Section I

OM! HAVING BOWED down unto Narayana, and Nara the foremost of male beings, and unto the goddess Sarasvati, must the word Jaya be uttered.

"Vaisampayana said, "After the king Dhritarashtra had offered libations of water (unto the manes of Bhisma), the mighty-armed^[1] Yudhishthira, with his senses bewildered, placing the former in his front, ascended the banks (of the river), his eyes suffused with tears, and dropt down on the bank of the Ganga like an elephant pierced by the hunter. Then incited by Krishna, Bhima took him up sinking. 'This must not be so,' said Krishna, the grinder of hostile hosts. The Pandavas, O king, saw Yudhishthira, the son of Dharma, troubled and lying on the ground, and also sighing again and again. And seeing the king despondent and feeble, the Pandavas, overwhelmed with grief, sat down, surrounding him. And endowed with high intelligence and having the sight of wisdom, king Dhritarashtra, exceedingly afflicted with grief for his sons, addressed the monarch, saying,—'Rise up, O you tiger among the Kurus. Do you now attend to your duties. O Kunti’s son, you have conquered this Earth according to the usage of the Kshatriyas. Do you now, O lord of men, enjoy her with your brothers and friends. O foremost of the righteous, I do not see why you should grieve. O lord of the Earth, having lost a hundred sons like unto riches obtained in a dream, it is Gandhari and I, who should mourn. Not having listened to the pregnant words of the high-souled Vidura, who sought our welfare, I, of perverse senses, (now) repent. The virtuous Vidura, endowed with divine insight, had told me,—'Your race will meet with annihilation owing to the transgressions of Duryodhana. O king, if you wish for the weal of your line, act up to my advice. Cast off this wicked-minded monarch, Suyodhana, and let not either Karna or Sakuni by any means see him. Their gambling too do you, without making any fuss suppress, and anoint the righteous king Yudhishthira. That one of subdued senses will righteously govern the Earth. If you wouldst not have king Yudhishthira, son of Kunti, then, O monarch, do you, performing a sacrifice, thyself take charge of the kingdom, and regarding all creatures with an even eye, O lord of men, do you let your kinsmen. O you advancer of your kindred, subsist on your bounty.' When, O Kunti’s son, the far-sighted Vidura said this, fool that I was I followed the wicked Duryodhana. Having turned a deaf ear to the sweet speech of that sedate one, I have obtained this mighty sorrow as a consequence, and have been plunged in an ocean of woe. Behold your old father and mother, O king, plunged in misery. But, O master of men, I find no occasion for your grief.'"