The thirteenth year they spent in disguise as servants of Virata, king of the Matsyas. At this time the Kurus, in alliance with another king, invaded the country of the Matsyas, causing much distress. Then the Pandus arose, put the enemy to flight, and restored the king. They now made themselves known, and entered into an alliance with the king (iv.). Their message demanding back their possessions receiving no answer, they prepared for war. The rival armies met in the sacred region of Kurukshetra, with numerous allies on both sides. Joined with the Kurus were, among others, the people of Kosala, Videha, Anga, Banga (Bengal), Kalinga on the east, and those of Sindhu, Gandhara, Bahlika (Balk), together with the Çakas and Yavanas on the west. The Pandus, on the other hand, were aided by the Panchalas, the Matsyas, part of the Yadavas under Krishna, besides the kings of Kaçi (Benares), Chedi, Magadha, and others (v.). The battle raged for eighteen days, till all the Kurus were destroyed, and only the Pandavas and Krishna with his charioteer escaped alive. The account of it extends over five books (vi.-x.). Then follows a description of the obsequies of the dead (xi.). In the next two books, Bhima, the leader of the Kurus, on his deathbed, instructs Yudhishthira for about 20,000 çlokas on the duties of kings and other topics. The Pandus having been reconciled to the old king Dhritarashtra, Yudhishthira was crowned king in Hastinapura, and instituted a great horse-sacrifice (xiv.). Dhritarashtra having remained at Hastinapura for fifteen years, at length retired, with his wife Gandhari, to the jungle, where they perished in a forest conflagration (xv.). Among the Yadavas, who had taken different sides in the great war, an internecine conflict broke out, which resulted in the annihilation of this people. Krishna sadly withdrew to the wilderness, where he was accidentally shot dead by a hunter (xvi.). The Pandus themselves, at last weary of life, leaving the young prince Parikshit, grandson of Arjuna, to rule over Hastinapura, retired to the forest, and dying as they wandered towards Meru, the mountain of the gods (xvii.), ascended to heaven with their faithful spouse (xviii.). Here the framework of the great epic, which begins at the commencement of the first book, comes to an end. King Parikshit having died of snake-bite, his son Janamejaya instituted a great sacrifice to the serpents. At that sacrifice the epic was recited by Vaiçampayana, who had learnt it from Vyasa. The latter, we are told, after arranging the four Vedas, composed the Mahabharata, which treats of the excellence of the Pandus, the greatness of Krishna, and the wickedness of the sons of Dhritarashtra.