he mouth
of the steeds.

143. i.e., his funeral obsequies. The vernacular translators do not see
the intended joke.

144. I give the sense of this verse, without giving a closely literal
version.

145. Avabhritha is the final bath undergone, on completion of as
sacrifice by the person performing the sacrifice. The slaughter of
Duryodhana would according to Krishna, be the avabhritha of the sacrifice
of battle.

146. Praviddham means fallen down or loosened from its usual place. Thus
Nilakantha.

147. Tripura means the three cities constructed by the Asura artificer
Maya. The Asura, however, who owned those cities is also called Tripura.
It was Mahadeva who destroyed the three cities with all their population
vide the close of the Harivansa.

148. The true reading is alohita and not lohita. Arka here is crystal and
not the sun. It was a silvern boar, which could not, evidently, be like
the sun.

149. Owners of golden cars.

150. Nidas were niches or drivers boxes.

151. Many of the opening slokas of this section are nearly the same as
those of section 76 of Bhishma Parva, vide ante. In a few instances I
have adopted the readings of the Bombay edition.

152. I prefer the reading Samakulam to Jhashakulam.

153. i.e., using cars and elephants as weapons for destroying cars and
elephants.

154. The fear behind them was from the Pandava army. The fear before them
was from the car-warriors who had succeeded in penetrating the Kuru host.

155. Many of the Bengal texts have Calabhairiva. This is a mistake, the
word being Calada, and not Calabha which would be unmeaning here.

156. I render the second line of 4 too freely. The sense seems to be that
when two persons fight, one cannot say beforehand who will succeed. Both
have chances of success, as, indeed, both have chances of defeat.

157. The genius of the two languages being entirely different, I give the
sense of the first line of 14 separately, without seeking to connect it,
in the assertive form, with the second half of 13.

158. Literally, 'disregard of Krishna.'

159. The Bombay reading, which I adopt, seems to be better than the
Bengal one.

160. I think that both Vrikodaram and nisitais in this verse as given in
the Bombay text are incorrect. I read Vrikodaras and navavhis following
the Bengal texts.

161. The sense seems to be that Karna and Bhima were like fire and wind.

162. Verse 28 is a triplet. The second line is obscure. It seems that