SB 1.8.6 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

याजयित्वाश्वमेधैस्तं त्रिभिरुत्तमकल्पकै: । तद्यश: पावनं दिक्षु शतमन्योरिवातनोत् ॥ ६ ॥

Verse text

yājayitvāśvamedhais taṁ tribhir uttama-kalpakaiḥ tad-yaśaḥ pāvanaṁ dikṣu śata-manyor ivātanot

Synonyms

yājayitvā — by performing ; aśvamedhaiḥ — yajṣa in which a horse is sacrificed ; tam — him (King Yudhiṣṭhira) ; tribhiḥ — three ; uttama — best ; kalpakaiḥ — supplied with proper ingredients and performed by able priests ; tat — that ; yaśaḥ — fame ; pāvanam — virtuous ; dikṣu — all directions ; śata — manyoḥ — Indra, who performed one hundred such sacrifices ; iva — like ; atanot — spread .

Translation

Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa caused three well-performed aśvamedha-yajṣas [horse sacrifices] to be conducted by Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira and thus caused his virtuous fame to be glorified in all directions, like that of Indra, who had performed one hundred such sacrifices.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Kṛṣṇa had Yudhiṣṭhira established in his rightful kingdom stolen by cheaters, had the unrighteous kings whose lives were shortened because of grabbing Draupadī’s hair destroyed, and had Yudhiṣṭhira conduct horse sacrifices three times with best arrangements. Thus his pure fame spread in all directions like that of Indra.

Purport

This is something like the preface to the performances of aśvamedha-yajṣa by Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira. The comparison of Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira to the King of heaven is significant. The King of heaven is thousands and thousands of times greater than Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira in opulence, yet the fame of Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira was not less. The reason is that Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira was a pure devotee of the Lord, and by His grace only was King Yudhiṣṭhira on the level of the King of heaven, even though he performed only three yajṣas whereas the King of heaven performed hundreds. That is the prerogative of the devotee of the Lord. The Lord is equal to everyone, but a devotee of the Lord is more glorified because he is always in touch with the all-great. The sun rays are equally distributed, but still there are some places which are always dark. This is not due to the sun but to the receptive power. Similarly, those who are cent-percent devotees of the Lord get the full-fledged mercy of the Lord, which is always equally distributed everywhere.

Commentary (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

The kings’ lives were destroyed by grabbing Draupadī’s hair and other sinful acts. The horse sacrifices were actually carried out later. This is a summary of events without chronology.