12:1b The "Sataghn, i. e. centicide", or slayer of a hundred, is generally supposed to be a sort of fire-arms, or the ancient Indian rocket; but it is also described as a stone set round with iron spikes.
12:2b The Ngas (serpents) are demigods with a human face and serpent body. They inhabit Ptla or the regions under the earth. Bhogavat is the name of their capital city. Serpents are still worshipped in India. See Fergusson'a Tree and Serpent Worship.
13:1 The fourth and lowest pure caste whose duty was to serve the three first classes.
13:2 By forbidden marriages between persons of different castes.
13:3 Vhl or Vhlika is Bactriana; its name is preserved in the modern Balkh.
13:4 The Sanskrit word Sindhu is in the singular the name of the river Indus, in the plural of the people and territories on its banks. The name appears as "Hidhu" in the cuneiform inscription of Darius son of Hystaspes, in which the nations tributary to that king are enumerated.
The Hebrew form is "Hodda" (Esther, 1. I.) In Zend it appears as "Hendu" in a somewhat wider sense. With the Persians later the signification of "Hind" seems to have co-extended with their increasing acquaintance with the country. The weak Ionic dialect omitted the Persian "h", and we find in Hecatus and Herodotus "Indos" and "hae Indikae". In this form the Romans received the names and transmitted them to us. The Arabian geographers in their ignorance that Hind and Sind are two forms of the same word have made of them two brothers and traced their decent from Noah. See Lassen's Indische Alterthumskunde Vol. I. pp. 2, 3.
13:5 The situation of Vanyu is not exactly determined: it seems to have lain to the north-west of India.
13:6 Kmboja was probably still further to the north-west. Lassen thinks that the p. 14 name is etymologically connected with "Cambyses" which in the cuneiform inscription of Behistun is written Ka(m)bujia.