Mahabharata – 181

by
Sankar Mukherjee
&
Dr Ramesh Chandra Mukhopadhyaya
    Aadivamsavatarana Parva

Pandu’s conquest of the world

And after thirty days, the Kuru king, set out from his capital for the conquest of the world. After saluting and bowing to Bhishma and the other elders of the Kuru race, and saying goodbye to Dhritarashtra and others of the familyand obtaining their blessings,Pandu set out on his grand military operations, accompanied by a large force of elephants, horses and cars.The citizens and brahamanas performed rituals for his success. And Pandu, accompanied by such a strong force marched against the kingdom of Maghadha.The king Daarbba  of Magadha was proud of his strength.He had offended numerous monarchs.And attacking him in his capital (Maghadha). Pandu slew him there, and took everything from his treasury and carried off countless vehicles and domestic animals.He then marched to Mithila and conquered the Videhas.Then Pandu led his army against Kasi,Sumbha,and Pundra, and by the strength and prowess of his arms spread the fame of the Kurus. And Pandu, that oppressor of foes! like a dazzling fire whose far-reaching flames were represented by his arrows and magnificient weapons, consumed all the kings that came in contact with him.The defeated kings were made the slaves of the Kurus. And all the kings of the world, thus crushed by him, regarded him as the one single hero on earth even as the celestials regard Indra in heaven.And the kings of earth with joined palms bowed to him and presented him with various kinds of gems and wealth,precious stones and pearls and corals and much gold and silver,and first-class kine and handsome horses and fine cars and elephants and asses and camels and buffaloes, and goats and sheep, and blankets and beautiful hides and cloths woven out of fur. And the king of Hastinapura accepting those gifts withdrew his army towards his capital.And the citizens and others at Hastinapur were filled with joy. Everyone began to say, Oh! the fame of the achievements of Santanu, and  the wise Bharata,which were about to die,has been revived by Pandu. They who robbed the Kurus of both territory and wealth have been defeated by Pandu-- --and made to pay tribute. And all the citizens with Bhishma at their head went out to receive the victorious king.They had not proceeded far when they saw the retinue of the king loaded with much wealth,and the carts of various conveyances loaded with all kinds of wealth. And there were elephants,horses,cars, kine, camels and other animals,as well as booties.The procession  was so long that they were not able to see its end. Then Pandu, seeing Bhishma,who was a father to him, worshipped his feet and saluted the citizens and others as each deserved. And Bhishma,too, embracing Pandu as his son who had returned victorious after having crushed many hostile kings.He wept with tears of joy.And Pandu, gave joy into the hearts of his people with a flourish of trumpets and conchs and kettle-drums.Pandu,then, advised by Dhritarashtra,offered the wealth he had acquired by the prowess of his arms to Bhishma, their grand-mother Satyavati and their mothers.And he sent a portion of his wealth to Vidura also. And the righteous Pandu satisfied his other relatives also with similar presents. And Ambalika in particular, fondled her son of exceptional prowess.She became as glad as the queen of heaven upon embracing Jayanta.And with the wealth acquired by that hero,Dhritarashtra performed five great sacrifices that were equal to a hundred great horse-sacrifices.There were offerings to hundreds and thousands Brahmanas.

The description of the conquest of foreign countries tell us that even in the days of Mahabharata the conquest of a country meant looting the wealth of the country.