O king, O best of men, thou wilt have to do it solely for my sake, though it may not be proper to be done.  O valiant one, hear what I submit to thee.  O great king, thou art equal to Krishna on the field of battle.  When, O best of kings, the single combat between Karna and Arjuna will take place, I have no doubt thou wilt have to drive Karna’s car.  On that occasion, if thou art inclined to do good to me, thou must protect Arjuna.  O king, thou must likewise so act that the Suta’s son Karna may be dispirited and the victory may be ours.  Improper it no doubt is; but, O my uncle, for all that thou must do it.  Salya said, ’Good betide thee.  Listen, O son of Panda.  Thou tellest me to so act that the vile son of the Suta may be dispirited in fight.  To be sure, I shall be his charioteer’ on the field, for he always considers me equal to Krishna.  O tiger like descendant of Kuru, I shall certainly speak to him, when desirous of fighting on the field of battle, words contradictory and fraught with harm to him, so that bereft of pride and valour, he may be easily slain by his antagonist.  This I tell thee truly.  Asked by thee to do it, this I am determined to do, O my son.  Whatever else I may be able to bring about, I shall do for thy good.  Whatever troubles were suffered by thee together with Draupadi on the occasion of the game at dice, the rude inhuman words uttered by the Suta’s son, the misery inflicted by the Asura Jata and by Kichaka, O illustrious one, all the miseries experienced by Draupadi, like those formerly experienced by Damayanti,—­will all, O hero, end in joy.  Thou shouldst not be aggrieved at this; for Destiny is all powerful in this world; and, O Yudhishthira, high-minded persons have to endure miseries of various kinds, nay, even the gods themselves, O king, have suffered misfortunes.  O king, O descendant of Bharata, it is narrated that the high-minded Indra, the chief of the celestials, had to endure together with his wife very great misery, indeed.’

SECTION IX

“Yudhishthira said, ’O foremost of monarchs, I wish to know how it was that great and unparalleled misery had to be endured by the illustrious Indra together with his queen.’

“Salya said, ’Listen, O king, to me as I relate this ancient story of the events of former days,—­how, O descendant of Bharata, misery befell Indra and his wife.  Once Twashtri, the lord of creatures and the foremost of celestials, was engaged in practising rigid austerities.  And it is said that from antipathy to Indra he created a son having three heads.  And that being of universal form possessed of great lustre hankered after Indra’s seat.  And possessed of those three awful faces resembling the sun, the moon, and the fire, he read the Vedas with one mouth, drank wine with another, and looked with the third as if he would absorb all the cardinal points.  And given to the practice of austerities, and mild being and self-controlled,