But all of you are proficient in
knowledge and possessed of great power and strength and celestial
vigour. For the extermination (of the wicked) and for serving the
purposes of the gods, ye have come from the other world and have taken
your birth in this! Ye, who are so valiant, and engaged in asceticism,
self-restraining exercises, and religious ordinances, and fond of
exertion, after having performed great deeds and gratified the gods and
_Rishis_ and the _Pitris_, ye will at last in due course attain by your
own acts the supreme region--the abode of all virtuous men! O ornament
of Kuru's race, may no doubts cross thy mind on account of these thy
sufferings, for this affliction is for thy good!'"
SECTION CLXXXIII
Vaisampayana continued,--"The sons of Pandu said to the high-souled
Markandeya, 'We long to hear of the greatness of the _Brahmanas_. Do
thou tell us of it!' Thus asked, the revered Markandeya, of austere
virtue and high spiritual energy, and proficient in all departments of
knowledge, replied, 'A strong-limbed, handsome young prince of the race
of the Haihayas, a conqueror of hostile cities, (once) went out hunting.
And (while) roaming in the wilderness of big trees and thickets of
grass, he saw, at no great distance from him, a _Muni_ with the skin of
a black antelope for his upper garment, and killed him for a deer.
Pained at what he had done, and his senses paralysed with grief, he
repaired to the presence of the more distinguished of the _Haihaya_
chiefs.
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