Part 18: Bharata’s possessions

The cakra, the umbrella, the sword, and the staff—these four one-sensed jewels originated in his armory. The cowrie, the skin, the gem, and the nine treasures appeared in the treasury of him illustrious, like jewels in Lavaṇa. The general, the steward, the priest, the carpenter—the four men-jewels originated in his own city. The elephant and the horse jewels originated at the foot of Mt. Vaitāḍhya; the woman-jewel was born in the northern row of the Vidyādharas.

Bharata shone like the moon, because of his form giving delight to the eyes; like the sun, because of his brilliance hard to endure; like the ocean whose center is inaccessible changed into human form; like dharma of mankind that had attained lordship over mankind. He shone always with the fourteen jewels like Jambūdvīpa with its rivers, Gaṅgā, Sindhu, etc.^[1] The nine treasures were constantly beneath his feet like golden lotuses beneath the feet of Lord Vṛṣabha as he wandered. Always surrounded by sixteen thousand gods as attendants, like body-guards bought at a high price, he was constantly served by thirty-two thousand kings, as well as kings’ daughters, with intense devotion. The King amused himself constantly with thirty-two thousand daughters of the people as well as with the same number of actors. The sole king in the three worlds shone with three hundred sixty-three cooks, like the year with days.^[2] He inaugurated customs on earth by the eighteen guilds and their sub-divisions, as the son of Nābhi had done by the alphabets. He shone with eighty-four lacs of elephants, horses, and chariots, and with ninety-six crores of infantry and villages. He was supreme lord of thirty-two thousand peoples, and lord of seventy-two thousand of the best cities. He was supreme lord of ninety-nine thousand towns accessible both by land and sea^[3] (droṇa-mukha), sovereign of forty-eight thousand towns approached by land only or water only (pattana). He was ruler of poor towns (karbaṭa), and isolated towns (maḍamba) with a high degree of wealth to the number of twenty-four thousand. He was tax-lord of twenty thousand mines, and governor of sixteen thousand towns with earthen walls (kheṭa). He was lord of fourteen thousand places where grain is stored (sambādha), and overlord of fifty-six island settlements (antarodaka). He was chief of forty-nine poor dominions (kurājya), and governor of others also in Bharatakṣetra.