Unable to bear these thoughts ' and driven desperate by an overpowering thirst, he started out to look for his brothers and the pool.

Yudhishthira proceeded in the direction his brothers had taken through tracts infested with wild boar and abounding in spotted dear and huge forest birds, and presently came upon a beautiful green meadow, girdling a pool of pellucid water, nectar to his eyes.

But when he saw his brothers lying there like sacred flagpoles thrown pell-mell after a festival, unable to restrain his grief, he lifted his voice and wept. He stroked the faces of Bhima and Arjuna as they lay so still and silent there and mourned:

"Was this to be the end of all our vows? Just when our exile is about to end, you have been snatched away. Even the gods have forsaken me in my misfortune!...