Mahābhārata

M. N. Dutt: You best of beings, I shall now declare to you accurately what (the quality of) Darkness is. You highly blessed ones, do you understand what those qualities are that belong to Darkness.

M. N. Dutt: Injuring (others), beauty, toil, pleasure and pain, cold and heat, lordship (or power), war, peace, argument, dissatisfaction, endurance, power, valour, pride, anger, exertion, quarrel (or collision), jealousy, desire, malice, battle, the sense of mineness, protection (of others), destruction fetters and affliction, buying and selling, lopping off, cutting, piercing, and cutting off the coat of mail that another has worn, fierceness, cruelty, vilifying, pointing out the faults of others, thoughts entirely devoted to worldly affairs, anxiety, animosity, vilification of others, false speech, false or vain gifts, hesitancy and doubt, boastfulness of speech dispraise and praise, laudation, prowess, defiance, attendance, obedience, servicc or ministrations, harbouring of thirst or desire, cleverness or dexterity of conduct, policy, carelessness, contumely, possessions, and various decorations which prevail in the world among men, women, animals, inanimate things, bouses, gricf, incredulousness, Vows and regulations, actions with expectation (of good results) various acts of public charity, the rites of Svaha salutations, rites of Svadha and Vashat, officiating at the sacrifices of others, imparting of instruction, performance of sacrifices, study, making of gifts, acceptance of giſts, riles of expiation, auspicious acts, the wish to have this and that, affection caused by the merits of the object for which or whom it is felt, treachery deception, disrespect and respect, theft, killing, desire of concealment, vexation, wakefulness, ostentation, pride, attachment, devotion, contentment, exultation, gambling, indulgence in scandal, all relations arising out of women, attachment to dancing, instrumental music, and songs, all these qualities, you learned Brahmanas, have been said to belong to Rajas or Darkness.

Corresponding verse not found in M. N. Dutt's version.

M. N. Dutt: Injuring (others), beauty, toil, pleasure and pain, cold and heat, lordship (or power), war, peace, argument, dissatisfaction, endurance, power, valour, pride, anger, exertion, quarrel (or collision), jealousy, desire, malice, battle, the sense of mineness, protection (of others), destruction fetters and affliction, buying and selling, lopping off, cutting, piercing, and cutting off the coat of mail that another has worn, fierceness, cruelty, vilifying, pointing out the faults of others, thoughts entirely devoted to worldly affairs, anxiety, animosity, vilification of others, false speech, false or vain gifts, hesitancy and doubt, boastfulness of speech dispraise and praise, laudation, prowess, defiance, attendance, obedience, servicc or ministrations, harbouring of thirst or desire, cleverness or dexterity of conduct, policy, carelessness, contumely, possessions, and various decorations which prevail in the world among men, women, animals, inanimate things, bouses, gricf, incredulousness, Vows and regulations, actions with expectation (of good results) various acts of public charity, the rites of Svaha salutations, rites of Svadha and Vashat, officiating at the sacrifices of others, imparting of instruction, performance of sacrifices, study, making of gifts, acceptance of giſts, riles of expiation, auspicious acts, the wish to have this and that, affection caused by the merits of the object for which or whom it is felt, treachery deception, disrespect and respect, theft, killing, desire of concealment, vexation, wakefulness, ostentation, pride, attachment, devotion, contentment, exultation, gambling, indulgence in scandal, all relations arising out of women, attachment to dancing, instrumental music, and songs, all these qualities, you learned Brahmanas, have been said to belong to Rajas or Darkness.

M. N. Dutt: These men on Earth who meditate on the past, present, and the future, who are devoted to the threefold objects of life, viz., Religion, Profit, and Pleasure, who, acting from the impulse of desire, exult on acquiring riches in respect of every desire, are said to be covered by Darkness. These men have downward courses.

M. N. Dutt: Repeatedly reborn in this world, they addict theinselves to pleasure. They covet what belongs to this world as also all those fruits of the world to come. They make gifts, accept gifts, offer oblations to the departed manes, and pour libations on the sacrificial fire.

M. N. Dutt: The qualities of Darkness have (thus) been declared to you in their manifold aspects. The course of conduct also to which it leads has been properly described to you. The man who always understands these qualities, succeeds in always liberating himself from all of them which belong to Darkness.