Chapter 66

“Narada said, ‘Dushmanta’s son, Bharata, O Srinjaya, we hear, fell a preyto death. While only a child (living) in the forest, he achieved featsincapable of being achieved by others. Endued with great strength, hespeedily deprived the very lions, white as snow and armed with teeth andclaws, of all their prowess, and dragged them and bound them (at hispleasure). He used to check tigers also, that were fiercer and moreruthless (than lions), and bring them to subjection. Seizing other beastsof prey possessed of great might, and even huge elephants, dyed with redarsenic 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 todrag the mightiest of buffaloes. And in consequence of his strength, hechecked proud lions by hundreds, and powerful Srimaras and hornedrhinoceroses and other animals. Binding them by their necks and crushingthem to an inch of their lives, he used to let them go. For those featsof his the regenerate ascetics (with whom he lived) came to call himSarvadamana (the controller of all). His mother, at last, forbade himfrom torturing animals in that way. Endued with great prowess heperformed a hundred Horse-sacrifices on the banks of the Yamuna, threehundred such sacrifices on the banks of Saraswati, and four hundred onthe banks of the Ganga. Having performed these sacrifices, he once moreperformed a thousand Horse-sacrifices and a hundred Rajasuyas, greatsacrifices, in which his gifts also to the Brahmanas were very profuse.Other sacrifices, again, such as the Agnishtoma, the Atiratra, the Ukthaand the Viswajit, he performed together with thousands and thousands ofVajapeyas, and completed without any impediment. The son of Sakuntala,having performed all these, gratified the Brahmanas with presents ofwealth. Possessed of great fame, Bharata then gave ten thousand billionsof coins, made of the most pure gold, unto Kanwa (who had brought up hismother Sakuntala as his own daughter). The gods with Indra at their head,accompanied by the Brahmanas, coming to his sacrifice, set up hissacrificial stake made entirely of gold, and measuring in width a hundredVyamas.[114] And imperial Bharata, of noble soul, that victor over allfoes, that monarch never conquered by any enemy, gave away unto theBrahmanas beautiful horses and elephants and cars, decked with gold, andbeautiful gems of all kinds, and camels and goats and sheep, andslaves–male and female–and wealth, and grains and milch cows withcalves, and villages and fields, and diverse kinds of robes, numbering bymillions and millions. When he died, O Srinjaya, who was superior to theein respect of the four cardinal virtues and who superior to thee, was,therefore, much superior to thy son, thou shouldst not, saying, ‘Oh,Swaitya, Oh, Swaitya,’ grieve for the latter who performed no sacrificeand made no sacrificial present.’