|
Srimad Bhagvata Mahapurana: Book 10: Chapter 75: Verses 17-30
Sprinkled with water the clothes of the queens got wet, so that their limbs including their breasts, thighs and hips could be seen through. They also took up syringes filled with coloured water and threw jets of water on their brothers-in-law and their friends. In the flurry of the moment their braids got loosened and flowers dropped therefrom. Pariksit, the sight of this lovely and innocent sport on their part brought impious thoughts in the mind of people possessed of impure hearts. Seated in his chariot drawn by the best horses and decked with gold necklaces, Emperor Yudhisthira with Draupadi and other consorts looked as if the great sacrifice Rajasuya with the attendant rituals had assumed human forms. After the ritual known by the name Patni-Samyaja and the rites connected with the concluding ablutions had been over, the king performed Acamana (sipped water born the palm of his hand), and, as directed by priests, bathed in the Ganga alongwith Draupadi. At that time the drums of celestials sounded in the heavens joined with the sounding of drums by men; and the gods. Rsis, manes and men showered flowers. After the Emperor had finished his ablutions, people belonging to all castes and stages-of life took their dips in the Ganga; for a bath at that time rids even the most sinful of their sins forthwith. Then Yudhisthira put a piece of new silk cloth round his loins and another round his shoulders and adorning himself with ornaments, he honoured the priests and supervisors of the sacrifice as well as other Brahmanas with gifts of cloth and ornaments.
Pariksit, a sincere devotee of God, the Emperor saw God in every being and honoured all his relations and kinsmen, brother princes, friends and well-wishers, and other ordinary folk again and again. Wearing jewelled ear-rings, garlands of flowers, turbans, long coats, pieces of silk and costly necklaces of pearls all these people looked like gods come down on earth. And the women looked exceptionally charming with the beauty of their faces enhanced by their ear-rings and their overhanging locks, and with the zones of gold lying round their hips. Pariksit, all those who had assembled there-priests of high character, supervisors of the sacrifice well-versed in the Vedas, Brahmanas, Ksatriyas, Vaisyas and Sudras, princes, gods, Rsis, manes and members of other classes of beings, Indra and the other protectors of the world with their attendants-now took leave of Yudhisthira, and returned to their respective abodes, receiving appropriate honours from the Emperor. Just as a mortal would never feel satisfied with a drink of nectar, so they did not get tired of praising the grand success of the Rajasuya sacrifice performed by the saintly King Yudhisthira, who was a great devotee of God. The Emperor lovingly detained his kinsmen, friends and relations and also Bhagavan Sri Krsna at his capital, for he could not even bear the idea of their separation. Sending away Samba, his other sons as well as the principal Yadava warriors to Dwaraka, the Almighty Lord stayed there with a view to pleasing the king. Thus having realized with the help of Sri Krsna, the long-cherished ambition of performing' the Rajasuya sacrifice, which was as difficult to realize as it is to cross of ocean, Yudhisthira
now heaved a sigh of relief.
|
|
