An Index to the Names in the Mahabharata, with Short Explanations and a Concordance to the Bombay and Calcutta Editions and P. C. Roy's Translation c5.s1.453

c5.s1.453

twelve years. If the Pāṇḍavas should succeed in observing this vow for thirteen years, the Dhārtarāshṭras would in the meantime have made alliances and have assembled an invincible army, so that they could defeat them if they reappeared. Droṇa, Somadatta, Bāhlika, Gautama, Vidura, Açvatthāman, Vaiçyāputra (i.e. Yuyutsu), Bhūriçravas, Bhīshma, and Vikarṇa dissuaded in vain (II, 74).—§ 303: Gāndhārī reminded Dhṛtarāshṭra of the counsel Vidura had given, when Duryodhana was born, to kill him, and recommended him to do it now, and not to let the gambling match take place, saying that it would cause the destruction of the whole race of the Kurus. But Dhṛtarāshṭra could not act contrary to the will of his sons (II, 75).—§ 304: The royal messengers overtook Yudhishṭhira when he had already gone a long way. Yudhishṭhira having said, "Although a golden animal was an impossibility, Rāma suffered himself to be tempted by a golden deer," they returned. The gambling began on the above-mentioned conditions (cf. III, 1362 ff., where the conditions are stated somewhat differently), and Yudhishṭhira lost (II, 76). The Pāṇḍavas, casting off their royal robes, attired themselves in deer-skins. Duḥśāsana exulted, and exhorted Kṛshṇa to abandon the fallen Pāṇḍavas and choose a husband among the Kurus. As Bhīma rebuked him and threatened to slay him with his followers, Duḥśāsana, dancing around, said, "O cow! O cow!" Bhīshma again swore to drink his blood and to kill all the Dhārtarāshṭras. As the Pāṇḍavas were going away, Duryodhana mimicked the tread of Bhīma, who then said: "I will slay Duryodhana with my mace, and place my foot on his head. Dhanañjaya will slay Karṇa, and Sahadeva will slay Çakuni, and I will drink the blood of Duḥśāsana." Arjuna and Sahadeva approved of it. Nakula, "the handsomest of men," vowed to kill all the Dhārtarāshṭras that had insulted Draupadī (II, 77).—§ 305: Yudhishṭhira bids farewell to Bhīshma, Somadatta, Bāhlika, Droṇa, Kṛpa, Açvatthāman, Vidura, Dhṛtarāshṭra, the Dhārtarāshṭras, Yuyutsu, Sañjaya, etc. Vidura kept Pṛthā in his abode, and consoled Yudhishṭhira: "Formerly thou wast instructed on the Himavat by Meru-Sācarni, in Vāraṇāvata by Dvaipāyana, on Bhṛgutuṅga by Rāma, on the Dṛshadvatī by Çambhu, near Añjana by the great rshi Asita, by Bhṛgu on the banks of Kalmāshī; Nārada always beholds thee, and this Dhaumya is thy purohita,—resolve to win victory like Indra, to control thy wrath like Yama, to give in charity like Kuvera, to control all passions like Varuṇa." So Yudhishṭhira went away, bowing to Bhīshma and Droṇa, (II, 78). When Kṛshṇa took leave of Kuntī, Kuntī broke out in complaints, and especially recommended her ever to keep her eye on Sahadeva. When Kuntī beheld her sons clad in deer-skins, surrounding her by rejoicing foes, she embraced them and broke out in plaints, asking why Kṛshṇa, who dwells in Dvārakā, without beginning and without end, does not deliver her from such woe. "O Sahadeva! cease to go! O my dearest child, O son of Mādrī!" Tho Pāṇḍavas consoled her, set out for the woods, and left the house. The ladies of Dhṛtarāshṭra's house, the Kauravas; and Dhṛtarāshṭra, and Vidura (II, 79).—§ 306: Questioned by the citizens about the attitude of the Pāṇḍavas, Vidura spoke. The citizens cried out in grief, as if at the fall of lightning and of the sun; and when they appeared, surrounded by the citizens, they spent the fourteenth year in the woods, and were followed by Bhīma and others.