Devanagari
सूत्येऽहन्यवनीपालो याजकान् सदसस्पतीन् ।
अपूजयन् महाभागान् यथावत् सुसमाहित: ॥ १७ ॥
Verse text
sūtye ’hany avanī-pālo
yājakān sadasas-patīn
apūjayan mahā-bhāgān
yathā-vat su-samāhitaḥ
Synonyms
sūtye
—
of extracting the soma juice
;
ahani
—
on the day
;
avanī
—
pālaḥ — the King
;
yājakān
—
the sacrificers
;
sadasaḥ
—
of the assembly
;
patīn
—
the leaders
;
apūjayat
—
worshiped
;
mahā
—
bhāgān — greatly exalted
;
yathāvat
—
correctly
;
su
—
samāhitaḥ — with careful attention .
Translation
On the day of extracting the soma juice, King Yudhiṣṭhira properly and very attentively worshiped the priests and the most exalted personalities of the assembly.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
On the day of extracting the soma juice, King Yudhiṣṭhira properly and very attentively worshiped the priests and the most exalted personalities of the assembly.
KB 10.74.17
According to the Vedic system, whenever there is an arrangement for sacrifice, the members participating are offered the juice of the soma plant, which is a kind of life-giving beverage. On the day for extracting the soma juice, King Yudhiṣṭhira very respectfully received the special priest who had been engaged to detect any mistake in the formalities of the sacrificial procedure. The idea is that the Vedic mantras must be enunciated perfectly and chanted with the proper accent; if the priests who are engaged in this business commit any mistake, the checker, or referee priest, immediately corrects the procedure, and thus the ritualistic performances are perfectly executed. Unless perfectly executed, a sacrifice cannot yield the desired result. In this Age of Kali there is no such learned brāhmaṇa or priest available; therefore, all such sacrifices are forbidden. The only sacrifice recommended in the śāstras is the chanting of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra.
Purport
Śrīla Prabhupāda writes in
Kṛṣṇa:
“According to the Vedic system, whenever there is an arrangement for sacrifice, the members participating in the sacrifice are offered the juice of the
soma
plant, which is a kind of life-giving beverage. On the day of extracting the
soma
juice, King Yudhiṣṭhira very respectfully received the special priest who had been engaged to detect any mistake in the formalities of sacrificial procedures. The idea is that the Vedic
mantras
must be enunciated perfectly and chanted with the proper accent; if the priests who are engaged in this business commit any mistake, the checker, or referee priest, immediately corrects the procedure, and thus the ritualistic performances are perfectly executed. Unless it is perfectly executed, a sacrifice cannot yield the desired result. In this Age of Kali there is no such learned
brāhmaṇa
or priest available; therefore, all such sacrifices are forbidden. The only sacrifice recommended in the
śāstras
is the chanting of the Hare Kṛṣṇa
mantra.”
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
On the day of extracting soma (sutye ahani) Yudhisthira worshiped the priests.
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
With faith he worshipped the best members of the assembly as appropriate to their status because they were most pure (mahābhāgān), since he was the protector of the earth, having conquered the directions.
Purport (Sanatana Goswami)
With faith he worshipped the best members of the assembly as appropriate to their status because they were very pure (mahābhāgān) or were entitled to portions of the donations from the sacrifice, since he was the protector of the earth, having conquered the directions.