DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.638#0405
ATONEMENT AND THE ASCENT 32
Kritavarman's friends killed Satyaki and one of Krishna's
sons. Krishna slew the rebels, but he could not quell
the tumult and the fighting which ensued; fathers slew
their sons, and sons their fathers, and kinsmen con-
tended fiercely against kinsmen.
Then Krishna and Balarama left the city, and both
died in the jungle. From Balarama's mouth issued a
mighty snake, for he was the incarnation of the world
serpent. . . . Krishna was mistaken for a gazelle by a
hunter, who shot an arrow which pierced his foot at the
only spot where he could be mortally wounded. He
then departed to his heaven, which is called Goloka.
Ere Krishna had left Dwaraka he caused messengers
to hasten for Arjuna, who came speedily, to find the
women wailing for the dead. Then Vasudeva, father of
Krishna, died, and Arjuna laid the body of the old man
upon the pyre, and he was burned with four of his
widows, who no longer desired to live. The bodies of
Krishna and Balarama were cremated also.
Arjuna then set forth towards Indra-prastha with a
remnant of the people; and when they had left Dwaraka,
the sea rose up and swallowed the whole city, with those
who had refused to depart from it. . . . Such was the
end of the power of the Yadavas.
Deep gloom fell upon the Pandavas after this, and
Vyasa, the sage, appeared before them, and revealed that
their time had come to depart from the world.
Then Yudhishthira divided the kingdom. He made
Parikshit, son of Abhimanyu, Rajah of Hastinapur; and
Yuyutsu, the half-brother of Duryodhana, who had joined
the Pandava army on the first day of the great war, was
made Rajah of Hastinapur. He counselled them to live
at peace one with another.
The Pandavas afterwards cast oif their royal garments
3
Kritavarman's friends killed Satyaki and one of Krishna's
sons. Krishna slew the rebels, but he could not quell
the tumult and the fighting which ensued; fathers slew
their sons, and sons their fathers, and kinsmen con-
tended fiercely against kinsmen.
Then Krishna and Balarama left the city, and both
died in the jungle. From Balarama's mouth issued a
mighty snake, for he was the incarnation of the world
serpent. . . . Krishna was mistaken for a gazelle by a
hunter, who shot an arrow which pierced his foot at the
only spot where he could be mortally wounded. He
then departed to his heaven, which is called Goloka.
Ere Krishna had left Dwaraka he caused messengers
to hasten for Arjuna, who came speedily, to find the
women wailing for the dead. Then Vasudeva, father of
Krishna, died, and Arjuna laid the body of the old man
upon the pyre, and he was burned with four of his
widows, who no longer desired to live. The bodies of
Krishna and Balarama were cremated also.
Arjuna then set forth towards Indra-prastha with a
remnant of the people; and when they had left Dwaraka,
the sea rose up and swallowed the whole city, with those
who had refused to depart from it. . . . Such was the
end of the power of the Yadavas.
Deep gloom fell upon the Pandavas after this, and
Vyasa, the sage, appeared before them, and revealed that
their time had come to depart from the world.
Then Yudhishthira divided the kingdom. He made
Parikshit, son of Abhimanyu, Rajah of Hastinapur; and
Yuyutsu, the half-brother of Duryodhana, who had joined
the Pandava army on the first day of the great war, was
made Rajah of Hastinapur. He counselled them to live
at peace one with another.
The Pandavas afterwards cast oif their royal garments
3