10. DEATH OF PANDU:

ONE day King Pandu was out hunting. A
sage and his wife were also sporting in the
forest in the guise of deer. Pandu shot the
male with an arrow, in ignorance of the
fact that it was a sage in disguise. Stricken
to death the rishi thus cursed Pandu:
"Sinner, you will meet with death the
moment you taste the pleasures of the
bed."


Pandu was heartbroken at this curse and
retreated to the forest with his wives after
entrusting his kingdom to Bhishma and
Vidura and lived there a life of perfect
abstinence.


Seeing that Pandu was desirous of
offspring, which the rishi’s curse had
denied him, Kunti confided to him the
story of the mantra she had received from
Durvasa. He urged Kunti and Madri to use
the mantra and thus it was that the five
Pandavas were born of the gods to Kunti
and Madri.


They were born and brought up in the
forest among ascetics. King Pandu lived
for many years in the forest with his wives
and children. It was springtime. And one
day Pandu and Madri forgot their sorrows
in the rapture of sympathy with the
throbbing life around them, the happy
flowers, creepers, birds and other
creatures of the forest.


In spite of Madri’s earnest and repeated
protests Pandu’s resolution broke down
under the exhilarating influence of the
season, and at once the curse of the sage
took effect and Pandu fell, dead.
Madri could not contain her sorrow. Since
she felt that she was responsible for the
death of the king. She burnt herself on the
pyre of her husband entreating Kunti to
remain and be a mother to her doubly
orphaned children.


The sages of the forest took the bereaved
and grief-stricken Kunti and the Pandavas
to Hastinapura and entrusted them to
Bhishma.


Yudhishthira was but sixteen years old at
that time. When the sages came to
Hastinapura and reported the death of
Pandu in the forest, the whole kingdom
was plunged in sorrow. Vidura, Bhishma,
Vyasa, Dhritarashtra and others performed
the funeral rites.


All the people in the kingdom lamented as
at a personal loss. Vyasa said to Satyavati,
the grandmother: "The past has gone by
pleasantly, but the future has many
sorrows in store. The world has passed its
youth like a happy dream and it is now
entering on disillusionment, sin, sorrow
and suffering. Time is inexorable. You
need not wait to see the miseries and
misfortunes that will befall this race. It
will be good for you to leave the city and
spend the rest of your days in a hermitage
in the forest." Satyavati agreed and went
to the forest with Ambika and Ambalika.
These three aged queens passed through
holy asceticism to the higher regions of
bliss and spared themselves the sorrows of
their children.