The Open court . Krishnas Adventures. (Reproduced from Coleman.) children of Vyasa. Dhritarashtra, the father of the Kurus, wasking of Hastinapur, but being blind, Bhishma, his uncle, reignedin his stead. After a test of the faculties of the young princes, in J The Pandus are also called Pandavas, and the Kurus Kamavas. THE AVATARS. 475 which the Pandu Arjuna, the skilled bowman and the Hindu Tell,showed himself superior to all the others, the oldest Pandu-prince,Yudhishthira, was installed as heir apparent. The Kurus, how-ever, who managed to remain in power, tried to burn the Pandus,but they
The Open court . Krishnas Adventures. (Reproduced from Coleman.) children of Vyasa. Dhritarashtra, the father of the Kurus, wasking of Hastinapur, but being blind, Bhishma, his uncle, reignedin his stead. After a test of the faculties of the young princes, in J The Pandus are also called Pandavas, and the Kurus Kamavas. THE AVATARS. 475 which the Pandu Arjuna, the skilled bowman and the Hindu Tell,showed himself superior to all the others, the oldest Pandu-prince,Yudhishthira, was installed as heir apparent. The Kurus, how-ever, who managed to remain in power, tried to burn the Pandus,but they escaped and lived for some time in the disguise of men-dicant Brahmans. Having allied themselves, by marriage withDraupadi,^ the daughter of Drupada, king of Panchala, with apowerful monarch, the Pandus reappeared at Hastinapur and in-duced Dhritarashtra to divide the kingdom between his sons, theKurus, and his nephews, the Pandus; but at a festival, held at fe^. The Battle Between the Kurus and Pandus on the Field of Kurukshetra(Reproduced from Wilkins.) Hastinapur, Yudhishthira, the chief of the Pandus, staked in agame of dice his kingdom, all his possessions, and Draupadi her-self, and lost everything. The Kurus granted their cousins to re-cover their share of the kingdom, after thirteen years, if they wouldlive twelve years with Draupadi in the forest and remain anotheryear in exile; but when this period had elapsed, the Kurus refusedto give up the country or any part of it, and thus the war becameunavoidable. Then Duryodhana, the Kuru prince, and Arjuna, IThat the five Pandus held Draupadi in common as their wife, proves the high antiquityof the story. Polyandry was apparently a practice not uncommon in ancient times. It prevailsstill to-day among the less cultured hill tribes. But being at variance with the Aryan customs ofthe age in which the Mahabhiirata was versified, Vyasa (the Homer or arranger of the poem,and its supposed author) t
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade188, booksubjectreligion, bookyear1887
