in
affliction in the great forest. And the consanguinous relatives of
Panchala, and Dhrishtaketu the king of Chedi, and those celebrated and
powerful brothers the Kaikeyas, their hearts fired with wrath, went to
the forest to see the sons of Pritha. And reproaching the sons of
Dhritarashtra, they said, 'What should we do?' And those bulls of the
Kshatriya race, with Vasudeva at their head, sat themselves down round
Yudhishthira the just. And respectfully saluting that foremost of the
Kurus, Kesava mournfully said, 'The earth shall drink the blood of
Duryodhana and Karna, of Dussasana and the wicked Sakuni! Slaying these
in battle and defeating their followers along with their royal allies,
will we all install Yudhishthira the just on the throne! The wicked
deserve to be slain! Verily, this is eternal morality.'"

Vaisampayana continued, "And when on account of the wrongs of Pritha's
sons, Janardana had thus got into a passion, and seemed bent upon
consuming ail created things, Arjuna exerted himself to pacify him. And
beholding Kesava angry, Phalguna began to recite the feats achieved in
his former lives by that soul of all things, himself immeasurable, the
eternal one, of infinite energy, the lord of _Prajapati_ himself, the
supreme ruler of the worlds, Vishnu of profound wisdom!'

"Arjuna said, 'In days of old, thou, O Krishna, hadst wandered on the
Gandhamadana mountains for ten thousand years as a _Muni_ having his
home where evening fell! Living upon water alone, thou hadst, in days of
old, O Krishna, also dwelt for full eleven thousand years by the lake of
Pushkara! And, O slayer of Madhu, with arms upraised and standing on one
leg, thou hadst passed a hundred years on the high hills of Vadari,[16]
living all the while upon air! And leaving aside thy upper garment, with
body emaciated and looking like a bundle of veins, thou hadst lived on
the banks of the Saraswati, employed in thy sacrifice extending for
twelve years! And, O Krishna of mighty energy, in observance of thy vow
thou hadst stood on one leg for the length of a thousand years of the
celestials, on the plains of _Prabhasa_ which it behoveth the virtuous
to visit! Vyasa hath told me that thou art the cause of the creation and
its course! And, O Kesava, the lord of _Kshetra_,[17] thou art the mover
of all minds, and the beginning and end of all things! All asceticism
resteth in thee, and thou too art the embodiment of all sacrifices, and
the eternal one