________________
Notes
139
the middle finger corresponding with his mouth-tip, while the remaining four fingers, two on each side of the middle finger, correspond with the four feet of the Tortoise.
18. Visņu assumed the deceitful maidenly form of Mohini to snatch away the nectar-pitcher from the hands of the demons. The thin line of hair on Her' stomach is imagined to be a line of bees flying in search of the lotus hidden inside Her navel.
19. It was necessary for Visnu in His young female form to readjust His bodily features by the redistribuition of worlds inside and, therefore, some of them were pushed up to form the breasts, while some others receded downward, to be shaped as Her hips and buttocks, leaving the stomach very thin (ah).
20. The garland of wood-flowers which Visnu in his incarnation of Krişna wears, attracts the bees by its fragrance. The Poet imagines the garland as a hedge (95-afa) enclosing His harem, the residence of Laksmi, where the bees serving as watchmen (FTTHCS), surround (9f73117) the whole place.
21. The face of Krsna is imagined to be a lotus which in the case of Visnu is supposed to emanate from His navel. In his incarnation as Krsna this passage through the navel is stopped and hence this lotus now appears in the form of His (Krspa's ) face.
22. PEUT RI - May take away grief. (FIFOT – pro fafhai Harga - Com.)
23. “Mythologically Rähu is a Daitya, the son of fagfafa and सिंहिका and therefore called by his metronymic संहिकेय. He had four arms and his lower part ended in a tail. He was a great mischief-maker and when the gods had produced the Amrta by churning the ocean, he assumed a disguise and insinuating himself amongst them, drank some of it. The sun and the moon detected him and informed Vişnu who cut off his head and two of his arms; but, as he had secured immortality, his body was placed in the stellar sphere. Rāhu wreaks his vengeance on the sun and the moon, by occasionally swallowing them, thus causing eclipses." Against this mythological background, the Poet imagines that Rāhu's grief, for want of his head, remains unrelieved and unexpressed and revolves round the top of his (runk in baseless, slight sighs.
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org