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.s7.941

c5.s7.941

**Kurukshetrakathana(m)** ("relation of Kurukshetra") § 615kk (Baladevat.): The R. said to Bala-Rāma: This Samantapañcaka is said to be the eternal northern altar of Prajāpati; there, in days of yore, the gods performed a great sacrifice. The R.-r. Kuru had cultivated this field for many years; hence it came to be called Kurukshetra ("the field of Kuru"). Requested by Bala-Rāma, the R. related: In days of yore Kuru was engaged in perseveringly tilling this field; requested by Indra, he said: "Those that will die upon this plain, shall proceed to regions of bliss after being cleansed of their sins." Çakra, ridiculing this, went back to heaven. This happened repeatedly. Indra summoned the gods, who asked him to stop Kuru by granting him a boon; "if men, by only dying there, were to come to heaven, without having performed sacrifices to us, our very existence would be endangered." Indra then came, and they agreed that Kuru should not toil any more; but those that would die there, having abstained from food, with all their senses awake, and those that would perish in battle, should go straight to heaven. It was sanctioned by all the principal gods, headed by Brahmán, that on earth there should be no more sacred spot than this; those men that performed austere penances here would all, after laying down their bodies, go to Brahmán's abode; those who gave away their wealth here would soon have their wealth doubled; those who would reside constantly here would never have to behold the region of Yama; those kings that would perform great sacrifices here would reside as long in heaven as earth would last. Indra had himself composed a verse here and sang it: "The very dust of Kurukshetra . . . shall cleanse persons of wicked acts and carry them to heaven." The principal gods, brahmans, kings as Nrga, etc., having performed costly sacrifices here, after abandoning their bodies, proceeded to heaven. The space between Tarantuka and Arantuka and the lakes of Rāma (Rāmahradānām) and Macakruka (C. °kra°), this Kurukshetra-Samantapañcaka is called the northern altar of Prajāpati. All that Çakra said was approved by Brahmán, Vishnu, and Maheçvara (IX, 53).