Chapter 80

Janamejaya said, “O holy one, after my great-grandfather Partha had goneaway from the woods of Kamyaka, what did the sons of Pandu do in theabsence of that hero capable of drawing the bow with his left hand? Itseemeth to me that mighty bowman and vanquisher of armies was theirrefuge, as Vishnu of the celestials. How did my heroic grandsires passtheir time in the forest, deprived of the company of that hero, whoresembled Indra himself in prowess and never turned his back in battle?”

Vaisampayana said, “After Arjuna of unbaffled prowess had gone away fromKamyaka, the sons of Pandu, O son, were filled with sorrow and grief. Andthe Pandavas with cheerless hearts very much resembled pearls unstrungfrom a wreath, or birds shorn of their wings. And without that hero ofwhite steeds that forest looked like the Chaitraratha woods when deprivedof the presence of Kuvera. And, O Janamejaya, those tigers among men–thesons of Pandu–deprived of the company of Arjuna, continued to live inKamyaka in perfect cheerlessness. And, O chief of the Bharata race, thosemighty warriors endowed with great prowess slew with pure arrows variouskinds of sacrificial animals for the Brahmanas. And those tigers amongmen and repressors of foes, daily slaying those wild animals andsanctifying them properly, offered them unto the Brahmanas. And it wasthus, O king, that those bulls among men afflicted with sorrow livedthere with cheerless hearts after Dhananjaya’s departure. The princess ofPanchala in particular, remembering her third lord, addressed the anxiousYudhishthira and said, ‘That Arjuna who with two hands rivals thethousand-armed Arjuna (of old), alas, without that foremost of the sonsof Pandu, this forest doth not seem at all beautiful in my eyes. Withouthim, whenever I cast my eyes, this earth seems to be forlorn. Even thisforest with its blossoming trees and so full of wonders, without Arjunaseems not so delightful as before. Without him who is like a mass of blueclouds (in hue), who hath the prowess of an infuriated elephant, andwhose eyes are like the leaves of the lotus, this Kamyaka forest doth notseem beautiful to me. Remembering that hero capable of drawing the bowwith his left hand, and the twang of whose bow sounds like the roar ofthunder, I cannot feel any happiness, O king!’ And, O monarch, hearingher lament in this strain, that slayer of hostile heroes, Bhimasena,addressed Draupadi in these words, ‘O blessed lady of slender waist, theagreeable words thou utterest delight my heart like the quaffing ofnectar. Without him whose arms are long and symmetrical, and stout andlike unto a couple of iron maces and round and marked by the scars of thebow-strings and graced with the bow and sword and other weapons andencircled with golden bracelets and like unto a couple of five-headedsnakes, without that tiger among men the sky itself seemeth to be withoutthe sun. Without that mighty-armed one relying upon whom the Panchalasand the Kauravas fear not the sternly-exerting ranks of the celestialsthemselves, without that illustrious hero relying upon whose arms we allregard our foes as already vanquished and the earth itself as alreadyconquered, without that Phalguna I cannot obtain any peace in the woodsof Kamyaka. The different directions also, wherever I cast my eyes,appear to be empty!’

“After Bhima had concluded, Nakula the son of Pandu, with voice chokedwith tears, said, ‘Without him whose extraordinary deeds on the field ofbattle constitute the talk of even the gods, without that foremost ofwarriors, what pleasure can we have in the woods? Without him who havinggone towards the north had vanquished mighty Gandharva chiefs byhundreds, and who having obtained numberless handsome horses of theTittiri and Kalmasha species all endowed with the speed of the wind,presented them from affection unto his brother the king, on the occasionof the great Rajasuya sacrifice, without that dear and illustrious one,without that terrible warrior born after Bhima, without that hero equalunto a god I do not desire to live in the Kamyaka woods any longer.’

“After Nakula’s lamentations, Sahadeva said, ‘He who having vanquishedmighty warriors in battle won wealth and virgins and brought them untothe king on the occasion of the great Rajasuya sacrifice, that hero ofimmeasurable splendour who having vanquished single-handed the assembledYadavas in battle, ravished Subhadra with the consent of Vasudeva, he,who having invaded the dominion of the illustrious Drupada gave, OBharata, unto the preceptor Drona his tuition fee–beholding, O king,that Jishnu’s bed of grass empty in our asylum, my heart refusesconsolation. A migration from this forest is what, O represser of foes, Iwould prefer for without that hero this forest cannot be delightful.”