Page:The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa (1884).djvu/461

obtainedst not thy kingdom though fully qualified to have it. If Pandu's son now obtaineth the kingdom as his inheritance from Pandu, then his son will obtain it after him and that son's son also, and so on will it descend in Pandu's line. In that case, O king of the world, ourselves with our children, excluded from the royal line, shall certainly be disregarded of all men! Therefore, O monarch, adopt thou such counsels that we may not suffer perpetual distress becoming dependents of others for our food. O king, if thou hadst obtained the sovereignty before, we would certainly have succeeded to it, however much the people might be unfavourable to us!'"

Thus ends the hundred and forty-third Section in the Jatu-griha of the Adi Parva.

Vaisampayana continued, "King Dhrita-rashtra whose kowledge was his only eye, hearing these words of his son and recollecting everything that Kanika had said unto him, became afflicted with sorrow. And his mind also thereupon began to waver. Then Duryodhana and Karna and Sakuni the son of Suvala and Dush-shasana the fourth held a consultation together. Then prince Duryodhana said unto Dhrita-rashtra, 'Send, O father, by some clever contrivance, the Pandavas to the town of Varnavata! We shall then have no fear of them!' Dhrita-rashtra, hearing these words uttered by his son, reflected for a moment and then replied unto Duryodhana, saying, 'Pandu, ever devoted to virtue, always behaved dutifully towards all his relatives but particularly towards myself. He cared very little for the enjoyments of the world, but devotedly gave everything unto me, even the kingdom. His son is as much devoted to virtue as he, and is possessed of every accomplishment. Of world-wide fame, he is again the favorite of the people. Possessed of allies, how can we by force exile him from his ancestral kingdom? The counsellors and soldiers (of the state) and their sons and grandsons have