Text 12] King Pṛthu's One Hundred Horse Sacrifices
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yajña-paśum —the animal meant to be sacrificed in the  yajña ;  spardhan —being envious;  apovāha —stole;  tirohitaḥ —being invisible.
TRANSLATION
When Pṛthu Mahārāja was performing the last horse sacrifice [ aśvamedha-yajña ], King Indra, invisible to everyone, stole the horse intended for sacrifice. He did this because of his great envy of King Pṛthu.
PURPORT
King Indra is known as  śata-kratu , which indicates that he has performed one hundred horse sacrifices ( aśvamedha-yajña ). We should know, however, that the animals sacrificed in the  yajña  were not killed. If the Vedic  mantras  were properly pronounced during the sacrifice, the animal sacrificed would come out again with a new life. That is the test for a successful  yajña . When King Pṛthu performed one hundred  yajñas , Indra became very envious because he did not want anyone to excel him. Being an ordinary living entity, he became envious of King Pṛthu, and, making himself invisible, he stole the horse and thus impeded the  yajña  performance.
TEXT 12
तथत्रिर्यगवानैक्षचरयाणं विहायसा । अष्टुक्तमिव पाखण्डं योऽधर्मे धर्मविभ्रमः ॥१२॥
tam atrir bhagavān aikṣat tvaramāṇam vihāyasā āmuktam iva pākhaṇḍam yo 'dharme dharma-vibhramaḥ
tam —King Indra;  atriḥ —the sage Atri;  bhagavān —most powerful;  aikṣat —could see;  tvaramāṇam —moving very hastily;  vihāyasā —in outer space;  āmuktam iva —like a liberated person;  pākhaṇḍam —imposter;  yaḥ —one who;  adharme —in irreligiosity;  dharma —religiosity;  vibhramaḥ —mistaking.
When King Indra was taking away the horse, he dressed himself to appear as a liberated person. Actually this dress is a form of cheating, for it falsely created an impression of religion. When Indra went into outer