Ashvamedha Parva

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Section 1

OM! HAVING BOWED down unto Narayana, and Nara the foremost of male beings, and unto the goddess Saraswati, must the word Jaya be uttered. Vaisampayana said, After the king Dhritarashtra had offered libations of water unto the manes of Bhisma, the mighty-armed Yudhishthira, with his senses bewildered, placing the former in his front, ascended the banks of the river, his eyes suffused with tears, and dropt down on the bank of the Ganga like an elephant pierced by the hunter. Then incited by Krishna, Bhima took him up sinking. This must not be so, said Krishna, the grinder of hostile hosts. The Pandavas, O king, saw Yudhishthira, the son of Dharma, troubled and lying on the ground, and also sighing again and again. And seeing the king despondent and feeble, the Pandavas, overwhelmed with grief, sat down, surrounding him. And endowed with high intelligence and having the sight of wisdom, king Dhritarashtra, exceedingly afflicted with grief for his sons,...