Page:The Mahabharata (Kishori Mohan Gangopadhyay, First Edition) Volume 16.djvu/34

Rh been well-affected towards the deceased hero. Before that vehicle were borne the umbrella which had been held over his head at the conclusion of the horse-sacrifice he had achieved while living, and also the blazing fires he had daily worshipped, with the priests that had used to attend to them. The body of the hero was followed by his wives decked in ornaments and surrounded by thousands of women and thousands of their daughters-in-law. The last rites were then performed at that spot which had been agreeable to him while he was alive. The four wives of that heroic son of Cura ascended the funeral pyre and were consumed with the body of their lord. All of them attained to those regions of felicity which were his. The son of Pāndu burnt the body of his uncle together with those four wives of his, using diverse kinds of scents and perfumed wood. As the funeral pyre blazed up, a loud sound was heard of the burning wood and other combustible materials, along with the clear chaunt of Sāmans and the wailing of the citizens and others who witnessed the rite. After it was all over, the boys of the Vrishni and Andhaka races, headed by Vajra, as also the ladies, offered oblations of water to the high-souled hero. Phālguna, who was careful in observing every duty, having caused this duty to be performed, proceeded, O chief of Bharata's race, next to the place where the Vrishnis were slaughtered. The Kuru prince, beholding them lying slaughtered all around, became exceedingly cheerless. He, however, did what required to be done in view of that which had happened. The last rites were performed, according to the order of seniority, unto the bodies of those heroes slain by the iron bolts born, by virtue of the curse denounced by the Brāhmanas, of the blades of Erakā grass. Searching out the bodies then of Rāma and Vāsudeva, Arjuna caused them to be burnt by persons skilled in that act. The son of Pāndu, having next performed duly those rites that are done to the manes of the dead, quickly set out on the seventh day, mounting on his car. The windows of the Vrishni heroes, wailing aloud, followed the high-souled son of Pāndu, viz., Dhananjaya, on cars drawn by bullocks and mules and camels. All

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