SECTION CI

(Sambhava Parva continued)

“Vaisampayana said, ’O monarch, after the nuptials were over, king Santanu established his beautiful bride in his household.  Soon after was born of Satyavati an intelligent and heroic son of Santanu named Chitrangada.  He was endued with great energy and became an eminent man.  The lord Santanu of great prowess also begat upon Satyavati another son named Vichitravirya, who became a mighty bowman and who became king after his father.  And before that bull among men, viz., Vichitravirya, attained to majority, the wise king Santanu realised the inevitable influence of Time.  And after Santanu had ascended to heaven.  Bhishma, placing himself under the command of Satyavati, installed that suppressor of foes, viz., Chitrangada, on the throne, who, having soon vanquished by his prowess all monarchs, considered not any man as his equal.  And beholding that he could vanquish men, Asuras, and the very gods, his namesake, the powerful king of the Gandharvas, approached him for an encounter.  Between that Gandharva and that foremost one of the Kurus, who were both very powerful, there occurred on the field of Kurukshetra a fierce combat which lasted full three years on the banks of the Saraswati.  In that terrible encounter characterised by thick showers of weapons and in which the combatants ground each other fiercely, the Gandharva, who had greater prowess or strategic deception, slew the Kuru prince.  Having slain Chitrangada—­that first of men and oppressor of foes—­the Gandharva ascended to heaven.  When that tiger among men endued with great prowess was slain, Bhishma, the son of Santanu, performed, O king, all his obsequies.  He then installed the boy Vichitravirya of mighty arms, still in his minority, on the throne of the Kurus.  And Vichitravirya, placing himself under the command of Bhishma, ruled the ancestral kingdom.  And he adored Santanu’s son Bhishma who was conversant with all the rules of religion and law; so, indeed, Bhishma also protected him that was so obedient to the dictates of duty.’”

SECTION CII

(Sambhava Parva continued)

“Vaisampayana said, ’O thou of Kuru’s race, after Chitrangada was slain, his successor Vichitravirya being a minor, Bhishma ruled the kingdom, placing himself under the command of Satyavati.  When he saw that his brother, who was the foremost of intelligent men, attained to majority, Bhishma set his heart upon marrying Vichitravirya.  At this time he heard that the three daughters of the king of Kasi, all equal in beauty to the Apsaras themselves, would be married on the same occasion, selecting their husbands at a self-choice ceremony.  Then that foremost of car-warriors, that vanquisher of all foes, at the command of his mother, went to the city of Varanasi in a single chariot.  There Bhishma, the son of Santanu, saw