Chapter 73

Vaisampayana said,–‘O monarch, it was then that the virtuous Gandhari,afflicted with grief on account of her affection for her sons, addressedking Dhritarashtra and said, “When Duryodhana was born, Vidura of greatintelligence had said,

‘It is well to send this disgrace of the race tothe other world. He cried repeatedly and dissonantly like a jackal. It iscertain he will prove the destruction of our race. Take this to heart, Oking of the Kurus. O Bharata, sink not, for thy own fault, into an oceanof calamity. O lord, accord not thy approbation to the counsels of thewicked ones of immature years. Be not thou the cause of the terribledestruction of this race. Who is there that will break an embankmentwhich hath been completed, or re-kindle a conflagration which hath beenextinguished? O bull of the Bharata race, who is there that will provokethe peaceful sons of Pritha? Thou rememberest, O Ajamida, everything, butstill I will call thy attention to this. The scriptures can never controlthe wicked-minded for good or evil. And, O king, a person of immatureunderstanding will never act as one of mature years. Let thy sons followthee as their leader. Let them not be separated from thee for ever (bylosing their lives). Therefore, at my word, O king, abandon this wretchof our race. Thou couldst not, O king, from parental affection, do itbefore. Know that the time hath come for the destruction of race throughhim. Err not, O king. Let thy mind, guided by counsels of peace, virtue,and true policy, be what it naturally is. That prosperity which isacquired by the aid of wicked acts, is soon destroyed; while that whichis won by mild means taketh root and descendeth from generation togeneration.”

“The king, thus addressed by Gandhari who pointed out to him in suchlanguage the path of virtue, replied unto her, saying,–‘If thedestruction of our race is come, let it take place freely. I am ill ableto prevent it. Let it be as they (these my sons) desire. Let the Pandavasreturn. And let my sons again gamble with the sons of Pandu.”