61.  Vikarshanam is emaciation of the body by abstention from all food.

62.  The verb anvacat from root sas can govern two objectives.  Here the two objectives are purushan and krityani

The Mahabharata

of

Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa

BOOK 16

Mausala-parva

Translated into English Prose from the Original Sanskrit Text

by

Kisari Mohan Ganguli

[1883-1896]

Scanned and Proofed by Mantra Caitanya.  Additional proofing and formatting at sacred-texts.com, by J. B. Hare, October 2003.

1

Om!  Having bowed down unto Narayana, and to Nara, the foremost of men, as also to the goddess Sarasvati, should the word “Jaya” be uttered.

Vaishampayana said:  “When the thirty-sixth year (after the battle) was reached, the delighter of the Kurus, Yudhishthira, beheld many unusual portents.  Winds, dry and strong, and showering gravels, blew from every side.  Birds began to wheel, making circles from right to left.  The great rivers ran in opposite directions.  The horizon on every side seemed to be always covered with fog.  Meteors, showering (blazing) coals, fell on the Earth from the sky.  The Suns disc, O king, seemed to be always covered with dust.  At its rise, the great luminary of day was shorn of splendour and seemed to be crossed by headless trunks (of human beings).  Fierce circles of light were seen every day around both the Sun and the Moon.  These circles showed three hues.  Their edges seemed to be black and rough and ashy-red in colour.  These and many other omens, foreshadowing fear and danger, were seen, O king, and filled the hearts of men with anxiety.  A little while after, the Kuru king Yudhishthira heard of the wholesale carnage of the Vrishnis in consequence of the iron bolt.  The son of Pandu, hearing that only Vasudeva and Rama had escaped with life, summoned his brothers and took counsel with them as to what they should do.  Meeting with one another, they became greatly distressed upon hearing that the Vrishnis had met with destruction through the Brahmanas rod of chastisement.  The death of Vasudeva, like the drying up of the ocean, those heroes could not believe.  In fact the destruction of the wielder of Saranga was incredible to them.  Informed of the incident about the iron bolt, the Pandavas became filled with grief and sorrow.  In fact, they sat down, utterly cheerless and penetrated with blank despair.”

Janamejaya said:  “Indeed, O holy one, how was it that the Andhakas along with Vrishnis, and those great car-warriors, the Bhojas, met with destruction in the very sight of Vasudeva?”

Vaishampayana continued:  “When the thirty-sixth year was reached (after the great battle) a great calamity overtook the Vrishnis.  Impelled by Time, they all met with destruction in consequence of the iron bolt.”