 The same as Aruna.
477 Since he loved Rohini more, Soma was cursed by Daksha.
478 Kashyapa’s wives.
479 The first ten of Kashyapa’s wives.
480 Evil spirits.
481 Danu’s son.
482 Kashyapa.
483 Respectively descended from Puloma and Kalaka.
484 The grandfather is Arjuna. These are known as the nivatakavachas. Indra asked Arjuna to destroy them as he couldn’t kill them himself.
485 The twelve Adityas.
486 The two Ashvins.
487 Shiva.
488 The sons of Diti.
489 The gods accepted Vishvarupa as a priest.
490 Brihaspati.
491 Puloma’s daughter, Shachi, Indra’s consort.
492 Literally, the lord of speech, Brihaspati.
493 Shukracharya, the preceptor of the demons, also known as Kavya.
494 Vishvarupa had done various things for the demons, since he had been on their side.
495 The word used is tata. It means son, but is used to address anyone who is junior.
496 Indra.
497 There is a difference between two types of guests—atithi and abhyagata. Tithi is a lunar day and there are guests who are invited and arrive on specific tithis, because these are festive occasions. These are expected and invited guests, visitors. Atithi means a-tithi and is therefore not any guest, but a guest who arrives uninvited and is unexpected.
498 The act of accepting a priesthood.
499 Those performed by priests.
500 The mantra known as Narayana-kavacha (armour).
501 This is known as anga-nyasa, the mental appropriation (nyasa) of different limbs of the body (anga) to different divinities. The two mantras are Oum namo Narayanaya (with eight aksharas) and Oum namo bhagavate Vasudevaya (with twelve aksharas).
502 Thus identified with the eight aksharas.
503 The apportioning of the twelve aksharas to different parts of the hands, kara means hand.
504 It starts with the index finger of the right hand and ends with the index finger of the left hand, accounting for eight aksharas. The last four aksharas are for the joints of the thumbs.
505 This is the mantra Oum Vishnave namah, with six aksharas.
506 Phat is the sound made by snapping the middle finger and thumb at the end, meant to ward off evil spirits.
507 Sovereignty, dharma, glory, prosperity, knowledge and detachment.
508 This is the Narayana-kavacha.
509 The siddhis.
510 The asura women had miscarriages.
511 In the varaha form.
512 Boar.
513 Parashurama.
514 Rama.
515 Narada. Interpretations list out thirty-two different kinds of transgressions, but there is no need to list those.
516 Balarama, in the form of Shesha. Krodhavashas are angry and virulent serpents.
517 Day and night are divided into eight yamas, each yama is a period of three hours.
518 The second yama, after dawn.
519 Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.
520 Kushmandas are evil spirits, vainayakas/vinayakas are evil leaders who cause obstacles, and grahas are evil imps that especially prey on children.
521 Pramathas are beings that torment, matrikas pretend to be mothers and prey on infants, evil brahmanas means brahmanas who have become rakshasas.
522 Vishvarupa is also known as Trishira, because of his three heads. His father was Tvashta and his mother was Rochana (sometimes also referred to as Rupavati).
523 That the asuras would become powerful.
524 A kapinjala is the Jacobin cuckoo (or francoline partridge), a kalavinka is the sparrow (or Indian cuckoo) and a tittiri is a partridge.
525 Hari is also one of Indra’s names.
526 By rain.
527 Even at the time of pregnancy.
528 Vritra means darkness. He enveloped the worlds with his darkness.
529 The text uses both astra and shastra. These are both weapons and the words are often used synonymously. However, an astra is a weapon that is hurled or released, while a shastra is held in the hand.
530 A dog may be able to swim. But one cannot cross an ocean by hanging on to a dog’s tail.
531 This is a reference to the matsya (fish) avatara.
532 The three gunas or the three worlds.
533 This is a difficult shloka and has many interpretations. The way we have translated it, questions are being raised about how independent one’s own karma is, as opposed to be being determined by a superior force. The subsequent shlokas are also difficult to translate.
534 After everything else has been eliminated.
535 Interpreted as someone who maintains the three worlds.
536 Such as half-man–half-lion.
537 That is, shastras.
538 Also known as Dadhicha or Dadhichi.
539 Literally, the head (shira) of a horse (ashva). Dadhyan had imparted this knowledge to the two Ashvins when he had temporarily assumed the head of a horse.
540 The Narayana-kavacha.
541 Dadhyan.
542 It is a hardship that people do not follow this principle.
543 Indra.
544 A shataghni was a weapon that could kill one hundred at the same time and could have been a giant catapult. A bhushundi was a catapult, probably smaller in size.
545 Vritra’s.
546 Indra’s.
547 Vritra.
548 Trishira.
549 This is similar to Bhagavad Gita 18.78.
550 Dharma, artha and kama.
551 Vishnu.
552 Indra.
553 Of victory and defeat.
554 Mountains were once believed to possess wings.
555 The Himalayas.
556 It took one year for the head to be brought down.
557 It was the killing of a brahmana.
558 A pulkasa (equivalently pukkasa) is the son of a nishada father and a shudra mother.
559 Vrishakapi is a name for others too. But in this context, it is one of Indra’s names.
560 Heaven.
561 Nahusha desired Shachi, Indra’s wife. He also ill-treated brahmanas like Agastya. Therefore, he was condemned that he would be born as a serpent. The story is told in the Mahabharata.
562 Indra.
563 Since this was the north-eastern direction, the divinity is Rudra.
564 Therefore, he did not remember Krishna because he was scared. That is yet another apparent contradiction.
565 Chitraketu.
566 Chitraketu.
567 For a man, the seven constituents are the five subtle elements, Mahat and ahamkara. For a king, the seven objects are ministers, allies, the treasury, territory, forts, the army and the kingship.
568 Trade guilds.
569 An oblation of rice, barley and pulses, cooked in butter and milk.
570 After what had been offered to Tvashta.
571 She is addressing her son now.
572 Yama.
573 The bodies of the mother and the father.
574 The atman.
575 Sanatkumara.
576 Parashurama.
577 An Upanishad that is in the form of a mantra. This will be stated a little later.
578 Shiva.
579 Not the dead body, but the spirit of the dead prince, the jivatman.
580 One can deduce this is a reference to Angiras, who had implicitly suggested that none of the other wives would have children.
581 Angiras and Narada.
582 Another name for the Yamuna.
583 Angiras and Narada.
584 The mantra.
585 Of material existence. That is, he is above them.
586 When they are destroyed. In that way, everything merges into the brahman.
587 Chitraketu.
588 Required to form words.
589 Interpreted as earth, water, fire, air, space, ahamkara and Mahat.
590 Two paramanus constitute one anu.
591 The infinite one.
592 Which are therefore infertile and do not yield fruits.
593 A wicked person, a chandala.
594 Narada.
595 Contrary to expectation, along the path of pravritti.
596 The path of nivritti.
597 The three states of being awake, asleep and in deep sleep.
598 A kulachala is a great mountain and the Indra among kulachalas is Sumeru.
599 Chitraketu.
600 Brahma.
601 Sanaka, Sananda, Sanatana and Sanatkumara.
602 Hara, Shiva.
603 Worst among kshatriyas, one who is a kshatriya only in name.
604 Parvati.
605 Girisha means someone who resides in a mountain. Hence, Shiva and Parvati.
606 Rudra’s consort, Parvati.
607 Sanatkumara.
608 Chitraketu.
609 Chitraketu.
610 Savita is the fifth of Aditi’s sons. Savitri is the deity of the savitri mantra. Vyahriti means the words bhuh, bhuvah and svah, uttered after Oum and here, Vyahriti means the deity of vyahitri. Trayi is the deity of the three Vedas, Rig Veda, Sama Veda and Yajur Veda. Agnihotra is the deity when oblations are offered into the fire, Pashu is the deity when animals are sacrificed and Soma is the deity of soma sacrifices. Chaturmasya is a sacrifice performed once every four months, at the beginning of summer, the rainy season and winter. Here, Chaturmasya is the deity for such sacrifices. There are five great sacrifices (mahamakhas) and each has a deity. Therefore, Prishni had nine sons. The five great sacrifices are brahma-yajna (sacrificing to the sages), pitri-yajna (offering oblations to ancestors), deva-yajna (offering oblations to gods), nri-yajna (offering food and shelter to humans/guests) and bhuta-yajna (offering food and shelter to non-human species).
611 Sinivali is the deity (and the day) for the day preceding the night of the new moon, Kuhu is the deity (and the day) for the night of the new moon, Raka is the deity (and the day) for the night of the full moon and Anumati is the deity (and the day) for the fourteenth night of shukla paksha. Sayam is the deity for evening, Prata is the deity for morning, Darsha is the deity for the night of the new moon and Purnamasa is the deity for the night of the full moon.
612 Samantara is another name for Vidhatri. There are five fire gods known as Purishyas.
613 Because Bhrigu had earlier been born as one of Brahma’s sons, through Brahma’s mental powers.
614 Valmika is an anthill or termite hill. Valmiki was actually Varuna’s son. However, since he was covered in an anthill or termite hill, he seemed to have been born from this.
615 Urvashi is an apsara. When they saw Urvashi, Mitra and Varuna deposited their semen in a pot and Agastya and Vasishtha were born from this.
616 In the form of vamana (dwarf). This will be described in the Eighth Skandha.
617 Bali’s character, in the Eighth Skandha.
618 Shiva.
619 Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakashipu.
620 Indra.
621 Because Indra is Aditi’s son.
622 A dead body is known as worms, because if buried, it is eaten by worms. It is known as excrement because it can be eaten up by predatory beasts and birds. It is known as ashes, because it can also be burnt.
623 A vow that yields a son.
624 Indra.
625 The name is derived from ‘Ma rud’, ‘Do not cry’.
626 Indra.
627 Shrinivasa means Shri’s abode and is one of Vishnu’s names.
628 There were forty-nine Maruts.
629 She had gone to sleep.
630 The success is secondary, because that was not the intention behind the worship.
631 November–December.
632 These are objects offered to Vishnu. Arghya is a gift, padya is water for washing the feet, the other ‘water’ means water for rinsing the mouth, ‘bath’ means water for having a bath.
633 Oum namo bhagavate maha-purushaya maha-vibhuti-pataye svaha.
634 Shri.
635 This is a sequel to the first round of worship.
636 The mantra.
637 On grounds of ill health, or the monthly cycle.
638 October–November.
639 This has been interpreted as the recommended modes for cooking food offered at sacrifices. However, paka-yajna also means a simple sacrifice undertaken at home and that seems to be a better meaning.