ef!'"

9

"Sanjaya said, 'The world regards thee to be equal to Yayati the son of
Nahusha, in beauty, birth, fame, asceticism, and learning! Indeed, in
learning, thou art, O king, like a great rishi, highly accomplished and
crowned with success! Summon thy fortitude! Do not yield to grief!'

"Dhritarashtra said, 'I think destiny is supreme, and exertion fruitless
since even Karna, who was like a shala tree, hath been slain in battle!
Having slaughtered Yudhishthira's army and the large throngs of the
Pancala car-warriors, having scorched all the points of the compass by
means of his arrowy showers, having stupefied the Parthas in battle like
the wielder of the thunderbolt stupefying the Asuras, alas, how could
that mighty car-warrior, slain by the foe, fall down on the earth like a
large tree uprooted by the tempest? Indeed, I do not behold the end of my
sorrows like a drowning man unable to see the end of the ocean. My
anxieties are increasing, I do not desire to live, hearing of Karna's
death and Phalguni's victory! Indeed O Sanjaya, I regard the slaughter of
Karna to be highly incredible. Without doubt, this hard heart of mine is
made of the essence of adamant, for it does not burst into a 1,000
fragments upon hearing of the fall of Karna! Without doubt, the gods
ordained, before (my birth), a very long life for me, since sore
distressed on hearing of the death of Karna, I do not die! Fie, O
Sanjaya, on this life of one that is destitute of friends. Brought today,
O Sanjaya, to this wretched plight, miserably shall I have to live, of
foolish understanding that I am, pitied by all! Having formerly been the
honoured of the whole world, how shall I, O Suta, live, overridden by
foes? From pain to greater pain and calamity, have I come, O Sanjaya, in
consequence of the fall of Bhishma and Drona and the high-souled Karna! I
do not see that anyone (of my army) will escape with life when the Suta's
son hath been slain in battle! He was the great raft, O Sanjaya, to my
sons! That hero, having shot innumerable arrows, hath been slain in
battle! What use have I of life, without that bull among men? Without
doubt, the son of Adhiratha, afflicted with arrows, fell down from his
car, like a mountain-peak riven by the fall of thunder! Without doubt,
bathed in blood, he lieth, adorning the Earth, like an elephant slain by
an infuriate prince of elephants! He who was the strength of the
Dhartarashtras, he who was an object of f