Chapter 2

“Baladeva said, ‘You have all listened to the speech of him who is theelder brother of Gada, characterised as it is by a sense of virtue andprudence, and salutary alike to Yudhishthira and king Duryodhana.Thesevaliant sons of Kunti are ready to give up half their kingdom, and theymake this sacrifice for the sake of Duryodhana. The sons ofDhritarashtra, therefore, should give up half of the kingdom, and shouldrejoice and be exceedingly happy with us that the quarrel can be sosatisfactorily settled. These mighty persons having obtained the kingdomwould, no doubt, be pacified and happy, provided the opposite partybehave well. For them to be pacified will redound to the welfare of men.And I should be well-pleased if somebody from here, with the view ofpacifying both the Kurus and the Pandavas, should undertake a journey andascertain what is the mind of Duryodhana and explain the views ofYudhishthira. Let him respectfully salute Bhishma the heroic scion ofKuru’s race, and the magnanimous son of Vichitravirya, and Drona alongwith his son, and Vidura and Kripa, and the king of Gandhara, along withthe Suta’s son. Let him also pay his respects to all the other sons ofDhritarashtra, to all who are renowned for strength and learning, devotedto their proper duties, heroic, and conversant with signs of the times.When all these persons are gathered together and when also the elderlycitizens are assembled, let him speak words full of humility and likelyto serve the interests of Yudhishthira, At all events, let them not beprovoked, for they have taken possession of the kingdom with a stronghand. When Yudhishthira had his throne, he forgot himself by beingengaged in gambling and was dispossessed by them of his kingdom. Thisvaliant Kuru, this descendant of Ajamida, Yudhishthira, though notskilled in dice and though dissuaded by all his friends, challenged theson of the king of Gandhara, an adept at dice, to the match. There werethen at that place thousands of dice-players whom Yudhishthira coulddefeat in a match. Taking however, no notice of any of them, hechallenged Suvala’s son of all men to the game, and so he lost. Andalthough the dice constantly went against him, he would still have Sakunialone for his opponent. Competing with Sakuni in the play, he sustained acrushing defeat. For this, no blame can attach to Sakuni. Let themessenger make use of words characterised by humility, words intended toconciliate Vichitravirya’s son. The messenger may thus bring roundDhritarashtra’s son to his own views. Do not seek war with the Kurus;address Duryodhana in only a conciliatory tone, The object may possiblyfail to be gained by war, but it may be gained by conciliation, and bythis means also it may be gained enduringly.’

“Vaisampayana continued, ‘While that valiant scion of Madhu’s race waseven continuing his speech, the gallant son of the race of Sini suddenlyrose up and indignantly condemned the words of the former by these wordsof his.’