ha, the king, endued with great
energy, made many excellent gifts. Every man received what thing he
wished and as much of it as he wished. Beds and food, and cars and
conveyances, and jewels and gems, and other wealth were given away in
profusion. Indeed, the king referring to his two mothers, gave away cars
and conveyances, robes and coverlets, various kinds of food, and female
slaves adorned with diverse ornaments. Having thus made many kinds of
gifts in profusion, that lord of Earth then entered his capital called
after the elephant. Those men who had gone to the banks of Ganga at the
command of the king, having disposed of (by cremation) the remains of the
king and two queens, returned to the city. Having duly honoured those
remains with garlands and scents of diverse kinds and disposed of them,
they informed Yudhishthira of the accomplishment of their task. The great
Rishi Narada, having comforted king Yudhishthira of righteous soul, went
away to where he liked. Even thus did king Dhritarashtra make his exit
from this world after having passed three years in the forest and ten and
five years in the city. Having lost all his children in battle, he had
many gifts in honour of his kinsmen, relatives, and friends, his brethren
and own people. King Yudhishthira after the death of his uncle, became
very cheerless. Deprived of his kinsmen and relatives, he somehow bore
the burthen of sovereignty.

"'One should listen with rapt attention to this Asramavasika Parvan, and
having heard it recited, one should feed Brahmanas with Habishya,
honouring them with scents and garlands.'"

The end of Asramavasika Parvan.

FOOTNOTES

1. The derivation of Aralikas is explained by Nilakantha thus; Potherbs
cut off with a kind of weapon called Ara are called Aralu. They who were
expert in cooking those potherbs were called Aralikas. Ragakhandava was
manufactured from piper longum, dry ginger, sugar, and the juice of
Phaseolus Mango.

2. It will be remembered, Earth, unable to bear her load of population,
prayed to the Grandsire for lightening that load. The Grandsire urged
Vishnu to do the needful. Hence Vishnu incarnated himself as Krishna and
brought about a lightening of Earth's load.

3. Mahadana implies such gifts as elephants, boats, cars, horses, etc.
Everybody does not accept these gifts, for their acceptance causes a
Brahmana to fall away from his status.

4. Some of the Bengal texts read avimukham hatah for abhimukam hat