heir laps the lopped
off arm of their lord and weeping bitterly!

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

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

25

"Gandhari said, 'Behold that irresistible ruler of the Kambojas, that
bull-necked hero, lying amid the dust, O Madhava, though deserving of
being stretched at his ease on Kamboja blankets. Stri