Itihāsa / Mahābhārata chronicle / Sabhā · 13 of 50
13. The consecration
Sabhā (सभा)
Before the dice there is a higher stake, and Yudhiṣṭhira reaches for it. A rājasūya, the royal consecration, would make Indraprastha the court other kings acknowledge. Kṛṣṇa does not flatter the wish. He names the obstacle. Jarāsandha of Magadha holds a crowd of kings as prisoners for a sacrifice of his own. While those kings are in his pens, no consecration is honest.
Kṛṣṇa, Bhīma, and Arjuna go to Magadha in the dress of brahmins. Jarāsandha agrees to a duel of strength with Bhīma. Bhīma wins it. The poem's point is a body that had been joined at birth and could be divided so that it did not join again. This page does not describe the division. The imprisoned kings go free. They will remember who freed them, and they will also remember that a consecration was bought with a death.
At the rite itself the guest-gift, the arghya, is given to Kṛṣṇa. Śiśupāla of Cedi, whose mother is Kṛṣṇa's aunt, objects. He has a history of being forgiven. Kṛṣṇa had promised the mother a hundred insults. Śiśupāla spends them in the hall, in front of the kings, and then he spends one more. The forbearance is over. Kṛṣṇa strikes him down. The consecration is completed in a silence that is not peace. Duryodhana has watched a cousin crowned, and he cannot live with the watching. He stays on in the hall after the kings leave, and the floor of the last sitting is waiting for him.
नेपालीमा
पासाअघि अझ ठूलो दाउ छ, र युधिष्ठिरले त्यसलाई समात्छन्। राजसूय, राजकीय अभिषेकले इन्द्रप्रस्थलाई अन्य राजाहरूले मान्ने दरबार बनाउँथ्यो। कृष्णले यो इच्छाको खुसामद गर्नुभएन; बाधा बताउनुभयो। मगधका जरासन्धले आफ्नै यज्ञका लागि धेरै राजालाई कैदी बनाएका थिए। ती राजा उसको बन्दीगृहमा रहुन्जेल कुनै अभिषेक इमानदार हुँदैन। कृष्ण, भीम र अर्जुन ब्राह्मणको भेषमा मगध गए। जरासन्ध भीमसँग बल-युद्धमा सहमत भए। भीमले जिते। कविताको कुरा जन्ममा जोडिएको शरीर हो, जसलाई यसरी चिर्न सकियो कि फेरि जोडिएन। यो पृष्ठले चिर्ने तरिका लेख्दैन। थुनिएका राजा मुक्त भए। उनीहरूले आफूलाई कसले छुटायो भन्ने सम्झनेछन्, र अभिषेक एउटा मृत्युले किनिएको थियो भन्ने पनि सम्झनेछन्। अभिषेकमा अर्घ्य कृष्णलाई दिइयो। चेदिका शिशुपाल, जसकी आमा कृष्णकी फुपू हुन्, ले विरोध गरे। उनी बारम्बार क्षमा पाउने मानिस हुन्। कृष्णले उनकी आमालाई सय अपमान सहने वचन दिनुभएको थियो। शिशुपालले ती सभामा राजाहरूका अगाडि सके, अनि एउटा अझै बोले। सहनशीलता सकियो। कृष्णले उनलाई मार्नुभयो। अभिषेक पूरा भयो, शान्ति होइन, मौनतामा। दुर्योधनले आफ्ना चचेरा दाजुलाई राजा बनेको हेरे, र त्यो हेराइसँग बाँच्न सकेनन्। राजाहरू गएपछि उनी सभामै बसे, र अघिल्लो बसाइको भुइँ उनलाई पर्खिरहेको थियो।