INDIA. PART II.

retorted by recapitulating all the wrongs committed by HISTORY OF Duryodhana against his kinsmen, and especially with the affront offered to Draupadí, and the cruel murder of the stripling Abhimanyn. Duryodhana replied :-" I governed "I my Raj with so much justice that the wolf and the lamb drank water from the same pond, and none ever demanded a thing from me that I did not bestow upon him: No one before me had conducted a government so well as myself, nor will any one who may follow me be able to equal it; and I now beseech the Almighty that he will give me in eternity that lot which shall be the just retribution of my conduct." Whilst Duryodhana was thus speaking, flowers fell Manifestations from heaven upon his head, and celestial music was heard in approval of Duryodhana. the sky; and when the Pándavas perceived these things, their faces all turned pale, and they were seized with trembling.

of the divine

soles the Pánda

claims Yud

Raja.

Then Krishna, seeing that the Pándavas were all down- Krishna conhearted, said to them :-" You are now become Rajas, and vas, and prohave obtained the Raj at the point of your own swords, hishthira as what is it therefore that you fear? Take the government into your own hands, and administer justice to the ryots and to all those who are oppressed, and for all your good efforts God will reward you in the other world." Krishna then sounded his shell with all his might, and proclaimed the reign of Raja Yudhishthira; and he made known that all who had risked their lives in support of the Raja should be exalted with due honours and rewards. And all the people who were present rejoiced greatly, and filled the air with their acclamations, crying out :-" Long live Raja Yudhishthira!"

Kauravas and

spoil.

After this the Pándavas and their friends mounted their The Pandavas proceed to the chariots and proceeded towards the camp of the Kauravas, camp of the leaving a few persons behind to look after Duryodhana. obtain great And when they arrived at the camp of their enemies, they found no one there save a few old people; and they entered the quarters of Duryodhana, and saw so many jewels, and requests Krishso much gold and spoil of all kinds, that their eyes were Hastinapur, and dazzled with the sight. Then Yudhishthira said to Krishna :-"I would have brethren to the Maharaja.

Yudhishthira

na to proceed to

excuse the proceedings of himself and

INDIA. PART II.

Hastinapur on

the first quarter of the night.

pur,

HISTORY OF Wished to have paid a visit to Maháraja Dhritarashtra and the Rání Gándhárí, and to have excused ourselves as much as possible to Gándhárí, who is a woman of the strictest virtue, and of a sound religious character, and who has always shown me great kindness: But now night has come on and I cannot wait upon her, and I am afraid that when she shall hear the news that all her sons are slain, she may utter a curse against us so that we all perish: I therefore pray you to go to Hastinápur alone to-night, and soothe her all you can, and do not let her unawares pronounce a curse upon us." Krishna replied:-"What you have said is Krishna reaches perfectly proper." And he immediately set off for Hastináand arrived there before one quarter of the night was spent; and he waited upon Dhritarashtra, whom he found seated in his palace, and went and took his hand and kissed it. And the blind Maháraja immediately guessed who he and the Mahá- was, and said :—" It is Krishna!" And Krishna answerraja. ed: "Yes." Then Dhritarashtra began loudly to weep and to wail, saying: "O Krishna, do you approve of the slaughter of my sons?" Krishna answered:-"Your heart is your eye, and nothing can be concealed from you, and you must be aware that what has occurred to your children is from the great god Siva, and not from me nor from the Pándavas." Dhritarashtra said: "I cannot but acknowledge this, and at present patience is my only remedy: But I am in great pain for Duryodhana's death, on account of his mother Gándhárí; because women are naturally not so patient as men are: She must have heard of the slaughter of her sons, and she will be very miserable: So do you now go and visit her, and comfort her as well as you are able; perchance she is already dead with anguish."

Interview between Krishna

Affecting interview between

Rání Gándhárí.

:

Now whilst Krishna was preparing to go to the Rání, Krishna and the Gándhárí herself entered the door, and all in tears said to him :-" O Krishna, had you no compassion for me, and did you deem it right that all my sons should be slaughtered?" And with these words she fell down in a swoon. And Krishna's heart burnt within him, and he burst into tears, fearing that Gándhárí was really dead, and he called for

INDIA. PART II.

Krishna con

vas should prove

than the Kaura

some sweet odours and sprinkled them upon her face. And HISTORY OF Dhritarashtra also came and laid Gándhárí's head upon his knees, and after a considerable time she began to revive. Krishna then said to her:-"You are not as other women soles Gandhárí by engaging are, so as to lose all power of patience and resignation; or that the Pandanot to know that there is no remedy against the will of more dutiful Providence: Were you not always aware from the conduct vas. of your two sons, Duryodhana and Duhsásana, that such a day as this must certainly await them? Will you not allow of yourself that in all this business no one is to blame but your sons? You yourself know what counsel I gave to Duryodhana, when I came here as ambassador from the Pándavas Now consider that these Pándavas are also your sons, and have done nothing but in self-defence; and that what has befallen your own sons is only what your sons were desirous of inflicting upon the Pándavas : You are a woman of great understanding; say now whether what has befallen your sons can be attributed as a crime to any one but Duryodhana: Do not therefore make a useless clamour, but submit with patience, and eternal paradise will hereafter be your portion from God: You are a woman of that profound sanctity, that if you were only once to utter a curse against the whole world, God would for your sake involve it in destruction; but if, seeing that your sons are already slain, you should now curse the Pándavas, who will fulfil every filial duty to you and your husband a thousand times better than was done by your own sons, what advantage could possibly accrue to you?"

to Krishna.

Gándhárí listened attentively to all these arguments, and Gandhárí's reply said to Krishna :-"I pray God to bless you for having awakened me from the state of grief in which I was plunged by the loss of my children, so that I was very nearly uttering a curse against the Pándavas : But I am now aware that what you have said is just and right, and that I have no remedy but resignation: But now you must take care of this aged, blind, grief-stricken, broken-hearted husband of mine; and do not let too much evil overwhelm him, nor his enemies work their will upon him."

HISTORY OF

INDIA. PART II.

Krishna renews his promises.

Krishna answered her :-" Fear not, for Raja Yudhishthira will perform every filial duty to your husband Dhritaráshtra a thousand times better than was ever done by Duryodhana; and the Maháraja will be a thousand times better treated by the Pándavas than ever he was by his own sons; and if Duryodhana and Duhsásana were your sons, Yudhishthira and Arjuna will be your slaves." And GándReturns to the hárí was consoled by these words of Krishna; and Krishna Pandavas in the then returned to the Pándavas, who had taken up 'their

quarters of the

camp of the

Kauravas.

Review of the foregoing narrative of the last day of the great

war.

Mythical refer

na.

quarters for the night in the camp of the Kauravas; and

he entered the presence of Yudhishthira and related to him all that had occurred during his visit at Hastinapur.

The foregoing narrative of the events of the last day of the great war is deeply interesting, but calls for little comment. The mythical references to ences to Krish- Krishna are however singularly suggestive; both as regards his strange counsel during the battle between Bhíma and Duryodhana, and his mythical mission to Hastinapur at the conclusion of the war. Upon the former point it may be remarked that Duryodhana had hitherto displayed a peculiar enmity towards Krishna; or, to use a later and more mythical form of expression, he had ever opposed the worship of Krishna, and disbelieved in his divine nature. For some strange reason, which can scarcethe Kauravas ly be fathomed, the deaths of the three leading immoral inter- heroes of the Kauravas are ascribed to Krishna's

Extraordinary counsel of Krishna that Bhima should strike a foul blow.

Deaths of the

three heroes of

ascribed to the

ference of Krishna.

interference, although each case involved a moral delinquency. He caused the death of Drona by suggesting the lie which was told as regards Aswattháma. He caused the death of Karna by counselling Arjuna to shoot an arrow when Karna was trying to raise his chariot-wheel from the earth. Finally, he suggested the foul blow with the mace beneath the waist by which Duryodhana was mor

myth.

INDIA.

by

tally wounded by Bhíma. Accordingly the divine HISTORY OF hero is bitterly reproached by Duryodhana for these PART II. offences; and the difficulty is to understand why the Krishna reBrahmanical compilers should have attributed such Buryodhana. undoubted deviations from morality to their own particular deity. Possibly they desired to transfer Origin of the the guilt from responsible heroes to an irresponsible Supreme Being. The narrative of Yudhishthira's lie, of Arjuna's unfair shot, and of Bhíma's foul blow, may have been related in the original tradition, without any reference to Krishna, and without any attempt at palliation, simply because at that early period they were not opposed to the moral sense of the community. In the Brahmanical age however such deeds were by no means creditable to the national heroes; although when changed to religious mysteries, and ascribed to an incarnation of the Supreme Being, they might be treated as acts which mere humanity could not venture to praise or condemn.

The mission of Krishna to console the blind Ma- Krishna appears

in his mission to

a consoler.

háraja Dhritarashtra, and the Rání Gándhárí, for the character of the slaughter of their sons, and, above all, to reconcile the bereaved pair to the murderers of their sons, is a circumstance which is far more in accordance with the religious character of Krishna, who is not unfrequently represented as a consoler in times of sorrow and suffering. Indeed, the tone of thought which prevails throughout this portion of the poem sufficiently indicates its later origin; and it may be safely passed over as a pure invention and interpolation of the Brahmanical compilers.