TABLE OF CONTENTS.

VIRATA PABVA.

Pacifism-Framed Parva.

mm.

Yudhishthii'a’s consultation with his brothers and Draupadr. l

Yudhishthira’

s desire of entering the service of Viri ta

as a gamblerBhima’s desire of servingViri ta as a cookArjuna

’

s ditto of serving ditto as a dancing-master in

themner apartmentsNakula ’

s ditto of serving ditto askeeper of the steeds

Sahadeva’

s ditto of serving ditto askeeper of the kins

Draupadi’

s ditto of serving Viri ta’

s wife as her Ed ie-tu

dh'ri

Dhaumya’

s advice to Yudhishthira and his brothers re

garding the bearing of persons living'mpalaces

flhaumya performs the rites of departure

Dhaumya takes leave of the Fi ndavas

Indrasena and other servants set out for l rakfi

The Fi ndavas set out for Virata’

s cityThe Fi ndavas keep their weapons on a Qami treeThey assume new names for holding secret converseYudhishthira

’

s hymn to B urgfiDurgi

’

s boon to Yudhishthira

Yudhishthira presents himself to Viri taGives his name as Kanka and i s ac cepted as a courtierB hima approaches Virata as a cook, giving his name asVallava, and 1s accepted

‘Draupadi enters Viri ta’

9 city and is accepted as 9. Sai

ii c on-rams.

Arjuna approaches Viri ta dressed as a eunuch and is

accepted as dancing-master to the royalmaidens

Nakula approaches the king and is accepted as keeper of

the king’

s steeds

The festival in honor of B rahmiB hima encounters the athlete Jimuta and slays him(Vini ta rewards B hima

Kickaka bad ha Pct/row.

Kichaka beholds Draupadi and is smitten with h er charmsKichaka accosts Draupadi

Draupadimildly rcproves KichakaKichaka renews his suit

Draupadi’

n'

indignant replyKi chaka conspires with Sudeshnl for getting Draupadi

in his power a

Sadeshna sends Draupadi to Kichaka’

s abode on a pre

0 0 0 d o a

0 0 6

Kichaka attempts to use force on Draupadi

Draupadi’

s escape and Kichaka’

s overthrow by the invisi

ble B ahama

Kichaka pursues Draupadi and kicks her in the presenceof Virata and his courtiers

Draupadi’

s lament at this .

Yudhishthira sends away Draupadi to theme: apart

ments

B hima’s lamentDraupadi

’

s lament

Bhima’s promise to slay ,Kichaka

n o ‘

Bhima encounters Kichaka at night.in the dancing-ball.

QONTENTB.

C

They fight

B hima slays Kichaka and reduces himto a formless mass7 offlesh .

The Upakich akas desire to burn Draupadi with Kichaka’

s

corpse

Draupadi invokes her lords for helpB hima rushes, tree in hand, against the Upakicbakae and

slays themDraupadi comes back to Virsta’s palace

Q O D

B raupadi’

smeeting with VribannaliSudeshni asks her to leave her serviceShe promises to do so within a few days

Go-ha'rana Paw s .

The spies cf Duryodhana carry news of

to Hastini pura

Dnryodhana’

s resolve to renew the searchKama counsels the sameDrona recommends peaceB hishma does the sameKripa

’

s speech

Sucarman’

s proposal for invading Viri ta’

s

Duryodhana accepts the proposal andmakes arrangementsaccordingly

News reaches Viri ta of the seizure of his kinsViri ta makes preparations for setting out

[Hie four sons of Panda follow Vini taThe fight between the Matsyas and the TrigartasVirata taken captive by SucarmanBhima rescues Viri ta, vanquishing SusannanSwear

-man taken prisoner by B hima~Yudhishthira sets Sugarman free.Virata

’

s gratitude to the Fi ndavasfieizure of Viri ta

’

s kine in the north by the Kurus,News is brought to Uttara of this

xlj ttara

’

s want ofa charivteer

C O O

Q QQ

c an

Q ' Q c a n

Q ‘ l

Draupadi praises Vrihannali’

s skill in driving cars .

Uttari requests Vrihannali to ac t as her brother’

s

Uttara sets out with Vrihannali

Uttara’s panic at sight of the Kuru armyUttara jumps down fromthe car and runs awayArjuna seizes Uttara and takes himup on the

The doubts of the Kurus at sight of this act

Arjuna assures Uttara

Arjuna andUttara proceed towards the Qami We "

former askes the latter to c limb it for weaponsUttara c limbs up the tree .

Uttara’

s enquiries regarding the weapons he seesArjuna answers UttaraArjuna disc loses himself to UttaraArjuna

’

s ten names and their meaningsUttara recovers fromhis fright and agrees to drive Arjuna

’

s

car in battle

Arjuna’

s explanation of his disguise as a enunch

Arjuna invokes his weaponsThey promise to obey his callArjuna invokes his own ce lestial bannerIt comes at his call

Drona calls the attention of the Kuru chiefs to various

evil omensDuryodhana

’

s justification of the invasion

His surmises regarding the approaching warriorDuryodhana urges his army to fightKama accuses Drona of secretly favoring tt i ndavas

Acwathaman’

s speech in reply to Karna’

s bragB hisbma ’

s conciliatory speechDuryodhana asks Drona

’

s forgiveness

Bhishma’s calculation of the period of concealment

CONTENTS.

B hishma advises peace .with the Pi ndavas

Duryodhana’

s refusal to give back the kingdomB hishma arrays the troops in four divisionsArjuna sets the kind free

Commencement of the . battle

Arjuna slays Sangrimajit the brother ofKamaThe

"

first encounter between Arjuna andKamaKama takes to flightThe general encounter and Arjuna

’

s heroismArjuna points out to Uttara the difl

'

srent Kuru heroes

by their specialmarksThe arrival of the celestials and others in their invisible

forms for beholding the battleArjuna

’

s encounter with .Kripa

Kripa defeated and taken away

Arjuna’

s encounter with Drona

Drona worsted in the conflic t

Acwathiman rushes against Arjuna

Acwathiman worsted in the conflictArjuna

’

9 second encounter with KamaKarna

’

s fligh t

Arjuna directs Uttara to take himbefore B hishma

Arjuna assures Uttara

Arjunamakes a terrible havoc among the KurusB hishma ’

s rush against ArjunaTh e fierce encounter between B hishma and Arj unaB hishma worsted and taken away by his charioteer

Duryodhana rushes against ArjunaDuryodhana

’

s flight

Arjuna bitterly rebukes Duryodhana

Duryodhana turns back and is aided by the Kuru chiefs

Arjuna shoots the weapon called Sanmoha 'na

The Kuru warriors fall asleepUttara takes ofl

‘

the garments of Duryodhana, Drona,Kripa, Kama, and Acwathaman

Arjuna’

s car freed fromthe press

The Kurus .awake

B hishma counsels a a eration of the fightThe Kurus r etreat towards Hastinhpura

Arjuna smashes Duryodhana’

s crown into fragmmts by anarrow ill

Themissing soldiers of the Kurd s appear before Arjunaand are set ha s

Arjuna advises Uttara not to discover the Pandavaa to

king Viri ta

Arjuna’

s banner goes up to the sky

Agnna re-disguisss himself as Vrihannali lmi becomesUttara

'

s charioteer

Uttara sendsmessengers .in advance with new; of thevic tory

Viri ta’

s alarmand anxiety upon hearing that Uttarahad gone out against the Kurus 170

The king commands his generals to set out in aid ofUttara ih

Yudhisbthira.consoles Viri ta

Messengers .bring intelligence of the defmt of the Km 17!

The king’

s joy and preparations for wa iving Uttan ih

Viri ta’

s desire to gamble . 172

Yudhishthira’

s repeated praise of Vrrhannali duringthe play

Yudhish thina .struck by Viri ta with a dis

Draupadi holds a vessel of water for receiving the bloodthat falls fromYudhishthira’

s nw e .

Uttara and Virhannali at the gate of the palaceThe king commands both to enter

Yudhishthira whispers to . the warder not to admit Vrihannali

Uttara worships the feet of his father .

B eholding Kanka’

a wound and humiliation, Uttara askshis father .to propitiate Kanha

Viri ta propitiates Kanka ih

Uttara ascribes the victory to the aid of a celestial youth 175

Viri ta’

s desire to behold his benefac tor 176

The Pauiavasmith Draupadi throw off their disguise 177

CONTENTS.

PAGE.

Yiri ta’

s surprise and anger at beholding Yudhishthira on

the throne " ih

Arjuna’

s speech ih

Arjuna points out to Virata the difl'

erent Pandavas 179

Uttara also points themout 18 0

Uttara describes Arjuna’

s prowess and heroism ih

Viri ta’

8 joy at the discovery 1 8 1

Virhta offers the Fi ndavas his kingdom 1 8 2

Viri ta’

8 offer of bestowing Uttara upon Arj una ih

Arjuna’

s refusai ih

ih

Arjuna accepts the princess on behalfof his son Abhimanyu ihThe arrival of Drupada, Krishna, and the Yidavas at

a . M .

Themarriage of Abhimanyu with Uttai'itGifts by both Viri ta and Yudhishthira.

THE MAHABHARATA

VIRATA PARVA.

SECTION I.

Pandava-p mveca Parva.

Om! After Nara

themost exalted ofmale beings, and also to the goddess Saraswati, must the word Jage he uttered.

ed with the fear of Duryodhana, pass their days undiscovered

in the city of Virata And, 0 B rahmana, how did the highlyblessed Draupadi, stricken with was , devoted to her lords, andever adoring the Deity,

’spend her days unrecognised 2

”

Vaiqampl yana said Listen , 0 lord of men, how thy

the asylumand related unto the Bri hmunas all that had happen~

ed. And having related everything unto them, Yudhishthira

restored to that regenerate follower of his the churning stafi'

and the hrs-sticks he had lost. And, 0 Bhimta, the son of

the god of Justice, the royal Yudhisthira of high soul, thencalled together all his younger brothers and addressed them,

saying,-‘Exiled fromour kingdom, we have passed twelve years.

The thirteenth year, hard to spend, hath now come. Do thou ,

therefore , O Arjuna the son of Kunti, select some spot wherewe may pass our days undiscovered by our enemies

i f B rakmVddini- Nilakantha explains this as Krishna -fi rmnefade—T.

2 mmmru .

Arjuna replied, —‘Even by virtue of Dharma’s boon, we

shall, 0 lord ofmen, range about undiscovered bymen. Still,for purposes of residence, I shallmention some spots that are

both delightful and sec luded. Do thou select some one of

them. Surrounding the kingdomof the Kurus, aremany coun

tries, beautiful and abounding in corn, such as Pi nchhla, Chedi,

Ci lva, Yugandhara, Suri shtra, Avanti, and the spacious Kuntiri shtra. Which of these, 0 king, wouldst thou choose, and where,

0 foremost ofmonarchs, shd l we spend this year

Yudhishthira said,—‘O thou ofmighty arms, it is even so.

What that adorable Lord of all creatures hath saidmust becometrue ! Surely, after consulting together, wemust selec t somedelightful, auspicious, and agreeable region for our abode , where

wemay live free fromfear. The aged Viri ta, king of the Matsyas,is virtuous and powerful and charitable, and is liked by all.

And he is also attached to the Pandavas. Even in the city

of Viri ta, 0 child, we shall, 0 B hi rata, spend this year, enter-1

ing his service. Tellme , ye sons of the Kuru race, in what

capacities ye will severally present yourselves before the kingof the Matsyas

Arjuna said,—‘O god amongmen, what service wilt thou

take in Virr'

ita’

s kingdom2 O righteous one , in what capac ity

wilt thou reside in the city of Viri ta ? Thou art mild, andc haritable, and modest, and virtuous, and firm in promise.What wilt thou, 0 king, amicted as thou art with calamity,do ? A king is ill qualified to bear trouble like an ordinary‘

person. How wilt thou overcome this great calamity that hasovertaken thee

Yudhishthira replied, -‘Ye sons of the Kuru race , ye bulls

amongmen , hear what I shall do on appearing before king

Viri ta. Presenting myself as a B rahmana, Kanka by name,skilled in dice and fond of play, I shall become a courtier of

that high-souled king. And moving upon boards beautiful

pawnsmade of ivory, of blue and yellow and red and white

hue , bymeans of black and red dice , I shall entertain the kingwith h is courtiers and friends. And while I shall continue to

thus please the king, nobody will succeed in discovering me s

mu 1ev l

Arid should themonarch askme , I shall say, -Forme'

r ly I was

the bosomfriend of Yudhishthira . I te ll you that it is thus

that I shall pass my days (in the city of Virata). What oflice

wilt thou , O Vrikodara, fill in the c ity of Viri ta

Thus ends the first Section in the Fi ndava-praveca of the

Viri ta Parva.

Sac-non II.

s ndava-

pravepa Parva continued.

B hima said, -‘I intend to present myself before the lord

of Viri ta as a cook bearing the name of Velleva. I amskilledin the culinary art, and I shall prepare curries for the king ; andexce lling all those skilful .cooks that had hitherto dressed his food,

I shall gratify the monarch. And I shall carry mighty loadsof wood. And witnessing that mighty feat, the monarch will

be pleased. And, 0 B hi rata, beholding such superhuman featsofmine , the servants of the royal household will honor me as

a king. And I shall have entire control over all kinds of viands

and drinks. And commanded to subdue powerful elephants and

mighty bulls, I will do as hidden. And if any combatants willfight with me in the lists, then will I vanquish them, and there

by enter tain the monarch . But I shall not take the life of

any of them. I shall only bring themdown in such way that

theymay not be killed. And on being asked as regards myantecedents I shall say that— Formr ly I was the w restler and

c ook of Yudhishthira . Thus shall I, 0 king,maintain myselfYudhishthira said, -

‘And what office will be performed byt hat mighty descendant of the Kurus, B hansojaya the son of

Kunti, that foremost ofmen possessed of long arms, invinciblein fight, and before whom, while he was staying with Krishna,

the divine Agni himse lf desirous of consuming the forest of

.Khi ndava had formerly appeared in the guise of a B rahmana ?‘What office will be performed by that best of warriors, Arjuna,who proceeded to that forest and gratified Agni, vanquishing

on a single car and slaying huge Nagas and Rakshasas, and

.whomarried the sister ofVasuki himself the king of the Nciyas

Even as the sun is the foremost of all heat-giving bodies,

m omma”

;

an the Bri hmana is the bsst of all bipeds, as the cobra is tho

foremost of all serpents, as Fire is the first of all things possessced of energy, as the thunder

-bolt is the foremost of all weapons,as the humped bull is the foremost of all animals of the bovine

as c louds charged with rain are the foremost of all clouds. as

Dhritarashtra is the first of all Nagas, as Airi vata is the

foremost of all elephants, as the son is the foremost of all

beloved objects, and lastly, as the wife is the best of all

firiends, so, 0 Vrikodara, is the youthful Gudlksca the fore

most of all bowmen ! And, 0 Bhi rata, what ofi ce will be

non who, dwelling for five years in the abode of the

his own energy the science of superhuman arms with all oclw

tial weapons, and whomI regard as the tenth Radar», the

thirteenth Aditya , the ninth Vasu, and the tenth Gmha ,whose arms, symmetrical and long, have the skin hardened by

constan t strokes of the bow-string and the cicatricss on which

resemble those on the humps of bulls—that foremost of warriors

of water, Cakra among celestiala, Havyavl h (Fire) among theVasus, the tiger among beasts, andGaruda among feathery tribes l

’

Arjuna replied,—‘O lord of the Earth, I will declare my

self as one of the neuter sex. 0 monarch, it is, indeed, didicult to hide the marks of the bow-string on my arms. I will,however, cover bothmy cicatrized arms with bangles. Wear~

appear as one of the third sex, Vrihannali by name. And

living as a female , I will (always) entertain the king and the

inmate s of the inner apartments by reciting stories. And, 0

king, I will also instruct the women of Viri ta’

s palace in singing and delightfulmodes of dancing, and inmusical instrumentsof diverse kinds. And I will also recite the various exce llent

acts ofmen and thus concealmyself, 0 son ofKunti, by counter

7mmman . 6

feiting disguise. And, 0 B harata, should the king enquire,

I will say that I lived as a waiting maid of Draupadi in

Yud hishthira’

s pala ce. And, 0 foremost of kings, concealing

myself by thismeans, as fire is concealed by ashes, I will pass

my days agreeably in the palace of Viri ta I’ ”

Vaicampayana continued Having said this, Arjuna, that

best ofmen and foremost of virtuous persons, became silent.

Then the king addressed another brother of his.”

Thus ends the second Section in the Pi dava-praveca of the

Vini ta Perva.

SECTION III.

Yudhishthira said—T ender, and possessed of a graceful

presence, and deserving of every luxury as thou art, what

ofiice wilt thou , O heroic Nakula, discharge while living in the

dominions of that king Te llme all about it

Nakula said, -‘Under the name of Granthika, I will

become the keeper of the horses of king Virata. I have a

thorough knowledge (of this work) and am skilfu l in tending

horses. B eddes, the task is agreeable to me, and l possess greatskill in training and treating horses and horses are ever dear

tome as they are to thee, O king of the Kurus ! Atmy handseven colts andmares become docile these never become vicious

in bearing a rider or drawing a cord And those persons in the

c ity of Virata that may enquire ofme, I will, 0 hull of the

B harata race , sax— Formerly I was employed by Yudhishtkm

in the aha/rye of his horses. Thus disguised, 0 king, I will spendmy days delightfully in the city of Viri ta. N0 one will be able

to discoverme as I will gratify the monarch thus l’

i

This speech of Vaicampayana is not included in some texts withinth a second Se c tion. To include it, however, in the third, is evidently a

mistake. T.

t The aloha commencing with Adushta and ending with ratheslmcladdoes not occur in texts except those of B engal. —T.

1 A difference of reading is obser vable here. The sense, h owever,

is the same — T.

6 mu rmu r.

Yudhishthira said,—‘How wilt thou, 0 Sahadeva, beat ?

thyself before that king 1 And what, 0 child, is that which

thou wilt do in order to live in disguise

as well as in taming their fierceness. Passing under the name of

Tantripi l, I will performmy duties deftly. Let thy heart’

s

fever be dispelled. Formerly I was frequently employed after

thy kine, and, 0 lord of earth , I have a particular knowledge

of that work And, 0 monarch , I amwe ll acquainted withthe nature of kine, as also with their auspicious marks and

othermatters relating to themI I can also discriminate bulls

even the barren bring forth. Even thus will I live, and I always

take delight in work of this kind. Indeed, no one will then be

amother, and regarded like an elder sister. Unacquainted as

the daughter ofDrupada, perform Delicate and young, she is a

princess of great repute. Devoted to her lords, and eminentlyvirtuous, alas, how will she live 1 Since her birth, she hath enjoyed only'garlands and perfumes and ornaments and costly robes

ever, (that are respectable) do not do so. Of this class there aresome. I will givemyself out as a Saimmdhri , skilledmdress

Yudhishthira’

s house-hold. I will thus passmy days in disguiseAnd I will serve the famous Sudeshni , the wife of the king.

Sure ly, obtainingme she will cherishme (duly) Do not grieve

so, 0 king 1’

Yudhishthira said, —‘O Krishna, thou speakest well. But’

An independent female artisan working in another persons’a house.

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

8 m a rinara.

to pm this year in the king’

s palace , undiscovered by those

that know you. Then in the fourteenth year, ye will live

happily. O son of Pi ndu, in th is world, that cherisher and

protector of all beings, the king, who is the Deity in an embodied form, is as a great fire sanctified with all the mantras .

”

tained his permission at the gate. No one should keep contactwith royal secrets. Nor should ‘one desire a seat which another

may covet. He who doth not, regarding himself to be a

favorite , occupy (the king’

s) car, or couch, or seat, or vehic le,or elephant, is alone worthy of dwelling in a royal household.

He that sits not upon a seat the occupation of which is cal

culated to raise alarm in the minds ofmalicious people, isalone worthy of dwelling in a royal household. No one should.

unasked, ofi'

er counsel (to a king). Paying homage in season

unto the king, one should silently and respectfully sit beside

the king, for k’mgs take umbrage at babblers, and disgrace lying

c ounsellors. A wise person should not contrac t friendship with

the king’

s wife, nor with the inmates of the inner apartments ,nor with those that are objects of royal displeasure. One about

the king should do even the most unimportant act with the

not come by harm. Even if an individual attain the highest

ofi ce, he should, as long as he is not asked or commanded,consider himself as born blind, having regard to the king

’

s

dignity ; for those repressers of foes, the rulers ofmen, do not

with regardful care, even as Agw i or any other god ; and he

that is disloyal to his sovereign, is certainly destroyed by him.

Renouncing anger, and pride , and negligence, it behoveth a

man to follow the course direc ted by the monarch. After care

fully deliberating on all things, a person should set forth before

the king those topics that are both profitable and pleasant ; but

should a subject be profitable without being pleasant, he should

Some of the B engal texts read Saw acartramaya for Sarm antra

mag/c . The former is evidently incorrect — T.

u sers past a, a

amamto be well-dispomtowards the king in all his interests ;

and not to indulge in speech that is alike unpleasant and profits

less. Always thinking— I amnot liked by the king—one

should banish negligence, and be intent on bringing about

what is agreeable and advantageous to him. He that swerveth

not fromhis place, he that is not friendly to those that are

hostile to the king, he that striveth not to do wrong to the

king, is alone worthy to dwell in a royal household. A learnedman should sit on either the king

’

s right or the left, for behind

him is the place appointed for armed guards, and to sit beforehim is always interdicted. Let none, when the king is 8 111

forward pressing himself zealously before others, for even if

very poor such conduct would still be inexcusable ! . It be

hoveth no man to reveal to others any lie the king mayhave told, inasmuch as the king bears ill will to those that

regard themselves as learned. N0 man should be proud, think-1

ing— I ambrave, or, I amintelligent, but a person obtains the

to acquire, a person should always do what is profitable as well

as pleasant to the king. Whatman that is respected by the wisecan even think of doing mischief to one whose ire is a great

No one shouldmove his lips, arms, and thighs, before the king,

This is a very difi cult slot s . Nilakantha adopts the reading

Sonj ayet. The B engal editions read Sc njap et. If the latter be the

correct reading, the meaning then would be, Let none talk about

what transpires in th e presence of th e king, for those even that are

poor regard it as a grave fault. The senu , evidently, is that the

occurrences in respect of a king wh ich one witnesses should not be dirul

ged. Even they that are powerless regard such divulgence of what

o ccurs in respect of themas an insult to themand, therefore, in excus-o

ab le.-T.

la the presence of evea laughable objeeta a man shculd not

break out into loud laughter, like a maniac ; nor should one

One should smile modestly, “ show his intu 'est (in what is

is alme werthy of dwelling in a royal housahohd. That learned

able speeehes, u nneedeth in dwelling in amyal household as

a fi vorite. The favurite ccurtier who having lost tbe royal

fi ver fcr just reason dses not speak evil of the king, ragains

prosperity. The man who serveth the king or liveth in his

plaee long and incurs also the da nger of death. None should,

king in matters requiring ability and talents. He that in al

ufl cfmbduedmnmmd who followeth his master like his

that, ou anether heing entrusted with a work, eometh forward,

undertake it, ia slone fit'

to reside in a royal household. He

once, and who undergoeth (present) misery in expectafion of

(future ) happiness, is alone worthy of dwelling in a royal house

held. One sheuld not drea like the king, nor should one in

dalge in loud laughter in the king’

s presence, nor should one

disclose royal secrets. By acting thus one may win royal favor.

The B engal editions read Rdjnd in the instrumental case ; hencethe difiiculty of explaining Samradét. Following a manuscript text ofa Pundit ofmy acquaintance I read Rdjnar in the genitive. T.

mu ru n . as

Regaining ycur ovn kingdom.yemay live as ye please l'

Yudhishthira said,- J‘We have been taught by thee ! Blemed be thou ! Thm is noue that oould say so to us, save a s

to do all that is necessary now for our departure , and for enabh'

ng

us to come safely through this wae , as well t our Victory

thira, Dhaumya, that best of Bri hmanas, performed moori ngto the ordinance the rits ordained in respect of departure .

And lighting up their fin e, he ofi’

ered, with man tras, ablation!on filers for the prosperity and success of the Pandavas, as also

set out. p lacing Yijnaseui in their front. And when those

heroes had departed, Dhaumya, that best of asoetics, takingtheir sacred fires, set out for the Paneht las. And Indrasens.

after the horses and the cars of the Pi ndavas passed their tims

Thus ends the fourth Section in the Pi ndava-praveca of the

St on es V.

Pandava -

p ranced Pma con tinued.

pad with finger-protectors made of iguana skins and with

various weapons, those heroes proceeded in the direction of the

river Ki lindi. And those bowmen desirous of (speedily) t e

covering their kingdom, hitherto living in inaccessible hills and

mum “ ;

endued'

with great strength and hitherto leading the lives“

country of the Pi nchi las, and on their left, that of the Doctrnas. And those bowmen, looking wan and wearing boards and

Viri ta’

s metropolis is still at a distance. Pass we here what

part of the night is still left, for great ismy fatigue 1’

this forest, we arrive at the city.

Vaicampi yana continued Thereupon like the leader of a

coming to the vicinity of the c ity, let her down. And on

the city If, 0 child, we enter it with our weapons about us,

we shall thereby surely excite the alarmof the citizens.

Further, thy tremendous how, the Gambia », is known to all

men, so that people will, without doubt, recognise us soon !

And if even one of us is discovered, we shall, according to

promise , have to pass another twelve years in the forestArjuna said—

‘Hard by yon cemetery and near that in

gigantic branches and difficult to ascend. Nor is there anyhuman being, I think, who, 0 P

’

andu’

a son, will espy us depositing our arms at that place ! That tree is in the midst of an

on that 8mm?tree, let us, 0 Bhimta, go to the city, and livé

there , free fromanxiety !’

Vaigampi yana continued. Having, O bull of the Bhi rata'

race , spoken thus to kingYudhishthira the Just, Arjunaprepared

to deposit the weapons (on the tre e). And that bull among the‘Kurus, Arjuna, then loosened the String of the large

”

and dread

irmri 13v 13

hrlGandiva, ever producing a thundering twang,and alwaysdestructive of hostile hosts, and with which he had conquered,

on a single car, gods andmen and Nage s and swelling provinces.

And the warlike Yudhishthira, that represser of foes, unfastend

the undecaying string of that bow with which he had defended

the field of Kurukshetra. And the illustrious Bhimasena nu

quished in fight the Pi ncl and the lord of Sindhu, and

with which, during his career of conquest , he had, single-handed

like unto the roar of the thunder or the splitting ofamountain,enemies always fly (in panic) from the field of battle. And

that son of Pi ndu, of coppery complexion andmild speech and

endued with great prowess in the field, and who was calledNakula in consequence of his unexampled beauty in the family,then unfastened the string of that how with which he had con

quered all the regions of the west. And the heroic Sahadeva

also, possessed of a mild disposition, then untied the string of

that how with which he had subjugated the countri es on the

south. And with their bows, they put together their long and

as razors. And Naku la ascended the tree, and deposited on

it the bows and the other weapons. And he tied themfast onthose parts of the treewhich he thought would not break, andwhere the rain would not penetrate. And the Fi ndavas hungup a crepes (on the tree), knowing that people smelling the

stench of the corpse would say— hereme, is a dead body, and

avoid the tree froma distance. And on being asked by the

shepherds and cowherds regarding the corpse, those repressers

of foes said unto them,— ‘This is ourmother, aged one hundred

and eighty years. We have hung up her dead body, in accord

ance with the customobserved by our forefathers.’

And then

those resistors of foes approached the city. And for purposes of

non-discovery Yudhishthira kept these (five) names for himselfand his brothers respectively, viz.,

—Jaya, Jayanta, Vijaye,Jayatsena, and Jayatvala. Then they entered the great city,

with the view of passing undiscovered the thirteenth year in

that kingdom, agreeably to the promise (to

u n mrmwu .

Thus ends the fifth Soction in tt i nch vs -pravecs of thc

Pandava-

pmvepa Pam continued.

Vaicsmpi yaus said.

“ And while Yudhishthira was a his

way to the delightful city of Viri ta, he began to praise men

bomof the womb o asodL and fond of ths boms bestowed onher by Ni ri ysna, sprung fnomthe rsce of the oowherd Nands,

and the giver of prosperity, th e enhn oer (of the glory) of (a

l ama—her whomended the skies when dashed (by Karin )on a stony platform, tbe sister of Vi sudeva,—ha that is always

decked in c elestial garlands and attired in celestial robes,

th e Goddess armed with soimitar and shield, snd always rescuingwomhippemmnk in sin fike am in themh'a wordrippmthat

is, who in hours of distress call upon that e ternal giver of blesa

ings for relieving themof their burdens. And the king, desirous

to thee, 0 giver of boom, 0 thou that art identical with

Krishna, O maiden, 0 then that hadst observed the vow of

Sun. O thou of faoe beautiful as the full moon ! Salutations

to nilco, O thon of four hands and four fsoea O thou of fair

round hips and deep bosom, D thou that wee test bangles

bracelets on thy upper arm! Thou shinest, O Goddess, as

Padma the consort of M yana ! O thou that rangest the ethe

ris l regiomthy trne formand thy B rahmashama are both ot‘

the purest kind ! Sable ss the black clouda thy face is besntiful

“ that of Banke r-am ! Thou beareet two large arms longas a couple ozf poles raised in honor of lndra ! Iu thy (six)other arms thou bearest a vesseL a lotus a bell, a noose, a

how, a large discus. and various other weapons ! Thou art the

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16 su rnames.

Thou art Fame, thou art Prosperity, thou art Steadiness, thou art

Success, thou art the Wife , thou art men ’

s Ofi’spring, thou artKnowledge, and thou art the Intellect ! Thou art the two Twirlights, the Night, Sleep, Light— both solar and lunar, B eauty,

rance, loss ofchildren and loss ofwed tb, disease, death, and fear,thou dispellest worshipped by thy devowes ! I, who have been

deprived ofmy kingdom, seek thy protection ! And as I bow to

thee with bended head, 0 Supreme Goddess, grantme protection,

Truth unto us that are ac ting acccrding to the Tmth ! And, 0

Durgi , End as thou art unto all that seek thy protection, and

Vaicampi yana continucd. Thus praised by the son of

Pi ndu, the Goddess showed herself unto him. And approach,

ing the Eng, she addressed him in these worda—‘Omighty

armed Eng, listen, O Lord, to these words ofmine ! Hav

ing vanquished and slain the ranks of the Kamavas throughmy grace, victory in battle will soon be thine ! Thou shalt

and health will be thine ! And they also in the world who will

recitemy attributes and achievements will be freed from their.

of days, beauty of person, and 03 spring And they, 0 Eng,

who will invoke me, after thymanner, in exile or in the city,

in the midst of battle or of dangers from foes, in forests or in

inaccessible deserts, in seas or mountain fastnesses, there is

nothing that they will not obtain in this world ! And ye sons of

Pi ndu, he will achieve success in every business of his that will

listen to, or himself recite with devotion, this excellent hymn !And through mygrace neither the Kuru spies, nor those that dwellin the country of the Matsyas, will succeed in recognising you

all as long as ye reside in Viri ta’

s city !’

And having said these

arranged for the protection of the sons of Pi ndu, the Goddess

disappeared there and then.

mu s ra re

Thus ends the sixth Section in the Fi nders-praw n Of the

$5m VII.

Vaicamphyaaa said -d“ Then tying up in h is c loth dice made

of geid and set with lapds lqmdi , and holding thembelcw his

that high-sca led perpetuator of the Kan race, regarded by

kings, irrepremible inmight, and liks unto a snake sf virulent

and prowess, and pom-sad .cf gra h am, aad rssembling in forma colon ial though now like unto the sun enveloped in dense

clouds, or fire covered with asks , first made his appearan cewhen th e famsus king Visi tawas smtad in his tom. And

beholding with his followersmot son of Panda in h is court.

looking like filmmoon hid in clouds and poseesaed of a face

beautiful as the fullmoon, king Viri ta M W his counsellorsand the twiceh crn onesand the shadowed arid the Vaisyas and

others , saying s -e‘

a uire ye who it Law like s king, that looked!

onmy aourt h r the first time ! He must 136 9 3! tMethinks he is aman ofmen

.and a lordofm1 th, HB M QQ

“ And as the king was iadulp ng in thcse thoughts, that buld

having lost his all, hath come to thee for the means ofMW 4 I deafre, O d eless one, w hve hwe zbeafde thee w ing

under flay commands,‘ O lc rd !’ The king than. awl-pleated.replied unto him,myingfl -"Phcu art welcome ! Do thou then

Kdmacha ra is explained by Nilakantha thus,”though in o ther

places it bears quite a did’

erentmam- T.

l 8 ” W W TL

that lion among kings in the post he had prayed for, kingVini taaddressed himwith a glad heart, saying,

— ‘O child, I ask thee!

from affection. From the dominions of what king dost thoucome hither ‘

l’ Tellme also truly what is thy name and family,

and what thou hast a knowledge of.’

“ Yudhishthira said, My name is Kanka, and I ama

friend of YudhiShthira l’

Virata replied,—‘I will grant thee whatever boon thou

mayst desire ! Do thou rule the Matsyas, -I shall remain in sub

en the other hand, art like a god, and deservest a kingdomYudhishthira said—

“My first prayer, 0 lord of earth, is.

that Imay not be involved in any dispute (on account of dice)

shall not be permitted to retain th e wealth (won by me). Let

this boon be granted tome through thy graceViri ta replied, -

‘I shall certainly slay himwhomay happento displease thee, and should he be one of the twice-born ones,

subjec ts listen ! Kanka is as much lord of this realmas ].

myself! Thou (Kanka) shalt be my friend, and shalt ride the

same vehicles as L And there shall also be at thy disposal

And thou shalt look intomy afi‘

airs both internal and external.

And for thee allmy doors shall be open. Whenmen out of

employ or of straitened circumstances will apply to thee, do

give themwhatever they desire. No fear shall be thine as long

bull amongmen, began to live happily, highly regarded by all.

Nor could any one discover himas long as he lived there.

Thus ends the seventh Section in the Pi ndava-

praveca of

the Vini ta Parva.

Sac-nos VIII.

Pandava jpravega Parse continued.

Vaicampi yana said Then another endued with dreadful:

t he playful gait of the lion. And holding in hand a cooking

huddle and h spoon , as also an unsheathed sword of sable hue ;

and without a spot on the blade , he came in the guise of a cook

illumining all around himby his splendour like the sun diflt

of the strength of the king ofmountains, he approached the

king-like person before him, Viri ta addressed his assembled

subjects, sayingr -S'Who is that youth, that bull amongmen,

with shoulders broad like those of a lion, and so exc eedinglybeautiful ? That person, never seen before , is like Surya !

Revolving the matter inmymind, I cannot ascertain who he

is. Nor can I, with even serious thought, guess the intention

of that bull among men (in coming here). B eholding him,

it seems.

tome that he is e ither the king of the Gandharvas ,

or Purandara himself! Do ye ascertain who it is that standeth

b efore my eye s Let himhave quick ly what he seeks Thus

o f Yudhishthira of everything the king had said. Then the

high-sowed sen of Pi ndu, approaching Viri ta, addremed himinw ords that were not unsuited to his obje ct, saying, -

‘O fore

gnost of kings, I ama cook, Vallava by name . I amskilled in

dressing dishes. Do thou employme in the kitchen !’

Virata said,-‘I do not believe , O Velleva, that cooking is

“

thy ofi ce l Thou resemblest the deity of a thousand eyes ;

and in grace and beauty and prowess, thou shinest, among these

all, as a king!’

B hima replied, —‘O king of kings, I am thy cook and ser

vant. In the first place , it is not curries only of which I have

a knowledge, 0 monarch, although king Yudhishthira always

used in days gone by to taste my dishes ! For, 0 lord of earth:

20 m u s eum

I amalso a wrestler ! Nor is there one that is equal tome in

shall, 0 sinless one, always contribute to thy entertainmentViri ta said,—

‘Iwill even grant thee boons. Thou wilt

Gowhat thouwiahést, as thou dmihest thyo lf cfined ia lt.’

I

thou dmervmchiuentlrfl etrth ght n u d hy thu et l flut dc

thou nt placad at ths head of thcse whom been appchaed

the'

re bsfors byme l’ ”

Bhima mn became the fu ofite ol‘

king fl ri ta. And, 0 king,

he continued to live there'

, unrecognised by the other servanti

bt i ta as also by otha-people !

”

Thusmds the eighth Section in the Piudaw lnuvep ofthe

Stones IX.

Pandabd-p mvepa Parva conttnued.

and h ultlu s tresses with crisped ends into a knvttsd bl'aid.

Dmupad i of black e'

yes and sweet smiles , throwing it upou but

.i-ight shouldera concealed it by her clotli. And sht woro a-fnglo

piece dfblack and dirty though cu tly cloth. uAnd drmsing horLself as aSair indhrt, she began to wander kitha

‘and thither in

speech that was so sweet, the maple Gould sou th w es t

maid-servant‘

come in search of subsistence. And it came topass that while looking this way and that from the terrace,

Vlri ta’

s be loved queen, daughter of the king hf Kekayt , saw

Draupadi. And beholding her forlorn and him! in a single pies-éof cloth, the queen addressed her, saying s—50 beautiful one,

who are you ,and what do you seek Thereupon, 0 M ined ;

man mm 21

of kings,13mmammo her, sayings-s “! an 9. M W .

1will»servemybody that. will maintainm fab -Then Sudu hnl

a ids-9mmyet; my (ragtasiing your profusi on) can never be

compatible with somuch beauty l (On the contrary) youmightwell be the m of terrai n bothmole and M e l Yfl f

M are n“ prbtninent; ahd your thighs touch each other.

M M intelligence ing est, and your navel deep, h sd yoor

weeds solemn. And your great tees, and bust, and hips, andJesse,anti toe nails, and palms use all “und eveloped. And yeut

palate, soles, and fees, are ruddy. And your spsseb iu weet emas the W of the avian. And your hair is W h am!your bust shapely, and you are possessed of the highu t glues

And ybur hips and butt are plump. Asa ure a Kashma eauh ate you are furnished with every auspicious Mark. And your

ewmhes are (beautifully) bent, and your nether lip is like theruddygem-d. And yourwaist is slender, and yourh ath been lieumat resemble those on the couch. And your veinsare acu t elyVisible. Indeed your museums is use the full moon, andyour eyes resemble the leaves of the autumnal lotus and your

body isflagrant as the lotus itself. Verily, it beautyyoum isc

Wile whose seat is the autumnal lotus. Tellme, 0 beautifuldermal, who thou art ! Thou canst never be a maid-am t.

Art film: a Yakshi, a goddess, a Gae dhawi , or an AM 3

Art thou the daughter ofa celestial, or art thou a thumb Nays 3“

Art thou the guardian goddess of some c ity, a 7 48 93 4 54 94 , or

a Kim‘

lafi fi -or art thou Reht‘

ni herself! Or, art thou Alemsusba, orMicrakeci , or Pundarlka, orMi ller, or the queen cl

“

‘Indra, or of Varuna ? Or, art than the spous e of View » ,

hr of the creative Lord himself»? or these goddesses who art

renowned in the celestial regions, who art thou, 0 gn aw

“ Draupadi replied,u -‘O auspicious M y, 1 m neither a

goddeu h or aflc‘mdhmimor a Yeksht, M r amm l am

amaid-W t of the See-indie class. I tell thee th is tru ly.I knotv todress the hair, to pousdmugms substitu te) for prs

paring unguents, and also tomake beam and Maegan» !

garlands, 0 beauteous lady, of jasmines and lotuses and blue

lilies and Champalcas ! FM el ly I served Krishna’

s favorite

Hearing this, Sudeshni said,‘I would keep thee upon

my head its elf, if the doubt did not crammymind that the king

Attracted by thy beauty, the females of the royal householdandmymaids are looking at thee ! Whatmale person then ia

there that can resist thy attractions ? The very trees inmypalace seemtopay thee homage ! What man, therefore, willbe able to least thy attrac tions ? Surely, O thou of well

me, and will. tura to thee with his whole heart ! 0 thou of

faultless limbs. O thou that art endued with large eyes casth g

quick glances, he upon whom thou wilt look with desire is

sure to be stricken ! 0 thou of sweet smiles, O thou that

m et a faultlemform, he that will behold thee constantly,will surely catch the fiamc. Even as a person that c limbs up

o ther person will be able to have me, for my five youthful

husbands, who are Gandharvas and sons of a Gandhwrva king

of exceeding power, always protectme ! None can do me a

wrong ! It is the wish ofmy Gandha rva. husbands that I

should serve only such persons"

as will not giveme to eat food

already partaken of by another, or tell me to wash their feet,

.having me, for, 0 beautiful lady, 0 thou of sweet smiles,t hose beloved Gamdkmwas possessed of great energy and

mighty strength always protectme secretlySudeshni said,—

‘O thou that hringest d elight to the heart,. ii it is as thou sayest, I wilt take ,

thee into my household.

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24 um snmu .

8 0118 of Pi ndu, had (one division of kins numbering) sigh?

hundred and ten thousand, and another, ten thousand. and .

another, ap in. twenty thousand, and so on. I was mployedin hooping than cattle. People ussd to callmc Tantfipl la. If

M tbflM fl d the future of fll kins livingwithin ten Yojanas, and whose tale has been taken ! l y

e

Yudhishthira was we ll-pleased with me. I amalsomomwith the means which aid kine —in multiplying within a short

time, and by which they may enjoy immunity from disease.

All these arts are known to me ! I can also single out bulls

having auspic iousmarks for which they are worsh ipped ofmen,qud byw e lling whose w as. theW infrey conceive ?

Vim saidf r -‘I 1m amamthousand kins divided into

distinct herds All those , together with their keepers. I placein thy charge ! Henceforthmy beasts will bemthy keepg’Vaigampiyana continued Then, 0 king, undiscovel

‘

ed

by thatmonarch, that lord ofmen, Sahadeva, maintained byViri ta began to live happily Nor did any one else (besides

Thus ends the tenth Section in the Pi ndavaypraveca of the

Gamma XI.Pandava-p rac eou Parva continued .

Vaioampi ym said -w“

Next appeared at the gate of the

decked in the firm nts of woman. and wearing large cart.

rings and beautiful cough-bracelets wsflaid with field. And

that mighty-aimed individual with long and abundan t la ir

shaking the very earth with his tread. he approached Whi teand stosd is his court. Add beholding tzhs son of the MIndra, shining With exquisite lustre and having this Bait Of

amighty elephant -P M grinder Qf£098 ,

133?n his true {amconcealed in disguise, entering the council-hall and advancing

towards themonarch, the king addressed allhis contacts ,M 0 8 »

vms 'mrssvs. 25

‘Whence doth this person come ? I have never heard of himbefore .

’

And when the men present spake of the newcomer as

one unknown to them, the king wonderingly said,—‘Possest of

great strength, thou art like unto a celestial, and young and of

(h rkish hue , thou resemblest the leader of a herd of elephants !

Wearing conch-bracelets overlaid with gold, a braid, and ear

rings, thou shinest yet like one amongst those that ridingon chariots wander about equipped with mail and bow and

arrows and decked with garlands and fine hair ! I amold and

desirous of relinquishingmy burden. Be thou like my sons,

or rule thou like myself all the Matsyas It seemeth to methat such persons as thou can never be of the neuter sex

Arjuna said,—‘I sing, dance , and play on instruments. I

amproficient in dance and skilled in song. 0 lord ofmen,assignme unto (the princess) Uttari . I will be dancing-masterto the royalmaiden. As to how I have come by this form, what

will it avail thee to hear the account which will only augmentmy pain Know me , 0 king ofmen , to be Vn hannala, a son

or daughter without father or mother !’

“ Viri ta said,—‘OVrihannala, I give thee what thou desirest !

Instruct my daughter, and those like her, in dancing. Tome,however, this ofi ce seemeth unworthy of thee Thou deservesb

(the dominion of the entire earth girt round by the ocean

Vaicampayana continued. The king of the Matsyas then

tested Vrihannala in dancing, music , and other fine arts, and

c onsulting with his variousministers forthwith caused himtobe examined by women. And learning that his impotency wasof a permanent nature , he sent himto themaidens

’

apartments.And there themighty Arjuna began giving lessons in singing

and instrumentalmusic to the daughter of Virata, her friends,

and her waiting-maids, and soon won their good graces. And

in thismanner the self-possessed Arjuna lived there in disguise,

partaking of pleasures in their company, and unknown to the

people within or without the place .

”

Thus ends the eleventh Section in the Pandava-praveqa of

the Viri ta Pami

Samoa XII.

Pots dam-

prot ege; Pafrva continued.

Q

Vaicampi yana said After a while, another powerful son

of Pi ndu was seenmaking towards kingViri ta in haste. And

as he advanced he seemod to every ono likc the solar orb

m god fiomthe d ouda And ho began to observc the horsec

around. And seoiag this. the king of tho Mamya’

s said to his

followers, -‘

I wonder whence this man, pmsessod of the ofi'

ul

gence of a celestial, cometh. He looks intmtly atmy steeds.Verily, hemust be proficient in homo-lore. Let himbe usheredi

'

nto my presence quickly. Hc is a warrior and looks like

a god !’

And that destroyer of foes then went up to the‘

king and accosted him, saying, -‘Victory to thee, 0 king, and

blast be ye ! As a trainer of horses, I have always been'

highly csteemed by kings. I will be a clever keeper of thy

horses.’

Viri ta said—f

l will give thee vehicles, wealth. and

spacious quarters. Thou shalt be the manager ofmy horses.

But first tell me whence thou comest, whose thou art, and

how also thou happenest to come here ! Tell us also all the arts“

thou art master of.’Nakula replied,

‘Omower of enemies.know that Yudhishthira 13 the eldest brother of the five sons of

Pi ndu. I was formerly employed by himto keep his horsee.

I amacquainted with the temper ofmd s, and know perfectly

the art of breaking them. I know also how to correct vicious

horses, and all themethods of treating their discu ss. No ani

mal in my hands becometh weak or ill. Not to speak of horses,

even mares will never inmy hands be found to be vicimPeople calledme Granthika by name and so did Yudhishthira.

~

the son of Pi ndu.

’

Viri ta said— ‘Whatou r horses I have;

I consign to thy care even from today. And all the keeper:

ofmy homes and all my charioteors will from today be sub.

ordinate to thee ! If this suits thee , saywhat remuneration isdesired by thee ! But, 0 thou that resemblest a celestial, theodios of equery is not worthy of thee. For thou lookest like

a king and I esteemthee much ! Thy appearance here hath

Pleasedme asmuch as ifYudhishthira himself were here ! ot t

mai n man . 2?

how does that blath eless son of Pi ndu dwell and divert himselfin the forest, now destitute of servants as he is l

’

Q Vaicampi yana continued—n“That youth , like unto a chief of

the Gandharm, was treated thus respectfully by the delight~

ed king Viri ta. And he conducted himself there in such a

mariner as ‘

tomake himself deer and agreeable to all in the

palace. And no one recognized himwhile living under Viri ta’

s

protection. And it was in thismanner that the sons of Panda ,

the very sight of whomhad never been fruitless, con tinued to

live in the country of the Matsyas. And true to the ir pledge;

those lords of the earth bounded by her belt ofseas passed their

poignant sufferings.

Thus ends the twelfth Section in the Pandava-praveca of

the Virata Parva.

SECTION XIII.

Samayapalana Pe rm.

Janamejaya said While living th is disguised in the cityi f the Matsy

‘as , what did those descendants of the Kuru race

endued with great prowess, do , 0 regenerate one ?”

Vaicadnpi yana said. 0 king, what those dmcendantsof Rum did while they dwelt thus in disguise in the city of

the Matsyas, worshipping the king thereof1 By the grace‘

a!

the sage Trinavindu and of the high-sc a led Lord of justice,

the Fi ndavas continued to live unrecognised by others in the

c ity of Viri ta. 0 lord ofmen , Yudlfishthira , as courtier,madehimself agreeable to Viri ta and his me as also to all the

Hatsyas. An adept in the mysteries of the dice, the son of

Panda caused themto play at dice according to his pleasure

andmade themsit together in th e dice-hall like a row of birds

bound in a string. And that tiger amongmen , king Yudhish

thin the just, minnows to themonarch , distributed among hisbrothers, in due proportion, the wealth he won fromViri ta.

And Bhimasena, on his part, sold to Yudhishthira for price

M eat and viands of various kinds which he obtained fromthe king. And Arjuna distributed among all his brothers the

2' m amas“ .

proceeds of worn-out cloths which he earned in the inner apart:ments of the palace. And Sahadeva, too, who was disguisedas a cowherd, gave milk, curds, and c larified butter to his

brothers. And Nakula also shared with his brothers the wealththe king gave him, satisfied with his management of the

horses. And Draupadi, herself in a pitiable condition, looked

afier all those brothers and behaved in such a way as to remainunrecognized. And thusministering unto one another

’

s wants,

those mighty warriors lived in the capital of Viri ta as hiddenfromview as if they were once more in theirmother’s womb.And those lords ofmen, the sons of Pi ndu, apprehensive of

danger h our the son of Dhritarhshtra, continued to dwell therein concealment, watching over their wife Draupadi. And after

threemonths had passed away, in the fourth, the grand festivalin honor of the divine Brahmi which was celebrated with pomfiin the country of the Matsyas, came about. And there cameto witness that festival, athletes h'omall quarters by thousands,

like hosts of celestials to the abode of Brahml or of Civs.

And they were endued with huge bodies and great prowess,

like the demons called Kala lchanjas. And elawd'

with their

prowess and proud of their strength, they were highly honoured

by the king. And their shoulders and waists and necks were

like“

those“

of lions, and their bodies were very c lean , and their

hearts were quite at case. And they had many a time won

success in the lists in the presence of kings. And amongstthemthere was one who towered above the rest, and challenged

themall to a combat. And there was none that dared approachhimas he proudly sta lked in the arena. And when all the

himfight with his cock. And urged by the king, Bhimamadeup his mind reluctantly, for he could not openly disobey the

royal behest. And that tiger among men then entered the

spac ious arena, pacing with the careless steps of a tiger, having

previously worshipped the king. And the son of Kunti then

girded up his lions to the great delight of the spectators. And

Bhima then summoned to the combat that athlete known by thename of Jimuta , who was like unto the Asura Vritra and whose

prowess was Widely known. And both of themwere possessed

m u Panvs.’

291

of great courage and both were endued with terrible prowess.

And they were like a couple of infuriate and huge-bodied ele

phants, eac h sixty years old. And those brave tigers amongmen then cheerfully engaged in a wrestling combat, desirous ofvanquishing each other. And terrible was the encounter that

took plac e between them, like the c lash of the thunder-boltagainst the stony mountain breast. And both of them were

exceedingly powerful and extremely delighted at each other’

s

strength. And desirous of vanquishing each other, each stood

eager to take advantage of his adversary’

s lapse. And both

were greatly delighted and both looked like infuriate ele

phants of prodigious size. And various were the modes of

attack and defence that they exhibited with their c lenched

fists.“ And eac h dashed against the other and flung his

adversary to a distance. And each cas t the other down and

pressed himclose to the ground. And each got up again and

squeezed the other in his arms. And each shoved the other

violently off his place by boxing himon the breast. And

each caught the other by the legs and whirling him round

threw himdown on the ground. And they slapped each other

with their palms that struck as hard as the thunderbolt. And.

they also struck each other with their outstretched fingers, and

stretching themout like spears thrust the nails into each other’

s

body.

'

And they gave each other violent kicks. And they

struck knee against knee and head against head, producing the

crash of one stone against another. And in this manner thatfurious combat between those warriors raged on without wee ;

pons, sustainedmainly by the power of their arms and their

physical and mental energy, to the infinite de light of the

concourse of spectators. And all the people , 0 king, took deepinterest in that encounter of those powerful wrestlers who

fi ught like Indra and the Asura Vritra. And they cheered both

of themwith loud acclamations of applause. And the broad-e

chested and long-armed experts in wrestling then pulled and

Krita— attack ; p ratikrita- warding it 03 ; Sanba ta clenched.

Some texts read Sankatabais. The meaning then would be “cased in

“

genntlets.” T.

with the ir bare arms in this way, which were like spiked mac e:of iron. And at last the powerful and mighty-armed Bhima.the slayer of his foes, shouting aloud, seized the vociferous

athlete by the arms, even as the lion seizes the elephant, and

taking himup fi'omthe gmund and holding himaloft, began

to whirl himround, to the great astonishment cf the amembledathletes and the people of Matsya. And having whirled himround and round a hundred times till he was insensible , the

strong-armed Vrikodara dashed himto death on the ground.

And when the brave and renowned Jima ta was thus killed,Viri ta and his friends were filled with great delight. And in

the exuberance of his joy, the noble-minded king rewarded

Vallava then and there with the liberality of Kuvera. And

killing numerous ath letes and many other men possessed of

great bodily stre ngth , be pleased the king very much. And

when no one could be found there to encormter himin the lists;the kingmade himfight with tigers and lions and elephants.

And the king alsomade himbattle with furious and power

ful lions in the harem for the pleasure of the ladies And

Arjuna, too, pleased the king and all the ladies of the inner

Virata, that best of kings, by showing himfleet and well

trained steeds that followed himwherever he went. And the

those warr iors sufi'

er pain, sighed incessantly. And it

rendering servic es unto king Vni ta.

”

Thus ends the thirteenth Section in the Sama‘yapi lm Of,

the Viri ta Parva.

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32 MAHABHARATA.

thou come to the city of Virata ? Tell me all this, 0 fair

lady ! Thy beauty and gracefulness are of the very first order,

and the comeliness of thy features is unparalleled ! With its

loveliness thy face shineth ever like the resplendentmoon O

thou of fair eye-brows, thy eyes are beautiful and large like

resembles the notes of the kokila .’ O thou of fair hips.

never before in this world have I beheld a woman possemcd of beauty like thine, O thou of faultless features ! Art

lotuses, or, art thou, O slender-waisted one , she called BkutiOr, which amongst these— HM ; (m, Kmt, and Kan ti— art

thou, O thou of beautiful face 2 Or, possessed of beauty like

B ati’

s, art thou she who sporteth in the embrac es of the god

of love O thou that possessest the fairest of eye-brows,

thou shinest beautifully even like the lovely light of themoon !Who is there in the whole world that will not succumb to the

influence of desire beholding thy face ? Endued with nu

rivalled beauty and celestial grace of themost attractive kind,

that face of thine is even like the Moon in full, its celestial

his sofi; light, and its eye-lashes looking like the spots on his

disc Both thy bosoms, so beautiful and well-developed and

endued with unrivalled gracefulness and deep and well-rounded

and without any spac e between them, are certainly worthy of

being decked with garlands of gold Resembling in shape the

beautiful buds of the lotus, these thy breasts, 0 thou of fair

eye-brows, are even as the whips of Kima that are urging me

forward, 0 thou of sweet smiles O damsel of slender waist,

beholding that waist of thine marked with four wrinkles, and

of the weight of thy breasts, and looking on those graceful

hips also of thine broad as the banks of a river, the incurable

fever of desire , O beauteous lady, amicteth me sore ! The

flaming fire of desire, fierce as a forest-confiagration, and

B huti, Hri, Crt, Kw i, and Kdnti are respectively the feminineembodiments of Prosperity, Modesty. B eauty, Fame, and Loveliness.

m u PARVA. 33

tanned by the hopemy heart cherisheth of a union with thee,

is consuming me intensely ! O thou of exceeding beauty,

quench thou that flaming fire kindled by Manmatha, for union

with thee is a rain-charged cloud, and the surrender of thy

person the shower that cloud may drop O thou of face re

sembling themoon, the fierce and maddening shafts of Man

matha, whetted and sharpened by the desire of a union with

thee, piercing this heart ofmine in their impetuous course,have penetrated into its core ! 0 black-eyed lady, those im

It behoveth thee to re lieveme fromthis plight by surrender

ing thyself tome and favoringme with thy embraces ! Deck

ornament, sport thou, 0 sweet damsel, withme to thy fill 0

thou of the gait of an elephant in rut, deserving as thou art of

happiness though deprived of it now, it behoveth thee not to

dwell here inmisery Let unrivalled weal be thine Drinking

and sporting at thy pleasure in the enjoyment of diverse objectsof delight, do thou , O blessed lady, attain auspicious pros

perity ! This beauty of thine and this the prime of thy youth,

and chaste damsel, endued with such loveliness, thou dost not

will forsake all my old wives ! Let them, 0 thou of sweet

smiles, become thy slaves ! And I also, 0 fair damsel, willstay by thee as thy slave, ever obedient to thee, O thou of the

handsomest face !’ Hearing these words of his, Draupadi re

plied, —‘A female servant of low extraction , employed in the

despicable ofi ce of dressing hair, in desiring me, O Sam’

s son,

thou desirest one that deserves not that honor. Then, again ,

I am the wife of others. Therefore, good betide thee , this

conduct of thine is not proper. Do thou remember the precept ofmorality, viz., that p ersons should take delight onlyin their wedded wives ! Thou shouldst not, therefore, by anymeans bend thy heart to adultery. Surely, abstention fromimproper acts is ever the duty of those that are good !

Overcome by ignorance, sinful men, under the influence

[ 5 ]

B 4 usmnmmu .

of desire come by either extreme infamy or dru dful cab »

mityVaicampi yana continued Thus addressed by the Sa i

fi udlwi, the wickedKichaka without any control over his sense!

and overcome by lust, although aware of the numerous evil!

Dmupadh- ‘It behoveth thee not, 0 beauteous lady, 0 than of

graceful featurea thus to disregard me who am, 0 thou of

sweet smiles, under the power of Manmatha on thy ac count !

If now, 0 timid one , thou disregardstme who am under thyinfluence and who speak to thee so fair, thou wilt, 0 black

eyed damsel, have to repent of it afterwards ! O thou of grace‘

ful eye brows, the real lord of this entire kingdom, O cin der

of this realmlive ! In energy and proweu I amunrivalled on

earth ! There is no otherman on earth who rivals me in beautyof person, in youth , in prosperity, and in themansion of

excellent objects of enjoymen t ! Why is it, 0 auspicious lady,that having it in thy power to enjoy here every object of desire,and every luxury and comfort without its equal, thou prefers“

shall confer on thee, O thou of fair face, accept me, and

enjoy, 0 beautoous one , all excellent objects of desire !’

Ad

daughter of Drupada answered h imthan reprovingly,- ‘Do not,

0 son of a flute , act so foolishly and do not throw awaymylife ! Know that I amprotected bymy five husbands ! Thou

canst not haveme. I have Gandharvas formy husbands. Enraged, they will slay thee ! Therefore , do thou not bring destruction

ofbeing trod by men. Thou, O wicked one , art even like a

to cross over to the other. Even if thou enterest into the ins

terior ofthe earth , or soar-est into the sky, or rushest to the other

shore ofthe Ocean, still thou wilt have no escape fromthe hands

foes.Why dost thou today, 0 Kichaka, solicitme so persistently,

vmi u rmvr. 35

even"

as a sick person wisheth for the night that will put a

period to his existence ? Why dost thou desire me, even

like an infant lying on its mother’s lap wishing to catch

the moon For thee that thus solicitest their beloved wife,there is no refirge either on earth or in sky O Ki chaka,host thou no sense which leads thee to wek thy good and

by which thy lifemay be saved ?’

Thus ends the fourteenth Section in the Kichaka-badha of

Samos XV.

Kickaka badha Pe rmcon tinued.

shake. amicted withmaddening lust and forgetting all sense of

propriety. addressed Sudeshna, saying, -‘Do thou, O Keksye

’

s

Do thou, 0 Sudeshna, adopt the means by which that damselof the gait ofan elephantmay ac ceptme O Sudeshni , I am“

Vaicampi yana continued— “Hearing his profuse lafuente

touched with pity. And having taken counse l with her own

u lf andmded acd on Kichaka’

ss pur-

pom and on the anxiety of

wines for me ! I shall then send my Sui/rindhri to thee

repair ed thither, do thou in solitude , free frominterruption.

mind to thee.

C Vaiqampiyana continued -a“Thus addressed he went out of

his sister’

8 apartments. And he soon procured wmes well filtered

many and various kinds of choice viands and delicious drinks

andmany and various kinds ofmeat of difi'

erent degrees of ex

c ellence. And when all this had been done , that gentle lady,

Sudeshni , as previously counselled by Kichaka, desired her Swi

36 mmrmumir indhri to repair to Kichaka

’

s abode, saying,—‘Get up, 0 Sufi

r indhr i, and repair thou to Kichalra’

s abode to bring wine, for,

the Sairi/ndhri replied,-‘O princess, I shall not be able to

repair to Kichaka’

s apartments ! Thou thyself knowest, 0

Queen, how shameless he is. 0 thou of faultless limbs, 0beauteous lady, in thy palace I shall not be able to lead a lustfullife, becoming faithless to my husbands Thou rememberest,0 gentle lady. 0 beautiful one, the conditions I had set down

before entering thy house O thou oftresses ending in graceful

curls, the foolish Kichaka amicted by the god ofdesire, will, onseeingme, ofl

'

erme insult ! Therefore, I will not go to his

quarters Thou hast, O princess,manymaids under thee ! Dothou, good betide thee, send one of them For, surely, Kichakawill insultme Sudeshna said,—

‘Sent by me, frommy abode,surely he will not harm thee And having said this, she

handed over to her a golden vesse l furnished with a cover. And

prayed for the protection of.

the gods, and set out for Kichaka’

s

abode for fetching wine. And she said, I do not know anyother persons save my husbands, by virtue of that Truth let

Kichaka not be able to overpowerme although Imay approach

his presence

Vaicampi yana continued— “And that helpless damsel thenadored Surya for amoment. And Surya, having considered all

that she urged, commanded a Rékshasa. to protec t her invisibly.And fromthat time the Raksha began to attend upon thatHame

his presence like a frightened doe , the Sate rose up fromhis

seat, and felt the joy that is felt by a person wishing to cross to

the other shore, when he obtains a boat.

Thus ends the fifteenth Section in the Kichaka-badha of the

SECTION XVI.

Kichaka-badha Parva continued.

Kichaka said,‘O thou of tresses ending in beautiful curls, .

thou art welcome Surely, the night that is gone hath broughtme an auspicious day, for I have got thee today as themistressof my house ! Do what is agreeable to me ! Let golden.

chains, and conchs, and bright ear-rings made of gold, manufactured in various countries, and beautiful rubies and gems,and silken robes and deer-skins, be brought for thee I havealso an exoellent bed prepared for thee ! Come, sitting upon

it do thou drink withme the wine prepared fromthe honeyflower !

’Hearing these words, Draupadi said,

‘I have beensent to thee by the princess for taking away wine. Do thou

speedily bringme wine, for she toldme that she is exceedinglythirsty .

" At this, Kichaka said,‘O gentle lady, others will

carry what the princess wants ." And saying this, the Su ta

’

s

son caught hold of Draupadi’

s right arm. And at this, Dmu.

padi exc laimed,‘As I have never, from intoxication of the

Truth, 0 wretch, I shall behold thee dragged and lying power

Vaicampi yana continued Seeing that large-eyed lady

end of her upper garment as she attempted to run away. And

seized with violence by Kichaka, the beautiful princess, unable ,

to tolerate it, and with frame trembling in wrath, and breathing ,

quickly, dashed himto the ground.

'

And dashed to the ground

thus, the sinful wretch tumbled down like a tree whose roots

ground when the latter had seized her, she, trembling all over,

rushed to the court, where kingYudhishthira was, for pmtectiom.

And while she was running with all her speed, Kichaka (who

followed her), seizing her by the hair, and bringing her down

on the ground, kicked her in the very presence of the king !

Thereupon, O Bharata, the Raikshasa that had been appointed

by Surya to protectDraupadi, gaveKichaka a shove with a force

38 u mm an .

mighty as that of the wind. And overpowered by the force of’

the Rakshasa , Kichaka reeled and fe ll down senseless on the

ground, even like an uprooted tree. And both Yudhishthira

and B himasena who were seated there , beheld with wrathful

eyes that outrage on Krishna by Kichaka. And desirous of

B hima knashed his teeth in rage. And his forehead was covered

on end. And that slayer of hostile heroes premed his fore ~

head with his hands. And impelled by rags , he was on

the point of starting up with speed. Thereat king Yudhish

thira. apprehensive of discovery, squeezed his thumbs and

like an infuriate elephant eyeing a large tree , was thus for

hidden by his e lder brother. And the latter said - ‘Lookest

thou, O oook, for tress for fue l ? If thou art in need of faggots.

then go out and fell trees And the weeping Draupadi of fair

hips. approaching the entrance of the court, and seeing her

me lancholy lords, desirous ye t of keeping up the disguise duty

bound by their pledge, with eyes burning in ire, spake these

words unto the king oftheMatsyas, -‘Alas, the son ofa Suta hath

kicked today the proud and beloved wife of those whose foe can

himand them! Alas, the son ofa Su ta hath kicked todat

proud and beloved wife of those ta-uthfiil personages who are

devoted to B rahmanas and who always give away without

asking any thiag in gift. Alas , the son of a 8 wta hath

kicked today the proud and belovedwiih of those the sounds of

whose kettle-drums and the twang: of whose bow-strings are

ceaselesslyheard ! Alas, the son of a gate hath kicked todqy

proud of their dignity ! Alas, the son of a Suta hath kimd.

today the proud and beloved wife of these who, if they had .

not been fetterd by the ties of duty, could destroy this entire

world Where , alas , are those mighty warriors today who,

though living in disguise, have always granted protection unto

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4-0 a ss ass i ns “ .

”

Gandharva husbands, efi'

ulgent as the Sun , do not, I imagine,consider this as an occasion for manifesting their wrath,

inasmuch as they do not rush to thy aid ! 0 Saw indhr i,

thou art ignorant of the timeliness of things, and it is for

this that thou weepest as an actress, besides interrupting

d harvas will do what is agreeable to thee. And they will

surely dispel thy woe and take the life of him that hath

‘They of whomI am the wedded wife are , I ween, extremelykind ! And as the eldest of themall is addicted to dice, they

are liable to be oppressed by all

dripped Krishna, with dishevelled hair and eyes md in anger,

ran towards the apartments of Sudeshna. And in consequence‘

of having wept long, her face looked beautiful like the lunar

due in the firmament, emerged fromthe c louds. And behold

ing her in that condition , Sudeshn i asked, -Who, O beaute

ous lady, hath insulted thee Why, 0 amiable damsel, dostthou weep ? Who, 0 gentle one , hath done thee wrong

Whence is this thy grief Thus addressed, Draupadi said,‘As I went to bring wine for thee , Kichaka struck me in the

of a solitary wood !’

Hearing this, Sudeshni said, -‘O thou

of tresses ending in beautiful curls, as Kichaka, maddenedby lust, hath insu lted thee that art incapable of being possess

e d by him, I shall cause him to be slain if thou wishest it !’

—even they whom he hath wronged I think it is clear

that he will have to go to the abode of Yama this veryday !

’

Thus ends the sixteenth Section in the Kichaka-badha of the

Srcrrou XVII.

Kichaka-basilica Pars e continued.

Vaicampi yana aside s- “Thus insulted by the Sa tan’s son, that

illustrious princes , the beautiful Krishna , eagerly wishing for

the destruction ofVisi ta’

s general. went to her quarters. And

water, Krishna began to ponder weepingly on the means of

dispelling her grief. And she reflected,mying, —‘What amI todo ? Whither shall I go ? How can my purposs be efl

'

ected ?

And while she was thinking thus. she remembered Bhima, and

accomplish the purpese on which my heart is set And amistad

ed of powerfu l protectors then rose up at night, and leaving

desirous of beholding her lord. And possessed of great intelli

gence, the daughter of Drupada entered her husband’

s quarters,

saying,— ‘How canst thou sleep while that wretched commander

of Virata’

s forces, who is my foe, yet liveth, having perpetrat.l )

fem; in splendour. And Krishnl of sweet smiles, finding

W 8 8 » powerful bull, in her first season, orofa she-crane

season And the princess of Panchi la then emM eed the

mightyQiiIa on th a banb of the Gomati. And emhnacing himwith her arms, Krishna of faultless features awaked himas'

a iioness awaketh a sleeping lion in a tmekless forest. And

embracing Bhimasena even as a she-elephant embraceth her

mighty mate, the faultless Pi nchi li addressed h im, in voicl

6 l

4 2 m u mnxm.

sweet as the sound of a Vina emitting the Gandhc'

im note.

And she said,—‘Arise, arise Why dost thou, O Bhimasena, lie

down as one dead Surely, he that is not dead, never suffer

eth a wicked wretch that hath disgraced his wife, to live !’

And then awakened by the princess , B hima ofmighty arms,then rose up, and set upon his couch overlaid with a rich bed;

And he of the Kuru race then addressed the princess— his

beloved wife , saying,—‘For what purpose hast thou come hither

in such a hurry Thy color is gone and thou lookest lean and

pale Tellme everything in detail Imust know the truth ;Whether it be pleasurable or painful, agreeable or disagreeable,~

tellme all Having heard everything, I shall apply the remefly. I alone , 0 Krishna, amentitled to thy confidence in all!

things, for it is I who deliver thee from perils again and

again Tellme quickly what is thy wish, and what the purposeis that is in thy view, and return thou to thy bed before others

awake

Thus ends the seventeenth Section in the Kichaka-badha 05

the Virata Parva.

SECTION XVIII.

Kichaka-badha.Parva continued.

Draupadi said, - ‘What grief hath she not who hath Yu

dhishthira for her husband Knowing all my griefs, whydost thou askme The Pratikamin draggedme to the court

in the midst of an assembly of courtiers, callingme a slave

That grief, O B hi rata, consumeth me ! What other princess

like me, save Draupadi, would live having suffered such

intense misery ? Who else , save myse lf, could bear such

second insu lt as the wicked Saindhava offeredme while resid

ing in the forest Who e lse ofmy position, save myself,could live , having been kicked by Kichaka in the very sight of

the wicked king of the Matsyas Of what value is life, 0 Bhi é

rate , when thou, O son of Kunti, dost not think me miser-zhble although I amaflicted with such . woes 2 That vile and

wicked wretch , O B harata, known by‘

the name of Kichaka,

who is the brother-ia-law of king Vini ta and the commander!

7mmrn vr. 4 8

of his forces, every day, 0 tiger among men, addresses mewho amresiding in the palac e as a Sair indhr t , saying—De

then becomemy wife l— Thus solicited, O slayer of foes, by

t hat wretch deserving to be slain, my heart is bursting like a

fruit ripened in season . Censure thou that elder brother of

thine addicted to execrable dice, through whose act alone I

have been afllicted with such woe Who e lse , save himthat isa desperate gambler, would play, giving up kingdom and

everything inc luding even self, in order to lead a life in the

woods If he had gambled morning and evening for manyyears together, staking n ishkas by thousands and other kinds

of substantial wealth, still his silver, and gold, and robes, and

s chieles, and teams, and goats, and sheep, and multitudes of

steeds and mares and mules, would not have sustained any

diminution. B ut now deprived of prosperity by the rivalry

pfdice , he sits dumb like a fool, reflecting on his own misdeeds.Alas , he who, while sojourning, was followed by ten thousand

e lephants adorned with golden garlands , now supports himselfby casting dice That Yudhishthira who at Indraprastha was

adored by kings of incomparable prowess by hundreds of thou-z

sands , that mightymonarch in whose kitchen a hundred thoua

sandmaid-servants, plate in hand, used every day to feed nu

merous guests day and night, that best of liberal men , who

gave (every day) a thousand n ishkas , alas , even be , overwhelmed..with woe in consequence ofgambling which is the root ofall evil,now supporteth himse lfby casting dice Bards and encomias tsby thousands, decked with ear

-rings se t with brilliant gems, and

gifted with melodious voice , used to pay himhomage morningand evening Alas, that Yudhishthira, who was daily waited

upon by a thousand sages of ascetic merit, versed in the Vedas

and having every desire gratified, as his courtiers,— that Yu

dhishthira who maintained eighty-eight thousands of domestic

Snatakas with thirty maid-servants assigned unto each , as

a lso ten thousand yatis not ac cepting anything in gift and with

v ital seed drawn up,— alas, even thatmighty king now liveth in

s uch guise ! That Yudhishthira who is withoutmalice , who isfull of kindness, and who giveth every creature his - due , who

hath all these excellent attributes, alas— even he now liveth in

44 W u

such guise ! Possessed of firmness and uhbamsd proweb , with

heart disposed to give evsq creature his due , king Yudhishfi

don the blind, the old, the helpless, the permitless and all

btbm in his dominions in such distreh ! Alas, that Yudhisho

ol dice in his wurt now calls himelm h l He unto whom,while residingat lndraprssthg all the rulers

‘

of earth used to

pay timely tribute,— olas, even he now begs for subsistence at

mother’s hands ! Hb to whomthe kings of the earth were in

in subjection to others ! Having, like the sun , dazled the entire“

earth by his e nergy, that Yudhishthira, alas, is now a courtier

pectfully waited upon in court by kings and sages, behold him

snea who can help being aflicted with grief? And, 0 hero, that

M u te who was worshipped in court by the entire earth, do

then, 0 Bhi rata, dost thou not regardme as one amicted with

Bell ow ?

Ssc'nos XIX.

Kichaka-badha Parse continued.

“Draupadi said— Th is, O Bharata, that I amgoing to tell

whoss grief is not enhanced at sight ofthee, O bnll ofthe Bhar

eta race, engaged in the ignoble ofi ce of a. cook. so entirebeneath thee and calling thyself as one of Vallett a caste!

7mmman . 4 0

What can be sadder than this, th t people should know thee

as Viri ta’

s cook, Velleva by name , and, therefore, one thatis sunk in servitude ? Alas, when thy work of the kitchen s

over, thou humbly sittest beside Viri ta, calling thyself as

Vallava the cook, then despondency seizethmy heart ! When'

that king of kings in joymaketh thee fight with elephants,

and the woman of the inner apartments (of the palace) laughall the while, then I amsorely distressed ! When thou fight

-f

est in the inner apartments, with lions, tigers, and bufialos;the princess Kaikeyi looking on, then I almost swoon away !

come to assistme and find that instead of suffering any injuryin limbsmine is only a swoon, the princess speaks unto her

the exceedingly pmocrfa l cook when hc fights (with tlu

beasts) ! Be h i nd/m: is possessed of great beauty, and

hard to know, and they, I fancy, are damming ofeach other. It

then , they both have entered this royal family at the m e

time -And speaking such words she always upbraideth menAnd beholdingme wroth at this, she suspectsme to be attach

ed to thee ! When she Speaketh thus, grmt is the grief that

I feel ! Indeed, on beholding thee, O B hima of terrible

grief on account of Yudhishthira , I do not desire to live !That youth who on a single car had vanquished all celestialsand men, is now, alas, the dancing

-master of king Virata’

s

daugh tm'

s ! That Prithi’

s son of immeasurable soul, who had

gratified Agni in the forest of Khandava, is now living in the

inner apartments (of a palaee) like fire hid in a well ! Alas,that bull amongmen, Dhananjaya, who Was ever the ten or of

foes, is now living in a guise that is despised by all ! Alas, be

whosemace-like arms have been cicatrized in consequence of the

strokes of his bow-string, alas, that Dhananjaya is passing his

days in grief, covering his wrists with bracelets of conchs ! Alas,

$6 mum “ .

that Dhananjaya the twang ofwhose bow-stringand the sound

of whose leathern fences made every foe tremble , now enter,

tains only gladdened women with his songs ! Oh, that Dhanau-c

jaya whose head was formerly decked with a diademof solarsplendour, is now wearing braids ending in unsightly curls ! OB hima, beholding that te rrible bowman , Arjuna, now wearing

braids and in the midst of women, my heart is stricken with

woe ! That high-souled hero who ismaste r of all the celestial

weapons, and who is the repository of all the sciences, now.

weareth ear-rings (like one of the third sex) ! That youth

whomkings of incomparable prowess could not overpower in

fight, even as the waters of the mighty ocean cannot over

leap their continents, is now the dancing-master ofkingViri ta

’

s

daughte rs and waits upon themin disguise ! O B hima, thatArjuna the c latter of whose car-wheels caused the entire earth

with hermountains and forests, hermobile and immobile things,to tremble , and whose birth dispe lled all the sorrows of Kunti,

that exalted hero, that younger brother of thine , O B himasena,nowmaketh me weep for him B eholding himcoming towardsme , decked in golden ear-rings and other ornaments, and wearsing on the wrists bracelets of c onchs, my heart is afflicted withdespondency ! And Dhananjaya who hath not a bowman equal

o n himon earth in prowess, now passeth his days in singing,

s ounded by women ! B eholding that son of Prithi who in

virtue , heroism, and truth, was the admired of the world, now

living in the guise ofa woman ,my heart is amicted with sorrow !

When I behold, like an elephant with rent temples surrounded

by she-elephants, the godlike Pi rtha in the music-hall in the

midst of females, waiting before Viri ta the king of the

Matsyas , then I lose all sense ofdirections ! Surely, mymother.in-law doth not know Dhananjaya to be aflic ted with such ex,

treme distress. Nor doth she know that descendant of the K ingrace , Aji tacatru , addicted to disastrous dice , to be sunk in

misery ! O B hi rata, beholding the youngest of you all,‘Saha-p

d eva, superintending the kine , in the guise of a cow-herd , I

grow pale ! Always thinking of Sahadeva’

s plight, I cannot,O B himasena, obtain sleep,

-wbat speak you of rest ? I do not

know, 0 mighty-armed one, what sin,Sahade .va may have

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SECTION XX.

Kichaka -badha Pwrva continued.

Draupadi said,— ‘Alas, on account of that desperate gamb

in the guise ofa Sair indhr i ! And, 0 chastiser offees, behold

the plight of poignant woe which I, a princess, amnow in !

I amliving in expectation of the close of this-fa ted period!The extreme ofmisery, therefore , is mine ! Success of pur

It is in this belief that l amliving in expectation of the retum

liks a wheel. It is in this belief tbat I amliving in expecta

tion of ths rc tnrn of prosperity to my husbands ? That cause

this hope. Why dost thou not, 0 Bhimasena, regardme as oncdead? I have heard that persons that give may bag ; that theywho slaymay be slain ; and that they who overthrow others

may themselves be overthrown by foes. Nothing is difi cult

for Destiny and none can over-ride Destiny. It is for this

that I amawaiting the return of favorable fortune. As a tank,

once dried, is filled up once aga in , so, hoping for a changs

bueinos that hath been well provided for is seen to be frus,

ha ted, a truly wise person should never strive for bringing back

good fortune. Plunged as I amin sorrow, asked or unasked bythee to cxplain the purpose of these words spoken byme, l shall

a ofDrupada, who else , save myself, would wish to live, bavr

entire Kuru race, the Pi nch‘

alas, and the sons of Pi ndu ! Surf

What Draupadi means is that instead of passing her days in joy

and happiness, instead of being !ab

!

le towish time to be stationary with

her, she is obliged, in consequence of her misery, to wish time to passoff quickly,

-'

T.

7 1mmman ; 4 9

rounded by numerous brothers and fathers-in-law and sons, what

other woman having such cause for joy, save myself, would beamicted with such woe Surely, I must, in my childhood, have

committed some ac t highly offensive to Dhci tfri, through whose

displeasure, O hull of the B harata race, I have been visited

with such consequences ! Mark, 0 son ofPi ndu, the palo ur thathath come overmy complexion, which not even a life in the

woods fraught as it was with extreme misery, could bring abs

out !Thou, O Prithi’

s son, knowest what happiness, 0 B hima,was formerlymine ! Even I, who was such , have now sunk into

s ervitude ! Sore!y distressed, I can find no rest ! That the

mighty-armed and terrible bowman, Dhananjaya the son of

Prithi , should now live like a fire that hath been put out,makethme think ofall this as attributable to Destiny ! Surely, O son

ofPrithi , it is impossible formen to understand the destinies ofcreatures (in this world). I, therefore, think this downfall of

yours as something that could not be averted by forethought.

Alas, she who hath you all that resemble Indra himself to attend to her comforts— even she, so chaste and exalted, hath now

to attend to the comforts of others, ofothers that are by far herdnferiors in rank ! B ehold, O Pandava, my plight ! It is what

I do not deserve Ye are alive , yet behold this inversion of

o rder that time hath brought ! She who had the whole Earth

to the verge of the sea under her control, is now under the

control ofSudeshn'

é. and living in fear ofher ! She who had de‘

pendants to walk both before and behind her, alas, now herself

walketh before and behind Sudeshna! This, 0 Kaunteya, is

another griefofmine that is intolerable ! O, listen to it ! Shewho had never, save for Kunti, pounded unguents even for her

own use , now, good betide thee, poundeth sandal (for others) !0 Kaunteya, behold these bands ofmine which were not so be

fore !’

Saying this , she showed himher handsmarked with come.And she continued—

‘She who had never feared Kunti herself

nor thee and thy brothers, now standeth in fear before Viri ta

as a slave, anxious ofwhat that king of kingsmay say unto

her regarding the prOper preparation of the unguents, for

Matsya liketh not sandal pounded by others

Vaigampayana. continued—“

Relating her woes thus» Q[ 7 ]

50 m ama's.

B hi rata, unto Bhimasena, Krishni began to silently weep,

casting her eyes on Bhima ! And then , with words choked

in tears, and sighing repeatedly, she addressed Bhima in these

words, powerfully stirring his heart, -‘Signal, O Bhima, must

have beenmy cfience of old unto the gods,— for, unfortunate

t o I am, I amyet alive , when, 0 Fi ndava, I should die

of his wife marked with cams, began to weep. And that

mighty son ofKunti, holding the hands of Draupadi in his,

these words.”

Thus ends the twentieth Section in the Kichaka-badha of

the Viri ta Parva.

SECTION XXI.

Kichaka-badha Parva. continued.

Bhima said— T ie on themight ofmy arms and fie on the

Ga‘nd'iva ofPalguna, inasmuch as thy hands, red before , have

now become covered with cams ! I would have caused a carnage

in Viri ta’

s court but for the fact that Kunti’

s son eyed me (byway offorbidding it.) Or, like amighty elephant, I would, with

out ado, have crushed the head of Kichaka intoxicatedwith the

of the Matsyas. Yudhishthira, however, forbademe by a glance,and, O beauteous lady, understanding his intention I have

kept quiet ! That we have been deprived of our kingdom, that

I have not yet slain the Kurus, that I have not yet taken

the heads ofSuyodhana, and Kama, and Savala’

s son Gakuni,

my heart like a javelin hnplanted in it ! O thou of graceful hips,

do not sacrifice virtue and, O noble-hearted lady, subdue thy

will surely put an end to his life ! Ifalso Dhananjaya and the

twins hear thee speak thus, even they will renounce life ! And

.vnu'rs rum. 51

Ifthese, 0 slender-waisted maiden, give up life, I also shall

not be able to hearmy own ! In olden days Sarjati’

s daughter,

the beautiful Sukunya, fo llowed into the forest Chyavana of

Bhrigu’

s race, whosemind was under complete control, and overwhom. while engaged in ascetic meditation, the ants had built

a hill. Thou mayst have heard that Indraseni also who in

beauty was like unto Ndragan i herself, followed her husband

aged a thousand years. Thoumayst also have heard that Janaka

’

s daughter, Siti , the princ es of Videha, fo llowed her lordwhile living in dense woods. And that lady of graceful hips,Rama’s beloved wife, amicted with calamities and persecuted bythe B i kshasa. at length regained the company of Rama. Lupimudri also, 0 timid one , endued with youth and beauty, followedAgastya, renouncing all the objects ofenjoyment unattainable bymen. And the intelligent and faultless Savitri also followed the

heroic Satyavi n the son ofDyumatsena, alone into the world ofYuma Even like these chaste and beautiful ladies that I have

named, thou, O blamed girl, bloomest with every virtue !

Do then spend a short whilemore that is measured by evena halfmonth ! And when the thirteenth year is commote,thou wilt (again) become the Queen regnant ofa king I

’

Hear

ing these words , Draupadi said, -‘Unable , O B hima, to bearmy griefs, it is fromgrief alone that I have shed these tears !

I do not censure Yudhishthira ! Nor is there any use in dwell

ing on the past. 0 Bhima ofmighty strength , come quicklyforward to the work of the hour ! 0 B hima, Kaikeyi, jealousofmy beauty, always painsme by her endeavours to prevent

the king from taking a fancy to me ! And understanding

this disposition of hers, the wicked-souled Kichaka of immoralways, constantly solicitsme himself! Angry with himfor this,but then suppressingmy wrath, I answer that wretch deprivedof sense by lust, saying, -0 Kichaka , p rotec t thyselfI I am

in wrath w ill slay thee tha t ar t so rash -Thus addressed,

Kichaka of wicked soul replies unto me, saying— I have not

smiles I will slay a hund red thousand Gamdha/rvas encounter ing themin battle ! Therefore, 0 timid one. do thou.

'

52 m a n ners.

consent - Hearing all this, I again addressed the lust-amictedSuta, saying— Thou art noma tch for those illustrious Gan ~

dharvas ! Of respectable paren tage and good disposition. I

ever adhere to virtue and never wish for the death of any

one. I t is for this tha t thou livest, OKichaka I— At this, thatWight ofwicked soul burst out into a loud laughter. And it cameto pass that Kaikeyi previously urged by Kichaka, and movedby afl

'

ection for her brother, and desirous of doing hima good

turn, despatchedme to him, saying,— Do thou, 0 Sair in dhri,

fetch winefromKichaka’

s qua rters ! On beholding me the

Bu ta’

s son at first addressedme in sweet words, and when that

failed, he became exceedingly enraged, and intended to use

violence. Understanding the purpose of the wicked Kichaka,

I speedily rushed towards the place where the king was. Fell

ingme on the ground the wretch then kickedme in the very

presence of the king himself and before the eyes of Kanka andmany others, including charioteers, and royal favorites, and

elephant-riders, and c itizens. I rebuked the king and Kanka

again and again. The king, however, neither prevented

Kichaka, nor inflicted any chastisement on h im. The principal

ally of king Virata in war, the cruel Kichaka reft of virtue

is loved by both the king and the queen. O exalted one , brave,

proud, sinful, adulterous, and engrossed in all objects of cujoyment, he eameth immense wealth (fromthe king), and robs thepossessions ofothers even if they cry in distress ! And he never

walketh in the path of virtue, nor doeth he any virtuous act.

Of wicked soul, and vicious disposition, haughty and villainous,and always amicted by the shafts of Kama, though replused

repeatedly, if he seesme again , he will outrage me ! I shall

then surely renounce my life ! Although striving to acquire

virtue, (on my death) your highly meritorious acts will cometo naught ! Ye that are now obeying your pledge , ye will “

lose your wife ! By protecting one’

s wife , one’

s offspring are

protected, and by protecting one’

s ofi'

spring, one’

s own self is

protected. And it is because one begets one’

s own self in one’

s .

wife that the wife is called Jdya’ by the wise. The hush and

e Jag/ate area’

s- i. e. She fromwhomone is born - T.

.vrm'

rs rAnvx. £53

also should b e . protected by the wife, thinking— How else

will he take his bir th in my womb — I have heard it from;B ri bmanas expounding the duties of the several orders, that

a Kshatriya hath n o other duty than subduing enemies.Alas, Kichaka kickedme in the very presence of Yudhishthira

the just, and also of thyself, O B himasena ofmighty strength !

It was thou, O B hima, that didst deliver me fromthe terribleJati sura ! It was thou also that, with thy brothers, didst van~

quish Jayadratha ! Do thou now slay this wretch also who hathinsulted me ! Presuming upon his being a favorite of. the

king, Kichaka, O B harata, hath enhancedmy woe ! Do thou,therefore, smash this lustful wight even like an earthen

pot dashed upon a stone ! If, 0 t rata, to-morrow’

s sun sheds

his rays upon himwho is the source ofmany griefs ofmine,I shall, surely, mixing poison (with some drink), drink it up,for I never shall yield to Kichaka ! Far better it were, QB hima, that I should die before thee !

’

Vaicampayana continued Having said this , Krishna,“

hiding her face in B hima’s breas t, began to weep. AndB hima, embracing her, consoled her to the best of his power.And having abundantly consoled that slender-waisted daughter

of Drupada bymeans of words fraught with grave reason and

sense, he wiped with his hands her face flooded with tears;

And thinking of Kichaka, and licking with his tongue the.

corners of hismouth B hima, filled with wrath, thus spake to

that distressed lady.

Thus ends the twenty first Section 111 the Kichaka-badha of

SECTION XXII.

Kichaka-badha Par fva con tinued.

t a said, -‘I will, 0 timid one, do even as thou says »

est. I will presently slay Kichaka with all h is friends. 0

Yajnaseni of swee t smiles, to-morrow evening, renounc'

ingsorrow and grief, manage to have ameeting with Kichaka ll

“

The dancing-hall that the king of the Matsyas hath caused tQ

be erected is used by the girls for dancing during the day.

5 4 m an ners.

These repair, however, to their homes at night. There in that

them ill make himsee the spirits of his deceased grand

sires ! But, 0 beautiful one, when thou holdest converse withhim, th anmustmanage it so th at othersmay not eq y thee l

’ ”

of that night with painful impatience. And when the night

had passed away, Kichakg rising in the morning went to

down in thc court I kicked thee in the presence of the king.

This Vifl ta is in name only the king of the lfatsyal . Conic

H anding the forces of this realm, it is I who amthe real lord

of the llatsyas. Do thou, 0 timid one, accept me cheerfully !

I shall become thy slave ! And, 0 thou of graceful hips, I

will immediately give thee a hundred n ishlcac, and engage a

hundred male and a hundred female servants (to tend thee),and will also bestow on thee cars yoked with she-mules. 0

timid lady, let our union take place f Draupadi replied—JO

Kichaka, know even this is my condition ! Neither thyHands nor thy brothers should know thy union withme. I am

miss me thia and I yield to thoe !’Hearing this, Kichaka

said—4 1 will, 0 then of graceful hips, do even as thou sayest !

Amicted by the god of love, I will, 0 beauteous damsel,alone repair to thy abode for union with thee, 0 thou of thighs

Gandharvas, efi'

ulgent as the sun , may not come to know of

this ac t of thine Draupadi said, -‘Do thou, when it is dark,

go to the dancing-hall erected by the king of the Matsyas

where the girls dance during the day, repairing to their res

peofi ve homes at night. The Gandharvas do not know that

place. We shall then, without doubt, escape all censure

ha conversation with Ki chaka, that half a day seemed to

Krishnl as long as a whole month. And the stupid Kichaka

else. not knowing that it was Death that had assumed the form

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S6”

n ew sman ;

too And slaying Duryodhana afterwards, I shall win back the?

earth. Let Yudhishthira the son of Kunti continue to payhomage unto the king of Matsya Hearing these words of

B hima, Draupadi said,-‘Inorder that, 0 lord, thoumayst not!

have to renounce the truth already pledged to me, do thou,

O hero, slay Kichaka in secret !’

B hima replied,— ‘I shall, 0

timid one, do even as thou sayest Even tod ay I shall slayKichaka together with his friends ! Unknbwn to others during

the darkness of the night, I shall, 0 faultless lady, crush,

even as an elephant crusheth ameta. fruit, the head of the wicko

ed Kichaka who wisheth for what is unattainable by him1’

Vaicampi yana continued — “ Repairing first to the place of

assignation at night, Bhima sat down, disguising himself.And he waited there in expectation of Kichaka, like a lion

lying

'

in wait for a deer. And Kichaka, having embellished hisperson as he chose , came to the dancing-hall at the appointed

time in the hope of meeting Pi nchali. And thinking of the

hesignation, he entered the chamber. And having entered that

ball enveloped in deep gloom, that wretch of wicked soul cameupon B hima of incomparable prowess, who had come a little

before, and who was waiting in a corner. And as an insect

wards a lion, Kichaka approached Bhima lying down on the bed,

burning in anger at the thought of the insult ofi'

ered to Krishna,

as if he were the Suta’

e Death . And having approached Bhimt,Kichaka, possest by lust, and his heart and soul filled with ecstasy,smilingly said,— ‘O Thou of pencilled eye

-brows, to thee I have

a lready given many and various kinds of wealth from the

stores earned byme , as we ll as a hundred maids and manyfine robes, and also amansion with an inner apartment adorned with beauteous and lovely and youthful maid-servants and

embellished by every kind of sports and amusements And

having set all those apart for thee , I have speedily come hither.And all of a sudden , women have begun to praiseme , saying,“There is not in this world another person like un to thee in

beauty and dress — Hearing this, B hima said -‘It is well that

r thou art handsome, and it is well that thou pre isest thyself. I

think, however, that thou hadst never before this such pleasurable

marsman . 57

touch ! Thou hast an acute touch , and knowest the ways of

gallantry ! Skilled in the art of love-making, thou art a

favorite with women. There is none like thee in this world !

Vaicampi yana continued—“ Saying this, that son of Kunti,

themighty-armed B hima of terrible prowess, suddenly rose

behold thee dragged byme to the ground, like a mighty ele

phant, huge as amountain, dragged to the ground by a lion Thy

self slain, Sairindhrt will live in peace, and we, her husbands,will also live in peace Saying this, themighty Bhima seized

Kichaka by the hairs of his head which were adorned with gar

lands. And thus seized with force by the hair, that foremost

ed the arms of Bhima. And then between those lions amongmen fired with wrath, between that chiefof the Kichaka c lan,and that best ofmen, there ensued a hand-to-hand encounter,

like that between two powerful elephants for a female e lephantin the season of spring, or like that which happened in days of

yore between those lions among monkeys, the brothers Valiand Sugriva. And both equally infuriate and both eager for

victory, both those combatants raised their arms resemblingsnakes famished with five hoods, and attacked each other with

their nails and teeth, wrought up to a frenzy ofwrath. Impetuonely assailed by the powerful Kichaka in that encounter, the.resolute B hima did not waver a single step. And lockedin each other

’

s embraces and dragging each other, they fought

o n like two mighty bulls. And having nails and teeth for

their weapons, the enconunter between themwas fierce and

terrible like that of two furious tigers. And felling each other

down bymeans of their arms, and seizing each other in fury,

t hey encountered each other like a couple of elephants with

rent temples. And the mighty B hima then seized Kichaka,

and Kichaka, that foremost of strong persons, threw B himadown with violence. And as those mighty combatants fought

on, the crash of their arms produced a loud noise that resembled the c latter of splitting bamboos. Then Vrikodara, throw

' ing Kichaka down by main force within the . room, began to

toss himabout furiously even as a hurricane tosseth a tree. And

[ 8 ]

58 W T.”

attacked thus in battle by the powerful B hima, Kichaka grew

weak, and began to tremble. For all that, however, he

tugged at the Pandava to the best of his power. And attacking

B hima, andmaking himwaver a little, the mighty Kichaka

struck himwith his knees and brought himdown to the ground.And overthrown by the powerful Kichaka, B hima quickly

up, like Yams himself with mace in hand. And thus

that powerful Suta. and the Fi ndava, intoxicated with strength

and challenging each other, grappled with each other at midnight in that solitary plac e. And as they roared at each other

in wrath , that excellent and strong edifice began to shake

every moment. And slapped on the chest by the mightyB hima, Kichaka fired with wrath moved not a single pace.

And bearing for amoment only that onslaught incapable of

being borne on earth , the Sa te , overpowered by Bhima’

smight,became enfeebled. And seeing himwaning weak, B hima en

dued with great strength forc ibly drew Kichaka towards his

breast, and began to press himhard. And breathing hard again

and again in wrath, that best of victors, Vrikodara, forciblyseized Kichaka by the hair. And having seized Kichaka,

the mighty B hima began to roar like a hungry tiger that hath

killed a large animal. And finding himexceedingly exhausted,

Vrikodara bound himfast with his arms, as one binds a beas t

with a cord. And then Bhima began for a longwhile, to whirl thesenseless Kichaka, who began to roar frightfully like a broken

trumpet.’ And in order to pacify Krishna’

s wrath , Vrikodara

grasped Kichaka’

s throat with his arms and began to squeeze

it. And assailing with his knees the waist of that worst

of the Kichakas, all the limbs of whose body had been

broken into fragments and whose eye-lids were c losed, Vri

kodara slew him, as one would slay a beast. And beholdingKichaka entire ly motionless, the son of Pandu began to rollhimabout on the ground. And B hima then said,— ‘Slaying thiswretch who had intended to violate our wife , —this thorn in the

side of Satrindhri , I amfreed from the debt I owed to my

Verimeans poth a kettle-drumand a trumpet. The latter however

c onveys a bettermeaning hora — T.

mu s rum. 5 9

brother, and have attained perfect peace ! And having said

this, that foremost ofmen , with eyes red in wrath, relinquished his hold of Kichaka, whose dress and ornaments had been

thrown off his person , whose eyes were rolling, and whose

body was yet trembling. And that foremost of mighty persons squeezing his own hands, and biting his lips in rage , again

attacked his adversary and thrust his arms and legs and

neck and head into his body like the wielder of the F inals“

reducing into a shapeless mass the deer, which formSacrificehad assumed in order to escape his ire. And having crushed

all his limbs, and reduced himinto a ball of flesh , the mightyB himasena showed him unto Kr ishni . And endued with

mighty energy, that hero then addressed Draupadi, that

foremost of all women , saying,-‘

Come , O princess ofPi nch‘

ala ,

and see what hath become of that lustful wretch And

saying this, B hima of terrible prowess began to press with

his feet the body of that wicked wight. And lighting a torch

then , and showing Draupadi the body of Kichaka, that hero

addressed her, saying,-

‘O Thou of tresses ending in beautiful

curls, those that solicit thee endued as thou art with an

excellent disposition and every virtue , are slain by me even

as this Kichaka hath been, 0 timid one And having

accomplished th at difi cult task so‘ highly agre eable to Krishna,

s— having, indeed, slain Kichaka and thereby pacified his wrath ,

Bhima bade farewell to Krishna the daughter of Drupada,

and quickly went back to the kitchen. And Draupadi also,that best of women, having caused Kichaka to be slain, had

her grief removed and experienced the greate st de light. And

addressing the keepers of the dancing-hall, she said, -

‘

Comeye and behold ! Kichaka who had lusted after other people

’

s

wives lieth down here , slain bymy Gandharva husbands !’

And

h earing these words, the guards of the danc ing-hall, soon came

by thousands to that spot, torches in hand. And repairing to that

room, they beheld the lifeless Kichaka thrown on the ground,

drenched with blood. And beholding himwithout arms and legs,they were filled with grief. And as they gazed at Kichaka, theyw ere struckwith amazement. And seeing that superhuman ac t,

b rie f -the overthrow of Kichaka, they said, -‘Where is his

60 m ama's

"

.

neck, and where are his legs r And beholding him in this

plight, they all concluded that he had been killed by a Gandharva.

Thus ends the twenty-second Section in the Kichaka-badhav

of the Vini ta Parva.

SECTION XXIII.

Kichaka-badha Pa/rva. continued.

Vaicampi yana said Then all the relatives of Kichaka,

arriving at that place, beheld himthere and began to wail:

aloud, surrounding himon all sides. And beholding Kichaka;with every limbmangled, and lying like a tortoise dragged todry ground fromthe water, all of themwere overcome withexceeding fright and the bristles of their bodies stood on end.

And seeing him crushed all over by Bhima, like a Danava byIndra, they proceeded to take himoutside, for performing his;funeral obsequies. And then those persons of the Snta c lan ,

thus assembled together espied Krishna of faultless limbs hardby, who stood re c lining on a pillar. And all the Kichakas

assembled there , exclaimed,— ‘Let this unchaste woman be ,

slain for whomKichaka hath himself lost his life ! Or, with

out slaying her here , let us cremate her with him that had.

lusted after her,— for it behoveth us to accomplish in every

way what is agreeable to that deceased son of a Snta F.

“

And then they addressed Virata, saying,-‘It is ,for her sake

that Kichaka hath lost his life. Let him, therefore , be cre

mated along with her ! It behoveth thee to grant this per

mission — Thus addressed by them, king Viri ta, O monarch,knowing full well the prowess of the Sntas, gave his assent to the

Satrindhri’

s being burnt along with the Sn ta’

s son. And at

this, the Kichakas , approaching the frightened and stupefied

Krishna oflotus-like eyes, seized her with violence. And binding

that damsel of slender-waist and plac ing her upon the bier, they,

set out with great energy towards cemetery . And, 0 king, while

thus forcibly carried towards the cemetery by those sons of the

Su ta tribe , the blameless and chaste Krishni living under the

protection ofher lords, .then wailed aloudfor the help ofher bu s

0

mmemu . 61.

bands, saying,— ‘Oh , let Jaya, and Jayanta, and Vijaya, and Jayat

sena, and Jayadvala, listen tomy words ! The Sn tas are takingme away ! Let those illustrious Gandharvas endued with speed

of hand, the c latter of whose cars is loud and the twang of

whose bowstrings in themidst of the mighty conflict are heard

like the roar of thunder, listen to my words,— the Sntas are

takingme away !’

Vaiqampayana continued Hearing those sorrowful words

and lamentations of Krishna, B hima, without a moment ’sreflection started up fromhis bed, and said,—

‘I have heard,

0 Sairimdhri , the words thou hast spoken ! Thou hast, therefore, O timid lady, nomore fear at the hands of the Sn tas

Vaicampayana continued. Having said this, themightyarmed B hims , desirous of slaying the Kichakas, began to swell

his body. And carefully changing his attire, he went out of

the palace by a wrong egress. And climbing over a wall bythe aid ofa tree, he proceeded towards the cemetery whither

the Kichakas had gone. And having leapt over the wall, and

gone out of the excellent city, Bhima impetuously rushed to

where the Sntas were. And, 0 monarch, proceeding towards

the funeral pyre he beheld a large tree , tall as a palmyra-palm,

with gigantic shoulders and withered top. And that slayer of

foes, grasping with his arms that tree measuring ten Vyc'

imas,uprooted it, even like an elephant, and placed it upon his

shoulders. And taking up that tree with trunk and branches,

andmeasuring ten Vyamas, that mighty hero rushed towards

the Su tae, like Yama himself, mac e in hand. And by the

impetus ofhis rush ,‘ banians and peepals andKinpnkas fallingdown on earth lay in clusters; And beholding that Gandharva

approac h themlike a lion in. fury, all the Sntas tremblingwith fear and greatly distressed, became panic-str uck. And

they addressed each other, saying,-‘Lo, the powerful Gan

dharva cometh hither, filled with rage, and with an upraised tree .

in hand ! Let Sa ir findhri , therefore . h omwhomthis dangerof ours hath arisen be set fine — And beholding the tree that

had been uprooted by Bhimasena, they set Draupadi free and,

f“ Lit. force of his thigh — Tu

62 mammal -rs.

ran breathlessly towards the city. And seeing themrun away,

B hima, thatmighty son of the Wind-god, despatched, 0 foremost of kings, by means of that tree, a hundred and five of

themunto the abode of Yama, like the wielder of the thunderbolt slaying the Danavas. And setting Draupadi free fromher bonds, he then, 0 king, comforted her. And thatmightyarmed and irrepressible Vrikodara, the son of Pandu, then ad

dressed the distressed princess of Pi nchi la with face bathed in

tears, saying,-‘Thus, O timid one , are they slain that wrong

thee without cause ! Return, 0 Krishni , to the c ity ! Thou

hast no longer any fear ; Imyself will go to Viri ta’

s kitc hen

by another route !’

Vaicampi yana continued— “ It was thus, 0 Bharata, that

a hundred and five of those Kichakas were slain. And their

corpses lay on the ground, making the place look like a great

forest overspread with uprooted trees after a hurricane. Thus

fell those hundred and five Kichakas ! And including Viri ta’

s

general slain before, the sfaughtered Sntas numbered one

hundred and six. And beholding that exceedingly wonderful

feat, men and women were assembled together, filled with

astonishment. And the power of speech, 0 Bhi rata, was

suspended in every one.

Thus ends the twenty-third Section

"

in the Kichakai-badha of

SECTION XXIV.

Kichaka-badha Parse continued.

Vaiqampi yana said. And beholding the Sn ta s slain , the

ci tizens went to the king, and represented unto himwhat had

happened, saying,-‘O king, thosemighty sons of the Sa te s have

all been slain by the Gandharvas ! Indeed, they lie scattered

(in the earth like huge peaks ofmountains riven by thunder.

Sa trindhr i also, having been set free, returneth to thy palac e in

the c ity ! Alas , 0 king, if Sairindhri cometh , thy entire

kingdom will be endangered ! Sa ir indhrt is endued with

great beauty ; the Gandharvas also are exceedingly powerful.

Men again, without doubt, are naturally sensual ! Devise, there

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£ 4! .HAHABHARATL

the dancing-hall, all those damsels came to Krishna who had

arrived there, and who had been persecuted so sorely, all innocent though she was. And they said, -

‘By good luck, it is, OSan-indium, that thou hast been delivered from thy dangers !By good luck it is that thou hast returned safe. And by good

luck also it is that those Sn tas have been slain that had wronged thee , innocent though thou art !

’

Hearing this, Vrihannali

said,—‘How hast thou, 0 Sair i/ndhr i, Men delivered And

how have those sinful wretches been slain I wish to learn all

t his from thee exactly as it fell out ! Sah indhr 'i replied,-‘O blessedVrihannala, always passing thy days happily in the

”apartments of the girls, what concern hast thou with Sai

e'indhr i

’

s fate to say ? Thou hast no grief to bear that Sa i~

d im? hath to bear ! It is for this, that thou askest me thus,

distressed as I am, in ridicule !’ Thereat Vrihannala said,

b lessed one , Vrihannali also hath unparalleled sorrows of her

own ! She hath become as low as a brute. Thou dost not, 0

girl, understand this. I have lived with thee , and thou too

hast lived with us ! When, therefore , thou art afflicted with

misery, who is it that will not, 0 thou of beautiful hips, feel

it B ut no one can completely read another’

s heart. Therefore

it is, O amiable one, that thou knowest notmy heartVaicampi yana continued— “ Then Draupadi, accompanied

by those girls entered the royal abode, desirous of appearingbefore Sudeshn

'

a. And when she came before the queen, Virata’

s

wife addressed her at the command of the king, saying,—‘Do

thou, O Sa ir indhri , speed ily go whithersoever thou likest !

The king, good betide thee, hath been filled with fear at this

discomfiture at the hands of the Gandharvas ! Thou art, 0

thou ofgracefu l eye-brows, young, and unparalleled on earth

in beauty ! Thou art, besides, an object of desire with men. The

Gandharvas , again , are exceedingly wrathfu l Thereat Sa i

flndhr 'i said,-‘O beauteous lady, let the king sufi

’

erme tolive here for only thirteen days more ! Without doubt, the

Gandharvas also will be highly obliged at this. They will

then convey me hence and do what would be agreeable to

Viri ta. Without doubt, the king, by doing this , with his

fri ends, reap great benefit.

warmPARVA. 65

Thus ends the twenty-fourth Section in the Kichaka-badha~

of the Virata Parva.

SECTION XXV.

Go-harana Parva .

Vaicampi yana said— “ At the slaughter of Kichaka and his

brothers, people, 0 king, thinking of this terrible feat, were

filled with surprise. And in the city and the provinces it was

generally bruited about that for bravery the king’

s Vallava and

Kichaka were both mighty warriors. The wicked Kichaka,

however, had been an oppressor ofmen and a dishonorer of other

people’

s wives. And it was for this that that wicked wight of

sinful soul had been slain by the Gandharvas.’

And it was thus,

0 king, that people began to speak, fromprovince to province,-m

pf the invincible gichaka, tha t slayer of hostile ranks.Meanwhile,the spies employed by Dhritarashtra

’

s son,

having search ed various villages and towns and kingdoms anddone all that they had been commanded to do and completedtheir examination, in the manner directed, of the countries

indicated in their orders, returned to Nagapura, gratified with

at least one thing that they had learnt)“ And seeing Dhrita

rashtra’

s son king Duryodhana of the Kuru race seated in his

court with Drona and Kama and Kripa, with the high-souled

B hishma, his own brothers, and those great warriors -the

Trigartas, they addressed him, saying,— ‘O lord ofmen, great

hath been the care always bestowed by us in the search after

the sons of Pandu in thatmighty forest ! Searched have we

through the solitary wilderness abounding with deer and other

animals and overgrown with trees and creepers ofdiverse kinds !

flearched have we alsomarbours ofmatted woods and plants

and creepers of every species, but we have failed in discover-s

Krita-M tyd . Nilakantha explains this tomean imagining themselves to have achieved success in their mission, for having learnt of

K ichaka’s death, they could readly ,

divine the presence of the Pandavas

there. Th is is too far-fetched and does not at all agree with the spirit of

their report to Duryodhana below. And then the same word occurs

in the very last line of the Sec tion. I take it that in both places th e

word has been used in the same sense — T.

66 mmsnmm

ing the track by which Pritha’

3 sons of irrepressible energymay have gone. Searched have we in these and other places

for their foot-prints ! Searched have we c lose ly, 0 king, on

dams and provinces teeming with people , in encampments andc ities ; no trace have we yet found of the sons of Pandu !

Good betide thee , O bull amongmen, it seems an they have

perished without leaving a mark behind ! O foremost of warriors, although we followed in the track of those warriors, yet,

0 best ofmen, we soon lost their foot-prints and do not know

their present residence. 0 lord ofmen , for some time we

followed in the wake of their charioteers. And making our

inquiries duly, we truly ascertained what we desire d to know.

0 slayer of foes, the charioteers reached t ravati without

the sons of Pritha among them. 0 king, neither the sons of

Pandu, nor the chaste Krishnfi, are in that city of the Yi davasc

O hull of the B harata race , we have not been able to discovere ither their track or their present abode. Salutations to thee,

they are gone for good ! We are acquainted with the disposi

tion of the sons of Pandu and know something of the feats

achieved by them. It behoveth thee , therefore, 0 lord ofmen,to give us instruc tions, 0 monarch , as to what we should next

do in the search after the sons of Panda O hero, listen also

to these agreeable words of ours, promising great good to theeKing Matsya

’

s charioteer, Kichaka of wicked soul, by whomthe Trigartas, O monarch, were repeatedly vanquished and

slain withmighty force , now lieth low on the ground with all

his brothers, slain , 0 monarch, by invisible Gandharvas duringthe hours ofdarkness, 0 thou ofunfading glory ! Having heard

this delightful news about the discomfiture of our enemies, wehave been exceedingly gratified, O Kauravya ! Do thou now

ordain what should next be done

Thus ends the twenty-fifth Section in the Go-harana of the

Virata Parva.

SECTION XXVI.

Go-harana Parva con tinued.

Vaicampayana said. Having listened to these words of

his spies, king Duryodhana reflected inwardly for sometimeand then addressed his courtiers, saying,

-‘It is difficult to

ascertain the course of events definitely. B iscomye all, there

fi re, whither the sons of Pandu have gone. Of this thirteenth

year which they are to pass undiscovered by us all, the greater

part hath already expired. What remains is by much the

smaller. If. indeed. the sons of Pi ndu can pass undiscovered

what remains of this year, devoted to the vow of truth as they

are. they will then have fulfilled their pledge. They will then

return like mighty elephants with temporal juice trickling down,or like snakes of virulent poison. Filled with wrath , they will,

without doubt, be infiicters of terrible chastisement on the

Kurus. It behoveth ye, therefore, tomake such efforts without

loss of time asmay induce the sons of Pi ndu, acquainted as

they are with the proprieties of time, and staying as they now

are in painful disguise , to re-e nter the woods suppressing

their rage. Indeed, adopt ye such means as may remove all

causes of quarrel and anxiety from the kingdom, making it

tranquil and foe less and incapable of sustaining a diminutionof territory.

’

Hearing these words of Duryodhana, Kamasaidr-

‘

Let other spies, abler and more cunning, and capable

of accomplishing their obj ec t, quickly go hence , O Rhi rate !

Let them, we ll disguised, wander through swelling kingdomsand populous provinces, prying into assemblies of the learned

and delightful re treats of ascetics ! In the inner apartments of

palaces, in shrines and holy spots, in mines and diverse other

regions, the sons of Pandu shouldb e searched after with well~

directed eagerness. Let the sons Of Pandu who are living in

disguise be searched after by well-skilled spies in large numbers,

d evoted to their work, themse lves well-disguised, and all we ll

«acquainted with the Objec ts of their search . Let the search be

made on the banks ofrivers, in holy regions, in villages and towns,. ia retreats Of ascetics, in delightful mountains and mountain

eldest brother and said ‘Omonarch, 0 lord Ofmen , let thosespies only in whomwe have confidence, receiving their rewardsin advance, oncemore go after the search. This and what e lsehath been said by Kama have our fullest approval. Let altthe spice engage in the search according to the directions

already given. Let these and others engage in the search from?»province to province according to approved rules. It ismybelief, however, that the track the

‘

Pandavas have followedor their present abode or occupation will not be discovered.Perhaps, they are closely concealed perhaps, they have gone tothe other side of the ocean ; or, perhaps, proud as they are oftheir strength and courage , they have been devoured by wildM B ; or, perhaps, having been overtaken by some unusualdanger. they have perished for eternity. Therefore, O prince ofthe Kuru race, dispelling all anxieties fromthy heart, achievewhat thou wilt, always acting according to thy energy !

’

Thus ends the twenty-sixth Section in the Go-harana of

theWri te Parva.

SECTION XXVI] .

Go-harana Parva continued.

Vaicampayana said Endued with mighty energy and

possessed of great discernment, Drona then said, -‘Persons

like the sons of Hindu never perish nor undergo discomfiture.B rave and skilled in every science, intelligent and with senses

under control, virtuous and grateful and obedient to the vir

tuons Yudhishthira, ever following in the wake of their eldest

brother who is conversant with the conclusions Of policy and

virtue and profit, who is attached to themas a father, and who

strictly adhereth to virtue and is firmin truth , -persons like

themthat are thus devoted to their illustrious and royal brother,who , gifted with great intelligence , never injureth any body

and who in his turn himself obeyeth his younger broth ers, never

perish in this way. Why, then , should not (Yudhishthira )

the son of Prithi , possessing a knowledge Of policy, be able

VIEATA ranva.169

to restore the prosperity Of brothers such as these that are so

obedient and devoted and high-souled It is for this that they

are carefully waiting for the arrival of their Opportunity. Men

such as these never perish. This is what I see bymy intellect.Do, therefore , quickly and without loss Of time, what should

now be done, after proper reflection . And let also the abode

which the sons Of Pandu with souls under control as regards

every purpose Of life , are to occupy, be now settled. Heroic

and sinless and possessed of ascetic merit , the Pandavas are

difiicult to be discovered (within the period Of non-discovery):

Intelligent and posse ssed Of every virtue, devoted to truth and

versed in the principles of policy, endued with purity and

holiness, and the embodiment of immeasurable energy, the son

of Pritha is capable Of consuming (his foes) by a glance alone

of his eye. Knowing all this, do what is proper. Let us,

therefore, once more search after them, sending B rahmanas andCharanas, ascetics crowned with suc cess, and others of this

kind whomay have a knowledge of those heroes !’

Thus ends the twenty-seventh Section in the GO-harana of

the Virata Parva.

SECTION XXVIII.

Go-harana Par-ea con tinued.

Vaicamfi yana said. Then that grandsire of the Bhi

ratas, B hishma the son of Ci ntanu, conversantwith the Vedas.

acquainted with the proprieties of time and place , and possess,

ing a knowledge of every duty ofmorality, after the concluision of Drona

’

s speech, applauded the words of the preceptor

and spake unto the B haratas, for their benefit, these words

c onsistent with virtue, expressive of his attachment to ‘

tho

virtuous Yudhishthira, rarely spoken bymen that are dishon

est, and always meeting with the approbation of the honest.

And the words that B hishms spake were thoroughly impartialand worshipped by the wise. And the grandsire Of the Kurus

said,—‘The words that the regenerate Drona acquainted with

the truth of every ad'

air hath uttered, are approved byme. I

have no hesitation in saying so. Endued with every auspicious

70 Hu mmu s.

mark, observant of virtuous vows, possessed of Vedic lore ,devoted to religious Observances, conversant with various sciences,obedient to the counsels of the aged, adhering to the vow of

truth, acquainted with the proprieties of time, observant ofthe pledge they have given (in respect of their exile), pure intheir behaviour, ever adhering to the duties of the Kshatriya

order, always obedient to Kecava, high-souled, possessed of

great strength, and ever bearing the burthens of the wise.

those heroic ones can never wither undermisfortune. Aided

by their own energy, the sons of Pi ndu who are now leadinga life of concealment in obedience to virtue, will surely never

perish. It is even th is thatmymind surmiseth. Therefore,

O Bhi rata, I am for employing the aid of hone st counsel in

our behaviour towards the sons Of Pandu . It would not be the

policy Of any wise man to cause them to be discovered now by

means Of spies.“ Of that only which we should do unto the sonsof Pi ndu, I shall say, reflecting with the aid of the inte llect.

Know that I shall say nothing fromill will to thee. People like

me shou ld never give such counsels to himthat is dishonest, foronly counse ls (like those I would give) should be offered untgthemthat are honest. Counsels, however, that are evil, should

under no circumstances be od'sted. He, 0 child, that is devoted

to truth and obedient to the aged, he, indeed, that is wise ,

while speaking in the midst of an assembly, should under all

c ircumstance s speak the truth , if the acquisition of virtue be an

objec t with him. I should, therefore , say that I think difl'

er

ently from all those people here, in respect of the abode of

Yudhishthira the just in this the thirteenth year of his exile.

The rulers, 0 child, of the city Or the province where king

Yudhishthira resides c annot have anymisfortune. Chairtable

and liberal and humble and modest must the people be of

This is a very difi cult d ata . I amnot sure that I have under

“ and itmigh t. B oth Nilakantha and Arjuna M isra are silent . Instead

Of depending, however, onmy own intelligence, I have consulted several

friends who have read the “ Mahabharata” through . The grammaticalstructure is easy. Th e only difiiculty consists in the second half of the

slain . Themeaning, h owever, I have given is consistent with the torrentof Bhishma’s advice - T

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of sacrifices and pure vows, and hating untruth in speech, the

people of the place where king Yudhishthira may reside will

always be desirous of obtaining what is good, auspicious and

beneficial. There where Yudhishthira resides, the people will

certainly be desirous ofachievingwhat is good, and their heartswill always inc line towards virtue , their vows, besides, being

agreeable and they themselves being ever engaged in the

acquisition of religiousmerit. 0 child, that son of Pritha in

whomare intelligence and charity, the highest tranquillity and

undoubted forgiveness, modesty and prosperity, and fame andgreat energy and simplicity and a love for all creatures, is in

capable ofbeing found out (now that he hath concealed himselfeven by B ri hmanas, let alone ordinary persons ! The wise Yu

dhishthira is living in c lose disguise in regions whose charac

teristics I have described. Regarding his excellent mode of

life, I dare not say anything more. Reflecting well upon all

t his, do without loss of time what thou mayst think to be beneficial, O prince of the Kuru race , if, indeed, thou hast any

faith inmeThus ends the twenty

-eighth Sec tion in the Go-harana of

SECTION XXIX.

Go-harana Parva. con tinued.

Vaicampayana said Then Saradwata’

s son, Kripa, said,‘What the aged B hishma hath said concerning the Pandavas is

reasonable , suited to the occasion , consistent with virtue and

p rofit, agreeable to the ear, fraught with sound reason , and

worthy of him. Listen also to what I would say on this

subject ! It behoveth thee to ascertain the track they have

followed and their abode also by means of spies,’

and to

adopt that policy which may bring about thywelfare ! 0 child;he that is solicitous of his welfare should not disregard even an

ordinary foe. What shall I say, then , 0 child, of the Fi ndavas

The word tirtba here means, as Nilakantha righ tly explains: Spies»

and not holy spots— T.

mmman . 73

who are thorough masters of all weapons in battle ! When,

therefore, the time cometh for the reappearance of the high

souled Pi ndavas, who, having entered the forest,‘are now pass

ing their days in close disguise, thou shouldst ascertain thy

strength both in thy own kingdomand in those of other kings !

Without doubt, the return of the Pandavas is at hand. Their

promised termof exile over, the illustrious and mighty sons of

Pritha, endued with immeasurable prowess, will come hitherbursting with energy ! Do thou, therefore, in order to conclude

an advantageous treaty with them, have recourse to sound

policy and address thyself to increase thy forces and improvethy treasury ! 0 child, ascertaining all these, reckon thou thy

own strength in respect of all thy allies weak and strong?Ascertaining the efficiency, and weakness, and indifference of

thy forces, as also who amongst them are well affected and

who disaffec ted, we should either fight the foe or treat with

him. Having recourse to the arts of conciliation, disunion,

chastisement, bribery, presents, and fair behaviour, attack thyfoes, and subdue the weak bymight, and win over thy alliesand troops by soft speeches. When thou hast (by these means)strengthened thy army and filled thy treasury, entire success

will be thine ! When thou hast done all this, thou wilt be ableto fight with powerful enemies that may present themse lves,let alone the sons of Pandu deficient in troops and animals oftheir own. By adopting all these expedients according to the

customs of thy order, thou wilt, O foremost ofmen, a ttain '

enduring happiness in due time !’

Batramis explained byNilakantha tomean here “ false disguise.” I

think, however, such an interpretation to be far-fetched. It evidently

means “ forest.”— the use of p revigmhu in connection with it almost

settles the point — T.

f This sloka is not correc tly printed in any of the texts that I have

seen. The reading that I adopt is that the second word is the participle

ofthe root bud/t and not the instrumental of buddhi; the last word, again,of the second line, is compounded of valavatmand avatar“ instead of

(as printed inmany books) valavatcwavalcshu. Any other readingWould

certainly be incorrect. I have not consulted the Bombay text, -T.

[ 10 ]

74 HAHABHABATA.

Thus ends the t wenty-ninth Section in the Go-harana of

the VirataPerva.

Ssc'mon XXX.

Go-harana. Parse con tinued.

Vaicampi yana said— “Discomfited before , 0 monarch,manya time and oft by Matsya

’

s Suta.Kichaka aided by the Matsyas

and the Si lwyas, the mighty king of the Trigartas, Sugarman,who owned innumerable cars, regarding the opportunity to be

a favorable one , then spoke the following words without losing.

a moment. And, 0 monarch, forcibly vanquished along with

his relatives by the mighty Kichaka, king Superman. eyeingKama askance , spoke these words unto Duryodhana z—

‘My

kingdomhath , many a time, been forcibly invaded by the kingof

J

the Matsyas. The mighty Kichaka was that king’

s genera

lissimo. Crooked and wrathful and of wicked soul, of prowess

famed,over all t he world, sinful in deeds and highly cruel, that

wretch, . h owever, hath been slain by the Gandharvas. Kichaka

dead, king Virata, shorn of pride and his refuge gone, will; I

imagine, lose all courage. I think we ought now to invade

that kingdom, if it please thee , O sinless one, as also the

illustrious Kama and all thg‘Kzup vu ! The accident that

hath happened, is , I imaginr

e, yomple one for us. Let us , “

will appropriate his 8 .

99 5 t wealth of diverse kinds,

and let us go shares with each pthgr as, regards his villages

and kingdom. Or, invading his c ity , byforce , let us carry off

by thousands his excellent .

kine of various species. Uniting,0 king, the forces of th e

Im'

uravas and the Trigartas , let us

lift his cattle in droves. Or,uniting. our forces well, we willcheck his power by forcing himto sue for peace . Or, destroy

ing his entire host, We will bring‘ Matsya under subjection.

Having brought himunder sulg'

éction , by just means, we will

live in our kingdomhappily, while thy power a lso will, without doubt, be enhanced — Ha ring these words of Sucarman ,

Kama addressed the king, gsaying,— ‘Sucarmau hath spoken

well ; the opportunity is favgrableand promises to be profitable

vmrrs PABVA. 75

to us. Therefore, if it please thee , O sinless one, let us, drawing up our forces in battle array and marshalling them in

divisions, speedily set out ! Or, let the expedition be managedas Saradwata

’

s son Kripa, the preceptor Drona, and the wise

and aged grandsire of the Kurusmay think. Consulting with

each other, let us, 0 lord of earth , speedily set out to attain

cur end ! What business have we with the sons of Pi ndu ,

destitute as they are of wealth, might, and prowess They

have either disappeared for good, or have gone to the abode of

Yams !We will, 0 king, repair without anxiety to Virata’

s city,

and plunder his cattle and other wealth of diverse kinds ."

Vaicampyi yma c ontinued Accepting these words of

Kama the son of Surya, king Duryodhana speedily commandedhis brothe r Dusci sana born immediate ly after him,

‘

and always

obedient to his wishes, saying,—‘Consulting with the elders,

array without de lay, our forces We will, with all the Kau

ravas, go to the appointed place. Let also the mighty warrior,king Superman , aceompained by a sufi cic nt force with vehicles

and animals, set out with the Trigartas for the dominions of

Matsya ! And let Sugarman proceed first, carefully concealinghis intention. Following in their wake, we will set out the

day after in c lose array, for the prosperous dominions of king

l lama! Let the Trigartas, however, suddenly repair to the c ity

of Viri ta, and, coming upon”

the cowherds , seize that immensewealth (ofkine). We also,marching in two divisions, will seizethousands of exce llent kin e furnished with auspiciousmarks !

’

Vaicampi ywna continued—{ T hemO lord of earth , those

warriors , the Trigartas, accompained by their infantry of terrible

p owess,marched , towards the south -eastern direction , intendingto wage hostilities with Virata from the desire of seizing his

kine. Aind Sucarman set out on the seven th day of the dark

fortnight for seizing the kine . And then, 0 king, on the

e ighth day following of the dark fortn ight, the Kauravas also,

acccnnpained by all the ir tr00ps, began to seize the kine by

thousands .

Thus ends the thirtieth Sec tion in the Go-harana of the

Vini ta Parva.

Sac-non XXXI.

Vaicampiyana said “ O mighty king, entering into king:Viri ta

’

s service , and dwelling in disguise in his excellent city,the high

-souledPandavas ofimmeasurable prowess, completedthe promised period of non-discovery. And after Kichaka had

been slain, that slayer of hostile heroes, the mighty king

Viri ta, began to rest his hopes on the sons of Kunti. And it

was on the expiry of the thirteenth year of their exile, O

B hi rata, that Sucarman seized Virt ta’

a cattle by thousands.

And when the cattle had been seized, a herdsman of Virata

came with great speed to the city, and saw his sovereign

the king of Matsya seated on the throne in the midst of wisecouncillors, and those bulls amongmen, the sons of Pi ndu, andsurrounded by brave warriors decked with ear-rings and brace

-v»

lets. And appearing before that enhancer of his dominionsking Viri ta seated in court— the herdsman bowed down unto

h im, and addressed him, saying,— ‘O foremost of kings, defeat

ing and humiliating us in battle along with our friends, the

Trigartas are seizing thy cattle by hundreds and by thousands.

Do thou, therefore, speedily rescue them Oh, see that they

are not lost to thee — Hearing these words, the king arrayed

for battle the Matsya force abounding in cars and elephants

and horses and infantry and standards. And kings and princes

speedily put on, each in its proper place,” their shining and

beautiful armour worthy ofbeing worn by heroes. And Vir'

ata’

s'

beloved brother, Sati nika, put on a coat ofmail made of

adamantine steel, adorned with burnished gold. And Madira

kshya, next in birth to Satanika, put on a strong coat ofmailplaited with gold!and capable of resisting every weapon. And

the coat ofmail that the king himself of the Matsyas put on

was invulnerable and decked with a hundred suns, a hundred

B hdgaaac lit. each in its proper place. Itmay alsomean, “ according to their respective divisions. — T.

t Kalydna-patalamis explained by Nilakantha to mean cavemapatrdckckhdditam.

— T.

mmmm; 77

c ircles, a hundred spots, and a hundred eyes. And the coat

ofmail that Suryadatta"put on was bright as the sun,

plaited with gold, and broad as a hundred lotuses of the

fragrant (Kahlam) spec ies. And the coat ofmail that Vhi ta’

s

eldest son, the heroic Sankha, put on was impenetrable and

made of burnished steel, and decked with a hundred eyes of

gold. And it was thus that those god-like andmighty warriors

by hundreds, furnished with weapons, and eager for battle,each donned his corse let. And then they yoked unto their

excellent cars of white hue steeds equipped in mail. And

then was hoisted Matsya’

s glorious standard on his excellent

car decked with gold and resembling the sun or the

in its eflulgence. And other Kshatriya warriors also raised

on their respetcive cars gold-decked standards of various shapes

and devices. And king Matsya then addressed his brother

Satanika born immediately after him, saying,— ‘Kanka and

Vallava and Tantripala and Damagranthi of great energy will,

as it appears tome, fight,without doubt. Give thou unto themcars furnished with banners and penons and let themcase their

persons in beautifu l coats ofmail that should be both invul

nerable and easy to wear. And let them also have weapons.

B earing such martial forms and possessed of arms resemblingthe trunks ofmighty elephants, I can never persuademyselfthat they cannot fight.

’

Hearing these words of the king,

Sati nika, Omonarch , immediate ly ordered cars for those sons of

Pritha, viz.,—the royal Yudhishthira, and B hims , and Nakula,

and Sahadeva. And commanded by the king, the charioteers,

with cheerful hearts and keeping loyalty in view, very soon

got cars ready (for the Pandavas). And those repressers of

foes then donned those beautiful coats ofmail, invulnerableand easy to wear, that Virata had ordered for those heroes of

spotless fame. And moun ted on cars yoked with good steeds,

those smiters of hostile ranks, those foremost ofmen, the sons .

of Prithii , se t out with cheerful hearts. Indeed, those mightywwarriors skilled in fight, those bulls of the Kuru race and sons

of Pi ndu, those four heroic brothers possessed of prowess

One of the generals of Virata— T.

fl l emm a s .

incapable of being baffled, mounting on cars decked with

gold, together set out, following Virata’

s wake. And infuriate

e lephants of terrible mien, full sixty years of age , with shapelytusks and rent temples and juice trickling down and looking(on that account) like c louds pouring rain, and mounted bytrained warriors skilled in fight, followed the king like unto

moving hills. And the principal warriors ofMatsya who cheer

fully fo llowed the king had eight thousand cars, a thousand

e lephants, and sixty thousand horses. And, 0 bull among theB hi rata

’

s, that. force of Virata, 0 king, as it marched forth

marking . the footprints of the cattle looked ex ceedinglybeautimi. And on its march that foremost of armies owned

by Viri ta, crowded with soldiers armedWith strong weapons,

and abounding in elephants, horses and cars, looked really

Thus ends the thirty-first Section in the Glo -harana of the

SECT ION XXXII.

(Go-haremPas-c a. cantinucd.)

Vaicampi yana said Marching out of the c ity, those

heroic smiters, the Matsyas, arrayed in order:pf: battle , .overtook

the Trigartas when the sun had passed'

themeridian . A nd both

excited to fury and both desirous“

of having the kine , the

1mloud‘

roars. And then the terri ble and infuriate elephant.

ridden ove r by. the skilful combatants of both sides, were urged

on fi ll spiked c lubs md. hooks . And t he encounter , 0 king,

that took place when the sun was howin horizon; Between the

infantry amdt caval'ry and chariots and e lephants of both parties ;

was, like unto than of old between the gods and the Ammanfu sible amt fierce and. capable .ofmaking one

’

s ha ir stand

on end: and 'calculated to in crease the population of Yama ’

s

li ngdou . M ac the combatants rush ed against one an other,

miting ;and sla king, thick'

c lond scof. dust:began to rise, so that

nothing could be discovered. And covered with the dust raised

by the contending armies, b irds began to drop down on the

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8 0 m am a s.

another with their nails." And eyeing the point where the

cars of the Trigartas had been mustered in strong numbers,those heroes at last directed their attack towards it. And that

his van and Madiri ksha in his rear, having destroyed in that

c onflict five hundred cars, eight hundred horses, and five war

car in that field ofbattle. And at last the king came upon theruler of the Trigartasmounted on a golden chariot. And those

high-souled and powerful warriors, desirous of fighting, rushed

roaring against each other like two bulls in a cow-

pen. Then

that bull among men, irrepressible in battle, Sucarmi n theking of the Trigartas, challenged Matsya to a single combat oncars. Then those warriors excited to fury rushed against each

other on their cars and began to shower their arrows upon each

other like clouds pouring torrents of rains? And enraged with

each other, those fierce warriors, both skilled in weapons,

both wielding swords and darts andmaces, then moved about

(on the field of battle) assailing each other with whetted arrows.

Then king Viri ta pierced Sucarman with ten shafts and each

of his four horses also with five shafts. And Sucarman also,

king Matsya with fifty whetted shafts. And then, 0 mightymonarch , in consequence of the dust on the field of battle, the

soldiers of both Sugarmi n and Matsya’

s king could not dis

tinguish one another.

Thus ends the thirty-second Section in the Go-harana of

the Viri ta Parva.

1“ Some differences of reading are noticeable here ; for Yamw inaflsome texts read Ham me tt, and for t mamravdhau t mamambhdtand for Nakhd-mbhi—Rathd-mthi. T.

t Some texts read Ghanabiva for Ghandiva. The latter is unques

tionably better in tom—T.

SECTION XXXIII.

Go-harana Pa/rva continued.

Vaicampi yana said. Then , 0 Bh i rata, when the world

was enveloped in dust“

and the gloomof night, the warriors of

both sides, without breaking the order of battle, desisted for

a‘

while.’ And then, dispelling the darkness, themoon arose

ill‘

umining the night and gladdening the hearts of the Ksha-t

triya warriors . And when everything became visible, the

battle once more began. And it raged on so furiously that

the combatants could not distinguish one another. And then

Trigarta’

s lord, Sucarman , with his younger brother, and aecompanied by all his cars, rushed towards the king of Matsya.

And descending fromtheir cars, those bulls arneng Kshatriyas,the (royal) brothers, mace in hand, rushed furiously towards

the cars of the foe. And the hostile hosts fiercely assailed each

other withmaces and swords and scimitars and battle -axes andbearded darts, with keen edges and points of excellent temper.And the lord of the Trigartas, king Snowman, having by hisenergy oppressed and defeated the whole army of the Hatsyas,impetuously rushed towards Virata himself endued with

great energy. And the two brothers, having severally slain

Viri ta’

s two steeds and his charioteer, as also those soldiers that

protected his rear, took him captive alive, when deprived of

his car. And afflicting himsorely, like a lustfulman amictinga defenseless damsel, Sugarman placed Viri ta on his own car,

and speedily rushed out of the field. And when the powerful

vase , deprived of his car, was taken captive, the may” ,

harassed sorely by the Trigartas, began'

to fly in fear in all

directions. And beholding them panic -stricken, Kunti’

s son

Yudhishthira addressed that subduer of foes, themighty-armedBhimd, saying,— ‘The king of the Matsyas hath been taken

The word in the original is Hukurta equal to 4 8 minutes. N ila

kantha points out very ingeniously that the nigh t being the seventh of

the dark fortnigh t, the moon would not rise till after 14 Dandac fromthe hour of sunset, a a da being equal to 24 minutes. A 1 3 :10t

therefore, implies, not 4 8 minutes exactly, but am ram—T.

[ 11 1

.8 2 m a m a s .

by the Trigartas . Do thou, Omighty-armed one , rescue him,

— so that he may not fall under the power of the enemy As

we have lived happily in Virata'

s city, every desire of ours

gratified, it behoveth thee , 0 B himasena, to discharge that

debt (by liberating the Thereat B himasena replied,‘I will liberate him, 0 king, at thy command ! Mark the feat;I achieve (today) in battling with the foe, relying sole ly on

themight ofmy arms Do then, 0 king, stay aside , alongwith our brothers, and witness my prowess today Uprootingthis mighty tree of huge trunk looking like a mace, I will

,

rout the foe .

Vaiqamp'

ayana continued — “ B eholding t a cast his eyes

on that tree like amad e lephant, the her oic king Yudhishthirathe just spake unto his brother, saying,

— ‘Do not, 0 B hima,commit such a rash ac t ! Let the tree stand there. Thou mustnot achieve such feats in a super

-human manner bymeans of

that tree , for if thou dost, the people , 0 B harata, will recognisethee and say,

- This is B hima —Take thou, therefore , somehuman weapon such as a bow (and arrows), or a dart, or a

sword, or a battle-axe And taking, therefore, O B hima, someweapon that is human, liberate thou the king without giving

anybody the means of knowing thee truly ! The twins endued

with great strength will defend thy wheels. Fighting together,

0 child, liberate the king of the Matsyas

Vaicampayana continued Tuns addressed, the mightyB himasena endued with great speed, quickly took up an ex

cellent bow and impetuously shot fromit a shower of arrowa

thick as the down-

pour of a rain -charged c loud. And B himathen rushed furiously towards Sugarman of terrible deeds,and addressing Virata with the words— 0 good Icing —said

unto the lord of the Trigartas,— Stay Stay

— And seeing

B hima like unto Yama himself in his rear, saying— Stay

Stay ! Do thon witness this mighty feat— this comba t tha tis at hand — that bull among warriors, Sucarman , seriously

Santa Vikshyainam. N ilakan tha explains Sal/ma as a word spoken

by B hima for assuring the captive Virata, and Vikshya as“assuring

"

or“consoling by a glance.

” Perhaps, th is is righ t— T.

«7mmman ! 8 3

Considered (the situation), and taking up h is bow turned back,

a long with his brothers. Wi thin the twinkling of an eye , B himadestroyed those cars that sought to oppose him. And soon

again hundreds of thousands of cars and elephants and’

horses

and horsemen and brave and fierce bowmen were overthrown

hy B hima in the very sight of Virata. And the hostile infantrya lso began to be slaughtered by the illustrious B himamace in

hand. And beholding that terrible onslaught , Sucarman ,

irrepressible in fight, thought within himselfl— ‘My brother

seems to have already succumbed in the midst of this mighty‘

h ost ! Ismy army going to be annihilated And drawing his

bow-string to his ear Sucarman then turned back and began to

shoot keen-edged shafts incessantly. And seeing the Pandavas

return to the charge on their cars, the Matsya warriors of

that mighty host, urging on their steeds, shot excellent weapons

for grinding the Trigarta soldiery. And Virata’

s son also , ex

ceedingly exasperated, began to perform prodigies of valor.

And Kunti’

s son Yudhishthira slew a thousand (of the foe)and B hima showed the abode of Yama unto seven thousand.

And Nakula sent seven hundred (to their last ac count) bymeanso fhis shafts. And the powerful Sahadeva also , commanded byYudhishthira, slew three hundred brave warriors. And hav

ing slain such numbers, that fierce andmighty warrior, Yudhishthira, with weapons upraised, rushed against Sugarman. And

rushing impetuously at Sucarman, that foremost of car-warri

o rs, king Yudhishthira, assailed him with vollies of shafts.

And Sucarman also , in great rage , quickly pierc ed Yudhish

thira with nine arrows, and each of his four steeds with four

arrows. Then , 0 king, Kunti’

s son B hima of quickmovemen ts;approaching Sucarman crushed his steeds. And having slain ’

a lso those soldiers that protec ted his rear, he dragged fromthe

c ar his antagonist’

s charioteer to the ground. And seeing

the king of Trigarta’

s car without a driver, the defe nder of his

ear-wheels, the famous and brave Madiraksha speedily came tohis aid. And thereat , leaping down fromSuqarman

’

s car, and

securing the latter’

s mace , the powerful Virata ran in pursuitof him. And though old, he moved on the field,mace in hand;even like a lusty youth. And beholding Sugarman fly, B h ima

8 6 mum -rs.

addressed him, layingr - ‘Desist, 0 princ e This flight of thing

wish to oarry ofi'

the cattle by forc e ? How also, forsaking thy

followers, dost thou droop so amidst foes Thus addressed by

rushed at him. Then Bhima the son of Panda , leaping down

fromhis car, as he alone . could,do,’ rushed forward, with great

coolness, desirous of taking» Suqanman

’

s life. And desirous

Bhimasena rushed impetuous towards him, even like a lien

rushing at a small deer. And advancing impetuously, the

himup in wrath , dashed himdown on the ground And es

he lay crying in agony, themighty-armed Bhima kicked himat the head, and placing his knee on his brews dealt himsevere blows. And sore ly afflicted with that kicking, the kingQf Trigarta became senseless. And when the king of the

w . deprived of his car, had thus been seized. the wholeTu

'

garta army stricken with panic , broke and fled in all directions. And the mighty sons of Pi ndu, endued with modest)

aswell as other kinds of wealth, and having thus dispelledViri ta

’

s anxiety, stood together before that monarch. And

Bhimasena then said, wretch given to wicked deeds doth

not deserve to escapeme with life. B ut what can I do i The

king is so lenient !’ And then taking Superman by the neck

as he was lying on the ground insensible and covered with

dust, and; binding himfast , Prithi’

s son Vrikodara plac ed himOn his car, and went to where Yudhishthira was staying in the

midst of the field. And B hima then showed Sucarman unto

themonarch. And beholding Sugarman in that plight. that

The adjec tive B him-aankdcas is explained by Nilakantha

.

in this

«use, quoting . the celebrated simile of Valmiki, “mm“ ? (My

mum! l”

PARVL

man -that ornament of battle, -saying, —‘Let this worst ofmen

be set free Thus addressed. Bhima.spoke unto the mighty

to these words ofmine ! Thou must say in every court and

assembly ofmen, -I ama slave ! On this condition only I

will grant thee thy life ! Verily, this is the law abou t the

vanquished‘w Thereupon his e lder brother afl

'

ectionately ad.

dressed Bhima, saying -4 11°

thou regs-Id ealsus as an authority.

liberate this wicked wight1. He hath already become king

Yiti ta’

s slave And. turning then to Sucarman, he said‘Thou art freed ! Go thou a free man, and never act again in

Thus ends the thirty-third Section in the (3 t of the

Wits Paws.

SECTION XXXI’

V.

’

Go-harana Parva con tinued. )

Vaicampiyana seidz— f‘ Thus addressed by. Yudhishthira

SW was overwhelmed with shame and hung down his

head; And liberated (fromslavery), he went to king Viri ta;

Bandam also; relying. on the might of their own cans. and

endued withmodesty, and observant of vows, liaising slain . thei r

enemies and liberated Susannah , passed that night happily)

on the field of battle; And Virata gratified thosemighty warriors , the sons of Kunti, possessed of super

-human prowesa

vwr wealth. and honors; And Vini ta said—JAIL these gemsofmine are now asmuch mine as yours. Do ye ,. according “

your pleasure , live here happily. And ye smiters of foes in

battle , I will bestow on you damsels decked with ornaments,wealth in plenty, and other things that yemay like ! Deliveredfromperils today by your prowess, I amnow crowned with

victory ! Do ye all; become the lords ef the MatsyasVaicampayana continued—J And when the king of the

Matsyas had addressed themf thus, those descendants of the'

Kurns with Yudhishthira at their head, jo ining their hands;severally replied,

unto him, saying, —‘We are well-pleased “

with

8 6 m ammal”all that thou hast said, Omonarch ! We , however, have beenmuch gratified that thou hast today been freed from thy foes

Thus answered, that foremost of kings, Viri ta the lord of the

Matsyas, again addressed Yudhishthira, saying,-‘Come ! We

will install thee in the sovereignty of the Matsyas. And we wilF

also bestow on thee things that are rare on earth and are objects

of desire, for thou deservest everything at our hands ! 0 fore

most of B rahmanas of the Va iyaghmorder, I will bestow on

thee gems and kine and gold and rubies and pearls. I bow nu~

to thee ! It is owing to thee that I once more behold todaymydons andmy kingdom! Afflicted and threatened as I had been

’

with disaster and danger, it is through thy prowess that I have

not succumbed to the foe Then Yudhishthira again addressed

Matsya, saying,—‘We ll-pleased are we with the delightful words

that thou hast spoken. Mayst thou be ever happy by always

prac tising humanity towards all creatures ! Let messengersnow, at thy command, speedily repair into the city, in order to

communicate the glad tidings to our friends, and proc laimthy

victory !’

Hearing these words of his, king Matsya ordered the

messengers, saying,— ‘Do ye repair to the c ity and proc laimmyi

victory in battle. And let damsels and courtezans, decked in

ornaments, come out of the city with every kind ofmusical?instruments.’ Hearing this command uttered by king Matsya,

the men , laying themandate on their head, all departed with

cheerful hearts. And having repaired to the c ity that very

night, they proc laimed at the hour of sunrise the victory oh

the king about the c ity gates.

Thus ends the thirty-fourth Section in the Go-harana of the

‘

SECTION XXXV.

Go-hamna Pas-c a con tinued .

Vaiqampi yana said— “When the king of the Matsyas;

anxious of recovering the kine , had set out in pursuit of the

Trigartas, Duryodhana with his c ounsellors invaded the do

minions of Virata. And B hishma, and Drona, and Kama,and Kripa acquainted with the best of weapons , and Acwa

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to t raum a

be yoked unto thy car, and let thy standard be hoisted, heat.

ing the emblemof the golden lion. Let thy keen-edged arrows

endued with wings of gold, shot by thy strong arms, ohm-netthe path of those kings and ec lipse the very sun Vanquish~

ing all the Kurus in battle like unto the wielder of the thun

der-bolt defl ating the d rama, return thou again to the city,having achieved great renown 1 Son ofMatsya

’

s king, thou art

the sole refuge of this kingdom, as that foremost of victoriousWarriors, Arjuna, is of the sons of Pi ndu Even like Arjunaof his brothers, thou art, without doubt, the refuge of those

dwe lling within these dominions Indeed, we, the subjectsof this realm, have our protector in thee

Vaicampi yana continucd. Thus addressed by the cows

herd in the presence of females, in words breathing couraga

the prince indulging in self-commendation within the femaleapartments, spoke these woThus ends the thirty

-fifth Section in the Go-hmua of the

SECTION XXXVI.

“Uttara said,—‘Firmas I amin the use of the bow, I wou ld

set out this very day in the track of the kine if only some one‘

skilled in themanagement of horses became my charioteer. I

do not, however, know the man who may be my charioteer !

Look ye, therefore , without delay, for a charioteer fit for methat amprepared for starting. My own charioteer was slain

in the great battle that was fought fromday to day for a

whole month or at least for eight and twenty nights. As soon

as I get another person conversant with the management ofsteeds, I will h mcdiately set out, hoisting high my own

A long the bamboo wh ich serves the purpose of a finger-board, is a

main chord and several th inner wires. A ll these pass over a numberof frets, two and a half heptachords, representing the total compass of theinstrument. The wires rest towards th eir ends on two pieces of ivory

culled Upcdhanaa in Sanskrit or Swimin Urdu -h f.

VIRA'I'A PARVA. as

standard. Penetrating into the midst of the hostile armyabounding with elephants and horses and chariots, I will bringback the kine, having vanquished the Kurus who are feeble

in strength and weak in weapons. Like a second wielder of

the thunder-bolt terrifying the Di navas, I will bring back

the kine this verymoment, afi'

righting in battle Duryodhana

and B hishma and Kama and Kripa and Drona with his son,

and other mighty-bowmen assembled for fight. Finding none

(to oppose), the Kurus are taking away the kine. What can

I do when I amnot there The assemlfled Kurus shall witnessmy prowess today. And they shall say unto one another,‘Is it Arjuna himself who is opposing us

Vaicampayana continued.- “Having heard these words spok

en by the prince , Arjuna, fully acquainted with the import ofeverything, after a little while cheerfully spake in private unto

his dear wife of faultless beauty, Krishna the princess of Pi n

chala,— Drupada’

s daughter of slender make sprung fromthe(sacrificial) fire and endued with the virtues of truthfulness andhonesty and ever attentive to the good of her husbands. And

the hero said,-‘Do thou , O beauteous one, atmy request say

unto Uttara without delay,— this Vr ihannald was formerlythe accomp lished and resolu te charioteer of Panda

’

s son

(Arjuna) . Tried in many a great battle, even he will be thy

charioteer

Vaicampayana continued— “Hearing these words uttered

by the prince over and over again in themidst of the women,Pi nchi li could not quietly bear those allusions to Vibhatsu. And

bashfully stepping out fromamong the women, the poor princess

ofPi nchi la gently spake unto himthese words, —‘The hand

some youth, looking like amighty elephant, and known by the

name of Vrihannala, was formerly the charioteer of Arjuna.A disciple of that illustrious warrior, and inferior to none in

u se of the how, he was known tome while I was living withthe Fi ndavas. It was by him that the reins were held of

Arjuna’

s excellent steeds when Agni consumed the forest of

Khi ndava. It was with himas charioteer that P‘

artha con

quered all creatures at Khi ndavaprastha. In fact, there is no

charioteer equal unto him.

’

90 n mnmu .

“ Uttara said,—‘Thou knowest, 0 Sairindhri , t his youth.

Thou knowest what this one of the neuterm ay ormay not

nali to hold the reins ofmy horses l'

“Draupadi said,—‘Vrihannali , 0 bore , will, without doubt.

hips ! If he consent to be thy charioteer, thou wilt, without

doubt, return, having vanquished the Kurus and rescued thy

kine

Thus addressed by the Sa ir i/ndhr i, Uttara spake unto

h is sister,—‘Go thyself, 0 than of faultless beauty, and bring

Vrihannali hither And despatched by her brother, she

hastily repaired to the dancing-hall where that strong-armed

son of Pi ndu was staying in disguise

Thus ends the thirty-sixth Section in the Go-harana of the

SECTION XXXVII.

Go-hm'ana Parva continued

Vaicampi yana said— “ Thus despatched by her elder broth er,the far-famed daughter of king Matsya, adorned with a goldenn ecklace, ever obedient to her brother, and possessed of a waist

slender as that of the wasp,'

f'

endued with the splendour ofLakhsmi herself): decked with the plumes of the peacock, of

s lendermake and graceful limbs, her hips encircled by a zone of

Some read he ated for yam'

aci. B oth words are the same, andmean the same thing — T.

t Vcdi-vilagna omadhyd . Vedi in this connection means a wasp and

not, as explained by Mallinatha in h is commentary on the Km : Sambhava , a sacrificial platform I would remark enpan imthatmany of themost poetic and striking adjec tives in both the Beg/m and the Kmart:

of Kalidasa are borrowed unblushingly fromthe Ramayana and the

1!aha e a ta. T.

IPadma -

pa trabha-nibha may also mean— “of the splendour of the

gem called Mar-aba te .

” N ilakantha, however, shows that th is would

militate against the adjective Kane/cojwalatwachambelow. T.

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mamma lian.

thee that that bull among the sons of Hindu had alone sub

jugated the whole earth Do thou, therefore, 0 Vrihannali ,

act as the charioteer ofmy brother (By this time) our kinehave surely been driven away by the Kurus to a great distance.

Requested byme if thou dost not ac t up tomy words, I, who

amasking this service of thee out of afi‘

ection, will give upmylife Thus addressed by his friend of gracefu l hips, that

the prince’

8 presence. And like unto a she-elephant running

the son of Kunti had gratified Agn i at the Khandava forest

and subjugated the whole world ! The Sair indhr i hath spoken

of thee to me. She knoweth the Pandavas. I. then, there

fore, 0 Vrihannali , hold, as thou didst, the reins ofmy steeds,desirous as I amof fighting with the Kurus and rescuingmyvaccine wealth ! Thou wert formerly the beloved charioteer

of Arjuna, and it was with thee that that bull among thesons of Pi ndu had alone subjugated the whole earth !

’

Thus

addressed, Vrihannali replied unto the prince, saying,—‘What

ability have I to act as a charioteer in the field of battle ? If

it is song or dance ormusical instruments or such other things,

I can entertain thee therewith, but where ismy skill for be

coming a charioteerUttara said, Vrihannala, be thou a singer or a dancer,

’

hold thou (for the present), without loss of time, the reins ofmy excellent steeds, mounting uponmy carVaicampi yana continued. Although that oppressor of

fees, the son of Pi ndu, was acquainted with everything, yet in

the presence ofUttara, he began tomakemanymistakes for thesake offun. Andwhen he sought to put the coat ofmail on hisbody by raising it upwards, the large-eyed maidens, beholdingit, burst out into a loud laughter. And seeing himquite ignorantofputting on armour, Uttara himself equipped Vrihannalawitha costly coat ofmail. And casing his own person in an excell

ant armour of solar efl'

ulgence, and hoisting his standard bear

vnwmmavs. 93

ing the figure ofa lien, the prince caused Vrihannali to becomehis charioteer. And with Vrihannali to hold his reins, the hero

‘

set out, taking with himmany costly bows and a large numberof beautiful arrows. And his friend Uttara and her maidens '

then said unto Vrihannali ,—‘Do thon , O Vrihannali , bring

for our dolls, (when thou comest back) various kinds of good

and fine c loths after vanquishing the Kurus assembled forbattle and of whomBhishma and Drona are the foremostThus addressed, Pi rtha the son of Pandu, in a voice deep as

the roar of the c louds, smilingly said unto that bevy of fair

maidens, -‘Ifthis Uttara can vanquish thosemighty warriors in

battle, I will certainly bring excellent and beautiful cloths !’

heroic Arjuna urged the steeds towards the Km army over

which floated innumerrable flags. Just, however, as they were

starting, elderly dames andmaidens, and B rahmanas of rigidvows, beholding Uttara seated on his excellent car with Vri

hannala as charioteer and under that great banner hosited on

high , walked round the car to bless the here. And the womensaid,—

‘Let the victory that Arjuna treading like a bull had

achieved ofold on the occasion of burning the forest of Khan

dava, be thine, O Vrihannala, when thou encounterest the

Kurus today with prince Uttara by theeThus ends the thirty

-seventh Section in the Go-harana of

SECTION XXXVIII.

Go-hamna Parva. continued .

the dauntless son of Viri ta addressed his charioteer, saying,‘Proceed whither the Kurus are ! Defeating the assembledKurus who have come hither fromdesire ofvictory, and quicklyrescuingmy kine fromthem, I will return to the capital At

these words of the prince, the son of Pandu urged those

excellent steeds. And endued with the speed of the wind

and decked with necklaces of gold, those steeds, urged by

that lion amongmen, seemed to fly through the air. And they

96 m arin ara .

had not proceeded far when these smiters of fees, Dha'

nanjaysand the son of Matsya, sighted the army of the powerful

upon the Kurus and beheld the ir army arrayed in order of

battle.’ And that large army of theirs looked like the M ysea or a forest of inmmerable treesmoving through the sky.

And then was wen, O best ameng the Kurus, the dust raised

by that moving army which reached the sky and obstructed”

abounding in elephants, horses and chariots , and protec ted

by Kama and Duryodhana and Kripa and Ci ntanu’

s son, and

that inte lligent and great bowman Drona, with his son (Acwath iman), the son of Viri ta, agitated with fear and the bristles

on his body standing on their ends, thus spake unto Palm—4

‘I dare not fight with the Kurus. See , the bristles onmy bodyhave stood on their ends ! I am incapable of battling with

this countless host of the Kurus, abounding with heroic warriors,

that are extremely fierce and difi eult of being vanquished

even hy the celestials ! I do not venture to penet la te into the

army ofthe Bhimtas consisting of terrible bowmen and abomding in homes and elephants and cars and foot-sol diers and

banners. Mymind ir too mueh perturbed by the very sight of

the fee on the field of battle on which stand Drona and t b

and Vikarna, and Saumadatti, and Vallika, and the heroic

king Duryodhana also— that foremost of car-warriors, andmanyother splendid bowmen , all skilled in battle ! My bristles have

stood on their ends and I amfainting with fear at the very

sight of these smiters,— the Kurus arrayed in order ofbattle .v

Vfl fimpiyana continued “ And the low-minded and tool

ish Uttara, out of folly alone, began to bewail (his fate

in the presence of the high-spirited (Arjuna) disguised (as his

Th is data is not correc tly printed in any of the texts that I have

seen. The B urdwan Pundits read tat-M p0 for ted-casting This, I

think, is correc t, but then armada in the singular when the other verbs

are all dual seems to be incorrec t. The poetmust have used some otherverb in the dual for aban don -T.

i

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96 11m m “ .

Kunti, coming down from that excellent car, ran after that

prince thus running away, his own long braid and pure red

garments fluttering in the air. And some soldiers, not knowing that it was Arjuna who was thus running with his braid

fluttering in the air, burst out into laughter at the sight. And

beholding himthus running, the Kurus began to argue,‘Who is this pers on, thus disguised like fire concealed in ashes

He is partly a man and partly a woman. Although bearing a

neuter form, he yet resembleth Arjuna ! His are the samehand and neck, and his the same arms 8 0 like unto a couple ofmaces ! And this one

’

s gait also is like unto his ! He can be

none else than Dhananjaya ! Like Indra. among the celestials,is Dhananjaya among men Who else in this world. than

Dhananjaya, would alone come against us ? Viri ta left a

single son of his in the empty city. He hath come out fromchildishness and not from true heroism. It is Uttara who

must have come out of the city, having, without doubt, madeas his charioteer Arj una the son of Pritha, now living in dis.

guise ! It seems that he is now flying away in panic at

sight of our army. And without doubt, Dhananjaya runnethafter himto bring himback !

’

Vaicampi yana continued — “ B eholding the disguised son of

Pi ndu, the Kauravas, O B harata, began to indulge in these

surmises, but they could not come to any definite conclusion.

Meanwhile, Dhananjaya, hastily pursuing the retreating Uttara,

seized himby the hair within a hundred steps. And seized by

Arjuna, the son ofVirata began to lamentmost woefuly like onein great amiction, and said,— ‘Listen, 0 good Vrihannali , 0 then

of handsome waist ! Turn then quickly the course of the car !

He that liveth meeteth with prosperity ! Iwill give thee a hundred coins of pure gold, and eigh t lap is lazuli of great bright

new, set with gold, and one chariot furnished with a golden

flagstaff and drawn by excellent steeds, and also ten elephants

of infuriate prowess. Do thou , O Vrihannala, setme freeVaicampi yana continued Thus addressed, that tiger

amongmen laughingly dragged Uttara towards the car who

was almost deprived of his senses and who was uttering these

words of lamentation. And the son of Prithi then addressed

7 1mmrum. 97

the affrighted prince who had nearly lost his senses, saying,‘If, 0 chastiser of foes, thou dost not venture to fight with the

enemy, come thou and hold the reins of the steeds as I fight

with the foe ! Protected by the might ofmy arms, penetratethou yon formidable and invinc ible array of cars guarded by

heroic and mighty warriors. Fear not, 0 chastiser of foes,

thou art a Kshatriya and the foremost of royal princes !

Why dost thou, O tiger among men , succumb -in the midstof the foe I shall surely fight with the Kurus and recover

thy kine, penetrating into this formidable and inac cessible

array of cars. Be thou my charioteer, 0 best ofmen, I will

fight with the Kurus Thus speaking unto Uttara the son

of Virata, Vibhatsu, he retofore unconquered in battle , for a

while c omforted him. And then the son ofPritha, that foremostof smiters, raised on the car that fainting and reluctant princestricken with fear !

”

Thus ends the thirty-eighth Section in the Go-harana of

the Vini ta Parva.

SECTION XXXIX.

Go-hamna Pa 'rva con tfc'

fnued.

Vaicampayana said— “ B eholding that bull amongmen seat‘

cd on the car in the habit of a person of the third sex, drivingt owards the {Jami tree , having taken (the flying) Uttara up,

all the great car-warriors of the Kurus with B hishma and

Drona at their head, became afi'

righted at heart, suspec ting the

c omer to be Dhananjaya. And seeing themso dispirited, and

marking also the many wonderful porten ts, that foremost of allwielders of arms, the preceptor Drona, son of B haradwija, said,— ‘Violent and hot are the winds that blow, showering gravels

in profusion The sky also is overcast with a gloom of ashy

hue The c louds present the strange sight of being dry and

waterless. Our weapons also ofvarious kinds are coming out of

their cases. The jackals are yelling hideously afl'

righted at the

conflagrations on all sides.’ The horses too are shedding team,

it Some texts read Dip tdsya for Diptdydm.— T.

S8 mu rmu rs.

and our banners are trembling though moved by none . Such

being the inauspicious indications seen, a great danger is at

hand ! Stay ye with vigilance ! Protec t ye your own selves

and array the troops in order of battle ! Stand ye , expec ting

a terrible slaughter, and guard ye well the kine ! This mightybowman, this foremost of all wielders of weapons , this hero

that hath come in the habit of a person of the third sex, is

the son of Prithi ! There is no doubt of this.’

Then ad

dressing B hishma, the preceptor c ontinued,—‘O offspring of a

river, apparelled as a woman , this is Kir iti , called after a tree ,the son of the enemy of the mountains, and having on his

banner the sign of the devastator of the gardens of Lank‘

a’

s

lord ! Vanquishing us, he will sure ly take away the kine to

day This chastiser of foes is the valiant son of Pritha sur

named Savyasd’

c hin . He doth not desist fromconflict even with

the gods and demons combined. Put to great hardsh ip in the

forest he cometh in wrath . Taught by even Indra himself, heis like unto Indra in battle ! Therefore, ye Kauravas, I do not

see any one here who can withstand him! It is said that the

lord Mahddeva himself, disguised in the attire of a hunter,

was gratified by this son of Pritha in battle on the mountains of Himavat.’ Hearing these words, Kama said,—

‘You

a lways censure us by speaking of the virtues of Fd lgwna .

Arjuna, however, is not equal to even a full sixteenth part of

myselfor of Duryodhana And Duryodhana said,—‘If this be

Th is sloka does not occur in every text. This is a typical illustra

t ion of the round-about way, frequen tly adopted by Sanskrit writers,

of expressing a simple truth . The excuse in the present instan ce consists

in Drona’s unwillingness to ide ntify the solitary hero with A rjuna, inthe midst of all h is h earers. Nadij a is an exc lamation referring to

B hishma, the son of th e river Gaagd. Lankega -vandr i-kemis simply“ape

-bannered,”or, as rendered in th e text,

“ having th e devastator of

th e gardens of Lanka’s lord for th e sign of h is banner.

” Nagdhvaya is“named after a tree,” for Arjuna is th e name of an Indian tree. Naga

ri~smw is “ Indra’s son,”- Indra being th e foe ofmountains, for former

ly it was he who cut ofi‘

th e wings of allmountains and compe lled themto be stat ionary. H e failed only in th e case of Mainaka the son of

H imavat.- T.

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Sac-non XLI.

(Go-hamaa Pwrva con tinued.)

“Uttara said.-‘It hath becn heard by us that a corpse is

tied in this tree ! How can I, therefore, being a prince by

birth, touch it withmy hands 7 Born in the Ksha tr'iya order,

and the son of a great king, and always observant ofmama-asand vows, it is not becoming inme to touch it ! Why shouldst

thou, 0 Vrihannala, make me a polluted and unclean bearer

of corpses, by compelling me to come in contact with a

corpse“Vrihannala said, -

‘Thou shalt, 0 king of kings, remainclean and unpolluted ! Do not fear : there are only bows in this

tree and not corpses Heir to the king of the Matsyas, and

born in a noble family, why should I, O prince, make thee dosuch a reproachable deed

Vaicampayana said— “ Thus addressed by Pi rtha, Virata’

s

non, decked in ear-rings, alighted fromthe car, and climbed up

that Sam'i tree reluctantly. And staying on the car, Dhan

anjaya, that slayer of enemies, said unto him,—‘Speedily bring

t hou down those bows fromthe top of the tree !’

And cuttingofi

‘

their wrappings first and then the ropes with which they

were tied, the prince beheld the Gandiva there along with

four other bows. And as they were untied, the splendour

of those bows radiant as the sun , began to shine with great

efi'

ulgence like unto that of the planets about the time of

their rising. And beholding the forms of those bows, so like

unto sighing snakes, he became amicted with fear and in a

moment the bristles of his body stood on their ends. And

touching those large bows of great splendour, Virata’

s son, 0

king, thus spake unto Arjuna !’

Thus ends the forty-first Section in the Go-harana of the

Src 'n on XLII.

Go-hara'na Pa 'r'va con tinued.

“Uttara said,—‘To what warrior of fame doth this excellent:

bow belong, on which are a hundred golden bosses and which.

hath such radiant ends Whose is this excellent how of good

sides and easy hold, on the staff ofwhich shine golden elephants

of such brightness Whose is this excellent bow, adorned

with three scores of Indragopakas’

of pure gold, placed on

the back of the staff at proper intervals ? Whose is this”

excellent bow, furnished with three golden suns of great

efl'

ulgence , blazing forth with such brilliancy Whose is this

beautiful bow which is variegated with gold and gems, and on

which are golden insects set with beautiful stones ? Whoseare these arrows furnished with wings around, numbering athousand, having golden heads, and cased in golden quivers !

Who owneth these large shafts, so thick, furnishedwith vulturinewings, whetted on stone, yellowish in hue , sharp-pointed, well

tempered, and entirely made of iron ? Whose is this sable

quiver l' bearing five images of tigers, which holdeth shafts

intermined with boar-cared arrows altogether numbering tenWhose are these seven hundred arrows, long and thick, capable

of drinking (the enemy’

s) blood, and looking like the crescent'

shapedmoon ?I Whose are these gold-crested arrows, whetted

on stone , the lower halves of which are well-furnished with

wings of the hue of parrots’

feathers, and the upper halves, of

well-tempered steel Whose is this excellent sword, irresisti

ble, and terrible to adversaries, with the mark of a toad on it,

Indian insects of a particular kind— T.

Most editions read chapas wh ich is evidently wrong. The correc t

reading is dramas,meaning quiver. The B ardwan Panditsgive this latterreading — T.

I Some texts read chandrarqha-darcandc. The correct reading is dew

8 Most editions read hema-p unkha and cilacita in the instrumentalplural: the correct reading is their nominative plural formsu - T.

102 m um s“ .

and pointed like a toad’

s head Cased in a variegated sheath

oftiger-skin, whose is this large sword Of excellent blade and

variegated with gold and furnished with tinkling bells .7

Whose is this handsome scimitar of polished blade and golden

hilt ? Manufactured in the country Of the Nishadhas, irre

dstible, incapable of being broken, whose is this sword of

polished blade cased in a scabbard of cow-skin Whose is

this beautiful and long sword, sable in hue as the sky,mountedwith gold, well-tempered, and cased in a shealth of goat

-skin

Who owneth this heavy, well-tempered, and broad sword, justlonger than the breadth of thirty fingers, polished by constant

clash with others’

weapons, and kept in a case of gold, bright aslire Whose is this beautiful scimitar of sable blade, coveredwith golden bosses, capable of cutting through the bodies of

adversaries ,whose touch is as fatal as that ofa venomous snake,«which is irresistible and exciteth the terror of foes ! Asked byme, O Vrihannali , do thou answer me truly Great ismywonder at the sight of all these excellent objec ts

Thus ends the forty-second Section in the Go-harana of the

SECTION XLIII.

Go-harana Parsa con tin ued.

“ Vrihannala said, -‘That about which thou hast first enquired

is Arjuna’

s how, ofworld-wide fame , called Ga'

nd iva , capable ofd evastating hostile hosts. Embellished with gold, this Gandiva,t he highest and largest of all weapons, be longed to Arjuna.

~A lone equal unto a hundred thousand weapons , and alwayscapable of extending the confines of kingdoms, it is with thisthat Pi rtha vanquisheth in battle both men and c elestials.Worshipped by the gods, the Danavas, and the Gandha '

rvas,

for ever and ever, and vari egated with exce llent colors, this largeand smooth bow rs without a knot or stain anywhere. B rahma,h eld it first for a thousand years. Afterwards Prajapati held it

{Jun tameans here, as explained by e kan tha, a sword, and not

a s t—T.

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mt umsnanu ai

sword with blade long and carved with the image of a toadand head shaped as a toad

’

s mouth, strong and irresistible,belongeth to Arjuna. Cased in a sheath of tiger

-skin , of longblade , handsome and irresistible, and terrible to adversaries, thissword belongeth to B himu ena. Of excellent blade and cased

in a well-painted sheath, and furnished with a golden hilt, this

handsome sword be longeth ~to the wise Kaurava— Yudhishthira

the just. And this sword of strong blade, irresistible and

intended for various exce llent modes Of fight and cased in a

sheath of goat-skin, belongeth to Nakula. And this huge

scrimitar, cased in a sheath Of cow-skin, strong and irresistible,belongeth to Sahadeva.

’

Thus ends the forty third Section in the Go-harana of the

SECTION XLIV.

(Go-harana Pm a con tinued. )

Uttara said,—‘Indeed, these weapons adorned with gold,

b elonging to the light-handed and high-souled Fi rthes, look

of Frithi , and Yudhishthira Of the Kuru race , and Nakula

and Sahadeva, and B hima-sena, the son of Pandu Having

lost their kingdomat dice, the high-souled Pandavas, capable

of destroying all foes, are no longer heard of. Where also is

Draupadi. the princess of Pan cha la , famed as the gemM g‘

wwomen, who followed the sons of Pandu after their defeat at

dice to the forest

Arjuna said,—‘I amArj una, callfi also Partha. Thy

father’

s courtier is Yudhishthira, and thy father’

s cook Vallava

‘ is Bhimasena, the groomof horses is Nakula, and Sahadeva is

in the cow-

pen. And know thou that the Sair indhri rs Drau

padi, for whose sake the Kichakas have b een slain .”

Uttara said,‘I would believe all this if t hou canst enu

merate the ten names of Partha, previously heard bymeArjuna said,—

‘I will, 0 son of Virata, tell thee my ten

.names. Listen thou and compare them with what thou

badst heard before. Listen to themwith close attention and

vnwmrum. 105

concentrated mind. They are Arjuna , Fdlguna , Jishn ’w,

Kir i tin , c tavahana , Vibha tsn , Vijaya , Kr ishna , Sooya

cachin , and Dhananjaya .

’

Uttara said,—‘Tellme truly why art thou called Vij aya,

and why Cwetavahana !Why art thou named Kiritin, and why

Arjuna and Fi lguna and Jishnu and Krishna and Vibhatsu,

and for what art thou Dhananjaya ! I have heard before about

the origin of the several names of that hero, and can put faithin thy words if thou canst te llme all about them.

’

“ Arjuna said,—‘They calledme Dhananjaya because I lived

in the midst of wealth , having subjugated all the countries

and taking away their treasures. They called me Vijaya be

cause when I go out to battle with invincible kings, I never

re turn (fromthe field) without vanquishing them. I amcalled

Cwetavahana because when battling with the foe white horses

decked in golden armour are always yoked untomy car. They

callme Fi lguna because I was born on the breast of the

Himavat on a day when the conste llation Utta/ra F‘

algnna

was on the ascendant. I am named Kiritin from a diadem,

resplendent like the sun , having been placed of old on my headby Indra duringmy encounter with the powerfu l Dcin cwas.

I amknown as Vibhatsu among gods and men for my never

having committed a detestable deed on the battle-field. And

since both ofmy hands are capable of drawing the Grindiva,

I amknown as Savyasachin among gods andmen. They call

me Arjuna because my complexion is very rare within the four

boundaries of the earth and because also my acts are always

stainless. I amknown among human beings and celestialsby the name of Jishnu, because I am unapproachable , incapable of being kept down, a tamer of adversaries and son of

the slayer of Pi ka. And Krishna, my tenth appellation, was

given to me bymy father, out of affec tion towards a blackskinned boy of great purity.

’

Vaicampi yana continued — “ The son of Viri ta then , ap

proaching nearer, saluted Partha and said,—‘My name is

B huminjaya, and I amalso called Uttara. It is by good luck.0 Fi rths , that I behold thee Thou art welcome , 0 Dhananjaya ! 0 thou with red eyes, and arms that are mighty and

[ 14 1

106 m u rmu rs.

each like unto the trunk of an e lephant, it behoveth thee to

pardon what I said unto thee fromignorance . And as wonderfu l

and dimcult have been the feats achieved by thee before , myfears have been dispelled, and indeed, the love I bear to thee

o, 7,

is great

Thus ends the forty-fourth Section in the (lo-banana of the

Viri ta Parva.

SECT ION XLV.

Go-hamna Pa 'rva con tinued.

Uttara said, -‘O hero, mounting on this large car with

myself as driver, which division of the (hostile) army wouldst

thou penetrate 2 Commanded by thee , I would drive thee

thither !’

“ Arjuna said,—‘I am pleased with thee, O tiger among

men ! Thou hast no cause of fear ! I will rout all thy foes

in battle , 0 great warrior ! And, 0 thou ofmighty arms,be at thy ease ! Accomplishing great and terrible feats in

the melee , I will fight with thy foes ! Tie quickly all those

quivers tomy car, and take (from among those) a sword of

polished blade and adorned with gold !’

Vaicampayana continued — “ Hearing these words ofArjuna,Uttara cast 06 all inactivity. And he speedily alighted fromthe tree , bringing with himArj una

’

s weapons. Then Arjunaaddressed him, saying,

-‘Yes, I will fight with the Kurus

and recover thy kine ! Protected byme, the top of this car

will be to thee as a c itadel The passages and alleys and

other divisions of this car will be the streets and edifices of

that fortified city. These my arms will be its ramparts and

gate-ways. This treble pole and thismy quiver will constitute

defensive works inaccessible to the foe. This my banner-a

single and grand— will it not alone be equal unto those of thy

c ity Thismy bowstring will constitute the catapults and

cannon for vomiting forth missiles on the besieging host. My

exited wrath willmake that fortress formidable , and the c latterofmy car-wheels— will it not resemble the kettle -drums of

t hy capital Ridden by myself wielding the Gdndi ’va , this

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108 m am a s.

and thou also art worthy of fighting on this car ! This is what “

I think

Vaicampi yana continued. Then Arjuna, endued with

great energy, took 03 the bracelets fromhis arms and wore on

his hands a pair of beautiful gloves embroidered with gold.

And he then tied his black and curling locks with a piece of

white cloth. And seated on that excellent car with face turned

to the east, the mighty-armed hero, purifying his body and

concentrating his soul, recalled to his mind all his weapon s.

And all the weapons came , and addressing the royal son of

Prithi , said,—‘We are here , 0 illustrious one ! We are thy

servants, O son ofIndra ! And bowing down unto them, Pi rtha

received theminto his hands and replied unto them, saying,‘Dwell ye all inmymemory — And obtaining all his weapons,

the hero looked cheerful. And quickly stringing his how, the

Gandiva , he twanged it. And the twang of that how was

as loud as the collision of twomighty hills. And dreadful was '

the sound that filled the earth, and violent was the wind that

blew on all sides. And thickwas the shower of fallen meteors“

and all sides were enveloped in gloom. And the birds began

to totter in the skies, and large trees began to shake . 1' And

loud as the burst of the thunder, the Kurus knew from that

sound that it was Arjuna that drew with his hands the string of

his best ofbows fromhis car. And Uttarasaid, -‘Thou , 0 best

of Pi ndavas, art alone ! These mighty car-warriors are manyHow wilt thou vanquish in battle all these that are skilled

in every kind of weapons ? Thou , O son of Kunti, art with-e

out a follower, while the Kauravas have many It is for this,

0 thou ofmighty arms, that I stay beside thee, stricken with

fear Bursting out into loud laugh ter, Partha said unto him,

‘B e not afraid ! O hero, what friendly follower had I while

fighting with the mighty Gandharvas on the occasion of

the Ghosha -

ydtrzi Who wasmy ally while engaged in the

Some texts read, —“ 0ne largemeteor fell.”— T.

t In some edition s read, B hranta -dhwaj amfor BArdnta-dxwyam, andNakd-hradamfor Makd-dmmam. The meaning would th en be,—

“ The

banners (of the hostile army) began to tremble on the sky, and large

lakes were agitated.

” T.

VIRATA PARVA. log

terrific conflict at Khandaoa against so many celestials and

Danavas ? Who wasmy ally when I fought , on behalf of

the lord of the celestials, against the mighty Nivatakavachar

and the Pau lomas ? And who was my ally, 0 child, while

I encountered in battle innumerable kings at the Swayamvaraof the princess of Pi nchi la ? Trained in arms by the precep

tor Drona, by Cakra, and Vaicravana, and Yams , and Varuna,and Agni, and Kripa, and Krishna of Madhu

’

s race, and by the

wielder of the Pin c'

ika (Giva), why shall I not fight with these

Drive thoumy car speedily, and let thy heart’

s fever be dis

pelled

Thus ends the forty-fifth Section in the GO-harana of the

Viri ta Parva.

SECTION XLVI.

Go-ha/rana Parva continued.

Vaicampi yana said— “Making Uttara his charioteer, and

circumambulating the gami tree, the son of Pi ndu set out

taking all his weapons with him. And thatmighty car-warrior.

set out with Uttara as the driver ofhis car, having taken downthat banner with the lion

’

s figure and deposih d it at the foot

of the (Jami tree . And he hoisted on that car his own golden

banner bearing the figure Of an ape with a lion ’

s tail, which

was a celestial illusion contrived by Viewakarman himself.For as soon, indeed, as he had thought of that gift of Agni,

the latter, knowing (his wish), ordered those superhuman crea

tures (that usually sat there) to take their place in that banner.

And furnished with a beautiful flag of handsome make, withquivers attached to it, and adorned with gold, that excellentfiag

-stafi'

of celestial beauty then quickly fell from the firms.ment on his car.‘ And beholding that banner arrived on his

Some texts read Malad ratham(incorrectly) for hiranmayam. In;

deed, Maharathamwould give no meaning in th is connec tion. The

incomplete edition of the Roy Press under the auspices of the Princ ipal

of th e Calcutta Sanskrit College abounds with such incorrect readings

andmisprints — T.

n o m u rmu rs.

car, the hero circumambulated it (respectfully). And then the

ape-bannered Vibhatsu, the son of Kunti, ca lled also Cweta

vi hana. with fingers cased in leathern fences of the Iguana

skin , and taking up his bow and arrows, set out in a northerlydirec tion. And that grinder offoes, possemed ofgreat strength ,

then forcibly blew his large conch-shell of thundering sound,

capable ofmaking the bristles of foes to stand on their ends.

And at the sound of that conch, thm steeds endued with

swift-nose dropped down on the ground on their knees. And

Uttara also, greatly afl‘

righted, sat down on the car. And

thereupon the son of Kunti took the reins himself, and raisingthe sh eds, placed themin their proper positions. And embracing Uttara, he encouraged himalso, saying, - ‘Fear not,

0 foremost of princes Thou art, 0 chastiser of foes, a Ksha

triya by birth Why, 0 tiger among men , dost thou becomeso dispirited in the midst of foes ! Thoumust have heardbefore the blare of many couches and the note of manytrumpets , and the roar also ofmany elephants in the midst ofranks arrayed for battle. Why art thou, therefore , so dispirited

and agitated and terrified by the blare of this conch, as if thou

wert an ordinary peIw n

“ Uttara.said—H eard have I the blare of many a conch

andmany a trumpet and the roar ofmany of an e lephant

stationed in battle-array, but never have I heard before the

blu e of such a touch ! Nor have I ever before seen a banner

like this ! Never before have I heard also the twang of a

bow such as this ! Truly, sir, with the blare of this conch , the

twang of th'

n bow, th e superhuman cries of the creatures

stationed on this banner, and the rattle of this car, mymind is greatly be-wildered. My perception of the directions

also is confused, and my heart is painfully amicted. The

whole firmament seemeth to me to have been covered by

this banner, and everything seemeth to be hidden frommyview My ears also have been deafened by the twang of the

Gandiva

The B oy Press edition adds here a line wh ich looks verymuch likdan interpolation—T.

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And thus ends the forty-sixth Section in the Go-harana

of the Viri ta Parva.

SECTION XLVII.

Go-hamna Parva. con tin ued.

Vaicampayana said— “ King Duryodhana then , on the field of

battle, said unto B hishma, and unto Drona — that tiger amongwarriors, and unto Kripa

— that mighty car-warrior, these words :‘B oth myself and Kama had said this unto the preceptors.

‘

I refer to the subjec t again , for I amnot satisfied with having

said it once . Even this was the pledge of the sons of Panda

that ifdefeated (at dice) they would reside to our knowledge in

countries and woods for twelve years, and one more year nu

known to us. That thirteenth year, instead ofbeing over, is yet

running. Vibhatsu , therefore , who is still to live undiscovered,

hath appeared before us. And if Vibhatsu hath come beforethe termof exile is at end, the Pandavas shall have to pass

another twelve years in the woods. Whether it is due to forget

fulness (on their part) induced by desire of dominion, or whe

ther it is amistake ofours, it behoveth Bhishma to calculate theshortness or excess (of the promised period). When an objectof desiremay or may not be attained, a doubt necessarilyattaches to one of the alternatives, and what is dec ided in one

way often ends differently-

1 Even m,oralists are puzzled in

The true reading is Achdrya in the dual number, meaning the

Drona and Kripa. Some texts read th e word in th e singular form.

N ilakantha notices bo th these readings, but prefers the dual to the

l

singular — T.

t Themeaning is rather doubtful. Duryodhana seems to say that

“ the hostile appearance of Arjuna has been an act of imprudence on h is

part. The Pandavas, after th e expiry of the th irteenth year, would

c laimtheir kingdom. I, Duryodhana, may ormay not accede to th eir

demand. When, th erefore, it was not certain that A rjuna would be

refused byme, h is hostile appearance is unwise. He has come sure of

victory, but hemay yet be defeated.— T.

VIRATAman . 113

j udging of their own acts) “ As regards ourselves, we havecome hither to fight with the Matsyas and to seize their kine

stationed towards the north . If, meanwhile , it is Arjuna thathath come , what fault can attach to us .

7 We have come hitherto fight against the Matsyas on behalf of the Trigartas ; and as

numerous were the ac ts represented unto us of oppression

committed by the Matsyas, it was for this that we promised aidto the Trigartas who were overcome with fear. And it was

agreed between us that they should first seize , on the afternoonof the seventh lunar day, the enormous wealth ofkine that the

Matsyas have , and that we should, at sunrise of the eighth dayof the moon, seize these kine when the king of the Matsyalwould be pursuing those first seized. It may be that the

Trigartas are now bringing away the kine, or, being defeatedare coming towards us for negotiating with the king of the

Matsyas. Or, itmay be , that having driven the Trigartas 03.the king of the Matsyas, at the head of his people and his

whole army of fierce warriors, appeareth on the scene and

advanceth to make night-attacks upon us. Itmay be that

some one leader among them, endued with mighty energy, is

advancing for vanquishing us, or, it may be that the king

h imself of the Matsyas is come. B ut be it the king of the

Matsyas or Vibhatsu , we must all fight him. Even this hath

been our pledge. Why are all these foremost of car warriors,B hishma and Drona and Kripa and Vikarna and Drona

’

s son ,

now sitting on their cars, panic-stricken . At present there 18

nothing better than fighting. Therefore, make upyourminds.If for the cattle we have seized, an encounter takes place with

The sense seems to be that when moralists even are puzzled in

judging of the propriety or otherw ise of their acts, it can easily be

imagined that the Pandavas, however virtuous, have, in thematter ofth is their appearance, acted wrongly, for, after all, the thirteenth year

may not have really been over as believed by them. Or, itmay mean.that, as regards our presence here, we have not acted imprudently when

even moralists cannot always arrive at righ t conclusions. It seems that

fo r th is, Duryodhana proceeds to justify that presence in the following

sentencea— ZY.

“

l ie u mmsrs.

the divine wielder himself of the thunder-bolt or eVen with

Yama, who is there that will be able to reach Hastinapura i”

Pierced by the shafts (of the foe), how will the foot-soldiers,

in flying through the deep forest with their backs on the field,

escape with life, when escape for the cavalry is doubtful ?

Hearing these words of Duryodhana, Karna said,-‘Disregardo

ing the preceptor,make all arrangements !He knoweth weil the"

intentions of the Pandavas and striketh terror into our hearts !

I see that his affection for Arjuna is very great. Seeing himonly coming, he chaunteth his praises. Make ye such arrange”

D ents that our tr00psmay not break. Everything is in con

fusion for Drona’

s having only heard the neigh of (Arjuna’

s)steeds. Make ye such arrangements that these troops, cometo a distant land in this hot season, and in themidst of this

mighty forest, may not fall into confusion and be subjugated

by the foe ! The Pandavas are always the especial favourites

of the preceptor. The selfish Pandavas have stationed Drona

amongst us. Indeed, he betrayeth himself by his speech. WhoWould ever extol a person upon hearing the neigh only of his

This data is really capable ofmanymeanings. B esides the one

given in the text, anoth ermeaning may be this. If these kine be

snatched fromus by even the wielder of the thunder-bolt or by Yumahimself, who is there that will be able to return to Hastinapura i

”

(Overwh elmed with shame none will be able to do so.) If this be

correc t, th en these arrows in the next line would mean these

my arrows,” for Duryodhana threatens to slay all back-sliders. With

h is usual ingenuity Nilakantha comes fer-ward to explain the pass

,

age in altogether a different sense. The meaning he suggests is,

After we have brough t away the kine, if it be the wielder of the

thunder-bolt or Yama himself with whomour fight taketh place, who is

th ere that will not be ablejto reach our city 2 (Every one shall, when

we h ave such warriors as B hishma and Drona, &c., amongst us.) In

th is case, the whole meaning lies in to M atinapurammj et which,

grammatically, becomes to M arti (yo) w 1mm mj et, he being only an

expletive. What Duryodhana says in the next line would then be If

notwith standing such assured safety, any do go away, with these myarrows, These two clobas in succession are a good exerc ise for

a student of Sanskrit having an ingenious turn ofmind— T.

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113 m an ua l .

fight. Ifhe that is come is the king of the Matsyas or Vibhato

an, even I will resist himas the bank resists the swelling sea

Shot frommy bow, these straight and flying arrows, like glid

ing smkes, are all sure ofaim! Discharged bymy light hands,these keen -edged arrows furnished with golden wings shall cover

Pi rtha all over, like locusts shrouding a tree. Strongly pressed

by these winged arrows, the bow-string will cause these myleathern fences to produce sounds that will be heard to resemblethose of a couple of kettle-drums. Having been engaged in

ascetic austerities for the (last) eight and five years, Vibhatsu

will strike me but mildly in this conflict, and the son of

Kunti having become a B rahmana endued with good qualities,hath thus become a fit person to quietly receive shafts by thou

sands shot byme ! Thismighty bowman is, indeed, c elebratedover the three worlds. I, too, am, by nomeans, inferior to

Arjuna, that foremost of human beings. With golden arrows

furnished with vulturine wings shot on all sides, let the fir

mament seemtoday to swarmwith fire-flies. Slaying Arjuna

in battle , I will discharge today that debt, difi cult of repay

ment, but promised of old byme unto Dhritarashtra’

s son !

Whatman is there, even amongst all the gods and the Asmas,

that will endure to stand in the teeth of the straight arrows

shot frommy bow ? Let my flying arrows, winged and de

pressed at the middle, present the spectacle of the coursing

offire-flies through the welkin ! Hard though he be as Indra’

s

thunder-bolt and possessed of the energy of the c hief of the

celestials, I will surely grind Pi rtha even as one afflicts an

e lephant by means of burning brands. A heroic andmightycar-warrior“ as he is, and the foremost of all wielders of wea

pens, I shall seize the unresisting Partha, even like Gedura

seizing a snake. Irresistible like fire , and fed by the fuel of

swords, darts, and arrows, the blazing Pandava fire that con

sumeth fees, will be extinguished even by myself who amlike unto a mighty cloud incessantly dropping an arrowy

shower,- the multitude of cars (I will lead) constituting its

The word used in th e text is Atimtkamin th e accusat ive form, the'

foremost of all car-warriors, superior to even aMaMe ma— T.

m u man . 117

Discharged frommy bow, my arrows like venomous a shes will

pierce Pi rtha’

s body, like serpents penetrating through an . ant

Having obtained weapons from that best of ascetics— the son

ofJamadagni, I would, relying on their energy, fi ght with

even the celestials. Struck with my javelin, the ape stationedon his banner-top shall fall down today on the ground, utteringterrible cries. The firmament will today be filled with the

cries of the (super-human) creatures stationed in the flagstaff Of the foe, and amic ted byme , they will fly away in allQrections ! I shall today pluck up by the roots the long-existingdart in Duryodhana

’

s heart by throwing Arjuna down fromhiscar. The Kauravas will today behold Pi rtha with his car

broken, his horses killed, his valour gone, and himself sighinglike a snake. Let the Kauravas, following their own will, go

away taking this wealth of kine ; or, if they wish , let themstayon their cars and witnessmy combat !

’

Thus ends the forty-eighth Section in the Go

-harana of the

SECTION XLIX.

Go-hamna Parva continued.

Kr ipa said, -‘O Ri dheya, thy crooked heart always In

elineth to war. Thou knowest not the true nature of things ;

nor dost thou take into account their after-consequences. There

are various kinds of expedients!“ inferrible

,fi‘ohr the scriptures.

Of these, a battle hath been regarded, by those acquainted with

the past, as themost sinful. It is only when time and place

are favorable thatmilitary operations can lead to success. In.

3' Some texts read Mag/d for nag/as. The meaning th en would beof all deceitful contrivances d:c . A battle, however, can hardly

be called a deceitful contrivance. Hence, themore approved reading

is Nag/da—T.

118 m a ma'

s.

the present instance, however, the th e being unfavorable, no

good results will be derived. A display ofprowess in proper timeand place becometh beneficial. It is by the favorableness or

otherwise (of time and place) that the opportuneness of an act

is determined. Learnedmen can never act according to the

ideas of a car-maker) “ Considering all this, an encounter with

Pi rtha is not advisable for user Alone he saved the Kurm(fromthe Gandharvas) and alone he satiated Agni ! Alone heled the life of a B rahmacharin for five years (on the breastof the Himavat). Taking up Subhadri on his car, alone he

challenged Krishna to single combat. Alone he fought withRudra who stood before himas a forester. It was in this veryformt that Partha rescued Krishna while she was being taken

away (by Jayadratha). It is he alone that hath, for five years,studied the science Of weapons under Indra. Alone vanquishs

ing all foes he hath spread the fame of the Kurus. Alone thatchastiser of foes vanquished in battle Chitra-sena, the kingof the Gandba rvas and in amoment his invincible troops also.Alone he overthrew in battle the fierce Nirate -Washes and the

Kalakhanchas, that were both incapable Of being slain by the

gods themse lves. What, however, 0 Kama, hath been achieved

by thee single-handed like any of the sons Of Pindu. each of

whomhad alone subjugatedmany lords of earth Even Indra

himself is unfit to encounter P'

artha in battle ! He, therefore,

Some texts read B hdramfor B hdsam. Themeaning then would be—“ Depending on (th e words of a) car-maker th ey that are learned never

engage in any ac t. Th is would be a remark in depreciation of Karna’s

proud speech. As another meaning, Nilkantha suggests that there

may not be any depreciatory allusion to Kama, for what Kripa (accord;ing to this third interpre tation) says is that— “ Placing we igh t on thewords of a car-maker, they that are learned never engage in any act,

it being well-known that car-makers always extol their wares h igh ly,

saying (as N ilkantha adds)—‘Th is is a very superior car on wh ich you

may figh t the very gods.

’ Whatman is there ofany sense who would take.the car-maker at his word and ac tually go to figh t with the gods 3 This

5 an instance of Nilkantha’s ingenuity and nothing else — T.

t Some read Tc for Nat . The latter, however, is undoubtedly the,

correct reading.— T.

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l 20 HAHABHARATA

Thus ends the forty-ninth Section in the Go-harana of the

(Go-humus Parva continued. )

“ Aswathiman said, - ‘The kine, O Kama, have not yet

been won, nor have they yet crossed the boundary (of their

owner’

s dominions), nor have they yet reached Hi stinapura.

Why dost thou, therefore , boast thyself? Having won nu

morons battles , and acquired enormous wealth, and vanquish

ed hostile hosts, men of true heroism speak not a word of

their prowess. Fire burneth mutely, andmute ly doth the

sun shine. Mutely also doth the Earth bear creatures both

mobile and imobile. The Self-existent h ath sanctioned such

omoce for the four ord ers that having recourse to them each

may acquire wealth without be ing censurable. A B rahmana,having studied the Vedas , should perform sacrifices himself,and ofiiciate at the sacrifices of others. A Kshatriya, depend

ing upon the how, should perform sacrifices himself buts hould never omciate at the sacrifices of others. A Vaisya,

having earned wealth, should cause the rites enjoined in the

Vedas to be performed for himself. A Sudra should always

wait upon and strve the other three orders. As regards those

t hat live by practising the profession of fowlers and vendors

o fmeat, theymay earn wealth by expedients fra ught with deceitand fraud." A lways acting according to the dic tates ofthe scriptures, the exalted sons ofPandu acquired the sovereignty of the

whole earth, and they always act respectfully towards their

superiors even if the latter prove hostile to them. What Kaha

Th is line is difi'

erently read in different editions. The reading I

prefer is Vanchand-yoga-vidkibhirmitamim M a thia s— which I

have accordingly rendered in to English . Some read Vandand-yogw

e idhibhirva itasimM AW /sitar. If th is be accepted, the line would

t hen be connected with the preceding‘

half data about the conduct of

th e Sudra, and wouldmean having recourse to means fraught withadulation and behaving like the cane (wh ich never standeth erect) . ~o

mars rmvs. 121?

triya is there that expresses delight at having obtained a

kingdomby means of dice , like this wicked and shamelesssen of Dhritarashtra ? Having acquired wealth in this way

by deceit and fraud like a vendor of meat, who that is wise

would boast of it ? In what single combat didst thou van

quish Dhananjaya, or Nakula, or Sahadeva, although thou

hast robbed themof their wealth In what battle didst thou

defeat Yudhishthira, or B hima that foremost of strong men 2In what battle was Indraprastha conquered by thee When.

also was that battle fought in which Krishna was won by thee

What thou hast done , however, 0 thou of wicked deeds, is to

drag that princess to court while she was ill and had but

one raiment on ! Thou hast cut the mighty root, delicate

as the sandal, of the Panda‘

s/a tree I" Actuated by desire

of wealth , when thou madest the Pandavas act as slaves.rememberest thou what Vidure said ? We see that menand others, even insects and ants, show forgiveness accosd o

ing to their powers of endurance . The son of Pandu, how

ever, is incapable of forgiving the sufi'

erings of Draupadi.

Surely, Dhananjaya cometh here for the destruction of the

sons of Dhritarfashtra. It is true , affecting great wisdom,

This is rather a difi cult Slots to understand. The B urdwan Push

dits understand it tomean that “as a covetousman cuts down a sandal

tree (regardless of the fragrance that tree sheds while standing, and

just for the purpose of immediate profit), so thou, O Karna, hast cut

the roots of the Pandava tree (for a very temporary objec t, viz, the

satisfaction of spite or of the desire of wealth, regardless of the'

benefits

that treemigh t have afi'

orded th ee and thy patron if left uninterfered

with ). Nilakantha proposes a differentmeaning and supposes that the

“ root”of the Pdndava treemeans something difi

’

rent. In the Adi Pan e

i t has been said that “ Yudh ish thira is like a

roots are Krishna, B rahma, and the B rahmanas.” Further, that learned

sebmmentator would explain abunda nc es as an adjec tive q ualifyingmulam, and meaning “ delicate,

” while Sardrthi is connected with the

succeeding half date . The remark, therefore, of Karna’s having cut

the delicate root of the Pandava tree alludes to the abandonment ofall virtue and re ligion by Karna and h is patron in consequence of the

deceit with wh ich they had robbed the Pandavas of their possessions.

This is very probably the correct meaning - T.

122“

n mnmu s.

thou art for making speeches, but will not Vibhatsu, that

slayer offoes, exterminate us all If it be gods, or Gandharvos,

or Ammo, or d ahasua, will Dhananjaya the son of Kunti

desist to fight frompanic Infiamed with wrath , upon

whomsoever he will fall, even himhe will overthrow like aWe under the weight of Gadura ! Superior to thee in prowess,in bowmanship equal unto the lord himself of the celestials.and in battle equal unto Vasudeva himself, who is there that

would not praise P‘

artha ? Counteracting ce lestial weapons

with celestial, and human weapons with human, what manis amatch for Arjuna ? Those acquainted with the scriptures

dec lare that a disciple is no way inferior to a son , and it is

for this that the son of P'

andu is a favorite of Drona. Employthou themeans now which thou hadst adopted in the matchat dice,— the samemeans, viz, by which thou hadst subjugatedIndraprastha, and the samemeans by which thou hadst draggedKrishni to the assembly ! This thy wise urycle, fu lly conversant

with the duties of the Kshatriya order— this deceitful gamblerCakuni the prince of Gi ndhhra, let himfight now ! The

Gand iva , however, doth not cast dice such as the En ter or

the Dwd’

pam,

’ but it shooteth upon foes blazing and keen

edged shafts bymyriads. The fierce arrows shot fromthe Gandiva , endued with great energy and furnished with vulturine

winged can pierce even mountains. The destroyer of all,

named Yama, and Vi yu, and the horse-faced Agni, leave someremnant behind, but Dhananjaya inflamed with wrath never

doth As thou hadst, aided by thy uncle , played at dice in

the assembly, so do thou fight in this battle protected bySuvala

’

s son. Let the preceptor, if he chooses, fight ; I shall

not however, fight with Dhananjaya. We are to fight with

1! Names of two out of thefour dice used in play— T.

t Some texts read dpieishepamd for Gard/imm sulejaniis. The

dfi'

erence ofmeaning is scarcely ofmuch consequence. T.

1 There is a difi'

erence of reading here. Some texts read, Antabas

Camano Mritym, others (as the Burdwan edition)AntalmParanaHrityus.The reading, however, I prefer is Antabus Camano d us. The first read

ing is e v iden t ly objec tionab le . The second is equally so for placing

Pavanas be tween two words that are connec ted int imate ly — T.

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m mm nmrs.

man said,—‘O bull among men, these thy just observations

need not be uttered in our presence : the preceptor, however,

filled with wrath, had spoken of Arjuna’

s The virtues

of even an enemy should be admitted, while the faults of even

one’

s preceptormay be pointed out : therefore , one should, to

the best of his power, dec lare themerits ofa son or a diciple

Duryodhana said,-‘Let the preceptor grant his forgiveness

and let peace be restored ! If the preceptor be at one with us,

whatew should be done (in view of the present emergency)would seemto have been already done .

’ ”

1'

Vaicampi y'ana continued— “ Then, O Bhi rata, Duryodhana

assisted by Kama and Kripa, and the high-souled B himma

.pacifiedDrona :“Drona said,—

‘Appeased I have already been at the worth

first spoken by B hishma the son of Ci ntanu !Let such arrangemea ts bemade that Pi rthamay not be able to approach B urye

dhana in battle . And let such arrangements bemade that kingDuryodhanamay not be captured by the foe, in consequence

e ither of his rashness or want of judgment.! Arjuna hath not,t o be sure , revealed himself before the expiry of the term of

Most of the vernacular translators havemisunderstood this passage. What Acwatthaman says is— “ Thou needest not, 0 B h ishma, tellus all th is, for we are fully alive to the importance of th e truths you

have uttered. The fac t, however, of Drona’s having spoken thus of

A rjuna is due to h is wrath at the deceitful ways of princ e Duryodhana.

”

This, th erefore, is an acknowledgment on Acwatthfiman’s part of thejustness of B hishma’s remarks and, at the same time, an apologetic justfication of Drona for th e latter’s praise of Arjuna at a time wh en such

praise tended to dishearten the troopa— T.

'l' There is a difference of reading here. For twdcm'

tta/mpuMkdritamsome texts read na M ammu se um. This last should be taken as

an interrogative, and the sense would remain unaltered— T.

ISome editions read the adjec tive “ h igh-souled” in connection with

"Kripa.

” T.

Th e reading of th e incomplete annotated Roy press edition is very

faulty here . For nop asarpa ti sangaré it reads nay/ampapya ti sainibdnwh ich gives nomeaning. Th en again an entire line is omitted, viz, yathaDuryodhana wj c mgaccheddwisbani/mswamp - T.

m us man . 125

exile. Nor will he pardon this act (of ours) today, havingonly recovered the kine . Let such arrangements, therefore ,

hemade that he may not succeed in attacking Dhritarashtra’

s

son and defeating our troops. Like myself(who am doubtful

of the completion of the period of exile) Duryodhana also hadsaid so before. B earing it in mind, it behoveth the son of

Gangi to say what is true.

’

Thus ends the fifty-first Section in the Go-harana of the

SECTION LII.

(Go-hamna Parva con tinued.)

Bhishma said, -‘The wheel of time revolves with its divi

s ions, viz, with Kati e and Ki etha s and MW e and days

and fortnights andmonths and constellations and plane ts and

s easons and yeara'

l' In consequenc e of their fra ctional emcemes

and the deviations also of the heavenly bodies, there is an

increase of twomonths in every five years. It seems to met hat calculating this wise , there would be an excess of five

months and twelve nights in thirteen years. Everything,

therefore , that the sons of Panda had promised, hath been

e xac tly fu lfilled by them. Knowing this to be c ertain,Vibhatsu

h ath made his appearance. All of themare high-souled and

a ll fully conversant with themeanings of the scriptures. Howr

would they deviate fromvirtue that have Yudhish thira for their

guide ? The sons of Kunti do not yie ld to temptation. They

have achieved a difficult feat. If they had coveted th e poss

tession of their kingdomby unfairmeans, then those descendantso f the Kuru race would have sought to display their prowess

a t the time of thematch at dice. B ound in bonds of virtue,

It is impossible to note all the difl'

ere nces of reading that come under one

’s observation if only he keeps open before h imfour or five texts,

tfor there are very few aloha: of any text that occur in exac tly the

s ame form in another text. I have noted only themore important oft he discrepanc ies. T.

i A tald is a lunar digit a kdstkd is a thirtieth part of a kdld, and

a mulmrta is an hour of 4 8 minutea—T.

I26 W E N T“ .

they did not deviate from the duties of the Kshatriya order.

He that will regard themto have behaved false ly will surely

meet with defeat The sons of Prithi would prefer death to

falsehood. When the time, however, comes, those bulls amongmen— the Fi ndavas—endued with energy like that of Cakra,

do not give up what is theirs even if it is defended by the

wielder himselfofthunderbolt.We shall have to oppose in battle

the foremost of all wielders of weapons. Therefore , let such

advantageous arrangements as have the sanction ofthe good and

the honest be nowmade without loss of time so that our poss

essionsmay not be appropriamd by the foe. 0 king of kings,

O Kaurava, I have never seen a battle in which one of the

parties could say,— we are swrc to win . Here especially it is

Dhananjaya that hath come ! When a battle occurs, there

must be victory or defeat, prosperity or adversity. Without

doubt, a party to a battle must have either of the two. There

fore , 0 king of kings, whether a battle be now proper or not,consistent with virtue or not, make thy arrangements soon, forDhananjaya is at hand l

’

“ Duryodhana said,—‘I will not, 0 grandsire, give back the

Pi ndavas their kingdom! Let every preparation , therefore, for

battle bemade without delay“ B hishma said,—

‘Listen to what I regard as proper if it

pleases thee ! I should always say what is for thy good, 0 Kau

rava ! Proceed thou towards the capital, without loss of time,taking with thee a fourth part of the army. And let another

fourthmarch , escorting the kine. With half the troops we

will fight the Pi ndava. Myse lf and Drona, and Kama and

M athiman and Kripa will resolute ly withstand Vibhatsu,

or the king of the Matsyas, or Indra himself, if he approach .

s tanding the surging sea !’

Vaicampi yana continued These words spoken by the

‘l‘ I prefer to read kritaniscltayds to h itcnb chayam. If the latter be the

correc t reading, wh ich is very doubtful, it would refer to Vibhatsu. or

the king of the Matsyas, or to Catakratu. In the last line also, aha?»

is evidently incorrec t . The true reading is Vayam(we) and the succeeding verb is plural and not singular asmany texts read. T

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128 m am a s.

decked with diademand scimitar and bow, the son of Prith i

shineth like the blazing Homa fire surrounded with sacrifi-f

cis l laddles and fed with sacrificial butter !’

Vaiqampayana continued,—“ B eholding the Kurus ready for

battle , Arjuna addressing Matsya’

s son in words suitable

the occasion said, -‘O chariote er, restrain thou the steeds at such

a point whencemy arrowsmay reach the enemy. Meanwhile

le tme see where, in the midst of this army, is that vile wretchof the Kuru race ! Disregarding all these, and singling out thatvainest of princes, I will fa ll upon his head, for upon the defeat

of that wretch the others will regard themselves as defeated;

There stande th Drona, and there after himhis son !And thereare those great bowmen— B hishma and Kripa and Kama. I

do not see, howeve r, the king here I suspect that anxious

to save his life , he retreate th by the southern road, taking

away with himthe kine ! Leaving this array of car-warriors,

proceed to the spot where Suyodhana is. There will I fight,0 son of Virata , for there the battle will not be fruitless !

Defeating himI will come back, taking away the kine

Vaigampi yana continued — “ Thus addressed, that son of

Viri ta restrained the steeds with an efi'

ort and turning themby a pull at the bridle fromthe spot where th ose bulls of the

Kuru race were, urged themon towards the place where Dur

yodhana was. And as Arjuna went away leaving that thick

array of cars, Kripa,1'

guessing his in tention , addressed his

own comrades, saying— This Vibhatsu desireth not to take

up his stand at a spot remote fromthe king. Let us quicklyfall upon the flanks of the advancing hem: When inflamed

8

For once I find the reading of the Roy Press edition better than

that of other texts and I accordingly adopt it. It reads gikhi crimearugbhiriscijyasilctas for ciklzi ghritasrngbhirivdvasiktas . Srng means a

sac rific ial laddle (for pouring c larified butter) ; ghrita -srug, therefore,

is tautologicial. Then again. djyasiktas is very plain, meaning fed with

butter or, rather, poured over wi th butter . B ut what is gin-ita

smgbltirirdmiktar ? If it has anymeaning, it is scarcely poetical.—T.

f Some editions read Drench— T.

I To seize the pdrshni of a. car is, to attack it fromthe sides or fallupon its flanks. The adverb j avena (quickly)may qualify abkfydsya td c.

I prefer, however, to take it as qualifying grat ishydmac.—T.

vnwra ranvn. 129

with wrath, none else, unassisted, can encounter him in

battle save the deity of a thousand eyes, or Krishna the son

of Devaki Of what use to us would the kine be or this

vast wealth also, if Duryodhana were to sink, like a boat, in

the Pdrtha sea Meanwhile Vibhatsu, having proceeded to

wards that division of the army, announced himse lf speedily byname, and covered the tr00ps with his arrows thick as locusts.And covered with those countless shafts shot by Partha, the

hostile warriors could not see anything, the earth itself andthe sky becoming overwhelmed therewith. And the soldierswhohad been ready for the fight were so confounded that none couldeven fly fromthe field. And beholding the light-handedness of

Pi rtha they all applau! d it mentally. And Arjuna then blew

his conch which always made the bristles of the foe stand

erect. And twanging his best of bows, he urged the creatures

on his flagstafl'

to roarmore frightfully. And at the blare of

his conch and the rattle of his car-wheels, and the twang of

the Gandiva , and the roar of the superhuman creatures sta

tioned on his flagstafi'

, the earth itself began to tremble. And

turned back, proceeding along the southern road.

Thus ends the fifty-third Section in the Go-harana of the

A halfidoka is inserted here in some texts which looks like an inter

or the preceptor with h is son, viz. that great car-warrior B haradwaja’s

son. If the speaker be Drona, such self-praise would be absurd.

If, again, the speaker be Kripa, it would not be in keepingwith the

whole tenor of h is address—T.

1' Almost every edition has a reading of its own, as regards this line.The correct reading, I apprehend, is Duryodhana Parthwj ale yadi

nanirieamay a ti. The B oy Press edition adds two syllables to the second

foot and thus forgets evenmetre in correcting the reading — T.

[ 17 ]

Sac-nos LIV.

Go-harana Pas-ca continued.

Vaicampayana said. “Having disorganised the hostile best

by force, and recovered the kine, that foremost of bowmen,desirous of fighting again, proceeded towards Duryodhana.

And beholding the kine running wild towards the city of the

Matsyas, the foremost warriors of the Kurus regarded Kiritinto have already achieved success. And all on a sudden they

beholding their countless divisions firmly arrayed in order of

battle with countless banners waving over them, that slayer

of foes, addressing the son of the king of the Matsyas,mid—l

‘Urge on, to the best of their speed, by this road, these white

swede (locked with golden bridles ! Strive thou well, for I

eagerly desireth a battle withme. Takeme, O prince, to him

Thus addressed, the son of Virl ta, by means of those largesteeds enduedwith the speed of the wind and fumished withgolden armour, broke that array of cars and took the Pi n;

dava into themidst of the battle-field. And seeing this, those

mighty car-warriors, Chitra'

sena ahd Sangrimajit and Sett u

saha and Jaya, desirous of aiding Kama, rushed, with arrows

and long shafts-r towards the advancing hero of Bharata

’

s

race. Then that foremost ofmen, inflamed with wrath, begantoc onsume bymeans ef fiery arrows shot fi'

omhis bow, that arrayz

of can belonging to those bulls among the Kurus, like a trod

Some editions read assa ys-again for Madge-c hant. The latter ibundoubtedly the correct reading, for the former is “ grammatical, ayambeing a masculine pronominal adjective incapable of qualifying Kamaringhamndamwh ich 18 neuter. —T.

1 Some texts read Vigddais for Vipdtlmb. The latter seems to bepreferable.

—T.

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132 m ama s!

battle. scattering all his foes before him. And soon slayingthe red steeds yoked unto the car of Sangrlmajit the brotherof Vikartana

’

s son, that hero decked in diadem and endued

Arjuna, like a huge e lephant with out-stretched tusks,‘or like

a tiger at a mighty bull. And the son of Vikartana quickly

pierced the son of Pi ndu with twelve shafts and all his steeds

also in'

every part of their bodies and Viri ta’

s son too in

down upon a snake. And both of themwere foremost of how

stood aloof as lockers-on. And beholding the ofl‘

ender Kama,the son of Pl ndu, excited to fury, and glad also at having

him, soonmade him, his horses, his car, and car-driver invisiblebymeans of a frightful shower of countless arrows. And the

broken, began to wail aloud in grief. The illustrious and heroic

own those shafts shot byArjuna’

s hand, soon burst forth in view

with how and arrows like a blazing fire. And then there arose

the sound of loud c lapping of hands, with the blare of conchsand trumpets and kettle-drumsmade by the Kurus while theyapplauded Vikartana

’

s son who filled the atmosphere with the

sound ofhis bowstringflapping against his fence. And beholdingKiritin filling the air with the twang of the Gandiva, and the

Danton in the dual is explained by Nilakantha asmeaning, “mountain summits, Arjuna and Uttara being compared thus. Th is ingenuity,h owever, is worthless, considering thatmharchabhamin the next breathis singular. Pragrihya dantau, therefore, wouldmean, as the B urdwanPundits think. stretching out(his) two tucks.

vms 'rsman . 133

11d tail of themonkey that constituted his flag, and the

terrible creatures yelling furiously fromthe top of his flagstafi‘

,

Kama sent forth a loud roar. And aflicting, by means of hisshafts, Vikartana

’

s son along with his steeds, car, and car-driver,

son also poured upon Partha a heavy shower of arrows like arain-charged cloud. And the diadem-decked Arjuna also coveredKamawith a thick down-

pour ofkeen-edged shafts. And the two

heroes stationed on their cars, creating clouds of keen-edged

arrows in a combat carried on by means of countless shafts

and weapons , appeared to the spectators like the sun and the

moon covered by clouds. And the light-handed Kama, unableto bear the sight of the foe , pierced the four horses of the

diadem-decked hero with whetted arrows, and then struck his

car-driver with three shafts, and his dag-stafi

'

also with three.Thus struck, that grinder of all adversaries in battle , that

hull of the Kuru race, Jishnu wielding the Gandica ,like a

lion awaked fromslumber, furiously attacked Kama bymeansof straight

-

going arrows. And afflicted by the arrowy shower

(of Kama), that illustrious achiever of superhuman deeds

soon displayed a thick shower of arrows in return. And

he covered Kamd e car with countless shafts like the sun

covering the difl'

erent worlds with his rays. And like a lion

attacked by an elephant, Arjuna, taking some keen crescent-s

shaped arrows fromout of his quiver and drawing his bow to

his ear, pierced the Suta’

s son on every part of his body. And

that grinder of foes pierc ed Karna’

s arms and thighs and head

and forehead and n eck and other principal parts of his bodywith whetted shafts endued with the impetuosity of the

thunder-bolt and shot from the Gandiva in battle. And

mangled and afflicted by the arrows shot by Partha the sori

of Pi ndu , Vikartana’

s son , quitted the van of battle, and

quickly took to fiight, like one elephant vanquished by ans

other.

Thus ends the fifty-fourth Section in the Go-harana of the

SECTION LV.

G'o-ha/rana.Parva continued. j

Vaicampayana said— “After the son ofBach‘

s had fled fromthe fie ld, other warriors headed by Duryodhana, one after ah

other, fell upon the son ofPandu with their respective divisional

And like the shore withstanding the fury of the surging sea,

that warrior withstood the rage of that countless host rushing.

towards him, arrayed in order of battle and showering c louds oS

arrows. And then that foremost of car-warriors, Kunti’s son Vibhatan ofwhite ste eds, rushed towards the foe, evolving celestial

weapons the while. And Partha soon covered all the points

those that fought on cars and horses and e lephants, and

amongst themail-clad foot-soldiers, there was none that had onhis body a space of even two fingers breadth unwounded with

weapons, and for the training of the steeds and the skill of

Uttara, and for the coursing of his weapons, and his prowess

could cast his eyes on Arjuna who shone like a blazing fire of

great eflulgenoe. Andmangled by the arrows of Arjuna, thO

hostile ranks looked like newly-risen c louds on the breast of a

hill reflecting the solar rays, or like groves of Acalm trees

torn flags and umbrellas of the hostile host. And afrighted

at the havoc amongst their own ranks, the steeds fled in all

directions, freed fromtheir yokes bymeans of Partha’

s arrows

Some read ccha rmdni voltagesWM for fulldni traumatic fathe r'

s.

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130 mu m s-rs.

was always be seen drawn to a perfect circle . And the arrows

of the wielder of the Candied. never fe ll upon anything except

the aim, even as the eye never dwelleth on anything that is

not beautiful. And as the track of a herd of elephantsmarching through the forest is made of itself, so was the trackmadeof itself for the car of Kiritin. And struck andmangled byPl rtha, the hostile warriors thought that Ver ily, Iudr a him.

immortals is slaying us ! And they also regarded Vij aya, who

was making a terrible slaughter around, to be none e lse

than Death himself who, having assumed the formof Arjuna,was slaying all creatures. And the troops of the Kurus, struck

by Partha, were so mangled and shattered that the scene

looked like the deed ofPartha himself and could compare withnothing e lse save what was observable in Pi rtha

’

s combats,And he severed the heads of foes, even as reapers cut ofl

'

the

tops of deciduous herbs. And the Kurus all lost their energy

owing to the terror begot ofArjuna. And tossed and mangledby the Arjuna gale, the forest of Arjuna

’

s foes reddened

the earth with purple secretions. And the dustmixed with

blood, uplifted by the wind, made the very rays of the sun

redder still. And soon the sun-decked sky became so red thatit looked verymuch like the evening. Indeed, the sun ceaseth

to shed his rays as soon as he sets, but the son of Panda ceased

not to shoot his shafts. And that hero of inconceivable energyoverwhelmed, bymeans of his celestial weapons, all the greatbowmen of the enemy although they were possessed of great

prowess. And Arjuna then shot three and seventy arrows of

son, and twelve at Duscasana, and three at Kripa the son of

Caradwat. And that slayer of foes pierced Bhishma the son of

Ci ntanu with six arrows, and king Duryodhana with a hundred.

And, lastly, he pierced Kama in the car with a bearded shaft.

And when that great bowman Kama, skilled in all weapons, wasthus pierced, and his horses and car and car-driver were alldes

troyed, the troops that supported himbegan to break. And be

holding those soldiers break and give way, the son ofVirata, de

circus ofknowing Pi rtha’

s purpose, addressed himon the field of

13?

battle, and said-J O Fi rths, standing on this beautiful car,

with myself as charioteer, towards which division shall I go

For, commanded by thee , I would soon take thee thither

Arjuna replied, —‘O Uttara, yonder euspicious warrior

whomthou seest cased in coat of tiger skin and stationed on

Kripa There , that is the van of Kripa’

s division Take methither I shall show that great bowmanmy swift-handednessin archery. And that warrior whose flag beareth the device of

an elegant water-pot‘

worked in gold, is the preceptor Drona

that foremost ofallwielders ofweapons !He is always an object

of regard withme as also with all bearers of arms Do thou ,

therefore, circumambulate that great hero cheerfully ! Let us

bend our heads there, for that is eternal virtue ! If Drona

strike my body first, then shall I strike him, for then he will

not be able to resent it. There, c lose to Drona, that warrior

whose flag beareth the device of a bow, is the preceptor’

s son,

the great car-warrior Acwatthiman, who is always an object of

regard withme as also with every bearer of arms Do thou,

therefore, step again and again, while thou comest by his

car ! There , that warrior who stayeth on his car, cased in

golden mail and surrounded by a third part of the armyconsisting of themost eflicient troops, and whose flag beareth

the device of an elephant in a ground of gold, is the illustri-J

ous king Duryodhana the son ofDhritari shtra ! O hero, take

before himthis thy car that is capable of grinding hostilecars This king is diflicult of being vanquished in battle andis capable of grinding all foes ! He is regarded as the first

of all Drona'

s disciples in lightness of hand. I shall, in battle,show himmy superior swiftness in archery ! There, that

warrior whose flag beareth the device of a stout chord for bind

ing elephants, is Kama the son of Vikartana, already known tothee ! When thou comest before that wicked son of Radha,be thou very careful, for he always challength me to an encoun

ter ! And that warrior whose flag is blue and beareth the

device of five stars with a sun (in the centre), and who, enduedwith great energy, stay

'eth on his car holding a huge bow in

hand and wearing excellent fences, and over whose head is an'

[ 13 ]

gold striketh terror intomy heart.is Bhithma the son ofChemand the grandsire of us all ! Ente rtainsd with regal splem»

dour by Duryodhana. he rs very partial and well-ahectcd tor

Wards that pl'ince. Let himba aprmached h st ofa ll, for he

may, even now, be an ohstaclc toma l While fighting with

him, do thou carefully guide the steeds l’Thus addremed by

him, Viri ta’

s son, 0 king. guided Ba yesi chin’

s car with great

alacrity towards the amt where Kripa stood anxiormto fight. w

Thus ends the fifty-fifth fiecticn of the fie -haras s of the

Sermon LVI:

Go-hamna, Par se con tinued.

the Karma. looked like masses of c louds in the rainy amen

drifting before a gentle wind. And close (ts those ranks of

yrs.’ And there were also eleplnntfl Of terriblemics , looking

and urged on wi th iron crows heoks. And, 0 king, moan »ted on a beautiful car, Calms. come there accompanied by the

constellationsma cloudless night.1 And the celestisls samethere, each on his own car. desirous of beholding the cficacy

Some editions readp a i rings forpreterit/tic. The grammar “ it!would certainly be faulty. In fact, the instrumental pluralmthe cor

rect reading. Prahdrin li terallymeans a smiter, hence a skilled or fierce

r Some texts read Tadmfcr Team», wh ich in absurd, and again

frahdnamicamandala” for Griz/mime NW I hem, of course,pdppt ed the latter reading wh ich is really poetic

— T.

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140 m ama's.

wielder of the thunder-bolt looked exceedingly beautiful on his .

car. And the slayer ofVale , although he steadfastly gazed at his

son on the field of battle, was not satiated with such gazing.

And thus ends the fifty-sixth Section in the Go-harana of

Ola-harm Pan-eu.continued.

Vaicampi yana said— “ Beholding the army of the Kurul

arrayed in order ofbattle, that descendant of the Kuru race,

P’

artha, addressing Viri ta'

s son, said, -‘Do thou proceed to the

spot where Kripa the son ofCaradwat 18 , going by the southern

Vaicampayana continued “Hearing these words of Dhan~

anjaya, the son of Viri ta urged, without a moment’s delay.those steeds of silvery hue decked in golden armour. And

making themadopt, one after another, every kind ofthe swiften

pu ss, he urged those fiery steeds resembling themoon in color.

host, turned bwk those steeds endued with the speed of the

mazes, and sometimes turning to the left, began to bewilder

the Kurus. And wheeling round, the intrepid and mightyson of Virata at last approached the car of Kripa, and stood

confronting him. Then announcing his own name, Arjunapowerfully blew that best of conchs called Dcvada tta ,

’of loud

b lare. And blown on the field of battle by the mighty Jishun,the

'

blare of that conch was heard like the splitting of a moun

Schlegel, in his version of the 8 1.4”d renders this word

as Theodotes, calling the cpnch ofKrishna as Gigantea, of B hima,Arundinea, of Yudh ish thira, Tirumphatrix, ” of Nakula,

“ Dulc i

eona, and lastly, of Sahadeva, Gemmifiorea, the corresponding

Sanskrit names being Panchajanya, Panadra, Amntaeijaya, Suglwchaand Manipushpaka. Chough these renderings have all been approved

byWilson, yet they look [ cry pedantic in an English version— T.

vmx'u ru n . 14 1

h im And seeing that the conch did not break into a hundred

fragments when blown by Arjuna, the Kurus with all their

warriors began to applaud it highly. And'

having reached the

very heavens, that sound came back and was heard even like

the crash ofthe thunder-bolt hurled byMaghavat on the mountain breast. Thereupon that heroic and intrepid and mighty

sound, and eager for fight, took up his own sea-begotten conch

and blew it vehemently. And filling the three worlds,with

that sound, that foremost of car-warriors took up a large bow

and twanged the bow-string powerfully. And those mightycar-warriors, equal unto two suns, standing opposed to each

other, shone like twomasses of autumnal clouds. Then Cara-v,

dwat’

a son quickly pierced Fi rths , that slayer of hostile heroes,with ten swift and whetted arrows capable of entering into

the very vitals. And Pritha’

s son also, on his part, drawing

that foremost of weapons, the Gd‘miiva , celebrated over the

world, shot innumerable iron arrows, all capable of penet

ing into the very core of the body. Thereupon Kripa, bymeans of whetted shafts, cut into hundreds and thousands of

fragments, those blood-drinking arrows of Partha before they

could come up. Then thatmighty car-warrior, Partha also,in wrath , displaying various manoevres, covered all sides with

a shower of arrows. And covering the entire welkin with

his shafts, that mighty warrior of immeasurable soul, the

son of Prithi , enveloped Kripa with hundre ds of shafts. And

sorely afilicted by those whetted arrows resembling flames of

519 , Kripa waxed wroth, and quickly amicting the high-souledPi r tha of immeasurable prowess with ten thousand shafts,

set up on the field of battle a loud roar. Then the heroic

Arjuna quickly pierced the‘

four steeds ofh is adversary with

four fatal arrows shot from the Gaindiva , sharp and straight,

and furnished with goldenmugs) “ And pierced by means of

An entire line that is read hire in some texts seems to be an in

terpolation. I have accordingly omitted it. It is dhanurdddya virg

m am-u :

those whetted arrows resembling flames of fire, those steeds

suddenly reared themselves, and in consequence Kripa reM

ofl‘

his plac e. And'

seeing sum thrown efl’

his place,

that slayer a hostile heroes, the a scendant of the Km u se;

his shaftsat him. Then regs inmg his propa '

place, Gsutamw

feathers of the Ra nks. bird. Then with a crescent-shaped

lenses. And was Fi'

rths cut temps : m efmail hlnhymesns ef '

arrows eapable of penetrating the veh'y fi tsls, whe did not weun

'

d his . person. And divested of his coat oi

csst ofl its slough. And as soon as hisv bow had been cut

at! by Pi rths,Gautama took upanotber and ttringed it in it

tries. And, strange to ssy, that bowof hiswss also eut ofl'iy

that slayer of host ile heroes, the son of Pi ndu, cut 03 other

bumas soon as they were taken up, one after anoth er, by

mighty hemhurled, fiomh is car, at Praises son, a jave lin'

like unto the blazing thunder-bblt."lihereupon, as the gold1

decked jave lin came whizzing through the air with the flashor ame teor, Arjuna cut it ofl

’

by means of ten arrows. And

beholding his M thus cut of! by the intelligent M imi!Kripa quickly took up another bow and almost simd taneou'

siyshot a number of crescent-shaped arrows. Parth a, howeve1‘,

quickly cut theminto fragments bymeans Of ten keen-edgedshafts. And

’

endued with gre at energy; the son of Prlthi then

inflamedWith wrath on the field ofbattle , discharged th ree and

ten arrows whetted on stone and resembling flames of firs tfind with one of these he cut efl

‘

theyoke of his adversary's

car, and with four pierc ed his four steeds, and with the sixth

he severed the head of h e antagbhist s car—driver fromofl’

his

body. And with three that mighty car-warrior pierced, ia

that encounter, the tripp le bamboo pole of Kripa’

s car, and

with two his two wheels .

’

And with the twelfth amw he

cut 03 Kripe’

e flagstaff. And .with the thirteen th F‘

aigunay

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l 44 W T“ .

of Bmhnmcharya virtues. 0 friend, all the celestial weapons

together with the mysteries of their withdrawal, and the en.

tire science of weapons, always reside in him! Forgivenem,

self-control, truth, abstention from injury, rectitude of con e

duct— these and countless other virtues always dwell in that

regenerate one. I desire to fight with that high ly blessed one

on the fie ld ! Therefore, take me before the preceptor and

carryme thither, O Uttars !’

Vaicampayana continued—J Thus addressed by Arjuna'

,

Viri ta’

s son urged his steeds decked with gold towards the

« or of Bharadwi ja’

s son. And Drona also rushed towards the

mpetuously advancing Partha the son of Pi ndu,— that fora

most of car-warriors— like an infuriate e lephant rushing to

wards an infuriate compeer. And the son of B haradwija then

blew his conch whose blare resembled that of a hundred trum

red in huemingling in battle Wi th A13una’

s steeds of swan-like

whiteness endued with the sp ed of the mind, all the spectatorswere filled with wonder. And seeing on the field of battle

those car-warriors— thc preceptor Drona and his disciple Fi rths- both endued with prowess, both invincible , both well trained,both pom ed of great energy and great strength, engaged

with each other, thatmighty host of the Bharatas began to

possessed of great prowess and filled with joy upon reaching

Drona'

s car on his own, sa luted the preceptor. And that

slayer of hostile heroes, the mighty-armed son of Kunti, then

addressed Drona in an humble and sweet tone, saying—H aving

completed our exile in the woods, we are now desirous of avend

ging our wrongs. Ever invincible in battle , it doth not behove

thee to be angry with us O sinless one , I will not strike thee

unless thou strikestme first. Even this is my intention. It

behoveth thee to ac t as thou choosest.’

Thus addreswd,Drona

discharg ed at himmore than twenty arrows. But the light~

handed P‘

artha cut them ofi'

before they could reach him.

And at this, the mighty Drona, displaying his lightness of

hand in the use of weapons, covered Partha’

s . car with a

vm'rs ru n .

“

1 4 5

thousand arrows. And desirous of angering Fi rths , that hero

of immeasurable soul then covered his steeds of silvery white

ness with arrows whetted on stone and winged with the

feathers of the Kwnha bird. And when the battle between

Drona and Kiri tin thus commenced, both of them discharg

ing in the encounter arrows of blazing splendour, both well

known for their achievements, both equal to the wind itself

in speed, both conversant with ce lestial weapons, and both

endued with mighty energy, began, shooting c louds of arrows,to bewilder the royal Ks hatriyas. And all the warriors that

were assembled th ere were filled with wonder at eight of all

this. And they all admired Drona who quickly shot c louds of

arrows, exclaiming, Well done Well done ! Indeed, who

else, save Falgun a , is worthy offighting wi th Drona in

ba ttle ? Surely, the du ties of a Kshatriya wre stem, for

Arjuna fighteth with em his own precep tor And it was

thus that they who stood on the field of battle said unto one

another. And inflamed with ire, those mighty-armed heroes

standing before each other, and each incapable of overc omingthe other, covered each other with arrowy showers. And B ha

radwaja’

s son, waxing wroth , drew his large and unconquer

able bow plaited on the back with gold, and pierced Falguna

with his arrows. And discharging at Arjuna’

s car innumerablewhetted arrows possessed of solar efi

'

ulgence , he entirely shroud

ed the light of the sun. And that great car-warrior ofmighty

arms, violently pierced Prithi’

s son with keen-edged shafts,

even as the c louds shower upon amountain . Then taking up

that foremost of hows, the Gdawlivd , destructive of foes and

capable of withstanding the greatest strain , the impetuousson of Pi ndu cheerfully discharged countless shafts of various

kinds adorned with gold, and that powerfu l warrior also baffled

in amoment Drona’s arrowy shower by means of those shafts

shot from his own bow. And at this the spectators wondered

greatly. And the handsome Dhananjaya, the son of Prithi ,

ranging on his car, displayed his weapons on all sides at the

same time. And the entire welkin, covered with his arrows,

became one wide expanse ofshade. And at this Drona becameinvisible like the sun enveloped in mist. And shrouded by

l 19 l

1 4 6 M AN IA.

those excellent arrows on all sides, Drona looked like a mountain on fire. And beholding his own car complete ly envelopedby the arrows of Prithh

’

s son , Drona , that ornament of battle ,

bent his terrible and foremost of bows whose noise was as loud

as that of the clouds. And drawing that first o f weapons,

which was like unto a circ le of fire , he discharged a c loud of

keen-edged shafts. And then there were heard on the fie ld loud

sounds like the splitting of bamboos set on fire. And that

warrior of immeasurable soul, shooting fromhis bow arrows

furnished wi th golden wings, covered all sides, shrouding the

very light of the sun. And those arrows with knots well peeled

and furnished with golden wings, looked like flocks ofbirds

in the sky. And the arrows discharged by Drona fromhis bow,

touching one another at the wings, appeared like one endless

line in the sky. And those heroes, thus discharging their

arrows decked with gold, seemed to cover the sky with showers

ofmeteors. And furnished with feathers of the Kanka. bird ,

those arrows looked like rows of cranes ranging in the autumnalsky. And the fierce and terrible encounter that took plac e be

tween the illustrious Drona and Arjuna resembled that betweenVritra and Vasava ofold. And discharging arrows at each other

frombows drawn at their fullest stretch , they resembled two

e lephants assailing each other with their tusks. And those

wrathful warriors— those ornaments of battle— fighting strictlyaccording to established usage , displayed in that conflict various

c elestial weapons in due order. Then that foremost ofvictoriousmen , Arjuna, bymeans ofhis keen shafts resisted the whetted

a rrows shot by that best ofpreceptors. And displaying before thespectators various weapons, that hero of terrible prowess c overedthe sky with various kinds of arrows. And beholding that

The arrows used in ancient warfar e in India were of various

k inds. Some were of iron or steel heads attached to sticks of reed or

bamboo . Some consisted entirely of iron or steel. The feathers of

vultures and various other birds were used for increasing th eir ce lerity.

B oth the reed and the bamb oo consist of porous or knots. If these

knots were well peeled 06 , the stick would be straigh t as a roller. H ence

Nazap arc o or anataparva means with knots well peeled off. To

avoid periphrasis, I have generally rendered this word as “straigh t.

”-

.T

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mu umu u

ing Pi rtha drew it now with one hand and now with another

and shot an arrowy shower. And beholding that shower

resembling a flight of locusts, the spectators wonderinglyapplauded him, exclaiming,— ‘Excellent L— ‘Exce llent I’ And

so cease lessly did he shoot his arrows that the very air

was unable to penetrate the thick array. And the spectators

could not perceive any interval between the taking up of

the arrows, and letting themofl'

. And 111 that fierce encounter

Partha began to shoot his arrows more quickly than before.

And then all at once hundreds and thousands ofstraight arrows

fe ll upon Drona’

s car. And, 0 bull of the B harata race,

beholding Drona completely covered by the wielder of the

Gandiva with his arrows, the Ram army set up exclamationa of ‘Oh. and ‘Alas And Maghavat, together with

plauded the fleetness ofPi rtha'

s hand. And that mighty car

mighty array of care. And although enraged with Arjuna,

yet Acwathaman mentally admired that feat of the high

souled son of Pritha. And waxing wroth , he rushed towards

Partha, and discharged at himan arrowy shower like a heavydown -

pour by the clouds. And turning his steeds towards

Drona’

s son , Partha gave Drona an opportunity to leave the

field. And thereupon the latter, wounded in that terrible

encounter, and hismail and banner gone , sped away by the

aid of swift horses.”

Thus ends the fifty-eighth Section in the Go-harana of tho

Virata Parva.

SEC-non LIX.

Go ha/rana Parse continued.)

Vaicampi yana said. Then , 0 mighty king, Drona’

s son

rushed to an encounter with Arjuna in battle. And behold~

ing himrush to the conflict like a hurricane , showering shafts

like a rain-charged c loud, Prithi’

s son received himwith a

c loud of arrows. And terrible was the encounter between

vmu ru n . 14 9

them, like that between the gods and the Danavas. And

they shot arrows at each other like Vritra and Vasava. And

the welkin being enveloped on all sides with arrows, the sun

was completely hidden, and the air itse lf was hushed. And, 0

conqueror of hostile cities, as they assailed and struck each

other, loud sounds arose as of bamboos on fire . And, 0 king,

Acwathaman’

s horses being sorely amicted by Arjuna, they became bewildered and could not ascertain which way to go. And

as Prithi’

s son ranged on the field, the powerful son of Drona,

finding an Oppor tunity, cut 0 6 the string of the Gandiva.with

an arrow furnished with a horse-shoe head. And beholdingthat extraordinary feat of his, the ce lestials applauded himhighly. And exc laiming, We ll done ’— ‘We ll done -Drona

and BMsM a, and Kama, and thatmighty warrior Kripa, allapplauded that feat of his greatly. And the son of Drona,

drawing his excellent bow, pierced with his shafts, furnished

with the feathers of the Kamka bird, the breast ofPartha, thatbull among warriors. Thereupon, wi th a loud laughter, the

mighty-armed son of Pritha attached a strong and fresh string

to the Gaudium. And moistening his bowstring with the

sweat that stood on his forehead resembling the crescent

moon ,

’ Prithe’

e son advanced towards his adversary, even as

an infuriate leader of a herd of elephants rusheth at anoth er

elephant. And the encounter that took place between those

two matchless heroes on the field of battle was exceedinglyfierce andmade the bristles ofthe spectators stand on their ends.And as those heroes endued withmighty energy fought on ,

like two mighty elephants, the Kurus beheld them with

wonder. And those brave bulls among men assailed each

other with arrows of snaky forms and resembling blazingfires. And as the couple of quivers be longing to the Pandava

was inexhaustible, that hero was able to remain on the field

immovable as amountain. And as Acwathaman’

s arrows, in

Ardhachandramdvrityd 1s explained by Nilakan tha thus. The

B urdwan Pundits explain it as meaning half wheeling h is car.

”

It is difficult to dec ide wh ich of th ese is correc t. I choose to follow

N 1lakantha who is a safe guide as regards such passages — T.

150 W M TA.

consequence of his ceaseless discharge in that cmflic t, werequickly exhausted, it was for this that Arjuna prevailed over

his adversary. Then Kama, drawing his large bow with great

fo rce , twanged the bowstring. And thereupon arose loud

exclamations of ‘Oh and ‘Alas !’

And Pli tbi’

s son , casting

h is eyes towards the spot where that bow was twanged, beheld

before him the son of d ha And at that sight his wrath

was greatly exc ited. And inflamed with ire , and desirous

of slaying Kama, that hull of the Kuru race stared at himwith rolling eyes. And, 0 king, beholding P

‘

artha turn away

fromAcwathiman’

s side , the Kuru warriors discharged thous

ands of arrows on Arjuna. And the mighty-armed Dhanan

jaya, that conqueror of foes, leaving Drona’

s son , all of a .

sudden rushed towards Kama. And rushing towards Kama,with eyes reddened in anger , the son of Kunti, desirous of

a single combat with him, said these words

Thus ends the fifty-ninth Section in the Go-harana of the

Virata Parva.

St orms LX.

Go-haxrana Parva con tinued . )

Arjuna said,—‘The time , 0 Kama, hath now come for

making good thy loquac ious boast in the midst of the as

sembly, viz, that there is none equa l to thee in fight ! To

day, 0 Kama, contending withme in terrible conflict, thou

shalt know thy own strength, and shalt no longer disregard

others ! Abandon ing good breeding, thou hadst utteredmanyharsh words, but this that thou endeavorest to do, is, I think,

exceedingly difi cult. Do thou now, 0 Radh i’

s son, contend

ing with me in the sight of the Kurus, make good what thouhadst said before in disregard ofmyself Thou who hadst

witnessed Panchala’

s princess outraged by villains in the midstof the court, do thou now reap the fruit of that act of thine !

Fettered by the bonds ofmorality before , I desisted from

Some texts readmdmana’ sddya formdmanddritya. The difl'

ere nce

in meamng is scarcely of much consequence . T.

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152 M A.

the how was loosened And then the mighty-armed Firths cut

ofl‘

Karna’

s bow into fragments. And Kama replied by hurlinga dart at his adversary, but Ariuna cut it ofl

‘

bymeans of his

arrows. And then the warriors that followed the son of Ri dhi

rushed in crowds at Arjuna, but Fi rths sent them all to the

abode of Yama bymeans of arrows shot from the Gandiva.

And Vibhatsu slew the steeds of Kama by means of sharp

and tough arrows shot fromthe bow-string drawn to the ear,

and deprived of life they dropped down on the ground. And tak

ing another sharp and blazing arrow endued with great energy,themighty son of Kunti pierced the breast of Kama. And

that arrow, c leaving through his mail, penetrated into his

body. And at this, Karna’

s vision was obscured and his senses

left him. And regaining consciousness, he felt a great pain,

at this the mighty car-warrior Ai juna, and Uttara, both beganto address himwith contumely.

Thus ends the sixtieth Section in the Go-harana of the

(Go-karma Paw n. continued

Vaicampi yana said— “Having defeated Vikartana’

s son ,

Arjuna said unto the son of Viri ta—‘Take me towards that

division where yonder device of a golden palmyra is seen .

There our grandfather, Ci ntanu’

s son, like unto a celestial,waiteth , desirous of an encounter with me.

’

Thereupon, be

holding that mighty host thronged with cars and horses and

e lephants, Uttara, sorely pierced with arrows, said,-‘O hero,

I am no longer able to guide thy excellent steeds ! My

spirits droop and my mind is exceedingly bewildered. All

the directions seemto be whirling before my eyes in conse

quenco of the energy of the celestial weapons used by thee

and the Kurus. I have been deprived of my senses by

the stench of fat and blood and flesh. B eholding all this, fromterror my mind is, as it were, c left in twain .

’ Never

l' Some editions read tam cha irs p apacy/am: for trdcciphcka ira

propag ates. The latter is unquestionably bottom—T.

mmmark. 153

before had I beheld such amuster of heroes in battle . And at

the flapping of fences,’and the blare of conchs, the leonine

roarsmade by the warriors, and the shrieks of e lephants, and

the twang of the Gandi 'va resembling the thunder, I have , 0hero, been so stupified that I have been deprived of both

hearing andmemory ! And, 0 here, beholding thee incessantlydrawing to a circ le, in course of the conflict, the Gdndiva

which resembleth a circle of fire, my sight failethme and myheart is rent asunder ! And seeing thy fierce form in battle,like that of the wielder of the Pindka while inflamed with

wrath , and looking also at the terrible atrov’

vs sho t by thee,

I amfilled with foam: I fail to see when thou take st up thy

excellent arrows, when thou fixest them on the bow-string,

and when thou le ttest themofi'

. And though all this is done

beforemy eyes, yet, deprived ofmy senses, I do not see it !

My spirits are dro oping, and the earth itself seems to be swiming beforeme. I have no strength to hold the whip and the

reins !’

Hem-ing these words , Arjuna said,—‘Do thou not fear !

Assure thyself! Thou also hast, on the fie ld of battle , per

formed, 0 bull among men , wonderful fa ts ! B lessed be

thou, thou art a prin c e and born in the illustrious line of

Matsya ! It behove th thee not to feel dispirited in chastising

thy foes ! Therefore , O prince , stationed on my car, musterall thy fortitude and ho ld the reins ofmy steeds, O slayer of

fees, when I oncemore engage in batt leVaioampayana continua l—fl Having said this unto Vir

ata’

s son , that best ofmen and tbrem0s t of car-warriors, the

mighty-armed Arjuna , again adm'emed the son of Viri ta,

saying,-‘Take me without delay to the t an of Bh id ima’

s divi

sion ! I will cut off his very bow-string in the battle ! Thou

shalt behold today the celestialweapons ofbiti ng beauty, shot

byme, look like flashes of lightning disporting amid the c louds

The true reading is Godhdgkd tena and not Gaddgkatena or Godd

patm. God“ is th e fence worn by archers,made of Iguana skin — T.

t For Gdnd ironcha prdpopyam s’ome ‘

editions read Gdndioancha

prakarshatd wh ich is evidently wrong— T.

I Some editions read Vyogaoeha tam'mMajor» for Vydyacckatac

man gkordn. The latter is undoubtedly preferable— T.

[ 20 ]

1 54 w om an .

in the sky ! The Kauravas shall behold the gold-decked back

ofmy Gandiva today, and assembled together the foe shall

d ispute , saying— B y which hand of his, the r ight or the left,

doth he shoot And I shall cause a dreadful river (of death)to flow today towards the other world with blood for its waters

and cars for its eddies, and e lephants for its crocodiles. I shalltoday, with my straight arrows, extirpate the Kuhn -forest

having hands and feet and heads and backs and arms forthe branches of its trees. Alone , bow in hand, vanquishing

the Kuru host, a hundred paths shall open before me likethose of a forest in cenflagration. Struck by me , thou shalt

today behold the Kuru army moving round and round like

a wheel (unable to fly 03 the fie ld). I shall show thee to

day my excellent training in arrows and weapons ! Stay

thou on my car firmly, whether the ground be smooth or un

even. I can pierce with my winged arrows even the mountain s of Samara that stand touching the ve ry heavens ! I

slew of old, at Indra’

s command, hundreds and thousands

of Pau lomas and Kalakhanjas in battle ! I have obtained

my firmness of grasp fromIndra, and my lightness of hand

from B rahman , and I have learnt various modes of fierce

attack and defence amid crowds of foes from Prajapati . I

vanquished, on the other side of the great ocean , sixty thous

ands of car-warriors— al—l fierce archers— residing in H i/ranym

p a r a . B ehold, now I defeat the multitudinous host of the

Kurus, like a tempest scattering a heap of cotton. With

my fiery arrows I shall today set the Ka ra -forest to fire ,

having banners for its trees, the foot-soldiers for its shrubs,

and the car-warriors for its beasts of prey. Like unto the

wielder of the thunder-bolt overthrowing the Danavas,

alone I shall, with my straight arrows, bring down fromthe chambers of their cars the mighty warriors of the

Kuru army stationed therein and struggling in the conflict

to the best of their power. I have obtained fromRadra theB and'ra , fromVar an a the VEmana , fromAgni the Agn eya ,

4“ The correc t reading is Swidacyati, although , as some editions read,Swidaayatas (in th e genit ive singular) would not be ungrammatical. —T.

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156 W u »

damand sure of aim, dmultancously attacked all sides with

his arrows.”

Thus ends the sixty-first Section in the Go-harana .of,

Suc tion LXII.

Clo-ha rm Pa/rva contima cd.

Vsicampiym said. Then, 0 then of the B harata race ,

all the great car-warriors of the Kurus, united together, began

to assail Arjuna to the best of their might fromall sides.

But that hero of immeasurable soul completely covered all

thosemighty car-warriors with clouds of arrows, even as the

mist cover-eth the mountains. And the roars of huge ele

And penetrating through the bodies of elephants? and horses

as also through st~eel ccate ofmil. the atre“ shot by Pi rtha

fe ll by thousands. And shooting shafts with the utmost celerity, the son of Pi ndu seemed in that contest to resemble theblazing sun of an autumnalmidday. And amicted with fear,

the car-warriors began to leap down fromtheir cars and the

horse-soldiers from horse-back, while the foot-soldiers began

to fly in all directions. And loud was the clattermade hyArjuna

’

s shafts as they cleft the coats ofmail belonging tomighty warriors, made of steel, silve r, and copper. And the

field was seen covered with the corpses of warriors mountedon elephants and horses, allmangled by the shafts of Fi rtha t

Th e B oy Press edition reads ”M i a Mahatma !. The

former is,simply ridiculous.

-T.

‘l' The same text reads Narapaa &c., for Nagdcwa the. Th e formeris eviden tly incorrect, for

“ the steel coats ofmail referred to immediately aftermean coats ofmail worn by th emen — T.

1 Th e second foot ef the second line of this data is variously read:

Some texts read girobhz'

s pmdirap i, and other. gammtqm . The

correc t reading, as I apprehend, is tha t given by th e Burdwan Pundits.

It is Parthava'

naprap t’

ditaia qualifying cartrais in the first line - T.

m u PARVA. 157'

And then it seemed as if Dhananjaya, bow in hand, was

danc ing on the field of battle .

’ And sorely'

afl'

righted at the

twang of the Gd/ndiva resembling the nois e of the thunder,

many were the combatants that fled fromthat terrible conflict.And the field of battle was bestrewn with severed heads

decked with turbans and ear rings and necklaces of gold.

And the earth looked beautiful by being scattered all over

with human trunks mangled by shafts, and arms havingbows in their grasp and hands decked with ornaments. And,

0 bull of the Bharata race , in consequence of heads cut efi’

by whetted shafts ceaselessly falling on the ground, it seemedas if a shower of stones fell fromthe sky. And that Pi rtha

who had passed three and ten yea rs in sec lus ion, that Pi ndava

of formidable prowess, displaying his fierceness, new ranged

the field. of battle , pouring th e terrible fire of his wrath upon

the sons of Dhritarashtra. An d beholding the fierc e prowess

of Arjuna who thus scorched the hostile host, the Kuru war

riors, in the very presence of Duryodhana, became dispiritedand ceased to fight ! And, 0 t rata, having struck terror

into that host and rented these mighty car-warriors, that

foremost of victors, Arjuna, ranged on the field. An d the son

of Panda then created on the fie ld of battle a dreadful river

of blood, with waving billows, like unto the river of death

that is created by Time at the end of the Yaga , having the

mess and straw? with bows and arrows for its beats, fierce

in the extreme , and having flesh ami animal juices for itsmire iAnd coats ofmail and turbans floated thick on its surfac e. And

elephants constituted its alligators and the cars ih rafts.! And

marrow and fat and bleed constituted its current. And it was

calculated to strike terror into the hearts of the spectators.

Some texts add: halt s line here it is evidently an interpola

t ion .— T.

1' Some road Asthi-caivala ct c . for hem-caisdla «be - T.

I In some texts, c a-pa ivdlaco'

dvalamfor MM gsa-conita-karddamdm.

contra h ere wouldmean an ima l juices of all kinda—T.

158 m u rmu rs .

And dreadful to behold, and fearful in the extreme, and re

sounding with the yells offerocious beasts, keen-edged weaponsconstituted its crocodiles. And d shasas and other cannibais

haunted it fromone end to the other. And strings ofpearls con

stituted its ripples, and various excellent ornaments, its bubbles. And having swarms of arrows for its fierce eddies and

swede for its tortoises, it was incapable of being crossed.

And the mighty car-warriors constituted its large islands, and

it resounded with the blare of conchs and the sound of drums.

And the river of blood that P'

artha created was incapable of

being crossed. Indeed, so swift-handed was Arjuna that the

spec tators could not perceive any interval between his takingup an arrow, and fixing it on the bow-string, and letting it

off by a stretch of the Gandiva. I

Thus ends the sixty-second Section of the Go-harana of the

SECTION LXIII.

Go-hamna.Parva. con tinued .

Vaicampi yana said Then while a great havoc was beingmade among the Kurus, Ci ntanu

’

s son, B hishma, the grandsire of the B haratas, rushed at Arj una, taking up an excellent

bow adorned with gold, and many arrows also of keen points

and capable of piercing into the very Vitals of the foe and

afflic ting himsore ly. And in consequence of a white umbre llabeing held over his head, that tiger amongmen looked beautiful like unto a hill at sun-rise . And the son of Gangi , blow

ing his conch cheered the sons of Dhritarashtra, and wheelingalong his right came upon Vibhatsu and impeded his course .

And that slayer of hostile heroes, the son of Kunti, beholdinghim approach , received himwith a glad heart, like a hill re

c eiving a rain-charged c loud. And B hishma, endued with

great energy, pierced Partha’

s flag-staff with eight arrows of

great impetuosity like unto sighing snakes. And those

a rrows reaching the flag-staff of Pi ndu

’

s son , struck the blaz

ing ape and those creatures also stationed in the banner-top.

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160 n mu asra

weapons, those two hull. of the B harata race, both endued

with great might, fought on playfully and infatuated the

eyes of all created beings. And those illustrious

ranged on the field of battle , using the celestial weapons

obtained fromPrajapati , and Indu s, and Agn i , and the flame

And all beings were greatly surprised, upon beholding those

warriors engaged in combat. And they all exclaimed,— ‘Emc o

app lica tion of celestial weapons tha t is bei ng witnessed in

the comba t between B hishma and Pdrtha is rare among humambeingsVaieampi yana continued— “ Thus raged that conflict with

weapons between those warriors conversant will all weapons.

And when that conflict of celestial weapons ceased, then

commenced a conflict with arrows. And Jishau, approachinghis Opponent, cut ofl

’

with an arrow sharp like a razor the gold

decked how of B hishma. Within the twinkling of the eye ,

however, B hishma, that mighty-armed and great car-war

rior, took up another bow and stringed it. And inflamed withwrath , he showered upon Dhananjaya a c loud of arrows. And

Arjuna, too, endued with great energy, rained upon B hishmainnumerable sharp

-pointed and keen-edged arrows. And

B hishms also shot c louds of arrows upon Pi ndu’

s son. And

conversant with celestial weapons and engaged in shooting

at each other arrows of keen points, no distinction , 0 king,

could then be perceived between those illustrious warriors.

And that mighty car-warrior, Kunti’

s son crowned with a

diadem, and the heroic son of Cbntanu, obscured the ten

direc tions with their arrows. And the Fi ndava covered Bh ish

ma, and Bhishma also covered the Pi ndava, with c louds of

shafts. Ad, 0 king, wonderful was this combat that tookplace in this world ofmen. And the heroic warriors that

protec ted B hishma’

s car, slain by the son of Panda , fell pros

trate , Omonarch , beside the car of Kua ti’a son. And the feath

ery arrows of Cetavi hana, shot from the Gdndi 'va , fell in all

directions as it with the object ofmaking a wholesale slaught

VIRATA PAIVA. 161

or of the foe . And issuing forth from his car, those blazingarrows furnished with golden wings looked like rows of swans

in the sky. And all the celestials with Indra, stationed in the

firmament, gazed with wonder upon another celestial weapon

hurled with great force by that wonderful archer, Arjuna. And

beholding that wonderful weapon of great beauty, the mightyGandh i/ma , Chitrasena, highly pleased, addressed the lord

of celestials, saying- B ehold these arrows shot by Pi rtha

coursing through the sky in one continuous line ! Wonderful

is the dexterity ofJishnu in evolving this ce lestial weapon l Eu

man beings are incapable of shooting such a weapon, for it doesnot exist amongmen ! How wonderful again is this concourse

ofmighty weapons existing fromdays ofold ! No interval can

be perceived between his M ug up the arrows, fixing themon the bow-s tring, and letting themofi

’

by stretc hing the

Gdndivd . The soldiers are incapable of eVen looking at the

son of Pi ndu, who is like unto themidday sun blazing in the

sky ! So also none venture to look at B hishma, the son of

Gangs ! B oth are famous for their achievements, and both areof fierce prowess. Both are equal in feats of heroism, and

both dimcult of being vanquished in battle !’

‘Thus addressed by the Ga/ndhd rva about that combatbetween P

‘

artha and Bhishma, the lord of the celestials,O Bhi rata, paid proper respec t unto both by a shower of

celestial flowers. Meanwhile B hishma the son of Ci ntanu

assailed Arjuna on the left side , while that drawer of the

bow with either bands was on the point of piercing him.

And at this Vibhatsu, laughing aloud, cut off, with an

arrow ofkeen edge and furnished with vulturine wings, the

bow of Bhishma, that hero of solar efl'

ulgence. And then

Dhananjaya the son of Kunti pierced Bhishma in the breast

with ten shafts although the latter was contending with all

his prowess. And sore ly amicted with pain, Ganga’

s son of

mighty of arms and irresistible in battle , stood for a longtime leaning on the pole of his car. And beholding him de

prived of consciousness, the driver of his car-steeds, callingtomind the instructions about protect ing the warrior when

in a swoon, led himawayxfor safety.”

102 mamas “ .

Thus ends the sixty-third Section in the Go-harana of the ‘

Go-lm'ana Parva continued.

Vaicampi yana said— “After Bhishma had fled, leaving thevan of battle, the illustrious son of Dhritari shtra hoisting

high his flag approached Arjuna, bow in hand and setting

up a loud roar.’ And with a spear-headed shaft shot from

his bow stretched to the car, he pierced on the forehead

that terrible bowman of fierce prowess, Dhananjaya, rangingamidst the foes. And pierced with that keen shaft? of golden

point on the forehead, that here of famous deeds locked res

plendent, 0 king, like unto a beautiful hill with a single

peak. And cut by that arrow, the warmlife-blood gushed out

profusely fromthe wound. And the blood trickling down his

body shone beautifully like a wreath of golden flowers : And

struck by Duryodhana with the shaft, the swift-handed Arjuna

of unfailing strough , swelling with rage, pierced the king in

return, taking up arrows that were endued with the energy of

snakes ofvirulent poison. And Duryodhana offormidable energyattacked Pi rtha, and Pi rtha also, that foremost of heroes,

attacked Duryodhana. And it was thus that those foremostofmen, both born in the race of Ajamida, struck each other

alike in the combat. And then (seated) on an infuriate ele

phant huge as amountain and supported by four cars, Vikarna

rushed against Jishun the son of Kunti. And beholding thathuge elephant advancing with speed, Dhananjaya struck himon the head between the temples with an iron arrow of great

impetus shot fromthe bow-string stretched to the car. And

like the thunderbolt hurled by Indra splitting a mountain ,Some tions read uterrtya for mtg/a . The former rs evi ently

incorrect. Also mayam vigriliya for Dhanundgrihyd . The latter is

undoubtedly preferable - T.

t In some textsmamhitma formamitena. The former is incorrect.

1 A material difi'

erence of reading is observable in th e second line

of this aloha. I have adopted the reading of the B urdwan Pundits —T.

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St ones LI V.

Vaicampiyana said —“ Thus summoned to battle by the illustrious hero, Dhritarh htra

'

s son turned back stung by those

s hook. And stung by those rcprcaohes and unable to bear

swiftnmturned back on hia car, libs a anake that is trampledunder foot. And beholding Duryodhana turn back with his

wounds, Kama, that hero amongmen, docked with a go lden

necklac e, stopped the king on the way and soothing him.

himself proceeded along the north of Duryodhana’

s car to

Kripa and Vivingati and Dusoi rana and others also, quicklyturning back. rushed forward with speed with drawn bows

and arrows fixed on the bow-strings, for protecting Duryo

dhana. And beho lding those divia'

ons advance towards himlike the swelling surges of the ocean, Dhananjaya, the son of

Prithi , quicky rushed at themlike a crane rushing at a des

cending cloud. And with celestial weapons in their hands, they

fromall sides a perfect shower of shafts, like clouds shower

ing on themountain-breast a heavy downpour of rain. And

among the Kurus, the wielder of the Gandiva. who was 094”

able of enduring all fees, evolved another irresistible weapon

obtained fromIndra, called Sm okwna.

’ And entirely cover

mg the cardinal and other directions with sharp and keen

A difi'

erence of reading is observable here. For Aindmmsome

editions read Aindra . I have adopted the former reading if th e latter

b e correc t, it would be an adjec tive of admire -diam” . The WOOPOn

calledmama/mmstdpified the senses of alL— T

VIRATA ru n . 165

hero stupified the ir senses with the twang of the Gdndiva .

And once more , taking up with both his hands that large

conch of loud blare , Partha, that slayer of foes, blew it with

force and filled the cardinal and other points, the whole earth ,and the sky, with that noise. And those foremost of the Kuruheroes were all deprived of their senses by the sound of

that conch blown by Pi rtha. And all of them stood still,their bows, fromwhich they were never separated, dropping

down fromtheir hands . And when the Kuru army becameinsensible , Partha calling to mind the words of Uttara, ad

dressed the son of the Matsya king, saying, -‘O best ofmen,

go thou among the Kurus, so long as they remain insen

sible, and bring away the white garments of Drona and Kripa,and the yellow and handsome ones of Kama, as also the blue

ones of the king and Drona’

s son. Me thinks, B hishma is not

stupified, for he knoweth how to counteract this weapon of

mine . So, pass thou on , keeping his steeds to thy left ; for

those that are sen sible should thus be avoided ." Hearing

these words , the illustrious son of Matsya, giving up the reins

of the steeds, jumped down fromthe car and taking 03 the

garments ofthe warriors, came back to his place. And the son of

Viri ta then urged the four handsome steeds with flanks adorn

ed with golden armours. And those white steeds, urged on,

took Arjuna away fromthe mih t of the battle -field and be

yond the array ofthe infantry bearing standards in their hands.

And B hishma, beholding that best ofmen thus going away,

struck himwith arrows. And P‘

artha too, having slain Ebish

ma’s steeds, pierced himwith ten shafts. And abandoning

B hishma on the field of battle, having first slain his car-driver,Arjuna with a good

-looking bow in hand, came out of that

multitude of cars, like the sun emerging fromthe c louds. And

Dhritari shtra’

s son , that foremost of heroes among the Kurus,recovering his senses, saw the son of Pritha standing like the

lord of the celestials, alone on the battle -field. And he said

in a hurry (unto B hishma),—‘How hath this one escaped from

thee ? Do thou aflict him in such a way that he may not

escape . And at this, Ci ntanu’

s son, smiling, said unto him,

— ‘Where had been this sense ofthine, and where had been thy

166 W M TL

prowess too, when thou hadst been in a state ofunconsciousness;

renouncing thy arrows and handsome bow Vibhatsu is not

addicwd to the commission of atrocious deeds nor is his soul

inc lined to sin. He renounceth not his principles even for the

sake of the three worlds. It is for this only that all of us

have not been slain in this battle 1 O thou foremost of Rumhomes, go back to the city of the Kurus, and let Fi rths also

go away, having conquered the kine. Do thou never foolishly

throw away thy own good. Indeed that which leadeth to cne’

a

welfare ought to be accomplished.

Vaicampi yana continued Having listened to the words

of the grandsire that tended to his own welfare , the wrathful

king Duryodhana, no longer eager for battle, drew a deep

sigh and became silent. And reflecting that the advice of

B hishma was beneficial and seeing that the Arj una-fire incross

ing in ferocity, the other warriors also, desirous of protecting

Duryodhana, resolved to return. And beholding those fore-v

most of Rumheroes departing for their city, Dhananjaya theson of Pritha, with a cheerful heart followed themfor a while ;desirous ofaddressing and worshipping them.

‘ And havingwor,

shipped the agedgrandsire— the son of Cantanu, as also the pre

ceptor Drona, and having saluted with beautiful arrows Drona’

s

son and Kripa and other venerable ones among the Kurus,

the son ofPritha.

broke into fragments Duryodhana’

s crown

decked with precious gems, with one other arrow. And hav

ing saluted all the venerable and brave warriors thus, he filled

the three worlds with the twang of the 05nd'iva , And sud

denly blowing his conch called Devadwtta , the hero pierced the

hearts of all his foes. And having humbled the hostile host,he looked resplendent on his car decked with a handsome flag.And beholding the Kurus depart, Kiritin c heerfully said unto

Matsya’

s son,— ‘Turn back thy steeds : thy kine have been

recovered the foe is going away and do thou also return to

A material difference of reading is observable h ere. Some edi

t ions read dodslqyamano-anunayammukurtamW ho-arrow rampdr ikrityathug/as. The B urdwan Pundits read dvdshamdno-anuydyau mulmrtan

’

t

rampuj ayamtatmKurup ravirdn. The latter seems to be preferable,although the former would not be unintelligible. T.

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168 ” M M

of the Matsyasmay hide himself in fear.‘ On the other hand,

ente ring thy city, do thou proc laim in the presence of thy

father that the dmd is thy own , saying— By me bath the

army of ike Kam-s been vanqu ished and by me have thekine bee n rccovcred fromthc foc

“ Uttara said,-‘Thc feat thou hast achieved is beyond my

power ! I do not possess the ability to ac hieve it ! I shallnot, however, 0 Savyasi chin, discover thee to my father, as

long as thou wilt not tellme to do it !’

Vaicampi yana continued— “Having vanquished the hostile

army and wrested the whole of that wealth from the Kurus,

Jishnu returned again to the cemetery and having approach ed

the same Cami tree stood there with body mangled by the

arrows of the enemy. Then that terrible monkey blazinglike fire ascended into the sky with those other creatures in

the flag-stafl

'

. And the illusion created (by Viewakarman)melted away and Uttara

’

s own banner bearing the device of

a lion was set up on the car again. And having replac ed the

arrows and quivers of those foremost of the Kuru princes,

and also that other weapon the (Gamdiva) which enhances the

fierceness of a battle , the illustrious prince of Matsya set out

for the city with a glad heart, having Kiritin as his charioteer.

And having achieved an exceedingly mighty feat and slain

the foe , Pi rtha also, that slayer of foes, binding his hair into a

braid as before, took the reins fromUttara’s hands. And that

illustrious hero entered the city of Viri ta, with a cheerful

heart, rehabi litating himse lf as Vrihannali the car-driver of

Uttara.

”

Vaicampl yana continued— “When all the Kuravas, utterlyrouted and vanquished, set out in a deje cted mood for Has

tini pura, Palguna, on his way back, addressed Uttara, saying, -

‘O prince, O hero ofmighty arms, seeing the kine escorted in advance of us by the cowherds , we shall enter Viri ta

’

s

metropolis in the afternoon, having tended the steeds with

drink and a bath. Let the cowherds, despatched by thee ,

The word used in all th e texts is Pranacyet, literally“ lost.” The

sense, however, seems to be that of “ hiding”or,

“concealing.

”- T.

rmrrs ru n ; {169

s peedily repair to the city with the good news and proclaimthy vic tory !

’

Vaicampi yana continued—J‘ Agreeably to Arjuna

’

s words,

Uttara speedily ordered the messengers, saying — Go ye and

proc laimthe king’

s victory ! The foe hath been routed, and the

kine have been recovered And the Matsya and the B harata

princes having thus consulted together, re-approached the

same pct/mi tree. And gra tified with the victory they had won,

and arrived at the foot of the cams?tree, they wore on their

persons and took up on th eir c ar the ornaments and robes

they had left there. And having vanquished the whole hostile

the heroic son of Vili ta returned to the city with Vrihannali

Thus ends the m’xty-sixth Sec tion in the Goaharana of the

Sec-non LXVII.

Go-harana Parva confi rmed. )

Vaiqampi yana said— “Having speedily re covered his wealth ,Vini ta owning a large army entered his c ity with a cheerful

vanquished the Tr igamtas in battle and recovered all the kine,

tthat migh ty monarch , along with the sons of Prith fa, looked

wesplendent and biased forth in beauty. And as the brave

king, that enhancer of the joys of friends, was seate d on

h is throne, all his subject s headed by the B rahmanas s tood‘before hfm.1' And worshipped by them, the king of t he

Matsyas, at the head of his a rmy, saluted the B rahmanas and

h is subjects in r eturn and dismissed them cheerfully. And

Vini ta, the king of the Matsyas o wning a large army, enquired

In some editions dia nancha ca lla j itwdcu for dhananckap i mj itwacu. Th e latter is more melodious. The difl

’

erence ofmeaning is

h ardly ofmuch consequence— T.

1' Some editions add a line here that looks like an int erpolation. It

is Updadncliab-irs cammama s ”mm, and means— “

all the

brave warriors along with the Parthas began to adore h im.

”

[ 22 ]

170 m u rmu rs.

after Uttara, saying,—‘Where hath Uttara gone And the

women and themaidens of the palace and the other femalesliving in the inner apartments, joyfully' said unto him,

-‘Our kine having been seized by the Kurus, B huminjaya

incensed at this and fromexcess of bravery hath issued forth

a lone, with only Vrihannali as his second, for vanquishing

the six mighty car-warriors, B hishma the son of Ci ntanu , and

Kripa, and Kama, andDuryodhana, and Drona, andDrona’

s son

who have all come with the Knru army !1"

Vaicampi yana continued Then king Viri ta, hearingthat his brave son had gone forth with only one car and with

Vrihannali as his car-driver, became filled with grief, and

addressing his chief counse llors, said,—‘Without doubt, the

Kauravas and other lords of earth , learning the defeat of the

Trigartas, will never keep their ground. Therefore , let those

ofmy warriors that have not been wounded by the Tr igar tas goout, accompanied by a mighty force, for the protec tion of

Uttara And saying this, the king speedily despatched, for

the sake of his son, horses and elephants and cars and a largenumber of foot-soldiers, accoutred and decked with various

kinds of weapons and ornaments. And it was thus that Viri ta

the king of the Matsyas owning a large army, quietly ordered

out a large division consisting of four kinds of troops. And

having done this, he said,—‘Learn ye , without loss of time,

whether the prince liveth still or not ! Imyself think that hewho hath got a person of the neuter sex for his car-driver is

not alive !’

Vaicampi yana continued Then king Yudhishthira the

monarch, Vrihannali hath been his charioteer, the foe willnever be able to take away thy kine today Protected by that

charioteer, thy son will be able to vanquish in battle all the

lords of earth allied with the Kurus, indeed, even the gods andthe Asa ras and the Siddhas and the Yakshas together !

’

it In some texts tatsaroamfor saahn’

shta'

s. I have adopted the

latter reading. T.

t For niryatas Prt’

thim‘aj ayac some texts read nirgatar Prithic ipatv.

The latter reading is evidently incorrect.- T.

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17! m um!

words z— ‘O Sairimdhr i, fetch the dice ! And, 0 Kanka, le t

the play commence The son of Pi ndu replied, saying,— ‘We

have heard it said that one whose heart is filled with joyshould not play with a cunning gambler. I do not, therefore ,

dare gamble with thee that art so tmnsported with joy ! I

amover desirous of doing what is for thy good. Let the

play, however, commence , if it pleases theeVirata said, -

‘My fhmale slaves and kine, my gold and

whatsoever other wealth I have, nothing of all this shalt

thou be able to protect today even if I do not gamble.’

Kanka

said in reply,—‘Omonarch , O bestower of honors, what bul i-t

ness hast thou with gambling which is attended with m ore

ous evils ? Gambling is fraught with many evils ; it should,

therefore , be shunned. Thou mayst have seen or at least

heard of Yudhisthira the son of Pi ndu. He lost his extensive

For this, I am averse to gambling. B ut if thou likest, 0

king, I will play I'

Vaiqampayana continued — “While the play was going on ,

Matsya said unto the son of Pl ada,- ‘Lo, the Karavas that

are so formidable have been vanquished in battle by my 9011 f

not be conu that hath Vrihannala for his charioteer

Thus addressed, king Matsya became angry and said unto

Pi ndu’

s son ,-‘Thou wretch of a B rahmana, dost thou compare

one of the neuter sex with my son ! East thou no knowledge

of what is proper and what improper for one to say Without

doubt, thou disregardstme ! Why should notmy son vanquish

all those with B hishma and Drona as their leaders ? O B ri ha

mass , for friendship only I pardon thee this thy ofi‘

enoe ! Thou

must not, however, say so again if thou wishest to live !’

“ Yudhishthira said,—"l'here where Bhishma and Drona and

Drona’

s son and the son of Vikartana and Kripa and kingDuryodhana and other royal and mighty carvwarriors are

assembled, or there where Indra himself is surrounded by

The word rajyamis repeated in some texts in the beginning of thesecond line. The correct reading is dyute. T.

vmsu PABVA. l 73

the Maruts, what other person than Vrihannala can fight,

encountering themall None hath been, none will be , his equal

in strength of arms ! Indeed, it is Vrihannala only whose

heart is filled with joy at sight of a terrible conflict ! It is he

who had vanquished the ce lestials and the Aswras and humanbeings fighting together ! With such a one for his ally, whyshould not thy son c onquer the foe !

’

Viri ta said—‘Repeatedly

forbidden byme, thou dost not yet restrain thy tongue ! If

there is none to punish, no one would practise virtue

Vaicamyi yana continued — “ Saying this, the king inflamedwith anger forc ibly struck Yudhisthira in the fac e with a die,

and reproached himangrily, saying, - ‘Let it not occur again !’

And having been violently struck, blood began to flow fromhis nose . B ut the son of Prithi held it in his hands before

it fell on the ground. And the virtuous Yudhishthira then

glanced at Draupadi who was standing by his side . Ever

obedient to the wishes of her lord, the faultless Draupadi,understanding his meaning, and bringing a golden vesse l

filled with water, received the blood that flowed fromhis nose .

Meanwhile, Uttara, e ntertained with sweet perfumes of

diverse kinds and decked with floral chaple ts, slowly entered

the city, received wi th respec t by the citizens, the women, and

the people of the provinces. And approaching the gate of

palace he sent the news of his arrival to his tathet . And the

porter then , approaching the king, said,-‘Thy son Uttara

waiteth at the gate with Vrihannali as his companion And

the Matsya king, with a cheerful heart, said unto him,- ‘Do

thou usher both , as I amvery anxious to see them Then

Yudhishthira, the king of the Kurus, gently whispemd unto

the ears of the warder, -‘Let Uttara enter alone ; Vrihannali

must not come in. Such is the vow of that hero ofmightyarms that whoever causeth a wound onmy person or sheddeth

my blood except in battle, shall not live ! Inflamed with rage

he will never hear patiently to seeme bleeding, but will slayVirata even now with his counsellors and troops and steeds t

Thus ends the sixty-seventh Section of the Go-harana of the

Vini ta Parva.

Go-haraaa Pam continued.

Vaicampi yana said Then B huminjaya, the eldest son'

of the king, entered, and having worshipped the feet of his

father, approached Kanka And he beheld Kanka covered with

blood, and seated on the ground at one end of the court , and

waited upon by the Sa ir indhr i. And seeing this, Uttara asked

his father in a hurry, saying,-‘Bywhom, 0 king, hath this one

been struck ? Bywhomhath this sinful ac t been perpetrated ?Vita-ta said— T his crooked Bri hmana hath been struck by

me. He deserveth even more than this. When I was praisingthee, he praised that person of the third sex.

’

ac t Do thou speedily propitiate himso that the virulent poison

of a B ri hmana ’

s cursemay not consume thee to thy roots !’

Vaicampi yana continued Having heard the words of

his son, Viri ta. that enhancer of the limits of his kingdonr,

began to soothe Kunti’

s son, who was like unto a fire hid

king, I have long ago forgiven it ! Anget ave none. Had

this blood frommy nostrils fallen on the ground, then , with

out doubt, thou , Omonarch , wouldst have been destroyedwith thy kingdom! I do not, however, blame thee , 0 king,

for having struck an innocent person ! For, 0 king, they

that are powerful generally act with unreasoning severity !’

Vrihannali ente red (the council-room and having saluted

both Virata and Kanka, stood silent. And the king, having

appeased the chief of the Rams, began to praise in Savya

sachin’

s hearing, Uttara who had returned fromthe battle . And

the king said,—‘O enhancer of the joys of Kekaya

’

s prin cess,

in thee have I truly a son ! I never had nor shall have , a

son that is equa l to thee ! How, indeed, couldst thou , 0 child,

e ncounter that Kama who leaveth not a single mark unhit

amongst even a. thousand that hemay aimat all at once ! How

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176 nmnm u .

Suta’

s son and Bhishma. Thatmighty hero then spoke un to

the afl'

righted prince Duryodhana' who was running away like

the leader of a herd of elephan ts, these worda— ‘O prince of

even at Hastinapura ! Protect thy life by putting forth thymight ! Thou shalt not escape me by flight ! Therefore.

make up thy mind for tight ! If vic torious. the sovereignty

of the earth will be thine, or. if slain, heaven itself will

be thine !’

Thus addressed. king Duryodhana— that tiger

among mam— sighing ou

'

his car like a snake turned back,

surrounded by his counse llors, and showering arrows endued

with the speed and force of thunderbolts. B eho lding all this

tial youth pierced with his arrows the Kuru army consisting

crowd of cars, that youth, stout as the lion, laughed at themand robbed themof their c lothes and attires. Indeed, the six

great car-warriors of the Kurus were vanquished by that here

alone , even like herds of animals ranging in the forest by a.

single tiger in rage.’

“ Viri ta said,—‘Where is that mighty-armed and famous

youth of celestial origin— that hero who recovered in battle

my wealth that had been seized by the xurus ? I amanxiousto behold and worship that mighty warrior of ce lestial originlwho hath saved thee andmy kine also !

’

Uttara replied, That mighty son of a deity disappearedthere and then. I think, however. that he will show himselfeither to-morrow or the day after !

’

palace in disguise . And permitted by the high-souled Virata,Partha presenwd with his own hands the garments he had

brought, unto Viri ta’

s daughter. And the beautiful Uttara,

The reading Viburnum/ta &.c. is erroneous. The

have adop ted the latter reading — T.

Win n ru n .~177

obtaining those new and costly c lothes of diverse kinds, he

c ame highly glad, along with the son of the Matsya king.

Thus ends the sixty-ninth Section in the Go-harana of

Vini ta Parva.

SECTION LXX.

Vaivahilca Parrot.

Vaicampayana said— “ Then, on the third day, attired in

white robes after a bath, and decked in ornaments of all kinds,those great c ar-warriors, the five Pandava brothers, having

accomplished their vow, and with Yudh ishthira at their head,

looked resplendent as they entered the palace-gate like five

intoxicated elephan ts. And having entered the council-ha ll

of Virata, th ey

.

took their seats on the thrones reserved for

kings, and shone brilliantly like fires on the sacrificial altar.

And after the Pandavas had taken their seats, Virata, that

lord of earth , came there for holding his council and discharging other royal ofiices. And beholding the illustrious Pi ndavas

blazing like fires, the king reflected for a moment . And then,

filled with wrath , the Matsya king spoke unto Kanka seated

there like a celestial and looking like the lord of the celestialssurrounded by the Maruts. And he said,-

‘A player at dice ,«thou wert employed byme as a courtier ! How couldst thouoccupy the royal seat, thus attired in handsome robes and

ornamentsVaicampi yana continued.

-“ Hearing these words ofViri ti ,

0 king, and desirous of jesting with him, Arjuna smilinglysaid in reply, -‘This person , 0 king, deserveth to oc cupy the

same seat with Indra himself! Devoted to the B ri bmanas,acquainted with the Vedas , indifi

'

erent to luxury and carnal

enjoyments, habitually performing sacrifices, steady in vows,

this one , indeed, is the very embodiment of virtue ! Th e fore

most of all persons endued with energy and superior to every

body on earth in intelligence, devoted to asceticism, he is

conversant with various weapons. No other person among the

mobile and immobile creatures of the three worlds possesse th

or will ever possess such knowledge of weapons. And there is

[ 23 ]

17 8 m u rmu rs.

none even amongst the gods, or Asa/ms, ormen, or Rakshasaa,

or Gandha rvas, or Yaksha chiefs , or Kismaras— or mightyUmgas, who is like him! Endued with great foresight and

energy, beloved by the c itizens and inhabitants of the pro

vinces, he is themightiest of ear-warriors amongst the sons of

Pandu. A performer of sacrifices, devoted tomorality, and of

subdued passions, like unto a great Ricki , this royal sage is

celebrated over all the worlds ! Possessed of great strength

and great inte lligence, able , and truthful, he hath all his senses

under complete control. Equal unto Indra in wealth and

Kuvera in hoarding, he is the pro tector of the worlds like

unto Mamet himse lf ofmighty prowess ! Endued with great

might, he is even such Kind unto all creatures he is no other

than the hull of the Kuru race, king Yudhishthira the just !

The achievements of this king resemble the sun himself ofblazing efi

'

ulgence. And his fame hath travelled in all direc

tions like the rays of that luminary. And like the rays follow

ing the risen sun of blazing effulgence , ten thousand swift

e lephants followed him, 0 king, when he dwelt among the

Kurus ! And, 0 king, thirty thousand cars decked in gold and

drawn by the best steeds, also used to follow himthen ! And

full eight hundred bards adorned with ear-rings set with

shining gems, and accompanied byminstrels, recited his praisesin those days, like the Rish

'is adoring Indra ! And, 0 king , the .

Kuravas and other lords of earth always waited upon himlikeslaves, as the celestials upon Kuvera ! This eminent king,

resembling the bright-rayed sun ,made all lords of earth pay

tribute unto himlike persons of the agricultural c lass.

‘ And

eighty-eight thousands of high

-souled swam depended for

their subsistence upon this king practising excellent vowe '

l

The line beginning with Va igydm’

va «to. is read various ly. The

reading I have adopted is Hahdbkdgo eit amc’mi'va rapmimdn. Th e

B urdwan text reads for th ese words Hahdrab'

o vimgdn mamdnap i. If

th e latter reading be adopted, the mean ing would be, th is great

king made all th e lords of earth , weak or strong, pay the , &c .

t Some texts readmkdritarra tas for w haritavmtam. If the formerbe adopted, it would qualify Rdiénam—T.

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1 8 0 mu rmu r:

eyes like lotus petals and slender waist and sweetmiles is ‘

Drupada’

s daughter, thy wife’

s Saimindhr i, for whose sake ,

0 king, the Kichakas were slain ! I am, 0 king, Arjuna who,it is evident thou hast heard, is that son of Prithi , who is

B hima’

s junior and the senior of the twins We have , 0 king,

happily passed in thy abode the period of non-discovery, like

infants in the wombVaicampi yana continued— “After Arjuna had pointed out

those heroes— the five P'

andavas, the son of Viri ta then spoke

of Arjuna’

s prowess. And Uttara once again identified the

sons of Pritha. And the prince said—"That one whose com

plexion is bright like that of pure gold, who is stout like a fu ll

grown lion, whose nose is so prominent , whomeyes are large

and expansive, and whose face is broad and of coppery bus ,

is the king of the Kurus And behold, that one whose tread

is like that of an infuriate elephant, whose complexion is

like that ofheawd gold, whose shoulders are broad and expand

ed, and whose arms are long and thick, is Vrikodara ! And

he who stands by his side , that youth of darkish hue , who is

like unto a leader of a herd of e lephants, whose shoulders

are broad like those of a lion, whose tread is like that of

a mighty e lephant, and whose eyes are large and expansive

like lotus-leaves, is Arjuna, that foremost of bowmen ! And

lo, c lose to the king, are those foremost ofmen, the twins,

like unto Vishnu and Indra, and who have no equals, in the

world ofmen, in beauty, might, and behaviour ! And c lose

by them, behold, standeth Krishni , beautiful as gold, like

unto the very embodiment of light, possessing the complexionof the blue lotus, like unto a celestial damsel, and resemblingthe living embodiment of Lakshmi herselfVaicampi pana continued Then Viri ta

’

s son began to

describe the prowess of Arjuna, saying,—‘Even this one is he

that slew the foe, like unto a lion devastating a flock of

deer ! Even he ranged through crowds of hostile cars, slayingtheir best of car-warriors ! By himwas slain a huge , infuriate ,

e lephant bymeans of a single arrow ! Pierced by him, that

huge beas t having its flanks adorned with an armour of gold,

fe ll down pierc ing the earth with his tusks ! By himhave the

VIRATAmnvaa 1 8 1‘

kine been recovered and the Kauravas vanquished in battle !

My ears have been deafened by the blare of his conch It was

by this here of fierce deeds that B hishma and Drona, alongwith Duryodhana, were vanquished. That achievement is his,and notmine !’

Vaicampayana continued. Hearing these words of his,

the mighty king of the Matsyas, considering himself guiltyof having offended Yudhishthira, said unto Uttara in reply,‘I think the time hath come forme to propitiate the son of

Pi ndu. And, if thou likest, I shall bestow my daughterUttara upon Arjuna !

’

Uttara said,—‘Worthy of our adorations and worship and

respec t , the time hath come for worshipping the illustrious sonsof Pandu who deserve to be worshipped by us !

’

Virata said ‘When brought under the foe’

s subjection

in battle , it was B himasena that rescuedme ! My kine also

have been recovered by Arjuna ! It is through the might oftheir arms that we have obtained victory in battle ! Such

being the case, all of us, with our counsellors, shall propitiateYudhishthira the son of Kunti B lessed be thou, with all thy

brothers, O bull among the sons of Pandu If, 0 king, we have

ever said or done anything in ignorance to offend thee , it

behoveth thee to forgive us ! The son of Pandu is virtuous’

f

Vaicampayana continued — “ Then the high-souled Virata,

delighted greatly, approached king Yudhishthira andmade analliance with h im, and ofl

'

ered him his whole kingdomtogether with the sceptre and treasury and metropolis. And

addressing all the Pandavas, and especially Dhananjaya, themighty king of the Matsyas repeatedly said,—

‘By good luck

it is that I see you !’

And having again and again embracedYudhishthira and B hima and the sons of Madri, and smelttheir heads, Viri ta, that owner of a large army, was not

satiated with gazing at them. And being highly pleased, he

said unto king Yudhishthira, -‘By good luck it is that I see

The B urdwan Pundits exclude this aloha although it bears a ll the

marks of genuineness. Without it, the speech of Uttara would be '

incomplete — T.

18 2 m ummu .

you safe fromwoods By good luck it is that ye have accomplished with M ealty the period of exile, undiscovered bythose wicked wights l Imake over my entire kingdom to

the sons of Prithi , and what else I have . Let the sons of

Pandu accept these without the slightest hesitation ! And

le t Dhananjaya , called also Savyasl chin , accept the hand of

Uttara ; for that best ofmen is fit to be her lord !’ Thus

addressed, king Yudhishthira the just c ast a look upon Dhan

anjaya the son of Prithi . And looked at by his brother,

Arjuna said unto the Matsya king, —‘Omonarch, I accept thy

daughter as my daughter-in-law ! An allianc e of this kind

be tween the Matsyas and the B haratas is, indeed, desirable !’

Thus ends the seventy first Section in the Vaivahika of the

St orms LXXII.Vaivdhika Pam con tinued.)

Virata said, -‘Why, 0 best among the Pandavas, dost

thou not wish to accept as wife thismy daughter that I bestow upon thee

Arjuna said— R esiding in thy inner appartments, I hadoccasion always to behold thy daughter, and she too, alone or

in company, trustedme as her father. Well versed in singing

and dancing, I was liked and regarded by her, and, indeed,

thy daughter always regarde thme as her protec tor ! 0 king,

I lived for one whole year with her though she had atta ined

the age of puberty ! Under these circumstan ces, thyself orother men may, not without reason, entertain suspic ions

against her orme ! ‘

Therefore , O'

king, myse lf who ampure ,and have

‘mysenses under control,'beg of thee, O monarch, thy

“

daughter farmy daughter-in-law ! Thus do I attest her purity !

There is.

no d ifl'

erence between a daughter-ia -law and a

daughter, as also be twee‘

n‘

s son and one’

s own se lf. By adopt

ing this c ourse , therefore , her purity will be proved. I am“

afraid of slanderous and false '

accusations ! I accept, therefore ,'

0 king, thy daughter Uttara for my daughter-in -law Sur

passing all ia knowledge of weapons, resembling a celestial

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1 8 4 l i n eman .

there , bringing with themthe well-adorned cars of the Pi n

davas. And there came also ten thousand elephants and ten

thousand cars, and hundred millions of horse and hundred

billions of foot soldiers, and innumerable Vrishni and Andhakaand B hoja warriors of great energy, in the train of that tiger

among the Vrishnis,Vasudeva of great efl'

ulgence. And Krishna

gave unto each ofthe illustrious sons ofPi ndu numerous femaleslaves, and gems and robes. And then the nuptial festival set

in between the families of the Matsya king and the Pi ndavas.And then conchs and cymbals and horns and drums and other

musical ins truments, appointed by the P‘

andavas. began to playin the palace of Viri ta. And door of various kinds and c lean

animals by hundreds were slain. And wines of various kinds

and intoxicating juices of trees were profusely collected. And

ing and legendary lore , waited upon the kings, and chaunted

their praises and genealogies. And thematrons of the Matsyasofsymmetrical bodies and limbs, and wearing ear-rings ofpearlsand gems, headed by Sudeshni , came to the place where the

marriage knot was to be tied. And amongst those beautifulfemales of fair complexicns and excellent omamonts, Krishnawas the foremost in beauty and fame and splendour. And they

all came there , leading forth the princessUttari decked in every

ornament and resembling the daughter of the great Indra himself. And then Dhananjaya the son of Kunti accepted Viri ta

’

s

daughter of faultless limbs on behalf of his son by Subhadre.

And that great king, Yudhishthira the son of Kunti, who

stood there like Indra, also accepted her as his daughter-in-law.

And having accepted her, the son of Prithi , with Janarddana

before him, caused the nuptial ceremonies to be performed of

the illustrious son of Subhadri . And Viri ta then gave him(as dowry) seven thousand steeds endued with the speed of the

wind and two hundred e lephants of the best kind and muchwealth also. And duly pouring libations of c larified butter on

the blazing fire, and paid homage unto the twice -born ones,

Viri ta offered to the Pandavas his kingdom, army, treasury,and his own self. And after the marriage had taken place,Yudhishthira the son ofDharmagave away unto the Brahm

VIRATA PAR‘

VA. l 8 5

i nas all the wealth that had been brought by Krishna of

unfading glory. And he also gave away thousands of kine,

and diverse kinds of robes, and various excellent ornaments,and vehic les, and beds, and delicious viands of various kinds,

and cordial drinks of diverse species . And the king also

made gifts of land unto the Brahmanas with due rites, and

a lso cattle by thousands. And he also gave away thousands

of steeds andmuch gold andmuch wealth ofother kinds , untopersons of all ages. And, 0 hull of the Bharata race , the

c ity of the Matsya king, thronged with men cheerful and

well-fed, shone brightly like a great festival

Thus ends the seventy-second Section in the Vaivahika of

the Vini ta Parva.

FINIS VIRATA PARVA.

“ C fi

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Ten MAHAEHAEATA as KsrsnsA-l rrau sa Vn sa'

; Trans lated

into English Prose. Published by Ps o'rar CHANDRA Ror B harata Press,

Calcutta.

The last instalment that has been issued of th is extremely useful

work is Part XX II., carrying us down to the commencement of Sec tion295 of th e Vama Pe rm. The transla tion has now attrac ted much favourable notice by the Press, both in this country and in Europe and it is

almost impossible to say toomuch in support of an underta king which,

in addition tomaking th e c ontents of th is interesting Epic available to

s tudentsunacquainted with Sanskr it, is of th e greatest practical use to

Sanskritf

scholars also, who, unable to find time to search the original

text for passages that th ey require to look up, have now a quickly pro

gressingmeans of ready referenc e being prov ided for them. The under

taking is one that involves a very heavy expenditure on the supporters

of it, the Datavya Bharata Karyalaya, or Society for the Presentation

of the B harata since, like all its other works, th is translation is

distributed almost entirely gra tis, and it is therefore a pleasure to no te,fromthe cover o f Part XXL, that such munific ent pecuniary support

has recently beengiven by H is Highness the Nizam,H .H . the Maharaja

Gaikwar of Baroda, H. H . the Maharsja Ham, and the ir H ighness

.the Maharfijas of Faridkote, Jeyporo, Dh ar, and Rewah. With such

e xamples as these before them, we may confidently hepe that the work

is in no chance .of languish ing fromwant of recognit ion by the leading

Native representatives of th e country, whose anc ien t legendary h istory

is thus beingmade so prac tically ava ilable for th e researches of general

readers all over the world. A nd w e are glad to take th is opportun ity

of recommending the general work of th e Society to th e support of

patrons of litera ture in Europe and o ther countriea The Indian Arm;quar

r

y, J uly, 1 8 8 6.

MAHABHARATA ,-traduction du Sanskrit en anglais par Pso

'rar

CHANDRA Ror .-L

’

autour a complete la traduction des parties Adhi

Bab/mot Vama ,-e t commence la’

Vira ta , don t nous avons recu lo premierfascicule. Ii adress do nouveau un pressant appel a l

’Inde pour aider le

Da tum/a B hara ta. Karya laya dans l’oeuvre gigan tesque qu’il a entrepri

is

pour faire revire l’antique littérature indienne en en traduisan t les

oeuvres dans la languemoderne do l’empire indien-l’anglais, et la mettreamsl a la por tée do tous. Maia il a besoin d’etre aidé aux libéralités

desprinces indiens, du Viceroi, dos divers gouve rnement de I’Inde, desamis do l’Inde, il fait encore appel pour con tinuer Poeuvre commencesat si bien conduits juqu

’a cc jour . Il fau t espérer que cet appel sera

en tendu, e t que le babou Pro tap Chandra Roy pourra me ttre la dern ieremain 5 l’wuvre auquel son nomest intimement

'

lié. -L6 Petit B engali, 2

Aout, 1 8 8 6 .

THE MAHABHARATA.

Tn: Exc u se Tasma n)! of this‘

ddc ient Sanhlrrit Epic, about

which we have been fron t iers to time ’

writing‘in these columns,is

p rogressing space, thanks to the nothing beergy of its publish er, Mira

P rotap Chandra B oy of Calcutta. This bmfi hh t man, for we regarda s eminent any individual who works sudeéésfully

‘with 1111 h ismigh t forthe benefit of humanity in th e

‘

dimc'nlt “field’

of‘

literature, has b een

able to complete the first three ram.« Boot s 61 the B harata, and

t he part b efore us (th e 24 ) contains th e trhnelation Gf the first 28

sec tions of t he eth Pan 's, Viz, th e W e. Readers of th e B harata

need not be told that th e lot or th e Adi Pamand that third or the

7m Pawn are the longest of the 18 books of whi ch the'

gignatic

poemconsists. Mr. Protap Chandra Roy‘

has, th erefore, got through

nearly a th ird of the whole work, and we congratulate"

h imopen his

success thus far, as well as upon the arteries“‘

of themutilation

h e has been able to present to his readers. PutMr . Protap Chandra

Roy sadly needsmore funds, to enable h imt o cou plbte t he work his hasundertaken, notwithstanding that s ums amounting to 13 . 16,600 1have

heen up to date granted by th e dine-ant Local Gov ernments in l ndia

as well as by th e Secretary of Sta te, and kahd contribut ions hm»

been likewise received fromsev nat ive princ es and ch iefs. It is n ot

an easy th ing even for a man of pu ncely wealth to undertake th e

translat ion and pub licatilmof a vas t, a nc ient, c latsical work like th e

Mahabharata. Such i c ing the eats, a privat e individual like M r .

Protap Chandra mus t fail ut terly in his self-imposed task. if he is not

assisted liberally far and w ide by prince and peasant, by h is own coun

seymen as w ell as by enlightened foreigners. We, therefore, lift up our

fe eble voice and call upon one and all of our readers of every rank to

strengthen Mr. Pro tap Chandra B oy’s hands by sending some pecu

nie ry contribution in proportion to theirmeans to h is address as Secretary, Datavya Bhara ta Karyalaya, at No. 367, Upper Chitpere Road l

Calcu tta. We conclude with quoting the following fromh is “Appeal to

India on the Rescue of Anc ient Indian Literature fine ,”so that Mr.

Protap Chandramay speak to our readers in h is own words on the work

he has done and is doing The

Printed and published by Protap Chandra Roy,at 367, Upper Chitpore Road, Calcutta.

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small donations were to niémore encbfiiaging than the larger con:

Q ihutions I received. A ltogeth er they amounted to a very respec table

sum, and but for th emI could never have completed what I .had be

gun. Th e power of small subscriptions in a country like India is very

great. I have on several occasions experienced it in connection with

my enterpr ise .

A lthough I have thanked the students of the Central College, Banga

lore, wh ile acknowledging their contribution, I repeat those thanks pub

licly. The entire costs of two such editions of the English translation of the

I ahdbhdrata may be got together if the exampl'

e set by th ese studen ts

of B angalore he followed generally bymy countrymen. Nay, the funds

necessary for giving stability to the B harata Katy/clays itself and makeit a permanen t instrument for difl'using the treasures of old A ryan

though t, may easily be'

raised in India only by such a method, andnobody feel the poorer for it.

PROTAP CHANDRA ROY.

The departure of the E cu’ble C. P. Ilbert fromthese shores has been

definitely announced, and although every native ofIndia is rejoiced at the

thought of the prospec ts that await Mr. Ilbert in th e land of his birth,

for he leaves th e Law-membersh ip of th e Viceregal Council for the cmccof Junior Parliamentary Counsel, yet th ere is noth ing but sadness and

sorrow in every native heart at th e though t of the severance of India’s

connec tion w ith a person of h is stamp. In h imIndia loses a true friend,an omcial of broad sympathies, an able lawyer, a thorough gentlemanwhose influence was distinc tly felt in soc ie ty, and above all, an Eng

lishman of the noblest type. Great, however, as th e loss is to India,

that to th is poor Institu tion is still greater, for in h imthe Karyalaya

loses one of its kindest patrons. While passing h is days in England

amid the smiling faces of friends and relatives and amid the pleasan t

assoc iations of earlier years, may h e still continue to take an in terest

in the ad'

airs of th is poor country l The native papers have truly given

voice to the national sentimen t in desiring to do someth ing for perpetuating hismemory in this country. India would be ungrateful if sh e

did otherwise.

P. C. BOY.

Printed and published by Protap Chandra B oy,at 367, Upper

'

Chitpore Road, Calcutta.

THE MAHABHARATA

1m

ENGLISH PROSE.

Published and distributed chiefly gratis

BY

PROTAP CHAN DRA ROY.

UD YOGA P A R V A .

(Sscrros s VIII- XXXII.)

BHARATA PRESS.

No. 367, UPPER can nons ROAD.

Fromthe Amer ican Bookseller, NewYork,August 15th,

We have received fromM r. Wm. Emmette Coleman , a copy of an

Appeal issued by B sbu Roy, a learned Indian scholar, to obtain funds

for an issue of a faithful English translation of th e Mahdbhdrata , th e

great Sanskr it epic . The B abu is an enthusiast in regard to th is great

r eligious work h e has already issued a press translation in B enga li,

and finally resolved to establish a permanent society for distributing

gratuitously th e great works of anc ient India. Th is soc iety has distr i

buted nearly copies of the B engali version . Encouraged by th is

suc cess, th e B abu now is anxious to publish an English version , of

wh ich a number of copies w ill be sold to deserv ing students at 25

Rupees a copy, and a lso to raise a fund to make the soc iety for difl'

us ion

o f Indian literatur e as permanen t as the B ible societies. Itmust not befor a moment supposed that th is sch eme has anyth ing to do w ith the

n onsense wh ich th e Olcotts and B lavatskys ca ll Buddhism, esoteric or

exoteric, nor even w ith B uddh ismin its truer aspec t, as in The Light

of Asia . The Mahabharata represents th e though ts ofmen who extir

pated B uddh ismfromthe peninsula, and reflec ts th e ph ilosophy and

morality of th e golden days of India. The time will come, wr ites

M ax M uller,“ wh en every educ ated native w ill be as proud of th e

Hahdbkdrata as th e Greeks are of Homer.

” The c ircular issued by th e

B abu is well worth reading, and w ill be a revelation to many of th e

e xtent to wh ich th e great Indian poems are printed and gratuitously

c irculated by th e princes and ch iefs of India.

Fromthe Riligio-t llosop hica l Jou rn al, Ch icago,

Illinois, August 218 t, 18 8 6 .

1 1 ' G

It is believed that noth ing approximating a complete translation o f

th e Mahabhara ta exists in any European language, exc ept th e defec t ive

F rench version of M . Fauch e t he importance, therefore, of a faith fu l

English translation of th is great epic can scarcely b e over-estimated .

A s th e native H indus— princ es, scholars, and people— have contribu ted

s o liberally in aid of th e accomplishment of the gigan tic task of pub li

sh ing—mostly for gratuitous distribution— an English version of th e ir

g reatest epic, it has been deemed not u nlikely that the Orientalists o f

America and Europe would gladly avail themselves of th e opportun ity

o f rendering, to their Aryan brethren in India, such measure o f

a ssistance asmay be in their power, in furth erance of themagnumop us

wh ich th ey have so zealously undertaken .

”

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May the adorable 0amgrant the'

princes and chiefs of India energyand wisdomto carry on the government of their respective states to the

h appiness of their s ubjects l May the ch iefs of Indore and Gwalior,B aroda and Hyderabad,mysore and Travancore, Jeypore and Ulwar,Dhar and Rows, and all others who have befriended the Kai-ydlaya,

be themselves happy in the happiness of their subjec ts l May th e

Goddess shower her choicest blessings on the eminentmounta in difi'

erent

parts of the world who have taken an in terest in my work,— on Dr.

B eet, the learned Librar ian . of the India Ofi ce who is kindness’ self to

me andmy poor labors, on Professor Max Muller who first encouraged

me to take up th e English translation of the Nahdbhd rm— on Mr. W.

E. Coleman, Professor Jacobi, Professor h uman, and others, all of whomh ave befriended me in many ways l May th e Marquis and March ion

ess of Ripon, who have endeared themselves to the pmple of th is

country, live in peace and happiness ! M ay the accomplished ladyM iss M ary Scott, who has beenmore than amother tome in ofi

'

ering

me sympathy amid my difi culties, receive the blessings ofmoth erDoorga l May those noblemen of England who have evinced an in

terest inmy work, take still greater interest in it, and in all mattersof Indian administration l May th e various Government oflicials in

India, such as our illustrious finance M in ister Sir Auckland Colvin, Sir

Charles A itch ison who after winn ing th e h eartfelt gratitude of a whole

nation committed to h is care suc ceeds Sir Steuart B ayley in the SupremeCoun cil, General th e B ou

’ble Chesney, and oth ers, who have always len t

such h earty support to th e Kdrydlaya , con tinue to earn even greater

dist inctions by their unwearied atten tion to th e weal of the people of

th is land l M ay th e landed gentry of B engal work in harmony amongth emselves for th e amelioration of th eir own condition and that of their

tenantry at large l May the Incarnation of Oakti— givgth emth e ins

piration and opportunity to strive for securing the well-being of th eir

country l May th e Goddess stimulate th em to noble deeds ! May the

blessed B hagara ti inspire the Press of India,— Native and English— to

wh ich my obligations are due, with noble sent iments, impartial views.and cath olic ideas ! And last, though not least, may the supremeGoddess vouch safe h ealth and means, peac e and prosperity, joy and

happiness, to th e two hundred and fiftymillions of India’s inhabitants,and may th ese remain faithful to the ben ign rule of Her M ajesty the

Queen -Empress l These aremy prayers to the Goddess, and w ith th esewords I beg to ofi

'

er

’

my sincere gree tings to my patrons and th e publicfor th e manifold marks of kindness I have received at th eir hands

PROTAP CHANDRA ROY .

Printed and Published by Protap Chandra B oy,at 367 , Upper Chitpore Road, Calcutta.