is also endued with patience, capable of keeping his counsels, compassionate, modest, of powers incapable of being baffled, possessed of great learning, with soul under proper control, ever waiting upon the aged, and subdued senses; possessed thus of every accomplishment, he is like unto a blazing fire.  What fool, doomed to destruction and deprived of sense, will jump, moth-like, into that blazing and irresistible Pandava fire!  Alas, I have behaved deceitfully towards him.  The king, like unto a fire of long flames, will destroy all my foolish sons in battle without leaving any alive.  I, therefore, think that it is not proper to fight with them.  Ye Kauravas, be ye of the same mind.  Without doubt, the whole race of Kuru will be destroyed, in case of hostilities being waged.  This appears to me very clearly, and if we act accordingly, my mind may have peace.  If war with them doth not seem beneficial to you, then we will strive to bring about peace.  Yudhishthira will never be indifferent when he sees us distressed, for he censures me only as the cause of this unjust war.’”

SECTION LIV

“Sanjaya said, It is even so, O great king, as thou, O Bharata, sayest.  On the event of battle, the destruction of the Kshatriyas by means of Gandiva is certain.  This, however, I do not understand, how when thou art always wise and especially acquainted with the prowess of Savyasachin, thou followest yet the counsels of thy sons.  Having O bull of the Bharata race, injured the sons of Pritha from the very beginning, having in fact, committed sins repeatedly, this is not, O great king, the time (to grieve).  He that occupies the position of a father and a friend, if he is always watchful and of good heart, should seek the welfare (of his children); but he that injures, cannot be called a father.  Hearing of the defeat of the Pandavas at dice, thou hadst, O king, laughed like a child, saying, ‘This is won, this is acquired!’ When the harshest speeches were addressed to the sons of Pritha, thou didst not then interfere, pleased at the prospect of thy sons winning the whole kingdom.  Thou couldst not however, then see before thee inevitable fall.  The country of the Kurus, including the region called Jangala is, O king, thy paternal kingdom.  Thou hast, however, obtained the whole earth by those heroes.  Won by the strength of their arms, the sons of Pritha made over thee this extensive empire.  Thou thinkest, however, O best of kings, that all this was acquired by thee.  When thy sons, seized by the king of the Gandharvas, were about to sink in a shoreless sea without a raft to save them, it was Partha, O king, that brought them back.  Thou hadst, like a child, repeatedly laughed, O monarch, at the Pandavas when they were defeated at dice and were going into exile.  When Arjuna poureth a shower of keen arrows, the very oceans dry up, let alone beings of flesh and blood.  Falguna is the foremost of all shooters; Gandiva is