Jayadratha is released
Meanwhile, the Pandavas, the foremost of bowmen on the face of the earth, having wandered separately and ranged in all directions, and having slain plenty of deer and buffaloes, at length met together. Observing that great forest, which was crowded with hosts of deer and wild beasts, resounding with the shrill cries of birds, and hearing the shrieks and yells of the denizens of the wilderness. Yudhishthira said unto his brothers,
“These birds and wild beasts, flying towards that direction which is illuminated by the sun, are uttering dissonant cries and displaying an intense excitement. All this only shows that this mighty forest has been invaded by hostile intruders. Without a moment's delay let us give up the chase. We have no more need of game. My heart aches and seems to burn! The soul in my body, over-powering the intellect, seems ready to fly out. As a lake rid by Garuda of the mighty snake that dwells in it, as a pot drained of its contents by thirsty men, as a kingdom reft of king and prosperity, even so does the forest of Kamyaka seem to me.”
Thus addressed, those heroic warriors drove towards their abode, on great cars of handsome make and drawn by steeds of the Saindhava breed exceedingly fleet and possessed of the speed of the hurricane. On their way back, they beheld a jackal yelling hideously on the wayside towards their left. King Yudhishthira, regarding it attentively, said unto Bhima and Arjuna,
“This jackal that belongs to a very inferior species of animals, speaking to our left, speaks a language which plainly indicates that the sinful Kurus, disregarding us, have commenced to oppress us by resorting to violence.”
After the sons of Pandu had given up the chase and said these words, they entered the grove which contained their hermitage. There they found their beloved one's maid, the girl Dhatreyika, sobbing and weeping. Indrasena then quickly alighting from the chariot and advancing with hasty steps towards her, questioned her, in great distress of mind, saying,
“What makes you weep thus, lying on the ground, and why is your face so woe-begone and colourless? I hope no cruel wretches have done any harm to the princess Draupadi possessed of incomparable beauty and large eyes and who is the second self of every one of those bulls of the Kuru race? So anxious has been Dharma's son that if the princess has entered the bowels of the earth or has soared to heaven or dived into the bottom of the ocean, he and his brothers will go there in pursuit of her. Who could that fool be that would carry away that priceless jewel belonging to the mighty and ever-victorious sons of Pandu, those grinders of foes, and which is dear unto them as their own lives? I don't know who the person could be that would think of carrying away that princess who has such powerful protectors and who is even like a walking embodiment of the hearts of the sons of Pandu? Piercing whose breasts will terrible shafts stick to the ground to-day? Do not weep for her, for know you that Krishna will come back this very day, and the sons of Pritha, having slain their foes, will again be united with Yagnaseni!”
Thus addressed by him, Dhatreyika, wiping her beautiful face, replied unto Indrasena the charioteer, saying,
“Disregarding the five Indra-like sons of Pandu, Jayadratha has carried away Krishna by force. The track pursued by him has not yet disappeared, for the broken branches of trees have not yet faded. Therefore, turn your cars and follow her quickly, for the princess cannot have gone far by this time! You warriors possessed of the prowess of Indra, putting on your costly bows of handsome make, and taking up your costly bows and quivers, speed you in pursuit of her, lest overpowered by threats or violence and losing her sense and the colour of her cheeks, she yields herself up to an undeserving wight, even as one pours forth, from the sacrificial ladle, the sanctified oblation on a heap of ashes. See that the clarified butter is not poured into an unigniting fire of paddy chaff; that a garland of flowers is not thrown away in a cemetery. Take care that the Soma juice of a sacrifice is not licked up by a dog through the carelessness of the officiating priests! Let not the lily be rudely torn by a jackal roaming for its prey in the impenetrable forest. Let no inferior wight touch with his lips the bright and beautiful face of your wife, fair as the beams of the moon and adorned with the finest nose and the handsomest eyes, like a dog licking clarified butter kept in the sacrificial pot! Do you speed in this track and let not time steal a march on you.”
Yudhishthira said,
“Retire, good woman, and control your tongue. Speak not this way before us. Kings or princes, whoever are infatuated with the possession of power, are sure to come to grief!”
With these words, they departed, following the track pointed out to them, and frequently breathing deep sighs like the hissing of snakes, and twanging the strings of their large bows. Then they observed a cloud of dust raised by the hoofs of the steeds belonging to Jayadratha's army. They also saw Dhaumya in the midst of the ravisher's infantry, exhorting Bhima to quicken his steps. Then the sons of Pandu with hearts undepressed, bade him be of good cheer and said unto him, “Do return cheerfully!”
Then they rushed towards that host with great fury, like hawks swooping down on their prey. Possessed of the prowess of Indra, they had been filled with fury at the insult offered to Draupadi. But at sight of Jayadratha and of their beloved wife seated on his car, their fury knew no bounds. Those mighty bowmen, Bhima and Arjuna and the twin brothers and the king, called out Jayadratha to stop, upon which the enemy was so bewildered as to lose their knowledge of directions.
The hostile Kshatriyas, incensed at sight of Bhimasena and Arjuna, sent up a loud shout in the forest. The wicked king Jayadratha, when he saw the standards of those bulls of the Kuru race, lost his heart, and addressing the resplendent Yagnaseni seated on his car, said,
“Those five great warriors that are coming, are I believe, your husbands. As you know the sons of Pandu well, do you describe them one by one to us, pointing out which of them rides which car!”
Thus addressed, Draupadi replied,
“Having done this violent deed calculated to shorten your life, what will it avail you now, O fool! to know the names of those great warriors, for, now that my heroic husbands are come, not one of you will be left alive in battle. However as you are on the point of death and have asked me, I will tell you everything, this being consistent with the ordinance. Beholding king Yudhishthira the just with his younger brothers, I have not the slightest anxiety or fear from you! That warrior at the top of whose flagstaff two handsome and sonorous tabors called Nanda and Upananda are constantly played upon, he has a correct knowledge of the morality of his own acts. Men that have attained success always walk in his train. With a complexion like that of pure gold, possessed of a prominent nose and large eyes, and endued with a slender make, that husband of mine is known among people by the name of Yudhishthira, the son of Dharma and the foremost of the Kuru race. That virtuous prince of men grants life to even a foe that yields. Therefore, O fool! throwing down your arms and joining your hands, run to him for your good, to seek his protection.
That other man whom you see with long arms and tall as the full-grown Sala tree, seated on his chariot, biting his lips, and contracting his forehead so as to bring the two eye-brows together, is he, my husband Bhimasena! Steeds of the noblest breed, plump and strong, well-trained and endued with great might, draw the cars of that warrior! His achievements are superhuman. He is known, therefore, by the name of Bhima on earth. They that offend him are never suffered to live. He never forgets a foe. On some pretext or other he wrecks his vengeance. Nor is he pacified even after he has wrecked a signal vengeance.
There, that foremost of bowmen, endued with intelligence and renown, with senses under complete control and reverence for the old, that brother and disciple of Yudhishthira, is my husband Arjuna! Virtue he never forsake, from lust or fear or anger! Nor does he ever commit a deed that is cruel. Endued with the energy of fire and capable of withstanding every foe, that grinder of enemies is the son of Kunti.
That other youth, versed in every question of morality and profit, who ever dispels the fears of the affrighted, who is endued with high wisdom, who is considered as the handsomest person in the whole world and who is protected by all the sons of Pandu, being regarded by them as dearer to them than their own lives for his unflinching devotion to them, is my husband Nakula possessed of great prowess. Endued with high wisdom and having Sahadeva for his second, possessed of exceeding lightness of hand, he fights with the sword, making dexterous passes therewith. You, foolish man, shall witness today his performances on the field of battle, like unto those of Indra amid the ranks of Daityas!
That hero skilled in weapons and possessed of intelligence and wisdom, and intent on doing what is agreeable to the son of Dharma, that favourite and youngest born of the Pandavas, is my husband Sahadeva! Heroic, intelligent, wise and ever wrathful there is not another man equal unto him in intelligence or in eloquence amid assemblies of the wise. Dearer to Kunti than her own soul, he is always mindful of the duties of Kshatriyas, and would much sooner rush into fire or sacrifice his own life than say anything that is opposed to Dharma and morals. When the sons of Pandu will have killed your warriors in battle, then will you behold your army in the miserable plight of a ship on the sea wrecked with its freight of jewels on the back of a whale.
Thus have I described unto you the prowess of the sons of Pandu, disregarding whom in your foolishness, you have acted so. If you escapes unscathed from them, then, indeed you will have obtained a new lease of life.”
Then those five sons of Pritha, each like unto Indra, filled with wrath, leaving the panic-stricken infantry alone who were imploring them for mercy, rushed furiously upon the charioteers, attacking them on all sides and darkening the very air with the thick shower of arrows they shot.
Meanwhile, the king of Sindhu was giving orders to those princes, saying, “Halt, strike, march, quick”, and like. On seeing Bhima, Arjuna and the twin brothers with Yudhishthira, the soldiers sent up a loud shout on the field of battle. The warriors of the Sibi, Sauvira and Sindhu tribes, at the sight of those powerful heroes looking like fierce tigers, lost heart. Bhimasena, armed with a mace entirely of Saikya iron and embossed with gold, rushed towards the Saindhava monarch doomed to death. But Kotikakhya, speedily surrounding Bhimasena with an array of mighty charioteers, interposed between and separated the combatants. Bhima, though assailed with numberless spears and clubs and iron arrows hurled at him by the strong arms of hostile heroes, did not waver for one moment. On the other hand, he killed, with his mace, an elephant with its driver and fourteen foot-soldiers fighting in the front of Jayadratha's car. Arjuna also, desirous of capturing the Sauvira king, slew five hundred brave mountaineers fighting in the van of the Sindhu army. In that encounter, the king himself slew in the twinkling of an eye, a hundred of the best warriors of the Sauviras. Nakula too, sword in hand, jumping out of his chariot, scattered in a moment, like a tiller sowing seeds, the heads of the combatants fighting in the rear. Sahadeva from his chariot began to fell with his iron shafts, many warriors fighting on elephants, like birds dropped from the boughs of a tree. Then the king of Trigartas, bow in hand descending from his great chariot, killed the four steeds of the king with his mace. But king Yudhishthira, seeing the foe approach so near, and fighting on foot, pierced his breast with a crescent-shaped arrow. That hero, thus wounded in the breast began to vomit blood, and fell down upon the ground besides Pritha's son, like an uprooted tree. King Yudhishthira, whose steeds had been slain taking this opportunity, descended with Indrasena from his chariot and mounted that of Sahadeva.
The two warriors, Kshemankara and Mahamuksha, singling out Nakula, began to pour on him from both sides a perfect shower of keen-edged arrows. The son of Madri, however, succeeded in slaying, with a couple of long shafts, both those warriors who had been pouring on him an arrowy shower--like clouds in the rainy season. Suratha, the king of Trigartas, well-versed in elephant-charges, approaching the front of Nakula's chariot, caused it to be dragged by the elephant he rode. But Nakula, little daunted at this, leaped out of his chariot, and securing a point of vantage, stood shield and sword in hand, immovable as a hill. Thereupon Suratha, wishing to slay Nakula at once, urged towards him his huge and infuriate elephant with trunk upraised. But when the beast came near, Nakula with his sword severed from his head both trunk and tusks. That mail-clad elephant, uttering a frightful roar, fell headlong upon the ground, crushing its riders by the fall. Having achieved this daring feat, heroic son of Madri, getting up on Bhimasena's car, obtained a little rest.
Bhima too, seeing prince Kotikakhya rush to the encounter, cut off the head of his charioteer with a horse-shoe arrow. That prince did not even perceive that his driver was killed by his strong-armed adversary, and his horses, no longer restrained by a driver, ran about on the battle-field in all directions. Seeing that prince without a driver turn his back, that foremost of smiters, Bhima the son of Pandu, went up to him and slew him with a bearded dart. Arjuna also cut off with his sharp crescent-shaped arrows, the heads, as well as the bows of all the twelve Sauvira heroes. The great warrior killed in battle, with the arrow, the leaders of the Ikshwakus and the hosts of Sibis and Trigartas and Saindhavas. A great many elephants with their colours, and chariots with standards, were seen to fall by the hand of Arjuna. Heads without trunks, and trunks without heads, lay covering the entire field of battle. Dogs, and herons and ravens, and crows, and falcons, and jackals, and vultures, feasted on the flesh and blood of warriors slain on that field. When Jayadratha saw that his warriors were slain, he became terrified and anxious to run away leaving Krishna behind. In that general confusion, the wretch, setting down Draupadi there, fled for his life, pursuing the same forest path by which he had come. King Yudhishthira, seeing Draupadi with Dhaumya walking before, caused her to be taken up on a chariot by the heroic Sahadeva.
When Jayadratha had fled away Bhima began to mow down with his iron-arrows such of his followers as were running away striking each trooper down after naming him. But Arjuna perceiving that Jayadratha had run away exhorted his brother to refrain from slaughtering the remnant of the Saindhava host. Arjuna said,
“I do not find on the field of battle Jayadratha through whose fault alone we have experienced this bitter misfortune! Seek him out first and may success crown your effort! What is the good of your slaughtering these troopers? Why are you bent upon this unprofitable business?”
Bhimasena, thus exhorted by Arjuna, turning to Yudhishthira, replied, saying,
“As a great many of the enemy's warriors have been slain and as they are flying in all directions, do you, O king, now return home, taking with you Draupadi and the twin brothers and Dhaumya, and console the princess after getting back to our asylum! That foolish king of Sindhu I shall not let alone as long as he lives, even if he find a shelter in the internal regions or is backed by Indra himself!”
Yudhishthira replied, saying,
“Remembering our sister Duhshala and the celebrated Gandhari, you should not slay the king of Sindhu even though he is so wicked!”
Hearing these words, Draupadi was greatly excited. That highly intelligent lady in her excitement said to her two husbands, Bhima and Arjuna with indignation mixed with modesty,
“If you care to do what is agreeable to me, you must slay that mean and despicable wretch, that sinful, foolish, infamous and contemptible chief of the Saindhava clan! That foe who forcibly carries away a wife, and he that wrests a kingdom, should never be forgiven on the battle-field, even though he should supplicate for mercy!”
Thus admonished, those two valiant warriors went in search of the Saindhava chief. The king taking Krishna with him returned home, accompanied by his spiritual adviser. On entering the hermitage, he found it was laid over with seats for the ascetics and crowded with their disciples and graced with the presence of Markandeya and other Brahmanas. While those Brahmanas were gravely bewailing the lot of Draupadi, Yudhishthira endued with great wisdom joined their company, with his brothers. Beholding the king thus come back after having defeated the Saindhava and the Sauvira host and recovered Draupadi, they were all elated with joy! The king took his seat in their midst. The excellent princess Krishna entered the hermitage with the two brothers.
Meanwhile Bhima and Arjuna, learning the enemy was full two miles ahead of them urged their horses to greater speed in pursuit of him. The mighty Arjuna performed a wonderful deed, killing the horse of Jayadratha although they were full two miles ahead of them. Armed with celestial weapons undaunted by difficulties he achieved this difficult feat with arrows inspired with Mantras. Then the two warriors, Bhima and Arjuna, rushed towards the terrified king of Sindhu whose horses had been slain and who was alone and perplexed in mind. The latter was greatly grieved on seeing his steeds slain. Beholding Arjuna do such a daring deed, and intent on running away, he followed the same forest track by which he had come. Arjuna, seeing the Saindhava chief so active in his fright, overtook him and addressed him saying,
“Possessed of so little manliness, how could you dare to take away a lady by force? Turn round, O prince; it is not meet that you should run away! How can you act so, leaving your followers in the midst of your foes?”
Although addressed by the sons of Pritha thus, the monarch of Sindhu did not even once turn round. Then bidding him to what he chose the mighty Bhima overtook him in an instant, but the kind Arjuna entreated him not to kill that wretch.
Jayadratha flying for his life upon beholding those two brothers with upraised arms, was sorely grieved and bolted off with speed and coolness. But the mighty and indignant Bhimasena, descending from his chariot, ran after him thus fleeing, and seized him by the hair of his head. Holding him high up in the air, Bhima thrust him on the ground with violence. Seizing the prince by the head, he knocked him about. When the wretch recovered consciousness, he groaned aloud and wanted to get up on his legs. But that hero endued with mighty arms kicked him on the head. Bhima pressed him on the breast with his knees as well as with his fists. The prince thus belaboured, soon became insensible. Then Arjuna dissuaded the wrathful Bhimasena from inflicting further chastisement on the prince, by reminding him of what Yudhishthira had said regarding their sister Dussala. But Bhima replied, saying,
“This sinful wretch has done a cruel injury to Krishna, who never can bear such treatment. He, therefore, deserves to die at hands! But what can I do? The king is always overflowing with mercy, and you, too, are constantly putting obstacles in my way from a childish sense of virtue!”
Having said these words, Bhimasena, with his crescent-shaped arrow, shaved the hair of the prince's head, heaving five tufts in as many places. Jayadratha uttered not a word at this. Then Bhimasena, addressing the foe said,
“If you wish to live, listen to me. O fool! I shall tell you the means to attain that wish! In public assemblies and in open courts you must say, I am the slave of the Pandavas, on this condition alone, I will pardon you your life! This is the customary rule of conquest on the field of battle.”
Thus addressed and treated, king Jayadratha said to the mighty and fierce warrior who always looked awful, “Be it so!” He was trembling and senseless and begrimed with dust. Then Arjuna and Bhimasena, securing him with chains, thrust him into a chariot. Bhima, himself mounting that chariot, and accompanied by Arjuna, drove towards the hermitage. Approaching Yudhishthira seated there, he placed Jayadratha in that condition before the king. The king, smiling, told him to set the Sindhu prince at liberty. Then Bhima said unto the king,
“Do you tell Draupadi that this wretch has become the slave of the Pandavas.”
Then his eldest brother said unto him affectionately,
“If you have any regard for us, do you set this wretch at liberty!”
Draupadi too, reading the king's mind, said,
“Let him off! He has become a slave of the king's and you, too, have disfigured him by leaving five tufts of hair on his head.”
Then that crest-fallen prince, having obtained his liberty, approached king Yudhishthira and bowed down unto him. Seeing those Munis there, he saluted them also. Then the kind-hearted king Yudhishthira, beholding Jayadratha in that condition, almost supported by Arjuna, said unto him,
“You are a free man now; I emancipate you! Now go away and be careful not to do such thing again; shame to you! You had intended to take away a lady by violence, even though you are so mean and powerless! What other wretch save you would think of acting thus?"
Then that foremost king of Bharata's race eyed with pity that perpetrator of wicked deeds, and believing that he had lost his senses, said,
“May your heart grow in virtue! Never set your heart again on immoral deeds! You may depart in peace now with your charioteers, cavalry and infantry.”
Thus addressed by Yudhishthira, the prince was overpowered with shame, and bending down his head, he silently and sorrowfully wended his way to the place where the Ganga debouches on the plains. Imploring the protection of the god of three eyes, the consort of Uma, he did severe penance at that place. The three-eyed god, pleased with his austerities deigned to accept his offerings in person. He also granted him a boon! Jayadratha, addressing that god, asked the boon, “May I be able to defeat in battle all the five sons of Pandu on their chariots!”
The god, however, told him “This cannot be.” Maheshwara said,
“None can slay or conquer them in battle. Save Arjuna, however, you shall be able to only check them once on the field of battle! The heroic Arjuna, with mighty arms, is the god incarnate styled Nara. He practised austerities of old in the Badari forest. The God Narayana is his friend. Therefore, he is unconquerable of the very gods. I myself have given him the celestial weapon called Pashupata. From the regents also of all the ten cardinal points, he has acquired the thunder-bolt and other mighty weapons. The great god Vishnu who is the Infinite Spirit, the Lord Preceptor of all the gods, is the Supreme Being without attributes, and the Soul of the Universe, and exists pervading the whole creation. At the termination of a cycle of ages, assuming the shape of the all-consuming fire, he consumed the whole Universe with mountains and seas and islands and hills and woods and forests. After the destruction of the Naga world also in the subterranean regions in the same way, vast masses of many-coloured and loud-pealing clouds, with streaks of lightning, spreading along the entire welkin, had appeared on high. Then pouring down water in torrents thick as axles of cars, and filling the space everywhere, these extinguishing that all-consuming fire! When at the close of four thousand Yugas the Earth thus became flooded with water, like one vast sea, and all mobile creatures were hushed in death, and the sun and the moon and the winds were all destroyed, and the Universe was devoid of planets and stars, the Supreme Being called Narayana, unknowable by the senses, adorned with a thousand heads and as many eyes and legs, became desirous of rest. The serpent Shesha, looking terrible with his thousand hoods, and shining with the splendour of ten thousand suns, and white as the Kunda flower or the moon or a string of pearls, or the white lotus, or milk, or the fibres of a lotus stalk, served for his conch. That adorable and omnipotent God thus slept on the bosom of the deep, enveloping all space with nocturnal gloom.
When his creative faculty was excited, he awoke and found the Universe denuded of everything. In this connection, the following sloka is recited respecting the meaning of Narayana. “Water was created by the Rishi Nara, and it formed his corpus; therefore do we hear it styled as Nara. Because it formed his Ayana resting-place therefore is he known as Narayana." As soon as that everlasting Being was engaged in meditation for the re-creation of the Universe, a lotus flower instantaneously came into existence from his navel, and the four-faced Brahma came out of that navel-lotus. Then the Grandsire of all creatures, seating himself on that flower and finding that the whole Universe was a blank, created in his own likeness, and from his will, the nine great Rishis, Marichi and others. These in their turn observing the same thing, completed the creation, by creating Yakshas, Rakshasas, Pisachas, reptiles, men, and all mobile and immobile creatures. The Supreme Spirit has three conditions. In the form of Brahma, he is the Creator, and in the form of Vishnu he is the Preserver, and in his form as Rudra, he is the Destroyer of the Universe! O king of Sindhu, have you not heard of the wonderful achievements of Vishnu, described to you by the Munis and the Brahmanas learned in the Vedas?
When the world was thus reduced to one vast sea of water, with only the heavens above, the Lord, like a fire-fly at night-time during the rainy season, moved about here and there in search of stable ground, with the view of rehabilitating his creation, and became desirous of raising the Earth submerged in water. What shape shall I take to rescue the Earth from this flood?--So thinking and contemplating with divine insight, he bethought himself of the shape of a wild boar fond of sporting in water. And assuming the shape of a sacrificial boar shining with effulgence and instinct with the Vedas and ten Yojanas in length, with pointed tusks and a complexion like dark clouds, and with a body huge as a mountain, and roaring like a conglomeration of clouds, the Lord plunged into the waters, and lifted up the Earth with one of his tusks, and replaced it in its proper sphere. At another time, the mighty Lord, assuming a wonderful form with a body half lion, half man, and squeezing his hands, repaired to the court of the ruler of the Daityas. That progenitor of the Daityas, the son of Diti, who was the enemy of the (gods), beholding the Lord's peculiar form, burst out into passion and his eyes became inflamed with rage. Hiranya-Kashipu, the war-like son of Diti and the enemy of the gods, adorned with garlands and looking like a mass of dark clouds, taking up his trident in hand and roaring like the clouds, rushed on that being half lion, half man. Then that powerful king of wild beasts, half man, half lion, taking a leap in the air, instantly rent the Daitya in twain by means of his sharp claws. The adorable lotus-eyed Lord of great effulgence, having thus slain the Daitya king for the well-being of all creatures, again took his birth in the womb of Aditi as son of Kashyapa. At the expiration of a thousand years she was delivered of that superhuman conception.
Then was born that Being, of the hue of rain-charged clouds with bright eyes and of dwarfish stature. He had the ascetic's staff and water-pot in hand, and was marked with the emblem of a curl of hair on the breast. That adorable Being wore matted locks and the sacrificial thread, and he was stout and handsome and resplendent with lustre. That Being, arriving at the sacrificial enclosure of Bali, king of the Danavas, entered the sacrificial assembly with the aid of Brihaspati. Beholding that dwarf-bodied Being, Bali was well-pleased and said unto him, “I am glad to see you, O Brahmana! Say what is it that you want from me!” Thus addressed by Bali, the dwarf-god replied with a smile, saying, “So be it! Do you, lord of the Danavas, give me three paces of ground!” And Bali contented to give what that Brahmana of infinite power had asked. While measuring with his paces the space he sought. Hari assumed a wonderful and extraordinary form. With only three paces he instantly covered this illimitable world. Then that everlasting God, Vishnu, gave it away unto Indra. This history which has just been related to you, is celebrated as the “Incarnation of the Dwarf”. From him, all the gods had their being, and after him the world is said to be Vaishnava, or pervaded by Vishnu. For the destruction of the wicked and the preservation of Dharma, even He has taken his birth among men in the race of the Yadus. The adorable Vishnu is styled Krishna.
These, O king of Sindhu, are the achievements of the Lord whom all the worlds worship and whom the learned describe as without beginning and without end, unborn and Divine! They call Him, the unconquerable Krishna with conch shell, discus and mace, and adorned with the emblem of a curl of hair, Divine, clad in silken robes of yellow hue, and the best of those versed in the are of war. Arjuna is protected by Krishna the possessor of these attributes. That glorious and lotus-eyed Being of infinite power, that slayer of hostile heroes, riding in the same chariot with Pritha's son, protects him! He is, therefore, invincible; the very gods cannot resist his power, still less can one with human attributes vanquish the son of Pritha in battle! Therefore, O king, you must let him alone! You shall, however, be able to vanquish for a single day only, the rest of Yudhishthira's forces along with your enemies—the four sons of Pandu!”
Having said these words unto that prince, the adorable Hara of three eyes, the destroyer of all sins, the consort of Uma, and lord of wild beasts, the destroyer of Daksha's sacrifice, the slayer of Tripura and He that had plucked out the eyes of Bhaga, surrounded by his dwarfish and hunch-backed and terrible followers having frightful eyes and ears and uplifted arms, vanished from that place with his consort Uma! The wicked Jayadratha also returned home, and the sons of Pandu continued to dwell in the forest of Kamyaka.
Having defeated Jayadratha and rescued Krishna, the virtuous king Yudhishthira took his seat by the side of that best of Munis. Among those foremost of ascetics who were expressing their grief upon bearing Draupadi's misfortune, Yudhishthira, the son of Pandu, addressed Markandeya, saying,
“O adorable Sire, amongst the gods and the ascetics, you are known to have the fullest knowledge of both the past as well as; the future. A doubt exists in my mind, which I would ask you to solve! This lady is the daughter of Drupada; she has issued from the sacrificial altar and has not been begotten of the flesh; and she is highly blessed and is also the daughter-in-law of the illustrious Pandu. I incline to think that Time, and human Destiny that depends on our acts, and the Inevitable, are irresistible in respect of creatures. If it were not so, how could such a misfortune afflict this wife of ours so faithful and virtuous, like a false accusation of theft against an honest man? The daughter of Drupada has never committed any sinful act, nor, has she done anything that is not commendable: on the contrary, she has assiduously practised the highest virtues towards Brahmanas. And yet the foolish king Jayadratha had carried her away by force. In consequence of this act of violence on her, that sinful wretch has his hair shaved off his head and sustained also, with all his allies, defeat in battle. It is true we have rescued her after slaughtering the troops of Sindhu. But the disgrace of this ravishment of our wife during our hours of carelessness, has stained us, to be sure. This life in the wilderness is full of miseries. We subsist by chase; and though dwelling in the woods, we are obliged to slay the denizens thereof that live with us! This exile also that we suffer is due to the act of deceitful kinsmen! Is there any one who is more unfortunate than I am? Hath you ever seen or heard of such a one before?”
Markandeya said,
“O bull of the Bharata race, even Rama suffered unparalleled misery, for the evil-minded Ravana, king of the Rakshasas, having recourse to deceit and overpowering the vulture Jatayu, forcibly carried away his wife Sita from his asylum in the woods. Indeed, Rama, with the help of Sugriva, brought her back, constructing a bridge across the sea, and consuming Lanka with his keen-edged arrows.”
Yudhishthira said,
“In what race was Rama born and what was the measure of his might and prowess? Whose son also was Ravana and for what was it that he had any misunderstanding with Rama? It beholds you, O illustrious one, to tell me all this in detail; for I long to hear the story of Rama of great achievements!”
Then Markandeya comforted the king by narrating him the story of Rama. Then that high-souled one, casting off his sorrows, once more spoke unto Markandeya.
Yudhishthira said,
“O mighty sage, I do not so much grieve for myself or these my brothers or the loss of my kingdom as I do for this daughter of Drupada. When we were afflicted at the game of the dice by those wicked-souled ones, it was Krishna that delivered us. She was forcibly carried off from the forest by Jayadratha. Have you even seen or heard of any chaste and exalted lady that resembles this daughter of Drupada?”
Markandeya said,
“Listen, O king, how the exalted merit of chaste ladies was completely obtained by a princess named Savitri.”
He then narrated the story of Savitri and how she obtained her husband’s life from Yama.
Having defeated the chief of the Saindhavas, and rescued Krishna, and having outlived the entire term of their painful exile in the woods, and having listened to the ancient stories about gods and Rishis recited by Markandeya, those heroes among men returned from their asylum in Kamyaka to the sacred Dvaitavana, with all their cars, and followers, and accompanied by their charioteers, their kine, and the citizens who had followed them.