onless, and indulging, through
cheerlessness of heart, in diverse lamentations along with this my wedded
wife, I have obtained the permission, in the matter of my retirement into
the forest, of my sire, the Island-born Krishna himself, as also of king
Yudhishthira, who is conversant with every duty, ye righteous denizens of
this kingdom. Ye sinless ones, I, with Gandhari, repeatedly solicit you
with bent heads. It behoves you all to grant us permission."

"Vaisampayana continued, 'Hearing these pitiable words of the Kuru king,
O monarch, the assembled denizens of Kurujangala all began to weep.
Covering their faces with their hands and upper garments, all those men
burning with grief, wept for a while as fathers and mothers would weep
(at the prospect of a dear son about to leave them for ever). Bearing in
their hearts, from which every other thought had been dispelled, the
sorrow born of Dhritarashtra's desire to leave the world, they looked
like men deprived of all consciousness. Checking that agitation of heart
due to the announcement of Dhritarashtra's desire of going to the forest,
they gradually were able to address one another, expressing their wishes.
Settling their words in brief, O king, they charged a certain Brahmana
with the task of replying unto the old monarch. That learned Brahmana, of
good behaviour, chosen by unanimous consent, conversant with all topics,
master of all the Richs, and named Samba, endeavoured to speak. Taking
the permission of the whole assembly and with its full approbation, that
learned Brahmana of great intelligence, conscious of his own abilities,
said these words unto the king,--"O monarch, the answer of this assembly
has been committed to my care. I shall voice it, O hero. Do thou receive
it, O king. What thou sayest, O king of kings, is all true, O puissant
one. There is nothing in it that is even slightly untrue. Thou art our
well-wisher, as, indeed, we are thine. Verily, in this race of kings,
there never was a king who coming to rule his subjects became unpopular
with them. Ye have ruled us like fathers or brothers. King Duryodhana
never did us any wrong. Do that, O king, which that righteous-souled
ascetic, the son of Satyavati, has said. He is, verily, our foremost of
instructors. Left by thee, O monarch, we shall have to pass our days in
grief and sorrow, filled with remembrance of thy hundreds of virtues. We
were well protected and ruled by king Duryodhana even as we had been