Page:The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa (Volume 1).pdf/285

Rh race by casting off this one child of thine! It bath been said that an individual should be cast off for the sake of family : that a family should be cast off for the sake of a village; that a village may be aban. doned for the sake of the whole country, and that the Earth itself may be abandoned for the sake of the soul.' When Vidura and those Brabmanas had stated so, King Dhritarashtra out of affection for his son had not the heart to follow that advice. Then, king, within a month were born a full hundred sons unto Dhritarashtra and a daughter also in excess of this hundred. And during the time when Gandhari was in a state of advanced pregnancy, there was a maidservant of the Vaisya class who used to attend on Dhritarashtra. During that year. O king, was begotten upon her by the illustrious Dhritarashtra a son endued with great intelligence who was afterwards named Yuyutsu. And because he was begotten by Kshatriya upon a Vaisya woman, he came to be called Karna.

"Thus were born unto the wise Dhritarashtra a hundred sons who were all heroes and mighty chariot-fighters, and a daughter over and above the hundred, and another son Yuyutsu of great energy and prowess begotten upon a Vaisya woman.

Thus ends the hundred and fifteenth section in the Sambhava Parva of the Adi Parva.

Jana mejaya said,-"O sinless one, thou hast narrated to me from the beginning all about the birth of Dhritarashtra's hundred sons owing to the boon granted by the Rishi. But thou hast not told me as yet any particulars about the birth of the daughter. Thou hast merely said that over and above the hundred sons, there was another son named Yuyutsu begotten upon a Vaisya woman, and a daughter. The great Rishi Vyasa of immeasurable energy said unto the daughter of the king of Gandhara that she would become the mother of a hundred sons. Illustrious one. how is that thou sayest Gandhari had a daughter over and above her hundred sons? If the ball of flesh was distributed by the great Rishi only into a hundred parts, and it Gahdhari did not conceive on any other occasion, how was then Dussala born! Tell me this, O Rishi 1 My curiosity bath been great..

Vaisampayana said. "O descendant of the Pandavas, thy question is just, and I will tell thee how it happned. The illustrious and great Rishi himself, by sprinkling water over that ball of flesh, began to