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MUJMALU-T TAWA′RI′KH

105

country she made over to the Jats, and appointed one of them as their chief; his name was Júdrat. Similar arrangements were also made for the Meds. This government continued for twenty and some[1] years, after which the Bhárats lost possession of the country.


ACCOUNT OF THE FALL OF THE PÁNDAVAS AND HSTORY OF BRAHMÍN.[2]—Injustice was the cause of the fall of the dynasty of the Pándavas. Fortune had grown indifferent towards them, and they ended by becoming tyrants. One day they carried off the cow of a brahman, and were about to kill him, when the brahman warned them, and said, “I have read in books that the prosperity of the Pándavas will fall when they shall kill a brahman for the sake of a cow—do not kill me.” They did not heed him, but killed both him and the cow. That brahman had a son named Brahmín, a strong and tall man, who dwelt upon a mountain. When he heard of this nefarious business he arose, and said to himself, I will go and take away the sovereignty from the Pándavas, for they have killed a cow, (and) a brahman: the words of the sages cannot prove false, so the time of the fall of their dominion is come. Men laughed at him, but a party assembled round him. He took a city, and his power increased day by day, until he had a large army; and he went on capturing cities until at length he reached the city of Hatná,[3] which was the capital. Kúyáhúrat marched out to the battle, but was slain, and Brahmín assumed the sovereignty. Wherever he found any one of the race of the Pándavas he slew him. But a few escaped, who concealed their extraction, and employed themselves as butchers and bakers, or in similar crafts. Brahmín acquired the whole of Hindústán. They say that a daughter of Bol [Nakula], son of Pandu, went to him, and gave him such counsels as induced him to desist from slaying the Pándavas. But he put them all in prison until a large number was collected, when as a condition of

  1. [“.” An and is a period of 15,000 years, or any number between three and ten.]
  2. [This history is explained by the legend of Parasuráma, son of Jamadagni, called here Brahmín. Kúyáhúrat is Kártavírya; Fásaf, Kasyapa; Sunágh, the Muni Sunaka; and the cow, Kámadhenu.—Reinaud.]
  3. [Hastinapur.]