The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa Translated into English Prose: Vana Parva, Part 1
Religion
The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa Translated into English Prose: Vana Parva, Part 1
Epic literature, Sanskrit
Vaisampayana continued, "After the chief of the Dasharhas had departed,
the heroic Yudhishthira, and Bhima, and Arjuna, and the twins, each
looking like unto Shiva, and Krishna, and their priest, ascending costly
cars unto which were yoked excellent steeds, together went into the
forest. And at time of going they distributed _Nishkas_ of gold and
clothes and kine unto Brahmanas versed in _Siksha_ and _Akshara_ and
_mantras_. And twenty attendants followed them equipped with bows, and
bowstrings, and blazing weapons, and shafts and arrows and engines of
destruction. And taking the princess's clothes and the ornaments, and
the nurses and the maid-servants, Indrasena speedily followed the
princes on a car. And then approaching the best of Kurus, the
high-minded citizens walked round him. And the principal Brahmanas of
Kurujangala cheerfully saluted him. And together with his brothers,
Yudhishthira the just, on his part saluted them cheerfully. And the
illustrious king stopped there a little, beholding the concourse of the
inhabitants of Kurujangala. And the illustrious bull among the Kurus
felt for them as a father feeleth for his sons, and they too felt for
the Kuru chief even as sons feel for their father! And that mighty
concourse, approaching the Kuru hero, stood around him. And, O king,
affected, with bashfulness, and with tears in their eyes, they all
exclaimed, 'Alas, O lord! O Dharma!' And they said, 'Thou art the chief
of the Kurus, and the king of us, thy subjects! Where dost thou go, O
just monarch, leaving all these citizens and the inhabitants of the
country, like a father leaving his sons? Fie on the cruel-hearted son of
Dhritarashtra! Fie on the evil-minded son of Suvala! Fie on Karna! For,
O foremost of monarchs, those wretches ever wish unto thee who art firm
in virtue! Having thyself established the unrivalled city of
Indraprastha of the splendour of Kailasa itself, where dost thou go,
leaving it, O illustrious and just king, O achiever of extraordinary
deeds! O illustrious one, leaving that peerless palace built by Maya,
which possesseth the splendour of the palace of the celestials
themselves, and is like unto a celestial illusion, ever guarded by the
gods, where dost thou go, O son of Dharma?' And Vibhatsu knowing the
ways of virtue, pleasure, and profit said unto them in a loud voice,
'Living in the forest, the king intendeth to take away the good name of
his enemies! O ye with the regenerate ones at your head, versed in
virtue and profit, do you approaching the ascetics separately and
inclining them to grace, represent unto them what may be for our supreme
good!' Upon hearing these words of Arjuna, the Brahmanas and the other
orders, O king, saluting him cheerfully walked round the foremost of
virtuous men! And bidding farewell unto the son of Pritha, and
Vrikodara, and Dhananjaya and Yajnaseni, and the twins, and commanded by
Yudhishthira, they returned to their respective abodes in the kingdom
with heavy hearts."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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