a disciple took the life of that preceptor.  All of us have passed the greater part of our lives.  The days that remain to us are limited.  This exceedingly unrighteous act that we have perpetrated has stained that remnant.  In consequence of the affection he bore to us, he was a sire unto us.  According to the dictates of the scriptures also, he was a sire unto us.  Yet he, that preceptor of ours, has been slain by us for the sake of short-lived sovereignty.  Dhritarashtra, O king, had given unto Bhishma and Drona the whole earth, and what was still more valuable, all his children.  Though honoured by our foe thus, and though he had obtained such wealth from him, the preceptor still loved us as his own children.  Of unfading energy and prowess, the preceptor has been slain, only because, induced by thy words he had laid aside his weapons.  While engaged in fight he was incapable of being slain by Indra himself.  The preceptor was venerable in years and always devoted to our welfare.  Yet unrighteous that we are, and stained with a levity of behaviour, we scrupled not to injure him.  Alas, exceedingly cruel and very heinous has been the sin that we have committed, for, moved by the desire of enjoying the pleasures of sovereignty, we have slain that Drona.  My preceptor had all along been under the impression that in consequence of my love for him, I could, (for his sake) abandon all,—­sire, brother, children, wife and life itself.  And yet moved by the desire of sovereignty, I interfered not when he was about to be slain.  For this fault, O king, I have, O lord, already sunk into hell, overcome with shame.  Having, for the sake of kingdom, caused the slaughter of one who was a Brahmana, who was venerable in years, who was my preceptor, who had laid aside his weapons, and who was then devoted, like a great ascetic, to Yoga, death has become preferable to me to life!’

SECTION CXCVIII

“Sanjaya said, ’Hearing these words of Arjuna, the mighty car-warriors present there said not a single word, O monarch, agreeable or disagreeable, unto Dhananjaya.  Then the mighty-armed Bhimasena, filled with wrath, O bull of Bharata’s race, reproaching Kunti’s son, Arjuna, said these words, ’Thou preachest truths of morality like an anchorite living in the woods or a Brahmana of rigid vows and senses under complete control.  A person is called a Kshatriya because he rescues others from wounds and injuries.  Being such, he must save himself from wounds and injuries.  Showing forgiveness towards the three that are good (viz., the gods, the Brahmanas, and preceptor), a Kshatriya, by doing his duties, soon wins the earth as also piety and fame and prosperity.[262] Thou, O perpetuator of thy race, art endued with every attribute of a Kshatriya.  It does not, therefore, look well for thee to speak like an ignorant wight.  O son of Kunti, thy prowess is like that of Sakra himself, the lord of Sachi.  Thou dost not transgress the bounds of morality like