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The King also crushed the mountains and made the earth’s surface level. Prithu then commenced a series of Asvamedha Yajnas. During the performance of the hundredth, Indra twice stole away the sacrifi- cial horse, but Prithu’s son restored it on both the occasions. The per- former of one hundred Asvamedha sacrifices becomes an Indra. This was the cause of Indra’s fear. Prithu could not bear the disgraceful conduct of Indra and he resolved to kill him. The Rishis dissuaded him and even Brahma and Vishnu appeared to soothe the offended King and restore his friendship with Indra. Vishnu explained to Prithu that he had enough to do as a king of the earth and as a preserver of the people and that he should not aspire to become Indra, who had his duties as well. Sometime after, the Sanat Kumar brothers appeared before the King and taught him the way to Mukti. He made over the kingdom to his son Vijitasva and retired into the forest. At last he gave up the body and went to Vaikuntha. THOUGHT ON THE ABOVE. [We left the Monad in its protoplas- mic state. The protoplasmic mass began to spread out limbs (Anga). But the development of limbs was not an unmixed blessing, for Anga became wedded to the daughter of Death. There was no death in the protoplasm. The offspring of the first connexion with death was Vena. The root ven means to move. The first moving protoplasmic mass had too much of unruliness in it, and it was not therefore fitted for yajna or evolution. It had to be brought under the law and the black element was churned out. That black element of Tamas had to wait till the time of the great dissolution. Vishnu had to incarnate at this stage as Prithu to suffuse the material mass with satva and thereby make it conscious. The course of evolution received a great impe- tus. The Monad had passed through elemental and mineral stages. Organic life had already appeared. Matter had passed through the Purnendu Narayana Sinha, M. A., B. L. 97 grossness and immobility of Tamas and the irregular, impulsive and purposeless movements of Rajas, till it became permeated with Satva, when those movements assumed the regularity of conscious acts. The consciousness of Satva made the future evolution or yajna teem with big possibilities. Earth could no longer keep back the seeds of the vegetable creation in her bosom. Her surface became levelled and she looked green with vegetation. She brought forth all her latent life-energies and life-evolution commenced in right earnest under the guidance of the first King energised by Vishnu for the preser- vation of the universe. But that King was not to exceed the proper bounds. He was not to usurp the functions of Indra. The Devas are the executive officers of the Rishis in the cyclic administration of the universe and their work is more on cyclic than on individual lines. The kings however as representing Manu have to deal directly with Monads and Egos and have to guide them according to the light of the Rishis. Prithu was asked by Vishnu to keep himself within the bounds of kingly duties. ] Ill. THE STORY OF THE PRACHINA BARHIS OR BARHISHAD. SKANDHA IV. CHAP, 24. The eldest son of Prithu was Vijitasva. He was so called for having restored the sacrificial horse stolen by Indra. Indra taught him the art of becoming invisible. Hence he was also called Antardhana. He had four brothers—Havyaksha, Dhimrakesha, Vrika and Dravinas. To them he gave the east, the south, the west and the north respectively. By his wife Sikhandini, Vijitasva had three sons—Pavaka, Pavamana, and Suchi. These fire-gods descended by the curse of Vasishtha but the de- scent was only temporary. Antardhana had by his other wife Nab- hasvati one son, Havirdhana. Havirdhana had six sons—Barhishad, Gaya, Sukla, Krishna, Satya and Jitavrata. Of these, Barhishad was a great votary of Kriya, (action) and he constantly performed Yaj- nas. Even while he was performing one Yajna, the place for another was preparing close by. Hence he was called Prachina-Barhis. King Prachina-Barhis married Satadruti, the daughter of the Ocean-god. And he had by her ten sons, all of whom were called Prachetas. The King ordered his sons to enlarge the creation. They went out to make 98 A Study of the Bhagavata Purana Tapas for one thousand years. Narada came to the King and told him that the way to Mukti was not through Kriya Kanda. By. performing sacrifices he was only acquiring new karma. The only way to attain liberation was to know oneself. The Rishi illustrated his teachings by the famous allegory of Puranjana. The King heard the story and its explanation from Narada. He did not wait for the return of his sons. But he called his ministers together and delivered to them his man- date that his sons were to succeed him on the throne. He went to the Aérama of Kapila for Tapas and attained liberation. IV. THE ALLEGORY OF PURANJANA. SKANDHA IV. CHAP. 25- 29. There was a king called Puranjana. He had a friend, but the king knew not his name nor his doings. Puranjana went in search of a place to live in. He went about on all sides, but found no suitable abode. At last while roaming south of the Himalayas, he found one Puri (town) in Bharata Varsha (India), The marks were all favourable. There were nine gateways. In one of the gardens he found a most beautiful young lady. She had ten attendants. Each of them had hun- dreds of wives. One five-headed serpent was the warder of the town and he constantly guarded his mistress. The lady was on the look out for one to be her lord. Puranjana broke forth into words of love, and asked who she was. "O thou greatest of men!" exclaimed the lady, "I know not who I am or who thou art. Nor do I know who made us both. This only I know, that I now exist. Ido not know even who made this town for me. These are my companions male and female. This serpent guards the town, even when we are all asleep. Luckily hast thou come here. I shall try with all my companions to bring to thee all objects of desire. Be thou the lord of this Puri for one hundred years. And accept all enjoyments brought by me." Puranjana entered the Puri and lived in enjoyment there for one hundred years. Of the nine gateways, seven were upper and two lower—five on the east (Purva, which also means front), one on the south (Daksh- ina), one on the north (Uttara) and two on the west (Paschima). Two of them Khadyéta and Avirmukhi were close to each other and Pu- ranjana used them whenever he would go out to see Vibhrajita in the company of Dyumat. Purnendu Narayana Sinha, M. A., B. L. 99 Nalini and Nalini were also two passages built together. Pu- ranjana used them with the help of Avadhita in order to repair to Saurabha. The Mukhya passage was used for Apana and Bahidana. Through the southern passage Pitrihti, Puranjana went with Srutadhara to Dakshina Panchala and through the northern passage Devahi, to Ut- tara Panchila. Through the western passage called Asuri, Puranjana went with Durmada to Gramaka. The other western passage was called Nir-riti, Through that passage Puranjana went with Lubdhaka to Vais-asa. There were two blind gates i.e. without opening, viz:—Nirvak and Pesaskrita. Puranjana used them for motion and action. He went inside the town with Vishichina. There he experienced Moha (delu- sion), Prasada (contentment) and Harsha (joy), caused by his wife and daughters. Puranjana became thus attached to Karma. He slavishly followed whatever the Queen did. If she heard, the King heard. If she smelt, the King smelt. If she rejoiced, the King rejoiced. If she wept, the King wept. Puranjana merged his self entirely in that of his wife. Once upon a time, the King went out hunting into the forest Pan- chaprastha, His chariot had five swift going horses, two poles, two wheels, two axles, three flags, five chains, one bridle, one charioteer, one seat for the charioteer, two yoke ends, seven fenders, and five courses. He had a golden armour and an endless supply of arrows. Brihadbala was the commander of his forces. The King forgot his wife for the time being in the chase of deer. But he got tired and returned home. The Queen would not speak to him in feigned anger. The King appeased her with gentle and flattering words of love. So passed the days in utter delusion. The King had 1100 sons and 110 daughters. He gave them in marriage to duly qualified per- sons. Puranjana’s sons had 100 sons each. The kingdom of Panchala became filled with the progeny of Puranjana. The King performed sacrifices for the welfare of his children and killed animals for the purpose. Chandavega, a Gandharva king, had a strong force of 360 white Gandharvas. Each of them had one black wife. By turns these Gand- harvas robbed the town of Puranjana. The serpent-warder could not 100 A Study of the Bhagavata Purana fight long against such odds, it lost strength day by day. The King and all the citizens became extremely anxious. There was a daughter of Kala who went about the world for a husband. But no one received her for a wife. She went to Narada and on the refusal of the sage cursed him to become a wanderer for ever. She was referred however by Narada to Fear, the King of Yavanas. King Fear would not accept her for his wife. But he addressed her as his sister and assured her that she would enjoy all beings on earth, if only she attacked them unnoticed. His Yavana troops would always accompany her as well as his brother Prajvara. The Yavana troops of King Fear under Prajvara and the daughter of Kala attacked the Puri of Puranjana. The old serpent gave way. The Puri was burnt up by Prajvara. There was wailing all round. The Serpent left the Puri. Puranjana was dragged out of it. The suffer- ings he had caused to others in sacrifices or otherwise reacted upon him.