of all our dear friends and kinsmen.  Alas, how shall I behold the widows, overwhelmed with grief and deprived of their senses by sorrow, of my brothers and sons and grandsons!  Thou, O king, departest from this world!  Thou art sure to have thy residence in heaven!  We, on the other hand, shall be reckoned as creatures of hell, and shall continue to suffer the most poignant grief!  The grief-afflicted wives of Dhritarashtra’s sons and grandsons, those widows crushed with sorrow, will without doubt, curse us all!” Having said these words, Dharma’s royal son, Yudhishthira, deeply afflicted with grief, began to breathe hard and indulge in lamentations.’”

60

“Dhritarashtra said, ’Beholding the (Kuru) king struck down unfairly, what O Suta, did the mighty Baladeva, that foremost one of Yadu’s race, say?  Tell me, O Sanjaya, what Rohini’s son, well-skilled in encounters with the mace and well acquainted with all its rules, did on that occasion!’

“Sanjaya said, ’Beholding thy son struck at the thighs, the mighty Rama, that foremost of smiters, became exceedingly angry.  Raising his arms aloft the hero having the plough for his weapon, in a voice of deep sorrow, said in the midst of those kings, “Oh, fie on Bhima, fie on Bhima!  Oh, fie, that in such a fair fight a blow hath been struck below the navel!  Never before hath such an act as Vrikodara hath done been witnessed in an encounter with the mace!  No limb below the navel should be struck.  This is the precept laid down in treatises!  This Bhima, however, is an ignorant wretch, unacquainted with the truths of treatises!  He, therefore, acteth as he likes!” While uttering these words, Rama gave way to great wrath.  The mighty Baladeva then, uplifting his plough, rushed towards Bhimasena!  The form of that high-souled warrior of uplifted arms then became like that of the gigantic mountains of Kailasa variegated with diverse kinds of metals.  The mighty Keshava, however, ever bending with humanity, seized the rushing Rama encircling him with his massive and well-rounded arms.  Those two foremost heroes of Yadu’s race, the one dark in complexion and the other fair, looked exceedingly beautiful at that moment, like the Sun and the Moon, O king, on the evening sky!  For pacifying the angry Rama, Keshava addressed him, saying, “There are six kinds of advancement that a person may have:  one’s own advancement, the advancement of one’s friends, the advancement of one’s friends’, the decay of one’s enemy, the decay of one’s enemy’s friends, and the decay of one’s enemy’s friends’ friends.  When reverses happen to one’s own self or to one’s friends, one should then understand that one’s fall is at hand and, therefore, one should at such times look for the means of applying a remedy.  The Pandavas of unsullied prowess are our natural friends.  They are the children of our own sire’s sister!  They had been greatly afflicted by their foes!  The accomplishment of one’s vow is one’s