Shoḍaśa Mahārāja Kathā

On the thirteenth day of the Kurukshetra war, Abhimanyu was killed. Yudhishṭhira sat in his grief that evening and night, before Arjuna came back, and could not face him. At this moment Vyāsa Mahāmuni came to him and began to counsel him with teaching and with accounts of the past.

Vyāsa told him how Nārada once consoled a king named Sṛñjaya, whose son had been killed. Nārada told Sṛñjaya the accounts of the sixteen greatest kings of all time. Each of them performed yajñas of great splendour and gave dāna (gifts) on a huge scale, and yet each in the end died. The message is single and clear. If even such kings met death, grief over one loss has no final ground.

Why Vyāsa told it

The account does not come out of the fighting itself. It comes after Abhimanyu’s death, in the evening and night of the thirteenth day.

First Vyāsa told Yudhishṭhira the account of how Mṛtyu (Death) came to be. Devī Mṛtyu was made by Brahmā. She did tapas (austerity) and received the vara (boon) that makes death just and not unjust.

Then Yudhishṭhira asked Vyāsa to tell him of the great kings of old, heroes who held splendid yajñas and gave gifts beyond compare. He hoped that hearing of their greatness, and also of their death, would ease his pain. Vyāsa told the accounts as Nārada had told them to King Sṛñjaya. So the teaching comes in two frames, Vyāsa to Yudhishṭhira and Nārada to Sṛñjaya.

Sṛñjaya and Suvarṇashṭhīvin

Sṛñjaya was a king of the Śaibya line. The two great ṛshis Parvata and Nārada were his friends. One day they came to his house and he received them with full honours. While they sat with him, Sṛñjaya’s daughter came before them, a girl of rare beauty. Parvata saw her and in his mind chose her for himself. Nārada saw the same girl and asked the king openly for her hand, and the king gladly agreed.

Parvata was furious. He felt that he had seen her first. He laid a śāpa (a curse) on Nārada: “You have taken the girl I wanted first, so you will no longer be able to move freely to svarga.”

Nārada answered with a śāpa of his own: “You cursed me for something that was not in the rules of dāna, for you had made no formal declaration, no svīkāra. So you too cannot go to svarga without me as your companion.”

Both śāpas stood and both ṛshis stayed bound. Sṛñjaya felt the weight of their stay and wished to please them. He did great service to the brāhmaṇas. The brāhmaṇas were pleased and went to Nārada and asked him to give Sṛñjaya a son. Nārada agreed, and Sṛñjaya was told to ask for the son he wished.

Sṛñjaya asked for something strange. He wanted a son whose body gave out gold of its own accord. All that left the child’s body, mala, mūtra, lipta and sveda, would be gold. Nārada gave the vara and said “Tathāstu!” (so be it), and the child was born. He was called Suvarṇashṭhīvin, “the one who spits gold”. An endless stream of gold flowed from his body and filled the royal treasury beyond measure.

The death of Suvarṇashṭhīvin

Greedy thieves heard of the boy. They made a plan: “Let us take this child. He is himself a mine of gold. If we hold him, we need never work again.” A band of thieves broke into the palace, seized the boy and carried him into the forest. There the foolish men killed him and cut open his body, thinking the gold was stored inside. But the moment the boy died, the power of the vara left his body, and there was no gold to be found. The thieves then fought among themselves, killed one another and went to the lowest naraka.

Sṛñjaya was full of grief and wept for his son without rest. Nārada came to him and said:

“Sṛñjaya! Do not grieve. Nothing is gained by grief. Let me tell you of the great kings, Marutta and others, who were far greater than your son in every way: in dharma, in jñāna (knowledge), in vairāgya (detachment) and in aiśvarya (power and wealth). They too died. If even they had to leave, why do you grieve for one who did no yajña, gave no great dāna and left no sons?”

The sixteen kings

Marutta was the son of Avikshit. He held yajñas of unmatched grandeur. Indra and the other devas sat as members of his assembly (sabhāsadas) at his yajña, and the Viśvedevas served as attendants. All the furniture, vessels and tools of his yajña hall were of pure gold. The rains came at his wish and his kingdom was full and rich. He gave gold in huge amounts to brāhmaṇas. His brother Saṃvarta, who had quarrelled with Bṛhaspati, was his priest, and through him even great Indra was made to attend. Bhagavān Śiva was honoured in his yajñas and gave him golden mountains as gifts. Yet Marutta too, after enjoying a reign of a thousand years, left for the higher worlds. (Droṇa Parva, Chapter 55)

Suhotra was a rājarshi (royal ṛshi) who ruled at Kurujāṅgala. In his kingdom the rivers ran with golden water, and even the crocodiles, tortoises and fish in his rivers were of gold. Clouds rained gold on his land. He performed a thousand Aśvamedha yajñas and a hundred Rājasūya yajñas. He performed the nitya, naimittika and kāmya yajñas without a break and reached the good worlds of his choice. Yet he too departed. (Chapter 56)

The Paurava king performed Aśvamedha yajñas. His gifts included ten lakh white horses decked with golden ornaments, ten thousand elephants, and one lakh maidens in golden ornaments riding in chariots, each with a hundred houses and land. He gave a crore of cows with golden horns and silver hooves, with bronze milk-pails and their calves, with ten lakh attendants. He gave mountains of jewels and food. Yet he too died. (Chapter 57)

Śibi Auśīnara was the son of Uśīnara. Śibi conquered the whole earth and wrapped it, as it were, in one cloth under his rule. He overcame all enemy kings from north to south and from east to west. He performed many Aśvamedha yajñas with great dāna. In a single yajña he gave ten thousand crore gold coins, and he gave farm land to brāhmaṇas. He was famous for his great compassion, most of all for giving his own flesh to protect a dove from a hawk; this account is not told in this place. Yet Śibi too died. (Chapter 58)

Śrī Rāma is named among the sixteen as the model of a king who keeps dharma, with courage and compassion. His inclusion shows that even the greatest rājarshi who ever lived, the very ideal of dharma, was not free from death. (Chapter 59)

Bhagīratha did unmatched tapas to bring the Gaṅgā down from svarga to earth. He did this to free the sixty thousand sons of his forefather Sagara, who lay as ashes in Pātāla. His account is given as the highest example of firm action born of love for his family and ancestors. Yet he too died. (Chapter 60)

Dilīpa was a mahārāja of great fame, spoken of for his unmatched virtue and generosity. Yet he too departed. (Chapter 61)

Māndhātā was the son of Yuvanāśva. He was the greatest cakravartin (ruler of the whole earth) of his age, and his rule reached over all three worlds. He held yajñas of such splendour that Indra himself was his guest of honour. Yet he too died. (Chapter 62)

Yayāti was the forefather of the Kuru and Yādava lines. In his youth he took youth from his son Pūru by exchange. In old age he reached a high state through the puṇya (merit) of his yajñas and dāna. In this account his story shows that even an uncommon life does not last. Yet he too died. (Chapter 63)

Ambarīsha was the son of Nābhāga. He was a great devotee of Bhagavān Vishṇu, known for the strength of his bhakti, his generosity to brāhmaṇas, and his protection of dharma even against opposition from beyond the world. His account in the Droṇa Parva is a reminder that even the greatest devotee was not free from death. Yet he too departed. (Chapter 64)

Śaśabindu was a king of unmatched wealth and generosity. His dāna went beyond that of the kings before him in this list, and he is described as one of the greatest givers of all time. Yet he too died. (Chapter 65)

Rantideva was a king of rare hospitality and self-giving. He is famous for giving away all he had to guests and brāhmaṇas, even when he himself was in great hardship. He and his family once fasted for forty-eight days. When food at last came, Rantideva did not eat it himself but gave it all to a starving guest who arrived at that moment. Perfect compassion and freedom from greed mark him in the tradition. Yet he too died. (Chapter 67)

Bharata was the son of Dushyanta and Śakuntalā, the great king after whom the land is named Bhārata. His deeds in conquest, yajña and rule are famous. Yet he too died. (Chapter 68)

Pṛthu Cakravartin was the first king. The ṛshis brought him forth by churning the body of the wicked king Vena. He milked the earth to bring back plenty to a world struck by famine. He performed an Aśvamedha yajña so great that even Indra tried to steal the sacred horse. He is described as a ruler of perfect justice in whom all divine qualities were gathered. Yet he too died. (Chapter 69)

Paraśurāma was the great avadhūta warrior-ṛshi, born in the line of Bhṛgu. He destroyed the kshatriya ruling class twenty-one times to avenge the murder of his father Jamadagni, and he did unmatched tapas. Yet he too died, or went to the higher worlds. (Chapter 70)

Nārada brings Suvarṇashṭhīvin back

Nārada told the account of all the kings, and to each he applied the same words of comfort: “That king was more righteous, more generous and more devoted to dharma than your son. If he too died, why grieve for one who made no yajña and gave no great dāna?” Then Nārada saw that Sṛñjaya sat in silence. He gave his deepest grace: “Sṛñjaya! Your son was killed without sense by fools. He was not killed on a battlefield, nor after a worthy life of yajña and tapas. He has gone to a hard state. But I can rescue him. Ask any vara.”

Sṛñjaya, still humble and grateful, said: “Your grace is itself the greatest vara. But if you offer, bring my son back to me.”

Nārada spoke the words, and at once Suvarṇashṭhīvin stood before them, alive and shining, as radiant as the son of Kubera. Sṛñjaya, full of joy, took back his son and performed yajñas in thanks.

Vyāsa then drew the link for Yudhishṭhira. Sṛñjaya’s son had done no yajña, no dāna and no tapas, and he had died with no children. So Nārada raised him out of compassion. But Abhimanyu had fought bravely and killed thousands of warriors. He had lived up fully to his family and had died on the battlefield without turning back. He had gone to the highest of worlds and could not, and should not, be brought back. His death was a fulfilment. “He now shines like the moon in his eternal form.”

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Droṇa Parva, Chapters 51 to 71 (the account of the Sixteen Great Kings)
• Droṇa Parva, Chapters 51 to 55 (Vyāsa’s counsel to Yudhishṭhira, and the account of Mṛtyu)
• Droṇa Parva, Chapters 55 and 56 (Sṛñjaya, Suvarṇashṭhīvin and Marutta, Suhotra)
• Droṇa Parva, Chapters 57 to 70 (the other kings, as marked in the text above)
• Droṇa Parva, Chapters 71 and 52 (Nārada brings Suvarṇashṭhīvin back, and Vyāsa’s words on Abhimanyu)