Mahabharata: Volume 8 (73 page)

‘Bhishma said, “Announced to the king, he entered that supreme house. He was honoured by the Indra among rakshasas and seated himself on an excellent seat. He was asked about his gotra, his code of behaviour, his studies and the nature of his brahmacharya. However, the brahmana told him nothing, other than his gotra. He no longer observed brahmacharya and had stopped studying. The king only got to know about his gotra and asked him where he lived. ‘O fortunate one! Where do you dwell? What is the gotra of your brahmana wife? Tell me everything. Do not be frightened. You should happily rest.’ Goutama replied, ‘I have been born in the central regions. I dwell in Shabara’s house. My wife is a shudra who has married again. I am telling you this truthfully.’ At this, the king thought, ‘How is this possible? What should I do now? How can I obtain merit?’ He used his intelligence to think about this. ‘This one has been born as a brahmana. He was sent here to me by my great-souled well-wisher, Kashyapa. Since he has always sought refuge with him, I must do what pleases him. He is my brother and relative.
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He is also a friend who is dear to my heart. This is full moon in the month of Kartika
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and one thousand excellent brahmanas will eat in my house. He will also eat here and I will give him some of my riches.’ One thousand learned and ornamented brahmanas arrived there. They had bathed and prepared themselves. They were attired in long linen garments. O lord of the earth! Those best among brahmanas came to Virupaksha from many directions. He received them as they deserved, following the prescribed rites.

‘“On the instructions of the Indra among the rakshasas, blankets were spread out on the ground. O supreme among the Bharata lineage! The servants spread out cushions on these. Seated there, the best among brahmanas were worshipped by the king. O great king! They were as radiant as the lord of the nakshatras.
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There
were sparkling, pure and golden vessels, decorated with diamonds. These were filled with excellent rice, flowing with honey and ghee, and offered to the brahmanas. Many brahmanas always received this, in the months of Ashadha and Magha.
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Honoured well, they always received the excellent food that they desired. But it has been heard that the full moon in Kartika, after autumn is over, was special and brahmanas were given jewels—gold, silver, gems, pearls, extremely expensive diamonds, lapis lazuli, skins of black antelope and skins of ranku deer. O descendant of the Bharata lineage! The immensely illustrious Virupaksha threw away a large pile of jewels as dakshina and told the foremost among the brahmanas, ‘Take these jewels, as much as you can, and as much as you wish. O best among brahmanas! Whatever be the vessels you have eaten from, take those too, and go to your own homes.’ When addressed by the great-souled Indra among rakshasas in these words, the bulls among brahmanas accepted a sufficient quantity of jewels. All of them were worshipped with those sparkling and extremely expensive jewels. Attired in excellent garments, the brahmanas were delighted. O king! The Indra among rakshasas restrained the rakshasas and again spoke to the brahmanas, who had arrived from many directions. ‘O brahmanas! This is one day when you need have no fear from the rakshasas. Amuse yourselves, as you like, and leave quickly.’ At this, all the large numbers of brahmanas fled in different directions.

‘“Goutama also swiftly grasped a load of gold. O brave one! He bore this with difficulty and approached the banyan tree. He was exhausted and sat down. He was tired and hungry. O king! At that time, Rajadharma, supreme among birds, who was devoted to his friend, arrived and welcomed Goutama. The bird fanned him with his wings and removed his exhaustion. He honoured him and made arrangements for his food. Having eaten and having rested well, Goutama began to think. ‘Because of both my greed and my confusion, I have seized this extremely large burden of gold. I have a long distance to travel. There will be no food on the way, whereby I
can stay alive. How will I be able to sustain my life?’ He thought in this way. He could not see any food that would be available along the route. O tiger among men! The ingrate thought in his mind, ‘This lord of the cranes is by my side and he is a heap of flesh. I will kill him and take him with me. I will then swiftly depart.’”’

‘Bhishma said, “For the sake of protection, the Indra among the birds had kindled a great and blazing fire there and the wind was its charioteer. Having done this, the king of the cranes trustfully went to sleep by the side. Wishing to kill him, the evil-souled ingrate remained awake. With a blazing brand, he killed that trustful one. Having killed him, he was delighted, not seeing the consequences this would lead to. He removed the wings and the feathers and cooked the rest over the fire. Then, taking this and the gold, the brahmana left speedily.

‘“After another day passed, Virupaksha told his son, ‘O son! Today, I have not seen Rajadharma, supreme among birds. Every evening, he always goes to show his obeisance to Brahma. After this, the bird never goes home without having seen me first. It is now two evenings and two nights since he came to my residence. Therefore, I am disturbed and must find out about my well-wisher. That worst among brahmanas was disunited from studying and the radiance of the brahman wasn’t there in him. He has gone there and it is my fear that he might have killed him. I noticed that his conduct was wicked and from signs, could make out that he was evil-minded. He did not perform rites and was terrible in form. He was dark, like the worst among bandits. Goutama has gone there. That is the reason my mind is anxious. O son! Swiftly go to Rajadharma’s abode. Immediately find out if the one who is pure in his soul is still alive.’ Having been thus addressed, he quickly went to the banyan tree with some rakshasas and saw Rajadharma’s
skeleton there. Weeping, the intelligent son of the Indra among the rakshasas speedily rushed, to the best of his capacity, to seize Goutama. A short distance away, the rakshasas seized Goutama. They also obtained Rajadharma’s body, bereft of the wings, the bones and the feet. Having taken this, the rakshasas hastened to Meruvraja.

‘“They showed Rajadharma’s body and the ungrateful man, Goutama, wicked in his senses, to the king. The king, with his advisers and priests, lamented on seeing him. Great sounds of lamentation arose in the residence. The city, with the women and the children, were distracted. The king told his son, ‘Slay this wretch. As you wish, all of you merrily feast on his flesh. He is wicked in his conduct. He is evil in his deeds. He is dastardly in his soul. His determination is sinful. It is my view that the rakshasas should kill him.’ Having been addressed by the Indra among the rakshasas, the rakshasas, terrible in their valour, did not wish to eat him and said, ‘He is wicked in his deeds. It is proper that this worst among men should be given to the bandits.’ O great king! The travellers of the night addressed the Indra among the rakshasas in this way. Before the lord of the large number of rakshasas, they bowed their heads down on the ground and said, ‘You should not give him to us to eat. He is evil.’ Having been thus addressed by the travellers of the night, the Indra among rakshasas instructed the rakshasas that he should be given to the bandits. Thus instructed, the servants picked up tridents and clubs in their hands. They chopped the wicked one up into pieces and gave him to the bandits. However, even the bandits did not desire to eat the evil-acting one. O Indra among kings! Predatory creatures did not eat the ingrate either.

‘“If someone kills a brahmana, if someone is a drunkard, if someone is a thief, if someone has broken his vows—there are indicated means of atonement. O king! But there is no salvation for someone who is ungrateful. Someone who injures his friends, someone who is violent and someone who is ungrateful is the worst among men. Predatory creatures, worms and other such beings will not devour someone like this.”’

‘Bhishma said, “The rakshasa
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had a funeral pyre constructed for the king of the cranes. It was decorated with gems, fragrances and garments. O king! The Indra among the rakshasas then followed the prescribed ordinances and performed the funeral rites for the powerful king of the cranes. At that time, the auspicious and illustrious goddess, Dakshayani Surabhi,
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appeared overhead. O unblemished one! Froth and milk flowed from her mouth and streamed onto Rajadharma’s funeral pyre. O unblemished one! The king of the cranes was revived at this. The lord of the cranes arose and approached Virupaksha. At that time, the king of the gods came to Virupaksha’s city and told Virupaksha, ‘It is good fortune that he has come alive.’ Indra told Virupaksha about an ancient curse that had, in earlier times, been imposed by Brahma on Rajadharma. ‘O king! When the lord of the cranes did not worship Brahma, the grandfather was enraged and spoke to the Indra among the cranes. “This worst among cranes has foolishly not presented himself before me. Therefore, this evil-souled one will shortly be killed.” Because of those words, he was slain by Goutama. Having been sprinkled with amrita, the crane has again been brought back to life.’ When this was spoken, Rajadharma bowed down before Purandara and said, ‘O Purandara! If your mind is inclined towards showing me favours, let my extremely beloved friend, Goutama, come back to life.’ O bull among men! Vasava agreed to these words. He revived Goutama and handed him over to his friend. O king! The lord of the cranes was supremely delighted and embraced his friend, who was still carrying the burden.
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Then, Rajadharma, the lord of the cranes, took his leave of the evil-acting one and his riches and entered his own residence. The crane went to Brahma’s assembly, as he should have. And Brahma honoured the great-souled one as a guest.

‘“Goutama again reached Shabara’s abode. Through the shudra woman, he had many sons who were the perpetrators of wicked deeds. The large number of gods then imposed an extremely severe curse on him. O lord! Over a long period of time, having given birth through his remarried wife,
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the immensely ungrateful one would go to hell. O descendant of the Bharata lineage! Narada told me all this earlier. O bull among men! I remembered and told you the great account. Everything happened exactly as I have recounted it. How can an ungrateful person obtain fame? What is his status? Where is his happiness? An ingrate is never respected. There is no salvation for an ungrateful person. A man must, especially, never injure his friends. A person who injures his friends obtains a terrible and infinite hell. O unblemished one! One must always have sentiments of gratitude and affection towards friends. Truth comes from friends. Strength comes from friends. The discerning person honours his friends well. The learned avoid a person who is wicked, ungrateful, shameless, injurious towards friends, the worst of his lineage, sinful in his deeds and the worst among men. O best among those who uphold dharma! I have thus spoken to you about the wicked person who was ungrateful and injured his friend. What do you again wish to hear?”’

Vaishampayana said, ‘O Janamejaya! On hearing these words spoken by the great-souled Bhishma, Yudhishthira was delighted.’

This concludes Apad Dharma Parva.