Chapter 32
“Dhritarashtra said, ‘Thus admonished (by his foes), how, indeed, didthat scorcher of enemies, my heroic and royal son, who was wrathful bynature, then behave? He had never before listened to admonitions such asthese! He had, again, been treated by all with the respect due to a king!He, who had formerly grieved to stand in the shade of an umbrella,thinking he had taken another’s shelter, he, who could not endure thevery effulgence of the sun in consequence of his sensitive pride, howcould he endure these words of his foes? Thou hast, with thy own eyes, OSanjaya, seen the whole earth, with even her Mlecchas and nomad tribes,depend upon his grace! Rebuked thus at that spot by the sons of Pandu inparticular, while lying concealed in such a solitary place after havingbeen deprived of his followers and attendants, alas, what answer did hemake unto the Pandavas upon hearing such bitter and repeated taunts fromhis victorious enemies? Tell me everything, O Sanjaya, about it!’
“Sanjaya continued, ‘Thus rebuked, O monarch, by Yudhishthira and hisbrothers, thy royal son, lying within those waters, O king of kings,heard those bitter words and became very miserable. Breathing hot andlong sighs repeatedly, the king waved his arms again and again, andsetting his heart on battle, thus answered, from within the waters, theroyal son of Pandu.
“‘Duryodhana said, “Ye Parthas, all of you are possessed of friends, ofcars, and of animals! I, however, am alone, cheerless, without a car, andwithout an animal! Being alone and destitute of weapons, how can Iventure to fight on foot, against numerous foes all well-armed andpossessed of cars? Do you, however, O Yudhishthira, fight me one at atime! It is not proper that one should in battle fight many endued withcourage, especially when that one is without armour, fatigued, afflictedwith calamity, exceedingly mangled in his limbs, and destitute of bothanimals and troops! I do not entertain the least fear, O monarch, ofeither thee, or Vrikodara, the son of Pritha, or Phalguna, or Vasudeva,or all the Pancalas, or the twins, or Yuyudhana, or all the other troopsthou hast! Standing in battle, alone as I am, I shall resist all of you!The fame, O king, of all righteous men hath righteousness for its basis!I say all this to you, observant of both righteousness and fame! Rising(from this lake), I shall fight all of you in battle! Like the year thatgradually meets all the seasons, I shall meet all of you in fight! Wait,ye Pandavas! Like the sun destroying by his energy the light of all starsat dawn, I shall today, though weaponless and carless, destroy all of youpossessed of cars and steeds! Today I shall free myself from the debt Iowe to the many illustrious Kshatriyas (that have fallen for me), toBahlika and Drona and Bhishma and the high-souled Karna, to the heroicJayadratha and Bhagadatta, to Shalya the ruler of the Madras andBhurishrava, to my sons, O chief of Bharata’s race, and Shakuni the sonof Subala, to all my friends and well-wishers and kinsmen! Today I shallfree myself from that debt by slaying thee with thy brothers!” With thesewords, the (Kuru) king ceased speaking.
“‘Yudhishthira said, “By good luck, O Suyodhana, thou knowest the dutiesof a Kshatriya! By good luck, O thou of mighty arms, thy heart inclinethto battle! By good luck, thou art a hero, O thou of Kuru’s race, and, bygood luck, thou art conversant with battle, since, single-handed, thouwishest to meet all of us in battle! Fight any one of us, taking whateverweapon thou likest! All of us will stand as spectators here! I grant theealso, O hero, this (other) wish of thy heart, that if thou slayest any ofus, thou shalt then become king! Otherwise, slain by us, go to heaven!”
“‘Duryodhana said, “A brave man as thou art, if thou grantest me theoption of fighting only one of you, this mace that I hold in my hand isthe weapon that I select! Let any one amongst you who thinks that he willbe my match come forward and fight with me on foot, armed with mace! Manywonderful single combats have occurred on cars! Let this one great andwonderful combat with the mace happen today! Men (while fighting) desireto change weapons. Let the manner of the fight be changed today, with thypermission! O thou of mighty arms, I shall, with my mace, vanquish theetoday with all thy younger brothers, as also all the Pancalas and theSrinjayas and all the other troops thou still hast! I do not cherish theleast fear, O Yudhishthira, of even Shakra himself!’
“‘Yudhishthira said, “Rise, rise, O son of Gandhari, and fight me,Suyodhana! Alone as thou art, fight us, encountering one at a time, thouof great might, armed with thy mace! Be a man, O son of Gandhari, andfight with good care! Today thou shalt have to lay down thy life even ifIndra becomes thy ally!”
“Sanjaya continued, ‘That tiger among men, thy son, could not bear thesewords of Yudhishthira. He breathed long and heavy sighs from within thewater like a mighty snake from within its hole. Struck repeatedly withsuch wordy goads, he could not endure it at all, like a horse of highbreed that cannot endure the whip. Agitating the waters with great force,that valiant warrior rose like a prince of elephants from within thelake, breathing heavily in rage, and armed with his heavy mace that wasendued with the strength of adamant and decked with gold. Piercing thesolidified waters, thy son rose, shouldering his mace of iron, like thesun himself scorching everything with his rays. Endued with greatstrength, thy son, possessed of great intelligence, began to handle hisheavy mace made of iron and equipped with a sling. Beholding him armedwith mace and resembling a crested mountain or the trident-wielding Rudrahimself casting angry glances on living creatures, they observed thatBharata chief shedding an effulgence around like the scorching sunhimself in the sky. Indeed, all creatures then regarded that mighty-armedchastiser of foes, as he stood shouldering his mace after rising from thewaters, looking like the Destroyer himself armed with his bludgeon.Indeed, all the Pancalas then saw thy royal son to look like thethunder-wielding Shakra or the trident-bearing Hara. Seeing him, however,rise from within the waters, all the Pancalas and the Pandavas began torejoice and seize each other’s hands. Thy son Duryodhana regarded thataction of the spectators to be an insult directed towards him. Rollinghis eyes in wrath, and as if burning the Pandavas with his glances, andcontracting his brow into three furrows, and repeatedly biting his netherlip, he addressed the Pandavas with Keshava in their midst, saying, “YouPandavas, you shall have to bear the fruit of these taunts! Slain by metoday, you shall, with the Pancalas, have to repair to the abode ofYama!”‘
“Sanjaya continued, ‘Rising from the water, thy son Duryodhana stoodthere, armed with mace, and with limbs bathed in blood. Covered withblood and drenched with water, his body then looked like a mountainshedding water from within. As he stood armed with mace, the Pandavasregarded him to be the angry son of Surya himself armed with the bludgeoncalled Kinkara. With voice deep as that of the clouds or of a bullroaring in joy, Duryodhana then, of great prowess, armed with his mace,summoned the Parthas to battle.’
“‘Duryodhana said, “You will have, O Yudhishthira, to encounter me one ata time! It is not proper, that one hero should fight with many at thesame time, especially when that single warrior is divested of armour,fatigued with exertion, covered with water, exceedingly mangled in limbs,and without cars, animals and troops! Let the gods in heaven behold mefight single-handed destitute of all equipment and deprived of evenarmour and weapons! I shall certainly fight all of you! Thou shalt bejudge, as thou hast the necessary qualifications, of the propriety andimpropriety of everything!”
“‘Yudhishthira said, “How is it, O Duryodhana, that thou hadst not thisknowledge when many great car-warriors, uniting together, slew Abhimanyuin battle? Kshatriya duties are exceedingly cruel, unmindful of allconsiderations, and without the least compassion! Otherwise, how couldyou slay Abhimanyu under those circumstances? All of you were acquaintedwith righteousness! All of you were heroes! All of you were prepared tolay down your lives in battle! The high end declared for those that fightrighteously is the attainment of the regions of Shakra! If this be yourduty, that one should never be slain by many, why is it then thatAbhimanyu was slain by many, acting in accord with thy counsels? Allcreatures, when in difficulty forget considerations of virtue. They thenview the gates of the other world to be closed. Put on armour, O hero,and bind thy locks! Take everything else, O Bharata, of which thoustandest in need! This another wish of thine, O hero, I grant thee inaddition, that if thou canst slay him amongst the five Pandavas with whomthou wishest an encounter, thou shalt then be king! Otherwise, slain (byhim), thou shalt proceed to heaven! Except thy life, O hero, tell us whatboon we may grant thee.”
“Sanjaya continued, ‘Then thy son, O king, cased his body with armourmade of gold, and put on a beautiful head-gear adorned with pure gold.Clad in bright armour of gold, he put on that head-gear. Indeed, O king,thy son then looked resplendent like a golden cliff. Clad in mail, armedwith mace, and accoutred with other equipments, thy son Duryodhana then,O king, standing on the field of battle, addressed all the Pandavas,saying, ‘Amongst you (five) brothers, let any one fight me, armed withmace! As regards myself, I am willing to fight either Sahadeva, or Bhima,or Nakula, or Phalguna, or thee today, O bull of Bharata’s race! Accordedan encounter, I will fight any one amongst you and will certainly gainthe victory on the field! Today I will reach the end of these hostilitiesthat is difficult to reach, with the aid, O tiger among men, of my macewrapped with cloth of gold. I think, there is none to be my match in anencounter with the mace! With my mace I shall slay all of you one afteranother! Amongst all of you there is no one who is competent to fightfairly with me! It is not proper for me to speak such words of pride withrespect to my own self! I shall, however, make these words of mine truein your presence! Within this very hour, these words will become eithertrue or false! Let him amongst you take up the mace that will fight withme!'”
