Chapter 68

“Narada said, ‘Even the great ascetic Rama, the hero worshipped by allheroes, that son of Jamadagni, of great fame, will die, without beingcontented (with the period of his life). Rooting out all evils from theearth, he caused the primeval Yuga to set in. Having obtained unrivalledprosperity, no fault could be seen in him.[120] His father having beenslain and his calf having been stolen by the Kshatriyas, he without anyboast, slew Kartavirya who had never been vanquished before by foes. Withhis bow he slew four and sixty times ten thousand Kshatriyas alreadywithin the jaws of death. In that slaughter were included fourteenthousand Brahmana-hating Kshatriyas of the Dantakura country, all of whomhe slew. Of the Haihayas, he slew a thousand with his short club, athousand with his sword, and a thousand by hanging.[121] Heroic warriors,with their cars, steeds, and elephants, lay dead on the field, slain bythe wise son of Jamadagni, enraged at the slaughter of his father. AndRama, on that occasion, slew ten thousand Kshatriyas with his axe. Hecould not quietly bear the furious speeches uttered by those (foes ofhis). And when many foremost of Brahmans uttered exclamations, mentioningthe name of Rama of Bhrigu’s race,[122] then the valiant son ofJamadagni, proceeding against the Kashmiras, the Daradas, the Kuntis, theKshudrakas, the Malavas, the Angas, the Vangas, the Kalingas, theVidehas, the Tamraliptakas, the Rakshovahas, the Vitahotras, theTrigartas, the Martikavatas, counting by thousand, slew them all by meansof his whetted shafts. Proceeding from province to province, fie thusslew thousands of crores of Kshatriyas. Creating a deluge of blood andfilling many lakes also with blood as red as Indrajopakas or the wildfruit called Vandujiva, and bringing all the eighteen islands (of whichthe earth is composed) under his subjection, that son of Bhrigu’s raceperformed a hundred sacrifices of great merit, all of which he completedand in all of which the presents he made unto the Brahmanas were profuse.The sacrificial altar, eighteen nalas high made entirely of gold, andconstructed according to the ordinance, full of diverse kinds of jewelsand gems, and decked with hundreds of standards, and this earth aboundingin domestic and wild animals, were accepted by Kasyapa as sacrificialpresent made unto him by Rama, the son of Jamadagni. And Rama also gavehim many thousand prodigious elephants, all adorned with gold. Indeed,freeing the earth from all robbers, and making her teem with honest andgraceful inhabitants, Rama gave her away to Kasyapa at his greatHorse-sacrifice. Having divested the earth of Kshatriyas for one andtwenty times, and having performed hundreds of sacrifices, the puissanthero gave away the earth to the Brahmanas. And it was Marichi (Kasyapa)who accepted from him the earth with her seven islands. Then Kasyapa saidunto 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 thatbest of mountains called Mahendra, continued to live there. Even thatenhancer of the fame of the Bhrigus, possessed of such numberlessvirtues, that famous son of Jamadagni, of great splendour, will die.Superior to thy son, (even he will die). Do not, therefore, grieve forthy son who performed no sacrifice and made no sacrificial present. Allthese, superior to thee as regards the four cardinal virtues and asregards also a hundred other merits, all these foremost of men, havedied, O Srinjaya, and they that are like them will also die.'”