Nariṣyanta

Nariṣyanta was the eldest and best among the eighteen sons of the emperror King Marutta. Inheriting the kingdom after his father’s departure to the forest, he reflected deeply on the conduct of his illustrious ancestors and resolved to uphold their legacy through dharma and yajña. His reign was distinguished by an unprecedented scale of generosity to the brāhmaṇas and an extraordinary era in which the entire earth became engaged in performing yajñas simultaneously, a feat unmatched by any king before him.

Succession to the Throne

Among the eighteen sons of Marutta, the eldest, Nariṣyanta, was the best. The kṣatriya-śreṣṭha King Marutta protected the earth for seventy thousand and fifteen years, governing the kingdom according to dharma and performing the most excellent yajñas. Having performed the rājyābhiṣeka of his eldest son Nariṣyanta, Marutta finally went to the forest. There, King Marutta performed great tapas with a focused mind and performed svargārohaṇa while spreading his yaśas in the heavenly and earthly worlds.

Reflections on the Ancestral Legacy

The wise Nariṣyanta, seeing the conduct of his father and other kings, reflected deeply. He thought that in his lineage, all his ancestors were mahātmas, performers of yajña-anuṣṭhāna, extremely powerful, givers of wealth, never turning away in saṅgrāma, and all had protected the earth according to dharma. He wondered who could be capable of following the caritra of those mahātmas, and what kind of dharma-karyas they had accomplished through āhavana and other means. He desired to perform those same acts.

He reflected that if a king does not protect the earth according to dharma, there is no merit for him and he has not attained maturity in his guṇas. If such a narendra does not protect the earth well, he becomes a sinner and goes to naraka. If wealth exists, the king must perform great yajñas and dānas. When the king is distressed, Īśvara alone is his refuge. Because the king is established in his own dharma, he does not perform palāyana due to shame and krodha toward enemies and saṅgrāma. He questioned how anyone could accomplish all these tasks in the same manner as his ancestors and Marutta had performed them. He acknowledged that his ancestors had performed excellent yajñas, were of guṇas, never turned back in saṅgrāma, and showed their parākrama before enemies when war arrived. There was no good deed they had not performed. He resolved therefore to follow niṣkāma-karma, and to follow his ancestors who had continuously performed yajñas by themselves in a manner none other had matched.

The Great Yajña and Unmatched Generosity

Having thought thus, King Nariṣyanta performed a yajña by giving wealth in a detailed manner such as no one had performed before. In this yajña, he gave great wealth to the brāhmaṇas for their livelihood. Moreover, he gave hundred-fold abundant anna-dāna. To each of the brāhmaṇas residing across the earth-circle, he gave cows, clothes, ornaments, grains, houses, and more.

The Era When No Brāhmaṇa Remained Without Wealth

Afterward, when King Nariṣyanta desired to perform the yajña again, no brāhmaṇa could be found to serve as ṛtvik. Whichever brāhmaṇas he chose for the ṛtvik-karma, those brāhmaṇas told him that they had already taken dīkṣā for a yajña elsewhere and asked him to choose someone else. They declared that the wealth he had given them during the yajña had not been exhausted even after many yajñas.

Being the Īśvara of the entire earth, when Nariṣyanta could not find any brāhmaṇas for the ṛtviks, he tried to give dāna at the bahirvedī. Even so, the brāhmaṇas whose houses were filled with wealth did not accept the dāna. The king intended to give dāna to the brāhmaṇas, but because no brāhmaṇas came to accept it, his effort was in vain.

Nariṣyanta reflected that there was now no brāhmaṇa anywhere on the earth-circle who was without wealth, and that this was surely a source of happiness. But he also felt that without yajña, the treasury of his kingdom would be in vain, and this was a source of great pain. All the brāhmaṇas were engaged in performing yajñas themselves, and for this reason none was agreeing to be the ṛtvik. And because they themselves were giving dānas, they were not accepting the dānas given by him.

The Unprecedented Mahā-Makha

Afterward, King Nariṣyanta performed praṇāma to some brāhmaṇas with bhakti repeatedly and persuaded them to serve as ṛtviks in his yajña. Those dvijas conducted the mahā-makha. What was most wonderful was that in that mahā-yajña, all the people were yajamānas. At that time, there were no sadasyas in those yajñas. Among the brāhmaṇas, some were yajamānas and others were yājakas for them.

When King Nariṣyanta performed yajña, all the brāhmaṇas of the earth performed many yajñas with the wealth given by him. In the eastern direction, more than eighteen crores of yajñas were performed. In the west, seven crores were performed. In the south, fourteen crores of yajñas took place. In the north, fifty crores of yajñas were performed. All these yajñas performed by the brāhmaṇas occurred at the same time as Nariṣyanta performed his yajña. In ancient times, King Nariṣyanta, the son of Marutta and possessed of well-known bala and pauruṣa, was such a dharmātmā.

Source: Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa, Chatper 129