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"Bhishma said, 'King Nahusha hearing the pass to which Chyavana was reduced, quickly proceeded to that spot accompanied |
by his ministers and priest. Having cleansed himself duly, the king, with joined palms and concentrated attention, introduced |
himself unto the high-souled Chyavana. The king's priest then worshipped with due ceremonies that Rishi, O monarch, who |
was observant of the vow of truth and endued with a high soul, and who resembled a god himself (in splendour and energy).' |
"Nahusha said, 'Tell me, O best of regenerate persons, what act shall we do that may be agreeable to thee? However difficult |
that act may be, there is nothing, O holy one, that I shall not be able to accomplish at thy bidding.' |
"Chyavana said, 'These men that live by catching fish have all been tried with labour. Do thou pay them the price that may be |
set upon me along with the value of these fish.' |
"Nahusha said, 'Let my priest give unto these Nishadas a thousand coins as a price for purchasing these sacred one as he |
himself has commanded.' |
"Chyavana said, 'A thousand coins cannot represent my price. The question depends upon your discretion. Give them a fair |
value, settling with thy own intelligence what it should be.' |
"Nahusha said, 'Let, O learned Brahmana, a hundred thousand coins be given unto these Nishadas. Shall this be thy price, O |
holy one, or dost think otherwise?' |
"Chyavana said, 'I should not be purchased for a hundred thousand coins, O best of monarchs! Let a proper price be given unto |
them. Do thou consult with thy ministers.' |
"Nahusha said, 'Let my priest give unto these Nishadas a crore of coins. If even this does not represent thy price, let more be |
paid unto them.' |
"Chyavana said, 'O king, I do not deserve to be purchased for a crore of coins or even more. Let that price be given unto those |
men which would be fair or proper. Do thou 'consult with the Brahmanas.' |
"Nahusha said, 'Let half of my kingdom or even the whole be given away unto these Nishadas. I think that would represent thy |
price. What, however, dost thou think, O regenerate one?' |
"Chyavana said, 'I do not deserve to be purchased with half thy kingdom or even the whole of it, O king! Let thy price which is |
proper be given unto these men. Do thou consult with the Rishis.' |
"Bhishma continued, 'Hearing these words of the great Rishi, Nahusha became afflicted with great grief. With his ministers and |
priest he began to deliberate on the matter. There then came unto king Nahusha an ascetic living in the woods and subsisting |
upon fruit and roots and born of a cow. That best of regenerate persons, addressing the monarch, O king, said these words, 'I |
shall soon gratify thee. The Rishi also will be gratified. I shall never speak an untruth.--no, not even in jest, what then need I |
say of other occasions? Thou shouldst, without any scruple, do what I bid thee.' |
"Nahusha said, 'Do thou, O illustrious one, say what the price is of that great Rishi of Bhrigu's race. O, save me from this |
terrible pass, save my kingdom, and save my race! If the holy Chyavana became angry, he would destroy the three worlds: |
what need I say them of my poor self who is destitute of penances and who depends only upon the might of his arm? O great |
Rishi, do thou become the raft unto us that have all fallen into a fathomless ocean with all our counsellors and our priest! Do |
thou settle what the price should be of the Rishi.' |
"Bhishma said, 'Hearing these words of Nahusha, the ascetic born of a cow and endued with great energy spoke in this strain, |
gladdening the monarch and all his counsellors, 'Brahmanas, O king, belong to the foremost of the four orders. No value, |
however great, can be set upon them. Cows also are invaluable. Therefore, O chief of men, do thou regard a cow as the value of |
the Rishi.' Hearing these words of the great Rishi, Nahusha became, O king, filled with joy along with all his counsellors and |
priest. Proceeding then to the presence of Bhrigu's son, Chyavana, of rigid vows, h e addressed him thus, O monarch, for |
gratifying him to the best of his ability.' |
'Nahusha said, 'Rise, rise, O regenerate Rishi, thou hast been purchased. O son of Bhirgu, with a cow as thy price. O foremost |
of righteous persons, even this, I think, is thy price.' |
"Chyavana said. 'Yes, O king of kings, I do rise up. I have been properly purchased by thee, O sinless one! I do not, O thou of |
unfading glory, see any wealth that is equal to kine. To speak of kine, to hear others speak of them, to make gifts of kine, and |
to see kine, O king, are acts that are all applauded, O hero, and that are highly auspicious and sin-cleansing. Kine are always |
the root of prosperity. There is no fault in kine. Kine always afford the best food, in the form of Havi, unto the deities. The |
sacred Mantras, Swaha and Vashat, are always established upon kine. Kine are the chief conductresses of sacrifices. They |
constitute the mouth of sacrifice. They bear and yield excellent and strength-giving nectar. They receive the worship of all the |
worlds and are regarded as the source of nectar. On earth, kine resemble fire in energy and form. Verily, kine represent high |
energy, and are bestowers of great happiness upon all creatures. That country where kine, established by their owners, breathe |
fearlessly, shines in beauty. The sins, also of that country are all washed off. Kine constitute the stairs that lead to heaven. Kine |
are adorned in heaven itself. Kine are goddesses that are competent to give everything and grant every wish. There is nothing |
else in the world that is so high or so superior!'[305] |
"Bhishma continued, "Even this is what I say unto thee on the subject of the glory and superiority of kine, O chief of Bharata's |
race. I am competent to proclaim a part only of the merits that attach to kine. I have not the ability to exhaust the subject!' |
"Then Nishadas said, 'O ascetic, thou hast seen us and hast also spoken with us. It has been said that friendship with those that |
are good, depends upon only seven words[306]. Do thou then, O lord, show us thy grace. The blazing sacrificial fire eats all the |
oblations of clarified butter poured upon it. Of righteous soul, and possessed of great energy thou art among men, a blazing fire |
in energy. We propitiate thee, O thou of great learning! We surrender ourselves to thee. Do thou, for showing us favour, take |
back from us this cow.' |
"Chyavana said, 'The eye of a person that is poor or that has fallen into distress, the eye of an ascetic, or the eye of a snake of |
virulent poison, consumes a man with his very roots, even as a fire that, blazing up with the assistance of the wind, consumes a |
stack of dry grass or straw. I shall accent the cow that ye desire to present me. Ye fishermen, freed from every sin, go ye to |
heaven without any delay, with these fishes also that ye have caught with your nets.' |
"Bhishma continued, 'After this, in consequence of the energy of the great Rishi of cleansed soul, those fishermen along with |
all those fish through virtue of those words that he had uttered, proceeded to heaven. King Nahusha, beholding the fishermen |
ascending to heaven with those fishes in their company, became filled with wonder, O chief of Bharata's race. After this, the |
two Rishis, viz., the one born of a cow and the other who was Chyavana of Bhrigu's race, gladdened king Nahusha by granting |
him many boons. Then king Nahusha of great energy, that lord of all the earth, filled with joy, O best of the Bharatas, said, |
'Sufficient!' Like unto a second Indra, the chief of the celestials, he accepted the boon about his own steadiness in virtue. The |
Rishis having granted him the boon, the delighted king worshipped them both with great reverence. As regards Chyavana, his |
vow having been completed, he returned to his own asylum. The Rishi that had taken his birth from the cow, and who was |
endued with great energy, also proceeded to his own retreat. The Nishadas all ascended to heaven as also the fishes they had |
caught, O monarch. King Nahusha, too, having obtained those valuable boons, entered his own city. I have thus, O son, told |
thee everything respecting what thou hadst asked me. The affection that is generated by the sight alone of others as also by the |
fact of living with them, O Yudhishthira, and the high-blessedness of kine too, and the ascertainment of true righteousness, are |
the topics upon which I have discoursed. Tell me, O hero what else is in thy breast.'" |
SECTION LII |
"Yudhishthira said, 'O thou of great wisdom, a doubt I have that is very great and that is as vast as the ocean itself. Listen to it, |
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