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Dhritarashtra said:
1. In the Field of the Law, the Kurus’ Field, when my men and the Pandava men had come together so eager to fight, what did they do, Sanjaya?
Sanjaya said:
2. Once he had seen the Pandava army drawn up for battle, King Duryodhana approached the teacher, Drona, and said:
3. “Master, behold this mighty army of Pandu’s sons drawn up by your wise student, Dhrishtadyumna, Drupada’s son.
4. “Here are champions, great archers, equals in battle of Bhima and Arjuna: Yuyudhana, Virata, and the great warrior Drupada,
5. “Dhrishtaketu, Chekitana, and the dynamic king of the Kashis, Purujit, Kuntibhoja, and Shaibya, a bull among men,
6. “Bold Yudhamanyu and valiant Uttamaujas, Subhadra’s son, and the sons of Draupadi, great warriors to a man.
7. “But now, greatest of brahmins, mark our chief men, the commanders of my army – for you I shall list them by name:
8. “Yourself, Bhishma, Karna, and Kripa, victorious in battle, Ashvatthaman, Vikarna, as well as Somadatta’s son,
9. “And many other champions who have given up their lives to my cause, all battle-hardened combatants, armed to the teeth.
10. “Their force, protected by Bhima, is no match for ours; but ours is good enough for them – it is protected by Bhishma.
11. “So all of you, waiting now in your proper places – you must guard Bhishma at every turn!”
12. Then the elder of the Kurus, the Grandfather, Bhishma, roared a great lion’s roar, and blew vigorously on his conch, bringing joy to Duryodhana.
13. Thereupon conches, kettledrums, cymbals, drums, and horns suddenly blared out in a tumult of sound.
14. And so, as they stood in a great chariot yoked with white horses, Krishna and Arjuna blew their divine conches –
15. Krishna the conch Panchajanya, Arjuna Devadatta, and wolf-belly Bhima, so terrible in action, blew the great conch Paundra.
16. Yudhishthira, son of Kunti and king, blew Anantavijaya, Nakula and Sahadeva blew Sughosha and Manipushpaka.
17. And the king of the Kashis, supreme bowman, Shikhandin the great warrior, Dhrishtadyumna and Virata, and Satyaki the unconquered.
18. Drupada and the sons of Draupadi, O King of the Earth, and the great-armed son of Subhadra, in unison blew their separate conces.
19. That sound lacerated the hearts of Dhritarashtra’s sons – an uproar that thundered from heaven to earth.
20. Then the ape-bannered Pandava, Arjuna, seeing Dhritarashtra’s host drawn up for battle, raised his bow aloft as the clash of arms was coming on,
21. And, O King of the Earth, said to Krishna: “Achyuta, draw up my chariot between the two armies
22. “That I may look on these men, at the ready, eager for battle, with whom I must engage in this great enterprise of war.
23. “I would see those assembled here, straining to fight, eager to serve in battle Duryodhana, Dhritarashtra’s evil-minded son.”
24. Addressed thus by Arjuna, O Bharata, Krishna halted the great chariot between the two armies.
25. In front of Bhishma, and Drona, and all the lords of the earth, and said: “Look, Partha, these are the Kurus, all of them together.”
26. There Arjuna saw, standing their ground, fathers, grandfathers, teachers, maternal uncles, brothers, sons, grandsons, friends,
27. Fathers-in-law, and companions in both armies. And looking at all these kinsmen so arrayed, Arjuna, the son of Kunti,
28. Was overcome by deep compassion; and in despair he said: “Krishna, when I see these my own people eager to fight, on the brink,
29. “My limbs grow heavy, and my mouth is parched, my body trembles and my hair bristles,
30. “My bow, Gandiva, falls from my hand, my skin’s on fire, I can no longer stand – my mind is reeling.
31. “I see evil omens, Krishna: nothing good can come from slaughtering one’s own family in battle – I foresee it!
32. “I have no desire for victory, Krishna, or kingship, or pleasures. What should we do with kingship, Govinda? What are pleasures to us? What is life?
33. “The men for whose sake we desire kingship, enjoyment, and pleasures are precisely those drawn up for this battle, having abandoned their lives and riches.
34. “Teachers, fathers, sons, as well as grandfathers, maternal uncles, fathers-in-law, grandsons, brothers-in-law, and kinsmen –
35. “I have no desire to kill them, Madhusudana, though they are killers themselves – no,, not for the lordship of the three worlds, let alone the earth!
36. “Where is the joy for us, Janardana, in destroying Dhritarashtra’s people? Having killed these murderers, evil would attach itself to us.
37. “It follows, therefore, that we are not required to kill the sons of Dhritarashtra – they are out own kinsmen, and having killed our own people, how could we be happy, Madhava?
38. “And even if, because their minds are overwhelmed by greed, they cannot see the evil incurred by destroying one’s own family, and the degradation involved in the betrayal of a friend,
39. “How can we be so ignorant as not to recoil from this wrong? The evil incurred by destroying one’s own family is plain to see, Janardana.
40. “With the destruction of family the eternal family laws are lost; when the law is destroyed, lawlessness over-powers the entire family;
41. “Krishna, because of overpowering lawlessness, the women of the family are corrupted; when women are corrupted, Varshneya, there is intermingling of the four estates.
42. “And intermingling leads to hell for the family-destroyers and the family, for their ancestors, robbed of their rice-ball and water offerings, fall back.
43. “Through these evils of the family-destroyers, which cause intermingling of the four estates, caste laws and the eternal family laws are obliterated.
44. “For men whose family laws have been obliterated we have heard that a place in hell is certain, Janardana.
45. “Oh, ignominy! We are about to perpetrate a great evil – out of sheer greed for kingdoms and pleasures, we are prepared to kill our own people.
46. “It would be better for me if Dhritarashtra’s armed men were to kill me in battle, unresisting and unarmed.”
47. Having spoken this on the field of conflict, Arjuna sank down into the chariot, letting slip his bow and arrow, his mind distracted with grief.