THE VAISHNAVAYAGA

Duryodana performed the Vaishnava yaga rather than the Rajausya yaga as he felt that it was far more superior. The golden plough was made and he gave lavish gifts to the visiting kings, the Brahmins and the poor.

Duryodhana was suffering from inferiorty complex after his defeat at the hands of the Gandharavas. One day Bhishma said to Duryodhana confidentially, "I am sorry to learn that you have gone to Dvaitavana on wrong advice and reaped the consequences. Dharmaputra true to his title "Ajatasatru" has no enemy on the earth and he has come to your rescue. You have seen with your own eyes how the son of the Suta, the brazen braggart, has behaved on the battlefield. Why do you still entertain futile hopes in him? I advise you to make up with the Pandavas and all of you can live in peace." Duryodhana was ready to do anything else to redeem his reputation, except making up with the Pandavas. He did not reply to the Pitamaha and left his company abrutptly. Bhishma was offended but kept silent. Duryodhana consuted his brother Duhsasana, Sakuni and Karna on their future course of action.

They decided to perform the Rajasuyayaga on a grand scale. However the royal priest said, "As long as Yudhisthira is alive you cannot perform Rajasuya without conquering him on the battlefield. Anyway Vaishnavayaga is considered to be more auspicious than the Rajasuyayaga, and you can perform it. You can excel Dharmaputra by giving greater gifts to the Brahmins and scholars." Arrangements were made for the Vaishnava sacrifice. Karna started on Digvijaya yatra. He conquered the kings who opposed him and levied tribute from them and returned to Hastinapura in all glory and splendor. Duryodhana congratulated him saying, "My dear friend you are equal to all the Pandavas put together in prowess and achieved the conquest of four quarters single handed." The vaishnava sacrifice was performed on a grand scale. Many people came to Dhritarashtra and complimented him saying, "The sacrifice performed by your son Duryodhana is unrivalled.


Everything was regulated with mechanical precision and there was not a hitch or hindrance anywhere. However there were some people who felt that the sacrifice performed by Duryodhana did not come up to the level of Rajasuya of Yudhisthira. All the kings from Himalayas to Kanyakumari attended the sacrifice of Duryodhana whose exemplary hospitality was appreciated. Invitation was extended to the Pandavas by Duryodhana welcoming them to the sacrifice through a special messenger. Yudhisthira told the messenger, "Please offer my hearty thanks first and congratulations to my brother Duryodhana for the great sacrifice he has undertaken. Please tell him that I, as a member of the Kuru royal family, am proud of him. I am glad that he has the prestige of the family." Bhima said to the messenger , "Tell Duryodhana, we are coming in the fourteenth year to attend the most bloody sacrifice in the world in which the Dhartarashtras will be killed at the altar of the battlefield. We cannot come now."

However, Dharmaputra pacified the messenger saying, that the Pandavs could not leave the forest in view of their pledged word." The messenger communicated both the messages to the Kauravas. Karna said to Duryodhana, "Please listen to me, I will see that you perform the Rajasuya in the fourteenth year. I swear solemnly, let the sun rise in the west, let the oceans go dry, let the stars fall from heaven, I will not care, I will kill Arjuna on the battlefield and see that you perform the Rajasuya on a grand scale.Duryodhana embraced Karna in an ecstasy merging their two souls inwardly into one, inspite of their two outward bodies. Yudhisthira who heard of the solemn oath taken by Radheya, born with natural armour and ear rings and an ever radiant halo around his head, spent many sleepless nights. Duryodhana quite conscious of the inevitable war and its uncertain outcome was trying to please one and all with lavish gifts and magnificent munificence. He was bestowing special care and respect on Bhishma and Drona, Kripa and Asvathama to please them with an eye on the future war.

Dharmaputra one night experienced a curious dream. The animals of Dvaitavana came to him with melancholy faces and represented to him, "Compassionate soul, your brothers are daily hunting us rather indiscriminately. You are having a huge establishment and every day you are having a large number of guests who are being feasted on our flesh. Our population has greatly diminished after your advent here. So may we request you to move to some other pace and spare our lives. Conservation of wild life is one of the cardinal principles of state craft." He narrated the dream to his brothers who said that those words were the reflexes of his own scruples and they were prepared to go to any other place of his choice. Finally the Pandavas selected the Kamyaka forest with which they were already familiar and moved to a place in the vicinity of the hermitage of Trinabindu.