Chapter 4
Yudhishthira said, “Ye have already said what offices ye willrespectively perform. I also, according to the measure of my sense, havesaid what office I will perform.
Yudhishthira said, “Ye have already said what offices ye willrespectively perform. I also, according to the measure of my sense, havesaid what office I will perform.
“Sanjaya said, ‘Hear, O king, with attention, how that great carnage ofthe Kurus and the Pandavas occurred when they encountered each other.
“Yudhishthira said, ‘When a king becomes desirous of making gifts in thisworld, what, indeed, are those gifts which he should make, O best of theBharatas, unto such Brahmanas as are possessed of superioraccomplishments?
“Sanjaya said, ‘Bhuri, O king, in that battle, resisted that foremost ofcar-warriors, viz., the grandson of Sini, who advanced like an elephanttowards a lake full of water.
Vaisampayana said, “Girding their waists with swords, and equipped withfinger-protectors made of iguana skins and with various weapons, thoseheroes proceeded in the direction of the river Yamuna.
“Narada said,–the celestial assembly room of Sakra is full of lustre. Hehath obtained it as the fruit of his own acts. Possessed of the splendourof the sun, it was built, O scion of the Kuru race, by Sakra himself.
Vaishampayana said, “After the ladies had been dismissed, Dhritarashtra,the son of Ambika, plunged into grief greater than that which hadafflicted him before, began, O monarch, to indulge in lamentations,exhaling breaths that resembled smoke, and repeatedly waving his arms,and reflecting a little, O monarch, he said these words.
“Yudhishthira said, ‘People accept with affection the declarations of theSrutis which say, ‘This is to be given.’ ‘This other thing is to begiven!’ As regards kings, again, they make gifts of various things untovarious men. What, however, O grandsire, is the best or foremost of allgifts.’