Page:The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa (1884).djvu/499

doing good to thee. Remembering all this I have come to this resolution. O reverend sir, abandoning me thou mayst obtain another wife. By her thou mayst again acquire religious merit. There is no sin in this. Polygamy in men is an act of merit. In woman it is very sinful to betake to a second husband after the first. Considering all this and remembering too that sacrifice of thy own self is censurable, O liberate today without loss of time thy own self, thy race, and these thy children, (by abandoning me)!'"

Vaiṣampayana continued, "Thus addressed by her, O Bharata, the Brahmana embraced her and they both began to weep in silence, afflicted with grief."

Thus ends the hundred and sixtieth Section in the Vakabadha of the Adi Parva.

Vaisampayana said, "Hearing these words of her afflicted parents, the daughter was filled with grief, and she addressed them saying, 'Why are ye so afflicted and why do ye so weep as if ye have none to look after ye? O, listen to me and then do what may be proper! There is little doubt that ye are bound in duty to abandon me at one time. Sure to be abandoned once, O abandon me now and save everything at the expense of myself alone! Men desire to have children thinking that children would save them (in this as well as the region hereafter). O cross ye the stream of your difficulties by means of my poor self as if I were a raft! A child rescueth his parents in this and the other region; therefore is the child called by the learned Puttra (rescuer). The ancestors desire daughter's sons from me (as a special means of salvation). But (without waiting for my children) I myself will rescue them by protecting the life of my father! This my brother is of tender years. There is little doubt that he will perish if thou diest now. If thou my father diest and my brother too followeth thee, the funeral cake of the Pitris will be suspended and they will be