SECTION CXX

“Satyaki said, ’O Rama! this is not the time of lamentation; let us do that which is proper and suited to the present occasion, although Yudhishthira doth not speak a single word.  Those who have persons to look after their welfare do not undertake anything of themselves; they have others to do their work, as Saivya and others did for Yayati.  Likewise, O Rama! those who have appointed functionaries to undertake their work on their own responsibility, as the leaders of men, they may be said to have real patrons, and they meet with no difficulty, like helpless beings.  How is it that when the sons of Pritha have for their patrons these two men, Rama and Krishna, and the two others, Pradyumna and Samva, together with myself,—­these patrons being able to protect all the three worlds,—­how is it that the son of Pritha is living in the wood with his brothers?  It is fit that this very day the army of the Dasarhas should march out, variously armed and with checkered mails.  Let Dhritarashtra’s sons be overwhelmed with the forces of the Vrishnis and let them go with their friends to the abode of the god of death.  Let him alone who wields the bow made of the horn (Krishna), thou alone, if roused, wouldst be able to surround even the whole of this earth.  I ask thee to kill Dhritarashtra’s son with all his men, as the great Indra, the lord of the gods killed Vritra.  Arjuna, the son of Pritha, is my brother, and also my friend, and also my preceptor, and is like the second self of Krishna.  It is for this that men desire for a worthy son, and that preceptor seeks a pupil who would contradict him not.  It is for this that the time is come for that excellent work, which is the best of all tasks and difficult to perform.  I shall baffle Duryodhana’s volleys of arms by my own excellent weapons.  I shall overpower all in the field of battle.  I shall in my wrath cut off his head with my excellent shafts, little inferior to snakes and poison and fire.  And with the keen edge of my sword, I shall forcibly sever his head from the trunk, in the field of battle; then I shall kill his followers, and Duryodhana, and all of Kuru’s race.  O son of Rohini! let the followers of Bhima look at me with joy at their heart, when I shall keep up the weapons of war in the field of battle, and when I shall go on slaying all the best fighting men on the side of the Kurus, as at the end of time fire will burn vast heaps of straw.  Kripa and Drona and Vikarna and Karna are not able to bear the keen arrows shot by Pradyumna.  I know the power of Arjuna’s son—­he conducts himself like the son of Krishna in the field of battle.  Let Samva chastise by the force of his arms Dussasana; let him destroy by force Dussasana and his charioteer and his car.  In the field of battle when the son of Jamvavati becomes irresistible in fight, there is nothing which can withstand his force.  The army of the demon Samvara was speedily