I
beseech thee, O king, do not command me any further. Let this be the boon
granted (by thee) to me.'
"Thus, O king, were born unto Pandu five sons who were begotten by
celestials and were endued with great strength, and who all lived to
achieve great fame and expand the Kuru race. Each bearing every auspicious
mark on his person, handsome like Soma, proud as the lion, well-skilled in
the use of the bow, and of leonine tread, breast, heart, eyes, neck and
prowess, those foremost of men, resembling the celestials themselves in
might, began to grow up. And beholding them and their virtues growing with
years, the great Rishis dwelling on that snowcapped sacred mountain were
filled with wonder. And the five Pandavas and the hundred sons of
Dhritarashtra--that propagator of the Kuru race--grew up rapidly like a
cluster of lotuses in a lake.'"
SECTION CXXV
(Sambhava Parva continued)
"Vaisampayana said, "Beholding his five handsome sons growing up before
him in that great forest on the charming mountain slope, Pandu felt the
last might of his arms revive once more. One day in the season of spring
which maddens every creature the king accompanied by his wife (Madri),
began to rove in the woods where every tree had put forth new blossoms. He
beheld all around Palasas and Tilakas and Mangoes and Champakas and
Parihadrakas and Karnikaras, Asokas and Kesaras and Atimuktas and
Kuruvakas with swarms of maddened bees sweetly humming about.
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