STARTING THE INQUIRY INTO THE BRAHMAN:

Literally, the words mean, "Now the desire to know the Brahman". Similarly, the opening words of the Purvamimamsa- sutra mean, "Now the desire to know dharma. ".

GITA:

Sarvadharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja

Aham tva sarvapapebhyo moksayisyami ma sucah.

- Bhagavadgita, 18. 66

CHANCE :

What the Paramaguru means here is that those who have not exhausted their karma too must be given the opportunity of living it out by being born again in this world.

SEVEN YEARS OLD:

Reckoned as nearly eight years from the time of conception.

CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE:

When the Paramaguru said this the Congress was in power not only at the Centre but in most of the States. And, it will be remembered, civil disobedience was the weopon wielded by the Congress - under the leadership of Gandhiji - in the battle for freedom.

CHILD MARRIAGE:

Most of the men mentioned here were lawyers of Madras. The Rt Hon'ble Srinivasa Sastri headed the Servants of India Society after the death of Gopal Krsna Gokhale and was an educationist and liberal politician, apart from being a widely reputed English orator.

MARRIAGE MANTRAS

Somah prathamo vivide

Gandharvo vivida uttarah

Trtiyo Agnistepatih

Turiyastemanusyajah.

Somo dadad gandharvaya

Gandharvo dadadagna; ye

Rayincapputramscadad

Agnirmahyamatho imam

- Rigveda, 10. 85, 40. 41.

DAIVA:

Yajnasya rtvije daivah

- Yajnavalkya Smrti, 1. 59

GROOM:

Adaryarsastu godvayam

- Ibid, 1. 59

HIM :

Asuro dravinadanat

- Ibid 1. 61

SAKUNTALA AND DUSYANTA:

Kalidasa's world-famous dramatic work, Abhijnana-Sakuntalam, is based on their story.

QUOTED ABOVE :

See note 2 appended to previous chapter.

NAMAKARANA AND CAULA :

These rites have already been explained.

MARRIAGE RITE :

UdirsvatoVisvavaso namasedamahe tva /Anyamiccha prapharvyam sanjayam patya srja/Udisrvato pativati hyesa Visvavasunnamasa girbhiride /Anyamichha pitrsadam vyaktam/sa te bhago janusa tasya vidhi.

COME OF AGE :

Matacihatesu kurusvatikya saha jayayosastirha Cakrayana ibhya-grame pradranaka uvasa.

- Chandogya Upanisad, 1. 10. 1

SAMKARO NARAKAY'AIVA:

Adharmabhibhavat Krsna pradusyanti kula-striyah

Strisu dustasu Varsneya jayete varnasamkarah

Samkaro narakay'aiva kulaghnanam kulasya ca

Ptanti pitaro hyesam luptapind'o'daka-kriyah

- Bhagavadgita, 1. 41 & 42

SWALLOWED A CROWBAR:

This is a literal translation of the very expressive Tamil idiom

GO TO WORK:

This figure presumably applies to Tamil Brahmins: the number of Brahmin women working today must be far more.

SARDA ACT:

The Sarda Act has been superseded by the new marriage laws enacted by the government of free India. Dowry has been made illegal but the evil persists in a more vicious form than in the past. The passages here dealing with dowry, marriage expenses and stridharma are both moving and eloquent and are as relevent today as they were when the Paramaguru first spoke on the subject.

LET ME EXPLAIN:

The Paramaguru is speaking of the duties of men according to the sastras and not obviously referring to the present condition.

GITA :

Yad tad agre visamiva pariname 'mrtopamam

Tat sukham sattvikam proktam Atma -buddhi-prasadajam

Visayendriya-samyogad yat tad agre'mrtopamam

Pariname visamiva tat sukham rajasam smrtam

- Bhagavadgita, 18. 37 & 38

AMRTA COMING UP LATER:

The reference here is to the "Churning of the Ocean".

WORKING LIKE MEN:

The term the Paramaguru uses here is "udyoga-purusis ": it is his own coinage and conveys sharply how unhappy he was about women going out to work. (Incidentally, the word "udyoga" here is used in the special sense in which it is popularly understood in the South, that is as a job. )

IN THE NORTH TOO:

This seems no longer true today.

COFFEE :

The Paramaguru refers here to the near compulsion in the South of entertaining guests with coffee.

VAISVADEVAM:

That is manusyayajna and bhutayajna -dealt with in Chapter 5, Part Nineteen.