n with flowering karnikaras. With his garland of gold
and his bright armour, Duhsaha, though deprived of life, looks
resplendent yet, like a white mountain of fire!'"

20

"Gandhari said, 'He whose might and courage were regarded, O Keshava, as a
one and half times superior to those of his sire and thee, he who
resembled a fierce and proud lion, he who, without a follower, alone
pierced the impenetrable array of my son, he who proved to be the death
of many, alas, he now sleepeth there, having himself succumbed to death!
I see, O Krishna, the splendour of that son of Arjuna, of that hero of
immeasurable energy, Abhimanyu, hath not been dimmed even in death.
There, the daughter of Virata, the daughter-in-law of the wielder of
Gandiva, that girl of faultless beauty overwhelmed with grief at sight of
her heroic husband, is indulging in lamentations! That young wife, the
daughter of Virata, approaching her lord, is gently rubbing him, O
Krishna, with her hand. Formerly, that highly intelligent and exceedingly
beautiful girl, inebriated with honeyed wines, used bashfully to embrace
her lord, and kiss the face of Subhadra's son, that face which resembled a
full-blown lotus and which was supported on a neck adorned with three
lines like those of a conch-shell. Taking of her lord's golden coat of
mail, O hero, that damsel is gazing now on the blood-dyed body of her
spouse. Beholding her lord, O Krishna, that girl addresses thee and says,
"O lotus-eyed one, this hero whose eyes resembled thine, hath been slain.
In might and energy, and prowess also, he was thy equal, O sinless one!
He resembled thee very much in beauty. Yet he sleeps on the ground, slain
by the enemy!" Addressing her own lord, the damsel says again, "Thou wert
brought up in every luxury. Thou usedst to sleep on soft skins of the
ranku deer. Alas, does not thy body feel pain today by lying thus on the
bare ground? Stretching thy massive arms adorned with golden angadas,
resembling a couple of elephants trunks and covered with skin hardened by
frequent use of the bow, thou sleepest, O lord, in peace, as if exhausted
with the toil of too much exercise in the gymnasium. Alas, why dost thou
not address me that am weeping so? I do not remember to have ever
offended thee. Why dost thou not speak to me then? Formerly, thou usedst
to address me even when thou wouldst see me at a distance. O reverend
sir, whither wilt thou go, leaving behind thee the much-respected
S