Chapter 152
“Vaisampayana said, ‘Then, when the night had passed away, a largeconcourse of the townspeople came there in haste to see the sons ofPandu. After extinguishing the fire, they saw that the house just burntdown had been built of lac in materials and that (Duryodhana’s)counsellor Purochana had been burnt to death.
And the people began tobewail aloud saying, ‘Indeed, this had been contrived by the sinfulDuryodhana for the destruction of the Pandavas. There is little doubtthat Duryodhana hath, with Dhritarashtra’s knowledge, burnt to death theheirs of Pandu, else the prince would have been prevented by his father.There is little doubt that even Bhishma, the son of Santanu, and Dronaand Vidura and Kripa and other Kauravas have not, any of them, followedthe dictates of duty. Let us now send to Dhritarashtra to say, ‘Thy greatdesire hath been achieved! Thou hast burnt to death the Pandavas!’
“They then began to extinguish the members to obtain some trace of thePandavas, and they saw the innocent Nishada woman with her five sonsburnt to death. Then the miner sent by Vidura, while removing the ashes,covered the hole he had dug with those ashes in such a way that itremained unnoticed by all who had gone there.
“The citizens then sent to Dhritarashtra to inform him that the Pandavasalong with (Duryodhana’s) counsellor Purochana had been burnt to death.King Dhritarashtra, on hearing the evil news of the death of thePandavas, wept in great sorrow. And he said, ‘King Pandu, my brother ofgreat fame, hath, indeed, died today when those heroic sons of histogether with their mother have been burnt to death. Ye men, repairquickly to Varanavata and cause the funeral rites to be performed ofthose heroes and of the daughter of Kuntiraj! Let also the bones of thedeceased be sanctified with the usual rites, and let all the beneficialand great acts (usual on such occasions) be performed. Let the friendsand relatives of those that have been burnt to death repair thither. Letalso all other beneficial acts that ought, under the circumstances, to beperformed by us for the Pandavas and Kunti be accomplished by wealth.’
“Having said this, Dhritarashtra, the son of Ambika, surrounded by hisrelatives, offered oblations of water to the sons of Pandu. And all ofthem, afflicted with excessive sorrow, bewailed aloud, exclaiming, ‘OYudhishthira! Oh prince of the Kuru race!’–While others cried aloud,’Oh, Bhima!–O Phalguna!’–while some again,–‘Oh, the twins!–Oh,Kunti!’–Thus did they sorrow for the Pandavas and offer oblations ofwater unto them. The citizens also wept for the Pandavas but Vidura didnot weep much, because he knew the truth.
“Meanwhile the Pandavas endued with great strength with their motherforming a company of six going out of the town of Varanavata arrived atthe banks of the Ganga. They then speedily reached the opposite bankaided by the strength of the boatmen’s arms, the rapidity of the river’scurrent, and a favourable wind. Leaving the boat, they proceeded in thesouthern direction finding their way in the dark by the light of thestars. After much suffering they at last reached, O king, a dense forest.They were then tired and thirsty; sleep was closing their eyes everymoment. Then Yudhishthira, addressing Bhima endued with great energy,said, ‘What can be more painful than this? We are now in the deep woods.We know not which side is which, nor can we proceed much further. We donot know whether that wretch Purochana hath or hath not been burnt todeath. How shall we escape from these dangers unseen by others? OBharata, taking us on thyself, proceed thou as before. Thou alone amongstus art strong and swift as the wind.’
“Thus addressed by Yudhishthira the just, the mighty Bhimasena, taking upon his body Kunti and his brothers, began to proceed with greatcelerity.'”
