INDIA. PART II. selves at the Maharaja. image to pieces against the women of Dhrishta-dyumna. And after a while, Yudhish- HISTORY OF thira saw the Maháraja approaching; and all the women of the Kauravas accompanied the Maháraja, and rent the air with their lamentations; and Yudhishthira passed by the women, and went on to the Maháraja, and fell at his feet. Prostrate themThen the other Pándavas, each one declaring his name to feet of the the blind Maháraja, fell at his feet in like manner. And Dhritarashtra embraced Yudhishthira, and said :-" Where The Maharaja calls for Bhima, is Bhíma?" Now as it was well known that Bhíma had and receives his image in his slain Duryodhana, as well as a great number of the sons of stead. Dhritarashtra, Krishna had been fearful of introducing him, lest the aged Maháraja should vent his wrath upon him. And it so happened that in former days Duryodhana had ordered to be made an image of Bhíma, upon which image he was accustomed to try his strength; and when the Maháraja called for Bhíma, Krishna gave him this image, and said:"Here is Bhíma." Then the Maharaja opened his Crushes the arms, and under pretence of embracing Bhíma, he crushed in his wrath the image to pieces; and he then fell down exhausted and murderer of his fainting, with blood issuing from his mouth. After a long Repents the time he came to himself and began to weep; and when those deed, and weeps. around him asked why he wept, he replied:-" Bhíma was as one of my own sons, and his death has not brought any of my other sons to life, and I have slain him to no purpose." Then Sanjaya, his charioteer, who stood by, told him what Undeceived by Krishna had done, and how it was not Bhíma that he had crushed, but the iron image which Duryodhana had made. And Dhritarashtra turned to Krishna, and said :-" O Krishna, you have done excellently well." He then called for the Embraces the five brethren one by one, and again embraced them; and turn. when Bhíma presented himself, the Maháraja laughed, and said:-" What if I should now give you another squeeze?" Bhíma replied:-"I am your slave, and if you order me I will be my own executioner." Dhritarashtra said :-" You The reconciliaare now all my sons, and the only remaining children of my brother Pándu: All that has happened to my sons was of their own seeking, and arose from their envy against you." And Dhritarashtra began to weep again, and Yudhish sons. Sanjaya. five Pandavas in tion. HISTORY OF thira and Krishna and all the others began to weep with INDIA. PART II. Affecting scene between the Pándavas and hári. excuses. signation. Bhima for hav blood of Duhsá him. After this Yudhishthira and his brothers, together with Krishna, took leave of the Maháraja and proceeded to wait the Ráni Gánd- upon Gándhárí. Yudhishthira advanced and kissed her feet, and she took him in her arms, and they both wept aloud. Gándhárí then said:-"The smell of Duryodhana is upon you all;" and screaming out she fell down in a swoon. Yudhishthira's When she recovered Yudhishthira said to her :-"O mother, it must be clear to you that we had no alternative in the affair of Duryodhana; for what could we do when he would not allow us bread to eat as the condition of our service?" Gandhari's re- Gándhárí replied:-"Say nothing, O Raja, about it, for I know that you speak only what is true and right, and that all which has befallen my sons was but the fruit of their refusal to take the advice of myself and my husband; and now that they are gone, may God preserve you to me in the room of Duryodhana." Arjuna then came and kissed her She reproaches feet, as did Bhíma also; and Gándhárí said to Bhíma :ing drank the "You drank the blood of my son Duhsásana.” Bhíma replied:-"No, I did not drink it: I took some of it in my hands and rubbed it about my face, but I did not drink it; and I only said that I drank it for the sake of frightening the others." At this moment Raja Yudhishthira stepped blame upon him- forward, and laid his head at the feet of Gándhárí, and said:"O mother, it was I who killed your sons, and do you lay all the blame upon me, and say nothing to the others." Gándhárí then asked for Draupadí, and said to her :—“ You and I are in the same affliction, for your sons also are slain; but what can I do? There is no remedy against the behests Gandhári sends of the great god Siva." She then said to Yudhishthira and their mother his brethren: "It is now nearly fourteen years since your mother Kuntí had the pleasure of seeing you: Go now and see her!" And the five Pándavas went accordingly; and when Kuntí heard that her sons were coming she fainted for joy; and when Yudhishthira and his brethren came up and found her in that condition, Yudhishthira took hold of his mother's hand, and after a time she came to herself. sana. Bhima's denial. Yudhishthira takes all the self. the Pandavas to Kunti. Joy of Kunti. : INDIA. PART II. Her five sons lay their heads at her feet. And the sons of Kuntí came and laid their heads at her feet HISTORY OF one by one, and she embraced and kissed each of them in turn, and wept at seeing the wounds they had received in the great war. Then Draupadí approached her, and Kuntí, knowing that her children had been so lately slain, wept for Affecting meether; and Draupadí laid her head at Kuntí's feet and fainted ing of Draupadi away, and when she recovered, both the ladies wept so abundantly that all the bystanders were moved to tears. Meantime Gándhárí came forward with all the widows of and Kunti. ly consoles her sons who had been slain, and she said to Draupadí :- Gándhárí pious'Weep not, my daughter, for your sorrows are not greater Draupadi. than mine: We cannot tell what is decreed by fate: Thank God that the war is over, and weep not for the dead: Let us now perform the necessary rites for the souls of the departed." foregoing narra The foregoing narrative requires no comment. Review of the A general truthfulness to human nature is perceptible tive. throughout. The story of the image said to have been made of Bhíma may appear somewhat apocryphal, but yet is not altogether beyond the bounds of probability.' funeral cere field of battle. gards the war The next scene, which comprises the lamenta- Narrative of the tions of the women on the field of battle, and the monies on the subsequent burning of the dead, is very affecting. One point however is open to question. If the war Difficulty as rereally lasted eighteen days, and the general burning of lasting eighteen the bodies did not take place until the day after the conclusion of the war, the corpses of those who were slain in the earlier battles must have lain in a state of perfect putrefaction. The question, however, is 1 Duryodhana is said to have made an iron image of Bhíma to try his strength upon it; or he may have made an ordinary figure-head to knock about as a manitestation of his hatred towards the original. In Mr Dickens' novel of "The Old Curiosity Shop," Quilp, the evil character of the story, purchases an old wooden igure of an Admiral, to represent Kit, whom he hates; and he strikes and mutihtes the image accordingly. The incident is true to human nature, and merely exhibits the natural force of the imagination. A mob will in like manner burn the effigy of the object of their detestation. days. HISTORY OF not an important one, and may be left unsolved. The narrative is as follows: INDIA. PART II. Sad procession of the women Kurukshetra. The women sit by the dead bodies of their husbands. Gándhári over hana. After this all the women dishevelled their hair, and to the plain of offered up loud lamentations, and proceeded to the fatal plain of Kurukshetra; and there they beheld the dead bodies of their husbands and fathers, sons and brothers, who had been slain in the war. And each of the women went and sat down by the remains of him whom she had most loved, and whose death had caused her the greatest affliction. And Gándhárí and Kuntí, accompanied by Yudhishthira and Krishna, went to the dead body of Duryodhana; and when Lamentations of Gandhárí saw that it was her own son, she fell down in a her son Duryod- Swoon; and after a long interval she revived, and said::"The wise and the learned always used to sit round this son of mine, and nearly all the Rajas of the earth took their stations near him, and prided themselves on it as a promotion, but this night the jackals alone have been his courLamentations of tiers." The widow of Duryodhana likewise came with her hair dishevelled, and placed her husband's head upon her lap, and seated herself there; and Gándhárí said :-"This woman, whom neither sun nor moon were once worthy to look upon, see how she now sits here bare-headed!” There too was the widow of the son of Duryodhana, and the widow of Karna, and the widow of Abhimanyu, and many others; and Gándhárí and all those widows bemoaned their several relations with so many tears, that none of those who were present could refrain from joining them in weeping. the widows. Performance of the funeral rites for the slain. Collection of materials for the burning. After this, Maháraja Dhritaráshtra said to Yudhishthira:-"My son, be pleased now to order that all the dead bodies should be burned." And Dhritarashtra and Yudhishthira jointly requested Vidura to superintend the performance of the ceremony. And Vidura, who was the uncle of the Kauravas and Pandavas, and Sanjaya, the charioteer of the Maharaja, and Yuyutsu, the only surviving son of the Maháraja, and Dhaumya, the family priest of the Pándavas, all went out together to the field of battle. And they collected a large quantity of sandal and other odoriferous woods, and sweet oils, to form a pile on which to burn the INDIA. PART II. the Rajas recog charioteers. Rajas of the first bodies of the principal warriors, such as Duryodhana, Karna, HISTORY OF Abhimanyu, Drona, and others; and they also collected many thousand mule-loads of faggots and oil to burn the bodies of those of inferior note. And they ordered all the surviving Dead bodies of charioteers of those Rajas who had been slain, to go through nized by their the plain and point out the corpses of their respective masters, so that such Rajas might be burned separately according to their rank. And they took with them a thousand cart-loads of cloths, some fine and others coarse, to wrap up the dead bodies before burning. Then Vidura, and those appointed with him, went over the plain of Kurukshetra; and they first took up with all reverence and ceremony the corpse of Duryodhana and burned it. Next the Rajas of the first Burning of the rank were wrapped in fine linen and burned with perfumes; rank. and amongst these were the other sons of Dhritarashtra, and the sons of Draupadí, and Abhimanyu, and Drona, and Karna, and the greater Rajas, such as Raja Drupada and his son Dhrishta-dyumna, and Raja Viráta, and Raja Jayadratha, and Raja Sálya, and many others. When this burning had been accomplished they kindled a mighty fire and burned Burning of the remaining all the remaining bodies therein. After this, Yudhishthira bodies. and his brethren, accompanied by Krishna, went to bathe in Bathing in the Ganges, and the Ganges according to the rule; and taking up a handful sprinkling of of water for each kinsman that had been slain in the battle, they sprinkled it in the name of the deceased; and Yudhishthira, at the request of his mother Kuntí, sprinkled some water in the name of Karna. And Raja Yudhishthira and Sorrow of Yudhis brother Arjuna grieved very much for the death of Arjuna for the Karna; and the Raja ordered great charities to be distributed in the name of Karna, and he took under his own protection all Karna's women and young children, and provided for all his remaining dependents. And he called for one of Karna's sons, who was sixteen years of age, and wept in his presence very much for the death of Karna; and he gave him a large Kindness of separate establishment and estate, and paid more attention to all the to him than he did to his own sons; and he placed him dren, and deunder Arjuna to teach him archery and all other military Karna. exercises. And he showed also great tenderness and affec water. hishthira and death of Karna. Yudhishthira, widows, chil pendents of |