MAHA-BHARATA
THE EPIC OF ANCIENT INDIA
CONDENSED INTO ENGLISH VERSE
By Romesh C. Dutt C.I.E.
MDCCCXCIX Published by J. M. Dent
and Co. Aldine House London W. C.
To
THE MARQUIS OF RIPON
Ever gratefully remembered by my countrymen for his
just and benevolent administration and for his
generous and helpful measures for the
introduction of self-government
in India
This translation
of the ancient epic of my country
is respectfully dedicated
Contents
THE EPIC OF ANCIENT INDIA
BOOK I
ASTRA DARSANA
(The Tournament)
The scene of the Epic is the ancient kingdom of the Kurus whichflourished along the upper course of the Ganges; and the historicalfact on which the Epic is based is a great war which took placebetween the Kurus and a neighbouring tribe, the Panchalas, in thethirteenth or fourteenth century before Christ.
According to the Epic, Pandu and Dhrita-rashtra, who was born blind,were brothers. Pandu died early, and Dhrita-rashtra became king ofthe Kurus, and brought up the five sons of Pandu along with hishundred sons.
Yudhishthir, the eldest son of Pandu, was a man of truth and piety;Bhima, the second, was a stalwart fighter; and Arjun, the third son,distinguished himself above all the other princes