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"Unto that invincible prince Gudakesa staying in the midst of his troops, Janardana, O chief of Bharata's race, said 'He, who scorching us with his wrath, stayeth in the midst of his forces, he, who will attack our troops like a lion, he, who performed three hundred horse-sacrifices, that banner of Kuru's race, that Bhishma, stayeth yonder!
The merit that attaches to a thousand Horse-sacrifices or a hundred Vajapeyas cannot come up to even a sixteenth portion of the merit that arises from Yoga. Once on a time on the summit of Meru adorned with karnikara flowers, Mahadeva sported, accompanied by the terrible spirits that were his associates. The daughter of the king of mountains, viz., the goddess Parvati, was also there.
Bathing in the confluence of the Ganga and the Yamuna as also at the tirtha in the Kalanjara mountains and offering every day oblations of water to the Pitris for a full month, one acquires the merit that attaches to ten Horse-sacrifices. Bathing in the Shashthi lake one acquires merit much greater than what is attached to the gift of food.
Endued with great prowess he performed a hundred Horse-sacrifices on the banks of the Yamuna, three hundred such sacrifices on the banks of Saraswati, and four hundred on the banks of the Ganga. Having performed these sacrifices, he once more performed a thousand Horse-sacrifices and a hundred Rajasuyas, great sacrifices, in which his gifts also to the Brahmanas were very profuse.
One should also perform Horse-sacrifices with presents in profusion unto the Brahmanas. "'Yudhishthira said, "What course of conduct should be adopted by a king shorn of friends, having many enemies, possessed of an exhausted treasury, and destitute of troops, O Bharata!
The merit acquired by that person, O Yudhishthira, who, with the steadiness of a vow, adores the deities every month in horse-sacrifices, is equal to his who discards honey and meat. The seven celestial Rishis, the Valakhilyas, and those Rishis who drink the rays of the sun, endued with great wisdom, applaud abstention from meat.
"Vaisampayana said, 'There was a king known by the name of Mahabhisha born in the race of Ikshvaku. By a thousand horse-sacrifices and a hundred Rajasuyas he had gratified the chief of the celestials and ultimately attained to heaven. "One day the celestials had assembled together and were worshipping Brahman. Many royal sages and king Mahabhisha also were present on the spot.
Having caused such a slaughter of friends, I dare not think that I shall be sanctified by performing even a hundred horse-sacrifices. I am covetous and sinful and a transgressor against righteousness. Through my acts alone, these lords of earth, in their desire for victory, have gone to Yama's abode.
There is nothing in the world more agreeable to the touch than the embrace of one's son. O chastiser of foes, I have brought forth this child, O monarch, capable of dispelling all thy sorrows after bearing him in my womb for full three years. O monarch of Puru's race, 'He shall perform a hundred horse-sacrifices' these were the words uttered from the sky when I was in the lying-in room.
Bathing there and drinking of its water, one becometh adored in heaven. Listen now, O king, to the merit acquired by that mortal who performeth a Sraddha on the day of the new moon during a solar eclipse. The person that performeth a Sraddha there, after having bathed in that tirtha, obtaineth the merit that one earneth by properly celebrating a thousand horse-sacrifices.
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