he always disregarded Keshava of unfading glory, and Dhananjaya, and the Vrishnis, and all other foes!  Often did he use to say unto the foolish, avaricious crestfallen, kingdom-coveting, and afflicted Duryodhana even such words as these, “Alone, I shall, in battle, throw down from their foremost of cars, those two invincible warriors united together, the wielder of sarnga and the wielder of gandiva!” He had subjugated many invincible and mighty foes—­the Gandharas, the Madrakas, the Matsyas, the Trigartas, the Tanganas, the Khasas, the Pancalas, the Videhas, the Kulindas, the Kasi-kosalas, the Suhmas, the Angas, the Nishadhas, the Pundras, the Kichakas, the Vatsas, the Kalingas, the Taralas, the Asmakas, and the Rishikas.  Subjugating all these brave races, by means of his keen and whetted arrows equipped with kanka feathers, that foremost of car-warriors, Radha’s son, had caused all of them to pay tribute to us for the aggrandisement of Duryodhana.  Alas, how could that warrior acquainted with celestial weapons, that protector of armies, Karna the son of Vikartana, called also Vrisha, of mighty energy, be slain in battle by his foes, the heroic and mighty sons of Pandu?  As Indra is the foremost of gods, Karna was the foremost of men.  In the three worlds no third person has been heard of by us to be like them.  Amongst steeds, Uccaisravas is the foremost; amongst Yakshas, Vaishravana is the foremost; amongst celestials, Indra is the foremost; amongst smiters, Karna was the foremost.  Unvanquished by even the most heroic and the mightiest of monarchs, he had, Duryodhana’s aggrandisement, subjugated the whole earth.  The ruler of Magadha, having by conciliation and honours obtained Karna for a friend, had challenged all the Kshatriyas of the world, except the Kauravas and the Yadavas, to battle.  Hearing that Karna hath been slain by Savyasaci in single combat, I am plunged in an ocean of woe like a wrecked vessel in the vast deep!  Indeed, hearing that that foremost of men, that best of car-warriors, hath been slain in single combat, I am sinking in an ocean of grief like a person without a raft in the sea!  When, O Sanjaya, I do not die of such grief, I think my heart is impenetrable and made of something harder than the thunderbolt.  Hearing of the defeat and humiliation of kinsmen and relatives and allies, who else in the world, O Suta, save my wretched self, would not yield up his life?  I desire to have poison or fire or a fall from the summit of a mountain, I am unable, O Sanjaya, to bear this heavy load of grief!’”

9

“Sanjaya said, ’The world regards thee to be equal to Yayati the son of Nahusha, in beauty, birth, fame, asceticism, and learning!  Indeed, in learning, thou art, O king, like a great rishi, highly accomplished and crowned with success!  Summon thy fortitude!  Do not yield to grief!’