Page:The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa (Volume 1).pdf/157

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ADI PARVA
143

with the interpretations of the Vedas, was illustrious, gitted with great energy, and of great reputation. And, accused of theft, though innocent, the old Rishi was impaled. He thereupon summoned Dharma and told him these words :-'In my childhood I had pierced a little fly on a blade of grass. O Dharma, I recollect that one sin : but I cannot call to mind any other. I bave, however, since practised penances a thousand-fold. Hach not that one sin been conquered by this my asceticism? And because the killing of a Brahmana is more heinous than that of any other living thing, therefore, hast thou, O Dharma. been sinful! Thou shalt, therefore, be born on Earth in the Sudra order !' And for that curse Dharma was born a Sudra in the form of the learned Vidura of pure body who was perfectly sinless. And the Suta was born of Kunti in her maiden hood through Suryya. And be came out of his mother's womb with a natural coat of mail and face brightened by ear-rings. And Vishnu himself, of world-wide fame, and worshipped of all the worlds, was born of Devaki through Vasudeva, for the benefit of the three worlds. He is without birth and death, of radiant splendour the Creator of the universe and the Lord of all! Indeed, he who is the invisible cause of all, who knoweth no deterioration, who is the all pervading soul, the centre round which everything moveth, the substance in which the three attributes of Sattwa, Rajas and Tamas co-inbere, the universal soul, the immutable, the material out of which hath been created this universe, the Creator himself, the controlling lord, the invisible dweller in every object progenitor of this universe of five elements, who is united with the six high attributes, is the Pranava or Om of the Vedas, is infinite, incapable of being moved by any force save his own will, illustrious, the embodiment of the mode of life called Sannyasa, Who floated on the waters before the creation who is the source whence hath spung this mighty frame, who is the great combiner, the increate, the invisible essence of all, the great immutable, is bereft of those attributes that are knowable by the senses who is the universe itself, without beginning, birth, and decay.is possessed of infinite wealth, that Grand-sire of all creatures, became incarnate in the race of the Andhaka-Vrishnis for the increase of virtue !"

"And Satyaki and Kritavarma, conversant with the use of) weapons possessed of mighty energy, well-versed in all branches of know. ledge, and obedient to Narayana in everything and competent in the use of weapons, had their births from Satyaka and Hridika. And the seed of the great Rishi Bharadwaja of severe penances, kept in a pot, begat to develop. And from that seed came Drona (the por-born). And from the seed of Gautama, fallen upon a clump of reeds, were born