MAHABHARATA CONDENSED INTO ENGLISH ... - Mandhata Global
MAHABHARATA CONDENSED INTO ENGLISH ... - Mandhata Global
MAHABHARATA CONDENSED INTO ENGLISH ... - Mandhata Global
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
Men from stall and loom and anvil, men of every guild and trade,<br />
Left the city with the monarch, through the open country strayed,<br />
And a universal sorrow filled the air and answering sky,<br />
As when ends the mortal's Yuga and the end of world is nigh!<br />
II<br />
GANDHARI'S LAMENT FOR THE SLAIN<br />
Stainless Queen and stainless woman, ever righteous ever good,<br />
Stately in her mighty sorrow on the field Gandhari stood!<br />
Strewn with skulls and clotted tresses, darkened by the stream of gore,<br />
With the limbs of countless warriors is the red field covered o'er,<br />
Elephants and steeds of battle, car-borne chiefs untimely slain,<br />
Headless trunks and heads dissevered fill the red and ghastly plain,<br />
And the long-drawn howl of jackals o'er the scene of carnage rings,<br />
And the vulture and the raven flap their dark and loathsome wings,<br />
Feasting on the blood of warriors foul Pisachas fill the air,<br />
Viewless forms of hungry Rakshas limb from limb the corpses tear!<br />
Through this scene of death and carnage was the ancient monarch led,<br />
Kuru dames with faltering footsteps stepped amidst the countless dead,<br />
And a piercing wail of anguish burst upon the echoing plain,<br />
As they saw their sons or fathers, brothers, lords, amidst the slain,<br />
As they saw the wolves of jungle feed upon the destined prey,<br />
Darksome wanderers of the midnight prowling in the light of day!<br />
Shriek of pain and wail of anguish o'er the ghastly field resound,<br />
And their feeble footsteps falter and they sink upon the ground,<br />
Sense and life desert the mourners as they faint in common grief,<br />
Death-like swoon succeeding sorrow yields a moment's short relief!<br />
Then a mighty sigh of anguish from Gandhari's bosom broke,<br />
Gazing on her anguished daughters unto Krishna thus she spoke:<br />
"Mark my unconsoléd daughters, widowed queens of Kuru's house,<br />
Wailing for their dear departed, like the osprey for her spouse!