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And that lord of all living beings, king Yama, conversant with duty, presideth over yonder southern region whither come the spirits of the departed. And this is Sanyamana, the abode of the lord of departed spirits, sacred, and wonderful to behold, and crowned with prime prosperity. Having, O king, arrived at this, the Sun ever abideth by the truth.
And Arjuna, and the sons of Draupadi, and Chekitana of great prowess, proceeded against all the kings under the command of Duryodhana. And similarly the Kauravas also, O king, began to slaughter their foes. That foremost of car-warriors, viz., Drona excited with wrath, rushed against the Somakas and the Srinjayas, desirous of sending them to the abode of Yama.
By giving away a cow of the complexion of smoke, with a calf similar to herself, yielding milk, free from every vice, and covered with a piece of cloth, one attains to great honours in the region of Yama. By giving away a cow of the complexion of the foam of water, with a calf and a vessel of white brass for milking her, and covered with a piece of cloth, one attains to the region of Varuna.
And car-warriors and horsemen by thousands were strewn over the field. And Bhishma the son of Santanu excited with wrath, began to slaughter the troops of the high-souled Pandavas with his straight shafts. And with his arrows he began to despatch the combatants of the Panchalas to the domains of Yama.
It is for this again that the wise have declared religious merit to be the foremost of all things!" Hearing these words of hers, Yama said, "Do thou desist! I have been pleased with these words of thine couched in proper letters and accents, and based on reason. Do thou ask for a boon!
Thou upbraidest me and my acts. I implore thee to be graceful towards me. All my acts have been sinful. I burn, however, with repentance as if I am in the midst of blazing fire! My mind, in remembrance of my deeds, is exceedingly cheerless. Verily, I am much afraid of Yama. How can I bear to live without extracting that dart from my heart? O Saunaka, suppressing all thy wrath, instruct me now.
If, for the cattle we have seized, an encounter takes place with the divine wielder himself of the thunderbolt or even with Yama, who is there that will be liable to reach Hastinapura? He knoweth well the intentions of the Pandavas and striketh terror in our hearts. I see that his affection for Arjuna is very great. Seeing him only coming, he chanteth his praises.
Like the Sun dispelling the surrounding darkness, Karna fearlessly and alone encountered all those great bowmen united together and pouring upon him repeated showers of arrows. While the son of Radha was thus engaged with the Pandavas, Bhimasena, filled with rage, began to slaughter the Kurus with shafts, every one of which resembled the lord of Yama.
Bearing those shafts of golden wings on his body, that mighty prince of Rakshasas looked radiant like a mountain on fire. Then the vindictive son of Rishyasringa, inflamed with wrath, covered Abhimanyu, who was equal unto Mahendra himself, with clouds of winged arrows. Those sharp shafts resembling the rods of Yama himself, shot by him, pierced Abhimanyu through and entered the earth.
Somehow it came about of itself, that on the ruins of those ancient, long-warmed nests, where of yore the rosy-cheeked, sprightly wives of the soldiery and the plump widows of Yama, with their black eyebrows, had secretly traded in vodka and free love, there began to spring up wide-open brothels, permitted by the authorities, regulated by official supervision and subject to express, strict rules.
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