Anushasanika Parva — The history of Jamadagni

Yudhishthira said I am stupefied, O grandfather, to hear your words! Thinking that the Earth is now destitute of a very large number of kings all of whom were gifted with great prosperity, my heart becomes filled with grief.

Having conquered the Earth and acquired hundreds of kingdoms, O Bharata, I turn with grief, O grandfather, at the thought of the millions of men I have killed.

Alas, what will the condition be of those foremost ladies who have been deprived by us of husbands and sons and maternal uncles and brothers?

Having killed those Kurus our kinsmen, that is, and our friends and wellwisherswe shall have to sink in hell with heads hanging downwards. There is no doubt of this.

I wish, O Bharata, to afflict my body with, severe, penances. With that end in view, O king. I wish to receive instructions from you.

Vaishampayana said The great Bhishma, hearing these words of Yudhishthira, reflected upon them acutely with the help of his understanding, and addressed Yudhishthira in reply.

Bhishma said Hear what I say to you. It is highly wonderful and is a great mystery. The subject is the ends that creatures acquire after death as the rewards of particular acts or courses of conduct they follow.

One goes to Heaven by penances. By penances one acquires fame. By penances, O mighty king, one lives long and gets all articles of enjoyment.

By penances one acquires knowledge, science, health and freedom from disease, beauty of person, prosperity and blessedness, O chief of Bharata's race.

By penances one acquires riches. By observing the vow of silence one succeeds in bringing the whole world under his sway. By making gifts one gets all kinds of enjoyable articles. By observing the rite of Diksha one acquires birth in a good and high family. Those who spend their lives living upon only fruits and roots succeed in acquiring kingdom and sovereignty. Those who live upon the leaves of plants and trees as their food succeed in going to Heaven.

One who live upon water only attains to Heaven. By making gifts one simply increases his wealth. By serving with reverence his preceptor, acquires learning. By performing Shraddhas every day in honour of his Departed Manes, one acquires a large number of children.

By observing Diksha upon potherbs and vegetables, one acquires a large number of kine. Those who live upon grass and straw succeed in going to Heaven. By bathing thrice every day with necessary rites, one acquires a large number of waves. By drinking the air alone, one acquires residence in the regions of Prajapati.

one The Brahmana who bathes every day and recites sacred Mantras in the two twilights, becomes possessed of the position of Daksha himself. By adoring the deities in a forest or desert, one acquires a kingdom or sovereignty, and by observing the vow of relinquishing the body by a long fast, one goes to the celestial region.

One having penances for wealth and always passing his days in Yoga obtains good beds and seats and Vehicles. Renouncing the body by entering a burning fire, one becomes an object of respect in the region of Brahman.

Those who lie on the hard and bare ground acquire houses and beds. Those who clothe themselves in rags and barks get good dresses and ornaments.

By avoiding the several agreeable tastes one succeeds in winning great prosperity. By abstaining from meat and fish, one gets longlived children.

One who passes sometime in Udavasa, mode of life, becomes the very lord of the celestial region. The man who speaks the truth, O best of men, succeeds in sporting happily with the celestials themselves.

By making gifts one acquires great fame on account of his high achievements. By abstention from cruelty, one acquires health and freedom from disease. By serving the Brahmanas with respect, one acquires kingdom and sovereignty, and the high position of a Brahmana.

By making gifts of water and other drinks, one acquires eternal fame on account of high achievements. By making gifts of food, one acquires various articles of enjoyment.

One who gives peace to all creatures, (by refraining to do them any injury), becomes freed from every region. By serving the gods, one obtains a kingdom and celestial beauty,

By presenting lights at places which are dark and frequented by men, one acquires a good eyesight. By giving away good and beautiful objects, one acquires a good memory and understanding.

By distributing scents and garlands, one acquires farreaching fame. Those who abstain from shaving off their hair and beards, get excellent children.

By observing fasts and initiation and baths, O Bharata, for twelve years one acquires a region which is superior to that attainable by unreturning heroes.

By conferring one's daughter on an eligible bridegroom according to the Brahma form, one gets, O best of men, male and female slaves and ornaments and fields and houses.

By celebrating sacrifices and observing fasts, one goes to the celestial region, O Bharata. The man who gives away fruits and flowers succeeds in gaining sacred knowledge.

The man who gives away a thousand kine with horns bedecked with gold, succeeds in acquiring Heaven. This has been declared by the very deities in a celestial assemblage.

One who gives away a Kapila cow with her calf, with a brazen pot for milking, with horns bedecked with gold, and possessed of various other accomplishments, obtains the fruition of all his desires from that cow.

Such a person, on account of that act of gift, lives in the celestial region for as many years as there are hairs on the body of the cow and rescues in the next world his sons and grandsons and all his family to the seventh degree.

That man gets to the regions of the Vasus who gives away a cow with horns beautifully decorated with gold, accompanied with a brazen jar for milking, along with a piece of cloth embroidered with gold, a measure of sesame and a sum of money as gift.

A gift of kine rescues the giver in the next world when he finds himself falling into the deep darkness of hell and fettered by his own deeds in this world, like a boat with sails that have caught the air rescuing a person drowning in the ocean.

He who confers a daughter according to the Brahma form upon an eligible person, or who makes a gift of land to a Brahmana, or who gives food according to due rites, succeeds in attaining to the region of Indra.

That man who presents a house, furnished with every sort of furniture to Brahmana given to Vedic studies and endued with every accomplishment and good behaviour, lives in the country of UttaraKurus.

By making gifts of draft bullocks, a person acquires the region of the Vasus. Gift of gold secures Heaven. Gift of pure gold yields greater merit still.

By making gift of an umbrella, one acquires a palatial residence. By making gift of a pair of sandals or shoes, one acquires good cars, The reward of cloths, is personal beauty, and by making gifts of scents, one gets a fragrant body in next life.

One who gives flowers and fruits and plants and trees to a Brahmana, acquires, without any toil, a palatial residence containing beautiful women and plenty of riches.

The giver of food and drink of different tastes and other articles of enjoyment succeeds in acquiring profuse supply of such articles. The giver, again, of houses and cloths get articles of a similar nature. There is no doubt in this.

That person who makes gifts of garlands and incense and scents and unguents and the articles needed by men after a bath, and garlands to Brahmanas, becomes freed from cvery disease and, possessed of personal beauty, sports in joy in the region reserved for great kings.

That man, O king, who presents to a Brahmana a house that is stored with grain, furnished with beds, full of riches, auspicious, and delightful, acquires a palatial residence.

He who gives to a Brahmana a good bed perfumed with fragrant scents, covered with an excellent sheet, and pillows, gets without any effort on his part a beautiful wife, belonging to a respectable family and of agreeable manners.

The man who takes to a hero's bed on the field of battle becomes the equal of the Grandfather Brahman himself. There is no end that is higher than this. Even this is what the great Rishis have said,

Vaishampayana said Hearing these words of his grandfather, Yudhishthira, the delighter of the Kurus, became anxious to get the end reserved for heroes and no longer expressed any disgust for leading a domestic mode of life.

Then, O foremost of men, Yudhishthira, addressing all the other sons of Pandu, said to them Let the words which our grandfather has said, command your faith.'

At this, all the Pandavas with the famous Draupadi amongst them, highly spoke of the words of Yudhishthira and said, yes.'