Page:The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa (1884).djvu/239

Rh of wealth and all kinds of animals. And the Brahmanas were always engaged in their duties and they were always truthful. And the youthful monarch was endued with wonderful prowess and a physical frame hard as thunder-bolt so that he could, taking up the mountain Mandara, support it in his arms with its forests and bushes. And he was well-skilled in four kinds of encounters with the mace (hurling it at foes in a distance, striking at those that are near, whirling it in the midst of many, and driving the foe before.) And he was skilled also in the use of all kinds of weapons and in riding elephants and horses. And in strength he was like unto Vishnu, in splendour like unto the maker of day, in gravity like unto the Ocean, and in patience like unto the Earth. And the monarch was loved of all his subjects, and he ruled his contented people virtuously."

And thus ends the sixty-eighth Section in the Sambhava of the Adi Parva.

 

( Sambhava Parva continued. )

Janamejaya said "I desire to hear from thee about the birth and life of the high-souled Bharata and of the origin of Sakuntala. And, O worshipful one, I also desire to hear all about Dushmanta—that lion among men—and how the hero obtained Sakuntala. It behoveth thee, O knower of truth and first of all intelligent men, to tell me everything."

Vaisampayana said, "Once on a time (king Dushmanta) of mighty arm and accompanied by a large force went into the forest. And he took with him also hundreds of horses and elephants. And the force that accompanied the monarch was of four kinds (foot-soldiers, charioteers, cavalry, and elephants,)—heroes armed with swords and darts and bearing in their hands maces and stout clubs. And surrounded by hundreds of warriors with Prasa and Tomara (missile weapons) in their arms, the monarch set out on his journey. And with the leonine roar of the warriors and with the notes of the conch and the sounds of the drum, with the rumbling of the chariot wheels, 