DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.638#0404
322 INDIAN MYTH AND LEGEND
day Narada, the sage, stood before Yudhishthira and told
that a great fire had swept through the jungle, and that
Dhritarashtra, and Gandhari, and Pritha, and all who
were with them, had perished.
Soon afterwards the Pandavas came to know, by
reason of dread omens which appeared, that a great
calamity was drawing nigh, but no man could tell what
it was or when it would take place.
Ere long it became known that the city of Dwaraka
was doomed to be destroyed. A horror in human shape
was beheld in the night; it was coloured yellow and
black, its head was bald and its limbs misshapen, and
men said it was Yama, god of the dead. . . . Visions of
headless men contending in battle were beheld at sunset.
. . . The moon was eclipsed, a dread tempest ravaged
the land, and a plague of rats afflicted the city.
Krishna forbade all the people, on pain of death, to
drink wine, and commanded them to perform devotions
on the seashore. . . .
Then the night was haunted by a black woman with
yellow teeth who grinned horribly at house doors. All
the inhabitants of the city were stricken with terror. . . .
Evil spirits came also and robbed the jewels of the women
and the weapons of the men. ... At length the chakra1
of Krishna went up to heaven, and his chariot and horses
followed it. . . . The end of the Yadavas was not afar
off, and the day came when Apsaras called out of heaven:
"Depart from hence," and all the people heard them.
When the people gathered on the seashore they held
a feast, and being allowed to drink wine for one day, they
drank heavily and began to quarrel. At length Satyaki
slew Kritavarman, who had gone to the Pandava camp
with Drona's son on the night of slaughter. Then
1 Celestial weapon.
day Narada, the sage, stood before Yudhishthira and told
that a great fire had swept through the jungle, and that
Dhritarashtra, and Gandhari, and Pritha, and all who
were with them, had perished.
Soon afterwards the Pandavas came to know, by
reason of dread omens which appeared, that a great
calamity was drawing nigh, but no man could tell what
it was or when it would take place.
Ere long it became known that the city of Dwaraka
was doomed to be destroyed. A horror in human shape
was beheld in the night; it was coloured yellow and
black, its head was bald and its limbs misshapen, and
men said it was Yama, god of the dead. . . . Visions of
headless men contending in battle were beheld at sunset.
. . . The moon was eclipsed, a dread tempest ravaged
the land, and a plague of rats afflicted the city.
Krishna forbade all the people, on pain of death, to
drink wine, and commanded them to perform devotions
on the seashore. . . .
Then the night was haunted by a black woman with
yellow teeth who grinned horribly at house doors. All
the inhabitants of the city were stricken with terror. . . .
Evil spirits came also and robbed the jewels of the women
and the weapons of the men. ... At length the chakra1
of Krishna went up to heaven, and his chariot and horses
followed it. . . . The end of the Yadavas was not afar
off, and the day came when Apsaras called out of heaven:
"Depart from hence," and all the people heard them.
When the people gathered on the seashore they held
a feast, and being allowed to drink wine for one day, they
drank heavily and began to quarrel. At length Satyaki
slew Kritavarman, who had gone to the Pandava camp
with Drona's son on the night of slaughter. Then
1 Celestial weapon.