583.  Nilakantha would read amritya for mritya.  It is a forced correction for keeping up the metaphorical sense.

584.  All knowledge there is certain.

585. i.e., to practise yoga.  The Bengal reading is dharanam.  The commentator goes or explaining all the verses as metaphorical.  Considerable ingenuity is displayed by him, and he even cites the Srutis in support.

586.  This at least is a verse that evidently refers to the other or the next world, and, therefore, lends colour to the supposition that throughout the whole passage, it is the next world and no fictitious region north of the Himalayas that is described.  Some western scholars think that a verbal translation is all that is necessary.  Such passages, however, are incapable of being so rendered.  The translator must make his choice of, either taking the verses in a plain or a metaphorical sense.  If he inclines towards the latter, he cannot possibly give a verbal version.  The genius of the two tongues are quite different.

587.  Pushkara in Rajputanah is supposed to be the spot where Brahman underwent his penances.

588.  The Burdwan translator makes a mess of this verse 21 runs into 22 as explained by the commentator.  K.P.  Singha avoids the blunder, although in rendering the last line of 22 he becomes rather inaccurate.

589.  The five limbs which should be washed before eating are the two feet, the two hands, and the face.

590.  This may be a general direction for washing one’s hand after eating; or, it may refer to the final Gandusha, i.e., the act of taking a little water in the right hand, raising it to the lips, and throwing it down, repeating a short formula.

591.  The Burdwan translator has misunderstood this verse completely.

592.  It is difficult to understand what this verse means.  Nilakantha proposes two different kinds of interpretation.  What then is Sankusuka or Sanku cuka?  The above version is offered tentatively.  The commentator imagines that the true sense of the verse is that it declares such men to be unable to attain to Mahadayu which is Brahma and not long life.

593.  Prishtamangsa is explained by the commentator as ’the meat forming the remnant of a Sraddha offering.’  I do not see the necessity of discarding the obvious meaning.

594. in the sense of being moved or used.  The commentator adds that the sacred thread also should be wound round the thumb, as the Grihyasutras declare.

595.  In every instance, the person who receives should say—­’All-sufficient’ ‘Gratify to the fill’, and ‘Has fallen copiously’ or words to that effect.  Krisara or Kricara is food made of rice and pease, or rice and sesame; probably what is now called Khichree.

596.  The polite form of address is Bhavan.  It is in the third person singular.  The second person is avoided, being too direct.

597.  It is not plain in what way the sinful acts come to the sinner.  The Hindu idea, of course, is that the consequences of those deeds visit the doer without fail.  This verse, however, seems to say that the recollection of those sins forces itself upon the sinner and makes him miserable in spite of himself.