mighty car-warrior. Why dost thou fly away from battle?
(Securing the throne to thy brother), become thou that Prince-Regent.
Thou hadst formerly said unto Draupadi, 'Thou art our slave, having been
won by us at dice. Without being confined to thy husbands, cast aside thy
chastity. Be thou a bearer of robes to the king, my eldest brother. Thy
husbands are all dead. They are as worthless as grains of sesamum without
kernel.' Having said these words then, why, O Duhsasana, dost thou fly
from battle now? Having thyself provoked such fierce hostilities with the
Panchalas and the Pandavas, why art thou afraid in battle in the presence
of Satyaki alone? Taking up the dice on the occasion of the gambling
match, couldst thou not divine that those dice then handled by thee would
soon transform themselves into fierce shafts resembling snakes of
virulent poison? It was thou that hadst formerly applied diverse abusive
epithets towards the Pandavas. The woes of Draupadi have thee for their
root. Where now is that pride, that insolence, that brag of thine? Why
dost thou fly, having angered the Pandavas, those terrible snakes of
virulent poison? When thou that art a brave brother of Suyodhana, are
intent on flight, without doubt, O hero, thou shouldst today protect,
relying on the energy of thy own arms, this routed and panic-stricken
Kaurava host. Without doing this, thou, however, forsakest the battle in
fear and enhancest the joy of thy foes. O slayer of foes, when thou that
art the leader of thy host, fliest away thus, who else will stay in
battle? When thou, its refuge, art frightened, who is there that will not
be frightened? Fighting with a single warrior of the Satwata race, thy
heart is inclined towards flight from battle. What, however, O Kaurava,
wilt thou do when thou wilt see the wielder of Gandiva in battle, or
Bhimasena, or the twins (Nakula and Sahadeva)? The shafts of Satyaki,
frightened by which thou seekest safety in flight, are scarcely equal to
those of Phalguna in battle that resemble the sun or fire in splendour.
If thy heart is firmly bent on flight, let the sovereignty of the earth
then, upon the conclusion of peace, be given to king Yudhishthira the
Just. Before the shafts of Phalguna, resembling snakes freed from their
sloughs, enter thy body, make peace with the Pandavas. Before the
high-souled Parthas, slaying thy hundred brothers in battle, wrest the
earth by force, make peace with the Pandavas. Before king