emaciated, were unable to move. The king, seeing the
conflagration approach him from all sides, addressed the Suta Sanjaya,
that foremost of skilful charioteers, saying,--'Go, O Sanjaya, to such a
place where the fire may not burn thee. As regards ourselves, we shall
suffer our bodies to be destroyed by this fire and attain to the highest
goal.' Unto him, Sanjaya, that foremost of speakers, said,--'O king, this
death, brought on by a fire that is not sacred, will prove calamitous to
thee. I do not, however, see any means by which thou canst escape from
this conflagration. That which should next be done should be indicated by
thee.' Thus addressed by Sanjaya the king once more said,--'This death
cannot be calamitous to us, for we have left our home of our own accord.
Water, fire, wind, and abstention from food,[61] (as means of death), are
laudable for ascetics. Do thou, therefore, leave us, O Sanjaya, without
any delay.' Having said these words to Sanjaya, the king concentrated his
mind. Facing the east, he sat down, with Gandhari and Kunti. Beholding
him in that attitude, Sanjaya walked round him. Endued with intelligence,
Sanjaya said,--'Do thou concentrate thy soul, O puissant one.' The son of
a Rishi, and himself possessed of great wisdom, the king acted as he was
told. Restraining all the senses, he remained like a post of wood. The
highly blessed Gandhari, and thy mother Pritha too, remained in the same
attitude. Then thy royal sire was overtaken by the forest-conflagration.
Sanjaya, his minister, succeeded in escaping from that conflagration. I
saw him on the banks of Ganga in the midst of ascetics. Endued with great
energy and great intelligence, he bade them farewell and then started for
the mountains of Himavat. Even thus the high-souled Kuru king met with
his death, and it was even thus that Gandhari and Kunti, thy two mothers,
also met with death, O monarch. In course of my wanderings at will, I saw
the bodies of that king and those two queens, O Bharata. Many ascetics
came to that retreat, having heard of the end of king Dhritarashtra. They
did not at all grieve for that end of theirs. There, O best of men, I
heard all the details of how the king and the two queens, O son of Pandu,
had been burnt. O king of kings, thou shouldst not grieve for him. The
monarch, of his own will, as also Gandhari and thy mother, obtained that
contact with fire."'

"Vaisampayana continued,--'Hearing of the exit of Dhritarashtra