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.s6.261
An Index to the Names in the Mahābhārata, with Short Explanations and a Concordance to the Bombay and Calcutta Editions and P. C. Roy's Translation c5.s6.261
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c5.s6.261.1
[Jarāsandhavadhaparvan] (“the section relating to the killing of Jarāsandha,” the 23rd of the minor parvans of Mhbhr.; cf. Jarāsandhavadha). § 276: As Kṛshṇa thought that Jarāsandha was incapable of being vanquished in battle even by all the gods and Asuras, but might be vanquished in a personal struggle with bare arms (prāṇayuddha, PCR.), and as there was in himself policy, in Bhīma strength, and in Arjuna ability to protect them, he thought that Jarāsandha should be made to challenge Bhīma, and Kṛshṇa therefore obtained the permission of Yudhishṭhira that Bhīma and Arjuna followed him. They set ont in the garb of snatakas, with Bhīma in the van, from the land of the Kurus to the Padmasaras, over Kalakūṭa, Gaṇḍaki, Mahācoṇa, Sadānīrā (v. 794 runs thus in V.: Gaṇḍakiñca Sadānīrāṃ Çarkarā-varttam eva ca), the rivers on the Ekaparvataka (? see BR.) and Pūrvā (i.e. Eastern) Koçalā (B. has pūrvāṃ ca Koçalān), Mithilā, Mālā, Carmanvatī, Gaṅgā, Çoṇa, towards the east, dressed in garments of kuça-grass (instead of kuçaciracchadā V. has Kuçāmbarahsthalam), to the Māgadha land. When they came to the mountain of Goratha, they beheld the Māgadha town (II, 20).—§ 277: Girivraja is surrounded by the five large hills of Vaihara, Varaha, Vṛṣabha, Ṛṣigiri, and Caityaka. It was there that Gautama begat Kākṣīvat, etc., upon the śūdra woman Auṣīnari, and was visited by the kings of Aṅga, Vaṅga, etc. There dwell the Nāgas Arbuda, Cakravāpin, Svastika, and Maṇināga.
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Manu had ordered the Māgadhas never to be afflicted with drought; Kauśika and Manimat had favoured the country. The Pāṇḍavas and Kṛṣṇa entered the city by breaking down the peak of Caityaka, worshipped by the Bārhadrathas and the citizens with perfumes and flower garlands, where Bṛhadratha had slain the caunibal Ṛṣabha, and made of his hide (māṃsalābhiḥ, see BR.; Gauḍapāṭha: māṃsalābhiḥ, Nil.) three drums [which the brothers broke, v. 814, not in V.]. As evil omens had been seen, the purohitas made Jarāsandha mount an elephant and carried fire about him (paryagnyakurvan), and he entered upon (dīkṣitaḥ) a sacrifice with vows (niyamasthaḥ) and fasts (upavāsaparaḥ). Kṛṣṇa, Bhīma, and Dhanañjaya entered the city without weapons in the guise of snātakas, snatched from the flower-vendors the garlands they had exposed for sale, and attired in robes of various colours and decked with garlands and ear-rings they entered the abode of Jarāsandha, who welcomed them, and hearing from Kṛṣṇa that Bhīma and Arjuna in consequence of a vow would not speak before night, quartered them in the sacrificial apartments (yajñāgāre) and retired to the palace (rājagṛham). At midnight he came to them, as he always observed the vow, that as soon as he should hear of the arrival of snātakas, even at midnight, he would immediately come out and grant them an audience.
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As he questioned them about their strange attire, which was unsuitable for snātakas, and their breaking down the Caityaka peak, and why they would not accept the worship he offered, Kṛṣṇa gave him some explanations (v. 848 ff.: snātaka-vratino, rājan! brāhmaṇā, kṣatriyā, viṣaḥ | viṣeṣaṇīyamāc ca iṣāṃ aviśeṣāc ca santy uta | viṣeṣavāṃc ca satataṃ kṣatriyaḥ śriyam ṛchati), and declared that they had come as his foes (II, 21). As Jarāsandha said that he did not remember to have injured them, Kṛṣṇa told him that they were sent by Yudhiṣṭhira to set at liberty the princes whom Jarāsandha intended to slaughter as a sacrifice to Śiva, because sacrificing human beings to the gods was never used (v. 864); he reminded him of the destruction of Dambhodbhava, Kārtavīrya, Uttara, and Bṛhadratha, and challenged him to set free the monarchs or to fight. Jarāsandha chose to fight, and ordered Sahadeva to be installed on the throne. Then he thought of his generals Kauśika and Citrasena, who had formerly been Haṃsa and Dimbhaka. Kṛṣṇa, remembering that, according to the command of Brahmán, Jarāsandha was not to be slain by him or by the Madhus, did not himself desire to slay him (II, 22). Jarāsandha having chosen to fight with Bhīma, the purohita brought pigment, garlands, etc., and propitiatory ceremonies (kṛtavastyayanaḥ) were performed by a brahman; and likewise Bhīma, having consulted with Kṛṣṇa, had propitiatory ceremonies pronounced (kṛtavastyayanaḥ).
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When Jarāsandha had taken off his crown and arranged his hair, they fought with their clenched fists as their only weapons. The combat began at the first day of the month Kārttika, and lasted, without intermission or food, till the thirteenth; on the fourteenth night Jarāsandha desisted from fatigue, and Kṛṣṇa obscurely intimated that he should now be killed (II, 23). At the instigation of Kṛṣṇa, Bhīma threw Jarāsandha into the air a hundred times, pressed his knee against his backbone and broke his body in two with