his wheel, thou
causedst that Karna to be then slain! If ye had fought me and Karna and
Bhishma and Drona by fair means, victory then, without doubt, would never
have been yours. By adopting the most crooked and unrighteous of means
thou hast caused many kings observant of the duties of their order and
ourselves also to be slain!"

"'Vasudeva said, "Thou, O son of Gandhari, hast been slain with thy
brothers, sons, kinsmen, friends, and followers, only in consequence of
the sinful path in which thou hast trod! Through thy evil acts those two
heroes, Bhishma and Drona, have been slain! Karna too hath been slain for
having imitated thy behaviour! Solicited by me, O fool, thou didst not,
from avarice, give the Pandavas their paternal share, acting according to
the counsels of Shakuni! Thou gavest poison to Bhimasena! Thou hadst,
also, O thou of wicked understanding, endeavoured to burn all the
Pandavas with their mother at the palace of lac! On the occasion also of
the gambling, thou hadst persecuted the daughter of Yajnasena, while in
her season, in the midst of the assembly! Shameless as thou art, even
then thou becamest worthy of being slain! Thou hadst, through Subala's
son well-versed in dice, unfairly vanquished the virtuous Yudhishthira
who was unskilled in gambling! For that art thou slain! Through the
sinful Jayadratha again, Krishna was on another occasion persecuted when
the Pandavas, her lords, had gone out hunting towards the hermitage of
Trinavindu! Causing Abhimanyu, who was a child and alone, to be
surrounded by many, thou didst slay that hero. It is in consequence of
that fault, O sinful wretch, that thou art slain! All those unrighteous
acts that thou sayest have been perpetrated by us, have in reality been
perpetrated by thee in consequence of thy sinful nature! Thou didst never
listen to the counsels of Brihaspati and Usanas! Thou didst never wait
upon the old! Thou didst never hear beneficial words! Enslaved by
ungovernable covetousness and thirst of gain, thou didst perpetrate many
unrighteous acts! Bear now the consequences of those acts of thine!"

"'Duryodhana said, "I have studied, made presents according to the
ordinance, governed the wide Earth with her seas, and stood over the
heads of my foes! Who is there so fortunate as myself! That end again
which is courted by Kshatriyas observant of the duties of their own
order, death in battle, hath become mine. Who, therefore, is so fortunate
as mysel