Devanagari
चरमेणाश्वमेधेन यजमाने यजुष्पतिम् ।
वैन्ये यज्ञपशुं स्पर्धन्नपोवाह तिरोहित: ॥ ११ ॥
Verse text
carameṇāśvamedhena
yajamāne yajuṣ-patim
vainye yajṣa-paśuṁ spardhann
apovāha tirohitaḥ
Synonyms
carameṇa
—
by the last one
;
aśva
—
medhena — by the aśvamedha sacrifice
;
yajamāne
—
when he was performing the sacrifice
;
yajuḥ
—
patim — for satisfaction of the Lord of yajṣa, Viṣṇu
;
vainye
—
the son of King Vena
;
yajṣa
—
paśum — the animal meant to be sacrificed in the yajṣa
;
spardhan
—
being envious
;
apovāha
—
stole
;
tirohitaḥ
—
being invisible .
Translation
When Pṛthu Mahārāja was performing the last horse sacrifice [aśvamedha-yajṣa], King Indra, invisible to everyone, stole the horse intended for sacrifice. He did this because of his great envy of King Pṛthu.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
When Pṛthu was worshipping Viṣṇu with the last horse sacrifice, envious Indra with an invisible form stole the horse.
Yajuḥpatim means Viṣṇu. Apovāha means “he stole.”
Purport
King Indra is known as
śata-kratu,
which indicates that he has performed one hundred horse sacrifices (
aśvamedha-yajṣa
). We should know, however, that the animals sacrificed in the
yajṣa
were not killed. If the Vedic
mantras
were properly pronounced during the sacrifice, the animal sacrificed would come out again with a new life. That is the test for a successful
yajṣa.
When King Pṛthu was performing one hundred
yajṣas,
Indra became very envious because he did not want anyone to excel him. Being an ordinary living entity, he became envious of King Pṛthu, and, making himself invisible, he stole the horse and thus impeded the
yajṣa
performance.