2.  Some texts have Duddharsham for Durddharshas.

3.  Literally, “gives heat”.

4.  ‘Varna’ is used here in the sense of races and not castes.

5.  This sloka is variously read.  For bhauman in the first line some texts read bhimam which I have adopted.  For sahasa in the second line some texts have rajasa, and then aditye (locative) for ‘adityas’.

6.  The Bombay text is evidently faulty here; it repeats the second half of the 7th sloka, making the second half of the 25th the first half of the 24th.

7. i.e., stragglers should not be slain.

8.  Literally, “confiding.”

9.  The Bombay text has Castropanayishu; the Bengal texts have Castropojibishu.

10.  Rather, “have their periods run out.”

11.  The Bombay text reads pralahshaye for prajashaye.  I have adopted the former.

12.  Both the Bengal and the Bombay editions have Kukkuran for Kukkutan as the Burdwan Pundits correct it.  A bitch producing dogs and bitches would be no anomaly.

13.  Unlike the Bengal editions, the Bombay edition correctly includes this sloka, or rather half sloka, within the 17th, making the 17th a triplet instead of a couplet.  For the well-known word Dhishthitas however, the Bombay text has Vishthitas.

14.  The Bombay text reads Paricchanna for Paricchinna.  The former is better.

15.  Vaisase is explained by Nilakantha as Virodhe.  Conttavarta—–­a river having bloody eddies.

16.  Conitam cchardayanniva.  I have adopted Nilakantha’s explanation.  The Burdwan Pundits take it as referring to “weapons” instead of “hearers.”  The passage, however, may mean that the bird screams so frightfully as if it vomits blood.  The only thing that militates against this interpretation is that cchardayan is a causal verb.  In the Mahabharata, however, causal forms are frequently used without causal meaning.

17.  This sloka is omitted in many editions, though it is certainly genuine.  I have rendered it very freely, as otherwise it would be unintelligible.  The fact is, three lunations twice meeting together in course of the same lunar fortnight is very rare.  The lunar-fortnight (Paksha) being then reduced by two days, the day of full-moon or that of new moon, instead of being (as usual) the fifteenth day from the first lunation becomes the thirteenth day.  Lunar-eclipses always occur on days of the full-moon, while solar-eclipses on those of the new moon.  Such eclipses, therefore, occurring on days removed from the days of the first lunation by thirteen instead of (as usual) fifteen days, are very extraordinary occurrences.

18.  Vishamam is battle or war, and akranda is weeping or productive of grief.  The latter word may also mean a fierce battle.  If understood in this sense, Vishamam may be taken as indicating hostility, or absence of peace.