The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa Translated into English Prose: Adi Parva
Religion
The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa Translated into English Prose: Adi Parva
Epic literature, Sanskrit
performed many Rajasuyas and horse-sacrifices. And Suhotra brought under
his sway the whole earth surrounded by her belt of seas and full of
elephants, kine and horses, and all her wealth of gems and gold. And the
earth afflicted with the weight of numberless human beings and elephants,
horses, and cars, was, as it were, about to sink. And during the virtuous
reign of Suhotra the surface of the whole earth was dotted all over with
hundreds and thousands of sacrificial stakes. And the lord of the earth,
Suhotra, begat, upon his wife Aikshaki three sons, viz., Ajamidha, Sumidha,
and Purumidha. The eldest of them, Ajamidha, was the perpetuator of the
royal line. And he begat six sons,--Riksha was born of the womb of Dhumini,
Dushmanta and Parameshthin, of Nili, and Jahnu, Jala and Rupina were born
in that of Kesini. All the tribes of the Panchalas are descended from
Dushmanta and Parameshthin. And the Kushikas are the sons of Jahnu of
immeasurable prowess. And Riksha who was older than both Jala and Rupina
became king. And Riksha begat Samvarana, the perpetuator of the royal line.
And, O king, it hath been heard by us that while Samvarana, the son of
Riksha, was ruling the earth, there happened a great loss of people from
famine, pestilence, drought, and disease. And the Bharata princes were
beaten by the troops of enemies. And the Panchalas setting out to invade
the whole earth with their four kinds of troops soon brought the whole
earth under their sway. And with their ten Akshauhinis the king of the
Panchalas defeated the Bharata prince. Samvarana then with his wife and
ministers, sons and relatives, fled in fear, and took shelter in the
forest on the banks of the Sindhu extending to the foot of the mountains.
There the Bharatas lived for a full thousand years, within their fort. And
after they had lived there a thousand years, one day the illustrious Rishi
Vasishtha approached the exiled Bharatas, who, on going out, saluted the
Rishi and worshipped him by the offer of Arghya. And entertaining him with
reverence, they represented everything unto that illustrious Rishi. And
after he was seated on his seat, the king himself approached the Rishi and
addressed him, saying, "Be thou our priest, O illustrious one! We will
endeavour to regain our kingdom." And Vasishtha answered the Bharatas by
saying, "Om" (the sign of consent). It hath been heard by us that
Vasishtha then installed the Bharata prince in the sovereignty of all the
Kshatriyas on earth, making by virtue of his Mantras this descendant of
Puru the veritable horns of the wild bull or the tusks of the wild
elephants. And the king retook the capital that had been taken away from
him and once more made all monarchs pay tribute to him. The powerful
Samvarana, thus installed once more in the actual sovereignty of the whole
earth, performed many sacrifices at which the presents to the Brahmanas
were great.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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