CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
The Dynasty of Bharata

This Twenty-first Chapter describes the dynasty born from Maharaja
Bharata, the son of Maharaja Dusmanta, and it also describes the glories
of Rantideva, Ajamidha and others.

The son of Bharadvaja was Manyu, and Manyu’s sons were
Brhatksatra, Jaya, Mahavirya, Nara and Garga. Of these five, Nara had a
son named Sankrti, who had two sons, named Guru and Rantideva. As an
exalted devotee, Rantideva saw every living entity in relationship with
the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and therefore he completely
engaged his mind, his words and his very self in the service of the
Supreme Lord and His devotees. Rantideva was so exalted that he would
sometimes give away his own food in charity, and he and his family
would fast. Once, after Rantideva spent forty-eight days fasting, not even
drinking water, excellent food made with ghee was brought to him, but
when he was about to eat it a bradhmana guest appeared. Rantideva,
therefore, did not eat the food, but instead immediately offered a portion
of it to the brahmana. When the brahmana left and Rantideva was just
about to eat the remnants of the food, a Sidra appeared. Rantideva
therefore divided the remnants between the Sidra and himself. Again,
when he was just about to eat the remnants of the food, another guest ap-
peared. Rantideva therefore gave the rest of the food to the new guest
and was about to content himself with drinking the water to quench his
thirst, but this also was precluded, for a thirsty guest came and
Rantideva gave him the water. This was all ordained by the Supreme
Personality of Godhead just to glorify His devotee and show how tolerant
a devotee is in rendering service to the Lord. The Supreme Personality of
Godhead, being extremely pleased with Rantideva, entrusted him with
very confidential service. The special power to render the most confiden-
tial service is entrusted by the Supreme Personality of Godhead to a pure
devotee, not to ordinary devotees. : :

Garga, the son of Bharadvaja, had a son named Sini, and Sini’s son was
Gargya. Although Gargya was a ksatriya by birth, his sons became

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