A Grand Royal Sacrificial Ritual

Sage Narada arrives

One day the sage from heaven, Narada, paid an unexpected visit to the Pandavas in Indraprastha. There were some other famous sages with him. Yudhishthira and his brothers paid obeisance to the sages. After refreshing himself, Narada got into a long chat with the Pandavas. The sage was well known for his wisdom. He was widely travelled and had met many famous rulers.

Narada first briefed Yudhishthira on the fine points of statecraft. The topics like how a model king should deal with his ministers, soldiers, ordinary citizens and even enemies were covered by the sage. Yudhishthira was a keen listener. There were a few doubts that lingered in the king’s mind. Narada went into further details about them.

Then, the Pandava asked Narada about the various assembly halls the sage would have seen during his wanderings. Narada explained the ones in the abodes of the guardian gods of the four sides (Indra, of East; Yama , the god of death of South; Varuna, the god of oceans of the West and Vaisravana , the god of wealth of North) and of Brahma (the creator and the god of the world above). Narada concluded his long description by complimenting the hall of the Pandavas as superior to all the above.

Rajasooya – the royal sacrificial ritual

Narada lastly mentioned that he had met Pandu, the deceased parent of the Panadavas in heaven just before the sage set forth from there. Pandu had suggested that his son was qualified to perform the great ceremony called Rajasooya and he should not hesitate to do that. With those words the sage took leave of the Pandavas.

Yudhishthira ponders

The words of his father, conveyed through Narada made the Pandava thoughtful. Rajasooya, no doubt, was one of the highest form of rituals performed by kings. But, it was also the most difficult. It lasted several days and cost a lot of money. The most difficult task was that supremacy over all the kingdoms, as far away as one could reach, had to be established first. The performing ruler would be declared an emperor at the end. Only one king had done that before him. Yudhishthira wondered whether he was equipped to accomplish all that.
The king consulted his brothers, ministers and the royal priests. All were in full agreement that the king deserved the honour and was capable to perform one. Yudhishthira was still not sure. So, he sent a messenger requesting Krishna to come and give the right advice to him.

Krishna arrives

Krishna was also of the opinion that Yudhishthira should go ahead with Rajasooya. He had to vanquish all the adversaries.. That should not pose a problem for the Pandavas. But, Krishna warned them about king Jarasandha of Magadha.
Jarasandha

When requested Krishna told te Pandavas the birth of Jarasandha. The king of Magadha, by name, Jayadratha, had married two daughters of the king of Kasi. Even after long married life he got no children. He was sorry that he would die with no heir for the throne.

Then, one day he met a sage doing penance below a mango tree. The king honoured the sage by making valuable offerings to him. The sage was pleased. He realized that the king was desperate to get a child. So, the sage gave him one ripe mango and asked him to give it to his wife.
Jarasandha, accordingly, gave the mango to his wifes to share. They cut the mango into two and each ate one half. Soon, both the queens became expectant mothers. They gave birth in due course, but, each to one half of a male child. The queens got scared and discarded the new born in a nearby forest.

A demon by name Jara joined the two halves and a strong and handsome boy evolved out of the union. The demon, then, gave the boy to the king. Because he was joined (Sandha) by Jara he was named Jarasandha. The boy grew to be so strong that soon he started defeating all the kings far and near. His jail was filled with defeated royals.

Kamsa had married Jarasandha’s two daughters. After Krishna killed Kamsa, his wives went to their father and reported the matter to him. Jarasandha was furious and marched to Mathura with a huge army. Krishna himself was defeated by Jarasandha on several occasions from that time. The threat from him was such that Krishna had to abandon Mathura, his original home, and build a new abode in Dwaraka.

But, Krishna was confident that Bheema with due support from himself and Arjuna would defeat Jarasandha. But, that had to be done tactfully.

Yudhishthira reluctant

Krishna’s words could inspire Yudhishthira to some extent. But, he did not want to risk the lives of Krishna, Arjuna and Bheema for his sake. But, Arjuna consoled him by supporting Krishna’s view.

Finally, Yudhishthira consented to the great sacrifice. The Pandavas then started the preparations for the ceremony.

Thus ends “the chapter of the Preparation for Rajasooya (Rajasooya Samarambha Parvam)”