Parva 11

11.1.1 Janamejaya said: When Duryodhana had been slain and the whole army utterly destroyed, what did the great king Dhṛtarāṣṭra do, O sage, on hearing of it?

11.1.2 And likewise the great-souled Kaurava king, the son of Dharma, and Kṛpa and the rest — what did those three do?

11.1.3 I have heard of Aśvatthāman's deed and of the mutual curse they pronounced upon one another; tell me what happened afterward — what Saṃjaya then related.

11.1.4 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: With his hundred sons slain, the king Dhṛtarāṣṭra was wretched, like a tree whose branches have been lopped away, consumed by grief for his sons —

11.1.5 fallen mute in brooding, overwhelmed by sorrow; and the deeply wise Saṃjaya, approaching the lord of earth, spoke these words.

11.1.6 Why do you grieve, great king? There is no help in grief. Eighteen akṣauhiṇīs have been destroyed, O lord of peoples; this earth, rich in treasure, is now emptied of men, utterly desolate.

11.1.7 Kings from every quarter, men of many lands, gathered together with your son, and all alike have gone to their destruction.

11.1.8 For your fathers, sons, and grandsons, your kinsmen and friends, and your elders, have the funeral rites performed, each in due order.

11.1.9 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Hearing that piteous speech, the once-unassailable king, stricken by the slaughter of his sons and grandsons, fell to the earth like a tree struck down by the wind.

11.1.10 Dhṛtarāṣṭra said: My sons slain, my counsellors slain, all my friends slain — surely I shall now wander this earth in misery.

11.1.11 What use, now, is life to me, bereft of kinsmen — like a bird worn out by age, its wings shorn away?

11.1.12 My kingdom taken, my friends slain, and my sight gone as well — I shall shine no more, O most wise one, like the sun whose rays have faded.

11.1.13 I did not heed the words of my well-wishers — of Jāmadagnya as he spoke, of the divine sage Nārada, nor of Kṛṣṇa Dvaipāyana.

11.1.14 Nor what Kṛṣṇa, for my good, declared in the midst of the assembly: 'Enough of this enmity, O king; let your son be restrained.'

11.1.15 Having failed to act upon that counsel, I, the dull-witted one, now burn with bitter remorse; for I shall hear no more the righteous words spoken by Bhīṣma.

11.1.16 Recalling Duryodhana bellowing like a bull, and hearing of the slaying of Duḥśāsana, of the overthrow of Karṇa, and of the eclipse of that sun which was Droṇa — my heart is torn asunder.

11.1.17 I cannot recall, Saṃjaya, any misdeed of mine in the past whose fruit it is that I, the deluded one, now reap here today.

11.1.18 Surely some wrong was done by me in former births, that the Ordainer has yoked me to deeds whose lot is sorrow.

11.1.19 The decline of my years, the loss of all my kinsmen, and the destruction of my friends and allies have come upon me through the working of fate. Who else in this world is a man more wretched than I?

11.1.20 Therefore let the Pāṇḍavas behold me this very day, firm in a stern vow, set upon the long road that lies open to the world of Brahman.

11.1.21 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: As the lord of men lamented thus, dwelling on his many sorrows, Saṃjaya spoke words to dispel that grief.

11.1.22 Cast off your grief, O king. You have heard the settled truths of the Vedas and the various teachings of the scriptures from the elders, O best of kings — what the sages once said to Sṛñjaya when he was stricken with grief for his son.

11.1.23 When your son had given himself over to the arrogance born of youth, you did not heed the words of your friends as they spoke; nor did you, greedy and hungry for gain, pursue any true good of your own.

11.1.24 Your counsellors were Duḥśāsana and the wicked-souled Rādheya, the evil-natured Śakuni, the ill-minded Citrasena, and Śalya — by whom the whole world was turned into a thorn of affliction.

11.1.25 The word of Bhīṣma, the elder of the Kurus, and of Gāndhārī and Vidura was not heeded by that son of yours, O descendant of Bharata.

11.1.26 No righteousness was ever honored by him; crying always 'War! War!', he destroyed all the kṣatriyas and increased the glory of his foes.

11.1.27 And you yourself stood neutral, saying nothing that befitted the case; you who should have borne the yoke did not hold the burden level in the balance.

11.1.28 From the very outset a man must act as is fitting, so that he be not afflicted with remorse over a matter once it has passed beyond recall.

11.1.29 Through fondness for your son, O king, and a wish to do what pleased him, you have come to this remorse; you ought not to grieve.

11.1.30 He who, seeing only the honey, does not perceive the precipice beyond, is brought to ruin by his greed for the honey and grieves — even as you do.

11.1.31 Not by grieving does one gain wealth; not by grieving does one find happiness; not by grieving does one attain fortune; not by grieving does one win the supreme.

11.1.32 A man who, having himself kindled a fire, then wraps himself in cloth, and as he burns gives way to anguish of mind — such a one is no wise man.

11.1.33 It was by you and your son that this fire which is Pārtha was fanned by the wind of words, drenched with the clarified butter of greed, and set ablaze.

11.1.34 Into that blaze your sons fell like moths; consumed by the flame that was Keśava, they are gone — and you ought not to grieve for them.

11.1.35 And this face you bear, sullied with falling tears, O king — this the wise do not commend, for it is not sanctioned by the scriptures.

11.1.36 These tears, they say, scorch men like sparks of fire. Cast off your anguish through wisdom; uphold the self by the self.

11.1.37 Thus consoled by the great-souled Saṃjaya, Vidura in turn spoke further, with thoughtful counsel, O scorcher of foes.

11.2.1 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Then, gladdening that bull among men, the son of Vicitravīrya, with words like nectar, Vidura spoke — hear now what he said.

11.2.2 Vidura said: Rise up, O king! Why do you lie there? Uphold the self by the self. This is the appointed end of all that is fixed and moving and mortal.

11.2.3 All hoardings end in loss, all that rises ends in a fall; unions end in separation, and life itself ends in death.

11.2.4 When Yama drags off the brave man and the coward alike, O descendant of Bharata, then why should those kṣatriyas not have fought, O bull among kṣatriyas?

11.2.5 He who does not fight dies, and he who fights lives on; but when his hour has come, O great king, no one passes beyond it.

11.2.6 Nor ought you to grieve, O king, for these slain in battle; if the scriptures are our authority, they have attained the supreme goal.

11.2.7 All of them were men of sacred study, all had fulfilled their vows, and all fell facing the foe — what cause for lamentation is there in that?

11.2.8 Out of the unseen they came forth, and to the unseen they have returned again; they are not yours, nor are you theirs — what cause for lamentation is there?

11.2.9 Slain, one wins heaven; slaying, one wins glory. Both, indeed, are of great worth to us; there is no fruitlessness in battle.

11.2.10 Indra will ordain for them worlds that grant every wish; for these become the guests of Indra, O bull among men.

11.2.11 Not by sacrifices rich in gifts, nor by austerities, nor by sacred learning do mortals go to heaven as do heroes slain in battle.

11.2.12 Thousands of mothers and fathers, and hundreds of sons and wives, have been known in the rounds of existence — whose are they, or whose are we?

11.2.13 Thousands of occasions for grief and hundreds for fear assail the deluded man day after day, but not the wise.

11.2.14 To Time none is dear and none is hateful, O best of the Kurus; Time is nowhere neutral — Time drags all things away.

11.2.15 Life is fleeting, and so are beauty, youth, the hoarding of goods, health, and the company of loved ones; the wise man does not crave after these.

11.2.16 You ought not to grieve alone over a sorrow that belongs to a whole realm; though one might even perish by it, the calamity is not thereby turned back.

11.2.17 If one sees a way to act, let him counter the trouble without grieving; but the remedy for sorrow is not to brood upon it — for the sorrow that is dwelt upon does not depart, and instead grows the greater.

11.2.18 From union with the unwished-for and from separation from the dear, men of little understanding are yoked to sorrows of the mind.

11.2.19 This over which you grieve is neither gain nor righteousness nor happiness; the grief does not depart from the purpose of any deed, and through it one falls away from the threefold aim of life.

11.2.20 Attaining one richer state of wealth after another, men remain unsatisfied and are bewildered; but the wise come to contentment.

11.2.21 Mental suffering one should slay with wisdom, and bodily suffering with medicines; this is the power of knowledge — let one not in this become the equal of fools.

11.2.22 As a man lies down, the deed once done lies down with him; as he stands, it stands with him; and as he runs, it runs after him.

11.2.23 In whatever condition a man does a deed, good or evil, in that very condition he reaps the fruit thereof.

11.3.1 Dhṛtarāṣṭra said: By your well-spoken words, O most wise one, this grief of mine has passed away; yet I wish to hear your words once more, in their truth.

11.3.2 From contact with the unwished-for and from the loss of the cherished, how is it that the wise are here freed from sorrows of the mind?

11.3.3 Vidura said: From whatever source the mind is freed, whether from pain or from pleasure, from each such source the wise man, having gained peace, attains a happy state.

11.3.4 When pondered, all this is impermanent, O bull among men; the world is like the plantain tree — no pith of it is to be found.

11.3.5 The wise declare the bodies of mortals to be but dwellings; in time they are cast off, and the spirit alone is the abiding good.

11.3.6 As a man, casting off a garment whether worn out or not, chooses another garment, so are the bodies of embodied beings.

11.3.7 O son of Vicitravīrya, whether a sojourn be of sorrow or of joy, beings here attain it through the deeds they themselves have wrought.

11.3.8 By one's deeds are heaven, pleasure, and pain attained, O descendant of Bharata; and so each bears that burden, whether helplessly or of his own will.

11.3.9 And as an earthen vessel set upon the wheel may perish — some while still being shaped, or others just when made —

11.3.10 or when cut from the wheel, or being lifted off, or already taken down; while still moist, or dried, or being fired in the kiln —

11.3.11 or being drawn out of the kiln, or already taken up, or even while in use, O descendant of Bharata — so it is with the bodies of embodied beings.

11.3.12 Still in the womb, or newly born, or but a day old, or come to half a month, or grown to a month alone —

11.3.13 or come to a year, or to a second year, in the bloom of youth, in middle age, or in old age — a man perishes.

11.3.14 By the deeds of former lives beings come into being and pass away; in a world so ordered by necessity, to what end do you grieve?

11.3.15 And as in the water, O king, some creature roaming about in play may rise and may sink again, O lord of men —

11.3.16 even so, from the thicket of worldly existence, in the rising and the sinking, those of little understanding are bound by the reaping of their deeds and are tormented.

11.3.17 But those who are wise, established in truth, seeking the end of worldly existence, who know the way beings come together — they attain the supreme goal.

11.4.1 Dhṛtarāṣṭra said: How is the thicket of worldly existence to be understood, O best of speakers? This I wish to hear; tell me the truth of it, for I ask.

11.4.2 Vidura said: Hear, O lord, all the workings of beings from birth onward. At first the embryo dwells here in the fluid stage for a certain interval.

11.4.3 Then, when the fifth month has passed, it takes on flesh; and thereafter, with all its limbs complete, the child is born in due month.

11.4.4 It dwells amid filth, smeared with flesh and blood; and then, driven by the force of the wind, it turns feet upward and head downward.

11.4.5 Reaching the door of the womb, it meets with many torments, crushed in the passage of birth and bound to the deeds of its former lives.

11.4.6 Freed from that round of the womb, he beholds yet other afflictions; the seizing planets steal upon him as hounds upon a piece of meat.

11.4.7 Then, when the later season of his life has come, diseases too steal upon him as he lives, bound fast by his own deeds.

11.4.8 Bound by the nooses of the senses, made sick by the sweetness of attachments, calamities of every kind beset him, O lord of men; and bound the tighter by them, he attains no satisfaction at all.

11.4.9 He does not so much as perceive that the realm of Yama has now drawn near; and dragged off by Yama's messengers, in due time he goes to his death.

11.4.10 Whatever pleasing or unpleasing words were spoken in his presence when he had lost his speech — he heeds them not, even as by his own self he binds his own self ever more.

11.4.11 Ah, how the world is deceived and made the thrall of greed! Maddened by greed, by wrath, and by pride, it does not come to know its own self.

11.4.12 He delights in his high birth and reviles the low-born; puffed up with the arrogance of wealth, he heaps scorn upon the poor.

11.4.13 He calls others fools, yet looks not upon himself; he flings instruction at all others, but has no wish to school his own self.

11.4.14 Whoever, in this unstable world of the living, abides from his very birth in the keeping of dharma — he shall attain the highest goal.

11.4.15 Thus having understood all things, whoever follows after the truth gains the path that leads to liberation, O lord of men.

11.5.1 Dhṛtarāṣṭra said: This thicket of dharma that is pursued through the intellect — expound to me at length, in its fullness, this whole path of wisdom.

11.5.2 Vidura said: On this I shall instruct you, having first bowed to the Self-Existent, telling how the supreme seers describe the thicket of worldly existence.

11.5.3 A certain brāhmaṇa, faring on within this vast round of existence, came, it is said, to a great and impassable forest, thronged with beasts that feed on flesh.

11.5.4 Hemmed in on every side by creatures shaped like lions, tigers, and elephants — most fearsome, great-jawed devourers — it struck terror even into Death himself.

11.5.5 Beholding this, his heart fell into the utmost dread; his hair stood on end, and his whole frame was thrown into agitation, O scorcher of foes.

11.5.6 Roaming that forest, running this way and that, he gazed about him in every direction, wondering where a refuge might be found.

11.5.7 Seeking some gap between those beasts, he fled on, oppressed by fear; yet he could win no distance away, nor break free of them.

11.5.8 Then he saw that the dreadful forest was hedged about on every side with a net, and was enfolded within the two arms of a most terrible woman.

11.5.9 That great forest was ringed about by five-headed serpents, towering like mountains, and by mighty trees that brushed against the sky.

11.5.10 And there in the midst of the forest was a well, all overgrown, hidden and encircled by creepers covered over with grass.

11.5.11 Into that concealed reservoir of water the brāhmaṇa fell, and there he hung, caught fast in the tangled mesh of creepers.

11.5.12 As a great jackfruit grows bound by its stalk, so did he hang there, his feet upward and his head below.

11.5.13 Then there too another affliction yet arose for him: at the rim about the mouth of the well he saw a mighty elephant.

11.5.14 Six-faced it was, dark and dappled, moving upon twelve feet, creeping on by degrees, wrapped about with creepers and trees.

11.5.15 And upon the boughs of that tree, clinging to its branches, were bees of many kinds, dreadful of form and fearful to behold, settled there, having gathered honey before, born of the hive.

11.5.16 Again and again they crave the honey, O bull of the Bhāratas — honey so sweet to all creatures that not even a child is sated by it.

11.5.17 From that honey a stream flows down forever in many a trickle; and that man, hanging there, drinks of the stream without ceasing, yet his thirst is not stilled as he drinks on in his plight.

11.5.18 Unsated, he longs for it still, again and again; and yet, O king, no aversion to life was ever born in him.

11.5.19 There still the man's hope of life stands fixed, while black mice and white gnaw away at that very tree.

11.5.20 From the beasts of prey at the forest's impassable edge, from the most terrible woman, from the serpent at the bottom of the well, and from the elephant at its rim —

11.5.21 there is danger; and danger too from the falling of the tree, and the fifth from the mice; and the sixth great danger, they say, comes from the bees through his greed for honey.

11.5.22 Thus does he dwell there, cast into the ocean of worldly existence, and yet he comes to no weariness of his hope for life.

11.6.1 Dhṛtarāṣṭra said: Ah, surely it is a great misery — in such anguish does he dwell! How can there be any delight or contentment for him there, O best of speakers?

11.6.2 Where then is that place in which he dwells, hard pressed in the matter of dharma? And how might that man be released from that great peril?

11.6.3 Tell me all of this, that we may rightly strive thus; for a great compassion has arisen in me to deliver him.

11.6.4 Vidura said: This is a parable, O king, set forth by those who know the way of release, whereby a man finds a happy goal in the worlds beyond.

11.6.5 That great wilderness of which it speaks — that indeed is the round of existence; and this impassable forest is the thicket of worldly being.

11.6.6 Those beasts of prey that were told of are declared to be the diseases; and that woman of vast frame who stands over the place — her the wise call Old Age, destroyer of complexion and of beauty.

11.6.7 That well, O king, is the body of embodied beings; and the great serpent that dwells below within it is Time itself — the Ender of all creatures, who carries off every living thing.

11.6.8 And that creeper grown within the well, by whose tendrils the man hangs suspended — that is the hope of life in embodied beings.

11.6.9 That six-faced elephant which creeps about the tree at the rim of the well, O king, is held to be the year; its faces are the seasons, and its twelve feet are declared to be the months.

11.6.10 The mice that gnaw the tree away, ever at their work — those, the ponderers upon beings declare, are the nights and the days; and the bees there are proclaimed to be the desires.

11.6.11 Those many trickling streams that flow with the oozing honey — let them be known as the savors of desire, in which men sink and drown.

11.6.12 Those wise ones who thus have understood the turning of the wheel of existence — they indeed cut through the bonds of the wheel of existence.

11.7.1 Dhṛtarāṣṭra said: Ah, well has the tale been told by you who behold the truth! Yet greater still is my joy to go on hearing the nectar of your speech.

11.7.2 Vidura said: Hear once more; I shall expound the fullness of this path, hearing which the discerning are wholly freed from the rounds of existence.

11.7.3 Just as a man, O king, who has set out upon a long road, halts here and there from weariness, or makes his lodging for a while —

11.7.4 so, in the turning round of existence, in dwellings within the womb, O Bhārata, the foolish make their lodging, while the wise win release therefrom.

11.7.5 Therefore those versed in the scriptures call this very thing a road; and the thicket of worldly existence the thoughtful call a forest.

11.7.6 This is the world's revolving round for mortals, O bull of the Bhāratas, for moving and unmoving things alike; therein the wise man should not be greedy.

11.7.7 The diseases of mortals, whether of the body or of the mind, whether seen or unseen — these are declared by the wise to be the beasts of prey.

11.7.8 Tormented by them without end and slain, O Bhārata, by those great beasts that are their own deeds, the dull of understanding are still not made afraid.

11.7.9 And even should a man be freed from those diseases, O king, Old Age that destroys all beauty closes about him in the end.

11.7.10 By sound, form, taste, and touch, and by manifold scents as well, he sinks into a great mire that has no foothold on any side.

11.7.11 Years, seasons, months, fortnights, days and nights, and their junctures, one after another plunder away his beauty and his span of life as well.

11.7.12 These are the treasure-stores of Time, which the dull of mind do not know; herein, they say, all creatures are inscribed by their deeds.

11.7.13 The body of beings they call the chariot; the inner being they call the charioteer; the senses they call the horses, and action and intellect the reins.

11.7.14 Whoever runs after the rushing speed of those galloping horses revolves, like a wheel, upon this wheel of worldly existence.

11.7.15 But he who reins them in by the intellect — that driver turns not back again; for this chariot, by which the dull of mind are bewildered, they call the chariot of Yama.

11.7.16 And such a one comes to that very thing which you have come to, O lord of men: the loss of kingdom, the loss of friends, and the loss of sons, O Bhārata.

11.7.17 This grief is but a craving renewed without end, O Bhārata; the good man, amid the greatest sorrows, should apply the medicine of sorrow.

11.7.18 Neither valor nor wealth, nor a friend, nor the company of well-wishers, sets one free from sorrow as does a self made steadfast in self-restraint.

11.7.19 Therefore, taking your stand upon friendliness and entering into good conduct, O Bhārata — self-control, renunciation, and vigilance: these three are the horses of Brahman.

11.7.20 He who stands upon the chariot of the mind, yoked with the reins of good conduct, casting off the fear of death, O king, goes to the world of Brahman.

11.8.1 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: But hearing those words of Vidura, the best of the Kurus, consumed with grief for his sons, fell to the ground in a swoon.

11.8.2 Seeing him thus fallen senseless upon the earth, his kinsmen, and Kṛṣṇa Dvaipāyana, and the Kṣattṛ, Vidura,

11.8.3 and Saṃjaya, and other well-wishers, and the doorkeepers held in his esteem — with pleasantly cool water and with palm-leaf fans, O Bhārata,

11.8.4 touched his limbs with their hands and, fanning him with care, attended for a long while upon Dhṛtarāṣṭra brought to such a pass.

11.8.5 Then, after a long while, the lord of the earth regained his senses and lamented for a long time, overwhelmed by anguish for his sons.

11.8.6 Fie, indeed, upon this human estate, and upon the holding of possessions in human life, from which the sorrows arise that have their root therein, again and again!

11.8.7 In the loss of sons, in the loss of wealth, and of kinsmen and relations too, a most exceeding grief is met with, like poison and like fire, O mighty one.

11.8.8 By it the limbs are burned, by it understanding is destroyed; overcome by it, a man holds death itself to be a thing much to be desired.

11.8.9 This is the calamity that has come upon me through the reversal of my fortune; and this very thing I shall do this very day, O best of the twice-born.

11.8.10 Having spoken thus to his great-souled father, foremost among the knowers of Brahman, Dhṛtarāṣṭra grew bewildered and passed into the uttermost grief; and that king fell silent, sunk in brooding thought, O lord of the earth.

11.8.11 Hearing that speech of his, the lord Kṛṣṇa Dvaipāyana spoke these words to his son, who was consumed with grief for his own sons.

11.8.12 O mighty-armed Dhṛtarāṣṭra, hear what I shall say to you. Learned you are, and wise, and skilled alike in dharma and in worldly aims.

11.8.13 There is nothing worth knowing that is unknown to you, O scorcher of foes; for the impermanence of mortals you understand, beyond all doubt.

11.8.14 When the world of the living is unstable, and one's station unenduring, and life itself ends in death — why then do you grieve, O Bhārata?

11.8.15 Before your very eyes, O king of kings, the origin of this enmity arose; with your son made its instrument, it was brought about by the working of Time.

11.8.16 Since the slaughter of the Kurus was bound to come to pass, O king, why do you grieve for those heroes who have gone to the highest goal?

11.8.17 And the great-souled Vidura, knowing all this, O mighty-armed lord of men, strove with every effort toward peace.

11.8.18 Yet the course ordained by fate cannot be checked by any living being, however long one may strive against it: such is my conviction.

11.8.19 What task the gods had to accomplish I heard with my own ears; that I shall now relate to you fully, so that your firmness may return.

11.8.20 Once, having mastered all weariness, I went in haste to the assembly hall of Indra, and there I beheld the dwellers of heaven gathered together, and all the divine sages with Nārada at their head.

11.8.21 And there too, O lord of the earth, I saw the Earth herself, come into the presence of the gods upon an urgent errand.

11.8.22 Then the nourishing Earth, approaching the assembled gods, said: 'The task that you promised me in the abode of Brahmā, O most fortunate ones, let that now be swiftly accomplished.'

11.8.23 Hearing her words, Viṣṇu, to whom all the worlds bow down, smiled and spoke these words to the Earth in the council of the gods.

11.8.24 'The eldest of Dhṛtarāṣṭra's hundred sons, renowned by the name Duryodhana, he shall accomplish your task; and through that guardian of the earth you shall attain your purpose.'

11.8.25 'For his sake the protectors of the earth, gathered together at Kurukṣetra, smiters all, shall slay one another with mighty weapons.'

11.8.26 'Then, O goddess, your burden shall be destroyed in that battle; go swiftly to your own place, and uphold the worlds, O fair one.'

11.8.27 This son of yours, O king, was born for the destruction of the world, sprung from a portion of Kali in the womb of Gāndhārī.

11.8.28 Intolerant, fickle, prone to wrath, and hard to appease was he; and through the working of fate his brothers too were born of like nature.

11.8.29 His maternal uncle Śakuni, and Karṇa his dearest friend, and the kings allied with them, were all born for the destruction of the earth. This matter, O mighty-armed one, Nārada knows in its very truth.

11.8.30 By their own fault, O lord of the earth, your sons have perished; do not grieve for them, O king of kings, for there is no cause for grief.

11.8.31 For the Pāṇḍavas have offended in nothing, however small, O Bhārata; it was your evil-souled sons by whom this earth was brought to ruin.

11.8.32 And by Nārada, blessings upon you, this was foretold long before, beyond all doubt, in the assembly of Yudhiṣṭhira at the Rājasūya sacrifice.

11.8.33 'The Pāṇḍavas and the Kauravas, having come to clash with one another, shall cease to be, O son of Kuntī; therefore do what is to be done.'

11.8.34 Hearing Nārada's words, the Pāṇḍavas grieved even then. All this, the eternal secret of the gods, I have now told you in full.

11.8.35 How may your grief be destroyed, O lord, and compassion for the living be restored, and tenderness toward the sons of Pāṇḍu, once you know that this was the decree ordained by fate?

11.8.36 This matter, O mighty-armed one, I had heard long before, and I told it to the Dharma King at the Rājasūya, that most excellent of sacrifices.

11.8.37 When I had disclosed the secret, the son of Dharma strove for peace among the Kauravas, that there might be no strife; but fate proved the stronger force.

11.8.38 For the decree of the Ordainer, O king, can in no way be transgressed by any being, whether unmoving or moving.

11.8.39 You, who are devoted to right action and foremost in wisdom, O Bhārata, are bewildered, though you know the coming and the going of all living creatures.

11.8.40 But should King Yudhiṣṭhira learn that you are consumed by grief and swooning again and again, he might even cast away his very life.

11.8.41 That hero is ever compassionate even toward creatures born in the brute wombs; how then, O king of kings, should he fail to show compassion to you?

11.8.42 At my command, and because the decree of fate cannot be turned aside, and out of compassion for the Pāṇḍavas, hold fast to your life, O Bhārata.

11.8.43 Bearing yourself thus, you shall win renown in the world, and great merit, my son, and it shall be as though you had long performed austerities.

11.8.44 The fire of grief for your sons, blazing like a kindled flame, quench it ever and again, O great king, with the waters of wisdom.

11.8.45 Hearing these words of Vyāsa of boundless splendor, Dhṛtarāṣṭra reflected for a moment and then spoke.

11.8.46 "By the great net of grief I am borne down, O best of the twice-born; swooning again and again, I cannot even know my own self."

11.8.47 "But having heard these words of yours, born of the ordinance of fate, I shall hold fast to my life, and I shall strive to grieve no more."

11.8.48 Hearing these words of Dhṛtarāṣṭra, O king of kings, Vyāsa, the son of Satyavatī, vanished then and there.

11.9.1 Janamejaya said: When the blessed Vyāsa had departed, what did the king Dhṛtarāṣṭra do? O sage among brāhmaṇas, deign to explain this to me.

11.9.2 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Having heard this, O best of men, and brooding long as if bereft of sense, he said, "Let Saṃjaya yoke the chariot," and then addressed Vidura.

11.9.3 "Bring Gāndhārī quickly, and all the women of the Bharatas, taking with them the daughter-in-law Kuntī and whatever other women are there."

11.9.4 Having thus spoken to Vidura, foremost in the knowledge of dharma, that righteous king, his understanding shattered by grief, mounted his chariot.

11.9.5 And Gāndhārī, stricken with grief, urged by her husband's command, together with Kuntī and the other women, hastened to where the king was.

11.9.6 Reaching the king, overwhelmed with grief, calling out to one another they went forth, and then they wailed aloud most bitterly.

11.9.7 Vidura sought to comfort them, though himself more stricken than they; and having mounted them, their throats choked with tears, upon the carriages, he set forth from the city.

11.9.8 Then a great outcry arose throughout all the dwellings of the Kurus; the whole city, down to its children, was wasted with grief.

11.9.9 Women who had never before been seen even by the hosts of the gods were now beheld by common folk, their lords slain in battle.

11.9.10 Their beautiful hair flung loose, their ornaments cast away, clad each in a single garment, the women ran about like the helpless and forlorn.

11.9.11 From their mansions, white as snowy mountains, they hastened forth, like dappled does whose herd-leaders are slain fleeing the caverns of the hills.

11.9.12 Those manifold throngs of women, swelling forth and stricken with grief, ran about, O king, like fillies loosed in a paddock.

11.9.13 Flinging up their arms and crying aloud for their sons, their brothers, and their fathers, they seemed to show forth the destruction of the world at the ending of an age.

11.9.14 Lamenting and weeping, running this way and that, their senses smitten by grief, they no longer knew what was to be done.

11.9.15 Women who once had felt shame even before their own companions now stood, clad in a single garment and stripped of all modesty, in the presence of their mothers-in-law.

11.9.16 Those who once consoled one another in the slightest sorrows now, overcome with grief, O king, paid no heed to one another at all.

11.9.17 Encircled by those women weeping in their thousands, the wretched king set forth in haste from the city toward the field of battle.

11.9.18 Artisans, merchants, and traders, and all who lived by every kind of craft, placing the king at their head, went forth out of the city.

11.9.19 From those women crying out in their anguish at the ruin of the Kurus there arose a mighty clamor that shook the very worlds.

11.9.20 As though the time of the world's ending had come and all creatures were being consumed, living beings thought that the hour of universal dissolution was upon them.

11.9.21 Their hearts deeply troubled at the ruin of the Kurus, the townsfolk, devoted as they were, cried out then most bitterly, O great king.

11.10.1 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Having gone but a krośa's distance, they beheld those great chariot-warriors: Kṛpa the son of Śaradvat, the son of Droṇa, and Kṛtavarman as well.

11.10.2 And they, on seeing the king, that lord whose only sight was wisdom, sighing with throats choked by tears, spoke thus to him as he wept.

11.10.3 "Your son, O great king, having wrought a most arduous deed, has gone, O king, together with his followers, to the world of Indra, that guardian of the earth."

11.10.4 "Of Duryodhana's host we three chariot-warriors alone are left; all the rest of your army has perished utterly, O bull of the Bhāratas."

11.10.5 Having thus spoken to the king, Kṛpa the son of Śaradvat then addressed these words to Gāndhārī, stricken with grief for her sons.

11.10.6 "Fighting without fear, slaying many hosts of foes and performing the deeds of heroes, your sons have met their death."

11.10.7 "Surely, having attained the stainless worlds won by their weapons, and taking on radiant bodies, they now disport themselves like the immortals."

11.10.8 "For not one of those heroes met death by the sword while fighting with his back turned, nor while standing with palms joined in surrender."

11.10.9 "This they call the ancient and supreme goal of the warrior: death by the sword in battle. You ought not to grieve for them."

11.10.10 "Nor do their foes, the Pāṇḍavas, O queen, prosper either. Hear what we have done, with Aśvatthāman at our head."

11.10.11 "On hearing that your son had been slain unjustly by Bhīmasena, we entered the sleeping camp of the Pāṇḍavas and wrought havoc there."

11.10.12 "All the Pāñcālas were slain, with Dhṛṣṭadyumna at their head; the sons of Drupada and the sons of Draupadī too were struck down."

11.10.13 "Having thus made slaughter of the host of your sons' foes, we fled; for we three could not stand in the field."

11.10.14 "For those heroic Pāṇḍavas, mighty archers, will come swiftly, fallen under the sway of wrath and eager to requite the feud."

11.10.15 "Hearing that their sons were slain while off their guard, those bulls among men, those heroes, eager to track us down, will come at once, O illustrious lady."

11.10.16 "Having done this wrong to the Pāṇḍavas, we dare not remain. Grant us leave, O queen, and set not your heart upon grief."

11.10.17 "Grant us leave, O king, and take your stand upon the highest fortitude; behold too the warrior's duty, fulfilled to its very end."

11.10.18 Having thus spoken to the king and made the reverent circuit about him, Kṛpa, Kṛtavarman, and the son of Droṇa, O Bhārata,

11.10.19 gazing back upon the wise king Dhṛtarāṣṭra, those great-souled men urged their horses swiftly along the Gaṅgā.

11.10.20 And having withdrawn, O king, all those great chariot-warriors, troubled at heart, took leave of one another and then departed by three separate ways.

11.10.21 Kṛpa the son of Śaradvat went then to Hāstinapura, Hārdikya to his own kingdom, and the son of Droṇa journeyed to the hermitage of Vyāsa.

11.10.22 Thus those heroes departed, glancing at one another, stricken with fear, for they had done a wrong against the great-souled sons of Pāṇḍu.

11.10.23 Having met with the king while the sun had not yet risen, those heroes, those tamers of foes, then parted, each going his own way as he wished, O great king.

11.11.1 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: When all the armies had been slain, the Dharma King Yudhiṣṭhira heard that his aged father had set forth from the City of the Elephant.

11.11.2 He went forth to meet him, himself stricken with grief for his sons, to that king likewise overwhelmed with grief for his sons; mourning, O great king, he went then together with his brothers.

11.11.3 He was followed by the hero of the Dāśārha line, the great-souled one, and by Yuyudhāna as well, and likewise by Yuyutsu.

11.11.4 Behind him went Draupadī, stricken with deep sorrow and wasted by grief, together with the women of Pāñcāla who had gathered there.

11.11.5 Along the Gaṅgā, O best of the Bhāratas, he beheld throngs of women crying out in their anguish like grieving ospreys.

11.11.6 The king was surrounded by those weeping women in their thousands, who with arms upraised and stricken with grief spoke words both kind and bitter.

11.11.7 Where now is the king's knowledge of dharma, where now his gentle compassion, when he has slain fathers, brothers, elders, sons, and even friends?

11.11.8 Having brought about the deaths of Droṇa and of Bhīṣma the grandsire, how was your heart set at ease, O mighty-armed one, even after slaying Jayadratha?

11.11.9 What use is the kingdom to you, who no longer behold your fathers and brothers, nor the unconquerable Abhimanyu, nor the sons of Draupadī, O Bhārata?

11.11.10 Passing beyond those women who wailed like ospreys, the mighty-armed Yudhiṣṭhira, the Dharma-king, paid homage to his elder, the father of his house.

11.11.11 Then, having saluted their father according to custom, those Pāṇḍavas, harriers of their foes, announced their names, each one in turn.

11.11.12 That father, tormented by the slaughter of his sons, with no gladness in his heart and worn by grief, embraced the Pāṇḍava who had brought about the end of his offspring.

11.11.13 Having embraced the Dharma-king and consoled him, O Bhārata, the evil-minded one sought out Bhīma, like a fire eager to consume him.

11.11.14 The fire of his wrath, fanned by the wind of his grief, appeared as though it would burn up a forest that was Bhīmasena himself.

11.11.15 Perceiving his malign intent against Bhīma, Hari drew Bhīma aside with his hands and set before the king an iron Bhīma in his place.

11.11.16 For Hari of great intellect, having read the old man's intent beforehand, the deeply wise Janārdana had already made his arrangement there.

11.11.17 Seizing that Bhīmasena made of iron with both his hands, the mighty king shattered it, believing it to be Vṛkodara.

11.11.18 That king, whose strength of breath was as that of ten thousand elephants, having broken the iron Bhīma, his chest crushed in the effort, spat blood from his mouth.

11.11.19 Then he fell upon the earth, drenched in blood, like a pārijāta tree whose topmost crown is in full flower.

11.11.20 The wise sūta, the son of Gavalgaṇa, then took hold of him and said, "Not so!", calming and consoling him.

11.11.21 And he, the high-minded one, casting off his wrath, his anger now spent, cried out again, "Alas, alas, Bhīma!", overcome once more with grief.

11.11.22 Knowing his wrath had passed and that he was tormented at the supposed slaying of Bhīmasena, Vāsudeva, the foremost of men, spoke these words.

11.11.23 "Grieve not, Dhṛtarāṣṭra; this is no Bhīma you have slain. It was an iron image, O king, that you have struck down.

11.11.24 Knowing you had fallen under the sway of wrath, O bull of the Bhāratas, I drew the son of Kuntī away, though he had passed between the very fangs of death.

11.11.25 For there is none, O tiger among kings, who is your equal in strength. What man, O mighty-armed one, could endure the grip of your arms?

11.11.26 As none who comes upon Death escapes alive, so none who falls within the compass of your arms could live.

11.11.27 Therefore that iron image of Bhīma which your son had fashioned, this very one, O Kauravya, I set before you in his stead.

11.11.28 Through the torment of grief for your sons, your mind has been drawn away from dharma, O lord of kings, and so you sought to slay Bhīmasena.

11.11.29 Nor would it be fitting for you, O king, that you should slay Vṛkodara; for your sons, O great king, can in no way be brought back to life.

11.11.30 Therefore approve of all that we have done, judging it fitting, and do not set your heart upon grief."

11.12.1 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Then the attendants came to him to perform his cleansing, and when his cleansing was done, the slayer of Madhu addressed him once more.

11.12.2 "O king, you have studied the Vedas and the manifold treatises, you have heard the ancient lore, and the very duties of kings.

11.12.3 Yet though so learned, O greatly wise one, you did not then heed counsel, O Kaurava, even knowing the Pāṇḍavas superior in strength and valor.

11.12.4 For the king who is steadfast in wisdom, who himself examines his faults and the divisions of place and time, attains the highest good.

11.12.5 But he who, when the good is told to him, does not grasp what helps and what harms, comes upon calamity and grieves, fixed in misrule.

11.12.6 Now therefore look upon yourself, who took to another course, O Bhārata; for you, O king, were ungoverned in spirit and stood under Duryodhana's sway.

11.12.7 Afflicted through your own fault, why then do you seek to slay Bhīma? Therefore restrain your wrath, remembering your own misdeed.

11.12.8 He who in his baseness, out of rivalry, dragged the princess of Pāñcāla into the assembly hall, he was slain by Bhīmasena, who sought to requite the enmity.

11.12.9 Look upon the transgression of yourself and of your evil-souled son, in that the sons of Pāṇḍu were cast off though guiltless, O scorcher of foes."

11.12.10 Thus addressed by Kṛṣṇa, all of it true, O lord of men, Dhṛtarāṣṭra, the ruler of the earth, spoke to the son of Devakī.

11.12.11 "So it is, O mighty-armed one, even as you say, O Mādhava; but love for my sons, O righteous one, shook me from my firmness.

11.12.12 By good fortune that tiger among men, the mighty Bhīma of true valor, guarded by you, O Kṛṣṇa, did not come within the compass of my arms.

11.12.13 But now, single-minded, my anger gone and my fever stilled, I wish to touch the middle Pāṇḍava, that hero, O Keśava."

11.12.14 "With the lords of the earth slain and my sons struck down, in the sons of Pāṇḍu my refuge and my affection now abide."

11.12.15 Then, weeping, he touched with his own limbs the fair-bodied Bhīma and Dhanaṃjaya and the two sons of Mādrī, those foremost of heroes among men; and comforting them, he spoke kind words to them.

11.13.1 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Then, with Dhṛtarāṣṭra's leave, those bulls among the Kurus, all the brothers together with Keśava, went forth to Gāndhārī.

11.13.2 Then Gāndhārī, the blameless one, stricken with grief for her sons, on learning that Yudhiṣṭhira the Dharma-king had slain his foes, wished to curse him.

11.13.3 Discerning her baleful intent against the Pāṇḍavas, the seer, the son of Satyavatī, had already understood it beforehand.

11.13.4 Having touched in the Gaṅgā its pure, sweet-scented water, that supreme seer, swift as thought, came to that place.

11.13.5 Seeing with his divine eye and with a mind unagitated, he there understood the inmost feeling of all living beings.

11.13.6 That great ascetic, speaker of fair words, spoke to his daughter-in-law at the fitting moment, turning aside the time of cursing and calling forth the time of peace.

11.13.7 "No wrath should be turned upon the Pāṇḍava, O Gāndhārī; attain to peace. Let this passion be restrained, and hear these words of mine.

11.13.8 For eighteen days your son, longing for victory, said to you, 'Wish me well, mother, as I fight against my foes.'

11.13.9 And you, thus entreated time and again by him who longed for victory, said, O Gāndhārī, 'Where dharma is, there is victory.'

11.13.10 Nor, O Gāndhārī, do I recall a single word once uttered by you proving false as you spoke, so resolutely fixed have you been.

11.13.11 Therefore, calling dharma to mind and that word you yourself spoke, O high-minded one, restrain your wrath, O Gāndhārī; be not thus, O speaker of truth."

11.13.12 Gāndhārī said: "Blessed one, I bear them no ill will, nor do I wish these to perish; but through grief for my sons my mind is, as it were, violently distraught."

11.13.13 "Even as the sons of Kuntī are to be guarded by Kuntī, so are they to be guarded by me; even as they are to be guarded by Dhṛtarāṣṭra, so by me.

11.13.14 Through the offense of Duryodhana, and of Śakuni the son of Subala, and of Karṇa and Duḥśāsana, has this destruction of the Kurus come to pass.

11.13.15 Bībhatsu does no wrong, nor does Pārtha Vṛkodara, nor Nakula nor Sahadeva, nor ever Yudhiṣṭhira.

11.13.16 For the Kurus, fighting and cutting one another down, were slain together with others; in that I find nothing to grieve me.

11.13.17 But that deed which the high-minded Bhīma did in the sight of Vāsudeva, when he challenged Duryodhana to combat with the mace—

11.13.18 knowing him the better in skill as he ranged in many ways through the fight, he struck him below the navel—that has swelled my wrath.

11.13.19 How could heroes ever forsake in battle, for the sake of their own lives, the dharma laid down by the great-souled knowers of dharma?"

11.14.1 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Hearing that speech of hers, Bhīmasena then, as though afraid, answered Gāndhārī with these conciliatory words.

11.14.2 "Whether it was unrighteous or righteous, it was done by me there out of fear, in my wish to save myself; for that you ought to forgive me.

11.14.3 For that mighty son of yours could not be overcome by anyone in fair fight by lawful means; therefore I acted unfairly.

11.14.4 He alone of the army was left, and valiant in combat with the mace; lest by slaying me he carry off the kingdom, this was done by me.

11.14.5 And the princess of Pāñcāla, in a single garment and in her courses—you yourself know all that your son said to her.

11.14.6 Without overpowering Suyodhana, the earth with its seas could not be ours alone to enjoy; therefore this was done by me.

11.14.7 This too your son did against us, a hateful thing, when in the midst of the assembly he bared his left thigh to Draupadī.

11.14.8 Even then that ill-conducted son of yours, O mother, deserved death at our hands; but at the Dharma-king's command we then abided by the compact.

11.14.9 That great enmity was kindled by your son, O queen, and we were continually tormented in the forest; therefore this was done by me.

11.14.10 By slaying Duryodhana in battle I have reached the far shore of this enmity; Yudhiṣṭhira has gained the kingdom, and our anger is gone."

11.14.11 Gāndhārī said: "This is no slaying of his, dear child, though you praise my son to me; and he did indeed do all that you now tell me of.

11.14.12 But when Nakula's horse had been slain by Vṛṣasena, O Bhārata, in the battle you drank the blood that sprang from Duḥśāsana's body.

11.14.13 You did a cruel deed, abhorred by the good, dreadful, such as only the ignoble practice—why this unseemly act, O Vṛkodara?"

11.14.14 Bhīmasena said: "Even another's blood is not to be drunk, how much less one's own; but as is oneself, so is a brother—there is no difference whatever.

11.14.15 The blood did not pass beyond my teeth and lips, O mother; grieve not. The son of Vivasvat knows that—only my hands were stained with blood.

11.14.16 Seeing Nakula's horse slain by Vṛṣasena in the battle, I sought thereby to strike terror into the brothers who had been exulting against us.

11.14.17 What I said in wrath when Draupadī's braid of hair was seized, brought about by the gambling, that too still abides in my heart.

11.14.18 I should have fallen from the duty of a kṣatriya for everlasting years, O queen, had I not fulfilled that vow; therefore I did the deed."

11.14.19 You ought not, Gāndhārī, to suspect me of wrongdoing, for in the past you did not restrain your sons when they offended against us who had done them no harm.

11.14.20 Gāndhārī said: Slaying the hundred sons of this aged man, you who were never vanquished—why did you not spare even one, even him whose offense was slight?

11.14.21 Why, child, was not a single staff left for us two—aged, robbed of our kingdom—the one prop of this blind pair, to continue our line?

11.14.22 Had but one remained, child, even with you the destroyer of my sons still standing, this grief would not be mine—if only you had acted according to dharma.

11.15.1 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Having spoken thus, Gāndhārī, in her wrath, tormented by the slaughter of her sons and grandsons, asked Yudhiṣṭhira: "Where is the king?"

11.15.2 The lord of kings, Yudhiṣṭhira, came toward her trembling, his palms joined in reverence, and spoke to her these gentle words:

11.15.3 "I am Yudhiṣṭhira, O queen, the cruel slayer of your sons, deserving of your curse, the cause of the earth's destruction. Curse me."

11.15.4 "I, a fool and a betrayer of friends, who have slain such kinsmen as these—I have no use for life, nor for kingdom, nor for wealth."

11.15.5 To him who spoke thus, frightened and come close before her, Gāndhārī said nothing at all, only drawing the deepest and most labored of sighs.

11.15.6 As King Yudhiṣṭhira, his body bowed low, was about to fall at her feet, the queen—knower of dharma, beholder of dharma—glimpsed the tips of his toes through the edge of her blindfold.

11.15.7 At that the king, whose nails had been comely, became deformed of nail; and Arjuna, seeing it, withdrew to take cover behind Vāsudeva.

11.15.8 As they shifted about thus, this way and that, O Bhārata, Gāndhārī, her anger now departed, consoled them like a mother.

11.15.9 Dismissed by her with her leave, those broad-chested heroes went together to their mother Pṛthā, the mother of heroes.

11.15.10 Beholding her sons after so long a time, overwhelmed by anguish for her sons, the lady let her tears flow, veiling her face with her garment.

11.15.11 Then, having wept her tears with her sons, Pṛthā saw them mangled in many places by the floods of weapons.

11.15.12 Touching her sons one by one again and again, stricken with grief she lamented; and then she saw Draupadī, the Pāñcāla princess bereft of her sons, weeping, fallen upon the ground.

11.15.13 Draupadī said: "Noble lady, where have all your grandsons gone, together with the son of Subhadrā? They do not come to you today, you whom they had not seen so long, you the patient sufferer. What use, then, is a kingdom to me, who am bereft of my sons?"

11.15.14 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: The large-eyed Pṛthā comforted her, raising up the daughter of Yajñasena as she wept, wasted with sorrow.

11.15.15 Then, together with her and followed by her sons, Pṛthā—herself more anguished still—came to the grieving Gāndhārī.

11.15.16 Then Gāndhārī, stricken with sorrow, said to that illustrious lady who had come with her daughter-in-law: "Do not grieve so, my daughter; look upon me too, who am sorrowing."

11.15.17 "I deem this destruction of the world, impelled by the turning of time, was bound to come; it has arrived of its own nature, making the hair stand on end."

11.15.18 "This has now come to pass—that great word of Vidura which the wise one spoke when Kṛṣṇa's mission of conciliation had failed."

11.15.19 "In a matter that could not be averted, and that especially is now past, do not grieve; for those who have met their death in battle are not to be mourned."

11.15.20 "As you are, so am I; and who is there to console me? For it is through my own fault that this foremost lineage has been destroyed."

11.16.1 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Having spoken thus, Gāndhārī, standing there, beheld the whole slaughter of the Kurus with her divine eye.

11.16.2 Devoted to her husband, greatly blessed, sharing in his vows, endowed with fierce austerity, ever truthful of speech—

11.16.3 by the boon of the great sage Kṛṣṇa of holy deeds, gifted with the power of divine sight, she lamented in many ways.

11.16.4 That wise lady beheld, even from afar as if it were close at hand, the battlefield of the heroes of men, wondrous and hair-raising.

11.16.5 strewn over with bones and hair, flooded with torrents of blood, scattered on every side with bodies in their many thousands;

11.16.6 covered with the blood-soaked bodies of elephants, horses, chariots, and warriors, with headless trunks and with masses of heads severed from their bodies;

11.16.7 thick with the lifeless forms of heroes among elephants, horses, and men, frequented by jackals, crows, ravens, herons, and carrion-birds;

11.16.8 a place of delight for the man-eating rākṣasas, swarming with ospreys, made to resound by ill-omened she-jackals, and haunted by vultures.

11.16.9 Then King Dhṛtarāṣṭra, with Vyāsa's leave, and all the sons of Pāṇḍu with Yudhiṣṭhira at their head,

11.16.10 placing Vāsudeva before them, together with the king whose kinsmen had been slain, joined by the women of the Kurus, set out toward the field of battle.

11.16.11 Reaching Kurukṣetra, those women whose lords had been slain saw lying there their sons, their brothers, their fathers, and their husbands, all slaughtered—

11.16.12 being devoured by beasts of prey, by jackals, ravens, and crows, by goblins, piśācas, rākṣasas, and the many kinds of night-roaming creatures.

11.16.13 Beholding then that carnage, like the playground of Rudra, the women, crying aloud, threw themselves down from their costly chariots.

11.16.14 Seeing what they had never seen before, the women of the Bharatas, stricken with grief, stumbled upon the bodies—some of them—while others fell to the ground.

11.16.15 In the women of the Pāñcālas and Kurus, exhausted and now without protectors, there remained no consciousness at all; great and pitiable was that scene.

11.16.16 As the place rang out on every side with the cries of women whose minds were shattered by grief, the knower of dharma, the daughter of Subala, gazed upon that fearful battlefield.

11.16.17 Then, addressing the lotus-eyed one, the supreme among men, and beholding the slaughter of the Kurus, she spoke out of her grief these words:

11.16.18 "Behold, lotus-eyed one, these daughters-in-law of mine, their lords slain, their hair dishevelled, shrieking like ospreys, O Mādhava!"

11.16.19 "These women, having come together and remembering the bulls of the Bhāratas, run, each apart, toward their sons, their brothers, their fathers, their husbands."

11.16.20 "The field, O mighty-armed one, is covered with mothers of heroes whose sons are slain, and here and there crowded with wives of heroes whose heroes are slain."

11.16.21 "It is adorned with those tigers among men—Bhīṣma, Karṇa, Abhimanyu, and Droṇa, Drupada, and Śalya—who are like blazing fires."

11.16.22 "It is bedecked with the golden armor, the necklaces, the gems, the armlets, the bracelets, and the garlands of those great souls."

11.16.23 "with the spears hurled from heroes' arms, with iron clubs, with swords bright and keen, and with bows still strung with arrows;"

11.16.24 "with throngs of carrion-beasts, joyful, standing together here, sporting there, and elsewhere lying at rest."

11.16.25 "Look, O hero, O lord, upon this battlefield of such a kind; and as I look, I am consumed with grief, O Janārdana."

11.16.26 "The destruction of the Pāñcālas and the Kurus, O slayer of Madhu—like that of the five elements themselves—I had never imagined."

11.16.27 "Eagles and vultures drag those blood-drenched bodies, and seizing them fiercely by their armor, devour them in their thousands."

11.16.28 "Who could have imagined the destruction of Jayadratha, of Karṇa, and likewise of Droṇa and Bhīṣma, and of Abhimanyu?"

11.16.29 "Beholding them slain, O slayer of Madhu—they who seemed as if unslayable—made the food of vultures, herons, crows, hawks, dogs, and jackals,"

11.16.30 "behold these tigers among men, who had fallen under the sway of wrath and stood under Duryodhana's command, now stilled like extinguished fires."

11.16.31 "All accustomed to beds soft and spotless, fallen now, today they lie upon the bare earth."

11.16.32 "Forever gladdened in due season by bards who sang their praises, they now hear the inauspicious, dreadful cries of the she-jackals in their many tones."

11.16.33 "Those glorious heroes who once lay upon couches, their limbs anointed with sandal and aloe, today lie in the dust."

11.16.34 "These vultures, jackals, and crows, ill-omened and dreadful, screaming again and again, tear away their ornaments."

11.16.35 "Proud in battle, they bear still, as if alive and glad, their bows, their burnished arrows, their swords, and their gleaming maces."

11.16.36 "Many of fair form and hue, mauled by the carrion-beasts, with eyes like a bull's, lie there wearing their fresh garlands."

11.16.37 "Others again, brave men whose arms were like iron bars, lie embracing their maces, turned toward them as toward beloved women."

11.16.38 "Still others bear their bright armor and their weapons, and the carrion-beasts do not assail them, thinking them alive, O Janārdana."

11.16.39 "Of other great-souled warriors, dragged about by the carrion-beasts, the bright garlands of pure gold lie scattered on every side."

11.16.40 "These dreadful jackals tear away by the thousand the necklaces that lay upon the throats of the glorious slain."

11.16.41 "Those whom the bards in every last watch of night used to gladden with their praises and with their trained and choicest attendance—"

11.16.42 "these noble women, stricken with grief, lament them piteously, O tiger of the Vṛṣṇis, sorely tormented by pain and sorrow."

11.16.43 "Like beds of red lotuses the lovely faces of those noble women shine forth, parched and withered now, O Keśava."

11.16.44 "Their weeping spent, brooding and wholly overwhelmed, these women of the Kurus, sorrowing, go now this way, now that."

11.16.45 "These faces of the women of the Kurus, of the hue of the sun and like refined gold, are flushed coppery red with anger and with weeping."

11.16.46 "Hearing one another's broken, unfinished laments and their mingled wailing, the women cannot make out the meaning of it."

11.16.47 "These women, after sighing long, after crying out and lamenting, writhing in their grief, the brave ones give up their very lives."

11.16.48 "Many, seeing the bodies, shriek and lament; and others, soft of hand, beat their heads with their hands."

11.16.49 "With fallen heads, with hands, with limbs of every kind heaped together in masses and tangled one with another, the earth lies strewn and gleaming."

11.16.50 "And seeing the headless trunks and the heads severed from their bodies—a sight that gladdens only the dreadful—the women, unused to such things, swoon away."

11.16.51 "Some, out of their senses, fitting a head to a trunk and gazing upon it, and seeing no more there, sorrow, saying, 'This is not his.'"

11.16.52 "And others, overcome with anguish, joining together the arms, thighs, and feet that arrows had hewn apart, swoon again and again."

11.16.53 "And seeing others with their heads cut off, devoured by beasts and birds, some women of the Bharatas cannot recognize their own husbands."

11.16.54 "And others beat their heads with their hands, O slayer of Madhu, beholding their brothers, fathers, sons, and husbands slain by the foe."

11.16.55 "With arms still grasping swords, with heads still bearing their earrings, the earth has become well-nigh impassable, a mire of flesh and blood."

11.16.56 "These blameless women, never before acquainted with sorrow, now plunge into grief, treading the earth that is strewn with their brothers, their fathers, and their sons."

11.16.57 Like herds of young mares, O Janārdana, behold the many throngs of Dhṛtarāṣṭra's daughters-in-law, lovely-haired women gathered together.

11.16.58 What grief could seem more bitter to me than this, O Keśava — that all these women contort themselves into such wild and pitiful shapes?

11.16.59 Surely some sin was done by me in former births, that I now look upon my slain sons, grandsons, and brothers, O Keśava. — Thus lamenting in her anguish, she beheld her own slain son.

11.17.1 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Then, beholding Duryodhana, Gāndhārī, wasted with grief, fell suddenly to the earth like a plantain tree cut down in the forest.

11.17.2 But regaining her senses, and crying out again and again, she gazed upon Duryodhana lying there drenched in blood.

11.17.3 And embracing him, Gāndhārī lamented piteously: 'Alas, alas, my son!' — wailing thus, stricken with grief, her senses overwhelmed.

11.17.4 Drenching with tears born of her eyes his broad chest with its well-hidden collarbones, adorned with necklaces and golden ornaments, and burning with sorrow, she spoke these words to Hṛṣīkeśa, who stood near at hand:

11.17.5 When this battle, the destruction of our kinsmen, was at hand, O mighty one, this best of kings, O scion of Vṛṣṇi, said to me with folded hands: 'In this clash of kinsmen, let my mother foretell me victory.'

11.17.6 When he had spoken thus, knowing well the whole coming of my ruin, I said, O tiger among men: 'Where righteousness is, there is victory.'

11.17.7 'Inasmuch as you do not falter while you fight, my son, surely you shall attain the worlds won by the sword, and dwell there like an immortal, O lord.'

11.17.8 Thus did I speak to him before; therefore I do not grieve for him, O lord. But I grieve for Dhṛtarāṣṭra, wretched and bereft of his kinsmen.

11.17.9 Behold my son, O Mādhava — unyielding, the foremost of warriors, skilled in arms, fierce in battle — now lying upon the hero's bed.

11.17.10 He who marched at the head of consecrated kings, the scorcher of foes — he now lies today in the dust. Behold the turning of time!

11.17.11 Surely the hero Duryodhana has gone to a state not easily won, for he lies thus facing forward upon the bed that heroes share.

11.17.12 He whom kings once attended and delighted as they sat about him — him, now slain and lying upon the earth, the vultures attend.

11.17.13 He whom women once fanned with the finest fans — him today the birds fan with their wings.

11.17.14 Here lies the mighty-armed one, strong and of true valor, struck down in battle by Bhīmasena as an elephant by a lion.

11.17.15 Behold Duryodhana, O Kṛṣṇa, lying drenched in blood, slain by Bhīmasena who raised high his mace, O descendant of Bharata.

11.17.16 He, the mighty-armed, who once led eleven full armies into battle, O Keśava — that very leader has now gone to his death.

11.17.17 Here lies Duryodhana, the great archer, the mighty chariot-warrior, struck down by Bhīmasena as a tiger by a lion.

11.17.18 For this ill-fated one, scorning Vidura and his own father — a foolish boy, through his contempt for his elders — has, in his folly, fallen under the power of death.

11.17.19 He whose dominion over the earth stood unrivaled for thirteen years — my son, the lord of the earth, now lies slain upon the ground.

11.17.20 I once beheld the earth, O Kṛṣṇa, under the rule of Dhṛtarāṣṭra's son, full of elephants, cattle, and horses, O scion of Vṛṣṇi — but that did not last long.

11.17.21 That same earth today, O mighty-armed one, I see under another's rule, stripped of elephants, cattle, and horses. Why, then, should I go on living, O Mādhava?

11.17.22 Behold this, more grievous even than the slaying of my son: that these women sit beside the heroes slain in battle.

11.17.23 Behold, O Kṛṣṇa, the mother of Lakṣmaṇa — her hair disheveled, fair of hip, lying in the cradle of Duryodhana's arm, radiant as a golden altar.

11.17.24 Surely this young and spirited woman, while the mighty-armed one yet lived, would once take delight resting upon the arms of him whose arms were so fair.

11.17.25 How is it that this heart of mine does not shatter into a hundred pieces, as I look upon my slain son together with his own son in the field of battle?

11.17.26 The blameless woman of lovely thighs kisses her son drenched in blood, and with her hand she wipes clean Duryodhana's body.

11.17.27 Does this spirited woman grieve for her husband or for her son? For so she appears, set thus between them, even as she gazes upon her son as well.

11.17.28 The long-eyed one strikes her own head with both her five-branched hands, then falls upon the breast of the hero, the king of the Kurus, O Mādhava.

11.17.29 Fair as a lotus, with the inner glow of a lotus, the suffering woman shines as she wipes clean the face of her son and of her husband.

11.17.30 If the sacred traditions are true, and if the scriptures speak truly, then surely this king has attained the worlds won by the strength of his arms.

11.18.1 Gāndhārī said: Behold, O Mādhava, my sons, a hundred in number, who conquered fatigue — most of them slain in battle by Bhīmasena's mace.

11.18.2 This is more bitter to me today: that these young daughters-in-law of mine, their hair loosened, their sons slain in battle, run about distraught.

11.18.3 They who once walked upon palace terraces, with feet adorned with ornaments, have come to this — that now they tread the blood-soaked earth.

11.18.4 Driving off the vultures, the jackals, and the crows, stricken with grief and reeling, they wander about as though drunk.

11.18.5 And this other, faultless of body, her waist no wider than a hand's span, beholding that dreadful slaughter, falls down overcome with grief.

11.18.6 Seeing this princess, the mother of Lakṣmaṇa, daughter of a king, O mighty-armed one, my mind finds no peace.

11.18.7 Some, beholding their brothers slain upon the ground, and others their husbands, and others their sons, these fair-armed women fall down, clasping their dead in their arms.

11.18.8 Hear, O unconquered one, the wailing of the women of middle years and of the aged, bereft of their kinsmen, amid this terrible carnage.

11.18.9 Behold, O mighty one, how they stand leaning upon the chariot-frames and the bodies of slain elephants and horses, worn out and faint with exhaustion.

11.18.10 And behold, O Kṛṣṇa, another stands holding the head of her own kinsman, severed from the body — fair with its earrings, high of nose.

11.18.11 No small sin, I think, was done in a former life, O sinless one, by these blameless women and by me of feeble wit.

11.18.12 This requital has been visited upon us through the King of Righteousness, O Janārdana; for there is no perishing, O scion of Vṛṣṇi, of deeds, whether good or evil.

11.18.13 Behold these women in the first bloom of youth, fair of breast and belly, born in noble families, full of modesty, with dark eyes, dark lashes, and dark hair.

11.18.14 Behold, O Mādhava, how, their voices once soft and faltering as a swan's, now bewildered by pain and grief, they have fallen down, crying out like cranes.

11.18.15 The blameless faces of these women, bright as full-blown lotuses, O lotus-eyed one — the sun, with its rays now bringing only sorrow, scorches them.

11.18.16 The harem of my jealous sons, proud as rutting elephants and guarded close, O Vāsudeva, common men now gaze upon today.

11.18.17 Their shields blazoned with a hundred moons, their banners radiant as the sun, their golden coats of mail, and their golden ornaments —

11.18.18 and these helmets of my sons upon the ground — behold them, O Govinda, blazing like well-fed sacrificial fires.

11.18.19 Here lies Duḥśāsana, his every limb drained of blood, struck down by the valiant Bhīmasena, slayer of foes.

11.18.20 Behold my son, O Mādhava, slain by that hero-slaying mace — by Bhīma, who remembered the torments of the dice and was spurred on by Draupadī.

11.18.21 For by this man was Pāñcālī addressed in the assembly hall, when she had been won at dice — by one wishing to please his brother and Karṇa, O Janārdana:

11.18.22 'Together with Sahadeva, with Nakula, and with Arjuna, you are the wife of slaves, O Pāñcālī; enter our house at once.'

11.18.23 Then I said, O Kṛṣṇa, to King Duryodhana, ensnared in the noose of death: 'My son, forsake Śakuni.'

11.18.24 'Know this uncle of yours for a man of evil counsel, a lover of strife. Cast him off at once, my son, and make peace with the Pāṇḍavas.'

11.18.25 'You do not understand, O foolish one, the unforgiving Bhīmasena, whom you goad with sharp arrows of words as one torments an elephant with firebrands.'

11.18.26 But he, fierce and cruel, holding fast to those barbs of speech, poured out his venom upon them, as a serpent upon cattle.

11.18.27 Here lies Duḥśāsana, his two broad arms flung wide, slain by Bhīmasena as a great bull by a lion.

11.18.28 Bhīmasena, exceedingly unforgiving, wrought a deed most savage: that, enraged, he drank the blood of Duḥśāsana in battle.

11.19.1 Gāndhārī said: Here, O Mādhava, my son Vikarṇa, honored by the wise, lies slain upon the ground, hewn into a hundred pieces by Bhīma.

11.19.2 Vikarṇa lies amid the elephants, O slayer of Madhu, like the autumn sun encircled by a dark cloud.

11.19.3 This great hand of his, calloused from gripping the bow and still wearing its leather guard, the vultures, eager to devour it, can scarcely tear apart.

11.19.4 His young wife, the poor suffering girl, ceaselessly drives off these vultures that hunger for his flesh, yet she cannot prevail, O Mādhava.

11.19.5 Young, noble, and valiant, Vikarṇa, a bull among men, accustomed to comfort and deserving of comfort, now lies in the dust, O Mādhava.

11.19.6 Though his vital points were pierced in battle by barbed shafts, reed-arrows, and iron darts, even now beauty does not forsake him, this best of Bharata's line.

11.19.7 Here lies Durmukha, slayer of hosts of foes, slain in battle as he faced the foe — struck down by a hero of the field who was keeping his vow.

11.19.8 This face of his, O Kṛṣṇa, half-devoured by beasts of prey, yet shines all the more, my dear, like the moon on the seventh night.

11.19.9 A hero whose face in battle was such as this, O Kṛṣṇa — how could my son have been slain by his enemies, and now lies devouring the dust?

11.19.10 He against whom, O gentle one, none could stand firm at the forefront of battle — how was Durmukha, who could win the world of the gods, slain by his foes?

11.19.11 Behold this son of Dhṛtarāṣṭra, Citrasena, slain and lying upon the ground, O slayer of Madhu — he who was the very measure of all bowmen.

11.19.12 Him, with his bright garlands and ornaments, young women wasted with grief attend, weeping, together with the gathered beasts of prey.

11.19.13 The wailing of the women and the howling of the wild beasts — this strange spectacle, O Kṛṣṇa, appears to me wondrous and terrible.

11.19.14 That Viviṃśati, young and noble, ever attended by the loveliest of women, now lies cast down in the dust, O Mādhava.

11.19.15 Vultures, a score and more, sit ringed about the hero Viviṃśati, his armor shredded by arrows, slain in the carnage.

11.19.16 The hero, having charged into the army of the Pāṇḍavas in battle, lies now upon the bed that befits a man of valor.

11.19.17 Behold, O Kṛṣṇa, the exceedingly fair face of Viviṃśati — graced with a smile, finely nosed, fair of brow, like the lord of stars, the moon.

11.19.18 He whom the women of Vāsava once attended like a Vasu, even as celestial maidens by the thousand attend a sporting gandharva —

11.19.19 the slayer of heroic armies, the valiant one, resplendent in the assembly of war, the destroyer of foes — who could have withstood this unbearable warrior?

11.19.20 This body of the indomitable one, sheathed in arrows, shines like a mountain covered with its own flowering karṇikāra trees in full bloom.

11.19.21 With his golden garland and his gleaming armor he shines like a white mountain crowned with fire; though his life has fled, he is hard to look upon, unconquerable still.

11.20.1 Gāndhārī said: Him whom they declared, O Mādhava, to surpass by half his father and you yourself, O Dāśārha, in strength and in valor — fierce as a proud, towering lion —

11.20.2 who alone shattered my son's army that none could pierce — he, having become death to others, has himself passed into the power of death.

11.20.3 Even now, O Kṛṣṇa, I see that the radiance of Abhimanyu, son of Arjuna, of immeasurable splendor, does not fade though he is slain.

11.20.4 This daughter of Virāṭa, the daughter-in-law of the wielder of Gāṇḍīva — a young girl, grief-stricken and blameless, pitiable herself — mourns her hero husband.

11.20.5 For drawing close to him, O Kṛṣṇa, this wife, the daughter of Virāṭa, strokes her husband beside her with her hand.

11.20.6 Kissing the face of the son of Subhadrā, that glorious woman — his face shaped like a full-blown lotus, his neck rounded like a conch —

11.20.7 and this lovely, desirable woman embraces him, bashful as before, as if swooning with the wine of love.

11.20.8 Loosening his gold-adorned armor, smeared with blood, O Kṛṣṇa, she gazes upon his body.

11.20.9 Gazing upon him, the young girl speaks to you, O Kṛṣṇa: 'Here, O lotus-eyed one, lies struck down he whose eyes were the equal of yours.'

11.20.10 'Your equal in strength and valor and splendor, O sinless one, and surpassingly like you in beauty, he lies cast down upon the earth.'

11.20.11 'You who were so very delicate, who lay on the finest deerskin spreads — does your body now feel no anguish upon the bare ground?'

11.20.12 'You lie flinging out your two broad arms, thick as an elephant's trunk, their skin hardened by the bowstring's snap, banded with gold.'

11.20.13 'Surely, having labored long in many ways, you sleep at ease as if from weariness; for thus to me, lamenting and stricken, you make no answer.'

11.20.14 'O noble one, abandoning the noble Subhadrā, and these your fathers who are like the gods, and me too, worn with grief — where will you go?'

11.20.15 Lifting his blood-soaked hair with her hand and laying his face in her lap, she questions him as though he lived — the sister's son of Vāsudeva, the son of the wielder of Gāṇḍīva:

11.20.16 'How did these great chariot-warriors slay you as you stood in the thick of battle? Shame upon those cruel doers — Kṛpa, Karṇa, Jayadratha,'

11.20.17 'and Droṇa and the son of Droṇa, both — those by whom you were brought to ruin! What then was the conscience of all those bulls among chariot-warriors?'

11.20.18 'They surrounded you, a lone boy, and slew you to my sorrow. How, O hero, before the very eyes of the Pāṇḍavas and the Pāñcālas, did you meet your death — protected, yet as though you had no protector?'

11.20.19 'Having seen you slain by many in the battle's roar, as though defenseless, how does the heroic Pāṇḍava, that tiger among men, go on living?'

11.20.20 'Not the winning of a vast kingdom, nor the rout of their foes, will give joy to the sons of Pṛthā without you, O lotus-eyed one.'

11.20.21 'To those worlds you have won by your weapons, by righteousness and self-restraint, I shall swiftly follow you — wait for me there.'

11.20.22 'Hard it is for anyone to die before the appointed hour has come — for I, ill-fated, still live, though I have seen you slain in battle.'

11.20.23 'What other woman, O tiger among men, meeting her in the world of the fathers, will you now address as you addressed me, with smiling, gentle speech?'

11.20.24 'Surely in heaven you will set the hearts of the apsarases astir with your surpassing beauty and your smiling words.'

11.20.25 'Having gained the worlds of those who have done good deeds, joined with the apsarases, sporting there in time, O son of Subhadrā, remember my devotion to you.'

11.20.26 'Only this much fellowship with me was ordained for you here: six months, and in the seventh, O hero, you went to your death.'

11.20.27 As she spoke these words, grief-stricken and her hopes brought to nothing, the women of the house of the Matsya king draw Uttarā away.

11.20.28 Drawing away the stricken Uttarā, themselves more stricken still, they cry aloud and lament when they behold Virāṭa slain.

11.20.29 Virāṭa lies torn by the arrows of Droṇa's weapon, drenched in blood, and these vultures, jackals, and crows tear at him.

11.20.30 As Virāṭa is torn by the birds, the dark-eyed women, helpless and distraught, are unable to drive them off.

11.20.31 From these women, scorched by the sun and pale with toil and weariness, the bloom of their beauty has fled.

11.20.32 Behold these youths slain — Uttara and Abhimanyu and Sudakṣiṇa the Kāmboja — and behold too the fair Lakṣmaṇa lying amid the forefront of the battlefield, O Mādhava.

11.21.1 Gāndhārī said: Here lies Vaikartana, the mighty archer, the great chariot-warrior, who blazed in battle like a kindled fire, now quenched by the splendor of Pārtha.

11.21.2 Behold Karṇa, son of the Sun, who slew many supreme warriors — his limbs awash with floods of blood, fallen and lying upon the ground.

11.21.3 Impatient of insult and long-wrathful, the mighty archer, the great chariot-warrior, that hero lies slain in battle by the wielder of Gāṇḍīva.

11.21.4 He whom my sons, the great chariot-warriors, set before them and fought behind, in their dread of the Pāṇḍavas, as elephants rally behind the leader of the herd —

11.21.5 struck down in battle by Savyasācin as a tiger is struck down by a lion, as a rutting elephant is felled by another elephant.

11.21.6 His wives, gathered round, O tiger among men, their hair disheveled, weeping, sit beside the hero slain in battle.

11.21.7 He on whose account the Dharma-king Yudhiṣṭhira was forever troubled, and for thirteen years, brooding, could not find sleep —

11.21.8 unassailable by his foes in battle, like Maghavan among his enemies; blazing like the fire at the end of an age; steadfast as the Himālaya —

11.21.9 that hero, having become the refuge of Dhṛtarāṣṭra's son, O Mādhava, lies slain upon the earth like a tree broken by the wind.

11.21.10 Behold the wife of Karṇa, the mother of Vṛṣasena, wailing piteously, weeping, fallen to the ground.

11.21.11 Surely the teacher's curse pursued you, in that this earth swallowed your chariot-wheel; and then your head was carried off by Dhanaṃjaya's arrow in battle, amid the foe.

11.21.12 Alas! Beholding the mighty-armed Karṇa of undaunted spirit, his breast-plate bound with gold, the mother of Suṣeṇa, weeping and sorely stricken, has fallen senseless.

11.21.13 For little is left of that great soul, devoured by the eaters of corpses; he is no gladdening sight to look upon, like the moon on the fourteenth day of the dark fortnight.

11.21.14 Rolling on the earth and fallen down, then rising again, wretched, she kisses Karṇa's face and wails aloud, tormented by the slaying of her son.

11.22.1 Gāndhārī said: The vultures and jackals devour the Āvantya hero, struck down by Bhīmasena — he who had many kinsmen, now as though he had none.

11.22.2 Behold him, O slayer of Madhu, who wrought havoc among his foes, now lying on the bed of heroes, drenched in blood.

11.22.3 Jackals and herons and flesh-eaters of every kind drag him this way and that — behold the turning of Time.

11.22.4 As he lies on the bed of heroes — that hero who pressed forward through the battle's din — the women sit weeping around the Āvantya on every side.

11.22.5 Behold the wise Bāhlika, descendant of Pratīpa, the mighty archer, slain by a broad-headed arrow, O Kṛṣṇa, like a tiger fallen fast asleep.

11.22.6 Even though he is slain, the color of his face shines exceedingly, like the full moon risen on the night of the full moon.

11.22.7 Burning with grief for his son and keeping his vow, the son of the Chastiser of Pāka struck down in battle the son of Vṛddhakṣatra.

11.22.8 Though guarded by that great soul who, having conquered eleven armies, sought to make his vow come true — behold this Jayadratha slain.

11.22.9 The jackals and vultures devour Jayadratha, lord of the Sindhus and the Sauvīras, full of pride and high of spirit, O Janārdana.

11.22.10 Though guarded by his loving wives, O Acyuta, they snarl and drag him off from close at hand into a deep thicket.

11.22.11 These women sit about that mighty-armed one, guarding him — the women of the Sindhus, the Sauvīras, the Gāndhāras, the Kāmbojas, and the Yavanas.

11.22.12 From the very moment he seized Kṛṣṇā and fled with the Kekayas, Jayadratha was doomed to be slain by the Pāṇḍavas, O Janārdana.

11.22.13 But when Jayadratha was let go out of regard for Duḥśalā, how is it, O Kṛṣṇa, that they did not again show her that same regard today?

11.22.14 There is my young daughter, wailing in deepest grief, who would do herself to death and reviles the Pāṇḍavas.

11.22.15 What greater sorrow than this could befall me, O Kṛṣṇa — that my young daughter is widowed, and my daughters-in-law have lost their lords?

11.22.16 Alas! Behold Duḥśalā, as though emptied of all grief and fear, running this way and that, not finding her husband's head.

11.22.17 He who held off all the Pāṇḍavas, greedy for their sons' victory, having slain vast armies, has himself passed into the power of death.

11.22.18 Around that hero, all but unconquerable, like a rutting elephant, these women with faces fair as the moon stand weeping.

11.23.1 Gāndhārī said: Here lies Śalya slain, Nakula's own maternal uncle, O child, struck down in battle by the righteous, true-hearted Dharma-king.

11.23.2 He who ever contended with you in all things, O bull among men — there lies the king of the Madras, the great chariot-warrior, slain.

11.23.3 He who, taking the reins of the son of Adhiratha's chariot in battle, O child, thus brought low his splendor for the sake of the victory of Pāṇḍu's sons —

11.23.4 Alas! Behold Śalya's face, fair to look upon as the full moon, its eyes like lotus petals, pecked at by crows yet unwounded.

11.23.5 And the tongue of him whose hue was like gold, gleaming like refined gold, lolling out from his mouth, is being eaten by the birds, O Kṛṣṇa.

11.23.6 Around Śalya, the ornament of the assembly, slain by Yudhiṣṭhira, the women of the house of the Madra king sit weeping.

11.23.7 These kṣatriya women in finest raiment, drawing near to the Madra king, that bull among men, that bull among kṣatriyas, cry aloud.

11.23.8 The women stand surrounding the fallen Śalya on every side, like lowing young cows around a bull sunk fast in the mire.

11.23.9 Behold this Śalya, the hero who granted refuge, that best of chariot-warriors, lying on the bed of heroes, torn to pieces by arrows.

11.23.10 Here lies the mighty King Bhagadatta, dweller in the mountains, foremost among wielders of the elephant-goad, struck down upon the earth.

11.23.11 Upon his head this garland of gold still gleams, seeming to adorn the hair of him whom the beasts of prey devour.

11.23.12 With him, they say, Pārtha waged a most terrible battle, hair-raising and utterly fierce, like Śakra's war with Bali.

11.23.13 This mighty-armed one, having given battle to Pārtha Dhanaṃjaya and brought him to the brink of doubt, was felled by the son of Kuntī.

11.23.14 He who has no equal in all the world for prowess and for valor — there lies Bhīṣma slain, who wrought terrible deeds in battle.

11.23.15 Behold, O Kṛṣṇa, the son of Śaṃtanu lying there, radiant as the sun, cast down as the sun is cast from the sky by Time at the ending of an age.

11.23.16 This valiant one, having scorched his foes in battle with the heat of his weapons, this sun among men now goes to his setting, O Keśava, as the sun goes to its setting.

11.23.17 Behold the hero who has gone to his bed of arrows, the equal of Devāpi in righteousness, lying upon the warrior's couch that is the haunt of brave men.

11.23.18 Having strewn his lordly couch with barbed shafts, nālīka darts, and iron arrows, he lies upon it, like the divine Skanda couched amid the reed-thicket of his birth.

11.23.19 The son of Gaṅgā rests his head upon no pillow stuffed with down, but upon a fine bolster of three arrows given to him by the wielder of the Gāṇḍīva bow.

11.23.20 Keeping his father's command, of seed drawn upward and of mighty fame, this son of Śaṃtanu lies here, O Mādhava, who had no equal in war.

11.23.21 Righteous of soul, my dear one, knowing the law and its decision by the lineage of tradition, though mortal he held to his life-breaths as though he were a deathless one.

11.23.22 There is none now skilled in war, none learned, none of prowess, since Bhīṣma the son of Śaṃtanu lies slain this day by his foes.

11.23.23 By this hero himself, the knower of the law, the speaker of truth, when the Pāṇḍavas questioned him, the manner of his own death in battle was told.

11.23.24 He by whom the perished line of Kuru was once again raised up, that man of vast wisdom has gone, together with the Kurus, to ruin.

11.23.25 Whom now, O Mādhava, shall the Kurus question concerning matters of the law, when Devavrata, that bull among men, godlike in nature, has gone to heaven?

11.23.26 Behold him fallen, Droṇa, the teacher who trained Arjuna and Sātyaki alike, the most excellent of the Kurus' preceptors.

11.23.27 The fourfold science of weapons he knew, even as the lord of the thirty gods knows it, or as the mighty descendant of Bhṛgu knew it; such was Droṇa too, O Mādhava.

11.23.28 He by whose grace Bībhatsu the Pāṇḍava wrought his deeds hard to accomplish lies slain; his own weapons did not protect him.

11.23.29 He whom the Kurus set at their head when they challenged the Pāṇḍavas, that same Droṇa, foremost of weapon-bearers, has been cut apart by weapons.

11.23.30 He whose course, as he burned the army, was like the course of fire, lies slain upon the earth like a flame whose blaze has died away.

11.23.31 His bow, his grip undecayed, and the leather guard upon his hand, O Mādhava, are seen upon Droṇa even slain, as if he yet lived.

11.23.32 From this hero the four Vedas and all the weapons have not departed, O Keśava, even as in the beginning they did not depart from Prajāpati.

11.23.33 These his two fair feet, worthy of homage, praised by bards, honored by hundreds of his pupils, the jackals now drag about.

11.23.34 Beside Droṇa, slain by the son of Drupada, O slayer of Madhu, Kṛpī sits in piteous grief, her senses overborne by sorrow.

11.23.35 Behold her, weeping and anguished, her hair unbound, her face cast down, attending upon her slain husband Droṇa, best of those who bear arms.

11.23.36 Beside Droṇa, his armor pierced through by the arrows of Dhṛṣṭadyumna, O Keśava, sits she upon the field, her hair matted, faithful and chaste.

11.23.37 And Kṛpī, delicate and renowned, stricken and forlorn, strives to perform the funeral rites of her lord slain in battle.

11.23.38 Bringing the sacred fires as the rite ordains and kindling the pyre on every side, the chanters of the Sāman lay Droṇa upon it and sing the three Sāman melodies.

11.23.39 And these matted-haired celibate students heap the pyre with bows, with spears, and with the framework-seats of chariots, O Mādhava.

11.23.40 And with diverse other weapons they will burn that man of abundant splendor; having laid Droṇa down, they both chant his praises and weep.

11.23.41 And others sing his praises with the three Sāman chants set within, as though laying fire upon fire, offering Droṇa as oblation into the eater of offerings.

11.23.42 Then the twice-born pupils of Droṇa go toward the Gaṅgā, keeping the pyre on their right hand and setting Kṛpī before them.

11.24.1 Gāndhārī said: Behold the son of Somadatta, struck down by Yuyudhāna, his body torn by many birds there beside Mādhava.

11.24.2 Consumed by grief for his son, Somadatta, O Janārdana, is seen as though reproaching the great archer Yuyudhāna.

11.24.3 And there the blameless mother of Bhūriśravas, drowned in sorrow, seeks to console her husband Somadatta.

11.24.4 "By fortune, great king, you do not look upon this terrible destruction of the Bharatas, this dreadful wailing of the Kurus, this ending of an age."

11.24.5 "By fortune you do not this day behold slain your heroic son, whose banner bore the sacrificial post, giver of many thousands, performer of many sacrifices."

11.24.6 "By fortune, great king, you do not hear amid the outcry of your daughters-in-law their many dreadful laments, like the cries of cranes upon the ocean."

11.24.7 Wrapped in a single garment, their dark hair flying loose, your daughters-in-law run about, their children slain and their lords slain.

11.24.8 Ah, by fortune you do not see him devoured by beasts of prey, that tiger among men, his arm severed, struck down by Arjuna.

11.24.9 Śala slain in battle, and Bhūriśravas too, and all your daughters-in-law made widows: by fortune you do not behold them here this day.

11.24.10 By fortune you do not see that golden parasol of the high-souled one whose banner bore the sacrificial post, flung down upon the chariot-seat of Somadatta's son.

11.24.11 And there the dark-eyed wives of Bhūriśravas, gathered round their husband slain by Sātyaki, grieve over him.

11.24.12 Wailing long and wasted with grief for their husband, they fall forward upon the earth, piteously, alas, O Keśava.

11.24.13 How did Bībhatsu do this most loathsome deed, that he should sever the arm of an unguarded hero, a man of sacrifice?

11.24.14 And Sātyaki wrought a deed yet more wicked than that, in that he struck down one who, his soul resolved, had sat himself down to die by abstention.

11.24.15 "One, you who were righteous, were slain by two through unrighteousness, and so you lie": thus, O Mādhava, do the women of him whose banner bore the sacrificial post cry out.

11.24.16 This wife of him whose banner bore the sacrificial post, her waist no wider than a hand may span, laying her husband's arm upon her lap, piteously lamented:

11.24.17 "This is that hand which would loosen my girdle, which would press my full breasts, which would touch my navel, my thighs, my hips, and slip away the knot of my robe."

11.24.18 "In the very presence of Vāsudeva, by Pārtha of untiring deeds, was he struck down while he fought another in the field, off his guard."

11.24.19 "What now, O Janārdana, will you tell in the assemblies and the tales of Arjuna's great deed, or what will the diademed one himself say of it?"

11.24.20 Having thus reproached him, that fair-limbed woman falls silent; and her co-wives grieve for her as for their own daughter-in-law.

11.24.21 Śakuni, king of Gāndhāra, mighty and true in valor, has been slain by his sister's son Sahadeva — the uncle by the nephew.

11.24.22 He who once was fanned with two fans on golden staves now lies there and is fanned by the wings of birds.

11.24.23 He who would take on shapes by the hundred and by the thousand — the illusions of that master of illusion have been burned away by the splendor of the Pāṇḍavas.

11.24.24 He whose cunning skill in deceit won from Yudhiṣṭhira his vast kingdom in the assembly hall through trickery has now in turn been won out of his very life.

11.24.25 The birds, O Kṛṣṇa, gather all about Śakuni, that gambler schooled for the destruction of my sons.

11.24.26 By him was this great enmity kindled with the Pāṇḍavas, for the slaying of my sons, and of himself, and of all his kin.

11.24.27 As the worlds were won by the sword for my sons, O lord, so too for this evil-minded one have the worlds been won by the sword.

11.24.28 And how, O slayer of Madhu, may this crooked one not even there set my straight-minded sons at strife with their brothers?

11.25.1 Gāndhārī said: Behold the unassailable Kāmboja, accustomed to coverlets of Kāmboja make, lying slain in the dust, his shoulders broad as a bull's, O Mādhava.

11.25.2 Gazing upon his two arms, smeared with blood and anointed with sandal, his wife, stricken with utmost grief, laments piteously.

11.25.3 "These are those two arms, like iron bars, their palms and fingers fair, in whose embrace, when I came to it, delight never of old forsook me."

11.25.4 "To what refuge shall I go now, bereft of you, O lord of men?" — so cries she of voice exceedingly sweet, her kinsfolk far away, like one without a protector.

11.25.5 Like garlands of many kinds wilting in the heat, the women too are wearied; yet even so their beauty does not forsake their bodies.

11.25.6 Behold the hero of Kaliṅga lying near at hand, O slayer of Madhu, his great arms clasped with a pair of gleaming armlets.

11.25.7 Behold the women of Magadha, O Janārdana, gathered weeping round Jayatsena, the lord of the Māgadhas.

11.25.8 The wail of these wide-eyed, sweet-voiced women, O Janārdana, ravishing both heart and hearing, seems to bewilder my very mind.

11.25.9 Their every ornament scattered, weeping, wasted with grief, the women of Magadha, who once had well-spread couches, now lie upon the bare ground.

11.25.10 Round Bṛhadbala, the prince and lord of the Kosalas, their husband, these women stand and weep, each apart.

11.25.11 Filled with anguish, they draw forth the arrows lodged in his limbs, driven there by the might of Kṛṣṇa's son's arm, swooning again and again.

11.25.12 The faces of these wholly faultless women, weary with the heat and toil, shine like faded lotuses, O Mādhava.

11.25.13 Slain by Droṇa, the heroes lie there with their splendid armlets, all five Kekaya brothers, fallen facing Droṇa.

11.25.14 Clad in mail of refined gold, with banners of copper hue and chariot-garlands, they light up the earth with their radiance, like blazing fires.

11.25.15 Behold Drupada struck down by Droṇa in the battle, O Mādhava, like a great elephant of the forest slain by a mighty lion.

11.25.16 The broad white parasol of the Pāñcāla king, O lotus-eyed one, shines forth like the sun in the autumn sky.

11.25.17 And these grieving daughters-in-law and wives, having burned aged Drupada, the Pāñcāla king, go round him keeping him on their left.

11.25.18 The women, their senses bereft, bear away the hero Dhṛṣṭaketu, the great archer, that bull of the Cedis, slain by Droṇa.

11.25.19 Having struck back against Droṇa's weapon in the press of battle, O slayer of Madhu, this great archer lies slain, like a tree carried away by a river.

11.25.20 This brave lord of the Cedis, Dhṛṣṭaketu, the mighty chariot-warrior, lies slain in the battle, having slain his foes by the thousand.

11.25.21 Around him, his body torn by birds, his wives stand gathered, O Hṛṣīkeśa — round the king of the Cedis, slain together with his forces and his kinsmen.

11.25.22 These fair women of the Cedi king's household, taking upon their laps the hero born of the Dāśārha woman's son, true in valor, as he lies there, weep aloud.

11.25.23 Behold his son, O Hṛṣīkeśa, fair of face and wearing lovely earrings, cut to pieces in the battle by Droṇa's arrows.

11.25.24 Surely, even to this day, O slayer of Madhu, the brave youth did not forsake the rear of his father, who stood in the fray fighting against his foes.

11.25.25 So too, O mighty-armed one, the son of my son followed his father: Lakṣmaṇa, slayer of enemy heroes, went after Duryodhana.

11.25.26 Behold, O Mādhava, Vinda and Anuvinda, the two princes of Avanti, fallen — like a pair of sāla trees in bloom at winter's end, brought down by the wind.

11.25.27 Armored, with golden armlets, bearers of arrow, sword, and bow, their eyes like a bull's, they lie there still, their garlands yet unstained.

11.25.28 Unslayable were the Pāṇḍavas, O Kṛṣṇa, every one of them, with you beside them — they who escaped Droṇa and Bhīṣma, Karṇa son of the Sun, and Kṛpa,

11.25.29 Duryodhana, the son of Droṇa, the lord of Sindhu, that great chariot-warrior, Somadatta, Vikarṇa, and the valiant Kṛtavarman — those bulls among men who by the force of their weapons could have struck down even the gods.

11.25.30 Yet here they lie, slain in battle — behold the turning of Time. Surely, O Mādhava, no burden is too heavy for fate, since these heroes, these bulls among the Kṣatriyas, have been slain by Kṣatriyas.

11.25.31 My swift and valiant sons were as good as slain, O Kṛṣṇa, on that very day when you returned to Upaplavya with your purpose unachieved.

11.25.32 On that day Śaṃtanu's son and wise Vidura both told me: 'Do not set your love upon your own sons.'

11.25.33 Their foresight, my child, could not prove false: in but a little while my sons have been reduced to ashes, O Janārdana.

11.25.34 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Having spoken thus, Gāndhārī, wasted by grief, her senses shattered by sorrow, abandoned her composure and fell to the ground, O Bhārata.

11.25.35 Then Gāndhārī, her whole body seized by anger, drowned in grief for her sons, her senses tormented, turned in reproach upon the scion of the Śūras.

11.25.36 Gāndhārī said: The Pāṇḍavas and the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra wronged one another, O Kṛṣṇa. Why then, O Janārdana, did you stand by and let them destroy themselves?

11.25.37 You were able, with many retainers, standing amid a vast host, with power over both sides, and your word was heeded —

11.25.38 yet the ruin of the Kurus you let pass by, willingly, O slayer of Madhu. Since you did so, O mighty-armed one, reap now its fruit.

11.25.39 By whatever austerity I have gathered through devotion to my husband, by that, O you whose self is so hard to win, I will curse you, O bearer of discus and mace.

11.25.40 Because you stood by, O Govinda, while the kinsmen — Kurus and Pāṇḍavas alike — slew one another, you yourself shall slay your kinsmen.

11.25.41 You too, O slayer of Madhu, when the thirty-sixth year arrives — your kinsmen slain, your counselors slain, your sons slain — wandering in the forest, shall meet your death by a contemptible means.

11.25.42 And your women too, their sons slain, their kinsmen and friends struck down, shall fall about in just this way, as these women of the Bharatas do now.

11.25.43 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Hearing those dreadful words, the great-minded Vāsudeva spoke to the lady Gāndhārī, smiling faintly:

11.25.44 None other than I is the destroyer of the host of the Vṛṣṇis, O gracious lady. This I already know; yet you do but accomplish what is fated, O Kṣatriya woman.

11.25.45 They cannot be slain by any other men, nor by gods nor demons; therefore the Yādavas shall meet a ruin wrought by their own hands upon one another.

11.25.46 When the lord of the Dāśārhas had spoken thus, the Pāṇḍavas grew sick at heart, deeply shaken, and despaired even of life.

11.26.1 Vāsudeva said: Rise, rise up, Gāndhārī, and do not set your mind on grief. For it was through your own fault that the Kurus went to their destruction.

11.26.2 You who, setting your evil-souled, envious, overweening son Duryodhana before all, deemed wrongdoing to be right —

11.26.3 he who was cruel, harsh in his enmity, defiant of the counsel of his elders — how can you wish to lay upon me the fault of your own making?

11.26.4 Whoever grieves over what is past — the dead or the lost — gains but sorrow through sorrow, and falls into a twofold misfortune.

11.26.5 A Brāhmaṇa woman bears her child for austerity, a cow her calf to bear burdens, a mare hers to run, a Śūdra woman bears a servant and a Vaiśya woman a herdsman — but a king's daughter such as you bears her son for slaughter.

11.26.6 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Hearing again these unwelcome words of Vāsudeva, Gāndhārī fell silent, her eyes troubled with grief.

11.26.7 But Dhṛtarāṣṭra, the royal sage, righteous of soul, having restrained the darkness born of unwisdom, questioned Yudhiṣṭhira, the king of righteousness:

11.26.8 You know the count of the living among the armies, O Pāṇḍava. If you know the count of the slain as well, tell it to me.

11.26.9 Yudhiṣṭhira said: One billion six hundred and sixty million and twenty thousand are they who have been slain in this battle of kings.

11.26.10 And of the heroes whose fate is unknown, there are twenty-four thousand, O lord of kings, and one hundred and sixty-five besides.

11.26.11 Dhṛtarāṣṭra said: Yudhiṣṭhira, to what state have those best of men gone? Tell me, O mighty-armed one, for I hold you to be all-knowing.

11.26.12 Yudhiṣṭhira said: Those who, exulting, offered up their bodies in that supreme conflict — those of true valor have gone to worlds equal to the realm of the king of the gods.

11.26.13 But those who fought thinking gloomily, 'I must die,' O Bhārata, and so were slain in battle — they have joined the company of the Gandharvas.

11.26.14 Those who, standing on the field of battle, met their death by the weapon while begging or turning their backs in flight — they have gone among the Guhyakas.

11.26.15 Those great souls who, hard pressed by the foe, deserted and weaponless, yet restrained by shame, faced their enemies in the fray —

11.26.16 those heroes of bright splendor, hewn by sharp weapons, devoted to the law of the warrior, when slain have gone to the abode of Brahmā.

11.26.17 Those who were slain there, O king, somewhere in the midst of the battle — they, O king, have attained the Northern Kurus.

11.26.18 Dhṛtarāṣṭra said: By what power of knowledge, my son, do you see all this as one perfected? Tell me, O mighty-armed one, if it may be heard by me.

11.26.19 Yudhiṣṭhira said: Long ago, at your command, as I wandered through the forest on a pilgrimage to the sacred fords, this grace was won by me.

11.26.20 There I beheld the divine sage Lomaśa, and through him I gained the power of recollection; and the divine eye too I obtained long ago through the discipline of knowledge.

11.26.21 Dhṛtarāṣṭra said: Among these people, O Bhārata, are those who have kinsmen and those who have none. Will their bodies be burned according to rite?

11.26.22 For those who have none to perform the rites, and those who tended no sacred fire — for whom among such a multitude shall we perform them, my son, so great is the work?

11.26.23 Those whom the great birds and the vultures drag this way and that — even for them, by their own deeds, the worlds shall be won, O Yudhiṣṭhira.

11.26.24 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Thus addressed, the deeply wise Yudhiṣṭhira, son of Kuntī, gave command to Sudharman, to Dhaumya, to the charioteer Saṃjaya,

11.26.25 and to Vidura of great wisdom, and to Yuyutsu the Kaurava, and to the servants and charioteers headed by Indrasena, all of them together:

11.26.26 Let your honors have the funeral rites of these performed in full, so that no body shall perish unattended, as though it had no kin.

11.26.27 At the command of the king of righteousness, the steward Vidura, the charioteer Saṃjaya, Sudharman together with Dhaumya, and Indrasena and the rest,

11.26.28 gathering sandalwood and aloeswood and fragrant timber, clarified butter and oil and perfumes, and garments of fine linen,

11.26.29 and costly heaps of firewood, and the shattered chariots there, and weapons of every kind,

11.26.30 made the pyres with care and, calmly, by the rite prescribed in scripture, had the foremost of the kings cremated.

11.26.31 King Duryodhana and his brothers, more than a hundred of them, Śalya and King Śala, and Bhūriśravas as well,

11.26.32 and King Jayadratha and Abhimanyu, O Bhārata, the son of Duḥśāsana, and Lakṣmaṇa, and King Dhṛṣṭaketu,

11.26.33 Bṛhanta and Somadatta and more than a hundred of the Sṛñjayas, King Kṣemadhanvan, and Virāṭa and Drupada too,

11.26.34 Śikhaṇḍin the Pāñcāla and Dhṛṣṭadyumna son of Pṛṣata, and the valiant Yudhāmanyu and Uttamaujas as well,

11.26.35 the prince of Kosala and the sons of Draupadī, and Śakuni son of Subala, Acala and Vṛṣaka, and King Bhagadatta,

11.26.36 and the wrathful Karṇa, son of the Sun, together with his sons, and the Kekayas, those mighty archers, and the Trigartas, those great chariot-warriors,

11.26.37 and Ghaṭotkaca, lord of the Rākṣasas, the brother of Baka, and King Alambusa, and King Jalasaṃdha,

11.26.38 and other kings, O king, by the hundreds and the thousands — all these they had burned with blazing fires fed by streams of clarified butter.

11.26.39 For some of those great souls the rites for the fathers were performed; some were chanted over with hymns of the Sāman, and over others the mourners lamented.

11.26.40 With the sound of the Sāman and the Ṛc verses, and the weeping cries of the women, a swooning faintness came upon all beings in the night.

11.26.41 Those fires, smokeless, kindled and blazing, appeared as planets in the sky veiled by a thin haze of cloud.

11.26.42 And those who were without kin there, come together from many lands — gathering them all and heaping them in piles by the thousands,

11.26.43 Vidura, unhurried, having stacked them with abundant wood soaked in oil, had them burned at the command of the king of righteousness.

11.26.44 When he had had their rites performed, Yudhiṣṭhira, the king of the Kurus, set Dhṛtarāṣṭra before him and went toward the Gaṅgā.

11.27.1 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: They came to the Gaṅgā, auspicious, frequented by holy folk, full of pools, rich in banks, with broad marshlands and great forests,

11.27.2 and casting off their ornaments, their upper garments, and their headcloths, then for their fathers, grandsons, brothers, and kindred,

11.27.3 for their sons and elders and husbands, all the women of the Kurus, weeping and sorely afflicted, made the water-offering; and the knowers of the law performed the libation rites for their friends as well.

11.27.4 As the water-offering was made by the wives of the heroes for the heroes, the Gaṅgā came to have easy fords, and spread her waters wide again.

11.27.5 That bank of the Gaṅgā, vast as the great ocean, joyless and without festival, thronged with the wives of the heroes, shone in its mournful splendor.

11.27.6 Then Kuntī, O great king, suddenly worn by grief, weeping, spoke to her sons in a faltering voice:

11.27.7 That hero, the mighty archer, the leader of leaders of chariot-bands, who was slain in battle by Arjuna, marked with every sign of a hero —

11.27.8 he whom you, O Pāṇḍavas, thought a charioteer's son, Rādheya — he who shone in the midst of the host like the radiant lord of day,

11.27.9 who once fought against you all and your followers, who, leading on the whole army of Duryodhana, shone in his splendor,

11.27.10 to whose valor there is none equal on all the earth — true to his word, valiant, never fleeing in battle —

11.27.11 make the water-offering for that brother of yours, untiring in his deeds. For he was your elder brother, born to me of the Sun, that hero with earrings and armor, whose splendor was like the maker of day.

11.27.12 Hearing this unwelcome word of their mother, all the Pāṇḍavas grieved now for Karṇa, and became more stricken than before.

11.27.13 Then that tiger among men, the heroic Yudhiṣṭhira, son of Kuntī, said to his mother, hissing like a serpent:

11.27.14 He within whose arrow's flight none but Dhanaṃjaya could stand his ground — how was that god-begotten one of old a son of yours?

11.27.15 He by the might of whose arms we were scorched on every side—how could you have kept him concealed, like a fire wrapped in a garment? He whose terrible strength of arm the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra leaned upon for support—

11.27.16 No other chariot-warrior among warriors could withstand Karṇa, the son of Kuntī. He was our first-born brother, the foremost of all who bear weapons. How is it, lady, that you bore him first, him of wondrous valor?

11.27.17 Alas, by the concealing of this counsel of yours we are undone; for by the slaying of Karṇa we have been crushed, together with our kinsmen.

11.27.18 By the destruction of Abhimanyu, by the slaughter of the sons of Draupadī, by the ruin of the Pāñcālas, and by the fall of the Kurus—

11.27.19 this grief, a hundredfold greater than all of that, has touched me to the quick; for grieving over Karṇa I burn as though cast into a fire.

11.27.20 Nothing whatever would have been beyond our reach, even were it set in heaven, nor would this terrible carnage, which has brought the Kauravas to their end, ever have come to pass.

11.27.21 Having lamented thus at great length, O king, the King of Righteousness, Yudhiṣṭhira, wailing softly, the lord performed the water-offering for him.

11.27.22 Then on all sides the women and men who stood about there, gathered for that water-rite, suddenly broke into wailing.

11.27.23 Then the wise lord of the Kurus, Yudhiṣṭhira, out of love for his brother, had Karṇa's women brought forth with their retinue.

11.27.24 Then, together with them, that righteous-souled one performed the funeral rites; and having done so, his senses overwhelmed, he came up out of the waters of the Gaṅgā.