Mahabharata – 132

by 

Sankar Mukherjee

&

Dr Ramesh Chandra Mukhopadhyaya
                                   Aadivamsavatarana Parva

Ashtaka said-- Oh king! You look like a young man. You are handsome and decked with a  garland. Your splendour is great! Where from do you come and where do you go? Whose messenger are you? Are you going down to the earth?

Yayati said-- Fallen from heaven due to the loss of all my religious merits, I am ill fated to enter the earth--hell. Indeed,I shall go there, after I have finished my discussion with you. As now the officials  of the Brahmaloka command me to hurry. And,Oh king! I have obtained a boon from Indra that though fall I must upon the earth, yet I should fall among the wise and the virtuous.You are all wise and virtuous. Therefore I am here.

Ashtaka said -- You are acquainted with everything. I tell you, Oh king! If there is any region for myself to enjoy in heaven or in the sky or in the earth I assure you that you will not fall upon earth.

 Yayati answered --- Oh king,there are as many regions for you to enjoy in heaven as there are cows and horses on earth with the other animals in the wilderness and on the hills that you must know.

Ashtaka said -- If there are places for me to enjoy as fruits of my religious merits in heaven,Oh king! I give them all to you. Therefore, though falling, you shalt not fall.Take all those  presently, wherever they be in heaven or in the skies or on earth. Let your sorrow cease.

Yayati answered --- Oh best of kings! A Veda -knowing Brahmana only can take  gift, but not one like ourselves. Who is a kshatriya, never accepts gift. And,Oh monarch!I myself have given away to Brahmanas every day as per scriptures as one should. But I never accepted anything in return. Oh you!The best of the kings, let no man who, is a Kshatriya and let not the wife of a kshatriya ever live in disgrace by accepting gifts. Now I desire to perform virtuous acts on earth. How shall I now accept a gift.

Pratardana  said --- 'Oh you of the handsomest form, I am Pratardana by name. I pray to you  if there are any worlds for me to enjoy as fruits of my religious merits,in heaven or in the skies they are yours.

Yayati replied -- Oh king! Numberless worlds, full of bliss, & glowing are there for you where woe can never enter. Be ready for yourself. If you live in each but for seven days, the rewards of your merits will not be exhausted.

Pratardana said -- I give these worlds to you. Whether they be in the skies or heaven. Presently take them. Let your woes cease.

Yayati answered --- Oh king! No king of equal energy should ever desire to receive as gift the religious merits of another king acquired by austerities. And no king who is suffering from calamity because of the fates should, if wise, act in a blameworthy way. A king keeping his eye fixed for ever on virtue should walk along the path of virtue. Knowing what the duties are, how can I act so meanly & accept your gifts. When other kshatriyas desirous of acquiring religious merits do not accept gifts, how can I accept gifts? Also I desire to act in virtuous way by practising charity upon earth.

 At the end of this speech, Yayati, was addressed by that best of the kings Vasuman in the following words.

Vasuman said -- I am Vasuman, the son of Ushadaswera. I would pray to you, Oh king! If there are any worlds for me to enjoy as fruits of my religious merits, in heaven or in the skies,you are the lord of those regions.

Yayati answered --- There are as many regions for you to enjoy in heaven as the number of places in the skies, the earth and the areas of the universe illumined by the Sun. They are yours. They are waiting for you.

Vasuman replied -- I give them to you. Let those regions that are for me be yours. Therefore, though falling, you shall not fall. But if  you hesitate to accept them as gift, then buy them for a straw?

Yayati answered   ---- Accepting gifts for a kshtriya is a sinful act. This I know from my early childhood. I do not remember having ever bought and sold anything unfairly. This has never been done by any other kshtriya. How shall I therefore do it? When I decided to spend my life on earth by practising charity, how can I accept gifts?

Vasuman replied --- If buying them, Oh king! Be regarded by you as improper, then take them from me as I give you. I will never go to those regions that are for me. Let them therefore be yours.

Sivi then addressed the king thus  --  I am,Sivi by name, the son of Usinara.I pray to you that if  there are in the skies or in heaven any world for me to enjoy?You are the lord of those areas I say.

Yayati replied ---  You have never, by speech or in mind, disregarded the honest and the virtuous. There are infinite & great eternal worlds for you to enjoy in heaven, all blazing like lightning. And they always resound with your fame.

Sivi then replied -- If you regard the purchase as improper, I give them to you. Take them all.I shall never take them back.

Yayati answered --- Oh king Sivi! You are possessed of the prowess of Indra. Your worlds are imperishable. But I do not desire to enjoy regions given to me by others. Therefore, I am unable to  accept your gift.Thank you very much.

 Ashtaka then said --  Oh king, each of us has expressed his desire to give you worlds that each of us has acquired by our religious merits. You are not ready to accept them. Now we collectively give the virtuous worlds belonging to us. Please accept them all on our behalf. And leaving them all for you, we shall descend into the earth-hell.

Yayati answered -- You are all truth-loving and wise. Give me that which I deserve. A pious man always looks for truth. I shall not be able to do what I have never done before by accepting your gift.

Ashtaka then said -- These are five golden chariots that you see? Whose are those? These are for those men who want to visit places that are eternal.

Yayati answered -- Those five golden chariots blazing as fire and displayed in glory, would indeed, carry you to the regions of bliss.

Ashtaka said  --- Oh king! ride  those chariots  and traverse the skies. We can wait. We shall follow you in time.

Yayati said -- We can now all go together. Indeed, all of us have conquered heaven. See the glorious path to heaven which becomes visible.

At the snake sacrifice Vaisampayana goes on telling the story of the Mahabharata addressing the king Janamejaya. Yayati fell from heaven among some sage kings on earth. The latter invoked five celestial chariots. Then all those excellent kings boarded on those chariots & set out for heaven for gaining admittance into it. They were very bright because of their penance. And when they went up inquest of heaven the skies were illuminated.

 Then Ashtaka said --- I  always thought that Indra was my special friend, and that I, of all others, should first get admittance into heaven. But how is it that Usinara's son, Sivi has already left us behind?

Yayati replied --- This Usinara's son  gave away all that he possessed  to the righteous. Therefore, he is the foremost among us. Besides, Sivi's  liberality, asceticism, truth, virtue, modesty, forgiveness, amiability, desire for performing good acts,have been so great that none can measure them!

Ashtaka again impelled by curiosity asked his maternal grandfather who resembled Indra ---- Oh king! I ask you, tell me truly. From where are you coming? Who you are, and whose son? I presume that no other Brahmana or Kshatriya who had done before what you did on earth?

Yayati answered-- I tell you truly, I am Yayati,the son of Nahusha and the father of Puru. I was lord of all the Earth. You  are my relatives. Therefore I tell you the secret truth.I am the maternal grandfather of you all. Having conquered the whole earth.I gave clothes to Brahmanas.I also gave a hundred handsome horses for sacrificial rites. For such acts of virtue, the gods became favourable to those that performed them. I also gave to the Brahmanas this whole earth with her horses and elephants and kine and gold. I gave away all kinds of wealth, along with millions of excellent milking cows. Both the earth and the skies exist owing to my truth and virtue. Fire yet burns in the heart of the men owing to my truth and virtue. I never  uttered a word which was false.It is for this that the wise adore Truth.

Oh Ashtaka!All that I have told you, are true.As I told the truth to Pratardana the son of Udaiashwa.I know it for certain that the gods and the rishis are blessed & adorable only because of Truth. This is my perception. He that will without malice duly narrate to the Brahmanas  our story will attain  the  heaven for himself with us.

 Thus the illustrious king Yayati of high achievements, rescued by his grandsons, ascended to heaven, leaving the earth and covering the three worlds with the fame of his deeds.