Shree Shookdeo Jee said,--Raja! listen with attention, and I will
now relate how Raja Joodisthur performed the sacrifice, and Sissoopal
was slain, when the twenty thousand eight hundred Rajas went there,
all the other Rajas from the surrounding countries, and from every
quarter, whether descendants of the sun, or descendants of the moon,
came also, and were ready at Hustinapoor. Then Shree Krishnù Chund
and Raja Joodisthur together behaved with the utmost affability to all
the Rajas, and made all the arrangements, and entrusted each with a
specific duty in the sacrifice. After this, Shree Krishnù Chund Jee
said to the Raja Joodisthur, “O great king! we five brothers, Bheem,
Urjoon, Nukool, Suhdeo and myself, together with the other Rajas, will
do all the extraneous work, and do you be so good as to send for the
sages, priests and brahmins, and begin the sacrifice.”
O great king! on hearing these words, Raja Joodisthur, having summoned
all the priests, sages, and brahmins, said, “O great kings! order all
things necessary for the sacrifice.” At these words, the priests,
sages and brahmins, having consulted their holy books, wrote down on a
paper a list of all the articles required; and the Raja caused them to
be procured immediately, and placed before them. The priests, sages
and brahmins together erected an altar for the sacrifice. The priests,
sages and brahmins of the four Vedas, having spread their seats, sat
down in the middle of the altar; then Raja Joodisthur, having purified
himself, came and sat down there also with his wife, the skirts of
their mantles, being tied together as at a bridal. And Dronahcharuj,
Kripacharuj, Dritrasht, Doorjodhun, Sissoopal and all the other mighty
men, and great Rajas came and sat there also. The brahmins, having
strewed boiled rice, and prayed for the blessings of the gods on the
ceremony about to be performed; and, having caused Gunesh to be
worshipped, made an offering of a jar of water, with the twigs of five
sacred trees placed in it, and invoked the nine planets. The Raja
hired for the performance of the religious ceremonies Bhurdooaj,
Goutum, Bisist, Biswamittrù, Bamdeo, Purasur, Byas, Kusyp and other
great priests, sages and brahmins; who, having repeated incantations
from the Vedas, summoned all the gods; and, having caused the Raja to
make a vow of giving alms of the sacrifice, they began to prepare the
burnt offerings.
O great king! having repeated the incantations, the priests, sages and
brahmins began to offer oblations with fire to the deities; and the
gods, openly extending their hands began to receive them; at that time
the brahmins were reading the Vedas, and all the Rajas brought the
different materials of the burnt offerings, and presented them to the
brahmins, and the Raja Joodisthur was engaged with the burnt
offerings, when the sacrifice was peaceably completed, and the Raja
gave the final oblation. At that time, gods, men and sages began to
utter exclamations of praise of all the Rajas; and the demi-gods,
celestial musicians, and choristers began to play upon musical
instruments, celebrate their fame in songs, and rain down flowers.
Having narrated thus much of the history, Shree Shookdeo Jee said to
the Raja Pureechit,--O great king! being free from all the business of
the sacrifice, Raja Joodisthur, having sent for Suhdeo Jee, enquired,
“Whose adoration shall we perform first; to whom shall we give
unbroken rice and marks upon the forehead? Who is the great lord of
the gods, to whom we may bow the head, and offer worship?” Suhdeo Jee
said, “O great king! Basoodeo is the god of all the gods; no one
understands his nature; he is the lord of Bruhmù, Roodrù and Indrù;
but be pleased to worship and bow the head to him first, as by giving
water to the root of a tree, all the branches become green, so all the
gods are gratified by adoration being offered to Huri, he is the lord
of the universe, and he creates, preserves and destroys; his pastimes
are endless; no one knows the end of them; he is the unseen, invisible
and impenetrable lord; Luchmee having become a servant, constantly
attends upon his lotus feet; he descends upon the earth continually
for the sake of his worshippers; and, assuming corporeal form, appears
and acts like a mortal; he comes and sits in our houses, and calls us
‘brothers;’ and fascinates us with his delusive power; we being
deluded by great fascination and affection, consider the deity as a
brother; we have not seen any one so great as him, let him be first
worshipped.”
O great king! on hearing this speech, all the saints, sages and Rajas
exclaimed, “Raja! Suhdeo Jee has spoken truly, Huri is worthy of our
first adoration.” Then Raja Joodisthur having seated Shree Krishnù
Chund Jee upon a throne, together with his eight queens, offered
adoration to him, presenting sandal, unbroken rice, flowers, perfume,
lamps and consecrated food; after this he worshipped all the gods,
saints, sages, brahmins and Rajas, arrayed them in dresses of
different colours, made marks upon their foreheads with sandal and
saffron, decorated them with garlands of flowers, and sprinkling
perfume, the Raja, with due observance of what was right and fitting,
behaved to them all with the most engaging politeness.
Shree Shookdeo Jee said,--Raja! all were pleased with the adoration of
Huri, except Sissoopal, who hung down his head for a long time, he
kept his head bent towards the ground, and remained thoughtful and
reflecting; at length, being in the hands of death, he descended very
angrily from his throne into the middle of the assembly; and, laying
aside all reserve and fear, said, “In this assembly are Dritrasht,
Doorjodhun, Bheekhum, Kurun, Dronachuruj and others, men of great
knowledge and dignity of character; but their rank and understanding
have, on this occasion, been entirely overlooked. Great chiefs of
saints and sages have been sitting here, whilst adoration has been
offered to the son of the cowherd, Nund, and no one has said any
thing; he who was born in Bruj, and has eaten the leavings of the
cowherds’ children’s prepared food, has, in this assembly, received
high honour and exaltation. All here thoughtlessly call him great,
they bestow the strength of the lord of the gods upon a crow, they
have in this assembly made him the most holy of men, who fixed his
affections on cowherdesses and herdsmen’s wives; all in a body have
celebrated the praises of him, who stole from every house, and ate
milk, curds, butter-milk and butter; respect has here been paid to
him, who received alms on the roads, and ghauts; all have advisedly
made the honorary marks first on his forehead, who, by force and
stratagem, has enjoyed himself with other men’s wives. This is he, who
abolished the worship of Indrù in Bruj and established the worship of
a mountain; and afterwards he was not ashamed to play off a trick, and
eat up all the different confections and things he had caused to be
brought near the mountain for the worship of Indrù. All have here
regarded, as invisible and immortal, him, whose pedigree, parentage
and family are certainly known.”
Having proceeded thus far in the narrative, Shree Shookdeo Jee said to
the Raja Pureechit,--O great king! in this manner Raja Sissoopal being
in the power of death, was casting many reproaches upon Shree Krishnù
Chund Jee, who, seated on a throne in the midst of the assembly,
listened, and drew a line for every reproach that was uttered; in the
mean while Bheekum, Kurun, Dron and other great Rajas, having heard
Huri spoken of disparagingly, were very angry, and said to Sissoopal,
“Fool! dost thou in the midst of this assembly in our presence speak
disparagingly of Krishnù? O mean, low caste wretch! be silent,
otherwise we will immediately throw you down, and put you to death.”
O great king! having thus spoken, all the Rajas seizing their weapons,
rose up and rushed towards Sissoopal to kill him. Shree Krishnù
Chund, the root of joy, then prevented them, and said, “Do not use
your arms against him, stand here and look on, he will bring
destruction on himself presently, I will tolerate a hundred offences
in him, because I have agreed to do so; but I will not tolerate more
than a hundred, and therefore I have been drawing these lines.”
O great king! on hearing this speech, all, having joined their hands,
enquired from Shree Krishnù Chund, “O lord of compassion! what is the
reason that you will pardon a hundred faults on his part, be pleased
kindly to explain to us, that the doubts of our minds may be removed?”
Krishnù said, “When he (Sissoopal) was born, he had three eyes and
four arms, when his father, Raja Dumadhok, was informed of this he
sent for astrologers and great pundits and enquired, ‘What sort of
child will this be, consider and give me your answer?’ On hearing what
the Raja said, the pundits and astrologers, having consulted the
Shastrùs, replied, ‘O great king! this child will be possessed of
great strength, and will be highly renowned, and we are also of
opinion that this child will be destroyed by him, at meeting with whom
one of his eyes and two of his arms shall fall down.’ Having heard
this, his mother, Muhadewee, the daughter of Soorsen, the sister of
Basoodeo, my maternal aunt, was very sad, and passed day and night in
anxious thought about her child; after some days, she came on one
occasion with her son to her father’s house at Dwarka, and presented
her son to every one; when the child and I met, one of its eyes, and
two of its arms fell upon the ground, then my aunt having bound me by
a promise, said, ‘The child’s death is in your hands, please do not
kill it, I ask this as an alms from you.’ I replied, ‘Very good, I
will not reckon a hundred faults he may commit, should he commit any
in excess of this number, I will destroy him.’ Having received this
promise from me, my aunt took leave of us all with these words, ‘How
can the child commit a hundred offences against Krishnù and perish by
his hand,’ and returned home with her son.”
O great king! having mentioned this account of Sissoopal, and
obliterated the doubts of all the Rajas’ minds, Shree Krishnù Jee
counted the lines he had drawn separately for each offence, which
amounted to more than a hundred. Krishnù then gave an order to the
quoit, Soodursen, who instantly cut off Sissoopal’s head. The
brilliant light, which came forth from his body, went at once to the
sky, and returning thence settled in the sight of all, on the mouth of
Shree Krishnù Chund. On beholding this exploit, gods, men and sages
began to raise cries of exultation and rain flowers. On that occasion,
Shree Moorari, the benefactor of his worshippers, gave him a third
deliverance, and performed his funeral obsequies.
Having heard thus much of the narrative, Raja Pureechit enquired from
Shree Shookdeo Jee,--“O great king! please explain to me, how Krishnù
gave Sissoopal a third deliverance?” Shookdeo Jee replied,--Raja! once
he appeared as Hirunkusyp, and then Krishnù having descended upon the
earth as half lion, half man, released him. On the second occasion he
became Rawun, when Huri having descended as Ram, liberated him, the
present is the third occasion, and therefore the present is the third
release. Having heard this, the Raja said to the sage,--“O great king!
be pleased now to proceed with the narrative.” Shree Shookdeo Jee,
said,--Raja! when the sacrifice was finished, Raja Joodisthur bestowed
dresses on all the Rajas and their wives, and numberless gifts on
brahmins. It was the business of Raja Doorjodhun to distribute during
the sacrifice, who, in place of distributing once, distributed many
times, and thereby acquired celebrity, but was still dissatisfied.
Having narrated thus much, Shree Shookdeo Jee said to the Raja
Pureechit,--O great king! on the completion of the sacrifice, Shree
Krishnù Jee took leave of the Raja Joodisthur, accompanied by his
army and relatives, and went from Hustinapoor to the city of Dwarka.
On the arrival of Krishnù, there were festive rejoicings in every
house, and joy was diffused throughout the city.