861.  It is difficult to give to non-Hindu people the idea of what is uchchhishta.  The hand becomes uchchhishta when set to food that is being eaten.  Without washing that hand with pure water, it is never used by a Hindu for doing any work.  The food that remains in a dish after some portion of it has been eaten is uchchhishta.  The idea is particular to Hinduism and is not to be seen among other races or peoples in the world.

862.  Yavasa is pasture grass.

863.  Payasa is a kind of pudding prepared of rice boiled in sugared milk.  Krisara is milk, sesamum, and rice.  Sashkuli is a sort of pie, made of rice or barley boiled in sugared water.

864.  No merit attaches to the act of feeding an illiterate person.

865.  The correct reading is Vyabhajat.  The Bengal reading vyabhayat would imply a tautology, for the second line would then give the same meaning as the first.

866.  Everything else liable to be affected by primordial nature.  Only the Supreme Soul cannot be affected.  Hence, Brahma is often said to be “above Prakriti.”  Prakriti, here, is of course used in its largest sense.

867.  The second line of verse 8, and the last clause of the first line of verse 9, are wrongly rendered by both the Vernacular translators.  K.P.  Singha omits certain portions, while the Burdwan translator, as usual, writes nonsense.  The verb is nihnuvanti, meaning ’conceal:  i.e., ’do not brag of.’  The verb vadishyanti is to be repeated after ahite hitam.  For hitam ahitam may be read by way of antithesis.

868.  K.P.  Singha mistranslates this verse.

869.  The Burdwan translator misunderstands the word anavajnata.  K.P.  Singha skips over it.

870.  The sense is this:  though really unattached, he seems to be attached.  In this there is especial merit.  A man doing the duties of a householder, without, however, being attached to wife and children and possessions, is a very superior person.  Such a one has been compared to a lotus leaf, which, when dipped in water, is never soaked or drenched by it.  Some, seeing the difficulty of the combat, fly away.  In this there is little merit.  To face all objects of desire, to enjoy them, but all the while to remain so unattached to them as not to feel the slightest pang if dissociated from them, is more meritorious.

871.  Kalajnanena nishthitam are the words of the original.  Vyasa’s answer is taken up with assigning limits to the successive periods of Creation and Non-existence, or the durations of Brahman’s wakeful and sleeping periods.

872.  Agre is explained by the commentator as srishteh prak.

873.  The Krita extends in all for 4,800 years.  The Treta for 3,600; the Dwapara for 2,400; and the Kali for 1,200.  These are, however, the years of the deities.  Verses 15-17 and 20-21 occur in Manusmriti, Chapter I.