ss of Pancala
and followed by her sons, proceeded towards the grief-afflicted Gandhari
herself in greater affliction still. Beholding that illustrious lady with
her daughter-in-law, Gandhari addressed her, saying, 'Do not, O daughter,
grieve so. Behold, I too am as much stricken with grief as thou. I think
this universal destruction has been brought about by the irresistible
course of Time. Inevitable as it was, this dreadful slaughter has not
been due to the voluntary agency of human beings. Even that has come to
pass which Vidura of great wisdom foretold after Krishna's supplication
for peace had failed. Do not, therefore, grieve, in a matter that was
inevitable, especially after its occurrence. Having fallen in battle,
they should not be grieved for. I am in the same predicament with thee.
(If thou actest in such a way) who then will comfort us? Through my
fault, this foremost of races has been destroyed.'"

Here ends the Jalapradanika-parva in the Stri-parva.

16

(Stri-vilapa-parva)

Vaishampayana said, "Having said these words, Gandhari, though staying on
that spot which was distant from the field of battle, beheld, with her
spiritual eye, the slaughter of the Kurus. Devoted to her lord, that
highly blessed lady had always practised high vows. Undergoing the
severest penances, she was always truthful in her speech. In consequence
of the gift of the boon by the great rishi Vyasa of sanctified deeds, she
became possessed of spiritual knowledge and power. Piteous were the
lamentations in which that dame then indulged. Endued with great
intelligence, the Kuru dame saw, from a distance, but as if from a near
point, that field of battle, terrible to behold and full of wonderful
sights, of those foremost of fighters. Scattered all over with bones and
hair, and covered with streams of blood, that field was strewn with
thousands upon thousands of dead bodies on every side. Covered with the
blood of elephants and horses and car-warriors and combatants of other
kinds, it teemed with headless trunks and trunkless heads. And it
resounded with the cries of elephants and steeds and men and women and
abounded with jackals and cranes and ravens and kankas and crows. And it
was the sporting ground of Rakshasas subsisting on human flesh. And it
swarmed with ospreys and vultures and resounded with the inauspicious
howls of jackals. Then king Dhritarashtra, at the command of Vyasa, and
all the sons of Pandu with Yudhishthira a