Produced by John B. Hare. Please notify any corrections
to John B. Hare at www.sacred-texts.com
The Mahabharata
of
Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa
Translated into English Prose from the Original Sanskrit Text
by
Kisari Mohan Ganguli
[1883-1896]
Scanned at sacred-texts.com, 2005. Proofed by John Bruno Hare, January2005.
(Anusasanika Parva)
OM! HAVING BOWED down unto Narayana, and Nara the foremost of malebeings, and unto the goddess Saraswati, must the word Jaya be uttered.
"'Yudhishthira said, "O grandsire, tranquillity of mind has been said tobe subtile and of diverse forms. I have heard all thy discourses, butstill tranquillity of mind has not been mine. In this matter, variousmeans of quieting the mind have been related (by thee), O sire, but howcan peace of mind be secured from only a knowledge of the different kindsof tranquillity, when I myself have been the instrument of bringing aboutall this? Beholding thy body covered with arrows and festering with badsores, I fail to find, O hero, any peace of mind, at the thought of theevils I have wrought. Beholding thy body, O most valiant of men, bathedin blood, like a hill overrun with water from its springs, I amlanguishing with grief even as the lotus in the rainy season. What can bemore painful than this, that thou, O grandsire, hast been brought to thisplight on my account by my people fighting against their foes on thebattle-field? Other princes also, with their sons and kinsmen, having metwith destruction on my account, alas, what can be more painful than this.Tell us, O prince, what destiny awaits us and the sons of Dhritarashtra,who, driven by fate and anger, have done this abhorrent act. O lord ofmen, I think the son of Dhritarashtra is fortunate in that he doth notbehold thee in this state. But I, who am the cause of thy death as wellas of that of our friends, am denied all peace of mind by beholding theeon the bare earth in this sorry condition. The wicked Duryodhana, themost infamous of his race, has, with all his troops and his brothers,perished in battle, in the observance of Kshatriya duties. Thatwicked-souled wight does not see thee lying on the ground. Verily, forthis reason, I would deem death to be preferable to life. O hero thatnever swervest from virtue, had I with my brothers met with destructionere this at the hands of our enemies on the battle-field, I would nothave found thee in this pitiful plight, thus pierced with arrows. Surely,O prince, the Maker had created is to become perpetrators of evil deeds.O king, if thou wishest to do me good, do thou then instruct me in such away that I may be cleansed of this sin in even another world."
"'Bhishma replied, "Why, O fortunate one, dost thou consider thy soul,which is dependent (on God and Destiny and Time) to be the cause of thyactions? The manifestation of its inaction is subtle and imperceptible tothe senses. In this connection is cited the ancient story of theconversation between Mrityu and Gautami with Kala and the Fowler and theserpent. There was, O son of Kunti, an old lady of the name of Gautami,who was possessed of great patience and tranquillity of mind. One day shefound her son dead in consequence of having been bitten by a serpent. Anangry fowler, by name Arjunaka, bound the serpent with a string andbrought it before Gautami