t afloat by his
mother on the river Jumna, whence this Hindu Moses, floating down into
the Ganges, was rescued and brought up by the charioteer, his reputed
father. Meantime the four Pandav brothers were greatly elated by the
eulogy bestowed upon their brother, but their jealous cousins became
so enraged that, when the time came for the youths to face each other
in club exercises, the sham battle degenerated into an earnest fight.

With ponderous mace they waged the daring fight.
As for a tender mate two rival elephants
Engage in frantic fury, so the youths
Encountered, and amidst the rapid sphere
Of fire their whirling weapons clashing wove
Their persons vanished from the anxious eye.
Still more and more incensed their combat grew,
And life hung doubtful on the desperate conflict;
With awe the crowd beheld the fierce encounter
And amidst hope and fear suspended tossed,
Like ocean shaken by conflicting winds.

Seeing this, the horrified tutor separated the contestants, whom he
soon after sent off separately to war against a neighboring rajah. In
this conflict the one hundred Kurus were badly worsted, while the five
Pandavs scored a brilliant triumph. They also subdued sundry other
kings, thereby so rousing the jealous hatred of their uncle and
cousins that these finally began to plot their death. The five Pandavs
and their mother were therefore invited to a feast in a neighboring
city (Allahabad), where the Kurus arranged they should be burned alive
in their booth. But, duly warned by the God of Justice, the Pandavs
had an underground passage dug from their hut to the forest, by means
of which they escaped, little suspecting that a beggar woman and her
five children--who had sought refuge in the empty hut--would be burned
to death there in their stead.

Disguised as Brahmans, the five brothers and their mother now dwelt
for a time in the jungle, where they proceeded to slay some demons, to
marry others, and to perform sundry astounding feats of strength. We
are told, for instance, that whenever the mother and brothers were
tired, the strongest of the Pandavs, Bhima, carried them all with the
utmost ease.

While in the jungle they were visited by their grandfather Vyasa, who
bade them attend the Bride's Choice of Draupadi, daughter of a
neighboring king, who--Minerva-like--came into the world full grown.

Human mother never bore her, human bosom never fed,
From the altar sprang the maid