of imbeciles!  Hear now the words which I say and which thou art to repeat unto the inaccessible Suyodhana in the midst of all the Kshatriyas and in the hearing of the Suta’s son and the wicked-hearted Sakuni.  We always seek to gratify our elder brother!  It was for this, O thou of wicked behaviour, that we tolerated thy acts.  Dost thou not regard this as highly fortunate for thee?  It was for only the good of our race that king Yudhishthira the Just, endued with great intelligence, sent Hrishikesa to the Kurus for bringing about a peace!  Impelled by Fate, without doubt, thou art desirous of repairing unto Yama’s abode!  Come, fight with us.  That, however, is certainly to take place tomorrow!  I have, indeed, vowed to slay thee with thy brothers!  O sinful fool, do not entertain the slightest doubt, for it will be as I have vowed!  The very ocean, the abode of Varuna-may all on a sudden transgress its continents.  The very mountains may split, yet my words can never be false!  If Yama himself, or Kuvera, or Rudra, assisteth thee, the Pandavas will still accomplish what they have vowed!  I shall certainly drink Dussasana’s blood according to my pleasure!  And I also vow that Kshatriya whatsoever may then angrily approach me, even if he cometh with Bhishma himself at the van, I will send him to Yama’s abode!  That which I have said in the midst of a Kshatriya assembly will certainly be true.  I swear this by my soul!

’Hearing these words of Bhimasena, the wrathful Sahadeva also, with eyes red in anger, said these words in the presence of the (assembled) troops,—­words that become that proud hero.  And he said, ’Listen, O sinful one, to the words I utter and which must be repeated to thy father!  A difference would never have arisen between us and the Kurus, if Dhritarashtra had no relationship with thee!  Of sinful acts and the exterminator of thy own race, thou hast been born as an embodiment of quarrel for the destruction of the whole world as also for the destruction of Dhritarashtra’s race!  From our very birth, O Uluka, that sinful father of thine hath always sought to do us injury and evil.  I desire to attain the opposite shore of that hostile relation.  Slaying thee first before the very eyes of Sakuni, I shall then slay Sakuni himself in the sight of all bowmen!’

’Hearing these words of both Bhima and Sahadeva, Falguni smilingly addressed Bhima, saying, ’O Bhimasena, they that have provoked hostilities with thee, cannot live!  Though they may dwell happily in their homes, those fools become yet entangled in the meshes of death!  O best of men, Uluka doth not deserve to be addressed harshly by thee!  What fault do envoys commit, repeating as they only do what they are instructed (to say)?’ And having thus addressed Bhima of terrible prowess that mighty-armed hero then addressed his heroic allies and well-wishers headed by Dhrishtadyumna, saying, ’Ye have heard the words of the sinful son of Dhritarashtra in dispraise