1937. The Burdwan translator erroneously renders this verse. The commentator explains that hitwa is equivalent to vina and sums up the meaning of the first line in these words, viz., twaddarsanam vina asya kopi vighnomabhut. In the second line, naprayupasate is equal to paritajya na aste.
1938. It is a pity that even such verses have not been rendered correctly by the Burdwan translator. K. P. Singha gives the sense correctly, but the translation is not accurate.
1939. A form of expression meaning that ‘we are your slaves’.
1940. Atmanam is Brahma; atmasthah is ‘relying in the Soul’, i.e.,
withdrawn from all worldly objects; atmanogatim implies the end of the Jiva-soul, i.e., the Supreme Soul; the last is an adjective of atmanam.
1941. It has been explained in the previous sections that the Unccha vow consists in subsisting on grains picked up from the fields after the corn has been reaped and taken away by the owners. It is a most difficult vow to observe. The merit attaching to it is, therefore, very great.
1942. The formal initiation or diksha is a ceremony of great importance. No sacrifice or vow, no religious rite, can be performed without the diksha. The rite of diksha is performed with the assistance of a preceptor or priest. In leaving the domestic mode for the life of a forest recluse, the diksha is necessary. In following the Unccha vow, this rite is needed. Any religious act performed by one without having undergone the formal diksha, becomes sterile of results.
1943. Bhishma abducted, with the might of his single arms, the three daughters of the king of Kasi, viz., Amva, Amvika, and Amvalika. He wished to marry the princesses to his brother Vichitravirya. The eldest princess, having previously to her abduction selected king Salwa for her lord was let off. When, however, she presented herself before her lover, the latter refused to wed her. She, therefore, applied to Rama for wreaking vengeance on Bhishma whom she regarded as the author of her wrongs. Rama took up her cause and fought with Bhishma, but was obliged to acknowledge defeat at the hands of his antagonist who was his disciple in arms. For fuller particulars, vide Amvopakhyana