grief at the loss of her son, Bhisma addressed her again and said, 'O Queen, take not thy eyes away from virtue! O destroy us not! Breach of truth in a Kshatria is never applauded in our treatises on religion. I shall soon tell thee, O Queen, what the established Kshatria usage is to which recourse may be had to prevent Shantanu's line becoming extinct on earth. Hearing me, reflect on what should be done, in consultation with learned priests and those that are acquainted with practices allowable in times of emergency and distress, forgetting not at the same time what the ordinary course of social conduct is.'"
And so ends the hundred and third Section in the Sambhava of the Adi Parva.
( Sambhava Parva continued. )
"Bhisma continued, 'In olden days, Rama, the son of Jamadagni, in anger at the death of his father, slew with his battle-axe the king of the Haihayas. And Rama by cutting off the thousand arms of Arjuna (the Haihaya king) achieved a most difficult feat in the world. Not content with this, he set out on his chariot for the conquest of the world, and taking up his bow he cast around his mighty weapons to exterminate the Kshatrias. And the illustrious scion of the Bhrigu race, by means of his swift arrows exterminated the Kshatria tribe for one and twenty times.
"'And when the Earth was thus deprived of Kshatrias by that great Rishi, the Kshatria ladies all over the land raised up offspring by means of Brahmanas skilled in the Vedas. It has been said in the Vedas that the son so raised belongeth to him that had married the mother. And the Kshatria ladies went unto the Brahmanas not lustfully but from motives of virtue. Indeed, it was thus, that the Kshatria race was revived.
"'In this conection there is another old history that I will recite to you. There was in olden days a wise Rishi of name Utathya. He had a wife of name Mamatã whom he dearly loved. One day, Utathya's younger brother, Vrihaspati, the Purohita of the celestials and endued with great energy,
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