Page:The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa (Volume 1).pdf/282

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268
MAHABHARATA

Thus ends the hundred and thirteenth section in the Sambhava Parva of the Adi Parya.

SECTION CXIV

(Sambhava Parva continued)

Vaisampayana said. "Pandu then, at the command of Dhritarastra, offered the wealth he had acquired by the prowess of his arms to Bhishma, their grand-mother Satyabati and their mothers, the princes of Kosala. And he sent portion his wealth to Vidura also. And the virtuous Pandu gratified his other relatives also with similar presents. Then Satyabati and Bhishma and tbe Kosala princess were all gratified with the presents Pandu made out of the aquisitions of his prowess. And Amvalika in particular, upon embracing her son of incomparable prowess, became as glad as the queen of heaven, upon embracing Jayanta. And with the wealth acquired by that hero Dhritarastra performed five great sacrifices that were equal unto a hundred great horse-sacrifices, at all of which the offerings to Brahmanas were by hundreds and thousands.

"A little while after, O bull of Bharata's race, Pandu who and achieved a victory over sloth and lethargy, accompanied by his two wives Kunti and Madri retired into the woods. Leaving his excellent palace with its luxurious beds, he became a permanent inhabitant of the woods, devoting the whole of his time to the chase of the deer. And fixing his abode in a delightful and billy region overgrown with huge sala trees, on the southern slope of the Himayat mountains, be roamed about in perfect freedom. The handsome Pandu in the midst of his two wives wandered in those woods like Airavata in the midst of two she-elephants. And the dwellers in those woods, beholding the heroic Bharata prince in the company of his wives, armed with sword, arrows, and bow, clad with his beautiful armour, and skilled in all excellent weapons, regarded him as the very god wandering amongst them.

"And at the command of Dhritarashtra, people were busy in supplying Pandu in his retirement with every object of pleasure and enjoyment.

"Meanwhile the son of the ocean-going Ganga beard that king Devaka had a daughter endued with youth and beauty and begotten upon Sudra wife. Bringing her from her father's abode, Bhisma married her to Vidura of great wisdom. And the Kuru prince Vidura begot upon her many children like unto himself in accomplishments."