his own safety. He is competent to offer advice to the whole
world. What need is there of telling him what he should do? We should not
any longer fight. I say so unto all the troops. As regards myself, I
will, with all my brothers ascend a funeral pile. Having crossed the
Bhishma and the Drona oceans in this battle, that are incapable of being
crossed by the timid, shall I sink with all my followers in the vestige,
represented by Drona's son, of a cow's hoof? Let the wishes of king
Duryodhana be crowned with success today, for I have today slain in
battle the preceptor, that always cherished such friendly feelings
towards us, that preceptor, who, without protecting, caused that child
unacquainted with battle, viz., the son of Subhadra, to be slain by a
multitude of wicked warriors, that preceptor, who with his son, sat
indifferently, without answering, when Krishna in such distress, dragged
into the assembly and sought to be made a slave, asked him to say the
truth, that preceptor, who, while all the other warriors were fatigued,
cased Duryodhana in invulnerable armour when the latter desired to slay
Phalguna and who, having cased him so, appointed him to protect
Jayadratha, who, being acquainted with the Brahma weapon, scrupled not to
exterminate the Panchalas, headed by Satyajit, that had exerted
themselves for my victory, that preceptor, who, whilst we were being
unrighteously exiled from our kingdom, freely told us to go into the
woods although he had been solicited by our friends to withhold his
permission[267]. Alas, that great friend of our hath been slain! For his
sake, I will, with my friends, lay down my life." After Kunti's son,
Yudhishthira had said this, he of Dasarha's race, (viz., Kesava) quickly
forbidding the troops, by motion of his arms, to fly away said these
words, "Speedily lay down your weapons, all of you, and alight from your
vehicles. Even this is the means ordained by the illustrious one, (viz.,
Narayana himself) for baffling this weapon. Come down on the earth, all
of you from your elephants and steeds and cars. If you stand weaponless
on the earth, this weapon will not slay you. In those places where you
will fight for quelling the force of this weapon the Kauravas will become
more powerful than you. Those men, however, that will throw down their
weapons and alight from their vehicles, will not in this battle, be slain
by this weapon. They, however, that will, even in imagination, contend
aga