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1. A brief
description of the book’s subject matter.
The Bhagavadgita - its full title is
[Srimad-bhagavad - gita - (upanisadas)]. "The (secret) teachings given in the
song of the Sublime Exalted One" - constitutes chapters 25-43 of the
"Bhisma-parvan," the sixth book of the Mahabharata. This celebrated
epic, containing more than 90,000 stanzas is probably the longest single poem in
world literature. The author is, according to Hindu tradition, the legendary
poet-sage, Vyasa. In its broad outlines the epic narrates a lengthy civil war,
the quarrels and battles of two branches of a dynasty vying for supreme power:
the five sons of Pandu, with Arjuna as their leader, oppose the forces of their
(blind) uncle Dhritarastra (of the Kuru branch), with Duryodhana and his
ninety-nine brothers.
Various treatises
on religion, philosophy, politics, and ethics were grafted on the body epic at
later times. The Bhagavadgita constitutes such an addition. When
the decisive battle between the opposing armies is about to begin, Arjuna who
has mounted a chariot surveys the ranks of the enemy and recognises there men he
has known and loved all his life: old friends, relatives, and teachers. At their
sight his spirits sink: he feels he cannot kill those who are dear to him. He
asks his charioteer, Krishna, for advice. The latter is soon transfigured into a
god and engages Arjuna in a dialogue which form the 18 chapters of the poem.
This dialogue, as well as a lively description of the events on the battlefield,
are narrated to the opposing (blind) king Dhritarastra by his charioteer Sanjaya.
2. The Bhagavadgita
in the Western World.
Charles Wilking published an English
translation as early as 1785. He had been encouraged by Warren Hastings1- with whose name Kashi and
"Banaris" were closely connected in those times - to study with the
Pandits there, and thus became the first modern Westerner to translate a
Sanskrit work directly into a European language. The analysis of Galanos' Greek
translation should establish, among other things, whether Galanos used Wilkins's
Bhagavadgita translation and his copious notes as model, and if the
editor Typaldos might have fared better had he at least perused the English
version more thoroughly.
Two years after
the appearance of the Wilkins translation, Parraud translated this English
version into French (Le Bhaghuat-Geeta, ou Dialogues de Kreeshna et
d' Arjoon, Paris, 1787) while
Friedrich Majer published the first German version of Wilkins' English Gita
translation in Jul. Klaproth's Asiatisches Magazin vol. I, II
(Weimar, 1802).
A new Sanskrit
edition accompanied by a Latin Translation was furnished in 1823 by August
Wilhelm von Schlegel, the first professor of Sanskrit in Germany (University of
Bonn, 1818) who had been a student of A.L. Chézy, the first professor of
Sanskrit at the Collège de France in Paris. A.W.v. Schlegel's work was later
reedited with many additions by his student, the Norwegian scholar Christian
Lassen, around 1846.2
3. The Greek
Translation: preface and notes to Galanos' work.
In 1848, fifteen years after
Galanos' death,
the Conservator of Athens Library George K. Typaldos, published, "under the
supervision of and with corrections made by G. Apostolidis (Kosmetes),
"Librarian", the third volume of Galanos' translations from the
Sanskrit ΓΙΤΑ Ή
ΘΕΣΠΕΣΙΟΝ ΜΕΛΟΣ Gita or Thespesion Melos (The divine Song) as contained in Ms. no.
1854.3 A
note at the end of the manuscript acknowledges the assistance rendered by a
Kandardasa (Chandra Das?*) and the date when this work was finished: November
12, 1802, "in Kashi, the city of the Brahmans." A few years later,
about 1809, the Sanskrit text appeared in print in Calcutta, apparently for the
first time.
Typaldos, the
Greek editor, limits his initial remarks regarding Galanos' actual translation
to a few lines (p. vi): "There is nothing we want to say about the Greek
translation of the Gita, except that the famous Galanos knew the
ancient Sanskrit language and many other Asiatic dialects well; he was equally
well acquainted with the philosophical systems and theosophical precepts of the
Indians; having been initiated in their mysteries and rituals...[he]accomplished
this work with the help of the Brahmin Kandardas...There can be no doubt that he
treated the work at hand with great insight and translated it with great care
and exactness; he adorned it with many definitions and enriched it with most
noteworthy interpretations..."
These
valid remarks, however, do not deter the editor from embarking on a somewhat
perilous exploring expedition of his own. Typaldos did not know Sanskrit and had
to rely on the writings of scholars whose findings were then subjected to
Typaldos' own interpretation. On page VII, in a 22-page chapter called
"Protheoria" (preface), Typaldos writes about the Vedas,4
mentions Phaedo
(Plato's dialogue describing the death of Socrates) where it is argued that God
is the ancient logos, but,
according to Typaldos, "undoubtedly the Pythagorean, Orphic, Egyptian
Indian, Chaldean, and Asiatic concepts of Pantheism differ from the greatest
idea of one God as conceived by the Judaic prophets and the holy gospel.
"He cites a little known Italian Sanskrit scholar, Pietro Giuseppe Maggi,5 Gorresio's Ramayana recession and translation6 and agrees with him that the great epic Mahabharata, like (the
dramatist) Kalidasa's Raghuvamsa, is considerably younger than the Ramayana,
just as Vergil's Aeneid is an imitation and re-creation of Homer's Iliad.
Some events such as the martial legends of the great civil war, Typaldos avers,
are undoubtedly of ancient origin, but the many passages dealing with theology,
epistemology, morals, ethics, and statecraft were added on much later by
priest-poets. Typaldos quotes also Charles Wilkens on this subject and argues
that not to acknowledge the modifications in such compilations, would be
tantamount to the ludicrous assertion that Orphic theosophy, the Homeric epics,
Pythagoras' philosophy of numbers, Plato's theories, the Organon by
Aristotle, and the Commentaries of the Alexandrian School had all emanated at
the same time. Among other things Typaldos also discusses the age of the Vedas
and Manu's Laws, quoting Jones and Colebrooke (who conjectured their age as
going back to 1500 and 1400 B.C. in Asiatick Researches,
V, 288 and VII, 283) a Greek teacher of religion, Constantine
Oekonomos, and his exegesis of the Old Testament; the French translation of L'
Ezour Vedam, ou Ancien Commentaire du Vedam, (Yverdon, 1778)7 which also Typaldos
considers a fraud. There are many other philosophical reflections and
speculations in which Typaldos exhibits his "polymathic" knowledge.
The Greek editor
seems to have derived a great part of his knowledge and understanding of things
Indian, from the first volume (1843) of Christian Lassen's monumental
encyclopedic work Indische Alterthumskunde
("Indian Antiquity") in four volumes (1843-1862) which the
author sent to him and the receipt of which Typaldos gratefully acknowledges (p.
v). He mentions other names and books in his long introductory notes (82 pages),
apparently gleaned from that encyclopedic work. Typaldos cites August Wilhelm
von Schlegel's Indische Bibliothek (Bonn I, 1823; II, 1827; III, 1
1930) and Friedrich von Schlegel's Über die Sprache und Weisheit der Indier8 Alexandre Langlois' Monuments
littéraires de 1'Inde, Colebrooke's
"Essay on the Philosophy of the Hindus", Abel Remusart's essay on
Colebrooke's essay (in Nouveaux Melanges Asiatiques Paris, 1829),
Friedrich Adelung's Bibliotheca Sanscritica. Literatur der
Sanskritsprache (St. Petersburg, 1837) and Philosophische Systeme (pp. 172-187), essays on Hindu philosophy by Guillaume Pauthier9 (Paris,
1835) and the German
scholar, Othmar Frank (Munich, Leipzig, 1835), Wilhelm von Humboldt's paper on
the Gita, presented at the Berlin Academy in 1826, (printed in the Sitzungsberichte),
a French translation of Heinrich Ritter's Geschichte der Philosophie (orig.
12 vols., 1829-53), V.
Cousin's Cours de l'histoire de laphilosophie du XVIII siècle (Paris,
1829), Peter von Bohlen, Das alte Indien mit besonderer Rücksicht auf Ägypten
(Königsberg, 1830), F.H.H. Windisschmann's Latin work on Sancara, sive
de Theologumenis Vedanticorum (Bonn, 1833), also Maret's Essai sur
le Panthèisme (Paris, 1840).
Typaldos
also mentions that "the lover of the fine arts" (philomousos)
Athanasios Theocharidis had sent detailed information contained in the
afore-mentioned works from Leipzig, while the "most patriotic" Greek
consul of Marseilles, K.Z. Tzitzinas, had remitted much material from Paris. He
also expresses his thanks for additional advice he sought and received from
Lassen and Hermann Brockhaus, apparently by correspondence. In vol. II (not yet
published at that time) of Lassen's Indische Alterthumskunde there (pp. 1119 ff.) is a treatise on the
origin of the churches of St. Thomas, about which Lassen may have written to
Typaldos.
Since it is
generally assumed that the final redaction of the Mahabharata in
its entirety (i.e. the Bhagavadgita included) may have
occurred as late as 400 A.D., Typaldos comes to the conclusion that the clever
composer of the Gita had incorporated some of the exalted precepts
of the New Testament in the philosophical Hindu poem. Referring to the apostles
Marc and Paul (Gal., I, 17) who took the gospel to Arabia and Persia (!) and to
Thomas who brought the gospel to India, Typaldos is firmly convinced that the
Indian author must have been well read in the Gospels and the Fathers of the
Church: "...also in this delusion of pantheism there shines the ray of
heavenly truth. It is rightfully said that the light comes from the east. That
is why the sun of justice and truth shone from the east. Since then, all Asian10
theosophs became, in theory as well as in practice,
Christians. And all who had heard even the name of the divine teaching confessed
to Christ. The Brahmins, however, who also received this divine teaching
skillfully amalgamated it with the affirmation of pantheism and their
theosophical dogmas. Therefore the many and monstrous incarnations of Vishnu and
the end of the reconciliatory Bhagavadgita constitute the very late and
pallid image of the divine plan and those myths forged by Brahmanic
witchcraft."
4. The Galanos
translation
In his translation of the Bhagavadgita
Galanos simplifies and, to a minor extent, expands on persons, things, and
concepts, which his educated Greek readers could not be expected to comprehend
readily. Some explanatory notes were added by Typaldos because, as he points
out, it seems that Galanos was, unfortunately, not able to correct any of the
final versions of his Greek translations. Therefore, some inconsistencies, which
appear in the manuscripts, had to be cleared up by means of a close comparison
between Galanos' writings and other (Western) versions, translations, and
commentaries. In this Greek version of the Gita,
as corrected by Typaldos, necessary changes have been annotated (in
Greek letters) as "Π.Γ." Πρώτη Γραφή; Prote Graphe =
Galanos' original manuscript) and ΔΓ and ΔΓr.
(i.e.)
Διάφοραι
Γραφαί; Diaphorai
Graphai = variants in other mss.) Yet, as will be
become evident when the Greek version as published is examined more closely,
Typaldos' sedulous travail may have caused more harm then good to the pristine,
well-reasoned Galanos text.11
There are
altogether 673 stanzas in the Bhagavadgita,
divided into eighteen chapters. The very first stanza (where the
blind king of the Kuru clan, Dhritarashtra, asks his chariot driver) "O
Samjaya, what did my people and the sons of the Pandus do, as they had gathered
there eager for battle in the field of righteousness (dharma), in the field of
the Kurus?" is translated by Galanos as "having come to Kurukshetra,
to the field of 
(arete =
dharma)."
The
original meaning of arete is "virtue" in the sense of
'manly' (Lat. vir) qualities, as in Homer, Iliad XX, 421
when Hector and Achilles are engaged in battle. In the Greek tragedies the
concept arete takes on the extended meaning "having excellent
moral and ethical qualities" and in later times, particularly in the
Christian era, it is almost synonymous with καλοκαγαθία (Kalokagathia) ''being 'kalos' and 'agathos', a sterling
character", and even with 
(he hosiotes) "the characteristics of a saintly person who
acts in accordance with the law and his duties." It must have been this
last meaning, which Galanos chose for Skr. dharma. Galanos Ms. 1840,
which contains the rudiments of an envisaged Sanskrit-English-Greek dictionary,
simply lists dharma (and a series of compound nouns and
adjectives) in Devanagari letters, but gives no English or Greek meanings.
The
Sanskrit term 
"dharmakshetra" in its philosophical
context means, as Radhakrishnan12 puts it, that the world is the battleground for a moral struggle,
"the nursery of saints where the sacred flame of spirit is never permitted
to go out" and where "the Lord who is the protector of dharma is
actively present in it."
The proper names
of the many heroes mentioned in the first few stanzas are spelled in such a way
that it is not easy to identify them. Instead of Yuyudhana there appears Σατέκης Satekes (1,4) for Skr. Satyaki (one of his other eponyms) and
untranslated‚ μαχαράτας "ho maharatas" (for mahāratha) i.e "a mighty
warrior, one of the great war chariot", (said of Drupada), as if it might
mean "the Maharashtrian".13
In 1,2 Galanos gives the name of the
 acharya (i.e. Drona
who had instructed the princes of both warring parties in the art of war); often
the patronym (son of Drupada) is omitted and the actual name not mentioned in
the Sanskrit text is given: 1,3; Δρυσταδεούμνα Drystadeoumna
=
Skr. 
Dhristadyumna, instead of Drupada's son (the
organizer of the battle front of the Pandavas). In 1,6 where the Sanskrit text
mentions only "the offspring of (the mothers) Subhadra and Draupadi"
Galanos gives, instead of "Saubhadrah," the man's actual name: 
"Abbimanious" = Skr.
 and in the case of "Draupadi's
offspring," he simply explains: "the five Pandavas and sons of
Draupadi" (and mentions them without comment on the margin of the
manuscript.)14
Instead of
dvijottama
"O best of the twice born" (1,7)
Galanos simply uses the generic term
 βράχμαν (o hypertate brachman) "most exalted brahmin."
In 1,8; Βουρισράβας "Bourisravas" = Skr.
Bhaurishravas "having great fame", an ally of the Kauravas, is wrongly
identified as the son of Somadatta. In order to have the Greek readers know who
is being encouraged by the elderly Kuru, Bhishma, "who roared like a lion
and blew his conch" (I,12) the name of Duryodhana, the Kuru prince,15 is added. In I,15; Krishna, (instead of Hrshikesha
"stiff-haired," i.e.
"the Lord of the senses") blows his shell, the pañcajanya.16 Ι, 16; Yudhisthira is the eldest (and most prudent)
of the five sons of Pandu, but never a king βασιλεύς basileys). The name of Subhadra's son is not mentioned in I,18, but
Galanos adds it: Abhimanyu; somewhat inconsistently he leaves out "the sons
of Dhritarashtra" cited in I,19 and 20, Τypaldos
supplies an explanation for Galanos' "sons of his", (which Galanos
himself had done on the margin), but he does not explain
(ton pitheka, "the
monkey") on Arjuna's banner.17 In I,20, where the sanskrit text refers only to the Pandava, Galanos adds
"Pandoides Arjuna[s]", while the eponyms Hrshikesha and Acyuata
("Immovable") in the next stanza and in I,24 are replaced by Krishna.
The eponyms Gudakesha ("whose hair is in tufts") in I,24, as well as
Dhanamjaya ("winner of wealth"), Partha ("son of Partha =
Kunti"), Paramtapa ("oppressor of the enemy") in the following
stanzas are replaced by Arjuna. The eponym Bharata ("descended of
Bharata") that can apply to both, Dhritarashtra and Arjuna, is exclusively
used for Dhritarashtra (I,24). While Western usage does not define relationships
clearly, e.g. uncle, Sanskrit and also Galanos' Greek distinguish
them by special terms (uncles on father's or mother's side: I,26; Skr. pitamahan,
matulan, Greek θείους
προς πατρός, ... πρός μητρός"...(theious
pros patros,....pros metros). In I,27; Galanos simply states 
(ekeinos) "that one" for Kaunteyanh, "son of Kunti."
Radhakrishnan (op.cit., p.89) faithfully translates I,29; "My
limbs quail, my mouth goes dry, my body shakes and my hair stand on end..."
Galanos' Greek translation reads in English as: " My limbs shrink, my face
(  -
prosopon mou ) withers, my body trembles and shudders."
In I,30; the name
of Arjuna's special bow, Gandiva18, is omitted and simply
mentioned as 
τόξον (to toxon). Keshava ("having fine hair") and Govinda
("Cow-keeper"), in I,31 and 32, Madhusudana ("Slayer of the demon
Madhu") in I,35, Janardana ("Liberator of men") in the following
stanza and 39, and Madhava (as husband of Lakshmi) in I,37 are various eponyms
for Krishna, and therefore not ignored by Galanos. Trailokyarajas (I,35)
"the kingdom of the three worlds", a Vedic concept signifying the
earth, heaven, and the atmosphere (= antariksha) is interpreted by
Typaldos as denoting "the subterranean, the earth, and heaven." In
I,36; where Arjuna asks "What joy would we derive from having killed the
sons of Dhritarashtra? Typaldos changes Galanos' correct rendering (using χαρά, 
chara, agalliama = "delight, exultation") into
"What good  (agathon
) would come of it for us?" Also the translation of atatayinah
"having a stretched bow, i.e.
threatening, inimical", which Radhakrishna translates as
"malignant," is changed by Typaldos from Galanos' correct rendering
"though they are enemies" to "though they deserve to be
killed." In the following stanzas Arjuna enumerates the terrible
consequences which may befall a country when its men have been killed, even
"though their minds are overpowered by greed, [and they] see no fault in
killing one's family or quarreling with friends, why should we, with knowledge
of the sin, engage in these acts?"
Notes:
1.
Governor-General of India from 1773-1785; died 1818.
2. Typaldos
wrongly credits Fr(iedrich) Schlegel with the Latin translation of the Bh.gita,
which was published in 1823, (not in 1833, as stated on p.6 of his introductory
notes.)
3. There are
twenty bound volumes of Galanos manuscripts at National Library of Greece. The
official catalogue (ed. I. and A. Sakkelion, Athens 1892) lists them under the
numbers 1836-1855.
4.
"The holy books of the Indians called Vedas are as to their contents
divided into three parts. These are primarily concerned with praktike arete,
theoretike, and
athanasia...The Gita,
therefore constitutes a general view and
condensed form of the Vedas..." (p. vii).
5.
He published Due Episodii di Poemi Indiani, Italian versions of the Mahabharata story of
Nala and Damayanti, and the Ramayana episode "Death
of Yajnadatta,," mentioned in A. de Gubernatis' Cenni sopra
alcuni Indianisti viventi (Firenze, 1872) p.18, and in Materiaux
pour servir l' Histoire des Etudes Orientales en Italie,
(Paris, Florence, Rome, Turin, 1876). G. 's first book also
contains some information on D. Galanos and N. Kephala whose
"Descrizione della citta di Benares" (Livorno, 1826) is noted, p.19.
6.
Abbate (Rev) Gaspare Gorresio, (1808-1891) published the Ramayana
text based on Sanskrit manuscripts found in Bengal, 12 vols. of text and
Italian transl. (Paris, 1843 - 1870).
7.
edited by Baron de Sainte Croix, and transl. into German by J. Ith (Bern,
1779), it is a pia fraus (Winternitz, op.cit. I,12) by Robertus de
Nobilibus, a Christian missionary (+Madras, 1652). Voltaire received it from a
French official who had returned from Pondichéry and donated "le plus précieux
manuscript qui soit dans tout l' Orient" to the Royal Library in 1761. See
A.W. Schlegel, Indische Bibliothek
(Bonn, 1827; II, 55ff.)
8. Ein Beitrag
zur Begründung der Alterthumskunde (Heidelberg, 1808): Erstes Buch.
Von der sprache, Zweites Buch. Von der Philosophie, Drittes Buch. Histoirische
Ideen.
9.
(1801-1873) Pauthier was primarily a Sinologist whose work on China was
used by Chr. Lassen (ind. Alterthumsk). Best known are his Essais sur
la philosophie des Hindous, par H.T. Colebrooke, traduit de l' anglais et
augmentés de textes sanskrits et de notes nombreux, Paris, 1833, 1834 and Livres
sacrés de l' Orient, Paris
1840.
10. Typaldos also
refers to Eusebios (ca. 260-340), History of the Church. Book II, chapter
9 deals with Emperor Maximinus [Thrax] murdered by his troops in 235. He
rescinded his predecessors' decree to end the persecution of the Christians,
"published up and down the whole of Asia and in the adjoining provinces.
"(Eusebius, The History of the Church from Christ to Constantine, in transl. Penguin Classics, L138; Baltimore 1965; p.357). This
is the only reference to Asia; the Roman Empire did not Comprise Persia or
India.
11. Unfortunately
Typaldos entered many changes (in ink!) in the original manuscript, so that it
is now difficult to distinguish between the original Galanos notes and the
editor's additions. Apparently, this kind of correction was more economical than
to use separate sheets. The printer's task was certainly not easy.
12. The Bhagavadgita.
With an Introductory Essay, Sanskrit Text, English Translation and Notes.
(George Allen and Unwin Ltd: London, 1948) p.79.
13. A footnote
added by Typaldos explains that maharatas is used as an epithet for
heroes, as in the non-existent Greek word megalodiphros. But diphros
is a chariot-board on which only two can stand, the driver and the combatant. T.
also makes a reference to the Old Testament.
14. Although no
further mention is made in the Gita, (which as is known
constitutes a later interpolation within the framework of the epic Mahabharata)
of the curious nature of Draupadi's marriage to five brothers at the same time,
Galanos does not find it necessary or interesting enough to add a brief note
explaining this rare case of polyandry in a presumably Aryan epic.
Drupada, king of
Panchala allowed his "radiant and graceful" daughter, Draupadi, to
Select her own husband by means of a svayamvara when various royal
and princely suitors competed for her favours in a contest. The five Pandava
brothers, illegitimate, but somehow "divine" offspring themselves also
came. Their "father" Pandu ("the pale one" and perhaps
suffering from Leprosy) was unable to consort with his two wives, Kunti and
Madri, either because of disease or a curse passed upon him, and retired to the
Himalayan mountains. His faithful wives accompanied him, but various gods found
them in the wilderness and consorted with them: Arjuna, "the bright or
silvery" was Kunti's third and last son, by Indra, the god of the sky. All
five sons were of course considered portions of one deity and thus of one
distinct person to who a woman might be married. Pandu willingly acknowledged
the five sons as his own offspring, and they received the patronymic of Pandava.
When Pandu died "his" children were brought to Dhritarashtra, the
blind ruler of Hastinapur, who treated his nephews with great kindness and had
them educated with his own (one hundred) sons (and one daughter). But soon
rivalries arose between the cousins: the Kuru brothers tried to kill the
Pandavas by setting their house afire; they escaped and lived in the forest upon
alms, and disguised as Brahmans. When they heard about the svayamvara, they left the forest and journeyed to the place of contest, still disguised
as Brahmans. Naturally they were victorious over all opponents, including the
Kuru brothers, their cousins. The Pandavas threw off their disguise, and
Draupadi was won by Arjuna. When he returned home with his brothers, one of
their mothers, Kunti, directed them to share their acquired prize; apparently
she was not aware of its nature. Her command could not be ignored; it was
arranged that Draupadi should stay two days in the house of each of the five
brothers in succession. She bore them five sons. An ancient pre-Aryan feature,
polyandry, completely foreign and probably abhorrent to "Aryan" mores
-it is practiced even to-day in some Himalayan regions where it prevents the
endless re-parceling of scarce arable land - is depicted here as an
understandable harmless lapse of an ever so watchful mother and then skillfully
interwoven in the fabric of the great epic. Arjuna's somewhat unusual origin, on
the other hand, insures that no ordinary mortal is involved in this gigantic
struggle.
15. "When
Dhritarashtra, the blind king of the Kurus, decided to give his throne to
Yudhishthira, who is also known as Dharmaraja, the embodiment of virtue, in
preference to his own eldest son, Duryodhana, the latter by tricks and
treachery, secured the throne for himself and attempted to destroy Yudhishthira
and his four brothers. Krishna, the head of the Yadava, sought to bring about a
reconciliation between the cousins. When all attempts failed, a fratricidal
war...became inevitable." Radhakrishnan, op.cit. p.80
16. Formerly the
conch-shell in which a demon of the same name had lived and was slain, it became
Krishna's instrument the sound of which is aimed at the five classes of beings (pañcajanyaa), i.e. gods,
men, Gandharvas, Apsaras, serpents, and Manes. Also Arjuna's (for Skr. dhanamjayah
"victorious") devadatta ("god-given")
instrument appears in its Sanskrit form, as do the other instruments listed in
the following stanza: paundra = a mighty
"lotus-flowered" conch, anantavijaya "eternal
victory," sughosha Greek: "euphonos" = Sounding
well", and the manipushpaka (conch-shell) "decorated
with flowers." Most of the instruments mentioned in Sanskrit are masculine
nouns, Galanos uses the feminine gender for the Greek counterparts. In I,14; he
employs the archaic Greek dual for Krishna and Arjuna who "stood on their
[great] chariot, yoked to (four) white horses, and (both) blew their
(respective, sing.!) divine conch-shell." Also the Sanskrit text uses the
dual in this case.
17. The monkey on
the banner is of course the image of Hanuman, who, in the Ramayana
assisted Rama in his war against Ravana, the abductor of Rama's wife Sita.
Typaldos missed a splendid opportunity to enlarge on the great epic Ramayana.
He mentions it briefly in his "Prolegomena" to the Balabarata (1847,
p. xi). "Hanuman's complexion is yellow and glowing like molten gold. His
face is as red as the brightest ruby, while his enormous tail spreads out to an
interminable length." (Dowson, p.116).
18. It is Said to have originally belonged
to Soma, the moon, who gave it to Varuna, the Vedic sovereign of the waters, who
gave it to Agin, one of the chief deities of the Vedas and the god of fire (cp.
Lat. ignis) . Agni presented it to Arjuna.
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