ake. Distressed with grief at seeing his mother and brothers asleep on
the bare ground, Vrikodara began to weep, 'Oh, wretch that I am, who
behold my brothers asleep on the bare ground, what can befall me more
painful than this? Alas, they who formerly at Varanavata could not sleep
on the softest and costliest beds are now asleep on the bare ground! Oh,
what more painful sight shall I ever behold than that of Kunti--the
sister of Vasudeva, that grinder of hostile hosts--the daughter of
Kuntiraja,--herself decked with every auspicious mark, the
daughter-in-law of Vichitravirya,--the wife of the illustrious
Pandu,--the mother of us (five brothers),--resplendent as the filaments
of the lotus and delicate and tender and fit to sleep on the costliest
bed--thus asleep, as she should never be, on the bare ground! Oh, she who
hath brought forth these sons by Dharma and Indra and Maruta--she who
hath ever slept within palaces--now sleepeth, fatigued, on the bare
ground! What more painful sight shall ever be beheld by me than that of
these tigers among men (my brothers) asleep on the ground! Oh, the
virtuous Yudhishthira, who deserveth the sovereignty of the three worlds,
sleepeth, fatigued, like an ordinary man, on the bare ground! This Arjuna
of the darkish hue of blue clouds, and unequalled amongst men sleepeth on
the ground like an ordinary person! Oh, what can be more painful than
this? Oh the twins, who in beauty are like the twin Aswins amongst the
celestials, are asleep like ordinary mortals on the bare ground! He who
hath no jealous evil-minded relatives, liveth in happiness in this world
like a single tree in a village. The tree that standeth single in a
village with its leaves and fruits, from absence of other of the same
species, becometh sacred and is worshipped and venerated by all. They
again that have many relatives who, however, are all heroic and virtuous,
live happily in the world without sorrow of any kind. Themselves powerful
and growing in prosperity and always gladdening their friends and
relatives, they live, depending on each other, like tall trees growing in
the same forest. We, however, have been forced in exile by the wicked
Dhritarashtra and his sons having escaped with difficulty, from sheer
good fortune, a fiery death. Having escaped from that fire, we are now
resting in the shade of this tree. Having already suffered so much, where
now are we to go? Ye sons of Dhritarashtra of little foresight, ye wic