ading, besides, a life of
celibacy, spake unto them, O king, of Gaya, the son of Amurttaraya. And
Shamatha said, 'Gaya, the son of Amurttaraya, was one of the foremost of
royal sages. Listen to me, O Bharata, as I recite his meritorious deeds.
It was here, O king, that Gaya had performed many sacrifices
distinguished by the enormous quantities of food (that were distributed)
and the profuse gifts that were given away (unto Brahmanas). Those
sacrifices, O king, were distinguished by mountains in hundreds and
thousands of cooked rice, lakes of clarified butter and rivers of curds
in many hundreds, and streams of richly-dressed curries in thousands. Day
after day were these got ready and distributed amongst all comers, while,
over and above this, Brahmanas and others, O king, received food that was
clean and pure. During the conclusion also (of every sacrifice) when
gifts were dedicated to the Brahmanas, the chanting of the Vedas reached
the heavens. And so loud, indeed, was the sound of the Vedic Mantras that
nothing else, O Bharata, could be heard there. Thus sacred sounds, O
king, filled the earth, the points of the horizon, the sky and heaven
itself. Even these were the wonders that persons noticed on those
occasions. And gratified with the excellent viands and drinks that the
illustrious Gaya provided, men, O bull of the Bharata race, went about
singing these verses. In Gaya's great sacrifice, who is there today,
amongst creatures, that still desireth to eat? There are yet twenty-five
mountains of food there after all have been fed! What the royal sage Gaya
of immense splendour hath achieved in his sacrifice was never achieved by
men before, nor will be by any in future. The gods have been so surfeited
by Gaya with clarified butter that they are not able to take anything
that anybody else may offer. As sand grains on earth, as stars in the
firmament, as drops showered by rain-charged clouds, cannot ever be
counted by anybody, so can none count the gifts in Gaya's sacrifice!"

"O son of the Kuru race, many times did king Gaya perform sacrifices of
this description, here, by the side of this Brahmasara!"

SECTION XCVI

Vaisampayana said, "After this the royal son of Kunti who was ever
distinguished for his profuse gifts unto Brahmanas, proceeded to the
asylum of Agastya and took up his abode in Durjaya. It was here that that
foremost of speakers, king Yudhishthira asked Lomasa as to why Agastya
had slain Vatapi th