SECTION LXVIII
"Narada said, 'Even the great ascetic Rama, the hero worshipped by all
heroes, that son of Jamadagni, of great fame, will die, without being
contented (with the period of his life). Rooting out all evils from the
earth, he caused the primeval Yuga to set in. Having obtained unrivalled
prosperity, no fault could be seen in him.[120] His father having been
slain and his calf having been stolen by the Kshatriyas, he without any
boast, slew Kartavirya who had never been vanquished before by foes. With
his bow he slew four and sixty times ten thousand Kshatriyas already
within the jaws of death. In that slaughter were included fourteen
thousand Brahmana-hating Kshatriyas of the Dantakura country, all of whom
he slew. Of the Haihayas, he slew a thousand with his short club, a
thousand with his sword, and a thousand by hanging.[121] Heroic warriors,
with their cars, steeds, and elephants, lay dead on the field, slain by
the wise son of Jamadagni, enraged at the slaughter of his father. And
Rama, on that occasion, slew ten thousand Kshatriyas with his axe. He
could not quietly bear the furious speeches uttered by those (foes of
his). And when many foremost of Brahmans uttered exclamations, mentioning
the name of Rama of Bhrigu's race,[122] then the valiant son of
Jamadagni, proceeding against the Kashmiras, the Daradas, the Kuntis, the
Kshudrakas, the Malavas, the Angas, the Vangas, the Kalingas, the
Videhas, the Tamraliptakas, the Rakshovahas, the Vitahotras, the
Trigartas, the Martikavatas, counting by thousand, slew them all by means
of his whetted shafts. Proceeding from province to province, fie thus
slew thousands of crores of Kshatriyas. Creating a deluge of blood and
filling many lakes also with blood as red as Indrajopakas or the wild
fruit called Vandujiva, and bringing all the eighteen islands (of which
the earth is composed) under his subjection, that son of Bhrigu's race
performed a hundred sacrifices of great merit, all of which he completed
and in all of which the presents he made unto the Brahmanas were profuse.
The sacrificial altar, eighteen nalas high made entirely of gold, and
constructed according to the ordinance, full of diverse kinds of jewels
and gems, and decked with hundreds of standards, and this earth abounding
in domestic and wild animals, were accepted by Kasyapa as sacrificial
present made unto him by Rama, the son of Jamadagni. And Rama also gave
him many thousand prodigious elephants, all adorned with gold. Indeed,
freeing the earth from all robbers, and making her teem with honest and
graceful inhabitants, Rama gave her away to Kasyapa at his great
Horse-sacrifice. Having divested the earth of Kshatriyas for one and
twenty times, and having performed hundreds of sacrifices, the puissant
hero gave away the earth to the Brahmanas. And it was Marichi (Kasyapa)
who accepted from him the earth with her seven islands. Then Kasyapa said
unto Rama, 'Go out of the earth, at my command.' At the word of Kasyapa,
the foremost of warriors, desirous of obeying the Brahmana's behest,
caused by his arrows the very ocean to stand aside, and repairing to that
best of mountains called Mahendra, continued to live there. Even that
enhancer of the fame of the Bhrigus, possessed of such numberless
virtues, that famous son of Jamadagni, of great splendour, will die.
Superior to your son, (even he will die). Do not, therefore, grieve for
thy son who performed no sacrifice and made no sacrificial present. All
these, superior to you as regards the four cardinal virtues and as
regards also a hundred other merits, all these foremost of men, have
died, O Srinjaya, and they that are like them will also die.'"
--------------------END OF PARVA 7 : UPA-PARVA 68 ---------------------
