Page:The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa (1884).djvu/104

70 Sauti said, "Then the king of the Gandharvas (the father of Pramadvara) and the celestial messenger, both of excellent qualities, went to the god Dharma (the Judge of the dead) and addressed him, saying, 'If it be thy will, O let the amiable Pramadvara, the betrothed wife of Ruru, now lying dead, rise up with a moiety of Ruru's life.' And  answered, 'O messenger of the gods, if it be thy wish, let Pramadvara the betrothed wife of Ruru, rise up endued with a moiety of Ruru's life!

Sauti continued:—"And when had said so, that maiden of superior complexion, Pramadvara, endued with a moiety of Ruru's life, rose as from her slumbers. This bestowal by Ruru, endowed with length of days, of a moiety of his own life to resuscitate his bride afterwards led, it was seen, to a curtailment Ruru's life.

"And on an auspicious day their fathers gladly married them with due rites. And the couple passed their days devoted to each other. And Ruru having obtained such a wife as is hard to be found, beautiful and bright as the filaments of the lotus, made a vow for the destruction of the serpent race. And whenever he saw a serpent, he became filled with great wrath and always killed it taking up a weapon.

"One day, O Brahmana, Ruru entered an extensive forest. And he there saw an old serpent of the Dundubha species lying stretched on the ground. And Ruru thereupon lifted up in anger his staff even like to the staff of Death, for the purpose of killing it. Then the Dundubha, addressing Ruru, said, 'I have done thee no harm, O Brahmana! Then wherefore wilt thou slay me in anger?

So ends the ninth Section of the Pauloma of the Adi Parva, of the blessed Mahabharata.

 

Sauti said:—"And Ruru on hearing those words replied, 'My wife, dear to me as life, was bit by a snake; upon which, I made, O snake, a dreadful vow, viz, that I would kill every