cruel Kichaka reft of virtue is loved by
both the king and the queen. O exalted one, brave, proud, sinful,
adulterous, and engrossed in all objects of enjoyment, he earneth
immense wealth (from the king), and robs the possessions of others even
if they cry in distress. And he never walketh in the path of virtue, nor
doth he any virtuous act. Of wicked soul, and vicious disposition,
haughty and villainous, and always afflicted by the shafts of Kama,
though repulsed repeatedly, if he sees me again, he will outrage me. I
shall then surely renounce my life. Although striving to acquire virtue
(on my death) your highly meritorious acts will come to naught. Ye that
are now obeying your pledge, ye will lose your wife. By protecting one's
wife one's offspring are protected, and by protecting one's offspring,
one's own self is protected. And it is because one begets one's own self
in one's wife that the wife is called _Jaya_[15] by the wise. The
husband also should be protected by the wife, thinking,--_How else will
he take his birth in my womb_?--I have heard it from Brahmanas
expounding the duties of the several orders that a Kshatriya hath no
other duty than subduing enemies. Alas, Kichaka kicked me in the very
presence of Yudhishthira the Just, and also of thyself, O Bhimasena of
mighty strength. It was thou, O Bhima, that didst deliver me from the
terrible Jatasura. It was thou also that with thy brothers didst
vanquish Jayadratha. Do thou now slay this wretch also who hath insulted
me. Presuming upon his being a favourite of the king, Kichaka, O
Bharata, hath enhanced my woe. Do thou, therefore, smash this lustful
wight even like an earthen pot dashed upon a stone. If, O Bharata,
tomorrow's sun sheds his rays upon him who is the source of many griefs
of mine, I shall, surely, mixing poison (with some drink), drink it
up,--for I never shall yield to Kichaka. Far better it were, O Bhima,
that I should die before thee.'"

[15] _Jayate asyas_--i.e., she from whom one is born.

Vaisampayana continued, "Having said this, Krishna, hiding her face in
Bhima's breast began to weep. And Bhima, embracing her, consoled her to
the best of his power. And having abundantly consoled that
slender-waisted daughter of Drupada by means of words fraught with grave
reason and sense, he wiped with his hands her face flooded with tears.
And thinking of Kichaka and licking with his tongue the corners of his
mouth, Bhima, filled with wrath thus