The Rishi told her that the child would be of pale complexion and known by the name of Pandu.  Satyavati again begged of the Rishi another child, and the Rishi told her in reply, ‘So be it.’  Ambalika, then, when her time came, brought forth a son of pale complexion.  Blazing with beauty the child was endued with all auspicious marks.  Indeed, it was this child who afterwards became the father of those mighty archers, the Pandavas.

“Some time after, when the oldest of Vichitravirya’s widows again had her monthly season, she was solicited by Satyavati to approach Vyasa once again.  Possessed of beauty like a daughter of a celestial, the princess refused to do her mother-in-law’s bidding, remembering the grim visage and strong odour of the Rishi.  She, however, sent unto him, a maid of hers, endued with the beauty of an Apsara and decked with her own ornaments.  And when the Vyasa arrived, the maid rose up and saluted him.  And she waited upon him respectfully and took her seat near him when asked.  And, O king, the great Rishi of rigid vows, was well-pleased with her, and when he rose to go away, he addressed her and said, ’Amiable one, thou shalt no longer be a slave.  Thy child also shall be greatly fortunate and virtuous, and the foremost of all intelligent men on earth!’ And, O king, the son thus begotten upon her by Krishna-Dwaipayana was afterwards known by the name of Vidura.  He was thus the brother of Dhritarashtra and the illustrious Pandu.  And Vidura was free from desire and passion and was conversant with the rules of government, and was the god of justice born on earth under the curse of the illustrious Rishi Mandavya.  And Krishna-Dwaipayana, when he met his mother as before, informed her as to how he had been deceived by the seniormost of the princesses and how he had begotten a son upon a Sudra woman.  And having spoken thus unto his mother the Rishi disappeared from her sight.

“Thus were born, in the field of Vichitravirya, even of Dwaipayana those sons of the splendour of celestial children, those propagators of the Kuru race.’”

SECTION CVII

(Sambhava Parva continued)

“Janamejaya said, ’What did the god of justice do for which he was cursed?  And who was the Brahmana ascetic from whose curse the god had to be born in the Sudra caste?’

“Vaisampayana said, ’There was a Brahmana known by the name of Mandavya.  He was conversant with all duties and was devoted to religion, truth and asceticism.  The great ascetic used to sit at the entrance of his hermitage at the foot of a tree, with his arms upraised in the observance of the vow of silence.  And as he sat there for years together, one day there came into his asylum a number of robbers laden with spoil.  And, O bull in Bharata’s race, those robbers were then being pursued by a superior body as guardians of the peace.  The thieves, on entering that asylum, hid their booty there, and in