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.s9.410
An Index to the Names in the Mahābhārata, with Short Explanations and a Concordance to the Bombay and Calcutta Editions and P. C. Roy's Translation c5.s9.410
- Language
- English
c5.s9.410.1
[Mausalaparvan] ("the section relating to the battle with clubs," the 16th of the great and the 98th of the minor parvans of Mbhhr.; cf. Mausala). § 793: Vaiçampāyana said: When the 36th year [after the great battle] was reached, Yudhishṭhira beheld many unusual portents (specification). A little while afterwards he heard of the wholesale carnage of the Vṛṣhṇis in a battle with clubs, where only Kṛṣhṇa and Rāma had escaped with life; he summoned his brothers and took counsel with them; they were filled with grief; the death of Kṛṣhṇa they could not believe. Janamejaya inquired about the particulars of the destruction of the Vṛṣhṇis and Andhakas. Vaiçampāyana said: ** When the 36th year . . . (ef. above). Asked by Janamejaya, cursed by whom the Vṛṣhṇis, etc. (a), met with destruction, Vaiçampāyana said: Sāraṇa, etc., saw Viçvāmitra, Kaṇva, and Nārada arrived at Dvārakā; they disguised Çamba as a woman, calling her the wife of Babhru, and asked the ascetics what [sort of child] this one would bring forth. The ascetics answered: "This Çamba will bring forth a terrible iron club for the destruction of the Vṛṣhṇis and Andhakas, except Rāma (who will enter the ocean) and Kṛṣhṇa (whom Jarā will pierce while lying on the ground)." Then they went to Kṛṣhṇa. Informed of what had taken place, Kṛṣhṇa summoned all the Vṛṣhṇis and told them of it, but did not try to annul the curse. The next day Çamba actually brought forth an iron club.
c5.s9.410.2
The fact was reported to the king [Ugrasena], who caused it to be reduced into powder and thrown into the sea. At the command of Āhuka, etc. (β), the manufacture of spirits was forbidden among all the Vṛṣhṇis and Andhakas, under the penance of being impaled alive with all one's kinsmen. All the citizens (knowing that it was the command of Rāma also) bound themselves by the rule (XVI, 1). [The embodied form of] Time every day wandered about their houses, like a man of terrible and fierce aspect, bald head, black and tawny of complexion; they shot innumerable arrows at him, without being able to pierce him. Also other dreadful portents of calamity were daily seen by the Vṛṣhṇis throughout the city (description). They showed disregard for brahmans, P., and D., etc., except Rāma and Kṛṣhṇa, etc. When the Pāñcajanya was blown in their houses, asses brayed aloud from every direction. Kṛṣhṇa, seeing that the day of the new moon coincided with the 13th [and 14th] lunation, summoned the Yādavas and said: The 14th lunation has been made the 15th by Rāhu once more, as at the time of the great battle of the *Bharatas* (v. the note of PCR. on p. 5). He understood that the 36th year had come according to the curse of *Gāndhārī*, and that the omens were similar to those which *Yudhishthira* had noticed when the two armies were arrayed in order of battle. He endeavoured to bring about those occurrences which would make *Gāndhārī's* words true.
c5.s9.410.3
He commanded the *Vrishnis* to make a pilgrimage to some sacred water, and caused the messengers to proclaim a journey to the sea-coast (XVI, 2). At that time the *Vrishni* ladies dreamt every night that a black woman with white teeth, entering their abodes, laughed aloud and ran through *Dvārakā* stealing [from them]; the men dreamt of vultures that devoured the *Vrishnis* and *Andhakas* in the houses and fire-chambers; their ornaments, etc., were taken away by *Rā*. The iron discus of *Krishna*, given by *Agni*, with a nave of adamant, ascended to heaven. *Krishna's* chariot was dragged away by his four steeds over the ocean; *Krishna's* and *Baladeva's* standards (resp. *Garuda* and a palmyra), which were reverently worshipped by those two heroes, were taken away by *Aps.*, who day and night called upon the *Vrishnis* and *Andhakas* to set out on a pilgrimage to some sacred water. They prepared various kinds of edibles and spirits, and set out to *Prabhāsa*. *Uddhava* took leave of them and *Krishna* before departing [from the world]. The *Vrishnis*, mixing with spirits the food that had been cooked for the brahmans, gave it to apes, and began revels with drinking, so also *Rāma*, etc. (η); *Yuyudhāna* blamed *Kritavarman* for the nightly slaughter, and was applauded by *Pradyumna*, was rebuked by *Kritavarman* with having killed *Bhūriśravas* while sitting in *prāya*;
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*Krishna* cast an angry glance [at *Kritavarman*], and *Sātyaki* informed him of the story of the gem *Syamantaka*, which was *Satrājit's*; *Satyabhāmā*, weeping, approached *Krishna*, and sitting on his lap enhanced his anger; *Sātyaki* swore that he would cause *Kritavarman* to follow the five sons of *Draupadi*, etc (δ), whom he had slain with the help of *Aśvatthāman*, and he severed his head in the very sight of *Krishna*, and began to strike down others; *Krishna* rushed forward to prevent him from doing further mischief, and the *Bhojas* and *Andhakas* all assailed him; *Krishna* did not interfere; they struck *Yuyudhāna* with the pots from which they had been eating; *Pradyumna* rushed forward to rescue *Yuyudhāna*; they were both slain. *Krishna* in wrath took up a handful of *erakā* grass, which became a terrible iron club, with which *Krishna* slew all that came before him. The *Andhakas*, etc. (ε), also took up blades of the *erakā* grass, which were converted into iron clubs, and struck one another in consequence of the curse of the brahmans; son killed father and vice versa, inehriated with spirits. Beholding that *Çamba*, etc. (ζ), were slain, *Krishna* exterminated the *Vrishnis* and the *Andhakas*. *Bab hru* and *Dāruka* told him now to go to *Rāma* (XVI, 3). *Dāruka*, *Krishna*, and *Bab hru*, seeking *Rāma*, saw him sitting thoughtfully, reclining his back against a tree.
c5.s9.410.5
*Krishna* sent *Dāruka* to inform *Arjuna* and tell him to come quickly, and he also dispatched *Bab hru* to protect the ladies against robbers; but as soon as *Bab hru* had proceeded to a distance, an iron club attached to the mallet of a hunter came and slew him. *Krishna* then, entering *Dvāravatī*, told his father to protect the ladies till *Arjuna* came, saying that he would practise penances with *Rāma*. When he came to *Rāma*, the latter had applied himself *tn* yoga, and from his mouth issued a huge white *Nāga* with 1,000 heads and red eyes, who proceeded to the ocean, and was received by the ocean and many celestial snakes (and many sacred rivers): *Karkotaka*, etc. (η). After *Rāma's* death *Krishna* wandered for some time, and then sat down, thinking of *Gāndhārī* (§ 619) and *Durvāsas* (§ 773c), and the destruction of the *Vrishnis*, *Andhakas*, and *Kurus*, whence he concluded that the hour [of his death] had come; he then restrained his senses [in *yoga*]; though he was the Supreme Deity, he wished to die in order to dispel all doubts, etc., and to make the words of *Durvāsas* true. The hunter *Jarā*, mistaking *Krishna* for a deer, pierced him at the heel with an arrow; coming up, he beheld a man dressed in yellow robes, rapt in *yoga*, with many arms; he became filled with fear; *Krishna* comforted him and then ascended upwards, and was received in heaven by *Indra*, etc. (θ) (XVI, 4).
c5.s9.410.6
Meanwhile *Dāruka* came and informed the *Pāndavas* of the slaughter of the *Vrishnis*, etc. (ι). *Arjuna* with *Dāruka* proceeded to *Dvārakā*; when *Krishna's* 16,000 wives saw *Arjuna*, they uttered a loud cry; the city seemed to *Arjuna* to be the fierce river *Vaitaranī*; *Arjuna*, *Satyā* (the daughter of *Satrājit*), and *Rukminī* fell down and wailed; then praising *Krishna* and comforting the ladies, *Arjuna* went to *Vasudeva* (XVI, 5), whom he found lying on the ground and burning with grief; *Vasudeva* lamented (κ) and said he would die by abstaining from food (XVI, 6). *Arjuna* said that the hour had come for the *Pāndavas* also for departing [from the world] (λ); he would, however, first remove to *Indraprastha* the women, the children, and the aged of the *Vrishnis*. Saying to *Dāruka* that he wished to see the chief officers of the *Vrishnis*, *Arjuna* entered the hall of the *Yādavas* called *Sudharmā*, where he said to the citizens and ministers that he would take away with him the remnants of the *Vrishnis* and *Andhakas*, as the sea would soon engulf the city; *Vajra* would be their king at *Indraprastha*; they would set out on the seventh day at sunrise. *Arjuna* passed that night in the mansion of *Krishna*. At dawn *Vasudeva* by *yoga* attained to the highest goal; the ladies were in despair. His four wives, *Devakī*, *Bhadrā*, *Rohinī*, and *Madirā*, ascended the faneral pyre, and attained to the regions of *Vasudeva*.
c5.s9.410.7
When *Arjuna* had caused *Vasudeva* and his four wives to be burnt (under immense tokens of sympathy from the women), the boys (headed by *Vajra*) and the ladies offered oblations of water to *Vasudeva*. Then *Arjuna* visited the spot where the *Vrishnis* had been killed and caused the last rites to be performed, and caused *Rāma* and *Krishna* to be cremated. On the seventh day he set out, mounting his chariot, with the ladies and children, the *Yādava* troops, and other inhabitants, with *Krishna's* 16,000 wives and *Vajra*; they numbered many millions in all. Then the ocean flooded *Dvārakā*. They proceeded in slow marches. When they had planted their encampment at *Pañcanada*, thn *Ābhiras* (*Mlecchas*) conspired to rob the cavalcade. *Arjuna* succeeded only with great difficulty in stringing his bow; his celestial weapons would not come to his mind; the *Vrishni* warriors failed to rescue the women, who were snatched away by the robbers; *Arjuna's* shafts soon became exhausted; formerly they were inexhaustible. *Arjuna* became very cheerless; he escorted the remnant of the cavalcade to *Kurukshetra*; he established the son of *Kritavarman* in the city of *Mārttikāvata* with the remnant of the women of the *Bhoja* king; the remainder, with children and old men and women, at *Indraprastha*, with *Vajra* as their ruler; the son of *Yuyudhāna* (with old men, etc.) on the banks of the *Sarasvatī*;
c5.s9.410.8
the widows of *Akrūra*, notwithstanding the entreaties of *Vajra*, entered the woods; *Rukminī*, etc. (μ), ascended the funeral pyre; *Satyabhāmā* and the other wives of *Krishna* entered the woods in order to practise penances in the contemplation of Hari; going beyond Himavat, they took up their abode in Kalāpa-grāma. Then Arjuna entered the retreat of Vyāsa (XVI, 7). Asked by Vyāsa ("Hast thou been sprinkled with water from anybody's nails or hair, etc.?"), Arjuna informed him of what had passed (v) ("500,000 warriors have thus been laid down"). Vyāsa said that the Vṛṣṇis and Andhakas had been consumed by the brahman's curse; it was destiny: "Kṛṣṇa, as also the Pāṇḍavas, have finished their work; the time has come for your departure from the world," etc. (ξ). Arjuna entered Hāstinapura and informed Yudhishṭhira of what had taken place (ξXVI, 8).