Q: Black Draupadi?

[Ramkumar]

Dear Indologists:

Dr. John Smith wrote:

> MBh 1.155.41-2, 50 in van Buitenen's translation:
> 
>     Thereupon a young maiden arose from the center of the altar, the
>     well-favored and beautiful Daughter of the Paa~ncaalas,
>     heart-fetching, with a waist shaped like an altar. She was dark
>     ["syaamaa], with eyes like lotus petals, her hair glossy black and
>     curling...Her they called K.r.s.naa, for she was dark of complexion
>     [k.r.s.nety evaabruvan k.r.s.naa.m k.r.s.naabhuut saa hi var.nata.h].

In Swami Chidbhavananda's commentary of the Bhagavad Gita(6.34), the
word Krishna is explained as "a person who has control over the
mind".The first part of the name "Krish" means "to plough and process",
the latter part "Na" means "the master of". So Krishna means "the master
of the act of ploughing and processing the mind" or in short, someone
who has control over the mind. Swami Chidbhavananda has explained this
in Chapter VI of the Bhagavad Gita, in the context of controlling the
mind in meditation.

-- 
Sowmya
The Bhagavad Gita homepage
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/5294/
email: soms at geocities.com or ramkumar at batelco.com.bh