Mahabharata Vol. 6 (Penguin Translated Texts) (61 page)

‘Sanjaya said, “O great king! On hearing Arjuna’s words, the maharathas there did not say anything to Dhananjaya, pleasant
or unpleasant. O bull among the Bharata lineage! However, mighty-armed Bhimasena was angry and spoke these words, censuring Kounteya Arjuna. ‘O Partha! You speak words full of dharma, like a hermit who has retired to the forest, or like a brahmana rigid in his vows raising his staff. Saving others from injury, protecting one’s own life from injury and exhibiting forgiveness towards women and the virtuous—with these qualities, a kshatriya swiftly obtains the earth and attains dharma, fame and prosperity. O extender of the lineage! You are vested with all the qualities of kshatriyas. It is not proper that you should now speak like one who is ignorant. O Kounteya! Your valour is like that of Shakra, Shachi’s consort. Like the ocean does not cross the shoreline, you do not transgress dharma. Which person amongst us will not applaud you? Serving dharma, you pushed back your rage for thirteen years. O son!
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It is through good fortune that your mind has turned towards your own dharma today. O one without decay! It is through good fortune that your mind has turned towards non-violence today. With the kingdom deprived through adharma, you have turned towards dharma. Droupadi was supremely afflicted when she was brought into the assembly hall by the enemy. We were exiled to the forest, with bark and deerskin as garments. We did not deserve this, but we were made to endure it for thirteen years by the enemy. O unblemished one! These are reasons for anger, but you have abandoned your rage. Yet, you say that you are devoted to the dharma of kshatriyas in every way. “Remembering all those acts of adharma, I have united with you today. I will kill the inferior ones who have robbed us of the kingdom, together with their followers.” This is what you said earlier, when we assembled to do battle. “I will strive to the utmost of my capacity.” But you are censuring us now. You have said that you wish to abide by your own dharma, but you are falsifying those words now. We are afflicted by fear and your words are striking us in our inner organs. O destroyer of enemies! You are pouring a corrosive onto the sores of those who are wounded. My heart has been shattered, afflicted by the stakes of your words. You are great in your adharma. You
do not know what it means to follow dharma. You have not praised us, though we have been praiseworthy. You have praised one who is not even one-sixteenth part of you.
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You have spoken about your own self, but not about those who are vested with all the qualities. In my anger, I can rend the earth and shatter the mountains. I can hurl the terrible and heavy club that is garlanded with gold, and with it I can shatter trees that are as large as mountains and uproot them like the wind. O bull among men! You should know that your brother is such a person. O one with infinite valour! You should not be frightened of Drona’s son. O Bibhatsu! Otherwise, stay here, with all the bulls among men. With the club in my hand, I will defeat him in this great battle.’

‘“Then the son of the king of Panchala spoke to Partha, like Hiranyakashipu speaking to an angry and roaring Hari.
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‘O Bibhatsu! The learned ones have laid down certain tasks for brahmanas—officiating at sacrifices, teaching, donations, performance of sacrifices, receiving gifts and sixth, studying. O Partha! You have reproached me. To which of these was Drona, who has been slain by me, devoted? He transgressed his own dharma and devoted himself to the dharma of kshatriyas. The performer of inferior deeds killed us through the use of superhuman weapons. He said that he was a brahmana, but resorted to the use of maya. O Partha! He has himself been slain through the use of maya today. So what? If Drona has been punished by me and his son roars loudly and fiercely in anger, how do I suffer because of that? I do not think it is extraordinary that Drona’s son should only roar in this way. He is incapable of protecting the Kouravas and will cause their death. You say that you are devoted to dharma and have described me as my preceptor’s killer. But it was for that reason that I was born from the fire, as the son of Panchala. O Dhananjaya! How can you describe
him as a brahmana or a kshatriya? When he fought in the battle, he thought good and evil acts were the same. Overcome by anger, he used the brahmastra to even kill those who were unacquainted with the use of weapons. O supreme among men! Why should we not use any means to kill him? Those who know about dharma say that those who are for adharma are like poison. O Arjuna! You know about dharma and artha. Why are you censuring me? He was violent and I brought him down from his chariot. O Bibhatsu! Why are you reproaching me? You should congratulate me. O Partha! In the battle, I have severed the terrible Drona’s head. He was like the blazing sun and like poison. I should be praised, but you are not praising me. In the battle, he slew my relatives and not those of anyone else. Having only severed his head, my fever
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has not been assuaged. My heart is still suffering, because I did not hurl his head, like Jayadratha’s head, into the land of the nishadas.
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O Arjuna! It has been instructed that not killing one’s enemy is tantamount to adharma. Yet again, the dharma of kshatriyas is to kill, or be killed. O Pandava! In accordance with dharma, I have killed my enemy in the battle. This is just as you killed the brave Bhagadatta, your father’s friend.
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Having struck your grandfather
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in the battle, you thought that you were acting in accordance with dharma. When I killed my wicked enemy, why do you not think that it is dharma? O Arjuna! The eldest Pandava is not a liar. Nor have I acted in accordance with adharma. The wicked one slew his disciples. Fight and victory will be yours.’”’

‘Dhritarashtra said, “The great-souled one had studied the Vedas and their branches in the proper way. The complete mastery
of Dhanurveda and humility were vested in him. The wicked, violent and evil-souled one, the slayer of his preceptor, injured such a Drona, the son of a maharshi. In that battle, it was through his favours that those bulls among men performed superhuman deeds, difficult for the gods and the asuras.
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The evil-acting one injured Drona while they looked on. Were there no kshatriyas who were enraged? Did they not shame him because of this wrath? All the Parthas were there and all the kings of the earth who were archers. O Sanjaya! On hearing this, what did they tell Panchala? Tell me that.”

‘Sanjaya replied, “O lord of the earth! On hearing the words of the evil-acting son of Drupada, all the kings of the earth were silent. They glanced at Arjuna and censured Parshata with their sight. With tears and sighs, they said, ‘Shame! Shame!’ Yudhishthira, Bhima, the twins, Krishna and the others were shame-faced. O king! But Satyaki spoke. ‘Is there no man here who will quickly kill this wicked man, the worst of men? He is speaking unpleasant words. How are his tongue and head not shattering into a hundred fragments? When the inferior one committed the act of adharma by injuring his preceptor, why was he not brought down? Having performed this evil deed, he deserves the censure of the Parthas and all the Andhakas and Vrishnis. But he is praising himself in this assembly of men. Having performed a deed that should not have been performed, you are again showing hatred towards your preceptor. Because of that, you should be killed by us. You should not remain alive for a single instant. Who other than this wretch among men would kill a virtuous preceptor, who had dharma in his soul, and then seize him by the hair? O defiler of the lineage! You have degraded seven generations of your ancestors and seven generations of your descendants and deprived them of all their fame. You have spoken to Partha, bull among men, about Bhishma, but that great-souled one himself decided the means of his death. It was your evil-acting brother
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who killed him. There is no one on earth who is as wicked as these two sons of Panchala. Your father truly created Shikhandi for Bhishma’s destruction and the great-souled
one only protected him from his death.
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The Panchalas are inferior and have deviated from dharma. They hate their friends and their preceptors. You and your brother have only obtained censure from virtuous people. If you again speak such words in my presence, I will bring down your head with this club, which is like the vajra.’ Thus addressed by Satvata Satyaki, Parshata became angry.

‘“He laughed and addressed the enraged one in these harsh words. ‘O Madhava! I have heard you. I have heard you. But I forgive you. You are yourself ignoble and evil, but are censuring men who are righteous. In this world, forgiveness is praised. But the wicked should not be forgiven. Evil-souled ones think that forgiving people are powerless. You are inferior in conduct. You are inferior in your soul. You are wicked in your resolution, from the tips of your hair to your toes. You wish to censure others. But Bhurishrava’s arm had been severed and he was fasting to death. You were restrained from striking him. What can be more evil than that? In the battle, Drona used his divine weapons and cornered me in a vyuha. I killed him when he had cast aside his weapons. O cruel one! What was wicked about that deed? He
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was not fighting. He had cast aside his weapons and was fasting to death, like a sage. O Satyaki! His arm was severed and he was killed by someone else.
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What about that? The valiant one exhibited his prowess and forced you down on the ground then. Why did you not kill that supreme among men then? The noble one had already been vanquished by Partha. You then killed Somadatta’s powerful and valiant son. Wherever Drona scattered the Pandu soldiers, those were the places I ventured to and shot thousands of arrows. However, you yourself performed an act that is worthy of a chandala.
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You should be reproached. Why are
you censuring me with these harsh words? O worst of the Vrishni lineage! You are the one who has performed a terrible deed, not I. You are the abode of wicked deeds. Do not speak to me again. Hold your tongue. You should not speak to me after this. This is what I am telling you with my lips. If you again speak to me foolishly in harsh words, I will fight against you and dispatch you to Vaivasvata’s eternal abode with arrows. O foolish one! One cannot triumph only with dharma. Listen to the acts of adharma they
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have performed. They have earlier deprived Pandava Yudhishthira through adharma. O Satyaki! They have oppressed Droupadi through adharma. They have exiled all the Pandavas, with Krishna,
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to the forest. O foolish one! All their possessions were robbed through adharma. It was through adharma that the enemy deprived us of the king of Madra.
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On this side, Bhishma, the grandfather of the Kuru lineage, was brought down through adharma. O one acquainted with dharma! Bhurishrava was slain by you through adharma. O Satvata! This is the way the enemy and the Pandaveyas have conducted themselves in this battle. Though they are brave and knowledgeable about dharma, they wished to ensure victory. Supreme dharma is difficult to discern. In that way, adharma is extremely difficult to determine. Fight with the Kouravas. Do not return to your father’s abode.’ Having heard these harsh and cruel words, the handsome Satyaki seemed to tremble. When he heard these words, Satyaki’s eyes became coppery red with anger. He grasped his club and sighed like a serpent.

‘“He laid his bow down on his chariot and advanced towards Panchala. In great anger he said, ‘I will not speak harsh words to you. You deserve to be killed and I will slay you.’ The immensely strong one descended violently, in rage, on Panchala. His wrath was like that of an enraged Yama. Urged by Vasudeva, the immensely strong Bhimasena leapt down from his chariot and quickly seized him by the arms. The angry and powerful Satyaki was advancing
and dragged the powerful Pandava with him, as he tried to hold him back. Bhima, supreme among strong ones, planted his feet firmly on the ground and used force to stop the bull among the Shini lineage at the sixth step. O lord of the earth! As he was seized by the strong one,
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Sahadeva descended from his chariot and spoke these gentle words. ‘O tiger among men! O Madhava! Among our friends, there are none who are superior to the Andhakas, Vrishnis and Panchalas. The Andhakas and the Vrishnis, especially you and Krishna, do not have any friends who are superior to us. O Varshneya! Even if they look till the frontiers of the ocean, the Panchalas will not find any friends who are superior to the Pandavas and the Vrishnis. He
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cannot think of a friend who is like you and you of someone like him. You are to us, as we are to you. You know everything about dharma. Remember the dharma that one must show towards friends. O bull among the Shini lineage! Control your anger towards Panchala and be pacified. You should forgive Parshata and let Parshata forgive you. We will also practise forgiveness. There is nothing superior to forgiveness.’ O venerable one! Shini’s descendant was pacified by Sahadeva. The son of the king of Panchala laughed and spoke these words. ‘O Bhima! Release Shini’s grandson. Free him. He prides himself in fighting. Let him advance against me, like the wind against mountains. I will destroy his pride with my sharp arrows. O Kounteya! In the encounter, I will rob him of his love for fighting and of his life. The Kouravas are advancing. I am alone capable of performing the grave task that has arisen, one that the sons of Pandu have taken up. Else, let Phalguna counter all of them in battle and I use my arrows to bring down his
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head. He thinks that I am like the armless Bhurishrava in the battle. Release him. Let him kill me, or let me kill him.’ On hearing Panchala’s words, the powerful Satyaki sighed like a serpent and trembled, seized by Bhima’s arms. O venerable one! Vasudeva and Dharmaraja swiftly made great efforts to restrain those two brave ones. Though their eyes were red
with rage, they were restrained by those two great archers. Wishing to fight, those bulls among kshatriyas then advanced against the enemy in the battle.”’