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126
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[MAY, 1898.
The third Adhydija in our MS. corresponds to the third Adhyaya of the Adiparban (Pau shyaparean) in the Nagart editions. The end of the chapter is given below in Extract E.
The fourth Adhyaya in our MS. comprises the 4th and 5th Adhyayas of the Nagart editions. The omission of Agni's speech at the end of the Adhyaya see Extract F can hardly be due to anything but the scribe's negligence.
Adhyaya, and the sixth Adhyaya The superfluous line
The fifth Adhyaya (Agnisápa) corresponds to the 6th (Agniprasada) to the 7th Adhyaya in the Nagarî editions. एवं स भगवाञ्छा लेभेऽग्निर्भुगुतः पुरा ।
making a sloka of three lines in the editions (I. 7, 28) is not found in our MS.
The seventh Adhyaya in our MS. corresponds to the 8th Adhyaya in the Nagari editions. The end is given in Extract G.
The eighth Adhyaya in our MS. comprises Adhyayas 9-12 of the Nagart editions, and finishes the Pauloma-Parvan. The end of this Parvan and the first Adhyaya of the AstikaParvan (I. 13, 1-6a in B. edition) are given in Extract H.
The second Adhyaya of the Astika-Parvan corresponds to I. 13, 66-15, 11 (end of the 15th Adhyaya) in the Nagari editions. The end of this Adhyaya is given below in Extract I.
If we compare I. 14, 76 and I. 15, 3a and remember that I. 14, 6 is a sloka of three lines in the edition, we can hardly doubt that the Grantha MS. which omits I. 14, 66 and 7 gives a more original text. It is certainly remarkable that we find so frequently slokas of three lines in the Northern recension, where the South-Indian MS. has only two lines. Yet we find sometimes slokas of three lines also in the latter, which proves that the authors of the Sonth Indian recension did not remove the superfluous lines intentionally.
Adhyayas 3-6 of the Astika-Parvan correspond to Adhyayas 16-19 in the Nagarî editions. The end of the 3rd Adhyaya is given in Extract J.
The seventh Adhyaya corresponds to Adhyaya 20 in the Nagari editions, and (as may be seen from Extract K below) differs considerably from the Northern recension.
The eighth Adhyaya corresponds to Adhyaya 21 of the Northern recension, concluding with the last verse of Adhyaya 22, while the rest of this Adhyaya (which is mainly a repetition of Adhyaya 21) does not exist in our MS. The end of the eighth Adhyaya will be found in Extract L.
These two Adhyayas (7 and 8) of the Astika-Parvan are of considerable importance. They relate the story of Kadrû and Vinatâ who wager about the colour of the horse Uchchaiḥśravas, a story the roots of which reach down into the depth of ancient mythology, and which has an important bearing on the relation between the Vedic and the epic literature. That there is some confusion in the text of this story as found in the Nagarî editions, has been pointed out long ago,31
A brief summary of the contents of chapters 20-22 will shew at once the unsatisfactory state of the text in the Northern recension.
Adhyaya 20: Seeing the horse Uchchaibśravas, Kadrû and Vinatâ wager about the colour of the horse's tail. Kadrú orders her thousand sons, the Snakes, to transform themselves into black hair and cover the horse's tail so that it might appear black. The snakes refuse to do her bidding. She curses them to be burnt at Janamejaya's sacrifice. The Grandfather' (Brahman) heard this cruel curse, but seeing how the snakes had multiplied exceedingly, and being anxious for the welfare of 'creatures, he together with all the gods approved of the carse uttered by Kadrû. After some general reflections on the dangerousness of snakes, and the
31 See Holtzmann, Das Mahabharata, I. p. 17 sq.
