Text 45] Prthu Maharaja’s Meeting with the Four Kumaras 949
are recognized by the state as rdya. A great devotee of Lord Caitanya
Mahaprabhu was called Ramananda Raya because he was governor of
Madras and very rich. There are still many holders of the title raya—
Raya Bahadur, Raya Chaudhuri and so on. The darah, or wife, is not
permitted to be offered to the brahmanas. Everything is offered to
worthy persons who are able to accept charity, but nowhere is it found
that one offers his wife; therefore in this case the reading rdyah is more
accurate than darah. Also, since Prthu Maharaja offered everything to the
Kumaras, the word kosah (treasury) need not be separately mentioned.
Kings and emperors used to keep a private treasury which was known as
ratna-bhanda. The ratna-bhanda was a special treasury room which con-
tained special jewelries, such as bangles, necklaces and so on, which were
presented to the king by the citizens. This jewelry was kept separate from
the regular treasury house where all the collected revenues were kept. Thus
Prthu Maharaja offered his stock of private jewelry to the lotus feet of the
Kumaras. It has already been admitted that all the King’s property belonged
to the brahmanas and that Prthu Maharaja was simply using it for the
welfare of the state. If it were actually the property of the brahmanas,
how could it be offered again to them? In this regard, Sripada Sridhara
Svami has explained that this offering is just like the servant’s offering of
food to his master. The food already belongs to the master, for the master
has purchased it, but the servant, by preparing food, makes it acceptable
to the master and thus offers it to him. In this way, everything belonging
to Prthu Maharaja was offered to the Kumaras.
TEXT 45
Garret FTF SATA 5 |
eiareered a Acaraficefa Wes
sainapatyam ca rajyam ca
danda-netrtvam eva ca
sarva-lokadhipatyam ca
veda-sastra-vid arhati

sainapatyam—post of commander-in-chief; ca—and; rajyam—post of
ruler over the kingdom; ca—and; danda—ruling; netrtvam—leadership; eva—
certainly ; ca—and; sarva—all; loka-adhipatyam—proprietorship of the plan-
et; ca—and; veda-sastra-vit—one who knows the purport of Vedic literature;
arhati— deserves.
