Horse-sacrifice,” the 93rd of the minor parvans of Mhbhr.;
cf. Āśvamedhika(ṃ) parva(n)). § 778: Vaiśampāyana said
(XIV, 1): After Dhṛtarāṣṭra had offered libations of water
[to Bhīṣma], Yudhiṣṭhira fell down in grief on the bank of
Gaṅgā. Incited by Kṛṣṇa, Bhīma took him up, surrounded
by the Pāṇḍavas; Dhṛtarāṣṭra comforts him, saying that it
is he and Gāndhārī who ought to grieve, and referring to
Vidura's advice about abandoning Duryodhana and his
warnings against Karṇa and Śakuni (XIV, 1). Kṛṣṇa also
exhorts him, referring to the duties of the kṣattriyas expounded
by Bhīṣma, Vyāsa, Nārada, and Vidura. Yudhiṣṭhira cannot
forget the slaughter of Karṇa. Vyāsa also comforts him
(XIV, 2), and reminding him that D. and As. perform
sacrifices, and that by sacrifices D. vanquished Dā., he urged
him to perform the Rājasūya, the Horse-sacrifice, the Sarva-
medha, and the Naramedha; [especially] the Horse-sacrifice
after the example of Rāma Dāśarathi and Bharata Dauṣmanti,
and indicated to him a spot in the Himavat, where there
was gold in abundance, left behind by the brahmans at the
sacrifice of Marutta of the Karandhama race. Asked by
Yudhiṣṭhira, Vyāsa told the history of Marutta (XIV, 3)
** i.e. Saṃvartta-Maruttīya (b). Vaiśampāyana said:
† Yudhiṣṭhira was delighted at hearing the speech of Vyāsa,
and desirous of performing his sacrifices with those riches,
he consulted with his ministers (XIV, 4—10).—§ 779:
Vaiśampāyana said: When Vyāsa had concluded his speech,
Kṛṣṇa addressed Yudhiṣṭhira, saying that Yudhiṣṭhira's
karman has not yet been annihilated, nor had his foes been
subjugated—“How canst thou be ignorant of the enemies in
thy own flesh?”—and related the history of Indra's war with
Vṛtra (b) (XIV, 11). Kṛṣṇa then expounds that, as
physical ailments and health depend on the distribution of
the cold, warm, and windy [humours] of the body, so do the
mental ailments and health depend on sattva, rajas, and tamas
in the soul [mind]; happiness is overcome by sorrow, and
sorrow by pleasure; Yudhiṣṭhira should not recall his past
sorrows: Kṛṣṇā in the assembly, etc. (α); “the time has
now come when thou must fight single-handed with thy
mind” (XIV, 12); salvation is not attained by foregoing
external things; Mṛtyu (death) is [the thought] “mine,”
and the eternal Brāhman is [the thought] “not mine”; as
no creature is ever destroyed, ahiṃsā (absence of injury) may
exist even when one has pierced [a creature's] body, and
vice versa; († v. 339—341): † the yogin knows yoga to be the
perfect way, on account of the practices of his many former
births; quoting the old verses sung by Kāma: “no creature
is able to destroy me without [resorting to] the [proper]
methods [i.e. subjugation of all desires, practice of yoga,
etc.]…” (XIV, 13).—§ 780: Vaiśampāyana said: Thus
Yudhiṣṭhira was consoled, exhorted by Viṣṭaraśravas,
etc. (β); and having again performed the obsequial rites for
his relatives, etc., he ruled the earth. He said to Vyāsa,
Nārada, etc., that he would now perform the sacrifice, and
said that they would go to the Himālaya under the protection
of Vyāsa [to fetch the gold], according to the words of
Vyāsa, D.-ṛ. Nārada, and Devasthāna. Then M.-ṛ. took
leave of Yudhiṣṭhira, Kṛṣṇa, and Arjuna. A short time
passed away while they performed their purifications after
Bhīṣma's death, and gave large gifts to the brahmans as
śrāddha (aurddhvadehikaṃ) to the Kurus Bhīṣma, Karṇa,
etc., accompanied by Dhṛtarāṣṭra, and then they entered
the city of Hāstinapura (XIV, 14).—§ 781: Asked by
Janamejaya what Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna did when the Pāṇḍavas
had reconquered and pacified their kingdom, Vaiśampāyana
said: When the Pāṇḍava-kingdom had been conquered and
pacified K. and A. travelled with great pleasure amidst
picturesque sceneries, like Indra and his wife (?, so PCR.)
(deveśvarau) in heaven, or like the Aśvins in Nandana, and
[then] entered the palace of Indraprastha in great merriment,
reciting the genealogies of Ṛ. and gods, etc., and Kṛṣṇa
consoled Arjuna for the death of his relatives (α). It was
long since he had seen Vasudeva, Baladeva, and the Vṛṣṇi-
heroes; he, therefore, asked leave to go to Dvāravatī, and to
accompany him to Yudhiṣṭhira and apprise him of his
departure. († v. 404—6): Arjuna sorrowfully replied, “Be
it so” (XIV, 15).