An Index to the Names in the Mahabharata, with Short Explanations and a Concordance to the Bombay and Calcutta Editions and P. C. Roy's Translation c5.s1.458.5

c5.s1.458.5

Yudhiṣṭhira performed the final sacrificial bath, and dismissed the kings, etc. (w), with proper honours and gifts. There were oceans of wine of different kinds, etc. (description); people of different realms speak of this sacrifice to this day. Then Yudhiṣṭhira entered his capital (XIV, 89).—§ 786: Janamejaya said: Tell me of any wonderful incident that occurred in the sacrifice of my grandfather. Vaiśampāyana related how a mongoose disparaged the sacrifice: Nakulākhyāna (b); then the mongoose disappeared, and the brahmans returned home. ”Thou shouldst not think highly of sacrifice; millions of Ṛ. have ascended to Heaven with the sole aid of their penances; abstention from injury, contentment, proper conduct, sincerity, penances, self-restraint, truthfulness, and gifts are each equal in point of merit to sacrifice” (XIV, 90). Seeing that kings are given to sacrifice, M.-r. to penance, and learned brahmans to tranquillity, etc., Janamejaya cannot but think that nothing can be compared with the result of sacrifices, since Indra obtained the sovereignty over the gods by his many sacrifices; and when Yudhiṣṭhira, Bhīma, and Arjuna resembled Indra, ”why did then that mongoose depreciate Yudhiṣṭhira’s horse-sacrifice?” Vaiśampāyana said: Formerly, when Indra was performing a sacrifice the Ṛ. felt compassion on the animals, and said to Indra that the slaughter of animals in sacrifices had not been ordained;