SECTION –CXIX
(Tirtha-yatra Parva Continued)
Janamejaya said, "O thou of ascetic wealth!
when the sons of Pandu and the Vrishnis reached the holy spot Prabhasa, what
did they do and what conversation was held there by them, for all of them were
of mighty souls, proficient in all the branches of science and both the
Vrishnis and the sons of Pandu held one another in friendly estimation."
Vaisampayana said, "When the Vrishnis
reached the holy spot Prabhasa, the sacred landing-place on the coast of the
sea, they surrounded the sons of Pandu and waited upon them. Then Valarama,
resembling in hue the milk of the cow and the Kunda flower and the moon and the
silver and the lotus root and who wore a wreath made of wild flowers and who
had the ploughshare for his arms, spake to the lotuseyed one, saying, 'O
Krishna, I do not see that the practice of virtue leads to any good or that
unrighteous practices can cause evil, since the magnanimous Yudhishthira is in
this miserable state, with matted hair, a resident of the wood, and for his
garment wearing the bark of trees. And Duryodhana is now ruling the earth, and
the ground doth not yet swallow him up. From this, a person of limited sense
would believe a vicious course of life is preferable to a virtuous one. When
Duryodhana is in a flourishing state and Yudhishthira, robbed of his throne, is
suffering thus, what should people do in such a matter?--This is the doubt that
is now perplexing all men. Here is the lord of men sprung from the god of
virtue, holding fast to a righteous path, strictly truthful and of a liberal
heart. This son of Pritha would give up his kingdom and his pleasure but would
not swerve from the righteous path, in order to thrive. How is it that Bhishma
and Kripa and the Brahmana Drona and the aged king, the senior member of the
house, are living happily, after having banished the sons of Pritha? Fie upon
the vicious-minded leaders of Bharata's race! What will that sinner, the
chieftain of the earth, say to the departed forefathers of his race, when the
wretch will meet them in the world to come? Having hurled from the throne his
in-offensive sons, will he be able to declare that he had treated them in a
blameless way? He doth not now see with his mind's eye how he hath become so
sightless, and on account of what act he hath grown blind among the kings of
this entire earth. Is it not because he hath banished Kunit's son from his
kingdom? I have no doubt that Vichitravirya's son, when he with his sons
perpetrated this inhuman act, beheld on the spot where dead bodies are burnt,
flowering trees of a golden hue. Verily he must have asked them, when those
stood before him with their shoulders projected forward towards him, and with
their large red eyes staring at him, and he must have listened to their evil
advice, since he fearlessly sent away Yudhishthira to the forest, who had all
his weapons of war with him and was borne company by his younger brothers. This
Bhima here, whose voracious appetite is like that of a wolf, is able to destroy
with the sole strength of his powerful arms, and without the help of any
weapons of war, a formidable array of hostile troops. The forces in the field
of battle were utterly unmanned on hearing his war-cry. And now the strong one
is suffering from hunger and thirst, and is emaciated with toilsome journeys.
But when he will take up in his hand arrows and diverse other weapons of war,
and meet his foes in the field of battle, he will then remember the sufferings
of his exceedingly miserable forest-life, and kill his enemies to a man: of a
certainty do I anticipate this. There is not throughout the whole world a
single soul who can boast of strength and prowess equal to his. And his body,
alas! is emaciated with cold, and heat and winds. But when he will stand up for
fight, he will not leave a single man out of his foes. This powerful hero, who
is a very great warrior when mounted on a car--this Bhima, of appetite
rivalling a wolf's conquered single-handed all the rulers of men in the east,
together with, those who followed them in battle; and he returned from those
wars safe and uninjured. And that same Bhima, miserably dressed in the bark of
trees, is now leading a wretched life in the woods. This powerful Sahadeva
vanquished all the kings in the south; those lords of men who had gathered on
the coast of the sea,--look at him now in an anchorite's dress. Valiant in
battle Nakula vanquished single-handed the kings who ruled the regions towards
the west,--and he now walks about the wood, subsisting on fruit and roots, with
a matted mass of hair on the head, and his body besmeared all over with dirt.
This daughter of a king, who is a great soldier when mounted on a car, took her
rise from beneath the altar, during the pomp of sacrificial rites. She hath
been always accustomed to a life of happiness; how is she now enduring this
exceedingly miserable life in this wood! And the son of the god of virtue,--virtue
which stands at the head of all the there pursuits of life--and the son of the
wind-god and also the son of the lord of celestials, and those two sons of the
celestial physicians,--being the sons of all those gods and always accustomed
to a life of happiness, how are they living in this wood, deprived of all
comforts? When the son of Virtue met with defeat, and when his wife, his
brothers, his followers, and himself were all driven forth, and Duryodhana
began to flourish, why did not the earth subside with all its hills?"
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