Sabha004001 vaiSampaayana uvaaca

CONTEXT: Yudhishthira entering newly built court-hall MAYASABHA.

tatah praveSanam cakre tasyaam raajaa yudhishThirah-

ayutam bhojayaam aasa brahmaNaanaam naraadhipah

|| ghritapaayasena madhunaa bhakshyair muulaphalais tathaa-

***

not in Bhandarkar version: '***madhunaa miSritena bhakshair mUlai phalaischaiva mAmsair varaaha/hariNai krisrEn adhya jIvinta havishyena ca sarvasaha mAmsa prakArair vividhai khAdyaischa api tathaa nripai

coaschaica vividhai, peyaischa bahu vistarai' aahatis chaiva...


ahataiS caiva vaasobhir maalyair uccaavacair api

.

K.M. GANGULI'S TRANSLATION
"Vaisampayana said,--"Then that chief of men, king Yudhishthira, entered
that palatial sabha having first fed ten thousand Brahmanas with
preparations of milk and rice mixed with clarified butter and honey with
fruits and roots, and with pork and venison. The king gratified those
superior Brahmanas, who had come from various countries with food
seasoned with seasamum and prepared with vegetables called jibanti, with rice mixed with clarified butter, with different preparations of
meat--with indeed various kinds of other food, as also numberless viands that are fit to be sucked and innumerable kinds of drinks, with new and unused robes and clothes, and with excellent floral wreaths. The king also gave unto each of those Brahmanas a thousand kine.

.


ybrao a donkey's observations
Ganguli's translation was in English. It did not give the Sanskrit verses. When I compared the Ganguli's translation with the original Sanskrit verses in the Bombay Version, I initially thought that Ganguli's translation was deviating from the original.

Ganguli's translation was mostly based on the Bengal Version of Mahabharata. Hence his translation included the omitted portions.

But a look at the entire book of Ganguli's translation gave me an impression that Ganguli would not deliberately remove or insert superfluous things, particuarly those which were concerned with religious faith. Consequently, I have made another google search. The fuller verse was found in the book of Paul Wilmot. Name of the book: The Great Hall.

Click to see the Link: The great hall - Google Books Result books.google.com/books?isbn=0814794068.

(Title aptly refers to Vol. 2 of the Mahabharata, called Sabha Parva). The verse is the very first verse of Chapter 4 of Sabha Parva. Hence, there should not be any difficulty in tracing this.

2. The Bombay version seems to have been a result of a censor-cut by scripture preachers in the area.

3. I wish to suggest the following approach, where obnoxious things are found in books (sacred or otherwise):

Better not to censor or edit. If this is done, we lose the original book over a period of time.

*We have to continue them , with a small note: "Not current today. We have changed for the better. We are proud that we have improved over our ancestors.".

Summary: King Yudhishthira was a great host of pork and deer meat. Philosophy will reach great heights when pork is in the stomachs. The entire Indra Prastha City would have looked like a Chicago full of abettoires (slaughterhouses) of pigs and bulls. to feed the 88,000 priests x 32 women and royal guests. The kitchens may resemble some Olympic Villages and Olympic Kitchens. Can modern Hotels match in magnitude the royal kitchens?