Chapter 306

Vaisampayana said, “It was, O lord of earth, on the first day of thelighted fortnight during the tenth month of the year that Prithaconceived a son like the lord himself of the stars in the firmament. Andthat damsel of excellent hips from fear of her friends, concealed herconception, so that no one knew her condition. And as the damsel livedentirely in the apartments assigned to the maidens and carefullyconcealed her condition, no one except her nurse knew the truth. And indue time that beauteous maiden, by the grace of deity, brought forth ason resembling a very god. And even like his father, the child wasequipped in a coat of mail, and decked with brilliant ear-rings. And hewas possessed of leonine eyes and shoulders like those of a bull. And nosooner was the beauteous girl delivered of a child, then she consultedwith her nurse and placed the infant in a commodious and smooth box madeof wicker work and spread over with soft sheets and furnished with acostly pillow. And its surface was laid over with wax, and it was encasedin a rich cover. And with tears in her eyes, she carried the infant tothe river Aswa, and consigned the basket to its waters. And although sheknew it to be improper for an unmarried girl to bear offspring, yet fromparental affection, O foremost of kings, she wept piteously. Do thoulisten to the words Kunti weepingly uttered, while consigning the box tothe waters of the river Aswa, ‘O child, may good betide thee at the handsof all that inhabit the land, the water, the sky, and the celestialregions. May all thy paths be auspicious! May no one obstruct thy way!And, O son, may all that come across thee have their hearts divested ofhostility towards thee: And may that lord of waters, Varuna. protect theein water! And may the deity that rangeth the skies completely protectthee in the sky. And may, O son, that best of those that impart heat,viz., Surya, thy father, and from whom I have obtained thee as ordainedby Destiny, protect thee everywhere! And may the Adityas and the Vasus,the Rudras and the Sadhyas, the Viswadevas and the Maruts, and thecardinal points with the great Indra and the regents presiding over them,and, indeed, all the celestials, protect thee in every place! Even inforeign lands I shall be able to recognise thee by this mail of thine!Surely, thy sire, O son, the divine Surya possessed of the wealth ofsplendour, is blessed, for he will with his celestial sight behold theegoing down the current! Blessed also is that lady who will, O thou thatare begotten by a god, take thee for her son, and who will give thee suckwhen thou art thirsty! And what a lucky dream hath been dreamt by herthat will adopt thee for her son, thee that is endued with solarsplendour, and furnished with celestial mail, and adorned with celestialear-rings, thee that hast expansive eyes resembling lotuses, a complexionbright as burnished copper or lotus leaves, a fair forehead, and hairending in beautiful curls! O son, she that will behold thee crawl on theground, begrimed with dust, and sweetly uttering inarticulate words, issurely blessed! And she also, O son, that will behold thee arrive at thyyouthful prime like maned lion born in Himalayan forests, is surelyblessed!'”

“O king, having thus bewailed long and piteously, Pritha laid the basketon the waters of the river Aswa. And the lotus-eyed damsel, afflictedwith grief on account of her son and weeping bitterly, with her nursecast the basket at dead of night, and though desirous of beholding herson often and again, returned, O monarch, to the palate, fearing lest herfather should come to know of what had happened. Meanwhile, the basketfloated from the river Aswa to the river Charmanwati, and from theCharmanwati it passed to the Yamuna, and so on to the Ganga. And carriedby the waves of the Ganga, the child contained in the basket came to thecity of Champa ruled by a person of the Suta tribe. Indeed, the excellentcoat of mail and those ear-rings made of Amrita that were born with hisbody, as also the ordinance of Destiny, kept the child alive.”