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19. pp. 104-105: Mbb. 5. 152. 24 reads narāṇām pahcapañcasad eşā pattir vidhi yate / senā mukham ca tisras tā gulma ity abhisamjñitaḥ. Falk takes this to mean 250 men make a patti and three pattis a senä mukha or a gulma. He obviously follows van Buitenen's translation (Vol. 3, p. 469). This interpretation (pañcapañicāśat=250) is theoretically possible but it should not be adopted in preference to the conventional one (55) unless the context very clearly demands it. For, theoreticaly pañcapañcāśat can mean even 45 ( 50 less by 5 ) or 10 ( 50 divided by 5)! ( This additional information was given to mo by Pandit Vamanshastri Bhagvat). But no one normally adopts these thoretically possible meanings. The stanza has been already correctly understood by BR. It means 55 men make a patti and a senāmukha; three pattis are called gulma. In Mbh. 1. 2. 15 we find a different computation. Here patti is looked upon not as identical with senāmukha, but forms a part of it (3 pattis = senāmukha).
20. pp. 108-109: Falk translates yo aksesu tanüvast (AV 7. 114. 1 ) as who has the body of the gambler) under his control' (der den Leib (des Spielers ) in seiner Gewalt hat). Falk does not translate the word aks eşu. The passage seems to mean who among the dice controls (their bodies' i: e., the ugrá and the babhrú, to whom nåmas is made, controls the pieces of the dice. This may be the senänih, or the rájā of the dice referred to in RV 10. 34.12. Falk's akșeșu to be read as akseșu ).
21. p. 112: In the stanza Mbh. 2. 51.3 Falk takes the word ästara to mean a piece of cloth used in the game (Spieltuch ) which in his opinion was used to cover the ground of the adhidevana and on which the dice were thrown. But since the player's astara is equated with the chariot (ratham) of the warrior, it must refer to something spread on the place where the player himself sits while throwing the dice on the adhidevana. (Falk's vidhi to be corrected to viddhi ).
22. p. 127 : Falk takes the expression ví cinoti occurring in the Vedic passages to mean 'separate into fours the dice held by the player in his fist (gldha). (vi-cinoti bezeichnet das Abtrennen von Viereineiten (sic) vom gláha). This cannot be the case. Making units of four dice each of those held in the hand requires no skill. The skill of the svaghnin lies in picking up in his grip exactly that number of dice which, when divided by four, will leave no remainder. Hence vi-cinoti must refer to this act of separating the exact number of dice by the player with his glaha.
23. pp. 128-129 : It would have been possible to accept Falk's suggestion to read akşan iva svaghni ni minoti ta ní (AV 4, 16.5) in place of
Madhu Vidyā/691
coti ta mi (AV 4. 16. 5in e
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