(of misfortunes)! Then in that hall, while Krishna
stood, the charioteer’s son addressed her in
the presence of her fathers-in-law saying, ’O
Daughter of Drupada thou hast no refuge. Better
betake thyself as a bond-woman to the house of Dhritarashtra’s
son. Thy husbands, being defeated, no longer exist.
Thou hast a loving soul, choose some one else for
thy lord.’ This speech, proceeding from
Karna, was a wordy arrow, sharp, cutting all hopes,
hitting the tenderest parts of the organisation, and
frightful. It buried itself deep in Arjuna’s
heart. When the sons of Pandu were about to adopt
the garments made of the skins of black deer, Dussasana
spoke the following pungent words, ’These all
are mean eunuchs, ruined, and damned for a lengthened
time.’ And Sakuni, the king of the Gandhara
land, spoke to Yudhishthira at the time of the game
of dice the following words by way of a wily trick,
’Nakula hath been won by me from you, what else
have you got? Now you should better stake your
wife Draupadi’. You know, O Sanjaya, all
these words of an approbrious kind which were spoken
at the time of the game of dice. I desire to
go personally to the Kurus, in order to settle this
difficult matter. If without injury to the Pandava
cause I succeed in bringing about this peace with the
Kurus, an act of religious merit, resulting in very
great blessings, will then have been done by me; and
the Kurus also will have been extricated from the meshes
of death. I hope that when I shall speak to the
Kurus words of wisdom, resting on rules of righteousness,
words fraught with sense and free from all tendency
to inhumanity, Dhritarashtra’s son will, in my
presence, pay heed to them. I hope that when
I arrive, the Kurus will pay me due respect.
Else thou mayst rest assured that those vicious sons
of Dhritarashtra, already scorched by their own vicious
acts, will be burnt up by Arjuna and Bhima ready for
battle. When Pandu’s sons were defeated
(at the play), Dhritarashtra’s sons spoke to
them words that were harsh and rude. But when
the time will come, Bhima will, no doubt, take care
to remind Duryodhana of those words. Duryodhana
is a big tree of evil passions; Karna is its trunk;
Sakuni is its branches; Dussasana forms its abundant
blossoms and fruits; (while) the wise king Dhritarashtra
is its toots. Yudhishthira is a big tree of righteousness;
Arjuna is its trunk; and Bhima is its branches; the
sons of Madri are its abundant flowers and fruits;
and its roots are myself and religion and religious
men. King Dhritarashtra with his sons constitutes
a forest, while, O Sanjaya, the sons of Pandu are
its tigers. Do not, oh, cut down the forest with
its tigers, and let not the tigers be driven away
from the forest. The tiger, out of the woods,
is easily slain; the wood also, that is without a
tiger, is easily cut down. Therefore, it is the
tiger that protects the forest and the forest that
shelters the tiger. The Dhritarashtras are as
creepers, while, O Sanjaya, the Pandavas are Sala trees.