The Mahabharata/Book 1: Adi Parva/Section 114

Section CXIV. ( Sambhava Parva continued. )

Vaisampayana said, "Pandu then, at the command of Dhrita-rashtra, offered the wealth he had acquired by the prowess of his arms to Bhisma, their grand-mother Satyavati, and their mothers, the princesses of Koshala. And he sent a portion of his wealth to Vidura also. And the, virtuous Pandu gratified his other relatives also with similar presents. Then Satyavati and Bhisma and the Koshala princesses were all gratified with the presents Pandu made out of the acquisitions of his prowess. And Amvalika in particular, upon embracing her son of incomparable prowess became as glad as the queen of heaven upon embracing Jayanta. And with the wealth acquired by that hero, Dhrita-rashtra performed five great sacrifices that were equal unto an hundred great horse-sacrifices, in all of which the offerings to Brahmanas were by hundreds and thousands.

"A little while after, O thou bull of the Bharata race, Pandu who had achieved a victory over sloth and lethargy accompanied by his two wives Kunti and Madri retired into the woods. Leaving his excellent palace with its luxurious beds, he become a permanent inhabitant of the woods devoting the whole of his time to the chase of the deer. And fixing his abode in a delightful and hilly region overgrown with huge shal trees, on the southern slope of the Himavat mountains, he roamed about in perfect freedom. The handsome Pandu in the midst of his two wives wandered in those woods like Airavata in the midst of two she-elephants, And the dwellers of those woods beholding the heroic Bharata prince in the company of his wives; armed with sword, arrows, and bow, encased in his beautiful armour, and skilled in all excellent weapons, regarded him as a very god wandering amongst them.

And at the command of Dhrita-rashtra, people were busy in supplying Pandu in his retirement with every object of pleasure and enjoyment.

"Meanwhile the son of the ocean-going Ganga heard that king Devaka had a daughter endued with youth and beauty and begotten upon a Sudra wife. Bringing her from her father's abode, Bhisma married her to Vidura of great wisdom. And the Kuru prince Vidura begot upon her many children like unto himself in accomplishments."

Thus ends the hundred and fourteenth Section in the Sambhava of the Adi Parva.