Chapter 70

“Sanjaya said, ‘Thus addressed by Janardana, Pritha’s son Arjuna,applauding those counsels of his friend, then vehemently addressed kingYudhishthira the just, in language that was harsh and the like of whichhe had never used before.

“‘Arjuna said, “Do thou not, O king, address these upbraidings to me,thou that art passing thy time full two miles away from battle. Bhima,however, who is battling with the foremost heroes of the world mayupbraid me. Having afflicted his foes at the proper time in battle, andslain many brave lords of earth and many foremost of car-warriors andhuge elephants and many heroic horsemen and countless brave combatants,he hath, in addition, slain a 1,000 elephants and 10,000 Kambojamountaineers, and is uttering loud roars in battle like a lion afterslaying innumerable smaller animals. That hero achieveth the mostdifficult feats, the like of which thou canst never achieve. Jumping downfrom his car, mace in hand, he hath destroyed a large number of steedsand cars and elephants in battle. With also his foremost of swords hehath destroyed many horsemen and cars and steeds and elephants. With thebroken limbs of cars, and with his bow also, he consumeth his foes.Endued with the prowess of Indra, with his feet and also his bare arms heslayeth numerous foes. Possessed of great might and resembling Kuvera andYama, he destroyeth the hostile army, putting forth his strength. ThatBhimasena hath the right to upbraid me, but not thou that art alwaysprotected by friends. Agitating the foremost of car-warriors andelephants and steeds and foot-soldiers, Bhima, single-handed, is now inthe midst of the Dhartarashtras. That chastiser of foes hath the right toupbraid me. The chastiser of foes who is slaying the Kalingas, theVangas, the Angas, the Nishadas, and the Magadhas, and large numbers ofhostile elephants that are ever infuriated and that look like masses ofblue clouds, is competent to upbraid me. Riding on a suitable car,shaking his bow at the proper time, and with shafts in his (other) hand,that hero poureth showers of arrows in great battle like the cloudspouring torrents of rain. Eight hundred elephants, I have seen, withtheir frontal globes split open and the ends of their tusks cut off, havetoday been slain by Bhima with shafts in battle. That slayer of foes iscompetent to tell me harsh words. The learned say that the strength ofthe foremost of Brahmanas lies in speech, and that the Kshatriya’sstrength is in his arms. Thou, O Bharata, art strong in words and veryunfeeling. Thou thinkest me to be like thyself. I always strive to dothee good with my soul, life, sons and wives. Since, not withstanding allthis, thou still piercest me with such wordy darts, it is evident that wecannot expect any happiness from thee. Lying on Draupadi’s bed thouinsultest me, though for thy sake I slay the mightiest of car-warriors.Thou art without any anxiety, O Bharata, and thou art cruel. I have neverobtained any happiness from thee. It was for thy good, O chief of men,that Bhishma, firmly devoted to truth, himself told thee the means of hisdeath in battle, and was slain by the heroic and high-souled Shikhandi,the son of Drupada, protected by me. I do not derive any pleasure fromthe thought of thy restoration to sovereignty, since thou art addicted tothe evil practice of gambling. Having thyself committed a wicked act towhich they only are addicted that are low, thou desirest now to vanquishthy foes through our aid. Thou hadst heard of the numerous faults and thegreat sinfulness of dice that Sahadeva spoke about. Yet dice, which areworshipped by the wicked, thou couldst not abandon. It was for this thatall of us have fallen into hell. We have never derived any happiness fromthee since thou wert engaged in gambling with dice. Having, O son ofPandu, thyself caused all this calamity, thou art, again, addressingthese harsh words to me. Slain by us, hostile troops are lying on thefield, with mangled bodies and uttering loud wails. It was thou thatdidst that cruel act in consequence of which the Kauravas have becomeoffenders and are being destroyed. Nations from the North, the West, theEast, and the South, are being struck, wounded and slain, after theperformance of incomparable feats in battle by great warriors of bothsides. It was thou that hadst gambled. It was for thee that we lost ourkingdom. Our calamity arose from thee, O king! Striking us, again, withthe cruel goad of thy speeches, O king, do not provoke our wrath.'”

“Sanjaya said, ‘Having addressed these harsh and exceedingly bitter wordsunto his eldest brother and thereby committed a venial sin, theintelligent Savyasaci of calm wisdom, who is ever actuated by the fear ofdefection from virtue, became very cheerless. The son of the chief of thecelestials became filled with remorse and breathing heavily, drew hissword. Seeing this, Krishna asked him, “What is this? Why dost thou againunsheathe thy sword blue as the sky? Tell me what thy answer is, for thenI shall give thee counsel for the gratification of thy object.” Thusaddressed by that foremost of men, Arjuna, in great sorrow answeredKeshava, saying, “I shall, putting forth my strength, slay my own self bywhom this wicked act hath been done.” Hearing those words of Partha,Keshava, that foremost of all righteous persons said this untoDhananjaya, “Having said these words unto the king, why hast thou becomeso cheerless? O slayer of foes, thou desirest now to destroy thy ownself. This, however, Kiritin, is not approved by the righteous. If, Ohero among men, thou hadst today, from fear of sin, slain this thy eldestbrother of virtuous soul, what would then have been thy condition andwhat wouldst thou not then have done? Morality is subtle, O Bharata, andunknowable, especially by those that are ignorant. Listen to me as Ipreach to thee. By destroying thy own self, thou wouldst sink into a moreterrible hell than if thou hadst slain thy brother. Declare now, inwords, thy own merit. Thou shalt then, O Partha, have slain thy ownself.” Applauding these words and saying, “Let it be so, O Krishna,”Dhananjaya, the son of Sakra, lowering his bow, said unto Yudhishthira,that foremost of virtuous persons, “Listen, O king, there is no otherbowman, O ruler of men, like unto myself, except the deity that bearsPinaka; I am regarded by even that illustrious deity. In a moment I candestroy this universe of mobile and immobile creatures. It was I, O king,that vanquished all the points of the compass with all the kings rulingthere, and brought all to thy subjection. The Rajasuya (performed bythee), brought to completion by gift of Dakshina, and the celestialpalace owned by thee, were both due to my prowess. In my hands are (marksof) sharp shafts and a stringed bow with arrow fixed thereon. On both mysoles are the signs of cars with standards. No one can vanquish a personlike me in battle. Nations from the North, the West, the East and theSouth, have been struck down, slain, exterminated and destroyed. A smallremnant only of the samsaptakas is alive. I alone have slain half of theentire (hostile) army. Slaughtered by me, the Bharata host thatresembled, O king, the very host of the celestials, is lying dead on thefield. I slay those with (high) weapons that are conversant with highweapons. For this reason I do not reduce the three worlds to ashes.Riding upon my terrible and victorious car, Krishna and myself will soonproceed for slaying the Suta’s son. Let this king become cheerful now. Iwill surely slay Karna in battle, with my arrows. Either the Suta damewill today be made childless by me, or Kunti will be made childless byKarna. Truly do I say it that I will not put off my armour before I haveslain Karna with my arrows in battle.'”

“Sanjaya said, ‘Having said these words unto that foremost of virtuouspersons, viz., Yudhishthira, Partha threw down his weapons and cast asidehis bow and quickly thrust his sword back into its sheath. Hanging downhis head in shame, the diadem-decked Arjuna, with joined hands, addressedYudhishthira, and said, “Be cheerful, O king, forgiving me. What I havesaid, you will understand a little while after. I bow to thee.” Thusseeking to cheer that royal hero capable of bearing all foes, Arjuna,that foremost of men, standing there, once more said, “This task will notbe delayed. It will be accomplished soon. Karna cometh towards me. Ishall proceed against him. I shall, with my whole soul, proceed forrescuing Bhima from the battle and for slaying the Suta’s son. I tellthee that I hold my life for thy good. Know this for the truth, O king.”Having said so, the diadem-decked Arjuna of blazing splendour touched theking’s feet and rose for proceeding to the field. Hearing, however, thoseharsh words of his brother Phalguna, Pandu’s son, king Yudhishthira, thejust, rising up from that bed (on which he had been sitting), said thesewords unto Partha, with his heart filled with sorrow, “O Partha, I haveacted wickedly. For that, ye have been overwhelmed with terriblecalamity. Do thou strike off, therefore, this my head today. I am theworst of men, and the exterminator of my race. I am a wretch. I amaddicted to wicked courses. I am of foolish understanding. I am idle anda coward. I am an insulter of the old. I am cruel. What wouldst thou gainby always being obedient to a cruel person like me? A wretch that I am, Ishall this very day retire into the woods. Live you happily without me.The high-souled Bhimasena is fit to be king. A eunuch that I am, whatshall I do with sovereignty? I am incapable of bearing these harshspeeches of thee excited with wrath. Let Bhima become king. Having beeninsulted thus, O hero, what use have I with life.” Having said thesewords, the king, leaving that bed, suddenly stood up and desired to go tothe woods. Then Vasudeva, bowing down, said unto him, “O king, thecelebrated vow of the wielder of Gandiva who is ever devoted to truthabout his Gandiva, is known to thee. That man in the world who would tellhim, ‘Give thy Gandiva to another’, would be slain by him. Even thosevery words were addressed to him by you. Therefore, for keeping thatearnest vow, Partha, acting also at my instance, inflicted you thisinsult, O lord of Earth. Insult to superiors is said to be their death.For this reason, O thou of mighty arms, it behoveth thee to forgive methat beseech and bow to thee this transgression, O king, of both myselfand Arjuna, committed for maintaining the truth. Both of us, O greatking, throw ourselves on thy mercy. The Earth shall today drink the bloodof the wretched son of Radha. I swear truly to thee. Know the Suta’s sonas slain today. He, whose slaughter thou desirest, hath today lost hislife.” Hearing those words of Krishna, king Yudhishthira the just, in agreat fury, raised the prostrate Hrishikesha and joining his hands, saidin haste, “It is even so as thou hast said. I have been guilty of atransgression, I have now been awakened by thee, O Govinda. I am saved bythee, O Madhava. By thee, O Acyuta, we have today been rescued from agreat calamity. Both of us stupefied by folly, viz., myself and Arjuna,have been rescued from an ocean of distress, having obtained thee as ourlord. Indeed, having obtained the raft of thy intelligence today, wehave, with our relatives and allies, passed over an ocean of sorrow andgrief. Having obtained thee, O Acyuta, we are not masterless.”‘”