Page:The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa (1884).djvu/336

302 fisherman then said, 'O king, what I ask of thee is this: that the son born of this maiden shall be installed by thee on thy throne and none else shalt thou make thy successor.' "

Vaisampayana continued, "O Bharata, when Shantanu heard this, he felt no inclination to grant such a boon, though the fire of desire sorely burnt him within. The king, with his heart afflicted by desire, returned to Hastinapore thinking all the way of the fisherman's daughter. And having returned home, the monarch passed his time in sorrowful meditation. One day Devabrata approaching his afflicted father said, 'All is prosperity with thee; all chiefs obey thee; then why is it that thou grievest thus? Busied with thy own thoughts, thou speakest not a word to me in reply. Thou goest not out on horse-back now. Thou lookest pale, and emaciated, having lost all animation. I wish to know what is the disease under which thou sufferest so that I may endeavour to apply a remedy.' Thus addressed by his son, Shantanu then answered, 'Thou sayest truly, O son, that I have become melancholy. I will also tell thee why I am so. O thou of the Bharata line, thou art the only scion of this our large race. Thou art always engaged in sports of arms and achievements of prowess. But, O son, I am always thinking of the instability of human life. If any danger overtake thee, O child of Ganga, the result is that we become sonless! Truly, alone thou art to me as a century of sons. I do not therefore desire to wed. again, I only desire, may prosperity ever attend on thee so that our dynasty may be perpetuated. The wise say that he that hath one son hath no son. Sacrifices before fire and the knowledge of the three Vedas yield, it is true, everlasting religious merits. But all these, in point of religious merit, do not come up to a sixteenth part of the religious merit attainable on the birth of a son. Indeed, in this respect there is hardly any difference between men and the lower animals. O thou wise one, I do not entertain the shadow of a doubt that one attains to heaven in consequence of having begotten a son. The Vedas which constitute the root of the Puranas and are regarded as authoritative even by the gods contain numerous proofs of this, O thou of the Bharata race, thou