Monday, May 18, 2015

Parva 11 024

SECTION 24

"Gandhari said, Behold the son of Somadatta, who was slain by Yuyudhana,
pecked at and torn by a large number of birds! Burning with grief at the
death of his son, Somadatta, O Janardana, (as he lies there) seems to
censure the great bowman Yuyudhana. There the mother of Bhurishrava, that
faultless lady, overcome with grief, is addressing her lord Somadatta,
saying, "By good luck, O king, thou seest not this terrible carnage of
the Bharatas, this extermination of the Kurus, this sight that resembles
the scenes occurring at the end of the yuga. By good luck, thou seest not
thy heroic son, who bore the device of the sacrificial stake on his
banner and who performed numerous sacrifices with profuse presents to
all, slain on the field of battle. By good luck, thou hearest not those
frightful wails of woe uttered amidst this carnage by thy
daughters-in-law like the screams of a flight of cranes on the bosom of
the sea. Thy daughters-in-law, bereaved of both husbands and sons, are
running hither and thither, each clad in a single piece of raiment and
each with her black tresses all dishevelled. By good luck, thou seest not
thy son, that tiger among men, deprived of one of his arms, overthrown by
Arjuna, and even now in course of being devoured by beasts of prey. By
good luck, thou seest not today thy son slain in battle, and Bhurishrava
deprived of life, and thy widowed daughters-in-law plunged into grief. By
good luck, thou seest not the golden umbrella of that illustrious warrior
who had the sacrificial stake for the device on his banner, torn and
broken on the terrace of his car. There the black-eyed wives of
Bhurishrava are indulging in piteous lamentations, surrounding their lord
slain by Satyaki. Afflicted with grief on account of the slaughter of
their lords, those ladies, indulging in copious lamentations, are falling
down on the earth with their faces towards the ground, and slowly
approaching thee, O Keshava! Alas, why did Arjuna of pure deeds
perpetrate such a censurable act, since he struck off the arm of a
heedless warrior who was brave and devoted to the performance of
sacrifices. Alas, Satyaki did an act that was still more sinful, for he
took the life of a person of restrained soul while sitting in the
observance of the praya vow. Alas, O righteous one, thou liest on the
ground, slain unfairly by two foes." Even thus, O Madhava, those wives of
Bhurishrava are crying aloud in woe. There, those wives of that warrior,
all possessed of slender waists, are placing upon their laps the lopped
off arm of their lord and weeping bitterly!

"Here is that arm which used to invade the girdles, grind the deep
bosoms, and touch the navel, the thighs, and the hips, of fair women, and
loosen the ties of the drawers worn by them! Here is that arm which slew
foes and dispelled the fears of friends, which gave thousands of kine and
exterminated Kshatriyas in battle! In the presence of Vasudeva himself,
Arjuna of unstained deeds, lopped it off thy heedless self while thou
wert engaged with another in battle. What, indeed, wilt thou, O
Janardana, say of this great feat of Arjuna while speaking of it in the
midst of assemblies. What also will the diadem-decked Arjuna himself say
of it?" Censuring thee in this way, that foremost of ladies hath stopped
at last. The co-wives of that lady are piteously lamenting with her as if
she were their daughter-in-law!

"There the mighty Shakuni, the chief of gandharvas, of prowess incapable
of being baffled, hath been slain by Sahadeva, the maternal uncle by the
sisters son! Formerly, he used to be fanned with a couple of gold-handed
fans! Alas, now, his prostrate form is being fanned by birds with their
wings! He used to assume hundreds and thousands of forms. All the
illusions, however, of that individual possessed of great deceptive
powers, have been burnt by the energy of the son of Pandu. An expert in
guile, he had vanquished Yudhishthira in the assembly by his powers of
deception and won from him his vast kingdom. The son of Pandu, however,
hath now won Shakunis life-breaths. Behold, O Krishna, a large number of
birds is now sitting around Shakuni. An expert in dice, alas, he had
acquired that skill for the destruction of my sons. This fire of
hostility with the Pandavas had been ignited by Shakuni for the
destruction of my children as also of himself and his followers and
kinsmen. Like those acquired by my sons, O puissant one, by the use of
weapons, this one too, however wicked-souled, has acquired many regions
of bliss by the use of weapons. My fear, O slayer of Madhu, is that that
crooked person may not succeed in fomenting dissensions even (there, the
region attained by them) between my children, all of whom are confiding
and possessed of candour!"