The Rājasūya and the first honour to Kṛṣṇa

Classical

After Jarāsandha's death and the Pāṇḍavas' conquests, Yudhiṣṭhira held the Rājasūya, the consecration of an emperor. He asked Bhīṣma, Droṇa, Kṛpa, Aśvatthāman and Duryodhana to help. Each got a task. Duḥśāsana oversaw food, Aśvatthāman looked after the Brahmins, Sañjaya the return honours to kings, Kṛpa the gifts of gold and jewels, Vidura the spending. Duryodhana was put in charge of receiving the tribute, and Kṛṣṇa personally washed the feet of the Brahmins. Kings came from every direction, and none brought less than a thousand of any gift. The sacrificial grounds were full of palaces and halls to house them, with Brahmins' lodgings and kings' mansions. Yudhiṣṭhira began the sacrifice, with six fires, and gave great gifts. Food was plentiful and everyone ate.

The gods were satisfied by oblations offered by sages who knew the mantras. On the last day, before the final bath, Brahmin sages and kings sat inside the sacrificial enclosure. Nārada, looking at the great gathering of Kṣatriyas, remembered what he had heard in Brahmā's mansion: that gods had been told to be born on earth and later return to heaven. He saw that the assembled kings were those gods incarnate, and that Nārāyaṇa himself had been born among the Vṛṣṇis. Nārada sat there, amazed. Bhīṣma told Yudhiṣṭhira to give the arghya, the offering of honour, to the kings in order of merit, and named the six who deserve it: a teacher, a priest, a relative, a snātaka, a friend, and a king.

Yudhiṣṭhira asked whom to honour first. Bhīṣma said Kṛṣṇa, who lit up the hall as the sun lights all bright things. At Yudhiṣṭhira's command, Sahadeva presented the first arghya to Kṛṣṇa, and Kṛṣṇa accepted it according to the rule. Śiśupāla, king of Cedi, could not bear it. He rose before the whole assembly and attacked Bhīṣma, Yudhiṣṭhira and Kṛṣṇa. His argument, which is cited as the case against, was a fair one by the rules: Kṛṣṇa was neither priest, teacher, nor king. Bhīṣma's reply, in the next episode, is that Kṛṣṇa is the worthiest being in all three worlds. The honour split the assembly of kings, and with Śiśupāla's death the great sacrifice ended in blood.

The Rājasūya is the formal claim to be emperor. Yudhiṣṭhira's brothers had conquered the four directions, and Jarāsandha, the one rival who would not submit, had been killed. The sacrifice therefore stands for the high point of the Pāṇḍavas' fortunes, and the epic shows it with great wealth, kings bringing tribute, and the Kauravas serving as stewards, a detail that adds to Duryodhana's later bitterness. The question of who should be honoured first looks a small matter of etiquette, but the honouring of Kṛṣṇa as the greatest being in the world is among the clearest places where the epic states what it thinks of him. Śiśupāla's objection is a real argument, and the answer to it is a statement of faith.

Told by Vaiśampāyana → Janamejaya

Who: Yudhiṣṭhira, Bhīṣma, Sahadeva, Kṛṣṇa, Nārada, Śiśupāla, Vidura, Duryodhana

Bound to

Shishupala: three eyes, four arms, a hundred forgiven insults origin

Jarāsandha origin

Śiśupāla's death at the Agra-pūjā origin

Narada's questions to Yudhishthira mirror

Places: Indraprastha

Where this comes from

read for this telling · Mahabharata, Ganguli translation (mahabharataonline.com) Sabha Parva, Section XXXIV (the preparations; the sacrifice begins)
read for this telling · Mahabharata, Ganguli translation (mahabharataonline.com) Sabha Parva, Section XXXV (the arghya; Bhīṣma names Kṛṣṇa; Śiśupāla's protest)

See it on the tree · All stories

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