help on Mahabharata passage

[Dominik Wujastyk]

Status: RO

I haven't got immediate access to the crit. ed. of the Mbh
(Julie and I saved money and bought the bare text edition :-( )
But my best guess is that vB is translating a variant reading,
not the main text as printed by Sukthankar.  There's no sensible
way I can see that gataya.h can mean shelter.  The phrase
seems to mean "wherever I go, may my ways (f. pl)  be the good (m. pl.);
thus I was telling the truth" or something like that.  If there is
a v.l. of "sara.na.h for gataya.h we would get nearer.  But I don't
think (pace Harry) that santa.h can fairly be translated "the strict".
 
I'll try to get along to SOAS later this week, unless someone else
solves this first.
 
Incidentally, at breakfast this morning I mentioned this puzzle
at the table.  Julie knew all about Amba and the beastly Salva
(of course); but what surprised me was my 6-year old daughter,
who volunteered, "Oh yes, daddy, isn't she the one who changes
into someone else, and kills Bhisma?"  I was flabbergasted.  The
explanation is the Mahabharata comics that we bought in India
last spring.  I should read them myself!
 
Dominik