Mahabharata, Epic of the Bharatas

Book XI. Sraddha (Funeral Rites) – 138
Men in nations, countless, nameless, from each court and camp afar,
From the east and west collected, fell in Kuru-Kshetra’s war,
Thousand fires for them were lighted, they received the pious rite,
Such was good Yudhishthir’s mandate, such was wise Vidura’s might,
All the dead were burned to ashes and the sacred rite was o’er,
Dhrita-rashtra and Yudhishthir slowly walked to Ganga’s shore!
V. Oblation to Karna
Sacred Ganga, ample-bosomed, sweeps along in regal pride,
Rolling down her limpid waters through high banks on either side,
Childless dames and weeping widows thither in their anguish came,
Due and holy rites to render to departed chiefs of fame.
Casting forth their jewelled girdles, gems and scarfs belaced with gold,
Gave oblations of the water unto warriors true and bold,
Unto fathers, unto husbands, unto sons in battle slayed,
Offerings of the sacred water sorrowing wives and mothers made.
And so great the host of mourners wending to perform the rite,
That their footsteps made a pathway in the sad and sacred site,
And the shelving banks of Ganga peopled by the sorrowing train,
Wide-expanding, vast and sealike, formed a scene of woe and pain!
But a wave of keener sorrow swept o’er Pritha’s heaving breast,
As unto her weeping children thus her secret she expressed:
[355] “He, my sons, the peerless bowman, mighty in his battle-car,
Who by will of fate untimely was by Arjun slain in war,
He whom as the son of Radha, chariot-driver ye have thought,
But who shone with SURYA’S lustre as his countless foes he fought,
He who faced your stoutest warriors and in battle never failed,
Bravely led the Kuru forces and in danger never quailed,
He who knew no peer in prowess, owned in war no haughtier name,
Yielded life but not his honour and by death hath conquered fame,