he Pandavas had gone to the
woods, Dhritarashtra, O king, was overcome with anxiety. And while he was
seated restless with anxiety and sighing in grief, Sanjaya approaching
him said, 'O lord of the earth having now obtained the whole earth with
all its wealth and sent away the sons of Pandu into exile, why is it, O
king, that thou grievest so?"

Dhritarashtra said,--'What have they not to grieve for who will have to
encounter in battle those bulls among warriors--the sons of
Pandu--fighting on great cars and aided by allies?'

"Sanjaya said,--"O king, all this great hostility is inevitable on
account of thy mistaken action, and this will assuredly bring about the
wholesale destruction of the whole world. Forbidden by Bhishma, by Drona,
and by Vidura, thy wicked-minded and shameless son Duryodhana sent his
Suta messenger commanding him to bring into court the beloved and
virtuous wife of the Pandavas. The gods first deprive that man of his
reason unto whom they send defeat and disgrace. It is for this that such
a person seeth things in a strange light. When destruction is at hand,
evil appeareth as good unto the understanding polluted by sin, and the
man adhereth to it firmly. That which is improper appeareth as proper,
and that which is proper appeareth as improper unto the man about to be
overwhelmed by destruction, and evil and impropriety are what he liketh.
The time that bringeth on destruction doth not come with upraised club
and smash one's head. On the other hand the peculiarity of such a time is
that it maketh a man behold evil in good and good in evil. The wretches
have brought on themselves this terrible, wholesale, and horrible
destruction by dragging the helpless princess of Panchala into the court.
Who else than Duryodhana--that false player of dice could bring into the
assembly, with insults, the daughter of Drupada, endued with beauty and
intelligence, and conversant with every rule of morality and duty, and
sprung not from any woman's womb but from the sacred fire? The handsome
Krishna, then in her season, attired in one piece of stained cloth when
brought into the court cast her eyes upon the Pandavas. She beheld them,
however, robbed of their wealth, of their kingdom, of even their attire,
of their beauty, of every enjoyment, and plunged into a state of bondage.
Bound by the tie of virtue, they were then unable to exert their prowess.
And before all the assembled kings Duryodhana and Karna spake cruel