presents of various kinds of gems and wealth, precious stones and pearls and corals, and much gold and silver, and first-class kine and handsome horses and fine cars and elephants, and asses and camels and buffaloes, and goats and sheep, and blankets and beautiful hides, and cloths woven out of furs.  And the king of Hastinapura accepting those offerings retraced his steps towards his capital, to the great delight of his subjects.  And the citizens and others filled with joy, and kings and ministers, all began to say, ’O, the fame of the achievements of Santanu, that tiger among kings, and of the wise Bharata, which were about to die, hath been revived by Pandu.  They who robbed before the Kurus of both territory and wealth have been subjugated by Pandu—­the tiger of Hastinapura—­and made to pay tribute.’  And all the citizens with Bhishma at their head went out to receive the victorious king.  They had not proceeded far when they saw the attendants of the king laden with much wealth, and the train of various conveyances laden with all kinds of wealth, and of elephants, horses, cars, kine, camels and other animals, was so long that they saw not its end.  Then Pandu, beholding Bhishma, who was a father to him, worshipped his feet and saluted the citizens and others as each deserved.  And Bhishma, too, embracing Pandu as his son who had returned victorious after grinding many hostile kingdoms, wept tears of joy.  And Pandu, instilling joy into the hearts of his people with a flourish of trumpets and conchs and kettle-drums, entered his capital.’”

SECTION CXIV

(Sambhava Parva continued)

“Vaisampayana said, ’Pandu, then, at the command of Dhritarashtra, offered the wealth he had acquired by the prowess of his arms to Bhishma, their grand-mother Satyavati and their mothers.  And he sent portion of his wealth to Vidura also.  And the virtuous Pandu gratified his other relatives also with similar presents.  Then Satyavati and Bhishma and the Kosala princes were all gratified with the presents Pandu made out of the acquisitions of his prowess.  And Ambalika in particular, upon embracing her son of incomparable prowess, became as glad as the queen of heaven upon embracing Jayanta.  And with the wealth acquired by that hero Dhritarashtra performed five great sacrifices that were equal unto a hundred great horse-sacrifices, at all of which the offerings to Brahmanas were by hundreds and thousands.

“A little while after, O bull of Bharata’s race, Pandu who had achieved a victory over sloth and lethargy, accompanied by his two wives, Kunti and Madri, retired into the woods.  Leaving his excellent palace with its luxurious beds, he became a permanent inhabitant of the woods, devoting the whole of his time to the chase of the deer.  And fixing his abode in a delightful and hilly region overgrown with huge sala trees, on the southern slope of the Himavat mountains, he roamed about in perfect freedom.  The handsome Pandu with his two wives wandered in those woods like Airavata accompanied by two she-elephants.  And the dwellers in those woods, beholding the heroic Bharata prince in the company of his wives, armed with sword, arrows, and bow, clad with his beautiful armour, and skilled in all excellent weapons, regarded him as the very god wandering amongst them.