The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa Translated into English Prose: Sabha Parva
Religion
The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa Translated into English Prose: Sabha Parva
Epic literature, Sanskrit
"Krishna continued,--'Hearing these words (of the king), the Muni
controlling his outer senses entered into meditation, sitting in the
shade of that very mango tree where he was. And there fell upon the lap
of the seated Muni a mango that was juicy and untouched by the beak of
a parrot or any other bird. That best of Munis, taking up the fruit and
mentally pronouncing certain mantras over it, gave it unto the king as
the means of his obtaining an incomparable offspring. And the great
Muni, possessed also of extraordinary wisdom, addressing the monarch,
said,--"Return, O king, thy wish is fulfilled. Desist, O king, from
going (into the woods)".--Hearing these words of the Muni and
worshipping his feet, the monarch possessed of great wisdom, returned
to his own abode. And recollecting his former promise (unto them) the
king gave, O bull of the Bharata race, unto his two wives that one
fruit. His beautiful queens, dividing that single fruit into two parts,
ate it up. In consequence of the certainty of the realisation of the
Muni's words and his truthfulness, both of them conceived, as an effect
of their having eaten that fruit. And the king beholding them in that
state became filled with great joy. Then, O wise monarch, some time
after, when the time came, each of the queens brought forth a
fragmentary body. And each fragment had one eye, one arm, one leg, half
a stomach, half a face, and half an anus. Beholding the fragmentary
bodies, both the mothers trembled much. The helpless sisters then
anxiously consulted each other, and sorrowfully abandoned those
fragments endued with life. The two midwives (that waited upon the
queens) then carefully wrapping up the still-born (?) fragments went
out of the inner apartments (of the palace) by the back door and
throwing away the bodies, returned in haste. A little while after, O
tiger among men, a Rakshasa woman of the name of Jara living upon flesh
and blood, took up the fragments that lay on a crossing. And impelled
by force of fate, the female cannibal united the fragments for facility
of carrying them away. And, O bull among men, as soon as the fragments
were united they formed a sturdy child of one body (endued with life).
Then, O king, the female cannibal, with eyes expanded in wonder, found
herself unable to carry away that child having a body as hard and
strong as the thunder-bolt. That infant then closing his fists red as
copper and inserting them into its mouth, began to roar terribly as
rain-charged clouds. Alarmed at the sound, the inmates of the palace, O
tiger among men, suddenly came out with the king, O slayer of all foes.
The helpless and disappointed and sad queens also, with breasts full of
milk, also came out suddenly to recover their child. The female
cannibal beholding the queens in that condition and the king too so
desirous of an offspring, and the child was possessed of such strength
thought within herself--I live within dominions of the king who is so
desirous of an offspring.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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