*\ 



976 Bajendralala Mitra — An Imperial Assemblage [No. 3 ? 



messengers being instructed to request the attendance of Vaisyas and " all 

 respectable S'tidras" j Nakula was deputed to the old king Dhritarashtra, the 

 head of the family, to invite him and other Kaurava chiefs to grace the 

 assembly by their presence ; and ample provision was made for the accom- 

 modation and entertainment of the expected guests. The Brahmans were 

 expected to come in from all parts of the country, and every one was to be 

 received with due honour, and to be rewarded with rich presents. The 

 invitations to the Vaisyas and the S'tidras^ the agricultural and the 

 servile classes, at a religious ceremony, and the use of the epithet many a 

 "respectable" or "venerable" as a predicate for individuals of the class 

 originally formed of helots, are worthy of special note. " This is", says 

 Professor Wilson, " one of the numerous indications which the Mahabharata 

 offers of a state of public feeling and possibly of civil institutions which 

 seems to have preceded even the laws of Manu."* 



The most important business in connexion with the sacrifice was the 

 appointment of duly qualified priests, and the most renowned sages of the 

 time were solicited to take parts in the grand ceremonial. Krishna-dvai- 

 payana Vyasa, the natural father of both the Kurus and the Pandavas, who 

 was renowned for his thorough knowledge of the Vedas which he had 

 arranged and classified, himself took the part of Brahma or high priest. 

 Susama of the Dhananjaya clan was appointed the chief of Sama 

 singers. Yajnavalkya, the great lawgiver, was installed as Adhvaryu or the 

 chief of the Yajur Vedic priests. Paila, son of Kasu, and Dhaumya, the 

 family priest of Yudhishthira, undertook the duty of pouring out the 

 oblations on the sacred fire (hota) ; while a host of their pupils and others 

 were employed to act as assistants and assessors to watch the proceedings 

 and correct mistakes (sadasyd) . 



" In due course and at the proper time, Yudhishthira was initiated into 

 the ceremony by the assembled priests, and thus initiated and attended by 

 his brothers and surrounded by thousands of Brahmans, relatives, friends, 

 officers of State, and princes from different countries, he, resplendent as the 

 incarnation of Dharma, entered the Sacrificial Hall. Learned Brahmans, 

 versed in the Vedas and the Vedahgas, flocked from all parts of the country. 

 Architects had, under the king's orders, erected suitable abodes for them, 

 and those abodes had beautiful awnings on the top, and were replete with 

 furniture and articles of food and drink fit for all seasons of the year. 

 Eeceiving the welcome of the king, the Brahmans dwelt therein, and passed 



*^ Journal, El. As. Soc. VII. 138. In Mr. Wheeler's version the epithets sarvdn 

 mdnydn " all respectable" are placed against both the Vaisyas and the S'tidras, but 

 the construction of the sentence requires that they should apply to the S'tidras only, 

 showing that the three twice-born classes were all welcome, whereas of the unregenerate 

 S'tidras, the " respectable" alone were admissible. 



