Text 12] King Prthu’s One Hundred Horse Sacrifices 739
yajiia-pasum—the animal meant to be sacrificed in the yajiia; spardhan—
being envious; apovaha—stole; tirohitah—being invisible.
TRANSLATION
When Prthu Maharaja was performing the last horse sacrifice [asvamedha-
yajna], King Indra, invisible to everyone, stole the horse intended for
sacrifice. He did this because of his great envy of King Prthu.
PURPORT
King Indra is known as Sata-kratu, which indicates that he has performed
one hundred horse sacrifices (asvamedha-yajiia), We should know, however,
that the animals sacrificed in the yajfia 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 yajfa. When King Prthu performed one hundred yajfias, Indra
became very envious because he did not want anyone to excel him. Being
an ordinary living entity, he became envious of King Prthu, and, making
himself invisible, he stole the horse and thus impeded the yajfia per-
formance.
TEXT 12
TAHARI FrerTaT |
eERT qraS aISa TATA: 1122
tam atrir bhagavan aiksat
* tvaramanam vihayasa
amuktam iva pakhandam
yo ‘dharme dharma-vibhramah
tam—King Indra; atrih—the sage Atri; bhagavan—most powerful; aiksat—
could see; tvaramanam—moving very hastily; vihdyasa—in outer space;
dmuktam iva—like a liberated person; pakhandam—imposter; yah—one
who; adharme—in irreligiosity ; dharma—religiosity ; vibhramah—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
