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Prem Sagar: Chapter LXXIII

SHREE SHOOKDEO JEE said,--O great king! one day Shree Krishnù Chund, the sea of compassion, the brother of poor and the benefactor of his worshippers, was sitting in an assembly of wise men, sages, brahmins and Chuttrees, when the Raja Joodisthur came; and, beseeching earnestly and bowing his head, said to him, with joined hands, "O lord of Shivù and Bruhmù! gods, sages, holy men and jogees constantly meditate on you; you are the unseen, invisible and impenetrable; no one understands the secrets of your nature; holy men and jogees meditate on you with profound attention; but you do not for a moment enter their minds; you appear to us at our home, and have an affection for your worshippers; the sports you engage in, Mohun, no one can comprehend; the world has been deceived by your delusive power you behave towards us as a mortal; you look upon those as your superiors, who tear you in remembrance, O lord of the world! you are far from the proud man, and the root of the life of the speaker of truth."

O great king! having thus spoken, Raja Joodisthur then said, "O merciful to the poor! through your compassion, all that I had in view has been accomplished, but I have still one desire." Krishnù enquired, "What it is?" The Raja said,

Raja! when Krishnù had thus spoken, the Raja Joodisthur sent for his four brothers, and giving them armies, sent them in four different directions; Suhdeo Jee went to the South, Nukool to the West, Urjoon to the North, and Bheemsen to the East. Some time after this, O great king! the four brothers, by the glorious favour of Huri, having conquered the seven islands and nine divisions of the earth, and subjugated the Rajas of the ten quarters, brought them back with them, at that time Raja Joodisthur, having joined his hands, said to Shree Krishnù Chund Jee, "O great king! through your aid this business has been accomplished; what are your orders now?" Upon this, Oodho Jee said, "O incarnation of justice! the kings of all countries have come, with exception of the Raja Joorasindhoo, of the Mugudh country, who is not under your authority; and until he shall be made subject to you, it will not be of advantage to perform the sacrifice. The Raja Joorasindhoo, the son of Jydruth, is very mighty and renowned, and liberal and just; not every one has power to oppose him." When the Raja Joodisthur having heard this was sad; Shree Krishnù Chund said, "O great king! be not at all anxious, but give the order to my brothers, Bheem and Urjoon, and to me,

O great king! having thus spoken, Shree Krishnù Chund Jee assumed the appearance of a brahmin, and Bheem and Urjoon did the same also. The three having drawn three horizontal lines across their foreheads, and taking each a book under his arm, went along assuming the same bright, handsome, elegant and well-arranged appearance, as the three properties of humanity, truth, passion and ignorance, would assume, if they put on corporeal form, or as the three times, present, past and future, would assume. At length, after some days' journey, they arrived in the Mugudh country, and at mid-day stood at the gate of the Raja Joorasindhoo. On seeing their appearance, the gate-keepers went, and said to the Raja, "O great king! three brahmin guests (or beggars) of very splendid appearance, great pundits, and very intelligent are standing at the gate, desirous of some thing. What are your orders to us?"

O great king! at these words, Raja Joorasindhoo rose up, and came to where the brahmins were standing; and having made an obeisance to the three, conducted them with the greatest respect and deference to his house; afterwards, having seated them on a throne, he stood in their presence with joined hands, and looking at then, and reflecting said, "The beggar, who being a great Raja, comes to another man's gate, is called a guest, you are not brahmins, but strong, powerful men of war, deceit of any kind is wrong; if a thug (or impostor) come as such, he is regarded in his proper character, and not as an honest man; the lustre of your Chutree appearance

On hearing these words, Shree Krishnù Chund Jee said, "O great king! once on a time, there was a very liberal Raja, named Hurchund, whose fame is still spread abroad in the world; on one occasion there was a famine in Raja Hurchund's country; and in consequence of the dearth of grain vast numbers of people began to die; upon this, the Raja sold all his property, and gave food to his people; when all his country, towns and wealth were gone; and the Raja was left without any money, one evening he was sitting hungry with his family, when Biswamittrù came, and, in order to test his truth and sincerity, said, 'O great king! give me wealth, and derive the same advantage from doing so, as you would derive from giving a daughter in marriage.' On hearing this speech, the Raja brought out all that was in his house, and gave it him, then the holy man said, 'O great king! my business will not be completed with this much money.' After this the Raja sold his male and female servants, and brought the proceeds, and gave them to the sage; and having expended all his wealth, and sold all his servants, he was left without money and without servants, and only with his wives and children. The sage again said, 'O form of justice! my business has not been accomplished by the money you have given me to whom shall I go now, and ask for more? I do not know of any one in the world, who is wealthier, more virtuous and liberal than you are. Yes,

cemetery, and to receive a tax on every corpse that comes there, and afterwards to watch and guard my own house; if you can do this, I will give the rupees required, and keep you in pledge.' The Raja said, 'Well I will serve you for a year; give him the money.' When the Raja had thus spoken, Soopuch counted out the money to Biswamittrù, which he took away to his home; and the Raja remaining at the Chundal's house, began to wait upon him. After some days, Raja Hurchund's son, Roohitas, died; and his mother went with her son's corpse into the burying place; and as she was on the point of lighting the funeral pile she had erected, the Raja came, and asked for the tax; the Ranee being displeased and grieved said, 'Consider and reflect, O Raja! this is your son, Roohitas, and I have nothing wherewith to pay the tax, except this cloth, which I am now wearing.' The Raja replied; 'I have no option in the matter; I am employed on my master's business, and if I do not do his work, my character for truth will be lost.' O great king! when the Ranee, on hearing this, put her hand on the border of the cloth to take it off, the three worlds trembled. Upon this Bhugwan, who had observed the sincerity of the Raja and Ranee, first sent a chariot, and afterwards having appeared

Having mentioned this account of Hurchund to Joorasindhoo Shree Krishnù Chund Jee said, "O great king! and besides the above instance, Ratdee performed a penance, during which he remained forty-eight days without water; and when he sat down to drink, some one, who was thirsty, came to him. He did not drink any water himself, but gave it to the thirsty man; and by the gift of that water, obtained salvation. Again the Raja Buli was very munificent in his gifts, and obtained the government of the infernal regions, and even yet, his great renown is being handed down. Again the sage Oodwal ate after six months' fasting. On one occasion a beggar came to him, when it was his eating time; he did not himself eat any food, but gave it to the beggar, and died from excess of the hunger he then endured, and afterwards in consequence of having given away his food, he went to Vishnù's celestial paradise, mounted on a chariot. Again, on one occasion, Raja Indrù went with all the gods, and said to Dudheech, 'O great king! we cannot escape now from the hands of Brittasoor, unless you give us one of your bones, and then we shall escape, otherwise escape will be difficult, because he can only be destroyed by a weapon, formed of one of your bones.' On hearing this, O great king! Dudheech having had his body licked by a cow

Raja! having thus spoken, Shree Krishnù Chund Jee, said to Joorasindhoo, "O great king! you equal in the present age the just and liberal Rajas, who flourished formerly in other ages, and now satisfy our expectations in the same way, that formerly they fulfilled the desires of those who solicited them. There is a saying, 'What will not a beggar ask, and what will not a liberal man give; he has no avaricious desire for his house, sons and wives, but will give up his body and head, and obtain celebrity.'" When Krishnù had thus spoken, Joorasindhoo said, "A beggar has no sympathy with a donor, but in spite of this the liberal and resolute do not lay aside their usual dispositions, whether they derive pleasure or pain from the exercise of them. Lo! Huri, being disguised as, and transformed into, a dwarf, went to the Raja Buli, an asked for three paces of ground; at that time, Shookrù cautioned Buli not to give it, but the Raja did not swerve from his promise, he gave the earth together with his body, and has obtained renown in the world by this act. What celebrity has Vishnù acquired by being a beggar, who, having received every thing, acted perversely? For this reason, do you first of all explain your names, and your mysterious appearance, and I will then grant whatever you ask. I do not speak falsely." Shree Krishnù Chund replied, "Raja! we are Chutrees; Basoodeo is my name; you know me very well, and these two, Urjoon and Bheem, are my father's sister's children; we have come to fight with you, be pleased to fight with us; we have come here to make this request, and do not ask any thing else from you." Having, O great king! heard this speech of Shree Krishnù Chund Jee's, Joorasindhoo laughed and said, "Why should I fight with you; you have already fled from before me? Nor

O great king! when the two heroes striking the upper part of their arms in preparation for the encounter, holding their clubs at arm's length, changing their attitudes, and moving slowly from side to side, confronted each other in the palæstra, they seemed like two "must" elephants, rushing upon each other. Before the struggle commenced, Joorasindhoo said to Bheemsen, "Strike the first blow with your club, because you came to my gate in the appearance of a brahmin; and I will not, therefore, strike you first." Having heard this, Bheemsen replied, "Raja! we will have a fair fight, and the understanding is not necessary, that I should strike first, let who will, strike first."

O great king! these two brave men having thus conversed with each other, aimed blows simultaneously, and began to fight. They watched each other's stratagems, inflicting wounds right and left; and jumped about, avoiding blows, and sparred and fought club against club; they struck their clubs violently against each other, making them clash, and inflicting wounds. Great noise and tumult were produced by the collision.

Having narrated thus much of the history, Shree Shookdeo Jee said to the Raja Pureechit,--O great king! in this manner those two resolute antagonists had a fair fight during the

Having thus spoken, the astrologers took leave. O great king! Shree Krishnù Jee reflected upon these matters in his mind; and, having bestowed his own strength upon Bheemsen, and splitting a straw winked to him, that he must split up Joorasindhoo in the same manner. On receiving this hint from Krishnù, Bheemsen laid hold of Joorasindhoo and threw him down, and having placed his foot on one of his thighs, and laying hold of his other foot with his hand, he tore him asunder, just as any one would tear asunder a stick for cleaning the teeth. On the death of Joorasindhoo, gods, men and celestial musicians, playing upon drums and other musical instruments, and raining down flowers, began to raise shouts of victory; and grief and calamity having departed, was diffused throughout the city. At that time, the wife of Joorasindhoo came and stood, weeping and lamenting in the presence of Krishnù, joining her hands, she exclaimed, "Bravo! bravo! you have great reason to exult, O lord! in having taken away the life of him, who gave you every thing, this is the sort of

O great king! when the wife of Joorasindhoo, from tenderness for her husband's memory, spoke thus solicitingly, with joined hands in presence of the abode of mercy; then Krishnù taking compassion on her, first performed the funeral obsequies of Joorasindhoo, and having afterwards sent for his son, Suhdeo, making the marks of sovereignty on his forehead, and seating him on a throne said, "Son! carry on a moral government, and protect sages, holy men, cows, brahmins and your subjects."