SECTION CXXVIII
(Sambhava Parva continued)
"Vaisampayana said, 'Then Bhishma and Kunti with their friends celebrated
the Sraddha of the deceased monarch, and offered the Pinda. And they
feasted the Kauravas and thousands of Brahmanas unto whom they also gave
gems and lands. Then the citizens returned to Hastinapura with the sons
of Pandu, now that they had been cleansed from the impurity incident to
the demise of their father. All then fell to weeping for the departed
king. It seemed as if they had lost one of their own kin.
"When the Sraddha had been celebrated in the manner mentioned above, the
venerable Vyasa, seeing all the subjects sunk in grief, said one day to
his mother Satyavati, 'Mother, our days of happiness have gone by and
days of calamity have succeeded. Sin beginneth to increase day by day.
The world hath got old. The empire of the Kauravas will no longer endure
because of wrong and oppression. Go you then into the forest, and devote
thyself to contemplation through Yoga. Henceforth society will be filled
with deceit and wrong. Good work will cease. Do not witness the
annihilation of your race, in your old age.'
"Acquiescing in the words of Vyasa, Satyavati entered the inner
apartments and addressed her daughter-in-law, saying, 'O Ambika, I hear
that in consequence of the deeds of your grandsons, this Bharata dynasty
and its subjects will perish. If you permit, I would go to the forest
with Kausalya, so grieved at the loss of her son.' O king, saying this
the queen, taking the permission of Bhishma also, went to the forest. And
arriving there with her two daughters-in-law, she became engaged in
profound contemplation, and in good time leaving her body ascended to
heaven.'
"Vaisampayana continued, 'Then the sons of king Pandu, having gone
through all the purifying rites prescribed in the Vedas, began to grow up
in princely style in the home of their father. Whenever they were engaged
in play with the sons of Dhritarashtra, their superiority of strength
became marked. In speed, in striking the objects aimed at, in consuming
articles of food, and scattering dust, Bhimasena beat all the sons of
Dhritarashtra. The son of the Wind-god pulled them by the hair and made
them fight with one another, laughing all the while. And Vrikodara easily
defeated those hundred and one children of great energy as if they were
one instead of being a hundred and one. The second Pandava used to seize
them by the hair, and throwing them down, to drag them along the earth.
By this, some had their knees broken, some their heads, and some their
shoulders. That youth, sometimes holding ten of them, drowned them in
water, till they were nearly dead. When the sons of Dhritarashtra got up
to the boughs of a tree for plucking fruits, Bhima used to shake that
tree, by striking it with his foot, so that down came the fruits and the
fruitpluckers at the same time. In fact, those princes were no match for
Bhima in pugilistic encounters, in speed, or in skill. Bhima used to make
a display of his strength by thus tormenting them in childishness but not
from malice.
"Seeing these wonderful exhibitions of the might of Bhima, the powerful
Duryodhana, the eldest son of Dhritarashtra, began to conceive hostility
towards him. And the wicked and unrighteous Duryodhana, through ignorance
and ambition, prepared himself for an act of sin. He thought, 'There is
no other individual who can compare with Bhima, the second son of Pandu,
in point of prowess. I shall have to destroy him by artifice. Singly,
Bhima dares a century of us to the combat. Therefore, when he shall sleep
in the garden, I shall throw him into the current of the Ganga.
Afterwards, confining his eldest brother Yudhishthira and his younger
brother Arjuna, I shall reign sole king without molestation.' Determined
thus, the wicked Duryodhana was ever on the watch to find out an
opportunity for injuring Bhima. And, O Bharata, at length at a beautiful
place called Pramanakoti on the banks of the Ganga, he built a palace
decorated with hangings of broad-cloth and other rich stuffs. And he
built this palace for sporting in the water there, and filled it with all
kinds of entertaining things and choice viands. Gay flags waved on the
top of this mansion. The name of the house was 'the water-sport house.'
Skilful cooks prepared various kinds of viands. When all was ready, the
officers gave intimation to Duryodhana. Then the evil-minded prince said
unto the Pandavas, 'Let us all go to the banks of the Ganga graced with
trees and crowned with flowers and sport there in the water.' And upon
Yudhishthira agreeing to this, the sons of Dhritarashtra, taking the
Pandavas with them, mounted country-born elephants of great size and cars
resembling towns, and left the metropolis.
"On arriving at the place, the princes dismissed their attendants, and
surveying the beauty of the gardens and the groves, entered the palace,
like lions entering their mountain caves. On entering they saw that the
architects had handsomely plastered the walls and the ceilings and that
painters had painted them beautifully. The windows looked very graceful,
and the artificial fountains were splendid. Here and there were tanks of
pellucid water in which bloomed forests of lotuses. The banks were decked
with various flowers whose fragrance filled the atmosphere. The Kauravas
and the Pandavas sat down and began to enjoy the things provided for
them. They became engaged in play and began to exchange morsels of food
with one another. Meanwhile the wicked Duryodhana had mixed a powerful
poison with a quantity of food, with the object of making away with
Bhima. That wicked youth who had nectar in his tongue and a razor in his
heart, rose at length, and in a friendly way fed Bhima largely with that
poisoned food, and thinking himself lucky in having compassed his end,
was exceedingly glad at heart. Then the sons of Dhritarashtra and Pandu
together became cheerfully engaged in sporting in the water. Their sport
having been finished, they dressed themselves in white habiliments, and
decked themselves with various ornaments. Fatigued with play, they felt
inclined in the evening to rest in the pleasurehouse belonging to the
garden. Having made the other youths take exercise in the waters, the
powerful second Pandava was excessively fatigued. So that on rising from
the water, he lay down on the ground. He was weary and under the
influence of the poison. And the cool air served to spread the poison
over all his frame, so that he lost his senses at once. Seeing this
Duryodhana bound him with chords of shrubs, and threw him into the water.
The insensible son of Pandu sank down till he reached the Naga kingdom.
Nagas, furnished with fangs containing virulent venom, bit him by
thousands. The vegetable poison, mingled in the blood of the son of the
Wind god, was neutralised by the snake-poison. The serpents had bitten
all over his frame, except his chest, the skin of which was so tough that
their fangs could not penetrate it.
"On regaining consciousness, the son of Kunti burst his bands and began
to press the snakes down under the ground. A remnant fled for life, and
going to their king Vasuki, represented, 'O king of snakes, a man drowned
under the water, bound in chords of shrubs; probably he had drunk poison.
For when he fell amongst us, he was insensible. But when we began to bite
him, he regained his senses, and bursting his fetters, commenced laying
at us. May it please Your Majesty to enquire who is.'
"Then Vasuki, in accordance with the prayer of the inferior Nagas, went
to the place and saw Bhimasena. Of the serpents, there was one, named
Aryaka. He was the grandfather of the father of Kunti. The lord of
serpents saw his relative and embraced him. Then, Vasuki, learning all,
was pleased with Bhima, and said to Aryaka with satisfaction, 'How are we
to please him? Let him have money and gems in profusion."
"On hearing the words of Vasuki, Aryaka said, 'O king of serpents, when
Your Majesty is pleased with him, no need of wealth for him! Permit him
to drink of rasakunda (nectar-vessels) and thus acquire immeasurable
strength. There is the strength of a thousand elephants in each one of
those vessels. Let this prince drink as much as he can.'
"The king of serpents gave his consent. And the serpents thereupon began
auspicious rites. Then purifying himself carefully, Bhimasena facing the
east began to drink nectar. At one breath, he quaffed off the contents of
a whole vessel, and in this manner drained off eight successive jars,
till he was full. At length, the serpents prepared an excellent bed for
him, on which he lay down at ease.'"
--------------------END OF PARVA 1 : UPA-PARVA 128 ---------------------
