860 Parikshit.
861 Svayambhuva Manu’s.
862 Shri-Shuka.
863 Svayambhuva Manu’s daughters were Akuti and Devahuti and Kapila was Devahuti’s son. Yajna, or Yajnapati or Yajnamurti, was Akuti’s son.
864 Svayambhuva Manu.
865 The shlokas in Manu’s saying occur in different Upanishads, in different forms and some are verbatim reproductions.
866 Suparna literally means one with excellent feathers. In Upanishads like Mundaka Upanishad (3.1.1) and Shvetashvatara Upanishad (4.6), Suparna is a metaphor for the paramatman, a companion and well-wisher of the jivatman.
867 Creation, preservation and destruction.
868 Preservation and destruction.
869 Without being driven by the fruits.
870 The Manus, the gods, Indra and the saptarshis vary from one manvantara to another. This was the first manvantara, when Svayambhuva was the Manu. Vishnu’s form as Yajna was Indra. The Yamas, Yajna’s sons, were the gods.
871 The names Tosha, Pratosha, Santosha, Bhadra, Shanti, Idaspati, Idhma, Kavi, Vibhu, Svahna, Sudeva and Rochana were given in Chapter 4(1).
872 Tushitaa.
873 Vishnu.
874 All three are collective categories.
875 Satyavratas were gods, probably the same category as Satyas.
876 Satyasena.
877 Lord of heaven, Indra.
878 Act of giving up one’s life by fasting to death.
879 Koyashti is lapwing and datyuha is gallinule.
880 Different reeds, flowers and trees.
881 Sharabha has many meanings—young elephant, camel. It is also a mythical animal with eight legs, believed to be stronger than a lion.
882 With a tail like that of a cow, langur. Also known as golangula.
883 The details of this earlier birth will follow later.
884 The universe is manifest during creation and not manifest during destruction.
885 This can be interpreted as nivritti, or equivalently, transcending the cycle of karma.
886 In different avataras.
887 At the time of creation.
888 A divine and spiritual one, not a physical one.
889 What is left after eliminating others through progressive ‘neti’, ‘not this’.
890 Through ignorance.
891 Sattva, rajas and tamas.
892 To save him, since he had not prayed to any of these gods.
893 Once, Huhu was bathing in a lake, with his wives. The sage Devala arrived and also started to bathe there. At this, Huhu tugged Devala by the leg. Devala cursed Huhu that he would become a crocodile and would only be freed by Hari, when he seized an elephant by the leg.
894 This kulachala is taken to be Malaya.
895 Agastya.
896 Airavata, Indra’s mount.
897 Using the prayers you used. This is left implicit, but can be deduced.
898 That is, these were three of the saptarshis.
899 Lakshmi.
900 The father was Chakshusha and the son was Chaakshusha.
901 Durvasa presented a garland to Indra. Showing disrespect, Indra carelessly flung the garland on his elephant’s (Airavata’s) head. It fell down on the ground from the elephant’s head and Airavata trampled it. Therefore, Durvasa cursed Indra.
902 Interpreted as the shadow of ignorance and the sunshine of knowledge. He is not affected by either. Alternatively, he provides the shade against the heat of ignorance.
903 The five senses of perception, the five organs of action and the five kinds of breath of life.
904 Sattva, rajas and tamas.
905 The eight fellies are interpreted either as the eight powers of the illustrious one, or as the five gross elements, mind, intelligence and ego.
906 Of pure sattva.
907 Rajas and tamas.
908 Meaning Soma, the moon god. To make the meaning clear, we have taken some liberties in this shloka and the ones that immediately follow.
909 Agni exists as a subterranean fire and as a digestive fire.
910 Because all of it is maya.
911 Which moves everywhere, but is not attached to anything.
912 Shiva.
913 Or a blue gem or blue sapphire.
914 Brahma.
915 In different incarnations.
916 A pot is created from the earth, the earth exists in the pot and when the pot is destroyed, it returns to earth.
917 Not possessing an existence independent of the fire.
918 A snake and a mouse were caught and trapped in a basket. If the snake ate the mouse, it would continue to remain trapped. Therefore, it had an alliance with the mouse and the mouse gnawed a hole out of the basket. When both were free, the snake ate the mouse.
919 If the demons demand those objects.
920 Bali.
921 That is, he suffused the asuras with rajas, the gods with sattva and Vasuki with tamas.
922 Kind of pine.
923 Timingila is a fish that devours whales (timi).
924 Kailasa.
925 Oum—O, U and M.
926 Varuna.
927 The seven sheaths of the body are interpreted as earth, water, fire, air, space, ahamkara and Mahat. The seven Vedic metres are Ushnik, Gayatri, Trishtubh, Anushtubh, Jagati, Pankti and Brihati.
928 The five Upanishads mean the five mantras known as tatpurusha, aghora, sadyojata, vamadeva and ishana, being compared to Shiva’s five faces. Statement of these mantras will get into too much of detail, as will an explanation of how thirty-eight mantras are derived from these five.
929 Shiva burnt down Kama, the god of love, and destroyed Tripura and Daksha’s sacrifice. Though the past tense is used, deadly poison means halahala, which is about to be destroyed.
930 Known as kalakuta, in addition to halahala.
931 Hari’s.
932 Midusha is one of Shiva’s names.
933 Bhavani.
934 Meaning Surabhi, the cow which yields all the objects of desire.
935 Kailasa.
936 Diggajas are elephants in charge of the directions. The number is sometimes given as four and sometimes as eight. The names are not always uniform. In addition to the eight male elephants, eight female elephants are also sometimes mentioned as companions.
937 Soudamani can be translated in different ways, a cloud, a mountain, a city.
938 Milk, curds, clarified butter, dung and urine.
939 Brahma.
940 Lakshmi thinking to herself. In interpretations, specific examples are given of each rejected type.
941 They do not want a consort.
942 Good conduct and lifespan.
943 The gandharvas.
944 The goddess of liquor.
945 The amrita.
946 Wanton or unchaste woman.
947 Loose woman.
948 This form of Vishnu is known as Mohini. Mohini instructed them about these preliminaries.
949 Cows were fed.
950 Gods and asuras.
951 The gods were seated further away. Mohini first went to the asuras.
952 The word used is soma, meaning amrita.
953 Brahma.
954 Duality.
955 Bhasa.
956 Gavaya is a kind of ox, aruna probably means an eagle.
957 Indra.
958 Indra.
959 Bali.
960 The fire of universal destruction.
961 Garuda.
962 Bali.
963 The subjects, not just the asuras, did not want Bali to be killed.
964 Mountains were believed to have once possessed wings.
965 Jambha honoured Matali and struck him.
966 Indra’s.
967 Indra.
968 Indra’s name.
969 Tvashta.
970 The asuras.
971 Bringing back to life.
972 The one with the bull on his banner, Shiva.
973 This world and the next.
974 Sometimes, sixteen powers are enumerated. The nine are vimala (purity), utkarshani (eminence), jnana (knowledge), kriya (accomplishment), yoga (communion), prahvi (modesty), satya (truthfulness), ishana (sovereignty) and anugraha (mercy).
975 The one who lives for two parardhas, Brahma.
976 Rajas and tamas predominate in them.
977 The weight of the necklaces, the breasts and the hips.
978 They were red.
979 Vishnu’s.
980 Shiva.
981 Manvantara.
982 One is Nabhaga, the other is Naabhaaga.
983 Chapter 6 (6).
984 Parashurama.
985 Saptarshis.
986 Indra.
987 The Indra is Vaidhriti and Vaidhritaa is Aryaka’s wife.
988 Saptarshis.
989 Bali.
990 Shukracharya and others.
991 Prahlada.
992 The fire.
993 The Ganga that flows in heaven.
994 Shyama, therefore, alternatively, young.
995 Apsaras.
996 Brihaspati.
997 Atithis.
998 Dharma, artha and kama.
999 Brahma.
1000 February–March.
1001 A flow of water in a river.
1002 This is addressed to the earth.
1003 Interpreted as an image.
1004 These have diverse interpretations. Here are examples. The two heads are prayaniya (the initial rites of the sacrifice) and upaniya (the concluding rites of the sacrifice). The three feet are the three savannas, rites associated with extracting soma juice in the morning, midday and evening. The four horns are the four Vedas. The seven arms are the seven metres. The three kinds of knowledge are about the past, the present and the future.
1005 Oum namo bhagavate Vasudevaya.
1006 A fine rice.
1007 The one with the twelve aksharas.
1008 A dish made out sweetened milk and rice.
1009 Vishnu.
1010 Pratipada means the first quarter from the start, so this is the first quarter of shukla paksha. This thus means the beginning of shukla paksha.
1011 Milk, curd, ghee, sugar and honey.
1012 All sacrifices. That is, it is as good as performing all the sacrifices.
1013 Though not stated, there was a lotus in the fourth hand.
1014 A fire results from the friction of two pieces of wood.
1015 Brahma.
1016 Prishni was a queen who was reborn as Devaki. As Devaki, she was Krishna’s mother.
1017 Meaning makara.
1018 That is, the gods.
1019 The day is known as shravana-dvadashi, the term used in the text. Shravana-dvadashi occurs in the month of Bhadrapada. Shravana refers to the nakshatra and not to the month of Shravana.
1020 Victory.
1021 Kashyapa.
1022 Made out of munja grass.
1023 Brahma.
1024 This is naturally construed as a string of rudraksha beads.
1025 Kubera.
1026 Bharuch in Gujarat.
1027 Bali.
1028 Prahlada.
1029 Vishnu.
1030 Vishnu being anxious in his mind has led to interpretations. He pretended to be anxious. He was anxious because he actually wanted to protect his devotee, Hiranyakashipu. Vishnu wasn’t really anxious, but vamana told Bali this to instil confidence in him.
1031 He must be dead.
1032 Prithu.
1033 The touching of water is required before any auspicious act.
1034 The sense seems to be that Bali did not say ‘Oum’ before uttering his pledge.
1035 These shlokas have many kinds of complicated interpretations. We have translated them in the simplest possible way. This seems to make sense, without the complications.
1036 Shibi was a generous king. There is a famous story about Indra, in the form of a hawk, pursuing Agni, in the form of a dove, all this being done to test Shibi. Shibi saved the dove by offering his own flesh in return.
1037 Meaning Bali.
1038 The two words are ritam and satyam. Satyam is truth, while ritam can be interpreted in different ways, divine truth or divine law being one.
1039 Brahma.
1040 Makaras.
1041 Koustubha.
1042 There are actually fourteen worlds (lokas), seven above and seven below. The seven above are—bhurloka, kharloka, svarloka, maharloka, janarloka, taparloka and satyaloka (brahmaloka).
1043 Brahma’s world.
1044 Ayurveda, Dhanurveda and so on.
1045 Science of logic.
1046 History.
1047 Shuchishrava is Vishnu’s name.
1048 Ganga.
1049 To the form of a vamana.
1050 For a sacrifice.
1051 Shukracharya’s.
1052 Sama, dana, danda, bheda.
1053 The text is such that it might also mean the day on which soma juice is drunk.
1054 That is, asuras.
1055 Prahlada.
1056 Brahma.
1057 Vishnu.
1058 There is no contradiction. Brahma was about to speak, but allowed Vindhyavali to speak first.
1059 Even Bali did, by assuming that he owned the three worlds.
1060 Shiva.
1061 This seems to refer to Prahlada and not to Bali.
1062 Interpreted as the Manus.
1063 This is taken to be a reference to Rig Veda 1.154.1.
1064 Shaphari. The feminine is used, so it was a female fish.
1065 Identified as a tributary of the Bhagai or Vaigai in Madurai.
1066 Following the process, they progressively went through larger and larger bodies of water.
1067 Vasuki.
1068 An ignorant preceptor.