spirits, cast off their robes and
dance, those women that are not attached (to particular individuals) in
the matter of intercourse and that they do as they please without owning
any restrictions, I say, that being as thou art the child of one of those
women, how canst thou, O Madraka, be a fit person for declaring the
duties of men? Those women that live and answer calls of nature like
camels and asses, being as thou art the child of one of those sinful and
shameless creatures, how canst thou wish to declare the duties of men?
When a Madraka woman is solicited for the gift of a little quantity of
vinegar, she scratches her hips and without being desirous of giving it,
says these cruel words, 'Let no man ask any vinegar of me that is so dear
to me. I would give him my son, I would give him my husband, but vinegar
I would not give.' The young Madraka maidens, we hear, are generally very
shameless and hairy and gluttonous and impure. These and many other
things of a like nature, in respect of all their acts, from the crown of
their heads to the tip of their toes, are capable of being asserted of
them by myself and others. How, indeed, would the Madrakas and the
Sindhu-Sauviras know anything of duty, being born, as they are, in a
sinful country, being Mlecchas in their practices, and being totally
regardless of all duties? It hath been heard by us that even this is the
highest duty of a Kshatriya, viz., that slain in battle, he should lie
down on the Earth, applauded by the righteous. That I should lay down (my
life) in this clash of arms is my foremost wish, desirous as I am of
heaven through Death. I am also the dear friend of the intelligent son of
Dhritarashtra. For his sake are my life-breaths and whatever wealth I
have! As regards thyself, O thou that art born in a sinful country, it is
evident that thou hast been tampered with by the Pandavas, since thou
behavest towards us in everything like a foe. Like a righteous man that
is incapable of being led astray by atheists, surely I am incapable of
being dissuaded from this battle by hundreds of persons like thee. Like a
deer, covered with sweat, thou art at liberty to weep or thirst.
Observant as I am of the duties of a Kshatriya, I am incapable of being
frightened by thee. I recall to my mind the end, declared unto me in past
times by my preceptor Rama, of those lions among men, those unreturning
heroes, that laid down their lives in battle. Prepared for rescuing the
Ka