Suhotra

Suhotra was a rājarshi (a king who was also a ṛshi in spiritual attainment). He ruled Kurujāṅgala, the old heartland of the Kurus. He is the second of the sixteen great kings that Nārada tells Sṛñjaya about in the Droṇa Parva of the Mahābhārata. Nārada tells their stories to console Sṛñjaya, who was grieving for his son.

His kingdom

Suhotra’s kingdom was filled with a golden divine grace that reached into nature itself. The rivers of his kingdom flowed with golden water. The fish, tortoises and crocodiles in them were all made of gold. Even the clouds over his kingdom rained gold. The Mahābhārata tells this in Droṇa Parva, Chapter 56.

Yajñas and dāna

Suhotra’s greatness rested on the size and devotion of his ritual life. He performed a thousand Aśvamedha yajñas, the great horse yajña that no ordinary king could undertake. He also performed a hundred Rājasūya yajñas, the yajña in which a king of the whole earth is consecrated. Besides these, he kept up the three kinds of yajña without a break throughout his reign:

• nitya (daily)
• naimittika (occasional)
• kāmya (performed to fulfil a wish)

He gave dāna (gifts) on a scale that matched his wealth. By the puṇya (merit) of his yajñas and his dāna, he reached the highest and most auspicious worlds, those of his own choice. The Mahābhārata tells this in Droṇa Parva, Chapter 56.

In the Shoḍaśa Mahārāja Kathā

The Shoḍaśa Mahārāja Kathā is the account of the sixteen great kings. Suhotra is the second of them. Nārada told each king’s story to make one point. A king whose puṇya, virtue and power were greater than Sṛñjaya’s son’s in every way still could not escape death. Suhotra had his golden kingdom, his thousand Aśvamedhas and his rivers of gold, and even he departed. The same words of comfort were used for him as for all the others. If such a great king also died, why should Sṛñjaya grieve for a son who performed no yajña and gave no great dāna?

Vyāsamahāmuni told the same account to Yudhishṭhira after the death of Abhimanyu, to console him in the same way. This is told in Droṇa Parva, Chapters 55–56.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Droṇa Parva, Chapters 55–56