MAHABHARATA Bk 12:Santi Parva-Pt 1-XLIII Rajadharmanusasana

[Anne Terri]

"GOD'S LIVING BIBLE ---- THE THIRD TESTAMENT ----- RESEARCH LIBRARY" ©*
The Mahabharata
of
Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa
BOOK 12 SANTI PARVA
Translated into English Prose from the Original Sanskrit Text
by
Kisari Mohan Ganguli
[1883-1896]

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THE MAHABHARATA
Book 12: Santi Parva
Part 1 Rajadharmanusasana Parva
SECTIONS I-CXXX

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p. 86

SECTION XLIII

"Vaisampayana said, 'After this king Yudhishthira of magnanimous soul caused the Sraddha rites to be performed of every one of his kinsmen slain in battle. King Dhritarashtra also of great fame, gave away, for the good of his sons in the other world, excellent food, and kine, and much wealth, and many beautiful and costly gems (unto the Brahmanas). Yudhishthira accompanied by Draupadi, gave much wealth for the sake of Drona and the high-souled Karna, of Dhrishtadyumna and Abhimanyu, of the Rakshasa Ghatotkacha, the son of Hidimva, and of Virata, and his other well-wishers that had served him loyally, and of Drupada and the five sons of Draupadi. For the sake of each of these, the king gratified thousands of Brahmanas with gifts of wealth and gems, and kine and clothes. The king performed the Sraddha rite for the good in the next world, of every one of those kings also who had fallen in the battle without leaving kinsmen or friends behind. And the king also, for the good of the souls of all his friends, caused houses to be founded for the distribution of food, and places for the distribution of water, and tanks to be excavated in their names. Thus paying off the debt he owed to them and avoiding the chance of censure in the world, 1 the king became happy and continued to protect his subjects religiously. He showed due honour, as before, unto Dhritarashtra, and Gandhari, and Vidura, and unto all the superior Kauravas and unto all the officers. Full of kindness, the Kuru king honoured and protected all those ladies also who had, in consequence of the battle, been deprived of their heroic husbands and sons. The puissant king, with great compassion, extended his favours to the destitute and the blind and the helpless by giving them food, clothes and shelter. Freed from foes and having conquered the whole Earth, king Yudhishthira began to enjoy great happiness.'"

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Footnotes

86:1 For if he had acted otherwise, he would have been called ungrateful.


NEXT SECTION XLIV

THE MAHABHARATA of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa

The Santi Parva is a huge interpolation in the Mahabharata, in the genre known as 'wisdom literature.' The narrative progression is placed on hold almost from the first page. Instead we get a long and winding recapitulation of Brahmanic lore, including weighty treatises on topics such as kingcraft, metaphysics, cosmology, geography, and mythology. There are discussions of the Sankya and Yoga philosophical schools, and mentions of Buddhism. It is apparent that the Santi Parva was added to the Mahabharata at a later time than the main body of the epic.

PRODUCTION NOTES: (11/30/2004) The printed edition we used divides this book into three (apparently arbitrary) parts. Note that each part's page numbering starts at page one, so if you cite a page number in this etext for some reason, you will also need to cite the part. There was no 'Section CCCCLXIV' in the source edition I used. --John Bruno Hare.

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“God / Brahman Speaking To Anne Terri Through The Holy Spirit: This will be an ongoing endeavor, which will take many hours to build. I Begin this new section within The Third Testament - Research Library, to Bring forward one of the most important ancient texts of Hinduism, The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa as translated into English from Sanskrit. by Kisari Mohan Ganguli [1883-1896] In doing so, I have Asked of Anne to begin advanced studies on this, for the purposes of future links with other Hindu Study Guides currently in process. It is important to note that
The Mahabharata was written between 540 and 300 B.C. Most credit has been given to Vyasa. The Bhagavad Gita appears in Book 6. .... Juliet Sutherland, Project Manager. at sacred-texts.com, 2003, has asked that the Attribution appear with this public domain work as it is written below. AMEN”

*© NOTICE OF ATTRIBUTION
Scanned at sacred-texts.com, 2003. Proofed at Distributed Proofing, Juliet Sutherland, Project Manager. Additional proofing and formatting at sacred-texts.com, by J. B. Hare. This text is in the public domain. These files may be used for any non-commercial purpose, provided this notice of attribution is left intact.