10. The Offspring of Vivasvat Āditya Continued
1 Vaishampāyana said:
True to his upbringing, Satyavrata looked after Vishvāmitra’s wife with dedication and compassion, in accordance with his vow. 2 He would kill the deer, boar, and buffaloes that roamed in the woods, and hang the meat up near Vishvāmitra’s ashram. 3 He maintained his private vow, and he underwent a twelve-year preparation period in accordance with his father’s command.
After King Trayyāruna had retired to the forest, 4 because of his responsibilities as teacher and ritual priest the sage Vasishtha looked after Ayodhyā, and the kingdom, and the palace as well. 5 But either because of his youth, or because of the future consequence, Satyavrata always bore an overweening grudge against Vasishtha. He said to himself: 6 There must be a reason why the sage Vasishtha didn’t stop my father banishing his beloved son from the realm. 7 The marriage ceremony would have been completed at the seventh step, and that’s why Satyavrata carried her away before the seventh step.*8 But even though Vasishtha knew it was the right thing to do, he didn’t defend me.
In this way, Satyavrata nursed a fury against Vasishtha in his mind, Bhārata. 9 But it was because of his estimate of Satyavrata’s character that Lord Vasishtha acted as he did on that occasion. Satyavrata didn’t know that in private, Vasishtha said: 10 Because of the displeasure that this man caused his father, the Punisher of Pāka has stopped raining for twelve years. 11 But if he can endure the most onerous preparation period on earth, then the restoration of the lineage can surely be achieved, my boy.†
12 So although Lord Vasishtha hadn’t called Satyavrata back when his father exiled him, the sage intended to install his son as king.
13 Now then. While the mighty prince was enduring that twelve-year preparation period, one time, when he couldn’t find any meat, he spotted noble Vasishtha’s milking cow, who would yield everything one might desire. 14 The prince was afflicted by hunger and prey to the ten vices,‡ Janamejaya, and sure enough, because of his anger, delusion, and fatigue, he killed her, 15 and he fed himself and Vishvāmitra’s sons with the meat. And when Vasishtha heard about that, he lost his temper with him.
16 Vasishtha said:
You brute! Even though your transgression was a terrible one, I would have pardoned it if you hadn’t gone on to commit these two further transgressions. 17 You’ve displeased your father, and now you’ve killed your guru’s milking cow and eaten unconsecrated meat,* so your offence is threefold.
18 Thus the great ascetic noted his three transgressions, and indeed he called him Trishanku Three-Transgressions. And that’s why he’s known as Trishanku.
19 While Trishanku was still supporting his wife, Vishvāmitra returned. The sage was delighted with him and offered him a wish, and when he was rewarded with a wish, the prince chose to have Vishvāmitra as his guru. 20 And as the terrible twelve-year drought came to an end, the sage Vishvāmitra Kaushika installed Trishanku as king and became his ritual priest, while Vasishtha and the deities looked on helplessly.
21 His wife was called Satyarathā. She was of Kaikaya stock, and she gave birth to a perfect boy: Harishchandra. 22 That’s right, King Harishchandra is said to be Trishanku’s son.† He performed the rājasūya rite, and was ranked as a universal sovereign. 23 Harishchandra’s son was known by the name of Rohita, Rohita’s son was Vrika the Wolf, and Vrika the Wolf sired Bāhu. 24 The Hehayas and Tālajanghas banished that king, my boy, for although it was the age of righteousness, he was none too righteous.
25 Bāhu’s son was Sagara. After reaching Aurva’s ashram, he was indeed born with poison (sa-gara). The Bhārgava protected him. 26 King Sagara obtained a fire weapon from the Bhārgava, killed the Tālajanghas and Hehayas, and won back the realm. 27 He was resolute and knew his duty, best of the Kurus, and he rescinded the religious rights of the Shaka, Pahlava, and Pārada kshatriyas.
28–29 Janamejaya said:
How was it that the resolute Sagara was born with poison? And why did the resolute king, in a fury, rescind the religion that was customary in the families of those mighty kshatriyas, the Shakas and so on? Tell me all this in detail, great ascetic.
30 Vaishampāyana said:
Bāhu had his vices, my boy, and as I said, his kingdom was seized by the Hehayas and the Tālajanghas, your majesty, along with the Shakas. 31 These five peoples advanced on behalf of the Hehayas as well: the barbarian Yavanas, the Pāradas, the Kāmbojas, the Pahlavas, and the Khashas. 32 So when King Bāhu’s kingdom was seized he of course went off into the forest, and his wife followed him. And in the forest, the unhappy man breathed his last.
33 His wife was a descendant of Yadu, and she was pregnant. She followed him secretly. But before that, she’d been given poison by her co-wife. 34 She made up her husband’s funeral pyre in the woods and climbed onto it, but out of compassion Aurva Bhārgava stopped her, my boy. 35 And at his ashram she gave birth to the child with the poison, and the strong-armed prince, who hadn’t been miscarried, was named Sagara.
36 Aurva performed the rites for the noble child—his birth ceremony, and so on—and instructed him in the Vedas and Shāstras, and then he gave him the momentous fire-weapon, which even the immortals find it hard to withstand. 37 Thanks to Aurva, that weapon’s power made Sagara powerful in battle, and he soon destroyed the Hehayas like Rudra destroying cattle in fury, and became famous across the worlds as the finest of the famous. 38 Then the king decided to wipe out the Shakas, Yavanas, Kāmbojas, Pāradas, and Pahlavas, 39 but as Sagara the great champion was picking them off, they went to wise Vasishtha for protection and threw themselves on his mercy. 40 And when he saw them, glorious Vasishtha brokered a deal that kept Sagara at bay and put them out of danger.
41 Sagara lived up to his own promise and his guru’s command, but he did suppress their religious rights and change the way they looked. 42 Before he set them free, he half-shaved the heads of the Shakas and fully shaved the heads of the Yavanas and Kāmbojas, 43 and he made the Pāradas wear their hair long and the Pahlavas wear beards. And the great king prohibited any of them from studying the Veda or making the call of vashat. 44 The Shakas, Yavanas, Kāmbojas, and Pāradas, your majesty, and also the Kolisarpas, Māhishakas, Darvas, Cholas, and Keralans— 45 with Vasishtha’s permission, my boy, the great Sagara repudiated the religious rights of all these kshatriyas, your majesty. 46 That king conquered by means of religion, and after he’d conquered the jewel-bearing earth he was consecrated for the horse sacrifice and released the horse to roam.*
47 While he was allowing his horse to roam, on the shore of the south-eastern sea it was seized and taken underground. So the king had his sons dig the place up. 48 Then, while they were digging up the great restless ocean, they came across the god and patriarch Hari Krishna Vishnu, the primordial cosmic person. He was sleeping there in the form of Kapila, 49 and as he woke up, your majesty, they were all burned by the fiery energy that came out of his eyes. But four remained: 50 Barhaketu, Suketu, King Bārhadratha, and the valiant Panchajana. And those kings continued Sagara’s dynasty.
51 Glorious Lord Hari Nārāyana granted wishes to Sagara: permanence for Ikshvāku’s lineage, and lasting fame for himself, and the sea as his son, and a permanent place in heaven. 52 The sea gave the king a proper reception and sang his praises, and by doing so he became Sagara’s son the ocean (sāgara). 53 After reclaiming his sacrificial horse from the ocean, the king went on to be incredibly famous and to perform a hundred horse sacrifices, and we’ve heard that he had sixty thousand sons.
54 Janamejaya said:
How—and by what dispensation—were Sagara’s sixty thousand brave, bold, and mighty sons born, brahmin?*
55 Vaishampāyana said:
Sagara had two wives. Both of them burned away their flaws by means of austerities, and Aurva granted them a wish. Listen to what it was, your majesty. 56 One of them had to have sixty thousand bold sons, and one of them had to freely choose to have a single son who would carry the lineage. 57 So
one of them—the greedy one—chose the many brave sons, and one of them chose the single son who would carry the lineage. And the sage approved.
58 King Panchajana, as he was called, became immensely powerful, and the story goes that the other wife gave birth to a bottle-gourd full of seeds. 59 There were sixty thousand embryos in there, as small as sesame seeds, and in due course they developed and grew nicely. 60 So they put the embryos into pots full of ghee, and Sagara appointed the same number of nurses to look after them, your majesty, one each. 61 And to Sagara’s delight, ten months later, when the time was right, those boys stood to attention, one by one. 62 And that’s how the king’s sixty thousand sons were born, your majesty. They were born from the seeds inside a bottle-gourd.
63 Out of the august sons who’d been engulfed by Nārāyana’s fiery energy, the one son called Panchajana became king. 64 Panchajana had a valiant son called Amshumat, and his son was Dilīpa, who was known as Khatvānga the Skull-Topped Pole. 65 He came here from heaven and lived for a short time, but he won the three worlds over with his insight and his honesty, impeccable king. 66 And Dilīpa’s heir was the great King Bhagīratha, the master who made the supreme River Gangā come down. He led her to the ocean and made her his daughter.*
67 Bhagīratha’s son was called Shruta—King Famous. He was famous everywhere. Shruta’s son was righteous Nābhāga, 68 and Nābhāga’s son was Ambarīsha, who was the father of Sindhudvīpa, and Sindhudvīpa had a plucky heir called Ayutājit, 69 and Ayutājit’s son was Nala’s friend, the celebrated Rituparna, a mighty monarch who understood the celestial secret of the dice.†70 Rituparna had a son, and that son of Rituparna was the lord of the earth. He was named Mitrasaha, but of course he became known as Kalmāshapāda.‡71 Kalmāshapāda’s son was the famous Sarvakarman Do-it-All, and Sarvakarman’s son was the famous Anaranya. 72 Anaranya’s son was Nighna, and Nighna had two sons, Anamitra and Raghu, the truest pair of royal bulls.
73 Anamitra Duliduha was a wise and dutiful soul, and his son was Dilīpa, the ancestor of Rāma. Dilīpa had a long-armed son named Raghu, 74 and then Aja was begotten by Raghu, and Dasharatha was begotten by Aja, and Rāma was begotten by Dasharatha and celebrated as the pleasure-garden of propriety.§75 Rāma’s son was born, the well-known Kusha, and Atithi was begotten by Kusha, and his son was Nishadha. 76 Nishadha’s son was Nala, Nala’s son was Nabha, and Nabha’s son was Pundarīka. Then Kshemadhanvan is listed, 77 and Kshemadhanvan’s son was the magnificent Devānīka, and Devānīka’s mighty son was called Ahīnagu, and Ahīnagu’s heir is the king named Sahasvat.
78 There are two Nalas celebrated in the old stories, bull of the Bhāratas: the one who was the son of Vīrasena, and the one who carried the Ikshvāku dynasty.**
79 The people born in the Ikshvāku dynasty have been celebrated here summarily. These are the kings of great glory in the lineage of Vivasvat. 80 This narration is called the Offspring of Vivasvat Āditya. Vivasvat Āditya is the god of ancestral rites, a god who nurtures his descendants—and any person who studies this narration in its entirety attains parity with those descendants.
The Duties to the Ancestors
11. Bhı̄shma and Shantanu
1 Janamejaya said:
In what sense was Vivasvat Āditya the god of ancestral rites?* And supreme brahmin, I want to hear about the best way of performing ancestral rites, and about how the ancestors were originally created. Which of the ancestors are commemorated?
2 We’ve heard brahmins mentioning that in heaven there are actually other ancestors, objects even of the gods’ devotion. That’s what the people who know the gods say. So this is what I want to know: 3 How many types of ancestors are there said to be? And what special power do they have? And how does the ancestral rite that we perform actually satisfy the ancestors? 4 And by what mechanism do the satisfied ancestors then bestow fortune? This and no less is what I want to hear: the Origin of the Ancestors, in all its glory.
5 Vaishampāyana said:
Well then. I’ll narrate the Origin of the Ancestors for you, in all its glory. Mārkandeya narrated this to Bhīshma when he once raised 6 the very same issue that you’ve raised with me, and of course Yudhishthira the king of righteousness then raised it with Bhīshma when Bhīshma was formerly on his bed of arrows.†7 I’ll tell you, in sequence, what Bhīshma said, just as Sanatkumāra sang it for Mārkandeya when he was the one doing the asking.
8 Yudhishthira said:
You know what’s right. How does someone who wants to flourish get to flourish? I want that explained. What can a person do to avoid sorrow?
9 Bhīshma said:
Performers of ancestral rites who prioritise them and are dedicated to them delight the ancestors with their ancestral rites. As their reward they get everything they want, and they enjoy themselves both here and in the hereafter. 10 Whether they want to be good, or want to have children, or want to flourish, Yudhishthira my lord, the ancestors reward them with success.
11 Yudhishthira said:
The ancestors live in heaven, but conversely, some people’s ancestors live in hell. The rewards are said to be reliable, and they’re said to result from the rites. 12 No doubt about it: those who want the rewards perform ancestral rites whereby the father, and the father’s father, and the father’s grandfather are acknowledged every time, with the three morsels.
13 But how do the ancestral offerings get to the ancestors? And then, how are the ancestors who live in hell able to provide rewards? And what other ancestors are there, anyway? When we make offerings, to whom do we make them? 14 We’ve heard that even the gods in heaven make offerings to ancestors. I want to hear about this in detail, glorious man. 15 With your boundless wisdom, you must provide the explanation of how exactly the offering for the ancestors has the power to save in this world.
16 Bhīshma said:
Tamer of the foe, I’ll tell you exactly what my father once sang on this topic, after he’d actually gone to the next world.
17 During the ancestral rites for my father, I picked up the morsel . . . and my father reached up through the ground and begged for it with his hand. 18 The hand had reddened fingers and was covered in rings and bracelets, just as I’d seen it in former days. 19 I realised that feeding the dead person’s hand is not what the rules and regulations specify, and so without hesitation I offered the morsel upon the kusha grass. 20 My father was delighted, supreme and impeccable Bhārata, and being pleased with me, he said in a melodious voice:*
21 Because of you I have an heir,† and I’ve accomplished my purpose in this world and the next. Because of you, son: a true, wise son, who knows his duty. 22 Faultless man firm in your vows, I set up this test for you in order to make sure the people carry on doing things in the way they should. 23 For when it comes to the norms of behaviour, the standard is what the king does. The citizens always follow the standard he sets. 24 You always do what the Veda prescribes, supreme Bhārata. You set the right example, and I’m extremely pleased.
25 I’m very pleased with you, and so, in my pleasure, allow me to grant you your fondest wish. And accept from me something rare in the three worlds. 26 As long as you still want to live, your death won’t come. Your death will come when you give it your permission.*27 Now, what else would you like? Allow me to grant you your fondest wish. Tell me what your heart desires, supreme Bhārata.
28 After he said this, I saluted him with my palms together in respect and replied: Paragon, it’s enough for me that you’re pleased. 29 But if I’m allowed a further favour from you, glorious king, I’d like a certain question to be answered, by you yourself.
30 That soul of duty said to me: Bhīshma, say what it is you want to know. Ask me about it, Bhārata my boy, and I’ll resolve your doubts.
31 My curiosity had been aroused, and so even though he’d gone to the heaven of the dutiful and was hidden from sight, I questioned him there and then, my boy. I said:
32 We hear that the ancestors are gods. They’re objects even of the gods
’ devotion. So are the ancestors those ones, or other ones? When we make offerings, to whom do we make them? 33 And sir, how does the offering that we make succeed in refreshing the ancestors, when they’ve gone to another world? And what’s the reward for offering to the ancestors? 34 I have serious doubts on this topic, and I’m very curious. So explain it to me. You know your duty. Indeed, in my opinion, you know everything.
35 Shantanu said:
I’ll tell you, in concise form, what you’ve asked of me, faultless Bhārata: the reason for the offering to the ancestors, and the reward for performing it, and how the ancestors came to be. Listen to it all, and concentrate.
36 The ancestors are sons of the first god, my boy, and are objects of devotion in heaven. So naturally, the world’s inhabitants make offerings to them. That includes gods, humans, Dānavas, dark-elves, monsters, light-elves, mountain-elves, and great serpents. 37 And nourished by the ancestral offerings, they do indeed nourish the world of the living in return, including the gods and light-elves, as Brahmā has instructed them to.
38 You must make offerings to those august beings using the ancestral rites, as a tireless performer of ancestral rites. They grant every desire as a reward, and they’ll bestow fortune upon you. 39 And while you’re honouring them by mentioning them by name, lineage, and so on, they’ll also nourish those of us who live in heaven, Bhārata.
40 But Mārkandeya Bhārgava will tell you all about it without leaving anything out. He has the understanding of the self, and he’s devoted to the ancestors, 41 and in fact he’s here at the ancestral rite today as a favour for me. Question that eminent seer.
After saying that, Shantanu vanished.
12. The Origin of the Ancestors
1 Bhīshma said:
So at his command I was handed over to Mārkandeya, and I asked him the same question I’d earlier asked my father. 2 And austere Mārkandeya, the soul of virtue, said to me:
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