is
Dharma." The defect of this definition is that the Srutis and the Smritis
do not include every duty. Hence Vasishtha was obliged to add that where
these are silent, the examples and practices of the good ought to be the
guides of men, etc.

339. The Burdwan translator has made a mess of verse 21. K.P. Singha
quietly leaves it out. The act is, Swakaryastu is Swakariastu, meaning
'let the appropriator be.'

340. The construction is elliptical. Yah samayam chikrashet tat kurvit.

341. The meaning is that though born in a low race, that is no reason why
I should act like a low person. It is conduct that determines the race
and not the race that determines conduct. There may be pious persons
therefore, in every race. The Burdwan version of this line is simply
ridiculous.

342. Yatram means, as explained by the commentator, the duties of
government.

343. Nilakantha explains aparasadhanah as aparasa adhanah, i.e., without
rasa or affection and without dhana or wealth. This is very far-fetched.

344. Perhaps the sense is that men of vigorous understanding think all
states to be equal.

345. The true policy, therefore, is to wait for the time when the foe
becomes weak.

346. Mridustikshnena is better than Mridutikshnena.

347. A bird that is identified by Dr. Wilson with the Parra Jacana.

348. In India, the commonest form of verbal abuse among ignorant men and
women is 'Do thou meet with death,' or, 'Go thou to Yama's house.' What
Bhishma says is that as these words are uttered in vain, even so the
verbal accusations of wicked men prove perfectly abortive.

349. The Burdwan Pundits have totally misunderstood the first line of
this verse. K.P. Singha has rendered it correctly.

350. A dog is an unclean animal in Hindu estimation.

351. The antithesis consists, as pointed out by Nilakantha, in this,
viz., the man of high birth, even if ruined undeservedly, would not
injure his master. The man however, that is of low birth, would become
the foe of even a kind master if only a few words of censure be addressed
to him.

352. Nilakantha explains that na nirddandvah means na nishparigrahah.

353. i.e., 'speak in brief of them, or give us an abridgment of thy
elaborate discourses.'

354. i.e., as the commentator explains, keenness, when he punishes and
harmlessness when he shows favour.

355. i.e., 'should assume the qualities (such as keenness, etc.),
necessary for his object.' K.P. Singha's version of the la