Jadabharata would tie a dirty torn garment around his waist. Even his sacred thread was black and filthy. Unaware of his exalted status people insulted him by addressing him as the worst amongst Brahmins. He however remained indifferent to all these insults.

He would fill his stomach by completing small menial jobs for others. Knowing that he worked to earn his food, his brothers took advantage and got him to complete the agricultural work in their fields. Bharata wouldn’t refuse them but then he was totally clueless about agricultural techniques. He could not differentiate a flat barren land from a slope. He was unaware that he had to level the land. He was clueless about the amount of seeds to be sprinkled in the fields. He was unconcerned about them too.

At home he was not given food respectfully. Porridge, cattle fodder, sesame oil cakes, husk, bran, spoilt black gram seeds, burnt rice and other such foods were given to him. Bharata considered them equivalent of nectar and consumed them. He was happy. A long time elapsed in this manner.

Meanwhile, a dacoit-leader who was childless suddenly desired to obtain children. In order to please Goddess Bhadrakali he decided to offer human sacrifice. He caught a man and bound him tightly with ropes. However his happiness did not last long. Due to God’s grace this man escaped from their clutches and ran away. The dacoits searched for him in all directions but could not find him again.

By then it was midnight. Jadabharata, the most supreme member of the Angirasa clan, was seated in Veerāsana pose in the fields guarding the crops from wild animals, pigs and deer. As fate would have it, the dacoits spotted Jadabharata.

Jadabharata was strong and muscular. The dacoits examined him thoroughly and were satisfied that he was eligible to be offered in human-sacrifice. Their faces glowed with happiness. ‘Through this sacrifice our leader is bound to be blessed with a son’ they exclaimed joyfully. They bound him with tightly with ropes and dragged him to the temple. At the temple they began the customary rituals that need to be completed before offering human sacrifice. They at first gave him a good bath. Then they dressed him in clean new clothes. They decorated him with glittering ornaments, applied kumkum to his forehead, smeared his body with sweet-smelling perfume and put a fresh flower garland around his neck. In many varied ways they decorated him. Lastly they fed him a sumptuous meal.

They then worshipped Goddess Bhadrakāli with lighting of lamps, incense sticks, offering her flower garlands, tender shoots and parched grain. They offered fruits to her as Naivedya. Thereafter they beat drums, kettle drums and sang songs and hymns loudly before the deity. They brought Jadabharata, the sacrificial animal, and seated him before Mother Goddess.

One among the dacoits decided to please Mother Goddess Kāli by killing Jadabharata and offering his blood to Her. Chanting Devi’s mantra he lifted his razor-like sharp sword. Traits of ignorance (tamas) and passion (rajas) were pre-dominant in these dacoits. Their wisdom was totally clouded due to wealth and prosperity. They were deeply inclined towards harming others. They gleefully participated in this event. Through this act they were actually insulting the lineage of Brahmins, who endlessly chant Vedas. They were treading the wrong path. Now by acting based on their whims they were engaged in this heinous crime of harming Brahmins.

Jadabharata, a Self-realized person, was the form of Parabrahma. His father was a supreme Brahma-rishi. Jadabharata, who sought the well-being of every living being in the creation, did not have an enemy in the world. Such an exalted person should never ever be harmed.

Goddess Bhadrakāli observed these dacoits who were looking forward to complete such forbidden deed. She was enraged. All of a sudden She emerged from the idol in a ferocious form. The Divine Mother, whose powerful radiance is impossible to withstand, was burning in rage. Due to her intense fury Her elongated eyebrows appeared knotted. Her teeth glowed fiercely. With deep red eyes she appeared extremely fearsome. Her fearful bodily features appeared as if she was about to destroy the entire earth. She roared loudly and then let out a frenzied laughter.

In a fraction of a second she leapt and caught the sword that had been readied to kill Jadabharata. Using that sword she chopped the heads of all the dacoits present there. Together with her attendants she began to drink the warm blood flowing from their bodies. Due to the intoxication caused by excessive drinking of blood, Mother Goddess swooned. Together with her attendants She then sang and danced. Playing with the chopped heads as if they were balls, she wandered about happily. Mother Goddess shows her full might upon the person who tries to harm Mahatma.

Even when the dacoits were about to chop his head, Jadabharata did not blink an eyelid. He was calm and composed. This behavior of Jadabharata is not at all astonishing! In the ignorant feelings of ‘I and mine’ towards body and worldly possessions are like a terrible knot. However Self-realized devotees are freed from such ignorance. Without feelings of enmity they endlessly seek the welfare of all living beings. Using His weapon known as discus, which is nothing but the wheel of time, and through Bhadrakāli and other manifestations Srihari personally protects such supreme devotees. For this reason, Mahatmas who have surrendered to the lotus feet of Srihari do not fear anything.

With this the ninth chapter of the fifth canto comes to an end.