The Vedas prescribe performance of the Aswamedha and the Rajasuya yagna for kings as a means to establish their sovereignty. Yudhishtira performs the Rajasuya yagna in the Mahabharata which is described in detail and incidentally, it assumes importance as a crucial event in the story, pointed out Sri Sankararama Dikshitar in a discourse. The Gita extols the Vedic yagna or sacrifice as beneficial to all and it is compared to the mythical cow Kamadenu. The Gita claims that Prajapati created men along with sacrifice and established a mutual dependence of the celestial beings and men and a link between the different worlds in creation. Sacrifices satisfy the gods who in turn bestow what human beings desire. Food sustains all beings and food depends on rain. Rains come from sacrifice and sacrifice is born of work. This facilitates interaction and cooperation between the beings in the cosmos. Sage Narada, who travels through the entire creation at will, having seen Pandu in swarga loka, comes to Indraprasta and conveys Pandu’s wish that Yudhishtira should perform a Rajasuya yagna. Yudhishtira is overwhelmed that his father, though in Pitru loka, remembers his sons with fondness. He is thus motivated to fulfil his father’s wish and as the idea of the Rajasuya takes root in him, he thinks of the enormity of the task. The Rajasuya is only very rarely undertaken for it is more demanding by way of risks and expenses. But it ensures the king a place in Indra’s court and it is held that Harishchandra had performed it. But he places full faith in Krishna who he knows is alone capable of making the sacrifice possible. On hearing this desire of Yudhishtira, Krishna begins His plan for the killing of Jarasandha. He also foresees the Rajasuya as a perfect situation to fulfil the purpose of His avatar, granting release to Sisupala.
