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"Amvarisha said, 'Let him who has stolen thy stalks be cruel and unrighteous in his behaviour towards women and kinsmen |
and kine! Let him be guilty also of Brahmanicide!'" |
"Narada said, 'Let him who has stolen thy stalks be one that identifies the body with the soul! Let him study the scriptures with |
a preceptor that is censurable! Let him chant the Vedas, offending at each step against the rules of orthoepy! Let him disregard |
all his seniors!'" |
"Nabhaga said, 'Let him who has stolen thy stalks always speak false-hoods and quarrel with those that are righteous! Let him |
bestow his daughter in marriage after accepting a pecuniary gratification offered by his son-in-law!'" |
"Kavi said, 'Let him who has stolen thy stalks he guilty of striking a cow with his foot. Let him make water, facing the sun! Let |
him cast off the person that seeks shelter at his hands!'" |
"Viswamitra said, 'Let him who has stolen thy stalks become a servant that behaves with deceit towards his master! Let him be |
the priest of a king! Let him be the Ritwik of one that should not be assisted at his sacrifices!'" |
"Parvata said, 'Let him who has stolen thy stalks be the chief of a village! Let him make journeys on asses! Let him leash |
hounds for a living!'" |
"Bharadwaja said, 'Let him who has stolen thy stalks be guilty of all the demerits that become his who is cruel in his behaviour |
and untruthful in speech!'" |
"Ashtaka said, 'Let him who has stolen thy stalks be a king destitute of wisdom capricious and sinful in his behaviour, and |
disposed to rule the Earth unrighteously!'" |
"Galava said, 'Let him who has stolen thy stalks be more infamous than a sinful man! Let him be sinful in his acts towards his |
kinsmen and relatives! Let him proclaim the gifts he makes to others!'" |
"Arundhati said, 'Let her who has stolen thy stalks speak ill of her mother-in-law! Let her feel disgust for her lord. Let her eat |
alone any good food that comes to her house!'" |
"The Valakhilyas said, 'Let him who has stolen thy stalks stand on one foot at the entrance of a village (for earning his |
subsistence)! Let him. while knowing all duties, be guilty of every breach!'"[434] |
"Sunahsakha said, 'Let him who has stolen thy stalks be a Brahmana that sleeps in happiness, having disregarded his daily |
Homa! Let him, after becoming a religious mendicant, behave in whatever way he pleases, without observing any restraint!'" |
"Surabhi said, 'Let her who has stolen thy stalks be milked, with her (hind) legs bound with a rope of human hair, and with the |
aid of a calf not her own, and, while milked, let her milk be held in a vessel of white brass!'[435] |
"Bhishma continued, 'After the Rishis and the royal sages had sworn these diverse oaths, O Kuru king, the thousand-eyed chief |
of the deities, filled with joy, cast his looks on the angered Rishi Agastya. Addressing the Rishi who was very angry at the |
disappearance of his lotus-stalks, Maghavat thus declared what was passing in his mind. Hear, O king, what the words were |
that Indra spoke in the midst of those regenerate and celestial Rishis and royal sages.'" |
"Sakra said, 'Let him who has stolen thy stalks be possessed of the merit of him who bestows his daughter in marriage upon a |
Brahmana that has duly observed the vow of Brahmacharya or that has duly studied the Samans and the Yajuses! Let him also |
have the merit of one that undergoes the final bath after completing one's study of the Atharva Veda! Let him who has stolen |
thy stalks have the merit of having studied all the Vedas. Let him be observant of all duties and righteous in his behaviour! |
Indeed, let him go to the region of Brahman!' |
"Agastya said, 'Thou hast, O slayer of Vala, uttered a benediction instead of a curse! (It is evident), thou hast taken my stalks!" |
Give them to me, for that is the eternal duty!'" |
"Indra said, 'O holy one, I did not remove thy stalks, led by cupidity! Indeed, I removed them from desire of hearing this |
conclave recite what the duties are that we should observe. It behoveth thee not to give way to anger! Duties are the foremost |
of Srutis. Duties constitute the eternal path (for crossing the sea of the world)! I have listened to this discourse of the Rishis (on |
duties) that is eternal and immutable, and that transcends all change![436] Do thou then, O foremost of learned Brahmanas, |
take back these stalks of thine! O holy one, it behoves thee to forgive my transgression, O thou that art free from every fault!'" |
"Bhishma continued, 'Thus addressed by the chief of the deities, the ascetic, viz., Agastya, who had been very angry, took back |
his stalks. Endued with great intelligence, the Rishi became cheerful. After this, those denizens of the woods proceeded to |
diverse other sacred waters. Indeed, repairing to those sacred waters they performed their ablutions everywhere. The man who |
reads this narrative with close attention on every Parva day, will not have to become the progenitor of an ignorant and wicked |
son. He will never be destitute of learning. No calamity will ever touch him. He will, besides, be free from every kind of |
sorrow. Decrepitude and decay will never be his. Freed from stains and evil of every kind, and endued with merit, he is sure to |
attain to Heaven. He who studies this Sastra observed by the Rishis, is sure, O prince of men, to attain to the eternal region of |
Brahman that is full of felicity!'"[437] |
SECTION XCV |
"Yudhishthira said, 'O chief of Bharata's rare, by whom was the custom of giving umbrellas and sandals at obsequial |
ceremonies introduced? Why was it introduced and for what purpose are those gifts made? They are given not only at |
obsequial ceremonies but also at other religious rites. They are given on many occasions with a view to acquiring religious |
merit. I wish to know, in detail, O regenerate one, the true meaning of this custom!'" |
"Bhishma said, 'Do thou, O prince, attentively listen to the details I shall recite in respect of the custom of giving away |
umbrellas and shoes at religious rites, and as to how and by whom it was introduced. I shall also tell thee in full, O prince, how |
it acquired the force of a permanent observance and how it came to be viewed as a meritorious act. I shall, in this connection, |
recite the narrative of the discourse between Jamadagni and the high-souled Surya. In ancient times, the illustrious Jamadagni, |
O puissant king, of Bhrigu's race, was engaged in practising with his bow. Taking his aim, he shot arrow after arrow. His wife |
Renuka used to pick up the shafts when shot and repeatedly bring them back to that descendant, endued with blazing energy, of |
Bhrigu's race. Pleased with the whizzing noise of his arrows and the twang of his bow, he amused himself thus by repeatedly |
discharging his arrows which Renuka brought back into him. One day, at noontide, O monarch, in that month when the sun |
was in Jyesthamula, the Brahmana, having discharged all his arrows, said to Renuka, 'O large-eyed lady, go and fetch me the |
shafts I have shot from my bow, O thou of beautiful eye-brows! I shall again shoot them with my bow.' The lady proceeded on |
her errand but was compelled to sit under the shade of a tree, in consequence of her head and feet being scorched by the heat of |
the sun. The black-eyed and graceful Renuka, having rested for only a moment, feared the curse of her husband and, therefore, |
addressed herself again to the task of collecting and bringing back the arrows. Taking them with her, the celebrated lady of |
graceful features came back, distressed in mind and her feet smarting with pain. Trembling with fear, she approached her |
husband. The Rishi, filled with wrath, repeatedly addressed his fair-faced spouse, saying, 'O Renuka, why hast thou teen so late |
in returning?'" |
"Renuka said, 'O thou that art endued with wealth of penances, my head and feet were scorched by the rays of the sun! |
Oppressed by the heat, I had betaken myself to the shade of a tree! Just this has been the cause of the delay! Informed of the |
cause, do thou, O lord, cease to be angry with me!'" |
"Jamadagni said, 'O Renuka, this very day shall I destroy, with the fiery energy of my weapons, the star of day with his blazing |
rays, that has afflicted thee in this way!'" |
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