Rājanya Mahābhāgya
The Rājanya Mahābhāgya is an episode of the Mahābhārata in the Vana Parva, Chapter 198. Four righteous kings, Ashṭaka, Pratardana, Vasumanas and Śibi, rise toward svarga (heaven) in a divine chariot. On the way, Devarshi Nārada tells them who among them will return to earth first, and why.
Ṛshi Mārkaṇḍeya tells this episode to Yudhishṭhira. It is part of the Mārkaṇḍeya Samāsyā Parva, which gathers accounts of great kings and ṛshis to teach Yudhishṭhira in his exile.
The kings set out for svarga
Ashṭaka, son of Viśvāmitra, performed an Aśvamedha yajña (a great horse ritual). The righteous kings of that age, all men of great virtue, gathered for it.
When the yajña was complete, Ashṭaka and his three companions in virtue, Pratardana, Vasumanas and Śibi (Auśīnara, son of Uśīnara), mounted a divine chariot. Their puṇya (merit) from dāna (giving) and dharmic conduct was enough to earn them a place in svarga, and they began to rise toward it.
On the way they met Devarshi Nārada. The four kings invited him to join them in the chariot, and he accepted. What followed is the heart of the episode.
Who will fall first?
One of the four kings put a question to Nārada. The text does not say which king asked. He said: “O Bhagavān Nārada! We are all long-lived and full of merit, and we are bound for svarga. But which of us will return to earth first?”
Nārada answered: “Of the four of you, Ashṭaka will come down to earth first.”
Why Ashṭaka falls first
Nārada explained with something that had happened before. Once, when Nārada was a guest in Ashṭaka’s home, the two went out together in a chariot. On the way they passed a thousand cows of many colours, grazing freely. Nārada asked: “Whose cows are these?”
Ashṭaka replied: “These are the cows I gave in dāna.”
Nārada gave this as the reason Ashṭaka would be the first to return to earth.
Why Pratardana falls second
The kings then asked: “If the three of us who remain all go to svarga, which of us will return first?”
Nārada said that Pratardana would be next. He told what Pratardana had done. Once, during a chariot journey with Nārada, a brāhmaṇa came and asked for a horse at once. Pratardana, in the middle of the journey, gave him the horse on the right side of his own chariot on the spot, without delay.
Vasumanas and Śibi
Vasumanas is third to return. Śibi Auśīnara is the last, the one who stays longest in svarga among the four.
Śibi’s dāna is told in the Śibi Carita episodes (Chapters 194 and 197–198). He gave his own flesh to a hawk to protect a pigeon that had come to him for shelter. He offered his son’s life when a brāhmaṇa asked for it. In all of this giving he kept himself free of self-interest and pride. The purity and limitlessness of Śibi’s dāna surpass all the others.
Sources
- Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapter 198 (Rājanya Mahābhāgya, within the Mārkaṇḍeya Samāsyā Parva)
- Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapters 194 and 197–198 (Śibi Carita)