SECTION 66
"'Yudhishthira said, "Welcome, O you that hast Devaki for your mother,
and welcome to thee, O Dhananjaya! The sight of both of you, O Acyuta and
Arjuna, is exceedingly agreeable! I see that without being wounded
yourselves, you two, his foes, have slain the mighty car-warrior Karna!
He was in battle like unto a snake of virulent poison. He was
accomplished in all weapons. The leader of all the Dhartarashtras, he was
their armour and protector! While fighting he was always protected by
Vrishasena and by Sushena, both of whom are great bowmen! Of great
energy, he had received lessons from Rama in weapons! He was invincible
in battle! The foremost one in all the world, as a car-warrior he was
celebrated throughout all the worlds. He was the saviour of the
Dhartarashtras, and the proceeder in their van! A slayer of hostile
troops, he was the crusher of large bands of foes. Ever engaged in
Duryodhana's good, he was always prepared to inflict woe on us! He was
invincible in battle by the very gods with Vasava at their head. In
energy and might he was equal unto the god of fire and the god of wind.
In gravity he was unfathomable as the Nether world. The enhancer of the
joys of friends, he was like the Destroyer himself unto foes! Having
slain Karna (who was even so) in dreadful battle, by good luck it is that
you two have come, like a couple of celestials after vanquishing an
Asura! Today, O Acyuta and Arjuna, a great battle was fought between
myself exerting with might and that hero resembling the Destroyer
himself, while seeking to exterminate all creatures! My standard was cut
down, and my two Parshni drivers also were slain by him. I was also made
steedless and carless by him in the very sight of Yuyudhana, of
Dhrishtadyumna, of the twins (Nakula and Sahadeva), of the heroic
Shikhandi, as also in the very sight of the sons of Draupadi, and all the
Pancalas! Having vanquished those innumerable foes, Karna of mighty
energy then vanquished me, O you of mighty arms, although I exerted
myself resolutely in battle! Pursuing me then and without doubt,
vanquishing all my protectors, that foremost of warriors addressed me in
diverse harsh speeches. That I am still alive, O Dhananjaya, is due to
the prowess of Bhimasena. What more need I say? I am unable to bear that
humiliation! For thirteen years, O Dhananjaya, through fear of Karna, I
did not obtain any sleep by night or any comfort by day! Filled with
hatred of Karna, I burn, O Dhananjaya! Like the bird Vaddhrinasa I fled
from Karna, knowing that the time for my own destruction had come. The
whole of my time had passed in the thought as to how I would accomplish
the destruction of Karna in battle! Awake or asleep, O son of Kunti, I
always beheld Karna (with my mind's eye). Wherever I was, the universe
appeared to me to be full of Karna! Inspired with the fear of Karna,
wherever I used to go, O Dhananjaya, thither I beheld Karna standing
before my eyes! Vanquished in battle, with my steeds and car, by that
hero who never retreated from battle, alive I was let off by him! What
use have I of life or of kingdom either, since Karna, that ornament of
battle, today cried fie on me? That which I had never before met with at
the hands of Bhishma or Kripa or Drona in battle, that I met with today
at the hands of the Suta's son, that mighty car-warrior! It is for this,
O son of Kunti, that I ask you today about your welfare! Tell me in
detail how you hast slain Karna today! In battle Karna was equal unto
Sakra himself. In prowess he was equal unto Yama. In weapons he was equal
unto Rama. How then hath he been slain? He was regarded as a mighty
car-warrior, conversant with all modes of warfare. He was the foremost of
all bowmen, and the one man amongst all men! O prince, the son of Radha
was always worshipped by Dhritarashtra and his son, for your sake! How
then hath he been slain by thee? In all engagements, Dhritarashtra's son,
O Arjuna, used to regard Karna as your death, O bull among men! How then,
O tiger among men, hath that Karna been slain by you in battle? Tell me,
O son of Kunti, how that Karna hath been slain by thee! How, while he was
engaged in battle, didst thou, O tiger among men, strike off his head in
the very sight of all his friends like a tiger tearing off the head of a
ruru deer? That Suta's son who in battle searched all the points of the
compass for finding thee, that Karna who had promised to give a car with
six bulls of elephantine proportions unto him that would point you out,
I ask: doth that Karna of wicked soul lie today on the bare ground, slain
with your keen arrows equipped with kanka feathers? Having slain the
Suta's son in battle, you hast accomplished a deed highly agreeable to
me! Encountering him in battle, hast you really slain that Suta's son,
who, filled with arrogance and pride and bragging of his heroism, used to
search everywhere on the field of battle for thee? Hast thou, O sire,
really slain in battle that sinful wretch who used to always challenge
thee and who was desirous for your sake of giving unto others a
magnificent car, made of gold along with a number of elephants and bulls
and steeds? Hast you really slain today that sinful wight who was
exceedingly dear to Suyodhana, and who, intoxicated with pride of
heroism, used always to brag in the assembly of the Kurus? Encountered in
battle, doth that wretch lie today on the field, his limbs exceedingly
mangled with sky-ranging shafts sped by you from your bow and all steeped
in blood? Have the two arms of Dhritarashtra's son been (at last) broken?
Have those words been unfulfilled, uttered from folly by him who, filled
with pride, used to always boast in the midst of the kings for gladdening
Duryodhana, saying, 'I will slay Phalguna'? O son of Indra, hath that
Karna of little understanding been slain by you today, that Suta's son
who made the vow that he would not wash his feet as long as Partha lived?
That Karna of wicked understanding who in the assembly; before the Kuru
chiefs, had addressed Krishna, saying, 'Why, O Krishna, dost you not
abandon the Pandavas that are divested of might, exceedingly weak, and
fallen?' That Karna who had vowed for your sake, saying that he would not
return from battle without having slain Krishna and Partha. I ask, doth
that Karna of sinful understanding lie today on the field, his body
pierced with shafts? Thou knowest the nature of the battle that took
place when the Srinjayas and the Kauravas encountered each other, the
battle in which I was brought to that distressful plight. Encountering
that Karna, hast you slain him today? O Savyasaci, hast you today, with
blazing shafts sped from gandiva, cut off from the trunk of that Karna of
wicked understanding his resplendent head decked with earrings? Pierced
with Karna's shafts today, I had, O hero, thought of you (that thou
wouldst slay him)! Hast you then, by the slaughter of Karna, made that
thought of mine true? In consequence of the protection granted him by
Karna, Suyodhana, filled with pride, always recked us little. Displaying
thy prowess, hast then today destroyed that refuge of Suyodhana? That
Suta's son of wicked soul, that Karna of great wrath, who had formerly,
in the presence of the Kauravas and in the midst of the assembly called
us sesame seeds without kernel, encountering that Karna in battle, hast
thou slain him today? That Suta's son of wicked soul who had, laughing
the while, commanded Duhshasana to forcibly drag Yajnasena's daughter won
in gambling by Subala's son, hath he been slain today by thee? That Karna
of little understanding who, having been counted as only half a
car-warrior during the tale of rathas and atirathas, had upbraided that
foremost of all wielders of weapons on Earth, our grandsire Bhishma, hath
he been slain by thee? Extinguish, O Phalguna, this fire in my heart that
is born of vindictiveness and is fanned by the wind of humiliation, by
telling me that you hast slain Karna today, having encountered him in
battle! The news of Karna's slaughter is exceedingly agreeable to me.
Tell me, therefore, how the Suta's son hath been slain! Like the divine
Vishnu waiting for the arrival of Indra with the intelligence of Vritra's
slaughter, I had so long waited for thee, O hero!"'"
--------------------END OF PARVA 8 : UPA-PARVA 66 ---------------------
