“the infinite, inconceivable, eternal, the All in endless forms.”  Brahm[=a] is invoked now and then in a perfunctory way, but no one really expects him to do anything.  He has done his work, made the castes, the sacrifice, and (occasionally) everything.  And he will do this again when the new aeon begins.  But for this aeon his work is accomplished.]

     [Footnote 23:  Thus in XII. 785. 165:  “Neither Brahm[=a] nor
     Vishnu is capable of understanding the greatness of Civa.”]

     [Footnote 24:  Or “three eyes.”]

[Footnote 25:  Compare III. 39. 77:  “The destroyer of Daksha’s sacrifice.”  Compare the same epithet in the hymn to Civa, X. 7. 3, after which appear the devils who serve Civa.  Such devils, in the following, feast on the dead upon the field of battle, though, when left to themselves, ’midnight is the hour when the demons swarm,’ III. 11. 4 and 33.  In X. 18 and XIII. 161 Civa’s act is described in full.]

[Footnote 26:  Civa, called Bhava, Carva, the trident-holder, the Lord ([=I]c[=a]na), Cankara, the Great God, etc., generally appears at his best where the epic is at its worst, the interpolations being more flagrant than in the case of Vishnuite eulogies.  The most devout worshipper of Vishnu is represented as an adherent of Civa, as invoking him for help after fighting with him.  He is “invincible before the three worlds.”  He is the sun; his blood is ashes.  All the gods, with Brahm[=a] at their head, revere him.  He has three heads, three faces, six arms (compare iii. 39. 74 ff.; 83. 125); though other passages give him more.]

     [Footnote 27:  Civa has as sign the bull:  Vishnu, the boar.]

     [Footnote 28:  ZDMG. xxxviii. pp. 197, 200.]

     [Footnote 29:  Lit. u.  Cultur, p. 461.]

[Footnote 30:  Holtzmann now says (in Neunzehn Buecher, p. 198) that the whole episode which terminates with Baladeva’s visit an addition to the original.  Holtzmann’s monograph on Brahm[=a] is in ZDMG. xxxviii. 167.]

     [Footnote 31:  A good example is that of the two visions of
     Arjuna, first the vision of Vishnu, then another vision of
     Civa, whom Arjuna and Vishnu visit (vii. 80).]

     [Footnote 32:  Cankara and Civa mean almost the same; ’giver
     of blessings’ and ‘prospering’ (or ’kindly’), respectively.]

[Footnote 33:  Brahma[n.]as sumahotsavas (compare the commentator).  The sam[=a]ja of Brahm[=a] may be explained by that of Civa mentioned in the same place and described elsewhere (iv. 13. 14 ff.; i. 164. 20).]

     [Footnote 34:  Not sleeping, Vishnu, despite svapimi,
     does not slumber; he only muses.]

     [Footnote 35:  Man (divine) and god human, but N[=a]r[=a]yana
     is a new name of Vishnu, and the two are reckoned as two
     inseparable seers (divinities).]