Chapter Fifteen King Prthu’s Appearance and Coronation
1. The great sage Maitreya continued: My dear Vidura, thus the brahmanas and the great sages again churned the two arms of King Vena’s dead body. As a result a male and female couple came out of his arms.
2. The great sages were highly learned in Vedic knowledge. When they saw the male and female born of the arms of Vena’s body, they were very pleased, for they could understand that the couple was an expansion of a plenary portion of Visnu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
3. The great sages said: The male is a plenary expansion of the power of Lord Visnu, who maintains the entire universe, and the female is a plenary expansion of the goddess of fortune, who is never separated from the Lord.
4. Of the two, the male will be able to expand his reputation throughout the world. His name will be Prthu. Indeed, he will be the first among kings.
5. The female has such beautiful teeth and beautiful qualities that she will actually beautify the ornaments she wears. Her name will be Arci. In the future she will accept King Prthu as her husband.
6. In the form of King Prthu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead has appeared through a part of His potency to protect the people of the world. The goddess of fortune is the constant companion of the Lord, and therefore she has incarnated partially as Arci to become King Prthu’s queen.
7. The great sage Maitreya continued: My dear Viduraji, at that time all the brahmanas highly praised and glorified King Prthu, and the best singers of Gandharvaloka chanted his glories. The inhabitants of Siddhaloka showered flowers, and the beautiful women in the heavenly planets danced in ecstasy.
8. Conchshells, bugles, drums and kettledrums vibrated in outer space. Great sages, forefathers and personalities from the heavenly planets all came to earth from various planetary systems.
9-10. Lord Brahma, the master of the entire universe, arrived there accompanied by all the demigods and their chiefs. Seeing the lines of Lord Visnu’s palm on King Prthu’s right hand and impressions of lotus flowers on the soles of his feet, Lord Brahma could understand that King Prthu was a partial representation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. One whose palm bears the sign of a disc, as well as other such lines, should be considered a partial representation or incarnation of the Supreme Lord.
11. The learned brahmanas, who were very attached to the Vedic ritualistic ceremonies, then arranged for the King’s coronation. People from all directions collected all the different paraphernalia for the ceremony. Thus everything was complete.
12. All the rivers, seas, hills, mountains, serpents, cows, birds, animals, heavenly planets, the earthly planet and all other living entities collected various presentations, according to their ability, to offer the King.
13. Thus the great King Prthu, exquisitely dressed with garments and ornaments, was coronated and placed on the throne. The King and his wife, Arci, who was also exquisitely ornamented, appeared exactly like fire.
14. The great sage continued: My dear Vidura, Kuvera presented the great King Prthu with a golden throne. The demigod Varuna presented him with an umbrella that constantly sprayed fine particles of water and was as brilliant as the moon.
15. The demigod of air, Vayu, presented King Prthu with two whisks [camaras] of hair; the King of religion, Dharma, presented him with a flower garland which would expand his fame; the King of heaven, Indra, presented him with a valuable helmet; and the superintendent of death, Yamaraja, presented him with a sceptor with which to rule the world.
16. Lord Brahma presented King Prthu with a protective garment made of spiritual knowledge. Bharati [Sarasvati], the wife of Brahma, gave him a transcendental necklace. Lord Visnu presented him with a Sudarsana disc, and Lord Visnu’s wife, the goddess of fortune, gave him imperishable opulences.
17. Lord Siva presented him with a sword within a sheath marked with ten moons, and his wife, the goddess Durga, presented him with a shield marked with one hundred moons. The moon-demigod presented him with horses made of nectar, and the demigod Visvakarma presented him with a very beautiful chariot.
18. The demigod of fire, Agni, presented him with a bow made of the horns of goats and cows. The sun-god presented him with arrows as brilliant as sunshine. The predominating deity of Bhurloka presented him with slippers full of mystic power. The demigods from outer space brought him presentations of flowers again and again.
19. The demigods who always travel in outer space gave King Prthu the arts to perform dramas, sing songs, play musical instruments and disappear at his will. The great sages also offered him infallible blessings. The ocean offered him a conchshell produced from the ocean.
20. The seas, mountains and rivers gave him room to drive his chariot without impediments, and a suta, a magadha and a vandi offered prayers and praises. They all presented themselves before him to perform their respective duties.
21. Thus when the greatly powerful King Prthu, the son of Vena, saw the professionals before him, to congratulate them he smiled, and with the gravity of the vibrating sounds of clouds he spoke as follows.
22. King Prthu said: O gentle suta, magadha and other devotee offering prayers, the qualities of which you have spoken are not distinct in me. Why then should you praise me for all these qualities when I do not shelter these features? I do not wish for these words meant for me to go in vain, but it is better that they be offered to someone else.
23. O gentle reciters, offer such prayers in due course of time, when the qualities of which you have spoken actually manifest themselves in me. The gentle who offer prayers to the Supreme Personality of Godhead do not attribute such qualities to a human being, who does not actually have them.
24. How could an intelligent man competent enough to possess such exalted qualities allow his followers to praise him if he did not actually have them? Praising a man by saying that if he were educated he might have become a great scholar or great personality is nothing but a process of cheating. A foolish person who agrees to accept such praise does not know that such words simply insult him.
25. As a person with a sense of honor and magnanimity does not like to hear about his abominable actions, a person who is very famous and powerful does not like to hear himself praised.
26. King Prthu continued: My dear devotees, headed by the suta, just now I am not very famous for my personal activities because I have not done anything praiseworthy you could glorify. Therefore how could I engage you in praising my activities exactly like children?
