TEXT 44
prana darah suta brahman
grhas ca sa-paricchadah
rajyam balam mahi kosa
iti sarvam niveditam
SYNONYMS
pranahlife; darahwife; sutahchildren; brahmanO great brahmana; grhahhome; caalso; sawith; paricchadahall paraphernalia; rajyamkingdom; balamstrength; mahiland; kosahtreasury; itithus; sarvameverything; niveditamoffered.
TRANSLATION
The King continued: Therefore, my dear brahmanas, my life, wife, children, home, furniture and household paraphernalia, my kingdom, strength, land and especially my treasury are all offered unto you.
PURPORT
In some readings, the word darah is not used, but the word used then is rayah, which means wealth. In India there are still wealthy persons who are recognized by the state as raya. 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 rayaRaya 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 rayah 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 contained 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 Kings 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 servants 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.
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