“Sanjaya said,—­“O king, all this great hostility is inevitable on account of thy mistaken action, and this will assuredly bring about the wholesale destruction of the whole world.  Forbidden by Bhishma, by Drona, and by Vidura, thy wicked-minded and shameless son Duryodhana sent his Suta messenger commanding him to bring into court the beloved and virtuous wife of the Pandavas.  The gods first deprive that man of his reason unto whom they send defeat and disgrace.  It is for this that such a person seeth things in a strange light.  When destruction is at hand, evil appeareth as good unto the understanding polluted by sin, and the man adhereth to it firmly.  That which is improper appeareth as proper, and that which is proper appeareth as improper unto the man about to be overwhelmed by destruction, and evil and impropriety are what he liketh.  The time that bringeth on destruction doth not come with upraised club and smash one’s head.  On the other hand the peculiarity of such a time is that it maketh a man behold evil in good and good in evil.  The wretches have brought on themselves this terrible, wholesale, and horrible destruction by dragging the helpless princess of Panchala into the court.  Who else than Duryodhana—­that false player of dice could bring into the assembly, with insults, the daughter of Drupada, endued with beauty and intelligence, and conversant with every rule of morality and duty, and sprung not from any woman’s womb but from the sacred fire?  The handsome Krishna, then in her season, attired in one piece of stained cloth when brought into the court cast her eyes upon the Pandavas.  She beheld them, however, robbed of their wealth, of their kingdom, of even their attire, of their beauty, of every enjoyment, and plunged into a state of bondage.  Bound by the tie of virtue, they were then unable to exert their prowess.  And before all the assembled kings Duryodhana and Karna spake cruel and harsh words unto the distressed and enraged Krishna undeserving of such treatment.  O monarch, all this appeareth to me as foreboding fearful consequences.’

Dhritarashtra said,—­’O Sanjaya, the glances of the distressed daughter of Drupada might consume the whole earth.  Can it be possible that even a single son of mine will live?  The wives of the Bharatas, uniting with Gandhari upon beholding virtuous Krishna, the wedded wife of the Pandavas, endued with beauty and youth, dragged into the court, set up frightful wail.  Even now, along with all my subjects, they weep every day.  Enraged at the ill treatment of Draupadi, the Brahmanas in a body did not perform that evening their Agnihotra ceremony.  The winds blew mightily as they did at the time of the universal dissolution.  There was a terrible thunder-storm also.  Meteors fell from the sky, and Rahu by swallowing the Sun unseasonably alarmed the people terribly.  Our war-chariots were suddenly ablaze, and all their flagstaffs fell down foreboding evil unto the Bharatas.  Jackals began to cry frightfully