Gaudavaho

Author(s): Vakpatiraj, Narhari Govind Suru, P L Vaidya, A N Upadhye, H C Bhayani
Publisher: Prakrit Text Society Ahmedabad

Page 438

Notes
141
30. The crescent moon is even now held fast on His knotted, matted hair by Siva, because, the Poet imagines, siva does not want the moon to throw himself into the fire-flames of His third eye, out of his love and friendship for Cupid. Cf. FEHT: FTAFETTI rituara gfagfifa 1 Com.
31. The forehead of Siva is covered by the crescent moon on His head. The Poet imagines that the moon himself constiutes His forehead, which takes the guise of the crescent moon on His head.
32. When Cupid fully stretched his flowery bow, the thick mass of pollen, flung out from the flowers, made the bow ruddy. The Poet imagines this bow to be the third eye of Siva which, as it were, rushed out to swallow Cupid.
33. The moon, held in the crown of His head, illumines the whole area round-about and as a result even the shadow in His standing posture gets diminished and dwarfed.
34. The great Snake Vāsuki was used by God Siva to tie His matted hair in a knot at the time of the ocean-churning. Whenever the churning was stopped for rest, the snake-rope became loose and had, therefore, to be tied up again, especially because the chest of the Snake had become worn out (
fa) on account of its friction with the mountain Mandara, used as the churning rod.
35. When Yudhisthira lost his kingdom in gambling and the five brothers went into exile for thirteen years, Arjuna proceeded on a pilgrimage to the Himalayas to propitiate the gods and to obtain from them celestial weapons for use in the contemplated war against the Kauravas. There he fought with Siva, who appeared in the guise of a Kirāta or mountaineer; but Arjuna, having found out the true character of his adversary, worshipped him and then Siva gave him the Pāśupata, one of his most powerful weapons.
36. The God of Death, Yama, is represented in mythology as of green clour and clothed in red. He rides upon a buffalo and is armed with a ponderous mace and a noose to secure his victims. The Poet imagines that as soon as Siva swallowed the deadly poison, he was marked out by Yama as his victim and, therefore, he cast his noose round His throat; but realising that