Chapter I.
Dhritarashtra said :
What did my (people) and the Pandavas do, O Sanjaya ! when they assembled together on the holy field of Kurukshetra, desirous to do battle ?
Sanjaya said :
Seeing the army of the Pandavas drawn up in battle-array, the prince Duryodhana approached his preceptor, and spoke (these) words : ' O preceptor ! observe this grand army of the sons of Pandu, drawn up in battle-array by your talented pupil, the son of Drupada. In it are heroes (bearing) large bows, the equals of Bhima and Arjuna in battle — (namely), Yuyudhana, Virata, and Drupada, the master of a great car, and Dhrishtaketu, Chekitana, and the valiant king of Kasi, Purujit and Kuntibhoja, and that eminent man Saibya ; the heroic Yudhamanyu, the valiant Uttamaujas, the son of Subhadra, and the sons of
Draupadi — all masters of great cars. And now,
O best of Brahmanas! learn who are most distinguished among us, and are leaders of my army.
I will name them to you, in order that you may know them well. Yourself, and Bhishma, and Karna, and Kripa the victor of (many) battles; Asvatthaman, and Vikarna, and also the son of Somadatta, and many other brave men, who have given up their lives for me, who fight with various weapons, (and are) all dexterous in battle. Thus our army which is protected by Bhishma is unlimited ; while this army of theirs which is protected by Bhima is very limited. And therefore do ye all, occupying respectively the positions 1 assigned to you, protect Bhishma 2 only.'
Then his powerful grandsire, Bhishma, the oldest of the Kauravas, roaring aloud like a lion, blew his conch, (thereby) affording delight to Duryodhana. And then all at once, conchs, and kettledrums, and tabors, and trumpets were played upon ; and there was a tumultuous din. Then, too, Madhava and the son of Pandu (Arjuna), seated in a grand chariot to which white steeds were yoked, blew their heavenly conchs. Hrishikesa 3 blew the Panchajanya 4, and Dhananjaya the Devadatta, and Bhima, (the doer) of fearful deeds, blew the great conch Paundra. King Yudhishthira, the son of Kunti, blew the Anantavijaya, and Nakula and Sahadeva (respectively) the Sughosha and Mawipushpaka. And the king of Kasi, too, who has an excellent bow, and Sikhandin, the master of a great car, and Dhrishtadyumna, Virata, and the unconquered Satyaki, and Drupada, and the sons of Draupadi, and the son of Subhadra, of mighty arms, blew conchs severally from all sides, O king of the earth ! That tumultuous din rent the hearts of all (the people) of Dhritarashtra's (party), causing reverberations throughout heaven and earth. Then seeing (the people of) Dhritarashtra's party regularly marshalled, the son of Pandu, whose standard is the ape, raised his bow after the discharge of missiles had commenced, and O king of the earth ! spake these words to Hrishikesa : ' O undegraded one ! station my chariot between the two armies, while I observe those, who stand here desirous to engage in battle, and with whom, in the labours of this struggle, I must do battle. I will observe those who are assembled here and who are about to engage in battle, wishing to do service in battle 2 to the evil-minded son of Dhritarashtra.'
Sanjaya said : Thus addressed by Gudakesa 3, O descendant of Bharata! Hrishikesa stationed that excellent chariot between the two armies, in front of Bhishma
and Drona and of all the kings of the earth, and said : ' O son of Pritha ! look at these assembled Kauravas.' There the son of Pritha saw in both armies, fathers and grandfathers, preceptors, maternal uncles, brothers, sons l, grandsons, companions, fathers-in-law, as well as friends. And seeing all those kinsmen standing (there), the son of Kunti was overcome by excessive pity, and spake thus despondingly.
Arjuna said : Seeing these kinsmen, O Krishna ! standing (here) anxious to engage in battle, my limbs droop down; my mouth is quite dried up ; a tremor comes over my body ; and my hairs stand on end ; the Gandiva (bow) slips from my hand ; my skin burns intensely. I am unable, too, to stand up ; my mind whirls round, as it were ; O Kesava ! I see adverse omens 2 ; and I do not perceive any good (likely to accrue) after killing (my) kinsmen in the battle. I do not wish for victory, O Krishna ! nor sovereignty, nor pleasures : what is sovereignty to us, O Govinda ! What enjoyments, and even life ? Even those, for whose sake we desire sovereignty, enjoyments, and pleasures, are standing here for battle, abandoning life and wealth — preceptors, fathers, sons as well as grandfathers, maternal uncles, fathers-in-law, grandsons, brothers-in-law, as also (other) relatives. These I do not wish to kill, though they kill (me), O destroyer of Madhu 3! even for the sake of sovereignty over
the three worlds, how much less then for this earth (alone) ? What joy shall be ours, O Janardana ! after killing Dhritarashtra's sons ? Killing these felons 1 we shall only incur sin. Therefore it is not proper for us to kill our own kinsmen, the sons of Dhritarashtra. For how, O Madhava ! shall we be happy after killing our own relatives ? Although they have their consciences corrupted by avarice, they do not see the evils flowing from the extinction of a family, and the sin in treachery to friends ; still, O Janardana ! should not we, who do see the evils flowing from the extinction of a family, learn to refrain from that sin ? On the extinction of a family, the eternal rites of families are destroyed 2. Those rites being destroyed, impiety predominates over the whole family :{. In consequence of the predominance of impiety, O Krishna ! the women of the family become corrupt 4 ; and the women becoming corrupt, O descendant of Vrishni ! intermingling of castes results ; that intermingling necessarily leads the family and the destroyers of the family to hell ; for when the ceremonies of (offering) the balls of food and water (to them) fail 5, their ancestors fall down (to hell). By these transgressions of the destroyers of families, which occasion interminglings of castes, the eternal rites of castes and rites of families are
:i There being no qualified person to perform them ; 4 their ancestors ' — that is to say, of the ' destroyers of families.'
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subverted. And O Janardana! we have heard that nun whose family-rites are subverted, must necessarily live in hell. Alas! we are engaged in committing a heinous sin, seeing that we are making efforts for killing our own kinsmen out of greed of the pleasures of sovereignty. If the sons of Dhritarashtra, weapon in hand, were to kill me in battle, me being weaponless and not defending (myself), that would be better for me.
Sanjaya said : Having spoken thus, Arjuna cast aside his bow together with the arrows, on the battle-field, and sat down in (his) chariot, with a mind agitated by grief.