( Sambhava Parva continued. )
Vaisampayana said, "Beholding his five handsome sons growing up before him in that great forest on the charming mountain slope, Pandu felt the lost might of his arms once more revive. One day in the season of spring which maddens every creature, the king, accompained by his wife (Madri), began to rove in the woods where every tree had put forth new blossoms. He beheld all around Palashas and Tilakas and Mangoes and Champakas and Asokas and Kesharas and Atimuktas and Kuruvakas with swarms of maddened bees sweetly humming about. And there were flowers of blossoming Parijatas with the Kokila pouring forth its melodies from under every twig and echoing with the sweet hum of the black bee. And he beheld also various other kinds of trees bent down with the weight of their flowers and fruits. And there were also many fine pieces of water overgrown with hundreds of fragrant lotuses. Beholding all this, Pandu felt the soft influence of desire. Roving like a celestial with a light heart amid such scenery, Pandu was alone with his wife Madri in semi-transparent attire. And beholding the youthful Madri thus attired, the king's desires flamed up like a forest-conflagration. And ill able to suppress his desires thus kindled at the sight of his wife of eyes like lotus leaves, he was completely overpowered by them. The king then seized her against her will; but Madri, trembling in fear, resisted him to the best of her might. Consumed by his desires, he forgot everything about his misfortune. And, O thou of the Kuru race, unrestrained by the fear of (the Rishi's) curse and impelled by fate, the monarch, overpowered by his passions, forcibly sought the embraces of Madri, as if to put an end to his own life. His reason, thus beguiled by the great destroyer himself, after intoxicating his senses, was itself lost with his life. And the Kuru king Pandu, of virtuous soul, thus succumbed to the inevitable influence of time, while united in intercourse with his wife.
