Bala Kanda, Sarga 14

Meaning

The aforementioned horse having returned on the completion of a twelve month period after its release, the Aśwamedha Yajña (horse-sacrifice) commenced on the northern bank of the Sarayū. (1)

Meaning

Placing Ṛṣyaśṛṅga at their head (as the arch-priest or Brahmā, whose function is to supervise a sacrifice, the other three priests officiating at a sacrifice being severally known by the names of Hotā, Adhwaryu and Udgātā), the foremost among the Brāhmaṇas discharged their functions in the great Aśwamedha sacrifice started by this exceptionally noble-minded monarch.(2)

Meaning

The priests officiating at the sacrifice, who had all mastered the Vedas, duly performed their respective duties and proceeded according to the scriptural ordinance abiding by the procedure laid down in the Kalpa-Sūtras and following the order of sequence given in the Mīmāṁsā-Śāstra. (3)

Meaning

Having gone through the rite known by the name of Pravargya (auxiliary to a horse-

Meaning

sacrifice, in which fresh milk is poured into a heated vessel called Mahāvīra or Gharma, or into boiling ghee) as well as through the Iṣṭi (a minor sacrifice) called Upasada, according to the scriptural ordinance, the Brāhmaṇas also duly performed every additional rite even beyond the express injunctions of the Śāstras. (4)

Meaning

Offering worship to the gods, sought to be propitiated through the various rites, all the eminent sages officiating at the sacrifice duly performed, full of delight on the said occasion, the rites commencing from the morning Savana (i.e., morning Savana, midday Savana and third Savana) (act of pressing out the Soma juice). (5)

Meaning

The oblation intended for Indra, the lord of paradise, was duly offered to him and the creeper* known by the name of Soma (the king of herbs), that drives away all sin, was crushed and its sap extracted. And the midday Savana was set on foot in due order. (6)

Meaning

Ascertaining the procedure by reference to the Śāstras, those jewels among the Brāhmaṇas further duly conducted the third Savana on behalf of this exceptionally noble-minded monarch. (7)

Meaning

Through incantations marked with letter-sounds the correct pronunciation and intonation of which was picked up during the period of their study, Ṛṣyaśṛṅga and others invoked the presence in that sacrificial hall of the foremost of gods headed by Indra, the ruler of gods. (8)

Meaning

Invoking them by means of charming invocatory Mantras (sacred texts) sweetened with songs of praise, the Hotās (priests whose function is to invoke the gods at a sacrifice) offered oblations to the gods (the denizens of heaven) according to their rank. (9)

Meaning

In that sacrifice no oblation was wrongly offered nor was any rite omitted through ignorance; for every item was seen accompanied with the uttering of a Mantra and the priests did everything in such a way as to avoid transgressions in the matter of procedure. (10)

Meaning

During those days when the sacrifice was in progress no priest officiating at the sacrifice was seen exhausted (too tired to carry on his duties) or hungry or even thirsty and there was no Brāhmaṇa, particularly in that sacrifice, who was not learned and did not have at least a hundred attendants/pupils. (11)

Meaning

The Brāhmaṇas as well as the members of the other twice-born classes took their food everyday and so did the members of the servant class, the Śūdras and so on. The ascetics, the Brahmacārīs and the Vānaprasthas, also took their meals under the auspices of the sacrifice and so did the recluses too as well as the aged and the diseased as also women and children. The dishes were so delicious that no satiety was observed in the latter, even though they were fed day and night. (12-13)

Meaning

Pressed by men at the helm of affairs in the words “Let food be given again and again and also articles of wearing apparel of various kinds !” many men in that sacrifice did as they were told, i.e., freely gave away food and raiment. (14)

Meaning

Numerous heaps, resembling mountains of rice cooked from day-to-day in the traditional way were seen on that occasion on the sacrificial grounds. (15)

Meaning

The men as well as the hosts of women that had arrived from different lands were fully entertained at that sacrificial performance of the high-souled Emperor. (16)

Meaning

The noble Brāhmaṇas spoke well of the food they ate as indeed cooked in the proper way and tasteful too and Daśaratha (a scion of Raghu) heard them saying, “Oh, we are fully sated. May you be blessed !” (17)

Meaning

Nay, men richly adorned served food to the Brāhmaṇas, while others, decked with earrings made of highly polished gems, waited upon the former in their turn. (18)

Meaning

During the interval between two Savanas (act of pressing out the Soma juice) on that occasion, intelligent and highly eloquent Brāhmaṇas put forward many reasoned arguments with the intention of getting the better of one another. (19)

Meaning

From day-to-day in that sacrifice the aforesaid expert Brāhmaṇas discharged all the functions according to the scriptural ordinance as directed by the elders. (20)

Meaning

No Brāhmaṇa holding the office of a Sadasya (whose duties are merely to look on and correct mistakes) in this sacrificial performance of that monarch (King Daśaratha) was not conversant with the six branches of knowledge auxiliary to the Vedas (viz., 1-Śikṣā or Phonetics, 2-Vyākaraṇa or Grammar, 3Chandas or Prosody, 4-Nirukta or Etymology, 5-Jyautiṣa or Astronomy and 6-Kalpa or the science which prescribes the ritual and gives rules for ceremonial or sacrificial acts), did not observe sacred vows and was not very learned or not skilled in argument. (21)

Meaning

When the time arrived for erecting the sacrificial pillars, there came to be set up in that sacrifice six pillars of Bilva wood, an equal number of Khadira, each by the side of a Bilva one, and six more of Palāśa. (22)

Meaning

One pillar of Śleṣmātaka is recommended and so are recommended pillars of deodar (the Himalayan cedar). Two only of such pillars of deodar are recommended in the aforesaid sacrifice viz., Aśwamedha and they should stand at a distance of six feet from one another. (23)

Meaning

All these had been got ready beforehand under the directions of those well-versed in the scriptures and proficient in the sacrificial technique and had been plated with gold for gracing the sacrifice. (24)

Meaning

Those twenty-one pillars were twenty-one spans high and had been duly adorned (covered) with as many pieces of cloth, each with one. (25)

Meaning

Having been beautifully shaped by carpenters, they were all strong and had been fixed according to the scriptural ordinance. Nay, they were all octangular and had been provided with a smooth surface. (26)

Meaning

Covered with pieces of cloth and worshipped with flowers and sandal-pastes, they shone bright as the constellation known by the name of the Great Bear, presided over by the seven Ṛṣis, in the heavens. (27)

Meaning

The bricks had been made according to the measurements given in the scriptures and with them was the sacrificial altar constructed by priests skilled in the architecture pertaining to sacrifices. (28)

Meaning

The sacrificial fire meant for that altar and going to be worshipped by Daśaratha (a lion among kings) was placed with due ceremony by expert Brāhmaṇas. (According to the shape of the altar in which the fire was placed) the fire resembled in shape a figure of Garuḍa with his wings and tail distended and looking downward facing the east with wings of gold (due to the sides of the pit having been constructed with bricks of gold). Being treble in size as compared to ordinary altars, it consisted of eighteen sacrificial pits (an ordinary altar comprising of six only). (29)

Meaning

Beasts, serpents and birds too, ordained by scriptural injunctions, had been tied down to those pillars for being offered to particular gods. (30)

Meaning

The sacrificial horse as well as the aquatic creatures (turtle etc.,) that had been brought there for the act of sacrifice, all these were bound that very moment by the seers/priests, according to the scriptural ordinance. (31)

Meaning

Three hundred beasts were tied down at that time to the aforesaid pillars; the foremost of the best horses belonging to King Daśaratha too, they say, was tied down there. (32)

Meaning

Consecrating the said horse on all sides (by sprinkling it with water and so on) there, Kausalyā as also the other queens touched it with great joy with three swords. (33)

Meaning

Nay, with intent to acquire religious merit Kausalyā then spent one night with the said horse (swift as Garuḍa, the king of the winged creation) with a perfectly composed mind. (34)

Meaning

The four archpriests1 officiating at the sacrifice, viz., the Hotā, the Adhwaryu, the Udgātā and the Brahmā then at the close of the night caused the king’s second wife2 (ordinarily belonging to the Vaiśya class and bearing the generic name of Vāvātā) alongwith the first wife (bearing the class-name of Mahiṣī) as well as the third wife (known by the class-name of Parivṛtti) to be brought into contact with the horse. (35)

Meaning

Taking out the edible part of the tuber known by the name of Aśwakanda (or Aśwagandhā, the plant Phys lis flexuosa), the chief priest, who had duly controlled his senses and possessed great skill in performing sacrificial rites, cooked it according to the scriptural ordinance. (36)

Meaning

The king smelt at the proper time according to the scriptural ordinance the odour of the steam of the tuber, driving away thereby his sin, standing in the way of his getting a son. (37)

Meaning

All the sixteen Brāhmaṇa priests taking part in the sacrificial performances in a body cast into the sacrificial fire with due ceremony all the articles worth consigning into the fire as parts of a horse-sacrifice.(38)

Meaning

Whereas the offering to be made at other sacrifices is placed on the boughs of a Plakṣa tree, that to be made at an Aśwamedha sacrifice is required to be placed on mats of cane. (39)

Meaning

A horse-sacrifice has been declared in the Kalpa-Sūtras as well as in the Brāhmaṇas as having its three days allotted to Savana (the rite of pressing out the Soma juice). Catuṣṭoma (Jyotiṣṭoma) has been mentioned to be the name of the Savana to be performed on the first of these three days. (40)

Meaning

The second day’s Savana has been named as Ukthya, while that to be performed the next (third) day has been designated as Atirātra. Many other secondary sacrifices too as enjoined from the Śāstrika point of view were performed by King Daśaratha on that occasion towards the conclusion of the horse-sacrifice. (41)

Meaning

Jyotiṣṭoma and Āyuṣṭoma, two rounds of Atirātra, Abhijit and Viśwajit and two rounds of Āptoryāma—these were the eight great sacrifices performed on the said occasion. (42)

Meaning

At the conclusion of the sacrifice the Emperor, the promoter of his race, gave away as Dakṣiṇā or sacrificial fee the eastern quarter of the globe to the Hotā, the western to the Adhwaryu, the southern quarter to the Brahmā and the northern to the Udgātā. Such is the Dakṣiṇā prescribed for the great sacrifice of Aśwamedha, which was performed for the first time by Brahmā, the self-born creator of the universe. (43-44)

Meaning

Having concluded the great sacrifice according to the scriptural ordinance, the Emperor, a jewel among men and the promoter of his race, actually gave away to the priests, who officiated at the sacrifice the earth itself (as specified above) on the said occasion. (45)

Meaning

Having made the aforesaid gifts, the glorious Daśaratha, a scion of Ikṣwāku, felt extremely delighted. All the priests, however, spoke as follows to the sinless king : (46)

Meaning

“You alone are able to protect the entire globe. We have nothing to do with the earth nor are we able to maintain it. (47)

Meaning

“As we are constantly devoted to the prosecution of the study of the Vedas, O protector of the earth, give you anything, whatsoever by way of consideration at this moment. (48)

Meaning

“Bestow on us some superb gem, gold or cows or whatever may be available, O jewel among the protectors of men ! We have no use for the earth.” (49)

Meaning

Told thus by the Brāhmaṇas, who were all masters of the Vedas, the king, who acknowledged none other as his own ruler, bestowed on them ten lakhs of cows, a hundred million gold coins and four times as many silver coins (rupees). Thereupon all the priests combined handed over the entire wealth to the sage Ṛṣyaśṛṅga and the wise Vasiṣṭha for equitable distribution. Having had the whole wealth equitably divided through Ṛṣyaśṛṅga and Vasiṣṭha, all those eminent Brāhmaṇas now felt much delighted at heart and said, “We are highly pleased.” Fully composed in mind, the king then gave away on that very occasion ten million gold coins to Brāhmaṇas that had come from outside to witness the sacrifice. When no money was left on hand for distribution, Daśaratha (the delight of Raghu’s race) promptly gave away one of his excellent bangles to a certain unknown indigent Brāhmaṇa who asked for a gift. The Brāhmaṇas having been duly propitiated, the king, who was so fond of the Brāhmaṇas and whose senses were all excited through joy, offered salutation to them. On that magnanimous soul, a hero among men, lying prostrate on the ground, benedictions of various kinds were forthwith pronounced in suitable words by the Brāhmaṇas. The king now felt delighted at heart to have succeeded in completing the sacrifice, unsurpassed by any other, capable of dispelling sins (that stood in the way of his getting a male progeny) and transporting him to heaven and was hard to carry through even for the foremost of kings. King Daśaratha then said to Ṛṣyaśṛṅga on that very occasion : (50—58)

Meaning

“Be pleased, O sage of auspicious vows, to do further that which may tend to promote my race.” “I shall do accordingly,” replied that jewel among the Brāhmaṇas to the king, “so that four such sons will be born to you as will propagate your race.”(59)

Meaning

That high-souled and piously-disposed Emperor experienced great joy to hear his sweet assurance and bowing low to him, reiterated his prayer to the celebrated Ṛṣyaśṛṅga. (60)