Page:The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa (Volume 1).pdf/306

292 "Some time after, Pandu again requested Kunti on behalf of Madri. Addressed. O king, by her lord in private, Kunti replied, Having given her the formula of invocation only once, she hath, o king, managed to obtain two sons. Have I not been thus deceived by her ? I fear. O king, that she will soon 'surpass me in the number of her children ! This, indeed, is the way of all wicked women ! Fool that I was, I did not know that by invoking the twin gods I could obtain at one birth twin children. I beseech thee, o king, do not command me any further! Let this be the boon granted (by thee) to me !'

"Thus, o king, were born unto Pandu five sons who were begotten by celestials and were endued with great strength, and who all lived to achieve great fame and expand the Kuru race. Each bearing every auspicious mark on his person, bandsome like Soma, proud as the lion, well-skilled in the use of the bow, and of leonine tread, breast, heart, eyes, neck and prowess, those foremost of men, resembling the celestials themselves in might, began to grow up. And beholding them and their virtues growing with years, the great Rishis dwelling on that snow. capped sacred mountain were filled with wonder. And the five Pandavas and the hundred sons of Dhritarashtra-that propagator of the Kuru race-grew up rapidly like a cluster of lotuses in a lake."

Thus ends the hundred and twenty-fourth section in the Sambhava Parva of the Adi Parva.

bhava Parva continued) Vaisampayana said, "Beholding his five handsome sons growing up before him in that great forest on the charming mountain slope, Pandu felt the lost might of his arms revive once more. One day in the season of spring which maddens every creature the king accompanied by his wife (Madri), began to rove in the woods where every tree had put forth new blossoms. He beheld all around Palaeas and Tilakas and Mangoes and Champakas and Parihadralas and Karnikaras, Asokas and Kesaras and Atimuklas and Kuruvakas with swarms of maddened bees sweetly humming about. And there were flowers of blossoming Parijatas with the Kokila (blackbird) pouring forth his melodies from under every twig echoing with the sweet bunis of the black bees. And he beheld also various other kinds of trees bent down with the weight of their flowers and fruits. And there were also many fine pools of water overgrown