Page:The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa (1884).djvu/296

262 sacrifices both the pitris and the gods. And he poured libations of clarified butter into fire according to the rites prescribed for those leading the Vanaprasta mode of life. And the illustrious one entertained guests and strangers with fruits of the forest and clarified butter, while he himself supported life by gleaning scattered corn-seeds. And the king led this sort of life for a full thousand years. And observing the vow of silence and with mind under complete control; he passed one full year living upon air alone and without sleep. And he passed another year practising the severest austerities in the midst of four fires around and the sun overhead. And living upon air alone, he stood erect for six months on one leg. And then the king, of sacred deeds, ascended to heaven covering heaven as well as the Earth (with the fame of his achievements.)

And so ends the eighty-sixth Section in the Sambhava of the Adi Parva.

 

( Sambhava Parva continued. )

Vaisampayana said, "While that king of kings dwelt in heaven—the home of the celestials—he was reverenced by the gods, the Sadhyas, the Marutas, and the Vasus. Of sacred deeds, and mind under complete control, the monarch used to repair now and then from the abode of the celestials unto the region of Brahma. And it hath been heard by me that he dwelt for a long time in heaven.

"One day that best of kings Yayati went to Indra and there in course of conversation the lord of the Earth was asked by Indra as follows:—

'What didst thou say, O king, when thy son Puru took thy decrepitude on earth and when thou didst bestow upon him thy kingdom?'

"Yayati answered, 'I told him that the whole country between the rivers Ganges and the Yamuna is thine. That is, indeed, the central region of the Earth while the outlying regions are to be the dominions of thy brothers. I also