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CHAPTER LXXV.

SHREE SHOOKDEO JEE said,--Raja! listen with attention, and I will now relate how Raja Joodisthur performed the sacrifice, and Sissoopal was slain, when the twenty thousand eight hundred Rajas went there, all the other Rajas from the surrounding countries, and from every quarter, whether descendants of the sun, or descendants of the moon, came also, and were ready at Hustinapoor. Then Shree Krishnù Chund and Raja Joodisthur together behaved with the utmost affability to all the Rajas, and made all the arrangements, and entrusted each with a specific duty in the sacrifice. After this, Shree Krishnù Chund Jee said to the Raja Joodisthur, "O great king! we five brothers, Bheem, Urjoon, Nukool, Suhdeo and myself, together with the other Rajas, will do all the extraneous work, and do you be so good as to send for the sages, priests and brahmins, and begin the sacrifice."

O great king! on hearing these words, Raja Joodisthur, having summoned all the priests, sages, and brahmins, said, "O great kings! order all things necessary for the sacrifice." At these words, the priests, sages and brahmins, having consulted their holy books, wrote down on a paper a list of all the articles required; and the Raja caused them to be procured immediately, and placed before them. The priests,

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sages and brahmins together erected an altar for the sacrifice. The priests, sages and brahmins, of the four Vedas, having spread their seats, sat down in the middle of the altar; then Raja Joodisthur, having purified himself, came and sat down there also with his wife, the skirts of their mantles, being tied together as at a bridal. And Dronahcharuj, Kripacharuj, Dritrasht, Doorjodhun, Sissoopal and all the other mighty men, and great Rajas came and sat there also. The brahmins, having strewed boiled rice, and prayed for the blessings of the gods on the ceremony about to be performed; and, having caused Gunesh to be worshipped, made an offering of a jar of water, with the twigs of five sacred trees placed in it, and invoked the nine planets. The Raja hired for the performance of the religious ceremonies Bhurdooaj, Goutum, Bisist, Biswamittrù, Bamdeo, Purasur, Byas, Kusyp and other great priests, sages and brahmins; who, having repeated incantations from the Vedas, summoned all the gods; and, having caused the Raja to make a vow of giving alms of the sacrifice, they began to prepare the burnt offerings.

O great king! having repeated the incantations, the priests; sages and brahmins began to offer oblations with fire to the deities; and the gods, openly extending their hands began to receive them; at that time the brahmins were reading the Vedas, and all the Rajas brought the different materials of the burnt offerings, and presented them to the brahmins, and the Raja Joodisthur was engaged with the burnt offerings, when the sacrifice was peaceably completed, and the Raja gave the. final oblation. At that time, gods, men and sages began to utter exclamations of praise of all the Rajas; and the demigods, celestial musicians, and choristers began to play upon musical instruments, celebrate their fame in songs, and rain down flowers.

Having narrated thus much of the history, Shree Shookdeo Jee said to the Raja Pureechit,--O great king! being free from all the business of the sacrifice, Raja Joodisthur, having sent

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for Suhdeo Jee, enquired, "Whose adoration shall we perform first; to whom shall we give unbroken rice and marks upon the forehead? Who is the great lord of the gods, to whom we may bow the head, and offer worship?" Suhdeo Jee said, "O great king! Basoodeo is the god of all the gods; no one understands his nature; he is the lord of Bruhmù, Roodrù and Indrù; but be pleased to worship and bow the head to him first, as by giving water to the root of a tree, all the branches become green, so all the gods are gratified by adoration being offered to Huri, he is the lord of the universe, and he creates, preserves and destroys; his pastimes are endless; no one knows the end of them; he is the unseen, invisible and impenetrable lord; Luchmee having become a servant, constantly attends upon his lotus feet; he descends upon the earth continually for the sake of his worshippers; and, assuming corporeal form, appears and acts like a mortal; he comes and sits in our houses, and calls us 'brothers;' and fascinates us with his delusive power; we being deluded by great fascination and affection, consider the deity as a brother; we have not seen any one so great as him, let him be first worshipped."

O great king! on hearing this speech, all the saints, sages and Rajas exclaimed, "Raja! Suhdeo Jee has spoken truly, Huri is worthy of our first adoration." Then Raja Joodisthur having seated Shree Krishnù Chund Jee upon a throne, together with his eight queens, offered adoration to him, presenting sandal, unbroken rice, flowers, perfume, lamps and consecrated food; after this he worshipped all the gods, saints, sages, brahmins and Rajas, arrayed them in dresses of different colours, made marks upon their foreheads with sandal and saffron, decorated them with garlands of flowers, and sprinkling perfume, the Raja, with due observance of what was right and fitting, behaved to them all with the most engaging politeness.

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Shree Shookdeo Jee said,--Raja! all were pleased with the adoration of Huri, except Sissoopal, who hung down his head for a long time, he kept his head bent towards the ground, and remained thoughtful and reflecting; at length, being in the hands of death, he descended very angrily from his throne into the middle of the assembly; and, laying aside all reserve and fear, said, "In this assembly are Dritrasht, Doorjodhun, Bheekhum, Kurun, Dronachuruj and others, men of great knowledge and dignity of character; but their rank and understanding have, on this occasion, been entirely overlooked. Great chiefs of saints and sages have been sitting here, whilst adoration has been offered to the son of the cowherd, Nund, and no one has said any thing; he who was born in Bruj, and has eaten the leavings of the cowherds' children's prepared food, has, in this assembly, received high honour and exaltation. All here thoughtlessly call him great, they bestow the strength of the lord of the gods upon a crow, they have in this assembly made him the most holy of men, who fixed his affections on cowherdesses and herdsmen's wives; all in a body have celebrated the praises of him, who stole from every house, and ate milk, curds, butter-milk and butter; respect has here been paid to him, who received alms on the roads, and ghauts; all have advisedly made the honorary marks first on his forehead, who, by force and stratagem, has enjoyed himself with other men's wives. This is he, who abolished the worship of Indrù in Bruj and established the worship of a mountain; and afterwards he was not ashamed to play off a trick, and eat up all the different confections and things he had caused to be brought near the mountain for the worship of Indrù. All have here regarded, as invisible and immortal, him, whose pedigree, parentage and family are certainly known."

Having proceeded thus far in the narrative, Shree Shookdeo Jee said to the Raja Pureechit,--O great king! in this manner Raja Sissoopal being in the power of death, was casting many

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reproaches upon Shree Krishnù Chund Jee, who, seated on a throne in the midst of the assembly, listened, and drew a line for every reproach that was uttered; in the mean while Bheekum, Kurun, Dron and other great Rajas, having heard Huri spoken of disparagingly, were very angry, and said to Sissoopal, "Fool! dost thou in the midst of this assembly in our presence speak disparagingly of Krishnù? O mean, low caste wretch! be silent, otherwise we will immediately throw you down, and put you to death."

O great king! having thus spoken, all the Rajas seizing their weapons, rose up and rushed towards Sissoopal to kill him. Shree Krishnù Chund, the root of joy, then prevented them, and said, "Do not use your arms against him, stand here and look on, he will bring destruction on himself presently, I will tolerate a hundred offences in him, because I have agreed to do so; but I will not tolerate more than a hundred, and therefore I have been drawing these lines."

O great king! on hearing this speech, all, having joined their hands, enquired from Shree Krishnù Chund, "O lord of compassion! what is the reason that you will pardon a hundred faults on his part, be pleased kindly to explain to us, that the doubts of our minds may be removed?" Krishnù said, When he (Sissoopal) was born, he had three eyes and four arms, when his father, Raja Dumadhok, was informed of this he sent for astrologers and great pundits and enquired, 'What sort of child will this be, consider and give me your answer?' On hearing what the Raja said, the pundits and astrologers, having consulted the Shastrùs, replied, 'O great king! this child will be possessed of great strength, and will be highly renowned, and we are also of opinion that this child will be destroyed by him, at meeting with whom one of his eyes and two of his arms shall fall down.' Having heard this, his mother, Muhadewee, the daughter of Soorsen, the sister of Basoodeo, my maternal aunt, was very sad, and passed day and night in anxious thought about her child; after some days,

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she came on one occasion with her son to her father's house at Dwarka, and presented her son to every one; when the child and I met, one of its eyes, and two of its arms fell upon the ground, then my aunt having bound me by a promise, said, 'The child's death is in your hands, please do not kill it, I ask this as an alms from you.' I replied, 'Very good, I will not reckon a hundred faults he may commit, should he commit any in excess of this number, I will destroy him.' Having received this promise from me, my aunt took leave of us all with these words, 'How can the child commit a hundred offences against Krishnù and perish by his hand,' and returned home with her son."

O great king! having mentioned this account of Sissoopal, and obliterated the doubts of all the Rajas' minds, Shree Krishnù Jee counted the lines he had drawn separately for each offence, which amounted to more than a hundred. Krishnù then gave an order to the quoit, Soodursen, who instantly cut off Sissoopal's head. The brilliant light, which came forth from his body, went at once to the sky, and returning thence settled in the sight of all, on the mouth of Shree Krishnù Chund. On beholding this exploit, gods, men and sages began to raise cries of exultation and rain flowers. On that occasion, Shree Moorari, the benefactor of his worshippers, gave him a third deliverance, and performed his funeral obsequies.

Having heard thus much of the narrative, Raja Pureechit enquired from Shree Shookdeo Jee,--"O great king! please explain to me, how Krishnù gave Sissoopal a third deliverance?" Shookdeo Jee replied,--Raja! once he appeared as Hirunkusyp, and then Krishnù having descended upon the earth as half lion, half man, released him. On the second occasion he became Rawun, when Huri having descended as Ram, liberated him, the present is the third occasion, and therefore the present is the third release. Having heard this, the Raja said to the sage,--"O great king! be pleased now to proceed with the narrative." Shree Shookdeo Jee,

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said,--Raja! when the sacrifice was finished, Raja Joodisthur bestowed dresses on all the Rajas and their wives, and numberless gifts on brahmins. It was the business of Raja Doorjodhun to distribute during the sacrifice, who, in place of distributing once, distributed many times, and thereby acquired celebrity, but was still dissatisfied.

Having narrated thus much, Shree Shookdeo Jee said to the Raja Pureechit, O great king! on the completion of the sacrifice, Shree Krishnù Jee took leave of the Raja Joodisthur, accompanied by his army and relatives, and went from Hustinapoor to the city of Dwarka. On the arrival of Krishnù, there were festive rejoicings in every house, and joy was diffused throughout the city.


Next: Chapter LXXVI