SUMMARY OF THE LEADING STORY

OF

THE MAHÁ-BHÁRATA.

THIS poem (which was recited by Vaiśampáyana, the pupil of Vyása, to Janamejaya, the great-grandson of Arjuna) is divided into eighteen books. To which has been added a supplement called Harivansa (see p. 40). It is in celebration of the lunar race of kings, as the Rámáyana is of the solar; and some knowledge of their genealogy is essential to the comprehension of the story. Soma, the moon, the progenitor of the lunar race, who reigned at Hastinapur, was the child of the Rishi, Atri, and father of Budha, who married Ilá or Iḍá, daughter of the solar prince Ikshwáku, and had by her a son, Aila or Purúravas. The latter had a son by Urvasí named Ayus, from whom came Nahusha, the father of Yayáti. The latter had two sons, Puru and Yadu, from whom proceeded the two branches of the lunar line. In the line of Yadu we need only mention the last three princes, Sura, Vasudeva *, *. and Krishna with his brother Balaráma. Fifteenth in the other line—that of Puru-came Dushyanta, father of the great Bharata, from whom India to this day is called Bhárata-varsha. Ninth from Bharata came Kuru, and fourteenth from him Sántanu. This Sántanu had by his wife Satyavatí, a son named Vichitra-vírya. Bhishma (also called Sántanava, Deva-vrata, &c.), who renounced the right of succession and took

Pritha or Kuntí, wife of Pánḍu, and mother of three of the Pándu princes, was a sister of Vasudeva, and therefore aunt of Krishna.

the vow of a Brahmachárí *, was the son of Sántanu by a former wife, the goddess Gangá, whence one of his names is Gángeya. Satyavatí also had, before her marriage with Sántanu, borne Vyása to the sage Parásara; so that Vichitra-vírya, Bhíshma, and Vyása were half-brothers †; and Vyása, although he retired into the wilderness, to live a life of contemplation, promised his mother that he would place himself at her disposal whenever she required his services. Satyavatí had recourse to him when her son Vichitra-vírya died childless, and requested him to pay his addresses to Vichitra-vírya's two widows, named Ambiká and Ambáliká. He consented, and had by them respectively two children, Dhritarashtra, who was born blind, and Páṇḍu, who was born with a pale complexion. When Satyavatí begged Vyása to become the father of a third son (who should be without any defect), the elder wife, terrified by Vyása's austere appearance, sent him one of her slave-girls, dressed in her own clothes; and this girl was the mother of Vidura (whence he is sometimes called Kshattri ||). Dhritarashtra, Páṇḍu, and Vidura were thus brothers, sons of Vyása, the supposed author or compiler of the Mahá-bhárata. Vyása after this retired again to the woods; but, gifted with divine prescience, appeared both to his sons and grandsons whenever they were in difficulties, and needed his advice and assistance. To make the genealogy more clear, it may be well to repeat it in a tabular form :

* I. e. perpetual celibacy. Adya-prabhṛiti me brahmacharyam bhavishyati; Aputrasyápi me loká bhavishyanty akshayá divi. (Mahá-bhár. I. 4060.)

+ Paráśara met with Satyavatí when quite a girl, as he was crossing the river Jumná in a boat. The result of their intercourse was a child, Vyása, who was called Krishna, from his swarthy complexion, and Dwaipayana, because he was brought forth by Satyavatí on an island (dwípa) in the Jumná. (See Mahá-bhár. I. 2416, 2417, and 4235.)

The mother of Pándu was also called Kausalyá; and this name (which was that of the mother of Ráma-chandra) seems also to be applied to the mother of Dhritarashtra. Paleness of complexion, in the eyes of a Hindú, would be regarded as a kind of leprosy, and was therefore almost as great a defect as blindness. The reason given for these defects is very curious. Ambika was so terrified by the swarthy complexion and shaggy aspect of the sage Vyása (not to speak of the gandha emitted by his body), that when he visited her she closed her eyes, and did not venture to open them while he was with her. In consequence of this assumed blindness her child was born blind. Ambáliká, on the other hand, though she kept her eyes open, became so colourless with fright, that her son was born with a pale complexion. (See Mahá-bhár. I. 4275-4290.) Pándu seems to have been in other respects good looking Sá deví kumáram ajíjanat pándu-lakshana-sampannam dípyamánam vara-śriya.

|| Vyása was so much pleased with this slave-girl that he pronounced her free, and declared that her child, Vidura, should be sarva-buddhimatám varah. Kshattṛi, although in Manu the child of a S'údra father and Brahman mother, signifies here the child of a Brahman father and S'údra mother.

Atri (the muni, generally reckoned among the seven Rishis or sages).

Soma (or chandra), the moon.

Budha (or Mercury), married Ilá or Iḍá, daughter of Ikshwáku.

Vasudeva, brother of Kuntí or Pritha, also called Ánaka-dundubhi.
Krishna and Balarama, with whom, by the quarrels of the Yádavas,
the line becomes extinct. They were cotemporary with the sons of
Pándu and Dhritarashtra.

Line of Puru and Kuru continued.

S'antanu Satyavatí

Dhritarashtra Gándhárí

Karna

Kuntí or Prithá—Páṇḍu—Mádrí
Yudhish-
thira

Bhíma Arjuna Nakula

Sahadeva

* Chitrangada reigned a very short time after the death of S'ántanu.

He was so arrogant

and proud of his strength that he defied gods and men; upon which the king of the Gandharbas, his namesake, came down to fight with him and killed him.

† Kripa and his sister Kripá, wife of Drona, were adopted children of S'ántanu (see Mahábhár. I. 5087; and see note ‡, p. 97).

FIRST BOOK or ADI-PARVA.-Dhritarashtra and Páṇḍu were brought up by their uncle Bhíshma *, who in the meanwhile conducted the government of Hastinápur† (4349). Dhritarashtra was the first-born, but at first renounced the throne, in consequence of his blindness (4361). Vidura being the son of a Súdra woman, could not succeed, and Páṇḍu therefore became king (4361). In the meantime Dhritarashtra married Gándhárí (also called Saubaleyi or Saubalí, daughter of Subala, king of Gándhára); who when she heard that her future husband was blind, to show her respect for him, bound her own eyes with a handkerchief, and always remained blindfolded in his presence ‡. Soon afterwards, at a swayamvara held by king Kuntibhoja, his adopted daughter, Prithá or Kuntí, chose Páṇḍu for her husband (4418).' She was the child of a Yádava prince, Súra, who gave her to his childless cousin Kuntibhoja; under whose care she was brought up. One day, before her marriage, she paid such respect and attention to a powerful sage named Durvásas, a guest in her father's house, that he gave her a charm and taught her an incantation, by virtue of which she was to have a child by any god she liked to invoke. Out of curiosity, she invoked the Sun, by whom she had a child, who was born clothed in armour ||. Pritha (or Kuntí), afraid of the censure of her relatives, deserted the child, and exposed it in the river. It was found by Adhiratha, a charioteer (súta), and nurtured by his wife Rádhá; whence the child was afterwards called Rádheya, though named by his foster-parents Vasusheņa. When he was grown up, Indra tricked him out of his armour (which he wanted for his son Arjuna) by appealing to his generosity in the guise of a Bráhman. Indra in return conferred upon him enormous strength (śakti), and changed his name to Karna § (4383-4411).

After Páṇḍu's marriage to Prithá, his uncle Bhíshma, wishing him to take a second wife, made an expedition to Salya, king of Madra, and prevailed upon him to bestow his sister Mádrí upon Páṇḍu, in exchange for vast sums of money and jewels

* Dhritarashtraścha Páṇḍuścha Viduraścha mahámatih Janma-prabhṛiti Bhíshmeņa putravat paripálitáh (4353). They were all three thoroughly educated by Bhishma. Dhritaráshtra is described as excelling all others in strength (4356), Pándu as excelling in the use of the bow, and Vidura as pre-eminent for virtue (4358).

+ Hastinapur is also called Gajasáhwaya and Nágasáhwaya.

Sá paṭam ádáya kṛitwá bahuguṇam tadá Babandha netre swe rájan pativrata-paráyaṇá (4376). She is described as so devoted to her husband that Váchá 'pi purushán anyán suvratá nánwakírtayat.

The Sun afterwards restored to her her maidenhood (kanyátwa). See 4400.

§ He is also called Vaikartana, as son of Vikartana or the Sun, and sometimes Vṛisha. Karna is described (4405) as worshipping the Sun till he scorched his own back (áprishṭhatápát). Compare Hitop. book II. v. 32.

(4438). Soon after this second marriage Páṇḍu undertook a great campaign, in which he conquered the Daśárnas, Magadha, Káśi, Mithilá or Videha, and subjugated so many countries, that the kingdom of Hastinapur became under him as glorious and extensive as formerly under Bharata (4461). Having acquired enormous wealth, which he distributed to Bhíshma, Vidura, and Dhritarashtra, Páṇḍu retired to the woods, to indulge his passion for hunting, and lived with his two wives as a forester on the southern slope of the Himalayas. The blind Dhritarashtra, who had a very useful charioteer named Sanjaya, was then obliged, with the assistance of Bhishma as his regent, to take the reins of government. After this, Bhishma promoted the marriage of Vidura with a beautiful slave-girl belonging to king Devaka *. We have next an account of the birth of Dhritarashtra's sons. One day the sage Vyása was hospitably entertained by the queen Gándhárí, and in return granted her a boon. She chose to be the mother of a hundred sons, and soon afterwards became pregnant (4490). After two years' gestation she produced a mass of flesh, which was divided by Vyása into a hundred and one pieces (as big as the joint of a thumb), and placed in jars (kunḍeshu). In due time the eldest son, Duryodhana (sometimes called Suyodhana; see p. 20 of this volume), was born, but not till after the birth of Pritha's son Yudhishthira. At Duryodhana's birth various evil omens of the usual hackneyed description occurred; jackals yelled, donkeys brayed, whirlwinds blew, and the sky seemed on fire (4509). Dhritarashtra, alarmed, called his ministers together, who recommended him to abandon the child, but could not persuade him to do so. In another month the remaining ninety-nine sons were born† from the remaining jars, and one daughter, called Duhśalá (afterwards married to Jayadratha). Dhritarashtra had also one other son, named Yuyutsu, born in the usual way from a woman of the Vaiśyá caste (4522), making altogether a hundred and two children.

We have next the account of the birth of the five reputed sons of Páṇḍu. One day, on a hunting expedition, Páṇḍu transfixed with five arrows a male and female deer, engaged in amorous sport together. These turned out to be a certain sage and his wife, who had taken the form of these animals. The sage cursed Páṇḍu, and predicted that he would die in the conjugal embraces of one of his wives (4588). In consequence of this curse, Páṇḍu took the vow of a Brahmachárí ‡, abandoned sensual pleasures, gave all his property to the Bráhmans, and became a hermit. He

* Vidura is one of the best characters in the Mahá-bhárata, always ready with good advice (hitopadeśa), both for the Pándavas and for his brother Dhritarashtra. His disposition leads him always to take the part of the Pándu princes, and warn them of the evil designs of their cousins.

+Their names are all detailed at 4540.

The brahmacharya-vrata, or vow of continence.