(Sambhava Parva continued)
" said, 'Then and with their friends celebrated the Sraddha of the deceased monarch, and offered the Pinda. And they feasted the Kauravas and thousands of Brahmanas unto to whom they also gave gems and lands. Then the citizens returned to Hastinapura with the sons of , 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 , seeing all the subjects sunk in grief, said one day to his mother , 'Mother, our days of happiness have gone by and days of calamity have succeeded. Sin beginneth begins to increase day by day. The world hath has got old. The empire of the Kauravas will no longer endure because of wrong and oppression. Go thou you then into the forest, and devote thyself to contemplation through Yoga. Henceforth from now on society will be filled with deceit and wrong. Good work will cease. Do not witness the annihilation of thy your race, in thy your old age.'
"Acquiescing in the words of , entered the inner apartments and addressed her daughter-in-law, saying, 'O , I hear that in consequence of the deeds of your grandsons, this Bharata dynasty and its subjects will perish. If thou 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 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.'
" continued, 'Then the sons of king , 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 , their superiority of strength became marked. In speed, in striking the objects aimed at, in consuming articles of food, and scattering dust, beat all the sons of . The son of pulled them by the hair and made them fight with one another, laughing all the while. And 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 got up to the boughs of a tree for plucking fruits, 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 in pugilistic encounters, in speed, or in skill. 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 , the powerful , the eldest son of , began to conceive hostility towards him. And the wicked and unrighteous , through ignorance and ambition, prepared himself for an act of sin. He thought, 'There is no other individual who can compare with , the second son of , in point of prowess. I shall have to destroy him by artifice. Singly, 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 . Afterwards, confining his eldest brother and his younger brother , I shall reign sole king without molestation.' Determined thus, the wicked was ever on the watch to find out an opportunity for injuring . And, O Bharata, at length at a beautiful place called Pramanakoti on the banks of the , 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 . Then the evil-minded prince said unto to the Pandavas, 'Let us all go to the banks of the graced with trees and crowned with flowers and sport there in the water.' And upon agreeing to this, the sons of , 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 had mixed a powerful poison with a quantity of food, with the object of making away with . That wicked youth who had nectar in his tongue and a razor in his heart, rose at length, and in a friendly way fed largely with that poisoned food, and thinking himself lucky in having compassed his end, was exceedingly glad at heart. Then the sons of and 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 bound him with chords of shrubs, and threw him into the water. The insensible son of 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 burst his bands and began to press the snakes down under the ground. A remnant fled for life, and going to their king , 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 , in accordance with the prayer of the inferior Nagas, went to the place and saw . Of the serpents, there was one, named Aryaka. He was the grandfather of the father of . The lord of serpents saw his relative and embraced him. Then, , learning all, was pleased with , 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 , 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 then began auspicious rites. Then purifying himself carefully, 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.'"
(Sambhava Parva continued)
" said, 'Meanwhile the Kauravas and the Pandavas, after having thus sported there, set out, without , for Hastinapura, some on horses, some on elephants, while others preferred cars and other conveyances. And on their way they said to one another, 'Perhaps, hath has gone before us.' And the wicked was glad at heart to miss , and entered the city with his brothers in joy.
"The virtuous , himself unacquainted with vice and wickedness, regarded others to be as honest as himself. The eldest son of , filled with fraternal love, going unto to his mother, said, after making obeisance to her, 'O mother, hath has come? O good mother, I don't find him here. Where may he have gone? We long sought for him everywhere in the gardens and the beautiful woods; but found him nowhere. At length, we thought that the heroic preceded us all. O illustrious dame, we came hither here in great anxiety. Arrived here, where hath has he gone? Have you sent him anywhere? O tell me, I am full of doubts respecting the mighty . He had been asleep and hath has not come. I conclude he is no more.'
"Hearing these words of the highly intelligent , shrieked, in alarm, and said, 'Dear son, I have not seen . He did not come to me. O, return in haste, and with your brothers search for him.'
"Having said this in affliction to her eldest son, she summoned , and said, 'O illustrious , is missing! Where has he gone? The other brothers have all come back from the gardens, only of mighty arms does not come home! likes him not. The Kaurava is crooked and malicious and low-minded and imprudent. He coveteth covets the throne openly. I am afraid he may have in a fit of anger slain my darling. This afflicts me sorely, indeed, it burns my heart.'
" replied, 'Blessed dame, say not so! Protect thy your other sons with care. If the wicked be accused, he may slay thy your remaining sons. The great sage hath has said that all thy your sons will be long-lived. Therefore, will surely return and gladden thy your heart.'
" continued, 'The wise , having said this unto to , returned to his abode, while , in great anxiety, continued to stay at home with her children.
"Meanwhile, awoke from that slumber on the eighth day, and felt strong beyond measure in consequence of the nectar he had taken having been all digested. Seeing him awake, the Nagas began to console and cheer him, saying, 'O thou you of mighty arms, the strength-giving liquor thou you hast have drunk will give thee you the might of ten thousand elephants! No one now will be able to vanquish thee you in fight. O bull of Kuru's race, do thou you bath in this holy and auspicious water and return home. Thy your brothers are disconsolate because of thee you.'
"Then purified himself with a bath in those waters, and decked in white robes and flowery garlands of the same hue, ate of the paramanna (rice and sugar pudding) offered to him by the Nagas. Then that oppressor of all foes, decked in celestial ornaments, received the adorations and blessings of the snakes, and saluting them in return, rose from the nether region. Bearing up the lotus-eyed Pandava from under the waters, the Nagas placed him in the selfsame gardens wherein in which he had been sporting, and vanished in his very sight.
"The mighty , arrived on the surface of the earth, ran with speed to his mother. And bowing down unto to her and his eldest brother, and smelling the heads of his younger brothers, that oppressor of all foes was himself embraced by his mother and every one of those bulls among men. Affectionate unto to one another, they all repeatedly exclaimed, 'What is our joy today, O what joy!'
'Then , endued with great strength and prowess, related to his brothers everything about the villainy of , and the lucky and unlucky incidents that had befallen him in the world of the Serpents. Thereupon then said, 'Do thou you observe silence on this. Do not speak of this to any one. From this day, protect ye you all one another with care.' Thus cautioned by the righteous , they all, with himself, became very vigilant from that day. And lest negligence might occur on the part of the sons of , continually offered them sage advice.
"Some time after, again mixed in the food of a poison that was fresh, virulent, and very deadly. But ('s son by a Vaisya wife), moved by his friendship for the Pandavas, informed them of this. , however, swallowed it without any hesitation, and digested it completely. And, though virulent the poison produced no effects on .
"When that terrible poison intended for the destruction of failed of its effect, . and , without giving up their wicked design had recourse to numerous other contrivances for accomplishing the death of the Pandavas. And though every one of these contrivances was fully known to the Pandavas, yet in accordance with the advice of they suppressed their indignation.
"Meanwhile, the king (), beholding the Kuru princes passing their time in idleness and growing naughty, appointed as their preceptor and sent them unto to him for instruction. Born among a clump of heath, was well-skilled in the Vedas and it was under him (also called ) that the Kuru princes began to learn the use of arms.'"