201) Bhimasena collected the excellent and huge collection of precious stones that Shiva gave him through Banasura and returned to his city.
202) He offered his huge aggregation of wealth in front of Sri Vyasa and Sri Krishna, the two forms of Sri Hari, and bowed to them with devotion.
203-205) Bhima also bowed to his older brother Yudhishthira and narrated everything in front of Sri Krishna and him. He narrated the victories over Keechaka and others, the win over Paundraka who had come along with Ekalavya and the defeat of Karna and others. He also explained the defeat of Garuda, Shesha, Indra and the Devatas who had come in front of him in the guise of Lions and other animals, and the victory over Shiva who had come as an elephant.
206) That powerful Bhima was accorded great respect by Sri Krishna, Sri Vyasa and Dharmaraja. As per the orders of Sri Vyasa, he got all the materials for the Yajna ready.
207) Sri Vyasa addressed Bhima thus – “O Bhima, destroyer of enemies! You have won everything. Only when one wins against all, is the Yajna complete. Otherwise it does not”.
208) “Before this, only Brahma had won thus. You have become the second one” – saying thus he gave him a deep hug and ordered him to prepare all the materials for the Yajna.
209) By that time, his brothers had won in the other directions and returned. Sahadeva had won in the southern direction and had brought precious stones.
210-211) Among them (the Kings in the South), the powerful Rugmi did not fight with Sahadeva. He had earlier lost to Sri Krishna and thereafter obtained an excellent bow after pleasing Shiva through a penance. “You will win against everyone with this. Except Sri Krishna. If you oppose him this bow shall return to me” – Shiva had said thus. Therefore, he did not oppose Sri Krishna.
212) Out of love for his sister Rugmini, due to the fact that Sri Krishna was getting the Yajna conducted, and out of fear of Bhima and Arjuna, he gave tax to Sahadeva. The valorous Sahadeva won against the other Kings due to his own strength.
213) Sahadeva sent Ghatotkacha, who came there upon mere remembrance, to Vibhishana. He too gave a lot of tax to Sahadeva.
214) Vibhishana remembered all that Sri Rama had told him. He realized that Sri Krishna was Rama himself. He also observed the strength of Bhima and Arjuna, and that the Pandavas were all Devatas. Hence he gave the tax.
215) The son of Bhima came back to Sahadeva with one mahougha precious stones. Sahadeva returned back to his city.
Note: One mahougha is a crore followed by sixty zeroes!
216) Nakula won against all the Kings in the west. The brave Nakula obtained tax from his uncle Shalya even while dealing affectionately with him. He returned back to his city with a huge heap of precious stones.
217) Arjuna climbed the chariot that had Hanumanta, the best amongst the monkeys, in its mast and went in the northern direction, wielding the Gandiva in his hand. There, evil Kings who were ruling the mountains faced him.
218) The people of the Trigarta country, along with the Kings of the mountain countries, got to know the intention of Arjuna and faced him together.
219) Arjuna won against all of them at the same time, and having won that direction, proceeded further and faced the powerful Bhagadatta. He had a huge battle with him.
220) He climbed his elephant and fought for eight days. Getting tired, he asked Arjuna – “What is the reason for your war? Tell me”. Arjuna replied – “Pay me tax”.
221) He said – “Your father Indra is elder to me” and respectfully paid the tax. “Since I possess the divine Vaishnavastra you will not be able to win against me due to its radiance” – he said.
222) Since he made the payment with respect, not wanting any fight that was not productive, and caught in the web of friendship, Arjuna did not say anything.
223) Relying on the radiance of all his weapons, Arjuna won the remaining eight Varshas, the other six islands and the four directions.
Note: Apart from Bharata varsha, the other eight varshas are Kimpurusha, Hari, Ilavruta, Bhadrashva, Ketumala, Hiranmaya, Ramyaka and Kuru. The other six islands, apart from Jambudweepa, are Plaksha, Shalmali, Kusha, Krauncha, Shaka and Pushkara.
224) Arjuna went to the nether worlds as well and won against the Daityas and Danavas. As per the orders of Sri Vishnu, Bali gave him tax which he accepted adopting the sama or conciliatory approach.
225) He won against Vasuki too and obtained a lot of precious stones from him. The brave one quickly came back to his city within a year.
226-227) The heaps of gold and precious stones collected by the four of them were, in the corresponding order from the western direction, respectively ten yojanas, thirty yojanas, hundred yojanas and four hundred yojanas respectively.
Note: Nakula brought ten yojanas worth of tax. Sahadeva brought thirty yojanas worth jewels. Bhima’s was hundred yojanas wide and Arjuna’s collection was four hundred yojanas wide.
228) Since Indraprastha was the creation of Vishwakarma, it became possible to store those mountainous collections within the confines of the city. It was verily a miracle.
229) Later, as directed by Sri Vyasa, the Yajna started. In that Yaga, sages who were experts in all Shastras were Ritviks.
230) As per the directions of Sri Vyasa, the Ritviks gave the deeksha of the Yajna to Dharmaraja. Since he was the elder one, Bhima, Arjuna and the others handed over the responsibility of being the yajamana to Yudhisthira and sat down with him.
231) Since she was qualified for the post of Sarasvati, Draupadi alone became the Yajnapatni. Since the other wives of the Pandavas did not qualify for that position, they did not sit along with their husbands. The orders of infinitely radiant Sri Vyasa, the bearer of the entire world, was the main reason for this.
232) The entire area around (the Yajna) was filled with jewels and gold. Is there a need to separately state that the instruments of the Yajna and the camps, etc were all covered with jewels and gold?
233) During the digvijaya, the fourteen worlds had been invited by Bhima and the other Pandavas. Accordingly Brahma, Rudra, Indra and all the others arrived there.
234) Bhishma, Drona, Dhritharashtra, his sons and their wives arrived there. Bahlika too came there with his sons.
235) Similarly, Balarama and all the other Yadavas came there. Rugmini, Satyabhama and the rest of the mahishis of Sri Krishna too arrived.
236) When the whole world had assembled there in that fashion, many discussions took place in the Yajna mantapas for the determination of the truth revealed in the Shastras. Sri Vyasa, the personification of complete knowledge, who was none other than Sri Narayana, became the chief prashnika (questioner).
237) In those conferences, special discussions on the determination of the nature of infinite attributes of Sri Hari took place. It came to the conclusion that there is none similar to Sri Hari, and that therefore there is none better than him. They concluded that he was the pinnacle in the hierarchy of beings and there is none other than him (at the top).
238) Even as Sri Vyasa and Sri Parashurama were listening, amidst the swarm of people who had happily gathered, and even as the decision about the eternal truth was taking place, Dharmaraja asked Bhishma.
239) Even though Dharmaraja, who knew Dharma, was aware that Sri Krishna was none other than the always worshipped Sri Hari, he questioned Bhishma in order to remove the doubts in the minds of the assembled Kings.
240-241) Even though it had been established by Brahma and others during the discussions that there is none equal to Sri Narayana, the assembled Kings still thought of Sri Krishna as a mere human. Therefore, in order to convince them thoroughly that Sri Krishna was none other than Sri Narayana, Dharmaraja asked Bhishma.
Anandatirtha Prathishtana 