Page:The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa (Volume 1).pdf/369

Smitten with thirst, said unto her sons,-'I am the mother of the five Pandavas and am now in their midst 1 Yet I am burning with thirst I' Kunti repeatedly said this unto her sons. Hearing these words, Bhima's heart, from affection for his mother, was warmed by compassion and be resolved to go (along as before). Then Bhima, proceeding through that terrible and extensive forest without a living soul, saw a beautiful banian tree with widespreading branches, Setting down there his brothers and mother, O bull of Bharata's race, he said unto them.-'Rest you here, while I go in quest of water. I hear the sweet cries of acquatic fowls. I think there must be a large pool here,' Commanded, O Bharata, by his elder brother who said unto him, 'Go' and Bhima proceeded in the direction whence the cries of those acquatic fowls were coming. And, O bull of Bharata's race, he soon came upon a lake and bathed and slaked his thirst. And affectionate unto his brothers, he brought for them, O Bharata, water by soaking his upper garments. Hastily retracing his way over those four miles he came unto where his mother was and beholding her he was afflicted with sorrow and began to sigh like a snake. Distressed with grief at seeing his mother and brothers asleep on the bare ground. Vrikodara began to weep-'Ob wretch that I am, who beholdeth his brothers asleep on the bare ground, what can befall me, more painful than this ? Alas, they who formerly at Varanavata could not sleep on the softest and costliest beds are now asleep on the bare ground! Oh, what more painful sight shall I ever behold than that of Kunti-the sister of Vasudeva, that grinder of hostile hosts-the daughter of Kuntiraja-herself decked with every auspicious mark, the daughter-in-law of Vichitravirya,--the wife of the illustrious Pandu.the mother of us (five brothers),-resplendent as the filaments of the locus and delicate and tender and 6t to sleep on the costliest bed thus asleep, as she should never be, on the bare ground 1 Oh, she who hath brought forth these sons by Dharma and Indra and Maruta-she who hath ever slept within palaces-now sleepeth, fatigued, on the bare ground! What more painful sight shall ever be beheld by me than that of these tigers among men (my brothers) asleep on the ground! Oh, the virtuous Yudhishthira, who deserveth the sovereignty of the three worlds, sleepeth, fatigued, like an ordinary man, on the bare ground! This Arjuna of the darkish hue of blue clouds, and un. equalled amongst men sleepeth on the ground like an ordinary person 1 Oh, what can be more painful than this ? Oh, the twins, who in beauty are like the twin Aswins amongst the celestials, are asleep like ordinary mortals on the bare ground! He who hath no jealous and evil-minded relatives, liveth in happiness in this world like a single tree in a village. The tree that standeth single in a village with its leaves and fruits, from