Pratardana

Pratardana is one of four kings who go up to svarga (heaven) together in a divine chariot after Aṣṭaka’s Aśvamedha yajña (horse sacrifice). The other three are Aṣṭaka, Vasumanas and Śibi. The account is called Rājanya Mahābhāgya (Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapter 198). The devarṣi Nārada rides in the chariot with the four kings and tells how Pratardana gave dāna (gifts). Pratardana gave the horse on the right side of his own royal chariot to a brāhmaṇa who asked for it at once, during a royal outing. This sudden and inconvenient gift marks his character. Nārada says that Pratardana will leave svarga after Aṣṭaka, who is the first to fall because of pride in his dāna, and before Vasumanas and Śibi.

The four kings

Pratardana is one of the four righteous kings in the Rājanya Mahābhāgya episode:

• Aṣṭaka, son of Viśvāmitra, who performed the Aśvamedha that begins the episode.
• Pratardana, a righteous king, whose special act of dāna was giving away a horse from his chariot.
• Vasumanas, another king of great virtue.
• Śibi (Auśīnara), the son of Uśīnara. He is the greatest of the four in dāna and the last to come back from svarga.

The gift of the horse

Nārada tells of Pratardana’s gift while they ride in the chariot. Once Nārada was a guest at Pratardana’s court, and the two went out together in the royal chariot. A brāhmaṇa came and asked for a horse. Pratardana told him he would give one when they came back. The brāhmaṇa insisted on having the horse at once. Without delay, Pratardana unyoked the horse on the right side of his moving chariot and gave it to the brāhmaṇa on the spot, even though this broke up his own journey.

This is the mark of Pratardana’s virtue. He gave a horse from his own chariot in the middle of a journey, at his own cost, only because someone asked and would not wait. It was not a planned gift at a formal ceremony. It was an open-handed act in an ordinary moment. (Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapter 198)

The svarga chariot and Nārada’s answer

After Aṣṭaka’s Aśvamedha, the four kings, Aṣṭaka, Pratardana, Vasumanas and Śibi, climbed into a divine chariot and began to rise toward svarga. On the way, Nārada met them and joined the chariot.

One of the kings asked Nārada who among them would be first to come back to earth, that is, whose stay in svarga would be shortest because his puṇya (merit) would run out first. Nārada answered:

• Aṣṭaka would return first. Nārada had admired the cows that Aṣṭaka had given and asked whose they were. Aṣṭaka said, “Mine.” This showed a trace of pride in his dāna, which lessened its purity.
• Pratardana would return second. His gift was truly spontaneous, but it was smaller than the gifts of Vasumanas and Śibi.

(Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapter 198)

The gift of his own son

In the Anuśāsana Parva, Bhīṣma lists kings who reached svarga through dāna. There Pratardana is named as king of Kāśī. He is remembered for a still greater act than the chariot horse of the Vana Parva account. He gave away his own son to a brāhmaṇa, and by this he gained unmatched kīrti (fame) in this world and the next. This gift places Pratardana beside Śibi, who gave up his own son and his own life for the good of a brāhmaṇa. Both are among the highest examples of dāna in the Anuśāsana Parva, a dāna that reaches even to one’s own child. (Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 137)

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapter 198 (Rājanya Mahābhāgya)
• Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 137