(Sambhava Parva continued)
"Vaisampayana said, 'O monarch, after the nuptials were over, king Santanu
established his beautiful bride in his household. Soon after was born of
Satyavati an intelligent and heroic son of Santanu named Chitrangada. He
was endued with great energy and became an eminent man. The lord Santanu
of great prowess also begat upon Satyavati another son named Vichitravirya,
who became a mighty bowman and who became king after his father. And
before that bull among men, viz., Vichitravirya, attained to majority, the
wise king Santanu realised the inevitable influence of Time. And after
Santanu had ascended to heaven, Bhishma, placing himself under the command
of Satyavati, installed that suppressor of foes, viz., Chitrangada, on the
throne, who, having soon vanquished by his prowess all monarchs,
considered not any man as his equal. And beholding that he could vanquish
men, Asuras, and the very gods, his namesake, the powerful king of the
Gandharvas, approached him for an encounter. Between that Gandharva and
that foremost one of the Kurus, who were both very powerful, there
occurred on the field of Kurukshetra a fierce combat which lasted full
three years on the banks of the Saraswati. In that terrible encounter
characterised by thick showers of weapons and in which the combatants
ground each other fiercely, the Gandharva, who had greater prowess or
strategic deception, slew the Kuru prince. Having slain Chitrangada--that
first of men and oppressor of foes--the Gandharva ascended to heaven. When
that tiger among men endued with great prowess was slain, Bhishma, the son
of Santanu, performed, O king, all his obsequies. He then installed the
boy Vichitravirya of mighty arms, still in his minority, on the throne of
the Kurus. And Vichitravirya, placing himself under the command of Bhishma,
ruled the ancestral kingdom. And he adored Santanu's son Bhishma who was
conversant with all the rules of religion and law; so, indeed, Bhishma
also protected him that was so obedient to the dictates of duty.'"