Myths of the Hindus & Buddhists

Mythsof the Hindus ^f BuddhistsThe Arrow of Death"And Indra answered : Done ! I give thee, O Kama,this dart called Vasava. It is incapable of being baffled,and thrown by me returns to my hand to slay hundreds ofenemies. Hurled by thee, however, it will slaybut onepowerful foe. And if, maddened by anger, while therestill remain other weapons or while thydeadly peril, thou shoot this arrow,fallupon thyself!"life is not init will rebound andThen taking the blazing dart, Kama, without wincing,began to cut off his own coat of natural armour and hisown living ear-rings,and handed them to the Brahman.And Indra, taking them, ascended with a smile to Heaven.And news went about on all hands that Kama was nolonger invincible. But none knew of the arrow of deaththat he treasured, to be used once upon a single deadlyfoe.The Mission of KrishnaNow ithappened before the outbreak of hostilities thatKrishna had gone himself to Hastinapura to see if itwere not possible to persuade Dhritarashtra to restoreIndraprastha peacefully, and thus to avoid war. Finding,however, that this plan could not be carried out, andhe had still tried oneturning to leave the Kuru capital,more device to make the fratricidal contest impossible.Taking Kama aside, he privately told him the secret ofhis birth, and begged him to announce himself to thewhole world as the son of Pritha, and therefore the elderbrother of Yudhishthira himself; not only a prince ofblood as proud as the Pandavas own, but even, if thetruth were known, their actual leader and sovereign.198