inds of poison and by drowning us! We were also wronged by
thee, O king, by the deprivation of our kingdom, by the cruel words
spoken by thee, and by thy maltreatment of Draupadi! For these reasons, O
wretch, thy life must be taken! Rise, rise, and fight us! That will
benefit thee!"'

"Sanjaya continued, 'In this strain, O king, those heroes, the Pandavas,
flushed with victory, repeatedly spoke there (rebuking and mocking
Duryodhana).'"

32

(Gada-yuddha Parva)

"Dhritarashtra said, 'Thus admonished (by his foes), how, indeed, did
that scorcher of enemies, my heroic and royal son, who was wrathful by
nature, then behave? He had never before listened to admonitions such as
these! 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 the
very effulgence of the sun in consequence of his sensitive pride, how
could he endure these words of his foes? Thou hast, with thy own eyes, O
Sanjaya, 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 in
particular, while lying concealed in such a solitary place after having
been deprived of his followers and attendants, alas, what answer did he
make unto the Pandavas upon hearing such bitter and repeated taunts from
his victorious enemies? Tell me everything, O Sanjaya, about it!'

"Sanjaya continued, 'Thus rebuked, O monarch, by Yudhishthira and his
brothers, thy royal son, lying within those waters, O king of kings,
heard those bitter words and became very miserable. Breathing hot and
long sighs repeatedly, the king waved his arms again and again, and
setting his heart on battle, thus answered, from within the waters, the
royal son of Pandu.

"'Duryodhana said, "Ye Parthas, all of you are possessed of friends, of
cars, and of animals! I, however, am alone, cheerless, without a car, and
without an animal! Being alone and destitute of weapons, how can I
venture to fight on foot, against numerous foes all well-armed and
possessed of cars? Do you, however, O Yudhishthira, fight me one at a
time! It is not proper that one should in battle fight many endued with
courage, especially when that one is without armour, fatigued, afflicted
with calamity, exceedingly mangled in his limbs, and destitute of both
animals and troops! I do not entertain the least fea