SECTION LXVI
"Narada said, 'Dushmanta's son, Bharata, O Srinjaya, we hear, fell a prey
to death. While only a child (living) in the forest, he achieved feats
incapable of being achieved by others. Endued with great strength, he
speedily deprived the very lions, white as snow and armed with teeth and
claws, of all their prowess, and dragged them and bound them (at his
pleasure). He used to check tigers also, that were fiercer and more
ruthless (than lions), and bring them to subjection. Seizing other beasts
of prey possessed of great might, and even huge elephants, dyed with red
arsenic and spotted with other liquid minerals by their teeth and tusks,
he used to bring them to subjection, causing their mouths to become dry,
or obliging them to fly away. Possessed of great might, he used also to
drag the mightiest of buffaloes. And in consequence of his strength, he
checked proud lions by hundreds, and powerful Srimaras and horned
rhinoceroses and other animals. Binding them by their necks and crushing
them to an inch of their lives, he used to let them go. For those feats
of his the regenerate ascetics (with whom he lived) came to call him
Sarvadamana (the controller of all). His mother, at last, forbade him
from torturing animals in that way. Endued with great prowess he
performed a hundred Horse-sacrifices on the banks of the Yamuna, three
hundred such sacrifices on the banks of Saraswati, and four hundred on
the banks of the Ganga. Having performed these sacrifices, he once more
performed a thousand Horse-sacrifices and a hundred Rajasuyas, great
sacrifices, in which his gifts also to the Brahmanas were very profuse.
Other sacrifices, again, such as the Agnishtoma, the Atiratra, the Uktha
and the Viswajit, he performed together with thousands and thousands of
Vajapeyas, and completed without any impediment. The son of Sakuntala,
having performed all these, gratified the Brahmanas with presents of
wealth. Possessed of great fame, Bharata then gave ten thousand billions
of coins, made of the most pure gold, unto Kanwa (who had brought up his
mother Sakuntala as his own daughter). The gods with Indra at their head,
accompanied by the Brahmanas, coming to his sacrifice, set up his
sacrificial stake made entirely of gold, and measuring in width a hundred
Vyamas.[114] And imperial Bharata, of noble soul, that victor over all
foes, that monarch never conquered by any enemy, gave away unto the
Brahmanas beautiful horses and elephants and cars, decked with gold, and
beautiful gems of all kinds, and camels and goats and sheep, and
slaves--male and female--and wealth, and grains and milch cows with
calves, and villages and fields, and diverse kinds of robes, numbering by
millions and millions. When he died, O Srinjaya, who was superior to thee
in respect of the four cardinal virtues and who superior to thee, was,
therefore, much superior to your son, you shouldst not, saying, 'Oh,
Swaitya, Oh, Swaitya,' grieve for the latter who performed no sacrifice
and made no sacrificial present.'
--------------------END OF PARVA 7 : UPA-PARVA 66 ---------------------
