SECTION XV
"Vaisampayana said,--'The royal son of Amvika, viz., Dhritarashtra,
having settled the hour of his departure for the woods, summoned those
heroes, the Pandavas. Possessed of great intelligence, the old monarch,
with Gandhari, duly accosted those princes. Having caused the minor rites
to be performed, by Brahmanas conversant with the Vedas, on that day
which was the day of full moon in the month of Kartika, he caused the
fire which he worshipped daily to be taken up. Leaving his usual robes he
wore deer-skins and barks, and accompanied by his daughters-in-law, he
set out of his mansion. When the royal son of Vichitraviryya thus set
out, a loud wail was uttered by the Pandava and the Kaurava ladies as
also by other women belonging to the Kaurava race. The king worshipped
the mansion in which he had lived with fried paddy and excellent flowers
of diverse kinds. He also honoured all his servants with gifts of wealth,
and then leaving that abode set out on his journey. Then O son, king
Yudhishthira, trembling all over, with utterance choked with tears, said
these words in a loud voice, viz.,--'O righteous monarch, where dost thou
go?--and fell down in a swoon. Arjuna, burning with great grief, sighed
repeatedly. That foremost of Bharata princes, telling Yudhishthira that
he should not behave in that manner, stood cheerlessly and with heart
plunged into distress. Vrikodara, the heroic Phalguna, the two sons of
Madri, Vidura, Sanjaya, Dhritarashtra's son by his Vaisya wife, and
Kripa, and Dhaumya, and other Brahmanas, all followed the old monarch,
with voices choked in grief. Kunti walked ahead, bearing on her shoulders
the hand of Gandhari who walked with her bandaged eyes. King
Dhritarashtra walked confidently behind Gandhari, placing his hand on her
shoulder.[32] Drupada's daughter Krishna, she of the Sattwata race,
Uttara the daughter-in-law of the Kauravas, who had recently become a
mother, Chitrangada, and other ladies of the royal house-hold, all
proceeded with the old monarch. The wail they uttered on that occasion, O
king, from grief, resembled the loud lamentations of a swarm of
she-ospreys. Then the wives of the citizens,--Brahmanas and Kshatriyas
and Vaisyas and Sudras,--also came out into the streets from every side.
At Dhritarashtra's departure, O king, all the citizens of Hastinapore
became as distressed as they had been, O monarch, when they had witnessed
the departure of the Pandavas in former days after their defeat at the
match at dice. Ladies that had never seen the sun or the moon, came out
into the streets on the occasion, in great grief, when king Dhritarashtra
proceeded towards the great forest."'
