Vidura describes the Pandavas' departure for exile

Dhritarashtra could not see them go. He asked Vidura to be his eyes. “How is Kounteya Dharmaraja Yudhishthira leaving? How about Bhimasena, Savyasachi and the two sons of Madri? O Kshatta! How about Dhoumya and the ascetic Droupadi? I wish to hear everything. Describe to me every act of theirs.” Vidura did not just describe a procession. He interpreted a silent language of resolve. “Kunti’s son Yudhishthira is departing, covering his face with his garment.” Vidura explained: though robbed of his kingdom and riches through deceit, the mind of the intelligent Dharmaraja did not deviate from dharma. He was always kind to the sons of Dhritarashtra. But he refused to open his eyes in anger. ‘I will burn these people down if I look at them through my terrible eyes.’ Thinking this, the Pandava king went with his face covered. “Pandava Bhima is spreading his long arms, as he goes.” ‘There is no one equal to me in strength of arms.’ Knowing this, Bhima displayed his arms. He wished to perform acts on the enemy that would do justice to those arms. “Savyasachi is following the king, scattering sand.” Kunti’s son Arjuna was capable of using both arms to shower arrows. Just as he scattered sand, in that fashion, he would release showers of arrows on his enemies. “Madri’s son Sahadeva has smeared his face, as he goes.” ‘Let no one recognize my face today.’ Thinking this, Sahadeva traveled with a smeared face. “Nakula, the most handsome man in this world, follows the king. His mind is despondent and he has smeared his entire body with dust.” ‘Along the route, I may steal the hearts of women who look at me.’ Thinking this, Nakula traveled with his entire body covered in dust. “The large-eyed and beautiful Krishna follows the king. She is weeping and has covered her face with her hair.” Droupadi was attired in a single garment. She was in her menses. Her hair was not braided and her garment was smeared with blood. She had spoken words of her own: “In the fourteenth year, the wives of those who have caused my present plight, will find their husbands dead, their sons dead, their relatives dead and their beloved ones dead. Their bodies will be covered with the blood of their relatives. Their hair will not be braided and they will be in their menses. It is only after offering water to the dead that those aryas will enter Gajasahrya.” “O lord of the earth! Dhoumya is the self-controlled priest. He is chanting sama hymns connected with Yama and is leading them from the front, towards the south-west. He holds darbha grass.” ‘When the descendants of the Bharata lineage have been killed in battle, the elders of the Kuru clan will chant these sama hymns.’ Dhoumya proceeded with these words. Vidura painted the scene beyond the individuals: the miserable citizens crying, “Alas! Alas! Our lords are leaving.” The portents in a cloudless sky — lightning flashing, the earth trembling, Rahu swallowing the sun out of season, meteors falling, predatory animals screaming from temples and rooftops. “O king!” Vidura concluded. “These are the great and terrible portents as the Pandavas leave for the forest. They indicate the doom of the Bharatas, since you have acted in accordance with evil counsel.”