HOW JARAASANDHA WAS BORN?

SRIMAD MAHABHARATA - SABHA PARVA - RAAJASOOYA AARAMBHA (UPA) PARVA - CHAPTER 17 - HOW JARAASANDHA WAS BORN?

(KING BRIHADRATHA WITH HIS WIVES)

“Vaasudeva (Sri Krishna) said, ‘Arjuna has indicated what the inclination should be of one that is born in the Bharata race, especially of one who is the son of Kunti. We know not when death will overtake us, in the night or in the day. Nor have we ever heard that immortality has been achieved by desisting from fight. This, therefore, is the duty of men – to attack all enemies in accordance with the principles laid down in the ordinance (Vidhi in Sanskrit). This always gives satisfaction to the heart. Aided by good policy (Sunaya in Sanskrit), if not frustrated by Destiny, an undertaking becomes crowned with success. If both parties aided by such means (good policy) encounter each other, one must obtain dominance over the other, for both cannot win or lose. A battle however, if directed by bad policy which again is deprived of the well-known arts, ends in defeat or destruction. If, again, both parties are equally circumstanced, the result becomes doubtful. Both, however, cannot win. When such is the case, why should we not, aided by good policy, directly approach the enemy; and destroy him, like the current of the river uprooting a tree? If, hiding our own faults, we attack the enemy taking advantage of his loopholes, why should we not succeed? Indeed, the policy of intelligent men, is that one should not fight openly with enemies that are exceedingly powerful and are at the head of their well-arrayed forces. This too is my opinion. If, however, we accomplish our purpose secretly entering the abode of our enemy and attacking his person, we shall never earn defamation. That bull among men – Jaraasandha – alone enjoys unfaded glory, like to Him who is the self in the heart of every created being. But I see his (Jaraasandha’s) destruction before me. Desirous of protecting our relatives we will either slay him in battle or shall ascend to heaven being ourselves slain in the end by him.’

“Yudhishthira said ‘O (Sri) Krishna, who is this Jaraasandha? What is his energy (Veerya in Sanskrit) and what is his prowess (Paraakrama in Sanskrit), that having touched You he has not been burnt like an insect at the touch of fire?’

“(Sri) Krishna said, ‘Hear, O monarch (Yudhishthira), who Jaraasandha is; what his veerya; and what is his paraakrama; and why also he has been spared by us, even though he has repeatedly offended us. There was a mighty king of the name of Brihadratha, the lord of the Magadhaas. Proud in battle, he had three Akshauhinis of troops (65,610 chariots; 65,610 elephants; 196,830 horses and 328,050 infantry). Handsome and filled with veerya, possessed of affluence (Srimaan in Sanskrit) and paraakrama beyond measure, and always bearing on his person marks indicating installation at yagnas. He was like a second (Lord) Indra. In glory (Tejas in Sanskrit), he was like to Surya, in forgiveness like to the Earth, in anger like to the destroyer Yama and in wealth like to Vaishravana (Kubera).

“O you foremost of the Bharata race (Yudhishthira), the whole earth was covered by his qualities (Guna in Sanskrit) that descended upon him from a long line of ancestors, like the rays emerging from Surya. O bull of the Bharata race (Yudhishthira), filled with great energy (Maha Veerya in Sanskrit) that monarch (Brihadratha) married two twin daughters of the king of Kaashi, both filled with the wealth of beauty. That bull among men (Brihadratha) made an engagement in secret with his wives that he would love them equally and would never show a preference for either. The lord of the earth (Brihadratha) in the company of his two dearly loved wives, both of whom suited him well, passed his days in joy like a mighty elephant in the company of two female-elephants, or like the ocean (Saagara in Sanskrit) in his personified form (Moortimaan in Sanskrit) between (rivers) Ganga and Yamuna.

“The monarch's youth however, passed away in the enjoyment of his possessions, without any son being born to him to continue his line (Vamsha in Sanskrit). The best of monarch (Brihadratha) failed to obtain a son to continue his race (kula in Sanskrit), by means of various auspicious rites, homas, and Putrakaama yagna. One day, the king (Brihadratha) heard that Mahatma Chanda-Kaushika, the son of Kaaksheevata of the illustrious Gautama race, having suspended from Tapas had come in course of his wanderings to his capital and had taken his seat under the shade of a mango tree. The king (Brihadratha) went to that Muni accompanied by his two wives, and worshipping him with all gems and valuable presents satisfied him highly.

“That best of Rishis (Chanda-Kaushika) truthful in speech and firmly attached to Satya, then told the king (Brihadratha), ‘O king of kings, I have been pleased with you. O you of excellent vows (Suvrata in Sanskrit), you ask a boon.’

“King Brihadratha then, with his wives, bending low to that Rishi, spoke these words choked with tears in consequence of his despair of obtaining a child, ‘O holy one forsaking my kingdom I am about to go into the forest to practise Tapas. I am very unfortunate for I have no son. What shall I do, therefore, with my kingdom or with a boon?’

“(Sri) Krishna continued, ‘Hearing these words (of the king), the Muni (Chanda-Kaushika) controlling his outer senses entered into meditation (Dhyaana in Sanskrit), sitting in the shade of that very mango tree where he was. There fell upon the lap of the seated Muni a mango that was juicy and untouched by the beak of a parrot or any other bird. That best of Munis, taking up the fruit and mentally pronouncing certain mantras over it, gave it to the king as the means of his obtaining an incomparable offspring.

(RISHI CHANDA-KAUSHIKA AND KING BRIHADRATHA)

“The great Muni (Mahamuni in Sanskrit), possessed also of great wisdom, addressing the monarch (Brihadratha), said, “Return, O king, your wish is fulfilled. Stop, O king, from going (into the forest)’. Hearing these words of the Muni (Chanda-Kaushika) and worshipping his feet, the monarch (Brihadratha) possessed of great wisdom, returned to his own abode. O bull of the Bharata race (Yudhishthira), recollecting his former promise (to his wives) the king gave to his two wives that one fruit. His beautiful queens, dividing that single fruit into two parts, ate it up. In consequence of the certainty of the realisation of the Muni’s words and his truthfulness, both of them conceived, as an effect of their having eaten that fruit.

“The king seeing them in that state became filled with great joy. O wise monarch (Yudhishthira), then sometime after, when the time came, each of the queens brought forth a fragmentary body. Each fragment had one eye, one arm, one leg, half a stomach, half a face, and half an anus. Seeing the fragmentary bodies, both the mothers trembled much. The helpless sisters then anxiously consulted each other, and sorrowfully abandoned those fragments filled with life. The two Dhaatris (that waited upon the queens) then carefully wrapping up the still-born fragments went out of the inner apartments (of the palace) by the back door and throwing away the bodies, returned quickly. O tiger among men (Yudhishthira), a little while after a Raakshasi of the name of Jaraa living upon flesh and blood, took up the fragments that lay on a crossing. Driven by force of fate, the Raakshasi united the fragments for facility of carrying them away. O bull among men (Yudhishthira), as soon as the fragments were united they formed a sturdy child of one body (filled with life). Then, O king (Janamejaya), the Raakshasi, with eyes expanded in wonder, found herself unable to carry away that child having a body as hard and strong as Vajra.

“That infant then closing his fists red as copper and inserting them into its mouth, began to roar terribly as rain-charged clouds. Alarmed at the sound, the inmates of the palace, O tiger among men (Yudhishthira), suddenly came out with the king (Brihadratha), O slayer of all enemies (Yudhishthira). The helpless and disappointed and sad queens also, with breasts full of milk, also came out suddenly to recover their child. The Raakshasi (Jaraa) seeing the queens in that condition and the king (Brihadratha) too so desirous of an offspring, and the child was possessed of such strength thought within herself ‘I live within the territory of the king who is so desirous of an offspring. It is my duty, therefore, not to kill the infant child of such an illustrious and virtuous monarch.’ The Rakshasi then, holding the child in her arms like the clouds enveloping the Sun, and assuming a human form, told the king these words, ‘O Brihadratha, this is thy child. Given to you by me, O, take it. It has been born of both your wives by virtue of the boon of the great Dwija. Cast away by the Dhaatris, it hath been protected by me!

“(Sri) Krishna continued, ‘O you foremost of the Bharata race (Yudhishthira), the beautiful daughters of the king of Kaashi, having obtained the child, soon flooded it with their stream of milk. The king (Brihadratha) learning everything, was filled with joy, and addressing that female Raakshasi disguised as a human being possessing the complexion of gold, asked, ‘O you of the complexion of the filament of the lotus, who are you that give me this child? O auspicious one (Kalyaani in Sanskrit), you seem to me as a goddess (Devata in Sanskrit) roaming at your pleasure!’”