to my relatives, for both Kansa and Sunaman were slain
by me assisted by Rama. But after the immediate
cause of fear was removed (by the death of Kansa),
Jarasandha, his father-in-law, took up arms.
Ourselves consisting of the eighteen younger branches
of the Yadavas arrived at the conclusion that even
if we struck our enemies continually with excellent
weapons capable of taking the lives of the foes, we
should still be unable to do anything unto him even
in three hundred years. He hath two friends that
are like unto the immortals, and in point of strength
the foremost of all men endued with might. They
are called Hansa and Dimvaka who are both incapable
of being slain by weapons. The mighty Jarasandha,
being united with them, becomes incapable, I think,
of being vanquished by even the three worlds.
O thou foremost of all intelligent men, this is not
our opinion alone but all other kings also are of
the same mind. There lived, O monarch, a king
of the name of Hansa, who was slain by Rama (Valadeva)
after a battle of eighteen days. But, O Bharata,
hearing people say that Hansa had been killed, Dimvaka,
O king, thought that he could not live without Hansa.
He accordingly jumped into the waters of the Yamuna
and killed himself. Afterwards when Hansa, the
subjugator of hostile heroes, heard that Dimvaka,
had killed himself, he went to the Yamuna and jumped
into its waters. Then, O bull of the Bharata
race, king Jarasandha, hearing that both Hansa and
Dimvaka had been killed, returned to his kingdom with
an empty heart. After Jarasandha had returned,
O slayer of all foes, we were filled with pleasure
and continued to live at Mathura. Then the widow
of Hansa and the daughter of Jarasandha, that handsome
woman with eyes like lotus-petals, grieved at the
death of her lord, went unto her father, and repeatedly
urged, O Monarch, the king of Magadha, saying,—O
slayer of all foes, kill thou the slayer of my husband.—Then,
O great king, remembering the conclusion to which
we had come of old we became exceedingly cheerless
and fled from Mathura. Dividing our large wealth
into small portions so as to make each portion easily
portable, we fled from fear of Jarasandha, with our
cousins and relatives. Reflecting upon everything,
we fled towards the west. There is a delightful
town towards the west called Kusasthali, adorned by
the mountains of Raivata. In that city, O monarch,
we took up our abode. We rebuilt its fort and
made it so strong that it has become impregnable even
to the Gods. And from within it even the women
might fight the foe, what to speak of the Yadava heroes
without fear of any kind? O slayer of all foes,
we are now living in that city. And, O tiger
of the Kuru race, considering the inaccessibility of
that first of mountains and regarding themselves as
having already crossed the fear of Jarasandha, the
descendants of Madhu have become exceedingly glad.
Thus, O king, though possessed of strength and energy,
yet from the oppressions of Jarasandha we have been