Parva 1 Chapter 14: sagara utpattiḥ - emergence of emperor sagara

"How emperor sagara took birth along with poison? What for the clans like shaka and others have discarded kshatriya convention? And what for the emperor sagara is enraged at them and drove them off... please elucidate these points... vaiśampāyana uvāca - vaiśampāyana replied: bāhoḥ vyasaninaḥ tāta hṛtaṁ rājyam abhūt kila | haihayaiḥ tālajaṅghaiḥ ca śakaiḥ sārdhaṁ viśāmpate || 1-14-3 yavanāḥ pāradāḥ caiva kāmbojāḥ pahlavāḥ khasāḥ | ete hi api gaṇāḥ paṣcha haihaya arthe parākramam || 1-14-4 When sagara's father bāhuka is given to irretrievable lechery, hunting and a flighty life, then the onslaught of haihaya-s, tālajaṅgha-s, shaka-s, has become more forceful, and then taking support of five others who are the myrmidons of haihaya-s, namely yavanā-s, pāradā-a, kāmbojā-s, pahlavā-s and khasā-s, those three usurped the kingdom of ayodhya... so they say... hṛta rājyaḥ tadā rājā sa vai bāhuḥ vanaṁ yayau | patnyā ca anugato duḥkhī vane prāṇān avāsṛjat || 1-14-5 patnī tu yādavī tasya sa-garbhā pṛṣṭhato'nvagāt | sapatnyā ca garaḥ tasyai dattaḥ pūrvam abhūt kila || 1-14-6 When the kingdom is usurped thus, then king bāhuka went to woods to live in misery, just his wives helping him, where he breathed his last. At that time, when his prime-wife who belonged to yadu dynasty has become pregnant, other co-wives became envious of her pregnancy and administered poison to her- so we hear... sā tu bhartuḥ chitāṁ kṛtvā vane tām adhi-ārohata | aurvaḥ tāṁ bhārgavaḥ tāta kāruṇyāt samavārayat || 1-14-7 tasya āśrame ca taṁ garbhaṁ gareṇa eva saha achyutam | vyajāyata mahābāhuṁ sagaraṁ nāma pārthivam || 1-14-8 She desperately arranged a pyre for her husband and she too mounted it for self-immolation. But, noticing the futurity of her pregnancy, godly sage aurva thoughtfully averted it, and brought her to his hermitage, where she delivered the king sagara, who took birth along with the poison earlier administered to his mother by her co-wives... aurvaḥ stu jātakarma ādi tasya kṛtvā mahātmanaḥ | adhyāpya veda-śāstrāṇi tato'straṁ pratyapādayat || 1-14-9 āgneyaṁ tu mahā-ghoram amaraiḥ api duḥsaham | Sage aurva himself performed the boyhood ceremonies like naming, letter-writing, upanayana etc. ceremonies, and taught Vedic scriptures to him. Besides, he gave him a deadly missile called āgneya-astram, which is an uncontainable weapon even to gods... sa tena astra-balena ajau balena ca samanvitaḥ || 1-14-10 haihayān nijaghān āśu kruddho rudraḥ paśūn iva | ājahāra ca lokeṣu kīrtiṁ kīrtimatāṁ varaḥ || 1-14-11 tataḥ śakān sa yavanān kāmbojān pāradāṁ tadā | pahlavān caiva niḥśeṣān kartuṁ vyavasitastadā || 1-14-12 te vadhyamānā vīreṇa sagareṇa mahātmanā | vasiṣṭhaṁ śaraṇaṁ gatvā praṇipetur manīṣiṇam || 1-14-13 vasiṣṭhastvatha tān dṛṣṭvā samayena mahādyutiḥ | sagaraṁ vārayāmāsa teṣāṁ dattva abhayaṁ tadā || 1-14-14 Then sagara with his might, and that of the missile he possessed, started annihilating haihaya-s ruthlessly, as god rudra would be annihilating living being at the end of era... then he embarked to wipe out shaka-a, yavanā-s, kāmboja-s, pārada-s, and pahlavā-s completely. When sagara started eliminating them thus, then they reverently sought the refuge of noble-minded vaśiṣṭha. Noticing their plight the high-minded vaśiṣṭha gave them a safe haven and dissuaded king sagara from that onslaught... sagaraḥ svāṁ pratijṣāṁ ca guroḥ vākyaṁ nishamya ca | dharmaṁ jaghāna teṣāṁ vai veṣa anyatvaṁ cakāra ha || 1-14-15 arddhaṁ śakānāṁ shiraso muṇḍaṁ kṛtvā vyasarjayat | yavanānāṁ śiraḥ sarvaṁ kāmbojānāṁ tathaiva ca || 1-14-16 pāradā mukta-keśāḥ ca pahlavāḥ śmaśru-dhāriṇaḥ | niḥsvādhyāya vaṣaṭkārāḥ kṛtāstena mahātmanā || 1-14-17 Holding on to his own pledge to root out incompatibles, also keeping the promise given by his mentor to the same folks in view, sagara let them off ordering a different identity for them. He ordered half-shaved heads to shaka-s; clean-shaven heads to yavanā-s; pārada-s and kāmbojā-s to hang their head hair loose; pahlavā-s shall grow beards. He debarred them all from the study of Vedic text and scriptures. śakā yavana kāmbojāḥ pāradāḥ ca viśāmpate | kolisarpāḥ sa mahiṣā dārdyāḥ cholāḥ sa keralāḥ || 1-14-18 sarve te kṣatriyāḥ tāta dharmaḥ teṣāṁ nirākṛtaḥ | vasiṣṭha vacanāt rājan sagareṇa mahātmanā || 1-14-19 In fact, all the shaka-s, yavanā-s, kāmboja-s, pārada-s, koli-sarpa-s, mahiṣa-s, dārdya-s chola-s, and kerala-s, are kshatriya-s only... but, emperor sagara precluded them from kshatriya dharma for their unprincipled actions, according to the verdict of sage vaśiṣṭha. khasāṁ tu pārāṁ cholāṁ ca madrān kiṣkindhakāṁ tathā | kauntalāṁ ca tathā vaṅgān sālvā kauṅkaṇakān tathā || 1-14-20 sa dharma-vijayī rājā vijityemāṁ vasundharām | aśvaṁ vai prerayāmāsa vāji-medhāya dīkṣitaḥ || 1-14-21 On conquering kings of khasā, pāra, chola, madra, kiṣkindha, kuntala, vanga, konkaṇa provinces, and to become a righteous conqueror of the world he undertook the vow for ashwa-medha ritual, horse-sacrifice ritual, and released the horse, challenging any king who dares to capture that horse. Here a reading difficulty is there. In the starting compound of first foot, a letter's position alters the reading. If it is read as khasāṁstuṣārām, it becomes khasā-s and tuṣārās. BORI records this - khaśās tu ṣārāś cīnāś ca - China is also brought in. It is read as above in citrashala edition. tasya cārayataḥ saḥ aśvaḥ samudre pūrva-dakṣiṇe | velā samīpe apahṛto bhūmiṁ caiva praveśitaḥ || 1-14-22 sa taṁ deśaṁ tadā putraiḥ khānayāmāsa pārthivaḥ | While that horse is being moved around provinces it reached the south-easterly zone, and at seashore indra abducted that horse and hid it underneath the earth. sagara then ordered his sons escorting that horse to dig up that place to locate the ritual horse. āseduḥ te tataḥ tatra khanyamāne mahārṇave || 1-14-23 tam ādi-puruṣaṁ devaṁ hariṁ kṛṣṇaṁ prajāpatim | viṣṇuṁ kapila rūpeṇa svapantaṁ puruṣottamam || 1-14-24 Then those princes unremittingly dug the place to oceanic depths until they reached śrī-hari reposing there in the getup of sage kapila. tasya cakṣuḥ samutthena tejasā prati budhyataḥ | dagdhāḥ te vai mahārāja catvāraḥ tu avaśeṣitāḥ || 1-14-25 barha-ketuḥ su-ketuḥ ca tathā dharma-rathaḥ nṛpaḥ | śūraḥ paṣcha-janaḥ caiva tasya vaṁśakaro nṛpaḥ || 1-14-26 Awakened by their digging sage kapila opened his eyes, and those eyes have opened fire and burnt all the sons of emperor sagara, excluding four, namely barha-ketu, su-ketu, dharma-ratha and the valiant paṣcha-jana, who are scheduled to further the lineage of sagara. prādāt ca tasmai bhagavān hariḥ nārāyaṇo varān | akṣayaṁ vaṁśam ikṣvākoḥ kīrtiṁ ca api anivartanīm || 1-14-27 putraṁ samudraṁ ca vibhuḥ svarga vāsaṁ tathā akṣayam | putrāṇāṁ ca akṣayān lokān tasya ye cakṣuṣā hatāḥ || 1-14-28 śrīhari donning the role of sage kapila accorded boons to those four sons of sagara, saying "let there be eternality for ikśvāku dynasty, let that dynasty have an unvarying renown, let samudra, ocean-god, take birth in your lineage, let you all have unreduced stay in heave, let your brothers too, burnt by the heat if my eyes, have eternal abode in heaven..." samudraḥ ca arghyam ādāya vavande taṁ mahīpatim | sāgaratvaṁ ca lebhe sa karmaṇā tena tasya vai || 1-14-29 taṁ ca aśvamedhikaṁ saḥ aśvaṁ samudrāt upalabdhavān | ājahāra aśvamedhānāṁ śataṁ sa sumahāyaśāḥ | putrāṇāṁ ca sahasrāṇi ṣaṣṭhiḥ tasya iti naḥ shrutam || 1-14-30 samudra, the ocean-god, receiving reverence from emperor sagara venerated that king in his turn, and that king thus acquired the title of sagara, an ocean, as he dug earth to oceanic depths... sagara also performed hundred ashwa-medha, horse-rituals and begot sixty-thousand sons... thus we told... --o)0(o-- iti śrīmahābhārate khileṣu harivaṁśe harivaṁśaparvaṇi sagarotpattirnāma caturdaśo'dhyāyaḥ Thus, this is the fourteenth chapter of first canto called harivamsha-parva, in harivamśa-purāṇa, the sequel of mahābhārata, narrating the legend of emperor sagara. --o)0(o--