198 BENGALI LANGUAGE & LITERATURE. [Chap. surpassing all the rest,—the atrocious insult upon Draupadi, the wife of the Pandavas. A war was inevitable and the Ksatriya Princes of India rallied on either side when it actually broke out. The Pandavas with the help of Krisna gained the victory, though nearly the whole race of Ksatriyas was extir- pated, in a terrible battle that raged for eighteen suc- cessive days incessantly on the plains of Kuruksetra. Yudhisthira was afterwards smitten with remorse for having waged acruel war which had resulted in the death of his relations and friends. This grief was accentuated by the news of the death of Krisna— the incarnation of Visnu and the great friend of the Pandavas. Yudhisthira, with his brothers and Drau- padi, made the great pilgrimage up the snowy ranges of Himalays to Mount Meru. On the way each of the brothers dropped dead; and Yudhisthira was alone left for the crowning scene of the Mahabharata, his ascent into heaven in mortal form. Sahjaya’s The earliest Bengali recension of the Maha- recension. 10175817219, that we have come accross, is by a Brahmin poet, named Sahjaya who belonged to the illus- trious family of Bharadwaja whom Adicara of Gauda had brought to Bengal. The task of translating the eighteen Parvas of Vyasa’s Mahabharata was immense and Safjaya justly claims the credit due to the pioneer in this field. He frequently refers to his work in the following strain in his Vanita.
- “ The Mahabharata, which was like an ocean of
impenetrable darkness, is now unveiled to sight (made accessible to the masses) having been render- ed into Bengali verses (Panchali) by Safjaya.’’
- অতি অন্ধকার যে মহাভারত সাগর।
পাঁচালী সঞ্জয় তাক করিল উজ্জল ॥ ১০10)
