The Mahabharata/Book 1: Adi Parva/Section 219

Section CCXIX. ( *Arjuna-vanavasa Parva continued.* ) Vaisampyana said, "Vargā continued, 'We were then, O thou best of the Bhārata race, deeply distressed at this curse. We sought to propitiate that Brahmana of ascetic wealth departing not from his vows. And addressing him we said,—Inflated with a sense of our beauty and youth, and urged by the god of desire, we have acted very improperly. It behoveth thee, O Brahmana, to pardon us! Truly, O Brahmana, it was death to us that we had at all come hither to tempt thee of rigid vows and possest of sufficiency of ascetic wealth! The virtuous, however, have said that women should never be slain. Therefore, grow thou in virtue! It behoveth thee not to slay us so! Conversant as thou art with virtue, it hath been said that a Brahmana is ever the friend of every creature. O thou of great prosperity, let this speech of the wise become true! The eminent always protect those that seek protection at their hands. We seek thy protection. It behoveth thee to grant us pardon!—'" Vaisampayana continued, "Thus addressed, that Brahmana of virtuous soul and good deeds and equal in splendour, O hero, unto the Sun or the Moon, became propitious unto them! And the Brahmana said, 'The words *hundred* and *hundred thousand* are all indicative of eternity. The word *hundred*, however, as employed by me is to be understood as a limited period and not indicative of a period without end. Ye shall, therefore, becoming crocodiles seize and take away men (for only an hundred years as explained by me). At the end of that period, an exalted individual will drag ye all from the water to the land. Then ye will have back your real forms. Never before have I spoken an untruth even in jest. Therefore all that I have said must come to pass. And those sacred waters (within which I assign ye your places), after ye have been delivered by that individual, will become known all over the world by the name of *Nari-thirthas* (or sacred waters connected with the sufferings and deliverance of females). And all of them shall become sacred and purifying in the eyes of the virtuous and the wise.'" Vaisampayana continued, "Vargā then, addressing Arjuna, finished her discourse, saying, 'Hearing these words of the Brahmana, we saluted him with reverence and walked round him. Leaving that region we came away with heavy hearts, thinking as we proceeded,—Where shall we all soon meet with that man who will give us back our own forms (after the transformation)?—And as we were thinking of it, in almost a moment, O Bhārata, we beheld even the eminent celestial Rishi Narada. And beholding the celestial Rishi of immeasurable energy our hearts were filled with joy. And saluting him with reverence, O Pārtha, we stood before him with blushing faces. And he asked us the cause of our sorrow and we told him all. And hearing what had happened, the Rishi said,—In the lowlands bordering on the southern ocean, there are five regions of sacred water. They are delightful and eminently holy. Go ye thither without delay. That tiger among men, Dhananjaya the son of Pandu, of pure soul, will soon deliver ye, without doubt, from this sad plight.—O hero, hearing the Rishi's words, we all came hither. And, O sinless one, true it is that I have today been delivered by thee! And those four friends of mine are still within the other waters here. O hero, do thou a good deed by delivering them also!'" Vaisampayana continued, "Then O monarch, that foremost of the Pandavas endued with great prowess, cheerfully delivered all of them from that curse. And rising from the waters they all regained their own forms. And those Apsarās then all looked, O king, as before. And freeing those regions of sacred water (from the dangers for which they had been noted), and giving the Apsarās leave to go where they chose, Arjuna became desirous of once more seeing Chitrāngadā. He, therefore, proceeded towards the city of Manipur. And arrived there he beheld on the throne the son he had begotten upon Chitrāngadā, and who was called by the name of Vabhruvāhana. And seeing Chitrāngadā once more, Arjuna proceeded, O monarch, towards the spot called Gokarna." Thus ends the two hundred and ninteenth Section in the Arjuna-vanavāsa of the Adi Parva.