Chapter 61

“Dhritarashtra said, ‘Beholding Duryodhana struck down in battle byBhimasena, what, O Sanjaya, did the Pandavas and the Srinjayas do?’
“Sanjaya said, ‘Beholding Duryodhana slain by Bhimasena in battle, Oking, like a wild elephant slain by a lion, the Pandavas with Krishnabecame filled with delight. The Pancalas and the Srinjayas also, upon thefall of the Kuru king, waved their upper garments (in the air) anduttered leonine roars. The very Earth seemed to be unable to bear thoserejoicing warriors. Some stretched their bows; others drew theirbowstrings. Some blew their huge conchs; others beat their drums. Somesported and jumped about, while some amongst thy foes laughed aloud. Manyheroes repeatedly said these words unto Bhimasena, “Exceedingly difficultand great hath been the fears that thou hast achieved today in battle, byhaving struck down the Kuru king, himself a great warrior, with thy mace!All these men regard this slaughter of the foe by thee to be like that ofVritra by Indra himself! Who else, save thyself, O Vrikodara, could slaythe heroic Duryodhana while careering in diverse kinds of motion andperforming all the wheeling manoeuvres (characteristic of suchencounters)? Thou hast now reached the other shore of these hostilities,that other shore which none else could reach. This feat that thou hastachieved is incapable of being achieved by any other warriors. By goodluck, thou hast, O hero, like an infuriated elephant, crushed with thyfoot the head of Duryodhana on the field of battle! Having fought awonderful battle, by good luck, O sinless one, thou hast quaffed theblood of Duhshasana, like a lion quaffing the blood of a buffalo! By goodluck, thou hast, by thy own energy, placed thy foot on the head of allthose that had injured the righteous-souled king Yudhishthira! Inconsequence of having vanquished thy foes and of thy having slainDuryodhana, by good luck, O Bhima, thy fame hath spread over the wholeworld! Bards and eulogists applauded Shakra after the fall of Vritra,even as we are now applauding thee, O Bharata, after the fall of thyfoes! Know, O Bharata, that the joy we felt upon the fall of Duryodhanahath not yet abated in the least!” Even these were the words addressed toBhimasena by the assembled eulogists on that occasion! Whilst thosetigers among men, the Pancalas and the Pandavas, all filled with delightwere indulging in such language, the slayer of Madhu addressed them,saying, “You rulers of men, it is not proper to slay a slain foe withsuch cruel speeches repeatedly uttered. This wight of wickedunderstanding hath already been slain. This sinful, shameless, andcovetous wretch, surrounded by sinful counsellors and ever regardless ofthe advice of wise friends, met with his death even when he refused,though repeatedly urged to contrary by Vidura and Drona and Kripa andSanjaya, to give unto the sons of Pandu their paternal share in thekingdom which they had solicited at his hands! This wretch is not now fitto be regarded either as a friend or a foe! What use in spending bitterbreath upon one who hath now become a piece of wood! Mount your carsquickly, ye kings, for we should leave this place! By good luck, thissinful wretch hath been slain with his counsellors and kinsmen andfriends!” Hearing these rebukes from Krishna, king Duryodhana, O monarch,gave way to wrath and endeavoured to rise. Sitting on his haunches andsupporting himself on his two arms, he contracted his eyebrows and castangry glances at Vasudeva. The form then of Duryodhana whose body washalf raised looked like that of a poisonous snake, O Bharata, shorn ofits tail. Disregarding his poignant and unbearable pains, Duryodhanabegan to afflict Vasudeva with keen and bitter words, “O son of Kansa’sslave, thou hast, it seems, no shame, for hast thou forgotten that I havebeen struck down most unfairly, judged by the rules that prevail inencounters with the mace? It was thou who unfairly caused this act byreminding Bhima with a hint about the breaking of my thighs! Dost thouthink I did not mark it when Arjuna (acting under thy advice) hinted itto Bhima? Having caused thousands of kings, who always fought fairly, tobe slain through diverse kinds of unfair means, feelest thou no shame orno abhorrence for those acts? Day after day having caused a great carnageof heroic warriors, thou causedst the grandsire to be slain by placingShikhandi to the fore! Having again caused an elephant of the name ofAshvatthama to be slain, O thou of wicked understanding, thou causedstthe preceptor to lay aside his weapons. Thinkest thou that this is notknown to me! While again that valiant hero was about to be slain thiscruel Dhrishtadyumna, thou didst not dissuade the latter! The dart thathad been begged (of Shakra as a boon) by Karna for the slaughter ofArjuna was baffled by thee through Ghatotkacha! Who is there that is moresinful than thou? Similarly, the mighty Bhurishrava, with one of his armslopped off and while observant of the Praya vow, was caused to be slainby thee through the agency of the high-souled Satyaki. Karna had done agreat feat for vanquishing Partha. Thou, however, causedst Aswasena, theson of that prince of snakes (Takshaka), to be baffled in achieving hispurpose! When again the wheel of Karna’s car sank in mire and Karna wasafflicted with calamity and almost vanquished on that account, when,indeed, that foremost of men became anxious to liberate his wheel, thoucausedst that Karna to be then slain! If ye had fought me and Karna andBhishma and Drona by fair means, victory then, without doubt, would neverhave been yours. By adopting the most crooked and unrighteous of meansthou hast caused many kings observant of the duties of their order andourselves also to be slain!’

“‘Vasudeva said, “Thou, O son of Gandhari, hast been slain with thybrothers, sons, kinsmen, friends, and followers, only in consequence ofthe sinful path in which thou hast trod! Through thy evil acts those twoheroes, Bhishma and Drona, have been slain! Karna too hath been slain forhaving imitated thy behaviour! Solicited by me, O fool, thou didst not,from avarice, give the Pandavas their paternal share, acting according tothe counsels of Shakuni! Thou gavest poison to Bhimasena! Thou hadst,also, O thou of wicked understanding, endeavoured to burn all thePandavas with their mother at the palace of lac! On the occasion also ofthe gambling, thou hadst persecuted the daughter of Yajnasena, while inher season, in the midst of the assembly! Shameless as thou art, eventhen thou becamest worthy of being slain! Thou hadst, through Subala’sson well-versed in dice, unfairly vanquished the virtuous Yudhishthirawho was unskilled in gambling! For that art thou slain! Through thesinful Jayadratha again, Krishna was on another occasion persecuted whenthe Pandavas, her lords, had gone out hunting towards the hermitage ofTrinavindu! Causing Abhimanyu, who was a child and alone, to besurrounded by many, thou didst slay that hero. It is in consequence ofthat fault, O sinful wretch, that thou art slain! All those unrighteousacts that thou sayest have been perpetrated by us, have in reality beenperpetrated by thee in consequence of thy sinful nature! Thou didst neverlisten to the counsels of Brihaspati and Usanas! Thou didst never waitupon the old! Thou didst never hear beneficial words! Enslaved byungovernable covetousness and thirst of gain, thou didst perpetrate manyunrighteous acts! Bear now the consequences of those acts of thine!”

“‘Duryodhana said, “I have studied, made presents according to theordinance, governed the wide Earth with her seas, and stood over theheads of my foes! Who is there so fortunate as myself! That end againwhich is courted by Kshatriyas observant of the duties of their ownorder, death in battle, hath become mine. Who, therefore, is so fortunateas myself? Human enjoyments such as were worthy of the very gods and suchas could with difficulty be obtained by other kings, had been mine.Prosperity of the very highest kind had been attained by me! Who then isso fortunate as myself? With all my well-wishers, and my youngerbrothers, I am going to heaven, O thou of unfading glory! As regardsyourselves, with your purposes unachieved and torn by grief, live ye inthis unhappy world!”‘

“Sanjaya continued, ‘Upon the conclusion of these words of theintelligent king of the Kurus, a thick shower of fragrant flowers fellfrom the sky. The Gandharvas played upon many charming musicalinstruments. The Apsaras in a chorus sang the glory of king Duryodhana.The Siddhas uttered loud sound to the effect, “Praise be to kingDuryodhana!” Fragrant and delicious breezes mildly blew on every side.All the quarters became clear and the firmament looked blue as the lapislazuli. Beholding these exceedingly wonderful things and this worshipoffered to Duryodhana, the Pandavas headed by Vasudeva became ashamed.Hearing (invisible beings cry out) that Bhishma and Drona and Karna andBhurishrava were slain unrighteously, they became afflicted with griefand wept in sorrow. Beholding the Pandavas filled with anxiety and grief,Krishna addressed them in a voice deep as that of the clouds or the drum,saying, “All of them were great car-warriors and exceedingly quick in theuse of weapons! If ye had put forth all your prowess, even then ye couldnever have slain them in battle by fighting fairly! King Duryodhana alsocould never be slain in a fair encounter! The same is the case with allthose mighty car-warriors headed by Bhishma! From desire of doing good toyou, I repeatedly applied my powers of illusion and caused them to beslain by diverse means in battle. If I had not adopted such deceitfulways in battle, victory would never have been yours, nor kingdom, norwealth! Those four were very high-souled warriors and regarded asAtirathas in the world. The very Regents of the Earth could not slay themin fair fight! Similarly, the son of Dhritarashtra, though fatigued whenarmed with the mace, could not be slain in fair fight by Yama himselfarmed with his bludgeon! You should not take it to heart that this foe ofyours hath been slain deceitfully. When the number of one’s foes becomesgreat, then destruction should be effected by contrivances and means. Thegods themselves, in slaying the Asuras, have trod the same way. That way,therefore, that hath been trod by the gods, may be trod by all. We havebeen crowned with success. It is evening. We had better depart to ourtents. Let us all, ye kings, take rest with our steeds and elephants andcars.” Hearing these words of Vasudeva, the Pandavas and the Pancalas,filled with delight, roared like a multitude of lions. All of them blewtheir conchs and Jadava himself blew Panchajanya, filled with joy, O bullamong men, at the sight of Duryodhana struck down in battle.'”