(Rajasuyarambha Parva)
"Krishna said,--'O great king, thou art a worthy possessor of all the
qualities essential for the performance of the Rajasuya sacrifice. Thou
knowest everything, O Bharata. I shall, however, still tell thee
something. Those persons in the world that now go by the name of
Kshatriyas are inferior (in everything) to those Kshatriyas that Rama,
the son of Jamadagnya, exterminated. O lord of the earth, O bull of the
Bharata race, thou knowest what form of rule these Kshatriyas, guided
by the instructions traditionally handed down from generation to
generation, have established amongst their own order, and how far they
are competent to perform the Rajasuya sacrifice. The numerous royal
lines and other ordinary Kshatriyas all represent themselves to be the
descendants of Aila and Ikshwaku. The descendants of Aila, O king, as,
indeed, the kings of Ikshwaku's race, are, know O bull of the Bharata
race, each divided into a hundred separate dynasties. The descendants
of Yayati and the Bhojas are great, both in extent (number) and
accomplishments. O king, these last are to-day scattered all over the
earth. And all the Kshatriyas worship the prosperity of those monarchs.
At present, however, O monarch, king Jarasandha, overcoming that
prosperity enjoyed by their whole order, and overpowering them by his
energy hath set himself over the heads of all these kings. And
Jarasandha, enjoying the sovereignty over the middle portion of the
earth (Mathura), resolved to create a disunion amongst ourselves. O
monarch, the king who is the lord paramount of all kings, and in whom
alone the dominion of the universe is centered, properly deserves to be
called an emperor. And, O monarch, king Sisupala endued with great
energy, hath placed himself under his protection and hath become the
generalissimo of his forces. And, O great king, the mighty Vaka, the
king of the Karushas, capable of fighting by putting forth his powers
of illusion, waiteth, upon Jarasandha, as his disciple. There are two
others, Hansa and Dimvaka, of great energy and great soul, who have
sought the shelter of the mighty Jarasandha. There are others also
viz., Dantavakra, Karusha, Karava, Meghavahana, that wait upon
Jarasandha. He also that beareth on his head that gem which is known as
the most wonderful on earth, that king of the Yavanas, who hath
chastised Muru and Naraka, whose power is unlimited, and who ruleth the
west like another Varuna, who is called Bhagadatta, and who is the old
friend of thy father, hath bowed his head before Jarasandha, by speech
and specially by act. In his heart, however, tied as he is by affection
to thee, he regardeth thee as a father regardeth his child. O king,
that lord of the earth who hath his dominions on the west and the
south, who is thy maternal uncle and who is called Purujit, that brave
perpetuator of the Kunti race, that slayer of all foes, is the single
king that regardeth thee from affection. He whom I did not formerly
slay, that wicked wretch amongst the Chedis, who represented himself in
this world as a divine personage and who hath become known also as
such, and who always beareth, from foolishness, the signs that
distinguish me that king of Vanga Pundra and the Kiratas, endowed with
great strength, and who is known on earth by the names of Paundraka and
Vasudeva hath also espoused the side of Jarasandha. And, O king of
kings, Bhishmaka, the mighty king of the Bhojas--the friend of
Indra--the slayer of hostile heroes--who governs a fourth part of the
world, who by his learning conquered the Pandyas and the
Kratha-Kausikas, whose brother the brave Akriti was like Rama, the son
of Jamdagni, hath become a servitor to the king of Magadha. We are his
relatives and are, therefore, engaged everyday in doing what is
agreeable unto him. But although we regard him much, still he regardeth
us not and is engaged in doing us ill. And, O king, without knowing his
own strength and the dignity of the race to which he belongeth, he hath
placed himself under Jarasandha's shelter at sight of the latter's
blazing fame alone. And, O exalted one, the eighteen tribes of the
Bhojas, from fear of Jarasandha, have all fled towards the west; so
also have the Surasenas, the Bhadrakas, the Vodhas, the Salwas, the
Patachchavas, the Susthalas, the Mukuttas, and the Kulindas, along with
the Kuntis. And the king of the Salwayana tribe with their brethren and
followers; and the southern Panchalas and the eastern Kosalas have all
fled to the country of the Kuntis. So also the Matsyas and the
Sannyastapadas, overcome with fear, leaving their dominions in the
north, have fled into the southern country. And so all the Panchalas,
alarmed at the power of Jarasandha, have left their own kingdom and
fled in all directions. Some time before, the foolish Kansa, having
persecuted the Yadavas, married two of the daughters of Jarasandha.
They are called Asti and Prapti and are the sister of Sahadeva.
Strengthened by such an alliance, the fool persecuting his relatives
gained an ascendency over them all. But by this conduct he earned great
obloquy. The wretch also began to oppress the old kings of the Bhoja
tribe, but they, to protect themselves from the persecution of their
relative, sought our help. Having bestowed upon Akrura the handsome
daughter of Ahuka, with Sankarshana as my second I did a service to my
relatives, for both Kansa and Sunaman were slain by me assisted by
Rama. But after the immediate cause of fear was removed (by the death
of Kansa), Jarasandha, his father-in-law, took up arms. Ourselves
consisting of the eighteen younger branches of the Yadavas arrived at
the conclusion that even if we struck our enemies continually with
excellent weapons capable of taking the lives of the foes, we should
still be unable to do anything unto him even in three hundred years. He
hath two friends that are like unto the immortals, and in point of
strength the foremost of all men endued with might. They are called
Hansa and Dimvaka who are both incapable of being slain by weapons. The
mighty Jarasandha, being united with them, becomes incapable, I think,
of being vanquished by even the three worlds. O thou foremost of all
intelligent men, this is not our opinion alone but all other kings also
are of the same mind. There lived, O monarch, a king of the name of
Hansa, who was slain by Rama (Valadeva) after a battle of eighteen
days. But, O Bharata, hearing people say that Hansa had been killed,
Dimvaka, O king, thought that he could not live without Hansa. He
accordingly jumped into the waters of the Yamuna and killed himself.
Afterwards when Hansa, the subjugator of hostile heroes, heard that
Dimvaka, had killed himself, he went to the Yamuna and jumped into its
waters. Then, O bull of the Bharata race, king Jarasandha, hearing that
both Hansa and Dimvaka had been killed, returned to his kingdom with an
empty heart. After Jarasandha had returned, O slayer of all foes, we
were filled with pleasure and continued to live at Mathura. Then the
widow of Hansa and the daughter of Jarasandha, that handsome woman with
eyes like lotus-petals, grieved at the death of her lord, went unto her
father, and repeatedly urged, O Monarch, the king of Magadha,
saying,--O slayer of all foes, kill thou the slayer of my
husband.--Then, O great king, remembering the conclusion to which we
had come of old we became exceedingly cheerless and fled from Mathura.
Dividing our large wealth into small portions so as to make each
portion easily portable, we fled from fear of Jarasandha, with our
cousins and relatives. Reflecting upon everything, we fled towards the
west. There is a delightful town towards the west called Kusasthali,
adorned by the mountains of Raivata. In that city, O monarch, we took
up our abode. We rebuilt its fort and made it so strong that it has
become impregnable even to the Gods. And from within it even the women
might fight the foe, what to speak of the Yadava heroes without fear of
any kind? O slayer of all foes, we are now living in that city. And, O
tiger of the Kuru race, considering the inaccessibility of that first
of mountains and regarding themselves as having already crossed the
fear of Jarasandha, the descendants of Madhu have become exceedingly
glad. Thus, O king, though possessed of strength and energy, yet from
the oppressions of Jarasandha we have been obliged to repair to the
mountains of Gomanta, measuring three Yojanas in length. Within each
yojana have been established one and twenty posts of armed men. And at
intervals of each yojana are hundred gates with arches which are
defended by valourous heroes engaged in guarding them. And innumerable
Kshatriyas invincible in war, belonging to the eighteen younger
branches of the Yadavas, are employed in defending these works. In our
race, O king, there are full eighteen thousand brothers and cousins.
Ahuka hath had a hundred sons, each of whom is almost like a god (in
prowess), Charudeshna with his brother Chakradeva, Satyaki, myself,
Valadeva the son of Rohini, and my son Samva who is equal unto me in
battle--these seven, O king are Atirathas. Besides these, there are
others, O king, whom I shall presently name. They are Kritavarman,
Anadhrishti, Samika, Samitinjaya, Kanka, Sanku and Kunti. These seven
are Maharathas. There are also two sons of Andhakabhoja, and the old
king himself. Endued with great energy these are all heroes, each
mighty as the thunderbolt. These Maharathas, choosing the middle
country, are now living amongst the Vrishnis. O thou best of the
Bharata line, thou alone art worthy of being an emperor. It behoveth
thee, O Bharata, to establish thy empire over all the Kshatriyas. But
this is my judgment, O king, that thou wilt not be able to celebrate
the Rajasuya sacrifice as long as the mighty Jarasandha liveth. By him
have been immured in his hillfort numerous monarchs, like a lion that
hath deposited the slain bodies of mighty elephants within a cave of
the king of mountains. O slayer of all enemies, king Jarasandha,
desirous of offering in sacrifice hundred monarchs, adored for his
fierce ascetic penances the illustrious god of gods, the lord of Uma.
It is by this means that the kings of the earth have been vanquished by
Jarasandha. And, O best of monarchs, he hath by that means been able to
fulfil the vow he had made relative to his sacrifice. By defeating the
kings with their troops and bringing all of them as captives into this
city, he had swelled its crowds enormously. We also, O king, from fear
of Jarasandha, at one time had to leave Mathura and fly to the city of
Dwaravati. If, O great king, thou desirest to perform this sacrifice,
strive to release the kings confined by Jarasandha, as also to compass
his death, O son of the Kuru race, otherwise this undertaking of thine
can never be completed. O thou foremost of intelligent men if the
Rajasuya is to be performed by thee, you must do this in this way and
not otherwise. This, O king, is my view (on the matter). Do, O sinless
one, as thou thinkest. Under these circumstances, O king, having
reflected upon everything, taking note of causes, tell us what thou
thyself thinkest proper."